Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!



Someone read my last post and thought I was depressed. I'm not. I have just been a little apathic to run up to Christmas. It seems to start in September now, and just burns you out on the subject. But it is funny, what a little church, family, friends and good food can do to improve the spirit. So, everyone have a....

Merry Christmas!



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Monday, December 22, 2008

Bah-Humbug!...or....Blues for Christmas

I'm just not feeling Christmas this year. I can understand why the suicide rate jumps at this time of year. Don't freak out, I'm not killing myself. When society dictates that you be all shiny and happy this time of year, I can understand how people who are not all shiny and happy this time of year can see suicide as a way out. Its stupid, but understandable.

I don't know...Christmas cheer just is not real to me.

I get the "Reason for the Season" part of this holiday.I was raise a good little Christian boy. All the basic tennents of my faith are still there, even if I am a bit lapsed in my attendance of church. But to me religion is a quiet thing, to contemplate and reflect on. So this time of year becomes about contemplation and reflection. To look to the past and see the good and bad you have done, and to look to the future for what it will hold.

So there for I just don't get into the "Christmas Cheer" part of the holiday. Maybe because I don't have girlfriend/wife and kids? Could it be that I don't get into Christmas because I'm not social? I don't really have alot of friends and the ones I got are spread out all over the country so I don't see or hear from them much. Of course there is my family, but we are all doing our own things.

So is my just not being into the whole Christmas parties and singing songs of "good tidings" that everyone else seems so be into a problem? Who knows, maybe everyone feels like me, and the whole christmas cheer thing is a scam. I know it probably isn't, but....

Anyway I thought share some Christmas music of different type. What you thought I would put "Blues for Christmas" in title without from music in the post. Like a kid at Christmas i love my new toy. So here is some non-traditional Christmas music, from the joyous to the sad, the sublime to the asinine. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas Baby
Blues for Christmas
Santa Claus, Santa Claus
Santa
Santa Don't Let Me Down
Sam's Christmas Blues
Christmas Blues
Christmas
Christmas Time
O Tannenbaum
Silent Night
O Holy Night

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Sunday, December 14, 2008

Classic Rock Sunday.....

I don't know what it is about Sundays. Maybe its all the serious music in church on Sunday Morning? Maybe it all the trying to be cool on Friday and Saturday nights? Maybe it all the sports that come on the TV? But Sundays just seem built for classic rock. I remember when I was very young, we would get up very early and go to sun rise mass, then pack the boat and head up the Pearl river north of the reservoir. We would find a beach along the river. My sister and I would play in the water if we were luck other families would be there with kids our age. Dad would dig a pit and start a fire. Around the pit he would fill four can with water and place a grill over it to cook burgers. Mom would sit under the umbrella and read a book. But it seemed always in the background would be someones radio playing 94Tix or Z106. I always remembered, it was time to go home when the Doctor Demento show came on. As I look back now, those are great memories and I should thank my parents for them. I also remember going fishing with dad and listen to David Adcock on the original "Tunes till 2!" Of course as I have gotten older not much has changed. Just a few years ago as we canoed down the Okatoma or Black Creek, my friends and I would listen to "The All 80s Weekend!" While it might not sound like a classic rock Sunday, I am continually surprised by what is defined as "Classic Rock". Hell, a few years ago I found a "Urban" channel that ran "Hip Hop Classics!" on Sunday. I don't know, there is just something about Sunday that make it built for the classic rock. That said, I just thought I would share some classic rock with you...

The Doors - Roadhouse Blues
Joe Cocker - She Came in Through the Bathroom Window
Traffic - Dear Mister Fantasy
Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
Spencer Davis Group - Give Me Some Love'n
Led Zepplin - House of the Holy
The Beatles w/ Billy Preston - Get Back
Warron Zevon - Werewolves of London
ZZ Top - Waiting on the Bus/Jesus Left Chicago

So...kick back...think of simplier, happier times Oh and have a nice day!

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Thursday, December 11, 2008

HOLY SHYTE!!!!!!!

Its Snowing! Its Sticking to the Ground! We're all going to Die!!!

Just thought I should let everyone know.

More later.

And Now is Later...

Okay so the snow is melting, the roads are full of car with people who can't drive in bad weather and I only had to work for 4 hours today(I love being a salaried employee). I'm back at my place, I got the crockpot working on some beef stew for tonights dinner, and hopefully I will maintain power. Because by tomorrow all this shit will be gone and life will get back to normal.
My only real worry is that as the sun goes down, the temp will fall, the water will freeze and everything will turn to ice. Driving in snow doesn't scary me, except for the fact that this is Mississippi and nobody knows how to drive in snow here. No! what scaries me is ice. Ice makes roads slick, ice knocks tree limbs down taking out power, ice is bad! Still, I am doing okay.
I am hopeing for the best!

BTW, if any of my Hattiesburg Homies are reading this, give us a shout, we are worried about you!

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

So...What You Reading.....Comic Book Edition

So I rarely talk about my addiction to comic books, but I do luv'm, do read'm and so I thought I would share what comic books I am reading right now.

