Category Archives: Music

Song Of The Day – The Black Keys "Tighten Up"

I just got back from a Kings Of Leon & The Black Keys concert in Cincinnati, Ohio tonight and I currently have a concert buzz and can’t sleep. I decided to rekindle my series of “Songs Of The Day” since I was inspired by a great performance by The Black Keys. This duo puts out a sound of a four-piece band and leaves it all on stage. Here is some background on the band and the video for “Tighten Up.”

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney formed the band in 2001 in the town of Akron, Ohio. The genre that best fits their music would be either “Blues Rock” or “Garage Rock.” Their music has been featured in everything from the movie “I Love You, Man,” to the TV show “Eastbound & Down,” to an advertising campaign for Molson beer.

They have released seven studio albums, with their latest being “Brothers.” The tracks “Tighten Up” and “Howlin’ For You,” are two highlights on the album the debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 in the first week released. The album has been getting rave reviews from established rock critics from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork Media, and Entertainment Weekly.

If you haven’t heard of The Black Keys, Google the hell out of them and listen to everything you can.

Here is the video for “Tighten Up.”

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Song Of The Day – All Time Low (Weightless)

I know what you’re thinking, why I have shirtless boys on my blog? I wouldn’t normally do this, but I probably have a few lady readers out there and they need some eye candy too. Here at “America’s White Boy,” we obide to Title IX and maybe I should make Thursdays Ladies’ Night here. I would need to get a velvet rope, do you think they have them at IKEA?

I’m a big fan of All Time Low, they had an acoustic track on “Punk Goes Acoustic Vol.2, I think it was called “Jasey Rae,” great tune. Anyways, my friend actually has a lyric by All Time Low tattooed on herself, she is a huge fan of music and has other band tattoos. It takes a huge dedication to do that and I think it’s cool, even if it was a band that I didn’t care for, it’s still cool.

“Weightless” is a up-tempo pop-punk track off the album “Nothing Personal.” They have released a few other albums and they have all been good, a rarity for the genre. Usually pop-punk bands have one good album and then the rest are cookie-cutter attempts are re-creating magic. If you are looking for bands that have a similar sound, I would say that Cartel and The Audition are two bands that I would recommend.

Here is the video for “Weightless”

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Song Of The Day – The Arcade Fire (Wake Up)

I am bringing back an oldie with this post. I used to post a different “Song Of The Day” everyday and I got a good response. I am not a huge fan of the band The Arcade Fire, but I do love this song. I didn’t hear of the song until about a year ago, I actually heard it on The Dan Patrick Show. They sing the yelling part at the beginning of the song every Friday to close out the show.

I was turned off by The Arcade Fire for awhile, because I knew a girl who liked crappy art-rock and she loved them. I hated about 95% of the bands that she liked, the only one that I remember liking was Interpol. I was surprised when I found out that “Wake Up” was by The Arcade Fire, I had to re-think my stance on hating that girl’s favorite bands. I listened to some their other stuff, but I’m still not a huge fan.

Well, here’s the video for The Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up.” As a tribute to the Dan Patrick Show, please all sing along to the beginning. 1, 2, 3, Go!

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Random YouTube Artist – Tommy Knox

I am always looking around YouTube trying to find funny things, but sometimes I run across some pretty decent musicians that are trying to get their music out to the masses. Tommy Knox is a musician from the Chicago-area that has put his music out on myspace and YouTube. I have actually liked Tommy Knox for about a year. He does some decent acoustic music via a webcam. He does covers of popular pop songs as well as rap/r&b. He also has original music that he has made videos for as well.

Here are links to his

Myspace and YouTube pages.

A cover of Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody”

A cover of Flo Rida’s “Low”

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Song Of The Day – Matt & Kim (Daylight)

My radio has been tuned to sports talk radio here of late. I don’t really understand my interest in un-athletic, opinionated people yelling on the radio about over-paid jocks. I needed to change it up and I started to discover some music that I have been ignoring the last month or two. I turned it on my favorite station here in Columbus, OH and found a band called “Matt & Kim.” I really like their style and think they are really talented.

