Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band

Let me start off by saying I feel so extremely honored to have seen Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band in 1983 and 1986. The first show was the better show. In a 17,000 venue instead of a 40,000 venue. Which makes all the difference. Granted that was not the only difference .

The 1983 show was right before the Tom Cruise vehicle Risky Business came out. The one scene everybody remembers from that movie is Joel celebrating his new found kingdom. With the infamous descending piano intro of Old Time Rock and Roll. You see? In 1986 they took out the rollicking extended intro of Old Time and Roll to appease the idiots who defined their love of Bob Seger by some stupid white pimp movie. Some other Seger songs made it to movies like Beverly Hills Cop 2 and About Last Night. Songs that were never in any albums I bought. Listen to this live version of Old Time Rock and Roll, preferably with friends at a party. I really dare you not to move. Not to boogie. Not to groove with the Silver Bullet Band.

I will switch gears with the second choice. Another misunderstood song. Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton covered this song. Quite horribly I might add. It's a beautiful, sad ballad about an imminent goodbye and making the best of the moment. A song about a love that has to end for some reason. It's not a plea to keep going but to value the present. And like I have said many many times. A song means so much more when it's sung by the person who wrote it and not because the singer is being paid to sing it.

Deep in my soul, Ive been so lonely
All of my hopes, fading away
Ive longed for love, like everyone else does
I know Ill keep searching, after today
So there it is girl, Ive got it all now
And here we are babe, what do you say?
We've got tonight, who needs tomorrow?
We've got tonight babe

I will upload more Silver Bullet songs into a play list and hopefully talk a little about each song. Below is a recent write up of Live Bullet by Bob Lefsetz. Like I told my best friend, if a Martian came down and wanted to know what rock and roll was. You could not go far wrong giving him / her the two Bob Seger in concert cds. ENJOY!!!

Music link:


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/music

Ed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Seger

Bob Seger left moribund Capitol for the hippest record company in the world and still didn't have a hit. "Back In '72" garnered some good reviews, but despite containing the original version of "Turn The Page" and a great cover of Free's "Stealer", the album sank like a stone and with his tail between his legs, Bob left Reprise's San Fernando Valley headquarters and got off the 101 at Vine and returned to the Tower, Capitol Records that is. And still remained an acquired taste, a virtual unknown in the now dominant AOR world. A king in Detroit, no one cared about "Seven" when it was released.

But then came "Beautiful Loser"...

"He wants to dream like a young man

With the wisdom of an old man

He wants his home and security

He wants to live like a sailor at sea"

Can you get off the dime? Can you get out of your head and out the front door? Can you try to live out your fantasies?

Most people can't. They talk big, but they leave no physical evidence. Because they're afraid they're just not good enough, that they might fail. Give the celebs credit, they took the risk. Of not only failing, but abuse. For once you rise above the fray, all those who were too scared to try come after you, try to drag you down into the hole they're in. Seger was trying, and finally he got a modicum of airplay. "Beautiful Loser" got spun here and there. But to say there was a breakthrough would be beyond charitable, it would be an outright lie, except for dedicated rock fans, no one had any idea who Seger was, never mind having never heard his music.

But that was about to change the following year, with the release of "Live Bullet".

They say you've got to hear a band live. That that's the only place you can understand it, the only place you can get it. That's rare today, with all the studio trickery. Seemingly anybody can make a slick recorded product, but play live? That separates the men from the boys, almost everybody's a disappointment live. But after almost ten years in the trenches, Seger was road-honed, his band was firing on all Mopar cylinders, he cut a double live album and EXPLODED!

All those tracks that had been ignored on previous albums became radio staples. Not only the haunting aforementioned "Turn The Page", but the incredible combo of "Travelin' Man" and "Beautiful Loser", segueing into a nine minute masterpiece, a seventies rock anthem.

