Click the tab above. Or just click this. Either way, go on through to see the previews of where your favorite songs landed by seeds in Divisions A through I. Here we goooo…..
I’m making an executive decision to change the way we name the posts, because Day __ is getting really confusing. Grooveshark playlist is here. Votes due by Thursday the 20th at 8 pm. Without further ado:
Freedom (George Michael) vs. Peace Train (Cat Stevens)
Billie Jean (Michael Jackson) vs. Smoke On The Water (Deep Purple)
Just My Imagination (The Temptations) vs. Sugar Magnolia (Grateful Dead). Also known as Jerry’s last stand.
California Love (2Pac & Dr. Dre) vs. Man In Black (Johnny Cash). As a bonus question, someone please defend your viewpoint on who would win in a fistfight without weapons, 2Pac or Johnny Cash.
Run Around (Blues Traveler) vs. Stand By Me (Ben E. King). Sidenote: Grant is right. I bought a Drifters vinyl a few days ago. They did do the original version of Stand By Me before Ben went solo. That said, this is the version in the tourney because it’s prettier.
Gentlemen and ladies, wonderful to be back in the captain’s seat. Some overdue salutations to new voters: welcome to the fray DJ Ruckus, LifeAquatic, Mark B, Sweetems, Karissa, Ryan Q, Elizabeth B, Aiko, Sarah S, Jess W, and Adam T. Proud to have you on-board.
Check out the bracketology tab later tonight/tomorrow morning, massive updates to be had- I’ll be posting the brackets for Divisions C through I. And now today’s results…
Buddy Holly did good work to Only The Lonely, 117-85, and posted a very respectable 7.8 average. Looking strong for a top seed going forward.
Twist and Shout defeated Take Me Home, Country Roads 112-98.5…people went a lot of different directions on this, but in the end a pretty respectable appreciation for this Beatles diddy emerged.
In the closest match-up of the day, Video Killed The Radio Star squeaked by Gloria, 95-94.5. The majority of the suspense was thanks to Cristina’s +9 vote, but I guess we mostly felt that the video didn’t kill at least this one radio star (right? right? right.)
Shoop had some strong supporters and some hilarious commentary, but ultimately succumbed to Rocket Man 103-94.
Start Wearing Purple took Summertime Rolls, 89.5-71.5.
Out of the tournament: John Denver, Roy Orbison, and Salt N Pepa. Jane’s Addiction finishes the Round of 512 1-1, and Patti Smith goes to 0-1 with one song left.
Top tournament contender Rock the Casbah (Clash) fended off a spirited challenge from Do You Love Me (Contours), 123-108.5. Some people thought “Dirty Dancing”, but do you remember Carl Winslow’s performance on Family Matters? No? Ok, we’ll move on.
Imagine (John Lennon) def. Mack the Knife (Ella Fitzgerald), 117.5-104. It is probably true that Bobby Darin’s version would have knocked off Imagine in what would have been a pretty big upset. But you can’t live in a world of ifs.
Running on Empty (Jackson Browne) def. Friend of the Devil (Grateful Dead), 108.5-96. I believe “Sugar Magnolia” is the only Dead song left to play in the first round. It’s been brutal for Jerry and friends.
The only impressive score of this batch was America (Simon and Garfunkel), which cruised over Dyermaker (Led Zeppelin), 127-109.
The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down (The Band) def. Always (Bon Jovi), 110.5-96.5 . Three or four people absolutely crushed Always, but that’s fair. People seemed pretty happy with Dixie Down.
We bid adieu to Ella Fitzgerald and the Contours- too classy old acts.
Division J wraps up today with some fun head to heads. Not as fun as the Jets sending Tom Brady yesterday, but a close second.
Guillermo will be back at the helm for Divisions K and L. Hopefully we’ll have some bracketology updates in the days ahead as well.
All Night Long (Lionel Richie) vs. Let’s Get It On (Marvin Gaye). Ease your way back into the 4-day week.
Hit the Road Jack (Ray Charles) vs. La Bamba (Ritchie Valens). Fun old school tunes.
Bad Romance (Lady Gaga) vs. It’s the Same Old Song (Four Topps). On a personal level, Guillermo and I were not inclined to include any Gaga, nor did anyone lobby particularly hard for her inclusion. However, we’re invoking the “Satisfaction rule”, curtailing criticism that the tournament is less legit because it excluded certain artists.
Caress Me Down (Sublime) vs. Train in Vain (Clash)
One Headlight (Wallflowers) vs. Fuck The Police (NWA)
Angel (Jimi Hendrix) vs. Natural Woman (Aretha Franklin)
You may not love every song, but six decades of music are represented in the match-ups above. Listen at Grooveshark. Vote by commenting below or emailing LTDdotorg@gmail.com before 8:30 pm Wednesday.
I like today’s match-ups because most of them don’t have obvious winners. Listen to them at Grooveshark, except Twist and Shout. This Twist recording isn’t great, so if you have your own, listen to that.
Vote by commenting below or emailing LTDdotorg@gmail.com before Tuesday at 9pm. But first, watch this small child perform Hey Jude. Mad impressive.
