Friday

Hey, guess what? It is Friday again.

I don't really have much energy to write today, work has me extremely frustrated and well, the fact that I'm working 12+ hours today is not helping too much. Hopefully I get out of here at a normal time and get a little bit of relaxing done this weekend... (I sure need it).

One other thought about the weekend, Sunday is the Grammy Awards and while I do not watch them (because I think that they are not a great representation of what should be honored in music) I do hope that Adele and Bon Iver wins big. If Bon Iver doesn't win 'Best New Artist' or if Adele doesn't win 'Album of the Year' it will further confirm the awards as a fail for me. So good luck to you both.... 

Have a great weekend everybody. I think we may get some snow in Richmond... yay. 

Illustrated Tweets of the Day

I found a website called "HelloGiggles" and their recent dedication to illustrating tweets and well I love them. Take a look at a few of them below.... so true!

"My facebook wall is basically just a baby book from people who shouldn't have children" 

"Everyone who owns a cat has held them up and sang the Lion King song at least once"

"Every morning when I wake up my first thought is to wonder what I get to eat today"

"I just want to meet someone who knows that back to the future III is clearly the worst one of the trilogy"

"For those who bounce out of bed each morning with a loving zest for life.... everybody hates you"

New M.I.A. "Bad Girl"

Hi my name is Katie and I'm a fan of M.I.A. Yes thats right. Little old me actually enjoys her 'I don't give a s#&%" style and attitude. She has never once tried to fit into the boxed stereotype and has always danced to the beat of her own drum. Now do I agree 100% with everything she does and says, nope. But that doesn't mean I can't buy her albums and enjoy her music. 

Here is a new one called "Bad Girls" from her new album due out later this year. I love it, and from the looks of it I'm not alone. This video below has been played over 7 million times. Damn.

Boys 2 Men Are Coming to Town!

HaHaHaHa!! Boys II Men are coming to Richmond on June 2nd. Yessss! haha. 

I just read online that Boys II Men are heading on a full US tour and what would you know, they are headed here to Richmond to play Browns Island on June 2nd. I may or may not be in attendance, your guess. 

Also funny side note the gig before they play in Richmond, they are playing in my hometown of Morristown, NJ. haha. Weird!

Give Me All Your Luvin'

Dear Madonna. What the heck is up with your new song? "LUV Madonna" really you need people chanting that they love you now? Now I'm not going to lie and tell you the "Give Me All Your Luvin" chorus is not catchy... because it is. But I think you are trying a bit too hard with this video.

Nobody expects you to be a 22 year old pop star. You look great, we all love you anyways, stop trying so hard. 

(Also I find it funny that MIA flashed her middle finger in the video below too, really NBC you didn't expect her to do it again at the Super Bowl? ha You all obviously don't know your own talent.)

Happy Thursday!

Adele - Take It All

I know its been what two weeks since I've last written about Adele. Well don't you worry, her live cd from Albert Hall has yet to leave my cd player in my car and her songs are still blasted through my apartment on a daily basis. 

The one I've really loved as of late is her ballad "Take it All". And well its about her ex-boyfriend (obviously) and well if you watch the video below you will here her explain:

"I wrote this about my ex while we were still together.... I got home, played it for him and well things ended quickly after"  haha. I wonder why. 

"Didn't I give it all, tried my best

Gave you everything I had, everything and no less

Didn't I do it right? Did I let you down?

Maybe you got to used to; by having me around

Still how can you walk away

From all my tears?

It's gonna be an empty road, without me right here

But go on and take it, take it all with you.

Don't look back, at this crumbling fool

Just take it all, with my love

Take it all, with my love

Maybe I should leave, to help you see

Nothing is better than this

And this is everything we need

So is it over? Is this really it?

You've given up so easily, I though you loved me more than this.

(Chorus)

I will change if I must.

Slow it down and bring it home I will adjust

Oh if only, if only you knew,

Everything I do is for you."

Now those are some lyrics. Below is a video of her at the Itunes Festival in 2011. 

Wingsuit

If for some awful reason I was given a week to live. I would go and find these guys and convince them to let me try this. Again, that would be the only way I would be brave enough to do this... but man imagine how much fun this would be!

Wingsuits are absolutely insane... and the people who strap themselves into them and fly at very high speeds right next to mountains well they need to have their heads examined. 

But I've watched this video at least 10 times today. And I can only imagine if my little brother were to see it he would have already gotten in his car in search for these guys. Rick no!!! 

Need4Speed: Insight from Phoenix Fly on Vimeo.

Truth

Saw this picture and laughed at really how true it is. 

haha

I Love Disney!

