If You're Reading This

Tim McGraw debuted this song on the ACM awards show this last year. He was supposed to sing another song, but he decided to do this one before.

Two Down

During this Presidental race I'm reminded of the last season of West Wing, where there was no front runner and the candiate was chosen during the Convention. I like the fact that for once in a very long time there seems to be no front runner in either party. Of course as it gets closer to both conventions I'm sure we'll see more of a front runner. Next Tuesday may determine if there will be a choice already made before the convention.

Shelby Lynne: Difficult Kind w/ Sheryl Crow

American Idol: Kristy Lee Cook

Could this be the next Idol? I really like what I hear in this clip and this is one of my favorite songs she sings.



I found this partial clip on YouTube of her singing the Mary Chapin Carpenter song "I Feel Lucky."

Shelby Lynne: Your Lies

Artist of the Month: Shelby Lynne

It's back! Somehow Artist of the Month vanished from this blog over the last few months, but I've decided to bring it back. And this month's Artist of the Month is Shelby Lynne. (Actually for the month of February, since this month is really just about over with.)

Shelby has a new album out today called "Just A Little Lovin'", songs inspired by Dusty Springfield. She takes 9 songs made famous by Dusty (and one original) and remakes them. She strips them down to bare minimum, painos and guitar and not a lot of either. The songs rely on her voice.

Of course during the month I'll talk more about Shelby and show some videos and put up some music from her.

A Little Late: LSU Wins!

Ok, this should be filed better late than never. Where I work we sell LSU shirts. In fact after the game, like seconds after the game, we re-opened to sell those official LSU Winner Shirts. The next day someone from the local paper came by to take some pictures and write up one of those articles about how much stuff was selling with LSU on it after the win. I was holding this shirt up for a customer, I didn't realize that she took the picture or that it would be in the paper, but it was. And me with my big mouth wide open.

Johnny Lang and Feeling Good About Myself

I went to see Johnny Lang at the HOB the other night. He put on a great show. I'd like to thank Jen and her friends Diana and Rebecca for just being there. The three of them were from Kansas City and visiting New Orleans. I met them at the show and they did a lot for my confidence when it hasn't been at the highest. So all in all a very good night.

Rejoicing In The Streets - It's Working!

I have finally figured out how to convert my vinyl albums to the computer. I purchased one of those turntables with the USB hookup that allows me to download my vinyl albums onto my computer and than make cds of them. But I have been having the hardest time getting it to work.

Part of the problem was that I bought the turntable right before my Dad got sick and died. It was sitting on my table when I left for Tennessee and was there waiting for me when I got back. I put it in my closet and didn't want to fool with it for the longest time. I know it had nothing to do with my Dad's death, but it's purchase was too close to the issue.

I finally pulled it out the other night and was determined to get it to work. I was able to record music, but somehow it didn't seem to be going where I wanted it to. I went to their web site and decided to see if there were any new updates I needed to download. When I bought this turntable it was before VISTA system was out, so when I went to their download page and saw that there was a Vista download I went for it. It downloaded a program entitled EZ Vinyl Converter. And guess what? It worked!

It made converting that vinyl album into my computer so easy. And it actually downloads the music into ITunes, which is where I wanted it to end up in the first place. This way I can than download the music into the IPod. I'm not sure what the Audicity program, which is what comes with the turntable has to do with anything now, since the EZ Vinyl Converter seems to do all the work. Well, I guess I really don't care, as long as it works.

So today before work I started downloading some albums. Now this is going to be a very time consuming process, since it's not like doing a cd which you can download pretty quick. With an album you have to just let it play out. And you have to be there to push the new track button everytime a track ends and a new one starts, so the computer knows it's a new song.

I'm starting with some of my obscure records. The first one I downloaded was John Thomas Griffith's "Son of An Engineer." Griffith is the lead guitarist for the group Cowboy Mouth now, but once he was a singer out on his own. And before that he was the lead singer of a group called the Red Rockers. I saw him perform solo and acoustic at the Audbourn Zoo opening for Bob Dylan years ago.

The next record I put into the computer was an old Bob Seger album, back before he signed with Capitol Records. "Back In '72" is a record that I searched for a long time and ended up buying a used copy years ago. When I went to get this picture of it from Amazon.com the price for the vinyl album was $75.00.

So I figure I'm going to be spending some time over the next month or so loading some albums into the computer. I'll make mention of some of the albums that I feel like deserve mentioning or maybe just so odd that they need to be talked about in future posts.

An Oldie But A Goodie!

The first concert I ever went to was Foghat at the Warehouse just off the river in New Orleans. The Warehouse was exactly what it sounds like. It was an old warehouse that they converted into a place to play live music. The ammenties were terrible, but the sound quality was awesome. ZZ Top's live album was recorded there. The Allman Brothers have said it was one of their favorite places to play. Unfortunately the Warehouse has long since been torn down.

I was thinking of Foghat today when I saw their Greatest Hits at Best Buy and had to pick it up. I have stuff by them on vinyl but nothing on cd.

Foghat was formed from members of Savoy Brown: Dave Peverett, Tony Stevens and Roger Earl. Shortly they added Rod Price on guitar. Dave was Lonesome Dave, the singer and voice behind the group. Roger Earl played drums and Tony Stevens was on bass. During the seventies they came out with songs that you heard on FM Radio all the time, "Slow Ride," "Fool For the City," and "I Just Want to Make Love to You." Their best selling album was their live album, selling over two million copies.

