Lift Ev'ry Voice and What? (Part One of Four)

My buddy Chris hooked me up with this, and I thought it a fitting way to end Black History Month (which I've posted absolutely nothing about). I hope to be full of as much vim, vigor, and comedic deftness as Dick Gregory when I reach his age.

So without further ado:

Lift Ev'ry Voice and What? (Part Two of Four)

Lift Ev'ry Voice and What? (Part Three of Four)

Lift Ev'ry Voice and What? (Part Four of Four)

Way to Score ScrumpTunes/Way to Score, ScrumpTunes!

My buudy Chris hooked me up with a URL to a free-music treasure trove called ScrumpTunes. The tunes run on the folk and rock side, but there are lots of stray bits of eclecticism in there that blur the lines and broaden the horizons, so check it out

Top 8 Songs: Week Ending February 23, 2008

1. "Opus #17," Dustin O'Halloran (from Piano Solos)
2. "The Night Is Young (Acoustic)," Van Hunt (from The Popular Machine--EP)
3. "Honey," Erykah Badu (Digital Single)
4. "Don't Pass On Me," Woods (from At Rear House)
5. "Atoms for Peace (Four Tet Remix)," Thom Yorke (from Atoms for Peace [Four Tet Remix]/Black Swan [Cristian Vogel Spare Parts Remix]/Black Swan [Vogel Bonus Beat Eraser Remix]--EP)
6. "Variazione di un Tango," Dustin O'Halloran (from Piano Solos)
7. "Someone Great," LCD Soundsystem (from Sound of Silver)
8. "He Can Only Hold Her," Amy Winehouse (from Back to Black)

AmazonMP3's New Music Tuesday: February 19, 2008

Check the hip sounds going down in the AmazonMP3.com Lounge. What's new is free is good for you and me, my fellow lover of freebies! (Enter barely audible spoken-word-related snapping/applause here.) Check it out:

Single of the Week

• "Dead Sound," The Raveonettes (from the upcoming Maybe Baby)

So now I know that you're digging what I'm sayin', man, take it on over to AmazonMP3.com and make with the downloading before those jive cats take it back (next Tuesday)! Happy New Music Tuesday!


Blogger's Note: Due to the tangled web that is legal copyright, I am unable to post the MP-spoils of AmazonMP3.com--because I am not authorized by either Amazon or the featured artists.

Top 8 Songs: Week Ending February 16, 2008

1. "Court and Spark," Joni Mitchell (from Court and Spark)
2. "The Night Is Young (Acoustic)," Van Hunt (from The Popular Machine--EP)
3. "Atoms for Peace (Four Tet Remix)," Thom Yorke (from Atoms for Peace [Four Tet Remix]/Black Swan [Cristian Vogel Spare Parts Remix]/Black Swan [Vogel Bonus Beat Eraser Remix]--EP)
4. "Opus #12," Dustin O'Halloran (from Piano Solos)
5. "Some Unholy War," Amy Winehouse (from Back to Black)
6. "The Pleasure Principle," Janet Jackson (from Control)
7. "Tired of Being Blonde," Carly Simon (from Spoiled Girl)
8. "Maybe Baby" Nikka Costa (Digital Single)*

* Not available on iTunes

Name that Voice: Sela Ward

My mind tends to drift off during commercial breaks, but the friendly, confident voiceover by the woman helming the Crest Whitestrips commercial garnered my undivided attention. The moments between recognizing the voice to identifying the voice are among my favorite. I was too young to be a contestant on Name that Tune when it aired, so naming that voice is the closest I get.

But I digress--the voiceover actress-in-question is Sela Ward. The Meridian, Mississppi native's most recent stint was on House M.D. as the title character's ex/love interest Stacy Warner. However, she is more known for her turn as the ever-restless artist Teddy on Sisters, for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award in 1996 for Best Leading Actress.

The award would be upstaged by another: a 2001 Golden Globe award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series, for the role of Lily, recently divorced mother of two Lily on Once and Again. She is also the founder of Hope Village for Children. The charity serves the needs of neglected and abused children in Meridian, Mississippi.*

Ward attended the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, where she majored in with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and Advertising. She was also a cheerleader for the university's Crimson Tide football team. The promotional theme takes Ward from Alabama to New York, where she put her BFA to good use in Pepsi's advertising department. It also takes her to the other side of the lens--at the famed Wilhelmina Models agency, where her first commercial was for Maybelline.

Which brings us back to Ward's work for Crest and their promise of whiter teeth in seven days. Looker that she is, she should have been seen in the commercial.


* I used to watch WTOK-TV (Meridian, Mississippi) during the summers I visited my grandparents in Boligeee. It was a "local" station.

Special thanks to John Sacksteder for his Sela factoids.

Television and Studio Writers: And So They're Back...

...from Outer Space! Not technically, but definitely really from the picket line to the bottom line: Moolah! That's Write--the members of the Writer's Guild of America voted to end the strike! Though the strike is over, the voting is not; members still have to vote to ratify the terms of their three-year contract with the studios and networks.

I'd like to hope the strike helped the studios and networks realize how important their writers are, but...I lived in L.A., so I'm going to hope the writers get more than 75% of what they asked for. I also hope they gave viewers a clearer idea of how crucial a role writers play in the making of top-notch--and even subpar--entertainment.

Welcome back, fellow Scribes! Guess we won't be needing this:

Natalie Cole: Unforgettable Bullshit

I stumbled upon this article during a search for "Winehouse Grammy." The gist: Natalie Cole disapproves of Winehouse's Grammy wins--because she feels it sends the wrong message to young people.

Besides the blatant hypocrisy, I'm flabbergasted she felt compelled to speak on behalf of young people anywhere. This was the woman who talked about the time she took her son with her to score drugs on Sunset and LaBrea with both of them wearing pajamas. Ms. "I'm Catching Hell (Living Here Alone) and "Party Lights"--a recording rife with freebasing delirium (the spoken intro, the background ad-libs)--should mind her own goddamned business.

Cole revisits her past drug use with each new album release. Natalie Cole, who dug deep to put her heart and soul...to play herself in the understandably-overlooked Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story. Natalie Cole--who, according to her Wikipedia entry, used drugs before...and after her son's birth. Natalie Cole, whose success was born on the back of her father's legacy--whose biggest album, Unforgettable with Love, featured exhumed sampling of said father.

Natalie Cole's lack of empathy and obvious last-ditch attempt at contemporary relevance is...a sad, sad, shame. Fuck her.

Top 8 Songs: Week Ending February 9, 2008

1. "Just Friends," Amy Winehouse (from Back to Black)
2. "The Night Is Young (Acoustic)," Van Hunt (from The Popular Machine--EP)
3. "You're Wondering Now," Amy Winehouse (from Back to Black: B-Sides)*
4. "Opus #9," Dustin O'Halloran (from Piano Solos)
5. "Between the Lines," Janis Ian (from Between the Lines)
6. "Opus #12," Dustin O'Halloran (from Piano Solos)
7. "Stormy High," Black Mountain (from In the Future)
8. "Steam and Sequins for Larry Levan," Matmos (from The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast)

* Not available on Amazon.com

Congratulations, Giants!

I'm not much of a sports person, but I did catch the last third of the Super Bowl. Stranger still: I found myself really rooting for the New York Giants with a nail-biting optimism as those last 10 minutes went by. So it is with befuddling pleasure I congratulate my hometown's pride and joy, the New York Giants, on their legend-making performance.

Way to go, Giants!

America's Promise Compromised

I caught the last 15 minutes of America's Black Warriors: Two Wars to Win on the Military History Channel. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared during its closing segment and I was pleasantly surprised--and saddened. Not only was he expected to be a contender during this election, he was expected to be a formidable one.

There are those who believe he was duped into campaigning for the invasion of Iraq as vehemently as he did. There are also those who place the blame squarely on his shoulders, arguing that at the end of the day, he was the one who made the decision to campaign. Me, I want the former to win, but the latter--which embodies the accountability Powell stood/stands for--wins out.

Still, it feels like the country lost an invaluable contender.

Top 8 Songs: Week Ending February 2, 2008

1. "The Night Is Young (Acoustic)," Van Hunt (from The Popular Machine--EP)
2. "You're Wondering Now," Amy Winehouse (from Back to Black: B-Sides)*
3. "Tribal War," Culture (from One Stone)
4. "The Revolution Medley: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised/Lose Yourself/Once in a Lifetime," Kiki & Herb (from Will Die For You [Live At Carnegie Hall])
5. "Drifting Along," Jamiroquai (from Zero Effect [Music from the Motion Picture])
6. "Only a Dream," Mary Chapin Carpenter (from Come On Come On)
7. "Valerie," Amy Winehouse (from Back to Black: B-Sides)*
8. "Character (Acoustic)," Van Hunt (from The Popular Machine--EP)

* Not available on Amazon.com