Archive 2015

 REVIEW: MATT NATHANSON- SHOW ME YOUR FANGS (December)

Show Me Your Fangs is Matt Nathanson’s eighth album and follow up to his 2013 album, Last of the Great Pretenders.  The album is a good mix of smart pop songs and thoughtful ballads.

The album begins with the rousing “Giants” where Nathanson sings very uplifting messages like “we’re more than what scares us.  We’re final and fearless.  We’ll dance where the ice gets thin”.  “Shouting” continues in this vein where Nathanson sings “everybody’s twisted, baby, trying to fit in…we whisper, baby, we should be shouting”. “Gold in the Summertime” sounds like the theme of a 1970’s sit com but the horns are a nice touch and the song is very catchy.  The album’s best moments are the more subtle ones.  “Bill Murray” is probably one of Nathanson’s best songs lyrically.  In the song, he dreams that he and Bill Murray are friends and Murray gives him romantic advice.  It absolutely tugs at your heart when Nathanson sings “I won’t only love you when you’re winning” and “You only get one person knows you best.  And it’s temporary everybody else” over a stark piano.  On “Washington State Fight Song”, Nathanson shows his gift for storytelling where he tells the simple story of romantic mistakes made by a narrator in Washington state.  The stripped down acoustic music adds to the song’s sadness.  “Disappear” is the album’s darkest moment, when in another stripped down acoustic song, Nathanson confesses “maybe I’ll get drunk enough to call you.  Admit the thing I’m finally seeing clear.  I can make good turn amazing then disappear” and “I just wanna for once feel loved.  I just wanna be done with lonely”.  The album doesn’t end on a downer but Nathanson ends the album like he started it with the uplifting “Headphones”.  The addition of LOLO’s vocals make the song sound a tad overproduced but I love the song’s message about the power of music when Nathanson proclaims that he is “invincible” with his headphones on.

Show Me Your Fangs has two very distinct moods, the uplifting songs about empowerment and the darker, stripped down confessionals.  Both work very well.  Nathanson shows some of his best lyric writing in the confessional ones.  The more upbeat songs are enjoyable to listen to and more like the singles Nathanson is known for.  Overall, the album is a good listen and will not be a disappointment for Matt Nathanson fans.

THE BEST AND WORST OF 2015 IN ENTERTAINMENT (December)

THE BEST

BEST ALBUMS
Matt Nathanson- Show Me Your Fangs (see review)
Ben Folds- So There (see review)
Adele- 25- I am usually not a huge fan of top selling albums but Adele is an exception.  25 is a continuation of the achingly beautiful break up songs from 21 that made Adele a star.  My review to will follow in January.

BEST LIVE SHOW
I didn’t go to a lot of shows in 2015 but two stuck out.  First, the Cincinnati band, the Ass Ponys, reunited for two shows.  I went the second night.  The Ass Ponys showcased their impressive back catalog and made audience remember why they were one of the best bands in the region during the 1990’s.  Second, I saw Ben Folds play with a seven piece orchestra, Y-Music.  Orchestras complement Folds’ music very well as he demonstrated on his new album, So There.  Folds and Y-Music were a perfect match live.  The songs from So There were great but the highlights were when Folds used the orchestra on songs from his back catalog, most notably, Evaporate, from the 1997 Ben Folds Five album, Whatever and Ever Amen.

BEST MUSIC RELATED SHOW

Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll- This was a sharp comedy that starred Dennis Leary as an aging rock star who is trying to reconnect with former band mates and his long lost daughter.  Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll is a witty commentary on the music business and it is never overly sentimental.  Plus, any show that has a running joke “Greg Dulli stole my vibe” is beyond awesome.   

Honorary mention: “Gentle & Soft: The Story of the Blue Jean Committee” featured on Documentary Now- This mock documentary was about the rise and fall of the fake band, Blue Jean Committee.  It was a sharp and funny parody of the Behind the Music shows.

BEST COMEBACKS- TELEVISION
South Park- The show never really went away.  However, this season of the show has been the best the show has been since its early years.  What has always made South Park so great was its biting satire of current society.  The addition of PC Principal has given South Park the edge to give a humorous and biting running satire of the excesses of political correctness.  It has shown both the excesses in the form of censorship and stifling of discussion of opposing viewpoints and also the fear and backlash to political correctness expressed by the likes of Donald Trump.  The satire works so well because of how crazy society in the US is right now.  Close to twenty years after its debut in 1997, South Park is still relevant and on the pulse of current society.

