Friday's Rockin' Roundup - Pitchers and Catchers Edition

For me, three of the greatest words to hear are pitchers and catchers. It means that baseball season is about to begin. Avid readers of The Rock And Roll Guru know what a baseball junkie I am. I read all the off season reports, follow the trade rumors, keep up with the team transactions and yes, I even watch spring training games when they are televised. I love this time of year. Baseball is about to begin for another season and that means spring and concerts aren’t that far behind.

For baseball fans nationwide, spring training brings hope. Every team has a chance to make the playoffs and every fan can argue why their team can be a contender. Come May, that will no longer be true, but the optimism that spring training brings is glorious. And it all starts next week when pitchers and catchers report for spring training duty. Here’s to another great season of the greatest game ever invented. Play ball!

Here’s what rocked this week:

Old Rocker’s Review of Robert Plant’s Band Of Joy
The old rocker got to witness Robert Plant’s Band of Joy at the Beacon Theater and was kind enough to post a review for us to enjoy. It’s nice to see that Plant still performs some Led Zeppelin hits even if they are re-worked a bit. While a Led Zeppelin reunion is highly unlikely, old rocker claims this is the next best thing. Judging by the clips and his review of the show, I believe him.

Simpson and Wentz File For Divorce
Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz have filed for a divorce. It’s hard to be married when you’re living the superstar lifestyle. Hopefully they can part amicably and be able to give their young child support from both parents. Perhaps Pete will have time to get Fall Out Boy back together again. That would be real nice.

LCD Soundsystem Will Call It A (Live) Career
LCD Soundsystem has announced that their final live show ever will be held at Madison Square Garden on April 2nd. While this news disappointed fans, James Murphy was quick to point out that LCD Soundsystem will still be releasing music in the future. It just means that there will be no more live shows. Their farewell performance promises to be magnificent. Tickets are on sale today (February 11th). I am sure they will sell out.

The Grammys Are On This Sunday
And finally this week, The Grammy Awards will be aired this Sunday night at 8PM Eastern on CBS. As I did last year, I will be tweeting during the show and enjoying the live moments as they unfold. Every year I watch the Grammys, celebrating my love of music along with many others across the nation. The live performances for this year’s show are appealing and of course, I am curious to see how I did on Grammy predictions.

Want to join in all the tweeting fun for the Grammys? Follow me on twitter: www.twitter.com/ryovie

What's Your Guilty Pleasure?

Everybody has them. There is one CD or group that gets listened to constantly when no one is around. There is that beloved song or album that is never discussed even though there is such a passion for what’s being heard. Everyone has their guilty pleasure.

I have several guilty music pleasures that I indulge in from time to time. Neil Diamond is one. Even though I’m a “rocker” and love bands like Kiss, Iron Maiden, and AC/DC, I find myself turning to Neil every now and again to enjoy the sweet smooth sounds of his easy listening delights.

Perry Como is another one of my guilty pleasures. Accentuate the Positive and Zip-A-Dee-Do-Da are songs that I can listen to endlessly when I get in the mood. There’s just something about Perry’s crooner voice and that sound of the 40s that I love so much.

My current guilty pleasure that I’ve been revisiting a lot lately is Ashlee Simpson’s I Am Me. Even though a lot of people consider it “chick music,” I’ve been taken in by her hard rock edge and find myself singing along loudly to songs like Boyfriend, Beautifully Broken, and Dancing Alone. I know it sounds very un-masculine, but I can’t help myself. When Ashlee comes on the IPod, I crank it up and sing away, as loud as I can.

I’m a fan of her sister too. Jessica Simpson is another of my guilty pleasures and I even own all 4 seasons of The Newlyweds on DVD. Laugh all you want, it was a great show and The Simpson sisters make music that I like to listen to.

I always drift back to my hard rock roots after getting these guilty pleasures out of my system, but there’s no denying that they are there. I Am Me is high on my list of great albums, and I’ve played it a lot. It’s got a rocking sound and it’s just pure enjoyment.

So what’s your guilty pleasure? What do you find yourself listening to that’s very “un” rock and roll? Drop a comment and let the Guru know. It can’t be any worse than watching (and thoroughly enjoying) all 4 seasons of The Newlyweds.

Comments are open. Feel free to post some.