Consonants and vowels all together, equally

There hasn't been enough rock around here. Let's let Debbie here change all that.

( Hanging on the Telephone )

I thought a lot about this week's post—should I resist the MLK Day/Obama Inauguration push, or just go with it? And today, I decided to just go with it. I bring you Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything."

( Everything Is Everything )

As many of you know, I used to work in the media industry, and I still freelance there from time to time. So while the LJ layoffs suck, they are part of a much larger picture that I've been reading about for the past two months now. I mean, 850 people at Viacom! 5% of the workforce at Omnicom!

I know it sucks when friends are laid off—a very good friend of mine, the one who got me my last freelance job, was laid off just before the holidays with about three weeks of severance. But I just wanted to put the LJ layoffs, and the panic that seems to be resulting from them, into perspective. I don't think that because 850 people were laid off at Viacom that anyone thinks Nickelodeon is folding.

Backing up your journal is always a good idea, and I think we're all putting a little more hope on Dreamwidth than we were before, but yeah, it hurts all over in the media industry right now, and no one seems to know how to make any money actually giving people the services that they want, Livejournal included. It'll work itself out, because that's capitalism, but there's going to be a lot of chaos before it does.

In actual death news, Ron Asheton RIP.

Now that so many of you have voted in Friday's poll, I'll explain what I was thinking about when I posted it. And I must ask _lore, erinfinnegan, piperki, and conob: what makes me look like a sockpuppet?

( Background information on Clio's paranoia for the win! )

In nicer news, I'm very excited to say that my new computer will arrive early this week! I will be able to once again do many things, like post itunes memes and make icons and watch videos and comment on the fics I'm currently reading on my iphone, and chat with you all in the evenings! In the meantime, I will post a meme from dreamerren and jm_cats that I actually can do without my itunes! jm_cats said "The beauty of music is that we don't all have the same interests" which is a wise, wise thing. And like that wise man, I have a thing for album cuts.

1. Post the names of 10 of your favorite musicians.
2. See who can guess which is your favorite song by each.
3. Once someone guesses right, bold that row and include the song.

1. Neil Finn (includes Crowded House)
2. Fiona Apple
3. Tori Amos
4. Snow Patrol
5. Kenna
6. Sam Phillips
7. Aimee Mann
8. Suzanne Vega
9. Prince
10. Heart

Happy Sunday!

honestys_easy and I went to see Blake Lewis at the Canal Room last night. Unlike the show in June, which was just a man and his audio equipment, this time the band was there, which of course made for a very different show. The band had a great energy, and you could feel Blake feeding off of it, which was good because the crowd was rather small unfortunately--though still too big for upstairs at the Knitting Factory, so it was right for them to move the show. We weren't able to do nearly as much people watching as last time, as there weren't as many characters, but there was a significant contingent of geeky gay boys there, which was adorable.

Blake's falsetto was a little shaky, and he was chugging tea for most of the show, though it got a little better as the show went on. I loved the band, but I'm a little shy about talking about that as so much has been made about that band and they have their own little fandom and all of that, a space I'm not really playing in, and you know, I'm not texting them on a daily basis or whatever. So I'll just say: they're a very good band.

One very encouraging note. Last time I'd noted that what worries me about Blake is his tendency to go past the song and straight to the remix without bothering to make the song itself good. I think in working with a band, he simply can't do that. The songs were all tighter, and in the new songs you could hear how having the band is pushing him in a much more rock direction. Particularly the version of "Emotional Waterfalls" was fantastic. I'd liked it a lot when I heard it in June, but with the band it was stellar, with a funk groove behind it. I think he just works better with a band than with a series of co-writers and producers, which is always the downside to a rocker being on Idol.

The opening act, some LA band called Carlotta, had an annoying lead guitarist/keyboard player in one of those super low v-neck shirts and bad emo hair that he shook out of place when he whipped his head around such that he looked like he had a "DA" on his forehead. The lead singer was equally irritating with his faux-Jagger strut and inability to reach his falsetto on key (you wrote the songs, moron, write ones you can sing consistently) and his 27 necklaces, scarf covering his super low v-neck (that he wore loose, which made it look even worse) and pointless blazer. Ugh. But the bassist, wearing a normal v-neck thank you, was cute, and the drummer was excellent and also super hot, especially after he took off his totally normal baseball shirt. This of course made the lead singer even more irritating, as his prancing mostly just got in the way of my staring at the drummer.

