Is The Sugarhill Gang a Jam Band?

So the whole "write everyday" thing kind of fell to the wayside after only two days. Nevertheless, I will try and make up for it somehow.
I got into the office on this Saturday morning at 6:30--nothing like an early morning drive on a Saturday to remind you that you're one of the only people awake in the city. I loved the ride, it provided me an opportunity to zone out for ten minutes and listen to some music. One of my favorite bands is the Pixies and my iPod began to play "No. 13 Baby" on the way in. My undying love for this song cannot be put into words--in fact, for me the entire album "Doolittle" is in the upper pantheon of albums in my opinion (short list off the top of my head: "London Calling", "Doggystyle", "Doolittle", "Paul's Boutique", "Dookie", "Songs for the Deaf", "Stay Positive"). After the final refrain of "No. 13 Baby" there is an extended instrumental jam that, in all honesty, could go on for two hours and I wouldn't get sick of. Of course, this would then qualify the Pixies as a jam band which would mean that by definition and principal, I would hate them. So, perhaps keeping this song a tight 3:52 is probably the proper way to go.
Continuing down the topic of music, I have been working on the computer in my office for the past few hours and have been listening to some old hip hop. One of my all time favorite pre 1990 hip hop songs is the Slick Rick and Doug E Fresh song "The Show". Aside from borrowing the hook from Inspector Gadget, the song is near perfection--it's also used in the opening credits of CB4, but I digress. Years back, I owned a double disc record titled "In the Beginning There Was Rap" that featured one disc of some hip hop classics and a second disc of the same songs covered by artists who were popular in 1998 (if memory serves me, when the discs were released). "The Show" was performed on the covers album by The Roots and it was a solid effort, although not nearly as good as the original version. Another song found on the covers album was Def Squad covering "Rappers Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang. This was the song that originally attracted me to buying the CDs, as I was a big Redman fan at the time (I even wrote a review for his "Doc's the Name: 2000" album for my high school newspaper because I was cool). After listening to the Def Squad's version I decided to listen to the original version, which is almost 15 minutes long. It was while listening to this version that my mind drifted back to my ride into work and listening to the Pixies...a lengthened version of "No. 13 Baby", as I joked, would make the Pixies a jam band--but what about a 15 minute hip hop song? Certainly, there were jam bands dating back to the 1960s and 50s, but could I make an argument that The Sugarhill Gang is the original hip hop jam band? Of course not, that would be stupid...but I needed to fill up space.

Recreational Reading

It's been a few years since I had a magazine subscription. Over the course of my life, I've subscribed to the following magazines: Sports Illustrated for Kids, Sports Illustrated, Blender, Maxim, ESPN, Rolling Stone, Spin, and Slam. My favorite magazine of all time was (and still is) Slam Magazine. For some reason though, I have not bought an issue of it for about five years and haven't had a subscription for about ten years.
I got my first issue of Slam when I was 16 and about to take a trip to Italy with my family. It was June of 1998 and my Bulls had just won their sixth championship and, with a lockout looming, I was looking to soak up as much NBA stuff as I could. By the time our three week trip had finished, I had read the magazine cover to cover about seven or eight times. It remains, to this day, my favorite issue of any magazine ever...I still own it, along with about 30 or 40 issues of Slam. I have a thing about throwing magazines out--I have two big bins of them in my den closet. One of the better features in Slam is the "Punks" section where they write about high school players. I've really enjoyed looking back on what people wrote about future NBA players at the time (Joel Pryzbilla, Ben Gordon, Amare Stoudermire) and players who will forever be etched in my brain because of the promise they showed (Kenny Satterfield or Alton Ford).
Anyhow, was thinking about Slam today, thought I'd share.
**The picture is of the issue I was referring to**

And

So here's the deal. Life is complicated. Every day there are obstacles and finding time to write has been difficult. At the very least, I'm going to publish one post on this blog every day from now until I (hopefully) graduate college in December.
Maybe it will help me in finding a job post-college, maybe the help won't be needed. This collegiate journey began (for the third time) in September of 2009--here we are in March of 2012. Shit. Time flies. Time to become an adult--thank god I'll be 30 when I finally graduate.
//dusts off top hat
//wipes monocle
//trips and falls
So, hopefully you'll come along for the ride!


**note, if you google image search "top hat monocle" you will find nudity. Yeah, I know--I was surprised as you to find this out.

