The Rentals "Waiting"

I was doing a little research for the That Dog post I did on Sunday, and I found this awesome little piece of trivia.

I immediately wrote to my friend Lori T, just to see if I had made an amazing discovery, or if this little fact was known and out there.

Lori knew it, but maybe this will come as a fun surprise to you.

Reading up on That Dog, led me to The Rentals, because Petra Hayden had worked with both bands.

And reading up on The Rentals led me to note one of their temporary members.

She wasn't on their first album, which had the alterna-hit "Friends Of P."  But she joined the band for their tour, and for the recording of their second album.

She later left the band, to pursue her career in acting.

You've no doubt seen her on a very popular TV show, and/or in one of the most successful comedy movies of all time.

I won't give her name away.  Just watch the video below and look for the keyboard player in the green outfit.

And if you are totally stumped, you can click through to a picture of her, or click here for her Wikipedia profile.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Material Issue "Goin' Thru Your Purse"

My wife asked me to retrieve something from her purse.

"It's in the front pocket."

"I don't see it," I said, fishing through the front pocket.

"It's in the one right near the front."

And I realized that there was another compartment.

"I still don't see it."

"Right in front," she said.

And then I realized that there was another, even smaller compartment, closer to the front.

But I still couldn't find it.

"Nope."

"It's there."

"Wait a minute," I said.  "Found it."

It was in yet another compartment, hidden, that was inside the smaller compartment that I'd previously found.

Why is a pocketbook so complicated?

It made me think of both this Seth Myers "Weekend Update" joke, and of this Material Issue song.

See the video on NBC.


Hear the song on Youtube.

NBC "Brotherhood Of Man"

In case you missed this one last year, I think the "Brotherhood Of Man" certainly extends to this year's Super Bowl.

And speaking of extended, make sure you watch the Extended Version all the way to the end, for one last cameo.

(Fun game, see if you can count all the shows that have been canceled/stars who've left the network in one short year!)

Matthew Sweet "Do Ya"

Here's another Weekend Post:

Continuing yesterday's 90s Pop Nostalgia . . . There was this weird outburst in the 90s, when Saturday Night Live and David Letterman and some other late night shows decided to raid their archives and put out CDs.  For whatever reason, most did not go beyond a Volume 1.

This track is particularly awesome, since it wasn't part of a broadcast episode of Conan O'Brien.  The track was recorded during the afternoon's soundcheck, and was included on the Late Night CD.

Matthew Sweet doing The Move (ELO) . . . awesome.  Knowing this is live (sans any studio trickery) really puts the point on what a great and unique voice he has.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show.  They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are wonderful to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.
 

Liz Phair "Whip Smart"

I was watching late night TV, specifically to catch a much-hyped young female singer-songwriter.

The performance was pretty weak, but I had a compassionate thought. I thought to myself, how unfair . . .

Unfair to her, because she appeared to be somewhat terrified, and struggled to hit all her notes. She clearly wasn't ready to be on a stage like NBC late night.

Unfair because this was going to negatively effect her career. Whatever promo folks were in charge of getting her this gig were responsible for pushing thing too far too fast, and would have to deal with the repercussions of people saying she wasn't as good as the hype.

The year was 1994 and the artist was Liz Phair.

She'd put out the critically acclaimed "Exile In Guyville" record independently, and it was rightly lauded. Her debut was refreshing in its lyrical frankness, its overt sexuality and its lo-fi spunk. But no one bothered to check if Phair was a great live performer, or was seasoned enough to command a stage. She wasn't.

Check out the clip below, from Jay Leno in 1994, as she doesn't come close to hitting some of the higher notes.

I thought about this performance yesterday, when I started reading about Lana Del Rey's performance on Saturday Night Live over the weekend.

Her first album isn't even out yet, but people are talking, talking, talking about her. So much so, that there's already a backlash (not unlike the Vampire Weekend phenomenon). Many folks who have yet to see her live, tuned into SNL to get a glimpse of what the big deal is. And, judging from more than a few sources, she disappointed.

I watched her spotty performance and history seem to repeat itself, I asked myself, "Is it Phair?"

(And had I been fair to Florence And the Machine?)


See the video on Youtube.


See the video on Youtube.

Florence And The Machine "Dog Days Are Over"

Okay, so I'm probably the last blogger on earth to post about this band and song, but I did have some thoughts on it.

It's another tune that's been kicking around for quite some time. It really belongs more to the world of Alternative Radio than to stations that sound like mvyradio. But there are some of our format-cousins who are playing this track. It would probably be a stretch for us, but I was starting to think maybe we could do it.

"Dog Days" had gotten in my head, and that's a good sign. If a tune sticks with you, long after you've taken off the headphones, it's got staying power. And it's the end of the year, which is a good time to take a flying leap and play something that IS a bit of a stretch.

I was thinking we'd have to give this track serious consideration when Monday rolled around (Monday is the day we officially add songs to rotation).

Then I saw them on Saturday Night Live.

Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed.

A "good song" is certainly the highest criteria for a song getting added to rotation, but there are lots of other questions to ask and answer. For instance, while the song is good, Is the band any good? Are they more than one song? Are they good enough that they'll be around for awhile? Are they authentic?

The live, TV performance didn't sell me on any of these counts and come Monday, we didn't even talk about the song.

I dunno, does someone want to straighten me out on this one?

The Lonely Island “I’m On A Boat”

(As evidenced by my Monday post) My Rap Music knowledge is pretty well stuck back in the late 80s and early 90s.

At some point I just lost touch with the scene. Or lost interest.

Or it lost interest in me, is actually what I thought. I knew that rappers were not writing their songs for white, middle class 40-somethings. So I haven’t really been qualified to assess the Rap music scene.

And for that reason, I would dismiss the dismissive comments about Rap music, that I often hear from mvyradio listeners. People on the request line, and in emails to the station, will express their strong distaste for Hip-Hop. But they aren’t supposed to be the audience for Hip-Hop, so their judgement seems too subjective.

But what to do with information that is not subjective, that supports the claim that Rap music is completely devoid of musical value? That a once-creative, urgent, necessary, dynamic art form, had devolved into a crass, commercialized parody of itself?

How else do you explain the Lonely Island Grammy Nomination? And no, not for the Comedy category.

Lonely Island is a comedy troupe from New York, who’s members famously got absorbed by Saturday Night Live. A couple of members are SNL writers, and member Andy Samberg is a part of the cast. They are the team responsible for the Digital Shorts that have appeared on the program for the last couple of years. You may remember them from such classics as “Dick In A Box,” “Lazy Sunday” and “Jizz In My Pants.”

And now you can remember them as the 3 comedians (plus T-Pain) who are nominated in the “Best Rap/Sung Collaboration” next to Beyonce, Kanye West, Keri Hilson, Ne-Yo, Jay-Z, Rihanna, T.I. and Justin Timberlake.

Is this the state of Rap music? That a song, made explicitly so they could shoot a video that mocks the stupid, crass commercialism and conspicuous consumption of Rap music videos and lyrics, is actually held up as one of the best of the year.

How could an outsider not laugh with this video, and then laugh at what the genre holds in high regard?

Of course, now you have to see the video.

And you can hear clips of all the Grammy nominees in this category. See if you can spot which one is the joke.



Buy the intentionally funny album, here