Like many groups from the seventies they had their ups and downs. Different members came and went, with everyone but Roger Earl pretty much quitting and coming back at different times. In 1993 producer Rick Rubin urged the original members to get back together to record. They released Return of the Boogie Men.

Unfortunately Lonesome Dave died in 2000 from cancer and Rod Price died from a head injury caused by a fall caused by a massive heart attack. The rest of the members continue to tour and record with a new version of Foghat.

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage 2008 Lineup

The lineup for the Jazz Fest was announced today. And what a line up!

Friday, April 25
Buckwheat Zydeco, Sheryl Crow, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Burning Spear, Ozomatli with Chali 2na, Lizz Wright, Tab Benoit, Anders Osborne, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Terence Simien & Zydeco Experience, Leo Nocentelli’s “Rare Gathering” feat. Bernie Worrell, Doug Wimbish & Will Calhoun, Doyle Bramhall with C.C. Adcock & the Lafayette Marquis, Ellis Marsalis, Paul Porter of the Legendary Christianaires, Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers, Barbara Lynn, Theresa Andersson Group, Banu Gibson & New Orleans Hot Jazz, The Iguanas, The New Orleans Nightcrawlers, Twangorama, Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band, Zydepunks, Vivaz!, Shamarr Allen, Zion Trinity, Otra, Kim Carson, Moov of Martinique, Kustbandet of Sweden, Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Leah Chase, Kumbuka African Drum and Dance Collective, Rosalie “Lady Tambourine” Washington, Jesse McBride, Bonsoir Catin, J. Monque’D Blues Band, Bamboula 2000, Paky Saavedra’s Bandido, Jamil Sharif’s New Orleans Jazz Professors, Voices of Distinction, Pastor Sean T. Elder & the Mt. Hermon BC Mass Choir, Creole Wild West and Semolian Warriors Mardi Gras Indians, Joe Hall, Rufus “Rip” Wimberly & the Dreamers, Brice Kapel of the Togo, Amina Figarova Group of The Netherlands, Jonno & Bayou Deville, Andrew Hall’s Society Brass Band, Real Untouchables Brass Band, June Gardner, Val & Love Alive Fellowship Choir with the Dimensions of Faith, Teatro Alpargata of Argentina, Family Ties and Big Nine SAPCs, Hazel & the Delta Ramblers, Smitty Dee’s Brass Band, McDonogh #35 Gospel Choir, Gregg Martinez, Keep N it Real and Single Ladies SAPCs…

Saturday, April 26
Dr. John, Billy Joel, Keyshia Cole, O.A.R., The Count Basie Orchestra feat. Patti Austin, Cowboy Mouth, Cupid, James Cotton, Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Trinitee 5:7, Wayne Toups & Zydecajun, Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters, Harlem Blues and Jazz Band, The Imagination Movers, Ponderossa Stomp Revue feat. Tammy Lynn, Archie Bell, Roy Head, and Dennis Binder, Big Jay McNeely, Warren Storm w/ Willie Tee & the Cypress Band, NewBirth Brass Band, Astral Project, Davell Crawford Singers, Rosie Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys, DJ Bomshell, Eddie Bo, Benjy Davis Project, Paul Sanchez & the Rolling Road Show, Tricia "Teedy" Boutté & Ytre Suløens Jass-Ensemble of Norway, Mahogany Brass Band, Germaine Bazzle, Bobby Lounge, Tribute to George Lewis feat. Dr. Michael White and Tommy Sancton, Tribute to Wilson “Willie Tee” and Earl Turbinton, Big Chief Peppy & the Golden Arrows, Sonny Bourg, Big Blue Marble, PJ Morton Band, Hadley Castille, Jeremy & the Zydeco Hot Boyz, Po’ Henry & Tookie, Rockie Charles & the Stax of Love, Carol Fran, 101 Runners, The Original Last Straws, Tyronne Foster & the Arc Singers, Young Tuxedo Brass Band, Berklee College of Music Jazz Ensemble, Nine Times and Single Men SAPCs, The Electrifying Crown Seekers, Golden Comanche and Chief Iron Horse & the Black Seminole Mardi Gras Indians, Xavier Jazz Ensemble, Connie Jones’ Crescent City Jazz Band, Kayla Woodson with Louisiana Lightning, NORD Crescent City Lights Youth Theater, First Emmanuel BC Choir, The Worship Squad, Unstoppable Gospel Creators, NOCCA Jazz Ensemble, The RRAAMS Drum and Dance, Lady Jetsetters, Dumaine Gang and Divine Ladies SAPCs, Red White & Blue Mardi Gras Indians…

Sunday, April 27
Irma Thomas, Tim McGraw, Al Green, Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, Cassandra Wilson, Delbert McClinton, Del McCoury, Pete Fountain, Byron Cage with Kim Burrell, Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars, Jeremy Davenport, Rockin’ Dopsie & the Zydeco Twisters, Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue, Hot 8 Brass Band, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & the Golden Eagles, Roy Young, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Nicholas Payton, Davell Crawford’s New Orleans R & B Orchestra, Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone's Harmonica Revue, The Throw Back Jamm feat. Joe Blakk, UNLV, MC T. Tucker, Dolemite, BustDown, and Cheeky Blakk, Rob Wagner and Hamid Drake, New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, Tim Laughlin, Jo “Cool” Davis, Mamadou Diabate of Mali, Little Freddie King, Jambalaya, Leroy Jones, Willis Prudhomme & Zydeco Express, Wilberforce University Choir, Kenny Bill Stinson, Paulette Wright, Golden Star Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Egg Yolk Jubilee, Midnite Disturbers, David Egan, Lars Edegran’s New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, Furious Five, Untouchables and Big Steppers SAPCs, UNO Jazz Ensemble, Shades of Praise, Michael Ward, Paulin Brothers Brass Band, Lionel Ferbos & the Palm Court Jazz Band, Carrollton Hunters and Flaming Arrows Mardi Gras Indians, Gregg Stafford’s Jazz Hounds, Nineveh BC Choir, Jeffery Broussard & the Creole Cowboys, AsheSon, VisionQuest Chorale feat. Maurette Brown Clark, N’Fungola Sibo West African Dance Company, Percussion Inc., Patrice Fisher & Arpa feat. Angel Rios of Honduras, Craig Adams & Higher Dimensions of Praise, Olympia Aid, New Look and The First Division SAPCs, Kilts of Many Colours, Percussion Inc., Ninth Ward Navajo and Cherokee Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Colleen Salley…

Thursday, May 1
Randy Newman, Widespread Panic, Tower of Power, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Bettye LaVette, Gene “Duke of Earl” Chandler, Deacon John, Donald Harrison, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Ruby Wilson, Luther Kent & Trickbag, Porter- Batiste-Stoltz, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes, The Lee Boys, Fredy Omar con su Banda, Maurice Brown, Lafayette Rhythm Devils, Kirk Joseph’s Backyard Groove, Creole Zydeco Farmers, Walter Payton & Filé Gumbo, Music Makers’ Relief Foundation’s Blues Review featuring Boo Hanks, Macavine Hayes and Eddie Kirkland, Hot Club of New Orleans, Topsy Chapman’s Tribute to Dinah Washington, John Ellis feat. Jason Marsalis, New Orleans Rhythm Conspiracy, Philip Manuel's tribute to Nat King Cole, Dukes of Dixieland, Dillard University Jazz Ensemble, Ernie Vincent & the Top Notes, Panorama Jazz Band, Mighty Chariots of Fire, Kerry Grombacher, Codac, Dizzy, Betsy McGovern & the Poor Clares, John Lee & the Heralds of Christ, Mark Braud, Joe Torregano, God’s House Westbank Cathedral Choir, Billy Iuso & the Restless Natives, The Melody Clouds, TBC Brass Band, Tony Bazley, Heritage School of Music, Small Souljas Brass Band, The Golden Wings, Red Hawk and Geronimo Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Culu Children’s Traditional African Dance Company, Charles Jackson & the Jackson Travelers, Bon Temp Roulez and VIP Ladies SAPCs, Olayella Daste, David & Roselyn, Second Mt. Carmel Gospel Choir, Basin Street Sheiks…

Friday, May 2
Art Neville, Stevie Wonder, John Prine, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Richard Thompson, John Butler Trio, John Hammond, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave., Marva Wright & the BMWs, Terence Blanchard & the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Papa Grows Funk, Sunpie’s Tribute to Clifton Chenier, Zigaboo Modeliste, The Jackson Southernaires, The Lee Boys, Bonerama, The Bad Plus, John Boutté, Soul Rebels, Ingrid Lucia, Coco Robicheaux & Spiritland, Theryl “Houseman” DeClouet, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Bluerunners, Wanda Rouzan, Driskill Mountain Boys, Ann Savoy’s Sleepless Knights, New Orleans Jazz Vipers feat. Sophie Lee, Stoney B & Grampa Elliot, Gina Forsyth & the Malvinas, Clive Wilson & the New Orleans Serenaders feat. Butch Thompson, New Wave Brass Band, Tuba Woodshed feat. Matt Perrine and Kirk Joseph, Belton Richard & the Musical Aces, Eve’s Lucky Planet, Larry Garner with Henry Gray, Ritmo Caribeño, New Orleans Jazz Ramblers, Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, Betty Winn & One A-Chord, Lyle Henderson & Emmanuel, Kid Simmons’ Local International Allstars, Pinettes Brass Band, D.L. Menard & the Louisiana Aces, Legacy – the students of Alvin Batiste, Greater Antioch Gospel Choir, New Orleans Mardi Gras Rhythm Indian Section, Ebenezer BC Radio Choir, Loyola University Jazz Ensemble, Casa Samba, The Smooth Family, Eulenspeigel Puppets of Iowa, Original Big Seven and Original Four SAPCs, McMain High School Gospel Choir, Fi Yi Yi & the Mandingo Warriors, New Orleans School of Circus Arts and ISL, Gospel Inspirations of Boutte, Rosedean Choir of South Africa, Scene Boosters and Old N Nu Fellas SAPCs…

