Category: Monday Media
MONDAY MUSIC: My Grammy Awards Performance Highlights
For me, the Grammy awards are never about the awards themselves (many of the artists/songs are either incorrectly categorized or nominated alongside incomparable acts). The unique performances are the real reason to watch the broadcast. This year, I felt like the performances were more miss than hit, but amongst the barrage of hip hop nonsense there were a few notable acts, so now I bring you…
My Grammy Awards Performance Highlights
I’m certainly not the only one putting my favorite 2009 Grammy performance moments online, but my list will likely be considerably shorter than most, as I only truly enjoyed four out of the twenty-something performances throughout the show. First…
The Not-So-Great Moments
I’ll probably get some flack for not being a U2 or Coldplay fan, but I don’t deny that I’m somewhat of a music snob. If I don’t like it, I’d rather it not exist. While I didn’t particularly mind either of those groups, I really could have done without Katy Perry, the Jonas Brothers (even with Stevie Wonder), Kid Rock, and the terrible foursome of Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, and T.I. The only good part about that performance was their supporting use of M.I.A. and I could have done without her bizarre “show the world I’m pregnant” shirt. I will admit that Kanye’s afro-mullet was rather amusing and the silver, sparkly outfits that he and Estelle were wearing as a duo went perfectly with their disco-influenced tune.
I really, really hate country music so Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, and Sugarland were all mute-worthy for me. I had never even heard of Adele before last night and didn’t really pay much attention to her (though I’m pretty sure she’s not a country singer). Taylor Swift was the least country of the country bunch and I might have enjoyed her performance if it wasn’t ruined by Miley Cyrus’ gritty really-close-but-not-quite-in-tune vocals. I’ll give Swift credit for being an actual musician and not just a corporate creation.
Flying under the radar were Justin Timberlake, Neil Diamond, and the twosome of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Timberlake seems like a likable and talented guy, but I lost interest as soon as T.I. began his endless and breathless stream of words that I’m pretty sure at one point included the phrase “fried chicken.” Timberlake’s earlier performance with Al Green, Keith Urban, and Boyz II Men was better, but still not something I particularly enjoyed.
Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” seemed to bore anyone under the age of 50, including me, though every time I see him I can’t help but laugh when thinking of Donald Faison’s excellent Diamond-inspired rendition of the Transformers theme song. Despite the facts that I do enjoy the occasional Led Zeppelin track and that Plant and Krauss won several major Grammys last night, I wasn’t thrilled by their performance either.
It was great that Jennifer Hudson could belt out the notes that she did after living through some terrible family tragedies last year, so I won’t say anything bad about her performance. That type of music just wasn’t made for me.
So what did I actually enjoy about the performances on the 2009 Grammys?
Paul McCartney with Dave Grohl
YES. The Beatles meets Nirvana/Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl returns to the drum kit and pounds the life out of it to an ordinarily calm Beatles classic. Is there anything more fulfilling? Relive it here:
Disclaimer: I’m a huge Nirvana fan, so seeing Grohl drum is always a treat for me. I attended a Foo Fighters concert in Atlanta, GA several years ago and was pleasantly surprised when he played the drums for a song or two. I never had the chance to see Nirvana live in concert, so it was the next best thing for me.
Anyway, just prior to this performance coming on, I had commented to my wife that there wasn’t nearly enough MUSIC being featured on the show. There were plenty of vocalists, rappers, and some backing bands, but it wasn’t until McCartney and Grohl got out there that we could finally enjoy some simple guitar/bass/drums rock and roll.
Radiohead featuring the USC Marching Band
I’m not a huge Radiohead fan, though I do enjoy most of their music, but this performance was excellent. I am supremely jealous of those college kids. Here it is:
That was an excellent use of a marching band, as it didn’t sound like a football game for one second. Instead, the song was well arranged and you could tell that each of those kids was having a blast performing it. Giving the snare players hi-hats was a good move, as it definitely decreased the typical snare-driven marching band sound. The horn section really rocked their parts.
The Four Tops with Ne-Yo and Jamie Foxx
I’m a sucker for oldies. I grew up listening to them with my father and love to see some of the originals still in action decades later. Ne-Yo and Jamie Foxx filled in nicely alongside the two remaining members of The Four Tops. In case you missed it:
The songs have certainly been played to death over the years, but nothing beats hearing some of the original singers belt it out.
