Pants on, pants off

Make up your mind for once. This week seems to be pants off week. I am talking about two different things but will get to the other in a bit. January 10th is the no pants! ride subway day. This was started by Improv Everywhere in New York City in January 2002 and has been going on every year since then and has caught on in many major cities. In 2002, Improv Everywhere started this event with seven people to create "scenes of chaos and joy in public places." So this January 10th was its ninth anniversary and if you were riding the metro in NYC or Washington DC or any other major city, you would be enthralled with the sight of people riding the metro with their pants off.


Men and women who participated in this event walked in the metro as normal people – I mean with their pants on and after they boarded the train, they took their pants off, folded it and set it aside and continued to act normal by reading their newspapers or chitchat with fellow riders. It sure did get some smiles and some smirks among their riders. I hope no one was wearing boxers that read ‘wifeys pick’ or any other crazy wordings. With the weather being frigid on that day, many people were bundled up with thick jackets, hats and scarves. In the midst of this, to see people stripped down to boxers and panties called for stares and wonder.


Along the same line, on Jan 13th, General Larry Platt, a contestant in American Idol performed the catchy rap during auditions in Atlanta (oh no!). His song (which he wrote himself) was called ‘Pants on the ground’. The basic theme was to wear your belt or else your pants would drop off when you are talking to folks in a stylish manner with your hat turned sideways. Larry was not selected even though his song got laughs and applause from the judges and audience since he was above the age limit for the show. He is 62 years old but his song sure brought out laughs to many of us. I am sure it is going to be a hit song or some song writers would use it in their albums. Whatever happens, this is our 2010 'Macarena' - "Pants on the ground, pants on the ground..."


Here is the link Pants on the ground. Enjoy it and have a few laughs….

Death of the King of Pop

Many would be in shock by now knowing that the king of Pop – Michael Jackson, MJ, is dead at the age of 50. He died as a result of cardiac arrest today around 3pm in UCLA Medical Center after he was taken there from his practice for a series of 50 concerts starting July 13 at London's 02 arena. He was known for his pop music hit albums like ‘Thriller’,’Bad’ and ‘Beat it’ to name a few and he made music free of colors. Irrespective of the age of the listeners, one would end up moving their bodies to his music. He was known for his moonwalk and break dancing style.


The few music albums that I listened to while growing up included Michael Jackson, Abba and Osibisa. Whenever we got hold of the cassettes of Michaels ‘Beat it’ or ‘Thriller’, my cousins and I would listen to it endlessly in our little den upstairs and would compose dance moves. My cousin was good at break dancing and I would enjoy making him dance and watching, the big sister that I was. We would create fusion dance on his songs and would have a laugh at the end, telling ourselves that we are not even close to the way he would dance. I am sure the world would remember the legend in the days to come as well.


While the cause of his death is still unknown and an autopsy is scheduled on Friday to find out the cause of his death, many suspect that it might be possible abuse of prescription medicine. Anna Nicole Smith’s case was similar to this and that had happened a couple of years back. With that incident and the way MJ was using his pain killers, Brian Oxman, his former attorney and family friend had mentioned that he feared to see the same end for Michael and it had come true now. We don’t know if this is a suicide or not, another possibility that I am speculating, given the fact that Michael was in debt for about $400 million and he was on the cusp of making a comeback with his 50 concerts in London. Many who worked with him had mentioned that his physical endurance will not support the tiring performances. So did he realize that his comeback would not be a success in a couple of weeks and ended up doing what had happened to him?


While many theories are being worked at and analyzed to figure out the demise of the legend, fans around the world are gathering to pay their homage at the hospital, his home, the studios that he had performed at and many locations that hold value for the pop king. Life is very precious and also very dicey. Enjoy it while you can and of course, without hurting or playing with emotions of others and taking others for granted. Listen to a few albums of the pop king to pay your respects to the legend. That will make his soul happy than the usual way of paying respects by maintaining silence for a minute or so. He was all about music and letting ones self free to the tunes of the pop.

Born in the USA

No. I am not talking about myself. I was born in India and grew up there. I came to the US about 15 years back but I am an US citizen. Though I cannot become the president, I have every right as people here claim it. My friend Kristens’ Birthday was yesterday, May 18th and her husband, Marc, Surprised her by taking her to a music concert last night. The band is famous for the song that is same as the title of today’s blog. Yes, you guessed it right – The E street Band, led by Bruce Springsteen.

My friends are from NJ, settled here in VA and they are die hard fans of Bruce as he is from NJ as well. So when this concert came into planning, he booked a room in the Lexus Suite in Verizon Center and had called his and her family and friends to surprise her on her birthday which is the same day as the concert. The concert was scheduled to begin at 7.30pm, so people arrived at 7pm to grab a quick bite of dinner that was served in the suite. People were trickling in the Verizon center general seating area and they were also standing before the stage.

When the tickets for this concert were opened for sale, all tickets were sold out in fifteen minutes. The big tickets selling names like ticket master and other business had monopolized in buying the tickets in bulk and hence the tickets were gone in a few minutes after being opened for public sale. Then these big companies would turn around and sell those tickets to the public for a higher price. Yet, people bought those tickets to see Bruce in action. The entire auditorium was packed and it looked like ant hill with ant crawling all over the auditorium.

Artists pick their own time of arrival depending on how famous and wanted they are. Don’t believe me – Go to any concert of your choice and you will see when the actual program starts depending on the artists. In this case, Bruce is an old-timer. He is a rock song artist from the 70’s and the 80’s and had been awarded many awards for his albums. He is also called ‘The Boss’. So his program scheduled to start at 7.30pm, started at 8.30pm. He opened the night by singing ‘Badlands’, followed by many popular songs like ‘She's The One’, ‘Little Latin Lupe Lu’, ‘Blinded By The Light’, and ‘Born To Run’.

The guy is 60 years old but the energy he showed in his singing and playing the harmonica was that of 40-45 years old. The concert started off with the words of his songs perceptible to ones ears but then as time went by, the energy in his songs were so high, that the music was all one big congregate of instrumental note. The words were not that clear which made the songs showier of the tunes. But I am sure that many of the folks who were present at the concert enjoyed Bruce despite the loud music. I am old fashioned in that regard when it comes to music. The words of the song have to be audible and pleasant to the ears even in a rock song. Even in heavy metal music, there has to be harmony. But that is just me! The concert ended with an Encore - Rosalita (request sign: "Obama called and wants Rosie") which I think is funny. But I was told that he never played the song that he is famous for – ‘Born in the USA’ which was wretched performing in the Nations’ Capital.