Phil’s Faves: Videos, October 9, 2011

Posted on October 16, 2011 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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Competition is finally starting to heat up, but not enough to affect Taylor Swift and Wally Pleasant who remain at the top two spots for another week….

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Top 10 Videos for the week of October 9, 2011

1. Sparks Fly—Taylor Swift
2. Stupid Day Job–Wally Pleasant
3. Storm Warning-Hunter Hayes
4. Brighter Than the Sun–Colbie Caillat
5. Gonna Get Over You-Sara Bareilles
6. Super Bass–Nicki Minaj
7. All Your Life-The Band Perry
8. How High the Moon–Tommy Emmanuel from “Center Stage” on PBS
9. We Owned the Night-Lady Antebellum
10. Stone Rollin’–Raphael Saadiq with Kim Wilson on Austin City Limits

1) “Sparks Fly”—If there’s too many sparks involved, Taylor may literally combust!
2) “Stupid Day Job”—So many millions of people wish they actually had a “stupid day job” right now. Wally’s song makes you feel better either way if you do or you don’t! wallypleasant.com
3) “Storm Warning”—It’s so nice to see this worthy video and song getting the attention it deserves!
4) “Brighter Than the Sun”—I think Colbie’s getting a third burst of a solar wind!
5) “Gonna Get Over You”—A bright new video entry with Sara showing the most confidence she’s ever shown in a video! For some reason, everyone that she touches in the grocery store that she’s at instantly changes into a pleather (I’m hoping) outfit!
6) “Super Bass”—The gloss is still there but I’m starting to lose interest….
7) “All Your Life”—Kimberly Perry looks good like she always does even with that fake tear!
8) “How High the Moon”—I stumbled upon this very enjoyable performance on a local PBS station. Even though it’s been around for a few years, I never saw it. The highlight to me was an incredible rendition of Les Paul’s “How High the Moon!”
9) “We Owned the Night”—I didn’t intend to put this one on for another week, but I am pleasantly surprised that it’s catching on with me!
10) “Stone Rollin’”—Another PBS entry with one of the best Austin City Limits performances I’ve seen in a while! Raphael is really loose and constantly smiles through his set because he is enjoying it so much! You would think that this approach wouldn’t help with the blues, but he pulls it off perfectly! Helping him out as his right hand man is Kim Wilson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds as well as his own solo career. Looking like he just stepped off the set of the History Channel’s Swamp People after he sold his alligator and spent his money on a sharkskin suit (very sharp!), Kim adds his contribution to the bluesy festivities by blowing his brains out on harp! Go to ACL’s archives and check this one out!

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“Q”sings: Foster the People, George Bedard, John Lennon, The Beatles

Posted on October 9, 2011 by PhilMaq

“Pumped Up Kicks”—Foster the People: ODWITS! I watched their unimpressive performances on last night’s Saturday Night Live. The viewers were treated to some very bad dancing by their lead singer (I don’t even want to waste time looking up his name.), and by some even worse dancing by the band’s keyboard player who was psychotically playing a tambourine and maracas at the same time! (Please reference “Moves Like Jagger.”) And then when it came to the whistling part, even though it was probably played on the keyboard, they “lip-whistled” as if they were actually doing it live!!! Is there anything real about this band? Distorted vocals so you can’t understand the lyrics, bad dancing by two members of the band, and fake whistling. The more I see of these guys, the less I like them. I have made a 180 degree turn of my feelings toward them. I can’t think of any other musician or group I ever felt this way about in so short of a time.

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George Bedard: A song by George Bedard entered my favorite songs list last week—and that’s a good thing! “Nut Rocker,” a rock ‘n’ roll remake of Tchaikovsky’s March from his Nutcracker ballet–originally covered by B. Bumble and The Stingers in 1962, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer in the 70’s (The only song that made “Pictures at an Exhibition” tolerable.), and most recently by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The first two versions were on piano and keyboard. The most recent ones—TSO and George Bedard are done on the guitar. TSO’s version features over-the-top guitar histrionics. It’s a very good version but it sounds like there was a lot of studio wizardry involved to make it sound that way.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about George’s version because he has a history of matching what he does in the studio with how he performs live, and vice versa. And I have to admit, I’m pretty attached to the keyboard versions since I have been used to them for so long. Well, he did an excellent job translating the song to guitar!

