Living in LaLa Land

We all know that this type of thing exists but sometimes the lurid details still amaze and make us laugh. How do you get to have such a big ego anyway? If you're a little curious here's the link for Sharon Stone's demands for her current movie. Its pretty self explanatory...

New Music Monday

a-ha

a-ha is a Norwegian band who were most popular in the UK and the USA during the 1980s, but continued to be globally successful in the 1990s and 2000s. The trio, composed of lead vocalist Morten Harket, guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen, formed in 1983 and left Norway for London in order to make a career in the music business. The origin of the name a-ha comes from the title of an early song. After checking dictionaries in several languages, they found out that 'a-ha' was an international way of expressing recognition, with positive connotations. It was short, easy to say and unusual.

History

The song "Take On Me" was the first thing Morten Harket heard Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy play. At that time the song was called "Lesson One". After multiple re-recordings and two failed releases, "Take on Me" became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1985. The first release of the song in 1984 only sold 300 copies, but after a rework with producer Alan Tarney a year later, it sold 1.5 million copies worldwide in one month. Eventually the single "Take On Me" is estimated to have sold 6 - 7 million copies worldwide; it peaked at #1 in the US and #2 in the UK. Sales were aided in the US by a music video on MTV that mimicked the climactic scene from the Ken Russell film Altered States.

The follow-up single to "Take on Me" was "The Sun Always Shines on TV". In the US, the song was only a minor hit, peaking at #20 on the Billboard singles charts, signifying the sharp decline in the band's American popularity in North America. The group would never again have a Billboard Top 40 single in the US. To this day, in America, "Take on Me" is far better remembered than the rest of a-ha's output, and as such, the band is frequently considered a one-hit wonder. Unsurprisingly, the 1985 album Hunting High and Low, containing "Take on Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on TV", sold better in the UK than in the US. However, the worldwide critical consensus dismissed the band as bubblegum pop at the time.

a-ha's second album was Scoundrel Days (1986) and represented a move towards alternative rock as synth pop began to fall out of style. In 1987, they provided the title song for the James Bond film The Living Daylights. Stay on These Roads (1988) received more mixed reviews than the previous albums. In spite of a drastic decline in sales in the next few years, a-ha continued to record two more albums, East of the Sun, West of the Moon (1990) and Memorial Beach (1993).

In 2004, a-ha celebrated their 20th anniversary with the release of a new singles collection: The Singles: 1984-2004. This compilation brought them back into the UK Top 20 Album Charts, where they reached No. 13. Over their career, a-ha have officially released 32 singles. 13 of these became top ten singles in the UK, and 14 singles have been number one on the radio lists over the world.

Why are we in Iraq again?

Because GW wanted us there... regardless of whether we found the weapons of mass destruction or not. Hello America, wake up.

Thinking outside the box

and now from comedian Jay Mohr...

Many of you are reading this at work and I am glad to be able to offer you a momentary escape from what certainly sucks balls. Bosses suck. That's how they become the boss. If you are great or very good at what you do, I suggest you get out of the business and move onto something you know nothing about.

Seriously... how fucking stupid is your boss? How did he or she get to where they are? I have the answer for you: MEDIOCRITY! Everything out of your bosses mouth is layered with a huge chunk of average, and sprinkled with stupid.

"Lets think outside the box" What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Does anyone actually work in a box? If so, then cool. Nice of the boss man to take everyone out to El Torrito to do some thinking. "Think outside the box" means only one thing and one thing only: I HAVE ZERO IDEAS!

By "Box" It is safe to assume your boss is referring to your head. This is only half true. The "Box" in question is your boss' head. There is nothing in it.

When your boss says, "Lets think outside the box", what they are actually saying is, "My box is a useless stump filled with cabbage and ass kissing's”. I have thought about a potential solution and cannot think of one. I am an idiot with nothing in my box. Therefore, I am asking you, the employee, to think for me so I don't get fired from this job. Please, please, please, save my ass AGAIN and use YOUR BOX to come up with a solution so I can talk to MY BOSS and have him think it came from MY BOX.

"Thinking outside the box" is a code for "I got nothing" You do not EVER have to think outside the box to solve anything. Just use your smarter than the boss box and say something when you are finished.

