Friday Five

On 02.05.10, In Friday Five, Music, By Liam

5. Empire State of Mind – Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys
Rap comes and goes as something I listen to. On this particular track I love the vibe and Alicia Keys adds a killer chorus.

4. True Faith – Anberlin
Anberlin has helped me learn to appreciate some of the music of the 80s. Their cover of “Enjoy the Silence” led to my enjoyment of Depeche Mode. After listening to the New Order version I have decided that Anberlin exhibited enough creativity on this track that it might almost be a new song. It has been on or near the top of the music I’ve listened to the past few weeks.

3. I will rise up – Lyle Lovett
This came on while driving with my family over the Christmas holiday. It is a reimagining of an old slave spiritual and contributes to my continued belief that Lyle Lovett is one of the premiere performers and songwriters of our generation. The introduction of the horn section in the extended outro gave me chills.

2. Wonderful – Rob Thomas
Another song where the horns mean almost everything. Cradlesong was an album where almost every song was great, a much stronger output than Something to Be. Wonderful may well be the best song on the album.

1. Assassin – John Mayer
This may well be my favorite John Mayer song on my least favorite John Mayer album. Much of his work pays homage to great artists on the bluesier end of Rock n’ Roll like Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Jimi Hendrix. This song on the other hand is much closer to The Police and Peter Gabriel. Weird samples, key changes, and the story telling are all things that make this a great song.

Friday Five #6: Governed by the Dead.

On 02.01.08, In Entertaining myself to death, Friday Five, Humor, Humour, Not Einsteins Relativity, Politics. Not that I know that much about it but..., Top Five, By Liam

Today we have my top 5 dead folks who won a ballot. I can’t imagine what you’d say to your kids or grandkids. “I ran for politics once, I lost… Nope, he really had nothing on me, I mean, I had a pulse.” To be honest these were found only because I was looking for #1, amazing how often it happens though.

#5 Jacquelyn Morrow Lewis Ledgerwood, weeks after death, took the primary runoff spot allowing her to advance in New York. Being a 69 year old homemaker the fact that she was in the running at all is pretty impressive. The fact that she was dead and came second is even more impressive. That she didn’t actually come first means she only comes fifth in today’s top five.

#4 Another runner up, taking 20% of the vote even with signs in polling stations saying she was dead, was Kathy Augustine. Losing by 23%, it must still be disconcerting for Mark DeStefano to know that one in five members of his constituency chose a dead lady over him. Because she lost she also can go no higher.

#3 In New Jersey, Joseph DeFalco, a high school principal took one of five seats on the Hackensack city council. He had suffered a fatal heart attack the night before the election.

#3 In South Dakota Marie Steichen defeated incumbent Merlin Feistner. The loser was already in office and still lost to a dead woman. His constituency must have hated him.

#1 John Ashcroft (Rep) loss to Mel Carnahan (Deceased). Robin Williams quipped, “The choices were John Ashcroft or a dead guy and the people said, ‘Sorry John, the dead guy’s less scary’.” This was the story I went looking for that turned up all these other stories. This is definitely the highest profile and the highest campaigning level (Senate) where a dead person won.

Tagged with: Dead People • John Ashcroft • Politics • Top 5 • Top Five

Friday Five # 5

On 10.26.07, In Entertaining myself to death, Friday Five, Reviews, Top Five, By Liam

This was originally a fairly bitter Friday Five entitled “pet peeves” written for last Friday. I decided against that idea and so today we have my top 5 live Youtube performances. There really isn’t any consistence to these. Three of them are covers done in unique ways. One is from a musical I am now quite desperate to see. The other is from a band that is easily the best rock act of our generation.

#5 What I know about Tim Reynolds is this. He encouraged Dave Matthews to form a band and play. Occasionally he plays with Dave Matthews. He is a brilliant guitar player. Apart from that I don’t know much. I found this video while looking for Peter Gabriel performing “In Your Eyes.” It would be higher on this list but the video quality is kind of shoddy. The brilliance of the performance shines through though.

In Your Eye, Tim Reynolds

#4 I really enjoyed Wicked as a book. My sister and I were both keen to see the musical but missed it both times in Toronto and when in New York, apparently it is sold out 3 months in advance. This song features the best parts of the songs I’ve been listening to from the Soundtrack: Humor, killer melodies, amazing arrangement, and wonderful vocal harmonies. This is “What is this feeling?” From Wicked.

What is this feeling?, Wicked

#3 This differs from the other covers in today’s 5 as I hadn’t heard the original before hearing this version. Andy McKee is another musician I know very little about. That being said he manages to get all the good parts of “Africa” by Toto onto one acoustic guitar, simultaeneously destroying all the terrible 80’s parts of the song.

Africa, Andy McKee

#2 I had a moment a few weeks back where I started watching as many Blue Man Group songs as I could find. One such video was them doing a very cool version of “Baba O’Riley” by The Who.

Baba O’Riley, Blue Man Group

#1 I had the privilege of seeing Muse perform in Toronto over the summer. These guys are especially brilliant. Not only is the singer an amazing singer, but he is also a genius guitar player and pianist. The rest of the band serves as catalysts to this as well as true talents in their own rights. This is them performing what is still my favorite song of their’s: “Hysteria”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb4b9B4q60c]

Apparently Wordpress only allows you to embed one video. Anyway, that concludes this weeks Friday Five, I hope you enjoyed at least one of these performances. I think “What is this feeling?” is probably the most irresistable of them.

Friday Five #4

On 09.28.07, In Friday Five, Go check this out, Navel Gazing, Reviews, Top Five, By Liam

Today we’ll be doing my top 5 tv shows. A few of which were cancelled far too prematurely.

