10 January 2013 - Hayden Panettiere - Telescope

It's been a long month, but one of the few TV shows I watch returned last night and bombs were dropping everywhere. While the story lines and acting on Nashville are top notch, it's the music that makes this show must see for me. The actors and actresses are singing songs by some of the finest songwriters in Nashville and beyond (oh and the music is produced by the legendary T Bone Burnett). Here's the first of hopefully many videos released from the Nashville Soundtrack. Word is Hayden wants to put out a country album of her own. I hope it happens.

9 January 2013 - Katy Perry - Wide Awake

Last year, we honored Katy Perry as our first Wicked Guilty Pleasure Hall of Fame honoree.  Since that time, she reissued her Teenage Dream album, adding a few songs.

Also, she did a documentary - Part of Me.  The documentary was shockingly and stunningly powerful.  It did a fantastic job in humanizing Katy Perry, big star.  She's just Katy Hudson, people. She's a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, a friend... and, at the beginning of the movie, a wife.  Not by the end.

This song played over the closing credits of that documentary.  The power of Katy's vocal - the woman can sing, doubtless, and she makes sure you know it with this huge song - and the heartbreak of the lyrics really match well with the 2nd half of the movie.  Really, the video is an allegory for her high and low points of the past year, starting with scenes from the first video from Teenage Dream ("California Gurls") and ending with the opening scene from the movie.  It's a dark, dark song, to be sure, but still enjoyable.



I strongly recommend the movie.  Here's the trailer.  At about the :33 mark is the day that Russell Brand filed for divorce.  I choked up a little at that part.  It was difficult to watch.

8 January 2013 - Marcy Playground - Sex and Candy

Was this song really from 1997? Yikes. Anyway, I always liked this Marcy Playground tune. I got to see them in 2009 in support of their Leaving Wonderland record (they were playing on one of the free side stages at a small music festival I go to every year in Virginia Beach). I have to say, it was a fun show and as expected this song got the biggest crowd reaction.

7 January 2013 - 'Rent' (Movie) Cast - Santa Fe / Seasons of Love

The movie version of 'Rent' was really well done.  This was probably due to the fact that almost the entire Broadway cast came back to do the film. (Exceptions: the fantastic Tracie Thoms was a step up from Fredi Walker as Joanne, and Rosario Dawson replaced Daphne Rubin-Vega as Mimi and did an admirable job).  At any rate, Jesse L. Martin, who originated the role of (Tom) Collins, takes the primary lead on this song, which, for me, perfectly captures the hope and hopelessness combined in the first act.



Of course, if I am going to talk about the 1st act of Rent, I need to also share the song that opens Act 2 and captures the feeling of the act to come. Jesse L. Martin and Tracie Thoms - who proves she's got pipes! - take lead roles in this song.

By the way, I love how the movie handles this song - just like it is handled on stage.  Perfect.  Spot on.

4 January 2013 - Ashlee Simpson - La La

I started this blog on the 5th of January, 2012.  I started it with this post, dedicated to an artist that my friend Scott and I had discussed many times in the past, and who really was the inspiration for this entire blog.

So, what better way to honor our first anniversary than a post once again dedicated to that artist?  This song, from 2004, was the one that really brought Ashlee into the limelight, out of her sister Jessica's shadow (pun intended).  It wasn't a light-hearted pop song at all.  It was more in the power-pop-rock genre where Ashlee dominated.  Visually, there are a lot of sparkly things to look at here.  And, clearly, Ashlee is trying to distance herself from her sister's (at the time) squeaky-clean image.  You know, as she sings about quasi-S&M.

In all seriousness, I saved this song for this date, because it is one of my favorite songs, guilty pleasure or not.    It is catchy and danceable, straddles pop and rock perfectly, and is lyrically clever.  I don't give a damn how well Ashlee did or did not sing on Saturday Night Live.  Music is supposed to be fun, and this song is, perfectly.


As a bonus, here is Ashlee, singing live - not on Saturday Night Live, obviously - adding a little "Santa Baby" to this song.

3 January 2013 - Go Go's - Vacation

Time to bring back 80s Thursdays. I've actually missed the cheesy goodness. But I have no cheese this week because everyone knows that the Go Go's are freaking awesome. I normally would have chosen Our Lips Are Sealed, but seeing that I'll be spending the next five days in sunny Key West this video seemed a bit more appropriate.

2 January 2013 - Everclear - Everything To Everyone

I struggled for a bit to figure out what my first post of 2013 should be.    Ultimately, I decided on this - a pop-rock classic from 1997 that didn't get nearly the attention it deserved (although it was the biggest hit of their tenure on the Modern Rock charts).

It seems strange that I didn't pick a straight-ahead pop song to start the year, but this video and this song simply fascinate me.  I know it's a lot of clever editing that makes the video work - I am pretty sure it's not a skinny oval room with a camera spinning in the middle - but it's a neat effect.

Lyrically, the song is perhaps the most clever and biting we've ever posted.  Both in that respect and musically, the song gets angrier and more frenetic as it goes on.  Despite all this anger, it's a fun, fun song you can bounce to - as is evidenced at about 2:30 of the video.  Enjoy!