Money Magazine...The Bottom Line

While searching for a neat end-of-year topic that would serve as a springboard into 2010, I came across the Jan/Feb issue of Money Magazine, and it's end-page "Bottom Line" article by Pat Regnier titled "The Internet Ruined My Life." It's a quick three minute read, that will give you some huge information on reclaiming your life that is so dominated by technology.

I had hoped to post a link to the article, however it is not even up on their website yet (a good reason to subscribe to any magazine...you often get info days before it is posted on the web, or sometimes is never posted at all.) So I will just give you a portion of his opening paragraph:

"Recently the number of options for wasting time on my computer reached a critical mass of craziness. E-mail. Blogs. Social networks. Podcasts. E-books. When work got stressful, it was all too easy to click over to Facebook. I found myself blowing deadlines and growing irritable and jumpy."

If that sounds like you (and I'm sure it does), I urge you to pick up the Jan/Feb issue of Money Magazine, and read the article. It will give you the drive to clean up your techno-life in 2010.
If you can't find it, or don't wanna fork out the bucks to buy it (shame on the material hijacker) keep checking back, and I'll link you to this outstanding article when it's possible.

Did you download one of the top Christmas songs?

Check out the list according to itunes here.

I recently had a listener ask me for a list of non-traditional Christmas albums, kind of on the cool, sexy, almost offbeat side of the holidays. The first two I would recommend are CHRISTMAS COCKTAILS Vol 1 and 2, part of the Ultra Lounge series from Capitol Records. After that check out these albums:

Christmas With The Rat Pack (Capitol)

Brian Setzer Orchestra Boogie Woogie Christmas (Surfdog)

Lorrie Morgan Merry Christmas Form London (BMG)

Tony Bennett A Swingin' Christmas (Columbia)

Frank Sinatra The Christmas Collection (Capitol)

Tony Bennett The Christmas Album "Snowfall" (Capitol)

Got any other suggestions? Send a comment!

Christmas With The Starz Bunnies

Check out the Starz Bunnies versions of A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, and even Twilight here. Warning...you will instantly get hooked and waste a good hour surfing this page!

I spent a few minutes this morning ruminating on the recent list of Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductees. With every year that certain acts get passed over, and others get admitted, I lose more faith in the process. The Rock and Roll Museum is awesome. The Hall Of Fame...truly incomplete.

Inducting a band because they are iconic for a genre or era, vs what they mean to people, vs number of hits, vs their musicianship, is always going to be a tough call. But Jimmy Cliff and The Stooges before KISS or Alice Cooper? C'mon. Check out the roster of Hall Of Fame inductees, and you'll see at least a handful of artists that KISS and Alice should have been in long before. Also check out this piece for some slightly slanted background on this years nominees.

I'm now going to put on DOUBLE PLATINUM and crank it loud so they can hear it in Cleveland!

Smallest Apartment in NYC

Would you pay $150,000 to live with your spouse in something the size of a jail cell?

Check out this NY Post article on New York City's smallest apartment.

Christmas Portrait...The Real Story

While doing song research for the morning show, I stumbled up Richard Carpenter's official web page regarding album production. Check out his thoughts on Christmas Portrait, one of the great holiday albums of all time. He feels it should have been Karen's album, with him not getting an artist credit, and explains why with some brutal honesty. Check out the musician credits at the bottom of the page. Niagara Falls' Tommy Tedesco is one of the guitarists, and Elvis' long time drummer Ronnie Tutt also plays. It's a pretty cool read.