vol. 6

saw taken -- worth the money... i've been thinking a lot about the idea of control today... there are all kinds of control... two, specifically, include the following:

• here's freddie mercury and queen at live aid in wembley stadium in 1985 -- it starts off with the first part of bohemian rhapsody, and that's all fine and good, but then they segue in to radio gaga and it all gets going -- this isn't even close to being queen's best song, in my opinion -- but just watch mercury control this crowd -- especially from the 4:24 mark on...read the info about this video -- no soundtracks were permitted -- AND NO SOUNDCHECKS... are you kidding me? he killed this... and had the entire crowd in the palm of his hand... that would be evidence of control...
• the second type that i'll bring to your attention is a different type of control -- you may or may not have seen this movie before -- simply put, mickey rourke has, well, let's just leave it at a certain type of control... men's journal has a tremendous issue this month... front to back, it's just incredible -- including an article dealing with rourke's comeback... they make the claim that had he died after angel heart, he'd be thought of in the same way that people think of james dean... i'm not so sure about that, but i do know this: when i think of cool, i think of three people -- steve mcqueen, paul newman and mickey rourke

vol. 5

• steelers' tailgates are always a good time -- steelers' tailgates held on a friday in tucc's driveway are that much better, though...
• pretty cool to talk to people about what they hear when they listen to music... interesting to hear steve mention last night that there are times that he doesn't even hear the words being sung in a song... i'm pretty much the opposite -- the words almost always come first for me...if you're not sure exactly what you hear, try this -- listen to this song by nick drake -- what do you hear? (it's called one of these things first, and i know it gets cut off, but you'll get the point, i hope...)
• case in point... my favorite opening lines from a song, for the longest time, were from beck's loser... in the time of chimpanzees i was a monkey...this was the case until this morning when i heard bitch went nuts by ben folds for the first time... the bitch went nuts/she stabbed my basketball...
• i've often struggled with my like/dislike of "the classics" -- there are tons that i love (atlas shrugged, gatsby...) and others that i just can't take (naked lunch, howl...) this goes for music, also...
  
• beck, loved the cd -- but you should have known better than to think you were going to get the band past me! see the bullet above for my opinion on up on cripple creek -- i bet you can guess which category it falls under...
  
• for a better example of robbie robertson's passion, in my opinion, check out this song called showdown at big sky (scroll down a little and press the red button...and that would be the bodeans singing background on the song...)
• if you have never seen the movie the money pit, you should -- especially if you own your own home... i always loved this movie, but now i truly understand it -- the looks on tom hanks' face as he is running up the staircase that is falling down is worth watching this movie in itself... (the link i've provided will take you to a clip of some of the better parts of the movie...)
• i invented the houdini...
  

vol. 4

three things i think about music...

• a horn section gets my interest immediately (see you're the best thing by ray lamontagne for evidence)
• a peddle steel guitar does the same (see empty, specifically this version by ray lamontagne to catch my drift: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIUSikXex5w)
• it's pretty darn difficult to not feel better after listening to stevie wonder...

and some other things...

• i really enjoy the top ten list games that we play -- i learn so much about other people this way -- especially when they really think about the answers they provide...
• there is something really, really exciting about watching the looks on your students' faces when they really get something -- we just finished reading a short story called "Sonny's Blues" -- it's not an easy one at all -- but we discussed it and they got it... i mean really got it -- and i played a small role in that -- i'm not really sure i would get that feeling from being a web designer or a journalist...and why in the world would i ever give that up to become a principal?
• ray lamontagne writes in a way that amazes me -- i really connect with a lot of the things he writes with -- as though we've gone through a lot of the same things, metaphorically speaking, i guess... empty has some incredible lines...

i never learned to count my blessings
i choose instead to dwell on my disasters... (i am so damn guilty of this...)

lay your blouse across the chair
let fall the flowers from your hair
and kiss me with that country mouth so plain

well i looked my demons in the eyes
laid bare my chest, said
"do your best, destroy me
you see i've been to hell and back so many times
i must admit you kind of bore me..."

those lines are all part of the song -- not right after each other -- but all part of the same song -- there's great depth to everything he writes -- both the positive and the "negative"... i speak with my kids about determining whether or not you wish you could "steal" the writing of somebody else -- so that you were the one who actually wrote it... i wish i could steal all of those lines...

• love my brother to death, but that prick saw kings of leon last night -- not liking him so much right now...
  

vol. 3

what a great morning... what defines a great morning, you say? well, it starts with the night before, actually...

