Steve Martin

Steve Martin is one of my favorite entertainers of all time.  He's one of the few childhood favorites of mine that hasn't gotten cancelled (please nobody send me anything if he has), he made The Jerk which is a top 5 comedy of all time and I recently started Murders in the Building which is a delightful show.  If you haven't watched it, picture a cross between a random PBS show with Martin Short being hilarious and throw in Selena Gomez being Selena Gomez and you got a 4.5/5 show.  

Anywhosers, back to Steve Martin.  I only named this blog "Steve Martin" because I had some fun thoughts on Parenthood...GET IT!?  CUZ HE WAS IN THAT MOVIE!?  So below will be some interesting things I've gathered on being a parent...well maybe a few more things since my last parenthood blog.

ALSO...my book is complete, I'm about to publish it.  I haven't yet because it feels like it's a time consuming process and I'm waiting on my cousin/brother to write my foreword who just had his first kid.  AND with a new job/being a parent and husband/football season/holidays/staring at a wall out of exhaustion, I can barely find time to write this.  That being said, thoughts on parenthood and getting older!

- I have a favorite kids song.  We're lucky because growing up all the kids songs were garbage, minus a few, specifically this one:

One of my best friends recently subjected to me to Danny Go and let me tell ya, that shit SLAPS!  Some quality there.  

- Speaking of these shows, the impatience of my kids is outstanding if a show is buffering or they can't access it.  Now I'm the old man who yells at a cloud when I explain back in MY DAY we only had 36 channels and had to buy or rent VHS or DVD's....even worse we had to wait for a show to air.  We truly lived in prehistoric times having to wait for Doug and Rugrats like we were cavemen.  

- The only thing we had it better than the kids now was when it comes to music.  I've had this conversation with a few people of "Are we old now or does the music actually suck?" and I'm of the belief it's both.  There's very few songs coming out now that are original or good.  If it's Olivia Rodrigo she's taking whatever song or melody was big back then (still good though!) and making hits or Elton John discovered he can just remake his older songs with someone and that gets radio play.  Also Dua Lipa is a robot, that is my next blog, 99 reasons why Dua Lipa is not a real human being.  

- Also, one of the most interesting observations about growing older, our parents didn't have social media.  So I'm guessing a lot of you boomers reading this got to stay in and not really be jealous of anyone going out because you weren't seeing it.  I'm in the interesting "I'm super jealous you get to go out and drink while I"m home with kids but at the same time it's 9 PM and I'm wearing sweatpants eating ice cream and I'm perfectly fine watching Unsolved Mysteries" portion of my life.  

I'd like to meet somewhere in the middle now that my kids are getting older.  I want to go out and RAGE or throw a house party and RAGE while listening to RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, but I want to be done by 9:30 or 10:00 PM.  I'm not 35 anymore!  So those reading this, expect an invite of some sort in the near future to my Old Person Beer Pong Tournament, where it starts at 3 PM and ends by 9:00 PM...MAYBE 9:30 PM.  

I elaborated on the following above, but I'm going to revisit this, there is just not enough time in the day either, especially as a parent.  Typical day in one paragraph: woke up by my kid (it's fine, he's awesome and it's now at 6:30 AM!!!  Make breakfast, get them ready, go to school.  Go to work, forget you didn't eat breakfast.  Work.  Pick up kids make them dinner.  They go to bed.  You and your significant other, and I know this is EVERYONE, turn on a show and take your phones out in pure exhaustion.  Sleep.  Repeat.

What I would like to figure out is how to include a work out.  Binge watching a few shows or movies I've had on my list.  I would LOVE to play some video games that I've wanted to beat for a while (I've been halfway through Link to the Past for a good 6 years now....some day), listen to my records, finish some books perhaps?  I had a goal all weekend to play a WWE game and make all my friends in to characters, I haven't touched it...too tired by 10 PM.  I feel a sick day coming upon me cough cough.  (I'm just kidding work!)

- Cholesterol!?  Watching what I have to eat?  What the shit is this?  I just turned 40 which means if I even sniff cheese I'm going to be farting for a month straight.  Eating right, while good for you, is seemingly incredibly hard and boring.  The other thing I struggle with foodwise, when my kids don't finish something I grew up with the mindset that I gotta finish that.  So if we go out and eat and they don't finish that delicious chicken nug or that cheesy, fart inducing pizza I must finish ASAP.  

Parenthood is incredibly rewarding.  Do not get me wrong (kids if you're reading this in the future you're great!).  Just know when my kids get older and they can go and do more things independently, we're gonna have a role reversal and they are going to come home to me and Heather gaming at 1 AM, drinking some Natty Lights while I listen to my 2 Pac vinyl's.  Also I should watch the movie Parenthood, I've never seen it.  Time to add that to my "Movies Kleeman Surprisingly Hasn't Seen" list.  

