And the Grammy goes to… Michelle Obama?

My thoughts keep coming back to the recent Grammy Awards that aired live Sunday night. I’ll preface this post by saying that I absolutely love music. I was pretty pumped to celebrate the great music from 2019, because there was a lot of it! The show was hosted by ultra-feminist Alecia Keys and, well, she said one thing I agreed with… music is a language we all can understand (or something similar to that). Outside of that, I was so turned off by the political overtones, the controversies, etc… so the show just isn’t sitting well in my memory. 

Before writing this post, I read the entire list of nominees and winners for the entire show. I was surprised to see a former First Lady on the list… Michelle Obama! She won for Best Spoken Word Album. 

The day after the Awards show, I thought about who WAS there, and who WASN’T there… wondering, “Where was Kanye West?” From the research I did on the nomination process, I think the artists/management submit their work for possible inclusion as a nominee in any of the categories, so it’s entirely possible that Kanye just didn’t care to be part of the show at all. It’s not like he has a good relationship with the Grammy’s anyway. But if that’s not the case, though, let’s say he DID want to be part of the show, wouldn’t they want to include him after his very successful launch of “Jesus Is King”? Not to even mention or highlight this in the show seems a bit shady and quite possibly very much on purpose. It goes back to the agenda from the Hollywood elite, or the liberal media, or progressive celebrities, however you want to categorize them… they’re all about inclusion except for those who disagree with them. For instance, where was NF? He has 2 albums in the top hundred of Billboard’s Top 200 Albums of 2019. 

So much for celebrating diverse music! 

Other notable artists who had a huge year in 2019 include Imagine Dragons, Luke Combs, Lauren Daigle, Ava Max, and Panic! at the Disco, all who were nowhere to be found on Grammy night. Something’s up with this so if you know more about it than I do, please comment below… 

Thanks for stopping by! 

-Out of the Wilderness

This post is brought to you by… Michael Bloomberg’s tie!

This post is brought to you by Michael Bloomberg’s tie. Taking on a life of its own during last night’s interview on the Tonight Show, his blue tie wants you to know, “I’ll distract everyone from the nonsense you speak about. And no one will notice how weird it looks when you laugh.”

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tie close up

More interview clips can be found on the Tonight Show YouTube page. To be honest, I want to get in an inner tube and ride down his tie. I want to climb to the top of it and plant a flag that says, “I conquered the tie.” I want to flick it back into place. I want to submit it to Guinness as the the tallest roller coaster on someone’s chest. I want to jump off of it like a motorcycle ramp to the future.

-Out of the Wilderness

Did The Bachelor jump the shark?

Just a quick Twitter check and I immediately realized I wasn’t the only one ticked off about the path the producers of this show decided to take in last night’s episode featuring a date with Peter and Victoria F. The lengths they’ll go through for drama/ratings/making a woman cry are limitless.

So to quickly recap: Peter and the women were whisked off to Paris Thailand Cleveland… which, when announced that this was their destination, drew silence from the women as if it were a joke. No, no, ladies the joke is still yet to come. Why Cleveland? Well, country star Chase Rice is performing there and producers have a little dirt on ol’ Victoria F. She dated Chris and now the setup has begun.

Peter “randomly” picked Victoria F. for a one-on-one date that ended with them attending a concert. Who was performing? Chase Rice, of course! Awkwardness ensued when Victoria F. felt terrible that they had to attend the concert of an ex-boyfriend.

Water under the bridge is how it should’ve been handled by Peter and Victoria because Heaven forbid it that Victoria has dated someone before Peter. Heck, only 2 episodes ago Peter’s ex- was sitting in his lap. So let by-gone’s be by-gone’s, right? Victoria’s tears were so unnecessary.

The issue here is the producers evil orchestrating of these events. Reports also say that Chase Rice wasn’t too happy about what happened either. Do they really want true love to be found on this show? Or do they just want ratings? Let’s break down all the things that had to be orchestrated in this “reality” show episode.

Finding out Victoria F. dating Chase Rice…

Chase Rice performing in Ohio…

Chase performance coinciding with the filming window of this season of The Bach…

bring the entire cast to Cleveland as an “fun” destination…

ensure Peter asks Victoria F. for this one-on-one date…

don’t let either of them know what’s about to happen…

I know most of us already consider this show to only loosely be categorized as “reality TV” but this was way past the line. To make this Chase/Victoria drama a reality, look at everything that had to be pieced together. The chances of Peter asking Victoria F. for the one-on-one in this exact moment were so low, I have a strong feeling he was “encouraged” to pick her for this date. I mean, what if he had picked one of the other women? So much drama would’ve never happened.

That’s why I think the producers orchestrated everything to happen the way it did. To put Victoria through this stress, to embarrass Peter and Victoria (and Chase!) that way, it shows they don’t really care about anyone finding love… and it’s not like the show has a track record of success in that regard, anyway.

