This week's Hot Bastage Of The Week was the star of two of my more recent favorite TV series - both unceremoniously cancelled and a bad ass Rose McGowan killing fiend - not to mention hawt with a big awt... SKEET ULRICH
* the tv series would be MIRACLES and JERICHO and the film recognized in today's hot post is of course SCREAM - now go watch some Skeet...
Okay everybody stop working right now! Let's just shut down our excel programs, take a deep deep breath and watch some You Tube videos! It's BRAD TV kiddies!
So up first are my pals SHITTING GLITTER in a recent (last Saturday) TV spot on public access performing and premiering a brand new tune "The Collection" - you'll dance, you'll love it:
and a little bit of Kristen Chenoweth, as we all need a little of the little KC in our lives - here she is singing about meth and doing what a Broadway diva does best --- intervention for the crack heads.
and finally for something so frickin' cute you're going to have to adopt one of your own (a nephew that is) - my little nephew EVANin full action. That's right I'm not the only star in our family, in fact I think he's doing his own version of my FLIRT video in this one:
Fabulousity will soon be at hand - in fact in one week, the brand new much talked about, highly hyped single FABULOUS will be released for downloads~
and yes it includes the exclusive track "The Kick Inside" featuring Devin Tait from Shitting Glitter, so get those feather boas ready, you'll be dancing in the streets with Swivek.
and for even more exciting news, the full album EVERYBODY HATES YOU will soon follow and to get your tongues a waggin here is the track list:
Whew! Just in time for a hot lunch, here's the Hot Bastage Of The Week - a hottie that I didn't really get all that attracted to until he did some hits with Miss Piggy... it's Iggy from Hairspray (okay he was hot in that too!), JOSH CHARLES.. and if things were perfect here in La La Land, Carlton Heights would be hitting the air and Josh would be playing Ronald Mitchell.
I'm not sure where the Santa pic comes from but it's pretty hot in a strange and twisted way and for good measure, here is one of the best scenes ever shot for celluloid, it's Muppets In Space where Miss Piggy is on a mission to save Gonzo from the alien protection agency but she has to get through hottie tottie secret service agent Josh - it's so good you'll have to take the rest of the day off so enjoy the HOT BASTAGE OF THE WEEK - JOSH CHARLES
This week has once again been kicking my little blonde bootie, so I'm sorry there haven't been many (any) posts, but you're not the only ones who have suffered, for in the haste of all that is my life, I, yours truly, Bradley forgot my own anniversary! Can you even believe it? Yesterday the Leivas came home with a card and a present and said, "happy anniversary" and I said, "oh thanks, I'm going to take a shower."
But it all worked out anyway, cause we went out for din din and then went to check out some videocameras as we need a new one, we didn't buy one but I have some items to research now.
and don't feel too sorry for the Leivas cuz I did buy our rings just the other day and that's quite an anniversary present.
The ring shopping actually went really smoothy, I looked through a bunch of rings and found one almost immediately that I liked. I wanted me and the Leivas to have the same rings so I showed him my choice and he liked it too.
Then when placing the order I had forgotten all about an engraving so I asked him if we should do it or not (I was aiming for a yes and that's what I got) - so our first inclination was a song lyric that meant something to both of us.
I had thought of a few songs to play at our wedding should we actually have a big to do and had picked out "Sandy's Song" by Dolly Parton and "Sand On My Feet" by Donna Summer as two favorites plus one of 'our' favs, Bright Eyes' "The First Day Of My Life." So we decided to listen to songs and come up with a saying to go in the ring. I even took out lyrics to Swivek songs I had written about The Leivas but nothing worked.
Then we decided to listen to Bright Eyes and see if there was a certain line we both liked and as soon as the singing came on the first line was, "This is the first day of my life.." and we both looked at each other and knew that was it.
So our rings will have the inside engraved saying "This is the first day of my life, 10-09-08" and this is what the rings look like:
For some reason this guy went under my radar for far too long, James Marsden rocked my world in Hairspray and then again in Enchanted - which is actually a very good movie.. and then I realized he had been the boyfriend in one of my all time fav flix, Sugar & Spice - and not to mention he's just hawt...
So I give you THE HOT BASTAGE OF THE WEEK - JAMES MARSDEN, shirtless, just plain cute and completey hawt singing "It's Hairspray" - no need to thank me just enjoy the HOT BASTAGE OF THE WEEK.