But even with all that, they were better than that Real World wannabe singer that opened for Blake last time, for reals.

One of the things I unearthed in looking over some back Idolator posts was Chris Molanphy's theory that Taylor Hicks broke American Idol and Maura Johnston's hope that David Cook fixed it.

Now, it's no secret that I absolutely, fundamentally hated Taylor Hicks. I think he's a hack, musically, and I think he "gamed" the show: he figured out what his fan-voters liked, pandered to them outrageously, and won. Simon was furious that whole season and while Randy liked him, he also felt Taylor wasn't working up to his potential, which of course he wasn't.

I agree with Molanphy that Taylor represents the moment when the tv-show Idol broke from its looking-for-a-star conceit. Even Fantasia sold more copies of her first record and had a single that did reasonably well, and everyone knew that getting her on the radio/MTV/BET was going to be a tricky sell. And I also agree that Taylor's win may have pushed some younger viewers away from the show. But in a sense, Taylor's win happened because of the huge ratings for AI5.

It's pretty clear that Taylor appealed to people who don't buy music. He definitely zeroed in on the pre-hip hop frat boy crowd, the guys who go out and listen to bar bands playing Doobie Brothers covers, the Jimmy Buffet fans. Guys not unlike my brother. And let me tell you, men 35-54 were not watching a lot of Idol unless their kids made them. (See Obama, Barack.) But Taylor was their kind of singer, and they actually voted for him, and sent him to the top, and in doing so swelled the AI ratings by adding a demo they weren't reaching before. And then they didn't buy his record, because they don't buy records, nor do they listen to radio stations that play new music--they listen to album-oriented rock and classic rock and those ipod-based stations with male names like "Jack FM" or "Adam radio".

So Taylor reveals the inherent flaw in Idol, one that Nigel literally does not know how to fix: you can't get gigantic ratings by finding a relavant pop star. You just can't, because there are big groups of people who will never care about pop music, particularly not-young men. Nigel, as we see on SYTYCD, is showman. He wants to make entertaining television. It's Simon who wants the show to have relevance and credibility, but Simon isn't a producer.

AI6 was a sort of overswing, a corrective, where the show went violently young (Jordin) and violently "new" (Blake), so new that there's no radio format that can contain it (Blake Lewis, meet Kenna). Jordin, otoh, is really the perfect Idol in that there's no way she could have become a pop star without it, simply because of the way she looks. Johnston posits that bringing the instruments in helped AI7, and I think it's up in the air whether D Cook could have won without being able to stand with his guitar looking like a rocker. Certainly the massive disconnect between the home audience and the judges for the finale was partly about the judges seeing what they expected to win--Archuleta belting out the power ballads and looking cute generally--and partly about D Cook selling better in close up than in a room that isn't a very good concert hall and was lit for television. But the voters came through, and continue to come through, and D Cook got a lot of people watching who gave up after Taylor, and who do buy records.

So? Will AI8 really be better? Is the correction in? Will we have more "ringers" this season?

PS: Today on the subway platform there was a guy singing "Hello" with a keyboard and I thought "you know, that's D Cook's song." And when I get home tonight I'm going to have to listen to his version to get the crappy Lionel Richie-is-your-Cosbyesque-stalker version out of my damn head.

What a difference a year makes, eh Brit Brit? Also, is it really a step up for Pete Wentz to basically be like, a VJ?

Oh Russell Brand and your poor misguided attempts to break America. Well, I thought it was hilarious, and I wish I could send you a text to tell you so.

Other than Xtina, I didn't see any amazing performances. Paramore sounded like their record, and the Jonas Bros are annoying, and Pink's song was lame though the coat was cute, and Rhianna's song went on way too long though the dancing was good (choreographed by Wade Robson?), and I didn't even watch Lil Wayne or Kanye because please, but LL Cool J doing Going Back to Cali was pretty awesome. Hence, it took ali_wildgoose and I 45 minutes to speed through the show.

And Russell Brand was great.

I'll be afk for the weekend on a mini-break with ziggy1278 visiting my bff C____, so I thought I'd end this week o' music memes with the mix I made about him, and about our adolescence spent driving around the roads of Maine singing to the radio.

