Some blogs are just for me

Recently I've been listening to a LOT of Living Colour on my iPod... which isn't really that big a deal I guess because they are one of the most important things to ever happen to me in my life. They are the band that made me first go... "Man! This music thing might actually be a good idea."

This thought came to me relatively late in life. I was like 17 at the time. Before that I was purely TV. In my house TV was like the radio. it was always on. I didn't have time or interest in music. Not that there wasn't music in my house or life. Mostly I remember my mom CRANKING up the X-Mas carols and I remember long car rides listening to AM radio... Stevie Wonder and Jim Croce are the two that immediately come to mind for some reason. I also remember late nights where my mom would make me listen to classical music radio in order to fall asleep, because Boston's Kiss FM (Does every city have a Kiss FM at some point?) was only keeping me awake.

Anyway, recently it's been LOTS 'O Living Colour. I think it has something to do with my show. Living Colour seems to summon up the appropriate level of black rage mixed with intellect and scathing criticism that I need to pull off ending racism in about an hour.

So in honor of the valuable inspiration that Living Colour is giving me, I am supplying my ultimate Living Colour concert set list. (Special Note: I've probably seen Living Colour in concert 10 times... Which is alot for most casual music listeners, but only about a week of shows if you spent the 90's following the Grateful Dead on tour.)

The following list is IN ORDER

1.Cult of Personality (The radio hit... Now featured in Guitar Hero III)
2. Time's Up
3. Pride (This is the song that changed the course of my life.)
4. Never Satisfied
5. Desperate People
6. Type
7. Funny Vibe
8. Information Overload (Rarely played live... Clearly one of their BEST SONGS!)
9. Money Talks (I've only heard this live on a bootleg. If I heard it live I'd better have a change of pants.)
10. Sailin' On (Bad Brains Cover)
11. Go Away
12. Should I Stay or Should I Go? (Clash Cover)

Encore

13. Love & Happiness (Al Green Cover)
14. Tomorrow Never Knows (Beatles Cover)
15. Solace of You
16. Fight The Fight
17. Which Way To America

So there you go. I'm embarrassed to tell you how long that took me. This set is long on the first two albums and short on the last two, probably because those two were soooooo much more important to me. All the covers are songs that Living Colour actually has covered. The only song I chose from their new album is The Beatles cover. That list may not mean much to you, but it makes me happy. Use your own band. Make your own list. Post it here if you want.

Now, I'm off to watch The Live Living Colour DVD that I got from Netflix AGAIN.

This is the song that changed my life. This is a fan made video that is cheesy and excellent at the same time. Bonus points if you find the image of my OTHER favorite band.



P.S. All praises due to Rob Nasatir who introduced me to Living Colour one night via a cassette tape in his parents' car in the parking lot of a record store. I jusrt remember being like, "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!"

P.P.S. Vernon Reid is the guitarist from Living Colour. He hugged me after a show one time when I told him that he helped me understand what it is to be black.

P.P.P.S When I was 20 (20!) I went to a Living Colour Concert by myself (Thanks, Jason). It was around the time that Eric Clapton's song Tears in Heaven was all over the radio. I made an EXTREMELY crappy T-shirt with fabric paint that said, "Clapton is Pop. Vernon is GOD!" Vernon signed it after the show even though I didn't ask him to. Sweeeeeeeeeet. I don't knwo where that shirt is. Mom, do you know?

P.P.P.P.S. I FULLY believe that one day I will be the producer of a Living Colour Album.

P.P.P.P.P.S. This is live performance from The Arsenio Hall Show. THAT'S RIGHT I SAID THE ARSENIO HALL SHOW!!! Awesome.

The most shocking thing that happened on Super Tuesday

Shaquille O'Neal was traded from The Miami Heat to The Phoenix Suns.

Oh and also, Barack and Hillary continued to stage their political reenactment of Rocky IV.

We are currently in the montage part of the movie. This is where, late in the fight, Drago and Rocky trade fierce, pummeling blows to the tune of an Orchestrated Rocky Theme.

Rocky has earned his Drago's respect, but Drago is still an inhuman machine who will cheat to win and is fighting for an evil empire.

Can you tell who's who in my scenario? I'm trying my best to obscure the metaphor.



P.S. My friend, who supports Barack, put it best. He said, "I can't believe Barack is doing so well, and yet, I am still incredibly disappointed."

P.P.S. Dammit, I love YouTube!

One of the unexpected benefits(?) of having a show about racism!

One of the benefits (benefits?) of having a show about Racism ---

The W. Kamau Bell Curve at The JCC East Bay March 1st & 2nd tickets still available.

--- is that people who see the show end up sending me anecdotes and examples of racist things they have encountered since seeing the show.

I have received an assortment of racism... like a See's Candy Box (or Fanny Mae Candy Box, if you're from The Midwest).

My favorite was the unfortunate story of "The Time That I was Playing Scrabble Online and The Highest Scoring Play Was The Word Nigger" by Brian Rosen (white guy). I'm a big time Scrabble player and I would have played it. Brian didn't. I think THAT is racist.

But many of them are just racist jokes or inappropriate comments or things that make you go, "Ugh!"

But this latest one, texted to me from my good friend and fake manager takes the racist cake...

Drum roll please....

There is a bad of four white guys from Atlanta Georgia called....

The Black Lips.

Don't believe me? here's their MySpace page. Here's their blog. And here's their Wikipedia Entry.

This just where racism turns the page into absolute stoopidity. Of all the names to name your stupid indie band, WHY "The Black Lips"? Cuz you're soooooooooo cooooooooooool that it's clearly meant to be ironic?

