This blog will be music only

I will make a separate sports blog in a little bit.

SHIT!

Fuck!

Jeremy Shockey's out for 3-6 with a sports hernia.  Just when he and Drew Brees were starting to build chemistry.  Fuck!

We can still beat the 49ers, though.  I hope.

The good news is, Reggie Bust is now Reggie Beast.  Hooray for improvement!

NFL- who's living up to the hype now?

Expected breakout stars that are living up to the hype:

WR Calvin Johnson- Lions

Johnson had two consecutive 100-yard games to begin the season, and he's arguably the best player on Detroit's pathetic offense.

RB Reggie Bush- Saints

Has Reggie finally arrived?  Reggie has over 400 yards of total offense in his first three games, and that doesn't include yards from punt returns.  For the first time in his career, he has scored a touchdown in three consecutive games, including 2 touchdowns against the Broncos.  Last year, Reggie only managed 6 total touchdowns.  In only three games so far, he already has 4.

QB Jay Cutler- Broncos

The "Next Great Superstar QB" has been, um, the next great superstar QB.  Cutler trails only Drew Brees in total passing yards, and he also has 8 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions.  Vince Young and Matt Leinart?  Suck it.  Great QB's come from Vanderbilt.

Disappointments

QB Peyton Manning- Colts

Peyton looks rusty rusty rusty, and the Colts are 0-1.  So far, Eli has been the better Manning.

WR Chad Johnson/ Ocho Cinco- Bengals

He has been a ghost on the field.  If you do a gimmick like that, you better have a wicked season, and so far, Chad hasn't been there.

QB Derek Anderson- Browns

The fans' chants for Brady Quinn now seem warranted.

QB David Garrard- Jaguars

He has not lived up to his huge contract.

QB Carson Palmer- Bengals

The Bungles are 0-3, and Carson Palmer's been way off the mark.  His performance yesterday against the Giants was much better, but he has a ways to go to right the sinking ship.

What a huge win!

Jarrett Lee,

Thank you.  You are the man.  You stepped up your game when it mattered.

At halftime, it was Auburn 14 LSU 3.  And then it was LSU 26 Auburn 21.  This is also the first time LSU has won at Auburn since 1998.  The trend of the home team winning in the LSU-Auburn series which started in 2000 is broken.  And LSU snapped it first.

Brandon LaFell is one of college football's best receivers.  Last year, LaFell had bizarre turnover against Auburn that had him benched.  This time, LaFell has the game-winning touchdown.  He's also a complete football player.  When the play didn't call for him to catch, LaFell made plays by blocking.

LSU's biggest question mark, quarterback, has been answered.  If Jarrett can play like he did in the second half, LSU is a title contender.  He is not as mobile as Hatch, but he gets the ball to the wide receivers and he stretches the defense, which in turn makes room for Charles Scott.

Scott, who looks like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, ran for 132 yards.  Beastly.

The defense made plays.  Chris Hawkins had two interceptions.  There were sacks a-plenty.

You know, there's a quarterback in Gainesville who still doesn't have a fourth-quarter comeback.

LSU Football

1.  QB inconsistency is a concern.  Neither Hatch nor Lee looked comfortable in the offense.  LSU really could have used that game against Troy, but oh well.  Jordan Jefferson didn't exactly light it up either.

2.  You're a bad man, Charlie Scott.  Charles Scott continues to be awesome.

3.  Auburn's offense has no spark.  Seriously.  What kind of football game ends 3 to 2?  Yuck!

Chad Ocho Cinco

The batshit-crazy Chad Johnson is no more.

The batshit-crazy Chad Ocho Cinco has arrived.  I love the NFL.

Chad Ocho Cinco is what the NFL needs- a talented uber-eccentric.  His interviews are never boring, and the more I learn about him, the more interesting he becomes.  His obsession with "Talladega Nights" and his Lynyrd Skynyrd ringtone.  Oh yeah, and his new last name.

Johnsons are a dime a dozen.  I have Johnson blood in me, but there are so many Johnson's, I probably won't miss him, even though we are no doubt related somehow.

Ocho Cincos are much rarer.  In fact, I think there's only one.

Brian Wilson- That Lucky Old Sun

Brian Wilson has something left in the tank.

25 years ago, Wilson was a crazy fat drug addict nobody thought would ever speak a coherent sentence again.  Call the long-long-long-long-awaited release of Smile the final rehab project.  Brian is making new music again- good new music.  That Lucky Old Sun has moments of Wilsonian brilliance.  It is nowhere near the sustained quality of SMiLE or Pet Sounds, but please excuse Brian Wilson for this album's surprisingly few faults.  Even forgetting what he's been through, Wilson is 66.  Add in all the history, and this album is a miracle.  It's also pretty good.

The album's premise is really corny.  It's a tribute to Wilson's native Southern California.  I could have lived without the narratives that split the music, but aside from the one where Wilson tries to use Spanish, they're not as bad as you would imagine.  The album's worst moments have to be when Wilson and the Wondermints try to rock.  They're just too clean and polished to pull off a 3-chord rocker like "Morning Beat", but even that song has a really cool motive at the beginning of the track.  Wilson is too old to sing something like "Mexican Girl".  That one could have been given to one of the younger singers.  "California Role" sounds like the Beatles' "Honey Pie" in the wrong hands.  "Oxygen to the Brain", Brian's admission to his past drug use, sounds too much like a bad SMiLE outtake.

But then there are some real gems.  "Good Kind Of Love" is the kind of whimsical pop-tune that reminds me that there is something left in the tank.  "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" is clearly self-referential, but it's good enough to work.  "Live Let Live" is 70's Beach Boys done right.  I absolutely loved hearing the opening of the brilliant outtake "Can't Wait Too Long" rerecorded.  It sounds exactly like the original, but better.  I wish they did the whole thing.  "Midnight's Another Day" is a beautiful ballad.  It's a little bit overdone, but it is very effective, and it fits Wilson's range.  "Going Home" sounds like a lost corn-rocker from Love You, but it works.  Love that harmonica.  The closing ballad "Southern California" is really effective, and it ends the album on a good note.  So yeah, good album.