Pop Culture Gangster

The World's Tallest Buildings

Do you know where the world's tallest buildings are?

If there's any doubt that China is a major rising global power, here's your proof:

http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?1241105

Five of the 10 tallest buildings in the world are in China, all of them built since 1992.   The tallest building in the world is in Taipei, Taiwan; the second and third tallest are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (they count the two towers seperately here); and then there's the United States, with the Sears Tower (built in 1974) coming in at #4 and the Empire State Building (built in 1931) at #9.   The remainder of the top 10 are all in China.

If you group the Malaysian and Taiwanese in with the Chinese, then Asia accounts for 8 of the 10 tallest buildings in the world, with all of them built since 1992.  That is a real wake up call for how the world economy is changing.  Look at this page and see how many of the tallest buildings are in the Eastern, not Western hemisphere. 

Just what is a valued customer anyway?

I recently purchased a gift for my friends' son's first birthday from OneShare.com.  It was a very good experience shopping with them and they produced a quality product that I was very happy with.  I wholeheartedly reccomend them for anyone looking for a different gift for nearly any occassion.

However, they just did something today that annoyed me.  Nothing too big, but just one of those stupid little things that drives me nuts both as a consumer and a marketer.  I received a letter from them with a special offer for "Our Valued Customers."   I bought ONE thing from you and I'm a "valued" customer?  If that's the case, I feel kind of bad for them.  Me buying one item one time shouldnt' make me a valued customer.  Steven Tyler and Chapstick; Gene Simmons and toungue scrapers; Michael Jackson and daycares... now those are frequent and "valued" customers.

This post is made with apologies to Idiot Letters by Paul Rosawho inspired it.  Read the book. Its friggin' hilarious.

I don't believe this happened

So I thought that Saturday night's Aerosmith show was as much of a perfect set list as they could play on this tour.   However, check out the show that they played in Providence tonight:

01. Helter Skelter
02. Walk This Way
03. Same Old Song and Dance
04. Cryin'
05. Livin' On The Edge
06. No More No More
07. Jaded
08. Shakin' My Cage
09. Sweet Emotion
10. Seasons Of Wither
11. I Don't Want To Miss A Thing
12. Dream On
13. Lord Of The Thighs
14. Kings And Queens
15. Baby Please Don't Go
16. Train Kept A Rollin' (Slow)
Encore:
17. Back In The Saddle
18. Draw The Line

That makes me sick.   They played Kings and Queens.  Granted, it is only one song different, but what a song to have in there.  That is my last favorite Aerosmith song that I would love to hear played live but haven't yet.  I feel like I want to cry - they played it two night after I saw them, and they were only 15 miles away.

I almost went down there tonight to try to get a shirt, since I've missed getting one the last two shows.  I didn't go since when I called the Dunkin Donuts center they said they didn't have a stand set up in the lobby area where you don't need a ticket to get in.  And I figured I would probably end up buying a ticket and spending the night there, and I've spent enough time and money on Aerosmith the last two weeks. 

Shoulda went...

This Is to Blame For My Sense of Humor

So I'm just chillin' at home on a Sunday night and I have the DVD set of The Muppet Show's first season going and I am convinced that they are responsible for my love of corny puns and bad jokes.  There are so many great one liners and puns in this show. 

So the next time I tell a "groaner" or "knee slapper" you can thank the Muppets.

Back in the Saddle

So I really had NO complaints about the Aerosmith concert at Mohegan Sun.  Unlike some of the other fan club members who were complaining on the club discussion boards about too much 80's and 90's stuff being played, I do like hearing "Dude Looks Like a Lady," "Rag Doll," "Janie's Got a Gun," and "Love in an Elevator" since those are some of the songs that got me into the band in the first place.

However, even with that being said, last night's show was amazing.  They played more older, "classic" tunes and jammed a lot more - more than I think I've ever seen them jam before.  Here's the set list from last night's show:

01. Helter Skelter
02. Walk This Way
03. Same Old Song and Dance
04. Cryin'
05. Livin' On The Edge
06. No More No More
07. Jaded
08. Shakin' My Cage
09. Sweet Emotion
10. Seasons Of Wither
11. I Don't Want To Miss A Thing
12. Dream On
13. Lord Of The Thighs
14. Baby Please Don't Go
15. The Other Side
16. Train Kept A Rollin' (Slow)

Encore:

17. Back In The Saddle
18. Draw The Line

Yeah, Aerosmith OPENED the show with "Helter Skelter" - that was an unexpected surprise.  They do a great job with the song, though the audience got more excited once they went into "Walk This Way."   