Now, George has had experience doing this before. He and his band, The Kingpins, featuring Rich Dishman and Randy Tessier, covered Rossini’s William Tell Overture on the band’s superb second album, “Hip Deep.” This track received an updated title as “William Tell ’97.” I’m guessing that he used a similar approach with “Nut Rocker.”
On this new version, which has a “bigger sound” than other songs on the album, Bedard plays the guitar parts as well as the bass which sounds very bottom heavy on some of the passages. Nice and deep! He is also assisted by some nice swinging snare drum work by Rich Dishman-something that doesn’t always come off well in the recording studio– unless you have someone very picky to make it sound that way.

In the liner notes to “Pickin’ Apart the Past,” he references originally playing the song with Bill Kirchen, another Ann Arbor guitar phenom, at Christmas shows that they played together at The Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Well, by committing this song to CD, George has also unknowingly supplied everyone with a song of his that can routinely be played at Christmas, too. But it is too good of a song to only be enjoyed at holiday time. For that reason, I am very happy that he didn’t classify it as such on his new release. But I can tell you that this song is one of my favorites right now! Check it out! It’s well worth it!

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John Lennon, The Beatles: Today, of course would have been John Lennon’s seventy-first birthday. He is also a member of Phil Maq’s Hall of Fame! (Check out the list!) Rather than listen to one of his usual songs that get overplayed around his birthday or death anniversary, I would like to suggest visiting youtube.com and checking out a terrific video of The Beatles on Shindig, a teen oriented music program in the 60’s.

The Beatles do great performances of three songs: “Kansas City,” “I’m a Loser,” and “Boys!” The band is very confident and loose, and they appear to really be having a lot of fun! “Kansas City” sounds sharp! Next, John switches to a Bob Dylan harmonica and acoustic guitar setup as Paul McCartney sings along to the song behind him, but off-mike– either because he really likes it, or to be mocking, in a humorous way! They finish as John retains his acoustic guitar and Ringo Starr sings boys on the strangest microphone placement I’ve ever seen for a drummer. Instead of a typical over the shoulder “gooseneck” arrangement, Ringo’s mike stand appears to be shoved in his face on a piece of angle iron at a 45 degree angle! (?)

Now I’m not sure if that is the exact order of how they actually performed the songs for the show. Dennis Mitchell’s Breakfast With The Beatles played an audio version of the show and the order was “I’m a Loser,” “Boys,” and “Kansas City.” There’s a nice little instrumental section that The Beatles play as an intro to “Kansas City” that is missing from the Shindig showing so I’m not sure which one is the true version. But it doesn’t matter because, once again, it is a zillion times better than their “Ready, Steady, Go” appearance!

Lennon is in his full Beatle haircut glory and even clicks his heel after they’re finished! That is how I want to remember him. Happy Birthday, John!

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Until next time, take care of yourself, and take care of each other!

Peace!

Q

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“Q” Bombs: October 9, 2011

Posted on October 9, 2011 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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Well, something new happened this week. There are two entries for the same song! I honestly never thought that could or would happen. The good news is that one of those will drop off after this week. The bad news is there’s a double dose of Blake Shelton bombs waiting for entry………..

