Good day, sunshine

...It's Friday. Nothing better than driving into work to the B-side medley of 'Abbey Road' on The Drive.

... and then interviewing O.A.R.'s Richard On. The reason: On and his bandmates are going to be in town for a show next week. ... The interview went well, I thought. On's about as professional, and down-to-earth and nice a guy as they come. That, and it turns out he's part of a pretty decent band I should've started paying attention to a long time ago ...

...not that I wasn't 'paying attention.' I just didn't care for them much. I first heard of OAR a few years ago when a guy I was in a wedding party with talked about them almost non-stop (it seemed) for the entire weekend. ... course he was from Ohio. The land that made O.A.R. kings of the grassroots, indie genre.

... even when my editor told me a few weeks ago O.A.R. was coming to town and I my get the interview, I shrugged it off ... Lo and behold, listening to their recent stuff and preparing for the interview over the last couple days, they grew on me in a way I never anticipated ...

... The New York Times, and On sort of agreed, hit the nail on the head a few months ago when they called O.AR. 'Matchbox Twenty plus Maroon 5 plus UB40.' ... Add a little 311 in there too and O.A.R.'s catchy, rock raggae sound and tight jams is like nothing out there currently. Seriously how many bands draw comparisons to other bands spaced as far apart as Dave Matthews Band and UB40!?

... Their lastest album, 'Stories of a Stranger' is full of feel-good upbeat jams, mixed with some mellow beats too -- and plenty of singable melodies. ... and like that I'm hooked. ... Although they really had me the moment I learned Toby Lightman did back up vocals on a couple of the tracks, including the fourth one, 'The Stranger,' which is arguable the most beautiful song on the album.

Yeah.

... And to cap off my afternoon? I caught up on more of 'Love Monkey' during my lunch ... Again, thank you VH1!

Good day.

Doh!

So I had Barry Bonds on my mind, and I'm sitting down to write quick post about it ... and then I spot the headline that Bonds hit No. 711 early today ...

ugh.

And I thought it was bad enough that last night he hit No. 710. ... This from Sports Illustrated's 'Morning Call' ...

Rare is the morning that Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and Brett Favre share the front page of the sports section, but the Three B's made some noise last night. First, ESPN.com reported that the 36-year-old Favre has told Packers officials that he will return for the 2006 NFL season, presumably ending the "What will Brett do?" talk that has enveloped Green Bay over the winter. By the end of the night the sports spotlight had moved to San Francisco, where Bonds hit his 710th career home run, knocking a 1-1 pitch from Mets' righthander Steve Trachsel (who as a Cub gave up homer number 62 to Mark McGwire in 1998) into the leftfield seats. The solo shot in the second inning was the only run the Giants could muster in a 4-1 loss. It was Bonds's first homer in San Francisco since Sept. 18, 2005, but the night ended on a sour note for the Giants leftfielder: Closer Billy Wagner induced Bonds to fly out to center for the final out. Bonds now trails Ruth by four home runs for second on the alltime list. Career leader Hank Aaron is 45 away. The Giants are home for another six games before heading to Milwaukee (otherwise known as commissioner Bud Selig's hometown, and a couple hours from Green Bay) for a two-game series. Somehow we get the feeling that's when Barry will pass the Babe

... God, for the love of baseball, I hope he doesn't break it ... at least Hank Aaron's record is quite a bit more out of reach.

Besides his recent homerun barrage, I'm riled up about Bonds again mostly because I finally fired up the DVR today and started watching the ESPN series 'Bonds on Bonds' (... I had yet to watch an episode until today, but last night when the DVR warned me it had no more disk space, I had to make some quick choices and delete off the last three Commander-in-Chief episodes I had to watch -- no matter, the series seems to stink more each week, and I was only watching it out of habit -- and a few Saturday Night Live episodes I'd been saving for Kates. Alas, 'Bonds on Bonds' and Love Monkey -- thank you VH1! -- among others survived the cuts ...).

... While guys like Peter Gammons and Mike Schmidt raised some interesting points about Bonds alleged steroid use during the documentary -- when he started taking them there were no rules, no tests and yada, yada, yada -- the rest of the clips and Bonds sit-downs left me feeling little sympathy for him and more as though it's all one big act for him. He speaks repeatedly about his lack of care for others and it comes through in shining colors ... That and the fact his father pushed him so hard he developed an attitude of stopping at nothing to beat anyone who challenges him ... even if it means 'killing' his kids ...

Lovely.

RIP my 'Love Monkey'

NBC gave 'Ed' an untimely death ...

... now it seems as though CBS has brutally murdered 'Love Monkey' after just three episodes. THREE episodes.

Ugh.

...and they're replacing it with what else!? The horribly overrated, unrealistic, blood and gore of CSI.

Double ugh.

I'm disgusted. And speechless.

From the Chicago Tribune: See no `Monkey': Show put on hiatus

Music’s big night

Less than 24 hours to go. Yes, folks, these are my Oscars, if you will. Forget movies, forget the Foreign Press, forget all the talk about who’s dress is hot and who’s not. In my mind, this is the only awards show worth watching and the night I wait for each February.

So without further ado, here’s the predictions from the AP music writers ...

And then mine …

Record of the year ...
Horns: Moody’s probably right but you can’t deny the crazy amount of time ‘Golddigger’ spent on the charts and it’s mongo catchiness. Plus, Kanye has been a critical darling since before last year’s Grammy’s and I can’t foresee voters rewarding the cartoony (not to mention the headachy) Gorillaz.

