the jade gurss blog

CRIBS - the CMT Version

With the programming on VH1, MTV and CMT merging more and more (they are all a part of Viacom), certain episodes of CRIBS are now being shown on CMT rather than MTV - including the first new episode of the season - which stars Kevin and DeLana Harvick and their home. It's a gorgeous piece of work - including Kevin's garage where he maintains his cars and karts.  It's a must-see as the Harvicks will share the episode with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch.

According to the CMT website (which is not always 100% correct but we'll try to confirm), the episode will begin airing January 10 at 2:30 pm ET. Get the Tivo ready!

New Year's Day Update: If you're near a Sirius or XM Satellite radio this eve (Thursday), tune in at 9 p.m. ET. I'll be a guest on the NASCAR channel with Nate Ryan of USA Today and racing legend Buddy Baker. 

Get Yer Mug on HBO:  Make you own version of the Flight of the Conchords "Hiphopopatamus vs. Rhymenocerous" music video, send it in and you might win a spot on HBO with the premiere of season two! Here's the scoop on how you can enter. Celebrate your mother-flippin' bottomless lyrics with Steve at your Nana's tea party...

2008 in the Rearview

Pondering the most memorable and significant moments of the 2008 racing year while watching some exciting late-season NFL games and waiting for my cell to ring to tell me where I rate in the Sporting News "NASCAR's 60 Most Beautiful People" and when the glam photo shoot will be scheduled. Oh... it's already over!?!?  Nevermind...

Enter your favorite racing moments of 2008 in the "comments" section below. I'll likely have my own list for Tuesday's SPEEDtv.com column. Also feel free to leave suggestions of topics you'd like to see covered in the weekly column. I've never found a comfort level or real voice/rhythm for the column, but I'm still slagging along. If all things fall into place, there might even be a monthly video segment for the Faster. Louder. column in 2009. Keep your fingers crossed.

How surprising is the AJ Allmendinger in for Elliott Sadler move in the 19 car? I'm a big fan of AJ and Elliott, but it seems Elliott's lack of performance has cost him a ride after Ray Evernham's departure from the team he founded. Sponsors love his personality, but sometimes you have to perform on the track (Michael Waltrip excepted...) We'll see what else develops, and if this impacts where Bobby Labonte will continue his career.

TOURE, who wrote both of the lengthy Rolling Stone magazine profiles of Dale Jr., has produced a fine list of the Thinking Man's Sex Symbols for 2008. People love lists, and though I wouldn't agree with all 10 of his picks, it's a damn fine place to start the discussion.

MUST READ BOOKS:  If you want to better understand the current economic collapse and mess-of-a-world, pick up a copy of Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine." Or, for a laugh, check out Artie Lange's bio, "Too Fat to Fish." Even better, check 'em out on the new Kindle: Amazon's Wireless Reading Device. It's a sign of things to come in the future - kind of like the iPod for books. 

25 Songs You Should Have in Your Collection (But Probably Don't) - Part Two

(Start with Part One if you like.) The first segment was a look at mostly big-name acts and hitmakers with songs that warranted more attention from their catalog, while today's entries are mostly from less-successful acts that were much more deserving of success - or had one brief shining moment of inspiration and greatness. Again, this is a purely subjective list - so I encourage folks to add their own suggestions in the "Comments" section below. Enjoy.

The song links take you to Amazon.com or iTunes to hear a sample of each song.

13.) Copperhead Road - Steve Earle -- Earle is a fascinating case: country troubadour who served time on drug charges, now a part-time actor and record label owner. Copperhead Road is a story of three generations of Appalachian moonshiners and could be an unofficial anthem of NASCAR's roots. (Most of the songs in Talladega Nights are from Earle.) The song has a strange blend of lilting, near-Scottish riffs followed by rocking guitars and drums.

14.) 16 Days - Whiskeytown -- A North Carolina combo led by Ryan Adams, Whiskeytown made a brilliant record ("Strangers Almanac") of which this song is the gem, and then flamed out in Adam's drunken haze. His solo career has been a barrage of way too much material - but if you were to pick the best from his career, it'd make a blockbuster "Best of..."

15.) How Soon is Now? - the Smiths -- I never really liked the Smiths, but guitarist Johnny Marr was excellent at making simple riffs compelling with textures and tones.  "How Soon Is Now"  never struck me until I heard it at ear-shattering volume in a rickety bar in Chicago. The guitar intro alone has been sampled by a wide array of artists, and I still turn it up whenever I hear it.

 16.) What Girls Want - Material Issue -- Obscure upper-midwestern combo from the 1980s, I hear a lot of their sound echo in bands like Sum-41 or Blink-182 (or any pop band with numbers). Leader Jim Ellison committed suicide in 1996, leaving behind several power pop classics such as "Kim the Waitress" and this one, which has one of the coolest lyrics of the past quarter century: "I want love, I want drugs, I want sex and affection / want everyone in this room here to look in my direction / I want a man with lips just like Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart's hair and Keith Richards' stagger / It's what girls want!"

17.) Outshined - Soundgarden -- While Nirvana and Pearl Jam got the raves and the record sales early in the Seattle grunge era, Soundgarden were overlooked until they toned down the metal tendencies and focused on the soaring vocal pipes of Chris Cornell on the hit album "Superunknown." If you want to hear them at their early, roaring best, check out the "Badmotorfinger" album instead.  Cornell has one of the greatest voices in rock history, and he lets it wail on this album.

18.) Roadrunner - Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers --  The adenoidal singing of Jonathan Richman is a struggle at best, and he's now most famous as the singing narrator in the movie "Something About Mary," but the Modern Lovers were Boston phenoms in the 70s: spawning members of the Cars and Talking Heads and influencing Brit Punk and American New Wave. Roadrunner is a rockin' ode to the joys of radio (when radio still mattered) is an American classic. 

19.) Pink Bedroom - Rosanne Cash - Johnny's daughter has had a stellar career and continues to represent smart and well-crafted pop/country albums. Pink Bedroom is a cover of a John Hiatt song that was my first taste of Rosanne and led me to also discover other gems like "Seven Year Ache." This one earns a spot because of a great artist covering a great songwriter. 

20.) Clampdown - the Clash -- "London Calling" was named the best album of the 1980s by Rolling Stone magazine, and while "Train in Vain" and the title track earned much-deserved attention, I always liked the muscle of Clampdown as Strummer and Jones and the boys let it rip with military precision.

21.) The Blower's Daughter - Damien Rice -- While folks go bat-shit buying records from sensitive singer/song-stylists like Jack Johnson, John Mayer and James Blunt, the best of the bunch is Irish writer Damien Rice. Using unique sounds and instruments (cello is most prominent behind his acoustic guitar), Rice remains one to watch and enjoy.

22.) Welcome to the Boomtown - David & David -- An obscure combo of studio musicians (some of which later formed the nucleus of Sheryl Crow's band for her first album), the Boomtown album perfectly captures the 80s decadence of Los Angeles: the drugs, the cars, the excess and the L.A. pop music sound.

23.) Bodies - Drowning Pool -- A hard rock radio hit if ever there was one, this one was unfortunately released immediately before 9/11 and was (rightly) pulled by the record company.  This Dallas band suffered a setback when their singer died of heart failure, but they continue to record today. The rage of Bodies is contagious - and you can count along:  "One! (Nothin' wrong with me) Two! (Nothin' wrong with me) Three! (Nothin' wrong with me)..." Well, you get the idea. 

24.) There She Goes - the La's -- A wonderful one-hot wonder, this Liverpool combo released one near-perfect pop record, then disappeared. This one has been covered many times and has appeared in many movies.

25.) Fade into You - Mazzy Star -- To call Fade Into You "dreamy" is an understatement. The somnambulistic beat lulls you into a R.E.M.-state where the melody and lyrics from Hope Sandoval can wash over you in soothing ecstasy. A cool, under-appreciated band whose members came from SoCal Paisley Underground bands like the Rain Parade and Opal.