Tribute to Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley was one of the greats and while I’m not sure I would have included John Mayer or Keith Urban in this tribute, it still worked. Buddy guy was good but B.B. King was the one that gave the tribute some authenticity, as he had actually played with Bo Diddley. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video of this tribute online (yet), so here’s some classic Bo Diddley instead:
From the sound of those screaming girls, you’d think the Jonas Brothers were performing. How times change.
What were your favorite moments and performances from the 2009 Grammy Awards? Comment!
TweetMONDAY MOVIE: Dangerous Calling
In a past life, I was an independent filmmaker. Okay, really I was a high school student trying to decide if pursuing a career in filmmaking was right for me. Ultimately, I abandoned the idea in favor of computer science, but today I still miss the fun that came with writing, shooting, and editing a short film. So I was delighted when the Daws brothers approached me to screen and review their first feature-length independent film…
Dangerous Calling
First, a trailer:
[qt:http://www.dangerouscalling.com/videos/trailer.mov 480 288]
(If that didn’t load, try this version on YouTube.)
It’s always difficult to know what to expect with an independent film. Almost all indie films are produced on a small budget, but just because they’re not filmed in Hollywood with A-list actors doesn’t mean they’re not worth watching. It all depends on how well the directors know their craft and are able to use what little money they have to produce the best possible film.
With Dangerous Calling, it is obvious that co-directors Josh and Jeremiah Daws know exactly what they’re doing. The 90-minute film packs all of the punch that a Hollywood film with a small cast would. The film plays out like a well-developed Hollywood thriller without any of the typical Hollywood nonsense that usually accompanies big-budget films in the same genre (unnecessary swearing, unfunny comic relief, etc.).
The film’s story brings Pastor Evan Burke and his wife Nora to a new town where Evan is assuming the lead role at a church where the previous pastor died a sudden death. As it turns out, this church comes with plenty of baggage, seen as somewhat of a “country club” to much of the town. The film’s main message surrounds this notion of a church community being so worried about “protecting” its members that it ultimately shuns those that need church guidance the most.
Hang on, don’t run away yet. Dangerous Calling is not a preachy film by any stretch of the word. Trust me – I’m the first to abandon a movie I feel is thrusting any kind of religious message on me. This film is quite the opposite. Wrapped in an intriguing murder-mystery, Dangerous Calling provides important commentary on the current state of organized religion in which those who donate the most feel entitled to have control over church, regardless of how misguided their views are.
In this film, the ultimately-insidious character of Miss Pat represents that little old lady who sits in the front pew of your church day after day, politely thanking the pastor for his sermon, then turning around to condemn to hell those who don’t pray 10 hours a day. The film suggests that perhaps religion should simply be about feeling good with one’s beliefs, whatever they might be, rather than forcing any particular set of beliefs onto anyone. That’s a religious message I can stand behind.
If there is a negative to Dangerous Calling, it occasionally surfaces within the acting. For me, the beginning of the film was slow, with some of the actors’ performances falling flat. Once the movie’s pace picked up, the acting no longer became an issue. The lead actress, Carrie Walrond, is definitely the star of this film. While at first I felt no connection with her character, she grew to become very likable within the first third of the film and by the end I felt attached and sympathetic. Though I must say I couldn’t get past her striking, almost separated-at-birth resemblance to Hollywood actress Kelli Williams:
Left: Dangerous Calling star, Carrie Walrond; Right: The Practice star, Kelli Williams
After watching the behind-the-scenes extra on the Dangerous Calling DVD, it became clear to me that Jackie Prucha is a fantastic actress, as her real persona doesn’t even remotely resemble her character, the crazy church lady Miss Pat. This role called for Prucha to be guardedly polite one moment and devilishly mean the next and she showed off both traits perfectly.
I couldn’t fully review Dangerous Calling without at least mentioning Brandon O’Dell and his character of Elijah Hinton, Miss Pat’s son, who is clearly pegged with the “killer” role in the film’s trailer above. Throughout the film, Elijah remains mostly silent, occasionally delivering tiny sentences (in both word count and volume). He gives off a Steve Buschemi vibe though appropriately doesn’t reach the level of insanity that Buschemi often does in his films. Personally, I would have liked to have seen Elijah’s character be more prevalent in the early stages of the film, allowing for bigger thrills later on.