Saturday, May 3
Marcia Ball, Jimmy Buffett, Diana Krall, Steel Pulse, The Roots, Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Bishop Paul S. Morton Sr. & the Greater St. Stephens Mass Choir, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Henry Butler, Aaron Neville’s Gospel Soul, John Mooney & Bluesiana, the subdudes, New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra, Ruthie Foster, Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Savoy Center of Eunice Saturday Cajun Jam, Charmaine Neville, The Dixie Cups, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha-Chas, James Andrews, Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band feat. Thais Clark, Lillian Boutté, Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, Stephanie Jordan, War Chief Juan & Young Fire, Pine Leaf Boys, Bionik Brown, Treme Brass Band, New Orleans Blues Serenaders, Spencer Bohren, Don Vappie & the Creole Jazz Serenaders, Roddie Romero & the Hub City Allstars, Lil’ Buck Sinegal feat. Rudy Richard, Feufollet, Pinstripe Brass Band, Storyville Stompers Brass Band, Tribute to Max Roach feat. Herlin Riley, Jason Marsalis, and Shannon Powell, Tondrae, Chappy, Danza feat. Evan Christopher and Tom McDermott, Beyond Measure, Lil Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers, Rumba Buena, Rocks of Harmony, Guitar Lightnin’ Lee, St. Joseph the Worker Mass Choir, Big Chief Ke Ke & Comanche Hunters and White Cloud Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Leviticus Gospel Singers, Tulane University Jazz Ensemble, Secondline Jammers, New Generation and Undefeated Divas SAPCs, Trouble Nation and Mohawk Hunters Mardi Gras Hunters, Archdiocese of New Orleans Mass Choir, Bester Singers, Donald Lewis, Young Guardians of the Flame, Stephen Foster’s Mid City Workshop Alumni Ensemble, Westbank Steppers, Valley of the Silent Men and Pigeon Town Steppers SAPCs, Golden Blade and Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indians…

Sunday, May 4
The Neville Brothers, Santana, Maze feat. Frankie Beverly, The Raconteurs, Dianne Reeves, Galactic, The Radiators, The Derek Trucks Band, Keb’ Mo’, Rebirth Brass Band, Sonny Landreth, Snooks Eaglin, John P. Kee & the New Life Community Choir, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Tribute to Mahalia Jackson feat. Irma Thomas, Marva Wright and Rachelle Richard, Vernel Bagneris: Jelly Roll & Me, Amanda Shaw & the Cute Guys, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, DJ Captain Charles, Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet feat. Bela Fleck, Kenny Neal, Sherman Washington & the Zion Harmonizers, Bob French & the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, Elysian Fieldz, The New Orleans Bingo Show!, Benny Grunch & the Bunch, Goldman Thibodeaux & the Lawtell Playboys, Jonathan Batiste, Rotary Downs, George French, Chris Ardoin & Nu Step, Guitar Slim Jr., Grupo Fantasma, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Ovi-G & the Froggies, The Revealers, Pfister Sisters, Salvador Santana Band, William Smith’s Tribute to Kid Sheik, Eddie Boh Paris aka Chops, SUBR Jazz Ensemble, Chris Clifton, Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Ensemble, New Orleans Spiritualettes, Zulu Male Ensemble, The Jazz Jam, Tribute to Tuba Fats, Highsteppers Brass Band, Black Eagles, Hardhead Hunters and Apache Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Lady Rollers and CTC Steppers SAPCs, Guyland Leday with Family & Friends Zydeco Band, Young Traditional New Orleans Brass Band, Watson Memorial Teaching Ministries, Wild Apaches, Young Magnolias and Black Feathers Mardi Gras Indians, Original Prince of Wales and the Original New Orleans Lady Buckjumpers SAPCs, Tornado Brass Band, Judy Stock, Minister Jai Reed…

Bobby Fisher, Dead, Jan 17

This one is a little old, but I didn't see it when it happened. Talking to my brother on the phone tonight he happened to meniton it. On Jan 17 of this year Bobby Fisher died. Fisher was one of two Americans that ever held the world title. Fisher died in Iceland. In his later years Fisher was probably better known for his anti semtic and anti American remarks as he was for playing chess.

Iron Man Movie Coming

This year is Iron Man. I'm getting pretty hyped about this one. Doesn't this picture look too cool?

Heath Ledger Found Dead

Heath Ledger, only 28, was found dead tonight in his apartment. It's too early to speculate on the cause of death, so we'll just wait and see. Whatever the outcome, it is tragic.

The Spotlight for this week's Voices to hear is Carrie Rodriquez. Last week we talked about Amanda Shaw. Go check the site out and read more.

FROM SPACE

Dec 20, 2007 this rocket is delivering a replacement GPS satellite to the GPS network.

It's Sad

One of these two people will be my choice for President more than likely. But it's a shame that a debate has to turn into nothing more than a school yard argument. I'm less concerned with what you've done, tell me what you're going to do for me in the future. Give us details on what you hope to accomplish when you get in office. But I guess that's asking for too much.

John Stewart Dies

John Stewart died today. Not that many people will recognize his name. After a high school band called Johnny and the Furies he teamed with Gil Robbins (the father of actor Tim Robbins) and formed a folk trio called The Cumberland Three. After three albums he left to join the Kingston Trio. The Kingston Trio were a fairly big group during the late fifties and early sixties. After the British Invasion folk music was not as popular and the group disbanded in 1967. John Stewart continued as a solo artist. He released many more albums and while they were critical successes he never had that popular success again. He wrote many songs that were covered by other artists, including "Daydream Believer" by the Monkees and "Gold" by Fleetwood Mac. The video is his version of "Gold" with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham performing on it with him.

Tonight on Letterman

I know it's kind of late, but I thought I'd post this. Tonight on Letterman Sarah Michelle Gellar is appearing. If you read this too late to catch the show you can always think of this post as just an excuse to put up a picture of Ms. Gellar.

