Feist visits Sesame Street

Count this as perhaps one the fun moments of this first summer with Phoebe ...

Kates and I heard a few weeks ago that Feist was going to perform her "1-2-3-4" on the premiere of "Sesame Street" today ...

So we set the DVR and then anxiously watched it with Phoebe during my lunch break ... Phoebe didn't know what the heck was happening, but Kates and I soaked it up ...

Although, the lyric changes threw me a bit ...

In case you missed it, here it is ...

Phoebe's Rock 'n' Roll Playlist

Last week, we gave you Phoebe’s Lullaby playlist. Tonight, we give you Phoebe’s Rock ‘n’ Roll (aka playtime) playlist …

This one didn’t take near as much time and thought as the Lullaby list, and it’s about half as long – though we might continue adding songs as we come across them …

For this playlist, my goal was simply to find a collection of songs that were fun, sing-able and clean. I wanted songs that are classics and songs that are popular today. Songs that have brought lots of smiles to mine and Kates’s faces, and songs I could envision Phoebe smiling with too …

So here it is, Phoebe’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Playlist …

1. 1-2-3-4 (Feist) … Not only was it one of the defining songs of the last year, it’s a great counting song. I didn’t realize how appropriate it was for kids until reading the Mates of State blog a few weeks ago.


2. Come to Me (Koop) … This one had been on the Lullaby list for awhile, but Kates argued -- and won – that it was better suited for this list. It’s a great tune nonetheless. (Hear it here)
   
3. We Are the Sleepyheads (Belle & Sebastian) ... One of the most fun songs I've ever heard in my entire life. Seriously. (Hear it here)
   
4. Fun, Fun, Fun (Beach Boys) … One of my all-time favorites. When it comes on, I wail. It had to be on this list. Period.
   
5. The Middle (Jimmy Eat World) ... It's just a feel-good song.


6. Hound Dog (Elvis Presley) ... You ain't nothin but a hound dog / Cryin all the time. (Classic video here)
   
7. Feeling Alright (Joe Cocker) … One of Kates’s all-time favorites ... I like it too. (Hear it here)


8. Happy Together (The Turtles) ... Imagine me and you, I do / I think about you day and night, it's only right / To think about the girl you love and hold her tight / So happy together.


9. Good Vibrations (Beach Boys) … Another one of my all-time faves. Aptly titled, it doesn’t get a whole lot better than this one. (Vintage video here)


10. Lovely Rita (The Beatles) ... A great, bouncy, singable Beatles tune. (Hear it here)


11. Funny Little Frog (Belle & Sebastian) ... Honey, lovin' you is the greatest thing / I get to be myself and I get to sing / I get to play at being irresponsible / I come home late and love your soul / I never forget you in my prayers / I never have a bad thing to report ... It's a sweet sounding song, with some sweet lyrics, and a sweet video too. (Hear and watch it here).


12. Rockin’ The Suburbs (Ben Folds, Over the Hedge version) ... Great song by the one and only ... But did you really think we'd put the "R" version on poor Phoebe's playlist!?


13. She’s a Woman (Chikezie) ... Chikezie's "American Idol version was way cool.
    
14. Put Your Records On (Corinne Bailey Rae) ... Girl, put your records on, tell me your favorite song / You go ahead, let your hair down / Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams, / Just go ahead, let your hair down. (Hear and watch it here)


15. You Baby (The Turtles) ... A little ray of sunshine, / A little bit of soul / And just a touch of magic, / You've got the greatest thing since rock 'n' roll!


16. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles) ... So fun to sing.
    
17. I’m Looking Through You (The Wallflowers) ... Great cover of the Beatles song. (Hear it here)


18. Sloop John B (Beach Boys) ... Really, I could load this thing with Beatles and Beach Boys songs, but Phoebe needs some variety (Video here)


19. Daddy’s Girl (Peter Cetera) ... The title and lyrics say it all ... Who else remembers it from "Three Men and a Baby" !?
    
