Beginnings and Ends

Today is a day of beginnings, but also of ends. Glee picks back up after its winter break and hits the final stretch of the season. I'm hoping the music stays as good as the middle of the season.
Manafest released his latest album Fighter today. He's been producing music for a few years now, but I only came across him this past November. He's got this rock with a little rap mixed in style and it's great music to chill out too. Here is the song that got me hooked on his music.

On the side of endings, 1000 Generations announced today that they are disbanding. They put out some great music and they will be missed. I got to know them through a confusing time in my life and this song helped me out a lot.

New stuff starts up all the time, and stuff ends all the time. It's great to celebrate the new and miss the old. I'm sure brighter and better things will come along.

Play it Again

When it comes to certain things, I’m still like a little kid. Yes, I love to watch kids shows, but that’s not the point of this post. I’m talking about the “read it again” part of being a little kid.

There are a few movies in my life that I can watch over and over again and not get tired of them. The most recent one is Glee: The Movie. In the 4 months I’ve had the movie I’ve watched it at least twice a week; sometimes more.

I love the music of Glee (the plot sucks for the most part) and the concert DVD lets me get some of the best of the music without having to deal with the plot. It’s almost like a visual security blanket. If I’ve had a rough day I know it will make me feel a little better and maybe even dance some. If I can’t get to sleep I know I can put it in and by the time it’s done I’ll be ready to sleep.

On another Glee note and related to listening to something over and over, I just discovered Mark Salling’s album Pipe Dreams a couple months ago. ITunes has it in my library as pop, but I would also call it rock, indie, and country all at the same time.

It’s another one of those things I can listen to when I’ve had a rough day. I keep a copy in my car and if there’s nothing on the radio I feel like listening to I’ll listen to Pipe Dreams. The entire album is amazing but my most listened to track is Doppelganger. If you ever get a chance to check it out, go for it.

Yes No

I love watching shows that have some sort of musical focus. This usually manifests itself as musical competition shows, but Glee has captured my imagination a bit.
To be honest, the plot sucks. The story lines go in crazy directions and I mute half the show because I don't want to listen to the stupid monologues or conversations.
But last night was completely different. The music selections were pretty awesome. The whole story lines with Sam/ Mercedes, Will/ Emma, and Finn's future were pretty cool. I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of Santana, the Sam/Mercedes story line and a little bit less of Will/Emma. But overall, it was one of my favorite episodes of the show. Ever.

X

Tonight was the finale performances for The X Factor. All Josh, Chris, and Melanie are all worthy of winning, but I'm rooting for Chris. He has some of the most entertaining, captivating.
Josh has a really nice voice. If I'm just listening to him I almost hear Lee DeWyze. I can't, for the life of me, figure out why they would have Alanis Morrisette on to sing with him. They blended really well, but to me, Morrisette is a one hit wonder. I guess the producers don't. Ironic, huh?
Melanie has an amazing voice and I would almost root for her. But as much as I LOVE late 90's R&B (think Mariah and R. Kelly), she had no variety throughout the season. Each week sounded almost the same. She wasn't as bad as that kid Drew for lack of variety, but it came close sometimes.
Chris's voice isn't that great, but something just draws you to it. He's versatile and fun on stage. He's written some of his own stuff and its good. And........... he performed with Avril Lavigne tonight.
That's just my opinion on things. Tomorrow night will show how much of America agrees with me.

Clumsy me and A Cappella on TV

It seems like I've had a lot going on in my head, but I haven't felt like putting it on paper. I think I've finally got a couple things worth sharing.
We'll start off with how brilliantly clumsy I can be. Today I managed to trip over my own feet and walk into a door within a few seconds of each other. Add to that the Laffy Taffy that I forgot about and melted in my pocket (open wrapper) and the Mentos chunk I somehow choked on and you've got a great day.



