My first post of 2011 is another special version of “Cover Me Sunday” as it will again feature two amazing covers (just like last weeks!)

The first cover for today is Cee Lo Green‘s amazing rendition of Band of Horses‘ “No One’s Gonna Love You”, which can be featured on his newest album “The Lady Killer”.  (The original can be found on “Cease To Begin” and can be found here).  The version I’m posting is the remixed version by Paul Epworth.  Check that the cover after the jump.

The second cover is Amy Kuney‘s cover of Damien Rice‘s “Blower’s Daughter”, which can be found on Kuney’s debut album, “Bird’s Eye View”.  (The original can be found on his album “O”, and can be heard here).  Fun fact, because of this cover, Damien Rice invited Amy Kuney to come open for him for a few dates in Iceland a few years ago!  Again, check it out after the jump!

Cee Lo Green – No One’s Gonna Love You (Paul Epworth remix)

Amy Kuney – Blower’s Daughter

Today’s Cover Me Sunday will feature 2 covers.  First from Solid Gold, and the other being from Ben Folds

The first cover is Solid Gold‘s take on Kenny Loggins‘ “Danger Zone” and can be found on their EP Synrchonize. Tell me that’s not exiting just by hearing that little bit.  Anyways, here it is:

The second cover is from Ben Folds and is a take on Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” (which is one of my all time favorite songs).  It can be found on his Live album Ben Folds Live.

As a bonus, it’s probably worth mentioning quite possibly the best version of this song, which can be seen in one of my all time favorite movies, Almost Famous.

The most gaping issue is that when Glee clubs sing, their voices (usually/always) are not live/post processed to the point of no return.  By this i mean when Lea Michele (Rachel) is singing, her voice has already been processed for auto-tuning.  Same goes for …all of the others.  Now I know for a fact that at least three of the stars from Glee can sing (Amber Riley, Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison), and I think it may be safe to assume that most of the other cast can sing as well (just not as good).  I mean, the dude who plays Artie was in a Boy Band so he has to have some shred of talent, right?  The point, is that if we, the audience, really want to get into the “Glee life-style” or if Ryan Murphy and the creators of Glee really want to show us what Glee is about, then the voices should be raw, and barely touched.  Though, there’s another inherent problem with how Ryan Murphy tells the audience what Glee Clubs are.

Glee clubs are a capella.  Meaning, only voices.  No instruments.  The closest they have right now is “The Warblers” (what a terrible name), who are an all-male a capella group.  However, the main Glee club has a backing band, which means that it’s not a capella, it’s just a bunch of whiny kids singing on top of somewhat cheesy arrangements.  However, the band kids bring a new problem to Glee.  If the Glee kids “have no friends” and are outsiders, why not befriend the band kids?  As a band-geek, I can safely say, that it’s always fun to hang out with other people who sing or play music.  Not to mention, maybe the band kids can sing?

And then there’s the problem that the Glee Club practices in a CHOIR / BAND ROOM, yet there is no Choir/Band teacher that comes to the aid of the Glee club.  Ever.  For all we know, there is no Choir or Band teacher.  But that then begs the question of why the hell is there a choir /band room in a school that doesn’t have a Choir or Band program?  AND THAT then begs the question of why the band kids bring their instruments to school.

I’m sure that I’m missing some, and barring any “yeah, like the show sucks”, I’d love to hear what everyone has to say.

Everywhere I look, I see that Kanye West‘s newest album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” is being called the best album of 2010.  My only question to everyone out there is:  does it really deserve the top spot?  Now, I will plead ignorance to the fact that I have yet to listen to the album (and to be completely, 100% honest, I probably never will), but I respect the fact that he put out a great album (according to … everyone).  And with this post, I do not mean to take anything away from Kanye.  That being said, is it really fair to say that it is, without a doubt, the best album in 2010?  The album came out little less than a month ago on Nov. 22, which means people have yet to really be able to see how well this album fares within a few months.

Prime example:  In NPR’s All Songs Considered, a radio show / podcast that I highly recommend, the mid-year “album of the year so far” was Gorillaz‘ “Plastic Beach“, as voted by the listeners.  By the end of the year, using the same process, “Plastic Beach” fell to #11, with The Arcade Fire‘s “Suburbs” (another album I have yet to listen to) taking the lead spot.

