Daryl Hall and John Oates has to be one of my favorite duos of all time. I have seen them at least 3 or 4 times in concert and I could probably see then a couple of more times if I could.

Here is one of my favorite songs of Hall and Oates: “She’s Gone” (1973)

(the video is from 1997)

Some of my other favorite songs by Hall and Oates are:

“Sara Smile“
“Rich Girl“
“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’“
“Did It in a Minute”
“Promise Ain’t Enough” (video)

I remember one concert that me and about six other friends went to at The Palace of Auburn Hills. We had great seats and sang to every song! When they played “Sara Smile“, we all looked at each other and said they they were singing to us. And then we tried to one up each other and someone said, no they are singing to me because her name was Sara! We all laughed. We had such a great time.

Now, I need to check out Concert dates for Hall and Oates, I will see them again in concert!

External links

• Hall & Oates official website
• John Oates’ official website
• Daryl Hall’s official website ‘Live from Daryl’s house’
• Hall & Oates discography at MusicBrainz

The New York Songwriter’s Circle today announced the names of the 12 finalists for its fourth annual “Songwriting Contest” and the three finalists for its “Young Songwriters Award.”  The NYSC is also proud to announce that Ida Østergaard from Copenhagen, Denmark, is the 2009 recipient of its prestigious “International Writers Award.” The Grand Prize winner will be determined by an esteemed panel of judges at live performances on November 18 and the 19 (8 p.m.) at the legendary Bitter End in New York City.  Tickets for both performances can be obtained by going to: http://www.theatermania.com/new-york/shows/ny-songwriters-circle-contest-finals_161221/

The twelve Songwriting Contest finalists are: Barnaby Bright – “Gravity,” Kate Branagh – “Tether,” Caleb Hawley – “Other Side Of It All,” Clara Oman – “Song for Ruthie,” Janet Onyenucheya – “The Element,” Adrien Reju – “When The Curtain Falls,” Martin Rivas – “North,” Bobby Smith – “The Breakup Song,” Chloe Temtchine – “Four Letter Fever,” Justin Tracy – “Secrets,” The Sweet Remains — “Easy,” Reed Waddle – “Piece By Piece.”

“Every year we are truly amazed by the incredible songs that are submitted and the stories that inspired them,” said accomplished singer/songwriter and President of the New York Songwriter’s Circle, Tina Shafer.  “We are very fortunate to have such an outstanding panel of judges to assist in the process and work with us to help launch the careers of artists who deserve to be recognized.”

New for 2009, the three finalists selected for the “Young Songwriter Award” were chosen by voters on the social networking and online gaming site fashionfantasygame .com.  The finalists competing for the award are: 15-year-old Ali Brustofski of New York, NY; 17-year-old Aubrey Caswell of Thousand Oaks, CA; and 17-year-old Maddie Georgi from Pittsburgh, PA.  Music lovers, fans and friends are encouraged to listen to the submissions and vote online exclusively atwww .fashionfantasygame.com .  Voting is open through November 8th at 11:59 p.m. EST.  The “Young Songwriters Award” winner will be chosen by FFG voters and announced on November 19th at the NYSC’s live grand finale event at the Bitter End.
Past winners of the worldwide recognized New York Songwriter’s Circle annual Songwriting Contest include such notable performers as Kate Voegele, Company of Thieves and Mieka Pauley. Also of note, Grammy Award winning songwriter Gordon Chambers (who wrote “I Appologize” for Anita Baker) and Siedah Garret (who co-wrote the #1 single “Man in the Mirror” for Michael Jackson) both have graced the stages of the New York Songwriters Circle.

Serving as judges for this years competition are Grammy Award winning songwriter/producer/legendary rock performer John Oates (who will also perform as our special guest on the 19^th), Grammy Award winning producer Russ Titelman (Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Chaka Khan, Cindi Lauper and Ricki Lee Jones to names a few), Q104.3 Radio’s Jonathan Clarke and many more.

This year’s Songwriting Contest winner will take home over $25,000 in cash and prizes including a performance spot with Grammy Winner John Oates in Aspen, CO, a top of the line Gibson acoustic guitar, an opportunity to record with Grammy Award Winning Producer Glenn Barrett and a guest spot on Jonathan Clarke’s Q104.3radio show (New York and America’s).

Sponsors for the 2009 Songwriting Contest include Gibson Guitars, sonicbids.com, broadjam.com, Ascap , BMI, , Sesac, MorningStar Studios, Dubway Studios, 795 Records/Denise Rich Publishing, Blue Light Digital Sound and onlinegigs.com.

