Happy 4th of July. It was a good day all in all. Got off to a rough start since I didn’t sleep well, but the day ended well, as I ate really good watermelon with Rob as the sun went down. I hate fireworks that people do at their homes though. I’m kind of a curmudgeon that way.

Anyway, this song is doing great things for my mood right now, and I thought I’d share it with ya. Enjoy the UK’s Doves with probably one of my favorite songs of theirs “Pounding”.

Robbie Williams - “Angels”
When I was watching this video today I couldn’t help but singing along at the top of my lungs while Rob started organizing his stuff we had to evacuate. The version on the DVD I was watching has Bonnie Raitt taking on the guitar solo. It seems more appropriate though to show tis version from Glastonbury Festival 1998. As with Woodstock it seems that teh weather is always a little wonky at the festival, and it is kind of a running joke that if you go, it will involve people mudsliding in their swimsuits (or naked) at some point. Well, this performance by Robbie was during a break in the rain an the sun started peeking through and I thought it was totally appropriate for what we’ve been going through here.

And as a bonus, because I think every day deserves a Kylie Minogue song, here’s “Spinning Around” with Kylie workin’ her famous gold hotpants. Like Madonna, Kylie excels at booty-shakin’ pop/dance music. I just wish I had her butt to shake.

I have been attacking my closet with a slow and steady pace. Sunday night I started going through my closet. I needed something cheesy and mindless to watch and our DirecTV box is out in the bedroom, so I grabbed our Apple TV from the living room and brought it in the bedroom. I tested out the movie rental feature by renting 27 Dresses. It was exactly the kind of light-hearted, predictable rom-com that I was in the mood to watch. If you can believe I had 22 black dresses in my closet ranging form casual to dressy and my goal by the end of the movie was to halve the number of LBD’s in my closet. I am proud to say I achieved my goal.

Yesterday I got rid of more dresses in various colors.  While undertaking that feat, I streamed episodes of AMC’s Mad Men on the Apple TV.  I love the show and am so excited for the new season on July 27.  Plus, the costuming is so wonderful and I imagine myself to be as hot as Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway (the redheaded office manager), so it made it easier to let go of clothes that didn’t make me feel great.

Anyway, tonight was skirt and pant purge night.  So first I started with YouTube ABBA videos, but I was getting tired of finding a new one after one ended.  Rob suggested hitting up our DVD closet.  There was no ABBA, but there were tons of other musical goodies.  I tried to watch Later…with Jools Holland on DVD, but it kept screwing up.  So, I moved on to Kylie Minogue’s Body Language DVD.  There were some skippable moments, but overall it’s a joy to watch.  She has such great style and  she’s just so cute (well, when she doesn’t look like Joan Rivers).  

Anyway, when that was done, there was more work to be done in the form of folding clean laundry, so I popped in this Michel Gondry video anthology I have.  Side A is pretty good, and I’m not familiar enough with his earlier work or the artists he worked with to be interested in Side B yet- maybe another night.

I have been watching the videos going chronologically backward starting in 2003 with the White Stripes “Hardest Button to Button”.  I like how Gondry riffs on repetition in this collection.  Visually, he uses two different views or combines takes and has lots of dreamy repetitive people walking around.  Anyway, Michel Gondry is one of the things on the list over at Stuff White People Like.  I do recommend at least heading over to YouTube and watching some videos.  They are such nice eye candy and he definitely has a unique point of view and even when using the same “gimmick” of repetition in a few videos, he manages to keep it fresh.

Here are a couple of my favorite videos:

“Come Into My World” - Kylie Minogue - Kylies EVERYWHERE!

“Let Forever Be” - The Chemical Brothers - Hard to tell on YouTube, but uses video and film in a nice contrast.

“The Hardest Button to Button” - The White Stripes - Just a great pairing of simple visuals that really work with the music…

Yes, I like this Jesse McCartney song “Leavin’”.  Although it’s weird to me that he references a Gulfstream G5 Jet and that we’re in a culture where lots of people know what that is. Nevermind, I guess people know what 737’s and whatnot are, so I guess it’s not TOTALLY weird.  Anyway, this video makes me feel 14 again.

