The Beatles "Twist And Shout"

We're adopting new kittens from a shelter today and we're all really excited.

So excited, that we spent (what felt like) hours inside a pet store, picking out food and a carry cage and new cat toys and a litter box and etc, etc, so we'd be prepared for their arrival.

At some point, the kids lost interest in the shopping, and wanted to look at some of the pets in the store.  They checked out the fish and the mice and the snakes and the gerbils and the . . . "what are these, Dad?"

"Ferrets."

The kids got a kick out of the ferrets.  I find them pretty funny myself.

And as I was sitting there smiling, I wondered this:

"I wonder if anyone on the internet has made a 'Ferrets Bueller' video, set to 'Twist And Shout'?"

Then I realized that if you ask the question "I wonder if anyone on the internet has . . ." that no matter how you complete that sentence, the answer is probably yes.

So please, enjoy Ferrets Bueller in a video set to "Twist And Shout."

God bless the internet!


Hear the song on Youtube.

Amy Adams "Happy Little Working Song"

This week, I'm on vacation with the family at Disneyworld.  So I thought I'd write some posts about Disney songs.

If you're like a younger me, maybe you feel like you're too old for Disney tunes and Disney movies.

So maybe you saw the previews for "Enchanted" and thought that there was no chance that you'd go so it.

If that's you, then reconsider.

Because while "Enchanted" is great for fans of Disney, it's also great for folks who can't stand the tropes and schmatlz of some of their films.  It doesn't an incredible job of lovingly skewering the whole genre.

Watch the scene for "Happy Little Working Song," and tell me it doesn't make you laugh.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Cliff Edwards "When I See An Elephant Fly"

This week, I'm on vacation with the family at Disneyworld.  So I thought I'd write some posts about Disney songs.

Do you feel guilty like I do, for enjoying this ditty from "Dumbo"?  Or how about "The Siamese Cat Song" from "Lady & The Tramp"?

I mean, each song on its own, is very funny and cute.  But it's impossible to ignore that in their original form, they're pretty frickin' racist.


Hear "When I See An Elephant Fly" on Youtube.


Hear "The Siamese Cat Song" song on Youtube.

Sarah McLachlan "When She Loved Me"

This week, I'm on vacation with the family at Disneyworld.  So I thought I'd write some posts about Disney songs.
Well, you couldn't be blamed for missing a few details tucked into the sequence of "Toy Story 2" where Sarah McLachlan sings "When She Loved Me" and you learned Jessie's cruel fate.

No doubt you were balling your eyes out, like the rest of us.

Have you read this piece, which theorizes that Jessie's former-owner Emily is . . . bomp-bomp-bommmmm!  Andy's Mother?!?!

It's a little nutty.  But it's a pretty thorough examination . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Scatman Crothers "Everybody Wants To Be A Cat"

This week, I'm on vacation with the family at Disneyworld.  So I thought I'd write some posts about Disney songs.

I always loved how 60s and 70s Disney portrayed the hipsters of the day.

Like the vultures in "The Jungle Book."  Is the one on the far right in this clip supposed to be Ringo Starr?

Or the beatniks and poets and jazz lovers and beret-wearers who scat, like in this song from "The Aristocats."

Way coooool, maaaan.


Hear The Aristocats song on Youtube.

The Replacements "Cruella De Vil"

This week, I'm on vacation with the family at Disneyworld.  So I thought I'd write some posts about Disney songs.

With a 6 year old in the house, I'm starting to see the change . . .

She has a younger brother, and every once and a while there will be some thing that she used to love, but she suddenly rejects, because "That's for little kids."

There is a lot of this in life.  At a certain point, you age out of particular toys, games, music, activities, etc.

But an unexpected delight of adulthood, is that sometimes you age back in.

By high school, I had aged out of Disney movies.  In the 80s, there was no way you were going to catch me in the theaters for "The Great Mouse Detective" or "The Black Cauldron."

Then a funny thing happened in college.

The Replacements covered "Cruella De Ville" for a compilation of Disney songs called "Stay Awake."  And while I think their delivery was somewhat ironic, I think it also holds an appreciation for the classic song-craft that went into tunes like this one.

And suddenly it was okay to like Disney songs.  Even find them fun, enjoyable and cool.

Which is why it's not unheard of for me to be the one in our house who is most enjoying Sesame Street or the Sit-N-Spin . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Luna "Hedgehog"

A Throwback Thursday post:

I remember this as the song that asked the burning question:

"Are you a Fox or a Hedgehog?"

Huh?

I finally found out what the hell he was talking about, on Wikipedia.


Hear the song on Youtube.

PHOX "Slow Motion"

You have to feel a little bit bad for this band.

If their debut album had come out over a year ago, I'm sure that any interview they did would focus mainly on the music.

Unfortunately, here in 2014, I think they are pretty much condemned to having every single solitary excruciating interview include the idiot DJ/journalist/blogger asking them:

"What does the PHOX say?"


Hear the song on Youtube.

Jerry Garcia & David Grisman "Friend Of The Devil"

I played this on the air once, and said that it was "from 1997."

I had a Deadhead call and yell at me.

"Jerry DIED in 1995!  It can't be from 1997."

So, to clarify, for this impassioned gentleman . . . the album "Live On Letterman" was released in 1997.  The performance on that disc is from a television appearance in 1993, while Mr. Garcia (I didn't know him well enough to call him by his first name) was decidedly alive.

For someone who knows waaay more about The Dead than I do, and can talk about it properly, check out a new episode of Shakedown Stream.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Ziggy Marley "I Don't Want To Live On Mars"

Is it good, or bad, when are artist who has a clearly defined sound, goes ahead and does something that totally defies that expectation.

If I say "new Ziggy Marley song" I bet you have something in mind as to what it might sound like.

You'd be wrong.  It doesn't sound like that.

But is that a good thing, or a bad thing?


Hear the song on Youtube.