Coming in at #5 is Boomtown. This was a detective show that told its story in fragments from different characters perspectives. Set in L.A. the show had great acting, fascinating directing, and was too smart to survive the reality T.V. show dominated era it came out in.

At #4 we have House. If you don’t know this medical drama you’ve been living under a rock. This show is very funny, at times moving, and Hugh Laurie is brilliant in the title role.

At #3, and premiering its second season last Monday is Heroes. This massive hit tv series is popular for a reason. It’s freaking good. This show has enough characters and plot lines, without becoming too complicated, to draw anyone in. Hiro Nakamura is definitely one of the cutest characters, but also one who we can expect to see the most development in. The first episode promises a great second season as well.

At #2 is Battlestar Galactica. This sci-fi show is what one of my friends refers to as “The smartest political show on T.V.” I would tend to agree. It essentially follows the lives of the survivors of an attack on the 12 colonies of humanity. An attack that left only a few who managed to escape in a colony of ships. These go searching for the planet of humanity’s origin. A myseterious place known as Earth. This show enters its final season in January ‘08.

Finally at #1 we have Firefly. This Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) creation was a brilliant series cancelled at the end of its first season. It is about a rogue cargo ship in an era where Humanity is dominated by a totalitarian government in a solar system far away. The crew of the Firefly Class Ship Serenity has to navigate dangerous politcal waters, and an even more dangerous space, where government ships, other criminal elements, and ships controlled by deranged humans known as Reevers make even the most routine trip an adventure. It was cancelled at the end of its first season, but concluded with a movie: Serenity. Both the season and the movie are excellent.

So concludes this weeks Friday Five. I hope you have a great weekend.

Tagged with: Firefly • Serenity • Top Five • TV Shows

Friday Five #2

On 08.17.07, In Commitments I fully intend to keep; but probably won't, Friday Five, Me!, Movies, Music, The Police, Top Five, Useless information, By Liam

Well it’s another Friday and another top five for you all. I’ve been listening to more music but don’t think I have enough new songs to give you a good new selection of music. This week instead will be the top 5 things to come out of the eighties. That is right, I’m under the impression that we can do some work at redeeming the 80s this week.

#5 Peter Gabriel. An artist who can trace most of his biggest hits to the 80s Peter Gabriel may be one of the more brilliant songwriters and arrangers out there. While songs like 99 red balloons dominated the air Peter Gabriel released subversively intelligent music like “Red Rain” and “In Your Eyes”. I say subversive because it also did quite well on the charts. He is someone I hope I get to see live.

#4 Footloose. A fun movie about dancing, rock n’ roll, and the small town mentality. Also has a great song by Kenny Loggins.

#3 The Police. As you can read here I love the Police. They came from the eighties. That is all.

#2 The Princess Bride. I really don’t think you can talk about this movie. All I can say is that it is hilarious, fun, and an all around good time. I heartily recommend it. I’ve linked to what may be the greatest scene in any movie ever. Which also features a line that I frequently use in Risk.

#1 U2. I throw them here because they too are amazing. It’s hard to call a band that has managed to stay relevant and continues to have chart topping albums an “eighties” band. But if you have such classic albums as “The Joshua Tree” released in the eighties there is no choice but to place these guys at the top of the list. The song I linked to has one of my favorite solos of all time in it. As well as my favorite Edge solo.

Notable Mentions… MTV, Michael Jackson, and I was born in ‘87, so you can throw me on this list if you want.

The Friday Five #1

On 08.10.07, In Commitments I fully intend to keep; but probably won't, Friday Five, Music, Top Five, By Liam

In a promise that mirrors the one I made about posting every day, I now plan every friday to give you my top five somethings. It will most likely be music, but if every friday was a top 5 songs it might get repetitive fast. Anyway here are my top five songs this week. (Videos linked to where available)
#5 If I Never See Your Face Again, Maroon 5: Apart from lead singer Adam Levine’s obsession with sex Maroon 5 is a fantastic band. I am currently jealous of Rylan and Kaili’s (my siblings) who are going to see them when they come through Toronto in the fall. I will be on the east coast. The best part about their live shows is that Adam Levine will actually play solos, which never (except for kiwi) appear on their records.

#4 Plastic, Rob Mathes: My sister loves this song, which is from the album evening train. Rob Mathes is a lesser known artist but is behind the scenes doing arrangements for everything from rap to rock to pop. I’m not sure where to classify this one, some soft rock, some jazz, and some pop all make their appearance in this tune. I’m trying to figure out an arrangement of this song for my sister.

#3 Umbrella, Rihanna: I have an obsession with pop. I don’t necessarily like hip hop or R&B but I’m a sucker for a great melody and great hooks. Both of which this song has. I don’t really need to say much about it because you’ve already heard it.

#2 Paperthin Hymn, Anberlin: If you don’t already know I’m kind of a big fan of Anberlin. I hadn’t listened to this song in a while but rediscovered it this week. They are excellent songwriters and this song represents a great part of what they do. Heavy Riffs, Stephen Christian’s haunting vocals and lyrics both poetic and slightly incomprehensible (unlike the Tragically Hip, which are just incomprehensible). The video is pretty good too.

#1 The Clincher, Chevelle: This song is another rediscovery of mine. The melody for the chorus popped into my head last week and I put it back on my iPod. This is Chevelle’s greatest song of all time, from my least favorite album of their’s: “This type of thinking (could do us in)”. Heavy riffage, screams, and amazing vocals and two part harmonies are what make this song so good.

Friday Five

Friday Five #6: Governed by the Dead.

Friday Five # 5

Friday Five #4

Friday Five #2

The Friday Five #1

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