Happy New Year’s Eve!

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Have Your Cake…

There’s this house on my route with the decoration seen below in the front yard. At first, I thought it was ridiculous. Then after I saw it some more, I kinda liked it. Now, I don’t know what to think.

Nah, it’s still ridiculous.

Uh, Merry Christmas!

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You Better Watch Out

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Longest Day of My Life

The following takes place between 3:00 A.M. and 4:00 A.M.

Events occur in real time.

We’re into our fifth consecutive hour of 24. This is season 3 we’re watching, around episode 13 or so. Season 1 was great, I say, and season 2 was quite good. This season isn’t bad, it just seems like they’re trying too hard in some of these episodes. Still, here we are, hour five.

Sigh.

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Yikes.

Oh my.

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JPT’s Methods for Better Living: Rules of the Road

Rule #43: Don’t make change at a toll booth.

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Yep.

Surely someone else can appreciate this.

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Jingle Jam 2007

So last night was 104.1 KRBE’s annual Christmas concert, “Jingle Jam,” their cruel and unusual expression of joy or happiness or something.

I want to inform you that I did not pay for my two tickets – I won them playing “The Wide World of Trivia” on 104.1 some morning a few weeks ago as I was driving to work. I beat a guy named Justin for the chance to spend an evening sitting through what some would consider music.

Anyway, the concert wasn’t bad. I’m glad I won the tickets and I’m glad I went and I’m glad I didn’t pay for the tickets. I can’t say it was my ideal concert experience but that’s beside the point. I and 10,000 other screaming/dancing nuts showed up to be entertained. There are pictures to prove this:

Sean Kingston opened up the night. If they planned the evening lineup based on worst performer leading up to the best, Sean fit perfectly as the opener. I can’t express how bad he was. I don’t mind the singles I’ve heard on the radio but his performance was nothing more than bad karaoke. Really. People (thousands of screaming teenage girls) didn’t seem to mind, though. Here’s a picture of Sean “singing” amongst the audience and everyone eating it up:

Lifehouse played next and they were surprisingly good, and pretty un-bad. My problem with Lifehouse (and this has always been the case) is that they’re dull. They play well, Jason Wade sings well, but I’ve always found most of their songs kinda boring. I think they survive from single to single but no album of theirs has really been groundbreaking. Or interesting.

Then there was Jordin Sparks. Without a doubt she was the best performer the entire night. That girl can sing. She even looked like she was truly enjoying herself which adds to the fun.

Her band was pretty fantastic, too. Sadly, I think her songs were boring too. I don’t think she wrote them, but I don’t think they were all that catchy, save for “Tattoo,” which was the only song she was slightly out of tune on. Oh well.

Next: Fall Out Boy. The thing with them is that sometimes I want not to like them. But then I do. And then I find reasons to hate them. Then I hear more of them and like ’em again. It’s a vicious cycle. I think I feel the same way about Justin Timberlake but I tend to like him less for longer.

Pete Wentz, the bassist, may be the one making most of the news for the band but Patrick Stump, the lead vocalist, is seriously talented. That guy is making the band. He gets little credit but he composes most of the music, plays great guitar, and sounds fantastic live. Bravo.

Somehow, Avril Lavigne was the main, headlining act. I don’t know why, though the 8,000 screaming teenage girls who bought tickets may have been a factor somewhere.

I don’t get Avril Lavigne. Or more accurately, I don’t get her success. Her flavor of insipid pop has evolved very little in years yet she still manages to sell 30 million records. I’ll admit, I do like some of her songs. But I can’t say they’re great songs or very thoughtful. I just tend to like them. It’s the cotton candy I occasionally eat and enjoy while knowing I’m eating nothing at all.

What I didn’t get was the choreography involved in Avril’s set. Choreography. That’s not really punk. That’s not whatever Avril is. Or is pretending to be. Or maybe it is. In any case we left two songs into her set. Thanks for everything, 104!

After all of the above, I think it’s necessary to cleanse the palate with something a little more pleasant, something with more substance. And there’s only Patty Griffin for that.

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