Hip-Hop Grandma and Grandpa

We’re white, we’re in our sixties, and we love hip-hop. Not that I’ve gone out and bought “B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray,” I haven’t. But I could listen to B.o.B.’s “Nuthin on You” all day long. “Nut nut nuthin, got nuthin’ on you.” I guess you could say that’s the song I’m most into now. Not long ago it was Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind. Though it’s not played as frequently as it once was, I’m still not tired of hearing it.

I used to listen almost exclusively to 97.1 FM or 97X, billed as “Tampa Bay’s New Rock Alternative” but there’s little new a bout the music they play and nothing fresh. On any given day, they’ll play Nirvana, Everclear, and the same Killer’s songs they’ve been playing for the last several years. I happened to be listening the other day and they were playing “Somebody Told Me.” How long has that song been around? I mean, if you’re going for nostalgia, why not call yourself an oldies station, not the new rock alternative.

Anyway, back to my wife and I. Not too long ago we were both groovin’ on a recent release by Ludacris. You know it – the voice that belts out the refrain sounds like one of David Seville’s chipmonks. One day, I was rappin’ along with the radio – “I love cookie dough, I love cookie dough. I love cookie dough, I love cookie dough” – when my wife corrected me. “It’s ‘I love Pinky Toe,’” she said. We had an ongoing dialog about it for a week of two. I was actually willing to give in since my hearing isn’t what it once was, but one day I went to google and found out that the actual lyric is “How low can you go.” No love. No cookies. And, no pinky toes.

In retrospect, I find it perfectly logical that someone might love cookie dough. I mean “Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough” is one of Ben and Jerry’s most popular flavors. On the other hand, the love of pinky toes seems to indicate something kinky’s at work in my darling wife’s subconscious.

This morning, we had a discussion about a Black Eyed Peas cut, I Gotta Fillin’. My girl insists it’s about dental work. “You know how proud these kids are about their grills,” she explains. “Yeah, I know,” I say, not wanting to antagonize her. Still, I don’t equate going to the dentist, even a grill specialist, with having a good good night. Sorry.

Blown Coverage by CBS: The NFL & The Emmies

CBS was celebrating 50 years of NFL coverage. Meanwhile, they played down the fact that their shoddy camera work cost the NY Jets a critical call early in the game because they couldn’t supply the review officials with a shot of a called fumble. To obscure this fact, they refused to refer to the play as “questionable” or “controversial,” they just carried on as though there had actually been a fumble even though it appeared to everyone that the runner was down before the ball was yanked out. That’s pretty much the status quo anymore, on the field, in the workplace – there’s an unwritten law that you must never acknowledge a mistake.

Similarly, I wonder if CBS will own up to producing one of the worst Emmy Awards shows in recorded history. Right out of the gate, they announced we were in store for some changes. Of course, the presumption was that the changes would be somehow beneficial. They weren't. Let's see how they react, now that the broadcast fell flat. Let the tap dancing begin. Thank God, there was NFL Football and MLB Baseball airing at the same time, giving me something to move on to during the most painful moments.

As usual, the awards went to a bunch of shows that few people watch. It’s the TV world’s way of informing us that we don’t know what good television is. If we did, we’d be religious viewers of 30 Rock, Madmen, and the canceled Pushing Up Daisies.

Of the award winning shows, I believe the BBC production of Dickens’ “Little Dorrit” was the only one that I had been a real fan of. I do watch a rerun of “Two and a Half Men” on occasion, but I never catch the original episodes. Regarding “Madmen,” for me, once was enough. I tried to watch “30 Rock” a few times, but couldn’t stay with it for more than 5 minutes.

Neil Patrick Harris is a likeable guy under most circumstances, like when he’s a talk show guest. But, his performance hosting the Emmys can only have given David Letterman renewed hope of hosting the Oscars again. It was that bad.

Anyway, despite all of that, both the Jets and the Giants won on Sunday. So, it turned out to be a pretty good day.