30 Day Music Challenge: April 2011

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Day 23 - A Song Elvis Wants Played at His Wedding

Well wedding DJs in general tend to suck. They all play the same songs and ignore requests from dance floor. I'm at the age where many of my friends have been getting married over the past few years and I keep thinking to myself, "wow, a DJ would really hate working my wedding cause I'd be ridiculously picky on what I want my friends and family to hear. I mean I am paying them." I'd spend so much time making a list of what crap I don't want to hear that I may never even get to the list of songs I want to hear. So here's a song that if me and the girlfriend ever decide to get hitched I want played, "Sanctuary" from Sick of It All.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Day 22 - A Song Elvis Listens to When He's Sad

So luckily while a lot of the music I listen to his anger filled or about heartbreak or about corrupt governments there is a few bands that keep it positive. This song as gotten me through some tough times in my life. This song is from now defunct Long Island Punk band The Movielife called "Jamestown". The main lyrics of the song that have been a motivating factor to me are: "There's no setback that can set me back. I think the punch has worn me thin and I'm weakening. The one thing that keeps me in the ring are the people that will never exist to me... If my minds the weapon, my hearts the extra clip!... Weathered, broken, and torn. I'm still fucking here!". So here's one of my all time favorites with an actual music video:

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Day 21 - A Song Elvis Listens to When He's Happy

And I'm Back from vacation... it's been raining in NY since I landed over 18 hours ago, so this topic is hard to pick on a rainy day. Especially after being in a desert oasis for a week listening to rockabilly music and surrounded by Pin Up Girls and hot rods. So here's a video featuring Pin Up Girls; The Fratellis with "Chelsea Dagger".

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Day 20 - A Song Elvis Listens to When Angry

Well this is an easy one. I have a go to album when I'm angry. It helps take the edge off when you scream along with it. That would be From Autumn to Ashes 2001 release "Too Bad You're Beautiful". If you know the album, you know it's good for being angry, especially if that anger is woman related, but it doesn't have to be, just an added bonus. Here is the song "Reflections" off of that album. Love how it starts out slow and mellow and then builds into the song. By far my favorite off of an excellent album. On a side note, I'm off to Vegas til the 27th so my selections will be on hold til then, which will give itsJoeMeyer a few days to catch up.

Day 19 - A Song Off Elvis' Favorite Album

Picking a song from my favorite album is almost as hard as picking my favorite album in general. I have to think about which albums I've had to repurchase because I wore out the vinyl, tape, or CD. I also have to think which one got the most plays on my iTunes as well. Unfortunately for me, that's not easy since there are quite a few albums that fit this criteria. So I'm just gonna let my iTunes go on random until one of those albums pop up... and here's the winner, from the Brand New album "Deja Entendu" here is "Sic Transit Gloria".

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Day #18 A Song Alfred Wishes he heard on the Radio.

I hear The Black Angels every now and again on the radio, when..you know..when there isn't that hour long break of commercials and ads playing on the radio. I never really hear any music on the radio anymore. If I do its just the same play list I've heard pretty much my whole life.

Day 18 - A Song Elvis Wishes Was on the Radio

I wanna hear this song on the radio mainly because it would mean George Carlin won. Here's Blink 182 with "Family Reunion".

Day 17 - A Song Elvis Heard on the Radio

Well I don't really listen to the radio anymore other than at work. Rock radio in general is dying in my opinion, but there is occasionally a glimmer of hope on WRXP 101.9 out of NYC. Luckily, music genius Matt Pinfield is in charge over there, so no matter how dumb management can be, he can steer the ship away from the iceberg that K-Rock hit. Basically the only radio I listen to anymore is a free form radio show entitled "Anything Anything" hosted by Rich Russo. Who I had the pleasure of meeting on Record Store Day. I'll say this no matter how much I think radio is dying, the people who work in the industry are mostly good people and I thoroughly enjoyed my time working in it. Here's a song I discovered thanks to "Anything Anything", Girl in a Coma with their cover of "Walking After Midnight".

Monday, April 18, 2011

Day #17 A Song Alfred Hears Allot on the Radio

I Hear allot of Ceelo Green's, "Fuck You" Even the Forget you version is played everywhere. This song is easily climbing to be one of those songs that I once liked and now I hate. But here is a a version from Eliza Doolittle, a UK pop star that I enjoy.

A Song Alfred used to Like but now Hates

Thanks to the Final episode of, "The Sopranos" with the last scene with the family taking tha last communion with...Onion rings? They used this song. Fine that's a cool song to be used.

