2012 Grammy Awards Y'all

Ginger-iffic

Lana Del Rey. She's gorgeous, talented, and her videos are CRAZY good. Her album Born to Die is my latest obsession. There's a subtly haunting air to her voice that is seriously irresistible and addicting. Watch these videos and you'll know what I'm talking about.

The State of Music Today...

I know what you're thinking. Oh, how original, it's someone complaining about how terrible most of the modern day "mainstream" music of today is. Well, I'm not here to complain or chastise anyone in particular (besides Nickelback... but they deserve it). And I know it's easy to have the tendency to skim over quotes, but these ones, along with the song lyrics, are definitely worth truly reading and pondering. These boys know what they're talking about. 

"It's the music. People are blown away that Adele is selling so many records. I’m not. That record is great! She’s got a beautiful voice, and people are shocked when they hear actual talent. Music should be more than ad placement, more than synthesised looping of a voice that’s been Auto-Tuned and an image made to look like a superhero or supermodel. We walk on stage with five instruments and no computers. It might not sound perfect, but we’ll rip your face off, and we don’t need someone to hit ‘go’ on the computer. The band’s better than we’ve ever been. We don’t have bad shows. We kill it every night." 
-Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters

Rock & roll is dying because people became OK with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world. So they became OK with the idea that the biggest rock band in the world is always going to be shit – therefore you should never try to be the biggest rock band in the world. Fuck that! Rock & roll is the music I feel the most passionately about, and I don’t like to see it fucking ruined and spoon-fed down our throats in this watered-down, post-grunge crap, horrendous shit. When people start lumping us into that kind of shit, it’s like, ‘Fuck you,’ honestly.
-Patrick Carney of The Black Keys

311 "Come Original"

You got to come original you got to come original

all entertainers come original

you got to come original you got to come original

all entertainers

hear why

A warning to the crews out there who think they're hot

if you're not original rockers you will get shot

down by the kids neglectin' your art, the stuff you did

eventually it get so bad puts you to bed

cause when the lightning flashes sweet electricity

all the world then stands revealed with the clarity

of raw voltage, briefly we see and the hope is

you'll be able to tell just what dope is

(Come on, come on)

This is not a test there's no time to mope

how you gonna cope with radioactive isotope

and boss DJ illness upon you now quickly

infecting you fast upon the airwaves

this message brought to you by the so large system

activate and attune yourself with meditation

and green plants they've got mad life they're sentient

they're beautiful as you and they like to dance

Come original you got to come original

all entertainers come original

311 "Plain"

Nod your head to this.

Messin' around, I'm not having it.

You bite the hand I put your head out.

I come to know a travesty and so sad to see.

The scene dictated frustrated former musicians.

Switching' the emphasis from art to money.

But I demand autonomy what else my friend.

I tell you what 's wrong to me the industry's ability to manufacture stars.

They churn them out like Iwojema makes cars.

But the blame lies not with those suits for trying.

It's the sheep that keep on buying that soulless crap.

Whatever they put in front of ya.

The hysteria of America.

Nod your head to this.

Well, stress is the enemy and not a friend to me.

One thing I see is to be easy goin' throwin' down sit back.

And watch my life flowin' and knowing life is but a dream.

You can ask my home team.

Let me tell you how I seem.

My economy seems to be in words not action actually ya see yes.

I'm a tempest and I rarely rest but that's what you go to do.

If you want to be the best so I'm on a threshold so don't tell me no.

I just flow and know I can count on my bros.

Don't you know that the devil he's in me and God she is too.

My Yin hates my Yang, but what the fuck ya gonna do.

I choose a rocky ass path but that's how I like it.

Life's a bowl of punch go ahead and spike it.

Check out this interview of The Black Keys on selling out:

Here's to you Mrs. Robinson...

A short time ago, I finally got around to watching the 1967 film, The Graduate. And what a beautiful, thought provoking film it is. I loved it. Dustin Hoffman was perfect as 21 year old Benjamin Braddock who is simply "worried about his future," Anne Bancroft is Mrs. Robinson, the stunning and quintessential "desperate housewife," and the beautiful Katharine Ross is Elaine Robinson, a perfect representation of youth revolt and rebellious and capricious love. There is so much to take in with this movie--I can't wait to watch it again. Besides the  acting, incredible cinematography, and captivating storyline, there is one other aspect of the film that makes it that much more intriguing... the work of Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel. Their songs make up the entirety of the soundtrack, and three main songs- "The Sound of Silence," "Mrs. Robinson" (of course), and "Scarborough Fair/Canticle."

The music, the characters, the storyline--they all take the viewer on a journey. When you watch this movie, which you very well should, you see a coming-of-age tale, a view on late 60s youth culture, uncompromising and whimsical love through Benjamin and Elaine, and the staggering uncertainty of one's future. As for the soundtrack, Simon & Garfunkel create the perfect accompaniment. Their subtle, yet lingering music allows you to further appreciate the simplicity and, at the same, complexity of the film. 

Live from New York... It's Saturday night!

I've been a die hard Saturday Night Live fan since I can remember. In fact, I remember having dreams of becoming a cast member or even just being lucky enough to attend one of the shows. Someday, perhaps... However, in recent years, I've become much more interested in the performers than I ever was. In some of the past seasons of SNL, I remember thinking like, whoa, come on--this artist/band is whack. But this season, I've been surprisingly cool with most all of the performers. I dig Lorne's sometimes risky choices. He could choose public favorites and "well-knowns" every week, but instead he opts for crazies like Lana Del Rey and Robyn. And I like that. Below are some videos of the performers I think did one heck of a job. Finally... one show for two of my favorite things--comedy and music... Yeah SNL! 

Music Fans

Most of my musical energy is spent looking into bands I might fancy, however, I haven't spent much time at all considering the people on the my side of the stage--the Fans. As I started thinking about music fans in today's day and age, I think I came across a pretty solid classification system that most all "music fans" fit into. In my eyes, there are four kinds of people who listen to music. Hear me out on this one, kids. It might get interesting.

1. The first group consists of the people (usually young and moldable minds) who are sucked into falling for the already famous, popular image driven, and auto-tune facilitated type of music that has taken over a good deal of radio stations and popular culture today. They usually 'Never Say Never.'

2. The second group is filled with people who are only into a band or artist that no one knows about, but once this artist gets any sort of recognition or a bigger fan base, these people instantly become disgusted with their fame and accuse them of going "mainstream" or "selling out." These accusations have no definite meaning whatsoever--thus, I believe this group is roughly 75% insane.

3. The third group consists of the people that "love all types of music," however, they usually don't, in actuality, love all types. They like what they already know, what their friends are into, and what is played heavily on the radio/places they frequent. Jessica Simpson seemed to fit the bill on this one. My apologies.

4. In the fourth group, there are true music fans... The Band-aids. These are the people that support and live for the honest creation of music. They know what they like, but still remain open to tasting the different flavors of the musical spectrum. They will defend their favorites, spread the love, and appreciate music for the art it is and the art it inspires. Forevah and evah.