Album of the year …
Horns: I gotta lean with Bauder on this one. I don’t care how many octaves Mariah can sing, I’m surprised the album has sold as well as it has. About Stefani and Kanye … yeah. And McCartney’s album was good, but overrated. …and I haven’t the heard the U2 album, sooooooo …

Song of the year …
Horns: Nekesha, you couldn’t have said it better. … I can’t recall Springsteen’s song and, not being a big Springsteen fan, I’m not about to go download it on iTunes. All I ask, Grammy voters, pleeeease don’t give it to John Legend. ‘Ordinary People’ is the most overrated song of the year, and I can’t understand why people are still talking about it.

New artist …
Horns: How can you possibly predict John Legend will be around in 10 years? Keane is alright, but Fallout Boy has a lot more potential.

Female pop vocal performance ...
Horns: Hands down. Kelly Clarkson should walk away with this one for ‘Since U Been Gone.’ Once it’s in your head, it refuses to let go. Her performance of it is powerful. And yes, it should have been up for record of the year. … the whole album is pretty good too (see album of the year).

Male pop vocal performance ...
I’ve only heard ‘Fine Line’ and ‘Lonely No More.’ I’m a huge Rob Thomas fan and he’s one of the greatest musical minds of his era, but I think ‘Fine Line’ is a better song.

Album of the year ...
This is a tough one because I adore Fiona’s ‘Extraordinary Machine’ and Sheryl Crow’s ‘Wildflower’ (who you calling dull, Bauder!?) The other contestants are good, but ‘Machine’ is by far the more creative and imaginative album. And that’s why it’s been playing in my office stereo for the last two weeks.

Rock album ...
I'd love to see Coldplay in a landslide … but U2’s legend, unfortunately, may loom to large.

R&B album ...
Don’t know, don’t really care.

Rap album ...
Eminem and Kanye’s stuff has been good. I’ll go with Kanye.

Country album ...
Another don’t know, don’t care. But I will say Faith Hill’s ‘Fireflies’ is awful compared to her more memorable work.

Alternative music album ...
Blah, blah, blah. (I’d like to see it go to Death Cab For Cutie).

And while we’re on the subject …

…Another cool episode of ‘Love Monkey’ tonight. I gotta find some of that Wayne kid’s music (Although I know his real name’s not Wayne …) It’s got a sweet beat.

…Tonight’s 'Scrubs' episodes also had a catchy soundtrack … not to mention they were HA-larious and they featured the adorable and talented Mandy Moore -- aka Zach Braff's significant other.

… And finally, an interesting revelation. But does anyone think the music execs care really care what the consumers think? Shaaa right. ...At least, the return to singles is kind of refreshing.

Love the 'Monkey'!

Just finished watching my first-ever episode of 'Love Monkey' ...

(cue angel voices)

Nice. ...I'm still kicking myself for forgetting to watch last week's premiere after catching a lot of the pre-premiere buzz and wanting so badly to check the show out. C'mon, it's Tom Cavanaugh playing a character not so distant from his beloved 'Ed' -- but this one's got music, baby!

Now, after tonight's episode, I'm hooked! ...Cavanaugh's character was everything I had imagined and wanted. Judy Greer is as cute as ever. And it's nice to have another image of Jason Priestly aside from '90210' (yuck!, blah!, Ugh!). Plus the show promises to bring in some talented, rising artists ...and some very cool cameos. I mean tonight Ben Folds walked on to the show. Ben Folds!! BEN FREAKIN' FOLDS!!!!! ... After Ben's scene was over, Kates asked if I knew he was going to be featured. Apparently, as I told her no, she didn't see the stain from where I peed my pants out of excitement of seeing Ben on the show ...

...Oh yeah, and Leann Rimes was on too. And the amazing Aimee Mann will be on next week's episode!

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

... and then there's this from Newsday's Glenn Gamboa about John Mayer sound-alike 'Wayne' ...

Yes, "Love Monkey" fans - you know who you are - that singer-songwriter on the premiere episode of the CBS show about a music-biz exec was too good to be unsigned in real life. Though he was called Wayne in the show, in real life the precocious teen is Teddy Geiger, a 17-year-old singer from upstate New York. Unlike what happened on "Love Monkey," Geiger decided to go with Sony Music instead of an indie label. Geiger's debut, "Underage Thinking," is set for a March 21 release, but the sweet, John Mayerish single "For You I Will (Confidence)" - the song he was performing in the bar when Mr. Love Monkey ("Ed's" TomCavanagh) discovered him - is out now.

For those of you who can't wait for the album, his independently released EP "Step Ladder," which also includes the second song he did, "Love Is a Marathon," is floating around for sale on the Internet. With venerable KCRW music director Nic Harcourt working as a producer to select and line up hot music talent for "Love Monkey," Geiger will likely be only the first in a long line of new stars minted on the show - unless, of course, the show gets canned because people get tired of watching co-star Jason Priestley at baby showers.

C'mon folks, now, I know the future of the 'Monkey' isn't bright, but let's savor it and love it while we have it ...

Meanwhile ...
I can't say I'm keeping up with Commander-in-Chief as well as I did during the first half of the season either. The last two episodes are sitting on our DVR and I doubt they're going away soon. Sure the set is nice, but the initial hook of the show is becoming dull and the fairytale storylines are starting to wear a little too well ...