About the New York Songwriters’ Circle:
For over 19 years, the New York Songwriter’s Circle has been producing and directing bimonthly shows at the legendary Bitter End club, in New York City’s West Village. The Circle has launched the careers of notable artists such as Norah Jones, Jesse Harris, Lisa Loeb, Vanessa Carlton, Gavin DeGraw, NYSC songwriting contest winner and regular on “One Tree Hill,” Kate Voegele, Company of Thieves and Chris Barron. The circle has quickly become one of the most popular music events in Manhattan, attracting not only the best up and coming songwriting talent from around the world but also top music industry executives looking to discover “the next big thing”. Currently The New York Songwriter’s Circle hosts live music showcases across the country including New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles as well as an educational “Loft Series” dedicated to supporting, nurturing and empowering artists in this new age of the Music industry.

Submitted by Gibson Communications, LLC

Here’s the latest batch of Music Musings and Miscellany’s unapologetically subjective selection of the twentieth century’s best 1000 singles.

FLAMING LIPS – She Don’t Use Jelly / Turn It On (Warner Brothers 18131 1994)
Simple and surreal, “She Don’t Use Jelly” was Coyne and cos first singalong song which, unlike many, never seems to pall with repeated listenings. It’s just gleefully absurd, simple fun.

POP GROUP – She Is Beyond Good and Evil / 3.38 (Radar 29 1979)
Perhaps the Pop Group’s most accessible song, this is still evil sounding Faustian funk that lies somewhere between Chic and free jazz. They were a band whose tension between deep dub-funk and stellar jazz was stretched to breaking point, and topped with the borderline madness of Mark Stewart’s paranoid vocals, created a distopian soundtrack to societal, political and personal breakdown. The tension that drove them inevitably destroyed them as the group was pulled in too many conflicting directions, but their small ouevre is a truly great legacy.

PJ HARVEY – Sheela-na-gig / Joe / Hair (Too Pure 8 1992)
Part Pixies part riot girl, Polly Harvey stripped out the fat and fancy from her music, but still sounded a world away from the basic rock template. She infuriated and thrilled people in equal measure for her steadfast refusal to be labelled, or dragged into ’scenes’, and still does. Her secret is a paradoxical combination of self-doubt and self-confidence that leaves her restless and continually inventive, but at the same time, never capriciously flitting from style to style.

RAMONES – Sheena Is a Punk Rocker / Commando / I Don’t Care (Sire 746 1977)
They sounded dumb but were never stupid. The first three albums fire off crackers like this every couple of minutes without ever sounding weary. That they ultimately became a cliché was inevitable. They either progressed and lost the raw simplicity, or stayed the same and became a self-parody.

HALL & OATES – She’s Gone / I’m Just a Kid (Atlantic 3332 1974)
In the eighties they became pop giants, but their music became plastic and soulless. In the seventies they couldn’t get arrested, but came out with some amazing Philly soul-drenched pop. “She’s Gone” is a powerhouse of impassioned vocal interplay.

YELLO – She’s Got a Gun / The Evening’s Young (Do It 18 1982)
While a lot of Yello’s early music was fairly brash, electro-influenced synth pop, my favourite side to the duo was always the atmospheric noir-ish stories relayed in tracks like “Lost Again” and this one. Dieter Meyer’s image fits the world of darkened railway stations, femmes fatales with guns and the fading decadence of a Europe living under the burden of its own catastrophic history.

HOUSE OF LOVE – Shine On / Love / Flow (Creation 43 1987)
About as good as indie guitar music gets. The House of Love’s first single was emotional, exciting, crisp and concise. It sold diddly squat, despite being on a fashionable label. Some things are just unfathomable. Over the last two decades, they’re a band I’ve introduced to people more than any other I think, and the reaction is always glowing. And I’ve met other people who rate the band’s short tenure at Creation as highly as I do.

ROBERT WYATT – Shipbuilding / Memories of You (Rough Trade 115 1982)
Elvis Costello’s brilliant response to the Falklands War isn’t a angry polemic, but a confused reflection of a character whose livelihood has been secured by it, and feels guilty about that fact. I have no problem with Costello as a singer, but he has a rather sarcastic tone that really can’t carry off the emotional conflicts of the song. Robert Wyatt, however, has the right mixture of pathos, vulnerability and deep unease to convey it perfectly. A masterpiece.

BOYS NEXT DOOR – Shivers / Dive Position (Mushroom 7492 1979)
Before they discovered their true mettle as the Birthday Party, the band’s previous incarnation peddled a kind of jerky, spiky pop. This Rowland Howard song sounded nothing like either. It’s a brooding ballad that oddly has far more in common with some of Nick Cave’s later work even though it wasn’t his song. It’s appearance in the film Dogs in Space is a perfect cinematic moment.

MIRACLES – Shop Around / Who’s Loving You (Tamla 54030 1960)
Along with Barrett Strong’s “Money”, “Shop Around” is one of the two major hits of Motown’s first year that has one foot in doo wop and rock ‘n’ roll, and the other in the future, world-dominating Motown sound.

MAGAZINE – Shot By Both Sides / My Mind Ain’t So Open (Virgin 200 1978)
With a riff so good that former Buzzcocks partners Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley both used it (see “Lipstick” by the Buzzcocks), “Shot By Both Sides” introduced Magazine with a bang. It was a winning combination punk’s excitement and sharpness and the more expansive, almost prog, sound of bands like Roxy Music.

JUNIOR WALKER & THE ALL STARS – Shotgun / Hot Cha (Soul 35008 1965)
Motown anomalies in that they owed as much to Booker T & the MGs and James Brown as they did to the sound of the Motor City, Walker’s All Stars were a funky rhythm and blues outfit who were as much about the groove as they were about the song. “Shotgun” is a blast (sorry).

THE CARDINALS – Shouldn’t I Know / Please Don’t Leave Me (Atlantic 938 1951)
The Cardinals were one of the great proto-doo wop ballad groups, but one who seem to have fallen through the cracks of history. The only available compilation is a stingy 10 song collection that appeared on the Collectables label in 2006 and is only available on import from the US for a silly price.

STEELY DAN – Showbiz Kids / Razor Boy (ABC 11382 1973)
“Showbiz Kids” is another one of those great Steely Dan tunes that subverts the kind of smooth, self-regarding, nouveau riche types who probably listed the band as one of their favourites. Only this time they did it with a brazenness that only an idiot could fail to see: “They got the house on the corner, with the rug inside / They got the booze they need, all that money can buy / They got the shapely bodies, they got the Steely Dan T-shirts…” and as a final coup de grace: “Show bus’ness kids makin’ movies of themselves / You know they don’t give a fuck about anybody else“

More soon

I’m sitting here drinking coffee on the morning of Halloween 2009, and I truly have to pinch myself…I really do. It’s been 5 years since I stepped foot into Montreal, and I’m finally returning in 2 months EXACTLY…It’s almost heart-wrenching when I really get emotional about it, and the symbolism of the city…The city is a metaphor of sorts for me, one full of irony, progression and life moments to always be cherished and learned from. It was the first city to really grab my heart at a time when I was going through some real personal struggles, and my yearly escape would be to its streets and nightclubs. It’s hard to explain if you haven’t got the perspective…But I’ll keep trying, and perhaps it will “click” with your understanding as time passes.

My book will explain the background story in great detail. Funny how life works out sometimes, isn’t it?

I swear I’m gonna savour this one…This will only make Montreal ever more special to me. I get the feeling I’ll be returning for years to come.

Soulful

Ooookay.

It’s now 4 pm and I’m pretty sure I’m no longer drunk. In fact I feel lovely. Lovely enough to recount the events of last night.

Ryan has a friend who I shall refer to as Oates due to the fact that when I first met him he had a bitchin’ John Oates mustache. If you are totally out of the loop and not hipster enough to sing “Rich Girl” every god damn time you karaoke, he looks like this:

I had always thought Oates was hot (as in Ryan’s friend, not John Oates even though his jean vest is the height of sex) but I dated his best friend briefly about a year ago. By dated I mean that we had oddly creepy marital sex a few times before I bailed and now we interact somewhat awkwardly when we see each other in public. (I actually wrote a really beautiful and sad blog about him and how I drove all the way out to Sauvie Island to fuck him and then was too terrified to drive home in the spooky fog because I thought there might be serial killers out on those farm roads so I slept on the couch with his dog while he snored really loudly in bed but that was on my old blog and I deleted it.) I figured Oates was off limits because of the whole bros before hos thing. Apparently their friendship doesn’t work like that because one drunken night Ryan decided to reveal my crush and Oates and Marital Sex Man agreed that neither one gave a fuck who I had already fucked. Or something.

I never really had THAT much of a crush on Oates. Out of all of Ryan’s friends he was the cutest and I’m a sucker for  a mustache and some nice teeth. Plus he’s only 26.

Can’t get away from the tiny babies these days.

Last night we had a little pre-Halloween warm up party where everyone had to dress as zombies. It was decided that we would play beer pong since other than Lucy, none of us had gone to college and played it. There’s nothing like watching the undead play beer pong, I’ll tell you what.