So last night I decided to take the old webcam and make myself a video - luckily I'm a musician so I had something to lipsynch to - not that it matters as nothing really matches up and it's really just an experiment gone hysterically wrong... None the less, Swivek has made a video and because I have no shame I am sharing it with you. Perhaps I should've had that ring on my finger before showing this to the Leivas as he insists I have lost my mind...
You'll laugh, you'll hack - it's the very first Swivek video "FLIRT"
Okay for the most part I would say I'm a pretty nice guy but I have to admit when it comes to caring for others and showing sympathy I'm not all that great. Maybe I am if it's say my mom or sister or my Leivas but when it's my co-worker let me just say I'm not too hot.
On Monday, the only other person I work with in my showroom started acting all strange. He said he had shooting pains in his back and from his side of the room all I heard were moments of "oh.." and "eeeh.." and as I rolled my eyes and thought, "what the hell am I supposed to do about it?" He asked me if I could bring him some water.
Now this is where it really shows what a caring person I am - all I thought of was, "There's only one bottle of water in the fridge and I brought it from home." But in my defense, I only thought that and actually did bring it to him.
Eventually, he packed it up and went to the emergency room and I haven't seen him since, which means I'm stuck on the 5th floor of this hell hole, having to lock up and set the answering machine everytime I want to leave, and believe me I want to leave a lot...
and in a strange little twist, he had called me yesterday saying he was coming in this morning and he hasn't shown up or called, and just now while writing this he rings me up to tell me he thought he was coming in this morning but will be here as soon as he can, he just had a rough night...
Okay so his problem was kidney stones and I have heard they are super intense and painful but why is that I just want to smack him in the kidneys repeatedly with my stapler until they loosen up and he get back to work? Is that so wrong?
Well it was a bit of a blurry weekend as I tended to dive headfirst into a blitz of booze and cheeriness. On Saturday we headed down to the Leivas' for a little relaxation and a lot of wine. Those Leivas' know how to keep me drunk I'll tell you that much.. then when we got home I thought it seemed like a grand idea to go out drinking so I rang up my palsie Luther who was already at Blender, but because of the Leivas' belief that there is a fine line between fun drinking Brad and bitch out fest Hell on Booze Brad, he didn't want to chance driving over to Silverlake and having me go all drunkenness on him. So he put on some pants and we went down to Trunks instead.
Then yesterday started with a bit of the blurs as I was climbing out of my hangover just in time to milk it with mimosas with Tommy and our pal Brian. Brian is now one of my all time favs because the bitch drinks and drinks. We kept up with the unlimited bottomless Mimosas until Tommy and Alf grabbed us off our bar stools only to be coerced into going to Trunk's where we drank more and played pool with Team Boozerella (that'd be Brian & I) actually winning twice - though one was a default as Tommy scratched on the 8 ball. Then I headed to the pool to sober up while Tommy and Brian headed back to the OC and the Leivas headed to the grocery store.
The sobering up didn't last long though as I continued drinking after being in the pool which of course ended up with me drunk dialing everyone and their mother. But that's because I had a few tidbits of news to share!!
That's right - life is all about the little bits of news I can get out there -
first and foremost - the Levias and I passed our marraige license and are now able to get hitched, so I paid the extra $20 to West Hollywood and we are getting married on October 9th. But because this is WeHo and not some five and dime courthouse ceremony, they actually walk us over to the park and we get married in the breeze of West Hollywood greenery. So October 9th, don't forget the presents - We're registered at Bevmo and Amoeba Music.
And the second bit of news - a pal of mine named Ryan from the OC hangs out with two guys and is helping them build a recording studio. Well apparantly the studio is just about ready to be recorded in, and I had already met these guys and steered them towards my little Swivek project. Well the guys are in a band and are going to do a gig and want (wait for it, wait, wait...) Swivek to open up! Can you just about die. Nothing is set for sure or anything and quite frankly I need to get some major details together before I can committ, but if things work out, Swivek at long last could be having a live gig! Get those CDs out and start memorizing my lyrics so you can sing along to such classics as "Debbie Doesn't","Speeding" and "Cherry Go Go."
So it takes a lot for the Leivas to get me out to see a movie - I have a problem sitting in a theater for too long so the first thing I do is check the lenght of the movie before I ever committ to actually going - anything near 2 hours or over 2 hours is out. I just can't do it.