20. New Soul (Yael Naim) ... See I'm a young soul in this very strange world / Hoping I could learn a bit bout what is true and fake (Video here)

Sweet music

I’ve been looking forward to writing this post for weeks …

There’s a new Weepies album out.

And it blew my expectations away. As if the husband-wife folk music duo of Steve Tannen and Deb Talan hasn’t made enough beautiful music to fill a lifetime, they’ve gone out and done it again with the dreamy “Hideaway.”

You could say The Weepies have been the soundtrack for us over the last year or so. I fell hard for them the first moment I heard their amazingly soothing harmonies and melodies last year, and I immediately turned Kates on to them. And then I went on a crusade to introduce them to anyone else who was willing to listen.

We’ve been playing them constantly over the last several months, and they helped make our long, cold winter so much more bearable …

And perhaps one of the coolest memories I’ll take away from Phoebe’s birth is the comments we drew with The Weepies playing in our hospital room. It was something Kates told me she wanted when she went into labor, so shortly after we arrived in our hospital room that Friday evening the iPod got plugged in and The Weepies were turned on. We had their music looping for the entire night and into the morning … And we turned the whole birthing staff onto them, too. Every time a new nurse came into our room that night, questions were asked about the music we were playing. And later, when the anesthesiologist arrived to administer Kates’s epidural, the nurse was giving him the whole giddy schpeel about the music, before he could ask about it …

Needless to say, this new album was hugely anticipated in our household this spring. The only other times I’ve looked so forward to an artist releasing new material is with Ben Folds, and that’s pretty huge considering my music interests and how long it takes me sometimes to warm up to a new artist or album …

Thanks to a couple Paste previews, I’d been listening to the title track and “Antarctica” over and over for weeks … Initially, I was a little surprised at “Hideaway,” which is a little more electrically-charged than their previous, more acoustic stuff. But like The Weepies of the previous two albums, the tune is so simple, catchy and singable, I couldn’t get it out of my head. “Antarctica,” too, is constructed of such a sweet -- and surprising -- melody that I started to believe I might be in for a real treat with the new album …

On April 22 it arrived. And I was propelled into bliss …

Indeed, the album is a little more electric and darker than their previous two releases, but it’s hardly a downfall. This album takes on a fuller sound that’s worth taking along …

The first two tracks, the twinkling “Can’t Go Back Now” and the celestial “Orbiting,” along with the title track, are easily my early favorites on the new album. The Weepies’ relatable and sincere lyrics are in “Can’t Go Back” as Tannen sings, “You know there will be days when you’re so tired that you can’t take another step / The night will have no stars and you’ll think you’ve gone as far as you will ever get.“ Then, on “Orbiting,” Talan takes the lead vocals on what might be the sweetest-sounding chorus, though the song is heartache-driven lyrically.

Still, there‘s a lot of good stuff beyond the first three tracks, too. “Not Dead Yet” is an upbeat standout. While the title says it all in “Just Blue” and “How You Survived the War” -- both songs are about loneliness, melancholy days and trying to move on when things aren’t going exactly your way …

“All Good Things,” a song on which The Weepies collaborated with Mandy Moore (a nice alternate version with Mandy singing lead appears on her “Wild Hope” album) also is a pleasant addition to the album.

The album ends appropriately with “All This Beauty,” a feel-good, upbeat gem that includes horns and sings “All this beauty / You might have to close your eyes / And slowly open wide.”

It describes my sentiments on The Weepies perfectly.

* * *

I’ve had quite a few listens now of one my other new favorite albums: Ingrid Michaelson’s “Girls and Boys.” … It took me far too long to get a hold of this one, but I finally did last week. Much like Regina Spektor and A Fine Frenzy, all I needed was to hear Michaelson’s sweet voice sailing lightly over the pianos and acoustic guitars and I was hooked. “The Way I Am” is a song I may never get sick of hearing, and “Breakable” and “The Hat” rank right up there …

* * *

I got the new Counting Crows a couple weeks ago too, thanks to my friend Raechel … Honestly, though, I had a better time hearing the new stuff live. “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings” is good, but I don't think it measures up to the earlier stuff. Like I said, sometimes it takes me awhile up to warm up to a new album … I’m hoping that’s the case here.

