Top 5's Ought Seven

I didn’t buy much music. Of the things I bought and listened to:

Top Five Records of 2007

5. Spoon, GA GA GA GA GA

4. Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, It’s not Big, It’s Large

3. Magic, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

2. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky, Damnit

1. meh. Nothing excited me that much.

Top Five Shows I Saw in 2007

5. Wayne Hancock, Smith’s Olde Bar, Atlanta, GA

4. The New Pornographers, Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA

3. Fountains of Wayne, Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA

2. Jeff Tweedy, the Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA

1. Warm in the Wake, Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA

Songs

5. Radio Nowhere, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

4. Sunday Morning, Elizabeth Cook

3. Are you alright? Lucinda Williams

2. I-95, Fountains of Wayne

1. Hate it Here, Wilco

Biggest Disappointments

5. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky

4. The Shins, Wincing the Night Away

3. Steve Earle, Washington Square Serenade

2. Challengers, the New Pornographers (though translates better live)

1. The Cowboy Junkies show

Top Discoveries

Teddy Thompson, Thanks to the Cowboy Junkies for sucking

The Apples in Stereo, thanks to Sam

Bonnie Prince Billy/Will Oldham-Everything I learn, I learn from Troy

Wayne Hancock, thanks to Troy and Jessica

Explosions in the Sky, thanks to late night neighbor noise and Austin City Limits

Things I liked a lot worth including, but I've not yet completely absorbed:

What I heard of the Rilo Kiley record, the "I'm Not There" soundtrack (makes me ache for a new Calexico record), Iron and Wine's thing, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (far superior to the Amy Winehouse stuff), Rehab, good song though.

Stuff I liked that everyone else liked--Blur guy stuff, Rehab, Radiohead, Prince, Foo Fighters

Good shows not on the list--Blue Mountain, Crowded House/Peter Yorn Bjorn

Best show joke--Peter Yorn singing the whistl-y Peter, Bjorn, and John song in his show straight up, no chaser

Things I'm hoping for in the new year--Steve Earle show, Wilco show, new Calexico album, winning something from a radio call in, a new mac with more itunes room, money for records, Neil Young boxed set

756, or...Hank Aaron never even wore batting gloves

*

Ha! Ha! Screw You, Dick Cheney!

So you're not part of the executive branch? oh well then, you don't need the funding we give you
as part of the executive branch!


"Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., sponsor of the de-funding amendment, noted that five years ago Cheney claimed executive privilege in refusing to release details about his meetings with oil industry executives to discuss energy policy.

"Now when we want to know what he's doing as it relates to America's national security in the lead-up to the war in Iraq and after the fact, the vice president has declared he is a member of the legislative branch."

What a colossal flip flopper...what a, dare I? dick.

You Suck Dick Cheney

You suck Dick Cheney.

You suck, Dick Cheney.

Dick Cheney you suck.

Dick Cheney, you suck.

No, dear reader, this does not apply--

You, suck Dick Cheney...or You! Suck Dick Cheney.


www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/06/23/2007-06-23_cheneys_secret_pass_.html

Stop Dick Cheney now.

Stop, Dick Cheney now.

Dick Cheney stop now.

Dick Cheney, stop now.

Clearly Sunday finds me both bored and outraged. I even wrote my congressman.

Fountains of Wayne, Variety Playhouse 6/19/2007

So Stacy was there. Lots of her. Her moms were there, too. I even saw Stacy's grandma, but decidedly, she hasn't "got it goin' on."

Strangest Variety Playhouse crowd ever. Teens in braces. A guy that looked like me or my friend Brad in say, 10 more years. Yuppies. There were no patterns to this crowd. I reckon FOW does have rather a universal appeal.

At the back corner of the playhouse where we sat, there were at least two categories --three counting us--the "overworked 30 something commuters"--the hit song dancing gay guys, who were having a lot of fun as they ran down to boogie with the masses during the top hits ("Stacy's Mom", "Mexican Wine"), and the "I'm in a band" guys, including the alleged drummer who sat behind me, pretending to be maxing the bass drum pedal (in completely out of time fashion) throughout the show and shaking the entire row around him-- mostly my chair...

