2016 AMA Post-Performance Recap

     There were many great (Luke Bryan and  Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild trading verses) and many odd (Megan Trainor and Charlie Puth trading saliva) performances at this year's American Music Awards, and no, I'm not talking about Jennie Garth's odd "I'm not sure what I'm doing here, but I'm such a nerd and I'm married to a musician" act.

    No,  I'm also not talking about Jennifer Lopez's nostalgic dance through the songs of 2016, or Celine Dion's gorgeous tribute to France, or the Pentatonix giving a vocal tribute to Star Wars.

     Somewhere in between all of that was the true standout performance of Alanis Morissette and Demi Lovato singing Alanis M's 1995 angsty girl hit, You Oughta Know. I'm very convinced (mostly by Dave Coulier from Full House) that song is about him. As we now know Carly Simon's You're So Vain is about Warren Beatty, it's only a matter of time before this mystery is unraveled).

     The reason this performance was so bizzare it led me to ask, did they know they were singing the same song? Alanis started singing onstage alone, looking great 20 years later. Then Demi answered after a little while, and they continued to cross the stage, passing each other, never acknowledging that the other one was onstage, making eye contact or singing the song with each other. See below.

Oh My Mraz!

#JasonandJane

     Rarely would I call attending a concert a trans-formative experience,  but I definitely just had one. I just saw Jason Mraz last night, and I really saw him! The show was in a small intimate venue with his all-female opening act/backup band Raining Jane. I've seen Mraz before, at open air venues in the summer, at Madison Square Garden, and next week I'll also see him at Radio City Music Hall. Nothing will top this show!

Stories with Mraz

    My friend and I attended the show at Lehman College in the Bronx as part of Mraz's 5 Boroughs tour. He is playing all 5 boroughs in the next two weeks and the significance of this is that large scale artists play many different venues on Manhattan and even some in Brooklyn, but they rarely appear in the Bronx, Queens (aside from Citi Field) or Staten Island. Our seats were 13th row, center, about 15-20 feet from the man himself, and the acoustics were unreal! Jason's voice was so pure, and he was able to connect with the audience in such a natural way. He told stories, including a great one about how he came to write "The Dynamo of Volition." It was part of an online songwriting group  challenge Mraz regularly participates in, and his phrase for the week was "Blind Man's Bike," and the rest was history.

See my video below of Jason singing duet "Lucky" with four lovely females!

A Note for Lisa Loeb- The Founder of Emo Hipsterdom

NOTE: I have nothing against Lisa Loeb, I'm just pointing this out.



Feast your eyes on Lisa Loeb. In 1994, she had a big hit single- Stay (I Missed You). As I listened to the iconic song on my drive to work today, I had a loeb-alation. Lisa Loeb may have invented emo music AND HIPSTERS! Hear me out- listen to the song as you watch the original music video. She wears all black, she talks directly in soft tones, she wears big black glasses (at a time when everyone, minus the kids in my elementary school class, were dressing a la Nirvana). Furthermore, she was the only artist at the time to have a Billboard Hot 100 single without being signed to a record label- very un-mainstream. Despite her somewhat recognizable second big single, I Do, Lisa remains largely obscure. She's still making music, but not in heavy radio rotation.



Back to STAY, Lisa plays her guitar, she talks about feeling sad because she misses someone, and she is emotionally wrecked- paving the way for her raw emotion-baring counterparts like Alanis Morisette (I still can't believe she had an affair with Joey from Full House, eww), P!nk, Jewel in her early years, and Natalie Imbruglia (Torn- 1997). Plus, Stay was used quite epically at the end of Ben Stiller's directorial debut movie, Reality Bites (the movie to define the beginning of emo hipsterdom's very existence!), starring the 90's queen and king of emo(tion), Wynonna Ryder and Christina Slater. How did her little song make a major motion picture soundtrack? Little Lisa was a neighbor of Mr. Hawke- such a small world it is....

RB is a fantastic movie that defines what it is to be young and lost, and I immensely respect Stiller's P.O.V. as a fresh new director at the time. I strongly recommend you check it out.

