Phil’s Faves: Songs, March 31, 2013

Posted on April 7, 2013 by PhilMaq

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best songs that I listened to the previous week. Most songs will be current, but there are no boundaries. I’ve already stated on this web site that I am obsessed with music. I am constantly hunting it down whether it’s online, on CD, from my personal collection, from a library (Yes, I think the library is a great source of music–especially for music that you aren’t sure about.), TV, or radio. Since most of these sources mostly emphasize new music, the odds are pretty good that most of the songs on this list will be new. But in my search, I don’t use any boundaries for the other sources. I am just looking for good music that I haven’t heard, or happened to forget about. Everyone, including myself, has forgotten way more great music than they can ever remember-even if they are also music fanatics.
Also, there will be no rules concerning songs on this list. A song can show up or drop off a number of times. This will be the most volatile of my lists. It all depends on how much music I am exposed to during the week and what I find interesting. On really obscure stuff, I will try to include the source, if I know it.

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Top Ten Songs for the Week of March 31, 2013

1. Thrift Shop—Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz
2. Merry Go Round—Kacey Musgraves
3. Love Addict—Jessica Dayle
4. Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool—Connie Francis
5. Punk Rock Girl—The Dead Milkmen
6. Top 100—Julia Massey & The Five Finger Discount
7. Be My Baby—Hey Ocean!
8. Tip It on Back—Dierks Bentley
9. You Gotta Have Skin—Allan Sherman
10. Extra Innings—Denny McLain
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Phil’s Faves: Videos, March 31, 2013

Posted on April 7, 2013 by PhilMaq

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best videos currently available on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus mostly on current or recent videos. For this category, I am also going to include any live performances on talk or variety shows that I see during the week.

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Emile Sande’ worked her magic all the way to #1!
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Top 10 Videos and Performances for the week of March 31, 2013

1. Next to Me—Emile Sande’
2. Thrift Shop—Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with Wanz
3. Daylight (Playing for Change)—Maroon 5 with Adam Levine
4. Merry Go ‘Round—Kacey Musgraves
5. Tip It On Back—Dierks Bentley
6. Like Jesus Does—Eric Church
7. Tornado—Little Big Town
8. Suit & Tie—Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z
9. Life Is But a Dream (Acoustic)—Lyn Saga
10. 22—Taylor Swift

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Get Acquainted with a Legend—Soupy Sales!

Posted on April 4, 2013 by PhilMaq

One of things that I learned from my March 28th show was that many younger people were unfamiliar with comedian, actor, & singer Soupy Sales! I found this to be quite sad because there is a definite thread that runs through the humor of Soupy and Weird Al. Ironically, both had stretches of their careers where they appealed to pre-teen viewers. Soupy even ate lunch with you in the early years of TV. So, to restore the balance in the comedy world, here are some great Soupy Sales moments!

Here’s a great primitive video!

Another video about “White Fang,” his dog:

And, finally, here’s Soupy doing “The Soupy Shuffle,” his dance!

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Weird Al’s “Jurassic Park”

Posted on April 4, 2013 by PhilMaq

One of my favorite Weird Al videos is this low cost claymation version of “Jurassic Park” combined with “McArthur Park” as only he can do!

For a bonus, I have included the 3D trailer for the re-release of the original movie. It took my breath away the first time I saw it and I guess it’s going to do it again!

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“Who’s on First,” Old & New—Abbott & Costello, Jimmy Fallon, Billy Crystal, & Jerry Seinfeld

Posted on April 4, 2013 by PhilMaq

Arguably, one of the best comedy skits of all time is Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s on First” routine. Originally appearing on one of their movies, “The Gay Nineties,” it became an instant classic! For the opening of the baseball season, and since this is the 75th Anniversary of the bit, I thought I would include several versions of it.

Here’s the original:

If you like a laugh track, here’s how it appeared on “The Abbott & Costello Show” for TV.

And finally, here’s Jimmy Fallon’s homage to the routine with the help of Jerry Seinfeld and Billy Crystal playing some of the teammates!

Just to keep things musically oriented, here is a jazzy little instrumental by former Detroit Tiger pitcher, Denny McLain.

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“Q” Bombs: March 31, 2013

Posted on March 31, 2013 by PhilMaq

A “Q” Bomb, like an “H” bomb, will be my term for a music video that I consider to be subpar in music, video, or both. This will be a recurring weekly list that will focus on the worst videos that are currently on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus on solely on current or recent videos.
I hate to be so negative about music, but when an artist takes a “bad” song and then brings more attention to it by creating a “bad” video to support it, it will appear on this list. I honestly hope, and it could happen, that this list will be less than 10 items, but I have serious doubts that that possibility will happen. We are, after all, talking about an industry that uses art for huge profits. The companies can’t help themselves.
However, at this point, I will not do a 10 worst music list. I see absolutely no reason to waste time reemphasizing bad music. Once is enough.