Sadly, your boss doesn't even know that you are smarter than him or her. If they did they wouldn't use bullshit phrases that they memorized from their Deepak Chopra instructional videos that they have stashed away behind the porn in their Studio City one bedroom apartment. You are far superior to your boss and I know this as a fundamental truth. You are reading my blog instead of working! What else is there to debate? Think INSIDE the box today!

Cheers.
-- Jay

As the world turns

So, not a lot of stuff happening here on the ol'd blog lately. Things have been busy at work (where I get the most blogging done) so I haven't had the time to jot down thoughts. I've run into some interesting things on the net lately and those I passed on in the form of e-mails. Maybe I should combine the effort and just send permalinks to the blog... Hmm, maybe I'll try that next time. Of course, that just means more work.

On a personal note, things are busier for Karen than they are for me at home. With the newly announced wedding date by my cousin, my 20 year high school reunion, my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary party and family vacation to Tahiti (Woot! Woot!) we definitely have some big ticket items on the docket for the near future. While Karen keeps herself busy at the Oasis I've been occupying myself with a little fitness regimen now that things are warming up. I'm back to my meditation schedule and I'm biking both on the road and on my trainer. Though I'm starting slow (that seat kills) hoping to get back up to my 120 miles a week in about 3 weeks. For now things are good and I'm sticking to the plan.

In spite of my initial success I'm still trying to convince myself that I have the discipline to do things on my own. Karen, on the other hand has thrown in the towel and got herself a trainer that comes to the house... How she finds the time and energy to do everything that she does at home and at the store amazes me. I can say that I haven't been more proud of her than I am now. She really enjoys working at the store and it fits her pretty well. Not to say that its all flowers and embelishments but it beats being employed - believe you me. All I know is that its giving me a taste for self employment (especially after this year's raise at work). Who knows, maybe I'll get brave and make a mid life career change. As I continue to wonder about my life in IT, Karen's paper empire continues to grow. All I can do is hang on and enjoy the ride.

For now we're in a travel holding pattern until we get back from Tahiti but we've already booked our next big trip - Peru '07. Yes, we will be going to my homeland next year in the spring. I've always had other things get in the way so I'm glad that I'm finally going to get down there before I turn 40... And even though it seems like we have plenty of time I'm sure that the trip will sneak up on us faster than we ever thought possible.

New Music Monday

Eva Cassidy

Eva Cassidy was an American vocalist described by the British newspaper The Guardian as "one of the greatest voices of her generation". Although possessing a soulful voice, an extraordinary range, and a diverse repertoire of jazz, blues, folk, gospel and pop, she still remained virtually unknown outside of her native Washington DC. When she died of melanoma in 1996. However, her posthumously released recordings have since sold in excess of four million copies, and in early 2001 the compilation album Songbird reached #1 on the UK album charts.

History

Eva Cassidy was the third of four children born to Hugh and Barbara Cassidy. From an early age, she displayed exceptional artistic and musical talent. When she was nine years old, her father bought her a guitar, and she began to play at family gatherings with her musical siblings. As she entered her teens, however, Cassidy seemed to be unaware of the depth of her own talent. She did, however, sing with an amateur band, called Stonehenge, during high school and received considerable praise. Due to her extreme shyness, she struggled with performing in front of strangers.

At the age of eighteen, Cassidy began her professional career, singing and playing guitar in a Washington, D.C. area band, called Easy Street. This band performed in a variety of styles, at weddings, corporate parties, and smokey pubs. Cassidy paid her dues as a struggling young musician, working with Easy Street on Christmas night in 1982, at a neighborhood pub in Bowie, Maryland.

Throughout the 1980s, Cassidy worked with a number of other bands, including the soul and Motown oriented band, The Honeybees, and the techno-pop original band, Characters Without Names. Cassidy co-wrote songs, along with the other band members, and recorded them at various home studios.

In 1992 Biondo played a tape of Cassidy to Chuck Brown, best known as a "Go-Go" singer, although he is also an accomplished jazz and blues vocalist. This led to the first commercial recording of Cassidy, the duet album The Other Side, which featured performances of classic songs such as "Fever", Billie Holliday's "God Bless the Child" and Cassidy's signature tune "Over the Rainbow". The independently released duet CD attracted the attention of various record companies, but the offers all required Cassidy to pigeonhole herself within a single style (e.g., pop or jazz), something she adamantly refused to do.