A Note About You and I

Lady Gaga's been the buzz the last few days, since showing up to her MTV Video Music Award performance dressed up as her male alter ego, (and apparently former lover) Jo Calderone. As she plunked the piano (very entertainingly) and belted out one of my favorite Gaga songs, You and I, there seemed to be more than a few disconnects. For one thing, she calls her love interest in the song, Nebraska. When I'm listening to the song, I hear Nebraska, and I think something like this:




A man like this looks like he is from Nebraska. He looks like the kind of man that will tell you, "Sit back down where you belong, in the corner of my bar with your high heels on. Sit back down on the couch were we made love and you said to me, something. Something about this place..." A man like this looks like he means business. Plus, he has a cowboy hat. He can probably kick someone's ass, then tenderly kiss his lady. So, I was a bit surprised when Gaga appeared like this for the song:

Am I seeing a My Cousin Vinny -era Joe Pesci here? At least in the strange music video for the song, she looks like she's sitting in a cornfield. Yes, note that our new buddy Jo, also taking Gaga's Sept. issue of Japanese vogue interview, is in the video (as Gaga's love interest?) Please note the doctor guy trying to bring Gaga back to life in the video looks much like a cool Nebraska guy. And during a few points, she is all over him, and vice versa, plus she marries him. Is he the Nebraska guy? Who is "Jo" really? And why does Gaga look like a mermaid? Color me confused.

But, I'm getting a somewhat country-themed vibe with the video. Not so much with the performance. Plus, Gaga dances in a barn, wearing high heels. This element was completely lacking in the VMA performance, which was ironically, in my opinion, very "New York."

To further shock my heart, NY's Z100 played the song tonight, with "New York" subbed in for Nebraska. This completely changes the meaning of the song. Yes, "Jo" looks very new work, and in that vain it works. But this song is about loving a strong, sexy, country man. And for all the costumage in the world, Gaga cannot be that man, but she will be the powerful woman singing about him.

A Note About Boy Band Reunions!

I was a loyal watcher of the early reality show Making the Band, back in 2000. For you youngins, it was like "American Idol" and "Real World" combined into one show.

Here's how it worked: Guys auditioned to be in a band. A bunch made the cut, and lived and sang together. They got voted off by some "music professionals," (thankfully a show where America doesn't choose) and eventually got 5 guys. One guy had a whiny girlfriend (Shelli). Then one guy quit because it was too much pressure (Ikaika), and got replaced by another guy (Dan). They put out a single and an album. Then the reject guys formed their own band (LMNT). Then they faded into onscurity. One became a carpenter (Jakob). One re-launched his singing career and reality start status in 2006 (Ashley). I went to a mall to meet him.

Then in 2011, they decided to have a reunion??? Check out the story from EW.

A Note About More NKOTBSB NEWS!

As we enter day 5 (I'm counting from the day BSB appeared on OPRAH last week- by the way, a thank you to my DVR for totally messing up the disc that was recording on) of NKOTBSB mania, I really could not be more excited! NKOTBSB now have a website (another place to share my mania with others!) I repeat, I could not be more ready for their upcoming US tour dates at the beginning of next summer! I hope they will make a music video so I can watch it ten million times on Youtube! Oh wait, they did! The promotion video on their homepage is adorable, AND they're on twitter! Ok, I've gotten over my 11-year-old moment.

Further exciting news, KEVIN RICHARDSON was back with the boys on OPRAH! Back to being 11. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

A Note About Fall Music I Can't Stop Spinning: Taylor Swift

CD: Taylor Swift: Speak Now
RELEASE: October 25th

Taylor Swift's new album SPEAK NOW has blown up. I'm happy with most of the tracks, but at the same time, I feel TS is a little TOO. TOO everywhere, TOO vengeful, TOO singing the love-or in this case- unlove song. Still, Speak Now is off to a solid start.

Most Addictive Song: The Story of Us
Reminiscent of FEARLESS track Forever and Always, this is the album's quintessential "time to breakup but not dwell and mope" song. It's got power and it could easily be the breakup of a love or a friendship. It emcompasses the discomfort of awkward situations, plus has verbal cues to move each "chapter" of the song along.

Bubbly Love Song: Sparks Fly
"Drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain.." and fall in love with this song, which reminds me of the sweet Hey Stephen and passion of The Way I Loved You from Swift's FEARLESS.

Sweetest Song: Mine
It's already broken as a huge hit, and yes I do agree with the EW bullseye that Mine is very TS-"being together even though I've been hurt by love before," I cannot stop listening to it. It has a great pace, a sweet message, and its' secretly what all girls dream about (finding that guy that says he'll make all the sadness go away).