One of the zombies whose name I still can’t remember in spite of the fact that I was told about 87 times (I blame the pong) was quite taken with me. I believe it was only because I was one of four girls in the room and the only one who was single. How flattering right? As the night wore on and the zombie got drunker he became more forward in his come ons.

“Do…do…..wait….do you haaaaave a boyfriend?” (Read that with a drunken slur.)

Became….

“I wanna take your tits and nibble and jiggle them.” (Read with an almost incoherent drunken slur.)

Needless to say I was not charmed.

Much to my shock and awe, Oates came to my rescue. After taking me out for a smoke on the back deck and explaining that these certain guys show up at every party, get hammered and piss everyone off, he went back inside to tell them to go the fuck home.

Blah blah blah, fast forward to the good shit. The drunk zombies went home and suddenly Oates was telling me that we were going to be “snuggle buddies” and that he was coming upstairs with me.

Uhhhh….okay.

At this point I’d like to inform you of the fact that I had not showered in two days, had not shaved my legs, was due for a vag wax, covered in zombie make up and had blood streaked down my thighs from where my zombie abortion had leaked through my pants. I was not even remotely planning on having sex that night.

Oates crawled into bed with me and after some getting to know you talk somehow we ended up making out. Shocking, I know. Two grown ups half naked in a bed end up kissing. I was pretty well sauced at this point and made it clear that no sex would be happening. But like any good young man looking to get laid he persisted with fingers and tongues until suddenly all the clothes were off and the no sex having was obviously not going to happen.

I think Oates is a lovely guy and Ryan is kindly suggesting to me that I don’t say anything mean just in case he or someone he knows reads this. I don’t have anything cruel to say really. Just that there was a vast difference in the way we like to fuck.

I would say that while Oates is a young puppy who enthusiastically and manically fucks really hard, I’m more of a vary it up and don’t slam my god damn vag so hard kind of girl.

I mentioned this to him mid coitus to which he exclaimed, “That’s how I do it. This is what I do,” while hoisting my legs up over his shoulders. My reaction to that for some reason was to climb on top and slap the shit out of him when he didn’t do what I wanted.

Yeah…I slapped him in the face and somehow made him bleed in several places on his chest though I can’t say I recall how. I found it strange that when I remarked that I was sorry I had torn him up so badly he replied, “It’s fine, they’ll be healed by morning.” Like he was some magical vampire with super healing skin.

I remember telling him that I hate waking up with guys I sleep with and was he sober enough to bike home.

God, I’m such a total bitch.

He told me he’d be fine to ride in fifteen minutes. We then promptly passed out. I woke several times and noticed that while we were turned away from each other he kept a hand flung back and rested it on my ass all night long. Cute.

This morning I heard him get out of bed and groggily rubbed my eyes. I should start keeping a mirror by my bed because I was terrified to turn around and look at him due to the fact that I probably had fake blood and  zombie make up smeared all over my face. I didn’t want to terrify him. So I just kept laying there with my face buried in my pillow like a total twat.

At that point, he slapped me on the ass and delivered his parting line, “Peace out.”

Oooookay….

So, two days ago I write a blog about how exhausted I am and I need to take a break from both men and here. So of course I run out, get drunk and fuck some guy while I have hairy legs and zombie B.O.. Good fucking move!

I have no idea if Oates will be at our party on Saturday and if he is I have no idea if we’ll even make eye contact.

Oh and also The Unicorn wants to go out again tomorrow. The Bartender wants to go out tonight. Jesus Christ. I take one step away from men and they come charging right back at me. The only one I actually want to hear from is Cow Porn Guy (who will be getting a new nickname if I ever actually go out with him) but he’s busy working on something really important at work. Pooh.

Now it’s time to choose between cleaning up the record breaking amount of beer cans we amassed last night or letting the bartender buy me dinner.

This is some cool news about OJR graduate Daryl Hall and his long time partner John Oates.  Seems like Rachel Ray loves her some Hall and Oates too.  Nice write up and tons of comments supporting their entry into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.  They will be Rachel’s guests on her show Nov. 6th!  Tune in!

http://blog.rachaelray.com/index.php/2009/10/20/hall-and-oats-has-my-vote/

Let’s talk about guilty pleasures.  You know what I’m talking about.  Those artists on your ipod that you need the built-in excuses to explain away when busted by friends and family who want to know why in the world you would possibly have their music in your collection.

Well, let me just say that we could all admit to a few of these without shame every once in a while.  And, I’ll just say here for the record that a little Hall & Oates never hurt anyone.

