Nothing in Particular

Class Act

Kanye West interrupts play by local third graders. Says play by fourth graders was much better.

The VMAs

I know it stands for Video Music Awards, but to me "the VMAs" sounds like a sexually transmitted disease.

"Last night I got a VMA!"

"I've begged you to wear protection."

Geddy Lee of Rush

Rush has been one of my favorite bands since 1989. Thus, it was a big thrill when I got the chance to interview Geddy Lee (lead vocals, bass, keyboards) in the Fall of 1998. The interview was done over the phone, so I had no opportunity to get any albums autographed. However, he did give me the following audio souvenir.

Rush's website:

http://rush.com/

Drum Channel

Sometimes I like to watch people who are better than me at certain skills. It is:

> Entertaining

> Educational

> A painfully demoralizing experience that causes me to spend hours dwelling on the idea that I suck

The first two outcomes are great. The third can be handled with prescription medication.

The latest cause of these reactions is the new Drum Channel. Although it is just getting started, it already has some great content. So if, like me, you are a drummer who enjoys watching and learning from the best while simultaneously being reminded just how bad you are, you might want to check it out.

Holiday Albums

Holiday albums you never saw. "Perry Como's Christmas in the Gaza Strip: Rejoice, but stay low."

(images copyright Microsoft clip art and Reuters)

Kenny Chesney: Constantly Checking His Side Mirror

I like Kenny Chesney, but the other night at the CMAs he kept making a weird motion with his head when he sang. After every other lyric he would suddenly turn to the left, like he was experiencing some sort of rhythmic muscle spasm. On the one hand it looked kind of like a dance move. On the other hand it looked like he might now be eligible for handicapped parking. 

It was kind of like what you see with dogs when, while playing catch, you fake the throw. So I suppose it's possible that someone kept teasing him with a tennis ball. Either that or his performance was choreographed by his chiropractor.

That Voice

There is something about the voice of Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland that I really like. She could sing selections from the US Tax Code and I would enjoy listening to it.

Neil Peart - Opening Acts

Neil Peart is my favorite drummer. I just love his work. Additionally, he has some chops as a writer too. In this piece for the DW Drums website, he talks not only about his new signature bass drum, but also about what it was like many years ago when Rush was just an opening act. It is an interesting, kind of behind-the-scenes view.

"Bass Drum Heartbeat"

What's in a name?

I think the new Rush album has one of the best song titles I have ever heard of, "Malignant Narcissism".

It is an instrumental, thus they did not have to try and create a rhyme for it. Or maybe they did try.

"What rhyme's with Malignant Narcissism?"

"Instrumental it is!"

Street Fair

We went to a street fair this past weekend. At street fairs there is always at least one booth selling recordings of really dreamy music, the kind of songs that seem to have been written as the soundtrack to an afternoon spent experimenting with large amounts of Valium.

A lot of this music is done with keyboards. Not the kind of keyboards you hear in rock songs, but the kind of keyboards made for the house band at a yoga studio. As a result, they're not so much musical instruments as the audio versions of water fountains, those small water fountains that are essentially made with the motor from a fish tank filter and some surgical tubing. On the one hand those fountains sound like brooks in a forest. On the other hand they sound like someone urinating. Either way, they tend to bring on bladder discomfort.

And that's kind of the essence to the music you find sold at street fairs. In some ways it is magical and ethereal and in some ways it is about as soulful as the Tidy Bowl Man. So really, it would be ideal to listen to while relieving yourself in the woods. Imagine rays of sunlight filtering through the tree branches and casting a halo of light around you as so you rid yourself of that last cup of coffee. "Buy the new album from Celestial Moons . . . 'Peeing in Paradise'".