Above you will find a video for a tour through Disneyland in 1957. Its pretty neat to see the set up of the park and all the things that have remained the same over the last 50+ years. 

I have a slight love affair with Disney. I was lucky enough as a kid to have parents that thought it was important to expand our imaginations. To let us dream, and let us discover. Many of this was done in our trips to Disney down in Florida. I think I went about three times. Each time either one of my brothers or I were at the perfect age to be blown away. I have a favorite picture of me when I first spot Mickey, the look of happiness on my face is indescribable. I loved everything about that place. And bravo to my parents for making our dreams come true. 

I remember one time we went, we always had to leave at like 5am to catch the flight, my mom woke us up early and had my brothers and I keep a look out for the car that was going to take us to the airport. I remember my mom telling me, "now its a small car, and it may miss the house so keep an eye out for it!". With my brothers and I all there staring out the window the next thing that happened blew our minds. A limo pulled into the driveway. A big old limo. Now you have to understand we had never really seen nor had a ride in a limo in our entire life and we all just took off around the House screaming. Vacation was here!

Those are the moments I will always cherish. The moments that my parents made our dreams come true. Did we have everything growing up? Nope. But we did have two parents who worked hard in letting us know that everything is possible if you dare to dream. 

And three dreamers were made, nourished and are now out making it in this world. 

Moral of this story... I want to go back to Disney.

Mini Rant

Mini Rant... Ready Go!

Where the hell are all the good movies????

Yes you heard me. I for one love going and wasting $10 bucks a pop at the movies (maybe more if I'm in the mood for popcorn) but there are no good movies out! "Man on a Ledge" Really? Teenage Superheros? Been done before. The only one out that I even have any inclination of watching is Hugo and its made for children. 

And speaking of movies, the Oscars are going to suck this year. (I can't believe I just said that) I've been watching this award show every single year that I can remember but this year I can easily say... that it may even be worse then last year! **GASP**

Get it together Hollywood. Stop letting Will Smith remake the Karate Kid with his own children and take some control with what you are letting out to the public. I'm sure there are about a thousand indie films that are amazing and just waiting for the right funding. Go fund those.... no more movies about Dolphins and their struggle to succeed. 

Mini rant over! 

Thank you and have a good day.

The Voice Recap

Hello and Happy Wednesday. Sorry that I have been pretty lame this week but work has been ruling my world the last few days and today it is finally time to breath. 

Now I'm not going to say that I'm a reality show junkie but there comes a time at night when I'm flipping through channels and well if you can hold my attention for more then a few minutes then I'm sold. This is originally how I got into watching this new show 'The Voice'. I had never heard of it then flipping through the channels I saw these blind auditions and I was sold. Something about a blind audition makes me very happy. These shows can't stack their shows with the types of talent that 'they wan't' (i'm looking at you American Idol and your typecasting) but these blind auditions let people who would have never made it onto these other shows a shot. 

Like Juliet Simms. From what I hear she fronts a band called Automatic Loveletter and has been on the Warped Tour before but she has never really made it big. Well I think she has got her shot now! She absolutely killed it the other night with her rendition of one of my favorites 'Oh Darlin'. No surprise that the judges had a big fight over who would coach her... 

Enjoy the video below, its pretty bad ass. 

Best Interview Ever

Last night while I was trying to fall asleep I puton the new NBC show "The Voice" and what I saw at the time, I thought had to be a dream. Yet here it is... the next day, and I just remembered the image. I looked it up and I in fact was not dreaming and C. Lo was really holding a cat "Dr. Evil" style during his interviews. 

So beyond ridiculous... I have no words.

Odd Pairing

Here is another odd pairing for you. Liza Minnelli and Jay-Z right after his concert at Carnegie Hall last night. 

I can not believe that entire sentence I just wrote was true. Picture proof!

Top 20 Craft Breweries - America Edition

I pause the daily posting of music for a post on one of the other joys in life. Beer. Now while I'm not the biggest beer snob on the planet, I do only enjoy drinking good beer. Please no Budweiser for me. Every now and again its nice to sit down with a nice good beer and relax.

I just found an article naming the "Top 20 Craft Breweries in the U.S." and found the results quite interesting and thought I would share. I will also now try and track down and try the ones that I have not yet... mission 2012 accepted.

Side note: Craft brewers are breweries that produce 6 million barrels of beer or less annually, they also often use traditional methods to create their malts. 

Listed in order, with city of brewery and most popular brand.

