Category: listen up!

no 5SF this week, but some great news

As you may notice, there is no five song Friday occupying its regular slot this week; I have had a really bad week (from being sick to the hot water heater woes to school work overload), so I am taking a break. I need to write up my concert experience from Mat Kearney last Friday at the Center Stage (it was amazing), and edit like a million pictures I took at the show too, but I just don’t have any energy. Being sick is not something I do well, and hopefully, I will be back to full strength soon enough.

Hopefully, my weekend will be better than my week was.

With that being said, there is some great news that may signal a good weekend ahead: The Senate approved the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes bill on Thursday. While it bothers me somewhat that there were 29 who voted against it, I am more than happy this important legislation passed through the senate, and is on its way to becoming the real deal when Obama hopefully signs it into law. For those naysayers, I hope that you understand that the reason why it is important, is because these safe guards are already afforded to everyone else EXCEPT gay people. This is a real step in the direction towards gay people having equal civil rights, and it should be celebrated. Here’s to civil rights and equality for all… including gay people!!

5SF: october 16

TGIF. This has been a four day week for me, but for whatever reason, every hour has felt like two, and it just seemed to go by really slowly. A good thing did come out of it, though, I found some AMAZING new songs to feature today, and I can’t wait for you to hear them. Let’s get started!

30 Seconds to Mars – Kings and Queens
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_1016_30secondstomars-kingsandqueens.mp3]
I have been known to gush incessantly about some songs, but I try my best to reserve that for those that I am totally and utterly blow away by. Well, ladies and gents, this is one of those songs, and I am going to nothing short of tell everyone I know about this one. This song is immensely beautiful, and the arrangement is perfect. It is so good that I have to admit that I was actually kind of surprised by it. While I really liked their last album, this towers so high over anything they have done so far, that there really is no way that it wouldn’t take a fan even more diehard than myself by surprise. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a dig in any way to their previous work; they have some brilliant and amazing stuff out there already, but this song hits like the ultimate crescendo. Jared Leto’s voice soars alongside the building riffs and sends chills up my spine when he hits those high notes and sustains them so pitch perfectly. This takes everything they have done before and perfects it. I can’t heap enough praise on this track, and I cannot wait until their new album comes out; because if it is anything like this, it is going to be utterly brilliant. Simply put: AMAZING.

Robbie Williams – Bodies
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_1016_robbiewilliams-bodies.mp3]
I had a bit of a twitter/facebook snafu yesterday when I proclaimed my love for this song; when I accidentally said I liked Robin Williams’ Bodies. Well, let’s clear that up; THIS is the Bodies that I am heaping my praise on (well, I wouldn’t mind heaping some praise on Robbie Williams’ (not Robin Williams) actual body, but that is topic for another time and another place). Overall, whenever Robbie releases a new single, I always want to like it, and sometimes I do, but when I first heard Bodies, I didn’t. I think it was the hard distortion sound that accompanies the beat that turned me off at first. However, I have heard it a few times, and now I see how wrong I was; this song is beautiful and I actually love the hard distortion completely now! I realize now that I didn’t give it the chance that it so rightly deserves. This song is catchy, the arrangement is excellent, and Robbie’s voice is as beautiful as ever.

The Saturdays – Lose Control
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_1016_thesaturdays-losecontrol.mp3]
I don’t know which part I am in the most awe over, that the Saturdays released a whole new album just a year after their really great debut album, Chasing Lights, or that it’s probably an even better album than their first. Take this song for instance. Wow. Let me say that again, because it bears repeating, WOW. These girls have clearly taken all of the thunder both Girls Aloud and the (possibly new defunct?) Sugababes once had, and have channeled that tenacity into truly fantastic girl-group driven pop. I will admit that while the ho-hum first single (I’m not saying Forever is Over is bad necessarily, it just isn’t as good as every other thing they have done, IMHO), and the weird title (Wordshaker) of this album had me less than interested in downloading it, BUT after a few listens, I have to say that there isn’t a bad track on their new album. This song in particular blew me away, and I instantly wanted to hear it again once it ended. These ladies have proven to be some work horses, quickly and consistently turning out great pop albums, and based on the quality of work they keep releasing, I certainly hope they can sustain this momentum for a long time to come. Let’s just say that I have a strong feeling that their new album will be included in 2009’s annual countdown of my favorite albums.

