How is it that this record is 16 years old and still sounds more advanced than most music being released today? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPfmNxKLDG4
Long Live the Beastie Boys…
The Beastie Boys’ music is a big part of my life. I’m lucky to have listened to them evolve from punk brats to hip hop godfathers. If a Venn diagram of the most important music in my life could be drawn, the Beastie Boys would sit at the intersection of the punk, jazz, and hip hop that feeds my soul.
From Cooky Puss to Ok, I love it all, but if I had to choose only one album to convince our future robot overlords that humans once had souls worth fighting for, my choice would be the Root Down EP. Seriously, check it:
1. Root Down (Free Zone Mix) (3:49)
2. Root Down (LP) (3:31)
3. Root Down (Pp Balloon Mix) (3:31)
4. Time To Get Ill (1:59)
5. Heart Attack Man (2:09)
6. The Maestro (3:15)
7. Sabrosa (2:53)
8. Flute Loop (1:40)
9. Time For Livin’ (1:59)
10. Something’s Got To Give (4:59)
Three legit versions of the pure Beastie lyrical power that is Root Down, and then a selection of six live songs from all across the Beastie Boy songbook. To my knowledge, this is the only non-bootleg of the Boys playing live. (BTW, prepare for that to change…some cynical music executives are lining up the annual Christmas cash-in of whatever they can cobble together that hasn’t already been released.)
If I’m lucky, this will be the first Beastie Boys album that I give to my daughter when she’s old enough. If she’s lucky, she’ll love it too.
One from the heart…
There is no substitute for enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can make up for many deficiencies.
Hey Emperor, I can see your dingus…
Considering the latest episode of Mad Men…
I think it’s bullshit.
Up until now I have understood and enjoyed this show as a sophisticated, sometimes funny, exploration of modern American manhood, but this Psych 101 self help bookshelf bullshit has got me ticked off.
Spoilers ensue, so put down your second, or third, screen and watch the show. I’ll wait…
Some folks would like you to believe that a man is a dangerous thing, and that’s mostly true, but don’t buy it when they try to apply it to male sexuality. This is exactly what Mr Weiner and company have attempted to do. It was fairly subtle at first, with the Mystery Date reference tied together with the Speck murders and Sally in the nexus of that knot. I can even understand what started out as a glancing comparison with Don’s Lothario ways, but to turn that comparison into an explicit accusation that Don is not much different from a mass murderer is simple minded, or, at best, ill conceived.
This is the same line of thinking that says there is something wrong with anyone who is unwilling, or unable, to live inside the value system defined by society-at-large. Don is in, but not of, the culture around him. His work shapes and defines the norms, just because his life is a deviation from those norms that does not make him a deviant. But that’s what they’ve reduced him to, and that’s bullshit.
"Let's never do that again…"
I’m not Catholic but I try to be catholic, so I allowed myself to be talked into giving up television for Lent. My initial response was, “I don’t feel like there’s anything I need to give up.” Then I remembered Statement # 3 and I followed my heart.
It was a good experiment in time management. Quiting television allowed me to see how much free time I actually have. Now I have a daily writing habit and a training regimen in place of all that time I spent on the couch.
I’ve also got seven hours of Justified to catch up on.