* * *

One of my favorite actor / musician blogs to read is the Mates of State "Band on the Diaper Run" about touring with their kids. (Other good blogs: Zach Braff, and Jenna Fischer …)

I don't read them often, but it's fun checking in every once in awhile when I think of it. So I was on a little Mates of State kick the other night and I logged on. Good stuff, as usual … For a good chuckle, check out Kori’s post about their daughter’s love affair with Feist’s “1-2-3-4.” (Every time I think about or hear the song, I have to mention the Letterman performance, which by the way, featured the Mates singing background …So good!) ... Magnolia's multiple personalities is a good one too.

Sunday reading

... The bad news is Kates feet are swelling and she's having trouble finding any comfortable shoes.

... The good news is it's really mild out today and the snow is melting! It's melting!

Here's some of the reads that caught my eyes during the last several days ...

Politics ...
a Hillary Clinton fought the Republican attack machine, and emerged stronger
a In Hunt for a Running Mate, Ohio Governor Could Please All or None ... and old one, but still noteworthy.
a Change Is In the Air, At the Polls
a Obama's Economic Plan Is A Pitch to the Working Class
a The man behind Obama's message
a John McCain's birthright: Fit for the presidency
a MSNBC reporter suspended for 'pimped-out' Clinton

Entertainment ...
a Writers working late again
a Before they were stars: Stories about celebs with Chicago roots
a Leave Britney alone ... I kind of agree.
a 'Saturday Night Live' gets ready to rock with Tina Fey ... I was just thinking the other day, How awesome would it be if SNL brought back Tina Fey to host!?

Music ...
a The Baton's Been Passed Over: The Grammys Pretty Much Ignore Classical Music These Days, and Vice Versa
a The king of pop is back ... Say what you want about his creepy, messed-up personal life. But Michael Jackson's music is darn good, and there will never be another like him ...
a At the Grammys, some gold, some silver
a A night for the ages Amy, Kanye refresh music's roots
a Sheryl Crow finds her way with 'Detours'
a Having fun, and a breakout year besides, with Canada's Feist

Sports ...
a Berman caught with his mike on ... I stopped being a fan of Chris Berman a long time ago, and this didn't surprise me.

Life & other stuff ...
a Love Means ...
a Artists write of love

Grammy night

Is it just me or did the Grammys really sneak up on us this year?

I say it all the time: the Grammys mean to me what the Oscars mean to a lot of other people I know …

But this year I’m about as excited for them as I get for the next snowstorm. (While we were huddled inside away from the 1 degree weather outside, I did an interview this afternoon with a guy in L.A. who was sitting in a park and enjoying 70 degree weather ... Not cool, man. Not cool.)

Plain and simple, I’m really disappointed with the nominees this year … And don’t get me started on what I think about Amy Whinehouse and Rihanna’s music …

Plus, last year’s show was an extraordinary night that I’m not sure will be topped for awhile …

But here we go, my minute-my-minute thoughts on this year’s Grammys …

7:13 p.m. -- I’m not a big Alicia Keys fan, but she’s already got her first Grammy in what should be a good night for her. “No One” was easily the best R&B song, hands down. And that sleek green dress she’s wearing also deserves a nod for the best dressed of the evening …

Carrie Underwood looked good too … Too bad her performance of “Before He Cheats” lost its zest somewhere between the radio and the Grammy’s. Her performance of it tonight fell flat, though the whole percussion thing with the dancers beating the set with tubes was kind of cool …

7:22 p.m. -- Yep. Still can’t stand Rihanna.

7:33 p.m. -- Beatles tribute featuring Cirque de Soleil doing “Day in the Life” and cast members from “Across the Universe" doing “Let It Be.” Very nice.

