Here’s the songs that are topping my playlist this week. As always, a couple of these will be used in the music round on Dec. 9. The link will take you to iTunes to hear a sample of the songs.

• My Friend – Take 6
• I’ll Be Around – The Spinners
• Radar Love – Golden Earring
• Don’t Wait Up – Diane Birch
• In The Cold Cold Night – The White Stripes
• You Get What You Give – New Radicals

NICKELBACK- WORST BAND IN THE WORLD?

I don’t want this to necessarily turn into an anti-Nickelback blog.  My last post of course dealt with my feelings that they are over-rated and Breaking Benjamin and Shinedown are too good to be touring with them.  Today, however, I read that they have been voted as “The Worst Band in the World” by readers of Word Magazine (a publication in the U.K.).  While I certainly don’t think they are one of the world’s best, they are probably pretty distant from worst as well.

There are some other choices in there that kind of make sense- Savage Garden, Maroon 5, Snow Patrol (I think they’ve done some pretty good stuff but that damn “Chasing Cars” song brings them down a few good notches…I know…it’s their biggest hit).  I can’t really understand Spin Doctors being on the list.  They seem to make a lot of “worst ever” lists too.  Come on…”Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” and “Two Princes” are 90s greats.  I also don’t understand New Radicals (best known for their 1998 hit “You Get What You Give”)  They only did one album (Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too) and it was really quite good.

I also thought “You Get What You Give” was a really cool music video (trashing the mall and all)….

The Brits may have it right with some of their choices, but even if you completely hate The New Radicals, did their one release really do enough damage to put them on a Top 15 Worst Bands list?  Your thoughts?

Well this is it then, my 100th post and as promised here are the 100 songs currently in my top 10 (ok I know that sounds stupid, but regular readers will understand!) If I were to do this again say for the 200th post there would be quite a few differences. This list is in no particular order, although Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” probably still remains my most favourite song ever! I would love to see your comments on the list; is there anything you really like or really don’t like on here, is there anything really embarrassing perhaps. What is your top 10 or top 100? Incidentally I can already think of many more that didn’t make the cut!

As usual you will find the usual trivia content or comment along with the songs

No Woman No Cry        Bob Marley – Obviously I love this song but it has to be the live version and then preferably the one from the 1975 London Lyceum concerts. That album was called simply ‘Live’ and I wore out my vinyl copy completely

Police And Thieves        Junior Murvin – A classic reggae song, well covered by the Clash. Sadly the song is still all too pertinent today

Licking Stick     Desmond Dekker – Fun reggae at it’s best from the late great Mr Dacres

Cottage In Negril           Tyrone Taylor – Don’t ask me why but this is probably one of my favourite reggae songs ever. It makes me want to go to Negril

Rebel, Rebel     David Bowie – The first single from the wonderful Diamond Dogs album. A glorious Rolling Stones pastiche on which, unusually, Mr Bowie plays lead guitar

Heroes  David Bowie – Inspirational and also a song that I will have played at my funeral in 50 years. You should check out the versions he recorded in both French and German

Strawberry Letter 23       Brothers Johnson – Regular readers will know just how much I love this song. ‘Nuff said

I Want You Back           Jackson 5 - That opening piano run still sends shivers down my spine and frankly how can you not want to dance to this

Superstition      Stevie Wonder – Stevie rocks out more than many on this one which was originally written for Jeff Beck. More than enough to forgive Mr Wonder for “I Just Called To Say I Love You”

White Man In The Hammersmith Palais    Clash – In my humble opinion the finest song by the finest band ever!

London Calling  Clash – If my memory serves me well this is the only Clash song ever to feature in a Bond movie

Complete Control          Clash – A venomous attack on CBS, far more venomous than the Sex Pistols “EMI” in my view

Don’t Let Me Down        Beatles – My favourite Fab Four song which in fact was only a B Side! Also a song that I sing very badly at full volume when I’m drunk

Revolution        Beatles – Another moptops classic that I also sing very badly whilst under the influence of alcohol

Instant Karma    John Lennon – Karma is a powerful thing and Instant Karma is a powerful song!

Do Anything You Wanna Do      Eddie And The Hot Rods – In my teens this was probably one of the most meaningful and uplifting songs I knew. Even at the old age of 50 it still does it for me

Gary Gilmore’s Eyes      Adverts – For subject matter alone this would be in the top 100. Mr Gilmore was executed in the US in the mid 70s and he donated his eyes to an anonymous someone. That someone is the subject of the song!

Theme From A Summer Place    Percy Faith Orchestra – You might say that this is one of my guilty pleasures, well maybe, but it is a beautiful piece of music. It was also used to great effect in the TV adaptation of Stephen King’s Rose Red

Wild Is The Wind           David Bowie – Not a Bowie original but one written for a 50s movie, perhaps more of a torch song and one of Bowie’s best ever cover versions. It certainly makes up for his bloody awful cover of the Beach Boys “God Only Knows” in the 80s

What’s Going On?         Marvin Gaye – Great song from a great album, such a shame that it still rings true after nearly 40 years

September        Earth, Wind And Fire – E, W & F at their best, probably my favourite Saturday night song

God Save The Queen    Sex Pistols – Fear and conspiracy kept this from the number one spot in the Queens Silver Jubilee week in 1977. For me this is a major contender for the UK’s new national anthem!

Public Image     Public Image Limited – So many people thought that Lydon would do nothing after the Pistols, how very wrong they were.

Suspicious Minds          Elvis Presley – Elvis gets his mojo back after all those years of shit movie songs

She’s Gone    Hall & Oates – Taken from the Abandoned Luncheonette album, one of the saddest songs I know. I always play this when I’m in a melancholy mood. I also believe that Daryl Hall has the finest white soul voice in history. And what the bloody hell is a luncheonette?

