8 Ways to Sunday

Due to the fact that at least 98% of the stuff on “modern rock” radio stations sucks ass, I listen to a lot of classic rock and oldies on my car stereo. On the way back from the grocery store this evening, the local classic rock DJ hit me with a bit of disturbing news: former Bad Company front man Paul Rodgers is standing in for Freddie Mercury as lead singer of Queen for that band’s worldwide reunion tour.

Don’t get me wrong, here. Bad Company was a good band, justly famous for hits such as “Feel Like Making Love.” Queen, however, is legendary; Freddie Mercury is a legend.

Queen’s choice of stand-in singers is comparable to replacing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator with Elmer Fudd — they may both be single-minded killing machines, but they’re hardly in the same league.

Over in the TextDrive forums today, I discovered a contest being held at Interknox to name a band. If you pick the winning name, you get a pre-release copy of the band’s album.

My suggestions seem to have gotten stuck in IK’s moderation queue thanks to all the links, so you won’t find them in the comments just yet. They’re listed below, so that you may marvel at my awesome creativity :

Elemental Pornstars

For some reason, this is the first thing that occurred to me as I was listening to the demo track that was offered for inspiration. Appears to be completely unused by anyone (no Google hits), perhaps for good reason.

The Riff Gypsies

I like the sound of it, but I’m pretty sure there’s a band named The Gypsies already out there.

Hammer ‘n Tongs

Has a nice double meaning that goes along with the band’s sound, but is already used for the name of a UK video production company.

Flabergast

Doesn’t seem to be in use by a band, at least not according to Google.

Flabergasm

The word is out there, but not associated with a band. Drawback: makes the band sound like a group of fat fetishists.

Head on over to the Interknox post about the contest, download the demo track, and take a shot at naming that band.

Some guy with a lot of extra time and money has synced the Christmas lights on his house (thousands of them) to a tune by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Must be seen to be believed, so here’s the video.

Les Jenkins has more info on this over-the-top display of holiday cheer, which required tens of thousands of computer-controlled lights.

(Props: Sirbular in the TextDrive Forums)

There is a girl in New York City
Who calls herself the human trampoline.
And sometimes when I’m falling and flying,
Tumbling in turmoil,
I say “Whoa, so this is what she means.”
She means we are bouncing into Graceland.

– “Graceland,” by Paul Simon

In a sane and decent world, a Flash video of a manic squirrel singing about drugs, childhood, and gonads would not be this funny. Thank God we do not live in such a world.

Weeeeeee!