Twostepcublog

Time for another "Single Life".... the odds and sods I pick up from I-Tunes, Beatport, the dwindling singles part of the record store, Perfect Beat, or wherever....Here's a bunch of what I've been jamming to. As always you can click on the artist's name to go to their website for more info. Keith Urban - "Once In A Lifetime" This is the first single from Keith's new album due out in November. Strangely it starts out stealing the guitar intro to Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone", and proceeds to sound like a mashup of that song and his "Days Go By" song... Competently done, but after a whole lotta songs of his sounding like this already, it's not groundshaking. Grade: B- Kaskade - "Be Still (Extended Mix)" Very New Order-esque trance song by the American DJ counterpart to acts like Tiesto or BT. Childlike vocals travel on a Mitsubishi-ad-style backing track works for its purposes. Good production on this one....

Hey folks...it's that time again for my tunes for the week. As always you can click on the artist's highlighted name to go to their website and read about 'em, listen to 'em, watch 'em depending on how good their page is (some of them now just have myspace pages). You can right-click to bring up in a new window... This week Christina is at #1 for the sixth week, while big moves comes from songs by Scissor Sisters, Ohsha Kai, and OK Go. Leaving the chart are the Goo Goo Dolls, Toby Keith, and Brad Paisley. And Rascal Flatts have 3 songs on here again, who knew? Cheers. This Week Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera (1) 2. I Write Sins Not Tragedies - Panic At The Disco (2) 3. Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae (5) 4. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley (3) 5. Move Along - All-American Rejects (6) 6. Leave The Pieces - The Wreck...

Ahh when good country artists go bad. Neal McCoy was the Charley Pride of the modern country era, being the sole non-white country singer on the charts during the big-boom 90s. Even though he wasn't black (he's Filipino and Irish), he brought the winning charm attitude that borrows just as much from Pride as from Nat "King" Cole. In songs like "No Doubt About It", "Wink", and "You Gotta Love That", McCoy was the epitomy of classy, non-threatening, honkytonk that was able to garner him quite a career for awhile. But as fickle as country radio is, by the late nineties, his singles charted lower and lower, until he's been apparently castoff like so many others to independent label-land (in this case his own startup, 903 records). When this happens, usually this frees the artist to put out more quality material, without a bigwig from Sony or BMG or whatever breathing down your neck. With McCoy's amazing baritone, this could really wo...

Hmm... the closer it's getting to election day, and the lower gas prices are going. It's down to $2.17 near me. Color me paranoid, but since supply isn't exactly changed do you think that it may be a little ploy to raise American's complacency level for the upcoming midterms?

Short clip from the "Jerry Springer Opera" of all things... mantra for the day today... i just wanna f-ing dance....

Funny and yet relevant clip from the Daily Show.....

Oh boys and girls, I'm almost back to a normal schedule on this. Like always, you can click on the highlighted name of the artist to go to their website to find out more info and listen to their music (right-click to bring up in a new window). It's five weeks now for Christina Aguilera at the top, with songs by Daniel Powter, Gary Allan, Gabriel & Dresden, and Bob Sinclar dropping off, and James Blunt replacing one song with another. Big moves come round by Pussycat Dolls, The Killers, Pet Shop Boys, and Janet Jackson. Cheers! This Week Song/Artist (Last week's position in parentheses) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera (1) 2. I Write Sins Not Tragedies - Panic At The Disco (3) 3. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley (2) 4. Leave The Pieces - The Wreckers (4) 5. Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae (6) 6. Move Along - All-American Rejects (7) 7. Is It Any Wonder? - Keane (5)...

Well finally I have some pictures form the event I was in at the Atlantic Stampede Rodeo in DC. Since I had hurt myself a little bit ago, I couldn't do the chute dogging (you can see what that is on the previous post), but I did get to do one of the other, funner, events, Steer Decoration, or "Steer Deco", if you will. There's teams of two, a header and a tail. (I was the tail, go fig.) The header (my buddy Jeffie) is near the gate with a rope that's tied around the steers horns. When the gate is open, I run up and he's got to bring to steer over his starting line, then I can tie a ribbon on it's tail (without getting kicked or runover) then the header undoes the rope from the horns and I can tag the timer. Best time wins. We got 4th on Saturday's rodeo, not bad at all for first time out, especially since our gate didn't open right (and forgot to drop the rope to get a redo). Got a ribbon and made half our entry fee back :-). We got it finally unde...

