Jeez Jon

John McCain's Gay Pride Message?

The Madge mashups continue.

Oh boy...

[Link courtesy Towleroad]

Show Them How Funky, Strong Is Your Fight

I'm admittedly late onto the Amy Winehouse bandwagon, but I'm a fan. I like her voice, I like her style, and well... she's an appealing mess.  Elton John has likened her to Nina Simone: when she's on, she's great, but when she's off she's way off.  In my hunt through YouTube for Amy Winehouse videos, I came across a duet of hers... with Charlotte Church... singing Michael Jackson's Beat It. 

This was the finale for "The Charlotte Church Show", and this is an example of where Amy Winehouse is off.  Way off.  Off rhythm, off beat, she's practically indecipherable.  And everyone knows it.  Charlotte's sidelong glances to Amy as she's singing are just fantastic.  Couple this with Amy's deer-in-the-headlight expressions and Charlotte's Sandy-at-the-end-of-Grease outfit, and you have one fantastic train wreck. 

You can just hear the director in the booth shouting "Oh, bloody hell, no close ups of Winehouse!  My God, man, just focus on Charlotte!  What... what is that crackwhore doing?  Why is she standing there like a diseased birch tree?  Shite, she just gave up, didn't she?  Fuck.  Cue the credits.  Roll them... nnnnnnnnnnnnnow."

My Head Sounds Like This: Soul Meets Body

My current obsession song is a couple of years old, but still lovely.  Death Cab For Cutie's "Soul Meets Body."  Very uplifting, romantic and catchy.  Enjoy.

My Head Sounds Like This

Erasure's new song "I Could Fall In Love With You" and their adorable video.  Fun, romantic and a tad silly -- just exactly how love is. 

My Mental Soundtrack Currently Has A Horn Section

Good news, y'all. I start a new day job on Monday for Established Adorable Basic Cable Documentary Show.  It's in Hollywood, so it's a HELL of a lot closer than my last gig on Goofy Basic Cable Documentary show.  I'm back up to Assistant Story Editor, which is great. And also I don't have log footage. AT ALL.  I haven't had that luxury since my Bachelor days in 2004.  Yikes.  The hours should hopefully be pretty reasonable [knocking wood].  Another plus is that I'm going to be working on the show until at least mid-November, so that's fantastic.  The pay isn't great, but the length of the gig definitely helps.  That and the fact that the women I interviewed with seemed pretty cool.  We'll see.

My current music obsession is Mark Ronson, a British producer whose influences include hip-hop and 60's R&B and pop.  So, imagine a lot of thick beats with horn sections, echo-y audio tracks and poppy hooks. He has a new album out called Version, which is all covers of British pop & rock done in his signature style. He has a variety of artists do the singing as he does the producing, much like a Quincy Jones album.  As a huge fan of the Smiths, I was very tickled when he saw that he did a cover of "Stop Me If You Think If You've Heard This One Before."  The video is quite fun, and matches the song very well.  Couple multiple viewing of that with another track -- Lily Allen's cover of the Kaiser Chief's Oh My God -- you can now see why I keep hearing trombones constantly lately. 

That and the fact that I got a new job.

My Current Obsession Song

When I hear new music, I tend to take one song and play it over and over again.  Poor Tom -- he has little patience for this, and it's a habit I am trying to break.  Hell, I even made it one of my 101 in 1001 and knocked it out already.   At any rate, I was at Amoeba Music on Friday, killing time before seeing my friend Holly's improv show when I caught a synth band doing their sound check for their in-store appearance.  I couldn't stay, due to Holly's show, but the sound check alone made me buy the album (that and it was only $8.99). 

So, when you have a sec, check out The Paralleograms' myspace page.  The audio player will kick in when it's all loaded, and the first song will play.  "Bypass To Otherness" has been stuck in my head for days now.  It's very pretty and rather menacing.  They're big on the synthesizers, Moogs, drum machines, etc.  So, right up my alley.  Enjoy.