Saying goodbye to 2006

Firstly, Happy New Year’s Eve day to you.

Secondly, thanks for making my blog a permanent addition to your life.

Thirdly, don’t be shy with making some suggestions for non-signed artists and other music you think I might like enough to write up here.

Fourthly, go out and imbibe some spirits and have a great ending to your year – be happy you’re alive!

To recap on some things for this year. Obviously one historical moment came just a day ago – Saddam Hussein has finally hung from the gallows pole. Most things in this world aren’t things I would normally concern myself with in hanging a person. However, this man was a serious blight on the world. So in that fashion I had a facination with the fact that CNN and other news outlets were running video of the moments leading up to his hanging. Everyone was prefacing it with, contains graphic scenes – unfortunately all those news outlets (CNN, NY Times, LA Times, USA Today, etc…) are all full of shit about it being graphic.

Each one was linking to official footage and all it is is a man in a group of masked people standing there being defiant about his fate. Most showed the noose going over his head and being placed properly then it cuts off to stay that a moment later he was hung. Now, I say properly placed because Hollywood always shows the noose going over the head with the knot going behind the neck. If you read up about hanging a person, you’d know that the knot going behind the head will cause serious pain and result in not likely killing the person.

As I was writing about the video, I had to see for myself the graphic part. Then a possible cell phone video surfaced. Thus CNN showed that up to the point that the hanging was to occur and then paused the video. In comes YouTube.com. I searched it out and found it. It’s like a bad version of the Blair Witch movie. Horribly filmed and a stupid story – but you watch it because of the hype and the curiosity factor. In a blurry motion you see him fall, you hear a crack of wood slamming, and then a moment later is his face staring blindly from a cock-eyed head swinging. Their, I solved my curiosity. I didn’t necessarily feel any better. I will say that you have to search YouTube to find it because there are now about 1000 or more bone-heads that are posting video clips of themselves and calling it Saddam’s hanging all in hopes of getting traffic to their crap.

What else has gone on this year? Hmmm… Further space exploration (cool). Apple claims that hell froze over (really?). Christmas seemed to be less commercial amongst my friends and family (yippee). Global warming is accelerating (fuck, have you seen an inconvenient truth). Alternative fuels got more highlight (woo hoo – anyone interested in buying a tour bus?). Lots of famous people kicked the bucket, a bunch this month (ugh). Major snow storms slam one city in less than a week (where are my skis? oh wait they don’t ski in Denver). Do one in four Americans really believe Christ’s second coming is coming in 2007? (silly). The Pope managed to piss some people off (oops). Iraq is still going on (thanks George W. Bush). Rumsfeld steps down when voters show they’re no longer happy with republican power (uh oh). An Evangelical leader is exposed for sexual misconduct (no shit?). Mustn’t forget Mark Foley, why is it that people with sexual issues have to be in law making power (give the power back to the people)? Myspace becomes a powerhouse of junk (yes, I’m on there too, so its not all junk). Tons of fires across the west (do I smell something)? Bush manages to give the Supreme Court an even more conservative slant (gotta love the influence of a man who can run major corporations into the ground). Hezbollah and Israel – not much more to say there (I did call a former drummer of mine to see how his family is doing. Fortunately they were in a ‘safer’ area of Israel, but he’s considered moving home and giving up music, bummer). Where’s Castro (the new game sweeping the nation)? The year of the penguins (well actually that dips back into 2005, but lots of little non-flying bird movies). JonBenet Ramsy solved (uh, no). Can I wash my hair after I’ve been on a plane (no)! My singing appears in a movie voted as second worst in history on IMDB.com – go Hillary Duff and Material Girls (yikes, at least it wasn’t my voice that killed it). A phony girl makes a splash on the internet (wonders will never cease). Cars is an awesome movie (can’t I be a talking car)? Pursuit of Happiness, could Will Smith pick a better role (great friggin movie, Oscar anyone)? Congress outlaws online poker (short sighted fools, they should have figured out how much they would have made in taxes). Corporate fraud starts being held accountable (send ’em up the river)! Sushi still rules (yum yum). And so much more…

Whew, I probably ought to get to some music today. Uncle Plum is a band I came across on of ally things Myspace. As you may or may not know, I don’t add bands to my friends list on Myspace. There’s a very specific reason. I don’t like promoting my music to other bands. Thus of the 24,000+ friends that are on my profile, I’d say less than 100 are other bands. I do what I can talk to people on it, but Myspace limits how many people you can contact in a day. Thus once you’re over 5,000 people, it’s extremely difficult to feel close to all of them. I try. Uncle Plum contacted me with a friend request and as with most bands that do that, I’ll at least listen to them to see if it’s worthy of inclusion here on Single of the Day. Obviously you know the answer of how I felt about this song. A vast majority of the so called music that is pushed my way on Myspace isn’t very good, so it’s rare I’ll include a band from there. Go Uncle Plum.

I once made a post on CD Baby’s musician forum asking for bands to send their Myspace link so I could hear their music, cause it was quick and easy. I’m about to make another post there asking for them to send me their CD Baby link as Derek Sivers finally made it easy to hear the music clips right on the CD Baby page. Smart move. Another reason I’d rather be at CD Baby is because their music clips work all the time. Myspace is iffy and often doesn’t work. Another reason is that if I like it, I can buy the CD right there, or if the band is on iTunes and I like the Single of the Day choice, I can snag it on iTunes. What do you think, should I be posting the CD Baby link along with the iTunes link?

On to the actual song: The opening riff isn’t mind-boggling, but that crispy guitar rhythm figure that keeps coming in and out is pretty cool. I like the energy, it’s spunky. I dig the drumming. Musically speaking it reminds me of my first really long Single of the Day post band (Lillian Axe). Highly melodic hard rock stuff. There’s a mulitude of bands I hear in them. Most of them I’m sure that Uncle Plum hasn’t heard of. Another band that I hear in them is the Mustard Seeds. A band I used to be friends with here in Los Angeles, they’re no longer together. They were great, and they were great guys with a sense of humor. I did some poking around at Uncle Plum’s website. They have a good sense of humor too.

I like the story in the song too. Who can honestly say they haven’t met their Stephanie?

Lastly, do all the bands a favor that you listen to here. Send them a note, let them know you dig their music (provided you’re liking the song I’ve posted). For the love of all things sacred if you love the music, don’t just send a note – buy it. Musician’s of talent can’t continue making great music if they have to sell homes or work a day job to make ends meet.