And the Grammy goes to...

So the Grammy nominations came out Wednesday night in a star-studded television event. (In which the music industry dissed radio... the medium that MAKES them stars... but that's a whole different argument.)

I'll admit, I've been bored of the Grammys for a while now. If you died the year before... expect a Grammy (which is why George Carlin will win the Comedy Album Grammy). If you had the words "buzz band" attached to your name, you'll at least be nominated. And this year, it seems that if you were ever in Spin magazine, you gathered some attention.

I was sitting at my desk prepping my show, scrolling through the nominees, and I cam across the "Best Soundtrack" nominees.

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media
(Award to the Artist(s) and/or Producer(s) of a majority of the tracks on the album, or to the individual(s) actively responsible for the concept and musical direction and for the selection of artists, songs and producers, as applicable.)

• American Gangster
  (Various Artists)
  [Def Jam]
  
  
• August Rush
  (Various Artists)
  [Columbia/Sony Music Soundtrax]
  
  
• Juno
  (Various Artists)
  [Fox Music/Rhino]
  
  
• Mamma Mia!
  Meryl Streep (& Various Artists)
  [Decca Records]
  
  
• Sweeney Todd — The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
  (Various Artists)
  [Nonesuch Records]

OK. Cool. There's some good music on there... but when you really think about it:

Isn't the "Best Soundtrack" Grammy basically a Grammy for having the best Mixtape?

It's like you put together the PERFECT mix. The mood fits perfectly, the song flow is exactly what it should be. But oh yeah... you have a major film to attach it to.

Who will win this Grammy this year? I don't know. I don't own any of the soundtracks. But the mix CD in my car right now is definitely more bitchin'.

And a final thought... the "Short Form Music Video" Grammy... is that basically an MTV Video Music Award on a grander scale?

Some Creative And Cheap Halloween Costume Ideas

-Bunch of grapes

Blow up a number of purple balloons and affix them to a dress or unitard with safety pins and you're good to go.

-Bag of jelly beans

Start with a clear trash bag from the grocery store, and cut holes for your arms and legs. Next, print out or draw a jelly bean package label onto a piece of paper, and mount it to the inside of the trash bag, facing out. Finally, fill the bag with an assortment of bright colored balloons, and loosely tie a ribbon into a bow around your neck at the top of your bag to "seal" the package.

-Geisha

Grab a silk robe and slippers from your closet (or a local Asian market), and toss your hair up with chopsticks from the kitchen drawer. Cinch your waist with a sash, then mix some cold cream and cornstarch together (with a little water) for a pale face. Powder with a little flour, add red lipstick, and finish with a fan.

-Miss Piggy

Just go for glamour in anything, from a dreaded old bridesmaid dress to your favorite evening gown that is collecting dust, find a fake pig nose and ears and add a blond wig.

-Where's Waldo

Pull on your favorite pair of "true blue" jeans and slip on some brown shoes. Next, find a red-and-white striped turtleneck, black glasses and a hat.

-iPod ad

Using a neon green, blue or pink poster board, affix the Apple iPod logo to the top corner and attach arm straps with black elastic or rope. Dress in all-black head-to-toe

-'Count on Me'

Dress in all black and use double-stick tape to secure cut-out numbers all over your body. Your friends will love that they can "count on you" all night long!

-Dry cleaning

Simply slip on the plastic garment bag from your most recent round of returned dry cleaning over your outfit.

-Got milk?

Using a solid white T-shirt, write "got milk?" with a sharpie, or try printing out an iron-on T-shirt transfer using your computer. Finish with a "milk moustache."

-Facebook

All you'll need is an oversize old book and elastic. Punch a hole in the top right-hand corner of the middle pages, slip the elastic through and tie a knot on each end to secure. Slip your head into the book so that the elastic works like a headband.

-Pinup girl

Attach safety pins to a T-shirt in the shape of an arrow pointing up.

-Smarty pants

Attach Smarties candies to your waistline or belt, add nerd glasses, a pocket protector and graduation cap if you have one to be transformed into a "smarty pants."

-Self-absorbed

Dress in all black and use double-stick tape to secure sponges to your body.

*Courtesy of Bobbie Thomas, TODAY style editor and author of the Buzz column in InTouch Weekly

I AM A ROCK GOD!!!

I've made it well known throughout this blog... unless you're Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh, you don't make much money in radio. It's a job I love, but a job I barely get by doing. Most of my investment portfolio is tied up in housing and food.

That being said... I can't afford nice, fun things. I don't have any video game consoles in my house. Partly because I don't have the time to play them, but mainly because I just can't afford it. But I found myself with some free time today.

Having suffered a stiff neck for the past couple of days, I finally gave in... payed my $25 co-pay, and trudged to my doctor's office today. They prescribed me some fun sounding drugs, and it was off to Wal-Mart to get them filled. The nice lady at the Pharmacy told me it would be about 20 minutes until they are filled. Cool. I've got a few things to pick up.

I wander through the store, and into the Men's department, where a beautiful sight awaits me:

Rock Band 2. A full demo set-up.

No one is around... I pick up the drumsticks, and scroll through the list of songs. I find a song I like.... and start pounding away on the kit.

In my very first time EVER playing Rock Band. I scored 93% playing Paramore's "That's What You Get" on fucking EXPERT. And most of the misses that landed me at 93% were at the beginning while I got it down quickly, and mainly because the display is also blasting the new AC/DC CD at the same time... so trying to distinguish one song from the other got annoying.