And here’s a weird fact for you: this kid also wrote the Leona Lewis song “Bleeding Love” with that dude from that OneRepublic (”Apologize”) band.

And tonight Rob had to come in my office and tell me to keep it down because I was dancing around to this song by the Ting Tings- “That’s Not My Name”. It makes me happy:

So, when we went home last week, I tortured Rob by listening to the radio and not pulling out the iPod on the drive from Indy to South Bend. Some of those songs made it to my current iTunes playlist, and I’ve been listening to them for the last week.  I’ll give you a quick rundown of what has worn out its welcome, and which tracks are welcome to stay awhile. 

• “See You Again” - Miley Cyrus Believe it or not, this is the first Miley Cyrus song I have ever heard.  I’m not exactly surrounded by 8-year-old girls, so I have limited knowledge of Miley Cyrus’s actual music.  So imagine my surprise when I was listening to the radio and this song came on.  It channels Blondie and Kylie Minogue with a little Avril Lavigne thrown in.  Two out of three ain’t bad.  Anyway, I had to pull out the iPhone and look up who sang it since the radio neglected to inform me.  I purchased it on Amazon (where I seem to be doing most of my legal MP3 purchases these days), and I have had it almost a week now, and it is only just now starting to wear out its welcome.  It’s still a fun one to blast and dance around to when Rob leaves the house.
• “Mercy” - Duffy Obvious comparisons to Amy Winehouse abound.  It channels older music, but with a modern twist.  Not as dark as Ms. Winehouse, and without the tabloid fodder.  Plus on the album, she namechecks the first tube station I ever lived by- “Warwick Avenue”.
• “Number 1″ - Goldfrapp This song never really gets old for me.  Anything I’m doing seems cooler for having this song in the bakground.  ”Ooh La La” It’s like a female new-milennium Canned Heat.,
• “Low” - Flo Rida The first time I heard this song it made me laugh.  It still does.  I tried singing it to Rob, and he thinks it’s the most ridiculous song ever.  I think this song hit its peak for me about 3 days ago.  But I’m still enjoying it, but it has moved closer to the end of the playlist.
• “Give It 2 Me” - Madonna I don’t remember if I blogged about my disappointment with the latest Madonna album.  In fact,I will.  For now know that this song is in my rotation, but is on its way out.  But, you will get more explanation in a near-future post.
• “Konichiwa Bitches” and “Handle Me” Robyn I like this album.  It’s pretty well-rounded.  I like how it easily melds pop and dance.  These are my current two favorite tracks, but that changes form week to week.  Rob doesn’t get my music taste sometimes.  But often the music I like just needs to accomplish one thing- SHAKE MY A$$!  It’s so super simple.
• “Move Shake Drop Remix”- DJ Laz feat. Flo Rida Again.  It shakes my juicy booty.  So much that I had to take a break from writing this, pump it on the living room speakers, and take a mini dance break to shake it.  
• “Calabria (2008)” - Enur feat. Natasja I pretty much consider buying every Ultra Dance album that comes out.  I tend to like their collections and the remixes.  This one is experiencing a bit of a resurgence.  I keep hearing this lick everywhere.  It’s on some Pitbull song now too.  It’s like Mighty Dub Katz “Magic Carpet Ride” 10 years later.
• “Promiscuous” - Nelly Furtado This is a great song to revisit now that it’s not everywhere on Verizon commercials and whatnot.  The whole album holds up really well, and this song in particular is a nice segway from spring to summer. 
• “Touch My Body” - Mariah Carey This song does not hold up on repeated spins.  It has almost worn out its welcome after only 5 days.  Hearing “I will hunt you down” in lyrics is kind of weird.  It definitely has a certain vibe, but it’s just boring after too many spins.
• I’ll add a sample player later.  Amazon is giving me hassle on it.

Here’s a link to an Onion AV Club Round-Up of a bunch of All-Star Charity Singles.  Some you may remember, some you may not. I didn’t remember the Hearin’ Aid one with all the metal dudes. The best thing about “Stars” is that they have lower-third graphics that tell you who you are watching sing or play the solos. That’s brilliant considering on a lot of these I watch and I’m like, “Who is that?” because some of the “stars” recruited to sing on these tracks are flash-in-the-pan, hot-at-the-moment peeps.