Nelly Furtado – Manos Al Aire
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_1016_nellyfurtado-manosalaire.mp3]
Some of you probably wonder why in the hell I would be posting a Spanish song, but trust me, this song took me by much more surprise than you could possibly have for me featuring it. I have had a love hate relationship with Nelly Furtado; mostly, I LOVE all of her older stuff that I felt was more “her style”, and I practically HATE everything she did with Timbaland. I remember when Promiscuous came out, and I really liked it at first. However, that quickly turned to disdain, because with each subsequent single, I felt the Nelly I instantly fell in love with back in 2001 with I’m Like a Bird was completely gone. That troubled me, and as such, I kind of started ignoring her. It wasn’t until I saw the video (I HIGHLY recommend you go and watch it) for Manos Al Aire (with subtitles!), that I remembered why I fell in love with her in the first place. I LOVE the arrangement of the song (old Nelly is back!), the vocals are spot on, and the writing (both the Spanish, and their translation) is beautiful. I have always thought Nelly was a great song writer, and with this song, she has gotten back to her roots; and most importantly, shown me that there is still more to her than Timbaland’s productions. Whatever language she sings in, Nelly Furtado has proven to me once again, that she is a talented musician.

Katharine McPhee – Say Goodbye

[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_1016_katharinemcphee-saygoodbye.mp3]
Even though I am a fan of American Idol, I can’t say that there are many of those kids that I avidly kept following after they left the show. Katharine McPhee is one of the notable exceptions. After delivering an amazing, if not totally ignored (well, except by me, of course), debut album, she was dropped from her record label. Thankfully, she got herself a new record deal. While I was lukewarm about the first single, Had It All, I was instantly reminded of why I love Katharine so much with Say Goodbye; her singing is effortless. Honestly, I think it is a shame that she isn’t as famous as other female singers that can deliver the caliber of performance she has consistently delivered. This song is incredibly beautiful in tone, arrangement, writing, and of course, Katharine’s effortlessly delivered vocal. She may not have won her season of American Idol, but she definitely won a fan for life in me. I can’t wait for Unbroken to be released early next year.

So there’s your Friday five for this week. What did you think? Please let me know!! Also, please let me know what you are listening to; I’ve always got my ear out for wonderful music!

third time’s a charm

Britney’s lastest single, the total earworm 3 will in fact debut at number 1 on the hot 100. Love her or hate her, you have to admit, this has been a pretty impressive comeback; one that only seems to keep gaining momentum! Major congrats to Ms. Spears who snags only her third number one hit song with 3 (how appropriate)! Personally, I have been loving the song from the first listen (even though the lyrics are just ridiculous; but you have to admit, catchy is catchy!), but what do you think? I can definitely say that if this is any indication of the future of Britney Spears, she clearly has a lot left to give to pop music, and I couldn’t be more happy about it. Keep up the great work, Britney!

5SF: october 9 (British pop edition!)

Thanks to Stuart playing all kinds of wonderful cheesy British pop from the early 00s at Mary’s last weekend, I have been in the mood for more, more, more all week. I decided to make a play list of some of my favorites, and as the list started to get pretty long, I realized that there are some great pop songs out there from the not so distant past that deserve to be shared. Due to the fact that I am practically in British pop overload as a result of making the list, I thought it would be fun to have a 5SF that is totally focused on the excellent cheesy pop music that hails from the UK from the earlier part of this decade.

Clea – I Surrender
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_109_clea-isurrender.mp3]
Clea were a band that came together after the girls met each other during the auditioning process for Pop Stars: The Rivals. While they didn’t win, they managed to release some pretty great pop music together. Clea had some issues with getting an album out, but when they finally did, it was filled with cheesy pop that has been a guilty pleasure of mine for years. This is my favorite song from the album Trinity, and even though Clea are long gone from the music scene, I still absolutely love this song. It is dance-tastic, and is just the type of cheesy British pop that I can’t get enough of right now.

Rachel Stevens – Knock On Wood
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_109_rachelstevens-knockonwood.mp3]
Rachel was in a fantastically cheesy-but-brilliant pop band called S Club 7 (who I completely and utterly adore!), and after the band broke up (*sad face*), she went out on her own, and released some pretty great solo stuff. Anyone who has been following this blog for a while now knows that I am a sucker for a great cover song, and this one is nothing short of fantastic (even though it isn’t on any of her albums!). Surprisingly, they actually played this on So You Think You Can Dance (last year I think) during a disco routine, and at the time, I was reminded of how much I love Rachel, and miss her contributions to pop music. My recent resurgence of interest in early 00s pop music wouldn’t be complete without a little love for Rachel and the rest of the S Club crew.

V – Can You Feel It?
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_109_v-canyoufeelit.mp3]
As is the case with many British pop bands, the formula of releasing cover songs is pretty much a standard, and V are no exception to the rule (this is a cover of The Jackson 5’s hit of the same name). However, even though it is a cover, it is cheesy boy-band pop at its BEST (which is probably why that formula is followed so predictably). Around the time the US was pining over The Backstreet Boys and N*SYNC, the UK had a slew of boy bands popping up left, right, and center. V was one of the bands that managed to have a few hits, only to disappear into near obscurity overnight. It’s interesting to me, that right now, there is another band brandishing the letter V in their name (who were actually featured on a previous 5SF), doing almost the same type of music. I hope they can last a little longer than this great boy band did, because this song showed enormous potential; again, a great cover song will win me over practically every time (I’m looking at you Mariah!!).

Emma Bunton – Maybe
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_109_emmabunton-maybe.mp3]
Many of you probably know Emma better by her stage name, Baby Spice; a name that she was given to her when she was in the Spice Girls. However, a lot of you might not know that every one of the Spice Girls kept working on music once the band broke up (a lot of it is brilliant!), and Emma’s second solo album is one of the best of the bunch; there isn’t a bad song on it. Emma was on the early end of the currently growing trend to harness a throwback sound; and in her case, as exhibited by the theme of this album, it was the swanky sound of pop music from the 60s. She had moderate attention in the states with her hit Free Me, which was remixed and made some waves on the dance scene, but Maybe was always my favorite from the album. Hearing this again made me realize just how much I love that whole album, and I’m glad to feature it today as one of my all time favorite British pop songs.

Steps – Stomp
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_109_steps-stomp.mp3]
Arguably one of the biggest of the songs featured on today’s 5SF, this massive song by pop super group Steps pretty much embodies the uber cheesy heart of British pop of the early 00s. Steps were insanely huge when they were making music, and caused quite a stink with their fans when they disbanded; mostly because they had reassured everyone they wouldn’t when the rumors of a break up started flying. Because I didn’t find out about Steps until after they disbanded, I was shielded from any bad feelings about them, which is good, because I truly love some Steps. They are like a cheesy ABBA disco tribute band gone completely over the edge with bubble gum pop goodness. This is my favorite song by Steps, and it really is a shame that they didn’t continue on, because they made some really great pop music together. I’ve always thought this song was the perfect song for a Friday, because it’s all about getting ready for the weekend, so I thought it really worked for today.

I have thoroughly enjoyed bringing you some of my favorite cheesy British pop songs today. Reaching back into the vault of music that I own is often very fun; especially when I take a nostalgic trip down the pantheon of British pop that I own. I sorted through a huge pile of CDs making the play list that inspired today’s 5SF, and I will definitely say that it was really hard to choose just five. However, I think I picked some great ones, and I tried to pick ones that people might not have ever heard, and ones that they should. I hope you enjoyed them. Let me know what you thought, and if you have any suggestions of British pop that I must hear, please, do tell! Overall, what did you think of this week’s theme and selections? Should I do more fun British pop from the early 00s? I have tons!

