Category: Friday Five

Friday Five: Hey, Rittenhouse, I really wanna win that guitar! edition (plus posts about four other things.)

  1. Lately I’ve been tweeting this mantra, or some slight variation, every day:

    I want to win a relic custom guitar from #RittenhouseGuitars at www.RittenhouseGuitars.com

    I’ve been doing that to meet the requirements of a contest to, well, win a relic custom guitar from these guys. One way of entering the contest is by tweeting that statement on Twitter. (Check.) Another way is to become a fan on Rittenhouse’s Facebook page. (Check.) Yet another way — and something I almost forgot about until I started this post — is to blog about the giveaway. (Check.)

    So, I’ve entered this contest about every which way I can. Those of you on Twitter who’ve been annoyed by my constant tweeting about it, you may now relax. I won’t post anything else about it — until I get the word that I’ve won. And then, well, Katie bar the door.

  2. Right now, I’m listening to It’s Blitz! the latest musical offering from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Yesterday, I read that Amazon’s editors picked it to top their top-50 list of best albums of 2009 so far. I haven’t listened to it in weeks, and hadn’t planned on listening to it today, but then @radiofreegeorgy pronounced it “amazing!” And she seems to know her music. (She’s obviously written more about Freedy Johnson than anyone on the entire Internet, and I’ve learned everything I know about Freedy from Georgy’s blog.) So I thought I’d better have another listen. And my verdict: Yeah, for a Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, it is pretty amazing. Karen O. has learned to sing without all that ecstatic moaning and squealing from earlier albums, so that’s a good thing. If I were to post a mid-year list of best albums, It’s Blitz! would probably be in the top 10.
  3. Companies, take your social media cues from your customers, not your favorite blogger/Twitterer. This little reality check comes from Mack Collier’s post about why companies should ignore social media early adopters like Steve “Blogging-Is-Dead” Rubel. I think much of what he says applies to the higher ed community. Thanks to Deanna at The Old College Try for directing me to this post.
  4. On the other hand, Karlyn Morissette makes some good points about the value of tweeting and blogging for expanding your networks, landing speaking gigs and learning new stuff. Good points. Social media does expand your networks and open opportunities previously unavailable.
  5. Finally: Get your ’70s cheeze fix at Retroland! Time sink extraordinaire! Via Kill Jill’s Awesome Thing of the Week.

Friday Five: the Jackson Five

I’ll admit it: I was never a huge Michael Jackson fan. Thriller didn’t thrill me, like it did the millions who made it one of the best-selling albums of all time.

So Thursday’s news of MJ’s death at age 50 didn’t affect me in the same way as, say, the 2002 death of the Clash’s Joe Strummer, who also had heart failure at age 50. (I even went so far as to write a tribute to Joe, who was one of my musical heroes.)

But I came of age in the ’70s and ’80s, and unless you were confined to a gulag in Siberia, you knew about Michael Jackson.

You knew his music. You tried to moonwalk. You sang along with “Billie Jean” or “Bad.” You learned to dance the “Thriller” dance. You watched from the sidelines as the media chronicled his devolution from artistic genius to one-man walking tabloid freak show.

I prefer to remember Michael as the musician who performed some truly terrific pop tunes — first with his brothers in the Jackson 5, then as a solo artist. In his prime, he fused funk, R&B, disco and rock influences and churned out some great music.

I may not have been Michael’s biggest fan, but I did appreciate some of his work. Let’s remember him for his great contribution to the world of pop music.

Here is my personal Jackson 5 — my favorite songs from the King of Pop himself. Enjoy.

  • I Want You Back – The Jackson 5. With a young Michael singing lead vocals.
  • Rock With You. A classic from MJ’s disco/funk phase.
  • Wanna Be Startin’ Something. My all-time favorite MJ tune. Danceable, infectious beat, horns, funky rhythm. Listen to it loud and try to keep your foot from tapping.
  • Billie Jean. You know I had to include this. Get your moonwalk on.
  • Man in the Mirror. If we remember nothing else about MJ, maybe we can remember this call for compassion and positive change. No message could have been any clearer.

    • If you wanna make the world a better place/take a look at yourself and make a change.

Rest in Eternal Peace, Gloved One. And thanks for the music.