Oh, and some drummer named Ringo is the musical guest.

MLK Day is Monday

George W. Bush should listen to these speeches, even though he was talking about Vietnam you can imagine the same words applied to the Iraq war now.

Shelby Lynne's Newest

This is from Shelby Lynne's newest album coming out at the end of this month. She's doing covers of Dusty Springfields songs, but bringing them to just the basics, without a lot of the production that was done on the original. A wise move I think, this way she's not going to compete with the original but has a chance to make them her own.

Becky Barksdale

Somehow this artist had slipped through my radar, I had purchased her first album years ago after hearing a track on a House of Blues compilation album and instantly falling in love with her sound, but afterwards I somehow lost track of her. Going through my old cds looking for what I wanted to download to the Ipod I saw the album and instantly remembered. I loved this album when it first came out, I can't believe I lost track of her.

The album I have is Becky's first album, Real Live. Since than she's released two more cds, Cowgirl Blues and Out of the Blue. Becky is from Port Arthur Texas, home of the legendary Janis Joplin. She started performing at the age of 16 and at one point played with Canned Heat. During his Dangerous tour she was the lead guitarsit for Michael Jackson.

She's currently working on a new album. You can bet that I'm going to be on the lookout for this one. And she's going to be a Spotlight on my site Voices to hear. The song is "Satisify Me" the song I heard from the HOB album and fell in love with.

Now If They Just Believed It

"The divisions, the stereotypes, the scapegoating, the ease with which we blame the plight of ourselves on others, all of that distracts us from the common challenges we face: war and poverty; inequality and injustice," Obama said. "We can no longer afford to build ourselves up by tearing each other down. We can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate. It is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late."

- Barrack Obama

Adding to the Ipod

I've been adding some new music to my Ipod. I still haven't sat down yet and figured out how to use my turntable that will let me convert my vinyl to cd, so than I can download said cd onto the Ipod. I have some vinyl that has never appeared and probably will never appear as a cd. I want it on my Ipod.

The most recent albums I downloaded onto the Ipod were:

The Band "Music From Big Pink"
The Band "The Band"
Johnny Lang "Lie to Me"
The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
The Beatles "1"
The Beatles "Let It Be...Naked"
Old '97s "Alive & Wired"
Tina Turner "Live In Europe"

I know, I'm not sure how the Beatles weren't already on the Ipod. The song count is up to 5547 songs right now and counting. And the best thing, it's not even close to being half full yet, so I have a lot of room for more music.

Seven Annoying Things

The lovely Tish tagged me with this over a week ago, but I'm just now getting to it. Sorry Tish. The object is to list seven things that annoy you. Hmmmm, it might be hard to just stop at seven....

1. People on cell phones. Hey, I love cell phones as much as the next person, but when did it become a fact of life that you have to have a cell phone attached to your ear all the time. It's bad enough drivers paying more attention to their cell phones, but how many people have been walking through a store or somewhere and heard someone talking and thought they were talking to you only to discover that they were talking on a cell phone. I work in retail and one day I was waiting on a customer, talking to her when her phone went off and without an even an excuse me she just opened her cell phone and started talking.

2. The first half of American Idol. I've written of this just recently, but it still annoys me. Let's just get to the real singers and skip all this other part.

3. Customers that ask "do you work here?" when I'm on top of a ladder getting merchandise down, or pricing something or anything that just screams out the fact that, yes I work here! Just ask for help if you need it, don't ask if I work here? It's really not a biggie, but it's annoying.
(I'm not annoyed that customers ask for help, just the question.)

4. I'm annoyed that Bonnaroo moved its date to Father's Day weekend a few years ago. Where I work Father's Day is a blackout day, just like Christmas. It's one of the few days I can't get off. And Bonnaroo goes and moves there festival to that weekend.

5. I'm annoyed that the Motion Pictures Producers won't settle with the writers so we can get on with some great tv. Lost is about to start at the end of this month and at the moment only eight of the 16 episodes are done. And with the writers strike that may be all we get this year. The writers aren't asking for anything they don't deserve,so sit down and talk with them and let's get it over with.

6. I'm annoyed that it looks like Bruce Springsteen is not coming to New Orleans on his Magic tour. This is supposedly the last E Street Band tour and he's not coming close enough to where I can see him. It looks like if I want to go see him I'll have to travel to him.

7. And finally I'm annoyed at myself. I'm annoyed that I continue to find reasons not to write. If I want to ever do anything as a writer I have to take myself serious enough to spend the time writing.

Suzanne Pleshette Dies

Suzanne Pleshette died yesterday at the age of 70. She died of respiratory failure at her home. She played the wife to Bob Newhart in his tv sitcom The Bob Newhart Show. She'll be known favor as Emily Hartley.

Turning Into His Dad

I was watching Letterman tonight and Michael Douglas was one of the guests. Watching Michael tonight I realized how much he looked like his father. I mean really looked like Kirk. As he gets older Michael is looking more and more like his Dad.

The Authority of the Mind

Does people not realize that this "religion" was created by a second rate science fiction writer? Listening to what Tom Cruise says in this video I can't believe he can say this stuff with a straight face.

