Sugar Intake

I eat too much damned sugar! There is too much of it around and I can barely say no to it. It is not good for me to consume the myriad of sweets which I do for it will give me that Wilford Brimley disease known as Diabetes turning me into a walrus man of sorts. I don't want to turn into that! in addition it's beginning to show in the belt line as well which doesn't look so great in the low rise jeans I like to wear nor does it do anything positive for the vast selection of tight T-shirts I own. I gotta' cut out the sugar and get my Boston Cream Pie of an ass to the gym; it's been over a year since I hit the treadmill. Then again I've been skinny my whole life so plump might be a good move.
I don't do New Year's resolutions so don't think that this is one of those.

Silent Commute

While getting on the BART a day or so ago during regular busy hours I became a bit uneasy. It was because I realized that even with all the commuters around the sounds seemed to be the occasional footsteps, a P.A. announcement and the train headed the other way; there were no people noises. Nobody was talking to each other or talking on the phone. It was an eerie feel of a world on head phones. This is however better than a world screaming at each other.

00s Countdown 30-21

This is getting nervous! This is where there will be more people throwing fits and crying than before. Am I right about these songs and their placements? With out a doubt!

30. Somebody Told Me by The Killers
This Las Vegas band scored big with this key board heavy 80s throw back sound.


29. Beautiful by Christina Aguilera
"Don't look at Me", whispers the little blond during her porno phase when she was showing her bare ass to the world; it makes perfect sense to me. "Beautiful" is a song that once you hear it you can't get it out of your head and it makes you feel good about your self. They should print these lyrics and post them in jr. highs across the country.




28. Hay Baby by No Doubt
From one blond to another. This is the tale about being a chick behind stage and seeing just how disgusting boys really are while sipping tea and being bothered by fans. the best part of the song is when the dance hall bt by Bounty Hunter.

27. Time is Running Out by Muse
Relationships can be suffocating and this song illustrates this perfectly with buzzing guitar and anguished vocals.

26. Without Me by Eminem
Ladies and gentlemen the most famous white rapper of all time, Eminem. This song encapsulates the media circus his life had become after selling millions of records and giving up his privacy and any chance to raise his daughter normally. It's serious but funny but serious but an F.U. to just about everybody.

25. Get Ur Freak On by Missy Elliott
This song changed the way we refer to sex. Her videos at this point were directed By Hype! and very cutting edge.

24. Get Busy by Sean Paul
Yes! Make me dance you crazy Jamaican dance hall machine! This song takes me to another place in the world of dance music without even asking!



23. The Middle by Jimmy Eat World
So catchy! Jimmy Eat world may be worst band name on this list but the song, The Middle is like a great rock pop song from the 80's. If you're curious the video has lots of people in their underwear which pushed the popularity of the song quite a bit.


22. Tick Tick Boom by the Hives
This is the highest ranking song by Swedes on the countdown. I was sold the moment I heard this song; it's the best piece the band has put out and it rocks! Besides having a great sound the band has a great look. They are so cool!




21. Fell In Love With A Girl by The White Stripes
I don't know if this is supposed to be a Buzzcocks tribute but it might as well be. This song was our introduction to possibly the band of the decade or at the rock dude of the decade known as Jack White. He and his wife/sister formed this duet and made great sounds while wearing nothing but black ,white and black; it was a gimmick that worked.

Albums? Top 10? 2000s? Really?

A friend posed to me that top ten albums are more important than a top 100 list of songs. I argued that nobody buys albums so what does it really matter. So this will be a retro tribute to the 90s, 80s, 70s and even the 1960s when the Album concept was launched. We have come 360 in our music listening units, granted it’s no longer on a wax 45s but in a digital MP3; there are no more B-Sides, no more hidden gems to find that are too out there for mainstream radio. Nor will there will be pieces like, “Hey Hey, What Can I do” which didn’t make it to Led Zeppelin’s III album because Jimmy Paige was so messed up he ruined the end of the recording leaving the song to be designated as “The Immigrant Song” B-Side. No more Singles like Sam Cooke’s “Shout” which originally was a two sided single where side A ends as he sings, “Now waaaaaaaaaait a minute . . .” and then the DJ would either have to flip the wax over as quickly as he could or buy a second copy for another turn table.
This countdown will be a memorial to vinyl, cassette and even CD’s which introduced the hidden track. Notables include John Mellencamp’s rendition of the Hombres’, “Let it All Hang Out” and Nirvana’s “Endless and Nameless” that appeared on Nevermind, sort of.

