A Sure Sign of the Apocalypse

Well, there you go. The end is nigh!

ABC Fall preview - Cavemen

The Hollywood Argyles - Alley Oop

Umbrella

When the sun shines
We’ll shine together
Told you I'll be here forever
Said I'll always be your friend
Took an oath
I'mma stick it out 'till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
Know that we still have each other
You can stand under my Umbrella
You can stand under my Umbrella

A post about Rihanna has been has been long overdue here at 15 Jugglers.

Umbrella - Rihanna



But you definitely won't want to miss this cover. Mmmm. Gives me goosebumps.

Umbrella - John West (Rihanna cover)


Check out some more John West:

New Year's Day

Loved You Tonight

and visit John's myspace page for more info!

He Resolves Not To Smoke

Blues Brothers

“By the year 2006, the music known today as the blues will exist only in the the classical records department of your local public library.” - Elwood Blues, 1978.

Preaching to the audience at the Universal Amphitheater in 1978, Elwood said during the opening number of the Blues Brothers' show that much of the music we hear today is “pre-programmed electronic disco”. Elwood's observation of the direction music was heading wasn't very far off when you consider not only how music itself has (d)evolved, but the ways in which we obtain and listen to music today has completely changed.

Elwood never saw this one coming: By the year 2006, people wouldn't be looking for classic blues albums at their local record stores or their local public libraries; we now shop at Amazon.com, the itunes store or download music from thousands of websites and weblog pages just like the one you're viewing right now.

One of my all-time faves, 'Briefcase Full of Blues' is an exciting and terrific Soul/R&B album. The movie and brothers Jake and Elwood Blues of course, have become cultural icons. Enjoy a few tracks from'Briefcase Full of Blues'; it's not only an opportunity to hear “master bluesmen practicing their craft”, it's a chance to reflect on the days when we heard the hiss and crackle of a needle being placed into the leader groove of a 12” vinyl long player on dad's old hi-fi.

Opening - I Can't Turn You Loose

(I Got Everything I Need) Almost

Rubber Biscuit

I Don't Know

Soul Man

And I would be remiss if I didn't include some classics that Curtis no doubt played for Jake and Elwood down in the basement of the St. Helen of the Blessed Shroud Orphanage in Calumet City, Illinois.

Floyd Dixon - Hey Bartender

Willie Mabon - I Don't Know

Big Joe Turner - Flip, Flop & Fly

Taj Mahal - She Caught The Katy

Motley Crue - Quaternary

Rare Motley Crue EP by special request:


Planet Boom

Bittersweet

Friends

Father

Baby Kills

Ryan Adams Live

Thank you once again, Aquarium Drunkard . You are truly among the top 5 reasons why God invented the internet. Ryan Adams at Le Maroquinerie, Paris France June 3, 2007 .


Here's Ryan along with Elton John in May of 2002 on CMT's Crossroads...

Answering Bell

Daniel

Firecracker

Tiny Dancer

My Sweet Carolina

Love Sick Blues

Rocket Man

Mathematical Paradox

This actually happened this evening...

I just picked up a book entitled, “The Liar Paradox and The Towers of Hanoi – The Ten Greatest Math Puzzles of All Time”, by Marcel Danesi. i drove over to little caesars to get some pizza and was excited about getting into that book when i got home. they didn't have a deep dish hot n ready so i got a regular round hot n ready. i didn't want to wait 8 minutes. the young lady rang me up, i read the register, it came to $5.30. i gave her a 10 dollar bill and she proceeded to give me $5.30 change. i said, "wait, how much is the pizza?" she said, "oh, it's actually 5 dollars and 30 cents." with a tone in her voice as if to patiently explain to me why it's not just 5 dollars. well, i said, "but you just gave me back 5 dollars and 30 cents. you should have given me $4.70 in change." she looked confused for a moment, as if she wasn't sure if i was right. she couldn't get the drawer open and had to get the manager(?) to open the drawer while she quietly said she needed to give me my change. so after the drawer was opened and the person with the key walked away she still seemed confused. she pulled out 4 singles then i saw her grab from the quarters partition and then the dimes partition and i thought everything was going to be cool.

then she fingered through the pennies partition in the register. and i seriously thought, "what in the name of sir isaac newton is she doing?!"

I got back 4 dollars, 1 quarter, 4 dimes and 2 pennies.

oh well. guess we can't all be geniuses. back to my mathematical paradox book...


One After 909 - The Beatles

99 Luft Balloons - Nena

1999 - Prince

If 6 Was 9 - Jimi Hendrix

16 Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford

19th Nervous Breakdown - The Rolling Stones

Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley and The Comets

Rainy Day Women #12 and #35 - Bob Dylan

96 Tears - ? and The Mysterians

Pennsylvania 6-5000 - Glenn Miller

50 Ways To Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon

25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago

EDIT: How about this one...

A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

Amy Winehouse

I'm trying to use some video to jazz up my blog. Blogger has this video upload in “Draft” form and I hit a snag. I gave it a try but it didn't work.


In the meantime, I'll embed Amy Winehouse's Back To Black video from YouTube and post this remix of Rehab featuring Jay-Z. The remix isn't anything special, just Jay-Z adding some of his own verses to the Mark Ronson-produced original. Don't worry, Hova, there's plenty of room on the bandwagon!


From about March until June “Back To Black” was in heavy rotation for me. Love the album!




Rehab (remix featuring Jay-Z)

I came across this beautiful recording the other day and I'd like to share it.

It was created in 1971 by Tom Clay, a radio DJ who was working in Los Angeles at that time. Please read My Life h4cK3D's blog and follow the wikipedia link on Tom Clay to learn more.


What The World Needs Now / Abraham, Martin and John by Tom Clay

Check out the original recordings which inspired Tom Clay:

What The World Needs Now by Jackie DeShannon

and

Abraham, Martin and John by Dion

Did you know? Besides The Beatles, Dion and Bob Dylan are the only other musicians that appear on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The Case For Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

June 1st, 2007 saw the 40th anniversary of The Beatles' much-celebrated concept album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album represents a watermark in the group's fabled history. The group had stopped touring the previous year and were turning their focus to create an album of epic scale. Not long after Sgt. Pepper's, the band went into decline; their popularity had waned from the “mania”-pitch of 1964 and '65, the magic began to fade and relationships within the band became strained.

The dream was coming to an end.

The Beatles created great music. They've always been one of my favorite bands. I can remember as a kid, around 7 or 8 years old, my mom singing “Love Me Do” along with the AM radio in the kitchen. Finally, about 12 or so years ago, I amassed my own Beatles collection on CD. (JOY!)

So this June 1st, I celebrated the day by listening to some Sgt. Pepper's on the way to and from work. Now, I just read an article from the June 13-19th edition of the MetroTimes entitled, "Picking Over Pepper". The piece refutes some of the credits bestowed upon Sgt. Pepper's with facts about musical album “firsts”. And while the article is an insightful read with its historical analysis and balanced with witty quips, I take exception to the author's assertion that time has shown Sgt. Pepper's to be inferior to the “white album” or that the hype surrounding Sgt. Pepper's is overblown.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is not only a watermark for The Beatles, it is the gold standard by which every album made subsequent to it is meted. Not every Beatles album; every album.

The Beatles had to have realized this. Their follow-up to Sgt. Pepper was a double long player, simply entitled “The Beatles” but better known as the "white album", it is packaged in a plain white gate-fold sleeve. Indeed, the band was moving on. The internal strife within the band at that time has been widely documented, and just like the rest of the world which began to move in a different direction, John, Paul, George and Ringo were ready to go their own separate directions. The pomp and circumstance of Sgt. Pepper's would never be duplicated.

Nowadays, I find myself listening to Let It Be more often than Sgt. Pepper's, but my appreciation for Sgt. Pepper's proper place in rock history has never diminished. It is truly a masterpiece of art. A masterpiece naturally draws comparisons because it is the acme of achievement.

Ozzy Osbourne was interviewed by VH1 for a “Behind The Scenes” show and when asked about retiring, he stated that he couldn't retire yet. Ozzy, a huge fan of The Beatles, pointed out that he hadn't written his “Sgt. Pepper's” yet. What a statement. At that moment, Ozzy forced me think, “Have I written my Sgt. Pepper's?” In a broader perspective, “Am I achieving everything I am capable of?” and “What am I doing to make this world better than when I entered it?” Ozzy's sentiment still hits me like a ton of bricks.

And do you know what? That metaphor works because Sgt. Pepper can demand that much.

A Day In The Life - outtake