Mack The Knife   Bobby Darin – I love story songs and this is easily one of the best. You have to tap your feet and click your fingers to this don’t you?

Karma Police    Radiohead – Probably the best band in the world today

Bernadette        Four Tops – Levi Stubbs RIP, I believe Mr Stubbs was the finest soul singer there ever was and ever will be. is this the only song about a Bernadette too?

Still Water (Love)           Four Tops – Relaxing, powerful, beautiful, ethereal, there simply aren’t enough words to describe this gorgeous song

Into My Arms    Nick Cave – As love songs go this might be quite strange but it is undoubtedly beautiful too

Talk Show Host    Radiohead - My favourite song from the ‘Head by a long way. just a B Side and als on the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Romeo And Juliet’ movie

Take Me Girl I’m Ready  Junior Walker – My favourite ever juke box record. In the late 70s this was number 77A on the jukebox in the Windmill pub in Ruislip

Woman To Woman        Shirley Brown – A real torch song, sets the hairs on the back of my neck on end

If Loving You Is Wrong   Millie Jackson – and the classic soul torch diva has to be Ms Jackson. I saw her live at the Victoria Apollo in the 70s

Ms Jackson      Outkast - Talking of Ms Jackson (although this is actually about Erykah Badu’s Mum) here is my favourite Outkast song. Don’t you think it sounds a little reminiscent of ‘Strawberry Letter 23′?

I Know What I like (In Your Wardrobe)     Genesis – Personally I think Genesis went downhill after Peter Gabriel left, what do you think? But this Gabriel era song is just sublime and what a fantastic title too

Metal Guru        T Rex – A song I used to mime to with my tennis racquet as a teenage wannabe rock star. So why did I go on to become a bloody accountant?

One Nation Under A Groove       Funkadelic - The ultimate dance song. I saw them live with companion band Parliament in 1978 at the Hammersmith Odeon. Still one of the best concerts I have ever seen

I Can See Clearly Now   Johnny Nash – This man has the voice of an angel, why are so few of his albums available on CD. Definitely one of my heroes, I reckon I would be lost for words if I met him

There Are More Questions Than Answers            Johnny Nash – A Texan singer that sings reggae? it shouldn’t work should it? But it does doesn’t it?

Solsbury Hill     Peter Gabriel – If I ever feel a bit down this is the song I play to pull myself back up. Written about his decision to leave Genesis just before they went towards mega stardom

I Was Watching You      Rosanne Cash – Regular readers will know that I have mentioned this song before. I do cry most times I listen to it and although it was released after his death it makes me think of my Dad

Hurt      Johnny Cash – Mr Cash covers a Trent Reznor off of the Nine Inch Nails song. You must be pretty hard if this doesn’t make you at least a tad emotional

The Man Who Sold The World    Lulu – One of the better covers of a Bowie song. If their respective labels had sanctioned it Mr Bowie was ready to record a whole album with Lulu. Sadly that didn’t happen

All The Young Dudes     Mott The Hoople – The greatest Bowie cover, in fact one of his greatest songs and he simply gave it to Mott!

Wishing Well     Free – Forget all the stuff he’s done with Queen, this was one of Paul Rodgers finest vocal performances

You Get What You Give        New Radicals – One of the most short-lived bands of the 90s, but what a legacy. Gregg Alexander also wrote (or co wrote) Ronan Keating’s ‘Life Is A Rollercoaster’ which I kind of like!

A Town Called Malice    Jam – Paul Weller. probably the greatest English rock star of his generation. I saw him live at the MEN in Manchester last year and he is even better in concert. Indeed he played this Jam classic too

The Look Of Love         ABC – For all my criticism of the 80s this song and the album it comes from (The Lexicon Of Love) is one of my favourites. Produced by the great Trevor Horn

Sheena Is A Punk Rocker          Ramones - 1, 2, 3, 4 and off da bruvvers go. Hey Ho Let’s Go is there really anything else to say?

Wuthering Heights         Kate Bush – Oh Kate my Lionheart, I love this woman and want to have her babies

The Man With The Child In His Eyes        Kate Bush – OK maybe I wouldn’t really do the male pregnancy thing with Kate, but she is definitely my favourite female singer

5.15      Who – My favourite song from the Who from my favourite of their albums, the classic ‘Quadraphenia’

Sugar Sugar      Archies – This was the first single I ever bought. I got it from Uxbridge market in 1969

Suedehead       Morrissey – For me Stephen can be a bit hit or miss but this is definitely on the hit side

William It Was Really Nothing     Smiths – How could I not include the Smiths in this list and yes I am being just a tad egotistical with this choice

New Years Day  U2 – The piano refrain is haunting in a rock kind of way. Also more ego coming out here too, my birthday is on new years day!

Justified And Ancient    KLF and Tammy Wynette - There will never be anyone like the KLF. Were they a band or just art terrorists? Who knows and frankly who cares when they left songs and collaborations like this behind!

You Got The Love         The Source Featuring Candi Staton – Another uplifting song, although personally I tend to ignore the religious aspects! Recently Florence And The Machine have recorded a great cover of this song

Gimme Shelter  Rolling Stones – For me this song, especially the riff, evokes the 60s

It’s Only Rock N Roll     Rolling Stones – Now this is another I used to mime to as a teenager, well ok I still do! It might not be a pretty sight but I love doing it!

