"Five Score and Seven Years Ago"

I listen to a lot of music. A lot. A lot. And there’s nothing that makes me quite as happy as good music.

I love to watch bands evolve into more mature artists. What “scene kids” call selling-out, I call progression. Just because bands like Blindside and P.O.D. aren’t the atypical metal bands that they were when they first came around doesn’t mean they sold out for the almighty dollar. It shows maturity, experience and an understanding of who they are, not only as musicians, but as people. And it’s so much fun to watch the transition of these bands from album to album. The most recent being Relient K.

When I was introduced Relient K, I enjoyed their music, but I didn’t think they’d make such a big impression on the landscape of pop-rock music. They were a band that made music about the Thundercats, sappy high school crushes, and Seventeen Magazine. It just didn’t seem like the meaningful, developed subject matter that artists need to make the necessary impact on the scene to stick around for very long.

In all honesty, Relient K had lost my interest since their sophomore album “The Anatomy of Tongue in Cheek.” I can’t begin to tell you my thoughts on “MmHmm,” “Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right…But Three Do,” or the “Apathetic EP.” I don’t have an opinion because I didn’t listen to a single track from any of the three. I’m not going to spout off opinions on a subject that I have absolutely no information about. I was born at night, but not last night, thank you very much!

Let’s just say my interest has been re-reached its zenith with the newest installment from the boys from Canton, OH. As special as that sounds (thanks Rachel), I don’t know how else to describe it. “Five Score and Seven Years Ago” has been billed by the band as “by far, our best effort to date” (RelientK.com). And are they ever right. With the exception of one track – “Faking My Own Suicide,” which sounds like a bad audition on Nashville Star – the album is absolutely stellar. The rawness of the pure emotion laid into each of the tracks is evident, and listeners can really relate to what Matt Thiessen and company bring to the table.

“Bite My Tongue,” “Come Right Out and Say It,” and “I Need You” are easily the best of the bunch, but that’s really like saying the top five picks of the 1996 NBA Draft were the best of that class. (That was, of course, the same year Kobe Bryant was drafted 13^th overall, two-time MVP Steve Nash was selected at 15, and perennial All-Star Jermaine O’Neal was picked at 17.) This is just a great album – one that will be in the rotation for a long time coming for sure. Consider that your recommendation.

It’s one that is definitely worth the trip to the retail store, the visit to iTunes, or however you feel most comfortable in the flotation of your watercraft.

(Ok, consider that your recommendation.)

"A City by the Light Divided"

There are a couple of things that I wanted to write about, but I couldn’t decide on one for this post. So, I decided to make this like an actual blog and write mini-blurbs about a couple different topics.

And we’re off…

- James Cameron believes beyond any shadow of a doubt that he has located the tomb of Jesus. He also claims that within this tomb, he has discovered factual evidence that Jesus was married and fathered a child.

Here’s my only issue: It took over 2000 years for someone to finally “prove” that Jesus was married and fathered a child, yet doctors still can’t figure out who the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby is? Does anyone else find something incredibly fishy about this?

And if Cameron is using carbon dating, he has a lot more problems than he realizes. In my high school physics class, my teacher (Mr. Walter Snow – greatest pound-for-pound teacher I’ve ever met… That just doesn’t sound right outside of boxing) gave a carbon-dating demonstration and basically destroyed any theory or “fact” resulting from carbon dating. Using a bone from a recently deceased frog, he used the carbon dating procedure and established that the bone was over 1,500 years old. 1,500 years?!? This was from a frog he found outside the school that had been run over that morning. So, even though carbon dating is the most inaccurate form of research, scientists and archaeologists continue to use it. It doesn’t make sense.

- Michelle Tafoya of ESPN interviewed Steve Nash at the end of the Lakers-Suns game yesterday afternoon, opening the airwaves for Nash – defending two-time league MVP and all-around likable guy – to spout off about his problems. Tafoya gave him his first half shooting statistics (2 for 11) followed by his second half shooting statistics (7 for 10) and asked him what was wrong in the first half. Nash then proceeded to explain that he was dealing with diarrhea prior to the game and that was probably what was wrong with him. “Oh, it’s brunch in Hawaii. I probably should’ve kept that to myself,” Nash continued.

Hilarious. Nash is not only the best point guard since Magic and in the conversation for top 3 all time, but to top it off, he’s a down to earth person. He’s a real guy, with real problems just like you and me.

- Zuffa, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, does not give out numbers of pay-per-view audiences for their nationally televised events. However, if Saturday night was any indication, the UFC is on a campaign to take over the country. UFC 68: The Uprising was held in Columbus, OH Saturday night and featured fights involving the current Heavyweight champion and three former champions in their respective weight classes. It was easily the most star-studded even in UFC history. 19,000 fans packed the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, and thousands upon thousands more watched via pay-per-view. Yet this sport is continually deemed as “barbaric, ruthless, tasteless, and savage.”

Why the UFC and other such leagues are looked on as “barbaric” is a little funny to me. In truth, it is no more barbaric than football, boxing or wrestling. In the history of UFC there have not been any accounted deaths brought on by action in the octagon. On the other hand, in the WWE there have been at least 3 deaths accounted for due to in-ring performances. Owen Hart died as he fell from a wire making his entrance. Eddie Guerrero died due to heart failure because of drug and alcohol abuse. (How many different ways can you spell steroids?) Same with Davey Smith – aka the British Bulldog. And Hulk Hogan can’t even walk because of all the abuse he’s taken over the years.

And someone please ask Tommy Hearns if he could go back, would he rather be hit 45 times with a padded glove or one time with a glove with minimal padding, be knocked out and the fight be over. I can guarantee he would rather have the one-punch knockout on his resume than the brain damage he has suffered due to the number of hits taken to the head over the year. Yet boxing is a gentlemen’s game, and MMA (mixed martial arts) is a bunch of cavemen hitting each other with clubs.

In all honestly, the UFC is actually safer than the NFL. Would you rather be hit and know it was coming (as you would in the UFC) or have to catch a pass across the middle and not see someone like John Lynch or Ronnie Lott come and bury you in the field. There have been many more cases of concussions, neck and back injuries, and sport-induced wounds in the NFL than there are in MMA.

But just as the sins of Tank Johnson, Pacman Jones and Brett Favre are overlooked, the fact that MMA is a sport on the rise and is no more brutal than any other sport is disregarded because of closed-minded thinking on the part of the average American.