Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a great, long weekend and was able to enjoy some time with or………. depending on your preference…....without their families. We had a great holiday with all our family and are always glad to spend time with those that we don't see very often.

Anyway..... On to my random topic for the day

I’ve noticed that my musical tastes tend to change constantly. Not sure if it’s thanks to ADD or an open mind, but my favorite musician seems to change every couple weeks. My recent trend towards Bluesy Rock has given me a chance to discover a ton of less famous sing/songwriters. Below is a list of musicians and their websites. Some are more famous than others, but check them out if you have time, they are worth a listen.

Marc Broussard – I have been listening to Marc for about 2 years now and his music is what got me into this genre. He has very rich vocals and a southern blues feel to his songs.
http://www.islandrecords.com/marcbroussard/site/home.las

Jonny Lang – Obviously, not an unknown musician, his raspy voice mixes well with his bluesy sound. JL has a similar sound to Marc Broussard, but with a more definite gospel vibe to his songs.
http://www.jonnylang.com/

Will Hoge – Sounds almost like younger, popier Lyle Lovitt, see if you can hear the similarities in their voices…especially in songs like Hey Tonight.
http://www.willhoge.com/

Josh Kelley – Folky pop from a guy with a very distinct voice. His song "Amazing" has just entered the billboard top 20 charts, so you've probably heard it before.
http://www.joshkelley.com/new/

Christopher Jak – Definitely less blues and more folk here, he has a good voice and catchy songs. What’s sweet about him is that I had been listening to him for awhile when I saw an article about him in Rolling Stone, in which they said he lives in Fort Collins, my hometown.
http://www.christopherjak.com/index_flash.html

Matt Wertz – The most pop of all of these groups, his songs are simple but, true to a pop formula, they are catchy and good to listen too. If you can admit that you occasionally enjoy a good pop album, this is good one as MW infuses some blues into his songs.
http://www.mattwertz.com/

Mike Doughty – He’s awesome. Great in concert, great albums, great BLOG on his website. MD used to be the lead singer of Soul Coughing. Definitely check him out, if you ever listen to KBCO, you’ll probably recognize the song “Looking at the world from the bottom of a well.”
http://mikedoughty.com/

John Legend- Fairly different from all the other singers here, he has more of a Bluesy R&B feel. He was originally “discovered” by Lauren Hill and has been under the mentorship on Kanye West the last couple years. So take a combo of those 2 artists and you have John Legend. His lyrics are heartfelt and his delivery is genuine. Most of the songs feature Legend playing piano, which adds a level of intimacy that many R&B albums lack. He was nominated for 8 Grammys this year, including best new artist.
http://johnlegend.com/



Can you tell that I don't have a lot to do at work today? Enjoy the musicians! Let me know what you think.

Great Weekend

NY was awesome this weekend, it was freaking cold, but a lot of fun. Some of the highlights of the trip:

-A 4 Mile Race in Central Park. That is a great place to run a race, but it was so cold, I finally thawed out that night. Barb and I both ran good runs and were happy to get inside to warm up after the race.

-A walk across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan, although very chilling, the views were incredible. We then walked around and had lunch in Brooklyn Heights. Brooklyn Heights is the area on the Harlem river that faces Manhattan. The neighborhood looks like the setting for the Cosby Show. I was waiting for Rudy to walk out the front door. It mainly consists of a whole bunch of restored brownstones………….. It's a pretty sweet area.

-Seeing Avenue Q. This was so hilarious, and inappropriate. Nothing better than a musical with drunk, muppet sex. No need to say anything else I think.

-The Food. We had some great food in NY. If you’re there in the near future, I highly suggest The Stanton Social Club in the Lower East Side. It’s kind of like funky tapes. For example we had Crab Cake Corndogs and Kobe Beef Sliders. Mmmmmm, my mouth is cheering, but my arteries are crying.

-Chinatown. You can buy a fake of anything you want there cheap. Not that Barb’s two new Louis Vuitton handbags aren’t real J