Now I will switch gears completely. For the past couple Christmas seasons I raved about the NBC shot The Sing Off and all its awesomeness.
The first season I only watched because Nick Lachey was host and Natasha Bedingfield was going to perform on one show, but I got hooked. I returned for the second season with anticipation for more Nick Lachey, good a cappella music, Nicole Scherzinger's awesomeness, and my recent love for Ben Fold's music (add some Nick Hornby collaboration in there).
Now, The Sing Off is in its third season. And it's not just a Christmas special this year. Nicole went to be with the X Factor, so we got Sarah Bareillis, but this year started off good. The opening was a wonderful Pink number. And the first group to go covered my most favorite song ever- Wavin Flag by K'naan. It wasn't that great of a cover, but its another one to add to my collection. Personally, I think they made the tempo a little too fast. I got impressed by the group doing a Corrine Bailey Rae song (If you can make me enjoy something I would't normally listen to you did a good job). And later on in the show was a great version of an Eminem song. I can't wait for the other 8 groups to perform next week and for the rest of the season.

P.S. Tomorrow are the season openers for my favorites NCIS and NCIS:LA.

Clarence and Dads

A quiet legend died today. Clarence Clemons, lead saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen had a stroke a few days ago and passed away today.
You could say that Bruce Springsteen's music influenced me a bit growing up. I got to do a history project my junior year and chose The Boss as my topic. Apart from his major hits, I listened to a fair amount of his discography. It was all interesting, but I especially loved his The Rising album released in 2002. There was also a quote I found and have loved ever since.
"Some people get a chance to change the world, and other people, they get a chance to make sure the world don't fall apart."
Springsteen said this quote when he was discussing his father back in 1980. I think its a great quote and its partially relevant because Fathers Day is tomorrow. I think The Boss got it right when talking about dads, especially his own. But its a great describer of my dad too.

Wavin Flag

Its been almost a year since I made a fateful discovery for my music tastes. Coca-Cola and a Somali born rapper changed my favorite song list forever. Wavin' Flag was Coke's promo song for the 2010 World Cup. I love Coke, but I discovered the song almost by accident. The pure joy put into the song, along with the drums and me hearing the Spanish version first stole my heart forever. It was my anthem to get through basic training.
I now have six different versions of the song to include several of the Coke versions, the much more somber but still inspiring original, and the Young Artists for Haiti version.
K'naan was a great discovery for me. I haven't gotten tired of the song yet and I don't plan on it.
This is at least the second time I've linked to this video, but I really love it.

Jet Lag

Natasha Bedingfield is probably my biggest idol. I've been in love with her music since she made the is cross over in 2005 with These Words; the single before the success of Unwritten.
There's also this fairly cool group known as Simple Plan who I remember as one of the groups of my middle school years. They're back with a new album this coming June, and they collaborated with my favorite artist. It's a lot less rock-y than some of Simple Plan's other stuff, but this is a pretty sweet song.

Grammy Time Once Again

Last night was the Grammys. It's one of the three annual shows I can't miss (along with the Macy's parade and Ryan Seacrest's Rockin New Years Eve). Last night was definitely a memorable night for the Grammys. I'll share my impressions.

First off, why did they START with the Aretha tribute? Usually stuff like that is billed for later in the show, but maybe with some other big performances that was the only place to put it....

Lady Gaga.... I think they always put her early in the show so everyone will forget how weird and awful her performances were. And I wanted to punch her when she gave her acceptance speech. She was all whiny or something.

The Bruno Mars performance was great... except for a little pitchiness in the beginning. And I was impressed with the girl he performed with too even though I had never heard of her before. And the same goes for The Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons.

Ryan Seacrest. If you know me, enough has been said.

Justin Bieber (I'm on a bit of a JB kick right now) was good, but I was especially waiting for the part with Jaden Smith. It was better than expected.

Speaking of Jaden Smith... did you see Will and Jada? They cut to them a few times during the performance and after it. The look of pride and joy on their faces was so cool to see.

Pauley Perette, of NCIS fame, presented an award.... in green. I'm not used to seeing her in that color.

The Cee Lo Green performance was interesting, colorful puppet-y, and actually very good. The addition of Gwyneth Paltrow made it even better.

Katy Perry's performance was better than I thought it would be.

Eminem's performance was great. He may not always be appropriate, but I have respect for that man. And it went up after the Chrysler Super Bowl commercial.

Seth Rogan's "I was backstage getting high with Miley Cyrus".
I think that comment made my night.

After that my feed started slowing up, so I bowed out gracefully and went to bed, but it was still a good Grammys.

From the Vault

I have currently acquired three songs from the early 2000's that have held spots in my heart like all the Backstreet Boys, N'SYNC, and Savage Garden songs from the same time. I can't believe I had almost forgotten them until I heard one in the store today and went on a reminisce trip to when I was like 9.

