JACKED UP TUNES, VOL 1

Big long day of travel yesterday. Up early (why is it that my insomnia goes only when I set the alarm clock? As soon as I set it, I sleep like a baby.), and out into the cold (8 degrees!), and a swift 100 mile drive to the airport. Wait around a couple hours, and then up in the air. The straight through to LAX was pretty expensive, so I figured I would save my company some cash (like $400!) and take the one stop through Memphis. Plus, I get some extra miles for the old Elite status! Anyway, buy the time I landed in LAX, I had driven 100 miles, and then flown a total of 6 hours. Then I drove through LA traffic at rush hours. Yep, that's what my day looked like.

So, one last comment on the Grammy's last night. Looks like Kings of Lean won album of the year or something like that. My wife is a huge fan of theirs, and played that album non-stop. It actually grew on my, and I'm pretty happy to see it win. Maybe I'll post something from it in te next few days.

Well, it's late, and I'm beat. I am heading to bed. Enjoy the tunes. Oh, the title of this post, and the songs, come from Jack FM, a station I pretty much seem to get in every city I visit. Have a good Tuesday!
Donnie Iris - Ah! Leah!


The Kills - The Tape Song


Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock


A Flock Of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song


Queen - Body Language

BUZZCUTS VOL 3

This has been a brutally long day today, 16 hours of non-stop, balls to the walls work, and I'm pretty beat. To top it all off, it seems that we have a little blizzard in Boulder. It started snowing today about noon, and by the to9ime I was ready to drive back to the hotel, we had a good six inches on the ground. That was 4 hours ago, and it's hasn't stopped yet.

Enjoy the music, I am going to bed!

Simple Plan - I'd Do Anything
Butthole Surfers - Pepper
Gin Blossums - Follow You Down
Len - Steal My Sunshine
The Calling - Where Ever You Will Go

ONE HOT WONDERS, VOL3

Last day of the one hit wonders for now. No worries, though, there have been a ton of one hit wonders over the years, so there will be no shortages of them for more posts in the future. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I have some great music lined up for the next few weeks!

It's colder than hell here, and I gotta tell say, cabin fever is really hitting me hard. I live so far out in the boonies that there's not really a lot to do. Unless of course, your into freezing your ass off doing winter sports. There are a lot of people here that are into snowmobiles, and while I'm sure they have a lot of fun, I just can't imagine anything I would want to do less than jumping on a snowmobile, and going really fast in the winter time. Same goes for skiing. If I could go snow skiiing in Key West, I would so be into the sport. Don't get me wrong...I love watching winter sports, and I can't wait for the Olympics to start. But right now, I'm pretty bored, and can;t wait for summer.

Faith No More - Epic
4 Non Blondes - What's Up
Frida - I Know There's Something Going On
Nina - 99 Red Balloons
Blind Melon - No Rain

ONE HIT WONDERS, VOL 2

The worst part about January 2nd is the realization that there isn't another holiday until May. That means no day's off unless I take some vacation. I can deal with that...I usually don't take a lot of days off anyway. But still, 5 months with no holiday? Give me a break. Maybe we should invent one...I mean, it's bad enough that it's winter out, and cabin fever sets in. But to not have any days off? That's unfair.

The second day of one hit wonders finds a pretty big variety. Everything from 70's rock to 80's hair metal, to 90's alternative. I think today is a pretty decent selection, but my favorite is definitely Soft Cell's Tainted Love. I remember when that song came out...I was a senior in High School, and had just gotten a new girlfriend. This song was one of our favorites. 1981 was a pretty decent year, though I can't believe it was almost 30 years ago. If I close my eyes, I can still remember parking with her, listening to great tunes. I eventually married (and subsequently divorced) that girl, but that a story for another time!

Autograph - Turn Up The Radio
Mountain - Mississippi Queen
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

ONE HIT WONDERS, VOL 1

Happy New Years everyone. New year, new decade, new music to go with it. I've lined up a couple posts of one hit wonders from the past 30 years or so. I've always thought that the term one hit wonder was pretty subjective in that every band that has ever been labeled a one hit wonder has a fan somewhere that would argue that point with you. I always use Modern English as a great example. If you just listened to mainstream radio in the 80's, you would think that they only really had one hit, Melt With You. But if you listened to any underground or college rock station, you would know that Modern English had a pretty good run. But, since the label one hit wonder is a mainstream label, I'll just go with the criteria that the band only had one mainstream hit.

On a more personnel note, my vacation is coming to an end, and I've got a lot of work waiting for me when I get back. In fact, I already know that I have two trips coming up, both to Boulder, CO. That's not a bad thing, for sure...some of the best beer I've ever drunk is from the Boulder area. I'm hoping that I don't do as many trip this year as I did last year. Last year, I was gone for 36 weeks. Trust me, there is nothing glamorous or sexy about business travel.

Benny Mardones - Into the Night
Calloway - I Wanna Be Rich
Divinyls - I Touch Myself
Jimmy Eat World - The Middle
Blues Image - Ride Captain Ride

Buzz Cuts, Day 2

As promised, I'm back. I took a couple days off to take care of my daughter, who had a minor surgery. As a parent, one of the most helpless feelings I've ever had was watching them wheel her into the operating room. She is an extraordinarily brave young woman, but sitting with her before they came for her, I could tell she was a little nervous. She put up a great fight, but I know my baby girl, and she was nervous. I grabbed a hold of her hand, and held it a few minutes, without saying a word, and I think that helped calm her a little. But the worst was when she came out of recovery.