You Can Sing While I Drive

1. Just a castaway, an island lost at sea The Police | Message in a Bottle
   
2. In the distance, she saw me comin' 'round U2 | Trip Through Your Wires
   
3. I need a refueling. I need your kiss. Come on now and plant it on my lips. B-52's | Whammy Kiss
   
4. […] If you need somebody to love, just look into my eyes The Beatles | Any Time at All
   
5. […] wants to be a sign painter. First he's got to learn to read. REM | Old Man Kensey
   
6. […] Baby, yesterday's favorite. Don't you hate it.
   
7. […] Don't touch that dial, don't try to smile, just take this pill, it's in your file Joe Jackson | Cancer
   
8. […] Disturb me with all your cares and your worries 10,000 Maniacs | Trouble Me
   
9. See me a big woman, big woman look how you dance Peter Gabriel | Kiss of Life
   
10. Nobody on the road, nobody on the beach Don Henley | Boys of Summer
    
11. Sweet wonderful you, you make me happy with the things you do Fleetwood Mac | You Make Loving Fun
    
12. I've seen your picture, your name in lights above it Steely Dan | Peg
    
13. Even on the darkest night when empty promise means empty hand Duran Duran | Lonely In Your Nightmare
    
14. Baby you stole my heart, I don't know what to do
    
15. If you've got something to say why don't you say it
    
16. You said the world was magic, I was wide-eyed and laughing Indigo Girls | Joking
    
17. Seal my fate, I get your tongue in the mail Crowded House | Love This Life
    
18. Come on baby, let's get out of this town Melissa Etheridge | You Can Sleep While I Drive

Five songs left from yesterday (though admittedly two are a little obscure), three from Tuesday, and four from Monday.

Classic rock today, inspired by WBLM-FM, and also my friend P____. And there's still some left over from yesterday's post!

It's the Blimp, Frank!

1. Oh, a storm is threat'ning my very life today Rolling Stones | Gimme Shelter
   
2. Buddy you're a boy, make a big noise playin' in the street Queen | We Will Rock You
   
3. […] I hit the sack, it's been too long I'm glad to be back AC DC | Back in Black
   
4. Cold late night so long ago when I was not so strong, you know Heart | Magic Man
   
5. Some folks are born made to wave the flag Creedence Clearwater Revival | Fortunate Son
   
6. There must be some kind of way out of here Bob Dylan | All Along the Watchtower (though I have the Hendrix cover)
   
7. All our times have come, here but now they're gone Blue Oyster Cult | Don't Fear the Reaper
   
8. I looked out this morning and the sun was gone Boston | More Than a Feeling
   
9. Winding your way down […], light in your head and dead on your feet Gerry Rafferty | Baker Street
   
10. What'll you do when you get lonely and nobody's waiting by your side Derek & the Dominoes | Layla
    
11. You know that it would be untrue, you know that I would be a liar The Doors | Light My Fire
    
12. Well there's a light in your eyes that keeps shining Led Zeppelin | Fool in the Rain
    
13. Bonus: nine interconnected songs that I can't give the lyrics to, since their lyrics are mostly their titles, but listening to them in sequence is a definitely classic rock move The Beatles, Side Two of Abbey Road

I've started and put aside this entry about five times. At one point it was about my recent haircut (they cut it curly for once so no one gets a pic of me with straight hair), then about My Dinner with Andre and the Pitchfork Top 100 Albums of the 70s, 80s and 90s and the role of the critic (this may be better suited for an upcoming road trip) and have now ended up with: a music meme.

Changing up some of the rules, though:
Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle. These are fun to do but tricky as a straight "shuffle" on my itunes because it's full of jazz and obscure album tracks and other weirdness that I wouldn't even recognize myself. So, instead, I'm going to do some mixes that I created quite a while back.
Step 2: Post the first one to two lines from the first 37 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing. Mostly first lines from 20 songs; an [*] indicates that the first line is the title, so I've taken the first line of the chorus or other verse.
Step 3: Check off the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly... Well, remakes make this weird, though. These are all original tracks, no covers on this list.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING, and cheating is not allowed! Those of you who have these mixes are DQ'd, though you can comment anon and it will be screened anyway.
Step 5: If you like the game post your own. Enjoy!

One mix a day each day this week, to distract me from the Many Things That Must Be Done.

( In the Basement—with bonus track! )