Rocking the Tie Die

"Three Soldiers"

Song #260: Grateful Dead - Sugaree

Black Friday

Grab the Black Keys new album, Brothers. They are the best thing out of Akron since a certain unnamed basketball player. Happy Friday.


Song #259: The Black Keys - Everlasting Light

Sweaty, Sweaty, Hotness

Look at how sweaty Barry White gets during this dangerously smooth live performance in Belgium from 1978.  Can you blame him, the body can only handle so much sexiness before it starts to freak out. 99% of Barry's songs bring your body well beyond that point.

Song #258: Barry White - Playing Your Game, Baby

Sleepyhouse

This evening I got home from work and immediately fell asleep until now (possibly still Jetlag, but more likely due to an extremely rowdy Sake Bombing session last night. Damn you Freddy and Llama!!). If you were hypothetically in a situation where light or loud music was painful to you, this smooth little jam will suit you just fine.

Today's song is a huge favorite of mine of Blind Melon's first album. Sleepyhouse was the name of the family home in Durham, North Carolina that the band moved into to write songs for their self titled debut. It's probably one of the reasons there is so much chemistry in the band.

"...living in that house for a couple of months was like being in a band for 5 years..."

Guitarist, Christopher Thorn

This is a layout of the house made by the drummer, Glen Graham (super underrated as a percussionist); Thanks to BeeMelon.com for the pic

Think of it as the 90's Alt version of The Band moving into the Big Pink.


Song #257: Blind Melon - Sleepyhouse

Washout

Song #256 - Washed Out - Belong

Piano Mon

Jackie Mittoo is known as the "Keyboard King of Studio One." He played the organ on basically 50% of the music that was recorded on the isle of Jamaica.


Song #253: Jackie Mittoo - Drum Song

LIMA LIMA

At a ballin' club in Tel Aviv, this sick Israeli Band covered some seriously epic songs. The dude lead singer had crazy facial hair and the Girl singer may have been an Angel. All 40-some odd of us birthrighters crowded into LIMA LIMA and we tore it up.

Photo Credit: Lima-Lima DJ, Mickey Martin

I was a little שתוי myself so I don't remember every hit on the set list, but I do remember grabbing the mic and rapping Biggie's verse to Mo' Money, Mo' Problems in front of the whole crowd at LIMA LIMA.

PROOF

Every song got the crowd rowdy and it had to be one of the best partying experiences of my life. If you are ever in the Holy Land, stop by Lilenblum 42 in Tel Aviv and hit it up, tell them you heard about them from some crappy website in the USA.

Quick Note though: You should probably know on some nights it's a Gay Bar, but who's counting?

What I do recall hearing:

1. The aforementioned Mo Money, Mo Problems
2. Regulate by Warren G & Nate Dogg 
3. Pump It by Black Eyed Peas
4. Hey Ya by Outkast/ Andre 3000
5. Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z & Alicia Keys
6. American Boy by Estelle & Kanye West
   (Even though the Singer at Lima Lima sounded much better than Estelle, it's been stuck in my head ever since)

Song 252: Estelle & Kanye West - American Boy

How can I resist? This is one of the greatest videos ever. Puffy and Ma$e in that wind tunnel is possibly one of the best moments of the 90's.


BONUS SONG: Biggie, Puff Daddy & Ma$E - Mo Money, Mo Problems

Dollar Well Spent

The Set Up

Just picked up this relic, In perfect condition, from my local Housing Works Thrift Shop(pe) for A DOLLAR. I've thrown dollars away in comparison to this purchase. In fact, two days ago I gave a dollar to a subway bum who may (or may not) have been Blind, and he couldn't even play guitar...

Other Wastes of Dollars:

• A Bad Cup of Coffee
• Baseball Cards
• The Claw Game
  
• Amazon Prime
• Anything involving Professional Wrestling/The Democratic Electoral Process
• Pogs
  
• Stripper Butt Slap
  
• Mets Tickets
• Arizona Iced Tea (Chock Full of High Fructose Corn Syrup)
   
• Dog Costumes
  

In summation... Dollar Well Spent.


Song #251: John Mayal & The Bluesbreakers (with Eric Clapton) - All Your Love

Ultra-Casual Friday

You know its casual friday when your most of your coworkers are walking around the office singing this song.

How did he get his thang to hold a Microphone?

It only takes one second to get stuck in your head and then it's contagious. It's also Sexual Harassment, but so is everything R Kelly does.


Song #250: R Kelly featuring Tyrese, Robin Thicke, & The Dream - Pregnant

Return of the Jet Lag

I barely woke up 10 minutes before I had to be at work today, and then I fell asleep the second I got home until now.The worst part is I'm too tired to change this horrible Tyler Perry Movie that was blaring on my TV when I awoke. Either the jet lag has come roaring back, or given way to olde fashioned exhaustion.

Pretty sure it's Daddy's Little Girls but I wish it was this movie.

Song #249: Brendan Benson - Jet Lag

Hump Day

Photo Credit: Sarah Pardo O'Donnell

Do the Humpty Hump; Do the Humpty Hump.
Do the Humpty Hump; Come on and do the Humpty Hump.
~ Jesus

Song #248: Digital Underground - Humpty Dance

The Great Facebook Purge

Halfway through my trip, my 3 and a half year old camera died. 10 years ago I would have missed half a trip's worth of memories. Fortunately in today's digicam wielding society all 45 of my travel buddies were snapping non-stop (My brother took 1350 pictures over 10 days). The funny thing is every morning I wake up with 20 emails about being tagged in different photo albums. I guess it's just the modern measurement of knowing you had a good time.

My album is coming a little late, and I'll probably double it for Flickr purposes, but hold tight because here is a sneak peak of a truncated vacation album coming to a social networking site near you.

Click to Enlarge

Song #247: The Kinks - Picture Book

Israelites

You may be aware I've just returned from Israel only a few days ago. I'm still doing my best to adjust back to my Every Day (pun intended) Life. The Jet Lag is subsiding, thanks to the fact I've just been in a 3 day Coma, but the cultural adjustment is taking longer than expected. Where's my breakfast Hummus?? 

Picture Credit: 33% of Oklahoma's Jewish Population: Blair Wernick

The re-entry gets serious today when I have to get back to business. So today we start the return to normalcy with a great Rasta Mon-Day crossover. Again from one of my favorite movies, but definitely my favorite soundtrack, The Harder They Come, Desmond Dekker & The Aces with Israelites.

Song #246: Desmond Dekker & The Aces - Israelites 

Jet Lag Continues

When I heard that animals like the Koala sleep 20 hours a day, I used to think that they slept 20 hours straight with a 4 hour day. Then when I went to Australia, I realized that Koalas just sleep basically all day, with a few minutes awake here and there equalling about 4 hours. Basically thats where I'm at right now. I have no idea how I'm going to get my work on tomorrow when I can't even go 5 minutes without slipping into a catatonic state.

Australia 2008

Today we take a break from Biggie Sunday to give credit to another kind of Gangster, Blind-Bluesman turned Tuvan Throatsinging Champion Paul Pena (Kesher 22, You guys know what I'm talking about). He didn't slang rocks on the corner, but his story of survival despite complete blindness is about as thug life as you can get.

Paul Pena 1950-2005

Today we have song he wrote that barely saw the light of day, but was lucky enough to get picked up by Smoker/Joker/Midnight Toker, Steve Miller. This hit would give Paul Pena all the royalties he'd need to scrape by for the rest of his days.

Song #245: Paul Pena - Jet Airliner