And finally, (BY SPECIAL REQUEST) to complete the rest of your collection, you must get the 379-record set of "Gordon Lightfoot Sings EVERY Song Ever Written!" From the archives of the brilliant SCTV...

Flight of the Conchords: Watch the Season Debut Here. Now.

SIRIUS NASCAR RADIO:  I'll be a guest of co-host Nate Ryan of USA Today on the Sunday edition of "The Back Stretch" on channel 128 on Sirius NASCAR Radio. Nate is the MVP of the channel- offering reasoned dialogue and not allowing inane callers to get away with hyperbole or delusional commentary. (The channel is also now heard on XM - but I don't know the channel there...) My segment is tentatively slated for 1:45 ET Sunday afternoon...

NEW FLIGHT: It won't debut on HBO until Jan. 18, but you can catch the season two debut of the Flight of the Conchords for a limited time here! I call that a BONUS!

Season 2 Online Premiere - Flight of the Conchords (US Only) - watch more funny videos

25 Songs You Should Have in Your Collection (But Probably Don't) - Part One

This is an entirely arbitrary list of tracks that deserve to be in any well-rounded pop music fan's collection but are largely overshadowed by an artist's bigger hits or were deserving but  never made it up the charts. Hell, I could have easily made it 50 or even 250 tracks, but you have to start somewhere!

If you have suggestions, use the comment section to add your choices. Most of the links for each song sends you to Amazon.com or iTunes to hear an sample of each cut. 

1.) Stay With Me - the Faces -- Also known as the Small Faces, this combo had Rod Stewart on vocals, Ronnie Wood on guitar before he became a Rolling Stone and Kenny Jones on drums before he became a touring member of the Who. Great guitar riffs and superb drumming, this one appears in the movie "The Wedding Crashers." 

2.) Happy - the Rolling Stones -- You can have Jagger, I'll take Keith Richards. Here's the craggy-faced Richards on vocals from what is the Stones' most-rockin' album, Exile on Main St..

3.) Rain - the Beatles -- A memorable Lennon vocal and melody plus great bass playing from McCartney and drumming from Ringo. Usually overlooked among their massive catalog of hits. Appears on the Past Masters Vol. 2 disc. 

4.) 20th Century Boy - T-Rex -- Marc Bolan was the first of what what would become a long line of androgynous Glam Rockers. More famous for "Get it On (Bang a Gong)," but this is melodic and hard-rocking like no other T-Rex track.

5.) Anarchy in the U.K. - the Sex Pistols -- Pure power and fury, an iconic punk band with an iconic song - usually overshadowed by "God Save the Queen."

6.) So What - Miles Davis -- While his latter-day fusion efforts were usually less than sparkling, it's impossible to find such a seminal, simple and melodic jazz effort as this track from the "Kind of Blue" album. Buy the whole album if you must! 

7.) Fight the Power - Public Enemy -- Equals the power and energy of the Sex Pistols, and fulfills Chuck D's claim that Public Enemy was "CNN for the ghetto." Also the soundtrack for the spectacular opening credits of Spike Lee's film "Do the Right Thing."

8.) Avalon - Roxy Music -- A gorgeous, haunting melody means smooth romantic gold from a band that was critically acclaimed but never had a huge hit in the States. This entire disc is as smooth as a hot knife through butter. The band featured Bryan Ferry but also spawned Brian Eno - an enigmatic artist who went on to produce records for U2 and David Byrne among others. 

9.) Burnin' for You - Blue Oyster Cult -- Sure "Don't Fear the Reaper" is a great hit ("MORE COWBELL!"), but this one should have been massive. Perhaps the best use of echo on a guitar ever - and a nice reference to music geeks like myself with the line "time to play B-sides..."

10.) Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan -- The title track from the album which spawned "Like a Rolling Stone," this lyric includes God speaking with Abraham and other lyrics that somehow remind of old-school NASCAR racing. Go figure. Dylan at his electric best.

11.) Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys -- If you only know their cheesy beach hits, you're missing some brilliant studiocraft - especially on their finest album "Pet Sounds." The purity of Carl Wilson's vocal with brother Brian's production makes this the work of genius. 