20. Great Lakes Brewing - Cleveland, Ohio - Dortmunder Gold 

19. Long Trail Brewing - Bridgewater, Vt - Double Bag Ale

18. Abita Brewing - Abita Springs, La - Abita IPA

17. Shipyard Brewing - Portland, Maine - Shipyard Export Ale

16. Alaskan Brewing - Juneau, Alaska - Alaskan Amber

15. Brooklyn Brewery - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Lager

14. Dogfish Head Brewery - Milton, Del - 60 Minute IPA

13. Stone Brewing - Escondido, Calif - Stone IPA

12. Boulevard Brewing - Kansas City, Mo - Single-Wide IPA

11. Lagunitas Brewing - Petaluma, Calif - Lagunitas IPA

10. Harpoon Brewery - Boston, Mass - Harpoon IPA

9. Bell's Brewery - Galesberg, Mich - Bell's Lager

8. Matt's Brewing - Utica, NY - Saranac 

7. Deschutes Brewery - Bend, Ore. - Red Chair NWPA

6. Magic Hat Brewery - Burlington, Vt - #9

5. Spoetzl Brewery - Shiner, Tx - Shiner Bock

4. Craft Brew Alliance - Portland, Ore - Red Hook

3. New Belgium Brewing - Fort Collins, Co - Fat Tire

2. Sierra Nevada Brewing - Chico, Calif - S.N. Pale Ale

1. The Boston Beer Company - Jamica Plane, Mass - Samuel Adams 

Hello Tuesday!

Well well well, Tuesday is here and somehow its almost half way over. How exactly did that happen? I was up at the crack of dawn (and by that I mean anytime I have to actually get up before 7am) to go to a Breakfast Fundraiser at the Jefferson here in Richmond. It was to raise money for the VCU Massey Cancer Center. There was a healthy breakfast, a great guest speaker, lots of people that I knew in the room which is always nice all and all a good morning. 

Now I'm back at work for a relatively easy day. These next few weeks are a little crazy, I'm working late on most nights and most of my days are filled with crazy meetings for our event coming up next month. So I'll take advantage of days like today when I can. 

Hope everyone is having a good day, I'm going to attempt to do a little work and make up for my waste of a day that was yesterday. 

As for music here is a good one of the Jack's Mannequin album that came out last September. Enjoy!

"We are just these people running around, and I'm in no hurry to figure it out"

Happy Birthday Bob and Axl

Crazy day in the world of celebrity birthdays. The two biggest ones are Axl Rose and Bob Marley. Crazy fact.... Axl is 50. That is just scary... I mean that's just weird.

That's about all the energy I have to type today. Back to hiding out in my office hoping that nobody figures out that I'm in here today.... few more hours...

Today is Tough

Why the day after the Super Bowl is not a national holiday is beyond me. So far I would predict that bout 5 minutes of actual work has been done in the entire office. So far this has been the breakdown:

-30 Minutes of me rubbing it in the person from Boston's face about the loss

-60 Minutes spent on talking about favorite commercials. (Mine is below)

-20 Minutes debating Madonna and the M.I.A. flip off to the camera

-10 Minutes on Gisele 

-10 Minutes on Kelly Clarkson

-20 Minutes on actual game talk (which I like many was pretty just disappointed in the lack of actual good football)

-Rest of the day has been spent on what everyone ate

All and all I stand behind the belief that today work should not exist. We are just counting minutes until time is up and we can all go back home, get under covers and go back to sleep.

This week starts tomorrow.

That being said, here is my favorite commercial and my girl Kelly Clarkson killing the national anthem. (In this sentence, killing is a good thing.)

and now Kelly.

Happy Monday!

I'm about to walk into our weekly staff meeting but before that I need to share with you a picture that has been making me happy all morning long.

hehehehehehe

I'll be back!

Super Bowl in Indy

This weekend the Super Bowl is headed to Indianapolis. While I've mentioned before that I don't really care about who wins this year, it is pretty cool that it will be at a stadium I was in just a mere two years ago. 

My family and I traveled out to Indy to watch the AFC Championship back in 2009. While the city isn't the greatest city I've ever been to, the stadium was pretty impressive (even for a dome, which I believe football should never be played in). I can only imagine how loud its going to be in there, because to this day when the Colts came out for the start of that game it was easily the loudest noise I've ever heard in my life. And I've been to some pretty loud concerts... 

It should be fun this weekend to try and spot where our seats were for that fateful game. It will most definitely bring up some good memories of the fun times we had there. 

Oh Jets, one day you will actually be playing on this weekend... one day... 

Crazy Busy!

Today is just one of those days where I will have to remind myself to actually slow down and breathe. 

Trying to get a lot done before I leave later on this afternoon, so I apologize but no time for blogging today! I'll try and get some in this weekend to make up for it (that is if it rains and if it doesn't stay beautiful outside)

PS Have I mentioned that it is Friday? Yaaay.