Atlanta gay bar, The Eagle raided

UPDATE on the Eagle raid: I no longer THINK this was discriminatory, I know it was. This comment literally send shivers down my spine:

Du-Wayne Ray, store manager of Rawhide Leather, which operates below the Eagle, said that he and one of his employees heard one white uniformed officer say to another, “This is a lot more fun than raiding n***ers with crack.”

Ray said he was handcuffed for an hour-and-a-half to two hours on the back deck of The Eagle, and said, “A lot of anti-gay comments were made.”

This is an outrage. Atlanta police should be extremely forthcoming with formal apologies to anyone and everyone involved; additionally, a formal apology to the gay community should be submitted. This level of discrimination is shocking and unbelievable; especially when it comes from the very people that are supposed to keep us safe. Bigotry in any form cannot be tolerated, and this again, is just shocking to know that it came from Atlanta police officers.

I honestly can’t believe that this happened, here in Atlanta, last night. I thought we were living in a more progressive city, but it just goes to show, you aren’t safe from discrimination anywhere.

windows activation required

I have a problem with my PC… can you help?! (And if you say, “get a Mac”, you should “get a life”, because I have one.)

So I noticed my desktop background was gone the other day, and I also noticed a new notice from Windows Vista on the right side of the tool bar, where the process icons run. This new process is asking me to “activate” or “validate” Windows, and when I click on it, it warns me that my key is not valid, which is completely not true.

I bought this computer a couple of years ago, and I have no idea why all of a sudden, Windows Vista would decide that the key was no longer sufficient. If anyone has ran into this problem, can you share your solution?
PLEASE NOTE: Solutions should not include:

  • Buying a new key for Windows Vista: because I shouldn’t have to pay for something twice.
  • Contacting the manufacturer of the PC: because last time I contacted the manufacturer of my PC, they simply noted I was out of warranty and wanted $59 an hour to “solve my problem”; which I got a friend to fix for free.
  • “Revert to XP”: because the damn PC came with Vista on it, and except for constant issues with iTunes, I hadn’t had any issues with Vista up until now.

I have not put in my key (that is located on the side of the PC), because I am afraid that it will invalidate that key (I am using logic to come to this conclusion, because that key should be the one that is already on file on the PC, because, again, it was the version of Vista that came with the PC), and I don’t want to risk ruining my current, legitimately paid for key. I am wondering if this is some virus or some issue/update/problem that does have a fix out there that I am just not presently aware of.

Any help is much appreciated.

suckin’ it for the holidays

One of my favorite comedians, the amazing Ms. Kathy Griffin just released her second comedy album, Suckin’ It for the Holidays last week; and what kind of fan would I be if I didn’t say something about it? I especially wanted to spread the word, because I only found out about it yesterday myself.

After one listen to this CD, I am reminded why I love Kathy so much; her brash sense of humor is consistently hilarious, and she is one person that always makes me laugh no matter my mood. Even when she is talking about celebrity gossip that I don’t have a clue about, she draws me in with the way she makes fun of it and tells it like it is. Kathy’s comedy is fresh, and always keeps you on your toes. You never know who she’s going after next, and you never know when she’s gonna run into them down the line (which always makes for a great story on its own)!

My favorite moments from this album are when Kathy is at her “worst” (i.e., BEST), saying the things that many of us may think, but won’t say. If you are fan of Kathy, you will love this CD, because it is another generous helping of her hilarious shtick that had me laughing for over an hour. I hope she snags another Grammy nod for this record, because this is one comedian that needs to get the recognition she deserves!

Yelp: a(nother) soapbox for bigots?

Imagine my surprise when someone requested to be friends with me on Yelp today, and I find out that he is writing extremely hurtful and bigoted remarks about me in one of his “reviews”. Not only did he post the review, but after it was taken down, he was allowed to remain member of Yelp, AND, re-posted a similar version of the review just a few minutes later.