I'm also going to compare this to the Rolling Stone List


Anyway here's the top ten albums of the decade!


1. Elephant (2003), The White Stripes
This isn't the cute White Stripes from before, this is the White Stripes post break up. Jack white is disillusioned, and angry. The opening track, "Seven Nation Army" relays this fury with the pounding bass drum that pulls you through the song down to Wichita via wild horse to get as far from the pain as possible. Through the story of the album Mr. White gets lost, gets angry, gets tender, lonely and gets possessive sometimes all in one song. Even though Meg White sings, "In The Cold, Cold NIght"; it's still Jack's story of desperation. "The Hardest Button to Button" we find our man trying to accept all the bull and swallow his pride. By the finally of the album which is a joyful sing along with Holly Golightly, "Well It's True That We Love One Another" you need it. It offers the hope for the new and the short memory of painful break ups.
Rolling Stone Rank #5


2. Back to Black (2007), Amy Winehouse
So much more than a 1960's R & B tribute, Amy Winehouse delivered one of the best albums about dysfunction we've had in a long, long time; it's no mistake this Album took home Grammy's galore. We travel with Amy as she refuses to get clean on the huge "Rehab", as she finds out her man's been cheating her in "Me & Mr. Jones", as she cheats on her man in "I'm No Good" and as she plays the other woman in the title track all in triumphantly wonderful production. When you follow the story on the album you feel unclean for knowing far too much about her troubled romance but you will go back and listen again because the songs are so complete and make you ask, "What kind of Fuckery is this?"
RSR # 20


3. Is This It? (2000), The Strokes
Yes. Yes, this is it. This bands arrival on the scene was statement that garage bands were still out there even if it was a three car garage band. With a sound that can be compared to The Velvet Underground's less edgy stuff, The Stooges less loud stuff and even the Cars early stuff. The strokes wrote catchy tunes with awesomely crappy low-fi sounding guitar about not getting along with girls. The big single, "Last Night" finds our singer Julian Casablancas crooning about his lack of reason behind walking out on his girlfriend in such a way that nobody in the history of the universe will ever understand. The title track, "Is This It?" he argues with his girl about things that are creating a rift in their romance. Every song on the Album is a joy to listen to and has some drive to it, "The Modern Age" is a fine example of the foot tapping, head nodding effect the songs have.
RSR # 2


4. The Black Album (2003), Jay-Z
He hailed it as his final album and it was remixed by DJ Danger Mouse as the Gray Album (which some find to be a better album) The Black Album containing two totally kick ass and iconic tunes "Dirt of Your Shoulder" and the Rick Rubin rocker, "99 Problems". The album in many ways typical of a rap album as the star boasts but also keeps it real by informing us of his tough roots. As his "final" album Jay-Z goes out on top and from the looks of things he's stayed there . . . just not on this list.
RSR # 14 "The Blue Print" ranked higher




5. Marshal Mathers LP (2000), Eminem
Slim Shady grows up . . . sort of. The second album from Eminem shows us that he still has a soft spot and an cutting edge for pop culture in the mega genre crossing, "The Real Slim Shady" where he makes fun of Mtv's party line expecting to be demonized for it but obviously it didn't work out that way. Some peole say the album is shocking, others hilarious and some call it a very personal work; it is in fact all three at various times. On "The Way I Am" Eminem doesn't defend himself in any other way than stating that he is who is his for better or worse as he explains that he should have to defend himself in the first place but the media likes to pick on him; he even gives a shout out to Marilyn Manson. The Album is the rapper at the cross hair of being a f'd up guy who can't choose between getting high or taking care of his daughter and an entertainer obsessed with the entertainment industry. Sure he says he want to kill his wife but he also dresses up like Britney Spears.
RSR # 7