The Muppets- I grew up on the Muppets.  The new Muppets is true to the original but has made it relevant to today.  The show still has celebrity cameos but it is now a late night talk show instead of a variety show.  Plus, it has had some very funny music moments: the Swedish Chef rapping “Rapper’s Delight” at a karaoke night, Miss Piggy parodying Adele’s “Hello” video, and a drum off between Animal & Dave Grohl (check them out).

BEST NEW TV SHOW
In addition to The Muppets, I love The Grinder.  I also grew up on the Brat Pack movies of the 1980’s.  Therefore, I love seeing Rob Lowe back as an actor who returns to his hometown after playing a television lawyer.  Lowe is a perfect narcissist who actually believes he has legal experience like his lawyer brother (Fred Savage) because of his television role.  It is also a welcomed acting return to see former child actor, Fred Savage, back in front of the camera as the straight man to Lowe’s character.  The Grinder is one of the funniest sit coms I have seen in a while.

BEST MOVIE YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T SEE
What We Do in the Shadows- I loved Flight of the Conchords.  Take several of the Flight of the Conchords actors and make a fake documentary about four vampires who are roommates and you get a brilliant comedy.  The movie shows vampires living normal lives and has several laugh out loud funny moments.  This was probably one of the funniest comedies I have seen in a while and sadly, this movie didn’t get much attention.

BEST AWKWARD TV MOMENT
The Miss Universe pageant hasn’t been relevant in many years.  However, watching the clip online of Steve Harvey crowning the wrong winner was the most awkwardly funny TV moment of the year.  Why didn’t someone catch this before Miss Colombia took her walk?  Poor Miss Colombia had the crown yanked off her head on stage and she had to bend her knees because the person taking it couldn’t reach it.  Great moment for the Miss Universe pageant because people are actually talking about this show again.  Crap moment for Miss Colombia and Steve Harvey, who probably won’t be asked again to host a live event.

THE WORST

MOST OVERPLAYED SONG
Daniel Rateliff- SOB- This song, a blues rock drinking song, might have been kind of funny to hear a couple of times.  However, when the rock station I listen to plays this song every couple of hours, I’m quite tired of it.  What is strange is that the radio station claims that this is the most requested song but the music style does not fit with anything else in the station’s programming format.

WHERE IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS WINNER
Ryan Adams- 1989- I get that Taylor Swift is popular in the pop music world.  However, when Ryan Adams, who is a songwriter in his own right, decided to “reimagine” Swift’s album, 1989, it was a weird, “where in the creative process did Adams come up with this idea” moment.  Their styles and audiences are completely different.  Also, it is weird that Adams’ fans seem to have embraced this album.  It is probably a little in tongue in cheek on Adams part but the whole concept is just weird.  Like if Nine Inch Nails “reimagined” a Katy Perry album weird.

SHIT KANYE SAYS
I really shouldn’t give Kanye West any discussion.  But what he did to Beck at the Grammys does rate my comment.  First, why does Kanye feel it is his duty to cause a scene at every awards show over who he believes should have won?  If the losing musician is not that upset about the loss, why should Kanye be?  Second, it is absolutely laughable that Kanye believes that Beyonce is more of an artist than Beck.  I guess Beyonce is a good singer but a true artist is more than a good singer.  She is not a songwriter or musician and it takes a team of like twenty producers to put out one of her albums.  In contrast, Beck is a songwriter and played all of the instruments on his album in addition to singing.  I am not a huge fan of Beck’s but I think by the pure definition of the word, Beck is more of an artist than Beyonce is.  This whole incident is just more shit that Kanye says.

NINE INCH NAILS PASSED OVER AGAIN FOR THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME
Chicago gets in but for second year in a row Nine Inch Nails is passed over for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Enough said.

