This year, my friend, and uber talented musician, Scott Miller put out a Christmas CD.  I coulnd’t believe it.  I took him for even more of a Scrooge than me!  As it turns out, it’s a beautiful record.  Maybe I never liked Christmas music because all you ever hear are Rascall Flatts and Mariah Carey’s versions.

The opening track  on Christmas Gift, features poet and musician R.B. Morris joining him with a reading from TS Elliott’s Journey of the Magi.  It’s the perfect marriage of spoken work and music.  Truly a gift.  Scott also gives us his take on Neil Young’s Star of Bethlehem.  It’s an old favorite of mine, one that I’d only heard at a December show years ago, I felt lucky to have heard it then, knowing now I can play it at anytime makes me so happy. I catch myself starting the song over again before it even finishes.  It’s that good.  He also covers a John Prine song and a Roger Miller song, both of which work perfectly.

So that’s my recommendation, go get this album.  You can purchase them on his website or, even better, go catch him live. He travels all over the country just about all of the time.  Go enjoy some good music, and right now, some holiday cheer.

BlueFox BF-401 Bluetooth Headphones

• 4X Noise Canceling Technology
• Built-in Microphone
• 7 Hours of Music Playback
• 8 Hours of Talk Time

(My 1st generation EnV is still pretty cool too.  It’s ok to be jealous of it.)

I, on the other hand, am now obsessed with my Netflix queue.  Yes, I know, obsessing over Netflix is so 2005, but I have been boycotting them so I have missed out.  See, they are seemingly the last reputable business that still uses pop-up advertising.  Given my career, I should be pleased they are so focused on digital media, but really it just pisses me off.

Anger aside, I finally joined last week.  It’s pretty much the greatest thing ever in the world.  I got the package that allows me to have two dvds at a time and I have unlimited “Watch Immediately” access.  Now all the money I’m saving on buying movies OnDemand is going to be spent buying cords to hook up my laptop to my TV for my “Watch Instantly” picks.  Why yes, I am a goober.

It has just now crossed my mind that I CAN HOOK UP MY IPOD TO MY TV TOO!  Must go.  I’m off to Amazon to buy a couple thousand dollars worth of cords.  Love ya.

I’m a little rough around the edges
I didn’t come out of no GQ magazine
I don’t use a lot of big words
But I’m bent on love if you know what I mean
I ain’t in’trested in bein’ politically correct
I stand right up and say what I believe

I really don’t understand this stance.  Sure, maybe I’m not the target market because I kind of like it when my husband uses big words, but I can relate to not being into the “GQ” type.  What I mean is, I like people a little rough around the edges but, in my opinion, being politically correct just means being able to make statements about someone without the need to use prejorative terms.  Why does it feel so “restrictive” to be politically correct?  To me, it’s common decency. 

I’m sure I’ve not always said the perfect thing, but in general, I do actively try to NOT insult others.  Even if I disagree with someone, using demeaning or offensive language does nothing to help persuade my point or have an active discussion.  I just think there is a way to “stand right up and say what I believe” without losing the ability to be hurtful and disrespectful.

We weren’t able to go until Saturday early afternoon and that was a bummer but it was for a very special reason (one that I’ll share later when I have better pictures).  As soon as we walked up, Jenny Lewis was playing and we both love her so we stopped in and started to get the feeling that, “Wow, we’re really here!”.  No sooner had we looked at each other grinning and high fiving at the thought of finally making to the ‘Roo, did she say, “I’d like to welcome my friend Elvis Costello to the stage”.  Golly geez, what a welcome.  Thanks Jenny and Elvis. 

The highlight would definitely be The Boss.  DT is a HUGE fan so we already knew it was going to be something special.  Despite my usual reluctance to front row, we decided this was our chance to work our way to the front since many young folks were leaving.  They didn’t leave for long!  Bruce Springsteen showed everyone why he is one of the most famous and beloved rock and roll entertainers.  He rocked the crowd for over 3 hours.  DT’s comment was “For me to smile any bigger, I’d have to eat my ears!”

Not at all a complete list, but we saw/heard:

Jenny Lewis, Elvis Costello, Wilco, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Nine Inch Nails, AA Bondy, Mike Farris, Todd Snider, Erykah Badu, Robert Earl Keen, Merle Haggard, Snoop Dogg, Neko, Case, and Phish.

Oh!  And Triumph the Insult Comic Dog!

This morning, as I stopped on VH1 and there was a familiar face!*  My friend Brent is the lead singer of the band Shinedown and as it turns out, they have the number one video in the country today!  Pretty neat.  They’ve got a few songs I like, but I”m not the biggest Shinedown fan, mostly because that’s not the type of music I listen to.  I have always tried to follow what’s going on with them and I have, of course, seen them in concert a few times.  It’s been interesting to see his rise to fame.

Brent went to high school here in Knoxville and was friends with my college roommate.  Often, when we would all be hanging out in our apartment, we’d sit in silence while Brent would sing acapella, making up lyrics as he went.  He really does have an amazing voice.  It’s almost unnaturally strong. 

My then-boyfriend and I had some friends who were trying to put a band together. They were a bassist, drummer and lead guitarist, but they didn’t have a lead singer.  When they told us, we immediately started raving about Brent and his amazing voice.  They called him and that was the beginning of a Knoxville band named Dreve.  They had some local success; I remember packed shows as the old Mercury Theater.  As wikipedia says:

Before Shinedown, Brent was the lead singer in a band called “Dreve”, which operated in the East Tennessee area.^[1] He was soon given a developmental contact by Atlantic Records, however, Brent left to find other musicians to form a new band which would become Shinedown.

 Myspace and facebook have helped me stay in contact with most of the Dreve guys, but lately, I can just watch TV to see what Brent’s doing.  He’s doing well and I’m glad.  He deserves it. 

And now without further adeiu, the number one video on vh1′s Top 20 Countdown:

Well maybe a little more adeiu, evidently you can’t just embed a Shinedown video to your little old blog.  Who do they think they are?  Prince?  (Kidding.)

Here’s the link: http://www.shinedown.com/videos  Enjoy.

*I do have to mention this though.  Wow.  Television really does add at LEAST 10 lbs!  Brent is in no way heavy but he almost looked it.  For a not so brief moment, I was very glad that my job doesn’t not require me to do television interviews.

So now the house is filled with new music. He’s a wonderful guitar player so it’s not even bad listening to him tinker around and figuring it out!

 It could be worse.  It could have “a-zig-a-zig-ahhhh” in it!

Does everyone remember what song was playing in most of their memories? 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yIyxkZod2cM

 (I can’t embed it, its from the record label.)