Tag: Top Ten

Friday Five (a double five for good measure): Won’t these people just leave us alone?

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve had just about enough of the former governor of Alaska. With her memoir on the bookstands, she’s been a painful and constant presence on the tube — hitting Oprah and the morning shows and generally sucking all the wind out of the political sails.

It has nothing to do with her political career — she is what she is, a staunch tea-bag conservative, an anti-intellectual and potentially popular enough to steal the GOP nomination for president in two-and-a-half years. But her star power is limited to that very narrow realm.

And yet, we are being made to pay attention, mostly because the political media on both sides of the ideological divide have lost their grip on politics and have turned coverage of Washington into the same kind of shallow celebrity-driven mush that dominates discussion of art, film and music.

Enough, I say. Palin takes the top spot on my current list of people I just wish would go away. We must allow her — or order her — to fade back into the snow banks of Alaska, where she can hunt and snowmobile to her heart’s content. (John McCain, by the way, deserves the blame for this; anyone who might be having second thoughts about Barack Obama just needs to consider the Palin factor and the complete disregard by McCain for anything but political calculation.)

Following Palin on the list are:

  • 2: Carrie Prejean. It is amazing how famous one can become for being clueless.
  • 3 & 4: Jon and Kate, with or without eight
  • 5: Former Bogota, N.J., Mayor Steve Lonegan and his tea-bag, anti-immigrant nonsense. Why the New Jersey press corps has started taking his invective seriously is beyond me.
  • 6: Glenn Beck. Do I need to explain?
  • 7: The Jackson family. Does anyone else find it creepy that the remaining Jacksons will be doing a reality show?
  • 8: Rudy Giuliani. This guy may have the world’s largest ego.
  • 9: Dick Cheney and all the little Cheneys. As with the hate-monger Beck, do I need to explain?
  • 10: Levi Johnston. Here is a guy who is famous for being the unwed father of a failed vice-presidential candidate who just won’t go away. Need I say more?
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Tuesday Top Ten: Opening acts

Last week’s stellar performance by Elvis Costello opening for The Police got me thinking about opening acts I’ve seen over the years. So, today’s Top Ten is a double list — the 10 best and the five worst.

Best opening acts:

  1. Elvis Costello (for The Police, 2008)– as I said, a stellar performance that was way too short.
  2. Lucinda Williams (for John Mellencamp, 2008) — another opener that was way too short. Like EC, Lucinda is not your traditional tour support.
  3. The Specials (for The Police, 1981) — a thrilling and chilling set that included an eery “Ghost Town.”
  4. Charlie Louvin (for Lucinda Williams, 2007) — even my wife was impressed by the country legend.
  5. The Smithereens (for Lou Reed, 1986) — a loud and rowdy set.
  6. Willie Nile (for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, 1980) — better than act two (Hall and Oates — see below)
  7. Joe Ely (for Tom Petty, 1981) — country and rockabilly cool.
  8. The Go-Gos (for The Police, 1981) — just plain fun.
  9. Joan Jett (for The Police, 1983) — a raucous set.
  10. The Romantics (for Gram Parker, 1982) — so good, I went to see them headline a week or so later in Philly.

Honorable mention: The Pretenders (for the Rolling Stones, 2002) — deserved better than an indifferent crowd; George Thorogood (for the Rolling Stones, 1981) — a good match for the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in history; Northern State (for Cake, 2002) — imagine the Beastie Boys as women; Holly and the Italians (for The Ramones, 1981) — great stuff; Sloan (for Jet, 2001) — quite impressive; Heart (The Eagles, 1980) — hot show; The Greg Kihn Band (for The Cars, 1979) — may have been better than the rather static headliners.

Worst:

  1. Joe Marino and Mahogany Rush (for Kansas, 1978) — overall one of the worst concerts I’ve been to.
  2. Henry Paul Band (for Styx, 1980) — see preceding comment.
  3. Journey (for the Rolling Stones, 1981) — for some reason, Steve Perry thought it would be a smart move to thank the crowd for making the band the most popular rock band in America. The crowd responded with a well-deserved round of silence. Blecch.
  4. Little River Band — I saw them open for two different bands, Jimmy Buffett in 1977 and The Eagles in 1980, and they were as light and unnecessary as you might expect.
  5. Hall and Oates (for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, 1980) — this is an unfortunate one, because I like their early stuff and had seem them put on a good show in 1978.
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Tuesday Top 10 (dirty dozen?) Dylan

My Dylan list:

  1. Highway 61 Revisited
  2. Blonde on Blonde
  3. Blood on the Tracks
  4. Bringing It All Back Home
  5. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
  6. Love and Theft
  7. Modern Times
  8. John Wesley Harding
  9. Another Side of Bob Dylan
  10. Desire
  11. The Times They Are A-Changin’
  12. Oh Mercy / Time Out of Mind / Bob Dylan / Nashville Skyline (tie)

No surprises, I guess.

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Tuesday Top 10 (OK, 14) — songs on the radio

The second installment of the Top 10 is a dirty dozen (plus two) of songs with radio in the title (alphabetical by artist). Please, let me know if I’ve missed any (and believe me, I know I’ve missed many good ones):

  • The Buggles, “Video Killed the Radio Star”
  • The Clash, “Capital Radio One”
  • The Clash, “This is Radio Clash”
  • Elvis Costello, “Radio, Radio”
  • Elvis Costello, “Radio Sweetheart”
  • Steve Earle, “Satellite Radio”
  • Joe Jackson, “On Your Radio”
  • Jesse Malin w/ Bruce Springsteen, “Broken Radio”
  • The Ramones, “Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?”
  • R.E.M., “Radio Song”
  • Bruce Springsteen, “Radio Nowhere”
  • Wall of Voodoo, “Mexican Radio”
  • Wilco, “Radio Cure”
  • Warren Zevon, “Mohammed’s Radio”

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Tuesday Top 10: Hip-hop hurray!

I’ve decided to bring back the Tuesday Top 10 — a not-necessarily definitive list reflective of my interests, tastes and biases. To start, I’ll offer my favorite hip-hop artists, with the caveat that I am by no means a rap afficionado or expert. These are not the greatest rappers or most influential artists — though some would fall on that list. They are just the ones I dig.

  1. Public Enemy
  2. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
  3. The Beastie Boys
  4. Run DMC
  5. The Roots
  6. Third Bass
  7. A Tribe Called Quest
  8. Cypress Hill
  9. De La Soul
  10. Arrested Development

Runners up: , Missy Elliot, PM Dawn, Heavy D, Dr. Dre, The Fugees, Ice-T, Outkast, Wu-Tang, KRS-One, Neneh Cherry

Anyone else have any favorites I missed?

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The Blog of South Brunswick

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