Did you know?

Here's a funny little thing I saw today. On my oh-so-extensive IMDB biography, check out my "Birth Name"...
I had no idea I'd been going by a stage name my entire life! Why wouldn't my parents have told me that?

Hooray for love.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and one thing our family is thankful for is how awesome Lauren & Michael's wedding was!

It was this past Saturday and everyone agrees that they got hitched without a hitch. From the rehearsal dinner (at the Old Red Museum & Courthouse) to the ceremony (University Park United Methodist Church) and especially the reception (the Stoneleigh Hotel) everything was absolutely perfect! Lauren was radiant and I can't think of a better match for her than Michael. The band was excellent - big shout out to Amanda Baker (McKinney High alum) and Random Axis for keeping the party going. The Seely and Dorff family and friends in attendance were a blast to celebrate with. Mom and Dad did a great job in their Mother & Father of the Bride duties (bonus points to Dad for keeping his composure throughout the festivities).

I don't have any pictures yet - I'll let Leeanne post some when she gets around to it - but I did create some little posters for the occasion. Michael's mother commissioned me for these to display at the rehearsal dinner. There was kind of a Tex-Mex theme to the event and she let me have fun with it. She was also cool enough to print extras for guests and I was happy to see plenty of folks taking them home.



This was pretty funny to me when I was putting them together. Look at the side-by-side comparison, how Michael and ol' Tyrone Power are in nearly the exact same position. It's like he was channeling the spirit of Zorro - mask and all!

Also, Jeff helped me out with this little bit. A couple of posts back I talked about his music blog soundscountry, well, through that Jeff recently met with Rhett Miller, solo artist and lead singer of the Old 97s. He did a song for Jeff's blog and was a good sport by giving Lauren & Michael a wedding wish. I put the two together for a little surprise video for them at the rehearsal. It's a great live acoustic performance, but make sure you watch at the 3:35 mark. Hooray for love indeed.

New radio.

Nearly back to back music entries! Also consecutive Jeff-related entries!
Dallas has a new radio station, KXT 91.7, and the timing couldn't be better after the promising rise and disappointing fall of both Lonestar 92.5 and Quality Rock 93.3. Lonestar went from a great roots-rock, Willie Nelson-endorsed, commercial-free format to your cookie-cutter classic rock variety station, followed by Quality's amazing start with a just-off-the-mainstream"quality" playlist to an even more insipid version of Kiss FM.

But now, KXT has somehow combined the good parts of those two experiments, and coupled it with the non-commercial sensibilities (and hopefully stability) of NPR. It's a member-supported station with a varying playlist and eclectic shows like the celtic-inspired Thistle & Shamrock. So that means instead of gentleman's club ads you get good music and news from NPR at the top of the hour. Also, local acts, deep cuts from great artists and a lot of live performances, such as the in-studio appearance last week by Pete Yorn (below).

And how is this Jeff related? It just so happens he is the main marketing man there who started the same day as KXT went on the air - very similar to how I started my new job on practically the same day as the NBA season opened. Like learning to drive on the Autobahn.

If you listen to KXT and would like to become a member, click here.

If it sounds country...

Uncle Jeff has a (relatively new) music blog called Sounds Country.

It covers that area of music that encompasses alt-country, rock country, folk country, roots music, some bluegrass and americana. Intentionally excluded, the crossover stuff of pop that's prevails on mainstream country radio today.

It's what Sounds Country has bolted on the masthead:

If it sounds country, then that's what it is, you know — it's a country song. – Kris Kristofferson

So say hello again to ol' Kris, Lyle Lovett, and Robert Earl Keen alongside the Old 97s, Jayhawks, and Drive-By Truckers, and to paraphrase a recent country-fied pop exchange:

Taylor Swift: Thank you so much. I always dreamed about what it would be like to maybe win one these someday but I never actually thought that would happen. I sing country music so thank you so much for giving me a chance to win a VMA award...
Kanye West: Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you…I’ll let you finish. But...

...you don't really sing country music. Thanks for the great blog, Jeff, with interviews, reviews and - what a lot of music blogs forget about - music!

Mavs Man.

Guess who got a job doing what he loves for his favorite NBA team!
...
No, guess again.
...
What? No - seriously? Don't you know whose blog this is?
That's right. I'm working as the Creative Editor & Producer for the Dallas Mavericks! That's my official title anyway, although I've heard it also referred to as a "Preditor," PRoducer/EDITOR. Sounds cool.