Fast foward to anywhere in America in Any Bar and you get people playing this song over and over and over and over. Everybody sings along because its the cool thing to do.

EVERY Karaoke bar, without fail, This song will be sung by at least by a group of 3 to 5 drunk girls. And people will sing along to it because its the cool thing to do.

EVERY FRIGGING BBQ, Somebody always has this song on shuffle and it will be played, without fail, and some guy WILL shout out, "I LOVE THIS SONG". And then the sing along will commence because as we all know its the FUCKING thing to do!!

FUCK YOU SOPRANOS! You have successfully ruined a perfectly good song with all frat boys and Guido douchebags singing in my face with this.

Day 16 - A Song Elvis Liked, but Now Hates

When I grew up I listened to a lot of classic rock thanks to my parents. Which is definitely not a bad thing, but then I went on to work for a classic rock station, hang out at karaoke bars, and DJ. Those factors helped make a song I liked growing up into one I would, at the very least, not need to hear for a long while. I'm speaking of course of Meat Loaf's 8 minute long "Paradise by the Dashboard Light". Like I said, it's a good song, but overplayed and butchered by too many people at bars.

Day #15 Song That Describes Alfred

There it is, Plain and simple.

For Realsies though. I tried thinking about this one and I just can't really describe myself in a song. I am Alfred. I'm allot of things to everyone. I have qualities that make myself who I am. I hate trying to describe myself. I always have. I always feel like its being snobbish and impolite even while I write this. Whatever the case may be , I'm always just another Asshole.

Day 15 - A Song That Describes Elvis

Well this one was hard to pick, but then I realized I named my blog after a song that sums me up. That would be Bad Religion's "Against the Grain". This is one of my all time favorite bands and favorite songs since I was a wee little Junior High reject. Growing up in an area where most people listened to rap music people who even listened to basic rock music were considered outsiders and if you listened to punk/metal like I did you were a complete outcast. This song is about staying against the status quo and doing your own thing. Even though now that I'm older and have surrounded myself with like minded people from all across Long Island and NY, I still feel this song sums me up.

Day #14 A song Alfred Likes that nobody would expect?

Wait...Didn't we just do a guilty pleasure? What far strecth would Bee Gee's really be from Carole King?...ok..whatever...Well I like this song from the Bee Gee's. In fact I love Saturday Night Fever.

Whatever..I'm too drunk right now to really get into it because I want to take a wild shit and go to bed. So with that I bid adieu.

Day 14 - Song Elvis Likes to Sing While Drunk

So day 14 was supposed to be a song that no one would expect me to love, but I took care of that yesterday with the guilty pleasure one. So I changed day 14 to be a song I like to sing when drinking is involved. So here's myself, Alfred, and other assorted Late Night Warriors from the Half Penny Pub of Sayville drinking and singing our rendition of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart".

Day #13 Alfreds' Guilty Pleasure

I'm not going to front, I love the whole album Tapestry from Carole King. I just really enjoy her songs. Ever since I was a little kid. I just wanted to hear music so bad when I was younger I would play anything I got my hands on.

When I was 10 years old, one of my neighbors were having a garage sale and they were selling this stereo system with a record player, two deck cassette player, and an FM/AM tuner for $20. I raced home grabbed my allowance that I was saving for comic books and bought it. My neighbor also threw in a milk crate filled with some old records and thus began my collection and my love of vinyl records. This was 1989 and records were still being sold and Cd's were still a new media that was sold in those big ass cardboard cases.

Remember those?

Anyways, So one of the records I acquired was Tapestry and I just loved it.

Fast forward 15 years later and I'm in my room on a rainy afternoon and I am listening to, "You've got a Friend" now in digital form off my iTunes library and in surround sound. I'm just enjoying and relaxing when a group of my friends from around the Old neighborhood (unannounced mind you) pile into my room and pretty much just laughing at my own expense of the sight of me enjoying Carole King. They then proceeded to bombard me with,"You want to know how I know your gay?" jokes.

Whatever. I still Love that album.

Day 13 - Elvis' Guilty Pleasure

Well it's hard to have a guilty pleasure when you put music into two distinct categories... good and shitty. I guess this song that I enjoy playing when I DJ is a bit of a departure for me musically and makes no sense compared to everything else I've posted so far in the 30 Day music challenge. Here's Ducksauce with "Barbara Streisand".

Day #12 A song from a Band Alfred Hates.

Elvis hit it right square on the nose. I. HATE. CREED! This Gem from Scott Strapp is a song that the Seattle Marriners use for whatever crappy music that drives people out of the stadium or induce vomiting? I am not quite sure as to why they needed this utter nonsense of a song.

