I’ll say it again…

I have moved to TSotD.com (The Song of the Day). Please visit me there for the latest song of the day!

Here are my most recent selections for The Song of the Day:

09/11/29 Röyksopp – “Happy Up Here” (2009)
09/11/28 Bob Dylan – “The Times They Are a-Changin’” (1964)
09/11/27 Goldfrapp – “Fly Me Away” (2005)
09/11/26 The Shins – “New Slang” (2001)
09/11/25 Midge Ure – “Breathe” (1996)
09/11/24 Dire Straits – “Money for Nothing” (1985)
09/11/23 Bright Eyes – “At The Bottom Of Everything” (2005)
09/11/22 Bachman-Turner Overdrive – “Takin’ Care of Business” (1973)

See you there!

I have moved to TSotD.com (The Song of the Day). Please visit me there for the latest song of the day!

…

As for msotd.wordpress.com, it has been fun, but I must move on to my own hosted site. Here is my song for you… *sheds a tear*…

Tits. Can you handle it? (The word, not the tits themselves.)

I’m sure some will blush and others will shrug. What drew me into this song wasn’t the tits though, it was that sweet bass line. You can especially hear it at the beginning of the song. Oh yeah baby! That’s what I am talking about!

By the way, if the watch the fan made video note that it isn’t really Rated G, and probably not even PG-13. I’m sure you can handle it though. (The video, not the tits themselves.) Eyes up here! Oh wait… right. I’m a boy.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Lily Allen
• MGMT
• Mika

I also suggest the music genre:

• Electroclash

Click here for more info on Scissor Sisters – Scissor Sisters – “Tits on the Radio”.

The MP3 may be purchased here:

Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters

Viva la revolution, all you bovine lovers!

It just so happens that I was asked about my vegetarian ways today by someone with the question “What sort of practicalities or issues do you run into?” and a link to this article, “Bellying Up to Environmentalism”. My response was as follows. I have much to say on the topic and even what I have here only scratches the surface. If you want a short answer then you should stop reading now and just know that I am a vegetarian not because of my love of animals or the environment, it is because I hate plants.

Seriously though, I’ve been a vegetarian for over 13 years. I am of the ovo-lacto variety. I eat eggs and dairy products. I even occasionally buy something made of leather or other animal products.

I was hardly raised vegetarian. G pointed out to me the other day that being a vegetarian was part of my teenage rebellion. I live in a meat eater’s world here in the United States, where it is frequently difficult to get anything other than a salad or perhaps some pasta at restaurants as the only real vegetarian options. I am never surprised but always disappointed when the main part of my meal is some sort of fried potato. Our culture views meat as a nutritional necessity, though I am living proof it is not. Our meals in this country tend to focus on the meat, and view everything else as something added to the meat. e.g. A hamburger is not a hamburger unless it has the meat. The pickle, lettuce, tomato, etc. are all toppings.

When I do eat out I do tend toward the foreign foods. They tend to view the meat as an additive. Go to a Thai or Chinese restaurant, for example, and tofu is easily swapped for chicken without compromising the essence of the meal. In mexican food, beans is offen the substitute. With Indian meat can be left out 9 times out of 10 and you would never know the difference. Even Italian food is typically centered around the pasta, the bread or the sauce.

At home it is a similar story. G (who is essentially a vegetarian because of me, and not when we go out to eat) and I tend to cook meals without meat, usually with either rice, pasta, bread, pie crust, spaghetti squash, or burritos as a base, and then assorted vegetables, tofu, beans, and sauses added. For some things we have swapped out a vegetable alternative. e.g. instead of cheeseburgers, we frequently use portobello mushrooms in place of the burger. Instead of meatballs, G makes the most delicious eggplant balls, instead of deli meats on sandwhiches I spread hummus. We do use the fake ground beef, and the veggie burgers, and fake chicken patties too, but mostly because they are quick to prepare. I do not think of them as “fake meat” though because they rarely taste like meat and anyone expecting meat will be disappointed. They are really their own type of food.

It is difficult for me to be too picky if I want to eat out at restaurants at all. I know the veggie burgers were likely grilled on the same stove as the burgers. The fries were fried in the same fryer as the chicken wings. My veggie sub was sliced on the same cutting board and with the same knife as all the meat sandwiches. You just have to keep your eyes open and accept that there will be contamination or even that the veggy soup you just took a big spoonful was actually chicken soup.

