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The Dude abides.

18th June 2010

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Queue for Led Zeppelin’s reunion show at the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert in London. December 10, 2007.

Zeppelin’s first live show since John Bonham’s death in 1980 (Plant, Page, and J.P. Jones refused to play as “Led Zeppelin” without Bonham on percussion; but settled for Jon’s son Jason as a fill-in for this show). Unless something drastic and unexpected happens, it was also their last.

How much would you have paid to be there?

16th June 2010

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loose lips: top 5 moments in lip-synchery

For some reason, I had Wayne Newton’s “Danke Shoen” in my head a couple weeks ago. Let’s, for a moment, ignore the fact that I know the song well enough to have it stuck in my head in the first place.

Point is, this led me to think of the legendary parade scene through downtown Chicago in “Ferris Buehler’s Day Off.” (If you haven’t seen this movie, you should drop whatever you’re doing (unless you happen to be holding a small child) and go rent it.)

From there, I wondered: what are the best moments of lip-synching in history?

5. Milli Vanilli’s Career

I can’t help but wonder if, at the time this photo was taken, either of these gentlemen had ever thought or wondered if the things that were about to happen to them could ever happen to them. (I’m talking about the part where Milli Vanilli’s Grammy’s were taken away when it was revealed that they DIDN’T SING ANY OF THEIR OWN SONGS.)

4. Ray Charles’ “Night Time is the Right Time,” from Season 2, Episode 3: The Cosby Show

Priceless.

Pay particular attention to Rudy’s part at 0:49, and Dr. Huxtable’s face at 1:35.

3. Ashlee Simpson’s, uh, Talent Shines Through

“Shockingly, it appears Simpson may have been lip-synching…” Well, I sure was shocked. This little incident may have, in some way, contributed to this less-than lukewarm reaction at the Orange Bowl.

2. Risky Business

I’m including this despite my better judgment. But I have to respect the scene that spawned countless tribute videos and an entire advertising scheme.

1. The Beatles’ “Twist and Shout,” from Ferris Beuller’s Day Off

The 2nd half of the landmark scene that sparked the entire conversation.

Its greatness is in all its elements.
-AWOL teen gains entry to a beer maid float during the Von Steuben Day Parade
-said teen convinces the float maids to give him a microphone
-said teen chooses to lip-synch a 1962 Wayne Newton song
-said teen takes over entire parade
-said teen chooses to lip-synch the Beatles
-passing marching band knows the sheet music to “Twist & Shout”
-entire city of Chicago joins him and goes nuts
-passing dance crew does the “Thriller” dance

Oh, and he’s wearing a leopard-print vest. Amazing.

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Hon. Mention: Shorewood High School (WA) Reverse-Lip-Dubs Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams”

I respect anyone’s choice to glorify the music of a visionary musical group. But to use an entire high school to create a full-length lip-synching music video? In reverse? That’s just special.

Pretty sweet right? Now watch it forwards.

15th June 2010

Audio with 81 plays reblogged from WILCO WILL LOVE YOU BABY with 8 notes

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

fuckyeswilco:

Wilco covering Steely Dan’s “Any Major Dude Will Tell You”

To my reblog source, fuckyeswilco: words cannot express how thankful I am to have found this. I somehow didn’t know about this song until now. Wilco and the Dan are two of my favorite bands ever: within the past year I saw Wilco live at the Greek in Berkeley, and Steely at the Masonic in SF and at the Beacon in New York.

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited to hear it. It’s like the time that Smalls found out that Babe Ruth and the Great Bambino were the same guy. Only I’m really stoked, not forced by extreme circumstances to construct a huge erector set contraption to re-acquire a priceless piece of sports memorabilia from a giant junkyard dog.

Sandlot allusions aside, take a listen. This oddly-titled tune is from the Dan’s great album Pretzel Logic. Listen to the original here. Wilco does a spectacular job covering this track. Of course, Wilco can do little wrong in my eyes. Kind of like this drummer. Enjoy everyone.

14th June 2010

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sick-nasty pop song of the moment iii: katy perry’s “california gurls”

What better way to get t t j m d back up and running than with a SNPSOTM? Good answer.

Now, being a ultra-hip music blogger, I tend to avoid pop radio at all costs and listen to ultra-hip bands like the Smiths, the Raconteurs, and Hootie & the Blowfish. This leaves me pretty much completely out of touch with the music of our youth (read: still trying to figure out what a “Ga Ga” is). But a recent California-to-Carolina road trip with Maeve created a lot of radio-listening opportunities, and led me to tentatively re-enter the world of pop radio.

I’ve encountered “California Gurls” a few times in the past three weeks. By “encountered,” I mean immediately turned up. Holy Diver, is it catchy! Even though I don’t listen to pop radio that much, I still have a soul. It quickly became my second-favorite song with “California G[i]rls” as a title. Wait, third favorite.

Of course, my blogger-induced hubris and general ignorance of the modern pop scene led me to smugly wonder, “I wonder if anyone even knows about this song?” A lengthy period of research, including one scan of Billboard’s website, showed Katy Perry’s track holding strong at #1 of the Hot 100.

Oh. Right.

Without further Adu, please enjoy t t j m d ’s third SNPSOTM entry: “California Girls” by Katy Perry:

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As we all know, a SNPSOTM post would be severely lacking and not up to industry standards without a HMC-CU&CPSOM (Honorable Mention Chart-Climbing Up & Coming Pop Song of the Moment). This one, too, was heard during my recent radio renaissance (RRR). Due to my soft spot for country music, and a general lack of soft and sensitive music on this blog, I present Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now,” currently residing in the 14th spot of the Hot 100: