tombiro.com

Just about two weeks ago, I was among the crowd of Seattleites (and those from beyond our city) who saw 311 play at The Moore, and if I were to drill down my comments about the show to one statement, it’d be that getting to see a band that legitimately had fun on stage and wasn’t looking like they were going through the motions was awesome – and unfortunately atypical.

Aside from the fact that I was able to walk up like an hour or so before the opening act hit the stage, it was a pretty solid crowd of fans that genuinely were into the band. I’d never caught them live before, but as a fan with all of their CDs and that can rattle off lyrics to some of the more random tracks, it was cool to be surrounded by a ton of people that (mostly) felt the same way. I’d always heard that they were an energetic crew on stage, and that definitely came through.

Frontman Nick Hexum definitely brought his “A” game, and seeing sometimes-frontman, always hyped-up fellow singer SA Martinez in action was a pretty good treat. But unlike a lot of other groups you might see, the whole band really kicks it up a notch, and I was amazed at one portion of their show, which I was informed was a staple – and have included a clip someone else in attendance shared. It’s a merge of “Applied Science” and a drum solo – probably not one that you’ve really seen before from other groups, even ones with tremendous drummers. Check it out:

Now I’m not here to post full-on reviews of concerts or anything, but I will say that I was more than taken aback by these comments from a fellow Seattleite who probably wasn’t too much of a fan of the band to begin with, and definitely didn’t dig the performance…at least the part she took in with her eyes.

I hate to say that it’s been nice being able to just pop into a few shows here and there in Seattle that I wouldn’t have gotten into day-of back in NYC or Northern NJ, but it definitely has – and getting to do it in a city with some pretty smart music fans makes it doubly so.

Okay, so maybe that title is a little more obnoxious than it should be, but whatever…thought this would be a fun thing to share with you all.

Over the summer of 2008, I left my agency world for a bit and went to MTV, where I was exposed to some really awesome people and experiences, especially given my serious interests in the world of media. About a month or so into my job there, I had a conversation with a longtime MTVer – who’d leave the company just a few months later during a series of layoffs – about Lady GaGa, with my position being that she was a force to be reckoned with, and I definitely thought she could headline a show of her own. Maybe not stadium-wise, but definitely on the smaller end of an arena, and definitely the bigger concert-specific venues. While he was definitely a fan of hers and agreed that she would push some boundaries, he wasn’t convinced just yet that she’d be able to swing the 10k+ spaces on her own, not without a co-headliner.

It was a lively discussion, and his points were all super solid – and I had to take them for what they were, given that he had far more years in the music space than I did (he worked on the music and talent team). We both pretty much agreed that the randomness of the music scene in 2008 and beyond left us all surprised when artists never crossed that border to “big” even when they out-talented a lot of others who received mainstream play left and right.

Last fall, I had the pleasure of working the VMAs, the last award show I worked at MTV before Lara and I moved out to Seattle, and boy did GaGa put on a show with her “Paparazzi” performance – one full of piano playing, great stage presence, and a bunch of faux blood. Without the gravity surrounding the Michael Jackson tribute and the ridiculousness of the Kanye West – Taylor Swift “incident,” GaGa’s performance might have “stolen” the show. As it was, it was definitely widely talked about, and definitely sold some records. (I’m listening to the track at 34,000 feet, SFO-SEA, as we speak. And yes, I did just say “records.”)

In the last year or so, GaGa has made some serious moves on the music scene, getting tons of mainstream play, going from a hugely-buzzed-about tour with co-headliner Kanye West to a GaGa-led one after various issues for Mr. West, and morphing from an artist that was widely talked about because of her pantslessness to one that has people discussing her music, fashion sense, and attitude on the reg. In short, she’s a force to be reckoned with.

Is this the douchiest post I’ve ever written? Perhaps. Do I really want a pat on the back? Hell no. I didn’t do anything. I’m just amused that my old 30-something ass was able to stay on top of something relatively “early” and that it’s worked out so far.

I guess I should have gone with my gut and taken the over on her popularity lifespan.

It’s almost 2010 (wow!), and here’s my links you need to click for the day. Enjoy!

