The Big DumpTruck

I used to have a reputation of being a collector of Christmas Music. I think it was a lot easy to be such a thing when you had to buy entire albums, cassettes or CDs of Christmas music. It's much too easy now to just buy one or two songs today.

I did buy an entire CD via MP3 Purchase on Amazon last week, and that is going to be my 2009 recommendation for you. If Trans-Siberian Orchestra toned it down about 2 notches and didn't have any vocal tracks, you'd get the Arctic Express CD "A Christmas Rock Experience."

Some of the reviewers called it the love child of Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Mannheim Steamroller but I don't want to turn people off because they dislike one or the other. It really is just rock and roll Christmas music. Listen to the samples, and if you're like me, you'll just pony up the $6 to download the CD. PLEASE NOTE: There are apparently two versions of this CD up on both Amazon and iTunes. On both sites, one is about half the price of the other. I have no idea why this is, other than that the album has a slightly different name and track ORDER, but the same tracks. I have linked to the cheaper version on Amazon. My gift to you. Disclosure: If you do buy it from Amazon and you use the link above, I think I get a dime or two. If you use the link above and buy other things, I get a few more dimes. I like dimes.

Labels: christmas, Christmas_music, music, Xmas

The cool thing about forgetting something, is that unless you are trying to remember it, you have no idea that you forgot it. In many cases, forgetting something is a blessing, because you probably should not have had the piece of information locked in your head anyway.
Case in point: Tuesday night on the way back from a brutal baseball game (18-13 them, although we should have kicked their butts but what are you going to do. They basically stole home about 12 times on passed balls. Not a fun evening.) and Mr. Dump mentioned that he'd brought up a singer to one of the player's grandfather, who didn't really remember the singer. And I mentioned "what about that other guy...." and completely blanked.
The funny thing is that I could totally picture him. I had the hair and the mustache burned into my brain, but his name, a name I had used about a billion times in the long ago as my humorous go-to guys, had escaped. Couldn't remember it. Mr. Dump couldn't remember it.
This morning, I did a Google search sort of describing him, and I got some false leads, but a name in one of the false leads reminded me of this guy's name, and now it's stuck back in my head again.
Can anyone guess the answer? Here are your clues - you'll have to click this link to get the answer, you buncha cheaters.
1. 70's television commercial star
2. Elvis hair (not "elvish", Elvis)
3. kickin' mustache

Labels: fun, music, quiz

Everyone out there is posting stuff about iPhone applications, so I thought I should do the same because if you know me, you know I like to be completely and utterly trendy. It's almost a genetic thing. That and my need to wear comfortable shoes. Now I can already hear you saying "but Jody, the need to be completely trendy and the need to wear comfortable shoes cancel each other out!" You know, for some people, that would be true. But I can be completely trendy AND wear comfortable shoes and they do NOT cancel each other out. That's how awesome I am.

So here is my pick for the absolute best free iPhone app. The runners-up, More Cowbell and SimStapler, were very worthy opponents. I'm guessing tens of thousands of people out there did not know they needed an iPhone application that allowed them to make a cowbell sound, followed by Christopher Walken saying "I need more cowbell".

As for SimStapler, well, where else can you go if you have an urgent need to pretend to staple something? Nowhere I tell you! SimStapler does it all! It pretends to staple, and keeps count of how many pretend staples you've done! Perfect!

But to get all serious, the true winner here, in the "I can't believe it's free" category, is AOL Radio. All kidding aside, this app (which I've run on Mr. Dump's 1st generation iPhone so it doesn't need the 3G) gives you access to dozens of radio stations, to listen to live over your iPhone. There are some custom AOL set up stations (comedy, trance, and my favorites, One Hit Wonders and All 80s.) If you hear something you like, you can mark it as a favorite and/or go pull it up in AOL Music (where you can learn more about the song/artist) or iTunes to buy it. You can set favorite stations to find them quickly. And big bonus, it carries some terrestrial local stations, so you can listen to WBCN anywhere.

There are some limitations if you aren't on wifi or 3g, according to the iTunes site, but don't let that stop you. If you have an iPhone and haven't grabbed AOL Radio, go do it now.

