My Dad Requested...

that I figure out what songs were in the movie Reign Over Me (w/ Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle) and put together a CD for him for his next gift. He said the movie was just OK, but that the music was great and that the official soundtrack didn't have the real music from the movie. Guess they didn't want to pay licensing fees, etc. I haven't even seen the movie myself, but with a little internet research, I found the list of songs in the movie. And I have to say it really did have some excellent music. Good job, Dad. YouTubes below are for Pearl Jam's cover of "Love Reign O'er Me" and the UK band Embrace's uplifting "Ashes". I'm actually surprised "Ashes" never broke the US pop charts.

1. Love Reign O'er Me - The Who
2. Simple Man - Graham Nash
3. Out in the Street - Bruce Springsteen
4. Drive All Night - Bruce Springsteen
5. Birds of St. Marks - Jackson Browne
6. Stop Your Sobbing - The Pretenders
7. How to Save a Life - The Fray
8. All These Things That I've Done - The Killers
9. Ashes - Embrace
10. In This Life - Chantal Kreviazuk
11. Lean on Me - Bill Withers
12. I Ain't Got Nobody (I used the Fats Waller version for my dad's CD)
13. I'm Old Fashioned (I used the Ella Fitzgerald version)
14. Hoop-Dee-Doo (I used the Perry Como version)
14. Love Reign O'er Me - Pearl Jam

My Bro-In-Law Requests

Mario's "Go" worth the long wait? Well, it's a good album. I'm not jumping up and down, though, and you know I'm very capable of that kind of response to new music. There are definitely some very good songs (esp. "Music For Love"), but none tops "Kryptonite", the clear standout track, which I've already been listening to for months and months now.

Mario has a very strong voice. When I listen to all the songs as a unit, though, I get really bored.

Also, someone decided he needed to sex himself up a lot on this one to compete with R. Kelly and Akon. "Let Me Watch" doesn't really add anything to this album. I love "I Wanna [Love] You" and "Freaky in the Club" in spite of their lyrics - it's not just that I'm a self-respecting female. Mario is just much better* when he's going for old-school, inspirational ballad R. Kelly (as in "Do Right") than when he's aiming for (um, ok, probable) sex-offender R. Kelly. Ironically, Akon produced "Do Right". Someone's got to fill that niche now that R. Kelly's left it behind.

*Ok, ok, "Go" - another kinky track on this album - is hot. I think we can thank the Neptunes.


Must buys - and these sound even better when you don't listen to them as part of the album overall:
1. Kryptonite
2. Music for Love
3. Do Right (this will do well on pop radio - moms will dig it)
4. Go (produced by the Neptunes)

Other memorable songs:
5. Crying Out For Me (but you know that)
6. Skippin'
7. How Do I Breathe (the first single, but I don't know... I go back & forth on this one. This song bores me.)
8. No Definition (Timbaland produced - not Tim's best, but it's ok)
9. Right and a Wrong Way (good cover of Keith Sweat)

Hallelujah for Martin Sexton

This song makes the world all right. It will still all your December chaos for a moment. There's another slower version on his excellent Live Wide Open album, also gorgeous and raw.

RMW and I finally went to see him play in person last night. More later - super busy day/night today... but, please PLEASE go to one of his live shows if you ever get a chance. I walked into Roseland feeling distracted, buzzing around myself instead of anchored safely inside. I walked out feeling connected to my soul and humanness again. Yeah, I guess music -- well, and art more broadly -- is my religion, my truth.

Man I Miss The Daily Show on News Days Like Yesterday

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/12/20071204-4.html

"Q Mr. President, thank you. I'd like to follow on that. When you talked about Iraq, you and others in the administration talked about a mushroom cloud; then there were no WMD in Iraq. When it came to Iran, you said in October, on October 17th, you warned about the prospect of World War III, when months before you made that statement, this intelligence about them suspending their weapons program back in '03 had already come to light to this administration. So can't you be accused of hyping this threat? And don't you worry that that undermines U.S. credibility?

THE PRESIDENT: David, I don't want to contradict an august reporter such as yourself, but I was made aware of the NIE last week. In August, I think it was Mike McConnell came in and said, we have some new information. He didn't tell me what the information was; he did tell me it was going to take a while to analyze. Why would you take time to analyze new information? One, you want to make sure it's not disinformation. You want to make sure the piece of intelligence you have is real. And secondly, they want to make sure they understand the intelligence they gathered: If they think it's real, then what does it mean? And it wasn't until last week that I was briefed on the NIE that is now public."

UM, ... REALLY!? You mean, Mr. President, that when Mike McConnell said he had new info back in August, you didn't care to ask what it was!?

...
"Q Why should you trust this intelligence if it's different than 2005? Why should we trust it any more?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, I'm -- without getting into sources and that, that's -- I believe that the intelligence community has made a great discovery, and they've analyzed the discovery, and it's now part of our government policy."

OH OK, I get it. It's part of our government policy now so it must be reliable intelligence. Of course!

"The Value of a Friend in the Next Cubicle"

Obvious to some of us, perhaps - but still nice to see research backing this point up.