WORST MUSIC RELATED MOVIE
Ricki and the Flash- Usually, Meryl Streep can do no wrong.  I thought that Streep playing a rocker and having Rick Springfield in her band and as her boyfriend sounded like a good movie.  Streep could not save this movie.  Like Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll, the story is about an aged rocker trying to reconnect with adult children.  The big difference is that while Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll, is funny and focuses on the music part of the storyline, Ricki and the Flash is not funny, is depressing and overly sentimental, and  the music is just a side story.  Streep and Springfield are grossly underutilized and the movie ends with a forced happy ending.  An overall disappointment.
 

REVIEW- BEN FOLDS: SO THERE (October)

Ben Folds has never been known for taking the conventional path.  His new album, So There, is a split effort.   The first part of the album features what Folds calls eight “chamber rock songs”.  These songs feature Folds on piano backed by the eight piece orchestra, YMusic.  The last part of the album is a three movement concerto that Folds plays with the Nashville Symphony.  Folds has played live backed by an orchestra before.  His piano music lends very well to be backed by an orchestra.  I’m sucker for a good rock song featuring a good strings arrangement.  I am excited that Folds took his live experience with the orchestras and released a recording of it.

Lyrically, Folds has always had a gift for writing with witty observations and sometimes very profound messages.  So There is not a let down lyrically.  The album opens with “Capable of Anything” where Folds observes “we’re told we are capable of anything but you don’t seem to think that you are”.   He makes the keen observation that we are coached to believe we are capable of doing anything if it is positive but not how we are just as capable of doing bad.    “Not a Fan” is a music geek’s lament.  He is with someone who doesn’t share the same tastes as he observes “I’m not a fan.  But I understand if there is something that moves you that’s not my cup of tea”.  The title track is a sarcastic flip off to an ex (or critic) where Folds bluntly sings “how could I forget you when there’s nothing to forget.  So there.”  The catchy and quirky, “Phone in a Pool” showcases Folds wit where he sings about wild living such as throwing a phone in a pool and predicting “I’ll be back on your sofa in a puddle in a couple of weeks “.   “Yes Man” is a humorous break up song where Folds’ biggest gripe with his ex is “why didn’t you tell me I got fat.   … I see I’ve got more chins than a Chinese phonebook has”.  The last of the chamber rock songs is the beautiful and highlight of the album, “I’m Not the Man” where Folds reflects “I’m not the man but I used to be”.  The only one of the chamber rock songs that is a waste of space on the album is “F10 D-A” , an inside dirty joke where Folds is calling out music notes.

I don’t know a lot about about classical music to review the piano concerto.  My only complaint is that it doesn’t really fit with the rest of the album.  It feels like three instrumental tracks that were tacked on at the end of the album as an afterthought.

I admire Folds for his keen observations in his lyrics.  So There is a completely unique musical experience that Folds executes pretty well.  He really captures well in a recording what makes his live shows so enjoyable.  

THE REAL HORRIBLE BOSSES- WHY UNDERCOVER BOSS HAS OUTSTAYED ITS WELCOME (October)

When Undercover Boss debuted in 2010, there were several aspects of the show that were unique and relevant.  It was entertaining to watch CEOs in bad disguises have to do the grunt jobs that their employees perform daily.  It was entertaining to catch the occasional bad employee in action and made you wonder, are there really people who do that at work?  What the show did best though was give top management of companies uncensored looks at the inner workings of their companies.  This gave management valuable insight that could led to improvements in their organizations.

I finished recently watching season 6 and I found several episodes to be disturbing.  Undercover Boss has always had CEOs give rewards to good employees that they worked with on their undercover experiences.  However, in more recent seasons, the rewards have become very extravagant (new car, house, education paid for, etc).  In every episode, in an Oprah-like tell all session, the employees will spill their guts to a stranger to them about terrible hardships in their life (a family member died or has a terrible illness, the person has huge debt/financial problems, etc).  Cue up the sad music.  The undercover boss when he or she reveals to the employee his/her true identity as the boss will then give a huge reward to alleviate this hardship.  It is wonderful that the boss rewards the employees.  However, it appears that the producers are deliberately finding employees who will share very personal aspects of their lives to a stranger on TV because “it makes for good TV”.  I have also wondered about the outstanding employees in companies who didn’t get a car, debt paid off, etc just because they were not featured on the show.  Considering that Undercover Boss has been on for six seasons, do employees really still fall for those bad disguises?  Between this and that the employees fit the same mold every episode, the show feels more and more staged than the spontaneity of the early seasons.

