The Week That Was 7/7/07

Say what you will about Al Gore... Forget that he put together the whole Live Earth concert, and all that. ( Here's the deal on that. from my perspective- I tivo'd all 22 hours, and honestly- if they would have cut out 3/4's of the PSA's about how we were fucking up the planet- I could have saved so much energy.... and disk space.)

The fact is, his kid Al Gore III was arrested last week for possession, and you know what? I'm voting for that MF'er. His kid got a Prius to go 100mph. That is AWESOME!!! I'm voting for his dad- again.

Lets see, what else happened this week? There was that Diana concert, it was cool. P-Diddy was allegedly making out with Sienna Miller backstage. I wonder what they'll call that celebrity couple? Sieddy? Puffienna? Pee-iller?

I bought and installed saddelbags on my motorcycle. 

A fellow blogger almost got drunk, and I may or may not have been mixing the drinks :)

I in know way, shape or form got to spend enough time with my ICE.

BTW- the previously mentiond blogger told me that I should marinate my steak in canola oil before I grill it. I'm trying it, but I gotta say, it broke my heart to try it. I'll have to post and let you know how it went. 

The M's are still playing well- so far it looks like the new manager isn't a bad thing.

The very early results say Durant was a better pick than Oden. But that's only after one summer league game.

I'm growing a beard.... at least for another day or so.

I'm going to LA.

While I'm there, I think I'm going to have dinner or drinks with one if ICE's BFF's. That's cool, she's a cool girl. Her B'day party rocked. it may be pretty interesting, because I found out today that the day we are supposed to have our visit- she is supposed to get laid off. That could be fun. good thing I'm a good listener, and a good drink buyer.

Speaking of things I buy. My mom inadvertantly reminded me this weekend that not only do I give that crazy bitch half of my income for the next few years--- until the oldest T gets out of high school (at the time, I felt like it was the right thing to do for my kids, so their lives wouldn't have to change any more than they would have too.) But that I also pay almost $500 additional a month for her insurance. Damn! It's good to be my ex wife.

The odd for me thing is that money is one of the things that she uses against me with the kids, and it works, because I don't feel its appropriate to discuss finances or divorce settlements them, and so I ride this high road, for no reason, all by myself, never really setting the record straight. Which in her world means she's right. Desperately clinging to the notion that someday, they will see the truth, and appreciate or respect me for it. Hopefully, it won't be too late- although I fear that with D, it is.

Anyway- enough rambling-

Gin Hahn,

T

Real New Old School R & B

I love so many different types of music. I really don't have any favorite genre's. 

That being said, I long for real solid sounding, not overproduced (raw if you will) new, Old school R&B. I love the old Stax sound. That Booker T and the MG's  rhythm section that played on so many of the hits from the 60's. I even love the Blues Brothers, not because they made a great movie, but because the music was real. It had a gritty sound to it that made you actually feel it.

I wore out the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary records. I wore out my Sam and Dave, Otis Redding, Aretha, etc...

In the past few years I've been teased by up and coming artists that might be able to make that genre come alive again.

Joss Stone had it for a while. (Actually she probably still does, but I haven't followed her as much as I should. The Soul Sessions were amazing though- and to think, she was like 14 or 15 at the time.)

I thought that maybe Tony Rich or D'Angelo were promising. (Okay- they had more of a Marvin Gaye vibe- but still, I thought it could hold up.) At any rate, they both failed to make the cut.

They both made me think of Maxwell, another Marvin Gaye type who really has put out some amazing stuff, but it is on a super slow drip. His last album was in 2001.

Anyway, back to my topic at hand. A few years back I thought that Ricky Fante would be able to cut the mustard, and while I loved his voice, I have to say after a few listens, the record sounded way overproduced. It's probably impossible for a new artist to get the record company exec's and producers to lay off and just let the performance come out. I know the sound will never work out 100% right, but I don't think you can ever beat having all the musicians play at the same time and recording it. There is a certain magic that happens "live".

Anyway this all leads me to the fact that I may have found a new R&B guy. I'm going to wait for a live show or two, and hopefully another record, but at first listen, this guy is good and has potential. Unfortunatley some of the songs are pretty short- in fact, a few are under 2 minutes, but iTunes is offering an "Next Big Thing" deal, so you can download his album for $6.99. Ryan Shaw.

Gin Hahn,

T

PS- Of the Next Big Thing special, I also bought the Brandie Carlile  and Great Northern albums, I'll stick them all on my iPod for this trip and let you know what I think.

6-4-3

There is a nasty rumor that going around that says I have more tennis shoes than Imelda Marcos. (For you young bucks out there, Ms Marcos, before she became a politician in her own right, is famous for saying "I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes, I had one thousand and sixty. ")

Now, I won't confirm or deny that, I'll just say that considering Ms Marcos tastes, I probably do have more sneakers than she had. And yes, I have a pair or two of jeans for every day of the week (if only I had the same amount of underwear.) But my biggest recent weakness (aside from a certain tall blonde who will go unnamed) is T-Shirts. I find they go well with my new motorcycle persona.