In January 1996 Cassidy recorded the album Live at Blues Alley, about which the Washington Post later commented that "she could sing anything and make it sound like the only music that mattered". Cassidy was unhappy with the album and promptly began recording a studio album which was eventually released as Eva by Heart in 1997.

During a promotional event for this CD in July 1996, Cassidy noticed an ache in her hips, which she attributed to stiffness from painting a ceiling. The pain persisted, and a few weeks later Cassidy was diagnosed with melanoma. By the time of her diagnosis, the cancer had spread throughout her body, causing the pain in her hips.

Cassidy rapidly deteriorated, and her final performance was in September 1996, when, after using a walker to reach the stage, she sang "What a Wonderful World" in front of an audience of friends and admirers. Eva Cassidy died on November 2, 1996, at the age of 33.

QuakeGasm

I've died and gone to heaven... Here's why.

New Music Monday

Bananarama

Bananarama is a British girl group that found worldwide fame with their melodic pop songs. The group was founded in London in 1981 by friends Siobhan Fahey, Keren Woodward, and Sarah Dallin (Woodward and Dallin were friends since age 13). In 1988 they got into the Guinness Book of World Records as the United Kingdom's best selling girl group ever (currently, the best selling girl group ever is British group Spice Girls). In the same year (1988) Siobhan Fahey left the group after marrying Eurythmics' Dave Stewart and they added Jacquie O'Sullivan instead.

History

In 1981 Bananarama's members were living above the rehearsal room which was used by former Sex Pistols's members Steve Jones and Paul Cook. With their help, Bananarama recorded their first demo "Aie a Mwana" (cover of song by "Black Blood", sung in Swahili). The demo was heard at Demon Records, who offered the girls their first deal. The song was an underground hit and the girls were subsequently signed by London Records (they were on this label until 1993).

Bananarama experienced their greatest success during the period from 1984 to 1989. Their debut album, Deep Sea Skiving (1983), contained two hit singles "Really Saying Something" (#5 UK) and "Shy Boy" (#4 UK). The next album, Bananarama (1984), contained hit singles "Cruel Summer" (1983) and "Robert De Niro's Waiting" (1984). "Cruel Summer" was included in the movie The Karate Kid. They appeared on the Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?". In fact they are the only artists to appear on both the original 1984 Band Aid and the 1989 Band Aid II versions. After perservering all these years they have recently released "Drama" containing their 26th Top 40 hit "Move in my Direction".

As of 2002, Bananarama has sold 40 million albums worldwide. Currently Bananarama consists of two members: Dallin and Woodward.

Its the small things...

After spending a week dealing with a mild case of the flu I just got a pick me up. One of my favorite bands, Erasure, will be performing in LA again in support of a new Album they will be releasing in April. The Album, titled "Union St" appears to be an acoustic rendering of some of their more prevalent hits. Despite the fact that they just toured here in support of "Night Bird" it is a wonderful treat to see them once again and hearing them do an acoustic set will be a rare opportunity and very much against their normal performance. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (via Ticketmaster) for those of you who are interested!

Experience

X-Men III: The Last Stand

Bush's approval ratings falls to a new low...

No shit, Sherlock... how could that have happened?

Things I hate

I understand security packaging... to a point. But the, now, quadruple challenge of getting a new DVD out of the plastic keep case nowadays is ridiculous. Do we really need three sides of sticky clear tape and extra plastic tabs that you need to cut off with sissors? And to add insult to injury the various packaging companies are now using cheap tape that doesn't come off cleanly. Because of this new trend I have about half a dozen movies that have a sticky residue, top and bottom, making it difficult to stack these various DVDs. So after spending some time trying to find a solution to the sticky residue (I don't think there's a fix for the packaging issue) Karen offered one of her scrapbooking products. At first I was skeptical but I am happy to report that it works. So, if you share this problem with me I can recommend a good product to get rid of the residue - Undu.

Oscar Fallout

The only thing making this year's Oscar Ceremonies bearable is my trusty High Def DVR. Unlike some people that actually sat through 4 hours of blathering I condensed it all into a neat tidy package of 44 minutes - Cuz that's the way I roll people. Live TV is officially dead at chez Suclla.

Now, I will admit, in spite of loving film as much as I do I don't enjoy all the categories of awards at the Oscars, nor the speeches of gratitude from people I don't know or care to hear from. So basically, I'm a meat and potatoes kind of Oscars fan... Best Actor/Acress, Best supporting Actor/Actress and Best Movie and with that I'm out people.

Some things I did like about the show were...

John Stewart as the host - Though he was a little rough and ultimately subdued from the get-go he did manage to a good job and one that was respectful of the affair. Something, that in my opinion, hasn't been done in a while.

The choices in winners - Though its hard to believe that the actress who brought us "Legally Blonde" would get any accolades, after seeing her in walk the line I became a fan of Reese Witherspoon. I like the fact that George Clooney won an Oscar, I think its well deserved. Of course, rounding out the rest of my favorites are Ang Lee (who can do no wrong in my book - Hulk included) Rachel Weisz (what's not to love about her!?) and Seymour Hoffman (I knew he was talented after seeing him in Boogie Nights). Lastly, though not really surprising to me I thought it was ironic that Ang Lee would win for Brokeback as a Director and the movie Crash would win in the Best Movie Category. This outcome further proved to me that despite our best intentions the politically right and those crippled by organized religion can't get behind giving a movie of gay cowboys the nod... Oh well, better luck next year.

So in retrospect, it was a good show. The stage was beautiful and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. The best word I can come up with to describe the going-ons is "mature". Of course, the crowning moment of the whole night for me was when "Its hard out here for a pimp" won in the best song category. Now, you don't see that everyday! And for those of you who love trivia one of the stage dancers during that number was none other than Adolfo 'Shabba-Doo' Quinones from Breakin' Fame. Who would have thunk it? After all these years he's still pimping himself out on the dance floor - you go boy!

New Music Monday

Benise

Benise is a musician who plays one of my favorite types of music - flamenco guitar. I have had the unique opportunity to see him various times including various street venues that include Olvera Street and Fashion Island. His music is captivating and can be defined as some of the best "spanish guitar" music I have ever heard. For those of you willing to take a chance on a new artist or musical style, Benise will be releasing his new album "Nights of Fire" on March 14. Also, for those of you in my neck of the woods, Benise will be performing at the Grove of Anaheim Wednesday, April 19th.

History

Leaving his family and friends to move 1500 hundred miles away from home to Los Angeles with nothing more than his guitar, he held in his heart the encouragement from his parents to “work hard and have Faith!”

After being turned down by almost every club in Los Angeles, BENISE started performing on the streets. It was not uncommon for BENISE to put on over 200 shows a year, sometimes playing 2-3 events in a single day. Tourists from around the world and native Angelinos alike took to Roni like the “Pied Piper” of Spanish guitar. From there, the path of his music took on a life of its own, effortlessly opening doors along the way to attract musicians, dancers and cirque performers, eventually creating the extended family that is now known simply as his namesake, “BENISE.”

BENISE holds his audiences captive as exotic drums, Gypsy violin, Flamenco dancers, Cirque performers, Brazilian Samba dancers, Brazilian Samba percussionists, African tribal drummers, Havana horns, and brilliant theatrical lighting work together to create an unforgettable experience...

Culinary Nirvana

No offense to any previous Sushi restaurants that Karen and I have ever been to - but we thought we had eaten sushi before... That is until we ate at Boss Sushi. At the behest of our friends Josh and Susie, who have been after us to join them for months now we finally made the journey to LA. Believe you me, it was an experience I wish I had had months ago. To say that it was the best sushi I have ever had would be an understatement. Now, I won't go into detail about "all" the places we've been to but suffice to say we have been to most of the "high brow" sushi joints in the neighboring areas and BOSS has won hands down. If you like "real" sushi (no california rollers need apply) and are willing to to try new dishes - go to Boss, ask for Tom and ask him to suggest dishes (the house Sake is off the hook too!) - you won't regret it.