Sunday, August 31, 2008

Three More Weeks!!!


Hangin' With My New "Niece"

Here are a few pictures of my new "niece", Sophia Dale Fouch. It's cool being "Uncle Mark"!







Saturday, August 30, 2008

We Talkin' 'Bout Practice

This is an old video, but still funny...

ALIAS

I've recently been catching up on ALIAS. This was one of those shows that several of my friends watched but I was so far behind I didn't want to jump in mid-series. Since opening a Netflix account, I have been watching and I am now up to Season 4.

I can't believe I never watched this show when it originally aired a few years ago. Like LOST, it was created by J.J. Abrams. I am convinced that everything J.J. puts his name on is automatically awesome (well, except Cloverfield - that was a turd!). Also like LOST, each episode has a pretty cool cliffhanger ending.

If you have some time to kill and need a television fix, I highly recommend ALIAS. You won't be sorry.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Tribute

Here's "#34" off Dave Matthews Band's Under The Table And Dreaming featuring the great LeRoi Moore.

No words can describe how I'm feeling right now...

LeRoi Moore 1961 - 2008

LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. LeRoi had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program.

LeRoi, you will be missed.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Listen closely...

There's a rumor floating around on the 'net that a certain frontman from a certain Irish rock band was playing four new tracks off his band's forthcoming album a little too loudly on the stereo in his villa in the south of France. A sneaky passerby supposedly recorded what he heard. Now don't get too excited - the sound quality isn't that great. In fact, it sounds like my neighbor's house on any given Friday and Saturday night. It's amazing what you can find on the 'net without really trying!

http://home.no/vetle93/

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Straight Lines

I've been traveling a lot for work lately. While driving as much as I do certainly takes its toll on me physically, its great to get out of the office and break away from the monotony of crunching numbers all day.

One of the greatest things about traveling is having the opportunity to listen to new music or get reacquainted with old music. This has certainly been the case this week.

Earlier this year I posted my top five albums of 2007, one of which was Silverchair's Young Modern. The first single off that album, "Straight Lines", was quite possibly my favorite song last year. Today, I revisited that album while cruising down I-75 to Corbin. "Straight Lines" is such a tremendous musical accomplishment. I love the dynamics of the song. I love how it keeps building and building, as if the band are laying row after row of musical bricks that finally become a wall of sonic greatness. It also contains one of my favorite lines in any song, ever -

Lately I'm a desperate believer....

That line really resonates with me on several levels for one reason or another. What does it mean to desperately believe something? Does that mean you believe something so firmly that no one will ever change your mind (even if you know they're probably right and you're probably wrong)? Does that mean you want to believe something but you just can't? What makes a belief desperate? Why am I asking so many questions about one line in one song???

Simply put, this song just kicks a lot of ass, okay???

I don't know what's better: Discovering new music or reacquainting yourself with old music. It's kinda like asking, "Which is better? Making new friends or hanging out with old friends you haven't seen in a while?" There's really no correct answer to that question... But I digress.

Here's "Straight Lines" for your listening/viewing pleasure. I hope you enjoy it - and if not, that's okay. That just means I'm cooler than you!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

The 100th Post

I just realized this is the 100th post. In honor of reaching the century mark, I decided to post a few of my favorite things. First, a new picture of the lovely Evangeline Lilly (c'mon, it's been a while since I mentioned my girl on here - give me a break!)





















Second, new 'Tallica tuneage!!! Here's a video of Metallica breaking out a song from the new album, Death Magnetic, called "Cyanide". It's a pretty awesome tune if you're a long-time, old school Metallifan like yours truly, but the casual listener probably won't understand why I can't seem to wipe this big grin off my face right now!!! Judge for yourself...



And lastly, on a sad note, my favorite '80's cover band, Long Duk Dong, broke up recently. In the famous words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."

Thursday, August 7, 2008

U2 Album News??


A while back, I mentioned that U2 had scrapped all work on their new album and were starting over. BUT - I found this yesterday. Rather than trying to relay the news and probably leaving something out, I have copied/pasted below for your reading pleasure.


U2 Set Sale For a New Horizon

Exclusive: New Studio Album & Tracklist Revealed

Stephen Maguire and Seamus Ross, Sunday Mirror

It's the beautiful day millions of U2 fans around the globe have waited patiently to see for the past four years.