Oh, and here we go with the only category I’m really looking forward to tonight: Best new artist. And the winner is …

Amy Winehouse.

Bleh. Should’ve been Feist.

And by the way, I really doubt Miley Cyrus will be winning a Grammy next year, as Cyndi Lauper, the 1985 Best New Artist, predicted. But hey, Cyndi still rocks.

7:39 p.m. -- Kanye West looks good in his Michael Jackson get-up. Not liking the song though.

… His performance of “Hey Mama” was moving-sweet-good.

And oh, Fergie, how you’ve grown. Her duet with John Legend was lovely, sweet. A long way from "My Humps."

Here’s best soundtrack album -- wow. What a category !?!? “Across the Universe.” “Hairspray.” “Love” “Once.” And “Dreamgirls.”

I’m rooting for any of the first three, though I’d be happy with either of the five.

“Love” wins. Nice. I’m clapping.

How cool is it that two of the albums in the category -- “Across the Universe” and “Love” -- are re-done Beatles material. And better yet, both albums are full of pretty good stuff and not cheap knock-offs.

8:05 p.m. -- Beyonce was totally lip-syncing in that dance-off intro of Tina Tuner.

Tina’s singing “What’s Love Got To Do With It.” She’s still got it. Says Kates, “Look at how good she looks!”

Ok, I was expecting big things when Beyonce came back out to join Tina for “Proud Mary,” but this slow version isn’t working …

… Ah. Never mind. They just turned up the tempo to do it right …

Still didn’t do it justice though.

8:13 p.m. -- Burt Bacharach is a Grammy Lifetime Award recipient. I can’t think of anyone more deserving … But surely he deserves a more worthy tribute than the brief pause and a swift transition into the next category …

And Amy Winehouse wins for “Rehab” in the best songwriting category. Pitiful … She was up against Carrie Underwood‘s “Before He Cheats,” The Plain White T’s “Hey There Delilah,” Corrine Bailey Rae’s “Like A Star,” and Rihanna’s “Umbrella.” For my money, “Before He Cheats,” “Delilah” and “Like A Star” are far superior songs lyrically.

8:21 p.m. -- Ann Marie Calhoun was the hands-down My Grammy Moment winner in that contest to play with the Foo Fighters.

8:34 p.m. -- We’re about halfway through the show and we’ve reached the Valley of Boredom.

8:41 p.m. --You know Kanye’s the man when he gets the award for Best Rap Album. The get-off-the-stage music starts playing midway through his acceptance speech. He tells the sounds guys to make it stop … and they listen.

8:57 p.m. -- Feist is performing "1-2-3-4." Yes! ... Love the acoustic, down-on-the-corner take on it with the brass. I miss the rousing sing-along rendition of the album version. But this is good. It's different.

9:14 p.m. -- Now Alicia Keys is doing "No One." She and the band seem to have taken it a little more upbeat and freshened it up a little -- I love it! ... Aw, and John Mayer comes on with a guitar solo -- real nice! Kates: "Makes tha song a little better." (She hates this song.)

9:19 p.m. -- Vince Gill just got his award for Best Country Album and accepted it from Ringo Starr. Vince says: "I just got an award from a Beatle." Then he looks off to his left and says, "Have you had that happen yet, Kanye?" That's the line of the night.

9:28 p.m. -- Gosh, I love Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."

9:43 p.m. -- I'm not even going to talk about Amy Whinehouse's performance ... and just as I write this she finishes her first song and starts up "Rehab." It's catchy. Dang.

9:50 p.m. -- Record of the Year. Amy Whinehouse. Of course. Ugh.

10:26 p.m. -- Will.I.am's rap montage of great Grammy songs was brilliant.

10:29 p.m. -- And Herbie Hancock just won for Album of the Year with "River: The Joni Letters" !! Wow!! Upset city ... Good speech, Herbie.

10:37 p.m. -- It's over. Thank you and good night.

