Jam of the Week

I think I've mentioned, once or twice, that I'm a huge Maroon 5 fan. I loved their first single, Harder to Breathe, because it was loud and angry.  Adam Levine, the leader singer, was pissed and I felt that. I haven't looked back in my fandom. Anywho, they have a new single called Moves Like Jagger. It's funny because the last time I saw them in concert I remember thinking that Adam reminded me of Mick Jagger the way he strutted around the stage. I'm assuming someone mentioned that to him. Or maybe Adam and I have a telepathic connection that defies all logic. Yeah, that's it. :)

And Christina's my girl, so I'm happy she adds her flavor to the song.

Enjoy!

Tuesday Links

1. Jaleel White will always be Steve Urkel, but he's not a kid anymore...or a nerd. At least not in Cee Lo Green's new video for Cry Baby. He's a ladykiller, who knows how to cut a rug, yes he is!

2. The NBA owners may have locked out the players, but Kevin Durant is keeping busy. This dunk is ridiculous!

3. I loved the mother-daughter relationship and the rapid-fire pop culture references in Gilmore Girls. I still miss the show, but the show's creator is working on a new project - adapting The Nanny Diaries for ABC. I'm curious to see what she does with a concept that started as a book, then turned into a movie.

4. I wrote about my love for Twitter here and its (probably) unintended usefulness. But Twitter also has benefits for athletes (and other celebrities) and their fans.

5. I had to include this one because it made me laugh. Folks are still passionate about their allegiances to either *NSYNC or the Backstreet Boys. Last time I checked there were almost 900 comments!

As for me, I always have been and always will be an *NSYNC fangirl. ALWAYS!

6. Equal opportunity may soon be extended to the NFL gridiron - in one capacity anyway. Female referees, anyone? I'm down.

7. Think of that movie scene that makes you tear up EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. It might be on this list. A scene from my favorite movie is the first one listed and I got a little misty-eyed just reading about it.

8. This is just too funny not to share. Novak Djokovic is a throwback, that's all. :)

Jam Of The Week

Hot Chelle Rae's Tonight Tonight

This song is my jam. When I hear it on the radio, I turn it up and start dancing even when I'm in my car. The song isn't serious or meaningful. It's all about having a good time. And sometimes that's all that I need in a song. I've never heard another song from this band, so I have no idea how talented they are or if they'll ever have another hit.

But like the song says, "La la la, whatever, la la la, it doesn’t matter, la la la, oh well, la la la."

I love, love the bridge when they break it down and my booty starts shaking even more.

Fave line - "Even the white kids!"

Enjoy!

A Music Channel that Actually Plays Music - Seriously!

Maybe everyone has heard of Palladia and I'm just seriously late to the party. It's happened before. But since it's new to me, I had to share. I "discovered" Palladia few months ago. It's an HD channel grouped with MTV AND VH1 in the channel listing in my cable system. As we all know, MTV and VH1 stopped caring about music a long time ago, so I'm ecstatic that Palladia exists.

All those MTV Unplugged and VH1 Storytellers episodes? They've found a home on Palladia.* Since I figured out the channel was there and what it was, I've watched concerts featuring Lady Gaga, Adele, Usher, Sara Bareilles, Kanye West, and Cee-lo Green. And those are just the ones that immediately popped into my head. There are more.

I watched a documentary chronicling the lead-up to the release of Beyonce's latest album 4. It was fascinating to watch if only to hear her talk about why she decided to relieve her father of his managerial duties. She said she wanted to gain more control over her career. Is that spin? I'm sure to a certain extent it is, but as Beyonce is very private and doesn't publicly address issues like this often, it was nice to get an explanation directly from her.

A few weeks ago, I watched Madonna's Truth or Dare. Although it's twenty years old, I'd never seen it. I was fascinated.

Madonna seems remarkably unaffected by her fame. I kept wondering if she did a sequel today would she still come across that way. She did a show in Michigan and said she loved being home, which is funny because she basically makes England home now and people make fun of her for faking a British accent.

Also, I loved how she said she found it weird that celebrities assumed a level of friendship with her and other celebrities just because they happened to be famous.

