Taylor Hicks has mentioned the Flora-Bama a few times. I thought he was talking about a region, but he’s referring to the Flora-Bama Lounge located on the state line between Florida and Alabama.
This little spot is the front for a series of shacks, rooms and tents that make up the Flora-Bama Lounge. 
I’m guessing this peaceful little spot isn’t so at night!
From: FilmNorthFlorida
Over at GrayCharles, someone linked to an interview with a musical mate of Taylor Hicks, John Cook. Taylor Hicks: Gray matter by Sally Tidwell at The Corner News.
From the Lucky Doggs website: Born and bread in the great music state of Georgia , Jon is truly a southern gentlemen. John cut his teeth while in school at AUBURN , where he and long time friend Taylor Hicks spent many nights honing in a very unique duo which also worked as a great band. The group the ” EZ WIDERS” played festivals , benefits and clubs earning a very good reputation as a Blue eyed soul and rock and roll band.
Sally writes: Hicks met Jon Cook, who currently performs with Johnny Barbato and the Lucky Doggs, in 1995 while they were both students at Auburn University. The pair performed in various bands and as a duo during the next several years. “Playing with Taylor was nothing but fun. We enjoyed it and had a good time,” Cook said. Performing everything from soul to bluegrass and reggae, Hicks and Cook made the Alabama rounds, became fixtures at the legendary Flora-Bama Lounge, and trekked out to Los Angeles to perform showcases at the House of Blues and the Playboy Mansion. “We had all sorts of fun on the road,” Cook said. A little over a year and a half ago, the Taylor Hicks Band was born. Mitch Jones is the bassist for that band.
“We had all sorts of fun on the road,” Cook said.
A little over a year and a half ago, the Taylor Hicks Band was born. Mitch Jones is the bassist for that band.
Jones said the first time he performed with Hicks was with Wynn Christian at Bodega.
“People were standing on the pool tables in the bar. It was crazy,” he said.
“The way the crowd responds to Taylor on ‘Idol’ is the same as when the band plays in clubs,” Jones said.
“He’s always been quirky,” Jones said. “He’s even a little restrained on ‘American Idol’ since he only has three minutes to perform.”
Cook said he’s known Hicks so long that he seems completely normal.
“He doesn’t seem so spastic to me. Maybe I’ve known him too long, but I don’t even notice,” Cook said. “Maybe because it’s just old hat to me.”
Since Hicks has been on “American Idol,” the Taylor Hicks Band has been put on hold while its other members continue to perform under the name Little Memphis Blues Orchestra.
See the LMBO for yourself Friday night at Bourbon Street Bar.
“I just couldn’t be prouder of him (Hicks). We talked about (him auditioning for ‘Idol’) and joked that he needed to hurry up since he was 29,” Cook said. “There’s no doubt he’s talented, but I don’t think anybody expected he’d do so well in that format.”Jones said he is also as proud as can be of Hicks. He even joins the WBRC-Fox 6 crew at local “American Idol” Soul Patrol parties.
Taylor’s “Idol” itinerary
“Change Gonna Come” 2/2/06
“The First Cut is the Deepest” 2/9/06
“Levon” 2/22/06
“Easy” 3/1/06
“Takin It to the Streets” 3/8/06
“Livin’ For the City” 3/14/06
“Not Fade Away” 3/21/06
“Trouble” 3/28/06
“Take Me Home Country Roads” 4/4/06
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love” 4/11/06
“You Send Me” 4/18/06
“Just Once” 4/25/06
Original article here
The masses are rising up and raging against the machine. Vote for the Worst has changed their ship’s direction and is getting behind Taylor Hicks as a way to send a message to the producers of American Idol that AMERICA is tired of the reality-tweaking that appears to be going on behind the stages.