I’ve known for a long time that being vegetarian is more environmentally friendly. Guilting people into being vegetarian is probably the wrong approach to try vegetarianism or reduce meat intake. There is definitely a financial savings by eating less meat, but more importantly there is a huge health savings. For example I had my choleterol tested last year and the doctor said it was “perfect”. I got a perfect score. No force fed cherrios for me! I challenge any meat eater to produce the same results. I would also say that about a month or two after I did make the initial switch I never felt better. I lost weight immediately too. I also opened my eyes to a world of food that I had previously only eaten because “it was good for me”. I have to believe now that vegetables taste more appealing to me because I crave them, not meat. By shutting out meat I actually feel like I opened a lot more doors to other flavors and cultures of food that I had previously avoided.

Given the frequency of meat recalls, and knowing that so much meat is bathed in ammonia to sterilize it, or contains high amounts of hormones, drugs, or mercury, I feel better not touching the stuff. The fruit and vegetable industries are not without fault though (e.g. Monsanto engineered corn, over insecticided apples, spinach recalls, etc.), so that alone is not enough. Really that is an arguement to go free range and organic.

If you eat egg and/or dairy, you will still get plenty of protein. Even then you do not need animal protein to survive, as my Vegan friends have proved. Don’t believe the protien myth the meat eaters will tell you. How the body uses and produces protiens is another lecture entirely though.

I would encourage meat eaters to consider eating meat only once a day if they are eating it twice now or fewer times per week if they are eating it every day. Or perhaps next time you make a meat dish at home, reduce the amount of meat put in in exchange for more of the other ingredients. Personal as well as environmental benefits can still be gained through reduction.

…oh and if that is not enough to convince you, then perhaps the threat of cows with guns will do it? No? What about the chickens in choppers?

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• BarelyDigital.com
• Johnny Cash
• Kerri Powers

I also suggest the music genre:

• Alternative Country

Click here for more info on Dana Lyons – Cows With Guns – “Cows With Guns”.

The MP3 may be purchased here:

Dana Lyons - Cows With Guns

I am feeling a little funky tonight. I have made the decision to put some hard dollars behind my blog. New hosting. New domain. That’s right… I’ll be moving and unlike the rental space I’m in now, I have more control over my new space. I can paint it red if I want. Hmmmm.

I knew this day may come, and I feel alright. Gigidy gigidy. WordPress and my wee blog msotd.wordpress.com has served me well, but I require more freedom, and now I have it. I just need to pack up my stuff and move. Perhaps this weekend?

I’d tell you the new domain, but the paperwork hasn’t cleared yet and I don’t want to jinx it. Short domains can be hard to come by. msotd.com and sotd.com were taken, but I got my third choice. More to come later. Until then, stay cool. Stay cool.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Earth, Wind & Fire
• KC and The Sunshine Band
• Marvin Gaye

I also suggest the music genre:

• Funk

Click here for more info on Commodores – Commodores – “Brick House”.

The MP3 may be purchased here:

Commodores - Commodores

Feeling good, yet melancholy? Here is the song for you. That is where I am. And here is why…

I went to a class run by my friend about being environmentally friendly, living with less stuff, sustainability, etc. etc. (…more on the content another time…) It was fun, good and invigorating, but yet there is that tinge of hopelessness I could not help but feel once I returned home and realized the issues are huge. Monumental in fact. And they are getting worse, not better, even despite increased awareness. Yes there are things that can be done by individuals such as myself, but it is probably easier to move mountains than it is to change the masses. One rock at a time I guess. One rock at a time.

The one thing I will tell you all is you need to watch “The Story of Stuff” if you haven’t already.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• David Bowie
• Brian Eno
• Geneva

I also suggest the music genre:

• Art Rock

Click here for more info on Lou Reed – Transformer – “Perfect Day”.

The MP3 may be purchased here:

Lou Reed - Transformer

Somewhere in that space between Madonna and Marilyn Manson lives Lady Gaga. I don’t know as though she has the longevity of either, but who knows… she has only just begun it would appear. Her name is all over the place these days and is thus hard to ignore without some investigation by a musical slut such as myself. I wasn’t terribly impressed with the first song I heard months ago, “LoveGame”, but I am giving her another try. I am far more impressed this time around. I’m not even sure if the song is as good without the extreme visuals of the video. There is something very “The Dope Show” meets “Vogue” about the video for this song, and as it was with those videos, I cannot seem to take my eyes away. Approve or disapprove, original or not, good or bad there is something entertaining and bizarre, appealing and repulsive about Lady Gaga. Advert your eyes if you must, but don’t feel bad if you push replay button. I did.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Madonna
• Marilyn Manson
• P!nk

I also suggest the music genre:

• Pop

Click here for more info on Lady Gaga – “Bad Romance”.

