You can always put your finger on the pulse of pop culture just by visiting your local state fair’s midway. Hanging from the ceilings of the booths are various icons that could be yours for a few (hundred?) chances. So this year, among the fake Hello Kittys and Hannah Montana knockoffs, what were the big prizes that were waiting for the taking, that all the cool kids wanted?

Free gas cards.

Next in our series of songs you need is “Type” by Living Colour. I was really surprised to find out that this is the band’s highest-charting single, because I grew up hearing “Cult of Personality” on the radio all the time and I hadn’t heard this song until about a month ago.

But I quickly learned why this one is so popular. It starts with a ferocious guitar and a list of “types,” as you’ll see below, then goes into a melodic, unforgettable chorus. But the best part is yet to come: the sweet melding at the end that’s like saving the cherry for last after you eat the ice cream sundae.

Living Colour is another one of those bands that should have gotten more credit — their lyrics and music were powerfully charged, but this song, especially, counterbalances the rage with a smoothness and a reminder that “everything that goes around, comes around….”

And I’m happy to report that the band is set to release an album late this year or early next.

Stereotype
Monotype
Blood type
Are you my type?
Minimalism
Abstract expressionism
Postmodernism
Is it?

We are the children of concrete and steel
This is the place where the truth is concealed
This is the time when the lie is revealed
Everything is possible, but nothing is real

Corporate religion
Televangahypnotism
Suffer till you die
For the sweet-bye-and-bye
Science and technology, the new mythology
Look deep inside
Empty

We are the children of concrete and steel
This is the place where the truth is concealed
This is the time when the lie is revealed
Everything is possible, but nothing is real

Everything that goes around
Comes around

Hypothetical
Theoretical
Circumstantial evidence
Irrelevance
Don’t think twice
Just roll the dice
Pay the price
Snake eyes

We are the children of concrete and steel
This is the place where the truth is concealed
This is the time when the lie is revealed
Everything is possible, but nothing is real

We are the children of concrete and steel
This is the place where your fate has been sealed
This is the time when your life is revealed
Everything is possible, but nothing is real

Everything that goes around
Comes around…

———————————————————

See also: Living Colour’s “Open Letter to a Landlord”

If my ipod had a condition, it would have multiple personality disorder. But I think that’s a good thing. I can’t imagine listening to ONLY alternative songs, ’80s hairbands or sad country. I have a mix of (almost) everything — from Elvis to Aphex Twin and tons of others in between.

 

I also have a lot of songs that were played on the stupid commercial radio stations about one or two times, then faded away, but they’re really cool songs that deserve at least one listen. The nearly-unsung heroes, if you will, that will make your ipod much cooler than anyone else’s. I’m going to try to post some of these songs in the future and if you also know of any that you think deserve more recognition, leave a comment!

 

Today, boys and girls, our first Song Worthy of Going On Your Ipod is “Hotel Illness” by the Black Crowes. Sure, you’ve heard “Hard to Handle” and maybe even “Jealous Again” and “She Talks to Angels,” but this deserves a listen too. “Hotel Illness” has a lazy summer day vibe, with twangy Southern Rock guitars and Chris Robinson somehow making a drawl into staccato in the beginning before blending into a crunchy, tasty chorus. Here are the lyrics:

 

Oh good heavens, baby where’s my medicine?
I must have left it outside with my etiquette
The undertaker’s rule of thumb
It’s hard to talk with a novocain tongue

This room smells like hotel illness
The scars I hide are now your business
I can’t seem to make hair nor hide of this
No baby love is not a punishment.

Hypnotized by your rotten behavior
This week’s fashion is last year’s flavor
I got a head full of sermons and a mouth full of spiders
The politics of the world’s greatest liar

So tell me, baby, is it true all those things that they say about you…

———————————————————

Want more? See also: Black Crowes’ “Remedy.”

Thanks, Food Network, for reading my blog.

From Food Network Addict:

Adam Gertler is in L.A. shooting episodes of a new Food Network show Will Work For Food, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.

It’s not a cooking show, per se. Gertler will show how people in the food business do their jobs. Among them: potato chip inspector, shark feeder and dog-food taste-tester. Gertler, an actor and former waiter at Amada in Old City, coowned The Smoked Joint, a short-lived barbecue restaurant at the Academy House in Center City.

According to the article, Will Work For Food premieres Sept. 30 at 9:30pm on Food Network.

No official word from Food Network, though.

UPDATE: Food Network confirms it’s true.

“On The Next Food Network Star Adam exhibited a unique combination of quick wit, passion for food and an engaging personality,” said Bob Tuschman, Senior Vice President, Programming and Production for Food Network. “He earned millions of fans across the country who have let us know that we have a second star in our midst. We feel this series is a perfect fit for his talents, letting him showcase his brand of humor while he works for food.”

http://foodnetworkaddict.blogspot.com/2008/08/adam-gertler-wins-too-his-own-show.html

Oh, Adam Gertler, why didn’t you win “The Next Food Network Star”???? All season I was waiting for you to win, even before the stupid show started! Why, on the finale, when the judges discussed whose show they could put on the network the next day and your name came up, did they pick Aaron “Big Daddy” McCargo instead of you? Why did they bring Aaron back in the Vegas episode when he clearly did the worst job? Why did they seem to pipe in the audience laughter, probably from your pilot presentation, into his?

Food Network or some other network, please hire this guy!!

ETA: They did! Look for my other post about it!

When I was a teenager, my mom asked if I wanted braces.

“No!” I answered. What kid would want their teeth to be pushed and pulled by metal torture devices?

Well, even though I wish I had said yes back then and I wouldn’t be sitting here 10 years later with said devices on my teeth for the past month, I have to say that I’ve noticed improvements already! One of my prominent teeth is now not so prominent. It’s not perfect, and I still have months of braces to go, but it’s kind of exciting!

P.S. If you or someone you know is also an adult in braces, check out archwired.com. It has a lot of helpful info specifically for adults and also a message board.