Song I Listen to to Contemplate: Dear John
Not sure what this is all about...

Best Revenge Song: Revenge
Who can compete with this "She's evil and you shouldn't be with her" rock song that has intensely catchy lyrics like "She's better known for the things that she's done on the mattress." Plus, the opening line where TS instructs the girl to go sit in the corner and think about what she's done is Pat Benetar-level badass.

Song That Sounds Like Another Song: Speak Now
Now this song sounds so familiar, I could have sworn it was called You Belong with Me, except we've moved from high school to the real world. And there's wedding that must be stopped. This song also wins honorable mentions for the Song I Could Pass On award for the reason above.

Song I Could Pass On: Innocent
I get it, Kanye is finally forgiven. But this song is so somber it has no magic of excitement that makes a Taylor song a TAYLOR song.

A Note About Fall Music I Can't Stop Spinning: Animalism in Music

I've noticed an increasing about of songs coming out that really relate to animals. Not the fuzzy love and uicorn types, but the bear your teeth, run throuigh the wind, howl at the night version. Here are my top 4 animal themed songs.

4. Animal Song- Savage Garden
It's an oldie (from 1999's Affirmation), but a very spiritual song about the free spirit. Running through the jungle with the wind in your hair and the sun at your feet never sounded so good. The rythmic drumming in the background takes on a tribal nature AND sounds like footsteps.

3. Feral Love- Wakey! Wakey!
From their recent album (Everything I Wish I Said Since the Last Time I Saw You- great title!), is more than a standard "lamenting about a former love track". It's got a dark and twisted "my love was taken away from me in a hunting incident" feel. Wakey! Wakey! frontman Mike Grubbs was also a guest star on One Tree Hill last season playing the Tric bartender. They played some really great tracks from the band during the later part of last season.

2. Portions for Foxes- Rilo Kiley
I didn't discover this fabulous song (from the 2004 More Adventurous release) until about four years after it was played in the Grey's Anatomy pilot (When Meredith drives through Seattle to the hospital), but I fell in love with it. Nothing like a bad romance (yes I went there) to leave you as as portions for the foxes.

1. Animal- Neon Trees
I went through a recent weekend of hearing this song over and over, but having no idea about the artist, song title, or most of the exact lyrics were. Try doing a web search for "Take a Bite of My Heart Tonight" and see what I'm talking about. After a lot of searching I finally found this track (from the 2010 Habits release), which is getting some great radio play. I'm pretty sure their song was on some CW show recently.

A Note About Why I Love iTunes

As of yesterday, iTunes is offering $0.69 downloads. Head to the music page and check them out.

Categories include 80's music, 90's music, rock, country, pop, alternative, one-hit-wonders, and classic songs.

A Note About New Fall Music I Can't Stop Spinning: Maroon 5

Although cd's aren't really the big thing anymore, I like the idea of spinning discs. I'm dropping the newest cds and the songs I'm obsessed with.

CD: Maroon 5: Hands All Over
RELEASE: September 21st

First of all,I don't know why the cd got slammed in Entertainment Weekly. could it be the new-funk/rock vibe Maroon 5 has built up since its 2007 Release "It Won't Be Soon Before Long?" It would seem to be so. I love the rock/funk/pop/soul vibe. The important theme that holds through all of Maroon 5's work is passion. Songs about love, songs about loss, songs about longing, it all comes from the same amazing deep dark place. I Can't Lie (track 6) about how much I love this cd. It pumps you up, it cools you down, and it can also keep a party going.

Most Addictive Song: Get Back in My Life/ Give a Little More.
Over and over. Still can't stop listening to them.

Sweetest Song: Runaway
Very different from the Bon Jovi song by the same name.

Song I Listen to to Relax: Just a Feeling
A tortured song with a sweet gentle melody about the absolute crush and end of a relationship.

Song that Sounds like Another Song: Stutter.
The shivers that you give me keep me freezing all night .. sounds like the themes of the later "Songs About Jane" tracks (Shiver), but more of a sharp syncopated pop beat.

Best Duet: No Goodbyes
With LADY ANTEBELLUM. Enough said. Listen to it.

Best Bonus Song: Last Chance
"The last chance that I get to love you..." with a rocking funk beat? It's got the anger of older songs but the intensity and passion too. One moment is all about hot flesh and the next is completely jumped to

Best Re/Mix: Two of the three Misery mixes: mix 2, and the acoustic set.