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Worst Videos for the week of October 9, 2011

1. Pumped Up Kicks—Foster the People
2. Remind Me—Brad Paisley with Carrie Underwood
3. Shut Up Train-Little Big Town
4. Dirt Road Anthem—Jason Aldean
5. Moves Like Jagger-Maroon 5 with Chritina Aguilera
6. Skyscraper—Demi Lovato
7. Pumped Up Kicks-Foster the People from “Saturday Night Live”
8. I Love You This Big–Scott McCreery
9. Hell on Heels—Pistol Annies
10. Not Over You—Gavin DeGraw

1) “Pumped Up Kicks”—Dropping way too slowly for me…, plus the awful appearance on Saturday Night Live, moves this one back to the top.
2) “Remind Me” —Another week at number one on the CMT Top 20 Countdown. I thought for sure that Taylor Swift would have taken over by now. What happened? Did Taylor forget to pay somebody off?…Just kidding. (Sort of..)
3) “Shut Up Train”—This video hasn’t made it onto any countdown yet, but it is so annoying that the infrequent times I see it, is moving it quickly up my chart. Of course, that also means that it can disappear very quickly…
4) “Dirt Road Anthem”—Finally, a decent size drop on the CMT Top 20 Countdown. Uh, oh. That might be because he has another video climbing the list: “Tatoos On This Town.” As Satchel Paige–an incredible baseball player with a mind to match, might have said, “Don’t Look Back. Something might be gaining on you.”
5) “Moves Like Jagger”—Wow, what a cheesy video! And have you ever tried to sing along to this song? It’s almost impossible…
6) “Skyscraper”—Falling slowly on the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown. I’ll take it for now…
7) “Pumped Up Kicks”—ODWITS!!! An unprecedented second entry for the same song on the same list! Check out my “Q”sings on this one for a little more detail!
8) “I Love You This Big”—OK. Other viewers aren’t loving this song that much any more either……………
9) “Hell on Heels”—It appears to be ready to drop off CMT’s Top 20 Videos (which means I probably won’t see or hear it anymore), so I’ll go easy on it this week.
10) “Not Over You”—Man, I was over this video and song the first time I watched it.

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Phil’s Faves: Songs, October 2, 2011

Posted on October 8, 2011 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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Whoooo! Unless you were Paul McCartney, it was pretty difficult to make this list since half the slots have his name on them! Since I lean very heavily towards The Beatles and I do listen to something by them every week including two radio shows, this will occasionally happen. It sure did this week! Congratulations to the other artists who did place!
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Top Ten Songs for the Week of October 2, 2011

1. Stairway to Heaven-The Beatnix
2. Sparks Fly-Taylor Swift
3. Down at the Plaza-Pat Bergeson featuring Dan Anderson, Tom Roady, and Steve Shapiro
4. Time Spent in Los Angeles-Dawes
5. Stupid Day Job–Wally Pleasant
6. It’s So Easy-Paul McCartney (Alternate take)
7. Hold Me Tight-The Beatles
8. (I Want To) Come Home-Paul McCartney (From the movie “Everybody’s Fine”)
9. Hitchhike-Paul McCartney (Live from “The Apollo Theater”)
10. Nut Rocker-George Bedard

1) “Stairway to Heaven”—I was fascinated for another week by this pseudo Beatles song!
2) “Sparks Fly”—The song is fine without the video, but they both work fine separately!
3) “Down at the Plaza”—It keeps inching towards the top. I don’t know if it’ll make it there, but this is a worthy entry!
4) “Time Spent in Los Angeles”—I like the song way better than the video! The song gets better every time I hear it! The video…not so much.
5) “Stupid Day Job”—One of the “stupidest” choruses you’ll ever hear—and in this instance, that’s a good thing! wallypleasant.com! Do it. Now!
6) “It’s So Easy” (Alternate Take)—“It’s sooo easy” to like this song!
7) “Hold Me Tight”—My favorite song on “With The Beatles!” If you’re not listening very closely, you won’t catch the “Wipe Out” drum solo that Ringo Starr plays underneath Paul’s vocal the second time through the middle eight!
8)(“I Want To) Come Home”—Wow! This one is really hitting me hard and I think it’s going to make a good run up my chart! It’s a song that was used in the movie “Everything’s Fine” and is only available as a download but it is well worth it! It was nominated for a Golden Globe but was insultingly ignored for an Academy Award. It is one of the best songs he has written in the last 30 years!
9) “Hitchhike”—Yay! Dennis Mitchell’s Breakfast With The Beatles played it again last week! It has just the right amount of energy!
10) “Nut Rocker”-George Bedard digs up a classic pop/classical oldie from the past and gives it a nice rockin’ big sound! It a solid interpretation without the over the top guitars on Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s version—although that one is good, but in a different way! Little does George know that he has now given me a Christmas song of his to play, too!

