Pretty.Odd - Unmoving?

When I got back to St. Louis I had to ask my daughter A if she had purchased the latest Panic at the Disco record. It was her favorite band (note the word ‘was’). I brought her back the one Australian music magazine I could find with them on the cover. She told me she had bought Pretty.Odd but hadn’t listened to it all the way through. This is not a good sign since she has had it for about a week.

She quickly read the article in the magazine and told me, “Did you know they like dropped the exclamation point? It like wasn’t like a conscious decision according to that article. They didn’t like sit down and decide”. Actually she might have used ‘like’ one more time.

So on my way to and from work I have been listening to it and unlike Maxim, I’ve given it two thorough listens and I haven’t read any of the reviews. In my opinion, this record is their tribute to the Beatles. As I said to K, there are worse things a young band could do instead of move into a Beatles phase. Besides the single Nine in the Afternoon, nothing sounds terribly radio friendly. The one good thing about their Beatles phase is they have expanded vocals to both Brendan and Ryan. Ryan Ross’ voice is the polar opposite of Brendan Urie. While Brendan is almost Broadway polished, Ryan’s sounds a bit unconfident and natural. It is a nice change of pace. It’s very orchestral and some of the lyrics are trying too hard.

I was very glad when A announced that she has been listening to My Chemical Romance’ s Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. That means that my two thorough listens may be the end of the PATD rotation. --J

50th Grammys- K's POV

It was the 50th anniversary, so the show was all about celebrating the classic with the contemporary; thus, you had a duet with Alicia Keys and Frank Sinatra to open the show. Cher introduced Tina Turner and Beyonce (who just needs to stop- I'm sorry I'm just not into her jerky movements) performing Proud Mary. Kid Rock and Keely Smith performed That Old Black Magic. They were very playful and somehow it worked.

Jason Bateman referred to a cello as a violin with thyroid trouble, LOL. He also mentioned John Paul Jones playing with Foo and said "as in Led Zeppelin, for all the morons out there". I really miss Arrested Development.

Dave Grohl dedicated the record of the year award to his daughter- he got slightly choked up.

Cirque du Soleil performed a bit of their beatles themed show with song A Day in the Life, which is one of my favorites.

Kanye gave an emotional performance clearly dedicated to his mother after "Stronger". It was moving.

Amy, my god- I don't know what to say. She looked and sounded terrific. That girl sang her heart out last night.

The big surprise was that Herbie Hancock won album of the year. Even Quincy Jones, who gave away the award, was shocked.

All in all, it was not boring, which is all we can ask for! -K