Hurricane          Bob Dylan – Dylan at his best, when riled or when he gets political he is untouchable. This song was about the plight of wrongly imprisoned boxer Reuben Carter

You Wear It Well            Rod Stewart – Most people I know would opt for Maggie May from his early 70s hits, I always preferred this one. Possibly even worth forgiving him for the awful ‘Baby Jane’ for

Wish You Were Here        Pink Floyd – One of the Floyd’s greatest and another song that gets me just a little emotional

You Can Make Me Dance Sing Or Anything        Rod Stewart And The Faces – I bet you can’t not dance to this. It’s one of the last songs the Faces recorded before Ron Wood and Rod the Mod left. It shows them going in a direction which I think would have been so good

Itchycoo Park    Small Faces – I actually remember hearing this on the radio as a kid. I didn’t have a clue what the lyrics were about then and I don’t think I’m much wiser now! Don’t go near the atrocious cover version by M People

Lowdown          Boz Scaggs - Taken from the excellent Silk Degrees album from 1976 and the track I use to soundcheck any new hi-fi equipment even now

I’m Your Puppet            James And Bobby Purify – This was actually a rerecording of their original 60s song. Guilty pleasure or great soul song? I’ll let you decide, but either way I love it!

Olympian          Gene – probably the best of the ‘Britpop’ bands, well in my opinion anyway. Sadly the band are no longer around, but I did manage to see them three times while they were. Another song that I will have played at my funeral in the very distant future too

Born To Run      Bruce Springsteen – I was always going to include something from the Boss and it was always going to be this song

Lose Yourself   Eminem - In my opinion Mr Mathers is the greatest rapper, although Jay Z does push him close

Too Late To Turn Back Now       Cornelius Brothers And Sister Rose – It took me more than 20 years to track down this song and now when I listen to it I reckon it is definitely a guilty pleasure

Stay Together   Suede – The most Bowie influenced of the 90s British bands. The combination of Brett Anderson’s lyrics and vocals along with Bernard Butler’s guitar is truly awesome

Skin Trade        Duran Duran - A Duran Duran song in my top 100? Yeah that surprised me too

1999     Prince – I love a lot of Prince’s stuff, but this remains a great party track

Susan’s House  Eels – Mark Everett is a superb songwriter and this for me is one of his best. His autobiography is bloody good too

Take A Look Around      Temptations – A terrific Norman Whitfield production and that intro still blows me away!

Let’s Get It On   Marvin Gaye – This great song has recently been sullied by it’s use to advertise pizzas on UK TV (I think it might have been Dominoes) But it still remains a great song for seduction and lurve

The Love I Saw In You Was Just A Mirage          Smokey Robinson And The Miracles – Bob Dylan once described Smokey as the worlds greatest living poet. Listen to this song and you can see why!

Gimme A Little Sign       Brenton Wood – A great example of 60s soul and the song I sing most in the shower (along with the Monkees ‘I’m A Believer’)

The Love You Save       Jackson 5 – Another classic written for the boys by the Motown house writers billed as the Corporation

Staggerlee        Lloyd Price – Another story song and I reckon the best version by far

Once In A Lifetime         Talking Heads – The ‘Heads finest moment for me. This song has everything and makes me happy everytime I hear it

Pyjamarama      Roxy Music – Roxy before they became bland and frankly shit!

Song 2    Blur – Funny isn’t how the songs with barely any lyrics often sound so good. Whoo Hoo indeed!

Double Barrel    Dave And Ansel Collins – Another slice of superb reggae. For years I thought these guys were brothers, they’re not. Actually it’s Ansel Collins and Dave Barker.

Sorted For E’s And Whizz          Pulp – Jarvis Cocker is a lyrical genius and this is Pulp’s best example of his way with words

Spinning Around           Kylie Minogue – OK so there is a certain appeal to the gold hot pants, but as modern disco goes this is brilliant. Gotta love Kylie!

Love Rollercoaster        Ohio Players – One of my favourite funk songs, expertly covered by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers but it wasn’t a patch on the original

Hey Hey My My        Neil Young – A great song and one which found a degree of infamy as it was quoted in Kurt Cobain’s suicide note

Grace     Jeff Buckley – How big a star would he have been had he lived? Probably one og=f the biggest I think

Satellite Of Love           Lou Reed – Taken from the Transformer album which was produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson. Listen carefully and you’ll hear Bowie on backing vocals

Hey Ya      Outkast – The ultimate party record of recent times, a great video too

Since I Left You            Avalanches – Aussie DJs/ dance act, I can’t believe that this wasn’t a bigger hit

Seven Nation Army        White Stripes – Jack White has recently been named man of the decade by some UK publications, perhaps with some justification. The riff alone on this is worth the top 100

White Horses      Jacky – OK clearly this theme from a 60s TV show (strangely enough it was called White Horses) is very much a guilty pleasure but I really love it. I think Jacky’s only other hit was ‘Rupert The Bear’

D’Yer Make ‘Er  Led Zeppelin – Taken from Houses Of The Holy and in many peoples opinion Zep’s worst song. But I like to be different and this piece of cod reggae is wonderfully irreverent

Wild Wood        Paul Weller – England’s finest living rock star perhaps? Well after Mr Bowie anyway

Stay With Me    Lorraine Ellison – How much emotion can you squeeze into a song, not much more than Lorraine Ellison does in fact. Ignore the David Essex cover of this song at all costs!

Young Americans    David Bowie – What he himself described as plastic soul and one of the songs I can recite the whole lyric of

Here’s the songs that are topping my playlist this week. As always, a couple of these will be used in the music round on Nov. 18. The link will take you to iTunes to hear a sample of the songs.

• Super Freak – Bruce Hornsby & Ricky Skaggs
• Don’t Wait Up – Diane Birch
• Island in the Sun – Weezer
• You Get What You Give – New Radicals
• Tell Mama – Etta James
• Slow Down Baby – Christina Aguilera

1. Back in 1999 when the song came out, people already knew the answers by searching on AltaVista, Yahoo, Hotbot, and Lycos.

2. Amelia Earhart got abducted by sentient squid people from Tau Ceti so she could teach them how to fly instead of teleporting all over the place.