What has made Undercover Boss really outstay its welcome has been the horrible bosses featured this past season.  Undercover Boss has featured bad CEOs in past seasons (notably Fatburger CEO, Andy Wiederhorn, a convicted felon for a pyramid scheme).  However, most of the CEOs seemed to genuinely use the experience to make their company better.  Season 6 had three of the worst bosses ever featured on the show.  First, there was Doug Guller, CEO of Bikinis Sports Bar and Grill.  This guy starts the show by bragging that his biggest accomplishment in business is that he trademarked the term “breastaurant”.  For those of you who do not think sexism is alive and well, let me show you Guller’s actions as exhibit 1. He fires one employee for wearing a t-shirt instead of a bikini top on national TV because she was looking for a job.  Guller is really put off by the idea of a woman wanting a career outside a serving drunks beer while wearing a bikini top, hot pants, and cowboy boots in his “breastaurant”.  He then offers a mediocre employee a boob job if she will “work harder”.  Lastly, he “rewards” two other employees with things he should have offered in the first place (back pay to a cook who was promoted without a pay adjustment and offered health insurance to a manager).  Undercover Boss has had CEOs of restaurants like Bikinis before (Hooters, Twin Peaks, Twisted Kilt) but they have never had one so brazen in his chauvinism and being an overall asshole.

Undercover Boss reached an all time low when they featured Armando Montelongo.  To call Montelongo, a CEO is a stretch.  He runs a get rich quick scheme where he gives overpriced seminar to coach people on how to flip houses.  He compares himself to great businessmen like Bill Gates and Stephen Jobs and says his “system” is as valuable as having a college degree.  It was heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time to watch Montelongo sucker a woman into taking $46,000 out of her savings to attend one of his seminars thinking she is going to make a lot of money.  It demonstrates the too common idea in America that you deserve to be rich but you shouldn’t have to really do anything to earn it.  For Undercover Boss to treat this guy like a legit businessman was insulting. Next season, the Nigerian prince who has millions of my dollars should get an episode.

Lastly, Undercover Boss showed business at its worst when it featured Peavey Electronics, COO Courtland Gray.  Gray goes undercover at a manufacturing plant where two employee tell him that morale is low because of lay offs in the plant due to outsourcing to China.  He thinks that the problem is that the company is not “communicating” to the employees why they are laying people off.  As if any employee is going to nobly sacrifice their job because you can get it done cheaper in China.  Gray praises the two employees during the reveal and they are rewarded.  But not really.  A few months after the episode was filmed, one of the employees was laid off and the other was demoted when Peavey shut down part of the plant to outsource to China.  

Undercover Boss started out as a fascinating study in how businesses are run.  Now the show appears staged with employees tell alls and employees who should see through the rouse.  What is worst about Undercover Boss is it is confirming everything that people hate about corporate America: sleazy and unethical CEOs, sexism, outsourcing, and treating employees like garbage in order to enhance the bottom line.  Undercover Boss has strayed from its original purpose and has become yet another bad reality show, exploiting people in the name of “good TV”. 

MY FAVORITE FEMINIST SONGS AND THE MOST MISOGYNIST SONGS (April)

Favorite Feminist Songs

-Lesley Gore- You Don’t Own Me- Released in 1963, “You Don’t Own Me” became one of the first feminist anthems.  When Gore proudly sang, “Don’t tell me what to do.  Don’t tell me what to say.  And please, when I go out with you, don’t put me on display”, the song became a celebration of the independent woman, that was an idea that was ahead of the times in popular music.

-Aretha Franklin- Respect- Otis Redding wrote and recorded this song before the Aretha Franklin version was released.  However, with the start of the women’s movement, Franklin’s version became an anthem for the confident woman who demanded respect from her man.  This song has stood the test of time and is still consider a great girl power anthem.

-Jessie James- I Look So Good Without You- So many love songs in popular, especially those performed by female artists, are what I like to call the “doormat songs”.  The doormat songs are the ones where after a break up the singer is begging the lost loved to take her back even though she was treated poorly.  In “I Look So Good Without You”, Jessie James proudly tells the guy who dumped her that her skin looks better, she has a new hairdo, and her clothes fit better.  She sings with confidence “I realize now I deserve so much more than what you give”.  This song is a refreshing alternative to the typical doormat break up song.

