"Democracy fails to be nominated!"

The Fight for "The Grammy"

There's no worse luck than a "broken Axl" if you're speaking about your car or the lead singer of "Guns N' Roses". In this case, Axl Rose has a beef with the folks on the panel of picking nominees for the 2009 Grammy Awards... the latest album got snubbed and Axl won't be going home with any "Grammy" this year! I don't care what anyone says about the Thanksgiving Day release of "Chinese Democracy". It's an experimental piece of work that can be described as outtakes from an album never released 20 years ago. While it isn't a train wreck, it wasn't worth the hoopla either. Originally, nearly 25 tracks were in the works ubtil someone "swiped" the master tapes and uploaded the songs on the Internet. The years and years that passed along the way left the whole project in limbo before it finally came to fruition last year. In the end, the "GNR" lineup would change several times and the album tracks were reduced to a dozen. Lead guitarist, Slash left the band in 1991 and is obviously missing from any song credits on the latest release. Unfortunately for Axl Rose, his biggest accomplishment would be the status of yet another disgruntled member by the name of Steven Adler. We'll get to him in a minute...

"Chinese Democracy" and it's delays and controversey were not by mistake. It was a PR stunt gone bad. Axl wanted to show the world he was with the times and understood the ins and outs of the Internet. The guy that "stole the tapes" and "held them hostage" before releasing them on the Internet is more than likely a good pal of Axl who was doing what he was asked to do. After the smoke cleared and the "fun" of searching out the tracks in cyberspace ended, there was virtually no reason for anyone to shell out the cash and actually purchase the album. That's why Axl's pissed! The fact that he and Slash never worked out their problems long enough to make the current release also bothers him. Just this week, Axl was quoted as calling Slash "The weak link" and stated that the two will never speak or work together again in this lifetime. Really, I could care less. As far as I'm concerned, '87's "Appetite For Destruction" holds it's spot as a breakthrough record and ends there despite other tragedies like former drummer, Steven Adler.

Adler was part of the original lineup and mixed well with the band, especially when the concerts were over. The "GNR" party bus rolled on for a while until Adler took the partying a bit too seriously. The bands reputation for being three hours late to take the stage was a result of Adler. Even though they were set
to "self-destruct", they all agreed Adler had to go. Instead of getting better, Adler finds himself on the current season of VH1's "Sober House" and he himself, is a ticking time bomb lost in a world of dope. The irony here is that a guy as screwed up as him, turns out to be the biggest draw on a reality show about addiction. I'm not sure if people wish him success or failure however
, anyone who says they're taking sobriety seriously but yet, enters a home with pant pockets full of syringes isn't really trying too hard. I wouldn't expect to see any one of these three characters together anytime soon. There's a better chance to see John Lennon and George
Harrison rise from the ashes with Ringo and Paul. Let's face it... the "GNR" tragedy was years in the making. No "Grammy" for these guys...!

"Google stirs up even more trouble!"

Getting "Bamboozled" by "Google" again! OR "If you want my identity THAT bad, let me give you my Social Security number along with lots of luck!"

I've written about this in the past and got a few chuckles along the way however, it happened to me again today while I was out and about. Google began as a half way decent search engine on the Internet years ago and that was that...fine by me. In fact, I still use it today for it's original intended purpose as well as the main conduit to present this blog (So, you see I must be careful what I say here as my text is being monitored!). Google has taken the prophecies that George Orwell wrote about and have turned them into reality. Sure, in the beginning it was fun to take advantage of all of Google's little extra perks like their famous program, Google Earth. Here, you can plug in your neighbor's address and zoom up to peek into the picture window. While you're at it, you can get all the information you could ever imagine such as names, phone numbers, and property values. Google did all this with plenty of leg work over a few years. They actually sent college kids out in white vans to take digital photos of everything (Notice how some of the addresses you enter show the hood of the van in the photo?). An invasion of privacy? Sure. You can be like the old lady next door and know everyone on the block's business. This week, Google added yet another feature. This one is for Wi-Fi and cell phones and it all comes down to tracking down "where in the world" you are! I suspect that Waldo and his shenannigans are now out of places to hide.

This latest attempt to pry further into our lives may be a good thing for the parents with the 15 year old daughter who is currently rebelling, putting up half-naked photos of herself on MySpace and planning on stealing Mommy's MasterCard for plane tickets to another country to meet some old pervert pretending to be 15 too. As far as I'm concerned, despite the positives such as this, Google has now crossed the line into that "gray" area and meanwhile, they still can't get the easy stuff sorted together, which brings me to earlier today...

A teenager overheard me mention my name while at the doctor's office and asked me if I'm friends with Shawn White. "I don't know the guy" I said, and continued on. A few moments later it hit me that this kid was talking about the Shawn White that happens to be a professional snowboarder, has his own video game, and looks like "Carrot Top" the comedian. This wasn't the first time I've been "connected" to the guy. Matter of fact, if you Google my name you'll discover I was in the "X-Games" and have a long history in this extreme sport. Truth be told, the closest I get to snow is with the Toro snowblower. If I slip on the ice and break a bone, it's by accident and not for "the fun of it". So much for unique name! Actually, if you type in my name on Google, you'll see me connected with many types of things such as Car Salesman, Mobile Phone President, brother of "Quinn" who plays in the NFL. I've either got the same name as these people or are somehow linked to them by accident. Perhaps they are some relation way down the line?! Maybe I'll never know. The same goes for the name of this blog...type it in and this gets connected to a "hole in the wall" bar in Boston. I've never been there but yet, share the name with them. The S.O.B.'s wouldn't even send me a shirt from the place for my mentioning them! All I can say is, if you're like me and have lots of bills and misery while fearful of picking up a ringing telephone,

1. Thank the Lord above for Caller ID.
2. Realize that your name that may contain every letter in the alphabet may not be that "unique"
3. Write Google a "thank you" note if they confused you with someone with the same name who has a bigger bank account than you. Google may mix you up with someone else but, that someone else may end up stuck with your bills.