Midnight Madness - Donny And Marie Christmas

I was talking to my wife and reminiscing about the old Christmas specials that used to be on tv as a kid and one title that stood out in my mind was Donnie and Marie. The toothy twosome were on tv all the time and I used to watch weekly to discover that she was a little bit country and he was a little bit rock and roll. I don't remember a thing about this Christmas special, but here's a tribute to all the old Christmas shows gone by into the forgotten heap of ancient memory. Sometimes I miss the safe patter, canned laughter and earnest cheesiness of the 70's.

Rollin With The Homies - Sad passing of young actress Brittany Murphy, who I knew mainly from her role as the outsider being made over in the teen movie Clueless and the voice of Luanne in King Of The Hill. I wasn't a huge fan or anything, just appreciated that she had talent and a likable presence.

Last Christmas - I thought the overplayed Christmas song this year was "Santa Baby" but in the past few days cover versions of the Wham! classic "Last Christmas" have overtaken it. In the last 48 hours I've heard four different versions of this song including one with a rap. A rap!

Desperate Times - Amy Winehouse has been arrested for assault. I swear every punch with her is just another career move at this point.

Tried To Send Me Back To Rehab - Steven Tyler boldly goes where he has gone before, rehab for his addiction to painkillers. Does this mean no more Brand Tyler?

Fantastic...Amazing...Unbelievable... - Tried to watch Snooze Along With Gordon Ramsey, the famously irritable chef's attempt to appear happy and friendly on tv. The only fun to be found was watching visibly nervous Ramsey fill in dead air with these random words in between the scripted segments. Agh, it's stuck in my head! Fantastic...Amazing...Unbelievable...

I'm (sob) Sensitive! - This won't win me any macho points, but I was a sucker for Tori Amos debut album Little Earthquakes. There's a great track by track dissection of the album by Tori Amos on Rolling Stone magazine's web site. If you like the disc it's a fine read. Now I'm going to curl up in a ball on the couch with some fancy tea and watch Oprah.

Tik Tok - This song by Ke$ha (yes, the dollar sign is in her name) is the #1 song in the land. I remember this was a free download on Itunes one week, the video was about being a drunk slut in front of your family or something. Not that I'm a prude, part of this track's appeal is probably the coarseness that puts me off it. Unbelievable...Fantastic...Amazing...

Super Friends - Def Leppard is developing a cartoon about themselves. No, that's not a joke they really are doing this.

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By The Way - Guitarist John Frusciante has left the Red Hot Chili Peppers again though this time not abruptly. Judging from how they fared without him the last time, I don't think RHCP will be able to maintain the quality of their music now. And with drummer Chad Smith having another successful band to jump to if he wants I wonder about the future of the group. Because even mediocre RHCP is better than none.

Merry Christmas - I don't know if I'll post tomorrow, so Merry Christmas to all!

And now, because you didn't ask for it, the rap version of "Last Christmas"!

Indie 2000

Professor Jones searches for the decedents of college rock in Indie Jones and the New Millennium.

Each decade after the 70's has had a rock sub genre that supposedly contains the purity and creativity of the art form. In the 80's it was college rock, the 90's alternative and in the 00's it's indie. Indie has become a sort of catch all term for any rock music that is different from the mainstream in an arty sort of way, so I'm using the term in that same way. Now, on with the show this is it.

The New New Wave

The kids discovered the joys of Joy Division and Men Without Hats forming bands that sounded a lot like groups from MTV's birth. Franz Ferdinand's self titled debut (2004) had the angular guitars, Talking Heads style odd sparseness and dance grooves to set the world on fire for a second. Las Vegas' The Killers handed in two great albums that meshed the giddy feeling of synths and grandeur of stadium rock on Hot Fuss (2004) and Day and Age (2008). Meanwhile The National came across as a mildly depressed but not as down as Joy Division on their hypnotic 2007 disc The Boxer. All proof that even now kids still want their MTV...in 1983.

Cool As Ice Ice Baby

What it comes down to is that the indie rock I listen to mostly come from major labels meaning its an attitude more than a literal term. Enter The Strokes, arriving with much fanfare as the supposed saviors of rock music following Is This It (2001). Oddly, it's their weaker follow up Rooms On Fire (2003) that I enjoy the most with its The Cars style synth twists such as on "The End Has No End". Deservedly or undeservedly The Strokes symbolized hype overkill because old folks like me wanted new music that reminded us of something good from the past. The poster child of this scene I would pick to be Jack I'll-Form-A-New-Band-Every-Time-I-Sneeze White. Elephant (2003) by The White Stripes was dynamite with sharp material to support heavy guitar riffage and bare bones drumming. I also will throw in the Stripes Icky Thump (2007) as being just as great. Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot(2002) famously took a circular route from major label to no label and back again with old fashioned strong songwriting and tasteful performance. Death Cab For Cutie was another buzz band that broke through embodying those weepy sensitive guy ways like the excellent Transatlanticism (2003). I feel so much closer.

More Accordion Pleaze

Some bands made their name on unusual sonic templates, like Arcade Fire whose disc Neon Bible (2007) I found dark and moving like an undertow at night. Just before they attempted to be Fleetwood Mac, Rilo Kiley had the likeably low key More Adventurous album (2004) anchored by the mild toned swipe at George Bush Jr and pressure to write a pop song on "It's A Hit". And who could forget the quirky funk of Spoon? The only Spoon album I have is Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga which was a blast of hip shaking weirdness.

Next up...old timers day.

Battle For Heaven And Earth

Khan is taken aback by the never ending struggle of Mick Jones versus Lou Gramm.

Foreigner. Lou Gramm. Since the beginning of time...or 1987...these two forces that once stood proudly together became destined to fight for gravelly throated melodic rock superiority. This came to mind (in much less overblown dramatic fashion) while I was reorganizing my CDs and decided to redo my homemade greatest hits discs. I put Gramm's solo tracks on the same discs as Foreigner because to me there isn't a lot of stylistic difference between the two - some difference but not a lot. Then I noticed of Gramm's three solo releases, they all coincide with timing of a Foreigner release. He even matched the fifteen year gap from 1995 to 2009 by waiting to release a new solo disc until this year (Foreigner's last album before this year was 1994's Mr Moonlight - the last Foreigner album with Gramm singing also). Gramm's new album is called Lou Gramm Band (creative titling there!) while Foreigner (with singer Kelly Hansen) has put out Can't Slow Down (not the Lionel Richie record).

So here we are, 2009 as Mick Jones and Lou Gramm duke it out in the music scene once again. One ring to rule them all! Lou has upped the ante this time by calling on the big man (not Clarence Clemons) to help out as he has recorded a Christian rock album. Jones, not to be outdone, has called on the all powerful Wal Mart to back him up. Both sides are loaded for bear, as Khan said "To the last I will grapple with thee. With my last breath I will spit at thee..." He probably would have said more but Khan died at that point just before the Genesis device exploded (not the band Genesis). So here we go Lou Gramm's song "Baptized By Fire" against Foreigner's "Can't Slow Down" locked in a chart battle that doesn't really exist anymore since neither have been on the pop charts for decades. But hopefully it made for a fun post. And then for even more fun, a video clip from the classic Jones / Gramm years of Foreigner in the form of the awesome "Break It Up". The video is pure Foreigner magic.