I won’t even get into the part about Alayah making a comeback after being eliminated last week. Rules? What rules? If you don’t get a rose, it doesn’t matter. Just come back and we’ll see what we can do for you, mmmmk?

Last night’s episode of The Bachelor might be the last I ever watch. In fact, I didn’t even watch the whole episode, I was too turned off by it all. Instead, I turned on the Amazon original movie, Troop Zero, and what a treat that was! I’ll have a review posted soon but if you haven’t checked it out yet, do yourself a favor and watch it.

-Out of the Wilderness

10 weirdest band names I’ve ever heard of

I don’t even know where to start with this one, but there are some CRAZY band names out there! I decided to put together a list of the wild and weird band names either saved in any of my Spotify playlists, bands I’ve heard of, or a special bonus… bands playing in Nashville in the coming weeks. Take a look and chime in below if you have more to add! 

10 Weirdest Band Names in my Spotify… 

Boney M – The name supposedly came from a pseudonym band creator Frank Farian used for himself. Either way, I LOVE the band. 

Marshmello – you’re gonna leave off the ‘w’… really? And even if you kept it, why “Marshmello”? It’s just weird. 

Wolfmother – Surely this was from the mind of a guy. What’s tougher than a wolf? Who’s tougher than a mother? No one and nothing. 

Alien Ant Farm – I’m guessing this started off as a joke but then just stuck. 

Milli Vanilli – It almost sounds like part of a children’s rhyme, but hey, just blame it on the rain. 

fun. – no capital ‘f’ but they make sure to include a period… OKKKKKKKKKKK sure.

The Goo Goo Dolls – originally named “The Sex Maggots,” it’s not a surprise they changed their name when they got serious about pursuing success as a band.

Bow Wow Wow – someone in the band must’ve been a dog lover.

Coopertheband – these new bands with their kitschy play on letters and spaces. 

Shovels and Rope – after burying a body, they thought, “hey our band name could be the tools we just used!” 

Blessid Union of Souls – an ‘i’? Really? 

TV On The Radio – my brain can’t even compute having TV on the radio. It’s not registering for some reason. 

The Ting Tings – this literally IS their name, which is funny because the one song I know of theirs is “That’s Not My Name.” 

Chingy – I hesitated to use any rap names because 99% could also double as the name of a 1980s-era Care Bear… but Chingy is on my Spotify sooooooooo…… yeah. 

And a list of a few playing in Nashville in the next few weeks…

Csztr – umm, what?

Sleeping with Sirens – it’s nearly impossible for this to ever happen. 

The Cold Stares – I wonder if they love eye contact during their shows? 

Dirty Honey – a worker bee’s worst failure. 

The Amazons – they’re big in the US. Actually, they’re big everywhere. They’re just big.


Thanks for stopping by! If you have comments or suggestions, chime in below. Be on the lookout for more posts in the coming days…

-Out of the Wilderness

 

 

 

Every song I hear reminds me of Kobe Bryant

A few hours ago I got a text from my brother asking if I’d heard the news about Kobe Bryant. I said, “what news??” I was in church like a good little boy so I didn’t hear anything. For the record, my brother is a pastor so he was in church, too. He’s just more in tune with the sports scene… so that was when I first heard about his passing.

At this time of the day I was about to be driving around bringing Amazon smiles to my neighbors because I’m a good little delivery guy. The news still didn’t seem real. It’s not like I knew Kobe or any of us thought he would never die, but it’s the suddenness of it. Plus one of his kids died, too. So the news is heavy all over the country and especially the basketball community.

I start my delivering and I swear every channel on SiriusXM somehow orchestrated a master playlist to honor Kobe Bryant. I was flipping from coffee house to Elvis to 90s on 9 to a few others and every song I heard just made me wonder more about this tragic event. Here are a few that played with divine timing…


It was kind of crazy that every song playing while I was driving around town had an element of sadness, or celebration, and felt like it related to the passing of Kobe. Like each song was one piece of a stain-glass window… take a step back to see the beauty of the collection of songs forming a unintentional tribute to someone people loved.

Speaking of love… to be honest, I wasn’t a Kobe fan. I’m historically just stubborn like that. Especially when, and probably mostly because, he was SO good at what he did. Just like Michael Jordan. For the record, I didn’t even like Michael Jordan much till way after he retired. But for some reason this news is still shocking, sad, eye-opening, and it’s just too bad that his and his daughter’s life had to end this way. He’s a basketball legend and this final day of his life will be one that people ask, “Where were you when you found out Kobe passed away?”

I was listening to NBA radio on SiriusXM too, and a gentleman there said it best. Kobe was just starting his second act, tragic. But what’s even more devastating… his daughter didn’t even get her first.

Sad stuff. Hug those around you whether they’re people or pets or if no one’s around, hug yourself. You deserve it.

-Out of the Wilderness