Twostepcublog

(courtesy CNN) Thankfully the flooding here isn't as bad as originally anticipated. However, it's quite a reminder that the whole "Global Warming is just an opinion" spin is a load of crap. By the way I was just in that parking lot in Easton PA on Friday. Scary.

I love this band. In the 70's beyond your Led Zep's and your Who's, there were a ton of everyman rock bands out there. Sweet combined the theatricality of Queen with the pop sensabilities of band like the Raspberries. Hugely successful in England, the band had a respectable string of hits in America as well. However, unlike other bands that have been anthologized over and over again, Sweet 's legacy usually is a track on a "best of the 70's" collection hawked on overnight TV. Captiol Records issued The Best Of Sweet as par of their budget "Ten Best" series. It's got most of their biggest hits (except "Little Willy", which was on another label), and doesn't have a bad moment. Worth the price of admission alone is the 7 minute version of "Love Is Like Oxygen", which is the pinnacle of power-pop. The song evolves from a simple chorus chant and goes into prog-rock territory. Also standing out is "Ballroom Bli

Shirt says "I Eat Girls Who Don't Eat Meat". Awesome. (And I'm not even a veggie myself)

The awesome video-blog Crooks & Liars has up this great Stewart clip about attorney general Alberto Gonzales overhyping an anti-terrorism sting. Check out the reporters questions at the end. Priceless. And why again did anyone confirm this sycophant to be the head law enforcement officer in the nation?

Here's my faves for the week...you can link to any artist by clickin' on the name... LW TW Song ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 1. Black Horse & The Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall 6 2. Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers 1 3. Walk Away - Kelly Clarkson 4 4. When The Stars Go Blue - Tim McGraw 3 5. SOS - Rihanna 10 6. The World - Brad Paisley 7 7. Every Time I Hear Your Name - Keith Anderson 9 8. Life Ain't Always Beautiful - Gary Allan 19 9. The One That Got Away - Natasha Bedingfield 8 10. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield 16 11. High - James Blunt 14 12. Say Somethin' - Mariah Carey 5 13. Settle For A Slowdown - Dierks Bentley 21 14. If You're Going Through Hell - Rodney Atkins 15 15. Savin' Me - Nickelback

Hey folks, just back from Pride in New York, so I'm late in doing this, but here's my singles for the week. Trace Adkins - "Swing" Trace's first single from his upcoming album. Before I heard it I swore it was gonna be about Texas swing. But no, it's a novelty ditty about "striking out" with pick-up lines at a bar. It's really cute, considering how dopey it could've been. Of course, Trace's sexy baritone doesn't hurt, either. Claudja Barry - "I Will Stand" It's great to have Claudja, a veteran of the early 80s dancefloor, back in action with this inspirational song. I got it at buy.com which I didn't even realize did downloads. While you won't really recognize the singer, Warren Rigg & Tony Moran do their usual pop-trance spin on the tune. Not bad, not great, but not bad. Maybe I'm on self-help-dance-song overload. On The other hand... Mary J. Blige with U2 - "One" On the risk of be

(Above courtesy the Atlantic Online ) Courtesy of Hank Steuver of the Washington Post . Amendment: Congress shall recognize no votes or opinions about the sanctity and preservation of marriage from its members who have been divorced and/or remarried while their first spouses are still alive. (To say nothing of those who are married while not-so-secretly fucking someone on their staff.) Click the link to read more...

This is probably the best case in the "albums that I like where I hate the single" category. Pete Townshend's solo output has been pretty spotty, between odds-and ends collections like Scoop or niche projects like the Iron Man musical . White City fits in with the niche recordings, meant to accompany a short film by Richard Lowenstein . The album provided Townshend with his last gasp of pop commercial success, with the #26 pop hit "Face The Face". Now I don't know why, but that song kills me. I don't mean kills me in a good, overwhelmed, way; it's more of a "I threw up a little in my mouth" sort of way. Maybe I just don't get it. I mean here is a lyric. We've got to fool the fools and plan the plans We must rule the rules got to stand the stands We must fight the fight and fall the falls we must light the light and call the calls We must race the race so we can face the face Wow. What the hell is that supposed to mean? And the

Priceless picture. Kinda like the 6 year old told to kiss his aunt. I know the Merchant Marine grad in the picture is excited, and has every right to be, but reading the article does bring a parallel to mind. Mr. Whitney's sister, who works in an advertising office, had designed T-shirts for the 15 family members who attended the ceremony. Mr. Whitney's many difficulties in reaching graduation were emblazoned on the front of the shirt: 4,872 demerits ("painful"); four and a half years on academic restriction ("wounding"); two visits to the committee that weighs student expulsions ("agonizing"); two reprieves from the admiral ("necessary"); and six years of school with only an undergraduate degree to show for it ("humbling"). The back of the shirt, which bore a photograph of the midshipman and the American flag, celebrated his crowning achievement: "Passing all licensing exams, first try: Priceless." 4872 demerits? Is

There are some music artists which despite their success, have been stunningly underrepresented in CD form. One of them is Johnny Rivers [ link doesn't work in Firefox] blue-eyed soul singer from New York by way of Louisiana. Rivers racked up 9 top-ten songs between 1964 and 1977, mostly on the Imperial label. However, the only compilation that had all these songs, Rhino Records' Anthology , is for reasons unknown to me out of print. I picked up this cheapie set at a used record store . Put out by Capitol records, who has the rights to the Imperial cuts, Greatest Hits boils down most of Rivers' career to 10 songs. Half of them are live from the Whiskey A Go-Go in West Hollywood, though 4 of them were singles that were the live version. "Memphis" and "Maybelline" are adequate remakes of Chuck Berry songs, but by no way overshadow the originals. Then come two blues remakes, Leadbelly 's "Midnight Special" and Willie Dixon 's "Se

I mainly wanted to blog about music here, but I admit I'm quite a bit of a news junkie. The best thing about political blogs is the ability to reference and share sources from hundreds of news organizations that no one has time to follow independently. Also, the bloggers themselves are often experts in their field, whether it be journalism, economics, law, or activism. AmericaBlog is a great site to get the latest "dish" on the current events, whether it's the government's crazy foreign policy or the goverment's crazy domestic policy (you get my drift). Led by John Aravosis, journalist in his own right as well as political insider, this site puts through all you need to know, with John's appropriate snark on the matter. Famous for persuing the Jeff Gannon hookergate scandal, as well as boycotting "Dr." Laura , John and his compadres Joe, Rob and Cliff break down the machinations of power in easy to understand bits. Go. Learn. Out.

Here's my faves for the week...I've included links to all the artists so you can listen on their site.. LW TW Song ---------------------------------------------------------- 1 1. Walk Away - Kelly Clarkson 2 2. Black Horse & The Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall 3 3. SOS - Rihanna 5 4. When The Stars Go Blue - Tim McGraw 4 5. Settle For A Slowdown - Dierks Bentley 9 6. Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers 8 7. Every Time I Hear Your Name - Keith Anderson 6 8. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield 10 9. Life Ain't Always Beautiful - Gary Allan 11 10. The World - Brad Paisley 7 11. Stupid Girls - Pink 13 12. Suffer Well - Depeche Mode 14 13. Size Matters (Someday) - Joe Nichols 19 14. Say Somethin' - Mariah Carey with Snoop Dogg 15 15. Savin' Me - Nickelback 22 16. High - James Blunt 18 17. Something's

Anyone wondering how the Democrats should respond to the smear campaign that Karl "Turdblossom" Rove has started should just listen to this interview with John Murtha on "Meet The Press" (courtesy of Thinkprogress ). This is how you talk tough. God if we could have at least 5 more of him in Congress. (I mean besides Feingold) Just for the quote "He’s in New Hampshire. He’s making a political speech. He’s sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside, saying stay the course. That’s not a plan. I don’t know what his military experience is, but that’s a political statement. This is a policy difference between me and the White House. I disagree completely with what he’s saying." alone.

Well, here's the second week of me blogging over the singles I've downloaded or bought this past week. I-Tunes is great for the rock stuff, and for Dance Music I can't recommend PerfectBeat highly enough. Definitely worth checking out. Five For Fighting - "The Riddle" Well it took long enough for I-Tunes to put this out. Though when I heard it at first, I couldn't tell between this and their previous hit "100 Years". However, the song does hold up to repeated listenings as an inspirational rock song that doesn't plain-out suck. Doesn't disappoint anybody who likes their (actually HIS) previous work, as well as the other Ben Folds/James Blunt/John Mayer/etc etc. crowd. Snow Patrol - "Chasing Cars" I bought this even knowing I'd be getting the album when it came out eventually. That's how much faith I have in this new English band. Great shoegazing rock from the Coldplay/Keane camp. Augustana - "Boston" Man t

Before there were the Pussycat Dolls, N Sync, and the Backstreet Boys, came the uber-prefab band, the Monkees . Meant as a marketing drop for a TV show based on an American-ized version of the Beatles, the " Monkees " as a musical force actually are far more gifted than would be expected. Well, maybe not so, considering the forces that be did the job right by commissioning some of the best songwriters and studio musicians around, as well as having talent emerge from the members themselves. Since their heyday, the band's been compiled seemingly yearly by different record companies to cash in on the nostaglia circuit. I got Rhino's Greatest Hits collection because #1) it was 4$ at the used CD shop and #2) it had all of their hit singles on one collection from the 60's to the 80's (missing only a couple minor singles from the 70s). As an history of the band this CD serves it's purpose, for the later singles like "That Was Then, This Is Now" and &qu

After a long day at work, I plopped down on the sofa and by chance caught the documentary "The Fog Of War" on the History Channel. Wow. If you haven't seen it you definitely should (click here to watch the movie or here to buy it). There is NO way you cannot pull inferences on what happened in Vietnam to what is happening in Iraq. Question: Why is this country always dragged into horrible periods by crazy politicians from Texas?

Well here's part two in my "I can do better away from my band" file, Belinda Carlisle . Formerly with bad-girls-who-play-good-girl-music band The Go-Go's , Carlisle switched gears in the late 80s to become a more adult, yet bubbly pop singer. After an initial album on her old band's label, I.R.S., with a top 10 hit "Mad About You", she changed over to MCA with one big hit album, Heaven On Earth , with had 3 out of 4 singles hit the top 10. Following releases had diminishing returns in America, but amazingly greater success abroad, like in England. Her Greatest Hits concentrates on Carlisle's American success, having all nine of her Hot 100 singles among the 13 cuts here, along with 3 cuts that hit the UK chart. The greatest draw here is including three songs from her first album Belinda , the breezy "Mad About You" (which doesn't stray too far from the Go-Go's sound) , the throwback girl-group pastiche "I Feel The Magic"

When Berlin were in their heyday, basically the most common thing said about them is "oh, that's the band with the chick with the bad dye job". I mean come on, what was with that half and half thing she wore? Who told her that looked good? Well at least it made it easier to tell them apart from Missing Persons . The band's career really arced with three albums, Pleasure Victim , Love Life , and Count Three And Pray . The Best Of Berlin 1979-1988 picks out 12 songs from these 3 albums to provide a surprisingly consistent good listen from the band. Considering how much of a different tack each album had (which is expected since different band lineups contributed), the music meshes pretty well. Pleasure Victim was a classic primitive new wave album, with eerie mood pieces like the best song on here, "The Metro", "Sex (I'm A)", and "Masquerade", all very German-sounding and synthesizer-driven. Love Life was more neo-r

OK crazy new item of the day....At today's news conference Bush joshes with LA Times' Peter Wallsten about wearing sunglasses while asking him a question (to see the video go to Crooks & Liars or Wonkette ). Wallsten, it turns out, is legally blind . That is the stupidest f-ing thing I've ever seen. I mean, it's been said "aww but Bush didn't know he was blind" and "Wallsten didn't take offense", but who cares? What kind of F-Tard does this! I mean you see someone with sunglasses at a restaurant, do you go up to them and ask to take them off? Has Bush ever met a blind person in his life? Does he have to wear a t-shirt with BLIND written on it or a guide dog sitting next to him? God he's friggin' pathetic.

Classic. Looks like a outtake from " 1941 ". This is Tony Snow and Dan Bartlett on the plane to Iraq with Bush.