3. “Who holds up the stars in the sky?” “Did the captain of the Titanic cry?” “Is true love just once in a lifetime?” Who gives a fuck?

4. If you’re trying to pass yourself off as profound and existential by asking “why the sky is blue?” will just make you sound like an idiot. Unless of course you are one.

5. You are probably not meant for her because all you do is ask stupid questions.

6. Should you have the chance to ask God one question, ask something more clever like “Is there a God?”, “If you can create and do everything, can you make a stone so heavy that you can’t lift it?”, “Why did some songs in the late ’90s suck so much?”

7. Someday we’ll know why people fell for this whiny pseudo-existentialist crap. (edg)

Aquella gran banda extinta en los 90´s.

Que bellos los años 90´s que parecen tan lejanos YA, y es que si se habla de aquellos locos y salvajes años, es hablar de la canción icono por excelencia de estos tiempos de antaño “You Get What You Give”, rola emblema de toda una extraña generación. Tan famosa y representativa como la movie “Clueless”.

Es extraño el destino al que fue condenada esta banda “One hit song” cuyo final fue anunciado antes de sacar al aire su segundo sencillo. La verdad que mal!!!

Hay cosas que debiesen de durar más, Gregg.
Que hace el sr. Alexander ahora, pues compone canciones para artistas y grupos de talla mundial, sigue chambeando desde Londres.

Que se le va a hacer, ni hablar; sin new radicals NUNCA MÁS. Su estilo subversivo, sincero, y estilo innovador cambiaron la forma en la que se escuchaba el POP en los 90´s.

Además de todo lo representativa que se convirtió esta melódica rola, el sombrerito de Gregg también es todo un icono de la cultura POP.

New Radicals fue una banda californiana que se formó a finales de la década del ‘90 y en 1998 editó el único disco de su breve carrera, Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too. El primer sencillo del álbum, You Get What You Give, se transformó en un hit instantáneo.

El grupo se disolvió apenas unos meses después cuando todavía no había salido a la venta el segundo single.

Desde entonces, su líder Gregg Alexander se dedicó a escribir y producir canciones para diversos artistas como Ronan Keating, Hanson, Enrique Iglesias, Geri Halliwell o Melanie C. Su logro más destacado fue haber ganado un Grammy por la canción The Game of Love, interpretada por Santana y Michelle Branch.

Más bandas que se perdieron en lontananza…

Modjo

Fool’s Garden

Blind Melon

Bloodhound Gang

4 Non Blondes

Eiffel 65

Aqua

So yeah it’s been a while since I’ve posted something up, but I don’t think anyone noticed…but whatever, So yeah I’ve finally chosen what College I want to go to……and that’s Ilford County High School…It’s a really posh Grammar school, which expects the best from all its students, which basically means, they expect me to get all A’s in my AS Levels….no pressure…..xD. So yeah, for my AS Levels I’m taking Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Maths Mechanics and Critical Thinking…..yeah it’s a lot….and it’s a lot of hard work…. oh and erm I’m going to keep my promise and tell you what my GCSE grades were…. trust me….they weren’t that good…..

Chemistry: A*
Biology: B
Physics: B
Maths (Linear GCSE): A
Maths (IGCSE): A
Maths Statistics: A
English Language: B
English Literature: B
Food Technology: A
Business studies Double award: BB
Mandarin (That’s Chinese!): B

Now for a normal person, that’s ok….but my parents are Asian, which means If you don’t get all A*’s then it means your SH**. Yeah I’m regarded as the Disgrace of the family…..so yeah I’m going to have to prove myself in A-Levels’….A’s across the board……I’m going to need that especially due to the fact that my life’s ambition is to become a Neurone-consultant or a Cardiologist…….so yeah…….that’s really about it…….don’t worry…..i’ll update this thing more often…..don’t worry…..

Well thanks again for reading this ;D Love you all

Der Herbst ist da und damit die Zeit der depressiven Folk-Balladen und Post-Rock-Hymnen. Bevor ich aber allzu rapide in Trübseligkeit versinke, hier ein Song aus einem Album, dass ich eigentlich den gesamten Sommer über rauf und runter gehört habe. Die Rede ist von “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed”, der leider einzigen Platte der New Radicals, die mittlerweile auch schon zehn Jährchen auf dem Buckel hat, nach wie vor aber meeeegagute Laune verbreitet. Der Song heißt “Flowers”.

I used to have a top ten chart I listened to every week.

In my head.

When I was a kid, I used to have a “chart” in my head of my favourite songs, just like the one I listened to every weekend on the radio. I would lie in bed at night and go through it in my head, like I was counting down the hits just like Casey Kasem. I can even still remember some of the songs that reigned over my countdown, like Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” which was always at number one. I’m not entirely sure why, but maybe much like the real charts, it would be the band’s only foray into the number one spot in the top songs of the day (including mine). It also represented a pattern in my chart which was for some reason very ballad focused. Lonestar’s “Amazed” was up there, and one hit wonder Shawn Mullins’ “Lullaby”. I guess I was kind of a wussy kid.

This album was my life.

It wasn’t all heartfelt ballads though. Bands like New Radicals and Fastball had some big chart time as well, along with that fun time when Chumbawumba was cool. I think I had a thing for one hit wonders, or maybe there was just a high ratio of them those days in the late 90’s. Shit went crazy when Smashmouth came out with “All Star” too, and that rocketed up the charts, though never knocking off the ever present Aerosmith from the top spot.

This was beyond cool.

Now you may ask, why the hell am I rambling about this? Well, besides just sharing a weird habit I had as a kid, it’s also kind of an exploration of something that I think I could never have again. Point is, there is a time when I could name my top ten favourite songs. I even had a “favourite” song, which was pretty much set in stone as far as I was concerned. Now, I can’t even name my top ten favourite 80’s hardcore songs. Despite the fact that nowadays I am virtually a musical encyclopedia on most music, I can’t even name my favourite songs any more. I became so over saturated with the stuff that I could never even begin to pick out my “favourite song ever”.

