Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Songs Over 10 Minutes That Actually Keep My Attention

I grew up on Atari, junk food, Star Wars and Men At Work, so, as an adult it's pretty amazing if anything keeps my attention for longer than 4 minutes. My job is perfect for me because I have to continuously shuffle between rooms to make sure no one is dying and if someone is dying, trust me, your attention span grows. But I thought I would venture away from politics (I noticed that John-O has nixed me from the Blog-O-Sphere, c'est la vie) and list some songs that last a long goddamn time that I can listen to over and over again.

10) Castilian Drums (14:22) - Dave Brubeck - I don't mention jazz much because I only listen to it when I'm either drunk, depressed, trying to impress a chick or all three. But this song by the piano master Dave Brubeck is essentially a drum solo by Tom Morello. And man, it is great. I almost rank this higher than any Neil Peart drum solos only because this bastard took place in '64, when bitchin' drum solos were rare (except for maybe Count Basie's "Tan Your Hide") but I checked myself, lest I wrecked myself. Or what the fuck ever.

9) Scared (10:41) - Dream Theater - You knew they were going to show up on this list at some point. While there were other songs in consideration I have always enjoyed this bastard.

8) In-da-gatta-da-vida (17 goddamn minutes long)- Iron Butterfly - I always choose this at the jukebox because it's more bang for your buck, plus it's fun to watch people go insane (especially young uns) who don't know the song and don't realize that it last for fucking ever. Of course, there's a drum solo. First heard this in 10th grade and thought it was bitchin'.

7) Karn Evil 9 (29:41) - Emerson, Lake and Palmer - This isn't music, it's endurance. While it's packaged as separate songs it's meant as one long rock opera. It was so long they had to bust it up on two different sides.

6) Domino (10:45) - Genesis - Kinda dorky now but It's still one of my favorites, when Phil Collins had talent and hair.

5) Autumn Leaves (10:59) - Miles Davis - Again with the jazz, but Miles Davis (may he rest in peace) wrote some of the best tunes tunes of all time. He may have hated whitey but man did he love making kick ass jazz tunes. This one is one of my faves to relax and smoke a stogie to. Even though it's been a long time since I've done that. There were other tunes to consider that lasted over 10 minutes (My Funny Valentine, All Blues) but this one I like just a smidgen over the others.

4) Trainspotting (10:35) - Primal Scream - As the title indicates it's from Trainspotting soundtrack. While sober it's not much but drunk (and...ahem...high) it's pretty fun to listen to.

3) The Camera Eye (10:59) - Rush - Let's get this one out of the way.

2) Dark & Long (Dark Train) (10:53) - Underworld - Also used in Trainspotting (the dead baby falling from ceiling/coming down from heroine sequence) but this always reminds me of Ireland when I visited, but the trip lasted forever and I needed long songs for my then limited spaced Mp3 player.

1) Take a Pebble (12:49) - Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Almost cheating because in the middle of this song is a long hoedown but man, I do love the piano.

Monday, July 6, 2009

When Liberals Attack Liberals


You know there's something seriously wrong when one the beacons of liberal media starts accusing the most liberal president of trying to control the media. More about that here. Seriously, not even Nixon? Jeez. And I'm shocked as hell the Obama..err Huffington post would be involved. Well, at least Helen calls it how she sees it no matter what political party is involved.