Digging For Musical Gold

I finally got around to spending my iTunes cards that I got for Christmas. In the process, I found some great songs that I hadn't possessed in a long time. When you already have 4000 songs on your iPod, as I do, you have to be creative when looking for tunes. One of my tricks is to go through my old mix tapes from the '80s and look for missing songs. I especially like finding the songs that nobody else remembers.



Here's one example: Tony Carey, a one-hit wonder from 1984, with "A Fine, Fine Day." I hadn't listened to this in over 20 years, and found it this past weekend. And I haven't gotten it out of my head since.



Other digging can lead to an unexpected gem. I randomly searched "Addison" on iTunes, and after wading through some horrible stuff, found "Addison" by an artist named Jessica Stone. She sounds alot like Sarah McLachlan, very melodic and sweet. Here some of the lyrics:

"Addison, she's just two weeks new.
And already she's got a hook in you.
She's put her heart into you,
Oh Addison, won't you let me see the world through your eyes."

So now I've got my little girl's first song.

The lesson? Try and dig deeper than the front page on iTunes. You never know what you'll find.

The Truth About Mac

I needed a few days to get my thoughts together on Mark McGwire finally admitting that he did steroids. Not that it was a shock, but sometimes having something confirmed kills that .00001% of you that hoped for a different outcome. That it was "just" the andro that was found in his locker in 1998 that he fully admitted to using (an over-the-counter product at the time that has since been banned).

Is this different than the other guys who have been caught/accused/admitted to PEDs? I think it's more harmful, for one simple reason: the 1998 Home Run Race. It should not be dismissed or taken lightly how important that race for 61 between McGwire and fellow roid-er Sammy Sosa was. Don't forget these important facts:

- MLB was just 3 years removed from the devastating Strike of '94-95 that canceled the '94 World Series and turned millions of baseball fans off for good.
- The country was trying to deal with the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal (sidenote: how quaint does that controversy seem now?). The public needed a diversion from non-stop coverage, and Mac and Sosa provided that.
- This was a NATIONAL headline day after day for weeks on end in the summer of '98. This was not relegated to the sports section, this was front page of the paper, lead story on the evening news.

So where do we go from here? We, as baseball fans, have been forgiving to those who came clean about their steroid use. I think McGwire will be treated the same way, and that's fine. I also believe that there is no way he gets into the Hall of Fame now. My wish is that he was more forthcoming earlier, and that he didn't say that PEDs didn't help him hit home runs. Yes it did, Mark. You used it to stay healthy, at the very least. And you took a part of Americana with you.

Where Were You In 1996?

12/28/96, to be specific. I was setting up my new apartment in Mansfield, in the midst of my senior year of college, and 3 days from finding out Jen was pregnant with my now-12 year old daughter Abby. That was also the last time my Dallas Cowboys won a playoff game. We changed that tonight with a thrashing of our most hated rival, the Philly Eagles, 34-14. No matter what happens from here on out, people can shut up about Tony Romo, the Cowboys in Dec/ playoffs, etc. My cynical self will not allow belief that we will go any further, but tonight was nice.

Thursday Funnies- Bob Uecker Style!

Just for Mari (HA!), here's a Bob Uecker commercial from the '80s- you know, when they made good beer ads?

BK's Top 102 Songs of the Oughts- Part 2

Sorry for the delay, been a crazy few days. As promised, here's the top 50:

50. Five For Fighting- 100 Years
49. Eminem- The Real Slim Shady
48. Coldplay- The Scientist
47. No Doubt- It's My Life
46. Sheryl Crow- The First Cut Is The Deepest
45. Garth Brooks- Lost In You (mine & Lynn's song)
44. Justin Timberlake- SexyBack
43. Shinedown- Second Chance
42. Norah Jones- Don't Know Why (likely my favorite newcomer of the decade)
41. Nickelback- Photograph
40. Kylie Minogue- Can't Get You Out Of My Head (1st dance and kiss with Staci- shows that you can't always control the soundtrack of your life :))
39. Jay-Z & Alicia Keys- Empire State Of Mind
38. Kanye West- Gold Digger
37. Staind- It's Been Awhile (another top newcomer)
36. 50 Cent- In Da Club (Oh, my 30th B-day- no dudes in the cage!)
35. Creed- With Arms Wide Open (already a solid song, more meaningful with the pending arrival of Addison)
34. The Fray- How To Save a Life
33. John Mayer- No Such Thing (saw him at the height of this song during my LA Trip)
32. Evanescence- My Immortal
31. Switchfoot- Meant To Live
30. Foo Fighters- Times Like These
29. Estelle f/Kanye- American Boy
28. Outkast- Hey Ya
27. Michelle Branch- Everywhere
26. 3 Doors Down- Be Like That
25. Fuel- Hemorrhage (In My Hands) (my last-ever (hopefully) break-up song)
24. Norah Jones- Sunrise
23. Muse- Uprising
22. Maroon 5- She Will Be Loved (always reminds me of Staci & I at the beginning- this and the cicadas)
21. TI f/Rihanna- Live Your Life
20. Kings Of Leon- Use Somebody
19. Creed- Higher
18. Coldplay- Viva La Vida
17. Goo Goo Dolls- Better Days (lifted me during hard times)
16. Default- Wasting My Time
15. Keane- Everybody's Changing (last MB trip in original format- general truthiness at time of release)
14. Eminem- Without Me (MB 4 in '02)
13. Foo Fighters- All My Life (ironically playing during worst accident of my life)
12. John Mayer- Why Georgia (released during my last months in ATL)
11. Vertical Horizon- Everything You Want
10. Sheryl Crow- Safe & Sound (song I most relate to 9/11- played live during concert week after)
9. Staind- So Far Away (theme song while I waited "patiently" to meet Staci in '03)
8. Kanye West- Stronger
7. Gnarls Barkley- Crazy
6. Rascal Flatts- Bless The Broken Road (what did I say about not picking your own soundtrack? This country song will always take me back to the moment I saw my beautiful bride walking down the aisle)
5. Justin Timberlake- Rock Your Body
4. Red Jumpsuit Apparatus- Face Down (theme during the "Mom incident")
3. Evanescence- Bring Me To Life
2. Black Eyed Peas- I Gotta Feeling (became the theme to just about everything- for me the top 2 were MB 10 & the fantastic Cowboys video in Dallas)
1. 3 Doors Down- Here Without You (the only song to span 3 years for me- first while waiting to meet Staci, then as a great song, then when Staci moved to UVA, our "See you next weekend" song. Sitting in a parking lot at UVa, hugging and crying, waiting for our long-distance to be over. The fact that we defied the odds makes it even more poignant.)

So, there you have it. Another decade in the books, and the songs that went with it. Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have!