Day 12 - A Song from a Band Elvis Hates

So for this one I was gonna choose Eminem feat. Rihanna, but that's not really a band or a group. It's just pop garbage. So I had to think about groups who actually play their instruments and then I remembered how bad Creed is. So here's Creed... wait, I'm not playing the actual version... here's Dave Grohl doing his version of "With Arms Wide Open".

Day #11 A Song from Alfred's Favorite Band.

Its a toss up between The Clash, Joe Strummer, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Led Zepplin, or probably 10 more bands right now. But today I'm going to say Fugazi.

I love this friggen band. catching them play back in 1996-97 was one of the best shows I've ever been to.

Day 11 - A Song from Elvis' Favorite Band

Well I already played a song from my favorite band, H2O, for my favorite song, which was "One Life, One Chance", but I'm sure I can think of another one and I have. This song is off their latest album Nothing to Prove. Here's the video for "What Happened?" featuring Lou from Sick of It All, Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio, and Michael Rappaport. Whatever happened to CBGBs? Whatever happened to the passion?

Day #10 A Song that makes Alfred Sleep

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.Uh Wha? OH yeah! Sorry doze off there for awhile. When I was a teenager I always liked listening to Classical piano while I fell asleep. It was said that to listen to classical music while sleeping improved test scores. I can't say that it have or not but I got used to listening to Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin. It became routine for a bit. I made a falling asleep mix that is over 4 hours. It has allot of classical piano concertos in it.

Mozart to me was more inventive and playful when it came to the movements in his masterpieces. This one #23 is my most listened to. It starts off very melancholy and has a very uplifting accent towards the second movement only to return very softly into the original feeling intended of the first movement once the third movement ends. See? Isn't he playful? I love it and this could of easily been a song that could of been played at my funeral as well. But I think I have another choice once that day comes.

Day 10 - A Song That Makes Elvis Sleep

Here's a song that doesn't necessarily make me sleep, but it can help me go to sleep. Here's Pink Floyd with "Comfortably Numb"

Day #9 A song that Alfred can Dance to

As long as there is a beat I can dance to it. I don't understand this challenge. Maybe if it was a song I Wish I could dance too, I would have to think about that one. Fortunately for me, thats not the case.

Unfortubately for you, I have to cut this short because I have to get ready to go to a show tonight so I am going to put up a video of the Daft Punk girls dancing to Harder Faster Better Stronger. This has been on youtube since like 2006-07ish. Its been a favorite of mine since. So enjoy and reminisce of the olden times of yore that was ....uh...2006-07ish...whatever I gotta get ready.YEARGH Motherbitches!

Day 9 - A Song Elvis Can Dance To

Well I'm not much of a dancer, but I have hopped on stages and led groups of people through the "Fresh Prince" dance for this song for years. So here's one of the few songs I can dance to that aren't the "Macarena", the Sugarhill Gang with "Apache (Jump On It).

Day #8 A Song Alfred Knows All the Word to

I friggen love this song, I love all the versions of this song. Its like one of the very few songs I do know all the words to. Watching the Me First and The Gimme Gimmes on a boat is still one of the greatest shows i've seen.

I always look for this version everytime I'm at a Karaoke bar, but alas! its never there. So if you are a karaoke DJ, Hook a brother up SUCKER!

Day 8 - Song That Elvis Knows All the Words To

I worked in retail for a long time, pretty much for a full decade. If there is one thing that really sucks in retail other than the customers and managers, it's the crappy music they play over and over and over again. This song as actually come in handy while creeping out people at karaoke. So here it is... the Backstreet Boys with "I Want it That Way".

Day #7 A Song That Reminds Alfred of an Event

This one I picked because it reminds me of the last time I went to the Warped Tour With Elvis. For the life of me, I don't know how, but I never heard of Helmet until that day. They were playing on a side stage and we were really digging their set. Then I turned to Elvis and asked who they were and he was like, "Are you fucking kidding me!?!"

I had no idea. How this song escaped me during the 90's is beyond me.

Unsung wound up being on the first Guitar Hero and Elvis still gives me shit about it to this day.

What a Dickhole.

Day 7 - A Song That Reminds Elvis of a Certain Event

Trying to pick a song that reminds me of an event is a tough one since I'm trying to make it a positive one. I can recall plenty of songs that remind me of negative events like 9/11, the loss of family members and friends, and break ups. So I'm just gonna let the inner hockey fan in me choose today. So here's the goal song for the 2010-11 NY Islanders. Don't like them? I don't care.

