urban wanderer

Friday, May 04, 2007   I just had to get this off my chest. Dirk Nowitzki is a certified dud. And that coming from a MFFL. posted by uging | 12:01 AM Sunday, February 04, 2007   Wow. George Benson & Al Jarreau in one concert. This is too good to be true. Haven't been to a concert since, uhmm Hall & Oates` in 91. I definitely won't miss this as these 2 jazzmasters have always been my favorite. GB probably is considered jolog by some jazz enthusiasts in Pinas due to songs such as 'Give Me The Night', 'In Your Eyes' & 'Greatest Love of All' played to death on baduy radio stations but it doesn't diminish the fact that he is a genius. AJ is the lesser known of the 2 in the western world (or at least in Australia) but I'd place him ahead of GB because of his unique voice & that scat. And its not that he's not known here as his dinner concert in 93 sold out even before I found out that he's coming over. Apart from 'After All' I can't recall any AJ songs played on 89.9 or 97.1. How many times have I sung most of his hits at karaoke: 'We're In This Love Together', 'Mornin', 'Moonlighting' and of course 'After All' although I must admit I slaughtered these songs but who cares. Nobody can do an Al Jarreau song justice but only him. Promises to be one hell of a show as there are lots of GB fans here due to the popularity of his songs not only to the 30 & 40somethings but also the R&B crowd. posted by uging | 6:45 PM Sunday, December 10, 2006   Allen Iverson is on the outer in Philly & Dallas is one of his preferred destination. To Mark Cuban, I say make the deal. Philly is interested in Devin Harris & while I love Harris, A.I is more likely to bring a championship to Dallas. Harris can be frustrating sometimes because of his penchance for turning the ball over. Hardcore Mavs fans reckon Iverson is just a cancer but there is no questioning his heart. Cuban said they're not parting with Devin but I still hope this trade works out coz if the Mavs dont win this year, they can almost kiss their title aspirations goodbye. My butt is still here in Sydney. I already made press releases to friends that I'll be in Manila December 2 but my work load is just too much at this time & most airlines are booked out until next week. I've booked for a Dec 18 flight but there's a stopover in Japan. I hate indirect flights but I may have to settle since I'm running out of flights already. So we'll probably see each other in the next 2 weeks or so. posted by uging | 3:39 PM Sunday, September 03, 2006   Rockstar Supernova is almost winding down. Unlike the INXS series, I dont care who ends up fronting Supernova coz the likelihood of me buying their CD is as slim as Tommy Lee not screwing for one week. Still I watch the show because I'm a sucker for all this reality talent quests. Besides all Rockstar rockers are heaps better than their Idol counterparts. Magni has always been my favorite. He's got the best chops amongst the whole bunch although Dilana fans might disagree. Dilana to me sounds like somebody who's ingested helium. Toby is my other pick coz I'm a biased larrikin but I doubt if he's gonna win. Good luck to him. The Premier League also just started. I've never been an avid follower but this year because I've joined one of those fantasy crap, I've been watching the games with more interest, like who's injured or who's playing under the radar. At the end of the day, I'm gonna be rooting for the team that Chelsea is playing against. The World Championships saw the US bow down to eventual runner-up Greece. Am I surprised? Yes. Frankly I thought this team will just demolish everyone on its path but I was wrong. Maybe they should've sent the Miami Heat instead. Or maybe assemble the best college players again coz these so called superstars just couldn't cut it. September 4. My lola would've been 99 today. And also Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter passed away. RIP. posted by uging | 8:45 PM Tuesday, August 15, 2006   The sight of Boy George sweeping the streets of New York, although it looked funny depressed me a lot. I was a huge Culture Club fan & anytime you see somebody you've adored toting a broom & a rubbish bin with cameras & people all over his face like it was a sideshow, you cant help but feel sad about it. I guess that's the price you pay for fucking up a great career. posted by uging | 5:37 PM Tuesday, June 20, 2006   My thoughts on this World Cup brouhaha: Argentina - Tipped them to win the whole thing. Everyone is riding the Brazilian wagon but Argentina really has more in-form players & they seem to beat the crap out of Brazil every time they meet. They're in fine form at the moment & have trimmed their odds of winning from 7/1 to 4/1 (second favorite behind the Brazilians). England - Poor Engerland. Too much expectations from them but what do you expect? They have the most watchable league inspite of the fact that the best players really are in Spain, Italy & Latin America. While a round of 16 appearance was expected, I would consider a quarterfinal stint for them a success. Brazil - Ronaldo is playing like Romario of France 98. Slowed down by age, weight & ego. Ronaldinho has yet to explode but I wouldnt be surprised if he's deliberately playing under the radar with that enormous contract with Barca. France - Its not that they're all aging. Zizou is still playing well. There's fire in Henry's eyes. Its just that their dimwit manager is stuffing it up. I hate to see Les Bleus (esp. Zizou) go like this. They need to get their act together against Togo to prove that they can still kick ass. Germany - So far so good. That win against Ecuador is not a real guide if they can really be considered a threat as Ecuador was missing Tenorio & Delgado. The 2nd round match against Sweden should be interesting. U.S.A - Two words for Bruce Arena: 'Sucked In'. Australia - Ahhh my beloved Socceroos. Win or lose, you're all heroes in my book. posted by uging | 4:58 PM Wednesday, June 07, 2006   Finally, an NBA Finals that I will be interested in watching. Dallas Mavericks waited 26 years & for long suffering fans like moi, this is the biggest payoff. After last year's disappointing setback to the Suns I felt that the window of opportunity closed. The Mavs last year was becoming the Sacramento Kings of the previous year. Finley was getting old, Stackhouse was getting old. And I was most especially disappointed with Nowitzki. He was supposed to take over after Nash bolted to the Suns & that Game 6 debacle proved that he's nowhere the leader as his best mate. Like many disillusioned fans I asked for a Nowitzki-Garnett swap but what do we know. I think the biggest factor for Dallas' success this year is Avery Johnson. Not only did he squeeze the best out of Nowitzki but he transformed the Mavs into a great defensive squad. Maybe not yet in the Pistons/Spurs level but one thing going for Dallas is they have a young talented squad & a bench that goes 4-5 deep. Now they face their biggest test but win or lose I'm one happy chappy as finally I get to see my Mavs play in the Finals. posted by uging | 1:00 AM		archives Band of Bloggers curves ahead girl with the indigo eyes the princess she likes to watch moka java true companion north star stories of the painted desert dream of the sirens bella luna bookmarked best jazz band in the world Soccer madness Pinoyexchange NBA online quizzes weird stuff fun & games Weekly Top 10: Fave George Benson & Al Jarreau tracks 10.Lady Love Me One More Time 9.Feel Like Makin Love 8.20/20 7.This Masquerade 6.Love Times Love 5.Turn Your Love Around 4.Were In This Love Together 3.Boogie Down 2.Mornin` 1.Breakin Away Musical heroes: Def Leppard Def Leppard, in many ways, was the definitive hard rock band of the '80s. There were many bands that rocked harder, and were more dangerous, than the Sheffield quintet, but few others captured the spirit of the times quite as well. Emerging in the late '70s as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the group actually owed more to the glam-rock and metal of the early '70s — their sound was equal parts T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Queen and Led Zeppelin. By toning down their heavy riffs and emphasizing melody, Def Leppard were poised for crossover success by 1983's Pyromania, but skillfully used the fledgling MTV network to their advantage. The group was already blessed with photogenic good looks, but they also crafted a series of innovative, exciting videos, which made them into stars. They intended to follow Pyromania quickly, but were derailed when their drummer lost an arm in a car accident, the first of many problems that plagued the group's career. Def Leppard managed to pull through such tragedies and they even expanded their large audience with 1987's blockbuster Hysteria. As the '90s began, mainstream hard rock shifted away from Leppard's signature pop-metal and towards edgier, louder bands, yet the group maintained a sizable audience into the late '90s and were one of only a handful of '80s metal groups to survive the decade more or less intact. Def Leppard had its origins in a Sheffield-based group Rick Savage (bass) and Pete Willis (guitar) formed in their late teens in 1977. A few months later, vocalist Joe Elliott, a fanatic follower of Mott the Hoople and T. Rex, joined the band, bringing the name Deaf Leopard. After a spelling change, the trio, augmented by a now-forgotten drummer, began playing local Sheffield pubs, and within a year they had added guitarist Steve Clark, as well as a new drummer. Later in 1978, the recorded their debut EP Getcha Rocks Off and released it on their own label, Bludgeon Riffola. The EP became a word-of-mouth success, earning airplay on the BBC. The group members were still in their teens. Following the release of Getcha Rocks Off, Rick Allen was added as the band's permanent drummer, and Def Leppard quickly became the subject of the British music weeklies. Soon, they signed with AC/DC's manager Petter Mensch, who helped them secure a contract with Mercury. On Through the Night, the band's full-length debut, was released in 1980 and instantly became a hit in the U.K., also