Tell me that you would turn down the volume on Maneater, or I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do), or You Make My Dreams.  No chance.  The latter of those songs, by the way, was featured brilliantly in the recently released movie, (500) Days of Summer. 

And now all of these and many, many more are available as part of the comprehensive Hall & Oates box set, Do What You Want, Be What You Are:The Music of Daryl Hall & John Oates, available tomorrow.

Daryl Hall and John Oates

This duo, by all measures the most successful in rock history, rarely play or record together anymore. 

Fanatics can get their fix of Hall with Live from Daryl’s House, a “monthly Internet webcast featuring him playing along with some of his friends and colleagues in an intimate setting.”  It’s actually a pretty brilliant idea for an artist with the means to work around today’s music industry.

And Oates, living far from his east coast roots, is still very much involved in music (as his official website proves) from the comforts of his home in Colorado.

For the rest of us, a little does go a long way.  But a box set does seem like a worthy match for these guys and appears to be long overdue. 

Naturally, both Hall and Oates have been working the press circuit in conjunction with the release and a couple of the best features can be found at Billboard (Oates: “I think for the casual fan it’s going to be eye-opening in terms of the depth and the interesting material they probably know us from”) and CNN.com (Hall: “We were just putting together the sounds that were around us and trying to put our version of it together”).

Don’t expect too many posts in the future regarding 80’s pop icons, but sometimes the truth hurts.  And the truth is, every music collection needs those handclaps in Private Eyes and the “bliss” of Kiss On My List.  Just don’t admit it too loudly.

Ok. I love cheese.  And moustaches have to be one of the most cheesetastic things ever!

Seriously, I own a plush moustache.  It makes me laugh.  It has eyes!

Anyway, I read one of those odd news stories and it talked about the American Moustache Institute! (although its clearly a bit low rent as it uses the spelling of moustache without the “o”.  And all moustaches deserve an “o”. Well, maybe not all moustaches, but a lot of them do.  And if they don’t deserve the “o”, than I don’t want to be bothered with them).

And although I normally hear Tom Selleck or Burt Reynolds when people speak of iconic moustaches, the American Moustache Institute has a “Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year”.   The winner will be decided by online vote at a “Stache Bash” on October 30th.  The host of the ceremony is John Oates.  How awesome is that?

I wish my older brother was on the ballot.  I wonder if there’s a write in option.  My older brother has some of the cheesiest facial hair ever.  Not in that hip, everyone-else-is-wearing-it-this-way, crap facial hair but in the I-just-stepped-out-of-1974 facial hair.  It’s a bad, polyester-wearing, porn-star moustache.  If my brother had a theme song, it would be a Barry White rip off. He’d walk into a room and a song that sounded just-different-enough-from-a-Barry-White-song-to-not-get-sued (or have to pay royalities) would start playing.

Anyway, go vote, it’s fun.

Enllaços: lletra “You make my dreams” | més sobre Daryl Hall & John Oates | www.hallandoates.com

Temple University students Darryl Hall & John Oates were knocking around the Philadelphia-area music scene separately in the mid-60s. They met by chance and formed a short lived collaboration in several area R&B bands before splitting in 1968. Rejoining in 1969 as a mostly blue-eyed R&B/soul songwriting duet, they accumulated enough material by 1972 to start anew and managed to sign a contract with Atlantic Records. Three mediocre albums followed: Whole Oats (1972), Abandoned Luncheonette (1973) and War Babies (1974). Switching to RCA, their big break came on September 15, 1975 with the album Darryl Hall & John Oates. It was straight forward pop-rock with a strong Philly-soul influence, lots of production in lush ballads and moderate pop-rock, including the #4 single, “Sara Smile.” Except for one other hit (“Rich Girl,” #1, 1977), Hall & Oates slipped back into the second tier but rebounded in the early 80s with 12 Top 10 singles (five of them #1’s) and four platinum-selling albums between 1981 to 1985. A Hall & Oates playlist is planned for The Playlist Vault at DrRock.com and Darryl Hall & John Oates can be purchased as a CD on Amazon our downloaded on .

Above we have, John Oates, of Hall and Oates fame. Below we see Muammar al-Qaddafi (wearing a jacket he must have borrowed from Michael Jackson) with Gordon Brown

Tell me they don’t appear suspiciously similar.

Bring me the Head of Darryl Hall

The Film Mystique (Movies To See….Now)

Grey Gardens (Drama) ….Starring jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore (411: About Park Avenue/Hamptons Socialites “Big and Lil Edie Bouvier”)