6 posts from November 2006

Happy Feet they are....

This group is called Westlife and is also featured in the post about Josh Groban.  They did a cover of You Raise Me Up.  Since I posted them in Josh's blurb, let me post Josh's original version of "You Raise Me Up" here.

 

 

 

Now, here's a little bit of Westlife.

 

 

 

It's amazing what you can find on the Internet.  Here's a few videos of a now disbanded Boy Band called Boyzone.  I think my fondness for this group is my affection for the songs they sing.  They have had several original hits but have done covers of songs which while they are not on my all-time classics list are wonderful to hear again in a new interpretation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am embarassed to say that this next song has become one of my favorite pop ditties.  It has a nice little beat and the harmonies are shy of rhapsodic. 

 

 

Now here's the kicker.  This song was originally performed by The Osmond Brothers.  It was their first number one hit in the UK.

 

 The next video is actually an all-time favorite of mine which I first heard at the Grange Fair in Yorktown Heights which was played by a band in which one of my high school classmates played guitar in.  I was blown away by the song.  Have I used that phrase before in this blog?  Anyway, I think it was the whispery chorus that hooked me.  Anyway, here's Boyzone with "Father and Son."

 

and probably will not have much longer to do so on NBC.  The good news is that you can see all of the episodes that have been broadcast so far on www.nbc.com.  In fact, I encourage you to do so. 

Sept 30, 2007 update:  Good news.  Friday Night Lights graduates to a sophomore year and will be broadcast on Friday nights at 10 pm.  Also, you can get Season 1 on DVD.

 

This is a photo of Kyle Chandler who is not the sole reason I like the show.  It's gritty and good small town drama.  The episode I saw was deeply emotional and so gripping that even though I just tuned into my DVR for what was meant to be a couple of minutes at 2 am I had to finish the whole episode.

 

Kyle was also on another TV show that I would categorize as enjoyable but not gripping.  Of course, I did see many of the episodes.  He was the star of Early Edition.  In this show, the hero, played by Kyle of course, gets tomorrow's paper today so he can change history.

 

 

Now, the first show I saw Kyle on is one of my all time favorites.  It was broadcast on one of the cable channels that shows older material.  This show also featured John Slattery who has appeared frequently on Broadway stages since the end of Homefront.  David Newsom is another actor who you've seen around that was also featured on this show.  If you need a reminder on who David is, he played the upstairs neighborn of Will and Grace that they both thought they had a dinner date with and could never figure out which of them he was interested in.  Here's a photo of the Homefront cast:

 

In summary, please tune into Friday Night Lights which is shown on Tuesday nights at 8:00 pm EST.  Of course, it might be more in the moment for this show to move to Friday night.  The other thing I might ask you to do is to use whatever influence you have to get Homefront released on DVD.  Thank you.

This is the latest song on repeat mode on my mp3 player.  It's the only song I'm listening to right now when I put in those earplugs.  BTW, I have an i-River mp3 player which is compatible with the music to go subscriptions.  I will report on this in a later post.

You are Loved (Don't Give Up) is from Josh's CD, Awake, which was released today.  It's a slow moving song with a good beat and some intricate melodic moments.  I haven't quite digested the lyrics but I'm thinking that this is a song of inspiration.  It would make a great theme song for Paxil or Welbutrin.

It seems as though I have heard this song before.  I'm not sure where.  It's one of those songs that make great background music on a TV show or commercial.  If it's not that, I may have heard a preview somewhere on the web.

 

 

The song link below will take you to a video of Josh singing "To Where You Are," one of his earlier hits.  I believe he may have also sung this song on Ally McBeal.

 

Here's one more video for you.  It's Josh's last big hit, "You Raise Me Up."  I first heard it on the Ellen show and was blown away.  As trite as this may be, this song has a lot of feeling.

 

Due to the confines of living in an apartment, I rarely cook steaks and being a single person, don't often make roasts, although it is possible to do a two-rib roast.  Therefore, when I got out to eat, I am often tempted to get a steak.  You just can't match that grilled flavor cooking inside on the average stove.

Now, don't get me wrong it is possible to make a lovely steak in the typical kitchen apartment.  The problem I have with it is that you have to be willing to smell that steak for a couple of days until the smoke of the flesh charring and that grease burning dissipates.

So, here's what I've learned.  I LOVE the flavor of prime rib.  For me, nothing beats that. You have to be careful though when ordering in a restaurant.  Not all prime rib is created equal and in some instances what is offered as prime rib is nothing remotely close on the cow to that flavorful muscle.

If prime rib is not available, all is not lost.  A nice porterhouse is quite yummy.  One of my favorite meals out is to go out with a friend and have a porterhouse for two with creamed spinach as a side.  Right up there with the porterhouse just may be a ribeye steak.  It's pretty much a slice of prime rib but in a steak like portion.  I just had a scrumptious grilled ribeye steak the other night with some grilled tomatoes and sauteed wild mushrooms.

Strip steaks, N.Y. Strips and t-bones are another popular cut.  I agree that they make good steaks but for me they simply do not possess the robust flavor of prime rib.  The last few times I have had them grilled in a restaurant I was longing for the prime rib I did not have.  There is an Italian preparation for the Strip Steak that I do find quite enjoyable, Steak Pizzaiola.  The local Italian restaurant in my neighborhood uses a Strip Steak to make this dish.  I think it works better because the sauce makes the steak juicier and although not the flavor of prime rib, the spices help to make the steak tastier.  Now that I think of it, I much cheaper cut of beef could be used to make Steak Piazzaiola.  I need to test that out and report back to you my findings.