Sometimes there's an exception where I just don't care how long it is because I actually want to see it on the big screen - the most recent examples of that are Cloverfield,Hairspray and The Happening - all of which ended up being short anyway. The final exception came about 2 weeks ago when we decided to see Journey To The Center Of The Earth in 3-D - first of all, it's 3-D so that's cool and I had heard there were some cool special effects and finally, I remembered my love for Brendan Fraser.
He's cute, he's funny and he seems to be an all around cool guy and now he has not one but two films out - I highly recommend Journey... and I will probably go see the new Mummy just cause I can... and never forget his other Mummy movies, Encino Man, and The Twilight Of The Golds oh and that other one about the writer, I forget the name, great flick - anyway here's some nudies (sort of) of this week's Hot Bastage Of The Week - Brendan Fraser.
It's Thursday so it's time to look at a few of the things that keep me always so upbeat and perky all the time -
so let's start with the booze - yes it's true that's usually how I keep upbeat and happy. I'm practically always three sheets to the wind.. and for a measly $2.99-$5 so could you - if you trot on down to your local liquor store and get you some of JW Morris' White Merlot - this stuff takes like fruit juice but with a bit of a kick. I discovered it when the Leivas' had a bottle and now every time I'm there, they have at least half a case sitting in the garage refrigerator just awaiting my arrival. Which reminds me, how is it in the movies you always see some drunken upset fool walking around with half a bottle of wine - like that's all it takes for them to become a blithering idiot.. like I can relate to the blithering idiot part but if I were in the scene, there'd be a case of empty bottles strewn around me...
What goes better with wine than a little AlanisMorrisette? No, I'm serious what does? I had heard pretty good things about Alanis' new album Flavors Of Entanglement and so I went and got it the day it came out, and it's been on rotation ever since. I swear to both of you - my readers, this is her best album since Jagged Little Pill - and it's not even all guts and roll like that one - but each song is really good - the single is "Underneath" and if I had my way - they'd shoot out a video and single for "Straitjacket" as that is by far the coolest track on here - there's a bit of everything on here but most of all, her little bits of loathing, loving, betraying and forgiveness is catchy as all hell. Best cuts - "Straitjacket", "Moratorium", "In Praise Of The Vulnerable Man". Download at Amazon.
and finally a guilty pleasure - I didn't want to watch it - but I did - I didn't want to like it - but I did - I didn't want to get sucked into the plots - but I did. It's all true, I am (gulp!) an avid watcher of The Secret Life Of The American Teenager on ABC Family, but before you judge, let me just say there is more sex talk in this show than there was on all one hundred seasons of Knots Landing. The whole thing revolves around a group of students in high school - several different clicks who are all ending up coming together - what you assume to be the main storyline is about young 15 year old Amy who is knocked up - and what got me to watch in the first place is the fact her mother is Molly Ringwald! I know, do you feel old now? Good!
All of the characters are so great, from the slutty and bitchy (and honest) Adrian (whom I relate to the most), to the good guy's best pals and onto Amy's superb and ultra cool dead pan sister - this show is really good. It takes me a glass of JW Morris and an Alanis song to committ to watching it, but then I can't take my eyes off of it, and I love it all over again. Check it out and then you can judge me...
So those are a few of my favorite things - how about you?
Last night the Leivas and I pulled up the old West Hollywood website and filled out our marriage license and (gulp!) submitted it online... That's right kiddies, I am well on my way to becoming Mr. Bradley Jacobson (oh wait a minute??) Anyhoos, we are on our way to the alter.
Apparantly, we have to go pick up our license on Thursday afternoon in West Hollywood where we can also put down the payment to come back and do a civil ceremony but being WeHo this is no ordinary ceremony, no, no, instead they gather the group of would be newlyweds and trot them over to Kings Road Park where they are married under a gazebo ... it sounds fun!
However, the soonest we can book our date is October 2nd! But once we have our license we can do our own ceremony as long as there's a witness (to testify) and someone who can perform the ceremony (i.e. my pal Katie in her Bjork swan dress) - so I have one day to decide what we want to do...
I mean a swan dress on the same Malibu beach where Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsen met and fell in love, with a witness or two to declare they were there at such a blessed event... I don't know, it's tempting...
