Song of the Week (Turq Jeep - Cavities)

So many topics to cover this week: Rangers, Explosions in the Sky, Occupy Dallas, Halloween. I'm just playin' this is the HALLOWEEN edition, FAM!

Yes, it's that special time of year where kids ring stranger's doorbells in hopes of obtaining something sweet and non-razorbladey. It's the time when a young man can dress up like a Nintendo game character or a Carrot or Phil Specter or Bobby Flay and feel totally secure. It's also that time when girls dress up like Baron's mom...OHHHH FFFAAACCCEEE! (Baron is my friend who has a really hot mom who dresses like a slutty Kreashawn).

I'll be honest, I thought about just half-@ssing Halloween this year. I've been busy at work, insert excuse and insert excuse. I was just gonna wear a suit and be an investment banker or Robert Palmer. As an aside, I think Robert Palmer used to work for JT Marlin...

Then I snapped out of it, partly because I found my secret costume just hanging in the back of my closet, and partly because I'm not quite ready to hang up the matador jacket/wig/blaster arm. There's something radical about Halloween. When people dress up like crazy characters, they just have more fun. It's true. In my late-night partying phase, I had a box (still do) full of "funny hats", which would be distributed routinely to revelers. This takes you into Level 1 Fun (the highest level of fun).

Level 1: Fun when you're doing it and when you remember it (Halloween)
Level 2: No fun when you're doing it, but fun when you remember it (Climbing Mt. Shasta)
Level 3: Fun when you're doing it, but no fun when you remember it (they call this the "moral hangover")
Level 4: No fun when you're doing it, and no fun when you remember it (feeding my cat Sam)

This week's SOTW is strictly to be played in Level 1 Fun zones: "Cavities"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXUF8GdD_0E

Your boys Flynt Flossy, Pretty Raheem and Watchyamacalit are at it again.

"I got that light saba
Darker than Darth Vada
More power than the maya
Call it the dragon slaya"
#subtle

I know what you're thinkin': boy Pretty Raheem sure has put on some lbs...I know, totally.

This is the Halloween anthem cuz babies will be gettin' cavities this weekend...

In other news, the quasi-climactic SOTW is nearly complete. Stay tuned.

Shout out to Ron Washington and the Texas Rangers.

Hope you Dig,
JZ

Song of the Week (Guest edition: Elton John - I'm Still Standing)

JZ: Ladies and gents, I have a very special guest submission from my sister (Zard). Please don't make fun of her for referencing Highlandettes or for being a blockhead.

Zard: Thank you to JZ for graciously allowing me to do a guest post this week. It may be just me, but he has had a string of songs that I have never heard before. Hope that you enjoy a familiar song this week.

I’m not the biggest of Elton John fans, but something about Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing” makes me wanna strap on my old Highlandettes boots (I promise drill team was cool) and neon spandex and dance around the streets. Somehow, I wouldn’t be surprised if I fit right in at the Occupy Philly protest at city hall. I saw a guy the other day holding up a sign that said “Pay for my College Tuition.” Really?!

This song was on the 1983 album, Too Low for Zero, and Elton sings about making a comeback despite the problems in daily life. I have a lot of daily problems that I have to make a comeback from, such as:

1. 1) JZ tuning out the family in Jackson Hole with games on his iphone (granted it was during a marathon drive to Yellowstone) (JZ: Puhhhlllleaaazzze)

2. 2) The Corporate lifestyle aka filing papers according to my boss’s son

3. 3) Philly public transportation

4. 4) Hurricanes and earthquakes

5. 5) Our parent’s cat, Sam, terrorizing our dog, Camper (JZ: Intercepted wires have suggested that Sam the cat was sponsored by Muammar Gaddafi, until very recently...)

Please take some time to watch the music video. A couple of noteworthy clips include Elton tipping the hotel bellhop with glitter (genius and thrifty), the rockin’ 80s dance moves (strutting around, shoulder movements, and flailing arms and legs), painted bodies, human dominoes, crazy glasses, and all things French. WARNING: This video contains excessive use of speedos. I don’t endorse the use of speedos, but just wanted you to prepare yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHwVBirqD2s&ob=av2e

I would like to dedicate this SOTW post to the Texas Rangers, who are still standing after an amazing 9^th inning comeback to beat the Cardinals in game 2 of the World Series last night. I’d like to think that Nelson Cruz had an Elton John song running through his head as he hit 6 homeruns in the ALCS series. Go Rangers!

Now that you are in such a good mood from watching such a rocking video, watch this and be prepared to be overwhelmed by its cuteness. Too bad we didn’t see something like this in Wyoming on our family vacation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDvjoIUNYtU

Have a happy, Fall weekend!

In keeping with recent foreshadowing, look out for an epic SOTW in the next few weeks, not be confused with the always anticipated, occasionally decent, Halloween edition.

Hope you Dig,
JZ & Zard

Song of the Week (Naked & Famous - Punching in a Dream)

Welp, that game sure sucked. Am I wrong? Rest easy, SOTW won't feature football until next October when the real Showdown occurs. Last weekend was just an anomaly...

This song is dedicated to Occupy Wall Street. You guys are fighting the good fight...right?
Excerpt from the "Good Neighbor Policy": OWS will limit drumming on the site to 2 hours per day, between the hours of 11am and 5pm only (OHHHH NOOOO THEY DIDN'T!)

In all seriousness, if I didn't have a job, I'd probably wanna party...I mean occupy, too.

Naked & Famous understand what you (occupants) are going through, and they empathize: "Punching in a Dream"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCcUXEC5_eU&feature=relmfu

Personally, I heart this song so much because it sounds so happy, but the lyrics are so frightening. Sort of the opposite of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day". The lyrics are happy but overlaid with a haunting arrangement.

Naked & Famous will be dominating at the Granada circa next Thursday night. It's a sold out show, but you should still try and get tickets because this band both legit, and nearly peaking right now. Kinda like Foster the People, except enjoyable.

I hope to see many of you at the Black Angels tonight. Oh Man...it's going to destroy!

So, we are one week closer to a very special SOTW. Here's a hint: There will be synthesizers...

Hope you Dig,
JZ

PS...it is very funny to be a frog (@M83)

Song of the Week TXOU Edition (ELO - Showdown)

You know what time it is: TX/OU Weekend, sun! Every October, 2 arch rivals travel to Dallas to battle it out in the Red River Shootout. Not since Brown v. The Board of Education has there been a more anticipated matchup. Not since Sam the cat v. JZ "This Time It's Personal" has there been a battle so fierce. But what song to choose from? What song truly articulates the mayhem that will certainly ensue in full purview of Big Tex? Showdown Biatch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_IYTTSLsWw

Yes, you've heard it before and you'll hear it again. Electric Light Orchestra ("ELO") brings us the ultimate in battle anticipation: "Showdown"

Songs like "Showdown" just aren't written anymore. Quasi-Anthemic blues tunes like this with orchestral arrangements? Who's doing this? Don't say Polyphonic Spree. They have more in common with the Hale-Bop comet than ELO. Seriously though, I heard a Nicki Menaj song the other day. Are we all familiar with the Menaj. All the youngsters are talking about it. See below for an excerpt from the chart topping "Superbass":

"And he ill, he real, he might got a deal
He pop bottles and he got the right kind of build
He cold, he dope, he might sell coke
He always in the air, but he never fly coach"

Case closed...

Something I often discuss in SOTW is the aspect of "Business Time" in great songs. I'm referring to that opening lick that let's you know what time it is. ELO's "Showdown" is the perfect example: The strings start low, get higher, and with more layers, then they slip into this funky / bluesy feel. Oh man...so much f'ing business...

Stay tuned the next several weeks for a very special SOTW. I've been working on this particular SOTW for nearly 2 years, and I think it may just be ready. More on this later...

Hope you Dig,
JZ