The rush is neverending

It's been a long time in coming, but our date with Kylie Minogue finally arrived last Wednesday night at the Verizon Theater in Grand Prairie, TX. It's not the farthest I've traveled to see a concert - that honor goes to the Madonna's Confessions Tour in Las Vegas - but it's definitely the farthest I've ever driven to see a concert. The fact that Kylie pretty much skipped the Midwest was what caused us to resort to such measures. It was a long way to drive for a concert and the real question is - was it worth it?

In a word, YES.

For the American leg of the tour, Kylie had to tone the tour down a bit. Gone are the fountains and the flying dancers from the European dates . But even without them, the stage was amazing and the costumes as over the top as you would expect. Cher's tour may have been the Cherest show on Earth, but Heidi summed it up well when she tweeted half way through the concert, "this is seriously the gayest, most fabulous show on earth." My friend Steve who had seen the show a couple weeks prior warned me it would be the gayest night of my life and he was right.

This is the first concert I've gone to where the men so vastly outnumbered the women it wasn't even funny. There were probably 9 men there for every one woman. For probably the first time in recorded history, there was a line for the men's restroom but not the women's. And I think there were about 300 gay men there for every one straight man. But really, it stands to reason. Kylie's following among gay men is no secret and I can think of no better people with whom to see a Kylie show. The energy in the theater (which was surprisingly small - 6000-some seats) was amazing and really, the best of any live show I've ever seen. Even Madonna, but more on that later.

Kylie was fashionably late at 8:45 PM but once she started, she didn't stop once. Emerging from a clam shell at center stage like the Venus de Milo, she rolled through a solid two hours of classic hits, album cuts and pretty much all of the Aphrodite album. Only "Closer" and "Too Much" were not performed. What was most pleasant is that, despite the very obvious presence of a backing track, it was also two hours of live singing that I didn't have to apologize for the quality or cringe through the off key parts. Like Madonna, but more on that later.

But like any good artist who's been around for 20+ years, she sang a lot of crowd pleasers as well. The usual suspects like "Can't Get You Out of My Head", "Spinning Around", and "Confide In Me" got their time in the spotlight, but lesser known album cuts also showed up. One of my favorites was "In My Arms" from X, which featured a many tentacled Kylie on the projection screens behind her. Some familiar songs were reinterpreted. "Slow" became a flashy cabaret number until finally becoming the thumping club anthem it always should have been. "Love At First Sight" was mashed up with "Can't Beat The Feeling" and really, it didn't work for me. Both songs were worthy of being performed individually, the mash-up felt forced and in the end, it seemed to me like both songs got the shaft. They deserved better, especially "Love At First Sight" which is a huge crowd pleaser. Clearly, Kylie was not afraid to dig into her back catalog. Unlike Madonna, but more on that later.

Our seats were about 33 rows back, but really, there wasn't a bad seat in the house. Because of the size of the theater and the quality of our seats, I managed to get some excellent photos. The best of the best are below. Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook can see the rest there.



This concert had the distinction of being Anna's first real concert - sorry, the Wiggles don't count. We brought cotton for her ears as I knew it would be loud. Truth be told, I used cotton too. I have walked out of too many concerts in my life with my ears ringing so bad that I could literally feel the hair cells dying. I'm not interested in losing any more hearing than I already have and it doesn't diminish one's enjoyment of the show one bit. Call me old, but hey, at least I'll be able to hear in 25 years. Even with cotton, the show was too loud for Anna. One of the ushers found real silicone ear plugs for her and then she was set. She danced in the aisle. She sang along. She's a lot more familiar with the Aphrodite stuff than she is with Kylie's immense back catalog, but she had a good time. I hope she remembers it and it doesn't become a blur to her. Concerts always seem like a dream to me when I'm in them. The fact that I got good pictures of the concert will help it seem more real when it inevitably feels dreamlike.

It's impossible to go to a show like this and not think of the queen of this kind of show - Madonna. No one puts on as elaborate of a show as she does. For American audiences, Kylie doesn't have near the back catalog or immediate name recognition as Madonna. And Madonna never never NEVER does a tour half-assed. I've enjoyed every Madonna show I've seen, but I couldn't help but notice the big differences between the two. The most obvious one was pointed out by my friend Robbie (aka ChartRigger) at the end of the show. There are just absolutely no diva airs about Kylie at all. She's always so "oh, I'm so glad you like it!" She interacted with the audience, taking a request which ended up being "Your Disco Needs You" which she NAILED. This is a far cry from Madonna whose shows are so intricately choreographed that there is no room for spontaneity at all. Madonna shows are in a league all their own, but sometimes the lack or spontaneity really shows, especially compared to a show like Kylie's which was just as tightly choreographed. For some reason, it was different.

The other thing that made it better than a Madonna show was Kylie's willingness to dig into her back catalog. Madonna always seems to do so a bit begrudgingly, as if someone is holding her at gunpoint. Stevie Nicks points out that when people come see you live, they don't want to hear new songs. Rather, they want to hear the stuff they know. While I don't think I'd go as far as to say that, you do have to have a liberal sprinkling of well known songs to please the non diehards that attend concerts. This applies less to Kylie as I don't know that there is such a thing as a non-diehard Kylie fan in the U.S. But with Madonna, there are many casual fans that may not know her most recent work. I will always feel bad for the casual fans that went to The Drowned World Tour in 2001 expecting a hit parade and instead, got a bunch of album tracks and two 80s hits.