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!
*said like Steve Martin's classic catchphrase "Excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me!"

If I was 10% less full of shit I wouldn't just tell jokes about this shit, I would pull a Doobie Brothers and TAKE IT TO THE STREETS!

Are they a good band? Find out for yourself...



P.S. I don't even have a Wikipedia Entry. Hint. Hint.

P.P.S. The Black Lips are playing for free at Amoeba Records on Friday. I have half a mind to... nevermind.

Everyday Puff Daddy works hard to make up stuff that we ALL want...

He may have finally done it. I know he did it on purpose. But he may have invented the next catchphrase to sweep the nation and he is generously giving it to us for free on the second episode of Making The Band 4, my current guilty pleasure show.

Here it is... And I don't need to tell you what the phrase is. It's pretty obvious the phrase that P Tastic wants us all to repeat...



Do you have IT in YOU?

It ain't Gatorade. It's from the makers of Haterade.

And more importantly... Would you buy it on OFFICIALLY LICENSED Bad Boy Merchandise?

The Siskel & Negro Podcast

Here is the latest episode of the podcast that me and my soon to be former roommate Kevin Avery. During the day we are mild mannered comedians and over the Internet we (plus Katherine P. MacMurphy) are a kick in the nuts of Hollywood...

Siskel & Negro

If you've never listened to us. Do yourselves (& us) a favor. Check it out and let me (& RooftopComedy.com) know what you think.

This taking over the world that I'm doing is a multi-layered, multi-level process.

Hop on board.

Another Awkward Eulogy...

While Texas Tech coach, Bobby Knight isn't exactly dead. He did exactly resign from his job today. This goes right up there with Ike Turner's death for... Where exactly do I catalog this in my head?

While both Ike and Bobby made HUUUUUUUUUGE contributions to their respective fields --- Bobby Knight as a Hall of Fame college basketball coach who has the record for the most wins in Division I NCAA Men's Basketball (902) and Ike Turner as one of the inventors of Rock & Roll (if you don't know check out the seminal track Rocket '88), both men have left a murky legacy. Both made historic talent discoveries: Bobby with two time NBA World Champion and Hall of Famer, Isaiah Thomas and Ike with of course Rock and Roll Legend (That's right I said ROCK & ROLL legend!) Tina Turner. However, both also have reputation for... well... How do I say this?... GOING UPSIDE THEIR PEOPLE'S HEADS!

This is such a sticky wicket. My friend Martha won't listen to Miles Davis because of his ADMITTED history of domestic violence. This is completely understandable. However my mom knows the same stuff about him and continues to listen. And I guess that is also completely understandable. Both my mom and Martha are strong independent women who don't make decisions like this without thinking. Where does the artist end and the person begin? And if the the person is a dick ("Dick" meaning abuser of women in Ike & Miles cases or boys in Bobby Knight & *insert Michael Jackson joke here* cases.), but what if their art is revolutionary? In modern society there is no way to not know what a celebrity's every move is But back in the day nobody knew nothing about Babe Ruth except that he hit the ball real hard and far.

Which is better? Which is worst?

I guess what I'm trying to say to Bobby Knight and Ike Turner is...

"Congratulations???"

&

"Rest in peace???"

P.S. The record for the most wins in Division I NCAA Basketball is held by Pat Summitt with 966 and counting. All the wins are with The Tennessee WOMEN'S basketball team. And she never hit nobody.

Maybe I'll actually buy a CD of NEW music for a change

This post is MOSTLY for my best friend, Jason.

The following was cut and pasted from The Relix site...
---
"Galactic drummer Stanton Moore has recently completed a series of studio sessions with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and rapper Boots Riley. The unlikely trio are scheduled to release the project under the name the Street Sweeper via Epic Records this spring. As first reported by New Orleans’ The Times-Picayune, Moore first met Morello at a November 2006 Future of Music Coalition benefit concert held at Tipitina's and the new friends first bonded while standing at the bar of Ernie K-Doe's Mother-in-Law Lounge. Meanwhile, Boots Riley is one of the many MCs who appeared on Galactic’s 2007 hip-hop disc, From the Corner to the Block.

Morello recently reunited with his Rage Against the Machine bandmates for a series of shows, including an appearance at October’s Vegoose (an event which is co-produced by Galactic managers Superfly Presents). The guitarist also performed at Bonnaroo as The Nightwatchman."
---

Jason constantly promotes The Coup in much the same way in high school he promoted The Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, and... Well, I guess that was pretty much it. Much in the same way in high school I promoted... Well, pretty much just Bruce Lee. Anyway we both agreed on Rage Against The Machine, although I'm sure that they are not ranked on his best bands of all time list. (They are ranked on mine.) And I'm sure we both agreed that Audioslave SUUUUUUUUCKED... although I don't think we discussed it... not necessary. So this sounds cool... Although that was the same thing I thought when I heard about Audioslave. The adult contemporary Rock & Roll of Audioslave was sooooooooooo milquetoast that it convinced me that Rage's rage was really just Zack de la Rocha. Well, Boots Riley is certainly pissed off so this could be grrrrrrrrreat.

Although I am still holding out hope for a new Rage CD... Crap.

P.S. I do like the name Street Sweeper. I always thought that Audioslave was a horrible name for a band that had a history of members who were uber political.. Why would you want the word "slave" in your name?

P.P.S. Fine. My list of most greatest bands/musicians of all time in no order, because that would be stupid... and too difficult.

Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, Rage Against The Machine, Living Colour, Fishbone, 24-7 Spyz, Urban Dance Squad

P.P.P.S.