Blog Posts by David Marchese

1. Metallica, Cunning Stunts: Okay, this is a concert video, but I'm including it anyway. Swap the first two letters of the words in the title and see what happens. Stay classy, Metallica.

2. Joe Satriani, Professor Satchafunkilus And The Musterion Of Rock: I would like this title much more if there were proof that anyone has at any point in time actually called the guitar virtuoso "Professor Satchafunkilus."

3. John Oates, Phunk Shui: Three things that haven't dated terribly well: Oates, feng shui, and using "ph" for "f."

4. Limp Bizkit, Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored

Tonight, after either the Michigan State Spartans or North Carolina Tar Heels cut down the nets as national collegiate basketball champions, CBS will play a montage of the tournament's most memorable moments. As has been the case since 1987, that montage will be set to the song "One Shining Moment." And as has been the case since whatever year it was that I started watching the Final Four, I will enjoy the song in spite of myself.

You know how some songs are timeless? "Moment," written by David Barrett, is not one of those songs. The cheap synth sounds, the nursery rhyme melody, the trite lyrics. Ugh. Even Luther Vandross's vocals (last year featured a version recorded by the late R&B singer) weren't enough to de-fromage the song. The soullessly inspirational number always reminds me of the kind of thing that would've played over the training scene in an against-the-odds '80s sports movie (something like the song that starts about four minutes into this clip.

And those lyrics: "The

Last Sunday came with a triple shot of Prince--his new albums Lotus Flow3r, Mplsound, and Elixer (credited to vocalist Bria Valente, but produced by Prince) went on sale exclusively at Target. Such fecundity is nothing new for Minneapolis's finest: In 1996 he released Emancipation, a triple album. 1998's Crystal Ball did that one better.

But Prince is not the first artist interested in, shall we say, challenging the idea of quality over quantity. Some of rock and pop's biggest names have looked down their noses at the already flabby double-disc and opted for the monolithic triple. Below are my picks for the eight best. (In no particular order.)

1. George Harrison, All Things Must Pass

Unlike many of the other albums on this list, the quiet Beatle's first post-Fab Four effort is a tightly focused work of lush, spiritually themed folk and melodic rock--until you get to the end, when it devolves into a series of half-baked studio jams that almost, but not quite, sour the memory of what

The English rocker, Nikki Sudden, died three years ago this Thursday. Unless you're one of a very small minority, that name likely doesn't mean anything to you. I won't be so presumptuous as to say it should. For a man who made his living as a musician--first in the late '70s with the noisy punk band the Swell Maps, then mostly under his own name--Sudden didn't write a ton of great songs. He was an adequate singer and a simple but effective guitarist. What he was, though, was someone who believed in the idea of a certain kind of rock 'n' roll. It's his devotion to that belief that deserves remembrance.

It's somewhat ironic that Sudden's initial foray into the music was made in the wake of punk rock. Punk--lean, direct, dirty--was a direct rebuke to the style that Sudden later adopted. What was that style? Think fluttering scarves and grandstanding rhythm guitar, velvet jackets and shag haircuts, songs about bad boys and the girls who leave them. On albums like Texas, Treasure Island,

It's St. Patrick's week, which means my favorite bar will be packed with irregulars, green beer will be spilled, and far too many drunken renditions of "Danny Boy" will fill the Guinness-scented air. The holiday is not one of my favorites.

I could learn to love it, though. All I need is more Thin Lizzy. The Dublin band, and its leader, the late Phil Lynott, ranks high on my list of underappreciated rockers. Bono, the Hold Steady's Craig Finn, Mastodon, or Billy Corgan would say the same thing--they've all either covered Thin Lizzy or publicly praised the band, whose combination of hard rock bravado and streetwise soul never quite translated into superstardom during their late '70s heyday.

If there are any pub owners reading this, below is a list of the ten best Thin Lizzy songs. I promise they'll inspire more revelry than the usual flat playlist of Irish drinking tunes.

1. "The Boys Are Back In Town": The band's biggest hit is also its greatest pop confection, an irresistible mix of

I saw Leonard Cohen play at the Beacon theatre last Thursdaynight in New York.It was one of the greatest concerts I've ever seen. But fear not--soon, you'llhave a chance to see him play too. The world's coolest septuagenarian Jewishchansonnier starts a tour April 19. Here's why you should buy a ticket:

1. The Songs

I'm a pretty big Cohen fan and even I was surprised at theamount of gems the dude kept pulling from his catalogue: "Bird On AWire," "Suzanne," "Hallelujah," "First We TakeManhattan," and on and on. Trust me, even if you don't know the songs byname, you'll recognize them when you hear them (perhaps from a famous coverversion--e.g., Jeff Buckley's haunting take on "Hallelujah"). Theonly problem was that since the concert was three hours long, and Cohen wasn'tmessing around with deep cuts, it was hard to find a good moment for a bathroombreak. But the music was worth the small amount of bladder discomfort.

2. The Voice

Despite saying in "Tower Of Song"that he was born with the

When the Jonas Brothers' ALittle Bit Longer album came out last August, I gave it a few listens,found myself largely unimpressed, and went back to adulthood. Recently though,I was given a couple chances to reevaluate the stylishly coiffed siblings, asthey played with Stevie Wonder at the Grammy Awards and then performed twosongs on this past weekend's SaturdayNight Live. My opinion hasn't changed.

The main problem isn't the music. Hit songs "Lovebug" and "ALittle Bit Longer" are pleasant enough doses of puppy-dog melodic pop. Thething that bugs me about the brothers--21-year-old Kevin, 19-year-old Joe, and16-year-old Nick--is that they seem so foolishly intent on positioning themselvesas a real band and not just Tiger Beat meat. Take the Grammyperformance. While they were playing their own "Burnin' Up," with Stevie Wonderhelping out on keyboards and the chorus hook, the band sounded fine. That songrequires little more than the right amount of pre-pubescent yelping in thevocal in order

If I'm outside my apartment, there's a good chance I'mlistening to music on my headphones. But whatmusic is a decision that requires serious thought. I've never been a fan ofshuffle. Rather than open myself up to the possibility of jarringMetallica-at-the-supermarket emotional juxtapositions, I'll try and programperfect musical mood matches. Case in point: I spent ten minutes last Sundaymorning scrolling through my iPod library before deciding that the Delfonics'1970 symphonic soul hit "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)" offered the exactright combination of optimism and unobtrusively pretty sounds to accompany meon the way to the coffee shop for a chocolate croissant. I go through a similarprocess multiple times a day. I bet some of you do too. I hope some of you dotoo.

Lately though, there's been a daily activity that's provenconsistently difficult to soundtrack. Maybe you can help. I need suggestionsfor music to listen to on my morning subway ride to work. Let's lay out thefacts: