24 October 2013 - The Carpenters - We've Only Just Begun

Believe it or not, this song started off as a bank commercial, written by and performed by Paul Williams.

Until Richard Carpenter was watching television in a Quaalude-induced haze and saw that commercial.  He knew it had to be theirs.  And, with Karen Carpenter's powerful pre-anorexic vocals, a wedding classic was born.



Not kidding about it being a bank commercial first..... This was the first in a series of commercials using this song, envisioned by the legendary ad man Hal Riney for The Crocker Bank.

18 October 2013 - Halestorm - Empire State of Mind

This one popped onto my Twitter feed a couple days ago and I had to share it. Here's hard rock band Halestorm playing the one Jay-Z song I don't mind (and that of course is because of Alecia Keys' fantastic vocal part...well that, and it just happened to be the unofficial anthem of the 2009 World Series win by the Yankees).

17 October 2013 - Blake Babies - Passionate Kisses

Some covers are planned and happen with a lot of preparation.

Some covers happen when a guy hands John Strohm a guitar and he happens to be in a band with Juliana Hatfield, who happens to be standing right next to him.

This is the latter. The Lucinda Williams classic has never sounded quite so raw, but still, it works.

16 October 2013 - We Are Scientists & Ash (WASH) - Touch Me I'm Sick

It's always cool when bands who tour together join up to play a song or two as an encore. Apparently, We Are Scientists and Ash (collectively known as WASH) felt the same a couple years ago when they toured together. Here they are in Melbourne playing the Mudhoney anthem Touch Me I'm Sick.

15 October 2013 - Guano Apes - Big In Japan

Rather than spend time on a blog post..... I watched the Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 1-0 to take a 2-1 series lead in the ALCS.  And then I think back to Kevin Millar, one of the heroes of the 2004 Red Sox that broke the so-called curse of the Bambino - which was ridiculous, by the way - and how he was.... well, big in Japan, where he had played for a bit.

So here are Guano Apes, doing an Alphaville cover.  It's quite heavy. Enjoy.

11 October 2013 - Reel Big Fish - Take On Me

Here's third wave ska band Reel Big Fish playing a punked-up cover of Take on Me by a-ha. The video's kind of fun but how much cooler would it have been if they tried to recreate the original video...but without the animation?

10 October 2013 - Puscifer - Bohemian Rhapsody

Sometimes, a video tells the whole story.  Sometimes, a video is just bizarre.  This video falls into the latter category.  It's weird, but the song itself is solid, full of the proper emotion, and faithful to the original.

And yet when you realize who Puscifer actually is - Maynard James Keenan, whose day job is lead vocalist of Tool and A Perfect Circle - this becomes all the more bizarre.