Day 194: Some of you out there may be slightly disappointed by the fact that today's new chapter has nothing to do with the NYC band TV on the Radio. I just thought the name was cool. Instead, I would like to explore songs that I associate with some of my favorite TV shows and movies over the years. Back in 2007, I imagine that I was looking through the Entertainment Weekly Fall Preview when I ran across a show they recommended about a computer nerd that worked in a big box electronics store ("Buy More") but wound up absorbing a government database that suddenly made him the world's most effective spy. That show, was the late, great, and under-rated "Chuck." For 5 seasons, Chuck gives us a wonderful combination of comedy, wit, drama, and spy hijinks matched with a pretty cool soundtrack. Every week, the show opened with the instrumental parts of today's selection "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" by Cake, which itself is also a delightful musical tour-de-force. It actually took me a couple of seasons before I realized that the theme song was a Cake song (even though it was obvious). Oh, Chuck, how I miss you so.
04/13/2015
Day 195: At some point early in our days down in Lafayette, Jen and I were watching TV when an ad came on the TV for the new WV Beatle. Jen's first car was an original beetle, and so the ad immediately caught our attention. But, the ad was also accompanied by a song that we had never heard before with a super, super catchy guitar riff and the opening line, "We Don't Live in the Same World." It was pretty mesmerizing. We even test drove a new Beatle a few months later. I am not sure at the time how I was able to track down the name of the song and band that was featured in that ad, but it was the song "Step Into My World" by the British Band Hurricane #1. I even found a used copy of the album at CD land, but as you might imagine, it was pretty terrible other than today's song. But oh, what a One-Hit-Wonder. Do yourself a favor and step into their world for the next 5 minutes or so.
04/14/2015
Day 196: Back in January, I mentioned that I was first introduced to Celtic rockers Florence + The Machine during an episode of So You think You Can Dance. At that time, I highlighted the Fire-Me-Up song "Drumming Song," but today I would like to feature the first song that I ever heard from the band, once again on SYTYCD, the beautiful and intense "Cosmic Love." Like all great songs from this band, there is an awesome mix of hard and soft; sweet and sour. It's a rock song with a harp, for goodness sake. That's bad-ass. And there is something about the vocals towards the end where lead singer Florence Welch bends the notes all over the map in this sort of controlled yet chaotic outburst. It really works for me: "No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight. In the shadow of your heart."
Here is a link to the SYTYCD number from Ashley and Ade
04/15/2015
Day 197: I have a general rule about TV: I don't like shows that focus on police precincts, hospitals, or law firms or anything on CBS. Unfortunately, this rules out like 90% of all shows out there. But, from time-to-time, I will make an exception, usually if there is a mitigating circumstance, such as if the show involves aliens, takes place in the future, or, in the case of today's inspiration, had a whacky comedic premise where the show involves a fake psychic and is named Psych. This delightful dramedy on USA starring James Roday and Dule Hill was also peppered with pop culture references for people of my generation, including some songs that I had completely forgotten about. In one episode towards the end of the series' run featured today's song, "Flagpole Sitta" from Harvey Danger. I remembered the song from late in my college days and much like the TV show that featured it, the song is delightfully whacky with lyrics like: "Been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding," and "Put me in the hospital for nerves and then they had to commit me. You told them all I was crazy. They cut off my legs, now I'm an amputee," and finally, "The agony and the irony: they're killing me (whoa)." Whoa is right!
04/16/2015
Day 198: Once upon a time, I loved the show "American Idol." Jen were first pulled into its gravitation pull by our friend Corinne while down at Purdue. It became our weekly obsession for many years. We watched Kelly take the first title; we speculated about who would win, Rubin or Clay; we were even part of the Soul Patrol. For a while I even rated each nightly performance and created my own leader board. But, by 2010, the format was starting to decay. Season 9 was won by Lee DeWyze, despite his complete lack of actual singing ability, and by Season 10, Simon had left and no one was there to prevent the truly terrible Scotty McCreery from a blow-out victory. That season broke me. But, eight seasons of love is hard to forget, so today I wanted to feature a song that is way better than the show actually deserves, the fantastic "Falling Slowly" from Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová. This Grammy winning jewel from the film "Once" (as well as the very enjoyable musical of the same name), is a near perfect duet / love song. This song was performed twice on "Idle American" (as I sometimes like to refer to it), but I will always remember it as the last great performance of the show when as it was circling the drain, Lee DeWyze and the women that should have won Season 9, Crystal Bowersox performed it as a duet. Since Crystal was singing with Lee, that talent-less hack could actually match pitch with her, so it actually wound up working out. It was the beginning of the slow fall, but like the song itself, it was still bittersweet and beautiful: "Take this sinking boat and point it home, we've still got time. Raise your hopeful voice; you have a choice. You've made it now."