Barack, Brian & Feist on SNL!

... So Kates and I just finished watching tonight's SNL ...

Nice.

I'd heard a few weeks ago that tonight's episode was featuring Brian Williams as host and Feist as the musical guest. Considering I'm a media guy who's a big fan of Brian Williams and the NBC News, and Feist has been a fixture in my iPod playing as of late, I was pretty giddy about this episode ...

Williams' best skit, by far, was his first one, playing a New York City firefighter on the "Bronx Beat," a talk show featuring Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph as two Bronx housewives, Betty and Jodi. (Bronx Beat also is one of the few recurring SNL skits I look for each week ... ). For the skit, Williams donned a mustache and played a dashing, but slow fireman giving safety tips, complete with a pretty decent Bronx accent ...

I also really enjoyed the "Riley's Way" sketch featuring Williams as the high school principal of a CW teen soap ("You can go to Hell, you can lose ten pounds, and you're gay," he told the three actors playing the teens. To see and hear those lines spoken straight-faced out of Williams' mouth made it 10 times funnier.) And Kristin Wiig's antics saved the otherwise dull Publishers Clearing House skit ...

Williams' opening monologue also had us laughing out loud, especially when he started it by asking the question all of us had been wondering since it was announced the network news anchor would be hosting SNL: "Now, is this really a good idea?" ... Williams answered the question by admitting he's often seen as a stiff (I've never viewed him that way, but whatever ...) who's always in anchorman mode. And then Williams really did switch into anchorman mode, doing the rest of the monologue in a news format, reading bullet points as arguments that he really could be spontaneous and loose, complete with graphics over his left shoulder. HA-larious!

If you've followed Williams, it's no secret the guy's got a great sense of humor. He was hilarious in his stint on SNL's Weekend Update last season and I think he's made good showings on his late night TV tours, most notably The Daily Show ... Sure, tonight's Saturday Night Live wasn't the best ever -- I blame it on the writing -- but it was entertaining enough. If Williams wanted to prove to America he's not just a rigid news anchor, he's accomplished that ...

As for Feist's performance, she showed up well, too. To no one's surprise, she played 1-2-3-4 for her first number (though it wasn't near as good as the Letterman performance ...). For her second number, she and the band did a pretty good "I Feel It All." (Earlier this week, MSN broadcast a Feist concert. Good stuff. Check it out here.)

Really though, I gotta say my favorite part/skit of tonight's SNL just might have been Barack Obama's surprise appearance at Hillary Clinton's Halloween costume party. Very funny! ...

Good reads ... (updated 11/05)
a Live From New York, It’s Not Quite the News!
a Laughs for Brian Williams Hosting 'SNL'
a Brian Williams, Showing That An Anchor Can Be Light
a Nightly News Meets Saturday Night
a Obama takes the stage on 'Saturday Night Live'
a Obama's shots go on, a surprise for Clinton on 'SNL'
a Brian Williams' post at The Daily Nightly ( ... and his pre-show post)

ALSO: 'SNL': The 15 Best Music Skits

Streaming my pop culture consciousness ...

Don't mind me. Just rambling about some of the other things I've been doing / watching / listening to the last few weeks in between all the pennant races ...

(What do you think I'm doing as a I write this post? Watching the Brewers, of course ... I'd be watching the Cubs too, but that game's on ESPN, which means it gets blocked out in our region. Idiot cable ... By the way, the Cubs and Brewers are all tied up atop the NL Central heading into tonight. The Brewers just went up 2-0 on homer No. 47 from Prince, and last I checked the Cubs were scoreless ... There's still a solid week left, but judging by the last few nights, I'm really liking the Brewers chances right now ... )

... So I was holding out as long as I could, but over the weekend Hotmail made me change over to Windows Live. Me and everyone else I know who uses it agrees: We hate it ... but then again -- we agree on this too -- we've hated it every time Hotmail makes a change, only to wind up getting so attached to it that it's inevitable we'll hate the next change ...

