good music
Motown, Old Roomies and a Star Wars Wedding
May 25th
I just got back from Detroit (well the Detroit area) where I worked at Joey’s Comedy Club in Livonia, MI. Worked with two great guys, the very funny Johnny Beehner out of Milwaukee and Ed Buehner who was based out of the Detroit metro.
I visited the Motown Museum.
It was AWESOME. So much history in such a small space. I can’t believe I was standing in the studio where Stevie and The Temptations and The Four Tops and Marvin Gaye and Smokey and Edwin Starr, etc. recorded so much awesome music. No photos are allowed inside, but that’s OK. I remember it all. There was also a great movie they showed there. Way too many people at the shows this weekend said they’d never been. I couldn’t believe it.
At our Thursday show we met a young lady named Grace (above) who was having her bachelorette party at the club. Her wedding was Saturday and after the show she told me that she and her fiancee were having a Star Wars wedding, where they and their guests would dress in costumes from the movies. I immediately began to picture her in the Princess Leia white robe-y costume — but NOPE! More >
Soulja Boy hurts my soul… ja
Apr 10th
So this is something I said on stage last nite that I’ve never said before. And I mean it with all my heart.
Watch. Laugh. Cry for the past. But most of all, agree.
Please and thank you.
Happy Birthday Bob
Feb 6th
This is truly the intersection of genius.
Stevie Wonder singing Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song.’ I figured that having my favorite artist salute my other favorite artist (they’re tied for my affections) by covering one of his most important songs was a fitting way to honor his memory. Had he lived to see today, Bob Marley would have been 65 years old.
I remember how excited I was when I first bought this CD: Song Review: Greatest Hits and heard this remake. It’s at the very end of the second CD and it’s just perfect — the perfect way to do a remake. Because I believe that if you’re going to bother, you should take the song and make it your own somehow. What’s the point in singing someone’s song exactly how they did it? This is so rich and one of best remakes of a classic of ALL TIME — though I’m admittedly biased. :)
I hope you enjoyed it. Happy Birthday, Bob!
How to NOT miss your blessing
Dec 21st
I heard on the Today Show on Friday morning that a study showed that Louisiana was the ‘happiest’ state to live in. And after the fun I had this weekend in NOLA, I wouldn’t argue that one bit! I went to Louisiana to see BFF Jenny (excuse me — Dr. Jennifer Pinder Ellis) receive her Ph.D. from LSU!!! YAY! Sooooooo proud of you, J!
Jenny’s husband is from New Orleans and threw her a big graduation party at a great restaurant there on Friday nite.
And after a short program and a fantastic dinner, the party really got started. There was a great DJ who played line dances that I’ve never even heard of — in fact, I’m pretty sure Jen’s husband and his sister made at least 2 or 3 of those up on the spot ;) At some point we realized that some of the people from the holiday party across the corridor (where there was no DJ) were coming out into the hall to dance to the music at Jen’s party. The bartender even came to ‘notify’ us that they were mooching off our DJ ;) Tee hee ;) More >
Old Skool
Aug 21st
I am going with my friend Jo-Ann to an old skool party tonite — which I’m pretty sure means the DJ will be spinning 80’s & 90’s classic hip hop and R&B joints and people will be wearing horrible outfits they should have thrown away years ago… Sounds like big fun, but I’d settle for a guy offering to buy me a drink…
That would be really old skool.
Oh, the single life…
Fourth o’ July – Pt. 2 (Play Hard)
Jul 5th
Kellz, Joie, and Chris
So me and BFF’s Joie and Kellz went to a BBQ at new buds Chris and Zach’s house on the 4th. And boy did they do it up. They had kegs of whatever you wanted to drink and tons of food — they roasted an entire pig! Zach said it took from about 6am to 3pm to cook it. WOW!
We like big sunglasses.
By the time we got there, they’d already sliced up the pig. But the face and the ears were just chilling on the picnic table… Because boys think it’s funny to gross girls out. Pighead aside, it was damn tasty though. Shout to whoever made the special bbq sauce for the sandwiches. YUM! Good job guys ;)
Ugly Thrash Demon
Chris found a band made up of high school kids to perform at the BBQ. They were actually pretty good. There were just a lot of them… Think Earth Wind and Fire — except the exact opposite. Tee hee ;) Their name was Ugly Thrash Demon, but they weren’t a metal band. Because you can’t be a metal band with a ukelele. Or an accordion. Or maracas. Or a cello… Should I continue?
Oh why the hell not?… Or a trumpet.
I’m assuming the name was supposed to be ironic. And well, I think it was except I’m still not clear exactly what ironic means. I always use it wrong…
Moving on.
Zach’s parents were in town, and his mom is kinda the best — she’s southern and adorable, AND she convinced me to participate in my first ever game of beer pong. Well, kinda… I’m not a big beer drinker so the other players were nice enough to bend the rules for me… I just wanted to see if I could get the ball in the cup ;) Check out my follow through!
Thanks fellas for the invite! We had so much fun ;)
My top 5 songs for dealing with (or wallowing in) heartbreak
Apr 24th
Here they are, not necessarily in this order:
1. “I Can’t Make You Love Me” – Bonnie Raitt
2. “King of Sorrow” – Sade (I’m crying everyone’s tears/And there inside our private war/I died the night before) Need I say more?
3. “Bruised But Not Broken” - Joss Stone (Doesn’t the title say it all?)
4. “I Told You So” – Randy Travis
5. “I Believe” – Stevie Wonder (In my version I just replace “with you” and “this time” with “next time” and it becomes a pretty hopeful song… or maybe I just love Wevie Stunder so much it doesn’t matter ;)
Well, those are my top 5. You guys have any other suggestions? I could use them right about now.
Best TV theme song ever!
Mar 6th
I don’t know how many of y’all would remember this theme song… Shoot, I doubt most of you even remember the show, but Damon Wayans had a TV show about 10 years ago called “Damon” and he was a detective… Yeah. The show was terrible, I’m sure it didn’t even last an entire season. But it had the best theme song ever for a TV show ever. And every now and then it pops into my head… I was trying to get my boy to remember it but he didn’t… So I dug and dug and found it online.
So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the theme song to “Damon” as voiced by the lovely and talented Ms. Erykah Badu:
And yes, in case there’s any confusion… the lyrics to that song were: It’s Damon’s show. It’s not your show. It’s Damon’s show. It’s not your show.
HA! Now get up off the floor. Damn I love the Internet.
I love you John McBride…
Dec 30th
for sending me this… This is better than USA for Africa…
Things I want to make sure you saw:
- Jerome Brown getting his official boogie on.
- The ’sound engineer’ with the Aaron Neville cut off shirt
- Luis Zendejas’ rap at the 1:03 mark. It’s the best verse ever spit on wax — he is the undisputed G.O.A.T.
- Randall Cunningham’s Flava-Flav “yeah boy-eee” at the 1:16 mark
- The ‘cabbage patch’ dance break at the 1:25 mark during Reggie White’s verse:
Reggie White, Defensive End
Hit quarterbacks like they committed a sin
Like a good minister when I’m thru
I help them up and say God bless you
This is way too hilarious!
R.I.P. to Jerome Brown and Reggie White. Legends. Truly.
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