Jay-Z - Empire State Of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys)

Leaving for NYC tomorrow night! In 2012, when one thinks of New York, Jay-Z often is the first person to come to mind. The self-proclaimed King of New York (personally, I think Derek Jeter is) rose from the depths of the streets to the top of the charts. Jay-Z has been in the game for a long time and continues to put out hit singles and albums. His Blueprint III album was a massive hit (which features this track) as well as his collaboration with Kanye West for Watch The Throne. And those were just the past few years. I mean, for Fuck's sake, the dude has retired and unretired already! He's married to and has a kid with Beyonce, the hottest chick in the game. Jay-Z is dope, nuff said!

"Empire State Of Mind" is the new anthem for the Big Apple. For the longest time it was an old classic by Ol' Blue Eyes (see: below) but the smooth flow of Jay and killer hook sung by fellow New Yorker Alicia Keys made this the new classic anthem. I love the line "Made the Yankee cap more famous than any Yankee  did". This is kinda funny because Jay-Z is good friends with Derek Jeter, the King of New York for the sports world, and he actually missed several important business meetings and critic listening sessions in order to be there to watch DJ hit his 3,000th. Yet for everything that Jeter has done for the city and the team, Jay has a stranglehold on pop culture, which will always be bigger than the sports world.

Now for the classic NYC anthem:

Frank Sinatra - New York, New York

The classic New York anthem. I love Sinatra but honestly have not listened to as much of his stuff as I'd like to. This is one of my faves but his best imo is "That's Life"; just a classic kick-in-the-pants type of song that you can listen to after any incident that seems huge at the time but really isn't a big deal at all. His reign over the city lasted a long time and he did it in style. Booze, women, mafia (come on, he was in on it, but who cares!?!!?!?! That's some epic gangsta shit!). But, most of all, Frank had the voice. That Voice! Holy fuck what a singer. That is all.

Some thoughts...

- Super Stoked for the NFL Fantasy Draft for the Boundary Park Bowl happening at Baby Nate's in a little over an hour. Last year The Brave Lobsters just missed out on a playoff spot in the inaugural season. Poor trades, injuries, and just pure fail showings ended up being my downfall. This year, The KEE to Winning is back with a vengeance, looking to learn from past mistakes and take these suckas down!

- Planning to go cruisin' for burgers tomorrow to Five Guys, where I've never been and now really want to go, mostly cuz of this video posted by a friend:

Mmmmm. I'm hungry now! Peace out everyone! Hope your long weekend is EpiclyUnreal!

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

3 days now 'til I go to New York. Here's another great band from the Big Apple, Talking Heads.The Heads have a very unique, new-wavey/avant-garde sound. They also changed their sound quite a bit, starting out punk, moving through new wave and afrobeat rhythms to a more pop sound. They found most of their success in the UK and like many great American bands, never found success in their home country until after they had finished making music and broken up. I hope that one day they do get back together but on proper terms and with new material in order to avoid the nostalgia circuit.

"Once In A Lifetime" is my favourite Talking Heads song and also one of their most popular. When it first came out it was huge in the UK (the Brits are always ahead of the game, aren't they) and didn't become big in North America until a few years later and a very successful video. I love lead singer David Byrne's dancing in this video too! 

The song also is very truthful as Byrne sings of "Letting the days go by" and "Time isn't holding up, time isn't after us, same as it ever was", referring to the speed at which life seems to just fly by. And this was in 1982, well before the Internet and major globalization. Now time really does fly by which is insane because there really isn't much we can do about it. Back in the day, humans had to hunt for food, kill it, haul it back to the cave/tent, prepare it, start a fire and cook it before it could be finally eaten. Now I feel like I hardly have time to wait the 2 minutes it takes for my breakfast burrito in the morning! And things are only going to get faster, meaning we have more time to fit more things into a day which makes it go by even faster. Pretty crazy when you think about it.