"Sometimes at night, I see their faces

I feel the traces they've left on my soul

Those are the memories that make me a wealthy soul

Those are the memories that make me a wealthy soul"

Seger was singing about the women, those who'd abandoned him, those who'd tried to corner him. But these lines from "Travelin' Man" were also a metaphor for his career. He hadn't wanted to be tied down, he didn't want to make any commitments, other than to his music, he didn't want to give up, he needed to MAKE IT!

And make it he did, becoming one of the biggest arena acts of the era. Hell, he can still tour arenas today! And those memories, of his tunes pouring out of the Camaro's dash, at the backyard pool party, have been imprinted upon our DNA, they're the story of our lives, they've made us wealthy souls.

Sure, Kid Rock's gone country a bit. But when he e-mailed me yesterday that he'd known that country fans were the best in the world for ten years, he wasn't only making a declaratory sentence, he was making a reference, to Bob Seger's "Silver Bullet" double album. For deep in the grooves are these unforgettable lines:

"I read somewhere, I think it was in Rolling Stone, that Detroit audiences are the finest rock and roll audiences in the world.

"Shoot, I've known that for 10 years!"

We are not owned by the record companies, or the TV stations. We're owned by the records. When done right, they penetrate us, they're unforgettable.

Kid Rock has not forgotten. And based on the response, it turns out many in my audience have not either.

--

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The Week in Jokes May 26

Yes this is from the better late than never category. Jokes can say a lot about a society besides what it finds funny. It can say what it takes for granted. What is on everyone's minds. I wonder what it says about me that I don't touch local TV with a ten foot poll. It can say what is not sacred. They can talk about current issues. Like below.

Hillary's "uniform". McCain's age and the lead off batter in the primaries.

Ed

May 26

"It's a big night, American Idol and the Democratic Primaries. On one hand a juvenile popularity contest that nobody cares about anymore. The other hand American Idol. "

"You've got to hand it to her. She keeps showing up for the primaries. She won in Kentucky. Hillary is ready for the big Puerto Rico primary. She plans to campaign in a skimpy two piece pants suit. " - Letterman

"Obama campaigned in an Indian Reservation. The Tribal Chief adopted him. It was part of a ceremony. The Indians prefer Obama to John McCain because they still remember when McCain took their land." Conan

"On the news earlier tonight they showed Obama back in Iowa. Back in Iowa? I got scared!! We're starting all over again! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" - Jay Leno

Hillary Math

Sometimes adversity brings out someones true stripes. I am glad Hillary for now is totally out of it. Any politician already has a flashing sign on their forehead "If you are smart don't trust me". Hillary's claim of the popular vote numbers and changing the rules and all other sleight of hand of tricks are just a slice of what you have seen had she gone in.

A little about my work. I help train our office workers and engineers in a class room in terms of service procedure. I try to instill a certain mentality or mind set.Then I give them a quiz that they have to pass. Then most of the engineers (some of them 2 weeks into their first job) have to be sent out to our client carrying our company name. I have been trying to tell their bosses that what these guys do when they are still in front of us will not miraculously improve when they are away from us and representing our name on a remote site. We serve outsource IT needs for some big corporations.

Anyway Hillary while running to represent the Democrats twisted numbers and made up war stories refuted by video and and all that stuff. Stuff the Democrats have been flinging at the GOP since time immemorial .Maybe it's just me, Hillary can't realistically grasp her math,her campaign, her husband why should be able to realistically grasp the office of the President of the US? All these guys have their faults but I am glad she is out.

It's 3 AM and what Hillary should be doing is go look for Bill.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/138109

Popular Vote Poison

How Hillary's latest math hurts the party.

Jonathan Alter

Newsweek Web Exclusive

Updated: 3:31 PM ET May 21, 2008

How Hillary's latest math hurts the party.

May 21, 2008 | Updated: 3:31 p.m. ET May 21, 2008

Jonathan Alter

Newsweek Web Exclusive

Updated: 3:31 PM ET May 21, 2008

Give credit where it's due: Hillary Clinton has shown grit and determination in finishing out the race. She has proved herself a strong campaigner. And in the week since West Virginia, she has stopped the cheap shots that had marred her campaign this year.

But Clinton has continued with one claim that could have a pernicious effect on the Democrats' chances in November. While she knows that the nomination is determined by delegates, Hillary insists on saying at every opportunity that she is winning the popular vote. And she has now taken to touting the new HBO movie "Recount," which chronicles the Florida fiasco of eight years ago. Everyone can agree that the primary calendar needs reform. But popular-vote pandering is poison for Democrats. For a party scarred by the experience of 2000, when Al Gore received 500,000 more popular votes than George W. Bush but lost the presidency, this argument is sure to make it harder to unite and put bitter feelings aside.

Oh, and it's not true.

Let me go through the numbers without making your head spin.

After Kentucky and Oregon, Obama has an official popular vote lead of 449,486.

This does not include Iowa (where Obama first broke from the pack), Nevada (where Hillary won the popular vote narrowly), Maine (where Obama won easily) or Washington state (another strong Obama state). Why? Because these caucus states don't officially report their popular votes. But if we're going to truly count all the votes, official and nonofficial, as Hillary advocates, you can't very well not include caucus states.

Adding in the unofficial tally from caucus states, as estimated by realclearpolitics.com

based on official caucus turnout and the number of local delegates selected at the precinct level, that gives Obama a lead of 559,708.

Now we come to Florida and Michigan, whose popular votes Hillary says should be counted. The argument for counting them is no better than for counting the caucus states (and maybe worse, considering that these states violated party rules by moving their primaries up on the calendar, and no one campaigned there). But for the sake of argument let's count 'em. That gives Hillary a lead of 63,373.

HILLARY WINS POPULAR VOTE!

Not so fast. If the Democratic National Committee completes its expected settlement on May 31, Florida and Michigan will each get half of their votes counted. Translated to popular votes, that would subtract about 325,000 votes from Hillary, putting Obama back into the lead.

Beyond not being official numbers, there's another problem with counting Michigan in these totals. Obama wasn't on the ballot there. You can say this was his own choice, but that doesn't change the fact that had he been on the Michigan ballot he would have received a lot of popular votes. How many?

Try 238,168. That's the number of Michiganders who voted for "uncommitted." Were they possibly genuinely abstaining? Maybe a few hundred of them at most. The rest were clearly Obama supporters who launched a grass-roots campaign. Everyone in Michigan knew on January 15 that a vote for "uncommitted" was a vote for Obama.

That means that by a generous definition of popular votes (and remember, Clinton wants to enfranchise as many people as possible in her count), Obama leads by about 166,000 votes.

With a big win in Puerto Rico, Clinton could possibly erase that margin (plus several thousand more that Obama is expected to net in Montana and South Dakota). She could then proclaim that with the help of Puerto Rican voters who cannot vote in a general election, she is the popular vote winner.

The shorthand many Clinton supporters are already taking into the summer is that she won the popular vote but had the nomination "taken away" (as Joy Behar said on "The View") by a man.

What a helpful message for uniting the Democratic Party.

If the Obama people have any sense, they will demand in their negotiations with the Clintonites that Hillary cease and desist in her specious claim to have won the most popular votes.

Given that more than 35 million voters took part in the Democratic primaries and caucuses, the math games on both sides look awfully silly. Everyone should agree to call it a tie.

URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/138109

Swearing at work

Yesterday I experienced a "Popeye " moment. You know " ""

A co worker continued with their annoying habit of using a certain four letter word . Despite the physical distance I hear it all the time. The letter below tells most of the story. Anyway I sent it via company email directly to one person. The person I am referring to. Today the other shoe dropped. That person was disturbed enough to bump my little musing upstairs. As you all know I am dumb but not extremely extremely dumb. There might have been gentler ways of getting my point across but sometimes built up resentment has it's consequences. Anyway a lot of what anyone can understand from this is implied. Nothing definitive. So it must have been hard to show this as is without some self embarrassment on the part of the beholder. Anyway I think John Wooden once told Bill Walton that it's ok to take a stand on an issue as long as you are willing to accept the consequences. And yes I got a private talking to for this so I do not recommend my way. Well here is the cause of the ruckus in all it's flawed unedited glory. I believe that I owe myself an honest blog. Not a glamorous or flashy one but an honest one. Once in a while I have to show my warts . Pilate said in the new testament "What I have written I have written." All our days on Earth are like that. We make our mistakes and then we learn and hopefully apply it to the next day. In some cases, we can blog about them. Anyway I tell you my mistakes so you don't make them . Then again it takes one twisted fool to somehow incorporate Popeye, Pilate and Bill Walton into a story.

Ed

Mr./Ms. ________________

This is about your choice of the swear word SH*T and to use it in such a volume that anyone can hear it multiple times a day. It is 2:38 PM and I heard the word three times since lunch all coming from you. A word that can't even be said on local or US television yet you choose to spread it in the office. I actually went to H.R. about this a while ago. That method obviously did not work . Maybe your unique choice to use that word quite liberally and audibly in the office speaks to your qualities of :

• grace
• professionalism
• pleasantness
• gentleness
• femininity
• room presence
• manners
• upbringing
• decorum
• consideration for others
• elegance

Then again swearing is in line with my preexisting perception of you. So maybe you are just being consistent with who you are. Meaning even without the profane language , I already had a perception of those eleven qualities listed above. The swearing just reinforces it. Clinches it.

Maybe I am in no position to judge your values but since I am involuntarily subjected to your unique vocabulary , I feel it's OK to comment in a civilized manner about what I am involuntarily subjected to. Maybe the others in this half of the office enjoy your loud swearing. I believe it's not proper and anybody with guts should be able to speak against it. I am totally speaking on my behalf and no one else.

I don't mind you showing this to anyone either as long as I made a false claim somewhere. All I am saying is you have a foul mouth and you make no effort to hide it. That is not an isolated incident. Today is not the first day and I did tell H.R. a few months ago. Assuming your personal choice to swear here is not fabricated by me then you really should have no problem with anything I said here. Your language and refinement needs some working on. Showing this to anyone is totally up to you but then again so is your decision to cuss in an office environment. A choice you have made time and time again . If swearing is music to your parents ears it is not to mine. It's your choice to swear within earshot of me and a dozen other people. I think I should have the right to comment on such.

After all this , if you still think it's your right to utter profanities while in the confines of the office then at least I said my part . Of course if the others tell me it's perfectly all right that swearing should be part of our normal office sounds then I will recant everything I said. You have been here almost two years and it never occurred to you newer people might look at your behavior as an example.

All I am saying is you swear frequently here and my personal views of swearing in the work place and requesting you refrain from it. I went to H.R.already and said the same thing.

Better for me to light a candle of civility than to curse the cursing in silence. I don't hear anyone else here including me swear. Just you. I will not fight swearing with swearing. What does it say about you? Maybe you are doing it to stick out. What you do with that knowledge is up to you.

Looking forward to a more professional environment,

Ed

Note: for further stories on this topic :

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/tag/swearing

2) name of Moo Yuck Loud disgusting annoying irritating butt Paez Makati Percom Personal Computer Specialists Makati obese fat gigantic enormous gross pathetic Mia grotesque Carmen lousy ugly hideous anti Christ demon Satan satanic evil Philippines Quezon thunder thighs devil

A story of a dad and son and alcohol and life lessons

I always loved reading Rick Reilly's stuff. As somebody once said he can write so well about non sports issues while writing about sports . I will eventually post my favorite called Play of the Year . For now enjoy this from the heart piece along with audio from the author talking about his dad through the magic of multimedia .