Buddy Holly (Weezer) vs. Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison)
Country Roads (John Denver) vs. Twist and Shout (Beatles)
Gloria (Patti Smith) vs. Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles)
Rocket Man (Elton John) vs. Shoop (Salt n Peppa)
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) vs. Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction)
Division I wrapped up with some tight battles and light voting, which led to a number of nail-biters. The biggest winner was Born in the USA (Bruce Springsteen), which dispatched Miss You (Rolling Stones) with relative ease, 95-87.5 .
Stevie Wonder continued his winning streak and knocked Toots and the Maytals out of the tournament as Signed, Sealed, Delivered beat Pressure Drop 93.5-75 .
The next four match-ups went down to literally the last two or three voters.
Crimson and Clover (Tommy James) def. With a Little Help From My Friends (Joe Cocker), 92-91.5.
Fight Test (Flaming Lips) def. Walls (Tom Petty), 91-89.5.
Another Brick in the Wall (Pink Floyd) def. Moondance (Van Morrison), 104-101.
Times They Are a Changin’ (Bob Dylan) def. Yesterday (Beatles), 104-103.5.
Joe Cocker and Toots are out of the tournament.
I am really looking forward to Day 43. My favorite band’s best song (Rock the Casbah), Imagine, Lady Ella, a titanic showdown between Bon Jovi and the Band, and one of my favorite lines ever: “Counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike, they’ve all come to look for America.”
Enjoy at Grooveshark here, except Imagine. Grooveshark was acting up, so disregard the last two songs on the play-list, they are the wrong versions of songs. Vote by commenting below or emailing LTDdotorg@gmail.com before 10pm MLK day. Here’s a tip for lurkers who haven’t voted yet because typing things out seems onerous: Copy and paste someone else’s vote, and switch the numbers.
Do You Love Me (Contours) vs. Rock the Cashbah (Clash)
Imagine (John Lennon) vs. Mack the Knife (Ella Fitzgerald)
Friend of the Devil (Grateful Dead) vs. Running on Empty (Jackson Browne). Did you know that Jackson Browne used to bang Nico when he was 19, and she made him famous?
America (Kathy’s Song) (Simon and Garfunkel) vs. Dyermaker (Led Zeppelin)
Always (Bon Jovi) vs. The Night They Drove Ole’ Dixie Down (Band). I expect to see a decent amount of Bon Jovi hate, but in 1999 this song did win a 128-song tournament.
There will be times when an undeserving song slips by into the next round while a great one goes down in defeat in a separate match-up. That’s simply the way elimination tournaments work. Clearly Ain’t Too Proud To Beg deserved a Round of 256 appearance more than No Cars Go. But in the end, the tournament champion will have won 9 (or 10) times, and all the losers will have lost.
As you’ve probably noticed, I strive to put together match-ups within genres. The reasons for this are two-fold. First, there is a goal, at least until the Round of 256, to have a diversity of genres represented. Match-ups will be decoupled from genres starting in that round. Guillermo’s bracketology is based solely on scoring averages in the Round of 512. The second purpose of genre based match-ups are that this group of voters simply prefer some genres to others, such that a punk song would never have a good shot against a Motown song.
With that out of the way, let’s look at what happened on Day 41.
I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye) def. Ain’t Too Proud To Beg (Temptations), 121.5-117 . Even though Marvin posted one of the highest averages of the tournament, I don’t see this song going all the way. Maybe Round of 32?
Mr. Jones (Counting Crows) def. California Dreamin’ (Mamas and the Papas), 111-102.5 . Mr. Jones has its detractors, but it has a shot at getting through the Round of 256.
No Cars Go (Arcade Fire) def. Modern Leper (Frightened Rabbit), 85-82.5 .
Thriller (Michael Jackson) def. I Think We’re Alone (Tiffany), 118-70 .
A Day in the Life (Beatles) def. Ohio (CSNY) 119-106 . A Day in the Life is not messing around, picking up 10s from three different voters. That’s pretty rare.
The January 11th storm that wasn’t postponed some highly anticipated local political theater: The New York City Council’s Wal-Mart hearings.
Yes, that cheap plastic behemoth is trying to claw its way into New York again, aided by Mayor Bloomberg’s cheer-leading and direct mail propaganda campaign.
While I agree in principle with the “Stop Wal-Mart” crowd, why fixate on a single entity when New York City is further drenched in chain stores every passing year. From coffee to clothing, video games to drug prescriptions, and sandwiches to mattresses- are we really still pretending a single Wal-Mart will make a difference?
Consider this particular Wal-Mart, which is aiming to open in East New York at the Gateway Center. The Gateway Center is already home to BJs, Home Depot and Target. The neighborhood is less than affluent, just down the road from JFK. The closest subway stop, New Lots (2,3,4,5) is six cross-town blocks away.
Look at this aerial photo of the Gateway site. Wal-Mart’s neighbors would all be national chains. It’s next to a highway. It will not be an open palm face-slap to Jane Jacobs if Wal-Mart winds up in this suburban styled outpost in East New York.
I have not heard how the Community Board in this neighborhood feels about Wal-Mart moving in, but their voice should be the one that matters most.
While it is true that Wal-Mart pays terrible wages, busts unions, makes cheap products in China and runs its business like a wrecking ball through small downtown districts (see Public Advocate DeBlasio’s well-written, if not slightly conclusory report), there is nothing that the City Council can really do to stop it. As Mayor Bloomberg has said, “This city does not have the legal right to prevent any business that can come here that complies with our laws. And if Wal-Mart wants to go into a place… they have a right to do that.”
Not only can the City Council not stop Wal-Mart in the long run, but they can’t even get Wal-Mart to show up for the hearings to get scolded. That’s why the February 3rd hearings will be political theater, at best.
The reason I’m so down on the “Stop Wal-Mart” show is that it distracts from the real issue, which is that chain stores are continuing to swarm communities in every borough at an alarming rate. The culprit is ever-escalating commercial rent from greedy landlords that don’t give a damn about recessions or neighborhoods. They kick out perfectly successful local institutions and replace them with chains that can take a temporary hit during a recession to expand their footprint in the marquee lights of New York.
This is no conspiracy; Dallas-based 7-Eleven is very public about this:
“We are actively looking,” said Margaret Chabris, public relations director for 83-year-old 7-Eleven Inc., noting that New York is a key growth market. The company, which has several additional leases out for negotiation in Manhattan, is also moving onto college campuses and airports. It opened its first airport store at Newark Liberty International Airport last year.
By the end of 2012, 7-Eleven plans to have between 15 and 20 Manhattan locations, according to real estate sources. In the next five years, the company aims to operate 100 outposts here.
“There are more attractive locations available now than there were in the past, and this is due to the recession,” Ms. Chabris said. “A lot of small businesses are having a tough time growing, or some of them aren’t able to renew leases.”
Are you looking forward to 7-Eleven stores on every corner? There’s one on Amsterdam Avenue now, right by where I play in my Tuesday night basketball league. It’s bright lights and ugly logo stand out from a distance, but they have great deals on Gatorade. While not every deli inspires romantics (I think one of mine is a crack dealership), they are a spunky New York institution.
If 7-Eleven wants to be a big-shot in the New York corporate chain store scene, however, it’s got a long way to go. The Center for an Urban Future put out this compendious report documenting which chain stores are dominating the city landscape.
Number 1? Dunkin’ Donuts, with an astounding 466 locations throughout the five boroughs. Next was Subway at 389, Starbucks at 256, and Duane Reade at 248. Staggering figures. In Manhattan, the balance of power shifts slightly: Starbucks 194, Subway 163, Duane Reade 161 and Dunkin’ Donuts 115. Brooklyn and Manhattan led the way, with the overall number of chains increasing more than 5% from 2009 to 2010. Queens was the borough least affected by chain expansion.
It may sound a little hippied out to bemoan chain stores like this. After all, their march into the consumer landscape seems inexorable, and in many cases, their product is equal to, if not better, than their small business rivals. The arguments against them are economic and cultural.
The economic argument is solid. While Wal-Mart will be sending its profits to Bentonville, for every $100 spent in locally-owned, independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. Locally owned franchises, of course, do reinvest in the community also. Chains often have very low wages, but so do a lot of small businesses. Some of my favorite locally owned businesses in the city pay awful wages and engage in shadier accounting than, say, a local Dunkin’ Donuts.
The stronger case again chain proliferation is its negative cultural impact. New York’s greatest draw, for both ambitious young people and international tourists, is its uniqueness. If you want to make it in finance, you do a turn at Wall Street. If you want to see great theater, you need to check out Broadway. If you want to see what the hip music scene is like, start a band in Williamsburg. New York has museums, the fashion industry, multiple top universities, great sports franchises and so on. There’s nothing like in the United States, nothing even close.
But take a stroll around Union Square, one of New York’s most cherished spaces, and you’ll be boxed in by Best Buy, TGI Fridays, Barnes and Noble, and other massive corporations that you can also find in your local airport terminal. The same could be said for not only the City’s hot tourist spots, but increasingly in residential neighborhoods as well. And it is in local neighborhoods where coffee shops, diners and book stores aren’t just “cooler” than chains, they hold the fabric of the community together.
As long as commercial rent remains such an albatross for enterprising people, what can be done to promote local, independently owned businesses? Mayor Bloomberg is fond of PR stunts, which are a start. The 3/50 Project asks everyone to do their part by spending $50 a month in locally-owned, independent stores. Empire State Development has some resources to help small businesses. The solution will have to involve legal, economic and financial creativity and commitment, but the end result will be worth it.
Below I’ve attached the flyer Wal-Mart is sending out to the community it hopes to move into. It flashes an image of Fifth Avenue, suggesting that rich elites are trying to prevent poor people from having shopping choices like they do. The funny part is that whether or not Wal-Mart gets its way, the rich, poor and middle-class are all getting closer to a New York City without plenty of choices when it comes to shopping.
Living the Dream 