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Our Lady IncuWeezerbus makes the coolest band ever; or... the college years and beyond

Brandon Loves Good Music, or BL Good M...
Part II - The Stoncutters Themesong, a musical interlude

A little known fact about me is that anything and everything reminds me in some way of a scene from or an episode of The Simpsons. About once a day, I encounter something that I can relate to a Simpsonsism from my memory. I've heard before that one's communication skills are enhanced when one uses illustrations and allegory that relate to the subject being communicated. The Problem for me is two-fold:
a. On the credibility scale, referncing episodes of the Simpsons is not quite on the same level as using an entry from Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. At least, not until people my age rule the universe... and then, I could get a doctorate for my useless Simpsons trivia.
b. When all of the contextual illustrations you ever use come from the same source, you begin to take on a strange, Comic Book Guy-like image with people. (see, I did it again!) Doing that is, in my mind, tantamount to always saying "That reminds me of a lyric from an N*Sync song." (shudder) is it cold in here?
What is my point, you ask? And what does this have to do with music? Well, nothing really. I just felt like writing about a quirk of mine...
But let me pull an Ostrich out of my hat...
One of the things I love the most about The Simpsons is the liberal use of musical satire. Music is everywhere in the Simpsons universe... they even did an entire episode where every line was sung. From the frist episode down to the end of last season, music is a part of almost every show.
And the music in the show is just another example of the monumental wit of the writers. Some examples and my favorites:
1) The StoneCutters theme song- Who controls the British Crown? Who Keeps the Metric System down? We do. We do. Who Prevented the Electric Car? Who made Steve Guttenberg, A Star? We did. We did.
2) Sideshow Bob Sings the entire score from HMS Pinafore as Bart Simpson's last request - it would take too long to explain, but it's classic Kelsey Grammar.
3) The Monorail Song- This entire episode is a 22 minute spoof of the Music Man. "You bet your life, my Hindu friend."
and so on and so on. My point is that the Simpsons uses one of my favorite mediums to produce comedy. and it works!
Not the best connection ever, but it works.

Now, for Part III...

Brandon Loves Good Music, or BL Good M

Brandon Loves Good Music, or BL Good M...
Part I - Brass Monkey Said Knock You Out Because You're Wanted Dead or Clumsy

In the grand scheme of Life, the Universe and everything John Cusack, Music is one of my greatest loves. To give you a better idea of what flicks my switch; let me tell you about some of my other first loves:

Movies - Good ones (The Matrix, Star Wars, Godfather trilogy, LS&TSB, Snatch), funny ones (Friday, Christmas Vacation, Big Daddy, Tommy Boy) , so pitifully bad they're funny ones (A Low Down Dirty Shame), ones you know you shouldn't like but you can't help it (SON IN LAW), ones you know you shouldn't like because you have these things called morals, but you do (Fight Club, Dogma, Chasing Amy), and then there are the movies you despise with all the will of your soul (Titanic, Pearl Harbor, Blown Away)... there's a quick run-down of how movies move me. I'll spend more time on this in my next column.
DVDs - yes, I know that we're still talking about movies, but DVDs have become a different beast in the last few years. A DVD now has only half to do with the movie and half to do with immersing yourself in the environment around the movie with director's commentaries, deleted scenes, storyboards, interviews with cast and crew, behind the scenes featurettes, and on and on. And for those of you that don't know, there's only a few other things I can compare to cracking open a new DVD case, and most are on this list. (I'll be discussing more on DVDs next week as well)
Books - My first love... from great classics that I immersed myself in (The Count of Monte Cristo, Plato's Republic) to the more modern books that I couldn't put down (Dune, Stranger In a Strange Land, Redemption by Leon Uris) and the great books of history and Biography that have molded my worldview (Truman, Nicholas and Alexandra, Founding Brothers... first two courtesy of Andrizoo) I'll spend a posting or two on books next week.
Music - You knew that already... and it's the point of what I'm writing today, so more on that now.

I don't remember when I first started loving music with the passion that I do know, but I have an idea of its roots. When I was in elementary school, my mom gave me Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and License to Ill by the Beastie Boys.
   
Just looking at these two record covers brings me back, big time... These two albums are my first "That Reminds Me" records, e.g. Records that quickly and clearly remind me of a time in my life. Quick examples of my top "That Reminds Me" Albums, in addition to those above.

1.Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want, Number one, top "TRM" album that makes me think of my early relationship with my fiancée. In Particular, the title track.
2. Third Eye Blind - Third Eye Blind, this one reminds me of the fall of my sophomore year at Baylor. Not because of any monumental event, I listened to the disc about 100 times before I put anything else in my player... that may have something to do with it
3. Fishbone - Fishbone 101: Nuttasaurusmeg Fossil Fuelin, My Freshman year in College, when my explorations into music began to take flight.
4. Parliament - Tear the Roof Off 1974-1980, another early one from high school that was given to me by a friend. This set is on my personal favorite list
5. Weezer - Green Album, when I was working on a project for Harris County last summer. This CD came out and I listened to it for hours upon end at work.
6. Our Lady Peace - Clumsy, hanging out with Sarah during my senior year of College.

Ok, I'd better stop myself from this diversion before I can't. The TRM idea can also be broken out by individual songs and even parts of a song. It's divisible in any way... now back to bidness.
Over the course of my life, License to Ill and Slippery When Wet became the Anchors that set me out to sea. From that point of my life on, Music was my love.

But it became a passion and an obsession when I got my first car. For my birthday, in addition to my dad’s old Mazda truck, I got a CD player to install into the car. I did so immediately and with the giddiness of a Fly around a steaming mound of crap... hmm, maybe I could have done better there...
How about with the giddiness of Brittney Spears upon seeing her new silicone for the first time? I'll take it!
Once I had my stereo, I was free to roam and blast my music with passion! No longer could my parents ask me to turn it down or censor what I listened to. I was free to explore music.

And explore I did, with my first foray into Gangster Rap... LL Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out (quick fact: in the spirit of "Damn, I knew I shouldn't have picked my name in the 80s", a la MC Hammer, Young MC, Queen Latifah and Del the Funkee Homosapien, I'm guessing LL may not be too happy that his name still means "Ladies Love Cool James" in 2002)
And I LOVED that CD... the Power or the title track, and... And. Well, damn, that was the only song I could even begin to listen to, but I acted like I loved Gangsta Rap.

After briefly enjoying good Gangsta music, I went retro and found some bands I still love today. I bought EVERY Zeppelin album in existence. I listened to George Clinton and balked at Dr. Dre and Snoop dog stealing old Parliament and Funkadelic riffs, (though I bought those albums too) Hell, I recognize the guy from those retro Nike commercials that feature current players in old uniforms. Give up? Bootsie Collins. Never heard of him? You should try out Bootsie's Rubber Band. it's entertaining (and funny). I discovered Fishbone, Weezer, Seven Mary Three, Barenaked Ladies, STP, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Bush. I loved every kind of music I could get my hands on...

But nothing has ever then or ever will move me like Rock and Alternative...

Stay Tuned For Part Two on Monday... Our Lady IncuWeezerbus makes the coolest band ever; or... the college years and beyond