Musical thoughts

I've always liked Nickelback, ever since I first heard "How You Remind Me" on the radio. I still do, even though it's becoming increasingly cool to hate them. But I never liked them quite as much as when I saw this:

I knew they were Pantera fans, but as you may know Metallica has a firm grip on my heart when it comes to music. This is such a good cover, I honestly can't believe how well they pull it off. Rock on, guys. They catch a lot of flak, but even if they do follow a bit of a formula at times - who doesn't? If you want to talk about several of a band's songs sounding similar, let's talk AC/DC, undisputed rock gods. I won't justify further, I don't need to, but I will finish with them by asking this question: how many other groups do you hear on the radio who a) put Dimebag Darrell licks on one of their songs and b) cover Metallica live?

In depressing music news, I got all excited for nothing. That's right, Van Halen tour 2007 will not be happening. Eddie is in rehab and things are on indefinite hiatus. It's rough being a Van Halen fan, man. And to add to the VH doldrums is the debacle that was their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What should have been awesome for both fans and the band was pretty underwhelming. Eddie and Alex, the actual Van Halens, did not attend. Eddie's excuse was rehab; Alex probably just wasn't going to show up without his brother. David Lee Roth also did not attend. I respect his decision, though; those in charge of the event refused to let him perform. I can't blame him for not going. It's like your family having a birthday party for you, but not allowing you to blow out the candles. So Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, neither of whom is still a member of the band, were the only people from any lineup to show up. Sigh. So instead of seeing Van Halen rock our faces off for a few minutes and celebrate their entrance to the R&R Hall of Fame, we got to see Velvet fucking Revolver cover a couple of songs. I'll close this with David Lee Roth's comments, which pretty much echo how I think most fans feel about it:

"It's just not an option for me to go and watch some other band — who are only performing because they have some new record coming out — do our music. I have nothing against Velvet Revolver — I'm not familiar with their music — but that was my 3 minutes and 22 seconds up there."

It hasn't been a good month for Van Halen. Song of the night is their classic "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love". Keep your fingers crossed that post-rehab, Eddie, David and Alex will be hitting the road for real.

There but for the grace of education...

Well I've just had my first experience grading papers in bulk, and it wasn't pretty. Never in my life (well, not since 6th grade at least) have I so appreciated my English teachers (especially Mrs. Sublette, who taught me how to turn my jumbles of words into persuasive papers). Some of my favorite highlights or lowlights, depending on how you look at them (completely unedited):

"...and [Romulus] granted the women certain rights that their husbands held, such as citizenship and bearing children." And women say men don't know the pain of labor.

"Although many people believe the empire grew overnight..." Hmm, methinks someone misheard the phrase 'Rome wasn't built in a day.'

"Romulus performs the rights of Hercules..." That'd be the right to kick ass.

"The Plebs decided to succeed..." That's the spirit, Plebs! (For my non-classical friends, the Plebs actually decided to secede.)

"All the men became untied..." Pull yourselves together, men! (I know, this one's an easy typo, but it just sounded so funny)

The best quote selection ever: "They got into an argument that led to 'bloodshed' (Livy p. 10)"

From the Mad-Libs version of Roman history (insert adjective here!):
"Brutus then vows to overturn Luscious Tarquinius Superbus..." Tarquin's delicious.
"Spurious Lucretius her father arrived..." What a phony that Lucretius is.

Current events made an unexpected appearance: "It is believed that the ancient holes and depressions on the Palestine hill are the foundations from Romulus' hut."

...as did pop culture: "[The story of Romulus] reminds me of the movie Scarface..."

In the gratuitous quotation marks category: "Rome couldn't 'handle' the violence..."

And finally, probably my personal favorite: "However, their pleas fell onto death ears." Too good to be true!

Oh, and one more, this time from the "There are just so many things wrong with this sentence" category (grammarians, look away!): "Rhea was a priestess and priestess' were exceptional woman born of a noble family and have a vow of virginity and chastity."

Eat your heart out, Richard Lederer.

Also for a chuckle, check out this website which someone actually cited for this paper. Nowhere else have I seen a Geocities-worthy layout, a Jimi Hendrix quote, and an offer to purchase an "Impeach Bush" t-shirt on a single page. As if Wikipedia weren't bad enough! Fortunately for everyone involved, this wasn't a research paper, they just had to use the assigned reading.

While I'm posting links, two more: First,the best headline that I can remember seeing in a good long while. Second, well, this. An apocalypse is coming to cleanse the world of our species, I just know it.

Song of the night is Stevie Ray Vaughan's version of "Superstition" (although the Stevie Wonder original is pretty killer too!). See them rock it together here, which is pretty cool.

Bulls(hit) on Parade

I love a good Rage Against the Machine groove as much as the next guy, but it unnerves me how many people seem to think their lyrics are really meaningful. No they aren't, they're like "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me." DEEP!

Anyway that was just a random thought. In other news, I took the MTEL Latin subject test today, and at the risk of setting myself up for a fall, I think I gave it a good smackdown. We'll see if I have to eat my words in a month or so.

Song of the day is "Bulls on Parade", because it doesn't have to be meaningful to rock. \m/