Okay, first of all last week kicked my hot bootie like nothing has in a while - no, it wasn't Lisa Hartman Week as that was actually fun... actually everything was fun, it just kicked me so hard I ended up missing a night out with my pals - can you believe it?
Secondly, I could have sworn muldrum or meldrum was/were a word.. I did go to college for English - and yet when I looked it up to make sure I spelled it correctly, not even Webster could tell me how to spell it as it just didn't exist... (crap, now did I spell that word right?)
As you can tell, this week hasn't been going all that well either - I woke up super friggin early so I could go to the god awful beast lady known as my dentist and that's how trouble began. First we have a new insurance program at work and for some reason I don't have a card for my dental insurance (the guy told me I didn't need one) but the Leivas actually has new insurance as well and put me on his insurance - of course I have no card for that either.
So I like a schmuck with bad tooth decay saunter into the dental office without any proof of insurance but complete assurance that I am on not one but two different insurance programs. Twenty minutes later I'm on my way to work with still dirty teeth as neither insurance group had me listed...
and that was just the first hour or so of Monday!
Last week, was a bit better despite coming in early now for 2 weeks so I can do extra work, my pal Tommy and his pal from out of town came up to WeHo with a whole gaggle of Orange County cronies. We drank and ate at Marix, we went to see Under The Influence Of Giants in Silverlake, we drank more at Trunks, we drank even more at my house and I went to work on Tuesday...
where an earthquake struck my hungover ass and had me gripping the legs of my desk as I hovered below talking to the Leivas on the phone - "It hasn't stopped yet" were my exact words. Then dinner with Tommy and all the OC boys again - this time sushi on Sunset.. ooh fancy pants I know you're jealous.
By Wednesday with the going out and coming in, and getting up early The Leivas had had enough of social networking and we stayed home.. then Thursday came and Devin from Shitting Glitter came over to finish up some vocals for the song I'm producing and (yes! yes!) do some vocals for two Swivek songs... it was fun and super cool..
so Friday was the beginning of the birthday bash for my pal Luther so I took a disco nap at 7 pm which lasted until 2 AM Saturday morning, where I took a sip of water and went back to bed...
Needless to say the weekend was spent just hanging with the Leivas, watching movies, a few drinks at Trunks (I know, I can't help it!) and a trip to Amoeba on Sunday (I know, I can't help it!)
and now today has hit me ... of course it doesn't help that I hate going to bed on Sunday nights ( cuz I have to get up on Monday morning and work!) so I went to bed last night at like 4:30 only to get up at 6.. not smart... but oh well
okay now I'm finally off to bed ... maybe Tuesday will be a little more foo foo for moi
You didn't think just because it's the weekend I'd forget about Lisa Hartman Week now did you? A week is, after all, 7 whole days so here we are at Day 6 and it's a doozie..
bub 55 Lisa Hartman - COULD BE MAGIC (2005)
The holy grail in Lisa Hartman music, this is the CD all the Knots knuts really want - full of rare televison and movie songs from my Lisa, Could Be Magic had a lot of research, a lot of time and a lot of love put into it. My pal Shae came up with the music, very hard to find and very hard to manipulate but he did it, cuz well he's super cool that way - and then I took those songs and manipulated and "remasterd" as best I could.
The problem wiht movie and TV songs are the lengths and the background noise in them - a lot of songs are cut mid way to cut to another scene, some are done at the beginning and then the show cuts to another scene before going back to the song, and for those Shae was awesome in putting some songs together. I tried to put the more perfect songs at the beginning and go from there - for some of these though edited versions of a real song are complete songs in themselves.
For most fans they want the songs Lisa sang on Knots Landing. In her first stint on the show when she played Ciji Dunne, Lisa did a lot of songs she recorded herself on her Letterock album but there were moments of different songs in Ciji's catalog including an excellant version of "Sometimes When We Touch" and Journey's "Open Arms" though it should be noted the Journey song was never done in one full scene so it's one that had to be meshed together, and a thrill for many, a version of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" sung with Julie Harris that the characters of Ciji and Lilimae sang at a block party.
When Lisa returned to Knots Landing the following year as Cathy Geary her singing was fairly limited, Gary caught her singing Journey's "Separate Ways" at a bar towards the end of the season and the only other time she sang was at the piano in the ranch where she finished a full verse of Linda Ronstadt's "Love Has No Pride" before being interrupted.