12.) Santa's Package - Rory Borealus and the Filets of Soul -- OK, this doesn't belong here, but I couldn't resist a humorous holiday ditty from one of my former bands. Rory's NC-17 lyrics are hilarious, but probably not kid-safe. Listen here, or see the entire movie, The Rory Story on YouTube. 

We'll be back soon with Part Two...

The Travis Pastrana Story Now Available on DVD

I've written twice about "199 Lives: The Travis Pastrana Story," a strangely affecting film about the life and family of the X Games / Motocross / Rally star. If you didn't catch it during its two-day theater stint earlier in the year, it's finally been released on DVD. Add it to your Christmas list as a "fingerprint inc. recommendation."

Marty Smith of ESPN sent me a note to say he wrote a big column about Pastrana early in 2008. It's a good companion/primer for the movie, and you can read it here.

 

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Something to ponder: What if Steve Jobs ran the auto industry?

Guess Who?

Guess who's in the cool vintage SKOAL Bandit uniform, open-face helmet and Earnhardt-style bubble goggles? 

The fingerprint inc. team finished seventh in the 12 Hours of Victory Lane Karting event Sunday at Charlotte's Victory Lane Karting. Read more about the epic once-'round-the-clock battle in my weekly column at SPEEDtv.com. It was big ol' fun, no matter how you slice it. There's now even an official race report here. 

Here's young Evan York, the 15-year-old star of the fingerprint inc, team, pictured below. Check out the photo slideshow of the event by clicking here. In full color!  

 

(Photos courtesy of Joe Cooley/Circuit Motorsports.)

New for fingerprint inc. Blog Commenters:  We're working on a Beta program where you can create your own profile with photo if you like. (It's not required.) You can even choose to be notified by email if someone replies to your comment. One of the great joys of this project is when many people have lively comments, and this will only help (at least I hope it does...) Let me know what you think. 

NASCAR Without Chevrolet?

Honda leaves Formula One. 

Audi leaves the American LeMans Series. 

Is Chevrolet next? 

Can you imagine NASCAR without Chevy? You might have to get used to it, because their business is dropping much like the theme of their long-enduring truck ads: Like a rock.

It's an Alice in Wonderland scenario: three bulbous and poorly-managed companies with inferior products go to Congress to ask for billions of dollars. Should General Motors not receive a bail-out, they claim they'll not even make it to the first of the year. Are they crying 'wolf?' And, if they do receive a financial band-aid, will they really change their ways and become competitive? Why are the Big Three less-worthy than the massive financial institutions?

Imagine the shockwaves in NASCAR should Chevrolet disappear, leaving titans such as Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing without support. The bigger fish will survive, but what about the smaller teams? Would this mean the final blow for the new DEI/Ganassi combo platter? And what about quality lower-level teams such as Kevin Harvick Inc. - which has Chevrolet backing for their Nationwide and Truck Series teams? 

What if Chrysler goes down? It surely means the death-knell for the storied Dodge team Petty Enterprises, unless they can merge with the Gillette team - which is also backed by Dodge. 

This movie is a sequel for Chrysler, as it received a federal bailout in the 1979 and then recovered with the innovation and explosive success of the minivan. That innovation meant Chrysler was able to pay back US taxpayers with interest. But there's no minivan-like vehicle in the pipeline at the moment. (Time Magazine scathingly referred to Chrysler's written plea to Congress - all of 14 pages - as looking like "a college sophomore's final term paper.") For GM, the fine folks who brought you the Pontiac Aztek (pictured above - and NOT to be confused with the Co'T!), it's the electric Volt model they're hanging their hat on. These companies have only themselves to blame. Sure, they're happy to build giant trucks and SUVs, but who can be passionate about driving a Cobalt?

Of the three, it seems Ford is the only one poised to remain in business without some sort of federal help. 

