Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Craig's List






  1. hair gel


  2. haggis


  3. monkey repellent


  4. toothpaste (with convenient flip lid)


  5. Pringles - original


  6. tater mits


  7. Totino's frozen pizza (combination)


  8. Diet Rite - orange


  9. Barber's party dip

Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Search is Over!


Back in the early 80's, a fraternity brother of mine used to loan me his mix tapes to listen to. This guy was from Baton Rouge, and he was always on the cutting edge of new music. There was one particular tape that I loved. It had a song on it that I played over and over and over.
I never knew who the band was, or even the name of the song. I remember, as I neared graduation, thinking, "I need to make a copy of this tape."

Well, I never did. I even remember the day that I gave it back to him, thinking to myself, "I've gotta find that song."

As the years passed, I would occasionally try to figure out what the song was. If I would meet old 80's D.J.'s, I would quiz them on the song to see if they knew anything about it. No one ever did.
Early in the 2000's, I ran into my old frat buddy at an Auburn game. My first question to him was about "The Song". He knew the song I was talking about, but couldn't remember the band or the name of the song. He gave me the name of an 80's music expert in Atlanta who might be able to help. I emailed him, but no luck again.

The internet is a wonderful thing. You can find all kinds of stuff here. Once I discovered Google, I periodically began searching for "The Song". Every 6 to 12 months I would do a search, using different parts of the lyrics that I could remember. I remembered that the song was catchy, but had a dark message. It was about a girl from the sticks who comes to the big city, gets hooked on drugs and o.d.'s. (not your typical happy ending song). The song was very " UK new wave meets punk". Kind of a Clash meets Billy Bragg meets the Kinks kind of thing.

This week I was doing my bi-annual search for "The Song" when I came across a reference in the comments on a blog. This girl mentioned a song by a Baton Rouge band called the U.S. Times. She was asking if anyone remembered a song that she called "Sandy Jane" about a girl who o.d.'s. That's it, that's the song!!

I immediately emailed this girl, asking about "The Song". It turns out that one of the band members from U.S. Times was a member of this discussion group and saw the girls comment. He emailed the song to her, and she forwarded it to me.

So, for the first time in 22 years, I heard "The Song".
Here it is, for your listening pleasure:


Thursday, June 4, 2009

My thoughts on treadmill mirrors

I just got back from the fitness center at my hotel. I have come to the conclusion that fitness centers should not put mirrors on the wall in view of the treadmill.
I realize that we all have an image of ourselves in our minds of what we look like. In my mind, I am a 170 pound, slim, trim, gazelle on the treadmill. In reality, it appears, I am a 195 fat arse with love handles and man boobs.
Thanks mirror.

Here is tonight's 3 mile treadmill playlist:
Under Pressure - Queen and Bowie
Maria, Shut up and kiss me - Willie
Wonderful (live) - Everclear
Afternoons and coffee spoons- Crashtest Dummies
867-5309 (acoustic live) - Tommy Tutone
In the Garden (live fast version) - Van Morrison
Angels wanna wear my red shoes - Elvis Costello
Basement Apartment - Sarah Harmer
Life, In a Nutshell - Barenaked Ladies
Lukey (live) - Great Big Sea

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Trading Spouses Country Style!


I caught an episode of Trading Spouses yesterday on CMT. On this episode, a mom from rural Tennessee went to live with an "affluent" family somewhere else... probably California. So what made this stand out? Well, for the scenes with the Tennessee family speaking, THEY USED SUBTITLES.

I have seen subtitles used when foreigners are being interviewed and they have a really difficult accent. For example when Pierre Le Monfit says, "Zee shiled eez dee turd" the subtitle would explain, "The child is the third."

But this was a family from Tennessee. They spoke like 96.3% of every bammer fan in existence (and apparently 93.2% of all UT fans). "I done gone to the crapper" turned into "I have used the facilities to relieve myself".

Maybe they can hire the Beav's mom to translate.