Happy New President!

Finally, we have a president with great public-speaking skills! WOO HOO! Ok, that's about as political as I'll get. Onto the big show...that is, the Inauguration activities! I caught a bit of the pre-show, with Bruce Springsteen (and some other dudes I don't know) U2 (why is an Irish band playing at an American event?), Mary J. Blige (looking ever-so-fashionable), Cheryl Crow (and I'm drawing a blank with who), Josh Grobin (not so much of a fan) and Beyonce (always good). It was cool, but I didn't want to get all sucked in. I'll catch it again on the HBO replay I'm sure.

The actual Inauguration was pretty awesome, especially since my jobby job hooked us up with the live big screen stream. I thought it was insanely appropriate to have Aretha Franklin sing...with her big bow and all. And normally she is incredibly awesome and can bring you to tears with her work, however yesterday's rendition of America the Beautiful was somehow...ruined. I don't know. I just kept hearing the backup singers going "ring, ring, ring, ring, ring....". I was a tad bummed. But it was still great that they had her there. I've gotta see that woman live. Other than the awesome speech, I'm drawing a blank on the rest of the activities. Oopsie.

So maybe I have Inauguration ADD or something. Again, I only caught a snippet of the after-parties. But it was a good snippet....Alicia Keys! That woman is GOOOOOOD. Her song "No One" was awesome and she looked really good too. Then Shakira came on and I lost interest for a bit. I don't know, not a good song for her whatever that was. So I switched over to Family Guy rerun for a laugh. Oh yeah, and at some point Fall Out Boy was on. Um, their music is pretty good. Their live show, not so much. That's all I'll say about that.

I'm really good at event coverage, aren't I? I rule.

After my Inauguration ADD, I opened up the Feb issue of Blender and test drove the "Download This" section. It was kind of a musical scavenger hunt trying to find all 20 songs to play. My hunt started at Rhapsody - where I could spend my 25 free songs on checking out new stuff. Um, Rhapsody is lame when it comes to new music. I'm glad I didn't go for the full membership. But it might still be good for studying up oldies. I'm still itching to dive into 70's rock...but that's for another day. Anyway, after Rhapsody I went to old Reliable iTunes, who had most of the list. The other ones, such as "We **** You" I had to go to Myspace - I'm diggin that song (yet feel so naughty). Then it was You Tube for an M.I.A. collaboration, and IMEEM for yet another song. It was a fun adventure! And wouldn't you know it? Rockstar Moto already had 3 from the list on the beloved wheel o cheese. I feel so cool.

Next up is studying up the Grammy Nominees. In the meantime, I'll leave you with Alicia Keys at the after party...OK Inauguration Ball....