04/17/2015
Day 199: One day during lunch at the TTC cafeteria, Al said to me, "clear eyes, full heart." Unfortunately, at the time, I had no idea want he was talking about. To those "in the know," the proper response to Al's statement is: "can't lose," and the full phrase is the rallying cry of the Dillon, TX HS football team in the truly excellent drama "Friday Night Lights." Jen and I were a little late to the party on this TV show (obviously) but through the wonder of Netflix, we were able to binge watch the first 4 seasons in almost enough time to see the 5th and final season in real time. Today's song, the alt-country tune "Devil Knows Your Dead," by Delta Spirit was the song used in series finale's final montage. As we sat on the couch, watching the finale, with tears streaming down our face, I knew that I would need to download this track, even though I had never heard the song or the band before. Clear Eyes. Full Heart. Can't. Lose.
04/18/2015
Day 200: With most TV shows, I am in it for the long hall. But sometimes (like with American idol), shows just get so bad that not even I will continue to watch them. Such is the case with the show Heroes. I actually really enjoyed the first season. I remember watching the Season 2 premier with great anticipation in a hotel room with Benji in Clemson, SC. But by the end of the 2nd season, it seemed like the writers had run out of ideas and were just making crap up as the went along. I made it through Season 3, but it felt like punishment. But, along the way, it was an episode of Heroes that first introduced me to the California-based indie band Rogue Wave when I heard today's song "Eyes" during one of the early episodes. It was one of the first examples of my experiences of rewinding a show a dozen time to listen for lyrics and then Goggling those lyrics to find the song. It is a little hard to make out, but the first line is: "Missed the last train home. Birds pass by to tell me that I'm not alone. Well I'm pushing myself to finish this part, Can handle a lot, But one thing I'm missing...is in your eyes."
04/19/2015
Day 201: Another TV show that I am sad to say I was late to appreciate was the Joss Whedon classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It took me a little while to appreciate that brilliant Whedon mix of action, drama, and humor, but as his many projects have shown over the years, it works. Jen originally got sucked into the show by Abigail and Bonnie, as I recall, and then they together strong-armed me into binge watching it as well. I don't recall *that* much music that I associate with the show (although Abigail pointed out the Sunday's version of Wild Horses a few weeks ago), but three was one episode in particular that featured today's song "Touched" by VAST which is another song that I remember from my late college years but had kind of forgotten about until I was watching Buffy 5-10 years later. The song's use of that kind of gothic, primal chant was a cool compliment to a show about teenagers and vampires. it was another instant download as soon as finished my particular Buffy Binge an that particular day.
04/20/2015
Day 202: A few weeks ago, I mentioned that there were two specific TV events that reminded me of the existence of the band Yaz. One was a Super Bowl ad (see Day 182) while the other was an episode of another late, great TV show, the JJ Abrams pseudo homage to the X-Files known as Fringe. Like many good shows, it took a little while for the show to find its rhythm and get past the monster-of-the-week soaked 1st season, but once it hit its stride, it was my favorite show on the airwaves. The rock and anchor of the show was the absolutely brilliant performance by John Noble as the character Dr. Walter Bishop, which was actually at least 3 different characters with subtle differences in personalities in two different parallel universes. Today's song, "Only You" was featured in one of the best Walter scenes of the entire show during the last scene of the fifth and final season premier. In the scene, Walter has awoken in a post-apocalyptic world controlled by authoritarian beings and believes that the only plan to defeat them is lost forever. He finds a intact CD in a broken down car and is able to play today's song, the first music he has heard in years. As he sits in the car weeping, he spots a sign of hope, a dandelion growing out of the cracks in the road. It is just one of those classic TV moments that will be burned into my consciousness forever.