And finally, it cannot be overstated that Kylie can actually sing the songs that she records. I always make a big deal about how being able to appreciate Madonna's live vocals is what separates the men from the boys as far as Madonna fans go. But let's be honest, she's had some moments that are positively cringeworthy. I usually chalk that up to nerves and the fact that her voice is mostly just passable. I also sometimes think that Madonna tries to sing things that are out of her league vocally and the studio magic can wipe away most of the blemishes. Not so in a live show. Why else would the DVDs of her concerts feature so obviously sweetened vocals?

But there's room enough for all the divas in my life. Seriously, how could I go on without them? I'm so glad that I got to see Kylie live. If the Rapture really had come the following Saturday, I would have gone into the tribulation a happy man. I've been to many concerts in my day, but hers will always stand out. It was worth the trip to Texas. When I was debating buying tickets and spending the money on the trip, my friend Matt said something along the lines of "I highly doubt you'll look back and say 'damn, I wish I hadn't gone to Kylie.'" As it turns out, he was right. And I would go again in a second.

(thanks to xolondon for the inspiration behind the title of this post)

Roundabout fandom

I've been delinquent in blogging, and I had such a good January! Oh well, I guess it's back to reality as they would say after the opposite sketches on You Can't Do That on Television. I worked this weekend but have tomorrow off so I am really hoping to sleep in. Getting out of bed has been a real feat these days.

One thing I must say though, I have been in a HUGE Kylie mode these days. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the reality of actually going to see her live is just starting to sink in. And in such a small venue! And with such close seats! Yeah, it's a 13 hour drive, but who cares? WE'RE GOING TO KYLIE! Whenever the day starts to go south, I just think WE'RE GOING TO KYLIE and almost immediately, things look better. Much like St. Patrick's Day, it's a ready-made excuse to be happy.

I was getting ready to take off for work yesterday and realized that, to my great dismay, I didn't have the entirety of Kylie's first CD on my iPod. Kylie was among the first 10 CDs I purchased back in late 1988/early 1989 and I purchased it on the strength of two songs, her ubiquitous cover of "The Loco-Motion" (which, oddly enough, was the last vinyl 45 I purchased) and "I Should Be So Lucky" which was a much smaller hit in the U.S. but was one of my favorite songs of the summer of 1988. I was actually quite surprised to see that it was a U.S. Top 40 hit for Kylie which is something that has pretty much eluded her for the vast majority of her career.

I'm pretty sure that the first time I heard "I Should Be So Lucky" was when I saw the video for it on Night Tracks. It was cheesy female pop so how could I resist it? But who was this woman singing this song? And how the hell did you say her name? Well, with an earworm of a chorus such as the one found in "I Should Be So Lucky," it really didn't matter. I remember calling up the local radio station and asking them to play it (I had heard them play it once before.) They did and I still recall the DJ butchering her name, calling her something like Kee-lay Minogue. Once "The Loco-Motion" became a hit, DJs were forced to pronounce her name right.

Kylie is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's got some great singles. But man, the filler is FILLER. It's a Stock-Aitken-Waterman production so consequently, a lot of it kind of blends together. Many of the songs have aged very badly, partially due to the production and partially because they are some of the cheesiest songs you'll ever hear. "It's No Secret" is one song that I feel has especially not stood the test of time although I remember liking it a lot at the time. Most of the songs I enjoy kind of in spite of myself. For example, the song "Love At First Sight" is cute in a late 80s way, but let me count the ways in which the 2001 version from Fever is superior. Mostly though, it's throwaway pop.

It was the last Kylie album I would buy for 12 years. She completely and utterly fell off my radar after that song and then her albums weren't even given US releases. At the dawn of the mp3 revolution, I remember downloading a couple tracks from Light Years off the internet, but it wasn't until "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" took the planet by storm that I picked up Fever and I've purchased pretty much everything since as well as going back and acquainting myself with the stuff I missed, assimilating it into my life's soundtrack. In many ways, it's been kind of fun to have a roundabout fandom, one that started out on the ground floor but then disappeared, only to come roaring back over a decade later.

But as songs from the debut album goes, not much touches the glorious cheese of "Got To Be Certain." I really REALLY hope she sings this live on the tour. And with Kylie, you never know. Unlike Madonna, there seem to be no "off limits" songs and I adore how she embraces her back catalog with such enthusiasm, as if she really does realize that people come to shows to hear songs they know. Not that being Aphrodite heavy will be a bad thing, but I can pretty much guarantee we'll hear a crapload of Kylie classics.

I love this video so much. It's so cheesy but Kylie looks good in the black dress. There are apparently four different edits of this video and the one I always remembered was the one with Kylie on the merry-go-round at the beginning of the bridge. It took me a while, but I finally found it on YouTube. It starts at about 1:56.



Don't mock me because even if you do, I won't give a shit.

One more gay diva down

We secured tickets to Kylie's live show in Dallas, TX this morning. I had put in for time off the week of the show when we were first debating it (glad I did, I narrowly beat another time off request and would have likely been denied.) We have friends in Dallas where we can likely stay while we are there and if you put in one day of serious driving, you can get there in a day from here. I was still not completely sold as I was doing my required waffling on whether or not we could afford it and whether or not I wanted to travel that far. I had concocted all sorts of scenarios that would be deal breakers - shitty seats being the biggest one. Let me tell you, I'm not driving all the way to Dallas just to sit so far away that I can't even see the stage.

