Rick and Michelle's New Home

New Orleans

July 2008

Koreoketown

I started making a list of awesome karaoke songs I always sing, and most of them just happened to be from the 80's. People wore shorter shorts, and had funner hair cuts then (See?)-- No other explanation.

Awesome Karaoke in Koreatown Went Like This:

1. Bon Jovi- Livin' on a Prayer (Twice)

2. Guns 'n' Roses- Sweet Child O' Mine

3. J. Geils Band- Angel In The Centerfold

4. Heart- Magic Man

5. Journey- Don't Stop Believin'

6. Madonna- Like a Prayer

7. Aerosmith- Crazy

8. The Knack- My Sharona

9. The Clash- Should I Stay Or Should I Go

10. Abba- Waterloo (There were a lot of Swedes there.)

I've written before about how much I love karaoke. What I didn't write about is that the love of busting a note (A NOTE!) runs through my blood. My grandma is an amazing singer, and my dad is quite a songbird himself. Luckily, some of us (them) inherited a bit more talent than others (me). 

My dad is kind of obsessed with a website called Singsnap. It's a social networking site that's half karaoke, and half American Idol. People sing along to any of the hundreds of midi files of popular tunes uploaded on the site, and are given the opportunity to compete in competitions organized by other members via message boards. Many people include videos of themselves singing, some make slideshows, and some don't allow any visuals at all. 

Here's my dad performing Sweet Child O' Mine (He's even got the Axl sway down). Yes, the absurdly cute child in the slideshow is me (and the other pics of some person in their weird late teens-- well, I plead the fifth on that one.)

 

Though I find the site a bit strange, I understand the attraction. My dad claims it's good for his soul to perform for these strangers, much like playing dumb about belting out "Since You Been Gone" in the shower when you know damn well everyone in your apartment building can hear you. Their slogan is "Singsnap- Like You've Got Something Better To Do." I get that, but I still prefer to just take a couple tequila shots, and let the eighties hits fly IN PUBLIC! So, when I go back to North Carolina for the holidaze, I'm determined to get my pops to a local karaoke night.

So Inviting

Amazing!

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His Eyes Were a Blue Million Miles

RIP Paul Newman
You will forever live on in my bedroom atop this fabulous pillowcase (Scored on Ebay for 6 bucks!), and in my salads. 

Here's a screen test from Paul's early years, alongside James Dean:

With that, we shall review a bunch of songs about blue eyes to remember the azure pools that were his.

REM- Pale Blue Eyes (Really Awesome Cover! Live in Passaic 1984)


Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band- Her Eyes Were a Blue Million Miles (Big Lebowski fans?)


Elvis Presley- Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (Another version by Charley Pride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmVEMMnAQvo Willie Nelson also does a great job too, but duh. It's Willie Nelson.)


The Black Crowes- Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye (This song comes on my iPOD shuffle about every 3 songs. It's really weird.)


Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young- Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (Live at Woodstock)


Stray Cats- Baby Blue Eyes (Where did Brian Setzer disappear now? Oh, he reunited these dudes for a "Farewell" to Australia--and to his pride-- tour, of course!)


The Blue Comets- Blue Eyes (Although it's all in Japanese, so who knows if that's what they're saying? Cool song anyway. Organ organ organ!)


Timmy Curran- Blue Eyes (This guy was a pro-surfer and just released an album. I actually kind of like this cheesy folky song, although he has a new souped up heavily produced version that's even cheesier with a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkrAZI92Oxo)

Bullet- White Lies, Blue Eyes (This is the kind of shit you start finding once you dive into a wormhole on Youtube.)


Steve Lawrence- Pretty Blue Eyes (This guy is like a white Sam Cooke-- sort of.)


Lastly, here is an amazing tribute video someone made to figure skater Evgeni Plushenko (Yeah, no clue who he is either.) to The Who's 'Behind Blue Eyes'.

THIS IS IT!

The new Bust is out with my article on the amazing and fun Marnie Stern (and also some chick named Sarah Silverman on the cover). Go buy it!

Marnie in action at SXSW:

"Every Single Line Means Something" from Marnie's debut (Sophomore release, THIS IS IT out in October)

I'm Voting McCain

A friend just sent this to me, and perhaps it should be called "I'm voting McCain" for I don't really like lumping all Republicans into his beliefs, but nevertheless this puts out a truthful (albeit satirical) message. Fave part: "If the label says it's food, that's good enough for me!"

What's the difference between Palin and Muslim fundamentalists? Lipstick!

No Roe v. Wade, no health insured birth control, no sex education in schools to prevent teen pregos, no Title X for the broke young moms! SHAME!!

Register now.
(Deadline in NYC is October 10th.)

Vote Obama 11.04.08 (Duh!)

Register now.
(Deadline in NYC is October 10th.)

Vote Obama 11.04.08

A Supposedly Fun Thing He'll Never Do Again

R.I.P David Foster Wallace



DFW is one of the people that made me want to write. Sadly, he was found in his home around 9:30pm yesterday to have committed suicide. Much beloved by many readers, his sardonic wit will live on in his bestsellers, and will most surely be unsuccessfully emulated by imitators to come. (SOURCE)

Here is a link to his commencement speech to the Class of 2005 at Kenyon University. If anyone knew about the human condition, it was this guy:

http://www.marginalia.org/dfw_kenyon_commencement.html

Thug Presley In This Bitch!

"I regret what happened. I'm so sorry," Says Kristopher Presley after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in District Court last Wednesday. Even prior to the charge, the Memphis-born distant relative of the most famous Presley and former Jailhouse Rocker, worked under the moniker 'Thug' Presley as a struggling hip hop artist in Las Vegas (Following family tradition.) According to a police report, a confrontation broke out in 2004 when one of Presley's friends uttered a racial slur, thus resulting in the murder. However, Presley has already served more than 1,100 days in jail during the case, and is expected to be released soon from the Clark County Detention Center. Greg Denue, Presley's attorney seemed optimistic following the trial, "He's tried to get on with his life--with his music."
SOURCE

Look out for Thug's first major label release, White Gold to drop next year!!

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