The show was enjoyable--FOW writes and plays pretty pop that's almost authentic, as they carefully skirt the borders of novelty and genius. Strangely, my favorite song surrounding the band isn't one they wrote or perform themselves (and I'd lose any of the remaining street cred I have since my favorite band just whored themselves out to Volkswagen, ja, and if I didn't mention this--every so called FOW reviewer does, it'd be a problem) but is instead Robbie Fulks "Fountains of Wayne Hotline," with its tongue-in-cheek admiration for the layered pop perfection that FOW so often achieves.

They have a good stage presence and tight performance skills. Most hilarious to me in terms of their overall stage 'tude is their lead guitarist, who is a mash up of the following:

Jiimmy Page in "Song Remains the Same" duh, even down to the color of his Les Paul
David Cassidy (it's the vest)
and Jackie Earl Haley's Kelly Leek from the original "Bad News Bears" film.

Anyway, I wouldn't have picked it--the same Volkswagen whores mentioned earlier were playing just down the street this same night--but given the rare rain and the crappy yuppies cum infested outdoor venue ("Chat"stain") I was perfectly happy being at Variety once I got there and got settled--settled= getting to L5P late and braving the side streets in search of parking because the opening act is going to suck and we're old and tired-- and finally finding a space.

As concerts go, its nice and refreshing to see a band that embraces and plays their pop hits without any whining or teasing about it....no Michael Stipe-esque "we're just not playing "Stacy's Mom" because, that's just not who were are anymore." Whatever.

Play "Superman" so we can go home, ninny!

Thank you, and good night.

More stickers...

I saw the strangest thing on the west expressway as I was driving out of Atlanta yesterday after work--

A rather average looking truck, and on one side of its back window--a "W '04" sticker, and on the other side an "Obama '08" sticker.

That doesn't even make any sense. It does, however, make me hopeful.

In Loving Memory...

Why on Earth would I choose to display my feelings for a departed loved one with an "In Loving Memory" sticker on the (tinted) window of my car or SUV?

I theorize that this all began tragically with the demise of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Suddenly, there were"3" stickers on the windows of vehicles everywhere. Then, just as suddenly there were 8's as a memorial to the living but grieving son who was also busy risking his life driving around in circles at 200 miles an hour...then it evolved and now the windshield is secondly only to the graveyard as a memorializin' locale.

I wouldn't feel right about offering up my feelings about any dearly departed person with a sticker on my car. I rarely wash my little Nissan. It's not a very holy place, as I drive in Atlanta traffic and yell profanity (often at SOB's with "In Loving Memory" stickers on their cars who cut me off), and I just wouldn't want me dear Grandmother, even in sticker memorial form, to be anywhere near me when I'm like that. I also consider the things the things that get yelled back at me! Not for the ears of anyone's dearly departed mother or grandmother...

Keep these feelings in your heart, or maybe on your sleeve--use a black ribbon or get a tattoo of your loved one's initials on one buttock or the other so I'll never see, but please, stop these stickers. Please? People are already doing enough to turn America's freeways into graveyards.

If you're considering this as part of your car decor and find that, for you, this is a must-- first, consider your car. Is that memorial sticker for your dead golfing buddy really going to look good on the back of that 85 olds Cutlass you've wrecked a couple of times now? Will others, with whom, I assume you wish to share your grief, going to be able to see it through the smoggy discharge of that olds tail pipe?

Also consider the relative location of your memorial sticker to the things you already have on display there-- of Calvin peeing on something, NRA membership stickers, your hoochie mama mudflaps, supporting stickers for ANY and all republican presidential candidates, and that "If the van's rockin' don't bother knockin" thing that's almost peeled off since you put it on back in '73.

I hope that, one day, we'll see...

In Loving Memory

In Loving Memory stickers

Dale, Sr to 2007

May they rest in peace next to scratch n' sniffs and garbage pail kids in sticker heaven.

A Horse is a Horse...Barbaro

It's a sad state of affairs when the American health care system is in the toilet, 46 Million or so Americans don't have health insurance, and suddenly, the attention of our country drifts to a dead horse who got better treatment than any of the rest of us....

Barbaro

(April 29, 2003 – January 29, 2007)

I wish I got this kind of attention from my doctor!

And I know there's a horse joke here somewhere, given our doctor's pose.... but it's a solemn moment in our nations history so...I'll just...let it...(grits teeth) go... s i g h.