We decided this week, after passing on the kylie.com presale that we would give it a try and see what we got. If it worked out, great. If not, we were just going to chalk it up to it not being in the cards this time around and we wouldn't be too disappointed.

Tickets went on sale this morning at 10AM and despite discussing this with Heidi last night, she completely forgot. Clearly a higher force was at work because I woke up & looked at the clock saying 9:52AM and I leaped out of bed, a man on a mission. On my way downstairs, I told Heidi "Kylie tickets in T-minus 5 minutes!!" I loaded the page to get ready. 10AM passed and still no opportunity to buy tickets. Refresh, refresh, refresh. I always hate the purchase of concert tickets, it's high stress when really, the 2010 version of buying tickets beats the heck out of how we did it for our first Madonna concert with everyone on the phone a half an hour prior to tickets going on sale hoping you didn't get off hold before the on-sale time.

When I finally got in and put in my request and front and center (but back a ways) reserved seating came up, we wasted no time. At $80 a ticket, it was a bargain. The cost of three of us to go is slightly less expensive than my one ticket to The Confessions Tour in Vegas in 2006. So YAY. We're going. I guess we were in that 25% chance of going that I predicted. This will be Anna's very first "grown up" concert so she's especially excited.

I'm excited to go to Dallas. My blogging friend Robbie, who I met up with in 2009 in L.A., will be at the show as well. It'll be fun all around. And we're going to try to sneak in a trip to see Heidi's sister in McAllen, although that will require me being able to get just a little bit more time off work.

So with Kylie, I can add one more gay diva to the list that I've seen live (and if there's any doubt about her being a gay diva, one need look only at the fact that LOGO TV is cosponsoring the American leg of the tour.) That got me to thinking about how many and which gay divas I've seen live. With the help of my friend Kyl (who I will be seeing Lady Gaga/Scissor Sisters with in March) we came up with this list.

1) Madonna (x4 - 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008)
2) Cher (x2 - 1990, 2002)
3) Dolly Parton (x2 - both in 2008)
4) Deborah Harry (2007)
5) Olivia Newton-John (2005)
6) Whitney Houston (1991) - admittedly a bit of a stretch, but Kyl thought she qualified pre-crackhead. I would agree.)
7) Stevie Nicks (with Fleetwood Mac x2 - 1987 and 1997)
8) Cyndi Lauper (x2 - opened for Cher in 2002 and then on the True Colors tour in 2007)
9) Lady Gaga (coming soon, March 2011)

Who's left? Well, there's Donna Summer, Diana Ross, Janet Jackson, Patti LaBelle, Bette Midler, and of course, Streisand. But as Kyl said, you have to be willing to sell a kidney for a ticket. Also, I can't help but think that a Streisand show would be a bit of a let down as I'm used to "spectacle" arena shows and the thought of her standing in place all night is not super-appealing. But if she lets loose with the F-bomb, I'm totally there. Of those listed, the one I would pay to see in a heartbeat is Donna Summer, but who knows.

Did we miss any? It doesn't really matter because we are going to Kylie!! The Sam Keller in me is over the moon (because you know she got the Kylie fanaticism from somewhere.)



(all the footage is from other tours but is pretty indicative of what to expect from the Aphrodite Tour!)

Grousing about Kylie

The good news: YAY! Kylie's touring North America.
The bad news: She's skipping the Midwest.

I was expecting to have to travel to see this show. As my friend Kyl said, we weren't exactly expecting her to play Wells Fargo Arena. I really didn't even expect a Minneapolis or Kansas City date. But the fact that there isn't even a Chicago date really burns me up. The argument has been made that she played Chicago on the last mini-tour in 2009, so she's skipping it this time around. OK, if that's the case, skip New York, L.A. and San Francisco as well.

The cities that she is playing really seem very random. Yes, all the major coastal cities are included - San Francisco, L.A., Boston, New York, Washington - but when you look closely at it, some of them make no sense whatsoever. I take exceptional issue with the fact that she is stopping in Atlanta, Orlando AND Ft. Lauderdale. What the hell? Three stops in two states but not a single one in the Midwest? And I know that Texas is practically its own country when it comes to size, but both Dallas and Houston? But still no Chicago.

Heidi and I were talking about it last night. OK, we were kind of spazzing about it, but give us a break. Heidi is staunchly opposed to flying, so the most reasonable city for us to go to is Dallas which is, oh, a THIRTEEN HOUR DRIVE from here. Doable, but is it really?

There are so many unknowns in this anyway. I may not be able to get the time off work. We may not even be able to get tickets. Then there is always the very real possibility that we simply won't be able to swing it financially. It's one thing for me to hop in an airplane and fly in for a concert, but when you factor in all three of us and meals and accommodations and what not, it gets pricey in a hurry.

I can't be mad at cute little Kylie, I mean really, how can you be? But the fact that I stand probably a 25% chance of seeing her live does burn my butt a little bit.

And if this is not the definition of a first world problem, I don't know what is.

Best of 2010: Songs of the Year

I'll admit that I kind of didn't want to do this post this year. Reasons for that stemmed almost exclusively out of laziness (it takes forever to write these), but then I decided my year-end best of CD which I give out every Christmas was too fucking good not to share. The first round of CDs go out to close friends this weekend so I figured that now would be as good a time as any to reveal the contents. Many of these songs came from the summer which was a fantastic summer for music. This list is 17 songs long, I'll keep my comments as brief as I can. The final CD will have one more song - the retro song of the year - but that post is proving harder to write than I anticipated and will probably see the light of day next week sometime. So without further delay, here we go. (Sorry pop children, no Robyn. I just can't do it.)



