Runner Runner

No, that's not the cast of the new show Jersey Shore Emo, it's Runner Runner, the first and only band signed to David Letterman's new Clear Entertainment record label.

On one hand, I'm not surprised Dave has a record label as he's consistently been the late night host who books the best bands and he seems to genuinely care about the music. But, on the other hand, this might be the worst pop-punk band I've ever heard, and the label's signing is an obviously pandering to the Hannah Montana generation where the quality of the music means nothing.

Hear for yourself with Runner Runner's new "single" "So Obvious":

Por Favor Manténgase....

I've been putting together a list of odd things I want to accomplish for the 6 days I'm in Disney World. I'll still be seeing the typical attractions, but I'm also excited about some of the other random things I can do. I just started the brainstorming, but I like what I have so far.

1. Re-create a photo from past Disney trips. Lots of people do this, but I haven't been to WDW since 1996, so this could be interesting. Here's one, but this one would be hard to re-create (although all of these people will be in attendance)given the state of the castle and I'm sure a family photo will take place in similar proximity anyway simply because that's what people do. I can do better.

2. Shun all of the Disney character attempts to say hello to me, but be really, visibly excited to meet "Bert" the chimney sweep from Mary Poppins. Is it chimney sweep Bert or One-Man-Band Bert? Is it a real brit, or a cheap Van Dykian imposter? I'll find out.

3. Record audio of the monorail's "stand clear of the door" warning, specifically for the awesome spanish translation, "Por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas."

...is what I would have made #3 if this hadn't already been done for me by the internets.

See, it was during that last Disney trip in '96 that my family and I (just me and my brother) started to memorize that line, simply because we heard it so often on our monorail trips and the spanish part is admittedly fun to say. But when we came home to 1996 suburban Philadelphia the technology just wasn't there for us to be able to hear it again. No matter how many alta vista searches and web crawls I performed, I just couldn't find a .wav file that didn't take 9 days to download on our very normal dial-up Prodigy connection. Fast forward to 2010, 10+ years since I'd even given the phrase a thought I do a google search and it turns out thousands of people are obsessed with the monorail audio, so much so even that when WDW retired the original voice actor's entire monorail speech, they KEPT the "stand clear of the doors" portion of his speech and replaced the rest with someone new. Not only that, but they sell t-shirts with the popular spanish phrase IN THE PARK (see above).

So until next time, por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas.

End of the Century

In last week's post about It Might Get Loud, I mentioned it was my second favorite documentary. The first is one I've blogged about before, and that is End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones. I love it simply because it seems surreal. People who hate the band's music would be interested in their story simply because of the multiple personalities involved and the length of their careers. And now I can prove it because it's available in parts on Youtube.

Start with Part 1, here.

Sky Map

I recently moved into the world of modern cell phone technology by purchasing the HTC Droid Eris which besides allowing me to stay on the Verizon network that I enjoy (as opposed to buying an iPhone), also offers the freedom of Linux-based mobile processing with the Android Operating System, which was developed by Google. Although having so much data available at my fingertips was overwhelming at first, I'm finding that one of the great things about a phone like this is the array of free applications available. There's a thousand ways to make your day easier just by taking a minute to download something new. This is a concept I'm getting used to, so expect some posts about different apps I'm trying, like this one, Google's Sky Map.

I haven't used it yet, but supposedly all I need to do is point my phone at the sky on a clear night and the GPS function on my phone will point out the different constellations I'm looking at or pointing me towards an object I'm looking for (like in the picture above) and showing me how to spot it. The app already gets some rave reviews on the internet, but I'll check back with mine once I try it out.

Tiger Army

On the heels of their latest album, 21st Century Breakdown, Green Day is going on tour this summer and bringing fellow San Franciscans and 924 Gilman Street alum AFI along as the opening act. The tour will come through Philadelphia by way of Camden's Susquhanna Bank Center, which is a venue I find a little big for my personal tastes, so I'm debating whether or not to go. Of course, the decision would be a lot easier if my dream of adding a third San Francisco based band and Gilman Street alum were added to the bill were to come true. I'm talking about Tiger Army, who unfortunately don't have a new album to promote, so I can forget about this Back to Our Roots Tour (tm) happening.

Tiger Army is great because they combine elements of music not seen often enough in today's cookie cutter era of rock music with bands like Nickelback and faux-punkers like Fall Out Boy. I'm talking, of course, about the upright bass, and the sound known only as "psychobilly," which Tiger Army offer their own twisted take on with only 3 members. A "power psychobilly trio" if you will, and a singer who goes only by the name of "Nick 13." It's intriguing, right? And the upright bass is up there with the moog synthesizer on the list of most underrated instrument. [Side Note: I saw Bob Dylan in Hershey 2 summers ago and of of course the show was great. But I've always wondered, was it great because I saw a two-hour mix of past and present super-hits performed by one of the world's most popular and influential music legends, or was it because Dylan's bassist strummed an upright bass? I may never know.]

Listen to that bass go walking on "Pain" from 2007's Music From Regions Beyond.

#42

Q: Before MLB retired Jackie Robinson's #42 for the entire league, who was the last Philadelphia Phillie to wear it?

A: Toby Borland

See more fun facts about #42 in baseball over at Craig Robinson's Flip Flip Fly Ball.

Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn

Ash and I caught the band Hello Goodbye while they opened up for New Found Glory a month or so back. Their use of auto-tune on a few songs was a little much for me to commit to calling what we heard "great," but there was this one song I've since found myself blasting probably a little too often.


*Warning* This song is pretty much for children, but see if it has the same affect on you.

It Might Get Loud

If I could just start slow with a simple film recommendation, I'd have to say that It Might Get Loud is the second best documentary about music I've ever seen (I haven't seen a lot of music documentaries), and one of the better films I've watched in the last few months for sure.

The basic premise is "what would happen if Jack White, Jimmy Page, and The Edge (U2's guitarist)were hanging out together in a room full of guitars and amplifier equipment?" And even if you aren't a fan of or two of these guys, the answer to that question is "some really incredible guitar sounds, stories, and insight." My personal favorite overall musician is Jack White, so his presence would have been enough for me, but Jimmy Page is fantastic in this too, and outside of allowing himself to be called "The Edge," the dude from U2 does plenty to remove himself from Bono's shadow and portray himself as a pretty cool guy, even if a lesser musician than the other two.

Stick around to watch the "Deleted Scenes," a couple of which show the three learning each others songs. Not surprisingly, these deleted scenes are probably the only scenes of the film that can't seem to stay up on YouTube for very long. But I did find THIS CLIP of Jimmy Page showing the guys how "Kashmir" was born. Pretty cool stuff.

Grade: B

Coming Back

I've been considering pulling the ol' Irish Goodbye on this blog. I started a new role with more responsibility and less free time with my employer in mid-March (pretty much the same amount of money though), and I've been filling my free time with Ashley, hockey, softball, the gym, itinerizing the family trip to Disney World in May, looking for a new place to live, fantasy baseball, and playing video games. In that order, pretty much.

Yet somehow, though I'm on facebook and twitter, I feel the need to keep this creative outlet going, if only just for archival purposes.

Also, I couldn't let the site end with a post about Night Terrors.