Invincible

Probably the best superhero comic out today. Blending the everyman appeal of Spiderman with the fantastical elements of Superman and you have the title characters world. Invincible is a character who is trying to live up to or live down his father legacy. Yep, its a superhero comic, but a father and son story. Plus, sense it is creator owned, it has real change in it. Because of sharp writing and art this is my favorite comic book.

Doctor Who: The Forgotten

I have to admit a bias. I love Doctor Who. I was a fan of the classic series growing up. It was so cheesy, but in all the right way. And the new series has done nothing to lessen my love. We have finally reach a point that the special effects for the show can match the ideas that are being written about. The only real problem with the new series is how little it address the classic one. But along comes this story, taking the current Doctor, the 10th version, and literally making him remember stories of his past selves. The creators of this book are even clever in how they present the memories because the 1st and 2nd Doctor stories are in Black and White, because the classic series pre dated color TV. You don't have to be a fan of the classic series to "get" this title, but it helps.

Flash Gordon

For the last few years, I have been thinking there should be a new Flash Gordon(I'm working hard to forget that horrible TV show on last year).As much as I like the 1980 Flash Gordon movie, it doesn't hold up well now. Yeah it is still fun and has alot of tongue in check humor, but it lost most of what made the original comic strips by Alex Raymond and the original movie serials fun. All the old takes on these stories are dated now. So what do you do, you take it and strip it down the the core concept and rebuild it for the 21st century. It is nice to see that I am not the only one who thought that. While this take on the characters isn't flawless,it works. Flash himself is still an ex-Olympic, but now his is also a failed CIA agent and history teacher at Yale. Dale Arden is no longer a damsel in distress, she is a CIA agent who saves Flash as often as Flash saves her. They both start the series looking for Dr. Hans Zarkov, who is still the independent scientist trying to save the world, but is framed as a terrorist be Black Ops CIA agents. This is of course the set up to get them to Mongo, where they are meeting modern takes on the classic character.

The Goon

Pretty much take everything you like about Pulp Fiction Stories, Strong Guys, funny sidekicks, hot women, crime, gang wars, black magic, zombies, werewolves, gun slinging, etc, etc, and throw it in of boiling hot swamp water and sewage and you might get something as outrageously funny to read as The Goon. This is a book with no socially redeemable valve. It is wild fun and outrageous moments for the sake of wild fun and outragous moments. Be the way, did I mention I really like this book.

Green Lantern/Green Lantern Corp

Space cops that have a billion year old mythology that is coming home to roost on them. Hopefully The Blackest Night storyline that will take place next year will be the best story either of the Big 2 put out next year. And with Sci-Fi space cops, super zombies and universally destruction this story should rock!!!
Based on the idea that emotions have corresponding color in ROYGBIV, the writer Johns has created an idea that is pretty original and very exciting. See below for an example....

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Sunday, December 07, 2008

Covered Up #2

With this edition I will be looking at the song "Shake your Hips"

Slim Harpo was born James Moore in Baton Rouge, LA, in 1924. After his parents death he worked the juke joints, house parties, picnic and streets of Crowley to make living. He was discovered by J. D. Miller and was used as a side man for other acts, like Lightnin Hopkins.
Harpo's own style was in the laid back, down home style of Jimmy Reed. Harpo had several R&B hits including a few to enter the top 40 charts, during the early to mid 1960s. What separated Harpo from alot of other blues musicians was his adaptability, he could work rock'n roll rhythms into is song along with country and western vocal patterns. This gave him a broader appeal to his work. Which could be why such artist as The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones, Hank Williams Jr., The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and Th' Legendary Shack Shakers have all covered his work.

Shake Your Hips By Slim Harpo
The Original. A great example of Harpo's style in general. Simple, high spirited, and fun, the song rhythm definitely borrows from a more rock style, while keeping the guitar and harmonica of more traditional blues

Shake Your Hips By The Rolling Stones
It was Mick Jaggers idea to covered this song on their 1972 classic Exile on Main street. He was big fan of Harpo. To the point that this was the second Harpo song The Rolling Stones had covered. Their version of Harpo's "I'm a King Bee" can be found on the Stones first album. The Stone keep pretty much everything that Harpo created, the rock rhythm of the drums and melody of the guitar. But add little touches and flairs of their own, by replacing the harp with subdued horn section and a slightly faster tempo.

Shake Your Hips By Robert Randolph and the Family Band
RR and the Band take Harpo's basic rhythm and melody, but expand it, to be the example of how Jam Bands should do a "Blues jam". Giving every member of the band a solo but never losing Harpo's framework, while adding touches of gospel, dance, and psychedelia.

Shake Your Hips By Th' Legendary Shack Shakers
By far the most wild, and my favorite version of the songs. Harpo's rhythm and melody framework are still there, but played now with so much attitude and fury that it sometimes seems like another song. The Shack Shakers, change tempo several time in the song, add some punk rock menace by slowing the lyrics down during slower parts of the song, and hysterical screaming during the up tempo parts. One of the key differences between this version and the other two, is this version retains the harmonica as lead instrument. I would go so far to say that it is more prominent than in the original version.

Slim Harpo died at the age of 46 in 1970. I have often wonder if his influence of rock would be greater if he had lived and what that influence would have been. Given only a small number of song that he produced his influence on modern rock scene is impressive.

Next Time: Some time you get the blues, some time the blues gets you.

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