The MP3 may be purchased here:

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

Heh heh… I told people I’d post this song. In fact I threatened them. It is all my friends’ fault for singing it over an over last night. So as punishment, I present it to all of you now. It is one of those songs you know all the words to (if you listened to the radio at all in the 80s), but you question if you want to.

Honestly, though I kind of like it now and I do wonder why. It has that familiarity that makes it attractive now, but otherwise I probably would not like it at all. It is kind of like an old acquaintance from high school who you probably didn’t really like all that much in school, but now running into them is kind of nice because you can both talk about the old days. Perhaps now I will like it because I will forever remember my friends singing it poorly over and over? Although I could fill this space with one of countless songs I like more, it is payback time. I need to stick to my word too! Sing on Billy!

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Madonna
• Prince
• Toto

I also suggest the music genre:

• Pop

Click here for more info on Billy Ocean – Suddenly – “Caribbean Queen”.

The MP3 may be purchased here:

Billy Ocean - Suddenly

I’m considering a move to Memphis.

No, not really. I’ve never been to Tennessee actually. Most of the states all around it, but somehow I’ve missed that one.

What I am considering is a move from wordpress.com to somewhere else, probably my own hosted wordpress blog, just not at wordpress.com. I am still researching my options and weighing the pros and cons of moving away from the warm safe but restrictive bosom of wordpress.com. This is all very uncomfortable for me but staying within wordpress.com will not grant me the control I would like to have (ever it would appear). So be it. I must spread my wings and take flight.

This song has been my theme song as I sit here scouring the web for information and “how to’s” on the subject. As part of the move I am also reviewing my registered domain options. The dot-com for MSotD appears to be taken by some proxy registrar. In other words, it might as well not be available, ever. So I may have to go with something else entirely. I may have to give my blog a new name to match too.

As always, I am open to any suggestions you may have on the topic OR any suggestions of what you would like my blog to include too! I am here for myself, but I also want all you peeps out there to be happy campers too with my “song a day” and “album a week” services. As a “DJ” or sorts I will drive the musical bus, but I am am flexible to requests and your thoughts.

PS: Up to this point I have only referred to myself as being in the Northeastern USA, but this song and the band is from my hometown so I’d like to pay tribute to my home town, Rochester, NY, where Chuck Cuminale and his band “Colorblind James Experience” created this song.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Cake
• Joeyess
• They Might Be Giants

I also suggest the music genre:

• College Rock

Click here for more info on Colorblind James Experience – The Colorblind James Experience – “Considering a Move to Memphis”.

I have no idea where you can buy the CD or MP3, but you can always listen to the song here:

Colorblind James Experience - The Colorblind James Experience

I’m feeling subdued today. Tired of the week. Tired of the needs of others placed upon me. Ready to relax and do as I wish. In need of a mental bath. A cleansing.

My job, it drains me. Too much to do. Too little time. High expectations without reality playing a serious role, or so it would seem. Compensation being reduced. Motivation lacking. It contrasts with me. I am not a slouch. I work hard. I strive for quality. I do not fail. As with all opposing forces something will give. Will I change? Will I be force out? Will I fight until I am crushed like a bug? I do not know.

Do I have to keep up the pace
To keep you satisfied

It is funny the things we put up with. Ultimately I do not need the house I live in, the car, the stuff, etc. etc. I need the food, water, shelter and clothing. The sanitation and healthcare are also a plus. But really G and I could cut so much and live so simply. I guess I’d have to give up the Internet connection, though I am more likely to give up the phone first. I wonder if the happiness of a different work life wouldn’t be worth it. Or perhaps I am just a whiny baby? I have a job after all and I believe most people would say it pays well. The stress is what gets to me though. Being forced to work to a lower level of quality than I can face. *sigh*

This song has the feeling I have right now. The flavor… a pensive beat. A thoughtful moment. A worn feeling, but not without a fight lurking underneath. Do you hear it? Do you feel it? Yes? No? Come back when you’re worn down a bit more and we will see.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Chairlift
• Health
• M83

I also suggest the music genre:

• Dream Pop

Click here for more info on The XX – XX – “Crystalised” (2009).

