Grammy Bombast

The Grammys used to have poise and grace. It was about rewarding the
best in music for a year. But last night's show was just bombastic.

I see the point of having more performers than awards given out. It's
now like a celebration of the year in music -- where there are
sing-alongs and big showstoppers. But last night was too much -- too,
too much. Lady Gaga looked ridiculous. Stevie Nicks came out of
nowhere to duet with Taylor Swift -- but forgot how to harmonize.

Leon Russell? Roberta Flack? I love them, and I love nostalgia, and I
love veteran artists. But they added nothing to an already bloated
show.

Even DMB needed to add a choir and strings. That actually ended up
sounding nice -- making a bad song tolerable -- but it seems like the
Grammys are now more about filling a stage than respecting music.

As for the winners? Swift -- as much as her songs are catchy -- did
not produce the year's best album. I think DMB did -- but Gaga's
record had a bigger impact that Taylor's. I also was surprised to see
Gaga get shut out of the top awards.

I was actually excited by this year's Grammys. The nominees were
eclectic and fresh. But the show? It was kind of like a headache
having a hart attack.

Your thoughts?

The Guest Judge

So my high-school best friend, Josh Berger, writes a blog each week on 'American Idol.' And since I think it's the greatest hour on television -- and he has been busy -- he asked me to guest-pen this week's entry.

http://shoppingwithkarad.blogspot.com/

Bruce

Since I can't use my own words to convince you about how great Bruce can be, I will let the man use his own words. Revel in the cadence and passion in his storytelling -- and how that coincides with the cadence and passion of the music.

This is the opening track from 'Born To Run,' the album that made Bruce the Boss. It was 1975. He was 25 and had released two dud albums despite being hailed as the new Dylan. His record company demanded a hit. If he didn't deliver, they'd drop him. So he threw his soul into this album. And 'Thunder Road' is its most beautiful component.

And in the clip you'll see the other thing that made Bruce great: his uber-energetic live shows, backed by the uber-energetic E Street Band. His shows were marathon sweatathons. And after this album, he was praised as the future of rock, appearing on the cover of Time and Newsweek magazines in the same week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KngiJUNdsu0

'THUNDER ROAD'
Words & Music by Bruce Springsteen

The screen door slams
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision, she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey, that's me, and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
Darling, you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me

You can hide 'neath your covers
And study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers
Throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain
For a saviour to rise from these streets
Well now, I'm no hero
That's understood
All the redemption I can offer girl
Is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good somehow
Hey, what else can we do now ?

Except roll down the window
And let the wind blow back your hair
Well the night's busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back
Heaven's waiting on down the tracks

Oh-oh, come take my hand
We're riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh-oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey, I know it's late --- we can make it if we run
Oh Thunder Road
Sit tight
Take hold
Thunder Road

Well I got this guitar
And I learned how to make it talk
And my car's out back
If you're ready to take that long walk
From your front porch to my front seat
The door's open, but the ride it ain't free
And I know you're lonely
For words that I ain't spoken
But tonight we'll be free
All the promises'll be broken

There were ghosts in the eyes
Of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road
In the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets
They scream your name at night in the street
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch, they're gone
On the wind
So Mary climb in
It's town full of losers
And I'm pulling out of here to win

(NOTE: This is one of my favorite closing verses of all time. The words catch you -- and the story comes to a crescendo. To me, his wordplay rivaled Costello back then.)

The next song is one of the most insightful songs ever written about fading love. As time went on, Bruce became less of a ramshackle poet and more an observant narrator. His lyrics became more direct and less showy, but more mature and mannered.

'Brilliant Disguise' is the centerpiece of 1988's 'Tunnel Of Love' album -- a record about his first, failed marriage. This song is about realizing the person you love may not be the person you think. Smart words here, and a pretty, catchy melody.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx0E6EbpSn0

'BRILLIANT DISGUISE'
Words & Music by Bruce Springsteen

I hold you in my arms as the band plays
What are those words whispered, baby, just as you turn away?
I saw you last night out on the edge of town
I wanna read your mind and know just what I've got in this new thing I've found
So tell me what I see when I look in your eyes
Is that you baby or just a brilliant disguise?

I heard somebody call your name from underneath our willow
I saw something tucked in shame underneath your pillow
Well I've tried so hard baby, but I just can/t see
What a woman like you is doing with me
So tell me what I see when I look in your eyes
Is that you baby or just a brilliant disguise?

Now look at me, baby, struggling to do everything right
And then it all falls apart when out go the lights
I'm just a lonely pilgrim -- I walk this world in wealth
I want to know if it's you I dont trust
'Cause I damn sure don't trust myself

Now you play the loving woman -- I'll play the faithful man
But just don't look too close into the palm of my hand
We stood at the alter -- the gypsy swore our future was right
But come the wee wee hours, maybe baby the gypsy lied
So when you look at me, you better look hard and look twice
Is that me baby or just a brilliant disguise?

Tonight our bed is cold
I'm lost in the darkness of our love
God have mercy on the man
Who doubts what he's sure of

The Rake's Song

The new Decemberists single. Revel in its brooding melody and incredibly creepy lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULSKZ7IP930

'THE RAKE'S SONG'
Words & Music by Colin Meloy

I had entered into a marriage
In the summer of my twenty-first year
And the bells rang for our wedding
Only now do I remember it clear
Alright, alright, alright

No more a rake and no more a bachelor
I was wedded and it whetted my thirst
Until her womb start spilling out babies
Only then did I reckon my curse
Alright, alright, alright

First came Isaiah with his crinkled little fingers
Then came Charlotte and that wretched girl Dawn
Ugly Myfanwy died on delivery
Mercifully taking her mother along
Alright, alright, alright

What can one do when one is widower
Shamefully saddled with three little pests
All that I wanted was the freedom of a new life
So my burden I began to divest
Alright, alright, alright

Charlotte I buried after feeding her foxglove
Dawn was easy, she was drowned in the bath
Isaiah fought but was easily bested
Burned his body for incurring my wrath
Alright, alright, alright

And that's how I came your humble narrator
To be living so easy and free
Expect you think that I should be haunted
But it never really bothers me
Alright, alright, alright

P.S. -- A rake? From dictionary.com:

RAKE: noun -- a dissolute or profligate person, esp. a man who is licentious.

Ah.

Greetings, hepcats.

This started about a year ago. 

Brent worked at night; Brooke in the morning. We e-mailed constantly so we would each have something to read when our shifts started each day at the Daily News-Record, Harrisonburg, Va.'s newspaper. We'd give updates on movies we watched the previous night, articles we read in magazines, songs that popped up on our iPod Shuffles, and trivia only one of us probably cared about. 

Since then, we've moved on to different jobs -- Brent to the Trenton Times in Trenton, N.J., and Brooke to Smart Business magazine in Cleveland -- increasing the need for multiple daily e-mails. 

Now our yearlong blog-in-the-making is finally transitioning from Gmail to you, along with clips of our personal and professional writing in the forms of journalism, music, poetry and lists. Hence the name: HodgePop, our title for the hodgepodge musings of pop culture you'll find here. 

Mahalo, and happy posting.