I find this kind of depressing. Yes I still enjoy music, and I might have some favourite songs or albums if you can break down your list into sub-sub-genres. I think though, that I will never have that initial certainty again, over what I know is my favourite thing in the world.

Like I said, there isn’t really a point to this, other than to ruminate on something I no longer can connect with, but I thought it would make for an interesting discussion. Can you name, with absolute certainty, your top ten favourite songs? Did you ever have a weekly countdown of your favourite songs? Did you know I used to think Eric Clapton was black? Plenty of hard pressing questions here, and if you’re nice enough, please respond with a comment.

- D

Someday we’ll know why Samson loves Delilah.

Someday we’ll know if I ever get to buy my frickin dream house.

Someday we’ll know if I will get something more permanent.

Someday we’ll know if Equine Boulevard was the right thing to do.

Someday we’ll know if Wawa will ever respond.

Someday we’ll know if Allan will get his damn license.

Someday we’ll know why Allan is so dry now.

Someday we’ll know why people would order tau foo fah with kicap.

Someday we’ll know why Chakde does not respond over YM or MSN.

Someday we’ll know if the band in RP will ever get better.

Someday we’ll know if we will have a more transparent government.

Someday we’ll know if I could ever get to introduce myself as Bangsa Malaysia.

Someday we’ll know if Liverpool will ever win the BPL.

Someday we’ll know why the hell would we even bother to have F1 Team 1Malaysia.

Someday we’ll know if the country will ever regain her sanity.

Someday we’ll know if Dr Wee get to focus on one major business.

Someday we’ll know if Mariss finds her soulmate.

Someday we’ll know if Mariana can ever fix her boyfriend.

Someday we’ll know if Mariana will quit becoming a ghost.

Someday we’ll know if I could find a new chill out place.

Someday we’ll know if Black Jr is Black’s child.

…Someday you’ll know that I was the one for you….

Not exactly “New” at being racist are they?

After what I can only describe as an amazing month of August with thousands of Americans going to Town Hall meetings with their elected representatives to express their views, the month of September actually managed to top it.

Specifically September 12, 2009 will for me be the date the New Radicals went from their birth in February, beyond baby steps, to outright learning to walk and talk.

People from all walks of life, all races, all levels of income, marched on Washington, DC to express their displeasure at the speed and expense of reforms initiated by Barack Obama and the Democrat led Congress.

The main message; slow down. Think about what you are doing and what will be the consequences of your actions. Don’t fix what isn’t broken, and take the time to do it right when you fix what is.

Contrary to what many are saying in the old guard main stream media, it’s not a movement born of hate; rather of love. Love of one’s own country, neighbors, and children. A love that says; “You don’t have to destroy to change”.

Now these people are being called “Racists™” and they don’t understand why.

Not so very long ago, they heard the words;

“I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration, somehow you’re not patriotic, and we should stand up and say, “WE ARE AMERICANS AND WE HAVE A RIGHT TO DEBATE AND DISAGREE WITH ANY ADMINISTRATION!”

The United States of America is a country where the very founding was born of dissent, protest, and disagreement. In fact, reaching back to those historic protests in Boston Harbor is to invite the vilest of derogatory innuendo from those who seek to disparage and demoralize an entire section of America who happens to disagree with the methods and ideology of this administration.

Today it’s all changed. Today when they disagree with the President of the United States they are called racist and worse.

Even a certain bitter, inept ex-president is getting into the act.

To my way of thinking, someone who seems to always pull the race card out first is probably hiding some racist thoughts of their own.

Possibly Jimmy Carter’s head is stuck in the 1940s segregated south, or stuck someplace considerably darker (my preferred explanation), but after railing his Anti-Semitic rants against Israel in a book endorsed by none other than Osama Bin-Laden, he came out against the people of the United States calling them, in essence, racists;

“I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he’s African American,” Mr. Carter told an NBC interviewer.

“I think it’s bubbled up to the surface, because of a belief among many white people, not just in the South but around the country, that African Americans are not qualified to lead this great country.”

Carter only vocalizes what seemingly a majority of the left is already thinking; that anyone who disagrees with Barack Hussein Obama only does so because of the color of his skin, not the content of his character or lack thereof.

In honor of the start of the NFL football season, I’m throwing the B.S. flag on the race play.

Best stated by @snarkandboobs in her post here;

I’m really tired of trying to explain to the Left that they are the ones who see color everywhere and in everything and that they are reprehensibly diminishing true acts of real racism; in fact, they are diminishing and demeaning the entire Civil Rights movement.

Searching pictures of the recent 9/12 gathering in DC I’m hard-pressed to find examples of the racists cited by the leftist Jimmy Carter.

I don't see racists here

Nor here...

Here possibly

There’s at least one ex-president who should’ve stuck to building homes for the homeless. After he lent his name to Habitat for Humanity, it was forgotten or at least forgiven what a horrible job he did as President.

For Middle America, it’s all flooding back to us now.

Thanks, Mr. Carter.

Ass.

Crossposted

New Radicals. Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too

!!!!

1999, MCA/Universal

New Radicals este una dintre cele mai bune formaţii debutante de rock alternativ din 1999. Vocea solistului şi ritmurile formaţiei ne poartă pe un val de note nostalgice din epoca de glorie a trupei Rolling Stones (sau îi mai putem compara cu Manic Street Preachers …în toane pervers de bune). Gotta stay high, In need of a miracle şi Technicolor lover sunt piese retro-rock. Piesa titulară este comoara ascunsă a albumului! Mother we just can’t get enough este plină de unde bioenergice pozitive iar I don’t wanna die anymore este cea mai psihedelică baladă.