Matt & Kim are a Brooklyn, NY-based band that met while going to school. Their album, “Grand” was released on The Fader Label. They are a punk/dance duo that have been working hard on the road to support their music. They are currently on a national tour and should be hitting a venue near you soon. Their sound is rejuvenating to the ears, something new.

If you want to find out more about Matt & Kim, check out their website @ MattAndKimMusic.com.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Song Of The Day – John Legend ft. Andre 3000 (Green Light)

John Legend has always been one of those acts that I couldn’t ever get into. It seems like most of his influences come from early r&b and gospel music, two styles I haven’t really embraced coming from a white, rather hillbilly upbringing in Indiana. I do like Andre 3000, Outkast is probably one of my all-time favorite hip-hop acts. About the only time I ever pay attention to John Legend is when he’s a guest on either “Real Time with Bill Maher,” a show I watch religiously, “The Daily Show,” or “The Colbert Report.” He is a very open democrat and is very driven by his views of politics. He’s a smart guy and I love his new song, “Green Light.”

John Legend will need to make more tracks like “Green Light” to stay relevant in the mainstream, since most of his work is critically-acclaimed, it doesn’t always correlate to high album sales. His new album, “Evolver,” came out recently and it getting the usual love from the critics. I haven’t been able to get a copy of it yet, but I am already down on the album a little since 311 came out with an album with the same title a few years ago.

I’m sure “Evolver” will do very well and hopefully there will be a few more tracks like “Green Light” to really get the buzz growing about John Legend. Here is the video for “Green Light.”

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Song Of The Day – Emery (The Smile, The Face)

Emery have been a staple in my music collection since I received a pre-release of their debut album, “The Weak’s End.” It was right around that time that Tooth and Nail Records switched their focus from bands like Ace Troubleshooter, Bleach, and MxPx to harder bands like Emery, Underoath, and Norma Jean. I think they helped the “screamo” genre creep into mainstream.

Emery released an EP called “When Broken Hearts Prevail.” It’s a collection of songs that sound like re-mastered B-sides from “The Question” recordings. I’m not saying that these songs aren’t as good as any tracks on “The Question,” but they are of the same ilk. I think it is an amazing EP and makes the anticipation grow for their next LP. Here is the audio of a track off of their new EP, it’s called “The Smile, The Face.” Enjoy!

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Song Of The Day – The Game ft. Lil Wayne (My Life)

If you can’t get T-Pain or Akon on a track, chances are Lil’ Wayne will want to do it. The Game hasn’t struck any kind of precious medal since he split with 50 Cent. He needed something hot to get him back to platinum level. “My Life” could be the track to get him back in the conversation. Lil’ Wayne sounds like he is crying when he sings, but that is to be expected.

I got The Game’s new album, “LAX,” and I was very happy with it. I wasn’t expecting much since his last album was horrible. “LAX” has a lot of guests that is always welcome in today’s hip-hop. Ludacris, Nas, Common, Lil’ Wayne, Ice Cube, Ne-Yo, Bilal, and Raekwon all make cameos on tracks. The Game has taken the next step, even though he hasn’t gotten over 50 Cent, he has a few jabs on this album, it’s a step in the right direction.

Here is the video for “My Life”.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Song Of The Day – Akon & T-Pain (Right Now)

My birthday was yesterday and I had a lot of fun. We had people over and it was one of the better birthdays I’ve had in a long time. My roommate made a playlist of music that played throughout the night. There were a lot of Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and of course Akon & T-Pain.

The song “Right Now” is pretty good, almost surprising that Akon can do this good of a job at writing lyrics. This is coming from a guy who wrote a song about how he wants to “eff you,” but was switched to “love you” and it became a hit. I like what T-Pain has done to hip-hop, but he also cheapens it a little. By singing into a voice modifier, it can even make a guy like Lil Wayne sound like he can sing a little. I’m sure T-Pain and Akon will be major players in the music business for many years to come.

Go out and buy “The Usual Suspects” album, it’s pretty good, this is coming from a guy who rarely endorses hip-hop. Here is the audio for “Right Now” by Akon & T-Pain.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Song Of The Day – Rise Against (Re-Education Through Labor)

I can’t tell you how happy I am that Rise Against is releasing a new album. I have enjoyed this band the last five years and I think “Siren Song Of The Counter Culture” was one of the best albums released that year. Many of you are just familiar with them from Guitar Hero 3, but Rise Against has a catalog of music that is just as good as “Prayer Of The Refugee.”

Rise Against is set to release “Appeal To Reason” very soon and I’m sure it will be a Top 10 album the first week of its release. They are one of the pure punk bands to get mainstream airplay. They are better than Anti-Flag (barely, I do love them), and currently more relevant than Bad Religion (I still enjoy those guys). Rise Against can garner airplay through MTV via a major label and proof that major labels can still market to punk listeners, but they are still not great at it.

Go buy “Appeal To Reason” and check out the song “Re-Education (Through Labor)”

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Song Of The Day – Kings of Leon (Sex On Fire)

It’s not every day that a band from Tennessee tops the charts in the UK. Kings of Leon haven’t tops the charts in the U.S. yet and you can say that they are bigger in the UK than their own country. I’ve seen this one other time, Zebrahead is huge in Japan and never really quite broke into the mainstream here in the States. I think hitting it big on the UK charts is a great indication that success for Kings Of Leon is coming very soon.

I have been a fan of Kings of Leon since they released “Youth and Young Manhood” back about five years ago. Their latest release, “Only By The Night” is their fourth major-label release, but so far the band has been considered an indie-band. That moniker comes from the type of radio stations their music gets airplay from. Here in Columbus it’s CD101, which on most days a good amount of Modest Mouse, The Shins, and Death Cab For Cutie. All of those bands are all on major labels and have sold a great deal of albums, but “indie music” is now considered a genre since many of the successful underground bands have been snatched up by major labels and packaged as “indie.”

Kings of Leon were musical guests on Saturday Night Live last night and did a great job. I think the lead singer’s voice is so distinct and the music on their new album does such a great job at showcasing it. I would put money down that “Only By The Night” will be their best-selling album in their careers so far and a few awards should be coming their way.

Here is a performance of “Sex On Fire.”

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Song Of The Day – TBDBITL (Hang On Sloopy)

For the people who haven’t lived in Columbus, OH, you might be wondering what “TBDBITL” stands for. The Ohio State marching band calls themselves “The Best Damn Band In The Land,” which is a long acronym, but they mean their business. I picked this as the “Song Of The Day,” mainly because they have little to no chance at winning their game against USC. They play each other at 8pm on Saturday night in Los Angeles, CA. I almost put USC’s fight song here, but I couldn’t do it, even though I do like their song.

I will leave my Ohio State/USC analysis for another post, but I thought that I could just put “Hang On Sloopy” as a sign of good faith. This song isn’t Ohio State’s fight song, but it is probably more recognizable than their actual fight song.

I’m not a huge fan of TBDBITL for one reason, I dislike their tuba players. I lived next door for a couple of them when I first moved here and they had tuba practice at their house. Any random saturday you would hear a stampede of tuba sounds coming out of their house. Also, they do this thing called “script Ohio, which they spell out “Ohio” in cursive on the field. It is tradition that a tuba player dots the “i’, but only a few notable Ohio State alumni have dotted the ‘i’ that were not tuba players (i.e. Jack Nicklaus, Woody Hayes). The tuba players that I lived next to had the license plate of “IDOT08” and “IDOT09,” which is too close to IDIOT in my book.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.