6. Dangerously In Love (2003), Beyoncé
An R&B diva arrives! Beyoncé releases her first solo album after her career with the many faces of Destiny's Child. The vocals are strong, the songs are gold and the sales were enormous. From the very beginning of the first song, "Crazy In Love" you are pumped with energy and primed to shake your ass on the dance floor. Generally the album is ripe with dance numbers like, "Naughty Girl" which the chanteuse does her best Donna Summer and "Baby Boy" which brings in dance hall rap dude, Sean Paul for some heat. She gets intimate on the tune, "Gift From Virgo". There are several songs to give Beyoncé street cred by including the likes of Big Boy and her man Jay-Z. It's a solid pop collection that at it's best is very enjoyable and at it's worst it's harmless.
RSR # Did Not Rank

7. Weezer (green) 2001, Weezer
The nerds make a comeback! When Hashpipe hit the air I was shocked to find out that the band was still around; I had thought that they sank into 90s oblivion but that was not the case. Not only did this album put them back on the map but it let them expand there sound into more fun style rock pop. "Island in the Sun" is a sweet little melody that is fun to chill out to. "Knock-Down Drag-Out" and "Photograph" are the strong power pop tunes as well.
The Green LP relaunched the bands career making them decade long mainstays releasing catchy tune after catchy tune making a greatest hit album totally awesome!
RSR # Did Not Rank


8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs (2006), Show your Bones
The sophomore effort from the hipster trio of Williamsburgh and now Silver Lake is a gem. They brought along the acoustic guitar and Karen O got damn catchy in her melodies even venturing into lullaby territory on "Dudly". There is still some anguish in the lyrics but nothing to compare with "Maps" on Fever to tell. The big hit, "Gold Lion" Karen turns into Siouxie Sioux with harrowing wails. On "Phenomena" the bad gets down right dirty, sounding like a stripper's bump and grind, hypnotizing and sexual. This album is the album that sees the band mature from their previous and that's always important for a band that sticks around.
RSR # Did Not Rank but "Fever to Tell" did


9. Gorillaz (2005), Demon Days
Eclectic, danceable and chillable. The cartoon band, The Gorillaz second album takes the elements that made the first album enjoyable and make them gel more cohesively. Hypnotic, melodic and weird are more adjectives to describe the music and while, the ubiquitous "Feel Good In." has a catchy bass line, "DARE" resurrected Sean Ryder from debris of 90s Manchester and stuck his fat head in a video for, Noodle to dance around. The songs found on the Demon Days are surreal dreams put to music, keyboard and beat heavy, Dennis Hopper even lends narration to "Fire Coming Oot Of The Monkey's Head." If there is one album to get high to this decade this is the one.
RSR # Did Not Rank


10. Felt Mountain (2000), Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp's dark, moody masterpiece is not something you'll find yourself walking away from with a smile, even the Goth kids get the shivers when they hear her coo over music that seems from another era, one that never existed. There's circus odd circus notes on "Oompa Radar" that in it's place could send a person on the edge right over. The chilling violins on "Human" that make the listener dread what's about to happen to our siren but when the song breaks out into a samba beat it still seems very dangerous.
This is a trippy, trippy album that needs to be listened to from start to finish; it is a complete work of art not just a collection of songs. The lyrics are somber to fearful almost in that torch song way that can be reminiscent of Portishead if Portishead didn't use beats. Strings, organ, whistling, keyboard whines and odd percussion range from seeping and dramatic to small warnings.
RSR # Did Not Rank


Here's the link to the Rolling Stone Top 100

Lunch n' Roses

It was a few days ago that I entered the busy sandwich shop, ordered my lunch and was given a number to wait with that I struck by the song on the mid day radio. From those opening piano keys to the strings and key board, "November Rain" majestically swooshed through the air. An oldie but a goody by Guns n' Roses, a song they just don't write 'em like anymore.