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Phil’s Faves: Videos, October 2, 2011

Posted on October 8, 2011 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.

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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Taylor swift stays on top for another week and honestly, there’s not a lot of competition out there…..

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Top 10 Videos for the week of October 2, 2011

1. Sparks Fly—Taylor Swift
2. Stupid Day Job–Wally Pleasant
3. Super Bass–Nicki Minaj
4. Brighter Than the Sun–Colbie Caillat
5. Knee Deep-Zac Brown Band with Jimmy Buffett
6. Barefoot Blue Jean Night–Jake Owen
7. Storm Warning-Hunter Hayes
8. All Your Life-The Band Perry
9. We Owned the Night-Lady Antebellum from “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”
10. Time Spent in Los Angeles-Dawes

1) “Sparks Fly”—Another week at the top for Taylor! The show looks like it was so much fun, and the video must seem even more exciting if you went to it!
2) “Stupid Day Job”—Wally continues to hang on close to the top, and he deserves it! If you haven’t checked the video out, warp to wallypleasant.com!
3) “Super Bass”—Hey! Come on, now! The album is called “Pink Friday” so what did you expect for the main color in the video…………………..
4) “Brighter Than the Sun”—The “sun” continues to shine at the number 4 spot!
5) “Knee Deep”—I do like the mandolin work on this song!
6) “Barefoot Blue Jean Night”—Not much else around to push this one off…
7) “Storm Warning”—I wrote about Hunter Hayes almost five months ago. It’s about time this video finally made the CMT Top 20 Countdown!
8) “All Your Life”—Well, well. Here’s something different on my list: a video by The Band Perry! The video features an oddball cast of gypsy characters, and the song is even better!
9) “We Owned the Night”—The video for this song is OK, but they seemed to have a little extra energy when they performed it live!
10) “Time Spent in Los Angeles”—I like the song, but the video is about as exciting as the gig these guys are playing. It’s good enough, though…

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“Q” Bombs: October 2, 2011

Posted on October 2, 2011 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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Wow! A couple of annoying videos have finally disappeared! Let’s set off a funeral pyre before “If I Die Young” has a chance to resurrect! “Dirt Road Anthem” will now become the focus of my attention. How long is this boring video going to stick around……..

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Worst Videos for the week of October 2, 2011

1. Dirt Road Anthem—Jason Aldean
2. Remind Me—Brad Paisley with Carrie Underwood
3. Pumped Up Kicks—Foster the People
4. I Love You This Big–Scott McCreery
5. Skyscraper—Demi Lovato
6. Shut Up Train-Little Big Town
7. Hell on Heels—Pistol Annies
8. Moves Like Jagger-Maroon 5 with Christina Aguilera
9. Not Over You—Gavin DeGraw
10. You and I–Lady Gaga

1) “Dirt Road Anthem”—Still hanging on at #2 for no inexplicable reason. So it moves up again. I know that these two videos are reversed on the CMT Top 20 Countdown, but this one annoys me way more. I understand Jason Aldean is hot right now and a song like “My Kinda Party” deserved the attention it got, but there’s way better stuff out there—by him and other artists. Why won’t this one drop!!!!????
2) “Remind Me” —Look. I really like Brad Paisley so it kills me to have to keep listing this one as a bad video. Please fall off. Soon………………………
3. “Pumped Up Kicks”—Dropping way too slowly for me………….
4. “I Love You This Big”—And I love this song this big! (I am holding my thumb and forefinger a micrometer apart…..
5. “Skyscraper”—C’mon. This one is hard to continue to write about because of Demi’s personal problems. I can’t say, “You know that skyscraper. Why don’t you go to the top”…..
You fill it in. I don’t want to say, “Go to the top, and throw this video off of it.” I guess I can. So do it, Demi. What were you thinking……………
6. “Shut Up Train”—A boring black and white video in which the title says it all. I expect more from a group that gave us such a great “Little White Church” video….
7. “Hell on Heels”—Oh, how I wish there was some “hell” in this video. Great title, though….
8. “Moves Like Jagger”—This one is kind of borderline bad—and that’s good because that means that most of the videos out there that don’t make either of my lists are just kind of mediocre. Now, that’s a different kind of problem…Anyway, I would rather stick with the original Mick Jagger than watch this pretend video of bad imitations..
9. “Not Over You”—It appears to be stuck. Can someone give it a push from behind….
10. “You and I”—Many disturbing visual images–and that’s what videos are for. But there are so many of them………………………….