And we have selected our new VFTW candidate: Taylor Hicks! We even did our banner in grayscale as a tribute to our new pick! Why have we picked Taylor? Well, this show is not made for Taylor Hicks. He shouldn’t be singing songs from the 21st century or be limited to Idol’s cheesy song catalog. That’s not his style, and I’m sure he joined the competition to try to bring something different. The producers don’t want something different though, and it’s obvious that they’re breaking his spirit, even going as far as to make him change his song at this last minute last week because they didn’t see “Try a Little Tenderness” as a love song. What? That doesn’t even make sense. Tay-Tay is also incredibly VFTW because he either goes all out and acts crazy to entertain us (remember him missing the mike stand during “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” anyone?) or he phones in his performances while looking bored (”Just Once”, “Country Roads Take Me Home”). Simon Cowell also hates Taylor, as is evidenced by his reaction at his audition and his reaction each and every week. Simon wants Taylor out now, because he can’t stand to promote someone so unmarketable. So what do we say? Stick it to the show and vote for Taylor! He has the Soul Patrol, and now he has us, the A**hole Patrol! Hopefully we can work together to help Taylor win this thing!Big hat tip to GrayCharles.com!
Time to dust off an older post to prepare for the Year of Your Birth/Current Hit night on American Idol next week. Too bad Taylor Hicks or Elliott weren’t born in 1978, Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street would be excellent!
Top 100 Songs / Top 100 Hits
| 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | |
| 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | |
| 1962 | 1972 | 1982 | 1992 | 2002 | |
| 1963 | 1973 | 1983 | 1993 | 2003 | |
| 1964 | 1974 | 1984 | 1994 | 2004 | |
| 1965 | 1975 | 1985 | 1995 | 2005 | |
| 1966 | 1976 | 1986 | 1996 | 2006 | |
| 1967 | 1977 | 1987 | 1997 | 2007 | |
| 1968 | 1978 | 1988 | 1998 | 2008 | |
| 1969 | 1979 | 1989 | 1999 | 2009 |
Be sure to check out Music Outfitters, the good Minnesota folk and suppliers of all things musical who compiled these lists.
Originally posted on August 24, 2005
From Theology Geek comes this fun timewaster: Do a search on the most popular 100 songs from the year you graduated high school. Bold your favorite songs. (I changed the directions…sorry Jason.)
Something strange happened when I tried to go through this list. I realized that I could still remember every single tune and most of the lyrics. I spent so much time listening to the radio at this age. I think that 1978 was really a golden age of music, although I hate to admit that my opinion is colored by my own experience. Nearly every song on this list is still popular today. Just look at it! The Bee Gees and the Saturday Night Fever songs dominated the charts, along with anything related to the movie Grease. Those movies are still popular today.
Paul McCartney’s band, Wings, really bothered me in 1978 - I just didn’t “get” their concept, but I now like the songs. To like Andy Gibb was to doom yourself socially - forever. Nobody liked Debbie Boone and those that did were afraid to admit it, but we all knew the song and sang along when nobody was looking. Wasn’t it Exile’s lead singer who wore the most disgusting jumpsuit ever? (Maybe it was the lead singer for Atlanta Rhythm Section - I can’t find a photo on Yahoo to help out my memory).
I can’t imagine my life without Styx, ELO, Foreigner, Boston, The Commodores/Lionel Ritchie, Earth Wind and Fire, Kansas and Steely Dan. I had big things for the music of Gerry Rafferty and Bob Welch, and played their songs over and over and over. Billy Joel and Barry Manilow were also very popular, although they weren’t my personal favorites. My best friend, Annette, would have done anything for Barry Manilow and Billy Joel. We Minnesotans were proud of Michael Johnson, even after he moved to Nashville. Chuck Mangione’s trumpet playing is something not heard today in pop music. These songs continue to please me and comfort me in my daily life, although I also enjoy many new artists. 1978 was a great year!