• if there's a better statement from a stadium announcer than time of the penalty...3 seconds i haven't heard it...
• it's really cool to sit next to a girl who's at her first game ever, has just hit the magical double digits, age wise, and is totally in to the game... really cool
• if getting lost in pittsburgh means that i am going to end up on mt. washington with that view going both up and down the mt., then i'd like to get lost more often...
• 2 hour delay... need i say more?
• listening to supertramp's breakfast in america is never a bad thing... it was the first actual album i ever owned and i know i had to have worn it out... one of the songs on it that i never really liked was oh darling -- i just never really liked it before -- it's probably my favorite song on the album now...
• i often wonder whether or not a group like supertramp or elo could make it today -- they definitely don't have the look -- would their talent have pulled them through today?
• i'm pretty sure it would...
• man's humanity can be seen in something as little as a stranger holding open a door for you...
• did i mention 2 hour delay?
  

vol. 2

• i remember thinking, a long time ago, that i just couldn't understand who in the world would ever want to watch the boring things on pbs/wqed -- yet now it's one of my favorite channels --nova rocks, independent lens is just incredible and they almost always have something great on -- tonight's nova deals with the migration of monarch butterflies...
• so i'm switching through the channels, feeling all sophisticated because i'm watching nova, and i come across true lies -- not many scenes better than jamie lee curtis dancing for arnold, not knowing it's arnold -- yeah, you know what i mean...
• trust me, tnt's new series about an ad agency in chicago is going to live up to my expectations -- i've always liked tom cavanagh and still miss ed, but he's picking up where he left off... the writing is something that many, many shows on tv have been lacking for quite some time...
• guilty pleasure alert: the devil wears prada -- anne hathaway has a natural beauty about her -- (or at least they're making her up to have a natural beauty about her...) i haven't been this, um, let's say impressed, with an actress since keri russell or natalie portman... nothing wrong with that...
• i'm trying to figure out why it is that i buy book after book after book that i know i want to read, even though i haven't finished the entire stack of books underneath the new one... i seriously have a stack of eight books i have to get to -- maybe it's because there's something about a hardback book that i love -- they're so much better to read than a little paper back... and god forbid it be a book like the soloist that i had to get off amazon because the only version in the bookstores now has a pic of jamie foxx and robert downey, jr. on it and the words "now a major motion picture" splashed across the front -- i absolutely hate when they do that...
• more on kings of leon -- after downloading three of their albums last night and only having the time to get them on to my phone, i did something three times today that i've never done before -- i turned my car's stereo off and listened to them on my phone while driving -- wow... and to prove how idiotic i am, i kept wanting to turn it up louder and reached for the knob on my stereo at least six times to do this...
  
• if there's a better four song "series" than sex on fire, use somebody, manhattan and revelry, i'd really like to hear it...

vol. 1

okay, here we go...

• i love finding new music -- even when that music's only new to me -- last night my brother nick introduced me to kings of leon and i barely slept because i was just devouring their stuff -- i will see this group this summer -- don't really care where i have to go to see them, but a festival setting would be incredible, i think... what i'd like to know is just how in the world i have not heard of them over the last five years or so -- here's the link to their own site: http://kingsofleon.com/ -- if you go to media, then videos, you can check out some of their stuff as it's been produced -- if you go here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=kings+of+leon&aq=f you will find some video of them live -- and they're damn good live -- if you read the comments people are leaving, you'll see two kinds of people -- those who really like their new stuff and those who are fired up about them losing their southern rock roots -- as somebody who's coming to them "late," and is working backwards through their stuff, i like their newer work better and the older work is growing on me... the voice is just mesmerizing -- it's different, but in a good way...
• there are few things better than the NY Times' sunday arts and leisure section -- it's worth the money just for this section alone...
• it's even better when you finally get the chance to read it while you are sitting in a booth at bob evans due to a two hour delay...
• TED is worth every second you spend on it -- i think angelo introduced me to this site -- but it's incredibly useful to motivate me to be passionate about what i'm doing -- at times i know i lose this -- http://www.ted.com/ -- there's also a very good article in this week's Times magazine section about it...
• i'm amped to see Taken this weekend -- personally, i don't think liam neeson has done anything worthwhile since Schindler's List, but i have high hopes for this one...
• currently, i'm listening to kings of leon, ray lamontagne -- this version of empty is something i could listen to over and over and over: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIUSikXex5w
• kids who listen to emo who think their music is emo, have never heard of morrissey or the smiths...
  

have a good one...

intro...

first things first... that title is no longer thanks to peter king of sports illustrated, nick...

i've resisted doing this for a bit, but have decided to put some ideas down and hopefully get some feedback... the purpose is to let you inside my head a little bit -- i'd love to hear back to know what you think -- or sites you're getting good stuff from -- or music you're hooked on -- a movie you're all over...