Jody Whitesides

Category: Out And About

Life Of The Party By Shawn Mendes

A couple of weeks ago I was tooling around in my car running an errand when over the iTunes Radio comes this tune called Life of the Party. I immediately thought to myself, dang this guy nailed it. Not from a lyric standpoint but from a musical standpoint. Then comes a little more research to find out that it was co-written. I still haven’t gone far enough to figure out who actually recorded, produced and mixed it. But said producer did a masterful job at making this guy Shawn Mendes whom I think is about 15 years old, sound like a long time pro. That’s not an easy task.

The real trick is the production on the track. It’s laden with tons of sounds that flow one to another and work extremely well. Shawn’s vocal over the top of it sounds like a great set of takes edited together with the right amount of emotion. The verses are little bit on the lax side, but the chorus kicks it so hard that the verses don’t matter.

Hopefully this kid will get more practice in on his writing and really make an awesome career in music.

Life of the Party

I love it when you just don’t care
I love it when you dance like there’s nobody there
So when it gets hard, don’t be afraid
We don’t care what them people say
I love it when you don’t take no
I love it when you do what you want cause you just said so
Let them all go home, we out late
We don’t care what them people say

We don’t have to be ordinary
Make your best mistakes
‘Cause we don’t have the time to be sorry
So baby be the life of the party
I’m telling you to take your shot it might be scary
Hearts are gonna break
‘Cause we don’t have the time to be sorry
So baby be the life of the party

Together we can just let go
Pretend like there’s no one else here that we know
Slow dance fall in love as the club track plays
We don’t care what them people say

We don’t have to be ordinary
Make your best mistakes
‘Cause we don’t have the time to be sorry
So baby be the life of the party
I’m telling you to take your shot it might be scary
Hearts are gonna break
‘Cause we don’t have the time to be sorry
So baby be the life of the party

Come out tonight, come out tonight
There’s no one standing in your way
Come out tonight, come out tonight
We don’t care what them people say
We don’t care what them people say

We don’t have to be ordinary
Make your best mistakes
‘Cause we don’t have the time to be sorry
So baby be the life of the party
I’m telling you to take your shot it might be scary
Hearts are gonna break
‘Cause we don’t have the time to be sorry
So baby be the life of the party

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Life of the party
So don’t let them keep you down
Oh you know you can’t give up
‘Cause we don’t have the time to be sorry
So baby be the life of the party

2014-08-07
Breakdown Of The Radiator On The 405

Ever spill radiator fluid while driving? Generally this will happen if it’s damn hot out and your driving the vehicle hard. Yesterday, I wasn’t really driving my car super hard, nor was overtly hot, however I had got onto the 405 freeway heading south for a meeting at Universal when I saw a little splurge of radiator fluid hit my windshield. Immediately it was followed by a beeping noise that the car was getting pretty warm. I started to see steam come out of the vents, so I immediately rolled down the windows.

As I neared the top of the hill, I coasted the car towards Santa Monica to let it cool off as much as I could. Not many exits going south on the 405 right now in the Sepulveda pass, mostly due to construction. I managed to make it to the 10 and get off at the exit I needed for getting to Universal for my meeting. However, I did have to finally park the car and walk the rest of the way. It wasn’t getting enough air to justify driving it to keep it cool. I popped the hood and saw that the hose had slipped off the heater core.

I called the office I was about to meet to let them know I’d be there a little late as my car broke down and I’d be walking it. They were understanding and said whenever you get here, it’s fine. Whew.

The meeting went well.

Afterwards, I was able to find a friend in Santa Monica who could bring a screwdriver and a gallon of water. I examined the engine again, to find that the hose to the heater core bib had broken clean off. More or less disintegrated, and broke. The good thing was – there was some plastic left I could connect the hose back to. That allowed me to fill the radiator fluid, start the car and get it somewhere else to be fixed.

Talk about an inopportune time for a breakdown. Glad they were understanding.

Breakdown

It’s all right if you love me
It’s all right if you don’t
‘Cause, I’m not afraid of you running away honey
I get the feeling you won’t

There’s no sense in pretending
Your eyes give you away
Something inside you, is feeling like I do
We’ve said all there is the say

Breakdown, honey go ahead and give it to me
Breakdown, honey take me tonight
Breakdown, I’m standin’ here can’t you see?
Breakdown, it’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right

It’s all right if you love me
And it’s all right if you don’t
‘Cause, I’m not afraid of you running away honey
I get the feeling you won’t

It’s okay, if you must go
‘Cause, I’ll understand if you don’t
You say goodbye right now, I’ll still survive somehow
Why should we let this drag on?

Breakdown, honey go ahead and give it to me
Breakdown, honey take me to the night
Breakdown, I’m standin’ here can’t you see
Breakdown, it’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, baby

Breakdown, honey go ahead and give it to me
Breakdown, honey take me to the night
Breakdown, I’m standin’ here can’t you see
Breakdown, it’s all right, it’s all right

Breakdown, honey go ahead and give it to me
Breakdown, honey take me to the night
Breakdown, I’m standin’ here can’t you see
Breakdown, it’s all right, it’s all right

Breakdown, ohh baby
Breakdown, ohh baby
Ohh baby, breakdown
Breakdown
Breakdown
Breakdown

Hopefully your car never does this to you.

2014-06-19
LA Moment Naked Homeless

Yesterday I had what could be called an LA moment. I was on the phone to business setting up a lunch meeting while sitting in my car parked on a street about to go into a restaurant for another meeting I was about to have. All music related. As I’m one the phone, I notice a homeless man sitting in the dirt off the sidewalk in the corner of a walled area. He was about 20 yards from me. He sat up, which is what got my attention. Then he looked wearily around like either in a drunk stupor or a sleepy daze. He then proceeded to remove his pants. It was right then that I told the person on the phone “I’ve seen a lot of things in LA, but I’ve never seen this.” They asked me to describe it. Yikes.

The poor soul took his pants off, lifted his legs into the air while on his back and let his junk fly free in the wind. I did not take a picture. I also didn’t think it was a wise idea to confront him about his situation, he did seem like he could fly off the handle at any given moment despite his daze.

I’d liken it to a train wreck. You don’t want to look, but you’re unable to ignore it. Don’t ask if I took pictures. I didn’t. Nor did I take video.

Fortunately he did put his pants back on. Then laid back down to sleep.

The humor I impart today is that there is a song called “Always Something There To Remind Me” – this holds so true for Los Angeles.

LA Moment with Naked Eyes

I walk along the city streets you used to walk along with me,
and every step I take reminds me of just how we used to be.
Well, how can I forget you, girl?
When there is always something there to remind me.
always something there to remind me.
As shadows fall, I pass a small cafe where we would dance at night.
And I can’t help recalling how it how it felt to kiss and hold you tight
Well, how can I forget you, girl?
When there is always something there to remind me.
always something there to remind me.
I was born to love her, and I’ll never be free.
You’ll always be a part of me.

If you should find you miss the sweet and tender love we used to share.
Just go back to the places where we used to go, and I’ll be there
Well, how can I forget you, girl?
When there is always something there to remind me.
always something there to remind me.
I was born to love her, and I’ll never be free
You’ll always be a part of me.
’cause there is always something there to remind me.
always something there to remind me.
always something there to remind me.

Enjoy your day and may it be memorable!

2014-06-12

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