More Music Ho-down

Okay, I went off on critics who get their collective panties in a knot over an artists lyrics instead of focusing on the music.

Well, the critics have been writing the praises for one band who most of them will never have a chance in who-know-where of understanding their lyrics unless their natives of Sweden.

The band is Dungen. The album: Ta Det Lugnt.



It's a cool, trippy, 60s-ish psychedelic romp. A unique, but recognizable, amalgam of late 60s and early 70s pych bands like Pink Floyd. All sung in Swedish! If you like that type of music, you'd probably enjoy this album a lot.

Who's Hungry?

A short list of some of my favorite places to grub in L.A.:

1. L & L Hawaiian BBQ - Link. Best place to get a Plate Lunch. Started way back when in Hawaii and have been springing up around L.A. like 7-11s. What's a Plate Lunch? *GASP* - it's carb heaven. Usually some kind of fried meat accompanied by the traditional two scoops of rice and a scoop of mayo-enriched Potato-Macaroni salad.

2. Tito's Tacos - Link. A small shack-like restaurant right next to the 405 Fwy on Sepulveda and Washington. It's easy to find -- look for the Mexican restaurant with a huge crowd. The tacos are insaaaaane. The shells are ultra greasy and crunchy, the meat is perfectly seasoned. Add cheese, tomatos, and lettuce and it's taco nirvana. One of the few fast food joints where you don't mind waiting in a long line.

3. Kua Aina - I had to mention this one even though it recently closed. One of the best burgers ever. Fortunatley, there's still two in Hawaii (Honolulu and Haleiwa) so check them out if you ever travel to the islands. You will NOT be disappointed.

4. Sharkeys - Best nachos. Period.

Damn. I'm hungry now...

Charmed-A-Holic

I'm not that big a TV viewer. My family can have the TV going and I'll barely pay it any attention -- either I'm working on the computer or reading or doing something else.

There's only a few shows that I've actually set aside time to watch: X-Files (boy, oh, boy, Sunday nights were empty when this show went off the air...), Lost, and the Amazing Race.

Now, thanks to my wife, I can count one more show: Charmed.

I was in that camp that thought only teenage girls watched the show. I had intermittently read good writeups about it, but never felt compelled to actually check it out. But then my wife started getting into it. So, one day, I finally decided to check it out. Wow! The show is actually very good. Very, very good. It doesn't take itself all that seriously, yet never slips into parody. It manages to walk a very fine line between humor and drama and rarely, if ever, falters.

The acting is good, the effects are simple, but effective, the bad guys (demons!!) are creatively rendered. The stories a fun and well written -- a little repetitive at times (the first three seasons were pretty much "demon-of-the-week"). The later seasons started getting into more season-long plotlines.

It's been fun discovering a show after it's been on the air for seven seasons. It's a treasure trove of episodes I've never seen. Watched the cliffhanger from Season 3? You don't have to wait the whole summer to find out what happened. They'll air Season 4's premier the next day!

I'm glad the show's got at least one more year on the air, that way I can experience that "opening Xmas presents" feel of watching a new (or as The WB likes to call it, "Fresh") episode every week!

My only wish is that the show's producers would make nice-nice with Shannen Doherty so that she would come back for at least the series finale. That would make the fan-boys and fan-girls go loopy and would make for a very fitting end.

Hollywood's Slump

There's all this talk of late on how Hollywood's box office and DVD sales are starting to slump and how on earth are they going to improve it.

That's easy: Either stop making crappy movies or lower the ticket prices. There's no way in hell I'm gonna pay $9.50 to see two hours of insults to my intelligence and creativity. DVD's slumping? That's because I'm not going to pay $14.99 to OWN the two hours of insults to my intelligence and creativity.

Good, brief article in Yahoo about this: Link

In Defense Of Musicians

Got the new Jason Mraz cd - Mr. A - Z.



This disc has been getting a critical drubbing from all corners ...

Frankly, I think it's a good CD. The critics seem to be getting their panties in a ball because of the lyrics. Fine. I agree. Jason seems to be trying a little TOO hard to make his lyrics overly clever and at times it's a bit too much.

However, how many of us get a CD for the lyrics (Bob Dylan aside)? I don't. I've rarely listened to lyrics (yes, I know that puts me in a minority). I've always viewed the human voice as another musical instrument. It's not like without the words, the songs suck. If that was the case, Classical music would have blown up on the launch pad. The music is what it's all about. THAT's what's truly touches you. Occasionally, there are good lyrics that really cover something going on in your life. But, nine times out of ten, you have a song playing in your head, is it just some monotonous recitation of the lyrics or are you singing them, caught up in the melody?

In Mr. Mraz's case, overly clever lyrics aside, his music is fun, bouncy, and addicting. Taken on that level, his new album does not deserve the trashing it's getting.