04/21/2015
Day 203: Speaking of JJ Abrams, I would be pretty remiss if I were not to mention my favorite Abrams show of all time: Lost. I clearly remember recording the pilot a few months after we moved into our current house, and suddenly watching the exploits of that band of plane crash survivors was way more fun than home improvement. Some people got a bit disenchanted with the show over its 5-year run, but I loved every minute of it. There were not too many musical moments in the show, but during the Season 4 finale when we see Jack back in L.A. after returning from the Island, he is driving in his car and turns on the radio and what song would happen to come on? Well, it would be today's song "Gouge Away" from the Pixies, the final track on the outstanding 1989 album "Doolittle." The song is super fun and aggressive. I am not sure that I would have pegged Jack as a Pixies fan, but for me it just added to the coolness factor of the show itself. Go ahead Jack, you can stay all day... if you want to.
04/22/2015
Day 204: I feel like I have spent the last week talking about all of my favorite old shows that are no longer with us, but I still find time to watch some new shows from time to time as well. One of my favorite newish shows is the James Spader cloak and danger drama "The Blacklist." Entertainment Weekly gave it a strong recommendation when it premiered in 2013, and after a few weeks, I could not get enough of Spader's witty, edgy Raymond Reddington. During a pivotal scene of the first season Fall Finale (because that's a thing now, I guess) a song was playing in the background with a familiar sound, although I did not immediately recognize it. It turned out to be today's song "Pendulum" by Pearl Jam off their 2013 album Lightning Bolt. I had not yet bothered to purchase the album, but I soon put it on my Xmas list. The song has this pervasive, driving, almost creepy simple guitar line that was the perfect background music for a shady gentlemen in a hat making a call from a phone booth in the rain. It was a nice little moment, and if nothing else, it showed that after almost 25 years, both James Spader and Pearl Jam still had "it."
04/23/2015
Day 205: I have been talking a lot about TV shows, but movies can also be a good source of musical memories. Most people from my generation have a favorite John Hughs movie, and for me that wasn't 16 Candles or The Breakfast Club. I was always partial to Pretty in Pink (which also featured James Spader) and perhaps my favorite teenage comedy was Ferris Bueller's Day Off (both also from that magical year of 1986). I don't believe that I saw either film in the theatre (not even my beloved Sun Theatre in Williamston), so I must have come by both films on VHS copies either off of broadcast TV or Dawn's HBO subscription. Hugh's movies were also both known for their music and both soundtracks contained version of today's song, the beautifully melancholy "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want," from The Smiths, although the placement is not obvious. I remember pouring over Pretty In Pink until I finally heard the song playing faintly in the background of a short scene. In Ferris Bueller, it is actually a very nice instrumental version that plays during the iconic scene of the gang in the art museum. Good times...
04/24/2015
Day 206: The year was 1989. The actor was John Cusack, his girl? Ione Skye. The scene was perhaps the most memorable scene of any teenage love story from the 80s… or 90s… and maybe even the whole 20th century for all I know. The song was of course "In Your Eyes," from Peter Gabriel. I am sure that the sale of boom boxes went up exponentially after this movie. Do I need to Say Anything else? "Oh, the light and heat... I am complete."
04/25/2015
Day 207: It is kind of strange. I feel like I am the kind of person that likes movies, but it seems like I am not the type of person that actually has seen that many movies. I suppose everyone has gaps in their pop culture knowledge, but it seems like movies is one of my biggest gaps. Nonetheless, I certainly have my internal list of favorite films, and one of my under-the-radar all time favorites is the 2006 Will Farrell / Dustin Hoffman / Emma Thompson film, "Stranger Than Fiction." If you haven't seen the movie... it is pretty hard to explain... Will Farrell wakes one day to discover that he is the character in a novel and he can hear the voice of the author in his head narrating his life. Sounds strange? Well, it is, but all-in-all it is one of the sweetest, most interesting and thought provoking movies that I have seen in than last 10-15 years. One of the notable aspects of the film is that the soundtrack is almost exclusively composed of songs from the Austin, TX based indie band known as Spoon. I had never heard of the band before seeing the movie, but I found out rather quickly that they were one of Kimber's favorite bands. So, today, I would like to offer up one of the Spoon tracks that featured prominently in Stranger Than Fiction, "My Mathematical Mind." Now, you KNOW I can get behind that. Is it really so strange after all?
04/26/2015
Day 208: I started off this Chapter two weeks ago with the theme song to the show Chuck. Chuck brought me a lot of nice memories (some musical and some not) over its 5-year run, so I thought I would close this chapter with another great 21st Century track that was featured in Chuck's very first season, the song "No One's Gonna Love You," from Band of Horses. It is just a lovely little love song that I will use to bid farewell to my little tribute to some of my favorite shows and movies. "No one's gonna love you more that I do," guys and gals.
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