1. Shadow Dancing, Andy Gibb
2. Night Fever, Bee Gees
3. You Light Up My Life, Debby Boone
4. Stayin’ Alive, Bee Gees
5. Kiss You All Over, Exile
6. How Deep Is Your Love, Bee Gees
7. Baby Come Back, Player
8. (Love Is) Thicker Than Water, Andy Gibb
9. Boogie Oogie Oogie, A Taste Of Honey
10. Three Times A Lady, Commodores
11. Grease, Frankie Valli
12. I Go Crazy, Paul Davis
13. You’re The One That I Want, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
14. Emotion, Samantha Sang
15. Lay Down Sally, Eric Clapton
16. Miss You, Rolling Stones
17. Just The Way You Are, Billy Joel
18. With A Little Luck, Wings
19. If I Can’t Have You, Yvonne Elliman
20. Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah), Chic
21. Feels So Good, Chuck Mangione
22. Hot Child In The City, Nick Gilder
23. Love Is Like Oxygen, Sweet
24. It’s A Heartache, Bonnie Tyler
25. We Are The Champions / We Will Rock You, Queen
26. Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty
27. Can’t Smile Without You, Barry Manilow
28. Too Much, Too Little, Too Late, Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams
29. Dance With Me, Peter Brown
30. Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad, Meat Loaf
31. Jack And Jill, Raydio
32. Take A Chance On Me, Abba
33. Sometimes When We Touch, Dan Hill
34. Last Dance, Donna Summer
35. Hopelessly Devoted To You, Olivia Newton-John
36. Hot Blooded, Foreigner
37. You’re In My Heart, Rod Stewart
38. The Closer I Get To You, Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
39. Dust In The Wind, Kansas
40. Magnet And Steel, Walter Egan
41. Short People, Randy Newman
42. Use Ta Be My Girl, O’Jays
43. Our Love, Natalie Cole
44. Love Will Find A Way, Pablo Cruise
45. An Everlasting Love, Andy Gibb
46. Love Is In The Air, John Paul Young
47. Goodbye Girl, David Gates
48. Slip Slidin’ Away, Paul Simon
49. The Groove Line, Heatwave
50. Thunder Island, Jay Ferguson
51. Imaginary Lover, Atlanta Rhythm Section
52. Still The Same, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
53. My Angel Baby, Toby Beau
54. Disco Inferno, Trammps
55. On Broadway, George Benson
56. Come Sail Away, Styx
57. Back In Love Again, L.T.D.
58. This Time I’m In It For Love, Player
59. You Belong To Me, Carly Simon
60. Here You Come Again, Dolly Parton
61. Blue Bayou, Linda Ronstadt
62. Peg, Steely Dan
63. You Needed Me, Anne Murray
64. Shame, Evelyn “Champagne” King
65. Reminiscing, Little River Band
66. Count On Me, Jefferson Starship
67. Baby Hold On, Eddie Money
68. Hey Deanie, Shaun Cassidy
69. Summer Nights, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-john
70. What’s Your Name, Lynyrd Skynyrd
71. Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, Crystal Gayle
72. Because The Night, Patti Smith
73. Every Kinda People, Robert Palmer
74. Copacabana, Barry Manilow
75. Always And Forever, Heatwave
76. You And I, Rick James
77. Serpentine Fire, Earth, Wind and Fire
78. Sentimental Lady, Bob Welch
79. Falling, LeBlanc and Carr
80. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, Santa Esmeralda
81. Bluer Than Blue, Michael Johnson
82. Running On Empty, Jackson Browne
83. Whenever I Call You “Friend”, Kenny Loggins
84. Fool (If You Think It’s Over), Chris Rea
85. Get Off, Foxy
86. Sweet Talking Woman, Electric Light Orchestra
87. Life’s Been Good, Joe Walsh
88. I Love The Night Life, Alicia Bridges
89. You Can’t Turn Me Off (In The Middle Of Turning Me On), High Inergy
90. It’s So Easy, Linda Ronstadt
91. Native New Yorker, Odyssey
92. Flashlight, Parliament
93. Don’t Look Back, Boston
94. Turn To Stone, Electric Light Orchestra
95. I Can’t Stand The Rain, Eruption
96. Ebony Eyes, Bob Welch
97. The Name Of The Game, Abba
98. We’re All Alone, Rita Coolidge
99. Hollywood Nights, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
100. Deacon Blues, Steely Dan
You know, if Katharine McPhee’s wardrobe malfunction had happened to, oh say, Janet Jackson, we’d all be accusing Janet of purposely flashing us. I’ve made many costumes for my daughter’s dance line and I can tell you that no artist has any business trusting real buttons on stage. You’d think that American Idol would have someone checking the costumes for the contestants.