When they started playing "Jaded" I just went "F**K!!!" and I thought John was going to bust a gut laughing.  I just didn't need to hear that song last night - that is one new song that I can do without hearing - that and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" of course...  The first part of the set had  me a little nervous that they were going to go back to the set of the opening night - which again was fine with me, but I was there to hear some of the other songs they had thrown in the mix since then - and the second half lived up to it.

Any Aerosmith show that has "No More No More," "Seasons of Wither," "Lord of the Thighs," "Train Kept A Rollin'," "Back in the Saddle," and "Draw the Line" in the set list is a GREAT one.  The energy was amazing, they did the best version of "Dream On" that I've ever heard them play, and the jams during "Baby Please Don't Go" and "Lord of the Thighs" were awesome.  Great version of "Draw the Line" too - nice and tight with the slow part not too drawn out. 

Seats weren't as good, but I've always also been a fan of being a little further away so you can take in the entire production and light show, as seen here:

Voting

I'm not a doctor, so I couldn't save a life today

I'm not a policeman, so I couldn't bring peace and safety to my hometown.

I'm not a teacher, so I couldn't help children find their way.

And I'm not a fireman, so I couldn't save someone's home and memories.

I'm just an ordinary American who did something extraordinarly important.

I voted. 

Hope you did too.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

Hee hee huh huh... this is categorized "current affairs"

Anyway - for those of you who didn't hear, two Carolina Panthers Cheerleaders were allegedly caught having sex in a bar's bathroom in Tampa, Florida.

I'm been to Tampa twice... but apparently not to the right places.  (though I did enjoy the company of several fine women at the rate of $20 for two songs...) 

Please join me in wishing, hoping and praying that this story is true.  It gives hope to mankind, it really does. 

You can read about it and see pictures of the girls that you can insert into you own fantasies at these sites:

Deadspin

Juicee News Daily

Oh My God, It's the Children of the Corn!

OK, so here is my public admission: I went to see Hanson at Avalon in Boston Friday night.  That's right, I went to see Hanson of "Mmmmmbop" fame.  Scary, eh?

Now, there is a good reason for doing this - my best friend John wanted to go see them and needed someone to go with him.  He likes their music, and being a good gay man, really likes the boys in the band.  I was a little concerned that I was going to be the only straight male in the whole place, or that it would be filled with teeny-boppers or something.  Well, I was in for quite the surprise.

Turns out the main audience for a Hanson concert would be women between the ages of 18-30.   There were probably 600 people at the show Friday night, and I swear that at least 550 of them - possibly as many as 575 - were all women in that age range.  So oddly enough, while I went there expecting John to be the only one enjoying the "eye candy" and me being in a living hell, John really really only had the boys on stage, and was surrounded by a throng of screaming girls pressing up against each other - pretty much his hell/my heaven.

However, when you get that many women in one place, two things start to happen: first of all, as a guy, you actually start to feel uncomfortable.  You're way outnumbered, and any "sexual energy" that might normally be there is destroyed by the sheer amount of estrogen there.  Secondly, you simply feel like you are someplace you're not supposed to be - a bachelorette party, the girl's locker room, or one of those all-women sex toy parties.

Something else that happens when you get that many women together at a concert is that they scream.  A LOT.  LOUDLY. Ear-piercingly, ear-bleeding loudly.  And then you have the drunk girls, one of which was behind me.... yelling "I LOVE YOU" into my fucking ear all night, and spilling her drink on me.  I thought that the first fight I would ever start at a concert was going to be at a goddamn Hanson concert.

So what about the music?  I have to admit, they were good.  They are a lot more raw, rocking, and funky in their live performances than they are on record.  Even their first-album material gets a make-over with a heavy dose of gritty rock n' roll.  Their voices will always harmonize, so it takes the edge off of the songs making for the girl-friendly rock, but when they lose the harmonizing, their individual voices are a lot better and more interesting than I would have thought. 