Labels: fun, iPhone, music

I got really excited yesterday when my iTunes music alert told me that Jason Falkner had released a new CD. I love Jason Falkner and his old band Jellyfish. I went running to iTunes to check it out, and its....instrumental versions of Beatles songs.

If I want to listen to Beatles songs, I will listen to the originals. Or the 1970s Sgt. Pepper movie soundtrack, cause I'm one of two people in the universe who liked that movie.

To give Jason some credit, the sample of Norwegian Wood had so much of a Pink Floyd vibe that I'll have to check to see if David Gilmour was somehow involved. However, the next track I sampled, Something, sounded like bad department store Muzak. For those of you locals who have been local for a while, it would have fit perfectly on the speakers at Capital Toy/Capital Warehouse. I know my sister will understand that one...there was just a certain style to the songs they played there, they featured a lot of electric guitar in that old country music style (that I cannot accurately describe but I know it when I hear it.)

I just don't know if I'll be buying it. If it's new age-y and Pink Floyd-y enough, I might. But that second track is killing it for me right now. C'mon Jason. I want more "Feeling No Pain". That was only 4 years ago, dude!

Labels: music, sad

And it's a freebie! I have this week's main "free song of the week" over at iTunes stuck in my head. Pretty unusual for me, from the freebies (although there have been some awesome songs provided for free, including Sarah Bareilles). The song is called "Let's Dance to Joy Division" by The Wombats.

I cannot speak for the rest of the CD, but dang, the free song is tap toe-ing!

So ya, that's what I have going on today. A song stuck in my head.

And you?

Labels: itunes, music

Okay, quick, tell me what this is:

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If you guessed "Mr. Dump playing Guitar Hero with the television muted" you'd be right!

My God, that is just a horrifying treat for the whole family if only one person is playing and the others are surfing the web on their laptops while they sit in the recliner, pondering the meaning of life and re-doing the household budget so that there is a small amount of cash available so that you can eat dinner at Chilis because you have a fierce addiction to their chips and salsa. (Yes, I am reduced to wanting to spend money on chips and salsa. I think that's better than trying to figure out how to get $400 to buy a replacement video camera, anyway.)

Anyhoo, thank you for playing. And someone promise me that a version of Guitar Hero for Wii will come out with something other than "Legends of Rock" or whatever this is. I hate 80% of the songs on here, and if I have to listen to Miss Murder one more time I'm going to scream. I have an idea. They should come out with a classical guitar version of G.H. You could play like Andres Segovia or something.

Labels: fun, music, odd, wii

I have to work today. I have to work Monday as well, but that is not the point of this point. This is the point of this post.

There are songs that immediately put me in a different place and time. Like brings back smells sounds, everything. I'm listening to my iPod on shuffle and the song The Ballroom Blitz by Sweet comes on. Suddenly, I am at Mason's Bowling alley on a Saturday morning (I was on a bowling team - the Pink Panthers. I have no idea why I can remember the name of my bowling team all these years later, but there you go). There are whole bunch of songs that were on the jukebox at Masons for years - I assume the owner just stopped buying new 45s at some point - because in junior high I was on another bowling team (after school league) and a bunch of those songs were still on there.

But Ballroom Blitz is the one song from that bunch (Telephone Line by ELO was another one) that when I hear it I'm back at Masons. (There are a couple of songs that bring me back to the Mason's mini golf. I think I spent too much time there one summer, but my best friend lived around the corner and it wasn't that bad a walk from my house, so it's not all that surprising.

So anyway, Ballroom Blitz came on and I was just back in that bowling alley in a split second. Candlepin, for you out-of-towners. I think I need to go bowling now.

Labels: childhood, itunes, Leominster, music

I'm scared. Really scared. Today, Junior takes his first trumpet lesson. Are you listening? Trumpet. Meaning he has to practice. In my house.

Flash back a billion years ago to the year 1976. Little Jody B went to a presentation by the music teacher about all the different band instruments available to the kids at Priest Street School. And Little Jody B chose....the trumpet. Well, I wanted to play the coronet, but the school rental instruments didn't have one, only a slightly dinged-up trumpet. So for two years, I took trumpet lessons at school, the highlight of which was my solo performance at the annual talent show of the Carpenter's song "Close to You." My mom still speaks in awed tones of the brilliance of my performance, and her disappointment that we didn't continue on with the trumpet when I moved up to junior high, because I wanted to take chorus and you couldn't do both.

