McCain Decides What Sarah Palin Thinks

I should probably write more about music, but I’m a little bored with most of the music I’ve heard lately.

But politics isn’t boring these days.  After charges of sexism from the McCain/Palin campaign about the way people are reacting to Governor Palin, comes this gem.  The summary seems to be “Just because she said it, that doesn’t mean that’s what she thinks.  She thinks what I think.”  That’s not sexist at all.

I’m really looking forward to the Biden/Palin debate.  I wonder how many things she says McCain will have to retract and correct.

Matt Damon Was Right

I never thought much of Matt Damon until seeing him in the Bourne movies.  It’s a good character for him, plus it shows a different side to him than just the Rounders/Ocean’s-type roles.  Then he answered some questions about Sarah Palin in a rather frank manner.

And now there’s this.

I don’t have much more to say about this.

Permission to Dance

Thank you, Cupid.

No, not the sadistic, weapon-wielding cherub.  I’m talking about the guy who delivered the masterpiece known as “The Cupid Shuffle” to the world last year.  I never thought much of the song, other than the fact that the dance was a newer, hip version of the Electric Slide.  It even includes a little “Walk It Out” segment to show you how modern it is.

Why do I like the song so much, even after a year?  Because it’s funny to watch people avoid the dance floor, a few of them jiggling around on the perimeter because they’re too sober and self-conscious to dance.  And then, I play the Shuffle and the dance floor fills up as if people were waiting for something to give them permission to dance.

Apparently, a song with instructions done by dozens of other people is okay to dance to, despite its simplistic beat and lyrics.  But even the instructions apparently aren’t specific enough for people to understand.  To the right, to the right, to the right, to the right.  Now kick…

I don’t understand how people can mess up going to the right when the guy is telling you to go to the right.  ”Walk it by yourself” is a little confusing for people that don’t know how to walk it out.  I think doing the Twist for that turn is acceptable, but I always end up seeing people just doing a 90-degree turn when they realize that everyone around them is facing a different direction.

I can’t dance.  Not well.  Okay, a little bit.  But it only took me a couple of rotations to figure out how to do the dance.  And that was watching the 4″ tall video on my computer.  If someone is doing it right in front of you, it seems like it would be easy to pick it up, but instead people are stopping and staring at the feet in front of them, going left when the loud voice from the big black boxes says, “to the right.”

And the people that do seem to go in the correct direction don’t seem to put any style into it.  Just simple shuffle steps, single kicks, no upper body movement.  I have vague memories of line dancing from the few country music videos that MTV used to play and it seems to look like that most of the time.  It looks like they’re really concentrating on the steps instead of feeling the music and letting their bodies flow.

It’s entertaining.  It used to bother me that people couldn’t do such a simple dance, but it’s really entertaining now.  I like to play all the big new songs and watch people hesitate to hit the dance floor, and then throw this year-old song at them to watch them fill the floor and screw up the instructions.  I highly recommend playing it to a large group of, um, rhythmically-challenged people.  It’ll make your night.

Best Songs of the Year

Sarah McLachlan has two new songs that will be released with a Greatest Hits album.  I haven’t listened to them yet, but they’re already my favorite songs of the year.  I play hip-hop, but I can’t say that I’m a big fan of it lately.

There are some people out there that are still doing real hip-hop, but a lot of stuff there is made for mass consumption.  It’s like the difference between a burger that you make at home and a fast food burger.  The fast food is comfortable and recognizable, but it’s not made for quality.  It’s made so all kinds of people can eat it and enjoy it.  But a homemade burger has much more character and flavor.  And the patties aren’t perfectly formed – it has flaws, but that reminds you that it’s real.

A Tribe Called Quest, Erik B and Rakim – the crowd where I spin can’t handle the good stuff.  It’s frustrating to be a DJ that doesn’t like 80% of the stuff that he has to play.  Listening to Sarah McLachlan at home helps cancel out all the Soulja Boy stuff.

Weezy Wee

Lil Wayne is everywhere.  I called to order some Chinese food and I’m pretty sure it was him taking my order.