Hey there whoever’s watching!!  What’s the day looking like?

Alignment in life is incredible.  When I get that buzz inside of everything is just as it should be and that things right now at this time could never be better.  My experience this week has been outrageous!!!

I travelled to Saint John, New Brunswick for work.  One of the beautiful places in this world with loads of history.  It’s located right on the ocean which is right up my alignment alley ).

Lead up to alignment:  Prior to travel I spent the weekend at a cottage on an island with no roads!   I served myself by playing, laughing, letting go of my schedule.  I served others by listening, spending time, some manual labour (good for my goddessness body goals), and all around hanging with them.  Instead of leaving on the Monday night, I waited and left Tuesday morning.  It was great…I left a 6am paddled the canoe across the water to the car park.   Wow!!  What a pleasure to start my day like that.

Fast forward, I’m packed, have all the work details completed as required and I’m on the plane.  Sitting beside me is a brilliant man.  He and I are completely aligned in who we are.  He introduced me to the book the New Radicals.  People who are gazillionaires who leave the corporate world to live lives of fulfillment, to make impact on future generations.  Totally where my focus is….making an impact for the people that I encounter, and for the future generations.

Immediately we are able to speak on the deeper level of what life looks like for one another, what is the 20 year goal, what we really enjoy.  It was amazing.  A fabulous 2 hours spent getting to know someone.  It created a ton of value for both of us and a lot of joy for me.   I carried this joy factor through the week…meetings were easy and flowing, meeting new people was interesting and fun.   I was completely aligned and attracting people who were the type of people I wanted to attract in my life.  I met a man on the golf course with 2 businesses…retirement plan set up, completely excited and pumped about life not just where he is going, but where he is right now in this very moment!   I was also able to clearly recognize the people that I was not aligned with, however still able to connect with them.

All day Friday I was teaching.  I enjoyed it so much…watching the “students” reactions, dancing in the moment with objections and questions, enlightening them and seeing them learn and get excited about what they were doing.  It was awesome.   From that I walked away with new business not really even trying to “sell”.  It was just meant to be.  FABULOUS!!

Walking to my seat on the plane, the brilliant man is sitting there is my row!!  It gave me goosebumps!  We were meant to meet and connect.  Although we were not talking and sitting together it was serendipitous that we were there.   Connecting after the flight he expressed what I was feeling.  There is a reason we met, although we are not clear what it is it was meant to be.  It created a beautiful feeling inside of me.  Clarity, joy, happiness, love…total alignment.  He went out of his way to assist me with my bag and he left.  We have no plans for connection in the future as I’m sure that when we meet again it will be no accident.

Driving home, I recognized that everything was exactly as it was supposed to be.  Permagrin on my face even now as I recount this event.

Thanks for reading thanks for sharing yourself to this world.  You make someone’s day and sometimes you don’t even know it!!

TTYL!!

Christine ))

¿Alguien se acuerda de este temazo? Sonó hasta la saciedad en 1999, era bonito, pegadizo, resultón y se apartaba de lo que uno estaba acostumbrado a escuchar a finales de los 90. Seguro que no reconocéis el título, pero pinchad y recordaréis…

El grupo estaba liderado (prácticamente era su proyecto en solitario) por Gregg Alexander, que ya llevaba dos discos bajo ese nombre, eso sí, de nula repercusión, Michigan Rain (1989) e Intoxifornication (1992). A finales de los noventa forma The New Radicals y recibe un suculento adelanto de 500.000 dólares para grabar su único disco, Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too, donde toca todos los instrumentos y produce todas las canciones.

El disco es comercial, alegre y bastante fiestero a veces, pero las letras van por otro camino: la mercantilización de la sociedad occidental, críticas a los medios de comunicación, a la política yanqui y la religión… además de insultos directos en el caso de esta canción, como veremos luego.

Alexander se cansó de la gira en 1999 y se retiró poco antes de sacar un segundo single, que ya no tuvo ninguna repercusión, convirtiéndose en el último one-hit wonder de los 90.

Lo que más repercusión dio a este tema fue la parte final, con la siguiente letra: “Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson/ Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson/ You’re all fakes run to your mansions/ Come around we’ll kick your ass in“, donde repartee un poco para todos. En España, claro, no nos dimos cuenta, y nos gustaba cuando la ponían en los 40 principales porque era molona…

La respuesta de Marilyn Manson por cierto, fue que no le gustaba salir en la misma frase que Courtney Love y que si se encontraba a Alexander le iba a partir la crisma. Beck, por su parte, comenta que Greg Alexander le pidió perdón personalmente. Y a Hanson les dio más o menos lo mismo.

La realidad es que se trataba de un experimento: la línea anterior de la letra es el verdadero meollo. “Health insurance rip off lying/ FDA big bankers buying/ Fake computer crashes dining/ Cloning while they’re multiplying“). Los medios no comentaron nada sobre los temas serios, sino sobre lo otro. Típico.

Alexander, tras este proyecto, se dedica a componer canciones para artistas de dudosa o ninguna calidad y a producirles los discos. Su lista es extensa y seguro que habéis oído canciones suyas aunque no lo sepáis, por ejemplo Ronan Keating (de la banda para quinceañeras acneicas Boyzone) Hanson, Mel C., Mónica Naranjo Ricky Martin o Enrique Iglesias. Aunque también ha compuesto para Texas  Santana o Rod Stewart

Dato aleatorio: Los mismos músicos que giraron con los New Radicals volvieron a reunirse el año pasado como The Not So Silent Majority para grabar la canción “Obama Rock”.

