Rapidfire Songs

I love these sorts of songs - there's so much in the lyrics that you have to really listen or find them written down to understand just what they're trying to convey. Here's a couple of good ongs.

Life Is A Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me) - Reunion

We Didn't Start the Fire - Billy Joel

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Cover and Original: Paradise

This is an interesting song to look at because it's also an evolution of a song here. Over this weekend, I was talking to my Dad about Weird Al, and how he played the song Amish Paradise during the concert that I was part of. This led to a discussion of covers vs. originals, and he mentioned that Coolio wasn't the original artist for this song - it was Stevie Wonder.
Doing a bit of research, I found that this was correct - The original song was called Pastime Paradise, recorded in 1976 on Wonder's album Songs in the Key of Life.
In 1995, Coolio took the song and reworked it as a rap song on his album by the same name, Gangsta's Paradise, which then went on to win a Grammy award, and it holds as the 15th most successful single of all time.
In 1996, singer Weird Al Yankovic took the song and then reworked it per his usual style, creating the fantastic song Amish Paradise. This actually caused some problems for Yankovic, as Coolio had not granted permission for him to use the song. In response, Weird Al has since secured permission from artists directly.
The last song here is a cover of of Coolio's song

Pastime Paradise - Stevie Wonder


Gansta's Paradise - Coolio


Gangsta's Paradise (Coolio) - Off the Beat


Amish Paradise - Weird Al Yankovic

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Weird Al!

Last night (July 15), the New England Garrison was invited to troop in Gilford NH for Weird Al's stop along his national tour. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and I was so excited to be part of the group. I tried to get in on things last time around, but missed the cutoff. This time, I made sure I was on the list. The group included myself, Dave (a fellow VT guy who drove with me), TK, Chris, Derek, Elly, Greg, Jennifer, Adam Joyce, Dion, Carlos, Adam Scott, with Jamie as our wrangler, and Cy, one of our TKs, helping out with an R2-D2 someone had.



Dave and I arrived at the place early, around five, before anyone else. While hanging out and talking, I realized that I forgot my jumpsuit and underarmor, so we had to make a quick run to a local Walmart to find something to wear - I found a pair of sweatpants and a sort of underarmor top that worked fine - not the best, but it worked. We got back and found that we were still the only ones there. People trickled in over the next hour, and there was lots of greetings and chitchat while we waited for the rest of our group. Oddly, one guy didn't show up. I'm not sure what's going on with that. Around 7 or so, we got together, put our gear in the changing area and practiced what we were supposed to do during the performance, then were given tickets and we walked around the concert venue a bit. We got dinner (which was really good), then started getting our gear on. We didn't get to see the first half of the performance, but I did hear Bob, Weasel Stomping Day, and a couple others while we waited for our time.

That came up quickly, and soon, we were in line and marching up to the stage, where he played I'll Sue Ya. Buckets on, and we marched on stage.

The crowd went wild when we went on stage. There was a lot of cheering and screaming, and one of our photographers said that every cell phone in the place went up. It was a very surreal moment. Lights came up and Al started singing, and what we practiced started to kick in, and we were bobbing our heads and moving around for the first part of the song, then started dancing shortly there after. Then it was over. Man, it was such a fun experience.

After we got off stage, they played Yoda and Smells Like Teen Spirit, when we got out of our armor and went up to watch the rest of the show. He played Amish Paradise, Fat, White & Nerdy, before ending with We All Have Cellphones and Albuquerque. We went back stage, hung out for a little while and then got to meet him, and get some things signed. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a group picture with him. He signed my bucket, and I need to remember to get some clear tape over it so it doesn't wash away.

Overall, one of the best troops that I've done thus far. Very memorable, if exhausting - I didn't get home until around 2 am!

Set:

Bob
Polka
Ode to a Superhero?
Weasel Stomping Day
All About the Pentiums

I'll Sue Ya
The Saga Begins (With us!)
Yoda
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Amish Paradise
Fat
White & Nerdy
We All Have Cell Phones
Albuquerque

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Weird Al!

(501st Empire City Garrison, from 2007)

This has me beyond excited. I get to see one of my favorite singers, Weird Al. Not only that, but I'll get to meet him and be on stage with him.

Yoda - Weird Al
White & Nerdy - Weird Al
The Saga Begins (Video) - Weird Al

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Weekend Mix: Nerdcore

Something I came across recently that's really facinating - Nerdcore. Take a bunch of geeks, and turn them into rappers. It's a new genre that's come about essentially with the rise of the internet. Songs have content relating to Star Wars, The Matrix, Futurama, Conventions, computer games, the internet, science, technology and things along those lines. It's an interesting bunch of songs. There's a documentary coming out, called Nerdcore Rising, which charts the rise of this genre. It's opening here in Vermont this weekend.
Particularly good timing for a geek entry, because tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day, where you can go to any comic book store and get a couple free comics (generally a special that Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, etc will release). You might see some costumed characters along the way. I'll be at Quarterstaff Games/Earth Prime Comics in Burlington VT.

Fett's Vett - mc chris
Nrrd Grrrl - mc chris
Nerdcore Hiphop - MC Frontalot
Yellow Lasers - MC Frontalot
It Is Pitch Dark - MC Frontalot
The Big Bizang - MC Hawking
Entropy - MC Hawking
iGeneration - MC Lars
Space Game - MC Lars
White and Nerdy - Weird Al

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