Here's my fave mp3 songs for the week. LW TW Song -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 1. Walk Away- Kelly Clarkson 2 2. Black Horse & The Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall 1 3. SOS - Rihanna 5 4. Settle For A Slowdown - Dierks Bentley 8 5. When The Stars Go Blue - Tim McGraw 6 6. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield 4 7. Stupid Girls - Pink 9 8. Every Time I Hear Your Name - Keith Anderson 11 9. Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers 10 10. Life Ain't Always Beautiful - Gary Allan 12 11. The World - Brad Paisley 7 12. Why - Jason Aldean 15 13. Suffer Well - Depeche Mode 14 14. Size Matters (Someday) - Joe Nichols 17 15. Savin' Me - Nickelback 16 16. Bad Day - Daniel Powter 13 17. The Wings (Brokeback Mountain Theme) - Gustavo Santaolalla 18 18. Something's Gotta Give - LeAnn Rimes 26

I've gotten inspiration to do this little corner of the internet from a whole bunch of other blugs and webpages that I follow religiously. There's some that are political, some that are about music. I figured I'd give a quickie promo for a blog a week I think is a great read. For the inital plug I figured I'd start with a laugh. The Rude Pundit takes the current news item of the day, usually political, and basically takes it out to the local seedy porn theater. You've just got to experience it for yourself. Just for titles like "Why Ann Coulter Is A C*&t Part 2609 of an Endless Series" alone it's worth it. Definitely cheers me up at work during the day. And now you can get his album on I-Tunes . VERY sweet.

I've been writing about the albums I've been listening to, but I also get a lot of good things from download sites, mostly I-Tunes , but also places like Beatport and Play-It-Tonight . I figured I'd start a string about the songs, since it's more current stuff.. Jimmy James - Fashionista It took this long to have a successor to RuPaul ? Real well-done dance novelty, should be the theme for the next season of Project Runway . Listen to this walking down the street thinking you're Karen Walker . Madonna - Get Together (Danny Howells & Rick Trevor Kinkyfunk Mix) I really thought she was gonna release "Jump" next, so much for my instinct. Typical thumping "let's trick" song, not bad, but not especially distinctive. The remix is growing on me more than the original. Los Lonely Boys - Diamonds They've only had 2 singles before this, but they ("Heaven" and "More Than Love") were ever

There's many a man that are known more for themselves than for their music. Rick James didn't start out that way, but he sure ended up that way . His seminal music output pretty much ended after 1985, and since then Motown's been issuing CD after CD of his hits, going from the two-disc Anthology to this collection, part of the apparently 2943 part " millennium Collection " series of greatest hits. Most of those grind an artist down to 12 songs, this goes further coming in with only 10 tracks. However for a person just casually interested in James this has everything you've probably heard from him. And of course that usually means "Super Freak", which is basically now more an institution than a song at this point. A song that originally only hit #16 on the pop chart, not only is it ageless, it survived it's sample on MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" (the only other song I can think to survive this well is Chic's "

Well thankfully the "Gay-Ban Marriage Amendment" (is that like Ray-Ban?) was defeated to even come up for a full vote 49-48. As much as this had no change for the 2/3's senate vote anyway this is even icing on the cake they couldn't even get it from cloture. I hope everyone's marriage can withstand this, especially given remarks like those from David Vitter , senator from Louisiana, where there's NOTHING else really going on there .

Jon Stewart. Gotta love him. He had Bill Bennett, talk show host and gambling afficianado, on and discussed the gay marriage amendment. It was the best discussion on this topic I've ever seen or heard or read. Ever. Head on over to Crooks & Liars to watch .

I'm taking a moment to reminisce on the great Billy Preston . You won't go wrong buying a CD of his.

Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert are back on. Yay.

Ok...To start this, besides actually listening to music, I'm a little bit of a "chart nut". That means I follow the different music charts, mostly Billboard Magazine, to see how different songs and albums are doing. VERY OCD. I've been doin' it since 1982. Well I also keep a "Music Chart" playlist on my MP3 player which changes each week, so I figure I'd post it here as well. It gives an idea of my favorite songs of now, as opposed to some of the golden oldies I'll be dredging up on this blog. LastWeek ThisWeek Title Artist 1 1 SOS Rihanna 2 2 Black Horse & The Cherry Tree KT Tunstall 3 3 Walk Away