Wake up kids
We’ve got the dreamers disease
Age 14 we got you down on your knees
So polite, you’re busy still saying please
Frienemies, who when you’re down ain’t your friend
Every night we smash their Mercedes benz
First we run; and then we laugh till we cry
But when the night is falling
And you cannot find the light
If you feel your dream is dying
Hold tight

You’ve got the music in you
Don’t let go
You’ve got the music in you
One dance left
This world is gonna pull through
Don’t give up
You’ve got a reason to live
Can’t forget
You only get what you give
Four a.m. we ran a miracle mile
We’re flat broke but hey we do it in style
The bad rich
God’s flying in for your trial
But when the night is falling
And you cannot find a friend
You feel your tree is breaking
Just then..
This whole damn world can fall apart 
You’ll be ok, follow your heart
You’re in harms way I’m right behind
Now say you’re mine

Don’t let go
We feel the music in you
Fly high
What’s real can’t die
You only get what you give
Just don’t be afraid to leave
Health insurance rip off lying FDA big bankers buying
Fake computer crashes dining
Cloning while they’re multiplying
Fashion mag shoots
With the aid of 8 dust brothers, beck hanson
Courtney love, and marilyn manson
You’re all fakes
Run to your mansions
Come around
We’ll kick your ass in!
Don’t let go
One dance left

Postscript: championed by a soulless media misleading
People unaware they’re bleeding
No one with a brain is believing
It’s so sad you lost the meaning
Never knew it anyway
Human nature’s so predictable
I’m a fool to do your dirty work whoa, whoa..

I’ve been meaning to get back to my Mixed Tapes series for a couple of weeks, but it got shuffled to the back of my brain, and my memory got jogged this morning as I heard New Radicals’ “You Get What You Give” on Radio 1.

Besides being a reminder that Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too has been on my to-do list for a while, hearing “Get” on the radio made me feel old, because I thought to myself “really solid songs don’t make it on to pop radio anymore”. Of course that’s not true, but the timelessness of that single and the rest of the record just doesn’t happen quite as much in the here and now, where people are constantly chasing the hottest featured artist, producer, or writer. I know I am painting with a broad stroke here, but it sure feels like it at times.

Brainwashed opens with “Mother We Just Can’t Get Enough”, and really sets the anti-establishment tone of the album. The song itself talks about a love (to my ears, I’m not sure if it’s a person or a drug, but these songs are open to interpretation), and “mother” is referenced in a way to say that she doesn’t approve, but she better get used to it. The ending, though, gets to the social commentary, talking about how everything in society is tied to numbers and money, as an automated recording says

Social Security Number please
Credit card number please
Money please

That flows right into the hit single “You Get What You Give”. Lead man (and only consistent member) Gregg Alexander yells out the count, and the song takes flight off of it, soaring throughout as Alexander sings about living life to the fullest. The infamous rap at the end name-checks Courtney Love, Hanson, Beck, and Marilyn Manson, and got more attention at the time, but in the full context, it’s an indictment of not only celebrity, but also government and big business. Alexander also rages against the machine and pop culture on other tracks, including highlight “I Hope I Didn’t Just Give Away the Ending”:

We caught a fey taxi driver
I smiled the ride was free
I felt like Amsterdam
She wanted more drugs and maybe me
I told her dealer I was broke
He hired a camera man
We did a porno film for coke
I hear I’m big in Japan

The highlight for me on this disc, though, is the ballad “Someday We’ll Know”, which describes the aftermath of a relationship, and uses a series of analogies to question why the relationship didn’t work out. As a twenty-something questioning why relationships never seemed to last for me, this song connected personally as well as musically.

Other strong tracks on the disc include “Jehovah Made This Whole Joint For You”, “Crying Like A Church On Monday”, and “Technicolor Lover”. In listening to the tape from start to finish, I’m struck first by how good it consistently is, but also by the cohesion between tracks. This is an album, not just a bunch of singles strung together. It’s good to know that in the midst of all the mediocre tapes that I still own, there are at least a couple that have stood the test of time.

Fun facts:
- Alexander is the producer behind “The Game of Love”, which nabbed Santana a Grammy.
- “Someday We’ll Know” was covered by Hall and Oates.
- Danielle Brisebois, who co-wrote “Someday” and worked on other tracks, played Stephanie, Edith Bunker’s niece’s daughter who Archie took in on Archie Bunker’s Place.

O que a música “Someday We’ll Know” do New Radicals, os episódios “The One With The Lottery” de Friends e “The 37’s” de Star Trek: Voyager e o filme ”Uma Noite no Museu 2” tem em comum?
Amelia Earhart!
Amelia quem? Pois bem, continue lendo a 3° bio do meu blog e descubra!
(O artigo sobre ela na Wiki é enorme e alguém teve a trabalheira de traduzir pro português. Só que traduziu cheio de erros. A versão daqui – como sempre – é um resumão do que aparece na Wiki em inglês com uma ou outra coisa que eu descubra por fora [mas acho que dessa vez não tem nada pra se descobrir por fora] e ler aqui vale mais a pena do que na Wiki em pt porque é mais conciso e acurado. Ou seja, mais fácil de entender e sem incoerências. Ou talvez não.)