1. Back Here- BBMak
2. Never Had a Dream Come True- S Club 7
3. All or Nothing- O-Town.

Listen to them again. They're really good.

Moments that Matter

The past week or so has been really long and tiring and tough. But I've had a lot of fun and some real peaceful moments throughout it. I thought I'd share some of what I learned, saw, and experienced.

1. It is possible for me to go 111 hours with only 11 hours of sleep mixed in. It sounds crazy, but I'm kind of proud of it. And going over 24 hours is possible too because I did it twice in that time period.

2. 15 straight hours of sleep does wonders.

3. Where I'm at in Arizona is very mountainous and absolutely gorgeous. I feel so fortunate to be where I'm at. There's nothing like staring at the foothills and mountains with an amazing sunset in the background and seeing more stars in the sky than you thought possible.

4. I trip over the most obvious things. Like my body armor on the floor. Or my PT jacket. You'd think I would see them and move, but I don't.

5. Ben Folds. I've discovered I really like his stuff. Its no thanks to the duet he did with Street Corner Symphony on The Sing Off. The song got stuck in my head and I went to find more. Then I discovered the biggest gem possible for someone like me. It all started when Nick Hornby mentioned a Ben Folds song in his book Songbook. It has turned into a Nick Hornby/Ben Folds album. Nick Hornby writing, Ben Folds doing the music. It was so cool. The lyrics were very much typical Hornby and I loved it. If you go to check it out, beware some cussing. But then again, thats typical of both Hornby and Folds.

6. The Lazy Song. Bruno Mars. K'naan helped write. 'Nuff said.

7. Moments That Matter. Its a Corbin Bleu song.

Please explain.

Wonderful, lame me has recently been watching episodes of the first season of The Sing Off. With the exception of the final, it was my first time seeing the episodes. It was cool to see the other performances by the top 3 and change the judgments I had made for some of them.

First off, I would like to apologize to Voices of Lee for being so critical of them. Seeing them on the final the first time I had wondered how they got there. They were actually better in the other episodes and their performance with Natasha Bedingfield on the final got better the second time around.

Now, on to the Beelzebubs. They were the ones I wanted to win, but didn’t. Their performances in the previous episode were entertaining and all around good. I still listen to their performance of “Where is the Love?” a lot.

Nota were good. I just didn’t like them as much. I don’t have anything else to say about that.

I had forgotten that Ben Folds had done a performance on the first season final and it was good. The one he did with Street Corner Symphony of his song “Gone” was even better and I think-sing it in my head all the time.

Now on to my complaint. This season, all the Christians were all over Committed and supporting them in their endeavor. Why didn’t people do the same for Voices of Lee? I don’t remember seeing anything rallying Christians to support them. Was it because they were a college group? Was it because it was only the first season of The Sing Off and no one knew anything about them or the show? Does some one have an explanation? These are the types of questions I stay awake wondering about at night.

I’ll try not to think too hard about it. I watched the final last year because Natasha Bedingfield was supposed to be performing and because Nick Lachey is awesome and a good host. And that seems to be about the only job he can get these days.

Wait....Oh Yeah

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you just can't keep track of what day it is? Thats this week for me. I've gotten mixed up several days about what day it really is.

Tuesday I was on iTunes and, thinking it was Monday, got really confused as to why they would release the new music a day early. It wasn't until Wednesday that I realized my mistake.

Today is Friday yet for some reason I have it in my head that it is Thursday. I was talking with my mom and was very confused that everything on their schedule was happening a day early until I was reminded that it was Friday; the day everything is supposed to be happening. And ten minutes later i was still forgetting it was Friday when it was mentioned my brother was watching a movie. I couldn't figure out why they would let him stay up on a school night, but it wasn't a school night. Tomorrow is Saturday and while I may have to work tomorrow and Sunday, the rest of the world doesn't.

On a quick side note, I feel the need to mention Bruno Mars. I recently got Brandy's album Human and was looking at the credits for songwriting and such. Natasha Bedingfield ha co-written a song for Brandy's album an Toby Gad (he's done stuff for Natasha Bedingfield) was on there too. I was surprised to see Bruno Mar's name on the credits for a song. The album had been released in 2008 and Mars hasn't gotten real popular until last year. But he's managed to be connected to an artist I like.

Now here's the kicker about Bruno Mars... There's this song I like. It's called Wavin Flag. I have 6 versions. I don't know if I mention the latest version, but its done by Young Artists for Haiti, a bunch of Canadian artists collaborating. But back to Bruno Mars. He helped co-write Wavin Flag. I think thats pretty cool. And it makes me like the song and Bruno Mars even more.

top 10 favorite artists on my iTunes

10. Justin Bieber. Yes, its cheesy, but Never Say Never and Pray are two amazing tracks.

9. U2. It’s been pretty popular to cover their stuff lately.  Think I have almost as many covers as I do them actually singing.

8. Fergie. Probably my second favorite female artist. She can sing on her own and does a great job with the Black Eyed Peas.

7. Bruno Mars. Come on, Just the Way You Are is just that good of a track.

6. R. Kelly. One of my two World Cup anthems come from him. Sign of a Victory is just as good as his old stuff.

5. Switchfoot. An old love rekindled because I finally managed to rip my Nothing is Sound album. And Beautiful Letdown is amazing as well.

4. Coldplay. I can’t even begin to describe them. They’re just so… good.

3. K’naan. I now have a 6^th version of the song Wavin Flag. Done by Young Artists for Haiti, a whole bunch of Canadian artists that include K’naan, Justin Bieber, Drake, Avril Lavigne, and a few more. Wavin Flag must be the global anthem for 2010 or something…

2. Lee DeWyze. He won my heart on American Idol last season.

1. Natasha Bedingfield. There probably couldn’t be a music list I make without her on it.

 

Seacrest 1-0 Daly

New Years Eve was great this year. Carson Daly is a dummy, but thanks to streaming internet, I could watch Ryan Seacrest, Dick Clark, and Fergie do what they do every New Years Eve: be awesome with great performances.

Noone could match Rockin New Years Eve with performances. Ke$ha, NKOTB and BSB, AND Natasha Bedingfield… It was like a dream come true for me. Yeah, Carson Daly had Nikki Minaj and lilWayne, but Ryan Seacrest always gets the better performers. And whoever was hosting FOX’s show had performers form like two years ago on.

As both Seacrest and Daly were live in Times Square and I was watching both at the same time, it was interesting to see the coordination that went into making sure both shows got coverage of the ball drop and either went on commercial break or transferred locations when the other was broadcasting. And despite the fact that half the broadcasting world makes fun of Seacrest for being such a mogul and Daly was actin kind of stupid about it, is cameras still got Seacrest to wave while he was going over notes or something with someone.

I’ll stop with the Seacrest talk now. American Idol, AT 40, his radio show, and Rockin New Years Eve have all made me a mega Seacrest fan. 

Committed

The purpose of this post is to explain why I do and don’t want Committed to win season 2 of The Sing Off. This will be accomplished through the use of the author’s personal opinions.

Why: They really are good. From their take on Maroon 5’s This Love to the Usher Medley, they have shown their versatility and greatness. And they seem to have a solid fan base. And Street Corner Symphony, their only serious competition seems to have focus only part of the time.

Why Committed Shouldn’t Win: I’ve only seen the first episode all the way through, but Street Corner Symphony’s take on Everybody Wants to Rule the World was more mind blowing than Committed’s This Love. Both were amazing and I’m hoping that these two groups will be the final two.

The big thing with Committed is that they started out as a church group. Everyone keeps getting butt hurt (sorry about the army lingo) over their choices in songs. I think they’re phenomenal. Although they’re church boys, they obviously know “secular” music; they’ve just never worked at singing it for audiences. If people are looking for ‘goody-goody’ church boys, they’re watching the wrong competition. Maybe I’m just biased because I’m a part of both worlds and enjoy them both.

I’ve also seen comments bashing them and questioning their “committedness” simply by their being on the competition to win the money and record deal. If this were to be totally true, then we should also question the sincerity of TobyMac and Steven Curtis Chapman because they charge a lot for concert tickets, Owl City for releasing commercially and secularly, and ignore every other Christian or Christian groups in show business or professional sports because obviously these people aren’t “Christian” enough and participate in some of the world’s stuff instead of being stuck up and doing their own thing.

