School has been back in session for around a month, probably enough time for you to have been hit up for several school fundraisers. Wrapping paper, Bucky Books….maybe a penny drive?

How about securing a $1000 grant for your kid’s school or church music department? Now that sounds good.

Can’t give you all the details just yet, but I will tell you this so you can talk it up at school or at church: Heather and I are going to sponsor a Christmas music choir contest with a grand prize of $1000.00. Imagine how your school or church music department could use $1000!

We’ll post a list of eligible songs, including secular ones for those who need them, and all the contest details on the website in November. Then all you’ll have to do is record your song and send it in! We’ll post all the entries on the website so everybody will be able to hear them (grandparents tend to like that a lot), and we’ll play the winning song in our mix of Christmas music in December.

Start dreaming.

Popularity: 14% [?]

For this morning’s airing of “It’s A Favre World After All”, I researched a little Disney.  It lead to me to Disney’s 2010 promotion that is pretty darn cool.  Basically, you volunteer a day in 2010 and you get a free ticket to DisneyWorld.   There’s also a way to get your child a free ticket by having them volunteer with you as well.  Sure, there are a couple of hoops you need to jump through, like pre-registering, but nothing outrageous.  All in all, an opportunity for two great days with family!

Popularity: 12% [?]

Jack White, The Edge, Jimmy Page

Just finished watching an advanced copy of a movie due out soon, a documentary called It Might Get Loud. The film features three high-profile guitarists, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, The Edge of U2, and Jack White of the White Stripes and the Raconteurs, sharing their stories and playing together. If you play guitar or have loved any of these guys, you’ll love the film.

But the one nugget that I enjoyed the most was when Jimmy Page was asked how he writes songs, what his method is. Jimmy said that there is no method, it’s always different, and that songs or anything else creative just come from “that creative place.”

So there. That’s how it happens.

That made me feel good because, as a person who works in a creative world, I often have questioned my own creative habits, wondering if at times I “do it wrong.” But after having watched this film I have heard from the great Jimmy Page ( I grew up worshipping his guitar skills, first concert ever was a LedZep show) that creativity just happens.

And while I have kind of had that sense myself, and on occasion have had that experience over the years, now that Jimmy has told me that it is so, I have another gift to thank him for. Thanks, Jimmy.

Popularity: 16% [?]

What happens on November 25th?  It’s the 329th day of the year.  Just 39 left.

For me, it will be the first day I turn the heat on in my house.  Much like other cold weather lovers, I look forward to the time of year when you can bundle up . I always say, its much easier to warm up, than it is to cool off.

On today’s show, Fletch threw down the gauntlet and cornered me into declaring a date for turning on the heat in my home .  Strange.  Many of the conversations between he and I turn into some sort of challenge and this was no different.   We’re always trying to one-up each other, so I said November 25th would be the date for me this year.

It’s not an unattainable goal.  I think I kept the heat off through December one recent year.

By the way, November 25th was just a random date I picked.  After looking at the Almanac, maybe I should have picked a better day.  It’s marked by bunch of earthquakes, other natural disaster and some man made disasters too.  It’s the day JFK was buried in 1963 and also the day that dynamite was patented.

Yeesh.  Mental note: no dynamite in the house.

Popularity: 15% [?]

     About three weeks ago, we were all agog over the Beatles Rock Band video game and I blogged a few Beatles memories.  One of which being the story of my son at circle time in preschool…

But I knew my boy was a true Beatles fan when his preschool teacher told me a story about Sam and circle time.  Seems the kids sat in a circle and each child picked a song for the group to sing.  The first girl chose “Wheels On The Bus”.  When it was Sam’s turn, he said “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.”

     The song, much to druggies’ dismay, is not a veiled reference to LSD.  No, the title came from John Lennon’s son…who came home from preschool one day with a drawing of his friend, Lucy, in the sky with diamonds. 

     Well, the news came out today that that friend, Lucy Vodden (46), died after a long fight with Lupus .  So sad.  My heart goes out to her family and friends.

Popularity: 14% [?]

With last night’s season premiere of The Amazing Race, I just want host Phil Keoghan and the rest of the show know I have no hard feelings.

Sure, that was the season that I ventured down to the Chicago area earlier this year to try out for.  Its OK.  Nevermind that the background story for my girlfriend and I were just as interesting as the most of this season’s cast members. Nevermind that I stay up countless night’s hoping that the good casting people would please consider me.

I’m not gonna hold a grudge.  In part because, ours was a longshot to get on the show.  Also, because I’m just glad my fav show is back on TV.

Who does stick out?  I was immediately and favorably drawn to the two guy team of Zev and Justin.  Zev has Asperger’s Syndrome, but is shown to have a very likable personality.  The Harlem Globetrotters are also entertaining.  Who doesn’t like the Globetrotters?  The two girl poker player team is being cast as the “bad guys” this time around.  They’re not demons, but they don’t seem to want to play fair.

Here’s the first Elimination Station episode.  That’s where the losers go to sulk after being eliminated.  Looks like the first couple are making the most of it.

Popularity: 15% [?]

     What to do when your DVR is requesting to change channels to start recording other shows but the one you’re watching hasn’t ended because of NFL football running late on CBS?  Okay, let me explain.

     The Moore family watches the Amazing Race on CBS together.  The season premiere started about ten minutes late because of football.  Our DVR was set and ready to record my husband and my’s favorite show, “Mad Men”, at 9pm on AMC.  Also, I had the DVR set up to record my guilty pleasure show, “Desperate Housewives”, at 9pm as well. 

     At 8:58, the request from the DVR came in to change channels.  We (David, Sam and myself) quickly regrouped in the master bedroom for the last ten minutes of the Amazing Race.  The DVR was able to record the other two shows.  And all was well with the world!

Popularity: 13% [?]

Mom on a minibike. That's awesome.

And although your kids might admit that, even now, you have some redeeming characteristics, they’ll gladly tell the world that at some time in the distant past (probably before they were born), you really were awesome. Just like they are today.

Here’s what I’m talking about.

When kids paw through old photos of mom and dad they often find evidence that, oh my gawd, we were awesome!

Which reminds me of advice I often give my kids, and which we all could benefit from remembering: “if you did it once, you can probably do it again.”

Go ahead, you can be awesome again. I know you can.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Rated PG
1h37

What does it look like when you have two guitar greats watching a guitar god lay down one of the greatest guitar riffs in the history of Rock and Roll? U2’s The Edge and Jack White of The White Stripes look like kids in a candy story while witnessing Led Zeppelin axe man Jimmy Page wail out ‘Whole Lotta Love.”

That’s just one of the treats in the new electric guitar documentary It Might Get Loud. The filmmaker gathered the multi-generational mix in 2008 and sat the three down to talk about strumming the six string. Page, The Edge and White all notably have their own take on the art of playing and that’s where music lovers are graced with a pretty sweet ninety-minute ride.

Granted, I am a giant White Stripes fan, seasoned in the Led and don’t mind listening to U2. So, as far as documentary subjects go, I was already enthralled.

A good documentary captures the human emotion of the subject, and you learn something new along the way. In this case, we find delve into reasons why these guys ever picked up the guitar. We also find out why The Edge always plays on Bono’s right side. Jimmy Page does the math adding up what four members of a well oil band equals. Jack White also tells you why his piano is four steps away from his guitar, instead of three.

Those little factoids are why die-hard music fans will appreciate this one. By the way, you’ve been warned in the title.

Overall Ratings: (Out of Four)
Date Friendly:
Good Humor:
Artistic Value:
Drama
Kid Friendly:

Popularity: 28% [?]

Rated PG
1h47

This movie is not going to live forever. In face, can we just pull it off life support right now?

Fame is the updated and thoroughly boring remake of the 1980’s movie about students at a Performing Arts school in New York. Why the remake? Look not further than the semi-recent success of dance-themed movies aimed at the younger generation.

This remake was entirely unnecessary, because it sanitizes the gritty and real feel of the original and turns it into an after school special. Modern teens, if they have any sense will see right through it.

The characters are shallow and the storyline is predictable. There was not a single person that I cared for, and the theme that success is not achieved through fame, but rather through hard work and self worth is lost in the mushy innards of what could have been a tasteful and artful work.

The performance segments for the most part are contrived. I don’t think a single person was actually playing for the dubbed over music track that we hear. There is an exception or two, which is why this movie doesn’t get a big zero in my book.

I also feel bad for the known names in this movie and I hope they were paid well. Kelsey Grammar, Debbie Allen, Megan Mullalley, Charles Dutton and Bebe Newirth. This is a dark smudge on your resume.

In conclusion, while my mind drifted in the theater I came up with this: The Kenmore and Dyson companies are fighting over the corporate secret as to how to suck this much. If Fame were a Black Hole in outer space, its gravitational suckage would be able to pull in whole galaxies. If there were a land called Sucktonia, this movie would be its king.

Overall Ratings: (Out of Four)
Date Friendly:
Good Humor:
Artistic Value:
Drama
Kid Friendly:

Popularity: 35% [?]