James Morrison

Brad and I caught a performance by Brit James Morrison on Jay Leno this week. Wow, I was impressed. His voice is great - so expressive and dead on. It takes true talent to perform stripped down like this.

We got this song when it was a free iTunes download awhile back, and just last week I told Brad that it was growing on me. Very soulful and smooth.

Here's the vid from Leno:

Happy Birthday, Darius

Happy Birthday, Darius! Here's a great photo of him and Rachel and the girls.

One of my favorite memories of him is when he tried to teach me to play pool. Maybe someday I'll catch on.

Here's Muck In Your Eye

We're all sick with a nasty cold here, and as usual, Connor got the worst of it. In fact, his version of this cold comes complete with pink eye! Poor kid. He seems more bothered by the eye drops to treat the infection than the infection itself.

Roll Bounce

I caught this movie tonight on HBO. It was great! Set in about 1979, it made me nostalgic for the days of my youth when I spent lots of time practicing my skating down at the tennis courts, and every weekend at Wheel-A-While. "All skate!"

Bow Wow plays the lead role of Xavier Smith, and he's terrific.


Here's the trailer if you care to see some hip 70's duds and some smooth skating:

Foreshadow

I stumbled across this today. I hadn't seen it since Episode I came out in 1999. I thought it was brilliant because it sums up the the plot of three movies in one image.

United We Dance Jamestown

Two of my Just For Kix classes competed on Saturday at a JFK competition in Jamestown. They worked so hard, and they danced beautifully.

My Mini Kix (4th & 5th graders) got 2nd place in their division:


My Jazz dancers (5th-8th graders) got 1st place in their division:


By the end of taking these photos, our faces felt like the Barbie tour guide at the end of Toy Story 2.

I'm not very competitive, so competitions are not a big deal for me, but it does motivate my kids to work harder and dance better. It was quite a thrill for them.

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

Spring made an early appearance today, and we ended up at an impromptu barbeque at the neighbor's house.

Ben


Megan, Steve, and Brad


Jake, Dylan, Connor and Holly were busy all night chopping up the ice dam at the end of their driveway.


There was still enough snow to keep the beer chilled.


Morgan, Holly, Connor, Dylan, Jake, Dylan, Ben


We even christened their new fire pit.


Holly and Jake making s'mores


Brad and Connor by the fire

Delilah

Brad and I saw Tom Higgenson from Plain White T's perform this song on Jay Leno recently. I couldn't find the TV clip of the live performance, but here's the video. Beautiful song, cool video.

Seeing leg warmers on her made me feel so much better about the fact that I've started wearing them again. I wore them 25 years ago as a fashion statement, but they really do work for dancing!

100 Greatest Vocalists

British music rag Q Magazine has published its list of the 100 Greatest Singers:

11. Liam Gallagher
10. Jeff Buckley
09. Mick Jagger
08. Robert Plant
07. Kurt Cobain
06. Marvin Gaye
05. John Lennon
04. Otis Redding
03. Frank Sinatra
02. Aretha Franklin
01. Elvis Presley

Sadly, I think his inclusion on this list is based on past achievements. His great voice has deteriorated in recent years to a husky rasp. Sad, sad, sad.

Here's a clip that showcases how good his voice used to be. This song was a b-side from 2000. Oasis is infamous for releasing terrific songs like this one as b-sides. This is a fan video. I stumbled onto it on YouTube; otherwise, I wouldn't have even known about the song. Since it's not available as a single download, I'm currently struggling with the fact that I'll have to eventually fork over around $10 to buy the single from Amazon to get this song.

"Let's All Make Believe"

Gap Smile

Yesterday...


Today...


This was his sixth tooth to fall out, and the first on top. How exciting!

And Connor said, "Take a picture of me, too!" Ok!

Performance Season

I've been crazy busy with Just For Kix performances lately. I have only one week without a performance in February and March. Here's how it adds up for those seven weeks:

13 basketball half-times
7 show performances
5 competition performances (Jamestown & Fargo)

As of today, 14 down, 9 to go.

Addendum--Clearly, I am not gifted in math. My numbers should have read: 16 down, 9 to go.

MMM Happy Anniversary

Wow. It's been a year since I started posting regularly to this blog. What a kick to go back to those early posts. They were all about Oasis at the beginning, much to the chagrin of some friends & readers! I guess it evolved into a record of our family life and my own random thoughts.

The obsession with Oasis is still going strong, but sometimes it gets a little hard coming up with other stuff to write about. Ahh, the pressure of pleasing my loyal readership!

Adding Injury to Insult

To top off my bad day on Saturday, I ended up with this nasty-looking bruise on my shin after I slipped on the bleachers at BHS. LOVELY.

Today

This was my day. Missing my mom tonight.

Silversun Pickups

I don't know much about this band, but I recently caught the video for "Lazy Eye" by Silversun Pickups. It immediately grabbed me.



It reminded me of "Cannonball" by the Breeders. Do you agree?

Mandinka

We've been listening to our iPods on shuffle, which is a great way to rediscover music that I'd not heard in awhile, like Sinead O'Connor's first album, The Lion and the Cobra. This album was very big for me in 1988-89.

Here's a video for "Mandinka". I vividly remember watching this very video on MTV's 120 Minutes.



At the time, many people were fixated on her lack of hair, but her voice is amazing. Here's a video of a live performance that demonstrates her vocal skills. The song is "This is the Last Day of Our Acquaintance".

And The Winner Is...Oasis!

Yesterday, Oasis received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, an award similar to the Lifetime Achievement Award at our Grammys. Noel Gallagher has said that the band has turned down accepting this award several times in recent years, but this year they decided to accept it because the time just seemed right with their new Best Of album recently out.

The band played a five-song set to close out the show. Here's a clip of one of the songs they played, "The Meaning of Soul". Liam's hair is a little long for my taste, and his voice has sounded better, but they still deliver a great performance.



Click here to watch the clip on YouTube.

I hear that TNT is broadcasting the 2007 Brit Awards on Monday, March 5. I'll have to set my VCR.

Josie Goes Home

I have posted previously about my cousin's daughter, Josie, who is fighting a difficult battle with a rare disease and various complications. Well, the good news is that she's made enough progress to go home after five months in the hospital. It sounds like it'll be a short stay because she's scheduled for surgery next week, something called a "whipple". However short her stay at home, it's still a small victory in a long battle, and sure to boost family morale. Welcome home, Josie!

Click here to visit Josie's blog.

On The Mend

-- Update --

We're slowly returning to normalcy after that bout with Mr. Nasty Stomach Bug. After about 48 hours of serious illness, I am now in that catch-22 stage, where I get hungry, STARVING, as Dylan puts it, but eating still induces mild nausea. I actually cooked a meal last night, though I'm still living under the mantra of "Bland is best." I thought this kind of thing usually lasted a day or two, but this going-on-five-days business is ridiculous!

Thanks for all your well-wishes out there in cyberspace.

Sick Day

There are many euphemisms for vomiting. My favorite is "talking to Ralph on the big white phone". In our case, though, the phone in one bathroom is yellow. But I digress...


I can't think of a time when all four of us have been puking sick at the same time. Until this week. I managed to make it through four dance classes last night, with frequent trips to the bathroom, but today we all called in sick. We'll see what tomorrow brings...