As I listened the moment became more profound than I thought it could be, it was hearing my youth as classic rock for the first time. When I say youth I don’t mean when I was little boy, learning his ABCs I mean it was 1991, when I was a sinewy, long haired, testosterone motored 18 year old with more attitude than ambition and more desire than focus. I was also very unsure of what was to become of me as I was living 3,000 miles from Boston trying to follow my heart with no job and no place to call home. I was 19 watching the video in a Best Western Hotel room in Boulder wondering how to get back to California, how to make a success out of myself when I had no passion I could articulate or hope to actualize. Now I was in my late thirties back in California having achieved little in the realm of possibilities open to me eighteen years ago.
It wasn’t too strange to understand why I wondered what the song wanted from me that day. It was siren’s call of the past in a nostalgic, wistful rendering of my younger days when the future was uncertain but possibly as explosive as a nuclear A-bomb.

enjoy the film





on a related note; how come the alternative music station plays "Sweet child O' Mine" now?

The Prapaganda that surrounds you

A month or so ago this was the common image of Tiger Woods.

He looks calm, confident and happy, a successful professional, an athlete to admire. It's a very generic look that is used just to put the face to the name and forward the brand of Tiger Woods

Here's what we get now

A near scowl, shifty eyes and anger. This man is a sinister influence, maybe he has secrets and punches babies. Both pictures are old but now his presented images are used to smear.

00s Countdown Continued! 40-31

40. Harder To Breath - Maroon 5
I regretfully really enjoy this song and happily force it upon you! I guess the guys in the band didn't want to put this song on there album and after hearing some of the dance romance that they did put on the collection I can see why.

39. This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore - Elton John
Some songs you hear at the right time in your life or them to make sense; this is one of them for me. Call me old, call me a dork but don't be afraid to like Elton John's best music since the 70s. Yes, I think this is better than "I'm Still Standing" and that Lion King bullshit. It may be that "I Want Love" was a bigger hit but this song touches in a different way.

38. Woman - Wolfmother
Oh My Gawd! Did you know this song is rocking that most mere mortals heard it and died? This song is proof that there is still some Rock n' Roll left in the world, that it hasn't been sucked out us the human spirit. The band's following songs prove contrary to this.


37. Can't get you Out of My Head - Kylie Minogue
She purrs this song like a replicant from Blade Runner would. You want to believe that she's singing to you and you only because she really wants you but in reality she's been programmed to "feel" that way. In the future when robots are allowed to marry one another it will be this song that is played at their weddings. It is pure android love, cold and melodic with a beat that pumps in time with computer precision.


36. Emerge - Fisher Spooner
Is Fisher Spooner a band or a performance art piece, I still can't tell. This goes along in it's clubby hypnotic way until the crescendo and it feels as though the very fabric of the song and reality is coming undone before you. That's Magic!

35. All My Life - Foo Fighters
We need straight ahead rock songs to sell records and keep the genre defined.

34. World Wide Suicide - Pearl Jam
Welcome back form the 90s boys! Still angry after all these years but without the flannel.

33. I'm Not Okay (I Promise) - My Chemical Romance
This song is another song I catch shit for liking because of the bands pseudo goth, teeny bopper image but that is really the label and not the band. They write catchy songs with a heavy on the guitar flavor. In it's essence it's really a break up song and without those we would have not pop music. The band also seems to have a good sense of humor which goes miles with me.
Watch the video, laugh if you're not too uptight to.



32. Crazy In Love - Beyoncé
I like to get down and this song helps quite a bit! There's an argument to be made that "Single Ladies" should be here but that song makes me sit down and sip my soda. Jay-Z lends some rap to this song that gives it a lovely masculine edge to it. In some ways it is a duet but in others it's just a good pop record in the guise of street.

31. Slither - Velvet Revolver
This isn't exactly Guns n' Roses but it's as close as we're going to get on this list. Scott Weiland got sober for a few weeks to record some modern rock with Slash and Duff and this is the best result of the effort. If you don't sing, "yeah" when Weiland sings, "yeah" you have no soul.

"When you seek me you destroy me
Rape my mind and smell the poppies
Born in blood in every single time"
Lyrics like those however make me wonder if homeboy was actually sober but in the end I suppose a man's gotta' do what a man's gotta' do!