"by the way, which one's pink?"

all my life, i've been a fan of pink floyd, so hearing that that the "heyday" lineup (roger, david, nick, richard) were getting back together for a one-off performance for Live8 in london was, to say the least, intriguing.

and you know what? they put on a tremendous show if you caught the performance on AOL.com. it was a stripped down version of the band, unlike the ridiculously over-the-top production they put on tour from '87 on. gone were the loads of additional musicians, save a second, rhythm guitar player and a backup singer. and they ripped! roger waters was clearly bursting (and nearly self-destructing) with nervous engery, but, damn, that added to the fun! seeing the members of pink floyd smiling? together? spontaneously? unheard of! especially from those stuffy bastards. and that was the fun of it. dave gilmour can still play a mean guitar, the band was tight and alive, and it was worth ever second if you caught it.

except on MTV, where they cut away during the guitar solo of "comfortably numb." i'm sorry, but that's the last straw—i want to jam a soup spoon in my head when i think about how disrespectful it was—the last nail in the coffin of what used to be a truly groundbreaking network. it's now gone and turned itself in to a second-rate, talentless network full of wannabe assholes, sluts, drunks and absolute morons willing to fuck their mother if it'll get them on TV. but it's "reality!" yeah, if reality is exploiting every stereotype available by putting people on TV who put on the role of "frat boy," "gay guy," "hip-hop dude," "sorority chick" and "depressed goth/outsider/ugly duckling." i've a feeling that they've forgotten how to act when the camera looks away...

what the hell happened? are you saying you can't move those commercials back a little bit (oh, i don't know, somewhere in one of those spots where you don't show music anymore, maybe...) so floyd can finish their set? the backlash has been swift and definite, and i'm thinking that MTV has lost it. and for what? for $$$.

don't get me wrong, i'm fine with the idea of a business wanting to do well and be successful financially, but when nobody knows who's in charge anymore, and when MTV (and every other network) is part of a conglomerate of faceless suits, i'm kind of leery of anything they do that's supposed to smack of artistic merit. how can that happen when it has to go through standards and practices? oh, unless steve-o is stapling a crocodile to his nuts.

how about something truly offensive, like music videos by progressive musicians taking some real risks, and (gasp!) playing instruments instead of saying "babe" over a techno track?

oh, wait. THAT is truly offensive. good music can just change your life for the better. wouldn't want to see that on MTV.

wouldn't sell...

call rodney harrison; we're going to war!!

you knew they'd only sit and wait for so long before they pulled something like this. glasnost my ass!!

those commie bastards have fired the first shot. give back the ring and we'll only blow up st. petersburg, you drunken swine.

good stuff! 6/20 edition...

...and all is well. so things are still rolling. we've gone over the 20-hit mark (well, including double posts and other minutiae, but who's splitting hairs?), and what makes me so excited about the potential of this question is you really can't argue it. of course, rush doesn't seem to be a popular choice, but dammit, this is america. canadian bands need to be represented here as well! and, as always, keep the ideas rolling. keep us fresh, tell us your feelings on good music - keep discourse alive!

keep it coming, kids, we're officially crossing blogs! check out my friend erin's blog, which is moving officially into the "desert island" realm. and keep the ROCK LIST going below...

mahalo!

forget the desert island, this is for ALL the marbles.

since i love music so much, i'm constantly bringing up the classic bar conversation, "if you were stranded on a desert island and could bring five CDs with you to listen to, what would they be?". it always brings interesting people to the table, and there's constant debate over the choices (even if it is purely personal, and bound to change by the number of drinks you've consumed).

well, i'm sending the question to the masses, but with one giant caveat: i want to know the five greatest ROCK albums of all time. by rock i mean you can include seattle, include the early 80's punk scene, add the british invasions of both the '60s and '80s. add metal, add the rock/rap shit if you think it belongs.

to light this candle, here's what post and i came up with today while we were supposed to be working (note: this is in no particular order, which is kind of a cop out):

rush - moving pictures
led zeppelin - III
the beatles - abbey road
the jimi hendrix experience - axis: bold as love
guns n' roses - appetite for destruction

now go squabble! this list is going to be decimated, as it should, but that's why it was posted: for dialogue on great music. voice your opinion, this is america, dammit!

TWO WEEKS... addendum

...yesterday, at approximately 12:15pm, the sun returned, and suddenly everything has life again. there's something to this, i tell you. now that the sun's back (and yeah, that means bugs, but i'll take 'em), people's outlook has shifted from internal to external, and there's sharing going on again, and folks are de-cocooning. it's a beautiful sight.

mahalo.

TWO WEEKS...