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Bruno Mars temporarily knocks Lee Brice out of the top spot. How long will it last………………
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Worst Videos for the week of March 31, 2013

1. When I Was Your Man—Bruno Mars
2. I Drive Your Truck—Lee Brice
3. Stay—Rihanna with Mikky Echo
4. Hold On—Alabama Shakes
5. Downtown—Lady Antebellum
6. Two Black Cadillacs—Carrie Underwood
7. A New Life—Jim James
8. Better Dig Two—The Band Perry
9. Just Give Me a Reason—P!nk with Nate Ruess of fun.
10. Feel This Moment—Pitbull and Christina Aguillera

1) “When I Was Your Man”—OK. I was trying to go easy on this one but when it hits #1 on VH1, it deserves what it gets. It’s a boring song with an unimaginative video. What do people see in Bruno Mars because I’m not getting it…………..
2) “I Drive Your Truck”—I didn’t think anything else could knock Lee Brice out of the top spot, but I had to defer to Bruno Mars this week………………
3) “Stay”—Let’s keep the boring coming with Rihanna and Mikky Echo. I found out this week that Mikky Echo is a stage name. Wow. I am so surprised…………….
4) “Hold On”—Yeah. Hold on Alabama Shakes. Don’t go too far just yet…………
5) “Downtown”—Apparently, “Downtown” is one place that I don’t want Lady A to take me…………………………
6) “Two Black Cadillacs”—I just know that Carrie Underwood is going to hang around and torture me for several more weeks, if not months…………..
7) “A New Life”—I really like this Jim James (from My Morning Jacket fame) song. In fact, I thought he did an astoundingly great live performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and it appears on one of my faves lists. But this video is a symbolic hot mess…………
8) “Better Dig Two”—I do like The Band Perry’s Rock & Roll attitude on this one, so I dropped it a couple of notches…………………..
9) “Just Give Me a Reason”—I can give P!nk and Nate Ruess several to get off this list……..
10) “Feel This Moment”–I really hate what Pitbull has done with A-Ha’s “Take on Me.” Sometimes an idea works and sometimes it doesn’t. Throw this one in the failed pile…………..
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Phil’s Faves: Songs, March 24, 2013

Posted on March 31, 2013 by PhilMaq

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best songs that I listened to the previous week. Most songs will be current, but there are no boundaries. I’ve already stated on this web site that I am obsessed with music. I am constantly hunting it down whether it’s online, on CD, from my personal collection, from a library (Yes, I think the library is a great source of music–especially for music that you aren’t sure about.), TV, or radio. Since most of these sources mostly emphasize new music, the odds are pretty good that most of the songs on this list will be new. But in my search, I don’t use any boundaries for the other sources. I am just looking for good music that I haven’t heard, or happened to forget about. Everyone, including myself, has forgotten way more great music than they can ever remember-even if they are also music fanatics.
Also, there will be no rules concerning songs on this list. A song can show up or drop off a number of times. This will be the most volatile of my lists. It all depends on how much music I am exposed to during the week and what I find interesting. On really obscure stuff, I will try to include the source, if I know it.

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Top Ten Songs for the Week of March 24, 2013

1. Astral Traveler—Yes (Featuring Peter Banks)
2. Love Addict—Jessica Dayle
3. Tip It on Back—Dierks Bentley
4. Merry Go Round—Kacey Musgraves
5. Be My Baby—Hey Ocean!
6. Thrift Shop—Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz
7. The Storm—Zamapara
8. Rainbow Connection—Hayley Williams & Weezer
9. All Things Bright and Beautiful—Steve Wingfield & Mike Francis
10. Leadership—Cindi R. Maciolek
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Lyn Saga’s First Homemade Videos!

Posted on March 28, 2013 by PhilMaq

A new artist that has caught my attention is the power pop singer Lyn Saga. She has put out a new album, “Venice” that is full of rockin’ melodic songs with absolutely no filler.

I happened to be searching for more information about her on her facebook page when I ran across a couple of really cute homemade videos. Even though the first song is as serious as Lyn gets on “Venice” (“Life is just a bad, bad dream”), the video was made with her phone. I was doing something else when I was watching it and since the camera stays focused on her playing an acoustic guitar, I had to look up when I heard another guitar playing the solo. I wondered who that person was and I was pleasantly surprised to see that she had inserted herself playing the solo as a picture-in-picture set up! Sweet! I can’t believe this can all be done on your phone! Just whip off a high quality video that used to take thousands of dollars years ago. Check it out!

The “Life Is But a Dream” video drew me into her other posted video–which is a really short (32 seconds) of Lyn playing Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” which she titled, “Bach, Bach Bach.” I found this interest in a classical piece contrasting and amusing. She does a nice job even though it’s too short. Since Johann Sebastian Bach’s birthday is March 31st, I thought it was worth including, too.

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The Three Stooges Enter The “Theme Attic” Hall of Fame!

Posted on March 28, 2013 by PhilMaq

Although The Three Stooges are known for their insane comedy antics, they sometimes also skillfully wove music into their plots, For most of my developing years, the opening and closing themes of their short films were heard almost daily in my house–a tradition that continues with my children, just not as often.

The opening is a hot swing version of “Three Blind Mice”:

The ending song is an in your face razzing:

Two of their songs are really timeless. Check out “Swingin’ the Alphabet!”

Another favorite of mine, is the coded message in their madrigal, “Oh, Elaine.”

I don’t think I could ever grow tired of them!

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Phil’s Faves: Videos, March 24, 2013

Posted on March 26, 2013 by PhilMaq

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best videos currently available on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus mostly on current or recent videos. For this category, I am also going to include any live performances on talk or variety shows that I see during the week.

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Emile Sande’ worked her magic all the way to #1!
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Top 10 Videos and Performances for the week of March 31, 2013

1. Next to Me—Emile Sande’
2. Thrift Shop—Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with Wanz
3. Daylight (Playing for Change)—Maroon 5 with Adam Levine
4. Merry Go ‘Round—Kacey Musgraves
5. Tip It On Back—Dierks Bentley
6. Like Jesus Does—Eric Church
7. Tornado—Little Big Town
8. Suit & Tie—Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z
9. Life Is But a Dream (Acoustic)—Lyn Saga
10. 22—Taylor Swift

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