Friday, July 20, 2007

Stuff I'm hearing, reading, seeing, and feeling

Blogs live on this stuff. Why should mine be any exception? In fact, I've noticed my local newspaper columnists have blogs where they tell me "5 songs I'm listening to this week" and suddenly that has become their column. This is journalism? I guess when you can't come up with original, creative stuff or your own, talk about other people's work, right? So, here I go . . .

Seeing . . .
Saw Ocean's 13. They could make 50 of these movies, and I'd see them all. The Ocean movies are equal parts cool, entertaining, clever, and stylish. Each time I watch another installment I think to myself (a) why can't I be that cool, (b) why can't I be that good-looking, and (c) I need a personal stylist so that my wardrobe and my hair - especially my hair - look that good all the time. I think Clooney, Pitt, and gang might actually make 50 of these movies. I'm pretty sure they could've shot that movie over a weekend out in Vegas. No big sets. No stunts. No explosions. Just a buncha dialog delivered by a buncha cool guys. Oh, and my favorite part - they gave Super Dave Osbourne
a part. How great is that!!?!?!? The years have not been altogether kind to him, but apparently Clooney is. I love how these movies pay such respect to the original coolness of Sinatra's Ocean, but that they also pay homage to guys like Carl Reiner and Elliot Gould, and now Bob Einstein (aka Super Dave Osbourne). If I ever make a movie or a sitcom you can bet I'll find a way to include Alan Thicke (and not his no good, falsetto singin' kid), Michael Gross, and Adrian Zmed.

Hearing . . .
Yellowcard just released a new CD - "Paper Walls." A couple songs can be streamed at their site. They're no Fall Out Boy, but they're pretty good.
Paste Magazine has a push for Over the Rhine. This is a Cincy band, named after the 'red light district' in downtown Cincy. Greg F. used to hang (aka: party with) these assholes. Over the Rhine to make 21 cities swoon . . ."the folk cabaret duo responsible for inciting a little-documented movement of evening gown-adorned women draping themselves across pianos is setting out for a fall tour. " Stream their music at their site. Pr' coo'.

Actually, this CD-music listening thing is going to have to stop. My current listening is Steve Winwood - a result of a discussion regarding the timelessness of certain artists and how their 80s offerings could easily be 2007 offerings and you couldn't tell the difference. I made the point that the artists referenced were NOT the artists that could actually pull this off and said that would be like saying that the work of Steve Winwood or Rick Astley could be contemporary in any era. I was argued with passionately that Steve Winwood is not a punchline of any joke and his CD, "Back in the Highlife" was dropped on my lap, post haste.


So, today I'll go from Steve Winwood to the new They Might be Giants, and then onto my Idol faves, and then I'll probably dig a little of the new Crowded House, some Gogol Bordello
, and I won't even get to Over the Rhine.

This will be the last "what I'm hearing" feature. Instead, I'll tell you some music that really got my attention. That current artists is Gogol Bordello.


This Steve Winwood ain't half-bad. But it's not quite half-good. Kinda reminds me of some late 80s Genesis-slash-Phil-Collins-solo-work ...and I stand by my claim that the sound is distinctly 80s.


Watch Greek tonight on ABC if you missed Episode #2. I'll be watching
A Boy Named Charlie Brown with my kids while consuming make-your-own-pizzas. Yum.

1 comment:

EJ said...

Hey, another fan of the Ocean's franchise! I still feel that Twelve was unfairly maligned. Personally, not only would I watch any further movies in the series, but if they gave Matt Damon's fake nose a spinoff, I'd watch that.