Onion AV Club Benefits Round-Up 

And here’s one that I participated in- Hands Across America.  Boy, everyone participated- Mickey Mouse, C3PO, Andy Warhol (!), Oprah before she was OPRAH… 

And here’s the Sean Lennon/Peace Choir 1991 “Give Peace a Chance” from when we went to war in Iraq the first time. Funny how a lot of the stuff people are “talkin’ bout” are things people are still talkin’ bout. It’s kind of weird. And kind of sad. You’d think we would have come further in 17 years.

So, Rob can’t believe we’re watching this, but I am making him while I rip CDs to my computer and he loads the bookcase with records.

8:10 PM- My thoughts so far are: Ugh. Alicia Keys in a Frank Sinatra duet. Let the dead man be! Love Alicia Keys’ dress though. My boobs couldn’t do that. Carrie Underwood looked hot. Rob added a lyric about the police coming after her after she takes the Louisville Slugger to the guy’s car because she’s a crazy bitch.

8:18 PM- Seriously, is this going to be a night of duets/mash-ups/medleys? Because WTF does Rihanna have to do with Morris Day and the Time? Props? He had a mirror and she had an umbrella? This does not bode well. I at least hope since they’re letting her do two songs, they’ll let The Time do “The Bird”.

8:25 PM- A Beatles tribute. OK, I dig the Cirque de Soleil LOVE thing. Rob said they haven’t shown any Yoko/Ringo cutaway shots is “because it’s not that exciting watching people counting a big stack of money”. I haven’t seen Across the Universe yet. So far, meh. I mean, it’s not that much of a stretch to make “Let it Be” a gospel song.

8:34 PM- Really? Miley Cyrus and Cyndi Lauper? Cyndi Lauper talks like she’s in Little Shop of Horrors. Yay, Amy Winehouse- Best New Artist!

8:47 PM- Kanye brings it! He said he’d do anything for a Klondike bar. LOL. Rob is the best Grammy predictor because he totally called that this “duet” performance would include Daft Punk. Dude, it looks like Tron. I love it. Fave performance so far. This will be hard to top IMO. Awwwww…I’m gonna cry for Kanye doing the mama song. Rob said, “why would he get two songs?” and I told him it was cause his mom died.

I’m gonna put the rest of my ongoing Grammy thoughts after the break, so click on to read more. And yes, Carisse, I agree that Alicia Keys never has good hair. It’s ALWAYS weird.

continue reading "I’m Going to Liveblog the Grammys"

So, I’ve been a little under the weather the past few days and my mom came to help out around the house yesteray, so no posts. But as I promised before, here are my picks for best Christmas Albums. These are the ones you can buy and put them on and just let them play straight through.

1. Bing Crosby- White Christmas
   
   I don’t know if it gets any better than this album for a classic Christmas. In my eyes, Bing is the King of Christmas. Plus, the Andrews Sisters are on it, and it has one of my favorite Christmas songs ever- “Mele Kalikimaka”.
2. Vince Guaraldi Trio- A Charlie Brown Christmas
   
   The only reason this comes in at number 2 is because it doesn’t have the singalong quality that Bing does. However, it does give you the opportunity to dance like a Peanuts character.
3. Various Artists-A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector
   
   There are so many gems on this record. It is definitely of a time and tons of fun. It’s so darn upbeat and poppy.  I can’t get enough of Ronnie Spector or Darlene Love on this album.
4. Various Artists-A Very Special Christmas
   
   Many of the modern rockin’ Christmas classics you know and love come from this album. It really is a great album. It seems like this one became a classic pretty fast with Bruce Springsteen, U2, and Run DMC.
5. The Three Suns- A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas (click here for a download link to a ZIP file of MP3s)
   
   This one is a realtively new addition to my repertoire. I didn’t know about this album until I met Rob and now I don’t know if Christmas would be the same without it. It’s great for wrapping presents and feeling like you’re in a Technicolor movie.

BONUS: Watch the Peanuts kids dance and pick your favorite dance to do!