Back in the Swing of Things

Hello again everyone! Let me layout a scenario, let me know if this has ever happened to you:

You are late with something...then super late...then ridiculously late to the point that you figure to hell with it? That's how this blog has been for the better part of the last two years. It got weird--I shouldn't have quit writing on it. It was too much fun to write, and about half as fun to read. So I'm going to really put forth the effort to keep it going this time around.

Thanks to the tens of you who asked what happened to this blog. Talk to you soon!

Holy Living Hell...That Was a Long Weekend!

Ok, ok. So it wasn't the lengthly break I was hoping to take. I do apologize for the months off, but when something like this website isn't your full time job...life will get in the way.
Can all be forgiven? I'd like to think so.
With all that said, this site will not get back to the 10 posts a day it used to have (at it's peak), it will however be a more toned down structure (between 5-10 posts per week). Stay tuned.

Ladies and Gentlemen your 2008 AFC East Champion Buffalo Bills!

Well, maybe that's getting ahead of ourselves here. Then again, ask the Seattle Seahawks--Buffalo looked tough. Couple that with Tom Brady's knee crumpling up like a piece of discarded toilet paper and the Toronto/Buffalo Bills look like a possible threat in the division. Or is this just one big conspiricy to make Brett Favre's season a roaring success? Hmmm.
Anyhow, I never got around to posting the predicted standings before yesterday's games (don't worry, I didn't change them--I still picked the Pats to win their division and the AFC--all bets off now). So I'll post those at the end of the entry.
Let's talk about the Pat's situation for a second. I understand that several people that read this blog are near and around my age (26)...or graduated from high school about the same year I did (2000). Well, Matt Cassell fits that criteria and guess what? I have started as many football games (college and pro)that Matt has started since graduation. Is that why the Patriots have Chris Simms and Tim Rattay coming in for workouts? Special nuggett: when the Patriots drafted Tom Brady it was between Brady and Tim Rattay. I don't know what you'd do with that information but there it is.
NFL Preview 2008
NFC North
Green Bay (10-6)

Chicago (9-7)
Minnesota (8-8)

Detroit (5-11)

NFC West

Seattle (10-6)

Arizona (8-8)

St. Louis (6-10)

San Francisco (4-12)

NFC East

Dallas (12-5)

Philadelphia (10-6)

New York (9-7)

Washington (8-8)
NFC South
New Orleans (10-6)
Carolina (10-6)
Atlanta (7-9)
Tampa Bay (6-10)
AFC North
Pittsburgh (12-4)
Cleveland (9-7)
Baltimore (7-9)
Cincinnati (3-13)
AFC West
San Diego (10-6)
Denver (8-8)
Oakland (7-9)
Kansas City (6-10)
AFC East
New England (14-2)
Buffalo (10-6)
Miami (7-9)
New York (5-11)
AFC South
Indianapolis (13-3)
Jacksonville (10-6)
Tennessee (6-10)
Houston (5-11)
MVP- Marion Barber III
OROY- Rashard Mendenhall
DROY- Derrick Harvey
COY- Mike Tomlin
Super Bowl- New England over Dallas (revised to be Pittsburgh over Dallas)

Hip Hop Hooray

Two posts in one day!? You've gotta be kidding me. Heard this song today, brought me back and figured I'd make it Music Video of the Day.
Little back story on this song. You couldn't throw a stone in 1993 without hitting a radio playing this song. Seriously, think of a hip hop hook that was more memorable than "Heeyy...hoooo...heeyy...hooo". That's right, you can't. Problem is, it got over used and it took me 15 years to like it again (you read that right--it's been 15 years).
True story about Naughty by Nature: it was because of their self titled record that my parents became aware of the parental advisory lable that was on "inappropriate" albums. You see, I was over at a relative's house in 1992 or so when the nameless relative warned my parents about this "noise pollution". Isn't that fucking great?! For the next seven year or so, I wasn't allowed to purchase music that had cussing (which led to me ripping the sticker off several Beastie Boy CDs over the next few years). Good thing I didn't have a copy of "The Chronic" when I was 11--I might have joined a street gang--oh yeah, that's right, I lived in suburbia (we don't have gangs--and this was long before it became en vogue to shoot your classmates). Really? Can't buy a CD with swear words? Thanks Mom and Dad. Instead I grow up to write angry blog entries. Nice trade off. Anyhow, I'm getting punchy, here's Naughty By Nature's "Hip Hop Hooray"...