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Phil’s Faves: Songs, September 25, 2011

Posted on October 1, 2011 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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Wally Pleasant finally gets knocked out of the top spot of my favorite songs, but it is another quirky adversary that does the deed, and NOT Taylor Swift! Britney’s almost gone, but it was another fun week of musical exploration!
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Top Ten Songs for the Week of September 25, 2011

1. Stairway to Heaven-The Beatnix
2. Stupid Day Job–Wally Pleasant
3. Sparks Fly-Taylor Swift
4. Down at the Plaza-Pat Bergeson featuring Dan Anderson, Tom Roady, and Steve Shapiro)
5. Time Spent in Los Angeles-Dawes
6. Brighter Than the Sun-Colbie Caillat
7. It’s So Easy-Paul McCartney (Alternate take)
8. Knock Three Times-Tony Orlando, Jimmy Fallon, and Will Forte from “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”
9. 1-800-DONATE CARS (“Heritage for the Blind”)
10. I Wanna Go-Britney Spears

1) “Stairway to Heaven”—This song is an Australian oddity from a CD called “Stairways to Heaven.” The album consists of multiple versions of the played-to-death classic. This version has mostly Beatle song segments, and it is awesome! This gem seamlessly puts together pieces of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “La Bamba” (How did that get in here!?), “She Loves You,” “From Me to You,” “Please Please Me,” and “Twist and Shout!”  If you can’t imagine what that sounds like, I can tell you it’s incredible! Try to find a copy if you haven’t, but it’s not easy to locate. I stumbled upon it as an uncredited selection on Dennis Mitchell’s Breakfast with The Beatles, and then went on a scavenger hunt. It is absolutely worth it!
2) “Stupid Day Job”—Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end, but “Stupid Day Job” still rules at wallypleasant.com!
3) Sparks Fly”—The song is still good, but other songs are catching my attention. I don’t think it’s slipping for good….
4) “Down at the Plaza”—A bonafide “simbie” for me! It’s a creative arrangement that just keeps moving! It sounds like it was a lot of fun to play! 
5) “Time Spent in Los Angeles”—A dark horse that’s coming up strong on the outside and making a run toward the finish line! It is a deserving contender!
6) “Brighter Than the Sun”–-Still like it, but it’s not so shiny anymore…
7) “It’s So Easy” (Alternate Take)—Buddy Holly would have liked this version! Actually, he probably would have liked either version because then he’d still be around! (Sorry for pointing out the obvious…)
8) “Knock Three Times”—In general, I have never liked this song, but now I have enjoyed it at least once when it was performed on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” Jimmy Fallon and Will Forte looked like they were having so much fun “knocking on the ceiling” and “banging on the pipes” with Tony Orlando, who looked like he was having a blast himself! This was made even more touching because before and after the song, both Will Forte and Questlove from The Roots had stories from before they had gotten famous about an encounter they each had with Tony Orlando. I thought it was a put on until Will produced a hand written letter from Tony encouraging him to follow his dream. Will had seen him perform at Branson and talked with him. After the commercial break, unknown to even Jimmy, Questlove told a story about how he had met Tony Orlando when he was a kid and Tony once again encouraged him to keep drumming and dreaming and it will happen for him! It’s nice to see and hear about a truly nice guy!
9) “1-800-DONATE CARS”—Still hypnotic…Still catchy…!
10)  “I Wanna Go” —Britney’s almost gone, but I’m sure she’ll reappear somewhere in the future…

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Phil’s Faves: Videos, September 25, 2011

Posted on October 1, 2011 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.