So my question is, in 6 months, will Kanye’s album still be ranked above The National‘s “High Violet”?  The Arcade Fire‘s “Suburbs“, The Black Key‘s “Brothers“?  Or at that point, will anyone actually care? Probably not, but it’s an interesting thing to think about.

Best New Band (This goes to bands who debuted with full-length albums  in 2010)

5. A Troop of Echoes – Days in Automation

4. Sleigh Bells – Treats

3. Broken Bells – Broken Bells

2. Local Natives – Gorilla Manor

1. Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More

Best Song of the Year

10. Revolution – John Butler Trio

9. The Ghost Inside – Broken Bells

8. Do You Love Me – Guster

7. Tighten Up - The Black Keys

6. Laredo - Band of Horses

5. Airplanes – Local Natives

4. Go Do – Jonsi

3. Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons

2. Terrible Love – The National

1. Fuck You - Cee Lo Green

Best Album of 2010

10. Gorilla Manor – Local Natives (Linked song:  Who Knows Who Cares?)

9. The Lady Killer – Cee Lo Green (Linked song:  Bright Lights Bigger City)

8. Together - The New Pornographers (Linked song:  The Crash Years)

7. Jeremy Messersmith - Reluctant Graveyard (Linked Song:  Organ Donor)

6. Contra – Vampire Weekend – (Linked Song:  Giving Up The Gun)

5. Easy Wonderful – Guster (Linked Song: Architects and Engineers)

4. Brothers - The Black Keys (Linked Song: Howlin’ For You)

3. Go - Jonsi (Linked Song: Boy Lilikoi)

2. Sigh No More - Mumford and Sons (Linked Song:  Winter Winds)

1. High Violet – The National (Linked song: Bloodbuzz Ohio)

I hate you.  I really do. I hate you more than I hate…today’s Top 40, and that’s a lot.  How you two have not gone under investigation for being a monopoly is completely beyond me.

All of this “rage”, if you can call it that, has been boiling up since…let’s say 2002, when I saw my first Guster concert in Boston.  Ironically, all of this hate came to a head yesterday (Friday), buying tickets to see another Guster concert–in Boston.  But this isn’t just any ordinary Guster concert.  This is a 10 year anniversary of their best album (and one of my all-time favorites), Lost and Gone Forever.  As an avid Guster fan, you can imagine how excited I was for this concert.  I was so excited that I even bookmarked the Livenation site to buy tickets the second they went on sale: 10:00:00 AM EST, Friday, July 18, 2009.

However, my giddiness fell immediately when at 9:58:00 AM, EST, I went to the Livenation page, and constantly refreshed the page, hoping for tickets to “accidentally” go onsale a bit early. No luck. In fact–I wasn’t able to get tickets until 10:05:something AM EST.  So, Livenation, I ask you, what the fuck?  Now, I was really hoping to get great, front row seats, but alas, I am now in the Orchestra section of The Orpheum.  Now, I’ve been to the Orpheum twice, and there aren’t really any bad seats–just cramped ones–but I digress.  I ended up with 4 seats  for my friends and my sister, sitting in section R.

The seats were supposed to cost $32.50.  Very respectable price–in fact, cheaper than the NY show.  But that’s not the problem.  When I went to go pay, I saw the (total) price had jumped from $130 to $188.80.  Now I know that they like to fuck with our brains and add charges after you have selected your tickets…but something really bugged me.  Below are the fees I was charged:

Tickets: $130.00
Charity: $2.00
Ticket Fee: $48.80
Venue Fee: $8.00
Total Ticket Charges for Event: $188.80

Okay.  Ticket’s is cool.  I understand that.  I paid for the tickets.  That should be the end of transaction, right?  No.  Now I’m all for charity, in fact, I think donating to a charity or somehow helping a charity is awesome, but why wasn’t the charity fee built into the original ticket cost?  I mean, it would only bring each ticket up by 50 cents.  I wouldn’t care.  In fact, I’d think anyone would be hardpressed to find some one who would refuse to donate a measly 50 cents to charity.

My real problem comes with the Ticket and Venue Fee.  What the fuck is a Ticket Fee?  I paid for the tickets–clearly that is the fee, right?  Apparently not.  Apparently there is a fee for paying a fee.  Again I say, what the fuck?  You’re going to charge me $12.20 per ticket to pay for a ticket?  Call me dumb, call me stupid, I simply just don’t understand it.  Same with the Venue Fee.  If I go to The Orpheum and buy tickets, none of these feeds would be included.  Clearly, you’re charging these fees because you need to make money.  And while that’s admirable, you’re also screwing your customer–you obviously never took an Ethics class.

