My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 9-17-13

Okay, so this is just another sort of placeholder to show that this blog hasn't officially died...although honestly, I'm not quite sure why I keep posting (when I actually do, that is, and don't procrastinate on things like writing about the movies I've seen recently -- five, although none in the last two weeks)...

Someday We'll Be Together - Diana Ross and the Supremes
Bullet Proof Soul - Sade
Dance, Freak & Boogie - Nitelife Unlimited
Please (You Got That) - INXS
Say Say Say - Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
Cupid Boy - Kylie Minogue
Heartbreak Hotel (Hex Hector Club Mix) - Whitney Houston
I Love To Walk - The Simpsons
If I Never See Your Face Again (Paul Oakenfold Remix) - Maroon 5 feat. Rihanna
Wide Awake - Katy Perry
Old Flame - Kimbra
Rapunzel - Dave Matthews Band
Girl Afraid - The Smiths

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 11-06-12

I hope you put more thought into how you voted than iTunes did in selecting the following songs...


Oz - Mark Weigle
Let's Go All The Way (Down) - Brenda & The Tabulations
Infinite & Unforeseen k.d. lang
Lovin', Livin' And Givin' ('Ross' LP mix) - Diana Ross
This Little Pig - Living Colour
Perfect - Depeche Mode
You're Number One (In My Book) - Gladys Knight & The Pips
To Love Somebody - Jimmy Somerville
Same Thing In Reverse (Brick In My Handbag Mix) - Boy George
Radiophonic - Pet Shop Boys
Feel So Close (Radio Edit) - Calvin Harris
10-9-8 (Dance Mix) - Face To Face
The Shag-Adelic Austin Powers Score Medley - George S. Clinton

Quick Reviews: Sparkle, Hit and Run

So it appears I'm not being called back to my job in September, or any time soon, as the state is cutting back on the number of temporary employees for the heating assistance program. With things being less busy on weekday afternoons at the movie theaters as kids go back to school, I could make an effort to see more movies than I have been this year and not have to worry about crowds. Of course, Hollywood will have to make more movies that interest me enough to go more often.

"Sparkle" primarily interested me because it's a remake of a movie from 1976 that was said to have been inspired by the story of Diana Ross and the Supremes. So I expected its plot to have a lot of similarity to "Dreamgirls," but was surprised by how much it was not like the saga of the Supremes (other than there being a singing group comprised of three young women). There was a lot more melodrama (although, based on the Wikipedia entry for the original, not quite as much as there used to be) in the story of Sparkle (Jordin Sparks), who is a songwriter but doesn't have the confidence to be a solo act. She and her sisters (Carmen Ejogo and Tika Sumpter) form a group that looks to be on the way to stardom despite the disapproval of their mother (Whitney Houston) until an abusive husband and an addiction to drugs get in the way. Despite the plot machinations, this was almost a very good film. But Sparks just isn't commanding enough to be the superstar that Sparkle is supposed to become. Ejogo is the real star of the three sisters in the group. And seeing Whitney Houston perform the gospel hymn "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" made me sad, because we can only imagine how it would have sounded had she been in her prime, before her own addictions and bad marriage set her on a path to her untimely death. My grade: C-plus.

I was surprised at how much I liked "Hit and Run." It's the story of a former bank robbery getaway driver (Dax Shepard) who leaves Witness Protection to drive his girlfriend (Kristen Bell) to Los Angeles for an important job interview, which puts them both in jeopardy of being killed by his old bank-robbing pals (including Bradley Cooper) thanks to her ex-boyfriend's jealousy. At first I cringed at the arrival of the most inept U.S. Marshal in history (Tom Arnold), but even his character became tolerable after a while. And there's quite a bit of pro-gay stuff, despite the jokes about prison rape (which you see, in a censored version, in the movie's trailer). There's a gay cop who uses an app called Pouncer -- not Grindr, Pouncer (or maybe it's spelled Pouncr?) -- and learns of the homosexuality of another character, and a discussion about the use of the word "fag" for someone who's "lame." Kristin Chenoweth has a fun supporting role, and Bell and Shepard, a real-life couple who, according to Wikipedia, refuse to get married until same-sex marriage is again legal in California, have a sweet chemistry. This movie didn't drum up much box office but deserves a better fate. My grade: B-plus.

Another Summer Playlist Update

I don't know if I should just re-post my entire summer playlist in one new post, but until I get to that point, you'll just have to click on this link, which leads to the most recent update, and then keep following links until you get back to the original posts. At any rate, thanks to this recent article, which provided a list of hits from June through August each year going back to the 1960s, I decided on a number of additions to my list that are already in my iTunes library. Also, Amazon has had two mp3 sales recently -- one was for a summer playlist of their own, 25 songs for a quarter each -- yes, $0.25 -- and just in the last 24 hours, recent hit albums for $0.99, and these sales provided some more tracks for the list.

