April 2009 Archives

Interesting new twist on an old scam... I'm a "lucky consolation prize winner"!?!? Oh, and "Afro booklet representative" is totally my new band name.

From: Ms. Sandra Rowland (Ca Za) Canada Lottery/Ontario 49 Soccer World Cup 2010 Promotional Draw 1550 Princess Street Kingston, ON, Canada, K7M 9E3 canadian.southafrilotpromo@yahoo.ca

Attention: Customer AFRSA680
Ref: EAAL/851OYHI/09

WINNING NOTIFICATION

The Canadian Government sponsors this lottery for the promotion of the 2010 Soccer World cup to be hosted in South Africa .

We wish to congratulate and inform you on the selection of your email coupon number which was selected among the 6 lucky consolation prize winners. Your email ID identified with coupon No. REF: EAAL/851OYHI/09 and was selected by our E-games Random Selection System (ERSS) All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Website through computer Ballot system and extracted from over 500, 000, 00 companies and personal e-mails addresses.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$2,000,000.00 (Two Million United States Dollars) in cash credited to file EAAL/851OYHI/09. This is from a total cash prize of US$12,000,000.00 Million dollars, shared amongst the first six lucky winners in this category Worldwide.

Please note that you're lucky winning number falls within our Afro booklet representative office in Africa as indicated in your play coupon, because this particular draw was selected to promote the 2010 World Cup to be hosted in South Africa hence your winning information must be kept to enable you participate in our subsequent draws which will l see 500 participants traveling on an all expense paid trip to South Africa for the Soccer World Cup 2010.

In view of this, your US$2,000,000.00 (Two Million United States Dollars) would be released to you by an accredited commercial Bank in South Africa . Our African agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact our African Agent's office.

All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web site through computer draws system and extracted from over 100,000,00 companies and personal e -mails. For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by unscrupulous elements. Please be warned!

To file for your claim, please contact our corresponding Agent in South Africa immediately you read this message for quick and urgent release of your fund, contact information is as follows:

Mr. Trevor Allen
Tel: +27 78 056 7753
Email: travelallenagent@aim.com or canasa.canadiansouthafrilotpro@gmail.com

Congratulations! Once more from all members and staff of this program that has ensured that you won this competition.

Thank you for being part of our Promotional Lottery program.

Yours Sincerely,
Ms. Sandra Rowland

Attachment: Congratulations You've Won.doc [not a chance in the world I'm going to open it]

OK. Listen to this song by Kelly Clarkson, the title track off her new album.

Then listen to this: "I Turn My Camera On" a song by Spoon off their 2005 album Give Me Fiction.

Interesting, eh?

Perhaps she should have called it "I Turn My Sound Recorder On."

(Of course, some might say that Spoon's "The Ghost of You Lingers" sounds a lot like Billy Joel's "All for Lena", so perhaps all's fair...)

About a year after the hipsters were onto it, I finally downloaded Hercules & Love Affair's album (of the same name.) Short review: great album.

The most striking aspect of it for me is that I love the vocals. Why is this striking? Because the main vocalist is Antony Hagerty of Antony and the Johnsons, who released a critically acclaimed album, I Am A Bird Now, which I haven't been able to get myself to listen to. I just can't take Antony's voice — too much vibrato, too plummy, too over-emoting for me.

Or so I thought. Because in the hands of Andy Butler, Antony sounds phenomenal. Butler said in an interview that he wrote "Blind" for him because he "just wanted to hear Antony's voice against an electronic texture". To say this was a good call is an understatement. It's the counterbalance to all that rich emotive power. It's what made countless 80s bands like the Eurythmics work too.

Same singer, different band, what a difference. Reminds me of when Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty was a guest vocalist on Carlos Santana's hit song "Smooth." In my not-so-humble opinion, Matchbox Twenty was vile beyond belief, and Rob Thomas was responsible for most of the evil in the world. Bad, bad music. But "Smooth"? Smooth! Ten years later, that song still holds up quite nicely. (The same cannot be said either of Matchbox Twenty's albums or Rob Thomas' solo output.)

Some singers manage to be brilliant no matter where they are. But sometimes, maybe what a singer needs is to go someplace else and sing somebody else's material for a change.