Some tidbits for the day….

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am an avid fan of pop music. And yes, that includes boy bands.  Sadly, the era of the boy band has been severely diminished and insulted throughout the years. It was at it’s utmost best in the late 90’s with Backstreet Boys, *Nsync and even 98 Degrees, leading the pack. (Also, New Kids on the Block, one of my fav, though they were predominately in the 80’s). And it has been at it’s worst with the remake, or redo, of Menudo and a bunch of other 13 year olds running around the stage—at least have the decency and throw in an older member to reign in the pack! But amongst these feeble boy bands one was making the rounds by the name of NLT. “Not Like Them” (but yes, yes they were like ALL of them) was only on my radar because they worked with TIMBO!! (and if you are a fan, you already know I just adore Mr. Timbaland) and my absolute favorite songwriter Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic front man by day and master hit maker by night). NLT threw out a few “He Said, She Said (Time We Let Go)” and “Karma”, but like everything else—all good things must come to an end. They disbanded and the members went their respective ways, most notably Kevin McHale graces our TV’s every week on a little show called “Glee” as wheelchair nerd, Artie. The show is not a huge success, so you may have no idea what I’m talking about. Google it.

And the point of all this is Travis Garland has made a little name for himself. He has done, now YouTube famous videos, of TI and J Timb’s “Dead & Gone” and B.O.B’s “Airplanes” among many others. He does his own stuff too, and “Believe” is one of the products. Travis got the coveted spot of performing on American Idol’s season 9 result show were the final two were chosen. (Apparently, Perez Hilton had a lot to do with this, and why that is, I’m not too sure.) “Believe” brings it all back to 1999 for me. His dance moves were perfect with the timeless leading lady role present (even without the classic flying V formation all boy bands must do and he was for sure used to), and the atypical African drum beat in the background is unusual in the pop field. Check out the video below:

(Nice split screens AI producers…)

The song hasn’t exploded like I expected, but I am more than confident that slowly Travis will emerge from the nonsense around now. He is a talented songwriter, performer and he has cool spiky hair. All kidding aside, I’m glad he ditched those other kids and went solo. He is legit!

Also on my radar is Sara Bareilles’ “King of Anything”. This has been out for a little bit so hopefully you have already heard it and this is just a reminder that it’s pretty awesome and that Sara is back baby! This faultless craftsmanship of pop music consists of hand clapping, an impressive piano melody (that Bareilles fans will appreciate), a fun, bouncy beat, and a good message: Don’t take $#*! from anyone. Even Sara loves the song and video as she bops and dances around, as opposed to her usual stagnant piano playing (which I love). This video calls for fun and girl brings it! Check it out below:

(again with the split screen action… I swear this isn’t some hidden endorsement for spilt screens)

And because I love Harry Potter so much (I can’t even devote a posting to it because my love for it means so SO much more… it deserves a whole website, maybe a 7 part website??) Here is a picture of Daniel Radcliffe partying it up on his birthday. Our very own Harry Potter just turned 21 (Happy Birthday!) and boy deserves to let loose—He just saved the wizarding world from mass destruction via Voldermort!

-Rocco