I'm still waiting for my friends to get me pics from the rodeo, but here's a couple. Chute Dogging (I'm pretty sure that's my buddy Jeffy, I was movin around at the time) Jeff, Mike and Jan behind the chutes waiting... Mike in the chute with the steer for chute dogging (they basically wrestle a steer to the ground)... That's the before picture... and courtesy of Cowboy Frank here's the after... I'm so proud and Jeff and him. They both got the steer down once on the two days. My buddies in the stands....trying not to look like they've been drinking a barful the night before. Jen chute dogging. Cowboy Frank got me when I wasn't aware....I really like this picture. OK....this cub's headin' to bed...g'nite all...

Hey guys....Sorry but I've been really swamped at work, and I'm posting my chart late instead of on Tuesday. Still have more reviews to write out as well. No rest for the wicked.... As always you can click on the name of the artist to bring up their webpage (right-click to bring up a new window). This week Christina Aguilera is on top for the fourth week, and big moves are made by Under The Influence Of Giants, Evanescence, and Keith Urban. Saying goodbye are tracks by the Dixie Chicks, Natasha Bedingfield, and Rob Thomas. ThisWeek Song/Artist (Last Week's Position in parentheses) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera (1) 2. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley (2) 3. I Write Sins Not Tragedies - Panic At The Disco (4) 4. Leave the Pieces - The Wreckers (8) 5. Is It Any Wonder? - Keane (3) 6. Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae (11) 7. Move Alone - All-American Rejects (9) 8. Black Horse ...

I know it's been a busy week, I'll have more music stuff soon and the chart by saturday. I was at the Atlantic States Gay Rodeo in Washington DC. Had a blast. Actually won a ribbon and a check just for playing around with farm animals (more later on that, don't worry PETA people)...

To those in the states, I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. Here's my tunes for this week. As usual you can click on the name of the artist highlighted to bring up their webpage (you can right-click to bring it up in a new window). Christina Aguilera spends a third week at the top, and songs by Oakenfold and Joey Negro as well as one of Rascal Flatts' three leave the chart. Some of the biggest moves this week come from Roger Sanchez, Dynamix & Jason Walker, and Evanescence. This Week Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera (1) 2. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley (2) 3. Is It Any Wonder? - Keane (3) 4. I Write Sins Not Tragedies - Panic At The Disco (7) 5. Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers (5) 6. Black Horse & The Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall (6) 7. If You're Going Through Hell - Rodney Atkins (4) 8. Leave The Pieces - T...

A year ago today, Barbara and George 41 toured Houston's evacuation shelter for Katrina victims. Behold, the words of today's Marie Antoinette ... In a segment at the top of the show on the surge of evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: "Almost everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to Houston." Then she added: "What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them." There's a special level of hell specially made for total fucktards like her. Makes perfect sense where her son got his bourgeois cluelessness from. Fuck her. Common troll she is. (Yeah, and she's ugly, too). If anyone thinks "Republicanism" in the Bush era is concerned for ordinary people, read this over and over. Now breathe.... I ...

I almost forgot, another round of "Single Life"... long overdue (again). As always you can click on the artist to bring up their website (right-click to bring it up in another window). John Kano Project featuring Gia 7 - "I Feel For You (John Kano's Club Mix)" A more poppier dance number in the spacey vein like Delerium, etc. Doleful and haunting heartbreak message, with a pretty good beat, but not totally mind-grabbing. Grade: B- Ohsha Kai - "Free Your Mind (JH Original Club Mix)" A neo-house pumper, sung by Kai without the usual diva-ish histrionics. Pretty good uplifting dance number. Grade: B Rhonda Vincent - "Heartbreaker's Alibi" You know it's a great song if I run right from hearing the song on CMT to I-Tunes to buy it. For those of you thinking bluegrass music is hicky and dull, listen to this tune, with backing vocals by Dolly Parton. One of the most angelic voices in country (with Alison Krauss being another, are we see...

This was my birthday present from my ex and good compadre Sam a year ago. I have the Rhino box sets Have a Nice Decade (which covered the 70s) and Omigod! (handling the 80s), and this box brings us into the 90s. The first two boxsets were great playlists of cheese and good times, concentrating on mostly "fluffy" pop music, making you not miss the major artists they of course couldn't afford to licence. However, taking a slighty different tack this time, Whatever - The '90s Pop & Culture Box forgoes most of the "happy pop" music in exchange to mostly chronicling the rise of alternative rock music with a smattering of pop tunes. So no "Macarena". No "I'll Be Missing You". No "Livin' La Vida Loca". Now of course that's all shot to hell with the first song, MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This", by far the cheesiest thing on all the 7 discs (well, maybe "Whoomp! There It Is" or "I...