The dilemma: do you reward their inefficient and ineffective business practices for the past 40-50 years, or do you allow millions of hard-working Americans to lose their jobs? We're already teetering on depression-like economic numbers, and seeing one or two go under will only make it worse. There's no easy answer. (Seth Godin, my oft-quoted favorite marketing mind, suggests letting them go under, and then encourage a wide array of small, innovative and lithe auto companies to spring up in their absence. Brilliant in theory, yes, but how realistic? Quick, name three American car companies OTHER than the Big Three.) 

I don't have a clue what will happen. I do know NASCAR will survive - even as a one- or two-make spec series. Ford vs. Toyota anyone? Or, perhaps a starting field of 30-35 Toyotas? I can already hear the xenophobes wail! The Cup Series is so close to a spec series now with the CoT, not much will change on track, except the millions of dollars of support the teams receive.

It's a scary time, and it may only get worse.

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Ricky Weld Passes Away: Several message boards are reporting Ricky Weld has passed away of cancer. He was the youngest of the four Weld brothers who made their mark on dirt tracks across the land. My recent obituary of his brother Greg received more attention than most blog entries a few months back... 

Thanks to the Golden Benny Karting League

The 2008 Golden Benny Karting League season closed last evening with a record field of entrants and furious racing from start to finish at Victory Lane Karting in Charlotte. 

Best of all, the GBKL raised a lot of money this year for children and families in-need in this area. We hope the funds help make Christmas a little bit better for a lot of young ones that deserve better.  

Congrats to 2008 Champ Fred Ogrim, who won four main events this year. (A coincidence perhaps, but Fred owns the place.)

This weekend, it's the 12 Hours of Victory Lane. The fingerprint inc. team still needs one more driver to complete our endurance lineup - so let me know if you're a hot shoe in need of many hours of karting excitement. 

GBKL is online. 

Indexed!

Dirty Driving: An HBO Documentary

If you're a motorsports fan, you owe it to yourself to watch the HBO documentary called "Dirty Driving: Thundercars of Indiana." It's a mix of Mad Max mayhem and Bush-era economics focusing on people who are barely hanging on as automotive plants close one-by-one in Anderson, Indiana and thousands upon thousands of people lose their jobs. (And we wonder why the inept "Big 3" remain in trouble financially?)

Their love and total obsession of auto racing and winning 'that six-foot trophy' each week helps make their lives bearable. It's alternately sad, hilarious and pathetic. But, it also shows how racing - even when they can't afford it - is a key function of the self-respect and self-image of many. Sadly, I suspect this will become a common theme nationwide if the economy worsens as predicted. 

I go into more details in my weekly SPEEDtv.com column, but you owe it to yourself to check it out. The upcoming schedule of air-times is here.

Another Reason They Call it BLACK FRIDAY:  Employee crushed to death at Wal-Mart. 

Dirt Track Driver Development School

 

I had previously posted some photos and a brief snippet about the Driver Development program at the Dirt Track Racing School at Carolina Speedway. (Shameless plug: click on the ad in the right-hand column for the Dirt Track Racing School website. They have gift certificates - which make a perfect gift.) I had an email suggesting some folks would be interested in what was involved with the school.

The course was two days of driving and instruction in the classroom for young drivers. On track, the youngsters, aged 14-16, were given a chance to drive at least 60 laps in a full-sized dirt late model and/or modified. All of them had experience in the Legends, Bandolero or Allison Legacy Series, but it was the first time most of them had driven a racecar where they couldn't reach both sides of their car while strapped-in.

Top speeds were never a concern. With the help of track late model champion Tim Allen, each of the four worked on throttle and car control in the much-more-massive missles on the 4/10th-mile clay oval. Smooth is good. Reckless is not. However, all four drivers showed a lot of potential.

The second day was spent in the classroom, where yours truly led discussions with the kids and parents on topics such as media and public relations, sponsor tips (how to get 'em and how to keep 'em), and then each student did interview practice with the video camera on. Believe me, it's tougher than it looks to do those interviews on TV - whether you're 14 or 34. 

Good luck to Matthew Godley, Chris Beuscher, Austin Leitner and Austin McKee. They're growin' 'em young these days, and all four were impressive on and off the track.