Believing in Yourself Almost as Much as You Doubt

Congratulations to both Ms. Stacey Villescas and my Dad for correctly naming "Back in the U.S.S.R." by The Beatles as the Monday Song of the Day.

What's that you say? You wonder why I mention my Dad when Stacey, a.k.a. ALV, was the only person who left a comment identifying "Back in the U.S.S.R."? Well, my Dad chose to give his answer via the telephone, which until this point was within the accepted method of communicating answers, along with carrier pigeons, smoke signals, and tin cans on a string.

But, upon further consideration, I've decided that in order to avoid any Bush v. Gore-type knockdown, dragout fights, I'm proposing the following rule, and since this is my blog, I rule by fiat and my word is law.

Henceforth, all answers, in order to be considered for the Song of the Day contest, must be submitted via the comment section of "Running Down a Dream."I will not accept answers in any other form, even if they are submitted by the people that brought me into this world. This is a blog of laws, not men or women.

Govern yourself accordingly.

You're All Tied Up As You Should Be

Congratulations to Ms. Stacy Villescas for correctly naming "Lovely Rita" by The Beatles as the Tuesday Song of the Day.

I'm guessing the song wasn't written about Rita Wilson, but that's mainly because I don't see Tom Hanks' name alongside McCartney and Lennon in my liner notes to "Sgt. Pepper's."

With yesterday's news that Adam "Pacman" Jones will be heading to the Great White North to play in the CFL for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, I'm slightly disappointed that the lady friend and I will be residing in Houston after the marriage.

"Why is that?" you might ask.

Well, according to well-placed sources (coughColeGriffithcough), Pacman's old house outside of Nashville is still for sale, and I've always wanted the opportunity to purchase a piece of real estate that was once in the running for the title of "Modern Day Location of Sodom and Gomorrah".
Here's the alternative, though. While Pacman is playing in the land of Canadian Bacon, Labatt Blue, and the word "EH", he's surely going to want to maintain a presence in the mind of NFL GMs.

What better way to do that then his own reality show? You're telling me that you wouldn't want to watch a special season of "This Old House" hosted by Bob Vila, Norm Abram, and special guest host Pacman Jones?
Pacman could stoke a rivalry with Ty Pennington (MOVE...THAT...IMPALA!!!), he could come out with a line of power tools at Sears (WATCH OUT, VILA), and he could increase his street cred with the obviously edgy audience of PBS viewers.

It's fail-proof, my friends.

Update (Thurs. morning): Apparently, the Pacman to Winnipeg transaction will not take place after all. I always knew that Canadians would never accept an American arcade hero.

All in All is All We Are

Congratulations to Mr. John Middleton for correctly naming "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by The Beatles as the Monday Song of the Day. Here's a version by George Harrison from the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971.

What I'm about to write might come back to haunt me in, oh say late August, but right now if you take a peek at the current standings in the American League West and let your eyes read those standings from top to bottom, the first team they will fall upon is one based out of Arlington, Texas.
That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the only baseball franchise to have never won a postseason series is currently up 4 games on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Greater Orange County. I'm not sure how long this current state of affairs will last, but I'm going to enjoy it while it does.

Current Reading

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

The Time When New Media Was the Big Idea

One of my favorite running conversational topics with my Dad arises out of the following question, "Where do you hear about some of these bands?" In the end, the answer is not even really about music but has more to do with how my generation (Y/Millenial, I think) shares information as opposed to how Baby-Boomers (like my Dad) share information.

First, and as a bit of a digression, I should begin by saying that I'm not a member of the musical vanguard by any stretch of the imagination and do not take any great pride in listening to bands simply because no one else is listening to them. I'll listen to music if it is well done, regardless of the fact that it is perceived as popular or not, but as I said earlier, this really isn't about music. Instead, it has everything to do with the decentralization of the distribution of information.

Back in the 60's and 70's, if a band was really going to make it big, what did they need to do? First, they needed to all buy matching suits. Second, they needed to make an appearance on a show like "The Ed Sullivan Show". There are some bands, such as the Grateful Dead, that didn't take this route, and, in their own pot-addled way, rose to their own form of stardom, but for others, such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and countless other bands, they rose to fame through those set and established means of ascent.
There were set avenues of promotion and distribution, such as TV and radio, that had to be utilized in order to succeed. Everyone at school listened to the same music for a few reasons: 1. There was not anything approaching the musical variety that we currently have so you had to listen to the same bands, and 2. There was no way that you knew of some band that your friends didn't know about because you all watched the same 3 variety shows and listened to the same 2 or 3 radio stations playing rock and roll in your town.

Somewhere in between the 60's/70's and today, and I'm not quite sure where, those strictures opened up to provide greater variety in content and methods of distribution. I'm not sure if it was the fact that the musical community began to splinter and diversify at some point in the 70's or that the advent of cable television in the 80's created a greater reception for niche musical genres, or the rise of the internet in the 90's leveled the promotional playing field, but somewhere along the line, my friends could be listening to the complete discography of some band that I had never even heard of and vice versa, although I was probably still going to listen to Hootie and the Blowfish while everyone else listened to rap/Limp Bizkit.
Which brings me back to the question asked by my Dad: "Where do you hear about some of these bands?" As I said earlier, it's not even about the particular bands themselves, but about how people share information now. I'll see an embedded YouTube video on a friend's blog and listen to a group like The Hold Steady for the first time, I'll hear a band similar to other groups that I like on an internet radio site such as Pandora.com, or I'll look at a friend's Facebook page and see that they really like Ronald Jenkees (I'm looking at you, Lance Agan).

In a strange way, the cacophony of noise and information that has been generated by the onslaught of the internet and cable tv has caused us to return to a new form of word of mouth to get information on a variety of topics, whether it is politics or movies or bands or tv shows.

As the method in which we share information has been changed from a vertical structure to a more horizontal structure, the number of potential sources for new information has simply exploded. This, of course, does not mean that all of those sources are necessarily reputable or even authoritative, but that they are simply more accessible than ever before.

I've rambled a bit here, but if I've come to anything even approximating a coherent point, let me know what you think.

Coming In a Mess, Going Out In Style

Congratulations to Ms. Stacy Villescas for correctly naming "I Am the Walrus" by the Beatles as the Tuesday Song of the Day. Since I've never indulged in recreational drug-use, I don't think I've been able to fully enjoy "I Am the Walrus", but if you have, the following video is my treat to you.

My favorite story of the day?

This one, courtesy of Politico.com:

Ros-Lehtinen Hangs Up on Obama. Twice.

Is Ileana Ros-Lehtinen a little paranoid?

Maybe.

On Wednesday, the Republican congresswoman got a call from President-elect Barack Obama, didn't believe it was him, and hung up on him. Twice.

According to Ros-Lehtinen's flack Alex Cruz, the congresswoman received the call on her cell phone from a Chicago-based number and an aide informed her that Obama wanted to speak to her. When Obama introduced himself, Ros-Lehtinen cut him off and said, "I'm sorry but I think this is a joke from one of the South Florida radio stations known for these pranks." Then she hung up.

Moments later, Obama tried again, this time through his soon-to-be chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

"Ileana, I cannot believe you hung up on the President-Elect," Emanuel said. And then--yes, you know what's coming--she hung up on Emanuel saying she "didn't believe the call was legitimate."

What was not noted in the story is the striking resemblance Ros-Lehtinen bears to a certain Springfield bartender.