Rounding out the major cast players is Stephen Caudill in the role of Pastor Evan Burke. Unfortunately, I don’t have much else to say. Evan is a purely one-dimensional character who I never felt a connection with. While the story surrounds his arrival as the new pastor of the church, his character feels like nothing more than a plot device that builds the basis for the tension that drives the rest of the film. Caudill’s charming face definitely works in a young pastor role, though he didn’t have much to work with in the way of dialogue.
In the end, despite the subject matter, I wouldn’t call Dangerous Calling a “Christian film.” It’s a good movie with a fun and thrilling murder-mystery that happens to have something to say about the state of the Christian church. If you’re looking for solid entertainment from outside of Hollywood, Dangerous Calling is definitely a worthwhile viewing.
You can find out more about Dangerous Calling and purchase the DVD at dangerouscalling.com.
TweetMONDAY MEDIA: iTunes Guitar Tab Search Applescript
Occasionally, I like to sit down in front of my Mac and play guitar along with music playing through iTunes. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to play every song that iTunes’ shuffle decides to pick and I need to find a guitar tab to help me learn. After a couple of hours of failed online searching, I customized my own…
iTunes Guitar Tab Search AppleScript
In looking for a simple AppleScript that would search the web for a guitar tab for whatever song I was currently listening to in iTunes, I first found the OLGA Tabulature Search over at dougscripts.com. Unfortunately, that script hasn’t been updated since 2003 and the On-Line Guitar Archive (OLGA) has been offline for quite some time due to numerous legal issues.
So I decided to revise this script and turn it into:
DOWNLOAD: Guitar Tab Search & Guitar Tab Search Next (ZIP file of two AppleScripts)
“Guitar Tab Search” will take whatever song you’re currently listening to in iTunes (or whatever song is highlighted if no song is playing) and search ultimate-guitar.com for it. It uses that site’s advanced search to limit the results to guitar tabs and chord files only. It also includes both the artist name and song title in the search to eliminate other versions of the song from showing up.
“Guitar Tab Search Next” extends the functionality of “Guitar Tab Search” one step further, automatically telling iTunes to skip to the next song before pulling up the new tab. This script allows you to quickly activate it when you grow tired of playing a song or want to skip one that iTunes selects and just move on to the next one easily.
Making It Even Easier
I quickly realized that I didn’t want to mess around with clicking between iTunes and a web browser just to play a new song and pull up a new tab using the above scripts. To make the whole process even easier, I installed the “lite” (free) version of FastScripts. This menubar extra allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts to scripts, letting you launch them from within any program.
And here’s how I set it up:
Now, when I’m sitting in Safari reading a tab and decide that I’m ready for the next song to play, I just hit control-option-command-right arrow to launch “Guitar Tab Search Next”, which tells iTunes to skip to the next track and pulls up the online tab listing for that song. It’s a very simple and quick way to play along with a lot of songs with very little effort. You can customize that keyboard shortcut to anything you want. For one-handed use, I recommend option-command-z or option-command-/
The Fine Print
Since this solution utilizes AppleScript, you must be on a Mac to use it. Sorry Windows users.
This particular script set also is specific to using Safari to pull up the tabs. I would have used Firefox, but its AppleScript support is poor and it would open a new window every time the script ran rather than just opening it in the existing window/tab like Safari does. If anyone knows a workaround to this, let me know and I’ll release a Firefox version of the script as well.
Finally, ultimate-guitar.com features quite a few Flash advertisements on every page, so loading times can be a little slow. Fortunately, there is a way around that (though I don’t encourage using it regularly as blocking ads removes many sites’ only revenue source, including this blog).
Guitarists out there: Let me know if you find this script useful by posting in the comments.