BUT 93%. ON EXPERT. FIRST TIME EVER. AND I did it with a stiff neck. Although video games don't require THAT much head movement.

Pretty sad that that was the highlight of my day, eh?

The Pretty Colors...

My friends.

I've never done drugs in my life. Well... I drink. But I mean nothing illegal. I like to believe my parents raised me right. or I couldn't find any good stuff. No. They raised me right.

But driving into work today. I felt like someone dropped acid into my cereal milk.

I hop in my car... around 5am. It's always dark when I leave for work. But today, I notice out of the corner of my eye... towards the south end of Pittsburg... the ENTIRE sky is bright. But not just spotlight bright... it's green too. Bright green. Green clouds. Green sky. "WTF?" I think to myself. I continue my drive, crossing over the 4th street bridge and look again. The sky is now bright blue, and turning purple. Then it goes to blood red.

What the hell is going on? I can still see it as I get all the way out to Pittsburg High School... and out here at the studios.

I ask Thom and Dalton, the other AM hosts if they saw it, and they look at me like I have 4 heads. I'm thinking I should call into Coast to Coast AM and tell them some weird shit is going on over Pittsburg, KS.

But Thom has a moment of brilliance. "I know what it is" he says, without ever seeing the light. "They're testing out Pitt State's new Jumbotron."

That's right. The new $1.7 million scoreboard. All-LED lights. They were doing a color test on it. And the sucker was bright enough to be seen from over THREE MILES AWAY. Maybe even from space.

I feel bad for the neighbors. I feel bad for wen the fans show up Saturday for the game and need to wear sunglasses.

I feel even worse for the neighbors if they test the soundsystem tomorrow at 5am.

And if you want an acid trip without the acid... check out the South Pittsburg sky at about 5am. It'll blow your mind.

WORST. SONG. EV-AR!

This morning on the morning show, we talked about the worst songs ever recorded.

BAHA MEN's summer hit record WHO LET THE DOG'S OUT? has been named the worst song of all time.
The track, which topped charts around the world in 2000, is number one in a new list compiled by editors of Spinner.com and AOL Radio.
It beat off tough competition from rapper Vanilla Ice's memorable hit Ice, Ice Baby and a more recent chart success for Ricky Martin - She Bangs.
There was even a place in the chart for a couple of music legends, in Sir Paul MCCartney and Stevie Wonder.
The top 10 is as follows:
1. Who Let The Dogs Out - Baha Men
2. Ice, Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
3. She Bangs - Ricky Martin
4. Barbie Girl - Aqua
5. U Can't Touch This - MC Hammer
6. I Am Woman - Helen Redey
7. I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred
8. Ebony And Ivory - Paul MCCartney And Stevie Wonder
9. Macarena - Los Del Rio
10. My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion

A very noble list, I must say, but there are always additions that need to be made. Like where is Starship's "We Built This City" which stole #1 on Vh1's Worst songs list? Listeners threw in suggestions for Flobots, Barry Manilow, Billy Ray Cyrus and more. What song do YOU think should be on the list? Leave your best... or worst... in the comments.

My personal choice for worst song ever recorded... a song that (THANK GOD) got shot down on New Arrivals a few months back. I present... "A-Punk" by Vampire Weekend.

Life on the Pop Music D-List?

I believe myself to be one of the few left who enjoy the world of Music Videos. I still think Music Videos when done right can make or break a song. (Like OK Go's "Here It Goes Again).

That said, I watch Fuse and MTV Hits alot when doing shit around the house. If anyone watches MTV Hits... I'm sure you've seen the video for "Damaged" by Danity Kane. I've seen it a bunch... and it raises just one question from me:



When the hell did Kathy Griffin join a pop group?

Thankfully her singing isn't nearly as annoying as Ms. Griffin talking.

A conversation with my neighbor...

So my neighbors apparently have been evicted for failing to pay rent, or even acknowledge that the landlord even exists. It doesn't matter to me... other than burning a bunch of trash and making my house smell like crap... and occasionally having people come and go at all hours of the night making me think they were dealing drugs, they were quiet people who didn't bother me. Until one day when I had a quick chat with one of the neighbors:

Scene: In front of our houses, a sunny afternoon, as I hop in my car to go to the gym. I see my neighbor walking down the driveway waving his hands to flag me down.

Neighbor: "Hey! Quick question. Have you seen anyone go in or out of the house recently."

Me: "Not that I can think of. It's been pretty quiet over there recently.

Neighbor: "Oh. Well, I just got out of jail and I can't get in the house..."


From there, I politely brushed him off, double checked the locks on my doors, and went to the gym hoping that he wasn't there when I got back.


Maybe it's better they were evicted.

Weird fears:

We talked on the air this morning (6/18/08) about weird Phobias you may have, or have had in the past, sparked by this list of the Top 10 Most Common Phobias in the world.

Listeners admitted to random phobias such as Fear of Crumbs, Fear of being Coughed On. Another anonymous listener sent this e-mail:

When I was little I was scared of dentures. My uncle used to take his out and clack them at us. I would hide from anyone that I thought had dentures and I wouldn’t get close to my uncle unless I was sure that his were safely in his mouth.

Traumatizing for any youth. I admitted on the air that when I was younger... I think I heard on the news a story of a house fire, in which the fire started in the walls of the house. I couldn't sleep facing the wall for a few weeks, scared that a fire was going to break out. (Of course, I didn't think that if a fire broke out, I'd be screwed anyway).

What weird fears do YOU have? Adds yours to the blog in the comments section. And you can remain completely anonymous!