I'm still scared that a 10 year old boy will be practicing trumpet in my house. I remember what my first weeks were like 31 or so years ago. (Good Lord! 31?) It wasn't pretty.

Labels: junior, kids, music

My friend Andrea entered a contest to make a video for the Jonathan Coulton song "I Feel Fantastic" over at the PopSci (Popular Science) blog. She is not an animator, and I actually helped her out a smidge by forwarding a list of Mac animation software links. This is my only claim to fame related to her endevor.

She won the contest, and her fabulously fantastic video is available on YouTube.

Labels: friends, fun, movies, music

In preparation for Leon (the anti-Noel, duh, June 25th), I stumbled upon some podcasts on iTunes of some awesomely collectible Christmas music in the form of podcasts. I'm busy grabbing as much of it as I can to burn to CD for next Christmas, on the off chance it isn't here in 6 months.

My greatest find of the day is "Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland." I don't know if the artist is a fan or not, but I suspect he is. Either way, it's bloody fantastic. Look up the podcast "B-Sides for X-mas" and just try to not download the whole damned lot of 'em.

I think I'm going to call my sister and ask her if she wants to have a Leon party this year. I think it could be pretty darned fun.

Labels: Christmas_music, itunes, music

I had the really pleasant "2 hours to drive what normally takes 40 minutes" commute this morning. People, if you can't drive in the snow, stay home and let the rest of us get to work. Of course, I have four new tires on my van, so I'm feeling a little better about driving in bad weather. Nothing like fresh treads to take your mind of hydroplaning. Not that I'm a risky driver; I most certainly am not. But there was nothing out on 117 today that should have caused it to back up the way it did. Someone is to blame, and when I find that person, I am going to give him/her SUCH an Indian burn!

Oh wait, is it politically incorrect to call it an Indian burn? I'm sorry. I meant no disrespect. Do tell, dear readers...what is the politically correct way to refer to an Indian burn?

So while I was stuck in the car for two hours, I had some kind of great idea for what to talk about today, but somehow I forgot what it was. I could make something up, but it wouldn't be the great thing that I thought of. You know, the great thing that would catapult me to the top of the personal website heap. Make ME blogging queen 2007. But I can't remember what it was. So I continue to flounder in obscurity. In 11 years of doing this, can't I be the queen at least once?

Other ordinary stuff:
Video Game Review: Sonic and the something something for Wii: I haven't played the game-game (sorry!) but I have played the really great bunch of party games a la Mario Party. In fact, I like them better than Mario Party 7. I've heard Mario Party 8 (due out soon?) isn't what it could be. So A- for Sonic's party games, or what I've seen of it so far. [Note: If you buy this at Target it comes with an exclusive DVD with a Sonic Comic book on it. We took a look and it's not worth buying just for that, unless the Target price is lower than wherever else you shop.]

Music: John Mayer Continuum A. I love it. Mr. Dump loves it. What more do you need?

Labels: 01453, car, commute, music, wii

I am doing a mommy blogging post today because I saw an article about mommy bloggers and felt bad because I was not included. I started blogging about my pregnancy back in1997 and all about his birth and growing-uppiness. He'll be nine in January, for those of you who have been here from the start.

But I am not specifically a "mommy blogger" because my posts, my whole site, my online identity are not completely based on my being a mother, at least not overtly. Anyone who knows me in real life knows that my son is my #1 priority in life. But as he gets older it's harder for me to intrude on his personal space by writing about every little thing.

So again, I do not get press as a mommy blogger. Maybe that's a good thing. But it's one less category I will qualify for when the Webbies roll around. That's me...a web pioneer (lookit me tooting my own horn again!) who nobody has heard of!

So okay, mommy stuff. I'm sitting on the big leather parent couch in the waiting room while Junior has a piano lesson (at Thayer in Leominster). He's only been playing since October. The girl one room over - she isn't always here, but she's a tenager who has been playing for years. She plays jazz duets with her instructor and I want to tell my son to stop playing so I can listen to her. It's very very toe tapping.

Does that make me a bad mom? Maybe that's why I don't have a mommy blog.

Labels: mommy, music