Here’s what he said (the first time around), in “response” to my review of my experience at Green’s Liquor store:

After reading Duane M. review of Green’s Beverage Store, I had to fire back. I visit Green’s Beverage store once or twice a month. Everyone there has always been very nice and helpful.
However, I have never carried a purse and I don’t understand why a man would. You said you are not a woman, but after reading all your reviews you sure do act and bitch like a woman. Come on, we all know that someone that wants to homosexualize America likes to pretend that he is a woman. Perhaps Duane should take the dildo out of his ass!! Fucking pussys like you make me sick. When you choose to suck another man’s dick or take some guys cock up your ass, you become a 2nd class citizen. You have no right to ever bitch. Please keep your mouth shut and get back into the closet.
hmmmm, and you wonder why most of America hates gays.

So eloquent. Let’s look at the face of a true bigot, and oh so clearly one of the highest forms of complete and total asshole, Jake P. of Dacula, GA, shall we:


Just take it in… all that asshole-ishness is almost too much to contain. By the way, nice lip gloss, Jake.

Now, the review was flagged, and eventually taken down, and I didn’t even know about it until I randomly read this thread. However, Yelp allowed him to post another review, very similarly filled hate speech as the first one:

After reading Duane M. review that he likes to dress up like a woman and wants to homesexualize American, I had to do something. I go into Green’s a few times a month and everyone is very nice and helpful.
But, Duane with his fag bag is acting like a little bitchy woman.
Perhaps if Duane got his dildo out of his ass, all of America would be a better place to live in. Duane what you wrote about Green’s was pure hateful, you being a little light in the loafers should understand what is it to be hated.
You are not a woman, your worse. Your a 2nd class citizen, start acting like one.

That second review was even better, Jake flexes his superior knowledge of all things grammar (um, it’s you’re, sweetness, not your).

While this will probably be taken down as well (I’m fairly certain it has of this posting), I can’t help but question why Yelp would allow someone like this to remain a member of their site? As a member of Yelp for YEARS, I was honestly considering deleting everyone of my reviews and publicly declaring myself against their organization; especially because they did not initially seem to have much concern for their members (if only because this guy was allowed to go on posting hate speech, even after he was “punished” for doing it the first time). Not only am I extremely offended by the bigot that was allowed to spread his hate about me without any repercussion (on a public website that I am willingly a part of), but I am even more upset that they there was very slow response to one member of their site clearly gay bashing another (my point being that he was allowed to continue using the site with no restriction).

Well, I sent this post to the Atlanta Ambassador for Yelp, and I got an answer and a clear and expected response, and they are taking care of it. That is a major plus in the Yelp column. As I mentioned above, I considered severing ties with Yelp, because I have had enough people call me a faggot to my face during my lifetime, to continue supporting a web service that just gives someone the platform to do it to me on the internet. However, because of Yelp’s positive and proactive actions, I will not go that far. HOWEVER, and that is a BIG however, I still think that people like this should be banned from the site after a post as bad as his was; 3 strikes is clearly 2 too many with things like this. A first offense of this nature should not be tolerated. If you are clearly bashing another member of the site, do you really deserve a chance to keep contributing? It honestly destroys my hope for humanity when people like this rear their ugly heads, and spread their hatred for all to see.

UPDATE: BANNED. Yelp wins. AWESOME. Thank you YELP!!! I really makes me happy that Yelp takes things like this seriously.

Yeah, you’re right… being gay isn’t all that bad anymore. Being second class isn’t that big of a deal. Things are just swell for us, and we should stop complaining. RIIIIGHT.

ikea faucet installation how to: something you need to know

Oh Ikea… how do I love thee? I could go on forever counting the ways. For me, there is something cathartic about putting together your cute furniture, and a sense of accomplishment that comes along with it that is unlike most other things in this world. HOWEVER (and that is a BIG however), occasionally, you throw a major curve ball at me, and your other customers, and we have to figure out how to make the strange situation work for us.

