First off, New Year’s Resolution #1 down there…has not been carried out, obviously. This has led to…

New Year’s Revelation #1: I suck.

Ok. well…what else.

AH! My Morning Jacket was on SNL last night, and even though I’m only halfway through the show on our DVR (yes…i suck at keeping up on watching recorded TV, too)…i saw their first performance.

They played a song from their upcoming CD, “Evil Urges”, which comes out June 10. The song is called, “I’m Amazed”, and I REALLY like it. Here it is…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2TqaOWYYgE

hey…also, they’ll be back in their home city of Louisville in August…you should go check them out…the 2 or 3 of you who actually read this posting.

if you read this blog at all, you’ll know i’m a huge fan, and i just think these guys don’t get the fan recognition that they should, considering the amount of critical acclaim they get.

here’s a little video of the song (they’ve gotten considerably less “shaggy” since then…much to the dismay of my wife).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYH_1kW7n8M

On his website, SugarSkullParade, he talks about her poetry and why it is he chose her.

“Her honesty and commitment to “bleeding on the page” made me feel like a pretender. There is an urgency and authenticity to her writing that makes you sit up in the middle of the night. Or stop everything on a Tuesday afternoon to listen to your own pulse. It is writing that originates in the South, spilled out through the Kentucky backroads and gulleys in a beat-up Ford with traces of meth in the ashtray. Honesty isn’t pretty and there are ghosts of things that never get mentioned at the family picnic. However, in spite of all the bumps and bruises, there is a peace and resolution that settles on the reader of these poems. Read closely. This is no Slyvia Plath. Yes, life is tricky. Life can be absurd. But throughout everything is a thirst for life itself.“

Congratulations, my dear. You deserve it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3CQIbNJy90

here are the lyrics to the song…

Think about it

There’s children on the street using guns and knives
Taking drugs and each other’s lives
Killing each other with knives and forks
Calling each other names like ‘dork’
There’s people on the street getting diseases from monkeys
Yeah, that’s what I said – they’re getting diseases from monkeys
Now there’s junkies with monkey disease
Who’s touching these monkeys, please
Leave these poor sick monkeys alone
They’ve got problems enough as it is.
Man’s lying on the street
Some punk’s chopped off his head
I’m the only one who stops
To see if he’s dead
Mmm…
Turns out he’s dead.
And that’s why I’m singing
What…what is wrong with the world today?
What is wrong with the world today?
(Jemaine mumbles)
What…what is wrong with the world today?
You gotta think about it
Think think about it.
Good cops been framed and put into a can.
All the money that we’re making is going to the man.
What man?
Which man?
Who’s the man?
When’s a man a man?
What makes a man a man?
Am I a man?
Yes. Technically I am.
They’re turning kids into slaves just to make cheaper sneakers.
But hat’s the real cost?
‘Cause the sneakers don’t seem that much cheaper.
Why are we still paying so much for sneakers
When you got them made by little slave kids
What are your overheads?
Well, at the end of your life, you’re lucky if die,
Sometimes I wonder why we even try.
I saw a man lying on the street half dead
With knives and forks sticking out of his leg.
And he said,
“Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Can somebody get that knife and fork out of my leg, please?
Can somebody please remove these cutleries from my knees?”
And then we break it down.
This is where we break it down
Ooh
This is where we break it down
Aah
This is where we do the whoa-o-o-o
Break it down
This is where we build it up now
We build it up now
We build it up now
We build it up now
We build it up now
Build it up
And then we stop

enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrKqXZTIE6s

and his costly shades…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7sAjmdmpwI

i’ve made it my personal mission to bring as many fans as i possibly can into the Kings of Leon camp. folks, there are only a handful of bands left out there today that are making really KICK ASS rock and roll music, and this is most certainly one of them. my discovery of the Kings of Leon came about when i went searching for the name of the song used in that funky Volkswagen commercial where the guy and the girl go out and buy a stereo and then come home and BLAST it in their little house, while jumping up and down like crazy people.

that song turned out to be “Molly’s Chamber”, and the band, the Kings of Leon. i have been addicted from that moment on. so far, i’ve tried passing it around to a few friends, but it hasn’t met with the response i was hoping for. i think it just may take a few listens before it settles into your brain and kicks your ass, too…

so just ease back, click on that video below, and soak it all in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRGuQeEt6So

if you aren’t listening to this band, you need to be. so far, i’ve swung and missed by trying to introduce them to people, but that won’t stop me from trying. this band kicks some major ass, and there will be many more postings of their videos as we go along. for now, here’s some nice concert footage of the KOL, playing a new song that is expected to be on their new album, which is due to be released this spring.  enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBdX129w1m8