...since we've seen the sun up here in the Valley. we're all on suicide watch. 24-hour monitoring, because anyone's a candidate to pull the trigger. so i'll use this as a valve, to let off some pressure, and it's nice, because i really don't give a shit if anyone sees this, because this is just great self-therapy. get what you want out, and if someone sees it, and agrees, disagrees, is apathetic to it, whatever, i can walk away feeling like i've left whatever i was feeling behind.

however, there's nothing you can do for your psyche when you haven't seen the sun in 14 or so days. and an hour here and there just doesn't do anything but whet the appetite. i've heard some people are content with going to the tanning both so they can "feel like they've been in the sun"; apparently, that helps. well, have fun there without me (apologies to a friend who told me it's helpful, but i'll stay out in the clouds letting my skin turn the color of paste rather than get in one of those fucking pods).

this has all been like some great purging — when the weather breaks, and everything's back to "normal", we'll go on like nothing happened, but look around here: people have been affected by this. see if people don't react more sharply than they normally would... push a button and see if someone doesn't lash out.

i don't know. but i do know i'd sure like to wear sunglasses again.

the big easy

well, heading on down south to n'awlins tomorrow, and i'd be lying, lying, lying if i said i wasn't the least bit apprehensive. this is the kind of place you can lose yourself in, you know? vampire legends, ghost stories, voodoo, the fact that the city is going to be resting comfortably at the bottom of the mississippi before too long - lots of stuff!

...that and the fact that you can walk down the street and see all manner of debauchery, day or night, while drinking any beverage you can manage to carry.

i think i'll bring my gun. of course, i'll put it in my checked luggage. that would be if i had a firearm to arm myself. i don't. but i wish i did.

back with a report when i return for all none of you checking this out... mahalo.

mahalo, doc

when the Good Doctor Hunter S. Thompson decides he'd rather be anywhere but Earth, it gets me a little down. so have many Drinks for the man and wish him well on his journey, wherever he is now...

probably telling God and the Devil how he liked the other's place better.

BUT HE'S FREAKIN' DEAD.

"Ray Charles wins album, record of the year at Grammys" - CNN.com

wait a minute. this can't be right, can it? i mean, he's freakin' dead, and the album was released after he was freakin' dead, and we wouldn't even be talking about this if he was freakin' alive. even with the movie being released (which was a fine film).

let the dead stay dead.

Whew!

didn't play all that well. deceased grandmothers. grisly broken arms. bionic enemy receivers.

didn't matter. D-Y-N-A-S-T-Y.

let's get a couple more.

.750

three-for-four. brady brings the pats to their third super bowl in four years, and it still feels like people are surprised when it happens. of course vegas is installing us as the favorites (as of 11pm sunday the eagles are getting 6 from us in the superbowl), yet public opinion isn't sure of what to say. well, i'll say this: keep the team under the pop culture and popular opinion radars. it's worked so far.

20 - 3

so, anyone want to buy an "AFC champion indianapolis colts" shirt?

Revelations

we'll keep with the bible theme for a little while, seeing as that's made some people... edgy.

let's take stock here! so far it's been a week without chew (i'm sure everyone is THRILLED. no. really, i'm sure you're just peeing your pants about that one), and some people have come out of the woodwork i didn't expect.

people with pronounced and overdeveloped vocabularies who hide their own issues about their alternative lifestyle behind hateful and harmful slings and arrows they shoot at "friends."

either that or they get married as a front.

i'm liking this! even though it's a constant ganging up on me (nothing too unusual there - WAIT, that didn't sound right - nevermind), it seems to me that i'm acting like a surrogate therapist, holding your baggage for you while you make yourselves feel better through abuse. come on! drink the kool aid!

look at what i've done, i've made all of you people use the internet for something other than looking for weiners.

now if you'll excuse me, i'm off to check out whether or not lindsay lohan's had a boob job or not.

Great American Dip-Out: Day #2

so i've quit chewing tobacco. by my count it's been almost 36 hours since my last dip, and things are good. morale is high, resistance is strong. the question is, how long will altoids, gum and cough drops hold off the inevitable cravings for nicotine? i mean, cold turkey is a painful exercise, and a lonely one at that.

i'm walking around like bruce banner on the verge of snapping - "you wouldn't like me when i'm angry." half the time i'm daring people to piss me off so i can feel justified in flying off the handle. it's definitely an interesting study of self-restraint mixed with hubris.

i can't see how helpful it is to write this though, as i'm happiest right now when my mind's off this subject, and here i am dwelling on it. so i'm stopping...

right...

now.

define: clarivoyance

4" - 6" tonight. creepy, huh?

...and another thing, Mother Nature's pissed!

i don't know what we did, but we've done something that REALLY put some sand in mother nature's underpants. asian tsunamis, flooding in the midwest, snow in soCal, and here in new england...total dogshit. something in between april's promise of spring and a dirty diaper. really not nice, especially here in a ski town. feels like the air's sucking out the heart of us, just to turn it into ice to dump on our streets. hope this doesn't last too long...

Prima Blogga

greetings. welcome to my mind, at least when i have the mind to mine it for thoughts... don't hold your breath. but this is my soapbox! my chance to put up my feelings, likes, loves, hates and other varoius and sundry things that pop into my head, whenever they do so. so stay tuned! updates will be fitful and unpredictable, but they will NOT be boring.

pray for snow,
2socks