The Funniest Thing(s) I Have Seen in A While

I'm sure by now most of you are aware of R. Kelly's hip-hop soap opera, "Trapped in the Closet." If you're not, then follow this link and watch the first five parts of the story told in music unfold. Yes, it's OK to laugh, I'm pretty sure most people do. If you want to catch the rest, there are links to the other 7 parts and summaries of each one at this Wikipedia article.

That's the unintentionally funny stuff, now for the funny: "Trapped in the Cupboard". This is an awesome parody skit from MadTV that I recommend watching after you've watched the R. Kelly stuff. Definitely be prepared to laugh.

Finally, if you're a Harry Potter fan, you might enjoy "Trapped in the Closet Under the Stairs". It's basically the first 5 Harry Potter books told in the same way as the R. Kelly songs. I'm actually not that impressed by these, but you may like them. Enjoy!

Tristan Prettyman

Tristan Prettyman is a singer-songwriter from San Diego who released her first major label CD, Twentythree last August. I had the chance to see her at one of her CD release parties and again last February, and I thought she was great on stage. The first show was just her and her guitar, but she added another person on percussion while on tour with Ben Taylor. Although her CD also featured other musicians, the emphasis always seems to still be on Tristan and not the production that goes into the songs.

She posted a new song on her MySpace called Something Good. It is basically about trying to look for and remember the good things that happened in a relationship that just ended. It is a rough cut of the song because I think she just wanted to share it with her fans and is not really concerned with the sound quality at this point in time.

Official Site
shows on archive.org
(I would recommend the 01/30/05 show)

Speechwriters LLC on tour

It is a short tour with Dave and Misha, but they are still a lot of fun to see play live. Some West Coast dates should be announced soon. Taken from their site:

thursday
30 march 06
jammin' java (7:30pm)
dave and misha acoustic.
$12, all ages
227 maple ave e.
vienna, va 22180

friday
31 march 06
university of maryland (12:00 noon)
again, dave and misha acoustic.
stamp student union
college park, md 20742

friday
31 march 06
clark university (TBA)
dave and misha mop up after the sonic devastation of clarias, assuming they don't get totally humped by traffic, as they'll be driving up from f-ing maryland.
950 main street
worcester, ma 01610

saturday
1 april 06
princeton university (TBA)
dave and misha complete their whirlwind tour of four fairly out of the way east coast cities with this epic acoustic performance for the smartest kids in all of new jersey.
princeton university
princeton, nj 08544

Official Site

MySpace

recorded live shows on archive.org

Blue Judy

Last night I had been planning on going to see Blue Judy play a show in the L.A. area, but sadly this did not happen. I did, however, get to listen to them play two songs on an online radio station. I, of course, recorded their session and am posting the songs for others to listen to:

For the Boys

Young and Empty

I had already heard the first song at a show in February. When I hear the song, I have this picture in my mind of someone leaving a little kid and how that action stay with the kid even as they get older. There is a line about not being able to grow old ... to me it seems to be talking about not being able to get past certain events (like a parent leaving) and grow. I have not really had a chance to think about the lyrics for the second song because I had never heard it before, but I still find it rather catchy. I like that it is one of those songs that I actually have to think about in order to figure out what it seems to mean.

There are also some songs available for download on their MySpace page. For me they are one of three bands from Claremont that I really like ... the other two being We Are Scientists and Speechwriters LLC. Three of them went to Claremont McKenna College (one is still there) while the other went to Harvey Mudd College. (Tapper went to Mudd while the other guys went to Pomona College, along with Dave and Misha of swllc.) Apparently Blue Judy is planning on recording new songs soon with the hope of releasing a CD sometime this year.