Jelly Bracelets: A Timeless Classic

Yes. They were big in the Eighties. BECAUSE THEY WERE AWESOME.

And they still ARE Awesome. You can find them in any retail accessory section, if the store is a cool store.

I believe the jelly bracelet is the under-appreciated accessory of modern time. I am thirty-noneofyourbusiness years old and I wear my jelly bracelets almost everyday. BUT. Only the black ones. I'm classy about my jelly bracelets like that. I mean, I'm not 12 anymore.

I wear them to the preschool, to the elementary school, to the gym, to the grocery store, to the martini bar, to the dance club, to the Costco, to the coffee shop, and even the Dairy Queen…

I love me my black jelly bracelets. Occasionally I throw in a red one. I'm uncontainable.

That is how I have taken one of the foundational '80s fashion accessories and have made them fit into the fashion scene 25 years later. No need to stack colors. Twist two together and slip them on.

And unless everyone is lying to me, everyone thinks my jelly bracelets are very cool. EVERYONE.

"Are you wearing jelly bracelets?! Did you twist them together?! Oh my gosh, you are so cool!"

I know.

That is the point of living, right?

To be cool. Be it 1985, be it 2010. Cool is always cool.

But please don't confuse jelly bracelets with jelly shoes. Just say "NO" to jelly shoes. Please. Especially if you've been playing on a dusty playground in 90 degree weather. Sweat & dirt turned mud in a pair of clear shoes never looks cool. Just sayin'.

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So What The Hell Is Going On In The "Alejandro" Video?

For the few of you who called in sick to life yesterday, the video for Lady GaGa's "Alejandro" was released. Check it out:



Now that you've seen it, for this week's Your Say Hump Day, let us know what you think of the video. Is it as good as her previous videos? Is she bringing anything new to the table with this one? And if you can figure out what the video's about, feel free to let us know in the comments. Because frankly, I have no idea.

Go!

T'Pau, "Heart And Soul"

For whatever reason, when you search for T'Pau on YouTube, this is not the first song that appears. Like someone searching for T'Pau wanted to hear something other than this song!

Unless you're like me and actually own this cassette tape.

From 1987, here's T'Pau's "Heart And Soul."

Enjoy!

Do You Remember Rock & Roll Radio?

Well, children of the '80s, I've got my bags packed, the car is all fueled up, and I've tranquilized my children so that can only mean one thing.

Road trip.

Before I leave on my exploratory quest I'd like to talk about what I will be listening to.

Satellite radio.

I can hear the purists expectorating in my general direction right now, but I've actually had it with terrestrial radio these days.

It used to be that you could go to any number of stations where I grew up (NY) and find progressive, new wave/alternative, hard rock, pop, classical and mish mash.

Remember Carol Miller from WPLJ? How about Scott Muni from WNEW? Thanks to him, I fell out of bed one morning after he premiered Peter Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey." WLIR before it became DRE? I could go on and on.

Remember when Times Square was not a tourist destination and it was good for fake IDs, peep shows, and getting mugged? When CBGB's was actually open and had up and coming bands playing on its stage? Now we wax poetic about it in the past tense as a bastion of glory days long since evaporated.

I miss sneaking the radio under the covers to listen to the King Biscuit Flower Hour through massive bulky headphones or hearing a new song by an unknown artist who just happened to appeal to a DJ who didn't have a massive fascist machine breathing down his neck to play the same crap songs over and over.

It is with sadness that I wave goodbye to my relationship with FM and all that we meant to each other but I think I just heard that Carol Miller is working at Satellite channel 18.

Maybe I'll pop in and say hello.

England Rocks! Sadly, The Same Can't Be Said For This Song.

Old musicians never die. They form supergroups!

Members of The Quireboys (or The London Quireboys, depending on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you reside) have teamed up with Joe Elliot, lead singer of Def Leppard, to form Down N' Outz, a band which plays nothing but Mott the Hoople and Ian Hunter songs.

So basically, Joe Elliot's fronting a tribute band right now.

Kind of like Mini Kiss.

Except richer.

And taller.