The entire list is now up to 153 songs, although I'm kind of wavering on a few that originally were on the list. I'm leaving them, at least for now. Anyway, briefly, my criteria are: hits during the summer, song titles/lyrics  about summer, sunshine, heat, etc., and a few songs that either made an impression on me personally during summer or just have a summery feel to them, so the list is (as many lists are) a bit subjective. Here are the additions:


Wild Ones (Feat. Sia) - Flo Rida
Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen
Nothin' On You [Feat. Bruno Mars] - B.o.B
Hot In Herre - Nelly
In The Summertime -Mungo Jerry
Sunshine - Matisyahu
Everybody Loves The Sunshine - Roy Ayers Ubiquity
Blister In The Sun - Violent Femmes
Dynamite - Taio Cruz
Viva La Vida - Coldplay
It's Gonna Be Me - 'N Sync
We Like To Party - Vengaboys
MmmBop - Hanson (if I recall, I kept this off the list originally)
Kiss From A Rose - Seal
Whoomp! (There It Is) - Tag Team
Can't Help Falling In Love - UB40
End Of The Road - Boyz II Men
Alone - Heart
With Or Without You - U2
Funkytown - Lipps Inc.
Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
Dreams - Fleetwood Mac
Love Will Keep Us Together - Captain & Tennille
Touch Me In The Morning - Diana Ross
Lean On Me - Bill Withers
Lovely Day - Bill Withers
It's Too Late - Carole King
The Love You Save - The Jackson 5
War - Edwin Starr
Get Back - The Beatles
Honky Tonk Women - The Rolling Stones
Respect - Aretha Franklin
Help! - The Beatles
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
California Gurls (Feat. Snoop Dogg) - Katy Perry
Firework - Katy Perry
Chasing The Sun - The Wanted

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 4-5-12

Sure, it's an easy way to post content. Why not?

Let Me Be The One - Five Star
I Thought It Took A Little Time - Diana Ross
Rhythm Of The Night - Valeria
Is That You Mo-Dean? - The B-52’s
Viking - Los Lobos
Waiting For The End - Linkin Park
Cosmic - Kylie Minogue
Running Back To You - Vanessa Williams
The Party Song - Slave featuring Steve Arrington
Ode To Billy Joe - Bobbie Gentry
White Heat - Madonna
Never Miss The Water - Chaka Khan
Hello And Goodbye - Madonna, Andrea Corr, Jonathan Pryce

My Go-To Christmas Music

Before I get into my main lists, I want to share a new favorite I discovered on Todd Zolecki's Phillies blog at MLB.com. It's "Baseball Glove" by a Canadian country singer-songwriter, Gord Bamford. The lyrics talk about the many things the family wants, but all he wants is a baseball glove -- specifically, "a genuine cowhide Rawlings Pro Special, one autographed by Roy Halladay." Bamford is a Blue Jays fan and it was released last year, before Halladay was traded to the Phils, but it doesn't matter. Click the above link and you can watch the video and find a link to download the song for free.

There are so many new Christmas albums now, but in recent years I've only bought a few. These are the albums I bought in the last couple of years that I really enjoy:

Glee Cast - Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album (love the Chris Colfer/Darren Criss version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside")
Annie Lennox - A Christmas Cornucopia (I love what she did, but I kind of wish this had a couple of fun, not so serious/religious-oriented selections, like Eurythmics' "Winter Wonderland," one of my all-time faves)
Kristin Chenoweth - A Lovely Way To Spend Christmas
Barenaked Ladies - Barenaked for the Holidays (their quirky humor shines in a number of songs, especially "An Elf's Lament;" also includes a few Hanukkah songs)
Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas

I also found a couple of CDs that had been released previously: "A Classic Cartoon Christmas" and "A Classic Cartoon Christmas, Too." They feature tracks from many classic TV shows (and some that aren't so classic). Between the two, they include "Welcome Christmas" and "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" from "Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas," songs from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town," Jimmy Durante's "Frosty the Snowman," a couple from the Muppets, and -- most happily -- the "Heat Miser" and "Snow Miser" songs from "The Year Without a Santa Claus." (I really need to edit them into one mp3 so when my music is in shuffle mode, I won't hear one and not the other right away.)

The following are the Christmas CDs I've had the longest, and are still my favorites:

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 12-04-10

I haven't done one of these in a while. I've been on a listening project lately: to listen (or at least try to listen) at least once to every song in my iTunes library that I hadn't heard since I reset the play counts at the beginning of this year. I created a "zero plays" playlist and listened to it almost exclusively. I must be honest and say that there were a number of songs I listened to for maybe a minute or so and then skipped to the next. Today I finally got through to the very last song on that list, which meant that I could switch over to the "Glee" cast's version of "Teenage Dream" and set my iPod to repeat. I only downloaded it three nights ago. It might get into the top 25 most played before the end of the year (depending on how soon I start playing just the Christmas music). Anyway, since I played every song I was hoping there'd be a good mixture without repeats when I put it in shuffle mode tonight. Do you think it worked?