Now, I know some one is going to read this and say to themselves, “why didn’t you just go to the venue and by them then?”  To answer that question,  am currently on break, and do not live in Boston.

I understand that Ticketmaster and Livenation are businesses and need to make money–but what happened to making money via advertising?  What happened to making money without screwing your customer?

Unfortunately, because Ticketmaster and Livenation have a monopoly on every venue, it would be silly for me to say “I will never use you again!”, but instead I’ll say this, “I’ll do my best to try and never use you if I don’t have to!”.  Maybe not as self-satisfying, but it gets the job done.  I hope you change your ways and stop screwing your customers (and in turn, the bands who play at the venues).

Best Wishes,

Ben Cooper.

Because of this, I created my own list of songs that should be in Rock Band.  From Indie Pop to Hard Rock, this list has it all–well not really.  It’s actually quite limited.  The list features bands like Collective Soul, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Third Eye Blind, and Band of Horses. As always, lemme know what you think should be added to the list!

Check it out after the jump!

Artist – Title of Song – Album

As Fast As – Florida Sunshine – Open Letter To the Damned
Band of Horses - Is there a Ghost? – Cease to Begin
Band of Horses – Islands on the Coast – Cease to Begin
Barenaked Ladies – One Week – Stunt
Barenaked Ladies – It’s All Been Done – Stunt
Ben Kweller – This Is War – Ben Kweller
Ben Kweller – The Rules – On My Way
Blind Melon – No Rain – Blind Melon
Collective Soul - Where the River Flows – Collective Soul
Collective Soul – December – 7even Year Itch
Counting Crows – 1492 – Saturday Nights, Sunday Mornings
Counting Crows – Cowboys – Saturday Nights, Sunday Mornings
The Cranberries – Zombie – No Need To Argue
Dave Matthews Band – Funny The Way It Is – Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King
Dave Matthews Band – What Would You Say - Under the Table and Dreaming
Dr. Dog – The Ark – Fate
Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly – Learn to Fly
Foo Fighters - All My Life – One By One
Foo Fighters – Times Like These – One By One
Gin Blossoms – Til I Hear it From You – Empire Records OST
Guster – Amdsterdam – Keep it Together
Guster – Barrel of a Gun – Lost and Gone Forever
Harvey Danger – Flagpole Sitta – Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone?
John Butler Trio – Funky Tonight – Grand National
John Butler Trio – Fire in the Sky - Grand National
Kings of Leon – Sex on Fire – Only By the Night
Marching Band – For Your Love – Spark Large
Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s – Quiet As a Mouse – The Dust of Retreat
Modest Mouse - Dashboard - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
Monty Are I – In This Legacy - Wall of People
Our Lady Peace – Supersatellite – Naveed
Radiohead - Just – The Bends
Radiohead – Paranoid Android – OK Computer
REM - It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) – Eponymous
REM - What’s the Frequency, Kenneth – Monster
Rilo Kiley - Portions for Foxes – More Adventurous
Rogue Wave – Lake Michigan – Asleep at Heaven’s Gate
Sam Roberts – Love at the End of the World – Love at the End of the World
The Silent Years - No Secrets – The Silent Years
Spin Doctors – Two Princes – Pocket Full of Kryptonite
Sugarcult – Memory – Palm Trees and Power Lines
Stereophonics – Devil – Language, Sex, Violence, Other
Still Water – Fever Dog – Almost Famous OST
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Me and Mia – Shake the Sheets
Third Eye Blind – Graduate – Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind – Blinded – Out of the Vein
Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life – Third Eye Blind
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
The Wombats - Let’s Dance to Joy Division - A Guide to Love, Loss, and Desparation

As most of you have probably heard, Michael Jackson died today.  Now I don’t know all the details, but I guess he collapsed at his home from cardiac arrest and was taken to the hospital where he slipped into a coma and then died.

I, personally, was never a big Michael Jackson fan, but his death is very surprising and upsetting to me.  Whether you liked his music or not, whether you questioned the way he lived his life, you have to agree that the man was a musical genius.  He was the King of Pop.  Point blank.  He was one of the best songwriters and performers of my generation, if not of all time.

Watching the news, it’s amazing to see how many fans of his are standing outside the hospital, playing Thriller.  I know that this won’t get to the Jackson family, nor does it really matter, but I am sending my deepest condolences to the Jackson family.