The Last Ten Songs We Heard on Simon-FM Greensboro, NC: 'Play Piano Man, Man'

Greetings to our blog readers in Dubai, Greece and Panama....

And, a special hello to those of us visiting us from Portland, Oregon, where the IFC show "Portlandia" takes place; it is now 8:16 a.m. in the west coast United States, and hopefully you will get more done in the next three hours than those of us here on the east coast did this morning!

Today, also happens to be World Radio Day, so I send a special shout out to WUVT (90.7 FM-Blacksburg, Va.) where I used to play songs from the late Turkish pop star Baris Manco and Ibrahim Tatlises (who is still alive) during "The Turkish Music Hour," I co-hosted in 1994.

Manco is not in the Simon-FM (98.7-Greensboro, NC) play list, which proves they don't really play everything as their promotion touts, but they do play everything from soft core heavy metal to hip hop.

Here are ten songs we heard during the 2:00-3:00 p.m. hour on Tuesday (in reverse order):

1. M.C. Hammer (pict. bottom) "U Can't Touch This." 1990

2. Creedence Clearwater Revival. "Fortunate Son." 1969

3. Duran Duran. "Rio." 1982.

4. Aerosmith. "Rag Doll." 1986

5. Steve Winwood. "Back in the High Life Again." 1986.

6. Jet. "Are You Gonna Be My Girl." 2003

7. Michael Jackson. "The Way You Make Me Feel." 1987

8. Pat Benatar. (pict. center) "Invincible." 1985.

9. Billy Joel (pict. top) "Piano Man." 1973

10. The Offspring. "Self-Esteem." 1994


http://www.987simon.com

 http://www.wuvt.vt.edu

http://www.ifc.com/shows/portlandia

 http://www.worldradioday.org

New and Improved Top Ten American Cities We'd Like to Visit: From Miami to Vancouver

Since we returned back from Costa Rica on Black Friday, we've been thinking about where else would like to travel during our time here on earth, and if we die a premature death like Austrian pop star Falco, we hope we can come back to life as the Buddhistst suggest, so we can visit Detroit (actually a city which just missed making this life).

For this list, we are focusing on North American cities, and our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com we look at cities we would like to visit in Europe.

It should be pointed that cities we adore, like Denver, New York and Baltimore are not on this list because we wanted to focus on cities we've never visited.

And, without any further interruptions, here is the list:

1) Miami, Florida ("Miami Vice" is pictured top)

2) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (The logo for the Vancouver Canucks is pictured center)

2) Seattle, Washington (pictured bottom)

4) San Francisco, California

5) Portland, Oregon (but, we have been to Portland, Maine, this Portland is the one where "Portlandia" takes place)

6) Guadalajara, Mexico

7) Los Angeles, California

8) Minneapolis, Minnesota

9) Dallas, Texas

10, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

http://www.miamiandbeaches.com/

http://www.tourismvancouver.com/

http://www.visitseattle.org/Home.aspx

Our Favorite TV Shows of 2013: Of Course, "Breaking Bad" is Numero Uno

A good friend of mine had this awesome blog dedicated just to tv and films. That was it! But, he was on top of everything. And, he was amazing. Whenever the Golden Globes aired, as they are tonight here in a half-hour, he would blog about the awards as if he were right there.

As an homage to that blog, we are putting our very first Ten Best TV Shows of the List, which is astonishing because as a movie person who also likes college sports (except football) I always thought watching sitcoms like "Roseanne" and "8 Rules About Dating My Daughter" were a complete waste of time.

But, cable tv offered amazing fare this year! And, we didn't even watch any network like "Scandal" or "Hannibal" or Netflix shows like "Orange is the New Black" or "House of Cards," plus we don't have HBO, so no "Veep" either.

But, we saw 12 good shows, two of which, "Bates Motel" and "Top of the Lake" didn't make the cut, but these ten shows did:

1) Breaking Bad (AMC; pictured top): Paste Magazine, Slant Magazine, Rolling Stone, Penthouse (well, we've never subscribed to them, but....), well, it's possible if "Mother Jones" and "National Review" readers agreed on anything this year, it was that this the best show of the year. Some have even said it's the best show ever made. We'll let tv historians sort through that. The image above is of a certain pink teddy bear which fanatic followers show feel is a symbol of how Walter White lost his soul.

2) Portlandia (IFC): Amazingly this show which has a season premiere again in February, didn't make any of the lists we saw! But, it's absolutely hysterical! In fact, perhaps, IFC should send Fred and Carrie over to Portland, Maine, instead of Portland, Oregon, for an April Fool's show!

3) "Rectify" (Sundance): As good as any independent film one can watch!

4) "The Americans" (F/X): This is the reason why we have an image of the Soviet flag at the bottom; this show should have been awful. Soviet agents with perfect American accents posing as a suburban couple in Arlington, Va (or somewhere around there) who happen to neighbor a FBI/CIA agent?! But, it somehow works quite splendidly.

5) "Homeland" (Showtime): Hmmm....yeah, we can't say much without issuing a Spoiler Alert as Season Three had quite the shocking finale!

6) Mad Men (AMC): This is still an exceptional show at every level.

7) Orphan Black (BBC-America): Like "The Americans" this show seemed way too implausible as it revolves around seven young women who look exactly alike living across America and Europe (plus, one in Canada), but it is quite an adrenaline rush.

8) Masters of Sex (Showtime): Wow! What-a-show!

9) Maron (IFC): A sitcom passed on a podcast?! The results are hysterical.

10) Archer (F/X): Like the comic strip "Zippy the Pinhead," this foul-mouthed Millennials version of "Get Smart" didn't work for me at first, but it gradually won me over; Season Three starts tomorrow night!

http://www.ifc.com


http://www.amctv.com/shows/breaking-bad

http://www.sho.com