Sound Check

So, on my six hour drive back from my mom’s house, I began to think back on 2007. Naturally, I had the music pumping and started calculating my favorite tunes of the year. Oddly enough, most of the songs made me think about my partners in crime and some of the moments we’ve had to them, whether road trips or jamming out in the club before the doors opened.

At any rate, without further ado, my Top 15 Tunes for 2007:

15. "Who Knew/U + Ur Hand" | Pink (DJ KC/Ashley K/E/Alyssa/Heather D/Ferg/ JD)

14. "Big Love (Rub-A-Dub Mix)" | Peter Heller (DJ BB/DJ KC/DJ Phil B/DJ Joe G)

13. "Fidelity" | Regina Spektor

12. "Love Like This" | Natasha Bedingfield (Ashley K, Ferg, E)

11. "No One" | Alicia Keys (Ferg, E)

10. “Raise the Roof” | Tracey Thorn

9. “It Ends Tonight” | All-American Rejects (Genre/Diego/JD)

8. “Big Girls Don’t Cry” | Fergie (E/DJ KC)

7. “The Heart of the Matter” | India.Aire (DG)

6. “Booty Bangs (Bill Hamel Mix)” | Jesse Malay feat. Young Joc (BH)

5. “Automatic" | Ultra Nate' (Ashley K, Ferg, E, DJ KC)

4. “Give It To Me (Jeremy Word Mix)” | Timbaland feat. Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake (DJ BB/E)

3. “Let Me Think About It” | Ida Corr vs. Fedde La Gant (BH/DJ CJ/DJ KC)

2. “Just Fine (David Morales Mix)” | Mary J. Blige (Ferg/E/DG/Ashley K)

1. “Apologize” | OneRepublic (for the record, E, JD, Bill Berdeaux and I discovered this long before the heavy airplay or their appearance on SYTYCD – no, seriously, ask the cleaning crew at WETbar)

And even though they’re quite older, these are my audio muses going into 2008:

-“Someone To Hold” | Veronica
-“Switch Up” | Paul Oakenfold feat. Ryan Tedder
-“They Say Vision (Robbie Rivera Mix)” | Res
-“Dive” | Debby Holiday
-“Am I Here Yet? (Return to Sender)” | Billie Myers

It’ll all make sense later, I promise.

Fuh-Cough

"Anything you can do I can do better..."

And, a bit more apropos...

Choose life.

Choose a job.

Choose a career.

Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed- interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit- crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing you last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself.

Choose your future.

Choose life...

It's not my drama, I ain't playing any guest roles in it. Nor will I endorse or represent the former life, be a touch tone to it or a reminder. Fuck that. Go, live that fabulous fucking life. Just don't expect me to fake a smile on my face while you try to convince yourself life is so much better. My life is just fine, fine, fine. I just don't need someone that hit it to another country to downplay it.

My turn. Fuck Off.

Overload

So much going on - it's kind of hard to prioritize.

So, here's a list

-Brazil bookings, hello Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro in 2008
-Reality TV Show, yeah long story - still in denial about that one
-Bring that beat back - I'm trying that's all I'm saying
-Holidays - bah humbug

Who Woulda Thought?

So, while I was in agonizing pain over the weekend, I learned that:

-In Snickerdoodle cookies, there are no Snickers parts; it's a spice cookie. Yeah, the entire time I thought it would have the same components as a Snickers bar - you know caramel, peanuts, chocolate, nougat. Wow, I played myself on that one. Talk about the disappointment of cinnamon and nutmeg when expecting a candy and cookie party.

-Flesh eating zombies can run pretty fast and swim too! Thanks to the movie 28 Weeks Later for that.

-And, thanks to Ferg, I now know that human heads weigh an average of eight pounds. And, that's without hair, hair product, jewelry or necks.

Damn, I'm Getting Old

Ok, so I was cruising YouTube today and somehow ended up watching LIVE videos.

I had a moment to this one:


I f'n love this song. And then, I realized it was released 10 years ago.

Damn, I'm getting f'n old.

72 Hours

In less than 72 hours, all hell breaks loose; the ISM returns to the ATL.

My liver has already jumped out the window in fright.

Holiday Slump

It's kinda odd but I'm so ambivalent towards the Holidays this year. Maybe it's the Inconvenient Truth type weather (Atlanta is logging in at a 70 degrees and sunny) or perhaps it's knowing after the holidays that play time is over.

Yeah, maybe that's it.

I mean I've been doing everything I would normally do during the holidays - the parties, the shopping, the blitz of holiday movies but it's all kind of just bland as a whole. The sum of the parts are rather scintillating, but as a whole just a lotta lackluster. Perhaps I'll consult the oracles (see: friends).

Golden Compass

Super hot. Hands down, just a brilliant picture.

Nicole Kidman never looked better - talk about muggin' the house DOWN.