Anywho, I make it a point to stop by Palladia to see what they're showing when I'm channel surfing. For those who don't care about the pop and R&B scene, they show a lot of other stuff like country, classic rock (there was a ZZ Top concert on a few days ago), and indie rock music. I'm not into bands like Mumford & Sons, but if you are, know Palladia isn't ignoring them.

And they show videos, too. As someone who was raised on BET, this makes my heart happy.

Basically, Palladia has something for everybody. Yay for its existence! It's totally epic and awesome.

*Funny enough when I went to Palladia's website, I saw that it was owned by MTV and VH1. Guess that explains why the channel has the rights to air all those old concerts. And maybe why MTV and VH1 are fine with airing so little music these days.

Jam Of The Week

Sade's By Your Side

Sunday I had the privilege of attending a Sade concert. A friend invited me and I jumped at the opportunity.

I'm not going to front like I'm a huge Sade fan and have all her CDs. I know who she is and have a few of her songs on the old iPod, but that's about it. I went because I love concerts, and I was curious to see what Sade, who's been around a long time doing her thing of mellow R&B, would do. I also relished the chance to become more exposed to her music. She doesn't do the loud banging hip hop music (which I like by the way - sometimes) so she doesn't get played on the radio much or at least not the stations playing the latest hits.

With that said, I immensely enjoyed the concert. I knew it wasn't going to be a raucous affair, and it wasn't. Instead, she sang her butt off and the band played their butts off.

In addition to becoming more exposed to her music, I wanted to find a few songs to download to add to my Sade collection. I am the nerdiest, so I took notes during the show, of course. Then, I had to choose which one would be the Jam of the Week. After a ton of back and forth, I went with By Your Side. It's a gorgeous song with a very sweet, uplifting message. When I need to chill, I could totally put this on repeat.

But really you can't go wrong with any of her songs. Hope you enjoy.

Tuesday Links

1. In the grand tradition of Hollywood not being able to come up with any new ideas, apparently there are two new Snow Whites being filmed. Let the death match begin. Comic-Con was the perfect place to release photos from the Kristen Stewart/Charlize Theron version. Of course, that was two WHOLE days after photos from the Lily Collins/Julia Roberts version were released.

OK, I'll be nice and say the two movies really do look and sound different. Only time will tell if that's true and which version is better.

2. I've been listening to Adele's 21 A LOT the past few months. Yesterday, I stumbled across a track by track explanation of the CD Adele does on her website. Very cool to watch. Be warned though. Adele has a potty mouth.

3. Yankees' player, Curtis Granderson, who is black, says he's concerned that he doesn't see many black faces in the crowd at games. ESPN writer LZ Granderson doesn't think MLB has a problem. Yes, there are fewer blacks, but there are a lot of Hispanic and Asian players adding to the diversity of players.

My quick take: I agree with Curtis. All sports want to attract the best athletes and compete with each other to do so. If fewer blacks grow up watching the sport, then fewer will choose the sport to play, including the world's best athletes. Those fantastic athletes will choose football or basketball or soccer or whatever instead. Baseball misses out. There's no guarantee that they would choose baseball over football, but how can they ever get to that place of deciding whether or not baseball is their first choice if baseball never enters the equation?

4. One of my old bosses sent me an invitation to join his Fantasy Football League. I've never done it because my stomach turns at the prospect of having to cheer on a hated Giant or Eagle. Gross. BUT for those who do like to partake, here's a Draft Day Manifesto that should help you assemble the best team possible.

Gone Too Soon

Yesterday, I logged on to Twitter as is my habit. One of the first tweets I read mentioned an Amy. I thought Amy who? Immediately, I looked at the trending topics. #amywinehouse was one of them. I looked back at my timeline and got a sinking feeling as someone tweeted how ridiculous it was for people to say they were tired of talking about Amy and wanted to go back to talking about the debt ceiling.

My heart sank further. I went to Yahoo and had my worst suspicions confirmed. She'd died. With sadness, I read her obituary and went back to Twitter. A few people commented that they weren't surprised and that it was inevitable.

While I understand why they said that (and I know they weren't trying to be mean), I'm glad I don't share their viewpoint. I was shocked when I found out.

I know Amy led a very hard life, but I always hold out hope that people can turn their lives around. It should never be too late.

Unfortunately for Amy, it was, but maybe not the next person. I never want to lose that faith in people and the human spirit.

Rest in peace, Amy. May those who need help find the strength to seek it out.