Hey!  Thanks for reading, it's been a minute.  Next up, HOPEFULLY THE BOOK.  Please buy it, it's really good, I swear.  

Til next time,

Jeff

PS Movies I recently finished I somehow hadn't seen are: Roadhouse, My Cousin Vinny, White Men Can't Jump, Ghost, Point Break...all decent, none I will ever watch again. 

Movies on my list still: Death Becomes Her, Philadelphia, Cliffhanger, Police Academy (Kim Cattrall, Jeff's first crush!), Land of the Lost.  There's more, but if you just read this blog, it's gonna take a while!

Parenting 101...Questions

When I came up with the idea for this blog, the name Parenting 101...Questions popped in my head and I loved it.  But then I started to wonder, "Are there 101 questions I have about parenting?".  No, not really.  When I sat down pen to paper (fingers to keyboard, you know what I mean) I compiled a list, could I get to 28?  45?  69!?  (Hahaha, see what I did there?).  

No, I couldn't get there, but I do have a few questions that are on my mind, let's begin with...

WHY IS THERE ALWAYS AN EVENT INVOLVING ASKING FOR MONEY!?

Okay, I know why, because the education system is broke and they need money.  But holy...let's say cow.  My son is in preschool, my daughter just started kindergarten.  Fundraiser central.  Want to come to the fair and get food?  Hell yeah I do, but you gotta buy the raffle tickets and the food and whatever else comes up.

Want to go to an event at a preschool and get free food but pay money to watch Sing which you've seen 38 times?  Hell yeah I do!  Sing and Sing 2 have the best replay value for a movie since Moana, BUT now it's starting to add up.  

Coming up we have a food fundraiser (which is good, people should eat) and a running fundraiser (also good, people should run) and don't even get me started on political campaigns and kids coming to my door asking me to buy food.  OF COURSE I'LL BUY YOUR FOOD!  I'm the skinniest fat kid ever, give me higher cholesterol. 

Before I know it, I'm going to be having a fundraiser called "The Fundraiser to Fund the Raisers".  I will play some records, I will rap the Humpty Dance with or without Alex and Dustin beat boxing and set up a beer pong tourney to...wait...okay the records and beer pong tourney sounds like a good idea.  I better bring this up to the HOA WHICH I ALSO PAY MONEY FOR!

Back to music.  When dropping off your kids, what do you listen to?  Do you have it on talk radio or a podcast? Maybe an annoying morning show?  Me?  I'm listening to my mixes.  It can be whatever any time of day, but the real concern is I better have my window rolled up because, my bad, Ice Cube was asking, very politely as a matter of fact, you can do it, put your ass in to it.  

First off Mr. Cube, for me no, not this morning.  But it is funny getting to my 40's and our oldies are Cube, 2Pac, Dre, Korn, Metallica...I might have to stick to sports radio, but I can't handle sports after a 49'ers loss because I'm apparently a fucking child with sports.

Speaking of children!  How come when they find a toy they both haven't seen since pre-covid (somehow 40 years ago) they have to argue over it.  There was a stuffy of a dog that honestly was on the chopping block (neutering block I guess?) for toys, they both spotted it and boom, fireworks.  Anger.  Tears.  Two seconds of that random quiet when you think they fixed it themselves and then, oh wait, no wait, they were kidding.  

I grew up an only child, so all of this is new to me.  I had my cousin Brad, my cousin/brother (crother?  brousin?  It's brousin isn't it?) which we had arguments, we still do, but like, it's funny.  Then we're back to normal, my kids eventually get there, but the arguments over, and I can't emphasize this enough, the stupidest shit, will remain at least until college time.

*kids if you find this blog in 2042, I love you both, I hope you two are just crushing it and climate change hasn't quite taken effect and not to get too political, but I hope to god I stop hearing about one piece of shit ex-president daily by at least 2025...but somehow I doubt it.  Oh, and give dad and mom a call!  - Jeff in 2042

Finally, the terrible 2's aren't a thing.  That's some stupid phrase Dr. Spock or whoever else came up with in the olden times for those god awful parenting books that they made bank on.  The only Dr. Spock anyone should listen to told me to live long and prosper, which again if these kids keep selling me food my cholesterol will not agree with that phrase.  

The 3's are the crazy age...at least til puberty hits I'm guessing.  Our daughter had her craziness at 3 and currently it's our sons turn.  It's the age they can have a conversation with you and say "I love you" one minute and the next say "I'm going to eat your face!", which has happened!  He also discovered how funny the words Poopy and Butt are next to each other which clearly he's a comic genius, poopybutt, I'm laughing just typing it.

Unfortunately you can't say those words in unison or you will get talked to every...single...day...you pick him up.  At least he's not saying god awful things like the f word and How 'Bout them Cowboys.  Now we just have to conquer poopy butt and him crying uncontrollably when we leave a room for "insert 3 year old gymnastics/swimming/anything else class" and we will be good to go!