But the following season, Cathy got a job singing at Isadora's and then went onto her boy's religious program so she was like a walking performing American Top 40 singing the hits of 1984-85 and continuing the following season (her last on the show). So we get a ton of little gems, some are full completions (though like I said they are shorter versions of the real song) including Corey Hart's "Never Surrender", "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" (which was done as a kind of mini video in the series), Pat Benatar's "We Belong", Survivor's "The Search Is Over", Foreigner's "That Was Yesterday", Rick Springfield's "Love Somebody" ( a real highlight though it's too bad it's one of those that had to be meshed together), a wonderful cover of Bee Gee's "Words" and the ultimate in fan favs the synthesized religious "Jehovah".
But Lisa performed elsewhere as well including her stint as Neely O'Hara in Valley Of The Dolls '81 where she rocked it out with Could Be Magic's opening track "However Dark The Night" and a different take of "Why Baby" which would end up on her Letterock album.
Also included is another rarity that is thrilling in how well I got it to sound, the theme song "It Could Be Magic" from her short lived 1977 sitcom Tabitha. There's also some songs from a TV special Lisa did in early 1979 entitled The Lisa Hartman Show : Hot Stuff - we have the title of that show here (no, it's not a Donna Summer cover which would've been so cool), and a duet with Ricci Martin (different Ricci than Ricky) who is the son of Dean Martin and starred with Lisa in the movie Just Tell Me You Love Me; here the duo take on Kenny Loggins/Stevie Nicks with a version of "Whenver I Call You 'Friend'" and also from the special is what I do believe is Shae's favorite - a rousing version of the Beatles' "The Long & Winding Road".
The 39 song Could Be Magic may seem a little dauntng but you have to remember a lot of these are about 2 minutes long at best with most of the second half of the compilation comprised of songs that just end because the scene was cut. But for the Lisa Hartman enthusiast this is a real find.
LISA HARTMAN - COULD BE MAGIC (bub55) Track List: 01. However Dark The Night 02. Sometimes When We Touch 03. Why Me? 04. The Long & Winding Road 05. Love Somebody 06. Never Surrender 07. Words 08. How Am I Supposed To Live Without You 09. Love Don't Live Here Anymore 10. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) 11. We Belong 12. I Can Dream About You 13. Jehovah 14. Whenever I Call You Friend 15. Open Arms 16. Dancing In The Street 17. The Race Is On 18. The Search Is Over 19. That Was Yesterday 20. It Could Be Magic 21. Will The Circle Be Unbroken 22. Why Baby '81 23. Ease On Down The Road 24. Where The Boys Are Live 25. You're The One 26. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow 27. Love Has No Pride 28. Beat Of A Heart 29. Games - Alternate Version 30. Time After Time 31. Let's Be Lovers Tonight 32. If Love Must Go - piano version 33. Don't Tell Me About It 34. Don't You Love Me Anymore - Alternate 35. Tender Evening 36. Caroline 37. Something's Not Right 38. Hot Stuff 39. Run Around
For more intensity check out these Lisa Hartman links:
Cathy Geary singing "Jehovah" on Joshua's television show which starts at 1:06 but before that is a GREAT GREAT scene with Joan Van Ark as Val and Julie Harris as her Mama Lilimae in a scene everyone calls "the perm scene" it's so cool - but then check out Jehovah:
Cathy - in a super kewl blue dress - doing my girl Benatar's We Belong
Well until my heart stops beating I'll be loving Mrs. B and here we are at day 5 of our Lisa Hartman Week and what better way to continue on then with our girl's last album Til My Heart Stops. Picture it, 1987 the drum machines are buzzing, the hair gel is flying and my girl has never looked better.
bub 48 Lisa Hartman - TIL MY HEART STOPS(2004; 1987)
The only Lisa Hartman album to have an official release on CD, this 1987 freestylin' synth drum popping album is long out of print and another that fans search and search for. The last going price I found for it was $75 starting, so it's pretty cool that Bubbatunes is around and with bonus cuts to boot.
Til My Heart Stops seems to be an album that Lisa really wanted to make. Her voice is strong, the songs are well chosen rock/pop songs of the era and she even co-wrote a little. Also a thing to think of is when she recorded the album she had made a name for herslef as an actress, having chosen to leave her 4 year stint on Knots Landing and concentrate on TV films, which included the starring role in a huge mini series Roses Are For The Rich, the same year as this album, so she more than likely could've given up the singing all together but not our girl for even in a 1985 TV Guide article about her role on Knots Landing, she declared she really wanted to be a singer, "I came out here with a dream and plan to fulfill it," she said.
