These are extraordinary qualities.

Overlooked in all of the Oscar hype for "Slumdog" was the other song in the best song category, Peter Gabriel's "Down to Earth".  This was one of my favorite songs of the year, from my absolutely favorite movie.  

I thought it was interesting, and kind of cool, that two of the three songs nominated were from the closing of each film, two of my favorite credit sequences ever.  (If you missed the end of Wall*E, go back and watch again. )  I hope Gabriel wins, but I think it'll be one of the "Slumdog" songs, as a make-up for other awards it may not get.  Ah, awards shows...

Big Hits... just not here

I have to admit I'm a little distracted at present. A trip to NYC is in the offing, but can't even focus on that. Blogging will resume again as soon as I screw my head back on.

Pointless UPDATE: Did anyone else hear the national anthem before Game 1? When did John Williams add Charles Ives to his list of people to shamelessly rip off? The worst part is, I didn't even like it... I didn't get to hear James Taylor's version for game 2, which is a shame. I thought his reharmonization for the 2004 WS was one of the best versions of the Anthem I've ever heard. Damning with faint praise, perhaps, but... They could have Rosanne Barr sing the anthem if they keep playing like this.

Summer fades away with its radio in the distance...

Every summer, they say, has its song. (I want to know who they are) You know the one, the song so ubiquitous it ends up on every radio station, even NPR, unbelievably catchy. The song you hear at every 7-11 on the planet as you get your slurpee. That song. There's never any universal agreement, but there are songs that I'll equate with a particular summer, from the really good ("Every Breath You Take", summer of '83, getting you all primed for Orwell) to the ridiculously catchy (remember "Crazy in Love" a few years back?) to the, well, less good (remember "Drop it Like it's Hot", also one of the most annoying catch phrases in recent history?)

But this summer, I need help. I listen to the radio some, probably more than I should, and I haven't found a song that fits the bill- catchy and ubiquitous, will play on white and black radio, you hear kids singing it. (Maybe the fragmentation of radio is part of why I don't have one, but that's another topic.) It doesn't even have to be good, though that'd be nice.

For the record, my nominations:

Cat Empire- "Sly"



It's catchy, it's danceable, and that thing in the video looks like a bass trumpet, which wins it cool points. On the downside, it sounds an awful lot like Cake (the first several times I heard it I said "Oh, cool, Cake's finally gonna have a radio hit" Oops.) and it never really caught on on teen radio.

Plain White T's- Hey There Delilah



I know, it's unbelievably cliche, almost self-consciously so, and lyrically really clunky. But is there anything more summer, at least in our dreams, than unironic, fearless young love? And it's ubiquitous. (Remember, I didn't say I liked it, or you had to)

Please tell me there's been something else in the pop world this summer that I missed. Please?

opening kickoff, allegro con moto

From today's Monday Morning Quarterback, Peter King's NFL column, a must read every week for any (American) football fan:

At the start of (New York) Jets practice at their Long Island complex, Mozart concertos play from six speakers around the practice fields.
"There's a lot of debate about whether classical music, and Mozart in particular, stimulates brain waves and learning,'' (Jets head coach Eric) Mangini told me the other day. "So I figured, 'Why not? Let's do it.'''
Sure sounds strange while standing out there, that's all I can say.
"Not a lot of the guys are very big fans of it,'' safety Kerry Rhodes said.

Maybe Mangini should have started with the symphonies...

building a machine that's not for me

Just in case I needed another reason to kill my television, CBS is broadcasting a video game tournament as part of its Sports Sunday package. WHAT? Were the rights to all the bridge games taken?

One of the games featured will be Guitar Hero, which I was just introduced to recently by some of my students. (The sight of twenty fairly competent high school musicians crowded around a TV to play a fake guitar was frankly depressing) Maybe I just don't appreciate hair bands enough, but I'm afraid I don't get it. With the amount of work it takes to get good at that game, you could probably learn to play half the crap on a real guitar.

I feel like an old crank writing this- I can feel my hairs turning grey as I write this. I think I'll go watch cartoons now...

Celebrity stalking the celery

When I lived in New York, celebrity sightings were no big deal; in fact, in my experience New Yorkers seemed to pride themselves on leaving people alone if they saw them on the street. I tried to do that, probably because I only seemed to bump into B-grade celebrities. In Boston, since seeing stars in person is less common, it's a little different...

Last night on my way home from teaching, I stopped at Whole Foods in Hingham for a bite. On walking in, there comparing carrots is Steven Tyler, Aerosmith frontman and famous local. (He lives three towns away from Hingham) It was just fairly... incongruous. I thought the two of the clerks (in suburban Whole Foods, apparently, they hire normal teenagers, not the twenty-ish hipsters you get in Boston) were going to faint. The third was blase: "Oh, c'mon, he and (football coach and local hero Bill) Belicheck are here all the time. Get over it."

Two observations- he's actually more normal looking in person than he is on television, not quite as drawn. And the way he stalks around on stage- that just seems to be the way he walks. He walked that way (pardon the allusion) back and forth across the produce aisle.

If this is excitement, I clearly need to get out more...

Red roses smell funny

What little historical evidence we have of the actual St. Valentine was that he was a (presumably celibate) Christia bishop in the 6th century, martyred for his beliefs. The legend goes he wrote notes of support to his followers, which were dubbed "Valentines". How we got from there to today's Hallmark-driven orgy is beyond me.

The really awful weather here in Boston (snow/sleet, freezing later, then more snow) has knocked St. Valentine from the headlines today, but I couldn't let it pass:

A few years ago, for a school assignment, the class had to write an American Songbook style tune, within fairly specific parameters. The due date happened to fall on Valentine's Day, so I came up with a little number called "You Won't See Me Wearing Red Today". (I was in a mini-Cole Porter phase.) I thought about posting an MP3 of me singing it, but I realized I want people to come back. But for all you misers out there, here's the chorus:

I don't feel at all romantic
pretty ballads sound pedantic
You won't see me wearing red today
Gourmet choclates taste like dirt
and hallmark greetings all sound curt
I'll have no trouble keeping love at bay
It's a Given I won't get
that after midnight cigarette
those romantic notions are all lost on me.
Can't imagine moonlit dinner
on a day when saints and sinners
wait and hope that cupid drops a dream their way.
You won't see me wearing red today.

For the very curious, here's a PDF download of the whole thing. If you care to sing it, and sing better than I do- that doesn't take much- please do. I'd be curious to hear the results

Please don't e-mail about how weak the verse is, I already know. I still got an A.

Current listening- Metheny Meldhau

Feeling Soopey

Yup, you know I'll be watching. A couple of random thoughts about tomorrow's "Big Game":

Perhaps the most interesting subplot of the game, for music fans at least. is that Prince is playing the halftime show. There have been rumors floating around for several weeks about the status of his Purpleness' hip. (His actual hip, that is). His people say he's fine- I hope so. If his appearance on last year's Grammys is any indication, it should rock.

Oh, and did you know that this is the first time an African-American head coach has led a team to the Superbowl? And there are two of them? Sorry to be snarky, it really is a great thing. It's just the way it's been hyped, both positively and sadly, not so, is getting to me.

Based on my unofficial observations, most Bostonians are rooting for Da Bears, just because we're still pissed about the Colts beating the Patriots. How typically parochial of us.

If this game were to be decided by the strength of the music scene, of course Chicago would win walking away. However, since there is real skill involved, my money is on the bionic arm of Payton Manning and the Colts. Colts win, Bears cover.