For those who didn’t see it, Katharine worn a beautiful long button up yellow halter dress. It was a little low cut for me, but, hey, she’s 21. Anyway, the fabric obviously had no give to it and the buttons started to pop, one by one, starting pretty high up on her legs. By the end of her number, America had clearly seen her underwear. Hey, at least she was wearing underwear! You can watch the video here (it’s completely G-rated, don’t worry.) If anything, it’s a big lesson in costume design.
Peter 2: 1-3 (NIV)
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
My temporary American Idol insanity too often keeps me from reading blogs of substance, like Dr. Veith’s Cranach blog. On Monday of this week, Dr. Veith wrote:
“I hope you had a happy Quasimodogeniti yesterday. I couldn’t find any Quasimodogeniti cards at the Hallmark store, nor did I do any Quasimodogeniti shopping. Sorry–I just love that word, which refers to the first Sunday after Easter. It’s not named after the Hunchback of Notre Dame; rather, that unfortunate fellow was named after the day. Nor is it a holiday, as such. The word comes from the first words in the Introit that begins the service in the classic liturgy for that day. In Latin, they are “Quasi modo geniti,” which in English comes to “Like new born.” The entire sentence is “Like newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word.” Like much of the liturgy, it’s words from the Bible, in this case 1 Peter 2:2. That’s good advice for the whole year. We need to turn this into a bona fide holiday. I suppose we could observe Quasimodogeniti by drinking milk. We could get the Wisconsin Dairy Council to help promote it. But for the true meaning of the day, we should also do some serious Bible reading.” ~Dr. Gene Edward Veith, Jr.
Consider this an appropriate introduction to the most recent edition of the Lutheran Carnival, which I have also neglected during the American Idol season. There are some new faces in this 22nd edition of the carnival and a nice tie-in to Quasimodogeniti. Pastor Snyder at Ask the Pastor is the host and he opens the carnival with this:
Quasimodogeniti, the Second Sunday of Easter’s “week of weeks” brings the twenty-second installment of the Lutheran Carnival to light. Pastor David Petersen provides a quick summary of “Hunchback Sunday” at CyberStones (and don’t forget to read the comment cum literary critique).
The antiphon of today’s introit comes from 1 Peter 2:2-3. “Like newborn babes,” saith the King James Version, upon which many of us were nourished in our youth — that certainly provides a carnival theme with promise. Yet what if some readers aren’t thrilled with babies? Or, if they’ve been drinking the “pure spiritual milk,” perhaps they’re ready for some meat (see Hebrews 5:12-14) — or not (see 1 Corinthians 3:1-3).
Well, I then thought, since this is Carnival-22, how about a Joseph Heller theme, reminiscent of his classic novel Catch-22? I gave it some thought, but decided to pass. Certainly Heller understood paradox and irony, two major literary types used in Holy Scripture. However, Catch-22 never comes to a resolution. Certainly our ongoing celebration of Easter provides ample reminder that Christ provided complete resolution of our alienation from God in His suffering, death, and glorious resurrection.
Finally, I decided to fall back on the Lutheran Carnival’s regular feature, the introduction to relatively unknown Lutherans. Therefore, I’d like to take a moment to tell you about a child born upon the Ides of March in the Year of Our Lord 1992. Read on…
Get pumped up for Tuesday night’s American Idol show. Watch this really nice video montage of Taylor Hicks. The music to the video is my favorite Taylor Hicks song from 1999, The Fall. I didn’t fall in love with Taylor Hicks style of music through American Idol. I learned of it through the show, but then began to listen to his pre-American Idol music on the internet. I purchased his 2005 CD, Under the Radar and downloaded his unavailable CD, In Your Time. To get to know Taylor Hicks through his CD’s is completely different from watching his American Idol performances. Because of Taylor Hicks, I am now also listening to the late Ted Hawkins. Also incredible! Be sure to find and download Biloxi on iTunes.
