Category Archives: Jam of the Day

May 19, 2009 · 4:03 PM

Jam of the Day – Baby You Can Drive My Fuel-Efficient Car

Today President Obama announced a new national fuel-efficiency and auto-emissions policy for the auto industry that will result in an average fuel economy standard for all new cars and trucks of 35.5 mpg by 2016, which could ultimately save almost 2 billion barrels of oil over the life of the program. Not too shabby, Big O.

As numerous sources point out, this new policy also represents a consolidation of 3 previous standards (state standards, the EPA, the DOT) into the one national policy, which closely resembles the policy that California has been seeking to implement for some time now. The Department of Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, goes so far as to say:

“President Obama is uniting federal and state governments, the auto industry, labor unions and the environmental community behind a program that will provide for the biggest leap in history to make automobiles more fuel efficient…This program lessens our dependence on oil and is good for America and the planet.”

Great, although I would point out that my own auto emissions have been close to ZERO for about a decade living in NYC. But I guess not everyone can live here, and any steps in the right direction are to be encouraged.

The Beatles – Drive My Car:

Beep beep, beep beep, yeah!

-Drew

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May 18, 2009 · 3:50 PM

Jam of the Day – Sex and Neck-Biting

Advertising is already covering phone booths throughout the city to promote the second season of HBO’s True Blood, but after just watching nearly all of the first 12 episodes on demand, I am left wondering what the appeal is here and how there is call for seconds. As far as I can tell, the basic ideas driving the show are twofold: 1) SEX! and 2) Neck-biting! And also: Sex and neck-biting…at the same time!

The story mostly revolves around Anna Paquin’s character Sookie Stackhouse as she befriends and boyfriends vampire Bill (played by Stephen Moyer). Also getting tons of screen time (including most of the naked romp scenes) is Sookie’s sex- and drug-addicted brother Jason Stackhouse, of the “so pretty but so dumb” male variety. All sorts of craziness starts happening in this small southern town after the world’s vampires decide to come out of the casket since the Japanese have invented TruBlood, a form of synthetic blood that theoretically can replace real blood as sustenance for the vamps.

Now I’ve never read the books, but this is a pretty wild premise for me to casually accept as a television viewer. But let’s not stop there: Sookie can read minds, her bartender boss is a shape-shifter (preferred form: dog), and who knows what else may hit the sceen next.

This is just asking me to suspend too much disbelief! I refuse. I am no rat in a cage. Check out Billy Corgan and the rest of these guys rocking the vampire aesthetic way back in ’96!

Smashing Pumpkins – Zero:

-Drew

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May 15, 2009 · 7:31 AM

Jam of the Day – I Want to Ride My Bicycle

Today representatives from many European cities (including Brussels, Milan, Munich, Seville, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, and Bordeaux) signed a charter that will commit them to ensuring that at least 15% of trips are made by bicycle by 2020. This “urban mobility campaign” commits the charter members to promote urban cycling in cities in order to reduce pollution and congestion.

Although few U.S. cities are confirmed charter members yet, the organizers of Velo-city, a week-long event that led up to the signing, confirmed that Portland, Oregon was among the signatories and that other cities would join in the weeks to come. Velo-city claims to be “the largest conference devoted to cycling in the world.”

This news, of course, made me think of the Queen classic Bicycle Race.

Queen – Bicycle Race:

In my search for this video – I found out that to release this song in 1978, Queen staged a 65-woman nude-cycling race and a clip from the race was used as the single’s cover. The original video was banned at the time, and had to be re-edited with color added to censor out any offensive imagery. It’s apparently too elicit for general consumption on youtube but if you want to view it, you can sign in confirming that you’re over 18 and find it when you search “queen bicycle race.” That’s a pretty out-there marketing campaign for 1978 but I guess you would expect no less from Freddie Mercury and the gang.

It’s a beautiful day and it supposed to be a great weekend – so what better time to hop on your Schwinn and enjoy the new bike-lanes that seem to be popping up all over the Manhattan and Brooklyn. This is a good site for mapping out your route: http://www.nycbikemaps.com/

Happy weekend!

-Melissa

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May 14, 2009 · 2:50 PM

Jam of the Day – OMG, I Can’t Believe It

After weeks of claims that she and Congress were never briefed on the CIA’s use of waterboarding, it seems that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has “Some ‘Splaining” to do after yesterday’s release of a memo that says she did, in fact, receive such a briefing as early as 2002 or 2003. Today, she admitted as much. OMG.

Pelosi has tried to quiet the storm a bit by pointing out that this is exactly the sort of storyline the GOP has been looking for “to take the spotlight off of those who conceived, developed and implemented these policies” in the first place. But this isn’t likely to blow over quickly.

All of which leads us to the chorus of today’s Jam of the Day: “Oh my God/I can’t believe it/I’ve never been this far away from home.” I feel like this sums up a lot of everyone’s feelings on the matter: Oh my God (Pelosi haters), I can’t believe it (Pelosi supporters), I’ve never been this far away from home (Pelosi – she does live in CA after all).

Originally a Kaiser Chiefs song, Mark Ronson worked with Lily Allen on this remake for his album, Version. Personally, I think Ronson and Allen do it better.

Mark Ronson ft. Lily Allen – Oh My God:

-Drew

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May 13, 2009 · 3:34 PM

Jam of the Day – Ghostface Killer Chimp

I think this story is just too strange to embellish so let’s just stick to the facts: In the middle of February, a pet chimpanzee attacked and critically injured a woman in Stamford, CT. According to the police captain, Travis, the 200 lb. chimp, stole the keys to the door from its owner and then made his way over to the victim’s home. The owner claims that Travis was suffering from Lyme disease, which can sometimes lead to rage. Fair enough. It’s a killer chimp.

But then today we get confirmation (via this AP report with the toxicology results) that the owner, Sandra Herold, had given the chimp Xanax on the day of the attack in an attempt to calm him down, and some people aren’t convinced that the drugs aren’t to blame. So maybe she’s the killer.

Speaking of killahs, we ran across this Ghostface Killah and Ron Browz track, “She’s a Killer,” just yesterday. It’s got me thinking that this guy Ron Browz is a pretty serious one-trick pony. But that being said, Ghostface kills it as usual, and the beat is pretty tight, so it’s an overall winner. Unlike our man Travis the Chimp, R.I.P.

Ghostface Killah ft. Ron Browz – She’s a Killer:

-ev2bk

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May 12, 2009 · 2:34 PM

Jam of the Day – Who’s Gonna Love You, General?

The top story for most of the major papers this morning was the news from yesterday that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has given the boot to Gen. David D. McKiernan as the top military commander in Afghanistan. According to the Times article, Gates acknowledges very matter of factly that this will “probably” end McKiernan’s career in the military.

Sad day for the General, but this shouldn’t be a surprise given that his boss – Gen. Petraeus (read a nice profile of him in The New Yorker here) – rose through the ranks past McKiernan byway of his successful implementation of counterinsurgency tactics in Iraq and various other non-traditional methods of warfare, which apparently are not within McKiernan’s areas of expertise. Still, it’s tough to lose your job.

So to help with the healing and the soul searching, today’s jam is a sad but beautiful one from Bon Iver. Who’s holding all the tickets now, huh Gates? I don’t even know what the means!

But in all honesty this song is really great. Bring a tissue.

Bon Iver – Skinny Love (live at Bowery Ballroom):

-Drew

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