The Top Ten Saturday Night Live Cast Members (according to "Rolling Stone"): Norm Macdonald is a bit miffed.....

Greetings to our blog readers in Finland, Romania and the Bahamas.........

Tonight, we list the top cast members of "Saturday Night Live" as listed by Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone," that was written in conjunction with the sketch comedy show's 40th anniversary. The show actually first aired in October of 1975, but (perhaps for the sake of ratings) the event was celebrated by NBC on Sunday.

Norm Macdonald, a former cast member from 1993-98 who also hosted  the show's standard 'Weekend Update' segment, tweeted live during the event. It has also been reported that he was displeased to learn that Sheffield had ranked him as number #135 in a list of 141 cast members (Robert Downey, Jr., surprisingly finished last). Tim Meadows, who came in 48th, made the list known during a cameo of the 40th anniversary special.

For better or for worse, here in Sheffield's top ten:

1) John Belushi, 1975-79. (pict. top; he died in 1982)

2) Eddie Murphy 1980-84. (pict. center)

3) Tina Fey  2000-06 (pict. bottom)

4) Mike Myers (1989-95)

5) Dan Aykroyd (1975-79)

6) Bill Murray (1977-80)

7) Phil Hartman (1986-94, was murdered in 1998)

8) Amy Poehler (2001-08)

9) Gilda Radner (1975-80, she died in 1989 from cancer)

10) Chevy Chase (1975-77)

Here are some other cast members and how they ranked according to Sheffield:

Maya Rudolph (#19)

Fred Armisen (#23)

Dennis Miller (#34)

Jane Curtin (#37, we would rank her higher)

Joe Piscopo (#66, we would rank him much higher)

For the full list, check out Sheffield's article in the current issue of "Rolling Stone," it's one that has John Belushi as the Samurai warrior who was inspired by the late Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune ("Rashomon").

http://www.rollingstone.com

Casulaties of Modern Technology (9 of 12)_ The Compact Disc

Yes, we are using an image of a compact disc of REO Speedwagon as a bit of an in-joke, as it is a band that one often hears one annoying adult contemporary radio stations, such as WASH-FM (97.1, Washington DC).

The compact disc, which is refered to as the cd, is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was first developed in labs in Belgium and The Netherlands in 1979, according to Wikipedia, and the cd became commercially available in 1982.

The first cd that we personally purchased was "Storm Front" by Billy Joel in 1989; it's the one with "We Didn't Start the Fire," which seemed like such a great song at the time.

As "Rolling Stone" writer Rob Sheffield has noted in his memoirs about his youth and how the pop music of the time ('80s and '90s) affected his life, he noted that the cd was instrumental in allowing music artists to store more music in one unit. Bands, ranging from The Cure to Guns N Roses, have taken advantage of this.

There are also enhanced cds, such as "Naked" (Talking Heads, 1988), which have music videos stored on them in addition to music from the recording studio.

According to a recent "Rolling Stone" article (not written by Sheffield) and the public radio music show "Sound Opinions," sales of cds have been plummeting. But, many are still made in spite of more modern gizmos because older artists like Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Bob Dylan rely on cd sales for their older customers whereas young artists like Lady Gaga rely on going directly to I-Tunes and I-Pads, and other gadgets that were the brainchild of the late Steve Jobs.

However, vinyl sales have improved. In fac, 2011 was a banner year for vinyl record sales as 3.9 million records were sold. This was the first in sales in the product since 1979.

And, many though music stores have been disapperaring at an alarming rate, the remaning succesful ones, such as CD Alley in Chapel Hill, Hill, and Wuxutry Records in Athens, Ga. (which also has a store in Atlanta) have relied on both the cd and the record to get music to their customers.

Status Update_ When Will E-Harmony Hook Me Up with an Asian Girl?

Status Update for 1/25/11: "I wonder when E-Harmony will hook me up with an Asian girl. Perhaps, the reason why I have this desire stems from my infactuation with the David Bowie song 'China Girl.' Shhhhhhhhhhh...."


I have been an E-Harmony member for almost two years now; it has been a mostly frustating experience.


One chief reason for this, besides all the normal things that go a wry when one is dating someone they don't know, is that they never quite match me with the right woman for my interests.

I must profess that I absolutely adore Asian girls, irregardless if they are Japanes, Chinese, Korean or even Malaysian.

I have never actually dated one though I made a futile attempt at trying to arrange a coffee date with an Asian-American girl several years ago.

The reason for this mgiht well stem from the David Bowie video for his 1983 hit "China Girl." In his recent memoir "Talking with Girls About Duran Duran," Rob Sheffield, who also writes for "Rolling Stone" said that he once told REM member Peter Buck that he was jealous of how girls liked REM when he was in high school.

Buck replied that he once felt the same way about David Bowie in the '70s!

Ironically, my mom is apparently in the process of trying to get her Vietnamese hair-stylist to set me up with a girl from Ho Chi Minh City; we'll see how that goes. Perhaps, I can stop in Hong Kong or Shanghai while I'm at it.

And, hopefully, it will be a more positive experience than the ones I've had with E-Harmony so far!