You think that people would have had enough of silly love songs.
I look around me and I see it isn’t so.
~ Paul McCartney and Wings
I borrowed a bit from Muldrake who wrote a post, You Think That People Would Have Had Enough of Silly Love Songs, at MediaFiends.com.
Ah, that famous song by Paul McCartney and Wings. In the second line, he says “I look around me and I see it isn’t so”. Well, we’ll find out this Tuesday night when the AI contestants sing ’silly love songs’.
Will the six remaining contestants be able to make America swoon and scream hystericallly the way the Beatles did, or the way Elvis did with “And I Love Her” and “Love Me Tender”? That remains to be seen. It’s all a matter of taste and tastes have definitely changed in the four decades since those Idols changed the face of music as we knew it.
Showing my age and my gender here, back when I was young, we had what used to be called “Teen Idols”. I was a little young when the Beatles first came to America, and they split up by the time I reached my ‘teen’ years. The three biggest ‘teen idols’ of my day were David Cassidy, Donny Osmond, and Michael Jackson.
Donny’s gimmick in the beginning was The Osmonds, they sang, they danced, they made jokes, and Donny was ‘dreamy’. His single, “Puppy Love” drove many a teenage girl to insanity. Well, maybe not insanity, but he wowed us anyway.
Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five, no one was cooler than these guys. Michael was so cute, and for someone so young, it was amazing to watch him sing and dance like a pro. When the Jackson Five performed on variety shows, there was also humor, It was very entertaining for a 14 year old girl watching at home.
Then there was David Cassidy, my personal favorite. We not only go to buy his records, we also got to see his gorgeous face week after week on his show “The Partridge Family”. We didn’t care that is was only he and Shirley Jones actually singing on the show or on the records , we loved it just the same. On the show, he was funny and sometimes not that bright. And we loved that part even more apparently because they incorporated the dumb cluck act into the show more as time went by. He was the epitome of the ‘Teen Idol’ for me.
Fast forward to the 21st century. Read on…
Proposed list silly love songs (not confirmable at this point, but interesting). It comes via GrayCharles.com/AOL board/AI board/mjblog comment secton. These are the (supposedly) proposed songs in which each idol has commited to, as of Saturday April 22, 2006.
Paris Bennett - “At Last”Elliot Yamin - “Unchained Melody” Righteous Brothers **
Kellie Pickler - “Because You Loved Me” Celine Dion
Katherine McPhee - “I Will Always Love You” Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston
Taylor Hicks - “You Are So Beautiful” - Joe Cocker / Georgia On My Mind - Ray Charles (practiced both)*
Chris Daughtry. - “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” Aerosmith
* = a suggestion via Simon
** = A Simon favorite
And for laughs, Jenny from PA writes on another AI5 blog: “Taylor could sing Barney’s “I love you, you love me” and I would fall out on the floor in a big THUD!!
“
An urgent message from my Uncle Tim in Winnipeg: CROWDS PANIC AS FLOODS THREATEN WINNIPEG
I’d like to say that Uncle Tim gave me my sense of humor, but he’s not my blood uncle. He’s English (as the Ukrainians say in Canada). Doesn’t matter that he’s a Scot…he’s “English” to the Ukrainians. And that’s bad! 
Over at GrayCharles.com the big news is that Randy Jackson gave our favorite singer, Taylor Hicks, big-time props on The View. In the discussion thread, a commenter named Dermot added his unique voting method to the long list of methods(cell, land line, text):
|
Dermot Says:
April 24th, 2006 at 1:17 pm As for voting, I’ve been employing fairly traditional smoke signals. I use a cherry wood from an old orchard adjacent to my back yard. To control the smoke I use a converted fine-mist shower nozzle attached to my garden hose, applied appropriately to the burning logs. Simple, really. The coding is Morse, as most of us using this method sense that we cannot rely on the show’s producers to appreciate the original Native American semiotics. Incidentally, the results over at smokeidol.com are looking damn good for our boy.