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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It was inevitable that it was going to happen eventually, but Taylor Swift ends Wally Pleasant’s three week stay at the top. There were some very interesting live performances that I watched this week, knocking out some deserving videos…

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Top 10 Videos for the week of September 25, 2011

1. Sparks Fly—Taylor Swift
2. Stupid Day Job–Wally Pleasant
3. Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)–Katy Perry
4. Brighter Than the Sun–Colbie Caillat
5. Barefoot Blue Jean Night–Jake Owen
6. Super Bass–Nicki Minaj
7. I Wanna Go–Britney Spears
8. Lotus Flower and Staircase–Radiohead from “Saturday Night Live”
9. Knee Deep-Zac Brown Band with Jimmy Buffett
10. Senator–Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks from “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”

1) “Sparks Fly” —Gloss wins over computer graphics this week as the melody finally hits its target!
2) “Stupid Day Job” —Slipping to second this week, Wally Pleasant continues a very respectable run for a video that doesn’t have a major outlet! Check it out at wallypleasant.com!
3) “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” —Hey, I was pleasantly wrong about this seemingly innocent looking video where a lot of seamy stuff happens! (I thought it would have fallen off the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown this week.) I enjoy the video game storyline every time I watch it!
4) “Brighter Than the Sun” —It seems like “sun’ is getting a second wind!
5) “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” —Summer continues to live on in this video!
6) “Super Bass” —The images continue to be visually stimulating to me!
7) “I Wanna Go”  —Britney slips a little further after a great run!
8) “Lotus Flower” and “Staircase”—Two very good performances from a band that is rarely seen on any type of commercial television! The live music sounded warmer than their recent album “King of Limbs.” “Staircase” isn’t even released and that’s the kind of gutsy move that you would expect from Radiohead! The electronic “dance” music kept singer Thom Yorke acting as if he had a constant spasm, but one that was good for him—and us!
9) “Knee Deep” —I like the part where the woman takes a bottle of booze and a lit torch and blows a fireball at the monster to destroy him! The special effects are so 50’s sci-fi!
10) “Senator” —Stephen Malkmus and his current band came out smoking in this live version including a Jimi Hendrix behind the head guitar solo! The song, from their new “Mirror Traffic” album was no slouch either for this outing!

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“Q” Bombs: September 25, 2011

Posted on September 25, 2011 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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This week has a new #1 and some confusing moments. A bad video finally drops off, but it’s immediately replaced. Ah, “the circle of life….”
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Worst Videos for the week of September 25, 2011
1. Remind Me—Brad Paisley with Carrie Underwood
2. Dirt Road Anthem—Jason Aldean
3. Pumped Up Kicks—Foster the People
4. I Love You This Big–Scott McCreery
5. Skyscraper—Demi Lovato
6. You and I–Lady Gaga
7. If I Die Young–The Band Perry
8. Good Life–One Republic
9. Not Over You—Gavin DeGraw
10. Hell on Heels—Pistol Annies