This is a story of one of those curve balls.

After redoing the main bathroom’s shower and all of the headache that came with it, I refused to go back to using my shitty master bath’s vanity, so I figured I could just “add that on” to the other project. Most of all, it was easy fixes; there is nothing wrong with the shower in our master, and the floor is okay, so I just painted (sassy green!), and thought a new vanity and medicine cabinet was all I needed. For the most part, I have been 100% correct; I am totally happy with all of the somewhat minor changes that I have made. I LOVE the new cabinet, and the vanity is way more compact, and looks way more high end than the one that was in there since we moved in. However (there’s that word again!), I hit a snag when I went to connect the new faucet to the water supply line.
ikea faucet installation: something you NEED to know!
As you can see in the above picture, the lines were just a little too short, but that wasn’t the real problem; the fitting was completely different than the fitting of my previous faucet, which meant that they would not connect to the supply lines.

In fact, it should be stated to anyone that considers ever getting Ikea faucets, that their supply connection STANDARD is 1/2″ (which actually measures 1″ in diameter, which is just odd), not the 3/8″ standard for the United States (NOTE: I could be getting this backwards (but I’m pretty sure I’m not): Ikea says, “Connection hoses with 3/8″ connection included.”, but I’m fairly certain it was a 1/2″ connector at the end of the supply line… regardless, it doesn’t fit.). So what does that mean, exactly? Well, it means that the Ikea supply connections are far bigger than the existing connections that come out of your wall, and well, to put it bluntly, it just won’t work. I found this interesting, because it isn’t mentioned ANYWHERE in the Ikea manual for the faucet.

Hmmm…

So here’s what I did:

First, I googled the situation. I managed to find out that this is only a slightly known issue for those that have ventured into the realm of Swedish flat pack furniture, and lucky for me, there were solutions! So here’s what I had to do…

1) I went to Lowes, and was told they didn’t have what I needed. Don’t waste your time, go DIRECTLY to Ace Hardware, because they have everything you need; which differs from Steve’s (somewhat more complicated, sorry Steve!) solution I linked to above. Here’s what you will need:
2 connection adapters (not sure that’s what they are called); these will be the connection between the Ikea hoses and your new hose. It should be 1/2″ on the Ikea end, and 3/8″ on the other end for the new hose.
2 new faucet connector hoses, standard 3/8″ fittings on each end.

And that’s it!!

Now, here are some pictures, because this is incredibly difficult to explain just using words:
This is the new hose that I was describing with the male/male adapter installed on top:
ikea faucet installation: something you NEED to know!
This will be screwed into the Ikea faucet connector:
ikea faucet installation: something you NEED to know!
Now, the the Ikea faucet is screwed into an adapter, and that adapter is now screwed into a hose that has the standard connector for the supply line coming out of the wall. We’re all set!!!

This is what it looked like when I got everything all in:
ikea faucet installation: something you NEED to know!
$25 dollars and a little elbow grease, and it works like a charm. Now, I don’t know why those hoses start at 12″, causing me to have to snake it around like that, but I don’t care as long as it fucking works, and it does.

So, if you plan on getting a cute little sink, and oh-so-easy to install faucet to go with said sink, be sure to come back and reference this post. It will save you time, because you won’t have to start out empty handed; you can get the adapters and new hoses before you start!

Oh the joys of DIY home improvement… right?! Needless to say, I am more than happy with my “new” bathroom(s), and I can let out a sigh of relief and go back to loving Ikea wholeheartedly (even though I MAY have cursed their name a few points during the project); but don’t even get me started on that weird ass p-trap and the nonsense that went into getting that cluster fuck to work.

UPDATE: It didn’t occur to me to post pictures of the sink/faucet (I was focused on the stress of getting the damn thing installed), but Shan’s request reminded me; so here you go: (I may update this with actual photos of MY cabinet/sink/faucet in the near future, so check back for that)