I give you “The Christmas Shoes”- which apparently they made a TV Movie out of? Ugh. It’s bad…really bad.

I don’t know if you know how much I love Christmas music. I have quite a bit of it. Rob thinks it’s weird that I like Christmas music so much. Today I give you my Top 20 favorite Christmas songs (this year, it tends to move around a bit year by year). Tomorrow, I will give you my top Christmas albums.  Share your favorite Christmas songs in the comments!

1. Do They Know It’s Christmas- Band Aid (not the newer one)
   This is seriously my favorite Christmas song ever. Plus there’s a big celebrity singalong you can be a part of at the end.
2. Mele Kalikimaka- Bing Crosby
   I don’t know if it gets any better than Bing for Christmas…well Band Aid, I suppose, but Bing Crosby’s Christmas album is my go-to album, and this si my favorite track off of it.
3. Sleigh Ride- Leroy Anderson
   You know this one. It’s the instrumental that gets slightly swingy in the second verse. Love it!
4. Last Christmas- Wham!
   I think the worst part about this is when George Michael says that he’s not surprised his lover from last year doesn’t recognize him because it has been a year. A year! I love this song though…
5. White Christmas- The Drifters
   I don’t know how Clyde McPhatter and his bunch found a way to improve on a Christmas classic, but they did. Dare I say, I may even like this one more than the original. Maybe, I mean Bing is the King of Christmas.
6. All I Want for Christmas is You- Mariah Carey
   I’m not normally a Mariah Carey fan, but damn, this is one catchy song. I think its genius lies in the fact that it sounds like something written for the Ronettes or an old Phil Spector-produced girl group. It sounds like a remake. And apparently it hit the Top 10 this year.
7. This Christmas- Donny Hathaway
   I love this song. It’s got a nice easy groove and it’s heartfelt without being schlocky or overdone.
8. Blue Christmas-Elvis Presley
   A classic. Simple and effective.
9. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)-Darlene Love
   Phil Spector back when his crazy was a little more genius than murderous. Not only that, but it was hard to narrow it down to just one Phil Spector-produced song, but this one is so good. Plus, it has a great cover by U2.
10. Merry Christmas Baby- Otis Redding
    Every day deserves an Otis Redding song, and Christmas is no different.
11. The Christmas Song- Nat King Cole
    I have to go with the classic here, although the Mel Torme version is probably equally as classic- and Torme wrote the song.
12. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day- Wizzard
    This one isn’t that well-known here in the US and my real exposure to it came from living in London. It ends with a choir of kids, which is always a good thing. And it really conveys the joy of Christmas. I DO wish it could be Christmas every day, but we all know that’s unrealistic because then Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas.
13. Carol of the Bells- Traditional
    I just love this one…it has such a sense of urgency.
14. O Come All Ye Faithful- Carol Brady (Florence Henderson)
    I live for watching the episode of The Brady Bunch when Mom Brady gets her voice back after Cindy asks Santa for it. It gets me every time I hear Carol Brady sing.
15. Let It Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!- Dean Martin
    Just a nice, easy swingin’ version. Love Dean Martin on this.
16. Merry Christmas Darlin’- The Carpenters
    I love to sing along to this and pretend that my voice is as velvety as Karen Carpenter’s. It’s not. I never liked this song until I met Rob G. I think it may fall of the list next year, because it’s kind of depressing. I may have to go back to my old favorite depressing Christmas song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.
17. Christmas in Hollis- Run DMC
    It’s a cute story about Santa leaving a couple mil for Run. DMC’s mom cooks chicken, collard greens, and rice….not potatoes.
18. Baby, It’s Cold Outside- Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong or Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews
    This song is so fun. I honestly don’t know whose version I like better. I mean, I like the Louis and Ella one, but the Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews one is so campy and fun and over-the-top.
19. I’ll Be Home for Christmas- Frank Sinatra
    I really like this version as it’s an interesting arrangement combining background singers humming “Silent Night”
20. Christmas Wrapping- The Waitresses
    Gal decides to beat stress by celebrating Christmas alone, then runs to the grocery and happens to be behind the guy she’s had her eye on all year, and they end up spending Christmas together. It’s Christmas Magic!