So Lisa fled the cul-de-sac of Knots Landing and headed to the studio to begin recording a new album of fresh material. I remember when Til My Heart Stops came out, I was so frickin' excited and I couldn't wait to get it. It seemed to have come out around my birthday in the summer of the year I was living in a car with Tim Tauges and camping out all the time, as he wrote a bad check at Camelot Music to buy it for me as a birthday present - oh the men I fell for.
Anyhoos, opening with the rocking "Tempt Me (If You Want To)", the album found Lisa in full on rock mode, a Benatar-ish attitude set to the freestyle synth pop of 1987. In fact that's perhaps what made the album fail, (chart wise) is that it wasn't anything particularly fresh or unheard of. But that shouldn't be held against her then or now as she took the style that worked for her and I can tell you this album was on constant and I do mean constant replay that summer and beyond.
The first single was the slight ballady "I Don't Need Love" complete with guitar solos and a growling Lisa bridge, there is even an awesome video featuring her 1987 hot hair. 'Til My Heart Stops goes through all the motions of the synth pop/rock including more of the ballad styled songs like the awesome "How Many Rivers" and a single "The Dress" in which she tries to get her man back by declaring she could wear the dress he used to love. "Til My Heart Stops Beating" is an epic ballad with drums and guitars and a heart felt gut wrenching performance by Lisa and is probably one of her best sung songs.
The rockier side of Lisa shows through on the rest of these 9 tracks including the bouncy "Ooh I'm Satisfied" and the bitter-ish "Tender Kiss" but it's really "Imagination" and "I Can't Get You Out Of My System" that stand out for me. In the former, Lisa is at the club when a guy eyes her up and down and up again as she wonders if it's all in her mind, the song leads to a fairly predictable solution but the grittiness and sexiness of the song takes you to that conclusion with great results. In "I Can't Get You Out Of My System", the cliches may fly fast and furious in the lyrics but what was 80's rock about if not cliches? It's a perfect product of its time and if I were in charge that is the song I would've released as a single and I think Lisa may have a had a good shot at the charts.
As it stands I really love 'Til My Heart Stops but for some reason I don't love it as much as I did in 1987, for some reason the whole style of the sound that was so prominent then sounds more dated than her earlier 80's album Letterock. I'm sure it's the syths and the drum machines that do it, but if you get past that or if that's what you like about that era's ear than Til My Heart Stops is a great listen.
In any case, it's great to hear Lisa stir up a rock album with such gusto.To add to the bonus side of this album, we took the only post- Til My Heart Stops songs Lisa has ever recorded (as of 2004). Her two hits (yes they hit the charts!) duets with Clint Black - the chart topping, award winning (just like Lisa always wanted) "When I Said I Do"; a song Lisa didn't even want to record as she thought Clint's career had gone so well so far and her music career was well not so successful, she felt for sure she'd jinx it, but Clint said he wasn't going to record it with anyone else but her and he would just shelve the song so she finally agreed and she got those awards that she alwasy wanted, not to mention a new legion of fans for her singing as the song is one of the top wedding songs since its release in 1999.
Two years later, the Blacks got together again to record another duet - the much better in my opinion, "Easy For Me To Say"; not quite as big of a hit but still a hit none the less and a very sweet, not sickly sweet just nice, song about loving each other. I've decided it's one of the songs I have dubbed "our songs" with the Leivas.
LISA HARTMAN - TIL MY HEART STOPS (bub48) Track List: 01. Tempt Me (If You Want To) 02. I Don't Need Love 03. Ooh I'm Satisfied 04. I Can't Get You Out Of My System 05. Tender Kiss 06. The Dress 07. How Many Rivers 08. Imagination 09. 'Til My Heart Stops Beating Bonus Tracks:10. When I Said I Do (with Clint Black) 11. Easy For Me To Say (with Clint Black)
Location: West Hollywood, California, United States
SHORT VERSION: Bradley Jacobson is a singer/songwriter, sometime actor, sometime writer, audio engineer and producer, and all around happy dude. He was the singer/songwriter of the electronic trashy punky pop band Swivek, but is now a "solo" artist releasing music under his own name.