They did great cover versions of "Long Train Running" by the Doobie Brothers and "Feelin' Alright" (the Dave Mason song best known by the Joe Cocker version) that really showed off their chops.  The guitarist out of the three Hanson Brothers (sorry, still don't know their names) really stepped up to the plate on the latter, belting out the song with a voice far more gravelly, grittier and more interesting than I would have ever thought.  However, he still needs to lose the "white boy overbite and head-bob" that he does while playing his guitar.  You know the one I'm talking about...

Sweet Emotions

So after all the commotion on the AeroForce One discussion forum about the opening night set list, I wondered what would be MY "ideal" set list for an Aerosmith concert.  I tried to be realisitic about it - they are gonig to play "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing", so I left that in there.  Otherwise, this is what I would love to hear, and in this order:

01. Walk This Way
02. Same Old Song and Dance
03. Rag Doll
04. I Don't Want To Miss A Thing
05. Rats In the Cellar
06. Lord of the Thighs
07. Seasons Of Wither
08. Shakin' My Cage
09. Sweet Emotion
10. Janie's Got A Gun
11. Draw The Line
12. Love In An Elevator
13. Dude (Looks Like a Lady)
14. Kings and Queens
15. Dream On
16. Last Child
17. No Nore No More

Encore:

18. Back In the Saddle
19. Train Kept A Rollin

If I was able to switch in something else for I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, I'd go with another ballad - either "What it Takes" off of Pump or "Home Tonight" off of Rocks.   Or they could swap in "Rattlesnake Shake" or any song off of Honkin' on Bobo.

Laughs Maniacally

Well, I did it.  I saw Aerosmith and had fan Club (AeroForce One) tickets for the first time.  It was my ninth time seeing the band, but the first time getting the fan club tickets.  It was worth the wait :)  We got there and they told us that our seats had basically gotten eliminated during the stage construction, so they moved us up to the area between the catwalks, 16 rows from the stage.  Andrea looked at me and asked if I was going to be alright.  I wasn't sure if I was going to survive the night once I saw where we were sitting.

A picture is worth a thousand words as the saying goes, so here is a photo of how close to Steven Tyler I got:

and a picture of me in front of Steven:

This was the set list for the night:

01. Walk This Way
02. Same Old Song and Dance
03. Cryin'
04. Livin' On The Edge
05. Angel
06. Dude (Looks Like a Lady)
07. Jaded
08. Shakin' My Cage
09. Sweet Emotion
10. The Other Side
11. Janie's Got A Gun
12. Rag Doll
13. I Don't Want To Miss A Thing
14. Walkin' The Dog
15. Dream On
16. No Nore No More
17. Love In An Elevator
Encore:
18. Seasons Of Wither
19. Helter Skelter

Not a bad set list at all.  I LOVE Seasons of Wither, so that was cool to hear that live again.  However, the highilght by far was "No More No More" a long-time classic favorite of mine that I had never heard live.   Some people on the AeroForce One discussion boards complained about the set list and how there was too much "MTV era pop" on there.  Well, those songs are the songs from youth, so it's fine by me.  Though I would still love to hear "Kings and Queens" live and I read on the boards that they did "Nobody's Fault" on the Kiss/Aerosmith co-headlining tour.

It is kind of funny how much hatred hard-core Aerosmith fans have for the song "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," the band's only #1 hit... its a ballad not written by a band featured in sappy moment in a mediocre movie, so the old-timers and purists pretty well despise it and view it as their "beer run song."  I mean, I don't care for it for all those same reasons - Aerosmith's #1 single should be "Sweet Emotion" or "Walk This Way" not that ballad.  But that's the way it is, and I'm just glad that the band can stay so vital that 30 years later they can release a song that hits #1 for the first time and then come out with a blues album (Honkin' on Bobo) that is acclaimed by critics and fans alike.

In any case, hopefully I didn't embarass my date for the show too much (Andrea's damn lucky girl, eh?  She gets to hang out with me AND gets 16th row seats to her first Aerosmith show) - I was pretty much a complete wildman the entire concert - I warned her before that I may start to act like a 12 year old girl at a N'sync concert.  I don't think she believed me until she actually saw it happen.  However, it looks like she is having a good time: