MY TOP 30: Year 1 Posts of ALL-TIME! Links – INTRO & 30-16

INTRO

30. Michael Jackson “Liberian Girl”	25. TLC “Waterfalls”	20. Public Enemy “Fight the Power”
29. Brian Kent pop quiz	24. Scissors For Lefty [Bryan Garza] pop quiz	19. Wayna pop quiz & BMSR [Tobacco] 5Q
28. Stevie Wonder & Michael Jackson “Get It”	23. Paula Abdul “Straight Up”	18. popolio is…
27. Los Bad Apples [Anita Benner] pop quiz	22. George Michael “Freedom! 90”	17. Scissors For Lefty [Steve Garza] pop quiz
26. Birds Barbershop [Michael Portman] 20Q Part 1	21. TLC “No Scrubs”	16. Levi Kreis pop quiz

MY TOP 30: Year 1 Posts of ALL-TIME! 23. Paula Abdul “Straight Up”

MY TOP 30: Year 1 Posts of ALL-TIME!

See the complete MY TOP 10: Music Video Cameos Countdown here.

Old School. Courtesy of Google

23. Paula Abdul “Straight Up”
This is the second entry from MY March 2009 TOP 10: Music Video Cameos countdown.  Whereas before, at the Number 30 spot, it was all the celebrities featured in Michael Jackson’s “Liberian Girl,” this time around it’s Arsenio Hall in Paula Abdul’s first bonafide hit.

I gave this video the Number 6 spot on March 26, 2009.  Read the original post here — MY TOP 10: Music Video Cameos – 6. Arsenio Hall “Straight Up” and watch the video below.

See the complete MY TOP 10: Music Video Cameos Countdown here.

MY TOP 30: Year 3 Posts of ALL-TIME! 28. BB Gun Johnny pop quiz & Feedback LOTTO Interview

MY TOP 30: Year 3 Posts of ALL-TIME!

28. BB Gun Johnny pop quiz & Feedback LOTTO Interview
The Year 3 Number 28 spot brings us our first tie!  As part of my El Paso Week countdown to the inaugural Neon Desert Music Festival, I included BB Gun Johnny’s pop quiz interview.  They were not one of the Neon Desert Artists, but they are El Paso-based.  It was the first pop quiz of April 2011, going live on the 15th, during  the week that I was posting daily Neon Desert 5Q interviews.

In Year 3, I started adding “interview” to the pop quiz heading.  I had found that in previous years (as told by a few contacts) that the thought was that these were pop quizzes you were supposed to take and people were missing the fact that they were interviews.  Not pop quizzes for visitors to the site, but for the artists, themselves.  I didn’t think it was a such a big deal as these type of standardized interviews have appeared in magazines for decades; usually on the back page.  But, I adjusted things to clarify things.

I noted before that though I feature national and international artists, I do highlight when they are local and regional.  In Year 3, another tweak I made was to abbreviate the regional cities in the titles of such posts.  So, in BB Gun Johnny’s case it became “EP” instead of “El Paso.”  Austin became ATX, Dallas D-Town, Houston H-Town and so on and so forth.  In some cases, I don’t know the city’s nickname or whether it has one, so it stays the same.

The Feedback LOTTO Interview is a more recent post.  I volunteered to MC Room to Read’s 2nd Annual Room to Rock charity showcase fundraiser on Friday, August 26, 2011.  Along with that, I decided to feature interviews with each of the scheduled bands.  It all came together kind of fast and we were pressed for time, so I decided to use the LOTTO Interview format from a weekly music column I used to write for another site.  The Feedback LOTTO Interview went live on Wednesday, August 24, 2011.  More background info and how it all works is broken down in the original post [see below].

Interesting to note, Feedback is the official band of local company Bazaarvoice and normally do covers.  So, maybe that’s how they got all these hits to claim the Number 28 spot so quickly.  I jest. I jest.

See the original BB Gun Johnny post here — BB Gun Johnny pop quiz interview – EP.  It includes their song, “Alcohol & Chocolate,” and MSTRKRFT’s video for “Easy Love.”

See all 7 Neon Desert interviews and more here.

See the original Feedback post here — LOTTO Interview:  Feedback — Room to Rock Artist.  It includes a live performance video of their cover of Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown.”

See all 4 Room to Rock LOTTO Interviews here.

MY TOP 30: Year 1 Posts of ALL-TIME! 30. Mike Jack “Liberian Girl”

MY TOP 30: Year 1 Posts of ALL-TIME!

See the complete MY TOP 10: Music Video Cameos Countdown here.

Courtesy of Google

30. Mike Jack “Liberian Girl”
I used to do the MY TOP 10 feature on a monthly basis.  Haven’t done a MY TOP 10 in some months, though.  It’s a music video countdown where the theme changed from month-to-month and I counted down videos from 10 to 1 once a day.

In March of 2009, I counted down MY TOP 10:  Music Video Cameos. Because of it’s various celebrity cameos, I gave Michael Jackson’s “Liberian Girl” the Number 3 spot on March 29, 2009.  Read the original post here — MY TOP 10: Music Video Cameos – 3. Celebrities “Liberian Girl” and watch the video below.

See the complete MY TOP 10: Music Video Cameos Countdown here.

LOTTO Interview: Feedback – Room to Rock Artist

Editor’s Note:   The LOTTO Interview was one of the features for my weekly music column, Urb’l (Urban Cool) Remedy, that was part of Zubterrain, the e-zine of the Zonisphere Media Group.  That site is undergoing an indefinite overhaul; so, my column is currently on hiatus.  For the purpose of this series of interviews, I’ve decided to use the LOTTO Interview format here at THE REAL popolio.

I will be MCing Room to Read’s 2^nd Annual Room to Rock music showcase and fundraiser event on Friday, August 26, 2011, at Peckerheads on Sixth (6^th and Trinity).  Doors open at 7:30PM.  Show starts at 8PM.

Starting on Monday, to countdown to the event, I have been featuring a daily LOTTO Interview (and will do so through tomorrow) with each of the featured bands –  The Blistering Speeds, Feedback, The Shears, and Day vs. Night ( BTW, that is the order they perform in, but not necessarily the order of the interviews).

Get the 411 here, RSVP at the Facebook Event Page, and learn more about the organization at the official site.

The Blistering Speeds kicked things off on Monday.  Day vs. Night kept it going yesterday.   Read each of their LOTTO Interviews here and here, respectively.  Next up in our series of Room to Rock LOTTO Interviews is Feedback, the official band of Bazaarvoice, who will follow the Blistering Speeds during the showcase.

The idea is simple.  I have a list of questions that are a mixed bag of musical, fun, serious, and silly.  Feedback chose five numbers from 1 through 100 without getting to see the questions. The questions they answered for this interview are the questions that corresponded with the numbers that were chosen.  The list is currently holding steady at 100.

Watch Feedback perform their version of Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown.”  Read their LOTTO Interview below.

UR:  Anyone you would pattern your career after?
FB: Probably the Rutles…Or maybe Spinal Tap, but mostly just for the great stage props.

UR:  What are the top references you use for this band, musical or otherwise?
FB:  The main criteria we followed in selecting the music was to play the tunes that we are excited about.  Our band members seem to have a similar taste in music, but we are pretty diverse when it comes to age.  Since we mainly do covers, it ends up as somewhat of a “best of” from the ‘70s all the way through to today.

We had two rules we tried to follow:

1) The audience should be able to recognize the song within a few notes.
2) Once they recognize it, it should make them smile.

UR:  What’s a genre of music you’d like to try that your fans would be surprised by?
FB:  Bluegrass soul!  Don’t be too surprised if we break out some angry banjo or maybe even a fiddle one of these days…

UR:  If you were to redo a song from a musical, what song would you do from which musical?
FB:  It probably wouldn’t be a huge stretch for us to try a few songs from musicals.  Maybe “Seasons of Love,” from RENT – it has a big sound, lots of vocals, and it’s definitely a feel-good tune.

UR:  American Idol’s Jennifer Lopez, The Voice’s Christina Aguilera, or X-Factor’s Paula Abdul?
FB:  J.Lo…Of course.