Must Be Santa

Besides the obvious meanings of Thanksgiving, it is also the day that ushers in the Christmas season. Also ushering in the Christmas season this year? Bob Dylan with his new album Christmas in the Heart. Here's the video for "Must be Santa."

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'll be back tomorrow.

Old Dogs

Perhaps the best part of my Thanksgiving Eve so far has been reading all of the many scathing reviews of Old Dogs over at Rotten Tomatoes. What an awful movie idea! And although Robin Williams doesn't make very many good films, I think it's fair to say that Seth Green may be an even more potent source of movie ruining acting. Great idea, Hollywood.

So far Old Dogs is rated at a whopping 8%.

Seriously, What's Up With Sammy Sosa?

I have no idea, but I don't like it one bit.

HERE'S an article about the topic featuring a link to a video in which Charles Barkley wears makeup to mock Sosa on live television.

1000 Awesome Things

1000 Awesome Things is just a time-ticking list of 1000 awesome things updated once a day every weekday until it reaches 1000. It can be cheesy, but it can also be spot on. It may even make you appreciate some of the little things that you never realized were so awesome.

Keenan Thompson

Keenan's had a rough go of trying to be funny on Saturday Night Live. After all, he's been on the show in some capacity since 2003 and I can count very few memorable moments since then. But things seem to be turning around after all this time, right? I for one love his new "What Up With That?" sketch, and now he's getting involved with Digital Shorts? Fantastic.

And let's please all love this (and any) "Scared Straight" sketch from S35E05.

So, Keenan is sort of maybe hitting his stride, right?

Great Rock Lisps

Davey von Bohlen
Even better than Dan was Davey von Bohlen, whose role as lead singer of both Cap'n'Jazz and The Promise Ring made him a pioneer of the indie scene in mid to late 90s, specifically on the influential Jade Tree label. This made his unique lisp all the more important, because it made it okay for singers in the scene not to fit any specific mold.

Here's Davey with The Promise Ring singing "Jersey Shore" on 1999's Very Emergency, which might be one of the best albums from top to bottom that I own. Worth checking out, indeed.

	The Promise Ring - Jersey Shore
	Found at skreemr.com

Great Rock Lisps

Dan Andriano
As far as great rock vocalists go, there are plenty. However, I would guess that very few have notable lisps. Dan Andriano of Alkaline Trio benefits by being one half of a duo of very capable singers, but something tells me the band would have been less accepted at first with him at the helm instead of the band's established frontman, Matt Skiba.

Anyway, while some are turned off by it, I find his vocal style unique,endearing, and one of the scene's best. Here's Dan singing "Smoke" on Alkaline Trio's Crimson album:

	Alkaline Trio - Smoke
	Found at skreemr.com

Manchester Orchestra

Manchester Orchestra is a band from Atlanta that isn't quite sure what they want to be. Seriously, what are they? Alt-country? Pop-rock? Grunge?

Whatever the case may be,I consider them up and coming, and their album Mean Everything to Nothing was a pleasant surprise in 2009. Plus, they win the award for most Galifinakis-like lead singer.

Please give "Shake It Out" a try:

Sports Talk Rules

During the Eagles' Super Bowl campaign of 2004 I discovered sports talk radio. I was drawn to it because a team I rooted for was close to winning a championship for the first time since 1993, and I wanted to feel like I was sharing the experience with other fans even though I was living at college with fans of other teams from Boston and New York. I continue to listen even today, but with far less enthusiasm and with a disposition that makes me much more likely to shut it off mid-call or shout obscenities at callers. Here are some things that callers do that make me cringe:

1. Talking about their own sports career - I have a feeling that Brian Westbrook's concussion isn't anything like the one you suffered playing pee wee football in the 4th grade. There's just no way any civilian's own meager sports career should ever come up in the context of comparison when discussing professional sports. It's embarrassing.

2. Making bets with the host - This is only okay if it's invited by the host, which of course it rarely is. But rest assured people do this all the time.

3. Bringing up "money" and "greed" - This may annoy others less than it does me, but I feel as though part of the deal of being a fan of any professional sports team is that in exchange for your entertainment you have to allow yourself to be forced into the conceit that athletes make millions of dollars and don't care about you or your city. Calling a sports talk show to complain that athletes make too much money is a sign that maybe you should just stop...you know, being a fan.

These last two are similar:

4. Telling the host "hey, I'm the guy..." - About that time you guys ran into each at a book signing in 1998. This unabashed man love and need to be personally recognized--by a sports talk host--is truly embarrassing.

5. Asking the guest if he remembers something - In this example the guest is usually an athlete or coach. Last Thursday I heard a guy ask Larry Bowa if he remembered a posterboard sign that he made during the 1980 World Series. This kind of--again--need to be personally recognized by people is just something I'll never understand. Sorry dude, Larry meant to remember that sign, but when he looked for a pen to jot it down while he was in the dugout during the WORLD SERIES he couldn't find one so he continued on LIVING HIS LIFE.

Cubsicle Music Review

Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young

If you like good music, being a fan of the Strokes pays dividends. It seems like each member of the band is putting out worthwhile music when the mothership goes on hiatus, and each side project has enough Strokes in it to sound familiar and yet different enough to warrant side-project status. Julian's work is no different. You still get his knack for great lyrics and a guitars that sound a bit like Albert Hammond Jr is in the background somewhere, but the music is stretched and contorted just enough to make this a clear individual effort. This 8 song LP is a great blend of all the things that I love about the Strokes and different enough to make me feel like I've discovered something new. I can't stop listening to this record.

Here's "Out of the Blue":

Somewhere along the way
My hopefulness turned to sadness
Somewhere along the way
My sadness turned to bitterness
Somewhere along the way
My bitterness turned to anger
Somewhere along the way
My anger turned to vengeance
And the ones that I make pay
Are never the ones who deserve it
And the ones who deserve it
They'll never understand it.
Yes, I know I'm going to hell in a purple basket
At least I'll be in another world
While you're pissing on my casket

	Julian Casablancas - Out of The Blue
	Found at skreemr.com

Marky Ramone - AOL List

Today on AOL's Radio Blog, Marky Ramone lists his top 10 favorite songs.

It's an interesting list given his perspective as a drummer, especially with his number one spot going to a Beatles song. Also interesting, number two belonging to the Ronettes, especially given the Ramones relationship with Phil Spector. Marky was said to be Phil's "drinking buddy" for a time, so no surprise here I guess, but interesting still. I also like his referring to The Who's "My Generation" as a true punk classic. Good call, Mark.

Tony Luke Jr.

Most Philadelphians know Tony Luke Jr as the proprietor of one of the city's most well liked cheesesteak shops. What they may not know is that ever since he found success as a business owner he's been searching for a sweet piece of side success with his first love: acting. Up next for Luke? A starring role along side Tony Danza and William Forsythe in The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone. From imdb:

After high school, while performing in local theater, Tony's interests swayed more and more toward music. Tony began to get more involved in the writing and singing of music in the 80s. He wrote songs for Brandi Wells and Motown artist AC Black. He also wrote and performed songs in his own groups such as "Off The Streets", "AJ Spats", and "Too Cool Project". In 1992 he opened up a sandwich shop in South Philadelphia, with his father, Tony, and his brother, Nicholas, called Tony Luke's. While doing local commercials for his store, Tony was once again bitten by the acting bug. In 1997 Tony decided to pursue his acting career again.

So, there's that. You may also remember him as "Guy with Cape at tryouts" from 2006's Invincible.

Check out this impressive acting resume'.

Digital Beatles?

It appears the Beatles back catalogue is being sold digitally online via the US-based retailer Bluebeat. This is big news because the Beatles have never before made their catalogue available online, not even through iTunes. It remains unclear as to whether or not EMI or Apple Corps have given Bluebeat permission. For now, individual songs are .25 a piece.

Source--NME.com

Update: Yes, it is illegal, and EMI will be suing. However, there is this little bit in the article I just linked:

The entire catalog of stereo Beatles albums will soon be legitimately available in digital, albeit physical, form. Apple Corp. and EMI announced the pre-order availability of 30,000 16GB Apple-shaped USB drives containing 14 albums in lossless 24-bit FLAC (better than CD quality) and 320 Kbps MP3 formats, 13 short documentary films about the albums, album art, “rare photos” and expanded liner notes, all accessible directly or through a Flash player that automatically loads on Macs and PCs.

It’s quite a statement — especially the 24-bit depth of the lossless files, which allows more gradations between volume levels than standard 16-bit (CD-quality) audio files. The only catch — they cost $280. EMI and Apple Corp. plan to release the drives on December 8.

Bob Ross

The Joy of Painting was a show on PBS that ran between 1983 and 1994. In it be-afro'd painter and former US Air Force medical records technician Bob Ross taught regular Joe's like you and me how to paint "happy trees" and other magnificent American landscapes. For some reason my mother's parents would play this show on a constant rotation whenever they babysat me, and Bob's soothing voice never failed to put me to sleep. On second thought, maybe that was the reason. It wasn't that his paintings were shit. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't. It was just that I could care less about painting and much more about finding ways to fall alseep. In the time since Ross's death in 1995 I've sometimes wondered whether tapes of his show existed. I figured I could use them for those awful sleepless nights where you look for the most boring show you can find just to help you sleep.

Well, it turns out Bob Ross, Inc. is way ahead of me, selling all kinds of Bob Ross instructional media. They even sell the entire "Bob Ross library" in one convenient box set for the low low price of
That's right. For just $1,376.50, you too can own the Bob Ross DVD Legacy. I wonder how many of those have ever been sold. I'm going with zero. Individual 1 Hour episodes cost $16.95 each, which seems much like much more than I'd ever need.

Rest in peace, happy little painter.

Poker Face

Hey, is that Christopher Walken "performing" Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" the way that only he can? I believe it is.

Dee Dee King

I often lay awake at night wondering whether or not such white rappers as Marky Mark or Eminem would ever have existed Without Dee Dee Ramone's 1989 jaunt into the rap industry, Standing in the Spotlight.

Some say the album is probably the worst recording of all time. I say he was probably so whacked out of his mind that he had no idea what he'd done. There's also the possibility that with lyrics like this the whole things was tongue in cheek:

I like rap
And hip hop
I like hardcore
And punk rock
I like hot-dogs, franks and beans
I grew up in forrest hills queens
I like to win
Don't like to fail
So once again
The bill's in the mail

The World will never know.

If you can stomach it, here you go:

Dee Dee Ramone

I can't resist additional blog posts about my favorite Ramone. Most people inclined to pick a "favorite Ramone" would probably have gone with Joey. He was a liberal activist, all around good guy, and his crippling social anxiety probably endeared him to a lot of people. Plus he did that pretty good version of What a Wonderful World before he died.

I like Dee Dee because I see him as tragic and I feel bad for him.He led a train wreck of a life that shielded audiences from his genius. Although every Ramones song was credited to all of the band's members, it was probably Joey who received most of the attention and Dee Dee perhaps the least. In fact, for the first half of the band's career it was Tommy Ramone (drums) who spoke to the media since he was the "best speaker." Not that this was incorrect. Joey was too shy, and listen to Dee Dee speak. Despite all this, Dee Dee wrote or co-wrote most of the Ramones' lyrics. Not that he cared about the attention, of course. He was probably too high heroin or too busy working as a male prostitute to care. When he finally quit the band he continued to write songs for it, the same way that Tommy continued to produce even though Marky joined to drum. I have to respect the hell out of that, even if it was just for a paycheck. Of all of the Ramones members, original or not, Dee Dee was probably the one who had truly lived the rock and roll lifestyle, so it's befitting that he died at 50 of a heroin overdose.

Dee Dee's solo album Latest and Greatest from 2000 (1 year before he died) included him singing some of his Ramones' songs. Like this one:

End of the Century

I'm glad to see the Ramones documentary End of the Century making the Showtime and "On-Demand" rounds, because I think it has some interesting and little known insights into one of the most prolific punk bands of all time. If ever there was a band who, in real life, was nothing like its on-stage persona, it was definitely the Ramones. Even Dee Dee was smarter than you might think. Definitely give this a chance if you ever happen across it.

Here's Dee Dee, not Joey, singing Wart Hog. I believe this was before his rap career, but most definitely during his lifelong heroin addiction.