earning significant airplay in the U.S., where it reached number 51 on the charts. Over the course of the year, Def Leppard relentlessly toured Britain and America, including opening slots for Ozzy Osbourne, Sammy Hagar and Judas Priest. High N' Dry followed in 1981, and it became the group's first platinum album in the U.S., thanks to MTV's strong rotation of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak." MTV would be vital to the band's success in the '80s. As the band recorded the follow-up to High N' Dry with producer Mutt Lange, Pete Willis was fired from the band for alcoholism, and Phil Collen, a former guitarist for Girl, was hired to replace him. The resulting album, 1983's Pyromania, became an unexpected blockbuster, due not only to Def Leppard's skillful, melodic metal, but also to MTV's relentless airing of "Photograph" and "Rock of Ages." Pyromania went on to sell 10 million copies, establishing Def Leppard as one of the most popular bands in the world. Despite their success, the band was about to enter a trying time for their career. Following an extensive international tour, the group re-entered the studio to record the follow-up, but producer Lange was unavailable, so they began sessions with Jim Steinman, the man responsible for Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. The pairing turned out to be ill-advised, so the group turned to its former engineer, Nigel Green. One month into recording, Rick Allen lost his left arm in a New Year's Eve car accident. The arm was reattached, but it had to be amputated once an infection set in. Without a drummer, Def Leppard's future looked cloudy, but by the spring of 1985 — just a few months after his accident — Allen began learning to play a custom-made electronic kit assembled for him by Simmons. Soon, the band resumed recording, and within a few months Lange was back on board, but once he joined the team, he judged the existing tapes inferior and had the band begin work all over again. The recording continued throughout 1986, and that summer, the group returned to the stage for the European Monsters of Rock tour. Def Leppard finally completed its fourth album, now titled Hysteria, early in 1987, releasing it that spring to lukewarm reviews; many critics felt that the album compromised Leppard's metal roots for sweet pop flourishes. The record was slow out of the starting gates — "Women," the first single, failed to really take hold. But with the second single, "Animal," Hysteria began to take off. It became the group's first Top 40 hit in the U.K., but more importantly, it began a string of six straight Top 20 hits in the U.S., which also included "Hysteria," "Pour Some Sugar On Me," "Love Bites," "Armageddon It" and "Rocket," the latter of which arrived in 1989, a full two years after the release of Hysteria. During those two years, Def Leppard was unavoidable — they were the kings of high school metal, ruling the pop charts and MTV, and teenagers and bands alike replicated their teased hair and ripped jeans, even when the grimy hard rock of Guns N' Roses took hold in 1988. Hysteria proved to be the peak of Leppard's popularity, yet their follow-up remained eagerly awaited in the early '90s as the band set to work on the record. During the recording, Steve Clark died from an overdose of alcohol and drugs. Clark had long had a problem with alcohol, and following the Hysteria heyday, the band forced him to take a sabbatical; he did enter rehab, but to no apparent effect. In fact, his abuse was so crippling that Collen had to play the majority of the guitar leads on Hysteria. Following Clark's death, Def Leppard resolved to finish its forthcoming album as a quartet, releasing Adrenalize in the spring of 1992. Adrenalize was greeted with mixed reviews, and even though the album debuted at number one and contained several hit singles, including "Let's Get Rocked," "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad" and "Make Love Like a Man," the record was a commercial disappointment in the wake of Pyromania and Hysteria. After the release of Adrenalize, the group added former Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell. In 1993, Def Leppard released the rarities collection Retro Active, featuring a new single, "Miss You in a Heartbeat," which scraped the lower reaches of the Top 40. Two years later, the group released the greatest hits collection Vault while preparing their sixth album. Slang arrived in the spring of 1996, and while it was more adventurous than its predecessor, it was greeted with indifference, proving that Leppard's heyday had passed, and they were now simply a very popular cult band. Undaunted, Leppard soldiered on, returning to its patented pop-metal sound for Euphoria, which was released in June of 1999. "must listen" DISCLAIMER: The title URBAN WANDERER as well as the link titles to other blogs are song titles from a jazz band. I used these titles as a gesture of appreciation & gain no financial benefits from this & in no way used to promote my blog. For the real deal, visit their website.