• Congrats to Ben and Abbi Wagner on the news of Abbi’s pregnancy. Of course, Ben writes it up in his news-guy style, keeping you waiting until the end, even if you did look at the photo first.
• After Dave busted on me for my top 25-played tracks that were born in the year of our lord 2009, I just had to link to this. Rex points to what last.fm sez are the most unwanted scrobbles – that is, the ones most deleted from last.fm users’ scrobble lists – for 2009. Let’s just say you’re probably not going to be surprised.
• For those of you that aren’t so into the cult of the blog, this post from Wil Wheaton is a perfect example of why it’s awesome that they exist in the first place. Just replace Mr. Wheaton (or don’t, if TNG does it for you) with a musician, actor, politician of your choice, and imagine that they were side-commenting their own career or history, and you’ll see what I mean.
• A couple of weeks back, Twitter released a list of the Top Twitter Trends of 2009. Those of you who get annoyed at my non-100% support of hashtags for all things on Twitter will note that beyond the hashtag-specific category, only 7 made the charts, overall, with real-text taking the cake for the most part. Again, this isn’t to say that they don’t work, only that the “average” user tends to stick to talking in actual words. Just sayin’.
• Check out Brand New’s Best and Worst Identities for 2009 here.
• Did you know that you could use multiple aliases for a given email address on your iPhone? But yes, you can. Here’s the solution for this very request, via Gruber.

Just caught Fred Wilson’s list of top-played tracks of 2009, and I’ll bite on this one with my own.

• Al Kapone – “Gettin’ Mine” – $5 Cover: Memphis
• Asher Roth – “I Love College” – Asleep In The Bread Aisle
• Al Kapone – “We On Deck” – $5 Cover: Memphis
• Phoenix – “1901″ – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
• Jay-Z – “When The Money Goes”
• Phoenix – “Lisztomania” – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Dull Life” – It’s Blitz
• ATB – “A New Day” – Future Memories
• David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland – “When Love Takes Over”
• Depeche Mode – “Hole To Feed” – Sounds Of The Universe
• Drake – “Forever”
• The Golden Filter – “Solid Gold”
• Jay-Z – “Hate Jay-Z” – The Blueprint 3
• White Lies – “A Place To Hide” – To Lose My Life
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Zero” – It’s Blitz
• The Dream – “Rockin That Shit” – Love Vs. Money
• Kylie Minogue – “Slow” – Boombox
• LMFAO – “La La La” – Party Rock
• Paramore – “Ignorance” – brand new eyes
• Pearl Jam – “Got Some” – Backspacer
• 3OH!3 w/ Katy Perry – “Starstrukk” – Want
• 311 – “Golden Sunlight” – Uplifter
• Amanda Blank – “Make It Take It” – I Love You
• Amy LaVere – “Killing Him” – $5 Cover: Memphis
• La Roux – “In For The Kill” – La Roux

This has apparently been around for a couple of months, but I’m just catching it. Check out the team-up of Katy Perry and 3OH!3 for the band’s “Starstrukk” single, with a twist. It’s part of the soundtrack for the upcoming “When In Rome” flick that stars Kristen Bell.

Those of you familar with my musical tastes won’t be too thrown off by this list, those of you that don’t might not care one way or another. For the uninitiated, Pearl Jam is one of my favorite bands (and the one I think I have the most songs from in my music collection), so I’ve listened to a few songs in my day. So here’s ten of my favorite songs, if you can even drill it down to ten, in no particular order. Also note that it’s REALLY hard to do this without making most of the songs come from the “Ten” album. Just sayin’.

• “Angel” – One of the band’s “Christmas singles” that are sent to the fan club. The first time I heard it was when this guy Jeff I worked with in college let me borrow the record it was on, which is still the only place I’ve ever seen it. It’s an amazingly dramatic song that isn’t necessarily in line with the rest of the band’s songs, and maybe that’s what makes it so good.
• “Porch” – My favorite memory of this song is the guy who sang it in a talent show in high school, whom we were all told would edit the first line of the song when it came down to the live session. He didn’t. And if you don’t know it, it’s “What the fuck is this world…”
• “Rearviewmirror” – Listening to it, it seems like one of the more “simply built” songs, but when you get into it, it’s much more complicated than that.
• “Black” – This is either my #1 or #2 favorite song of the bunch, I really think. It’s so well thought out, the lyrics are amazing, it just sounds awesome all around.
• “Dirty Frank” – He’s a gourmet cook, you know.
• “Yellow Ledbetter” – Just wow. How many encores do you think this has closed out? This is the other song I (and probably a lot of other PJ fans) would have a hard time saying it wasn’t a favorite.
• “Even Flow” – Again, hard to not just pick “Ten” and be done with it. I chose this over “Jeremy,” which is equally awesome.
• “Habit” – It’s all about the cadence and the raspy voice on this one.
• “State Of Love And Trust” – “A compliment for us is a compliment for you.”
• “Dissident” – Along with being an excellent box set that I was never able to complete as it was sold in a couple of different packages until digital music became the norm, this is a crazy good song.

Honorable mentions: “Supersonic” – It’s new, it’s fast, it’s loud, and it’s fun. Suck it up, I like it. “Leash” – Loud, loud, loud.

• On Monday, Derek Powazek said a thing or two about SEO and the people who provide it as a service, professionally and otherwise. On Tuesday afternoon, Danny Sullivan responded with an open letter to Powazek. Since then, Powazek’s published a FAQ on the subject, and Sullivan has responded in kind, and not without a little snark (make sure you read the title). If you’re into search and Web design, etc., this is probably worth your time to check out.
• Polaroid’s back! Well, sort of.
• For those of you interested in cool stories about sports and sports leagues, with a tinge of economics and “what if,” then check out Costa’s recap what ALMOST happened in the NHL almost three decades ago. He’s got more here.
• You tell ‘em, Wil!
• If you haven’t seen the super awesome video floating around social media circles (and beyond), “The Social Media Guru,” I suggest you go watch it.
• Apple has something to say about the reporter $10,000 fee it supposedly cost to create iTunes LPs. [via Engadget]
• Wood IS BACK! Am I the only one sensing a trend in this list?
• I got a 4 out of 10 in this quiz about inventing things we currently take for granted in our day and age. What did you get? [via Kottke]

Earlier this week, Cleveland Browns WR Braylon Edwards was accused of punching one of LeBron James’ friends outside a nightclub.

This morning, just two days after the alleged assault, Edwards has been traded to the New York Jets. Coincidence? One would think not. “Respect my authority!”

• Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kanye West – “Run This Town” – Certainly reads that way. Damn.
• Cam’ron, Jay-Z, Juelz Santana – “Welcome To New York City” – One might hold down Cleveland, but you know Hov wouldn’t mind a certain someone making his way to the Big Apple, right?
• Chamillionaire feat. Killer Mike & Pastor Troy – “Southern Takeover” – The dirty dirty certainly has a pretty good hand in the game these days, huh?
• T.I., Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne – “Swagga Like Us” – Ain’t that the truth.
• Three 6 Mafia – “Trap Boom” – “I make the trap boom boom, I make the trap boom boom.”
• Al Kapone – “Whoop That Trick” – ask me one day about how this song and one other track from “Hustle & Flow” was apparently done. Great story.
• David Banner & Lil’ Flip – “Like A Pimp” – “We run trains (choo choo) all night”
• DJ Khaled, Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne, Juelz Santana, Fat Joe, Rick Ross & Dre – “Brown Paper Bag” – Containing one of my favorite lyrics of the last couple years, “they used to call me the pyrex kid, a.k.a. young arm & hammer” from Jeezy. Wow.
• Eric B. & Rakim – “I Ain’t No Joke” – CLASSIC.
• Freeway feat. Jay-Z & Beanie Sigel – “What We Do” – Ahhh, Philadelphia Freeway.

Today’s Morning Random Ten is made up of songs that I’ve added to my library of late – there are about 383 of them – so prepare for some new (or old) stuff.

• Jay-Z – “History” – off the “More Than A Game” soundtrack, which is actually pretty hot.
• The Temper Trap – “Love Lost” – First time listening to them, in all honesty, and am just figuring them out. Kind of a cool sound, though.
• Madcon – “Beggin” – You might not *realize* you’ve heard this song, but you love it. You just don’t know it yet.
• Mika – “Touches You”
• Boys Like Girls – “Someone Like You” – Found it strangely peculiar that this song came after the last one in shuffle play. Just sayin’.
• Joe – “Worst Case Scenario”
• Pill – “Bunkin”
• Jay-Z – “My President Is Black (Remix)”
• Paramore – “Where The Lines Overlap” – It’s rare that I’ll buy an album and actually like all of the songs, but that’s certainly the case with Paramore’s new “brand new eyes”
• LMFAO – “La La La” – these guys are so much fun it’s crazy.

Back in 2003, The Postal Service released a fantastic song that by now most of us who consume any sort of media have heard, “Such Great Heights.” You know, the song seen in UPS commercials, “Grey’s Anatomy,” and so on. Here’s the video:

See, I knew you’d remember it from the first four bars.

This morning, I was exposed to a cover – not the first, certainly not the last – of “Such Great Heights” by a band called Confide. I must have missed it this summer when it was written about in a number of places, but I’m taking a pass on this summer for the whole wedding, travel, crazy thing. In any case, you’ll be happy to know that this song is not at all what you’re going to expect it to be. Your life will never be the same after you cross the :44 mark of this video.