She was pretty upset, and crying, which just about ripped my heart out. If you've ever been under for an operation, you know that when you first wake up, your brain is still a little scrambled. I guess she was pretty disoriented, and not really sure of where she was or what was happening, and she got pretty upset. But once mom and dad was allowed in to see her, she calmed down a lot, took a little nap, and when she woke up, she was a lot better. As I write this, she is back to herself, albeit with a sore throat. But all s well, and I'm happy.

Harvey Danger - Flag Pole Sitta
Three Days Grace - I Hate Everything About You
Toadies - Possum Kingdom
The Presidents of the United States of America - Lump
Fuel - Hemorrhage (In My Hands)

Buzz Cuts, Day 1

Today is my anniversery, so I am kind of out of town. Unless I find the time to do some posting, I will be taking a couple days off, as my daughter is having a little operation. Nothing major...but I want to make sure I give her all the attention she needs.

Today's post was inspired by one of those late night commercials for music that is almost as forgettable as it is memorable. A lot of these songs give you what "Aha!" moment...you may not have heard them in the past few years, or even remembered they exist. Then you hear it, and suddenly you remember when it came out, what you were doing, where you were. That's really the magic of music...how closely it binds to memory, and brings that all forward years later. It's kind of like magic!

Three Doors Down - Kryptonite
Lit - My Own Worst Enemy
Hole - Celebrity Skin
Bush - The Chemicals Between Us
Everclear - I Will Buy You A New Life

Trippin' The Underground - Post Grunge

In case you don't recognize the lady on the mic to the left there, that would be Diane Lane. I was watching Streets of Fire last night, after finding it out there on the internets. I remember when the movie came out in 1984 (I think I must have been only one of a handful that actually saw it in a theater),and I was absolutely memorized by here. I thought she was maybe the hottest thing in movies in that movie, though watching the movie last night, I realized how young she looks! That, and I think she is actually a lot better looking now, in her 40's, than she was then, at 19. I think the movie was, for the most part pretty forgettable, and really, not very good, but that's looking back 25 years.


I'm still at home chillin' with my wife. We went to see "It's Complicated" on yesterday. It was like two different movies in one...once move was when Alec Baldwin was on screen, and the other was all rest of the movie when he wasn't. And trust me, only one of them was any good. Steve Martin was also a little disappointing as well. But it was great to be out with my wife, even if it was a chick flick.

Candlebox - Far Behind
Bush - Come Down
Collective Soul - December
Live - Selling The Drama
The Vines - Get Free

Trippin' The Underground - Grunge

Well, Merry Christmas everyone out there, where ever you are. I hope the day finds you all healthy, and happy, and in the company of good friends. As for me, I am with my wife, and while we are not with our kids, we are together. Today, we'll probably get up, open some presents, maybe I'll make some breakfast (or not), and maybe later, we'll go see a movie. Going to the theater on Christmas is not something we usually do, but I think we've done it before. But most of all, we will be together.

My first week or so of this blog has been very enjoyable, and I appreciate the people who have stopped by. I'm up to a couple hundred visitors a day, which is much better than my last blog started out. I trying to think of ways I can make this a place to stop by more often...I have a few ideas, so stick around!

Mudhoney - Burn It Clean
Soundgarden - Big Dumb Sex
Nirvana - In Bloom
Mother Love Bone - Cloe Dancer-Crown of Thorns
Screaming Trees - Bed of Roses

I LOVE THE 90's VOL 1

Before I go any further with this post, I want to state right now that this series is inspired from the the great series "It Came From The 90's" over at Can You See The Sunset From The Southside. If you've never jumped over there, I would highly recommend it. It's one of my favorite blogs, and the fact that it's written from one of my favorite cities makes it even better. But seriously, that cat has forgotten more about music than I ever knew.

So, in this volume, I included maybe the finest song of the 90's, Common People by Pulp. The lyrics are a blistering attack on the the "have's" who think it's cool to slum with the "have nots". Just take a close listen to the lyrics...it's a song that could have easily been written in the 70's by any number of punk bans. It's definitely Jarvis Cocker's finest moment.

The New Radicals are a little band I got some history with, actually. On New Year's eve, 1998, my wife and I went to see them at the House of Blues. Actually, we went to see three bands...New Radicals, Better Than Ezra, and I can't remember the other band. So anyway, I'm sitting next to some woman, and she's going on and on about Gregg Alexander. Turns out she's his sister. Go figure. Anyhow, she was pretty nice, and we talked about an hour about her brother, and all the struggles he had. All in all, it was a hell of a great night of music. I remember the night like it was yesterday. The next morning, we woke up (we stayed that the HOB hotel), and since the forecast called for some snow, we decided to head home to the burbs. As we left, it a few flakes started coming down. Little did we know that it was the start of the The Blizzard of 1999! Before it was all done a couple days later, there was a couple feet of snow on the ground. That was a pretty brutal winter in Chicago...there were piles of snow 10's of feet high, and I don't think it all melted until the end of April!

Enjoy my little look at the 90's!

Lush - Hypocrite
Elastica - Stutter
New Radicals - You Get What You Give
Pulp - Common People
Rusted Root - Send Me On My Way