Sorry to be so single-mindedly focused on Amy Winehouse this week, but I just saw this and had to share. Apparently, Britney Spears has covered Amy’s “Rehab.” Check it out. Ha ha ha.
I Say Yes, Yes, Yes
17 Mar‘Scuse Me While I Scold This Guy
14 MarLast night at the bottom of the stairs of the Hynes Convention Center T stop, there was a homeless guy looking for change, and singing to entertain passersby. The song was pleasant and appropriate enough — “I’ll Be There” — but when he messed up the words, I had a brief desire to go all Simon Cowell and call him on it. After all, the line is “Just call my name, and I’ll be there,” not “Oh don’t you worry, I’ll be there.” Alas, I kept on walking and headed for home … where I watched three, count ’em three, American Idol contestants flub the words, including my fair Haley Scarnato (poor girl). So maybe there was just something in the air last night.
She’s Back for the First Time
13 Mar
Way back around Christmas I told y’all about Amy Winehouse and her great song “Rehab.”
Well, as I mentioned on Sunday, her CD Back to Black hits stores today so I thought I’d put up a plug here so y’all would go out and buy it (or download it at iTunes). Continue reading
Discover Him
11 Mar
Within the past couple days, my car was broken into and my radio was stolen (again — it was the second time in two years). This was annoying on its own, but for the purposes of this blog, I’ll tell you one of the other reasons I was annoyed by it was that I was looking forward to spending the day listening to my new favorite CD, James Morrison‘s Undiscovered. Chances are good you’ve never heard of Morrison, but that’s likely because his CD doesn’t actually hit stores until Tuesday (I scored an advance copy). In brief, he’s another one in the wave of Brits who are releasing albums stateside this year (i.e.: Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Mika, etc.).
Morrison is a singer-songwriter with a bit of soul; he’s kind of like a more upbeat Ray LaMontagne. I’ve also seen comparisons to David Gray, Jeff Buckley, and Damien Rice. The first single off Undiscovered is “You Give Me Something,” and I’d love to link you to it, but instead, I’ll link you to his MySpace page and his official site, both of which have streams of it. You can also download it at iTunes. I can, however, link you to other tracks from his CD, “Wonderful World” and “The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore.” Also notable on the CD is “Under the Influence.” The CD is out on Tuesday (as is Amy Winehouse’s), and I know it’ll only cost $7.99 at Best Buy (actually, Amy Winehouse’s CD will be on sale for the same price there), so go pick it up.
Sox Shots
10 Mar
If you’re interested, I’ve posted photos from Monday, when I went to see the Red Sox in Fort Myers. To see them, just click on this link. Enjoy!
Picture This …
9 Mar
As promised, more pictures from my trip to the Bahamas have been posted here. I didn’t post all of them because in typical fashion, I took many photos of the same things (beaches, beaches, and more beaches), but I did post a lot because I think many of them are really good. So, enjoy. Click here to see the pictures.
Lite Brite or Die Hard
8 MarWhile I was away this week, someone posted a pretty funny trailer for the movie adaptation of the Mooninite scare earlier this year (yeah, Hollywood works really quickly). Check it out here.
(No, this is not real.)
That’s My Girl!
8 Mar
I’ve been saying for weeks now that Haley Scarnato will go far on this season of American Idol. Well, now she’s made it to the finals, to the top 12, and I couldn’t be happier for her. Sure, I don’t think she’s actually going to win it all (I’m predicting Jordin Sparks will do that), but since her first appearance on the show, people haven’t been giving her much of a shot while I’ve been saying she’s one of the more underrated contestants this year. Her performance Wednesday night (of Faith Hill’s “If My Heart Had Wings”) was one of her best, and I expect at least a couple more good ones from her. I mean, after all, at the very least, she’s better than Sunjaya! So get used to her, America — Haley’s here to stay.
If Only It Was Stop & Shop …
7 MarNot lost on me this week was the big news involving supermarket chain A&P. Now, anyone who knows me knows what one of my favorite jokes of all time is, and for a second there, I thought it had actually come true. Alas, A&P bought Pathmark — not Stop & Shop — meaning my dreams of a store called Stop & P will have to remain just that, dreams. It also means I can keep telling that joke over and over again until it becomes a reality, if it ever becomes a reality. So I’m not too disapointed.
Is This Heaven? No, It’s Florida
7 Mar
So I have to say, the biggest disappointment about my trip to City of Palms Park on Monday wasn’t the Sox losing 2-1 to the Dodgers, and it wasn’t the fact that Jason Varitek didn’t play, and it wasn’t the fact that I never got to see Gabe Kapler when I went to the minor league facility. No, it wasn’t any of those things. Instead, my biggest disappointment was the fact that City of Palms Park doesn’t sell Fenway Franks. They sell the Globe and the Herald, and they sell old World Series champ merchandise, and they play “Sweet Caroline” midway through the eighth inning. But no, the one piece of Fenway I was most looking forward to on this trip to see the Sox in their springtime home, that I was denied.
Otherwise, it was a great time seeing the Olde Towne Team in Fort Myers. The whole thing had the feeling of a reunion: for the fans, it was the first time we were seeing the boys since October, and many seemed quite happy to have us cheering for them again. For the Sox, it was a chance to hang out with Nomar and Grady Little (Rudy Seanez and J.D. Drew made no visible attempts to hang out with their old teammates). Getting to the stadium at 10:30 for a 1:00 game meant we could hang out and see the guys bonding, laughing, reconnecting, enjoying themselves. It was really fun. Hell, people were even asking Grady Little for his autograph, and Nomar received some of the biggest cheers of the day. And it was also amusing that if you wanted to find Dice-K, all you had to do was look for the mob of Japanese reporters and fans. They travel with him around the stadium in a pack, just like his own personal entourage.
And as if that all wasn’t enough, the weather was near-perfect, the PA system was playing “Ants Marching” and “Margaritaville” and other sumertime classics, there was a too-vocal yahoo fan yelling out stupid stuff throughout the game, my dad and I sat right behind the Dodgers’ dugout, and best of all, hope seemed to be in full supply (despite the loss). For a few brief hours, it was finally spring. And it was awesome.
But no Fenway Franks. That would have made the trip perfect. Ah well. I’ll just have to wait until I get tickets to see the team play at home.
ps: A really cool “star” sighting at the park was Keith Olbermann. I asked him if he’d be giving Ann Coulter hell for her comments Friday night and sure enough, he tipped me off that even though he was on vacation, he’d be phoning in a segment for that night’s show. And he also gave me a good laugh when he said Coulter was “more mannish” than John Edwards. I love Keith Olbermann. He’s the man. (And clearly Terry Francona thinks so too; Keith sat right by his side at the top of the dugout throughout the entire game.)
Martin's Musings 