The Ramones - My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes To Bitburg)

On Saturday I am heading to NYC for a little over a week with the family. All week I'll be posting great songs by bands from the Big Apple. When I first thought about doing this, 3 artists instantly came to mind: Frank Sinatra, ol' blue eyes and truly the definition of a classic, Jay-Z, the man who has stepped in to take Frank's spot on top the NYC throne, and then The Ramones, quite possibly America's greatest rock band, if not one of its most important. 

The Ramones came flying out of the gates as the world's first true punk band. Everything they played was simple strumming and riffage with simple rhythm and singing. To be honest none of those guys could play all that great and lead singer Joey doesn't have much of a voice. But Fuck it, none of that mattered because they were pure punk and rocked hard. When the 4 guys got locked in they were an unstoppable blitzkrieg of power riffs and beats. If you don't move your body to their tunes then you have no muscles in your body capable of doing so.

"My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes To Bitburg)" is my favourite Ramones song. I'm not gonna lie and say I discovered this on my own or that I even knew they had a song that lasted for over 2 minutes. I discovered this song, like most people, from the great movie School Of Rock. It occurs during a great montage scene when the kids are all really starting to get the hang of rocking out and watching great classic footage by the likes of The Who and Hendrix. Such a legit and awesome movie! The kids all actually played their respective instruments and sang themselves. Also who doesn't love Jack Black?!?!

Some thoughts...

- Thank God for Costco and their warranties!

- Getting pumped for Fantasy Football draft on Friday!

- Even more pumped to go to New York! Got tix to see the Yankees play the Blue Jays and to see the Broadway play War Horse. Should be epic!

Bear In Heaven - The Reflection Of You

Bear In Heaven are a cool, Brooklyn-based band that specializes in psychedelic and electronic music. I only discovered them a couple months ago when I saw this video on The Wedge (a cool music video show that is all indie/alternative/too weird to play during normal hours as it comes on at like 3am on Much Music). The beat is awesome and I really like the voice of the lead singer. I checked out their album this is from, I Love You, It's Cool, and it's also quite good. However this, along with "Sinful Nature" are definitely the standout tracks. If you like electronic music with a psychedelic touch that's very danceable then check these guys out.

Some thoughts...

- So 55% of the USA is in a drought, there are 80+ wildfires west of the Mississippi that are massive and classified as high or extreme danger, and the country is experiencing its hottest year in recorded history. Also Greenland lost a chunk of ice twice the size of Manhattan, which is 87 square kilometres. Bet you didn't know any of that... But did you know that Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart broke up?!?!?! Yeah... we're gonna be juuussstttt fine...

- As a friend pointed out on Facebook, this doesn't matter as most Americans don't believe in Climate Change, more probably believe in Vampires

- Epic round of battle golf yesterday. For those who don't know the game it's basically 2 vs. 2 full scramble. Then the winner of each hole gets to take a club out of the other team's bags. Pretty fucking fun plus it's a whole new type of strategy which is cool. I'm stoked to keep playing more!

Deer Tick - Baltimore Blues No. 1

Deer Tick are too fucking badass cool. I mean, look at that picture for Fuck's sake!?!? These guys rock out and know how to have a good time doing so. I had the great pleasure of seeing these guys at Sasquatch Music Festival this year and they are a wild party. So crazy and raw and energetic... yet they don't really give a shit. They closed their set with the rager "Let's All Go To The Bar" before coming back to do a sick cover of "Fight For Your Right". Too fucking good.

"Baltimore Blues No. 1" is my favourite by these guys. I love the slow, twangy beat of the guitar and can't help but nod my head back every time they hit that beat right before the guitar part. Then the guitarist goes nuts to close it out before quickly bringing it back down to earth for the close. Also great lyrics about B-more, a rather gnarly American city that is (somewhat sadly) best known for its portrayal on the awesome HBO show The Wire. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. Also listen to Deer Tick.

Some thoughts...

- Apologies for lack of posts lately. Been busy with visiting relatives all week and an epic b-day weekend for a good friend.