Well I for one am really glad I didn't attempt to do 101 questions, I kept some of the gold though which I'll share below because they were legit questions that I need to know

- What happened to Josh Hartnett and the guy from Friday Night Lights?  Weren't they supposed to be movie stars!?

- Is new music good?  IS IT!?  

- Underrated show, Brooklyn Nine Nine, I'm watching it now.  But here's the question, it expires on Hulu to go on another streaming service soon so I'm binge watching like mad, but why are there so many streaming services!?  This household alone has: Netflix, Peacock, Disney, Hulu, Amazon, ESPN, HBO, Paramount...WHERE DOES IT END?

- Also why does everything have to have a +!?  Just do a different name...gaaaahhhhhhh.

- Seriously Josh Hartnett was in some good stuff, like seriously what the hell happened?

The rest of the questions were basically things every parent asks, more Hartnett questions (Seriously!?) and how there are no original ideas for TV shows since the 80's....which will be my next blog.  

Thanks for reading as always!

Jeff

The Best of 2019

Look!  It's Yoda!  And he's cosplaying as Yo Yo Ma!  Music jokes!  Now where is the baby Yoda one!?  Look at me being super recent.  So anyways...

2019 has been a crazy/fantastic/nutso kinda year.  So many stories (that's for a future blog), so many concerts, events, weddings (definitely weddings), and so many life events (again, future blog).  The soundtrack for this year has been equally great. 

2019 was also a very interesting year for music, one of the greatest years of music I've heard in quite sometime.  The soundtrack to this year was so good, every genre, even that damn Old Town Road song was dope...this year was so dope in music that I again enlisted the usual help in Brian Opp and Eric Rasmussen to assist me with this blog. 

Per usual, I bend the rules with my list, if I heard it this year for the first time, I'm including it on my list (I seriously never heard Siouxsie and the Banshees before, they almost made it, but I didn't want to look like a poser...or poseur if you will...)

Also my list is what I personally enjoyed the most, so when you see the Jonas Boys (Brothers, Friends, Lovers?) on my list, judge away, I don't care, the song is fantastic. 

Also with the other two dudes, they didn't write a review or why they picked what they did, they didn't have to, so I'll add in my two cents here and there.

So without further adieu, our top 10 of the year. 

Brian "I See You" Opp

Brian Opp brought the incredible "across the board" selection as usual.  All genres are here except country...which makes Opp....well I guess not Rock N Roll (that's Ras), but...musically fluid...we'll go with that, Opp is musicall fluid.  Here is his top 10. 

10.  Billie Eilish - Bad Guy

This song/artist is incredible, more on her later.

9. Lizzo - Juice

The only song to show up twice this year!  Yup, you guessed it, Ras definitely has this on his list.

8. Lizzo - Truth Hurts

Could've used a few new men on the Minnesota Vikings last Monday, amiright!?

7.  Vampire Weekend - Harmony Hall

6.  Lewis Capaldi - Someone You Loved

I was shocked to see this on the list, I'm not gonna lie. 

5. Coldplay - Orphans

4. Dababy - Suge (Yea Yea)

3. Sofi Tukker - Purple Hat

I have to listen to this now....*editors note five minutes later, just listened, it's great.

2. Cage the Elephant - Ready to Let Go

1. Missio - I See You

I had never heard of this...ever. And that's why this list is so great!

Eric "Hurricane" Rasmussen

As usual, Ras brings it.  He is the rock maven of all the people I know (with Dino of course, list is...I think coming), so enjoy rocking out. 

Side note, I had a conversation with Ras last week about rock being dead, what do you all think?  Is it!!?

10. SHVPES - One Man Army

9. Motionless In White - Another Life

Ras is on a complete roll and we're not even to number 6 yet. 

8. Fever 333 - ANIMAL

7. Thousand Below - Chemical

6. Falling In Reverse - Popular Monster

Great song, but lets be honest, how many "unpopular" monsters are there? 

5. Badflower - The Jester

Great band, I had never heard this song before.

4. Starfest - Manifest

This I had heard, and it is great. 

3. Through Fire - All Animal

2. Tool - Pneuma

They are back!  They are back?  They might be back!?

1. I Prevail - Hurricane

Youtube has a version 1 and 2, I hope I picked the right one, Ras if I didn't, I will include both.

ALSO, Ras had so many songs I'm going to add all of them at a later date and time, just not now, I'm too tired. 

Jeff "Good Luck" Kleeman

10. Beck - Star

Okay, so he almost didn't make my list for the first time in a while, but this is my favorite song on his new album, it's great.  Sue me. 

9. Ed Sheeran ft Travis Scott - Antisocial

Okay, so why does Sheeren get so much hate?  I love this song.  I like Travis Scott (and man, you got in there with Kylie bro, good on ya).  I'll jam out to this, or really any Sheeren, dudes talented AF.

8. Tame Impala - Borderline

I've heard this so much lately because of my phone I almost didn't include it, but it's so damn good.