The MP3 may be purchased here:

The XX - XX

I was raised watching the old Disney cartoons, including the really old Silly Symphonies. I can’t remember if they were just on TV or tape, but I recently decided to watch a number of them to reminice and remember. Tonight G and I were watching some of the earliest Disney cartoons, including the infamous Steamboat Willie.

It is funny how often something happens in the old cartoons you probably would not see in today’s cartoons. Characters chewing tobacco, or Minnie’s under garments getting caught in a hook and then used to suspend her in the air for example. The obsession that both Mick and Pete (Micky’s frequent adversary) seem to have with getting Minnie to kiss them, sometimes trying to force her to kiss them, is something you just would not see in a cartoon today. Mickey was a hot dog vendor in one of the cartoons and the hot dogs could dance and do tricks (like dogs) and then upon command would rub their “butts” in mustard and jump into sandwich bread. Then when the one hot dog was disobedient, Mickey pulled back the casing and spanked it on the “butt”. G was appalled. She was appalled several times. I find it all fascinating how things that were not appropriate then are more accepted today, and other things are not appropriate today but were totally okay then. It may seem like we’re more and more accepting across the board, but really things like sexual harassment and political correctness act to take us in the other direction at the same time. It is not so simple.

What did tickle our fancy with each cartoon was hearing “Minnie’s Yoo Hoo” song at the opening credits. I like the sped up version (above) but you can hear the original too (below). And what a coincidence that we are considering getting some chickens. (More fowl things to come on that later!)

Here are the words if you want to sing along …but not me …at least not in public…

I’m the guy they call little Mickey Mouse
Got a sweetie down in the chicken house
Neither fat nor skinny
She’s the horse’s whinny
She’s my little Minnie Mouse!
When it’s feedin’ time for the animals
And they howl and growl like the cannibals
I just turn my heel to the henhouse steal
And you’ll hear me sing this song

Oh, the old tomcat with the meow, meow, meow!
Ol’ hound dog with the bow-wow-wow!
The crow’s caw-caw!
And the mule’s hee-haw!
Gosh what a racket like an ol’ buzz saw!
I have listened to the cuckoo cuke his coo-coo!
And I’ve heard the rooster cock his doodle doo-oo
With the cows and the chickens
They all sound like the dickens when I hear my little Minnie’s Yoo-Hoo!

PS: It is Minnie’s “Yoo Hoo”, “Hoo Hoo”, though that would be funny too. Inappropriate but funny.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Tom Adams – “John Hardy”
• James Cromwell – “If I Had Words”
• Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan – “Jarabe Tapatío”

I also suggest the music genre:

• Ditty

Click here for more info on Carl Stalling and Walt Disney – Mickey’s Follies – “Minnie’s Yoo Hoo”.

The DVD may be purchased here:

Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Black and White

Sometimes a band or song takes some time to grow on you. You may completely not notice them the first time you hear them, or you may even think of them as dull and boring. After listening to them for a while, they grow on you and you start to question how you did not love them to begin with? How you could ever have lived without them? I had the experience with Arcade Fire earlier this year and I’ve had the same experience with Scotch and perhaps even with G.

My latest example of this phenomenon in my life is “The National”. Everything I’ve read has told me that I should love this band. Yet at first I listened to the album “Boxer” (about 6 months ago) and thought them quite dull and underwhelming. I tried again a few months ago and no change. This past week though I decided I’d give them a serious try. I put the album on repeat and listened 3 times through. The next day I found myself wanting to listen to one of the songs again. Now, a week later, I find I am loving some of the songs, including this one “Mistaken For Strangers”. As I have noted before, familiarity is a huge factor in what music you like or do not like, and perhaps I have forced it with The National and other bands before them, but does it matter? Perhaps it is even a good thing. An acquired taste once acquired can often be far more enjoyable than the sugar laced tastes that frequently lack longevity or depth.

Give “The National” a try. And then another …and another, and report back to me.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Arcade Fire
• Fleet Foxes
• Interpol

I also suggest the music genre:

• Post-Punk Revival

Click here for more info on The National – Boxer – “Mistaken For Strangers”.

The MP3 may be purchased here:

The National - Boxer

Audio Stream:

http://www.imeem.com/people/8O6×8Hy/music/aQeoAXar/james-cromwell-if-i-had-words/

I know. Life sucks. We are all “born into the grave” so to speak. Humans. The plants. The animals. Everything.

13 years ago though I made a choice though. I wanted it to suck a little less… first for myself. I stopped eating meat starting with beef. I was tired of eating it because I had one too many bad hockey-puck hamburgers (sorry Mom).

It was at that time of my beef boycott I first saw the movie “Babe”. Immediately afterwards I decided I was not going to eat pork ever again. I was going to do my part in not making life suck for “Babe” and all pigs. I know it is like blowing into the wind, especially surrounded by so many meat eaters, but sometimes you have to stick to what you believe even if people think you are crazy or wrong.

I watched “Babe”, yet again, last night and felt reassured and affirmed in my decision. Watching the movie now is like a religious experience for me. I am not so unlike Farmer Hoggett. I believe I am generally quiet and patient in my disposition, and open minded to otherwise abstract, unusual and even bizarre possibilities, just as he is. Although I have never known a pig personally, I do believe them (and all mammals) to be too intelligent for me to consume ethically. I heard the song, “If I Had Words”, played throughout the movie and it was powerful for me. Silly? Perhaps. Do I expect anyone to understand? No. The movie changed my life though. From being annoyed by bad burgers, this movie pressed me to pursuing a new way of eating, and ultimately a new lifestyle that I still have over a decade later. This song represents a sort of theme song for my vegetarianism, and my wish to preserve life, not destroy it.

PS: I only just learned now that the words to this song, “If I Had Words”, were originally written by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley in 1977, with a reggae beat.

PPS: I learned last night that it is actually adapted from the classical piece, the “Maestoso” of Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Symphony No. 3 in C Minor”, written in 1886.

PPPS: Also, for those of you who want more, here is the version with the “mice” singing, which is actually just a sped up version of a recording of “If I Had Words” sung by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley. Crazy, right!? Who knew?!

PPPPS: Despite James Comwell’s rendition being made for film, and not for an album, and being very short, and being a cover of a cover so to speak, it still has a modest, humble and honest quality I appreciate greatly.

PPPPPS: PS (or more properly, P.S.) is Latin for “post scriptum”, which means “written after”, and thus PPPPPS is “post post post post post scriptum”, ridiculous for sure, but if you don’t like it, why don’t you go blog about it or eat one of my mom’s hamburgers?

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Harry Belafonte
• Lolita Ritmanis
• Yann Tiersen

I also suggest the music genre:

• Soundtrack

Click here for more info on James Cromwell – Babe Soundtrack – “If I Had Words”.

The CD of the soundtrack to “Babe” may be purchased here:

Babe Soundtrack

I woke up this morning with Pearl Jam’s “Alive” in my head for no discernable reason. It has been months since I heard any Pearl Jam and possibly years since I heard this song, “Alive”, Memory is a funny and sometimes random thing.

Back in school the question was frequently “who do you like more, Pearl Jam or Nirvana?” I was always a Nirvana fan. Though endearing now 15 years later, Pearl Jam was just “alright” to me at the time. I didn’t seek them out like I did Nirvana. Nirvana seemed more edgy and extreme and that appealed to me, though I am neither. I suppose I wish I were. I know I didn’t need to choose either one but such is the ridiculousness of middle school and high school, where you feel like you have to choose this or that to define yourself. Screw that! Have both if you want both! Don’t let silly questions like that or social boundaries define you. And definitely don’t let it limit your musical tastes!

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Nirvana
• Smashing Pumpkins
• Stone Temple Pilots

I also suggest the music genre:

• Grunge

Click here for more info on Pearl Jam – Ten – “Alive”.

The MP3 may be purchased here:

Pearl Jam - Ten

Whoa! Hello 1984! This song sparks memories of my youth. Short shorts and big collars on my shirt. Innocence and ignorance I have since lost.

And oh my god does Bruce look young in the video! He is like a baby! And yet in just this past Superbowl XLIII he was sliding across the stage, bumping his crotch into the camera…

… I guess he is just still young at heart.

I was watching when it happened too (the slide into the camera). I felt bad for him because clearly he underestimated how slick the stage was. I thought for sure there’d be another “Nipplegate (RE: Janet Jackson) because Americans are so incredibly stupid about such things, but Bruce’s friends, let’s call them “Big Jim and the Boys”, stayed inside that night, so it was all “ok”. Janet Jackson’s bare breast = OUTRAGE! Over 100 people dying every day in car accidents in the USA = SNORE! Now perhaps if the car accidents were on football fields they’d feel differently?

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Fleetwood Mac
• Billy Joel
• Van Halen

I also suggest the music genre:

• Hard Rock

Click here for more info on Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A. – “Dancing in the Dark”.

The MP3 may be purchased here:

Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A.