Basically, I'll be working to produce top-notch video productions for in-game entertainment, TV spots, promos, and online content for the Mavs. I started on Monday and the first game of the season was Tuesday so my head has been spinning. But I've had an all-access pass to see how the whole show is run, I've met some really awesome and nice people (including Mavs Man), and I'm excited about all that we're going to be doing - the All-Star Game is in Dallas this year, too.

It's just been such a blessing and so evident that God's hand was in this. Like I said, I'm a little overwhelmed - there's so much I could say, I just don't know where to start. Go Mavs!

I love you, OU & U2 too.

Last weekend was a big weekend.

First and foremost, Leeanne had a special birthday! She turned __ years old, and for a gal who's __ years old and pregnant, if I met her for the first time tomorrow I'd still fall in love with her.

Also last week, my buddy Brad called with an extra ticket to see the OU/TX game. Huge thanks go out to him for that. We rode the DART down to Fair Park and hit the State Fair a little early before the game. I made the delicious mistake of trying chicken-fried bacon. I gotta say it tasted pretty good, but a little definitely goes a long way.

As for the game itself, it was ugly football. Don't kid yourselves Longhorns, y'all played ugly, too. But like good sports we managed to keep the peace in the spirit of a bipartisan nation when we ran into Drew after the game.


Then, Sunday we went up to Norman to see U2 in concert. Neither of us had ever seen them before - they've been on my list of must-see concerts for a while - and it meant getting back home to Dallas at almost three in the morning, but even Leeanne will tell you it was worth it. It's hard to explain but you can't watch them perform live and not think that you are watching the best band in the world. Bono is an iconic rock star, and they are an iconic band. It's truly an uplifting experience and I would love to see them again.


So truly a great weekend, on many levels, more of which we'll share soon. As everyone keeps telling us, the best is yet to come. So get on your boots!

Just in time for Halloween.

An Oscar-nominated Hollywood heartthrob and his best friend round up a bunch of instruments-- some of which they don't know how to play-- and a massive children's choir and make a concept album about the supernatural. Seems like a recipe for disaster, right? Guess again. - Pitchfork.com

It occurred to me that I haven't written about any albums in a while. It also occurs to me that if you had said that the next album I wrote about would be by an actor, I would have laughed. Like most people, whenever I hear that an actor has decided to put out an album, my natural reaction is to roll my eyes. The last thing the word needs is another vanity project from the current Tiger Beat cover boy or Hanna Montana of the week. Past attempts have resulted in such bargain bin albums as Bruce Willis' Return of Bruno, Don Johnson's Heartbeat or opening acts like Keanu Reeves' Dogstar and Jared Leto's 30 Seconds to Mars. If you haven't heard of these, not to worry, it's likely best that way.

But sometimes...sometimes you get something really worth listening to. Past examples are She & Him, a collaboration of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel and the recently released Breakup by Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson. But now, Ryan Gosling has quietly and with little fanfare put out an album that is all concept and no conceit, experimental not overexposure, and pretty dang good. That would be Dead Man's Bones.

First as an actor; every woman in America knows Ryan Gosling from The Notebook, but if you've never seen Half Nelson I recommend you do. It's a powerful performance. Secondly, he's got some legitimate music chops. Like Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera, Baby Goose (as I like to call him) was a member of the Mickey Mouse Club, and like those two (the exclusion of Britney Spears is intentional, y'all), this kid can actually sing.

He's put together a little band that consists of him and his best friend, and combined their mutual fascination with ghosts, monsters, graveyards, zombies or anything deathly to create a spooky little indie record.


They've enlisted a choir from the Silverlake Convervatory of Music, the Los Angeles music education facility co-founded by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The choir members' ages ranged from five to 17. Every Sunday afternoon for several months, Gosling and his buddy Zach Shields would rehearse and record with the kids. What's really surprising is the results. The sounds reflect a wide range of influences - a little bit of doo-wop and artists such as The Shangri-Las, The Cure, Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens. And the choir is reminiscent at times of A Charlie Brown Christmas, although this one would be more fitting for The Great Pumpkin.

This is the video for their song "In the Room Where You Sleep." In the clip, Gosling and Shields lead a bunch of kids, all dressed in Halloween costumes, through a spare acoustic lament.

It's creepy and catchy. It sounds like a middle school assembly gone goth. - Pitchfork.com
All of this gives Dead Man's Bones the feeling -- in the best possible way -- of a bootleg recording of an elaborate grade-school Halloween pageant. - AMG

DEAD MAN'S BONES - "NAME IN STONE" from biz3 publicity on Vimeo.