Actually, I've always been a fan, but lately I have been a bigger fan. And I'm pretty sure I have more T-Shirts than kicks. Anyway this is a really long, long way for me to mention this local (Seattle) company that is actually some cool t-shirts for M's fans. And since this year, the M's don't suck - it's cool to have a shirt that doesn't too.

And if you still are confused, yes 206 is the area code... but 6-4-3 is a double play.


Here's the link 643 Nation .

Gin Hahn,
T

PS- Keeping the baseball theme, and that of a certain weakness I have, we're in a stretch of 10+ days, we only get to see each other 3 times. In baseball 3 for 10 is an all star, but in this particular case, it sucks. So ICE, if you are reading this just to be close, I miss you too. I hope its not to hot where you are. Stay out of trouble. I'll do the same.

PSS- for those of you who think that myICE and I actually use my blog as a communication vehicle- In the words of that super fat guy from that band that was really popular a few months back "I think you're Crazy". She does read, (quite well I might add) but we talk. Its healthy. You should try it.

Bob Barker's New Career

Thanks to my friends at ESPN... or no thanks, because they didn't hire him for the job. I guess I'll just have to keep dreaming about the legendary in my mind team of Stuart Scott and Bob Barker. Can you imagine if they would then kick over to Kevin Colabro for some NBA analysis?

Dude, that would rock... Only thing that might rock more would be KC doing the play-by-play for the Beyonce/Shakira tape. I know my man would be up for it. (Of course after typing that line, now in my head I hear Chris Berman doing the play by play... Shakira goes back, back, back, back...)

Bob Barker Sports Center tryout

Gin Hahn,
T

Indeed!

A little nugget from a co-worker.

Sam just turned 2. The revolution continues...

"So I was telling Erika the Jin Hahn story the other day, like I told you. A couple days go by and we were all driving in the car and Samuel started saying “Jin Hahn”, clear as day."

Jin Hahn,
T

iPhone, Do something you can tell your grandkids about!

Here's some video of people in line, courtesy of Rolling Stone. That's right, the people who immortalized and revolutionized rock and roll - or at least reported on it. Wow -we've come so far.

Things Get Ugly in the iPhone Line

Drink more Gin Hahn,
T

Don't have your iPhone yet?

Neither do I - Actually still can't buy them for another 51 mins. here.

Anyway here are some takes on what we are missing.

Colberts iPhone review

Conan's iPhone Commercial

SNL's Steve Jobs Announcement

And a real review, that'll make you want to go get in line... if that's your thing.

David Pogue's actual review

Gin Hahn,
T

WTF???

My Ex wife is a crazy bitch!

Saying that helps me keep balance and prevents me from going off the edge.

She may have a sould mate though in the category of "crazy fat psycho people with little grasp on reality who are extremely hypocritical men haters"

Rosie's kid plays with guns

Gin Hahn,
T

Bonds - Arod and the headcase

Okay- this is my one and only post where I'll even mention his name.

Barry Bonds is approaching Hank Aaron's record of 755 career home runs. That sucks. It's gonna take one hell of a steroided up asterisk in the record books for that puppy. On the bright side, A-rod will probably pass him in a few years, on the down side, A-rod will probably pass him in a few years. Sorry I just think Lame-rod is a bigger dick than I am.

With all the hub-bub this week around the Griffmaster coming back, I'm actually liking him again and forgetting what a self centered headcase he is. At least I always felt like he was trying to win games for the team, as opposed to our current centerfielder.

Did you know that 200,000 people (one-third the population of Seattle) attended last years gay pride festivities in Seattle? Man, that's gay.

Did you know that 1 out of every 150 people in King County is a lawyer? I'll let you insert your own joke here.

Jin Hahn,
T

37 Seconds in Paradise

So it turns out that the average reader of my blog stays for 37 seconds. When I write more often, that number goes up- but even when I haven't said anything new lately I still get an average of a 37 second stay, which means one of two things- A, you like what I said and will read it again, over and over - or B- my page takes 34 seconds to load and it takes you 3 seconds to figure out there is nothing new here.

Should I write longer posts? Will you stay long enough to read them? Do I care? Should I write, and read them back to see how long it takes and aim for a 37 second window? If I did, what would I assume about the reading level of my visitors? After all, I assume you are fairly well read, have at least a fourth grade education, and lets face it- I don't really write a t a much higher level than that.

Anyway, since I like making lists - here's a list of future entries that have been running around in my mind- maybe if I list them here I won't forget.

Best songwriting teams
Songs on my mindpod
Best rain songs
My latest love (She's gotta cold heart, but I can melt it)

Gin Hahn,
T