Have a fantastic weekend!

U2 - Walk On

Been a rough day for me so far. Lots of really heavy things going on here at work kind of have made my head spin. All I want to do is for it to be 4pm and I can load myself into my car and get out of here. I know that I will feel much better once that happens... Until then I will try to keep smiling and keep moving this day forward.

Helping with that is U2, this next song stumbled across my pandora a few minutes ago and for a moment I forgot how great it is. 

"And if the darkness is to keep us apart

And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off

And if your glass heart should crack

Before the second you turn back

Oh no, be strong

Oh, oh, walk on, walk on,

What you got they can't steal it

No, they can't even feel it

Walk on, walk on

Stay safe tonight"

Ryan Adams Studio Session

Not a whole lot going to come out of me today here on the blog, I can already feel it. 

So take advantage of these good ones while they are here. The next video is a pretty great hour long studio session from over at NPR of Ryan Adams. Its been playing on my computer all morning and I have to admit its pretty amazing. He goes from light songs to heavy songs and gives a lot of energy in between. Worth the listen if you can.

K'Naan is Pissed!

Funny how these things work out. Just yesterday I wrote about K'Naan's song 'In the Beginning' and then this morning I was reading the news and read an article about how he is pissed because Mitt Romney is touring the country using his song 'Waving Flag'. 

In a statement last night, he says that Romney's campaign didn't seek approval to use the song and he would not have granted permission if it had. He wants to make sure that he does not use it again or he will seek legal action.

The song was an international hit for the artist in 2010, and served as the theme for the most recent World Cup.

Amazing Cello Beat-boxing Below!

This morning it was about 8:15, I was just about ready to leave my apartment and head to work when something caught my ear. On the Today show they were interviewing Kevin Olusola. A 24 year old man who was taking the internet by storm with his unique Cello Beat-boxing skills. 

Six hours later and I still can't pick my jaw up off the floor...

K'Naan 'In the Beginning'

"They say its better to light a candle then to curse the dark"

This next song is one of my favorites off of K'Naan's album, its called "In the Beginning" and from the very first lyrics it is off and running. It doesn't really pause at all except for a few lines in the middle of the song. I highly recommend if you haven't listened to more of this guys music to give him a chance. I've been a fan of his for years...

Start with "ABC's and Waiving Flag"

Iphone 4s

I knew I was behind on technology when I went home for Christmas to find my Dad and Step Mom both playing 'words with friends' on their new iphones. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. Did they really beat me to it? Am I still trying to make my little android work? What is wrong with this picture??

Last night I corrected these wrongs. I went out and got the new iphone 4s. Most likely the best $200 I will spend this year. Its already up and working way better then my old phone, and I don't even know how to use it!

The personal assistant Siri is amazing. I would be lying to say that I didn't try and ask it a million questions last night. 

This little phone is sure to make my life a tad bit easier. 

(But really lets be honest on why I really did it. I no longer have to carry my huge ipod around to listen to music. I can load and have 16G worth of music right on my phone. Amazing.)

New Andrew Bird

The new Andrew Bird album is helping move this day along quite quickly. The music from his highly anticipated new album "Break it Yourself" is more straight forward then his previous albums. I like it a lot. Especially the above song "EyeonEye". 

Take a listen, hope you like. 

Is it lunch yet?

Young Jon Stewart

Take a good look at the picture above. You spot someone in the back? Yes thats right... its a very young Jon Stewart! 

This picture was taken here in Richmond Virginia in 1982. Then Stewart was a student at the College of William and Mary. He is fighting it out in the pit of a show by The Dead Kennedys and Front Line here at Casablanca. 

Side Note

My office mate is back to her old ways. Today she has blasted Katy Perry's "Firework" about 12 times. 

Again, I'm faced with the dilemma of what to do in this situation.

I think I'll last until the 15th time, then its on.....

Soul Train Creator Don Cornelius Found Dead

Sad sad news in the music world this morning...

Don Cornelius, the man that was behind the classic 1971-2006 dance show Soul Train, was found dead this morning from an apparent suicide in his Sherman Oaks, California home. 

He was 75.

I don't know about any of you, but I've spent a lot of time in my day watching soul train dance line videos on youtube. They are the best! Not only is there fantastic music, but the dance moves some of these people had were just incredible (I don't even have to mention the outfits, thats a given). 

Thank you Don for giving young people a stage to express themselves in this form at a time where this was virtually unheard of. You will certainly be missed.

Now one of my favorite clips from the show featuring the music of Earth, Wind and Fire!