Deep down, I really don’t care who wins the Sing Off this year as long as it comes down to Committed and Street Corner Symphony. They were both so amazing. Can you tell that people dissing Christians in the spotlight is a soapbox of mine? 


Check them both out:

Strip Me

My favorite artist has struck again. Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010 was the day that Natasha Bedingfield released her 4^th studio album, Strip Me. In typical fashion she has produced one more album with the same great style, wordplay, and as some put I, cheekiness as Unwritten, N.B., and Pocketful of Sunshine.

Touch was released as a teaser in June and Strip Me in September, so I already knew those songs and enjoyed them.

Every song on the album but there are two that stood out to me in particular during the first time listen. The first one: No Mozart. It’s a more piano driven song with such meaningful, clever lyrics. The second one: Can’t Fall Down. Its sound made me automatically think of the scene in Medicine Man when Sean Connery is swinging around in the rainforest. It doesn’t really help that one of the lines mentions the “forest floor”.

This album is definitely more electronic than the guitar and piano driven Unwritten, but it is still definite Bedingfield music.  All the vocal swirls that weren’t as apparent in Pocketful of Sunshine are back.

Bedingfield has definitely matured since the first album. Each album is like a diary of the point in life she’s at currently. It’s cool though, because I feel like I‘m on that journey as well.

I did do a double take when I first heard a cuss word in Weightless. I had to restart the song to make sure I heard it correctly. It’s there. I guess I’ll just have to get over it. Its only said twice.

On a small side note, David Glass used to play guitar for Bedingfield. He then ended up co-writing a song with Lee DeWyze on his new album Sweet Serendipity. It’s just cool to see all the music connections that happen. And I have even more reason to like DeWyze since he was writing with Natash Bedingfield’s former guitarist and Toby Gad who has also done work with Bedingfield.

Puzzle

Back in June I posted a video for a version of my favorite new song at the time. Then in September I posted about how I had 4 different versions of the song.  I can now sadly say I have a fifth version of K’naan’s Wavin Flag. It’s the one he performed at the FIFA World Cup Kick-Off Celebration Concert. It mixes both the regular version and the World Cup of the song and even brings in will I am from the Black Eyed Peas (he’s on one of the other versions I have and the Peas were performers at the concert too).

I once read somewhere (I want to say in Nick Hornby’s book Songbook, but I’m not positive) that songs are like puzzles we’re trying to solve. There’s a mystery in the songs and we’re all trying to solve it. Some songs are more of a mystery for some people than others.

I’d like to figure out the puzzle in Wavin Flag. I’m not sure why it’s held my fascination for so long. I get the feeling its because K’naan is a lot like Natasha Bedingfield. He’s got good beats, his music has some depth in it, he started out more popular internationally than in the US, and he’s a social activist. Then I think you can add on top of that the fact that I found the song as a World Cup song and I love soccer more than almost everything than God and my Barney.

Those are the reasons I can come up with for my fascination. And Wavin Flag isn’t the only song I have a fascination with. It’s just the most recent one. And I like its puzzle. 

Sign of a Victory

There are only three songs ever that I have bought after listening to the for the first time.
1. Bad Day by Daniel Powter
2. Smile by Uncle Kracker
3. Sign of a Victory by R. Kelly

Sometimes you just know that a song is amazing. And one day I was sitting on a bus coming back after a long day at a range. The wonderful bus driver had some station on and this song came on. I had never heard it before, but it sounded like it belonged in a World Cup soundtrack, it sounded like R. Kelly, and it had those wonderful cliches like in "I Believe I can Fly". What a surprise that all three of those things were true. R. Kelly produced the song for the 2010 Word Cup soundtrack.

Now I shall tie it in to AIT.
Today my platoon did a nice 3 mile road march. It was just us, our weapon and a 25 lb pack. It was so easy, but I guess almost anything could be considered easy after 10 miles in full gear. Sign of a Victory was stuck in my head and I was singing it all through the march.

Its so beautiful here in Arizona. I could just stare up at the clouds all day; especially at the beginning and end of the day when the sun turns them colors. It must have something to do with being a mile up. And the mountains are wonderful and the stretching flatness and ridges of the area. I's cool to see the storms and clouds in the mountains. And I love being in the heat even though its starting to cool down a bit ( that translates into the 80's during the day instead of the 90's).

I don't know the next time I will be able to post. I leave you with this: my new favorite song.