1) Get Outta My Way / Kylie Minogue
Usually, these lists are in no particular order, but the #1 song on this list is the #1 song of the year for me. No other song even came close to defining 2010 like Kylie's "Get Outta My Way" did. I was obsessed with this song in the late summer and I still play it like it came out yesterday. It fit Kylie like a glove and I predict it will be a Kylie classic despite its poor chart performance even overseas. The lyrics were empowering and kiss-offish in just the right way. It also had a video that I dissected in a late summer post that reduced me to a screaming fangirl in a way that only Kylie can. Not since 2007 when Debbie Harry's "Two Times Blue" dominated my listening has a song come so close to wrapping up the whole year in 3 and a half minutes. "Get Outta My Way" did just that and for that reason, it is 2010's Song of the Year.

2) King of Anything / Sara Bareilles
I wasn't sold on Sara Bareilles' first album, although I did like "Love Song." I picked up her second album Kaleidoscope Heart on Amazon MP3 for $1.99 on the strength of "King of Anything." If there's anything I like, it's a defiant kiss-off song, and "King of Anything" delivers that in spades. Intelligent lyrics and a piano driven melody don't hurt it either.

3) Telephone / Lady Gaga & Beyonce
Is Lady Gaga backlash about to start now that I've finally given in to her charms? My daughter and I adore this song - we sing along to it in the car all the time and she knows the lyrics better than I do. It does what every fantastic pop song should do - burrow into your brain and never leave. Easily the best phone song since "Hung Up."

4) Shame / Robbie Williams & Gary Barlow
It's kind of fashionable to hate on this song, but I really really like it. I think it's the fact that it's a duet between two men which I feel is something of a rarity. The song is not going to cure cancer but it's catchy and cute and sometimes, with pop music, that's all you really want. I also enjoyed the Brokeback Mountain-ish video. Those two guys (who are, for the record, both straight) really just need to get a room.

5) Jona Vark / Gypsy & the Cat
My friend Steve is the only reason I know about Gypsy & the Cat. He thought I might like "Jona Vark" since it was "very Fleetwood Mac-ish." He was right and I've played the hell out of it in the last quarter of the year. G&tC have an album out that is only available in Australia and I think I'm going to have to figure out how to procure a copy. Cool electronic music that doesn't leave your head hurting when you listen to it.

6) Rocket / Goldfrapp
What if Goldfrapp had recorded the soundtrack to Xanadu? I think that with their album Head First which was one of 2010's first perfect pop records, you get at least an idea of what it would have been like. I heard "Rocket" very early on in 2010 and it has stuck with me all year.

7) Oh No!/ Marina & The Diamonds
Another song that Anna has really taken a liking to, Marina Diamindis is one of my favorite new artists of 2010. This isn't surprising as she has a big female voice most people are used to me loving pretty much instantly and she is classically beautiful as well (check out the "Shampain" video if you doubt me - or better the "Hollywood" video.)

8) Hormones / Tracey Thorn
"Hormones" is the most bittersweet song on this list (quite a feat considering Mary Chapin Carpenter is represented here as well.) A mother's ode to her daughter whose hormones are "just kicking in" while hers are "just checking out," the bittersweet is surrounded by a great melody and other lyrics that can cause dads to see the women in their lives with respect. As the dad to a daughter who is "only half grown up," it sure resonates with me.

9) Wonderful Life / Hurts
Hurts is so hard to figure out. I like their odd Pet Shop Boys meets Johnny Hates Jazz sound, but a little bit of them goes a long way. Their song "Better Than Love" made my summer list, but when it came right down to it, it was the more melancholy "Wonderful Life" that's had more staying power. It is kind of a cousin to Black's "Wonderful Life" in that you almost believe that it really is a wonderful life.

10) The Way I Feel / Mary Chapin Carpenter
So many good songs on The Age of Miracles, so little space. "The Way I Feel" is perhaps the most authentically Chapin song on the album in that it highlights her uncanny ability to marry her smarts and way with a lyric with a country-pop hook. This is a perfect driving song and whenever I listen to it in my truck, I just want to hit the road and drive for the horizon.

11) Broken / Madonna
There were enough Madonna leaks this year that it was almost as if we got a brand new album. Most of the leaks were of dubious quality and many were cast-offs from American Life (read: not very danceable) but "Broken" was a notable exception to this. Recorded during the Celebration sessions, this song is classic latter-day Madonna. Her voice is low and commanding and the chorus is as memorable as anything she's done in a long time. Miles better than just about anything on Hard Candy, I'm glad this saw the light of day.

12) History / Groove Armada (featuring Will Young)
Bubbling over with sexual energy, "History" is what Will Young really needs to be recording now. As has been pointed out by others, his songs seem oddly neutered. Not so with this. It was another January 2010 song that survived 12 months of really good music to earn a spot here. Here's hoping Will's rumored all-dance album takes a cue from this song.

13) Raise Your Glass / P!nk
I am oddly resistant to P!nk. Even though I like most of what I hear from her, I always feel like she's the token female artist that people that don't like female artists very much feel okay in liking. Why I let that perception keep me from enjoying P!nk's pretty good music is probably my loss. That said, "Raise Your Glass" is my favorite P!nk song since "Don't Let Me Get Me."

