The 51st Grammy Awards will be taking place on February8th at the Los Angeles Staples Center and broadcast live on CBS. I will now go over the pros and cons of this event, in case you are still having trouble deciding between the Grammys and your favorite primetime hour long drama.
This of course is only my opinion, no matter how incredibly accurate it may be. In order to avoid ending this on a sour note, I shoud probably list the cons first. Here are my gripes about this year’s Grammy Awards:
Cons
Pros
Another pro (that is so pro it gets its own paragraph) is that the ever hilarious Jack Black will be among the presenters. That alone is reason enough to watch, in my opinion. Although, it is kind of a slap in the face since Jack Black is actually an incredibly talented musician, and his band “Tenacious D” should be up for a Grammy in like every single category. Regardless of when their last actual musical relase was!
Tune in Feb. 8th, 8pm ET/PT to check it out for yourself.
In the mid 90s, before you could just hop online and download just about any song you wanted at lightning speed, there was a service called 1-800 Music Now. As archaic as it may seem today, it was actually pretty cool to go steal your parents’ credit card and order CDs (that’s right, CDs) over the phone.
Okay, I was too much of a wuss to actually use my mom’s credit card. But I’m sure some kids did.
What I DID do was call regularly to listen to the audio previews of my favorite artists/songs. As ridiculous as it seems now, at the time it was the only way to hear those songs, unless of course you went out and bought them all. Or I suppose you could make a request at your favorite radio station and listen and wait all day.
Anyway, when Green Day’s Insomniac came out, I immediately called 1-800 Music Now to hear the clips from the album. Even though “Brain Stew” was already getting radio play, I wanted to hear what else the album had to offer, before begging my mom to take me to the music shop to buy it for me (and convincing her the parental advisory was no big deal).
If it wasn’t for this caveman iTunes service, I never would have found out about the rest of Green Day’s catalog. I had heard about their sophomore album, Kerplunk, from a friend, but I had no idea they had put anything out prior.
1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy hours is actually a compilation of a few EPs they did early on in their career plus some newly recorded tracks, released by the folks at LookOut! Records in 1990 (wow!).
It’s a whole different world of Green Day compared to the American Idiot style of today; Billie Joe Armstrong sounds about 100 years younger, and the music is much lighter, with not a lot of low-end. But if you’re a fan of raw pop-punk rock, your musical library is far from complete without this album.
Nearly every song on the album is about love, mainly the unrequited kind. However, Track #5 is actually titled “Green Day”, and details what it’s like to enjoy a “Green Day” (a day spent in a cloud of marijuana smoke).
Another interesting thing about this album is that it predates current drummer Tré Cool. During the 39/Smooth days, a man by the name of John Kiffmeyer was playing the drums, and Tré had yet to enter the equation. Kiffmeyer ultimately decided to make the genius move of quitting the band in favor of academic pursuits. Good call, dude.
If you’re not sold on this album by my endorsement alone, check out the tracks “Paper Lanterns” and “Going to Pasalacqua”. After hearing those two songs, if you still don’t think the album is worth your time, I don’t want to be your friend anymore.
Oooo-wah-ah-ah-ah!!!
2009 is here and Disturbed will be headlining the Music as a Weapon IV tour beginning in March, covering 38 cities from March to May. Coming off the heels of their 3rd straight #1 Billboard album, “Indestructible”. You can expect the events to be jam-packed with eager Disturbians.
Coming along with Disturbed to partake in the mayhem will be such notable acts as Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil, Chimaira, and several other bands that have yet to be announced.
They’re really going all out with the tour this year. This time around there will be two stages showcasing your favorite hard rock and metal bands, some extreme sports demos, a gaming area, and even traveling tattoo artists! Sort of like a metal circus, if you will.
To keep up to date with information about the tour, be sure to check out <a href=”http://musicasaweapon4.com”>Musicasaweapon4.com</a>. Tickets for select shows will be going on sale as early as January 30th!
Not sure what we did here on the west coast that may have offended David Draiman and company, but it doesn’t look like the tour will be paying us a visit. Looks like the furthest west the tour will touch is Glendale, AZ. This leaves me feeling rather…perturbed.
There’s a reason Thriller wins best video of all time pretty much every single year on MTV - it’s awesome. I defy anyone to look me in the eye and tell me that it is not a brilliantly choreographed video and of course expertly crafted pop song!
The 14 minute short horror film based on the hit song will be recreated on the stage, and Jackson will have a very gloved hand in the whole ordeal. “This musical will be the exclusive Michael Jackson authorized version of Thriller”, said an official from the Nederlander Organization. “Jackson will participate in every aspect of the creative process”.
Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, considering the apparent dilapidated state of the pop stars mental health. But since his lawyers have bled him dry over the past few years and he has allegedly thrown millions of dollars in hush money at families of allegedly traumatized children, he allegedly needs the money pretty bad.
When the original music video for Thriller was produced, it is reported that it cost an estimated $500,000. That’s easily 10x more than what your average music video cost in those days (1983), and it’s even more outlandish nowadays, since the cost of music video production has gone down and the popularity of titanic-sized music videos has dwindled.
So, although it’s a touch bizarre (as is anything concerning Michael Jackson these days), it’s still pretty cool to hear that they’re bringing Thriller back and giving it a whole new forum. It’s also nice to hear that Jackson is involved with something productive for once, and not getting himself into trouble or having his face reconstructed.
Oh, speaking of bizarre, here’s another quote, this one direct from Dr. Tohme Tohme (no, that is not a typo), Jackson’s spokesman: “The Nederlanders and Michael Jackson represent live theater and musical excellence, so let the music begin.”
If you’re anything like me, you’re like “wha? Nederlander? You mean “Neverland”, or what?” Well, apparently we are not cultured enough. The Nederlander Organization is actually one of the largest operators of live theater in the United States. Is it a coincidence that it sounds so similar to Neverland and we’re dealing with Michael Jackson here? I’ll leave you to ponder that. Hopefully all of our questions will be answered when Thriller comes to town.
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