Now we can reveal details of the supergroup's long-awaited new album.

It is believed to be titled No Line On The Horizon and will be on sale in music stores on November 14.

The band's record company Universal has already registered the internet domain name nolineonthehorizon.com -- prompting speculation this will be the new record.

And among the songs to be released on what many music insiders are calling the band's best work to date are "Moment of Surrender," "For Your Love," "Love Is All We Have Left" and "One Bird."

Others include "If I Could Live My Life Again," "The Cedars of Lebanon" and "No Line On The Horizon."

Earlier this week a 19-strong film crew headed to the Spanish city of Cadiz to shoot a video for the band's first single from the new album although the band were not believed to be present.

Last night an insider said the U2 machine is gearing up for the release of one of the most keenly-awaited albums in recent years.

"The album is more or less all in the bag except for a few minor details," the source revealed. A lot of people have been waiting a long time for this album as they do with every U2 album.

"But the word coming out is that the band is very, very happy with the end product and when U2 are happy it should be quite a piece of work. They're not easy to please."

Legendary producer Steve Lillywhite, who has worked with U2 for more than two decades, said the new album had blown him away.

It is the first original work since the band released the smash-hit How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb in November 2004. It sold an incredible 10 million copies and picked up eight Grammy Awards.

But music commentators think the new record could be even bigger for Bono, the Edge, Larry and Adam.

U2 are also expected to announce details of a huge worldwide tour, which would almost certainly include a number of nights at the new O2 Arena in the Dublin Docklands -- formerly known as the Point Theatre.

In a flurry of activity, the group have just re-released their first three albums -- Boy, October and War -- in extended formats and with previously unreleased tracks.

It has led to that rare thing -- U2 making a mistake.

A quantity of the re-released War albums have been printed with incorrect track listings inside a booklet.

But ironically, it won't hit sales, as the botched items are likely to become collector's pieces.

Copyright © 2008 MGN Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

DMB Video Footage

Here's some footage I found from the DMB show in Louisville. Not the best quality, but it'll give you a little taste of what a DMB show is all about. Enjoy!


Saturday, August 2, 2008

Dave Matthews Band - Live in Louisville

I went to the DMB Show at Louisville Slugger Field last night. It was a great time... once I finally got there!

Just outside of Frankfort, traffic came to a complete stop on I-64 due to road work. THEN, traffic came to a complete stop again around Shelbyville due to a three-car accident that had the right lane blocked. At least no one was hurt.

After tailgating in the parking lot for a while, my buddy Ben and I walked inside for the opening act, Willie Nelson. For a guy in his seventies, Willie puts on a great show (and the ladies go nuts for him, too). He later joined Dave on stage for a great version of "Gravedigger". Definitely one of the highlights of the night.

Slugger Field is a pretty cool place to see a concert. My only complaint is that is what unbearably hot . It was 90 degrees at showtime! Which means the beer lines were extremely long, and once we got to the front of the line, they ran out! I think I must have sweat off at least five pounds last night.

As for the show itself, DMB are always great. Like Pearl Jam, you never know what you're going to get. It's a different setlist every night. Although they played some really cool cover tunes, I have to say this setlist wasn't one of their best. Performance-wise, they were dead on and they played my favorite DMB song, "Grey Street", which was a treat. The set just didn't have the typical DMB energy I've grown accustomed to. But after seeing them a trillion times, I guess it's hard for one to be impressed every time!!

All in all, it was a great night. I'm thinking about driving up to Indianapolis tomorrow night for Radiohead, but I haven't decided just yet. And I want to catch DMB again next week in Cincinnati, so we'll see how it all plays out. Stay tuned!

Here's the setlist from last night:

One Sweet World
Seek Up
Everyday
Grey Street
Gravedigger
Eh Hee
Corn Bread
Burning Down The House
Sleep To Dream Her
Two Step
Out Of My Hands
#41
You Might Die Trying
Sledgehammer
Dancing Nancies
Anyone Seen The Bridge
Too Much
Ants Marching

Encore:
Pantala Naga Pampa
Rapunzel
Stay (Wasting Time)