Another Season of American Idol

American Idol starts next week. With the almost no existence of new tv shows on now due to the networks and producers failing to address the writer's demands AI has clear path to even bigger rating's success. This show is a rating's monster anyway, now with almost literally nothing else to watch it should truly dominate. It's funny though, last year was the first year that the ratings for the show started to dip, I wonder what would have happened this year if it had been a normal year with established competition. Last year was also probably the worst year for talent on the show too. I've really only watched one complete season of AI and that was the year Taylor Hicks won. From what I've seen that year there was a lot of fairly talented people on the show, about 3/4's of the final 12 have recording contracts now.

If I watch AI it will only be after the final group has been selected. I've seen some of the shows where they travel to different cities looking for singers and think it's one of most mean spirited shows in existence. The show picks out some of the most awful singers to show us and make fun of. Some of these singers are just kids, or even if they're not kids, people that really think they have talent, that have probably been told that they could sing by all their friends, and than they go on this show and realize that they have no talent at all. I saw one episode where it was a girl around 15-16 and she literally fell on her knees begging them to take her after they rejected her. I don't see the appeal in this. To me it's humilating and just mean.

I would rather see some of the singers that almost made it to the show. Let us see what didn't make it but could have, so we can compare it to the ones that did make it. The first part of AI I might watch a few parts of the shows, but I just can't watch an entire episode. I'll wait till they pick the final group and than I have no problems with whatever is said about them. I figure if they make it this far they've shown some sort of talent and deserve what they get. (Though last year would lay claim against the talent part.)

Ok, I'll get off my soap box. Every year before the show starts I seem to be singing the same tune, but I know I'm in the miniority. Most people enjoy seeing the ones with no talent getting slammed. And I think that says more about us than any other part of the show does.

What A Horse Race!

In the new issue of Rolling Stone there's an article about how the news media has trivalized the current race for the Presidency. What started as a geniune race with no real front runners in either party and where some of the candidates actually were addressing real issues and the voters were not falling for a lot of the ususal B.S. is falling back into the type of politics best explanified by the three leading Democrats arguing over working for a change, hoping for a change or demanding a change is the right course(when they're all pretty much looking for the same thing)....like the writer says in the article, sounding like a bunch of six year olds. And he lays a lot of the blame at the feet of the media. You can read it online at RollingStone.com. I've long said that some of the best political writing is done in Rolling Stone.

Sell 3/4 OF A Million Records and You're A Failure?!

This one is actually a little old news, back from the beginning of the month. Taylor Hicks, the winner of the only season of American Idol I've watched, was released from his recording contract. A lot has been made of the fact that Taylor was the first Idol winner that did not sell over a million copies of his post-Idol album. If I remember the numbers right though he sold around 750,000 copies of his album. Now that's still a lot of albums. In today's market there is becoming fewer and fewer artists that can sell a million copies of an album. What ever happened to helping an artist grow and find his fans. If you don't have a blockbuster with the first album you're gone. It used to be a Record Company was in it for the long haul with the artist, they were willing to work with them and try to grow their fan base. John Mellencamp didn't have a hit album until his sixth or seventh (I forget exactly which one) album. Where would he be if they had dropped him after his first album bombed? I said it before when Taylor first came out with his album that I look on him as an artist that will grow, I think that he had more long term potential than a lot of the other Idols that had bigger debut albums and will go on to smaller ones in the long run. I don't think Taylor's first album was the best that could have been put out, I think the Record Company tried to over produce him. Taylor says he's still going to record, now he'll do it on his own, so maybe this is for the best. Without a Big Boss telling him how to record he can do it his own way.

I Must Be Crazy

I've started another blog. Like I have time for more, but I went ahead and did it anyways. This one is called "Life in 4 colors" and is a comic book blog. I'll still talk about comics on this blog, but I don't want to go as in depth with some of the comic book related subjects here as I can on a blog just for that subject. Just like I still talk about music on this blog even though I have another blog that is just music related I'll continue to post the comic related post now and than. But I think the majority of the people that read this blog aren't that interested in all things comics, so that type of writing will be over there. This (the comic book one) isn't one that I'll be blogging in as often as this one, but I just wanted a place to write more about comic books when I feel like it. Plust it will allow me to clean this blog up a little bit, make it a little easier for people to load. If you're interested go check it out and let me know what you think.

The Best Music From 2007

I've started a list of some of the best music from the past year over at VOICES TO HEAR. It's going to be a continuing list of albums over the month, so keep checking it out. I plan to write over here about some of the albums from the past year that didn't fit into the format over at that site.

I'm Rich!

At least according to all the emails I received today I am. I always get a few every week, you know the ones, where the person is trying to smuggle money out of the bank and if you help they'll give you half or more, all they need is your bank account information. I really wonder if anyone has every fallen for this scheme. Regrettably I'm sure there have been a few out there that have. But when I logged into my mail today there were almost two dozen emails from different people wanting to make me rich. How lucky can a guy be?

Maybe it was some web site I visited that pointed out so many of these offers to me, but I can't remember visiting anything different yesterday. Most of the day was spent in loading more music onto the Ipod. Right now I'm loading all the White Strips on the Ipod.

You know the worst part of all this. When someone really wants to offer me a million dollars I'll probably ignore it with all the other fakes!

It's A Little Cold Up There

This is another of those old pictures I found on that disk. This is me in Alaska on top of a glacier.