I am blessed that I did not have an alcoholic abusive father but this piece is so powerful because Reilly takes a handicap and turns it into an opportunity to get better. How many of us have that gift? How many of us can articulate it well enough so others may learn too?

Make sure you read the paragraph about the lesson golf taught him two or ten times. It's all about accountability , a lesson I have not fully grasped myself .

Sometimes we learn from good example and sometimes we learn from bad example. Then listen to these two cool guys Reilly and Cowherd talk about a bond they did not know they had. Alcoholic dads. Colin admits to crying. I urge you whoever you are father , son , mother ,daughter , read the story , listen to the author ( 4 minutes of your life) and feel their pain. It's through feeling that pain that somebody might come to mind that you can help by forwarding this. And if all you we do is help one person then you and I are richer for it. I love you for having read this far. The rest should take you ten minutes total.

Ed

THE LIFE OF REILLY

Dad played golf and drank—a lot. But he taught me a lot too.

by Rick Reilly

Since this is my first column for The Magazine, I figure I should introduce myself. And maybe the best way to tell you who I am is to tell you about my dad, Jack. He was an Irish tenor, a yarn spinner, a songwriter, a father of four, a crack golfer and a first-class drunk.

As kids, we blamed golf. We thought the game made him meaner than a dyspeptic rattler. We were sure it was more important than we were, or why was he never around? More than once he asked me, "What grade are you in again?"

He'd always come home drunk after playing golf, except for the times he'd come home dripping drunk. Then he'd be looking to bust something, maybe a lamp, maybe somebody's nose; my mom's, once. To this day, the sound of spikes on cement sends a shot of ice through me. That was him coming up the sidewalk.

In alcoholic families, the youngest kid becomes the mascot. That was me. I became the funny one, comic relief, third-grade vaudeville—anything to keep the furniture where it was. When he'd eventually stagger into bed, the rat in my stomach would finally stop gnawing.

When I was about 10 or 11, I started working through the thing backward. If I could play golf with him, maybe I could keep him from drinking. I'd be the hero! So I started asking him to take me. He did once, but my fear of him was so paralyzing that any instruction he gave sounded like a shotgun blast in my ear. After about three holes, I stormed off the course in tears and waited in the car.

HE WAS 70, I WAS 30. WE FINALLY MET.

I didn't play again until high school. I did it partly to understand what was so wonderful about a game that would keep a man from coming to his kids' games and piano recitals and birthday parties.

And I was happy to find out it wasn't the Titleist clubs that made him so mean, it was the Canadian Clubs. It was the whiskey. Golf was this green-and-blue launching pad for little white rockets. Golf taught me the lessons my dad never did, including the best one: You play life where it lies. You hit it there. You play it from there. Nobody threw you a nasty curve or forgot to block the defensive end. I learned that my mistakes were mine alone, not my boss', not the cop's and, as much as I hated to admit it, not my dad's.

And then one day, out of the blue, maybe 25 years ago, my dad went to one AA meeting and quit drinking. Never had a drop after that.

It was five more years before I finally believed it. Then I invited him to the Masters. He was 70, I was 30. And it was on that two-and-a-half-hour ride from Atlanta to Augusta that we finally met.

He told me his life story, how he drank and fought to get the attention of his distant father, how he'd kept from us that he'd been married before, and how sorry he was to have let his family grow up while he was holding down the 19th hole with his elbows.

He apologized and cried. I forgave him and cried. I never dreamed I-20 could be that emotional.

Suddenly he understood. He went home to Boulder, Colo., and apologized to my mom and my brother and two sisters. They finally got to tell him how much he hurt them. He wrote us a poem about his love for us and his shame and why nobody would cry the day he died.

It took a lot of guts and a lot of courage, and the only lousy part was that it came so late. By the time I saw him for who he was—a strong man who took most of a lifetime to understand his crushing weakness—I was ears deep into my own family and career. So we didn't play much golf together before the warranty on his heart started to expire. I never got to really see the swing that won all those trophies. By then, the only time he used his putter was as a cane.

Two months ago, on the final night of his life, I sat alone in a chair next to his hospice bed, holding his hand and a box of Kleenex and proving how wrong poems can be sometimes.

As I looked at him, I realized that for better and worse, he'd shaped me. I think I'm a good father borne of his rotten example. I'm a storyteller out of surviving him. I'm a man with more flaws than a 1986 Yugo, but I try to own up to them, because a very good Irish tenor showed me how.

And that's what I call a very good save।

Link to Audio

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/183/A_story_of_a_dad_and_son_and_alcohol_and_life_lessons_

Make quick money sucker bet

Works best if you are woman who could care less about sports. Go to your typical pinoy macho guy and tell them 3 things:

1) Detroit played last night

2) in the final

3) In Detroit.

Tell to them to accept the bet in about 2 minutes . If you can 't prove it they win.

Your typical pinoy saw the Detroit Pistons get eliminated earlier and will jump on the bet.

Here is the link to back up your claim

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl

I don't want royalties , just tell me you won

The Week in Music

As I said more than a few times in this blog. I am not a fan of an era where song writing is dead. I am also the .000000001% of the world that could care less about American Idol. Still I bring you this update for two reasons. 1) I really thought that Clay Aiken was some sort of Charles Nelson Reilly wanna be fembot . Why isn't Darwinism taking care of him? 2)Condoleezza Rice . There is no end to this woman's coolness. Wanted to be NFL Commissioner now thrilled to miss Kiss? She was also the ex of Denver Broncos Runnng back Rick Upchurch. She may be the only woman Jacque has to feel threatened by.

Ed

May 26-June 2: Oh, Baby!

Posted Fri May 30 3:29pm PDT by Lyndsey Parker in That's Really Week

Celebrity bumpwatching has become something of a national pastime in America. Seems nowadays if a pop starlet so much as drinks a bloat-inducing soda or embraces a new fashion fad that involves empire waistlines, every blog and celebrity tabloid races to publish paparazzi pics of her "pooch" and announces that she's well into her third trimester. And pretty much the instant any it-girl is spotted in public canoodling on a first date, gun-jumping gossip columns predict that she and her new love interest will be registering at the Right Start any day now. (Frankly, we're surprised such rumors have yet to surface about American Idols David Cook and Kimberly Caldwell, who went out to dinner ONCE and are now supposed an "item.")

And then, when celebs like Jennifer Lopez or Christina Aguilera do officially announce that they have buns in their ovens, the media goes into pregnancy-patrol overdrive, detailing everything from these A-listers' $2,000 Bugaboo strollers, designer maternity wear, and platinum-plated Tiffany baby rattles to their Pilates postpartum shape-up routines.

Well, this week the press once again had babies on the brain--although this time, it was with pretty good reason. First, newlyweds Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz confirmed longstanding shotgun-wedding-centric rumors that yes, Ashlee is preggers with a little Fall Out boy or girl of her very own. So, congratulations to the happy couple. We believe their baby registry is listed at Hot Topic...

However, news of Ash and Pete's incubating bundle of joy was nothing compared to the gibungous bundle of news that another Idol, Clay Aiken, dropped on us this week. OK, faint-of-heart/stomach readers, we hope you're sitting down for this doozy: Clay Aiken is going to be a father. Of a baby. A baby being carried by a woman. A woman named...Jaymes.

Allow us to explain. We know this report must be shocking to even the most hardened That's Really Week reader. Clay's late-fortysomething producer/roommate/"best friend" Jaymes Foster-Levy (sister of famous record producer David Foster) is reportedly gestating with baby-makin' Aiken's spawn...and for those of you who must know the gory details, Jaymes apparently conceived Clay's baby via artificial insemination. Clay is planning to be actively involved in the child-molding (pun intended) process.

We here at That's Really Week are rarely at a loss for words. But seriously, we don't know what to say here. Feel free to add your own thoughts on the message board conveniently located below. Because we are seriously speechless.

Moving on...in other baby-related news, youngest Hanson brother Zac became a father for the first time, at the ripe old age of 22 (those Hanson bros start basically right after their 21st birthdays, presumably to create enough musicians to form a new Hanson when, Menudo-style, the original Hansons get too old to keep mmmbopping). Meanwhile, Madonna finally got her controversial adoption of little David Banda approved by the Malawian government. (People, don't preach--she's made up her mind and she's keeping her baby.)

Congrats to both these proud parents.

However, troubled babymama Britney Spears, who is fighting to regain custody of her own babies, Sean Preston and Jayden James, may have to wait a little longer: It's doubtful she'll be able to hash things out in family court too easily when her own court-appointed probate attorney, Samuel Ingham, just told a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner that she's not yet fit to participate in court proceedings in her conservatorship case. Britney's probate case is scheduled to go to trial July 31, but Sammy said it could be "harmful" for her to participate because of ongoing medical conditions. So it looks like it might be a while before Britney no longer has to answer to her conservator father, Jamie Spears--or before she gets her boys back from their father, K-Fed.

In other legal/governmental news, R. Kelly's trial continues apace (it's still not looking too good for him); the Cuyahoga County coroner ruled that R&B singer Sean Levert's sudden March 2008 death was due to natural causes; and Secretary of State (and apparent newbie Kiss Army recruit) Condoleezza Rice was "thrilled" to meet Gene Simmons and Kiss at a Swedish hotel this week; and Amy Winehouse is set to perform next month at a London concert honoring former South African president Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday.

Amy's not exactly the greatest spokeslady for world peace, given her tendency to engage in violent bar brawls, so let's just hope she doesn't jump out of a (rum) cake or try to do some drunken Marilyn Monroe-serenading-JFK impression at the Mandela shindig. That would be awkward. And possibly kind of gross. Also, let's hope Amy doesn't call him "My Nelson (formerly) incarcerated!" in any birthday speeches she slurs.

And finally, speaking of London, this week 1,000 alt-rock fans will march on the London offices of U.K. newspaper The Daily Mail, to protest the paper's outrageous claim that emo band My Chemical Romance had anything to do with the recent suicide of emo-loving British teen Hannah Bond. We send our condolences to the entire Bond family, of course, and send our kudos to the marching pro-emo soldiers who are speaking out against such scapegoating.

And thus concludes another amusing, bemusing, and sometimes confusing week in music news. Come back next Friday for more headspinning headlines, and until then, goodnight and good music.

THIS WEEK'S TOP 10 STORIES:

1) Clay's Foster Child - Clay Aiken has reportedly impregnated his executive producer, Jaymes Foster.

2) "Sugar, We're Goin' Down...To Babies 'R' Us" - Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson are also expecting.

3) R. Kelly's Trial Continues - Apparently there is something wrong with a little bump 'n' grind, if it's caught on tape.

4) Skip Court, Baby, One More Time - Britney Spears's lawyer says she's not fit to stand trial.

5) The Hanson Family Expands - Baby brother Zac now has a baby of his own.

6) Madonna's Little Lucky Star - Malawi toddler David Banda can now be officially adopted by the Material Mom.

7) Sean Levert Autopsy Results Released - The coroner says the R&B crooner died of natural causes.

8) London's Black Parade - A thousand My Chemical Romance fans plan a protest in the U.K.

9) Amy Says Yes, Yes, Yes To Nelson Mandela - Winehouse will perform at the South African hero's 90th birthday concert. (Please, Amy, do NOT flake on Mandela, OK?)

10) Kiss Is On Condoleezza's List - Secretary of State Rice cozies up to Gene Simmons at a Swedish hotel.