14) You Haven't Seen The Last Of Me / Cher
As the first new Cher song in almost a decade, it could have been 4 minutes of cats screeching and meowing and it would have made this list. Happily, it was a solid ballad the likes of which we haven't seen Cher do in a while. Complete with dance remixes, this whets my appetite for the long awaited new Cher album (no release date yet.)

15) Be My Thrill / The Weepies
I didn't like The Weepies Be My Thrill album as much as I liked Hideaway, but this is definitely a standout track that has got a lot of play as summer turned into fall this year.

16) Turn On The Radio / Reba McEntire
This is the second year in row that a Reba song has made this list. Do I dare declare that I am in the midst of a Reba renaissance? Time will tell, but this song had me at with the cheeseball line "Try to call, twitter me, text until your fingers bleed." And when the video ended up featuring Reba as the ultimate cougar, I knew this song would end up here come December.

17) Any Which Way / Scissor Sisters
Half a year after it came out, I'm still kind of warming up to Night Work. I don't know why - it's really everything I love about cheesy pop music and the Stuart Price factor which made Confessions on a Dance Floor and Aphrodite so appealing is hard at work here as well. That said, "Any Which Way" was an early favorite. It's also the only song from the year (that I know of) to mention L'Eggs pantyhose. That kind of obscure reference more than earns it a spot on this list.

And besides, I just wanted another excuse to post the picture of the Scissor Sisters' Night Work album cover - the album cover that launched a thousand "that was my senior picture" jokes.

Many of you can be expecting the CD with these tracks (plus one) so you can get your 64 minutes of Dan at any time you so desire.

Agree? Disagree? I'd love to hear it. Keep it clean. Or don't.

Get out of her way

Darren Hayes tweeted the following tonight: Rather than criticize something terrible, here's praise for something wonderful. He went on to talk about Arcade Fire's album. I can't talk about that since I haven't heard it, but he's right. It's so easy to trash something that fails to live up to expectations or disappoints.

I thought, since here we are four days into September & I haven't done a blog post yet, I'd follow Darren's lead. Of all the things to be born this week, nothing BUT NOTHING is more wonderful than Kylie's "Get Outta My Way" video. It is not embeddable, but click here to see it in all its gloriousness. Kylie has some good videos, but none that I would consider "classic" in a Madonna sense. But Kylie has out Madonna-d Madonna on her last two videos. Sure, Madonna has barely shown up to her last few video shoots, but with "Get Outta My Way" Kylie hit it out of the park. I've watched it probably 20 times since Friday and it is not old yet.

So what's so great about it? Let me show you.

1) Kylie herself
I am unable to explain why this little Australian can reduce me to such tween expressions of fandom. It wasn't until I was in my early 30s that Kylie even resurfaced on my radar after over a decade of silence. But whatever it is, she has it in spades. If I were to venture a guess, it goes beyond the fact that she is amazingly beautiful. It has to do with the fact that, unlike Madonna, she seems to genuinely enjoy making music. She is having fun with this and it shows. There is nothing more beautiful or sexier than Kylie in this video.

Even though she could fit in my pocket, she's bigger than life

2) Wolverine-like brass knuckles
I mean, seriously. Is this the most dangerous accessory we've seen yet?


3) The glittery heels from the America's Got Talent performance are back
Need I say more?


4) Kylie as superhero during the bridge
Aphrodite is full of songs with amazing bridges, and the bridge in "Get Outta My Way" is perhaps my favoirte on the album. And Kylie in her thigh-high red boots and cape surrounded by her minions as she's about to take off is an iconic moment.

5) Kylie vogues
Blink and you miss it, but it's there.


6) Chairs
Last, but certainly not least - this is what really pushes the video into "classic" territory for me. Chairs make everything sexy even sexier - or at least more interesting. Madonna knew this in the "Open Your Heart" video and during the Confessions Tour performance of "Like It Or Not." Kylie learns from Obi-Wan Madonna and uses chairs to maximum effect in this video.

If you look closely, you can see me in that last shot. The bleached hair took quite a bit of explaining at work but hey, it was worth it.

I always admire it when any artist bothers to even make a video nowadays. They certainly aren't the promotional tool they were back when I was a teenager. And when visuals like this are married to what is probably the most stellar song on Aphrodite, well, it makes this guy wonder when Madonna is going to wake up and smell the coffee and remind everyone how it's done.

We're waiting.

(and may I personally recommend SnagIt! for screen captures. It made this post a thousand times easier than Shift-Prt Scrn!)

Stop the paternity test, #12,238

We took the hour and ten minute drive from Ames to Carroll to see my folks today. My sister Wendy and her fiance Andrew were in town as well, so it seemed like a good excuse to get out of Dodge and get a change of scenery. Heidi edited like a mad woman through most of the trip over, which left Anna and me to our own devices. We listened to Kylie's Aphrodite pretty much all the way through (started on "Illusion" and stopped just before "Illusion" started again. Seriously, "Illusion" is the hidden gem on the album.) I heard her singing along to pretty much every song - as I've said, she knows the lyrics better than I do. Once that was done, we threw Confessions on a Dance Floor on and listened to that. It was Stuart Price fest! I still remember her singing along to this album when she was in preschool, and she still knows the words now. As I so frequently say, stop the paternity test!

But the proof positive came when we stopped in Jefferson at Sparky's One Stop for a pit stop.

She saw the sign and said "Hey Dad! Look! It's Sparky's One Stop...candy shop."

My heart swelled with such pride. I may not be doing everything perfectly, but I'm certainly doing something right. I totally won the kid lottery.

Those clouds in the background of the photo were all across the sky today. It was gorgeous - a very Iowan mid-summer sky.

Put your hands up...

...if you downloaded the leak of Kylie's Aphrodite. Like I was going to do it any other way. Don't worry, I'm still planning on buying it.

Others on the web have said it much better than I ever could, so I'll just leave it at this. This is what pop perfection looks like. There isn't a single misstep to be found. Part of the perfection is the illusion of effortlessness. You get the impression that she just farted this out and it was perfect as it was. There's little doubt in my mind that there was a whole lot more to it than that. Kylie's best music, like Madonna's best music, has always been that which appeared to require little or no effort on her part. As XO said in his review of Hard Candy, part of the problem with Madonna is that you can frequently see the gears turning. Not so with Kylie on Aphrodite. It just magically appears.

The early stand-out for me is "Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)." I can't figure out exactly what it is about that song, but it just gets me at the base of my spine and makes everything okay. Sure the world seems to be coming apart at the seams these days. But in spite of that (or perhaps because of it), music like this is just the kind of tonic we need, because if you don't look away from reality every now and again, all you end up with is exhaustion.

Thanks to Heidi, I can't think of Kylie without thinking of Sam Keller and right now, my inner Sam Keller is in dancing himself up into a frenzy.

Aphrodite? All right!

I have managed to resist the temptation to blog the album announcement, the release of the kick-off single and the video premiere. But with the leak of a 9 minute, 6 song megamix from Kylie's forthcoming album Aphrodite arriving on the internet last night, I could no longer be silenced. I first heard of it when I saw XO tweeting about it. His reply on Twitter?

xolondon @dancpharmd The Kylie mix will tip you into Gayville Dan. It is that good.

While I have to say that it didn't accomplish that (still just an honorary member of that tribe, I guess), it is beyond my wildest expectations for Kylie's album. Kylie's last album, X, was such a grower for me, but from the sounds of the songs on this album, Kylie hit this one out of the park. Listen for yourself - but be prepared for the trip to Gayville that XO warned about.



Is "Hands Up" not the most infectious thing you've heard all year?

What kills me about Kylie is how that paper thin voice of hers can elicit such strong reactions in me. Perhaps it's the production, perhaps it's the unbridled joy in the songs. Whatever it is, she's doing it right.

July 5th cannot come quickly enough.

The next best thing to being there

I know I said that I bought a snowblower with all the extra hours I worked working overnights last week. As it turns out, once Uncle Sam took his part, it didn't quite cover the cost of it. But really, like I'm going to work my ass off like that AND screw up my circadian rhythms and NOT do something nice for myself. Yeah right.

Fortunately, the perfect splurge presented itself Tuesday. As was well documented, I missed Kylie Minogue's very brief but hugely successful North American tour in October. Well, the New York show was recorded for posterity and has been released as a live digital album! Sadly, there is no DVD in the works. A DVD would be perfect as her shows, much like Madonna's, are at least half about the spectacle of the show.

It's kind of funny, I didn't even think twice about spending the money even though I have at least 4 live Kylie shows in my iTunes library - those being Kylie Fever 2002: Live in Manchester, Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour, Showgirl: Homecoming and KylieX2008: Live at the O2. A couple of these are admittedly audio rips of the DVD, but Kylie has been most generous throughout her career by providing fans with numerous live albums.

At first glance, Live in New York seems like a rip off. Kylie's tour of North America is kind of an amalgam of her last few tours, taking the best parts of each of them, throwing in some new costumes and a few new arrangements and calling it a new tour. Most if not all of the songs sound identical to the other tours. So what makes it worth buying over and over again?

Well, to be honest, it's Kylie. She takes what is arguably a paper thin voice and puts it to good use. All the hits are there as well as many fan favorites. She interacts with the audience in a way that we Madonna fans can only dream of. She is so joyous and excited to be singing, as if 20 years on, she still can't believe this is happening to her. So it's always worth it. Every. Single. Time.

I hope it doesn't take another 20 years for Kylie to tour North America. Listening to this CD makes me want to hook up my Region 0 DVD player and watch KylieX2008 right now, but really, I have to get to bed.

Genes at work

Anna did this project at school that she brought home on Friday. It is so cool, we hung it up in the dining room.


My favorite part, however, is the part where she listed her favorite songs. Here's a closeup. (click to make bigger)


I don't think you need any further proof to verify the fact that this child does indeed carry 50% of my genetics. And clearly, she inherited ALL the good stuff. Even though I'm a bit plus/minus on "Single Ladies", the other two get my definite seal of approval.

It's Vegas, baby!

No sooner has Heidi got one book sold and another submitted for consideration, she's prepping for another one that she's going to tackle during National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short). And even though the actual writing of it doesn't start until November 1st, she's already knee deep in research. This one is set in Las Vegas, a town which we only blew through during our trip out west this summer, and deals specifically with the game of poker, which she knew literally nothing about other than it was played with cards.

Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to educate yourself on these kinds of things, and one of the ways she's been doing it is watching a shitload of movies set in Las Vegas. The tricky thing is that it has to be current Las Vegas, not the Vegas of the 50s or even the Vegas of the 70s. There was some VERY brief talk of taking a quick trip out there over our anniversary weekend, and obviously since we're just finishing up that weekend, we didn't do it. In hindsight, it was a very wise decision considering all that's happened with the car and some other behind-the-scenes stuff I won't get into here. But anyway, short of actually going to Vegas, watching movies set in Vegas is kind of the next best thing. So last night we watched The Cooler and Lucky You. Both were subpar overall but what we really enjoyed was the depiction of Las Vegas. Vegas is almost a character in the movie itself - especially in The Cooler.

Las Vegas is not a city that we ever thought we would want to visit, it was kind of an afterthought on our vacation this summer. The only reason we really went there was because we were looking for some place to stop between L.A. and Glenwood Springs, CO. Truthfully, we should have stopped somewhere in Utah, but it worked out as getting stuck in L.A. rush hour traffic made getting out of L.A. a 2+ hour endeavor on its own, causing us to pull into Vegas at 10pm. Seriously, the drive into Vegas on I-15 after dark, seeing the lights of the Strip in the distance - one of my favorite memories of the trip. I vividly remember that "I Love New York" was playing at that time and although it wasn't New York, it seemed appropriate driving music.

Heidi was pleasantly surprised by Las Vegas. She had never been sold on Vegas, fearing it to be a bigger version of Reno, a city she really hated. My folks have a time share in Vegas and keep trying to get us to go out for a week, and she has never wanted to. But after spending some time there - I think we were there for about 12 hours, which was just about the same amount of time Jeff and I were there for the Confessions Tour - she began to see the draw. And now that she's writing a book set there, well, let's just say that she really wants to get out there.

I have to say that I both understand and don't understand the draw of Vegas. In an attempt to replicate a Vegas experience this weekend, we headed down to Prairie Meadows casino in Altoona, IA, where we lost 20 bucks in under 5 minutes on the roulette wheel. I will admit to having fantasies of hitting it big and coming home with thousands of dollars, but I probably have as much likelihood of winning the lottery that I never play. Mostly because of the financial craziness that is such an omnipresent part of my life, that would be an easy way to fix that. But trust me, my mother's first child is no dummy and I realize the folly of thinking that. The house always wins. Always. And the only way out from under financial craziness is hard work and discipline, not hoping for a miracle that will never come.

But let me tell you, if Kylie sets up residency in Vegas as is rumored right now, I'll figure out a way to get there. Because, as Kylie says, it's Vegas baby!

Podcast revealed

As promised, the podcast I participated in is up and ready for the download. You have one of two options should you choose to listen to it (and really, you should - we're brilliant.) You can go to the podcast web site (it's episode 31) and download from there. Alternatively, you can go to iTunes and get the podcast that way. Either way, do it.

I clearly need to be taught how to use a microphone, so go easy on me. If you have positive comments, I'd love to hear them. Please keep negative comments to yourself. My ego is, as Kylie would sing, made of glass.

And to anybody arriving at this blog via the Live Free or Blow Hard web site - welcome. Hope you like what you see. It was a blast being on the podcast and just want to say thanks to Matt and Lance for having me on.

Icicles in hell, Kylie in the U.S.

I am going to join just about every blogger I know in celebrating the announcement of Kylie Minogue's North American tour! (best headline ever in that link.) Well, if you can call a 6-date run a "tour." Anyway, we can hardly bitch because Kylie has never once during her entire 21 year career seen fit to tour in the U.S. And really, I can't blame her all that much. The U.S. has been very lukewarm to Kylie, "The Locomotion" and "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" notwithstanding.

Thankfully, one of the cities on the tour is Chicago. While not next door, it is still a relatively uncomplicated trip (see the Sticky & Sweet Tour.) I e-mailed Heidi with the news and she was instantly on board, also trying to talk our friends Jeff and Caryle into going as well. The show is October 7th, and tickets are "only" $75, which is still fully half of what I spent on my Sticky & Sweet ticket and about what I spent for Dolly Parton. If Heidi, Anna, and I all go, it will be a pricey night, but one that we will not soon forget.

But here's the thing...the venue, the Congress Theater, seats a mere 4000 people. Now, I know that Kylie does not have the draw of say Madonna or U2 or Coldplay, but 4000 seats? One show? I think they are SERIOUSLY underestimating Kylie's ability to sell tickets. There are probably 4000 people within the Chicago city limits that would be interested in those seats, leaving everyone else out of luck. Kylie's appeal within the gay community is tremendous and just because she has not had album sales in the U.S. to match her contemporaries, don't think for a minute that those seats will not sell out instantly. I would like to think they will add more dates, but there really isn't any time built into the tour schedule for that. My worry is that the seats will sell out during the weeklong presale for fan club members and American Express cardholders. Anyone out there have AmEx and willing to give me their number? I promise to pay you back!

I am going to try to go - who knows, it might be another 21 years before she heads back to the States. I want to at least give it a good, honest effort to make it to see her live for she is another of those artists on my short list of people to see live. I just never thought it would happen in the U.S.

Kylie puts on a hell of a show. Yes, she is kind of Madonna-lite, much to the dismay of some bloggers, but I daresay her KylieX2008 tour was at least as entertaining as Sticky & Sweet, and maybe just a little bit more because of Kylie's stubborn refusal to disavow her old songs, unlike Madonna who can't run away from some of her most crowd pleasing hits fast enough.

And as proof of this point, here's the closing number of KylieX2008 - her very first hit "I Should Be So Lucky."



I am always amazed at how little she is.

We should be so lucky. Wish us luck. We will need it.

Best. Wife. Ever.

Would you look at this? Ask, and I received.

(I am also pretty sure my hair has never been longer. And I love it.)

And as if that were not enough, she got me something for Christmas that 1) I didn't know I wanted and 2) I didn't even know existed!


It's the Region 2 DVD of the KylieX 2008 World Tour! We watched the lion's share of it this afternoon and say what you will about Kylie, she knows how to put on a show. It is so detailed and intricate that it is nearly in league with a Madonna show. Too bad she will probably never tour the States (talk about a show I would travel ANYWHERE in the continental US to see), and if she did, she wouldn't be able to fill an arena bigger than C.Y. Stephens save in the most metropolitan areas. Not exactly the best place for a spectacle such as what is contained on that DVD.

Here's one of my faves - "LoveBoat" - even incorporating some of the theme from "The Love Boat." When Kylie emerges after the lengthy intro, Anna says, "Dad, she has Dolly Parton hair!" WTF?



A really great Christmas around our house. I hope everyone else had a good one! I also wanted to take a moment to stop and thank everyone who stops by this blog and reads my words. And I want to especially thank everyone who arrives here looking for a picture of Mbwun. That is by far my most popular post thanks to a Google Image Search.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

I drowned myself tonight in sangria

OK, I didn't really do that, but I am loving the song that lyric came from - it's from the Girlyman song "Viola." Their music reminds me of heading up to Prairie Moon Winery in the heat of July and drinking sangria underneath an umbrella while sitting on a blanket - and not just because of the mention of sangria. Their style of music is very much in the vein of the live music they generally have there.

In other goings-ons of interest:

I love the Chapin Sisters cover of Madonna's "Borderline." Taken from the forthcoming Madonna tribute CD, Through The Wilderness: A Tribute To Madonna, it is an understated version of what is perhaps my favorite of the really moldy oldies. As Yuri pointed out to me, it's like Wilson Phillips meets Alison Krauss. I may actually pick up this Madge tribute album - the others that I've heard (i.e. Virgin Voices) have pretty much been terrible.

Tomorrow may very well turn out to be my last shot at getting the gutters cleaned out. I may have no choice but to do it. I don't particularly want to spend my Sunday on the roof, considering I walk like I'm just learning to walk when I'm up there, but I think my hand is being forced. It really makes me want to invest in Gutter Topper, but that's two grand that I just don't have right now!

We put up our Christmas tree on Friday morning. I was a sport (even Heidi said so!) on Thursday night and hauled all the Christmas stuff up from the basement even though I had worked 11 hours that day. Pictures to follow, I'm certain.

I have listened to the new Goldfrapp and my initial reaction is, while there are a few good songs on there, I'm mostly underwhelmed. I think it might be because, really, the only Goldfrapp album that I really like Supernature, and this is decidedly NOT Supernature. I still can't believe the record leaked three months before it's scheduled to be released. It makes you wonder why they aren't releasing it sooner if it's already in the can.

I am getting very seriously excited for the Christmas episode of Doctor Who. Sure, it's a one-off designed to get us through till the new series starts in 2008, but still. It's David Tennant and Kylie Minogue! On the Titanic! What more could you ask for?

Speaking of Kylie, I've had a chance to listen to more of X. "Nu-di-ty" is so bad that I don't think Britney would even sink to that level. But the bonus tracks "Rippin' Up The Disco" and "Magnetic Electric" are both worthy of being on the album. But how "Nu-di-ty" made the album and the fan-fucking-tastic "Fall For You" is relegated to B-side status is beyond me.

We stopped at the Java House on our way back home tonight. I miss it so much. I don't know why - it's very much like our local coffee house, Cafe Diem - but for whatever reason, Cafe Diem is just not the same. I think it is largely because I have such strong associations with the Java House, and the fact that there is no coffee on earth as good as St. Louis Blues. Plus, now that it's the holiday season, Candy Cane coffee is back, even though Heidi thinks it tastes like cough syrup.

I think that's it. I'm off to bed.

I gave in

I vowed I was not going to listen to Kylie's new record X until it was released, but that was always a bit of a dicey arrangement as it technically doesn't get a US release until well into 2008, despite the fact that it's being released in the UK on November 26th. I just got done telling someone last week that I was going to wait until at least then before downloading the tracks and giving them a listen.

I am here to report that I have failed miserably which really puts my ability to stand up to the Madonna leaks (once they start leaking) into question.

So far, what do I think? Well, I've only listened to a few tracks so far, but it does appear to me that while it is good pop fun, X is a more streamlined attempt at what Body Language was designed to do - and that is to break Kylie in America. I don't think that's going to happen. As much as I love songs like "Wow" and "Like A Drug" I just don't see them getting even the remotest of airplay here in the U.S. But, as I've said before, the U.S. is not the world, and I hope Kylie gets some good success with this record. It is pretty solid, and I especially like how there is only one track that exceeds the 4 minute mark - and only by 2 seconds at that! It is almost a throwback to vinyl 45s in that respect!!

Anyway, now that I have given in, I will likely be giving this a lot of spins on the old iPod (and I do mean old. Does anyone want to buy me one of those 160GB models for Christmas?) I'm sure I'll have a more well-formed opinion after a few more listens.