* * *

... With the fall TV season starting up, Kates and I have been pressing ourselves to clean up all the movies that have stacked up on our DVR over the summer and on our entertainment cabinet ... Most of them have been put off for a good reason -- we weren't that interested in seeing them, but we kept hearing good things about them and there comes a time when you feel like you have to see them whether you want to or not ...

And so we watched ...

Pirates of the Caribbean? Even with all the hype surrounding the third installment this summer, never really interested in seeing it ... But it was pretty darn entertaining. Funny. And I've enjoyed the last few Johnny Depp movies I've seen so much that it's getting to a point where I'll watch just about anything he's appearing in ...

Spiderman 2? Again, with all the hype surrounding a third installment this summer, I couldn't care less about this movie -- because I thought the first one was horrible (and I saw it in the theater ... ) ... Turned out, I liked Spiderman 2 enough to actually want to see Spiderman 3. I still thought the barage of computer graphics were so fake-looking and poor I laughed, but the action (and watching Kirstin Dunst) kept me interested ...

The Cat in the Hat. Ok, so I've never heard good things about this movie. But c'mon, it's got Mike Myers, Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin, and it's based on a Dr. Seuss classic. How bad can it be right!? ... Started watching it, and was happy to see Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston and Sean Hayes too. Thought it wasn't too bad, but then again, it was being held up by Dakota, as usual, stealing the opening scenes as the primped and proper Sally, poking around on her palm pilot and making her to-do list ... Then Myers broke in as the cat, and the movie just started going from bad to worse. Kates and I fell asleep and woke up after the movie was long over. And I don't care to go back and watch what we missed.

And last night, I stayed up after the baseball games to watch Dodgeball. Yeah ... I'm going to liken this one to my experience watching Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle: A movie that starts out so silly and juvenile you want to turn it off ... but you can't keep from getting attached to the characters, and by the last 30 minutes you're rooting for them and you're glad you stayed on the ride ...


* * *

... I've gotten hooked on watching FX's "It's Always Sunny in Phladelphia." I'd never heard of the show until I ran across a preview for the premiere a couple weeks ago. So I tuned in, and enjoyed it ... In the premiere you had a guy infiltrating a group of enviro-hippies and then sleeping with their leader's girlfriend out of revenge. Two guys (one of them is Danny DeVito's character) become so addicted to digging through trash bins they turn into bums and don't realize it. And a couple ends up painting a baby (which they found in a Dumpster and named D.B. for Dumpster Baby) brown so he might appear Latino and have better odds of appearing in a commercial ... It's good old-fashioned silliness -- almost like the kind you'd find at Second City, or any other improv comedy club. It's funny stuff.

* * *

... I recently got a hold of Kelly Clarkson's new album. Right now, I can hardly stand to listen to it; it's too dark ... But I'm open to the possibility it could grow on me ...

... In the meantime, I've really been getting into The New Pornographers, Feist and Mates of State (Lawrence, Kan., baby!) -- who, by the way, all appeared together in a smashing performance on Letterman a couple weeks ago ... I've been clicking on "Fraud in the '80s" almost every time I've turned on my iPod for the last month ... I'm mesmerized by Kori Gardner's organ playing and the duo's punchy pop harmonies ... Check out the video ...

Staying up late

... So I was all excited to watch The Daily Show last night to see how Jon Stewart was going to lampoon Alberto Gonzalez ... The embattled Attorney General was only one of the Show's most interesting and funniest storylines this summer ("I do not recall ...") ...

And last night's episode was a rerun! Grrrrrrrrr.

You owe us Stewart.

Good Gonzalez-related reads ...
a Lonely at The Top: For the President, Confidants Are Lacking
a Analysis: Gonzales a Lesson in Cronyism

But hey, how about the Feist performance on Letterman last night. Very cool!

I was so impressed I downloaded the album this morning ... and I'm loving it.

Check it out ... (The studio music video is even cooler ...)