7.  Jonas Brothers - Only Human

Ah yes, the Jonas Bizzoys.  I love this song.  It's catchy as all hell. 

6. Lizzo - Juice

I got two separate texts, one from Opp and one from Brad, who are equally my musical taste, um, equivalents?  But anyway, a female Prince is what Brad said, and he wasn't wrong.  Opp said, and I quote, "She's good".  Again, not wrong.

5. Pvris - Hallucinations

This band constantly surprises me, always really catchy ass songs.  So good.

4. Billie Eilish - You Should See Me In a Crown

Billie Eilish is so good that my wife and I are going to see this 18 year old girl in concert and easily be the 4th oldest people there after a camera guy and a janitor. 
I first heard of her watching an NXT Takeover and had to find this song immediately.  Not Billie is "taking over"...wow. 

3. BORNS - Sweet Dreams

Catchy.  Awesome.  BORNS doesn't get enough credit, BORNS deserves to have more credit.  CREDIT.

2. Matt Maeson - Cringe

Chris Rider sent me this song.  Not his usual vibe, and boy was he right.  Fantastic song. 

1. Broken Bells - Good Luck

And my number 1.  My Nelly ft the Aerosmith (properly rated Brian Opp), guy (Joe Perry)...#1. 
I love Broken Bells, it's my favorite Shins side projects/Danger Mouse side ish project band.... it's so catchy.  I can't wait for the rest of the album. 

And there you have it!  A blog!  My first in ever!  I'd like to thank Ras and Opp for the contributions per the usual.  My next blog will be sooner than later.  It'll either be the most overrated/underrated musical acts....OR....the best 4 hit wonders ever....OR....all that's happened in 2019 and what will happen in 2020....but I can promise you this...at some point by April, all 3 of those will be written at some point.

Also I'd like to thank my kids for behaving well enough for me to write this blog, I think this is the fastest I've ever wrote (written, it's a joke that I misspelled it) a blog.  And thanks to my wife for watching them in this time...now I must help my daughter get a Cinderella dress on, and maybe we'll listen to the band Cinderella as well. 

Bye for now...thanks for reading.

Me.

Three Guys Pick Their Favorite Songs of 2018

It's the 10th of December, 2018, year end lists have already started to compile, so we better share ours!

Same thing as last year, myself, Brian Opp and Eric Rasmussen will be choosing our personal top 10 of songs for the year.  Now I don't have a recent picture of just us three, but here's us in about 20-25 years.



So I think I'll give Brian Opp the honors of starting this year.  Here is his list, in particular order, 10-1.  (All pictures represented of each person will be over 10 years old...this might get rough!)

Brian Opp's Top 10



10. Maroon 5 - Girls Like You

9. Ghost - Rats

8. LSD - Audio

7. Imagine Dragons - Thunder

6. LSD - Thunderclouds

5. Drake - Nice For What

4. Young the Giant - Superposition

3. Travis Scott - Sicko Mode

2. Flora Cash - Somebody Else

1. lovelytheband - Broken

Super diverse list!  I dig it, a few songs on here almost made mine...you know what?  I'll go next.  Mine is also extremely diverse as well.  A lot of near misses, but I'm pretty content with my top 10.  Here we go. 

Jeff Kleeman's Top 10



10. Chromeo - Slumming It

9. grandson - Blood//Water

8. LSD - Audio

7. Portugal, the Man - So  Young

6. Eminem - Fall

5. Childish Gambino - Feels Like Summer

4. Broken Bells - Shelter

3. M83 ft Beck - Time Wind

2. The Glorious Sons - Sawed Off Shotgun

1. Mikky Ekko - What's It Like Now

Eric it's your turn!  Let's finish out strong!

Eric Rasmussen's Top 10 



10. Breaking Benjamin - Red Cold River

9. Shinedown - Special

8. Royal Tusk - Aftermath

7. Shinedown - Evolve

6. Underoath - Ihateit

5. Nothing More - Fade In/ Fade Out

4. Alice in Chains - The One You Know

3. Bring Me the Horizon

2. Ghost - Dance Macabre

1. Godsmack - Bulletproof

And that does it!  Ras's list is amazing.  Tons of amazing rock, he actually has a longer list of the years best music which is incredible. 

It's been a while since I've blogged, some have noticed.  It's been a year, but I think we're finally good to blog again more consistently.  The next few blogs will be ones that have been on the back burner for a while, the most underrated big bands is basically written, so that's coming soon.  I really want to do an NES blog again.  I have to write one on how people take fantasy football too seriously, and we have the future, no doubt award winning story, of how I found my dad after 36 years. 

As always, thanks for reading, thanks for being awesome, and be ready for a blog explosion the next 2 weeks.

Until next time.

Jeff Kleeman

Favorite. Biggest. Best.

Well I decided to start having some fun with this blog, and Dammit (you'll see what I did here)...I'm going to.

I love to debate music.  I like all kinds of music, really everything except country, and I really like to debate the best song of artists I really like.  What they would close their show with?  What is their best song?  Well that's going to be this blog series.

Each one of these I'll do with a friend of mine (Ras maybe with Nirvana?  Schempp with Dr. Dre, Kyle with Eminem, etc...I would say Dino, but he HATES being tagged in stuff so....).  Each will have the following three categories.

Favorite...which clearly is your favorite song by the artist.
Best...which you try to be unbiased and pick the best work.
Biggest...the most popular song, what would end him/she/they/it's set list.  Ex: Lou Bega would end with Tricky Tricky (clearly Mambo No. 5, but you see what I did there as well?  Get it!?).

This week I borrowed some time from Beach to see get his views on his favorite band of all time, blink-182.



There is NOBODY on this planet who likes blink-182 as much as Cory.  They are such a great band, one of my favorites as well, so I wanted to pick Cory's brain on them, simply because he knows so much about them. 

I'll start the blog with me, because not only am I super selfish, but Cory had a LOT of great info to say about blink, really interesting, good stuff that I wanted to include it over my opinion (you're clicking this for Cory, not for me). 

Cory, Zach G, and Jeff at D Days...it's Zach, trust us.  

So here is me and Cory's (Cory and I's) list of Favorite/Biggest/Best for blink-182.

Me first!

Favorite: Always

*this was almost Going Away to College or Reckless Abandon, super close on both.  Always has that new wave feel, pop chorus, I like it.

Biggest: All the Small Things

Best: The Rock Show

Best song has a TON of choices, but I went with The Rock Show, because I did.  But you're not here for me on this blog...on to the main event, you're here for Cory.

Favorite: Lemmings

Biggest: What's My Age Again

*Cory also included Dammit (which is...spoiler alert...next!) among the most popular of the fan base or Carousel

Best: Dammit

Now a quick review from Mr. Beach on blink-182, their albums, current status, etc...etc...etc....

Oooh look at me, I like fancy food!  - some idiot!

Best album is tough!  I love their first two albums, they are gritty, the guitar is quick, there aren't any bands like that out anymore.

I feel like the Take Off Your Pants and Jacket album has a perfect blend of them growing as a band and still being funny.  Plus it would be considered their sophomore album...even though it isn't...after the huge success of Enema of the State.



It proved they can still write another huge album and still fuck off and remain themselves..even though Dude Ranch will always be my favorite...but new Blink...



It's just that!  It's new.  The album(s) that came out are great sounding, I don't feel much from their lyrics as much as I did from the other albums...obviously old blink albums.  They are at a point in all of their careers (Mark, Travis, Matt) that they know how to write a good sounding song, but I feel disconnected with a band when the lyrics are just lyrics to help create a song, this is why I hate Weezer.



But new blink isn't blink...Matt has no guitar riffs like Tom and that's part of what gave blink their sound.  Everyone knows it's What's My Age Again after those first few chords, same with Stay Together For the Kids.  I think Matt was hired because he's in the same genre and has that falsetto voice.

I think they should have called it quits for a second time, either going back to +44 and invite Matt to that, or start a new band name with the trio of Mark, Travis and Matt.

Neighborhoods was a terrible album, there was no producer, no studio time where they were all together like in the other albums.  They literally passed back and forth guitar and bass riffs and then put lyrics to it.

Travis as quoted answering a question why even having a producer on the California album and he said, "So it doesn't come out sounding like Neighborhoods!".

I saw blink a couple times whey they got back with Tom, it was terrible, Tom was half-assing lyrics, not even in key, he clearly didn't want to be there.  It's prevalent on a lot of live videos he doesn't want to be there.

- Cory



So that does it for this first edition!  I added this .gif because it's quite possibly the best one of all time, and Tom is super weird now.  Also, when we review Weezer I feel Cory will not be a part of that one (he does love the Africa cover though!).

If you would like to do one of these with me, I'm down.  It's probably one of the most fun blogs I've written in a long time.  Next week, I'm going to try and get Brad for Outkast...or Schempp for Dr. Dre.

Jeff

10 of 2017

I'm back!  With friends!




So the new tradition of doing a top music list at the end of the year has grown, in people and in songs!  This year three of us (Kleeman, Ras, Opp) will be picking the top 10 (no longer 5!) songs of the year.  This is an easy blog, so let's just get down to business, shall we?

Let's start with the new addition:

Opp: 



10: Camila Cabello - Havana

9: Bruno Mars - That's What I Like

8: Post Malone - Rockstar

7: Beck - Up All Night

6: Portugal, the Man - Live in the Moment

5: Khalid - Young, Dumb and Broke

4: Spoon - Hot Thoughts

3: AJR - Weak

2: Post Malone - Congratulations

1: The Killers - The Man

Ras:



10: Pop Evil - Waking Lions

9: THEORY - Rx

8: Thrice - Hurricane

7: Nothing but Thieves - Amsterdam

6: Bobaflex - Say What You Will

5: Don Broco - T-Shirt Song

4: Nothing More - Go To War

3: In This Moment - Roots

2: Foo Fighters - Run

1: Stone Sour - Fabuless

Kleeman:



Since it's my list, I get to explain why I picked the following songs.  I also get to start with an honorable mention of the BEST pop song this year!!!!

HONORABLE MENTION: Charlie Puth - Attention

- it's the best mainstream pop song of 2017, I stand by that statement.  Every time it's on, I'm just gonna keep it on the station, I have no shame.  

10: Lorde - Homemade Dynamite

- My favorite Lorde song since Tennis Court.  She's super talented, and I have a crush on her, there...I said it.  

9: St. Vincent - Los Ageless

- Great song by a great artist.  Underrated. 

8: Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE

- The best rapper out right now...and he doesn't have much competition anyway.  A classic. 

7: Beck - No Distraction

- I was so glad Beck came back this year with a poppy/happy album.  My favorite artist of all time, with 2 songs on this list.  

6: M83 - Walkway Blues

- I heard this at Beck and instantly Shazamed it, you seeing this producers of Shazam?!  Pick me!  Great song regardless.  

5: Childish Gambino - Redbone

- This song is my alarm, I wake up to it every day.  It's that good I'm not even tired of it.  

4: Portugal, the Man - Feel It Still

- The biggest surprise in music was this band getting huge, and this song was the catalyst for that. 

3: Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

- Did you see Big Little Lies?  This is how I first discovered this song, and I'm glad I did.  He has more great songs, look him up.  

2: Beck - Colors

- Beck's best song in years.  I listened to this 3-4 times in a row when I first heard it.  

1: The Killers - The Man

- This made number one on two separate lists.  I'm glad the Killers have a good song again after 10 years.  I said it, sorry Brandon.  

And that's it!  The 10 favorite songs of 3 people who know music.  If you're interested in next year, maybe I'll add one more...maybe.  Thanks for reading and look out for my last blog of the year...where I meet myself, Jeff Kleeman, from 10 years ago.

Jeff

Father Figure

Man that song is amazing!  RIP George Michael.  Limp Bizkit should remake it, just to get that career back on track.  But then again, I love song covers.  Which this blog is going to be about!

What, did you think this blog was going to be about being a parent?  As you can tell if you're an avid reader (which I know you are) I haven't written a blog in weeks.  Why?  The kid is super time consuming!  It's tough, because when she's asleep, you want to sleep, but then you end up doing something else.  Then when you want to sleep, you gotta take care of the kid.  Adult stuff.  So the blog has sadly been thrown to the side, until now.  But I will put a few random thoughts on parenthood right now:

- kids love to cry for no reason, it's not just food and poop
- if you are watching a show, they will cry at a really good part
- when they smile at you, your heart freaking melts
- random strangers will come up to you and the baby, and do baby talk
- oh, and our stroller is a celebrity, bigger celeb then the kid.  It's a stroller that folds up in to a car seat, people lose their minds, and randoms won't stop talking to us about it

So if you know me personally (and if you don't, you should, I'm great) you know I love music.  I also really, really, really love rock covers of pop songs.  Above I referenced one of the most well known covers of a song, Faith.

It's good....but it goes off the rails at the end.  I don't even like it to be honest with you.  If you're going on a cover from Limp Bizkit's collection, unpopular opinion I know, but I love Behind Blue Eyes...sorry, not sorry The Who fans (overrated band btw...sorry, not sorry).

Since we're on the rap/rock trail, let's get to the next cover that is phenomenal...Word Up! by Korn.

Incredible, isn't it?  Rap songs in to rock is really hard, and they did it.  The only one that did it better was a band named Framing Hanley, who covered Lollipop by Lil Wayne.

Another little known rock band that was amazing was Local H, who had a song called Bound For the Floor (trust me, you've heard it), but they have an insanely good cover of Toxic by Britney...

On the other spectrum of that, there is a remake of Cry Me a River, which was my favorite cover of all time, until the lead singer of the band did something so horrendous, I don't want to mention it in this blog.  Feel free to pull it up, but I just can't listen to it anymore.  So my favorite cover now falls to a different Britney song.

Britney would be proud!



Wow, remember that version of Britney Spears!?  Around the same time I discovered the song above, Johnny Cash had released his classic cover of a Nine Inch Nail song, Hurt:

Nirvana also had an amazing cover of well, of the David Bowie classic, The Man Who Sold the World:

Nirvana drummer, also known as the coolest guy in music Dave Grohl has a great cover of Tiny Dancer, go ahead and take a listen, if not just for the chorus.

Finally, if you are a visitor here, you know of my love of Hall and Oates, picture found here: Hall and Oates and Jeff

Well here is a cover of my favorite song by them, I Can't Go For That (No Can Do).

Which this link brings up two questions:

1) Why aren't kazoos in more songs!?
2) There need to be more song titles that use a parenthesis.  If my band (Gotch Gracy) actually had any songs, we'd have a parenthesis in about half of them.

So these are just a few of the best covers of all time.  I know I missed a couple (Killing Me Softly by the Fugees, Metallica's version of Turn the Page, any cover of Rebecca Black's "Friday")... so the following song is one that SHOULD be covered, like immediately.  But first, a side story.

My cousin Brad and I (who are starting a podcast, stay tuned), had a debate over which song should have a cover.  I always pushed for Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson, which in my head I assumed I always told him.  Fast forward a few years, the lovely band Alien Ant Farm came out with a cover!  Overjoyed at me being awesome and thinking it'd be a great rock cover, I told Brad.  Brad... let's just say he doesn't believe I ever said such a thing.  Brad is a jerk, this will be covered on a future podcast, guaranteed.

To move along to his song that would make a great "rock" cover, Lisa Loeb with "Stay"....he is correct, if he in fact came up with that idea on his own....

Well that's it for this week, thanks for reading like usual.  I have no clue what the next blog will be about, definitely not Trump or politics...unless it's the "long awaited" who is the next person who should run for president.  Until next time!

Jeff Kleeman

Best Songs of 2016 - Top 5

2016 will go down as one of the most...interesting years in quite sometime.  I think that's safe to say right!?  So while I round up some facts for my next blog (coming in a few days, I swear!) about why 2016 wasn't completely horrible, I got a message from my buddy Ras last night.  This is Ras!

Ras: Top songs of 2016?
Jeff: Blog idea?
Ras: Of sorts.

And then it begun.  Compiling the top 5 songs we each liked in 2016.  It was a very tough list, for multiple reasons.  We are both avid music loves, Ras more so than me.  In the past year we have discovered hundreds of songs, but most didn't even come out in 2016.  Also, there is a lot of really good music!  A ton.  So it was hard to whittle it down.  But we did it.

So why wait any longer, let's get started, first up, is Ras's list.

5.  Blacklite District - We Are the Danger

4.  Bleeker - Highway

3.  Thrice - Black Honey

2.  Red Sun Rising - Emotionless

1.  Highly Suspect - My Name Is Human

That list is fantastic.  I'll admit, my favorite out of those 5 is Bleeker, but you should give all of them a listen, great songs all around.  Ras, thank you as always, here are some words to live by, by Ras himself.

My top 5?  Well....

5.  M83 - Go!

4.  Rae Sremmurd - Black Beatles

3.  Anderson .Paak - Am I Wrong?

2.  Miike Snow - Genghis Khan

1.  The Weeknd Ft. Daft Punk - Star Boy

And there you have it!  Feel free to add your own here if you wish.  By the end of the week, as previously stated, there will be a "Why 2016 wasn't so bad" article, and if you're lucky, you may even get the newest NES one by tomorrow morning with the release of Super Mario Run!

As always, thank you for reading.

Jeff Kleeman

PS With Alan Thicke passing yesterday, listen to this timeless song!

Aaron and Jeff's Musical Adventure

Nothing beats musical conversations.  NOTHING.  Best artist or song by artist is a nice debate among my friends and I.  Well this week, Aaron and I debated, 10 (eventually becoming 11) artists best songs and our favorite by them.  Just to see if we agreed on anything, surprisingly we did, especially on...well, you'll find out.  Let's do this!

Jeff: Alright Pew, let's get started.  I'm gonna start with Jigga Man, Jay Z!  My favorite song by him, "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" (a close second being "Renegade" with Eminem), and his biggest, a lot of debates there, but when I saw him live two years ago, he closed with "Young Forever" which was shocking, because it should be "Hard Knock Life".  

Your thoughts?

Aaron: No big argument on Dirt Off Your Shoulder. That song is amazing...and my favorite. 

The lyrics were amazing, and I totally got street cred for knowing it. 

Street cred

As for his best? I think 99 Problems. It was ironically loved by white people who had none of those problems. A close second, IMO, would be New York State of Mind.

Jeff: You are pretty street.  Next on the list, Eminem!  I'm gonna go with Drug Ballad as my favorite, even though I don't really like Drugs.  Biggest song as we all know is FACK.  

It was just a huge anthem for 2000 and....wait.  Oh yeah.  Lose Yourself.  Biggest song he had, no question.  He owned 2002.  On an unrelated related note, super fan Kyle Kelly loves Kill You.  But not as much as he should love Patiently Waiting.

Aaron: Why wouldn't he love "Kill You"? It's great. For the record, picking my favorite Eminem song is like picking my favorite Jonas brother...difficult AF. 

His best is obviously lose yourself, and it's likely my favorite, but for funs sake, I'll pick a different one. There are literally 20 songs I could pick and I would feel good about every single one. My pick now, though, is Til I Collapse.