-Tori Amos- Girl and Precious Things- Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes album, is a feminist album on so many levels, dealing with serious issues such as rape and abuse.  Early in the women’s movement, there was a call for women having their own identity,  instead of being recognized only in terms of their relationship to someone else (ie John’s wife or Jane’s mother).  “Girl” is a brilliant call to self discovery where Amos laments “she has been everybody else’s girl, maybe one day she’ll be her own”.  “Precious Things” is an angry call for self esteem where Amos sings “these precious things, let them break their hold on me”.  The precious things are the things from the past that diminished her self worth.  Little Earthquakes is a brilliant feminist album and “Girl” and “Precious Things” are stand out tracks for their feminist message.

-Liz Phair- Exile in Guyville album- Liz Phair’s feminist masterpiece was a female response to the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St.  It is too difficult for me to just pick one from this album as a favorite feminist song.  There are so many feminist themes on the album ranging calling out machismo (6’1”) to double standards between men and women (“Explaining It to Me” and “Canary”).  What was most striking on the album was how Phair showed that women could be just as frank in their sexuality as men (“Flower”) which was progressive and shocking when the album was released in 1993.  Exile in Guyville was a striking feminist statement for many women in my generation.

-Alanis Morissette- That I Would Be Good- Alanis Morissette became best known for her “angry woman” break up song, “You Oughta Know”.  While “You Oughta Know” was a good challenge to the doormat break up song format, one her best feminist moments comes in the lesser known, “That I Would Be Good”.  In “That I Would Be Good”, Morissette affirms that her identity is still good even without sexist standards that women are held to, such as looks or her man (“That I would be good even if I gained ten pounds, …even if I lost my hair and my youth…whether with or without you).  This song is affirming to women’s independence.

Most Misogynistic Songs

Note: I am aware of the many misogynistic songs in hardcore rap.  I tried to narrow my picks in this category to songs I have heard on mainstream radio.

-Buckcherry- Crazy Bitch- This song is one of several hard rock songs were women are reduced to just a sexual plaything for men.  In “Crazy Bitch”, singer, Josh Todd, repeatedly tells the woman “you’re a crazy bitch” but is conflicted because he likes “the way you f**k me”.  Disgustingly sexist, because Todd apparently thinks he can repeatedly put down a woman but she is suppose to be sexually available to him at the same time.

-Nickelback- Figured You Out & Something in Your Mouth-   It was a toss up which Nickelback song to include here so I picked two.  In “Figured You Out”, the song opens with Chad Kroeger boasting “I like your pants around your feet and I like the dirt that’s on your knees”.  The song becomes more disturbing as Kroeger later in the song boasts “I love your lack of self respect, while you’re passed out on the deck.  I love my hands around your neck”.  What is so disturbing about this song is that Kroeger has “figured out” what he likes the best about this woman is all of the way he degrades her up to violence against her.  “Something in Your Mouth” is Nickelback’s tribute to strippers who are “so much cooler with something in your mouth”.  I think we all know what that “something” is.  It is amazing how Kroeger doesn’t even try to hide his crass idea of women in this song.

-Prodigy- Smack My Bitch Up- This electronic dance song repeatedly repeats the title.  This appears to condone violence towards women and the video depicting drunken, sexual excess seems to support this interpretation of the song.  

 -Robin Thicke- Blurred Lines- In this hit song, Robin Thicke repeatedly sings “I know you want it but you’re a good girl” and that he “hate(s) these blurred lines”.  What I find troubling in this song is that it reinforced the old stereotype that if a woman rejects a man’s sexual advances, she really wants to accept them.  This is not a good message to have when date rape is becoming too common.

-Eminem- Stan- Eminem’s lyrics are misogynist garbage.  He is not a misunderstood artist, case in point, his single, “Stan”.   “Stan” is revenge fantasy where an obsessed fan, Stan, drives his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk of his car into a lake.  Dido had her song “Thank You” sampled in this song.  I honestly don’t know how any woman could participate in this song.  I don’t know how any woman can listen to Emenim’s graphic fantasies of such brutal violence to women.