Leisure

There is a Boston-based band called Leisure that I'm anxious to see live.  They don't have a large music catalogue yet, but what they have released from their Plastic Soul album is killer.  The Boston Phoenix named them one of the city's most promising new bands.

See Green Light and Follow Me below for a taste, and then head over to http://www.leisureofficial.com/ to hear a couple of the band's other songs The Invisible Hand and Early Morning Skies.

Let me know what you think.

Top 5: 54th Grammy Awards Performances

Wow, what a night of great performances on the Grammys last night.  My top 5 in order of what I enjoyed most:

1. Bruno Mars -- what great pipes he has when not singing some trite song like Millionaire or The Lazy Song.  The energy he infused into that staid audience was as impressive as his James Brown dance moves (including doing the splits).

2. Taylor Swift -- she has never looked or sounded better.  The camera really loves her and the extreme close ups of her did not detract from her beauty.  How perfect were the lyrics to her song, Mean, when sung at the Grammys?

3. Foo Fighters -- why they were relegated to the outside tent baffles me, but it didn't seem to dampen their spirits.  Dave Grohl's pipes are incredible as you likely know if you've ever listened to Skin & Bones (the live performance album).  Their performance performance of their hit, Walk, was powerful and about the only rock song on the whole show.

4. Adele -- it was so great to see her back in good form.  Not great form for her, but still enjoyable.  Her voice was understandably a bit rusty.  I loved how she thanked her throat surgeon, who is partners with my throat surgeon at MGH.

5. Adam Levine -- doing the Beach Boys' Little Surfer Girl.  As Randy Jackson would say, he OWNED it.  Unlike Foster the People's front man who tentatively stepped up to the mic to sing Wouldn't It Be Nice.  When the real Beach Boys took over it was pretty shaky.  Brian Wilson, who admits to suffering from some mental illness, looked like he was having an episode.

Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt's tributed to Etta James was very good also, but didn't crack my Top 5.

Those were the performances I caught before heading to bed.  I've watched Jennifer Hudson doing I Will Always Love You online, and it was decent but, again, didn't make my top 5.  Glen Campbell's Rhinestone Cowboy was a bit cheesy.

Choose Your Candidate

You decide what your positions are on a variety of subjects, then it identifies which current candidate for president comes closest to your own positions.

Be sure to adjust what issues are most important to you with the sliding scales on the left of the page:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/candidate-match-game

World Leaders Make Out!

Benetton has a funny ad campaign called Unhate that shows adverserial world leaders kissing.  Very nice Photoshopping.

See more here.

Arrest

In Downtown Crossing just now, there were 5 bicycle cops gathered together on the sidewalk beside a police car with its lights flashing.  A small crowd was gathering around the police car where there was someone handcuffed in the back.  A lady, presumably the arrested person's friend, turned to the 8-10 person crowd and said, "There's someone in there, and it ain't nobody's business....unless they call you!"

I have to say, she hit the nail on the head.  Probably comes with experience.

Insufferable

There is NOTHING I can stand about Rachel Maddow.  She is caustic, bilious, pompous and sarcastic. 

She is unable to deliver any news about the political race without snarking about it while so obviously reading the teleprompter.  I don't think I have ever heard her deliver an extemporaneous phrase.  In fact, she often trips over words, then goes back a word or two.  Disjointed speaking while simultaneously putting on a sarcastic, holier-than-though tone.  Ugh and ick.