Ferg and I were completely spellbound the entire movie. I need a morphing demon, an armored polar bear, a guardian witch and Daniel Craig as my uncle.

And, is the alleged religious uproar over the movie for the same reasons as the anti-Harry Potter movement? Because, to me, it was just a well executed modern fable. Jesus freaks, please step down - you're killing the nation's imagination, not to mention my buzz.

Can someone please explain it to me, cause I. Don't. Get. It.

Class, discuss.

Addendum:
Just out of curiosity I went to the official Golden Compass website thanks to a tip by RB and got a daemon assigned to me. Her name is Clymonistra and she's a crow.

I'm not too happy about it, I was kind of hoping for a dolphin cause they're sleek and pretty - not practical, but cool nonetheless. My second choice was a rhino because it can plow over everyone else's daemon.

I told RB about my crow and after he bragged about his snow leopard ("just like Daniel Craig") he told me this about crows:
John Faa, the leader of the Gyptians has a crow. And, the Crow is the soul of magic and link to the spirit world (alchemical symbol).

Sorry Clymonistra, you're pretty dope.

Nibbley Things

So, it's been a rather interesting week. So busy, in fact, I almost forgot the "LA Hubby" was coming into town. LA Hubby is my dear friend Andrew, the CEO of Tango Blues Entertainment. We bonded during my time at MOISTbar. We booked so much of his talent that I spoke to him at least four times a day. It got to the point where if either of us was on the phone that anyone in the room with him or me just assumed we were on the phone with one another. Hence, I became his "ATL hubby" and he has become the "LA hubby."

This past Thursday, he came into town with two of his newest artists in tow - Shaun and Paul from the new season of the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. I recruited my own entourage of pretty people - Ferg, Chase and Josh who all graciously agreed to come to dinner at TWO Urban Licks.

It was so good to see Andrew again. He's just one of my favorite people in the world. Shaun and Paul are pretty cool too and totally not what I expected them to be. Ok, not to be busy, but I was expecting them to be a girl and bigger girl. Not at all, one was almost roughneck/thuggish while the other was just quiet and mellow. I will say this though, those bastards can f'n drink. And, I mean to the last man standing point. No, seriously.

Dinner was great - for the company. This was the first time I've ever been disappointed with TWO Urban. Don't get me wrong, the food was still really tasty (see: Pork and Macaroni and Cheese), but the service su-u-u-u-u-u-ucked. But, it was the first time it's ever sucked so I'll totally go back, but if it happens again, I may have to search for a new favorite restaurant to entertain out of town guests.

Ok, that's a wrap until Monday, I have to get my butt in gear. Tonight is Chase's husband's 30th birthday and I promised I'd give them a hand.

Proceed With Caution

I'm in a truth-telling mood. It's probably best I keep to myself today.

'Tis the Season

Last night was the Annual Toy Party. If there are two events in Atlanta that I make it a point to get to every year, it's Joining Hearts in July and Toy Party in December. Both are just such good causes that you can't help but have a good time.

So, here's the deal, you buy a toy and bring it with you to the event. You play dress up, donate the toy and drink the house down. Yeah, good times. Even better is the shopping expedition to buy the toy with the boys. This year, it was at Target with Ferg, E and CC. While all of us ended up buying toys for boys (I picked the Diego Lego Set), I noticed some were spending way too much time with the Barbies and Bratz Dolls. We won't talk about Ferg debating on the robot puppies. But, yeah, they were definitely cute.

As per usual, by the time the event rolled around, several people up and cancelled. But, alas, Ferg was still game and Ad-Rock was already en route. We had a blast. One of the reasons why I adore this event is all the people you run into that you haven't seen in ages. Everybody loves a good benefit. I suspect it's cause it makes them feel so cosmopolitan, you know? Ferg and I ran into some of our favorite alcoholics - xoxoJeffrey, Alfono and AtlantaBoy. We also ran into some ex-trade here (mostly Ferg's Spicy Chicken) and there and a whole lot of cuteness that doesn't exist in the bar and club scene. I coulda swore that was Anderson Cooper. But, bygones.

Now, the trick to enjoying yourself at Toy Party is to work the drink lines. One never really stands in line for the cocktails, you simply walk up and down until you discover somebody you know towards the front, feign a conversation and kind of merge into them. Either that or hand your tickets off and ask them to order your drink for you. I discovered this nifty trick years ago and it works like a charm. It beats the fifty plus person deep line at each bartender.

I also learned that you hit it out of there no later than 8:30 or risk getting stuck in the Parking Garage for up to 45 minutes killed down. Yeah, once you do that with NPB in the car with you, you kinda learn not to take your chances. We ended up at Joe's cause I was s t a r v i n g and was able to convince Ferg to eat with me. He's always so good and orders some fried chicken salad thing. I go straight for the fried stuff dipped in heavy sauces. Ah well, 'tis the season and all that...