House Cleaning.

Yes, I have been away for a while. Time for me to clean the cob webs off my blog and start taking names and kicking some ass. More to come.

Make it Go Away! Or Why I Don't Like Auto-Tune.

I love music, really I do. I am a child of the 80s and I love the fact that most artists from the 80s were willing to try anything different. Hence, most of the artists from the 80s [Prince, Elvis Costello, Simple Minds, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Pet Shop Boys and early hip-hop] had a distinct sound. While some say most of the 80s music was 'over-produced'--a term I think does a disservice to the era, I will say that many of the artists weren't willing to sound like each other and tried to make a sound that was there own. I believe the artists from this era have not discovered that sense of musical experimentation.

Case in point, the artist [I'm using that term lightly] Ke$ha professes she doesn't use auto-tune. But as I was listening to her sing in the video Blah, Blah, Blah it sound like yes, she does use auto-tune and other studio wizardry to enhance her vocals. But she's not the only one who uses auto-tune; Little Wayne, TI, Miley Cyrus, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Cher, Drake and countless others have used this tool. Now, I don't mind if an artist uses a studio gimmick to create a certain sound, but when several artists start to use the same trick, well, it gets tiresome. Top 40 radio is filled with songs that have artists vocal tracks laced with the infamous studio trick--it's as if all the songs were sung by Alvin and the Chipmunks--and that's not a good thing.

The music industry has taken so many hits in the past decade I guess the big wigs figure if they can make music with a gimmick, people will buy it. Unfortunately,  we now have music that is boring, bland and doesn't challenge the listener. While I blame the record execs for this trickery and wanting to make a quick buck, I also have to call out the 'artists' who are too lazy to challenge their fan-base and themselves to grow and try something new. I don't like auto-tune because it's the easy way out for making a hit record and it has become the fall-back production tool for enhancing vocals.

I'd like to see some like Ke$ha scrap the whole auto-tune trickery and do something brave. Hey, maybe her next CD will be in the same vein as ABC's "Beauty Stab." Somehow I doubt she's willing to take that bold step and grow as an artist and challenge her listeners like Martin Fry did--but I could be wrong. Only time will tell.

In a World Full of "Amazing" Singers, We Really Lost One This Time.

Lena Horne was a class act. When people talk about 'amazing' singers they are usually referring to those who prance around a stage with rhythm track and lots of dubbed vocals. Ms. Horne represented a class of singer that we no longer see--one who has the ability to render any song into something beautiful and otherworldly. Lena you can now sing with your fellow songbirds; Ella, Billie, Dinah, Nina, Blossom, and Minnie. Thanks for your fantastic contribution to American culture! You will be missed. 

Lies the Governor Told Me.

It seems that Gov. Chris Christie has wasted no time in doing what he promised those who voted for him--that is to really screw up the state of New Jersey. Now he's ousting the only black justice and nominating a lawyer with long experience in private practice [meaning a corporatist lawyer]. While I am no fan of John E. Wallace, he was the only black justice on the supreme court of NJ. 


This does not look good for minorities of NJ. I suspect that Christie is trying to reshape the court so that it will side with corporations and his political views rather than handing out justice and protecting those who need it the most. 
Another thing: What happened to 'everyone' sacrificing to fix the skyrocketing deficit? IT seems that those who make over 400K a year will be getting tax cuts, while those who miss the mark will pay dearly. 


To those who voted for him and are feeling the effects of his callous cuts in education and social services, I don't feel sorry for you--You Deserve the Government You Voted For. For those who didn't I hope you can ride out the disasters that are to come for the next few years. 

Watching Reality Shows is No Way to Get Over the Winter Blahs

It's been a while since I did a blog post. I want to thank all of my loyal fans [all three of them] for not throwing in the towel and giving up on me. I must say, this winter was awful and I think all the snow made me want to just hide under the covers and sleep. Not to mention the fact that cold weather makes me lazy.

While I was luxuriating in my home, I took the time to watch some television--to be specific, I watched reality television. I must say that many of these show are a cheap way for TV studios to get money and fill their programming slots. But on a deeper level, a lot of these shows are an exercise in human misery. I think the most disturbing show I watched was Hoarding: Buried Alive. I can tell you that some of these folks who are hoarders are truly tortured souls. I mean it's one thing to be a collector, but it's an entirely different ball of wax when a person has pizza boxes, diapers, scraps of paper and trash piled to the top of the ceilings in their home. There was one woman who was in danger of having her house condemned by the public health authority because she had so much trash in her house it became unsuitable to live there. I think only in America where we have so much stuff that it literally can be dangerous to have 'too much'. Which brings me to my next reality show.

I watched Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last night and I must say I was horrified at what I saw. The premise is simple; Oliver goes to Huntington, West Virginia to get the people there to change their unhealthy eating habits. The town received the infamous claim as being the most unhealthy town in America. The opening shot shows the children of Huntington eating the school 'breakfast'--which happened to be sugary cereals and pizza.Oliver was gob-smacked at what he saw and things only got worse when it was time for lunch. Let's just say, the way the lunch cooks made mashed potatoes was not appetizing or very nutritious.

This episode primarily dealt with Oliver fighting the school bureaucracy, lunch cooks, and a rather surly radio host who didn't want to eat 'salads' all the time. The irony in all of this was that as I watching Oliver try to get the people in Hamilton to make better food choices, the health care bill passed. So now we have a bill that will ensure all who need health insurance no matter what. While I think this is fantastic and KUDOS to President Obama--I'm worried what this will do for our culture. I mean, here is Oliver telling people that their decision to eat crappy food will make the sick and more than likely shorten their life, but they aren't listening. They want to have pizza for breakfast, fast food for lunch, and eat lots of sugary, fatty foods. To be succinct, in their view, more is better no matter what the consequences.

So now when these people get sick [and they will believe me] they can tap into the free healthcare provided by the government. Which leads me to the question: Should we hold these people accountable for their actions? For the most part they knowingly contributed to their plight and chose to ignore the facts that diets high in meat, fat and processed sugars will eventually kill you. Wouldn't our health care system be more efficient if we taught moderation in our eating habits? Yes, I know I may be a bit simplistic in my approach, but sometimes I think the simplest solutions work best. In this case more in NOT better.

I wish Jamie Oliver the best of luck because he has an uphill battle in changing how the people in Hamilton, WV think about food and how eating crappy processed food can negatively effect their health.

As a side note, I don't want to come off as some blow-hard food snob in the post. I love junk food, but I do not eat it on a daily basis and I also tend to make most of my meals myself. There--I'm off my high horse.

Death of a Genius.

I was saddened to hear that Alexander McQueen died today. While I must say that his clothes were always out of my price range [even when they were drastically discounted] they were nothing short of innovation and pure genius. I saw pictures of his last runway show in the fall of 2009 and they were astounding and surreal. Yes, he was one of those designers that made 'art that you wear', but he was always willing to not play it safe. His design aesthetic reminds me of Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto.

The fashion world has lost a true visionary and I don't think I will ever see someone like McQueen in my lifetime. I hope he is now at peace.

[Shout out: The Emperor's Old Clothes]

An Old High School Trick.

While being 'grilled' at the tea-bagger's convention, Sarah Palin uses a cheat sheet! Her own hand! Talk about old high school antics! This from a woman who teased Obama for using a teleprompter!

[Shout out: Andrew Sullivan]