 There is an army cadence... there's a list...what's not to love?

Jeff: From that response, if someone had "No Love" I would be "Cleaning Out My Closet" and saying "Goodbye to Hollywood".  Puns.  I'm also gangster.

Also gangster...

Speaking of living puns, what happened to Kanye West?  He used to be the bomb.  Still is musically, but since he got Kardashianed, he sucks the big one.  Favorite Kanye song...Power.  A close second is Flashing Lights.  His biggest, probs Gold Digger?  

Which again, what the hell happened to him? 



Aaron: Well duh. Any song that holla's "we want Kleeman" is bound for success. I can't argue with Gold Digger, but I must say it's incredibly difficult to sing along to the song in public. We all know why. My favorite is All Falls Down. That's probably an odd choice, but it still makes random CD mixes to this date...great song.

Jeff: Nice choice, now in the best transition ever, we go from Kanye to THE BEATLES!  The best band of all time.  Biggest band of all time.  Best hair of all time.  



Favorite song I Am the Walrus, because I like lyrics that don't make sense.  Biggest song they have, gotta be All You Need Is Love right?  RIGHT!?

Aaron: Talk about a plot twist! Although, this makes sense, because I think Kanye discovered that Paul guy that's in the Beatles. 



This is harder than picking Eminem's best song. They are all great. So, I think I might need some Help!...see what I did there? All You Need Is Love is a great song, but I think Help trumps that one for sure. My favorite, though, is Yesterday. It's so calming...

Pew: OK, Jeff. Let me pick the artist this time. If you can give a plot twist, so can I. Let's talk about...Katy Perry. 



Katy Perry is like Nicholas Cage. I don't like her music, but I somehow like most of her songs. 



The problem with her is that her songs get overplayed and overhyped. There is one, though, that stands out. I Kissed a Girl is both my favorite and her best song. Any man that disagrees is a damn liar!

Jeff: I Kissed a Girl and I liked it!  I agree. That's my favorite song by her. One of a small few I like. Her biggest is that crappy California Gurls crap that fully neutered Snoop Dogg. 



Yuck town. Speaking of castrated, Madonna! Um I oddly really like Beautiful Stranger from Austin Powers. 

Biggest?  Strike a pose. Vogue. Vogue. 

Aaron: Let your body move to the music. It's hard to argue with that as her best, and you actually remember the 80's, I'll take your word on it. My favorite is Ray of Light.  It was a song that sounded awesome in my car. The bass was surprisingly good in that. While we're in the topic of pop icons, what do you think about Beyonce? 



My favorite is Sweet Dreams, but her best has to be while she was still with Michelle and Kelly. Say My Name, Jeff!

Jeff:  Pew (I said his name)!  Agreed on Sweet Dreams. Such a beautiful nightmare. Either way I...  I better stop there. Her biggest I believe is Crazy in Love. Although Becky with the good hair tried to ruin it. 



What we got left?  Taylor Swift?  



I knew you were trouble when you walked in bro. Best song. Biggest. Shake it Off?  I'm sure you'll hate, hate, hate that choice. 

Aaron: Taylor Swift, eh? I actually think I Knew You Were Trouble is her best, but my favorite is Never Grow Up. I pick this for two reasons. 1) it's not overplayed 2) my daughter. 



I challenge any father to listen to this song while with their daughter and tell me they don't like it. You just wait, Jeff...

Jeff: Haha but what if I have a son?!  Oh man. Parenting. Well if it's a Senorita I'll keep her away from our next contestant JT!  Favorite. What Goes Around...Comes Back Around. 

And his biggest. Cry Me a River. Man. All these songs about cheating, what's his deal?!



Aaron: What Goes Around is definitely my personal favorite. I remember how excited Rob Huckins was when we first heard that song. 



The transition is just amazing! His best has to be Bye Bye Bye...it may be cheating, but NSYNC WAS Justin Timberlake. Let's do one more! In honor of Cry Me a River, we'll do Britney, bitch. She peaked too soon with Baby One More Time. (Confession: I own that CD) My favorite, though, is definitely Toxic. The music video for that song made men out of a lot of teenage boys. So much glitter...



Jeff: Oh man. That video is ingrained in my head forever. I'll have to go with 3 which is another underrated hot vid. 



Biggest is Baby One More Time. And I have nothing punny to say because Britney would attack me with an umbrella. 



Aaron: Umbrella? Really? Are you trying to make me think about Rihianna? That's not good for my marriage. 



Umbrella is the best Rihanna song and by far my favorite and obviously her best. From the minute I heard the song, she had my heart and we'll never be worlds apart.

Jeff: Well we sure fell on that at the end didn't we?  We end in complete agreement.  Umbrella wins.  Which is more than I can say on our football teams.



Thanks for reading everybody!  I'm sure a lot of you disagree...or maybe agree.  If so, let us know.  

Til next time.

Kleeman/Pew or Pew/Kleeman