I like to check out the Billboard Top 100 chart to see what people might be interested in listening to.  I gave up on commercial radio years ago, so I’m never quite sure what the hot songs are.  The bars where I spin aren’t too up to date on current music.  It’s basically a matter of keeping up with the Top 40 and people are content.  If they haven’t heard it on the radio, then they don’t know it or like it.  There are many songs that I’ve started playing before they hit the airwaves and people frown at them and clear the dance floor.  Three weeks later, I’ll get a dozen requests for the same songs.  So, it’s almost a waste of time to listen to a lot of new music and find good stuff for people to dance to.  If they don’t know it, they won’t dance to it.

It seems like sixty percent of the music out there has Lil Wayne contributing in some way.  (Five of Billboard’s top 50 right now, actually, and 8 of the top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop.)  I always liked him back in the Hot Boyz/Cash Money days.  His cadence and lyrics stood out for me, even though Juvenile and Mystikal were the top guys at the time.  I never would have imagined that Weezy would become a top-selling artist.  And a sex symbol, apparently.

Yes, girls are starting to call him sexy.  LL was always the man, but when the mainstream (read: White) ladies began to accept Denzel and Wesley Snipes as sexy and attractive, it was quite surprising.  And now things have gone to the far end of the spectrum.  It started with 50, and now it’s Wayne – dark skin, braids, and a mouthful of bling.

But it seems like the more that White America seems to be accepting of some elements of Black culture, the more hatred and resentment builds underneath the surface.  Listening to West Virginia voters discussing their “discomfort” with Barack Obama is a nice reminder to anyone that thinks racism is dwindling in this country.  But because a few athletes and musicians succeed, people assume that things are improving.

Halle Berry won an Oscar, so things are better, right?

John McCain and Michelle Obama Have Something In Common

From the transcript of John McCain’s RNC acceptance speech:

“I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else’s.”

I guess McCain hasn’t always loved or been proud of his country.

True To My Word

For a couple of months now, I’ve been playing music inspired by Senator Barack Obama.  Cocoa Tea and Mavado released reggae songs.  Ludacris put out a short song called Politics (Obama is Here) which garnered a little controversy due to a less-than-polite mention of Hillary Clinton.  I’ve either been closing or opening my set with one of those songs for quite a while and in the process, I’ve gotten a bit of negative feedback.  One young lady in the bar booed me.  Another approached me and told me that I needed to change the song because she doesn’t like Obama.  I asked why not and she said, “I don’t know.  He just scares me.”  I asked for further explanation and realized that she’s one of the people that has fallen for the false stories about his religion, patriotism, etc. – all the things that can be refuted with a simple online search.  So, I told her that I would be fair and I would play a John McCain song anytime I play an Obama song.

I told people the same thing for weeks and they typically would laugh because they didn’t think there were any McCain songs out there.  I personally didn’t think that anyone would be inspired enough by the man to put pen to paper.  It seems like the Republican party has party faithful and followers, but Obama seemed to be inspiring people to take action and to voice their opinions in the hope that a positive change would take effect.  The small groups of people that McCain spoke to never seemed to get too fired up about him or his words.

I watched McCain’s RNC acceptance speech tonight, and heard a country song playing afterwards.  As I listened closer, I realized that the singer’s lyrics were “We’re raising McCain” as in “raising cain.”  I looked up the video to listen to the full song.  It’s a simple song, titled “Raisin’ McCain” by John Rich.  It’s a country song, which is no surprise after looking at the congregation at the Republican Convention.  The song only has one real verse, with a chorus that’s repeated five times.  It seems to only celebrate McCain as a POW, rather than expound on his cultural effect, as you find in Cocoa Tea’s song.  Again, this is no surprise after listening to basically every speaker at the convention mention McCain’s captivity.  Something that would lead to PTSD somehow also qualifies him to be President, apparently.

But, true to my word, I plugged into the mixer and started the night off with the McCain song, fed straight from the video website.  It garnered some odd looks, which may have been because of its repetitious nature, or possibly because I was playing a country song on hip-hop night.  It’s not a very good song in general.  Cocoa Tea’s song has a catchy chorus and interesting, humorous lyrics, but the McCain song falls short of that.

I’m still waiting for a good McCain song.