New Book: Hollywood Station

I just finished reading the paperback of "Hollywood Station" by Joseph Wambaugh. It was a great read. It was one of those books that I was able to finish in about two days. Wambaugh is a former LAPD officer and has written numerous books about the department. This book is full of humor and drama, one moment you're laughing out loud and the next you're almost in tears. There were a few scenes in the book that I actually could not stop laughing at. He populates the book with quite a large cast of characters, but by the end you feel like you know a little about all of them, including the bad guys.

If you like police procedurals or jut want to read a good book give it a try.

Amanda Shaw

Amanda Shaw has just released her new cd on Rounder Records, her first with a major label. It's called "Pretty Runs Out" and is in stores now. Amanda is a 17 year old fiddle player from my side of the lake in New Orleans. She's been playing since she was old enough to hold a bow. She's released two albums on independent labels before her major label release. Her last one was "I'm Not A Bubble Gum Pop Princess" and was a great cd. The first clip that follows this one is an interview with Amanda and the second is an actual clip of her performing. She is amazing live, she gives it her all.

Does He Have Time For Another War Before He Leaves Office?

373 Days left for W. in office and counting. Why do I feel like he's going to get us invovled in another war before he leaves office.

President George W. Bush said on Sunday that Iran was threatening security
around the world by backing "extremists" and urged its Gulf Arab allies to
"confront this danger before it is too late."

Just like before with Iraq when he insisted that we went in because of WMD, which later turned out not to exist and what was worse was that he knew it, he keeps insisting on Iran's threat as a nuclear threat, despite his own intelligent reports that state the country is not.

The Bush administration has kept up a campaign of rhetoric despite a U.S.
intelligence report in December that concluded that Iran had halted its nuclear
arms program in 2003.

I'm not trying to say Iran is not a mess of a country and no friend to the USA, but I don't believe the answer is to invade yet another country. We've done such a great job in Iraq, you'd think he'd learn a lesson. But like many of the same people W. criticizes and takes to task for fighting a "holy war" our President believes he is on his own mission from God and he is fighting his own "holy war."

That's what scares me.

Soaring

This is a picture I took from one of my trips to Alaska.

A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far Away....

This is one of those old pictures I found. This is from when we were closing down Service Merchandise and I had hair. Notice the jewlery counters are empty, everything was gone by this time. We were just putting the finishing touches on the end.

VOICES TO HEAR

I have added a few new Spotlights over on the Voices to hear page. I Spotlight the gospel group Blind Boys of Alabama and Country singer Kelly Willis. Go over and check them out. I've got a lot of new features planned for this site and hope that people check some of these great artists.

Basil

I've been cleaning out my work area and going through my desk and trying to get rid of stuff I don't need. I found this picture on a disk with some other old pictures I might share. It's a picture of my dog before Buffy. His name was Basil. I inherited him from some friends when they moved and couldn't bring him with them. Basil was small but he was one of the meanest dogs I've ever seen. He wasn't afraid of anything. There were only about half a dozen people in the world that he would be nice to. He would always need to be sitting in my lap when I was home or when I slept he would have to drape himself across my leg. For some reason this is the only picture I have of him.

Writers Strike

I haven't been on to post about the Writers Strike, so I need to make up for it.

Did I Really Write That Much?

Looking back on the year I wrote 1751 posts. And that was with me not writing much towards the end of the year. I look back at that and wonder how I wrote that many. I'm definitely not off to a start to match that output this year. Still we'll see, you never know.

The Year of my Dad

This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my Dad. It was taken from the Christmas before last. It was his last Christmas and the last real time I got to spend with him before he went in the hospital. It wasn't long after Christmas that he fell and broke his shoulder and ended up in the hospital and never came home. This was a good Christmas. My brother and niece and nephew all were there, so we all were together. My Dad was feeling pretty good, he wasn't jumping through any hoops but he was getting around and was pretty much his old self.

It's strange how thoughts of my Dad can come on me at the oddest times. I can be thinking of something that has no connection to him and suddenly my mind will flash on him. Many times I'll think of what he would say about something. I just bought one of those digital picture frames and I was thinking how much he would like it. My Dad always liked the newest gadgets.

It's still hard for me to write about him. You think missing someone would get easier with time, but it doesn't. You just find a way to move on.

Another Name In The Wind

2007 ended with death.

Back in the early 90s when the Internet was still in a state of semi-flux I was a member of Compuserve. For a small monthly fee I got to sign on Compuserve and use them much the way I do Yahoo today for free. Back than it seems there was Compuserve and AOL. Compuserve had forums from all sorts of interests and one of them was for comic books. I signed on immediately and soon found myself in a world of fans and pros. This was before everyone and their brother was on the net and not all the pros were on the computer. This was before MySpace and blogging and Face Book and all the other stuff that we all associate with the Internet today.

One of the first people I met online was Paul Grant. Paul was a frequent visitor to the Comic Book Forum on Compuserve. He was a lawyer for Ford Motors when he wasn't writing reviews of comic books on Compuserve. I remember many a conversation with Paul online. He had a way of making you feel right at home. I was still feeling my way around the whole online thing, heck even the comic writing was just really getting started at that point.

Not long after that I went to the Chicago Con in...well, I think you can figure that part out. This was back before Wizard bought the con and turned it into whatever it is today. This was when the convention was still at the Rosemont Hotel and a lot of the tables for the artists and writers were set up in the hallway. This was the first convention I ever attended as a "Pro" and have a table and everything. I was sharing a table with an artist that I was working with at the time and have over the years, Terry Pavelt.