TweetMONDAY MEDIA: ‘The Real Ghostbusters’ Complete Collection DVD Set
For those of you patiently (or not-so-patiently) waiting for the new Ghostbusters video game to finally come out, Time Life has delivered with an incredible set of DVDs to keep you entertained…
The Real Ghostbusters: The Complete Collection
This collection of 25 DVDs features all 147 episodes of the ’80s cartoon, The Real Ghostbusters. If you’re a fan of the live-action films Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 and you haven’t seen this cartoon, you’re in for a real treat. If you grew up watching this cartoon (like I did), you must own this set, as the show is every bit as good as you remember it being.
In case you don’t recognize the show at all, here is the introduction:
The show features great voice talent including the inimitable Frank Welker, Lorezeno Music, and even Arsenio Hall. The animation is not great, but just good enough for an ’80s cartoon.
Not only does this set feature every episode of The Real Ghostbusters, it also includes the Slimer! cartoons, in which that little green spud of a ghost is the star. Nearly all of the episodes of The Real Ghostbusters have newly-shot a introductions (sometimes two) from writers, directors, artists, and voice actors giving you some insight as to how that episode came about. Some episodes feature the ability to watch them with only the music and sound effects tracks. There is a bonus disc that comes exclusively with this set with plenty of behind-the-scenes goodies. In all, there are over 12 hours of glorious ghostbusting bonus material.
The packaging for this set is fantastic. The box is modeled after the famous firehouse where the Ghostbusters live and work out of. On the front, a lenticular image of the Ghostbusters logo tries to saw his way out, just like in one of the commercial bumpers for the show. On the side, a lenticular image of Slimer offers another laugh.
It is clear that the creators of this set put a lot of time and effort into making sure that the show is displayed in the best way possible. Five separate volumes are contained within the box, each in its own shiny, metal case. Since the episodes were shown on TV on different networks, with many in syndication, the set is assembled in chronological order by when each episode was created, rather than air dates. The set also comes with a great episode guide book which contains episode titles, descriptions, and trivia.
Now, there is another cartoon out there called Ghostbusters and was produced by a company called Filmation (it is often referred to as Filmation’s Ghostbusters). This show did not star the four main characters from the film but rather two of their sons. This show had nothing to do with the well-known Ghostbusters films but was instead based on a completely different live-action show from the ’70s. But since Filmation’s Ghostbusters came first, the new (and much better) cartoon had to be titled The Real Ghostbusters instead. So don’t accidentally purchase the wrong show!
This collection of The Real Ghostbusters is available exclusively through TIme Life at a hefty price of $179.99, but considering what you get for it, it’s well worth it. Individual releases of each volume of the show are planned (Volume 1 comes out in March) but will cost $21.99 each. With five volumes, that’s $109.95, so for the extra $70 or so, you get the killer packaging, bonus material, and guide book. Plus, you get all of the volumes now instead of having to wait for them to be released.
I’ve been watching an episode almost every night since Christmas and look forward to many more nights of the antics of Peter, Ray, Egon, Winston, Janine, and Slimer. After all, ‘bustin’ makes me feel good!
TweetMONDAY MUSIC: My Top 10 Songs for 2008
I thought it would be fun to take a look at my Top 10 most-listened to songs in 2008.
My Top 10 for 2008 was compiled based on a Smart Playlist that I created in iTunes:
I decided to limit the Top 10 only to songs that I’ve rated between 3 and 5 stars. My rating system is that if I can stand a song but don’t ever really want to listen to it, I give it 2 stars. If it’s a song that I never want to listen to but don’t want to delete (for various reasons), I give it 1 star. So 3-5 stars means only songs that I actually want to listen to. I also limited it to my “Music” playlist, which excludes podcasts, audio books, and anything related to Disney. Not that there isn’t plenty of great Disney music… I just don’t want to hear it mixed in with Nirvana and Tom Petty.
When available, each song below is accompanied by a link to buy it on iTunes and/or Amazon, an embedded 30-second sample (using Quicktime), and a link to the music video. I also wrote few sentences about each. While the songs are numbered, they’re all within 2 play counts of each other, so the numbers don’t really mean anything.
With all that out of the way, here we go:
My Top 10 Most-Listened-To Songs in 2008
1. “#1 Crush” by Garbage from Romeo + Juliet
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Garbage is one of my favorite bands (or at least they were until their pop-induced third album came out), but I’m surprised that out of all of their songs, this song from a movie soundtrack made it onto my most-played list.
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