Day #6 A Song That Reminds Alfred of Somewhere

I love the Ventures. I always have. I don't remember how I came across them as a kid I just always enjoyed their sound. Whenever I hear them it will always remind me of the now Defunct Record Stop in Ronkonkoma. This was the record store I most frequent from JR High and throughout High School. It was a place where I picked up a shit ton of Vinyl. It was the only record store that I can recall that had a whole side of the store dedicated to $1 records. I would always buy any Venture records from there. To date I own about 13 Venture records....maybe 20.

I spent countless hours there. Just always fishing in those dollar bins, bullshitting with the owner Bruce who would always be helpful and gave his two cents about any record you would buy. If it sucked he would let you know. If he thought your musical taste sucked he would never cut you a deal.

I remember after school my freshman and sophomore year I would walk to Record Stop and had to haggle a bit with Bruce about letting me see the bootlegs of live shows. Trying to act all cool and picking out something and then trying to race back to the school hoping I wouldn't miss the bus.

It is funny to think of the lengths I had to go through just to get music I wanted when I was a kid. Towards the end of Record Stop Bruce didn't even had to hide the bootlegs anymore. They were right there in the front of the register. He would let me just pick out any records I wanted and just charge me a significant percentage off the total price.

I found out through a friend of mine that the store was closed for good a couple of months ago. It kinda broke my heart to hear it. I visit other record stores now and they are about to see the same fate as Record Stop. Soon all my shopping will be online. Its heartless and too easy. I like going into a Record store. Fishing around the inventory, touching the actual records, the smell of the old cardboard covers.
The whole experience.

Looking now at my record collection, I would say more then 100 of the records i own came from Record Stop.

Wherever you are Bruce. Thanks for everything.

Day 6 - Song That Reminds Elvis of Somewhere

I figured I could've went a lot of different ways with a topic like this one, but then I thought where do I spend most of my time... the bar! This song in particular reminds me of my old watering hole, Butcher Boys, in Holbrook. The bar doesn't exist anymore, but when I was in my early to mid 20s this was the place to be during the week. Always packed during the mid week and full of people from all walks of life and we were all one large dysfunctional family. If an outsider came in and tried to pick a fight with one of the regulars we all stood up for each other. Sadly, during the last couple years of the bars existence the crowd changed and many of the regulars found new places to go, including myself. Still, nothing quite reminds me more of my old bar than drunken sing a longs on the jukebox at 2 AM to songs like The Proclaimers "I Would Walk 500 Miles", Iron Maiden's "Run To The Hills, and, of course, this Butch classic that we still sing along with the old crew at Public House 49... Mr. Big's "To Be With You" (the guitarists pants and guitar are hilarious in this live performance).

Day #5 A Song That Reminds Alfred of Someone

This Month a Friend of mine that passed away would of turned 32 this year. I Miss him very much and I wish he was still around to see this podcast. He would of loved being a part of something like this. Day #5 is for you, Mike Clark.

Growing up Pantera was very much a prominent part of my High School career. In my neighborhood about 20 or so kids all hung out together. We all grew up riding bikes, playing street hockey and handball, getting into trouble and just experiencing life together. Kinda like the gang from the movie "The Sandlot". Except add in the pot and girls and hardcore metal and punk you pretty much got what it was like growing up around here.

The first time I saw Pantera was at the Hammerstine Ballroom when i was about 16-17. I remember going in the pit with mike and within 2 minutes in there Mike gets blasted in the face by someone and just gave him a gusher of a bloody nose. There he was wearing a wife beater with blood all down his face and his shirt drenched. He just throws his arms up in the air and yells, "YEAH! That was fucking AWESOME!" He just went back in the pit and enjoyed the rest of the show that way. That was mike alright.

I miss you buddy.

Day #5 A Song That Reminds Elvis of Someone

Well this one's easy and really needs little explanation. My girlfriend's name is Kate. Her favorite band is the Bouncing Souls. So here's "K8 is Great" from their self titled album.

Day #4 A Song That Makes Alfred Sad

I didn’t have to think hard about a song that always makes me sad, Its probably really cliché to even to pick this song but maybe it’s because this song resonates with allot of people who lost someone that was close to them. Not only does this song remind of friends that died but it particularly reminds me of my father’s passing.

Last month marks 10 years past since his death. It amazes me how fast time goes by and especially of how it feels like no time has passed at all. No matter what I thought growing up regarding what my life would be and how it would turn out, I never thought I would lose my dad so early. I wasn’t finish having a father, I was just a kid.