1. “Remind Me”—OK. Another week at #1 on this week’s CMT’s Top 20 Countdown.
So, let’s talk about this one. Brad Paisley starts on one end of the salt flat. Carrie Underwood is on the opposite end of the same flat and they sing this song as they start walking towards each other. But when they get close enough to touch, Brad reaches for…his guitar!!! (Actually, that’s a pretty wise choice since you never know where she’s been!) Look, the point I want to make is that this is a “love” song. They have hosted many awards shows together and you would think that they and their significant others could at least handle a platonic hug. That is why this video is so disappointing.
2. “Dirt Road Anthem”—Still hanging on at #2 for no inexplicable reason. So it moves up again…
3. “Pumped Up Kicks”—I overheard my daughter say that she requested this at yesterday’s homecoming dance (!!!) Yes, the same daughter who alerted me to the lyrics. When the song comes on, I hear fingers snapping in the house….I am sooooooooo confused! As I’ve said before: “It’s so darn catchy….”
4. “I Love You This Big”—He seems like kind of a little guy, so it can’t be that much love…..
5. “Skyscraper”—This song gets more irritating every time I see or hear it!
6. “You and I”—It appears to have peaked. I can’t wait for the free fall.
7. “If I Die Young”—Oh, it is dying so painfully slow. Can’t someone take pity and put it out of its misery…………….
8. “Good Life”—Nobody offered it assistance to slide off the charts, so it found some footing and hung on…
9. “Not Over You”—Well, it slipped again. Let’s see if it’s for good……
10. “Hell on Heels”—A new entry on the trash list. Look, Courtyard Hounds weren’t The Dixie Chicks and Pistol Annies aren’t Miranda Lambert—even if she is in the group. Definitely subpar…

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Phil’s Faves: Songs, September 18, 2011

Posted on September 25, 2011 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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Another week at the top on both of my “faves” categories for Wally Pleasant again! But Taylor Swift is knocking on the door. I thought I heard some great music this week that I hadn’t listened to in a while. And just like on my “faves’ videos list, this one also contains a commercial!

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Top Ten Songs for the Week of September 18, 2011

1. Stupid Day Job–Wally Pleasant
2. Sparks Fly-Taylor Swift
3. Bring on the Lucie (Freda People)-John Lennon
4. Brighter Than the Sun-Colbie Caillat
5. Down at the Plaza-Pat Bergeson featuring Dan Anderson, Tom Roady, and Steve Shapiro
6. Time Spent in Los Angeles-Dawes
7. I Wanna Go-Britney Spears
8. It’s So Easy (Alternate Take)-Paul McCartney
9. Medley: You Need a Man/Coming to You-Loggins & Messina
10. 1-800-DONATE CARS

1) “Stupid Day Job”—Wally Pleasant nails down my favorite songs list for a record third week! I just wish this could happen for him in the “stupid ‘real’ world!” Look for it at wallypleasant.com!
2) “Sparks Fly”—The melody and words are really getting my attention right now! I like this song! She makes it seem so easy…
3) “Bring On the Lucie (Freda People)”—Wow! I hadn’t heard this song in so long, I forgot how good it was! “Bring on the Lucie,” appears to be a nonsense title. That is the only part of the song that is wasted. Over a nice constant slide guitar riff, Lennon inserts his version of “Masters of War” lyrics. He gets right to the point in the mean lyrics that are then offset by a happy chorus. It probably is my favorite John Lennon song.
4) “Brighter Than the Sun”–-The best pop song she’s done to this point!
5) “Down at the Plaza”—I continue to find a different section that gets my attention. This week, it was the vibes. Follow those “vibes” and check out this song!
6) “Time Spent in Los Angeles”—I really like the melody and arrangement on this song! It’s like an updated Jackson Browne!
7) “I Wanna Go” —Britney went a little further down this week. This song is supposed to be her most popular song ever according to radio plays. It’s good, but it’s no “Till the World Ends” or “Toxic…
“It’s So Easy” (Alternate Take)—The version I’m referring to is an extra track that does not appear on the Buddy Holly Tribute album “Rave On.” This is not the rave up “Helter Skelter” type version but one that more closely follows the original. It sounds great and it is “so easy” to like this song! (It’s only available on itunes.)
9) “Medley: You Need a Man/Coming to You”—Nine minutes of pure heaven from Loggins & Messina’s third album, “Full Sail.” “You Need a Man” is a funky upbeat jam with nice horns that then segues into a very upbeat almost reggae pop tune with great harmonies and flutes! This is stuff that is similar to the kind of melding of songs that “Abbey Road” excelled at! It is such a great song that, once again, is long forgotten…if it ever was remembered in the first place!
10) “1-800-DONATE CARS”—This hypnotic jingle is one of the best commercial jingles of the year! I sing along to it every time I hear it!

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