Maroon 5 - A Rock Group

I usually go to the Old State Bar every Saturday night, right after work, with a small group of friends. We finish work at 1:30 in the morning, so we only have half an hour or so to hang out before the 2 o'clock closing time, to unwind, to bond.

Three of us have been the mainstays of the group - Amy Leigh, Bill, and myself. My favorite son has been joining us for about two months now. And others come and go. 

To unwind, I like to listen to classic rock - loud.

But sometimes when I arrive at the Old State, the music being played on the juke box is not to my liking - hip hop, techno, and there's even some asshole who plays Frank Sinatra. I can't think of too many downers worse than having Frank Sinatra rammed down your throat when you're trying to have a good time. In my opinion. he was a no-talent creep - wasn't good-looking, couldn't sing, couldn't act, and he was never funny. But Frank Sinatra's another story for another time.

Thanks to technological progress I can bypass the songs I don't like and get the ones I do like playing almost immediately - most of the time.

For those of you who don't frequent establishments with juke boxes - in the words of Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours, there's a new sheriff in town. The new sheriff is called TouchTunes.

[48 Hours goes onto the list on My 100 Favorite Movies.]

TouchTunes is a high-tech juke box that's plugged into a huge data bass of songs. You can find almost any popular song you want to hear. But here's the best part, as far as I'm concerned, you can preempt the songs you don't want to hear and get your songs playing as soon as the song currently being played ends.

How?

Simple - if you wanta dance, you gotta pay the piper.

You have the option of paying a little extra and moving your songs to the top of the playlist. At the Old State, you slide $3 into the slot and get 2 songs. I usually have enough time for six songs before we get kicked out - maybe eight. I vary the four songs in the middle of the playlist, but usually bookend them with The Gambler by Kenny Rogers at the end and November Rain by Guns n Roses at the beginning.

We usually have a couple beverages by the time The Gambler comes up, feeling good, and it's become a tradition for us to sing along with the chorus. November Rain is another story, up close and personal, but I'll share it with anyone willing to listen.

Twenty-some years ago I was involved in a torrid love affair with the love of my life. There was euphoria in the beginning, ups and downs in the middle, and devastation when the relationship died. November Rain was released right around the time we were breaking up. The video pretty much symbolizes that relationship.

So I lead off with November Rain to conjure those memories - both bitter and sweet.

[For some reason, has to do with money I'm sure, the embedding has been disabled recently on the original video I was discussing. So I substituted a live version of November Rain with Elton John. I was hoping to hear Elton sing with Axel Rose, the way he did with George Michael on Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, but all he did was play a piano duet.]

I was just getting to that. A little more than a year ago I heard Wake Up Call on the radio. First time I ever heard it. Didn't know the name of the group who did it. Sang a few bars to Amy, and she recognized it and filled me in.

So I started playing it on Saturday nights at the Old State. Plus I bought it online on Itunes and added it to my Ipod. Still don't know much about the group, but I'm going to do some research. In the meantime I'm adding the link to their website if you're interested.

I did learn this already. One of the members of the group, Mickey Madden, I believe, the bass player, wrote the soundtrack for the movie Love Actually.

[I will now be adding Love Actually to the list of My 100 Favorite Movies.]

The members of the group are Adam Levine, Ryan Dusick, Mickey Madden, James Valentine, and Jesse Carmichael.

Their individual pictures follow.