Fabulousity will soon be at hand - in fact in one week, the brand new much talked about, highly hyped single FABULOUS will be released for downloads~
For some reason this guy went under my radar for far too long, James Marsden rocked my world in Hairspray and then again in Enchanted - which is actually a very good movie.. and then I realized he had been the boyfriend in one of my all time fav flix, Sugar & Spice - and not to mention he's just hawt...
Okay for the most part I would say I'm a pretty nice guy but I have to admit when it comes to caring for others and showing sympathy I'm not all that great. Maybe I am if it's say my mom or sister or my Leivas but when it's my co-worker let me just say I'm not too hot.
so let's start with the booze - yes it's true that's usually how I keep upbeat and happy. I'm practically always three sheets to the wind.. and for a measly $2.99-$5 so could you - if you trot on down to your local liquor store and get you some of JW Morris' White Merlot - this stuff takes like fruit juice but with a bit of a kick. I discovered it when the Leivas' had a bottle and now every time I'm there, they have at least half a case sitting in the garage refrigerator just awaiting my arrival. Which reminds me, how is it in the movies you always see some drunken upset fool walking around with half a bottle of wine - like that's all it takes for them to become a blithering idiot.. like I can relate to the blithering idiot part but if I were in the scene, there'd be a case of empty bottles strewn around me...
What goes better with wine than a little Alanis Morrisette? No, I'm serious what does? I had heard pretty good things about Alanis' new album Flavors Of Entanglement and so I went and got it the day it came out, and it's been on rotation ever since. I swear to both of you - my readers, this is her best album since Jagged Little Pill - and it's not even all guts and roll like that one - but each song is really good - the single is "Underneath" and if I had my way - they'd shoot out a video and single for "Straitjacket" as that is by far the coolest track on here - there's a bit of everything on here but most of all, her little bits of loathing, loving, betraying and forgiveness is catchy as all hell. Best cuts - "Straitjacket", "Moratorium", "In Praise Of The Vulnerable Man". Download at Amazon.
Well here we are at the last day of our week long tribute to one of my favorite people - Lisa Hartman!
bub 55 Lisa Hartman - COULD BE MAGIC (2005)
For more intensity check out these Lisa Hartman links:
bub 48 Lisa Hartman - TIL MY HEART STOPS (2004; 1987)
Anyhoos, opening with the rocking "Tempt Me (If You Want To)", the album found Lisa in full on rock mode, a Benatar-ish attitude set to the freestyle synth pop of 1987. In fact that's perhaps what made the album fail, (chart wise) is that it wasn't anything particularly fresh or unheard of. But that shouldn't be held against her then or now as she took the style that worked for her and I can tell you this album was on constant and I do mean constant replay that summer and beyond.
The first single was the slight ballady "I Don't Need Love" complete with guitar solos and a growling Lisa bridge, there is even an awesome video featuring her 1987 hot hair. 'Til My Heart Stops goes through all the motions of the synth pop/rock including more of the ballad styled songs like the awesome "How Many Rivers" and a single "The Dress" in which she tries to get her man back by declaring she could wear the dress he used to love. "Til My Heart Stops Beating" is an epic ballad with drums and guitars and a heart felt gut wrenching performance by Lisa and is probably one of her best sung songs.
The rockier side of Lisa shows through on the rest of these 9 tracks including the bouncy "Ooh I'm Satisfied" and the bitter-ish "Tender Kiss" but it's really "Imagination" and "I Can't Get You Out Of My System" that stand out for me. In the former, Lisa is at the club when a guy eyes her up and down and up again as she wonders if it's all in her mind, the song leads to a fairly predictable solution but the grittiness and sexiness of the song takes you to that conclusion with great results. In "I Can't Get You Out Of My System", the cliches may fly fast and furious in the lyrics but what was 80's rock about if not cliches? It's a perfect product of its time and if I were in charge that is the song I would've released as a single and I think Lisa may have a had a good shot at the charts. 
As it stands I really love 'Til My Heart Stops but for some reason I don't love it as much as I did in 1987, for some reason the whole style of the sound that was so prominent then sounds more dated than her earlier 80's album Letterock. I'm sure it's the syths and the drum machines that do it, but if you get past that or if that's what you like about that era's ear than Til My Heart Stops is a great listen.
