Who-da Thunk - Van Halen Edition

This was in today's Rolling Stone email post:

DAVID LEE ROTH appeared on HOWARD STERN's radio show this morning to announce that he will replace the shock jock on January 3rd. The former VAN HALEN frontman, now working as a paramedic in New York City, will take over in a number of Stern's twenty-seven markets -- New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Dallas and West Palm Beach, Florida -- while "Loveline" co-host Adam Carolla will take the West coast. "You've done an extraordinary job, and I hope I can honor it," Roth told Stern. "I'll be performing for more people in one morning than the Rolling Stones will in an entire summer." Stern launches his new show for Sirius Satellite Radio in January.

Note the red text. Diamond Dave is a paramedic. From over-the-top frontman of one of rock's greatest bands to a paramedic. That's an admirable job... but I just can't imagine David Lee Roth showing up at the emergency scene -- long, wild hair; multi-colored hot pants; you get the idea...

Toys of the 70s and 80s

This site is hysterical. If you grew up in the 1970s and/or early 1980s then you KNOW you had some of these toys.

It's a British site, so some of the toys were strictly from the U.K., but a lot of them were worldwide.

I totally forgot that I had some of these toys.

Enjoy -- TV Cream's Top 100 Toys

Next Blog >>

Have you noticed that most blogs on Blogger.com have a chrome at the top that includes a "Next Blog >>" link that takes you to a random blog on Blogger.

You oughta click it sometime. It's fun to see what blogs people have come up with around the world (yes... the world. I've seen blogs from the U.S. of A. to Australia to Malaysia).

It's a great way to get a real look at people around the world and see we're all not that different -- same loves, same likes, same concerns about life in general.

Give it a try.

Music Ho Strikes Again

More music!

Madness - "The Rise And Fall" & "Mad Not Mad"





I'm a huge fan of Madness. I've always been surprised why they never caught on in the U.S. (except for "Our House" ... which is on "The Rise and Fall" CD). These two aren't quite as ska-ish as their earlier albums, but both boast some really good songs.

The Magic Numbers



Very folky, soft rock-ish. Two sets of siblings. That's kinda cool. I don't know if it fully lives up to the critical hype that's been heaped upon it, but it comes close. They definitely know how to write a song and have a good, overall sound. Definitely a band to keep an eye on.

Sheryl Crow - "Wildflower"



After the big, commerical-friendly bounce of "C'mon, C'mon", this is a much quieter, more mature album. If you're looking for the bouncy fun, you'll find it on a few tracks. However, the mature songwriting fits. It seems several artists are scoring big time with much quieter, more grown-up albums (see Paul McCartney). This album takes a little bit of patience to soak in, but once it does, you'll be rewarded with some her most consistently good songs.

Tab

How many of you born a while ago remember the diet soda Tab?

I remember being forced to drink it when I was a kid. This is not the kind of soda you gave to a kid. Kids were raised to drink Coke and Pepsi - carbonated water filled to the brim with sugary goodness. If you put fizz into maple syrup, kids would drink it.

However, I was blessed with a parent who was into dieting. And with dieting came the diet beverage. Sure, Diet-Rite was first, but Tab was king in our house.

And what vile, evil king it was.

Diet soda technology has come a long, long, LOOONG way since the early 70's. Now-a-days, I can tolerate diet sodas. In fact, I find real sodas way too sugary (not to mention calorie bombs in a can). But back then, there was no Splenda. There was no Aspartame. There was Saccarine and there was bland, tastlessness.

Suddenly, my soda had an aftertaste. And it wasn't good.

BUT, apparently I'm in the minority of Tab haters. People have apparently built shrines about the sode.

Hence: ILoveTab.com. Fine. Fine. Off you go.

I Think A Lot Of Us Can Relate...

This came from my Onion calendar. I know these words made me giggle back when I was under 10 years of age...

Top Words Causing Giggles Among Pre-Teens

2%		Parts
1%		Slot
15%		Ball-peen hammer
8%		Mastication
7%		Receptacle
16%		Titular archbishopric
13%		Pu-pu platter
5%		Abreast
11%		Lake Titicaca
12%		Penal system
6%		Opening
4%		Moist

Stop Making Sense

Got the Talking Heads Brick, a set of their entire catalog remastered onto DualDiscs.



The good stuff

The sound quality is awesome. This catalog has been long in need of some serious remastering and it finally got it. I have not delved much into the DVD side of the discs, so I can't really mention anything about the videos that are included. Each disc has a few bonus tracks. Most are alternate versions of existing tracks. Some others are unfinished, unreleased, unrealized songs. In my opinion, the best of the unreleased tracks is on "Remain In Light" -- the band had the Afro-Cuban rhythm down to an art.

The bad stuff

The packaging. The outer, white, plastic cube covered in song titles is kinda cool. However, this is a package that is more an art item than a functional item. The jewel boxes are pure white and that's it. No track listings. No name of the album on the spine. Just clean, pristine white. Which means you have to get the booklet out to see what songs are on the disc.

But... in the grand scheme of this package, that's a minor quibble. Having the Heads in solid, remastered sound is worth everything else.

The Wars In Iraq and Afghanistan

So... God is behind all this mayhem, eh?

BBC Documentary: God told Bush to go to war

I think a certain little President needs to take a nice, long timeout.

Quick Post #2

Got the new Franz Ferdinand - "You Could Have It So Much Better".



If you liked the first one, you'll like this one. Pretty much more of the same. I liked the first one. I like this one.

"Do You Want To" is one of the best singles of 2005. (And, no, I don't need to use IMHO, because it's my blog so my opinion doesn't need to be humble!!!)

Quick Post #1

Guys threatens bank tellers saying he has a bomb in his mouth. Guy ends up having his mouth examined by a bomb-sniffing robot.

Link (via BoingBoing)

Could robotic dentistry be far behind?