Quarta-feira passada (dia 24) completaram 112 anos do nascimento de Amelia Mary Earhart, escritora e pioneira da aviação, nascida em Atchison, Kansas.
Conforme a tradição familiar, a filha mais velha de Samuel “Edwin” Stanton Earhart e Amelia “Amy” Otis Earhart recebeu seu nome em homenagem às suas duas avós (Amelia Josephine Harres e Mary Wells Patton).
Desde cedo, Meeley (apelido de Amelia) tinha espírito de liderança, enquanto sua irmã dois anos mais nova, Grace Muriel Earhart, ou “Pidge”, era sua fiel seguidora. Sua criação não foi convencional, já que sua mãe não acreditava em criar as filhas para se tornarem “menininhas comportadas” e as duas irmãs passaram a infância explorando a vizinhança, subindo em árvores, caçando ratos, escorregando em colinas e colecionando minhocas, mariposas, “esperanças” (inseto parecido com uma cigarra) e um sapo.
Em 1904, com a ajuda de seu tio, ela improvisou uma rampa que, apoiada no telhado da casa de ferramentas, imitava uma montanha-russa que ela viu em uma viagem a St. Louis. Usando uma caixa de madeira como trenó, Amelia fez seu primeiro vôo documentado e terminou com o lábio machucado, vestido rasgado e uma incrivel sensação de felicidade: “Ah, Pidge, foi como se eu voasse!”, teria dito.
Em 1907, devido ao seu trabalho para a Rock Island Railroad, Edwin Earhart teve de ser transferido para Des Moines, Iowa, onde, no ano seguinte, Amelia viu seu primeiro avião numa feira estadual. Edwin tentou incentivar as meninas a voarem nele, mas bastou uma olhada para Amelia perguntar se não podia voltar para o carrossel e mais tarde teria descrito o biplano como: “uma coisa de fios velhos e madeira e nada interessante”.
As duas irmãs ficaram com os avós enquanto os pais se mudaram para uma casa menor em Des Moines, onde foram educadas em casa por uma governanta. Mais tarde ela disse que tinha “uma paixão excepcional por livros” e passava incontáveis horas na grande biblioteca da família. Em 1909, quando a família finalmente se reuniu em Des Moines, as meninas foram matriculadas pela primeira vez numa escola pública.
Tudo ia bem quando se tornou aparente que Edwin era alcoólatra e, em 1914, foi forçado a aposentar-se. Ele tentou se reabilitar com tratamentos, mas não conseguiu seu emprego de volta. Por volta da mesma época, Amelia Otis (avó da Amelia Earhart, vocês leram no começo do post) morreu subtamente, deixando para sua filha uma quantia substancial que ficou sob custódia, pois temiam que o problema de Edwin acabasse com todo dinheiro. A casa de Otis e todos os seus bens foram leiolados, partindo o coração de Amelia que mais tarde teria descrito isso como o fim de sua infância.
Depois de uma longa procura, em 1915, Edwin conseguiu emprego na Great Northern Railway, em St. Paul, Minnesota, onde Amelia entrou para o colegial. No mesmo ano, Edwin pediu tranferência para Springfield, Missouri, mas o novo encarregado da Rock Island reviu sua aposentadoria e exigiu que ele voltasse a trabalhar, deixando-o sem escolha.
Diante de uma nova mudança drástica, Amy Earhart levou suas filhas para Chicago, onde moraram com amigos. Para a escolha da próxima escola, Amelia fez uma exigência pouco usual: ela queria a que tivesse o melhor programa de ciências, e rejeitou a escola mais próxima por que o laboratório parecia “uma pia de cozinha”. Finalmente entrou para a Hyde Park High School, onde passou um péssimo semestre como mostra sua frase no anuário: “A.E. – a garota de marrom que anda sozinha.”
No ano seguinte ela se formou e, apesar dos problemas na infância, continuava aspirando a uma carreira e mantinha um caderno de recortes com matérias de jornal sobre mulheres bem sucedidas em áreas predominantemente masculinas, como direção de filmes, direito, propaganda, administração e engenharia mecânica. Começou a faculdade na Ogontz School, Pennsylvania, mas não concluiu.
Durante as férias do Natal de 1917, ela visitou sua irmã em Toronto, onde viu soldados feridos voltando da Primeira Guerra Mundial. Após ser treinada como enfermeira pela Cruz Vermelha, começou a trabalhar com o Destacamento de Ajuda Voluntário do Hospital Militar de Spadina, onde, entre outras coisas, preparava as refeições dos pacientes com dietas especiais e entregava medicação prescrita na farmácia do hospital.
Quando a epidemia de gripe espanhola de 1918 chegou a Toronto, Amelia trabalhou arduosamente no hospital militar até ela mesma se tornar uma paciente: contraiu pneumonia e sinusite e foi hospitalizada, em Novembro. Seus sintomas eram dor e pressão ao redor de um dos olhos e secreção de muco através do nariz e garganta e foi submetida a dolorosas pequenas operações para limpar o seio paranasal afetado, mas o procedimento não foi bem sucedido e ela sofreu de dores de cabeça cada vez piores (tudo porque na época não existiam antibióticos). Recebeu alta ainda em Dezembro, mas permaneceu convalescente por quase um ano, na casa de sua irmã em Massachusetts, onde passava o tempo lendo poesia, aprendendo a tocar banjo e estudando mecânica. A sinusite crônica ainda lhe afetaria no futuro.

Continua…
(Putz, eu tenho que parar de me empolgar com essas bios! Era pra ser um post só!)

welcome to the summer of 2009

As far as summer jams for 2009 are concerned, I’m currently digging this Tiedye remix of DJ Kaos’s “Love The Night Away”, and YACHT’s unbelievably-awesome “Psychic City“.  Given that I live in the hippie-mecca of North America, it seems more than fitting that Tiedye — pronounced like a “tie-dye” tee (or so I like to hope/imagine) — would soundtrack my summer fun.  In fact, I may just play this track on repeat during my mandatory “tie-dye all my American Apparel tees before summer starts” party.

Pitchfork’s David Drake describes this song more passionately than I ever will, so I’ll just leave it to him.

MP3: DJ Kaos “Love The Nite Away” (Tiedye Mix) (240kbps//VBR)

It brought on a strong sense of uneasiness when Drake described this track as “perhaps the Avalanches remixing the New Radicals“, because that description is more-or-less bang-on, and it’s pretty weird to think I’m grooving to a New Radicals-esque tune.  But like Drake says, this song “represents a timeless, universally recognized, frequently-chased, and seldom-realized intangible feeling,” so I’m just going to let-go and enjoy.

[via]

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