It was at Chicago I met Paul in person. I can still remember it. I had went out for some food, and was trying to navigate my way behind the tables and along the wall and between all the other writers and artists back to my spot which seemed all the way at the other end. I was trying not to spill anything and not to step on anyone when I heard a voice call out my name. I looked up to see why Paul used the name Zeus online. He was a big bearded bear of a man with a huge smile. I did almost trip and he told me to be careful. It's funny how some things stick in your mind. Somehow that meeting has stayed with me over the years.

I can't say that Paul and I were that close. We talked, some at the convention and a lot more online. Compuserve was bought out by AOL and became a shell of itself until it finally disappeared. I drifted away from comics for awhile and didn't hear anymore of Paul.

But most of you reading this can understand what I mean when I say you can make real friends online. I've done it since I started blogging. I may not have met a lot of you, but I've come to conisder quite a few of you as friends.

So it was something of a shock to read around the end of the year that Paul Grant had died. It took me by surprise. I hadn't really thought of him in years and now to hear that he was dead. I wish I had some witty or profound saying here to tie all this up in a neat little bow, but there's not much I can add except that Paul was a good man and I considered him a friend.

And One More Thing About The Ipod....

You've seen the commericals where the person looking for a song on the Ipod flicks through the covers. I have to admit it's a cool gimmick, instead of scrolling through a list you get to flick through the actual album covers themselves What you don't see in these commericals is the albums that Itunes can't find to load. I have around four hundred albums downloaded in my Ipod and almost nintey albums have no covers. That's close to a fourth of all the albums. Instead of the album art you just get a box. I can understand the problem with some of the albums, I do have some fairly obscure albums. But they couldn't find the Greatest Hits of Bob Seger, Bettye Lavette's newest one...quite a few that I figured they should have. And on some multiple sets they show the cover to the first disc and than nothing on the second disc. At least it corrected the problem when it was showing Faith Hill's Greatest Hits on about six different albums. So while this is a pretty cool feature they still have a ways to go with it.

The Ipod Shuffle Blues

I love my Ipod. The first Ipod I bought was the First Generation. It was one of those that had controls above the wheel. I got it as they were transiting from the First Generation to the Second Generation and it was a display model at Best Buy, so I ended up getting a pretty good deal on it. It was a 20 G model, which meant it held around 5,000 songs. The most songs I ever managed to get on it was around 3,000.

Since than I've purchased a newer model. It's the 160 G model. It will hold around 40,000 songs and is in black. I've been downloading music on it since I got it and am now just crossing the 5,000 song point.

The cool thing about this is that now instead of cluttering my car up with cd cases from all the cds I had to have in it in case I wanted to listen to something I just need the Ipod. I hook it up and it plays through my radio. And anyone that knows me knows I could really pile up my car with CDs to listen to. And my stero at home has a docking station where I can plant the Ipod and just listen to it. If I put it on shuffle, which is usually how I keep it, the Ipod will just go through the 5,000 songs and pick out something to play. So I get a wide variety of music to listen to. Or if I'm feeling like a particular album all I have to do is scroll through the menu and find it and than I can listen to it.

It's a win/win situation.

Except for one thing. Anyone that has an Ipod knows that your music from your Ipod is loaded onto the Itunes page and they sync up. But if you lose this page, or switch computers - which is something I did recently - there are no songs on your computer and if you try to sync it up with your Ipod you lose all the songs on the Ipod. Now it took me awhile to fill up that Ipod with 5,000 songs and I didn't really look forward to having to go through all that again.

There is software out there that you can buy that supposedly will help you retrieve your songs from your Ipod and put them back on your comuter where everything can sync up and everyone is happy. I've went through three different pieces of software and could not get any of them to work.

I was getting desperate. My music was safe on the Ipod, but only as long as I was satsifed with just the songs I already had downloaded. If I tried to add anything to it I would end up erasing the songs already on it.

While I was at the bookstore trying to use a gift card from Christmas I noticed a small book called the Pocket Guide to Ipod & I Tunes. I picked it up and started flipping through it. I didn't hold much hope, but maybe it could point me in the right direction. Than I saw it....a chapter about forcing your music from your Ipod back onto your computer.

The book only cost $9.99, which was twenty dollars cheaper than each of those software programs cost, and I had already spent my gift card, but there was no way I was leaving that book in the store.

Basically Apple has made your songs from your Ipod inivisible on your computer and by following the instructions in the book I was able to pull the music from my Ipod and put it back into the Itunes folder in my computer.

Believe me when I tell you how happy I was. Actually at the time I only had about 4,000 songs on the Ipod. The last couple days I've spent going through some old cds and stuff and adding another 1,000 songs.

I plan to break out the phonograph player that converts vinyl to cd out and start going through my album collection. I have some albums that have never been issued on cd and probably never will, but I would love to be able to listen to them on my Ipod.

It's funny, but I hardly ever use the earbuds to listen to the Ipod. It gets its greatest use in the car.

A New Post Finally

It's been since Dec 28 since I last blogged on here. That's the longest time between posts I've went for a long time. I didn't plan on going that long, in fact in my last post I talk about posting some pictures from Christmas and that was my intention. I'm not sure what caused the delay, it's been busy...my Mom just went back home last week, the after Christmas rush, the LSU win, all things that made life busy. I just haven't been able to get up the motivation to sit down and blog. I want to say I'm back, but let's see if I keep it up again or disappear for a couple weeks again.