Here's Down N' Outz performing "England Rocks:"



[source 1|source 2]

The London Quireboys, "7 O'Clock"

You'll need this song for a post coming up later today. So pay attention!

From 1989, here's "7 O'Clock" by The London Quireboys.

Enjoy!

You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

I was reading this article about the discovery of the original Jaws shark when I learned two things:

1. The shark in Jaws was named "Bruce." Which made me understand why the shark in Finding Nemo was named "Bruce."
   
   
2. They're looking at doing a Real 3-D remake of the original Jaws film. With TRACY MORGAN in the Richard Dreyfuss role.

Now, full disclaimer, I've never seen Jaws all the way thru - I've seen bits and pieces. Travesty, I know. I've been seriously considering a Jaws movie-thon for a while now. It's a July 4th film so maybe, just maybe that's what we'll do on the 4th. Anyway, I did see Jaws 3 years ago when I was a kid. It was on TV and the scene when they're trapped in the aquarium glass tube thing scared the crap out of me - I even had nightmares which had never happened to me before. So it doesn't surprise me that, with the current 3-D fad that Jaws is under consideration for a 3-D version. I think stupid monster movies are really the only reason to see a film in 3-D.

But to remake the original, with Tracy Morgan? Really? I think Tracy is freaking GENIUS on 30 Rock. And he's coming out here with a stand up show that I hope to catch. But replacing Richard Dreyfuss? Really? I just don't see Tracy doing serious or scary.

Here's the original 1975 trailer. I love the old timey voiceover work.



Anyone excited to see Jaws redone in Cameron's Real 3-D? Anyone else out there think that they should have just released Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus in 3-D as originally planned and been done with it? If you some how missed it, here's the trailer for that flick. It's pretty much the best thing about the movie. Trust me, I Netflixed it. And yes, that's THE Deborah ("Electric Youth") Gibson in it.

I Can't Live Without My (Online) Radio

Now that online radio juggernaut Lala has gone the way of the dodo after being acquired by Apple, what's a music fan to do? Especially if that music fan is camped out in front of a computer screen all day without access to her own music collection? Well, for starters, there's always Last.fm and Pandora, but neither offer the play on-demand service that was Lala's calling card. Want to hear a record before you can buy it? I mean, actually listen to the the thing in full, not those annoying 30-second previews? Lala was the best place to preview new music. According to PopMatters:

For those that didn’t use it, Lala gave members and nonmembers one listen to an album, free of charge – the equivalent of giving you an hour at a bookstore to look over a new release before purchase. If there was a track you wanted someone to listen to at work, chances were high that Lala would pass work Internet filters while iTunes and YouTube were on the “no surf” list. And if you were a blogger, you could add a soundtrack to your post by embedding tracks onto your site with a widget.

There are rumors of some sort of iTunes cloud system in the works, but it's just that: rumors. Until then we might just turn our old school radios back on and party like it's 1999. Or 1979.

Set Your DVRs: Week Of June 7, 2010

Even though we couldn't find listings for half of the shows this week, there are some pretty big acts on TV this week, including a mini U2 concert on VH1 on Friday night.

Here are the musical acts appearing on the talk show circuit this week. We compiled this list to the best of our abilities. Check your local listings and don't shoot the messenger.

Monday, June 7th
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: Kings of Convenience
Late Show with David Letterman: Lee Dewyze
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Hole

Tuesday, June 8th
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: Circa Survive
Late Show with David Letterman: Sarah McLachlan
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Sting

Wednesday, June 9th
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: Phish
Late Show with David Letterman: Christina Aquilera
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: OK Go

Thursday, June 10th
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: Sarah McLachlan
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Damian Marley and NAS
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Alanis Morissette

Friday, June 11th
Late Show with David Letterman: Allison Moorer
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Against Me!
U2 at the BBC (VH1)

Saturday, June 12th
Austin City Limits: Arcade Fire (R)
Saturday Night Live: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers (R)

(R) = repeat performance
shows in red = our picks for the week

B.o.B., "Airplanes, Pt. 2"

Pt. 2 > Pt. 1

From 2010, here's B.o.B., Haley Williams, and Eminem with "Airplanes, Pt. 2."

Enjoy!