- I had quite the victorious weekend: Watched the 'Caps knock off the #2 team in the conference, shot the lowest score at University Golf Club, and then was part of a gutsy, grinding 4-3 comeback win in indoor soccer. Winning!

- Fuck Fruit Flies!!! They are all over the place at my work. I feel like I kill 100 a day and they just keep coming and coming lol.

- Breaking Bad is just too fucking good right now

Loverboy - Working For The Weekend

Oh fuck yeah, the long weekend is here! This is HUGE for me as I've got family coming from Nova Scotia and I finally get a Saturday off as I normally work them. Also it's supposed to get hot as fuck in the Lower Mainland so get that sunscreen out and be close to water! This song is quite self-explanatory and I'm just basically super pumped for the weekend. Beers, BBQ, epic yard games, beers, house party, olympics, and beers. Should be a beauty!

Loverboy are a classic 80's Canadian band from BC. They only have a few hits but holy shit are they good. This one, along with "Turn Me Loose", is by far their definitive hit, becoming a global smash for everyone and anyone waiting for that 5 o'clock alarm to go off sounding the beginning of the weekend. I got to see theses guys for free on Canada day a few years ago and they rocked it. Did an awesome version of this one, followed by dope covers of The Beatles' "Come Together" and Def Leppard's "Rocket". Good times.

Some thoughts...

- Think I'll be pretty drunk most of the weekend... should save some $ on gas lol

- Beyond stoked for the men's 100 metre dash final. Should be filled with drama and amazing moments in less than 10 seconds.

- Batman is dope but I gotta see it again

- Go out and have a great long weekend. Do something stupid! (But please be safe)!

Norah Jones - Take It Back

Norah Jones is brilliant. She is the daughter of Indian sitar player and Beatle chum Ravi Shankar. She burst onto the scene in 2002 with the album Come Away With Me and single of the same name. I was just finishing up elementary school at that time and although I'd heard of her I honestly didn't really give a shit. It took until Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi made their album Rome and featured her on 2 of the standout tracks, "Black" and "Season's Trees". I was like "Damn, this chick is badass and has such a beautiful, soothing voice". Then this album came out recently and I listened to it right away, loving everything about it. The album features Danger Mouse as producer and some very lush, cool instrumentations coupled with Jones' amazing voice. I highly recommend it.

"Take It Back" is my favourite from the new album, Little Broken Hearts. It's got a cool opening half before she just unleashes on the chorus in the second half. Danger Mouse is all over this track too, providing beautiful backing, both instrumentally and digitally. Give it a try, you'll like it.

Jets Overhead - Life's A Song

They're Jets Overhead, they're from Victoria, they have CDs for sale in the tent. These three facts were continuously repeated after every song the first time I saw Jets Overhead at Deer Lake Park a few years ago. They had just released their debut album, Bridges and had the tough gig of playing before The Stills, Broken Social Scene, and the Sam Roberts Band. The tiny crowd they started with grew bigger and bigger as they played and got better and tighter. No it wasn't their shameless marketing (LOL) but the songs and the overall sound that had people rushing in from the beer lineup to watch a couple songs. Very cool local band indeed. They played Shore Fest down at English Bay today for the fireworks and I would've loved to have seen them. 

"Life's A Song" was the first song I ever heard by Jets Overhead, a free iTunes single of the week that turned into an eventual purchase of their debut album. I love the guitar work on this one and, most of all, the great chorus that comes booming in. Epic song.

Some thoughts...

- Absolutely loving the Olympics so far. The opening ceremony was the shit and although it didn't have that incredible "WOW" moment like Vancouver 2010 (KD Lang's breathtaking performance of 'Hallelujah") it was solid throughout and I thought better than ours. I mean, fucking James Bond picked up the Queen and they jumped out of a helicopter. Come On! If that's not entertainment then I don't know what is! Also Mr. Bean was epic and the music segment with Dizzee Rascal was very well done.

- GO CANADA GO!!!

- We're on pace for having quite a successful olympics. Congrats to all the medal winners so far but still need that gold!