I could go on and on , but I digress. You get the gist.

Thanks Internet, you Asshole for making me feel bad. I’m going to go now and throw some resentments as well as other emotions at the bottom of a bottle of Jack and bury them where it belongs.

Day #4 A Song That Makes Elvis Sad

Everyone who listens to music as much as I do as a song or two that reminds them of something sad and depressing. Long Island's Brand New has quite a few songs like that over the course of their albums. I chose "Guernica" off of their Deja Entendu album. I found a video with lyrics to post on here for those of you unfamiliar with it. Basically this song reminds me of when my Aunt passed away from cancer in her late 30s. My Aunt Cathy was as much into music as I am and played guitar in the 1980s all girl Long Island band The Persuasions. So she did have a good amount of impact, along with my parents, into the music I was introduced to growing up. R.I.P. Cathy Gallo, my family's original punk rocker.

Day #3 A Song That Makes Alfred Happy

I have a mix I created called, "Super-Duper Happy Fucking Fantastic Fun Mix". I don't play it too often because I am not too ecstatic about the general way things go for me. But sometimes, things just go flipping way too good that it calls for a special play list that needs to reflect how friggen awesome life can be.

This song, this little beauty is the first track off that mix. That's right. Its starts on level 10 and it just stays there for an additional 13 tracks. Plus this song reminds me when I used to do allot of acid when I was in High School.

Just like Alision below:

Day #3 A SOng That Makes Elvis Happy

Happy Happy Joy Joy! Happy Happy Joy Joy!! Happy Happy Joy Joy JOY!!! Today's song on the 30 Day Challenge is a song that makes me happy. A song that reminds me of my favorite place, my home away from home, the barren desert known as Las Vegas. A song that takes me away to a better place, a place where I can ride a dolphin and do flips and shit... taking that big blue watery road... Fuck land, I'm on a boat muthafucka!

Day #2 A Song That Alfred Hates

Least favorite you say? How about most hated? Because here it is! Thanks to a certain classic rock station over here on Long Island, they would play this classic piece of shit way to early in the morning for my liking. Elvis at the time was still, Intern Elvis at said radio station and i think he actually had them play this just to piss me off...Anywhoozle, here it its in all its 80's glory...FUCKING FREEZE FRAME!

Day #2 A song that Elvis Hates

Song that I hate, song that I hate, song that I hate. This was kind of a difficult one. I needed to find a song that when I heard made me want to punch a baby. The kind of song that you just wonder what the hell were they thinking when they wrote, recorded, and released this pile of shit? How did this song get approved by the band members, management, and the record execs? Basically the kind of song that proves record company executives are completely useless for anything other than losing half their money to female pop singers through failed marriages. After thinking about this I decided on picking one of my favorite bands of all time. A band that I basically worshiped in my formative years... Metallica. There early stuff is hands down awesome, but after the Black Album they released Load and ReLoad, which were bad, but not horrific. They proved they could make an album that could make their fans hate them more than when they took out Napster. That album was St. Anger. I was so pissed when I bought this hoping it would at least be slightly better than Load/Reload, but I was disappointed beyond belief. This album had out of tune everything and lyrics that a 13 year old kid who cuts himself can write. I can go on and on about how bad this album was, but I'll let the music speak for itself. Here is the title track from Metallica's "St. Anger". It does make me angry, so maybe that was the point...

Day #1 Alfred's Favorite Song

Its pretty tough to name just one song and call it my favorite. If you know me, then you know I just don't have any favorites at all. At anything. Especially of the infinite songs out there how can I pick just one? I could make a 3 hour mix and claim that all the songs on there are my favorite.

But if I had to pick one, for now it would be Dramarama's "Anything Anything". This song has been covered a thousand times before, and with good reason. Song kicks ass! I like Buck Cherry's version the best , but here I wanted to put the Original.

Ask me any other given moment, and I couldn't even tell you who Dramarama is as well as any song from them. but this song is going to live forever.

Day 1 - Elvis' Favorite Song

Well my favorite song is what I have tattooed on my right upper arm, "One Life One Chance" from NYHC veterans H2O. I've been listening to this band since 1996 and the band has been one of the few consistent groups that I've played on mix tapes, mix CDs, and now my iPod playlists over the years. It's an upbeat positive song that the lead singer Toby Morse even uses today when he does public speaking about being Straight Edge (which I am not) and having a Positive Mental Attitude (aka PMA) in life. Luckily for me they've even made a real music video for the song. Which doesn't necessarily always happen with songs I like.