More Than A Woman - Tavares
She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5
My Mic Sounds Nice (DJ Mark The 45 King Remix) Salt-N-Pepa
Someday We'll Be Together (fuTuRo birthday mix) - Diana Ross & The Supremes
Round And Round (Soul Mix Edit) - Tevin Campbell
Out (With Steven Grossman) - Mark Weigle
Butterfly Caught - Massive Attack
Could I Have This Kiss Forever (with Enrique Iglesias) - Whitney Houston
I Call Your Name - The Mamas & The Papas
Just My Vain Imagination (mashup) - Bob Marley/The Temptations
Catholic School Girls Rule - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Brand New Lover (Dust Monkey's Love Bubble Club Mix) - Dead Or Alive
Black Magic Woman - Santana

My Summer Listening Pleasure (And Maybe Yours) Part 1

I love disclaimers. In the case of the big 58-song summer playlist I've created, there are a few of them. These songs fall into at least one of these categories, sometimes more, sometimes all: they were released during the summer, they were popular during the summer, the song title and/or lyrics refer to summer, sun, heat, etc. If they don't fit these categories -- and this is a pretty big disclaimer -- to me they either sound like a summer-type song or I identify them with summer in my mind for some reason, which will be explained.

Also, the list only includes songs that are in my iTunes library. There may be other songs that are truly summer songs, but if I don't own them I didn't include them. (It's also possible that some songs not on the list but should be are in my iTunes but I somehow neglected to find it.) I am open to any and all suggestions to add to the list, but if it's not obvious from the song title why it should be included I hope you'll enlighten me as to why it's a summer song.

I'm listing them in order of the year of release (according to Wikipedia or whatever other sources I could find). Using the versions I have (a couple of extended mixes included) it's over 4 hours, 15 minutes of music, and Part One begins after the jump:

Beyonce Comes Out!

Well, actually, she's performing "I'm Coming Out." It's not Diana Ross, but what the heck. And it's cut off at the start and finish because it seems to be part of a medley.



Tomorrow (or today, technically, since it's after midnight) is the gay pride parade and festival here. Woo-hoo! Of course, I'll be at the softball fields. Sigh.

This is how odd our league is: the team that's representing our D division in the Gay World Series in August in Columbus is being decided tomorrow, in a best two-out-of-three tournament between my team (Tabu Nighthawks) and another team. This is because we are the only two teams that expressed an interest in going. So it's not based on the season standings, or playoffs after the season, but on this midseason tournament. Silly. Last year the team that went to the Series had a losing record, but they were the only team that wanted to go (although I maintain that our team wasn't asked about it last year).

The first game starts at 10:20, so by the time the second game ends it should be after 1 pm. The festival starts at noon and runs until 6 pm. If we have to play three games, it'll be well after 2 pm. With the amount of time it will take me to get to Penn's Landing for the festival, I'll miss quite a lot. I'm not sure what entertainment they'll have but it almost doesn't seem worth the $10 admission. We'll see if things play out in a way that allows me to get there after softball (at Fairmount Park Dairy Field #1, if anyone wants to surprise me there).

They Don't Make 'Em Like This Any More

A little while ago on Facebook, the Diana Ross page linked to YouTube for her video for "Eaten Alive," a song co-written and co-produced (and with some backing vocals) by Michael Jackson and Barry Gibb. It's the title track from her 1985 album. According to Wikipedia it was #10 on the Billboard R&B chart but only #77 on the Hot 100 in 1985. I'm sure those numbers are correct since I used to subscribe to Billboard back in the day and really hit those charts hard, and I remember the song being a pop flop.

With the discussion over whether Christina Aguilera and Lady Gaga copied from Madonna in their recent videos -- and at this point, isn't everyone just copying each other? -- it's interesting to watch this bit of 1980s work, back when the short-form music video was still a relatively new format. And it's fascinating to see someone like Diana Ross in this type of video. It used to be all about the music, and then MTV came along and songs seemed to take a backseat to visuals, and we then saw veterans like Miss Ross (I love calling her that for some reason) in sometimes over-the-top productions. Wikipedia credits this video's airplay on BET for getting the song into the R&B top ten, but the song is such an odd piece of work, as is the video.

Compare and contrast with the song and video for Ross's follow-up, "Chain Reaction," which harkens back to her classic Motown days (but still has a couple of eccentric moments when the full-color shots arrive). Both videos are after the jump.

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 3-26-10

It seems this is Diana Ross's birthday. Alas, none of her songs came up in my shuffle today...poor Miss Ross! Perhaps I'll listen to some of her music later. Meanwhile...

Put Me Down - The Cranberries
A Stroke of Luck - Garbage
Sing (Harry Choo Choo Romero Club Mix) - Annie Lennox
The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson (Medley) - The Simpsons
When Tomorrow Comes (Extended Version) - Eurythmics
I Will Buy You A New Life - Everclear
Would? - Alice In Chains
If I Could - Seal
S.O.S. - Mamma Mia! Original London Cast
She Sells - Banderas
The Look Of Love - Madonna
The Love In Me - Lisa Stansfield
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself - Morrissey