Tuesday, November 24, 2009

1988: Johnny Carson - Where were you?

Where do I start? There are so many things that are amazing about this Tonight Show clip in 1988.

Oates' cowboy boots unable to touch the floor or beaddazzled jacket? Hall over talking every single Oates' attempt to speak? Uncomfortably long explanation of the 'philosophical' difference between phrases, 'oh yeah' and 'oooooh yeah'? Gay innuendos every other sentence? Or, how about the tall tale of Hall and Oates personally apprehending one of Australia's most wanted criminals! Legendary...

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Oates: Ski Report & Rescuing Emus

Word has leaked about the Fever blog, and people are 'coming out' with their own H&O sightings and experiences all over.

Just the other day, a co-worker asked me during the meeting 'So what's with Oates writing for American Airlines now. Is he a skiing expert or something?' What? I had to investigate. Several hours later, the conversation continued at the office microwave.

Recently he had flow American Airlines and was reading an article on top 10 ski spots in the country. As one would expect, reviews of top ski spots were presented by experts like Jeremy Nobis, former U.S. Ski Team member who competed in the 1994 Olympic Games. Or even Tommy Moe, Olympic gold and silver medalist / U.S. Ski Team member from 1987 to 1998. There, amidst the Olympians or notable political figures seeking to protect our country's environmental top spots, was Mr. Mustache himself, Oates.






To read the full article, click here.

For the past 15 years Oates has lived in the Aspen valley with his wife Aimee and son, Tanner. His ranch is home to many animals that he and his wife has rescued, most notably a burro, Jasper, that Oates later named his record label after. Although as a child Oates never had pets because he was allergic to animal dander, his wife had grown up in Illinois and had rescued animals all her life. A Humane Society article suggested:

The couple currently has 11 emus, five alpacas, four llamas, seven turkeys, seven chickens, six or seven guinea fowl, five peacocks, a variable number of barn cats, and three dogs. Their Great Pyrenees dog, Flurry, came from a breed rescue group in Colorado Springs, while their Newfoundland mix, Moonie, and their terrier mix, Mr. Jeepers, came from a local shelter.
(source)

Hall and Oates Sighting - The Cleveland Show

Courtesy of BeatCrave, we are please to report that Hall and Oates will be making a cartoon appearance on The Cleveland Show this Sunday, November 22, 2009.

Jeffrey Hyatt of BeatCrave reports:

This is Daryl Hall and John Oates’ first appearance on the show, however, word is viewers can anticipate seeing the duo show up in future episodes. Best. News. Ever. If Hall and Oates keep coming back, and maybe playing some music, The Cleveland Show could quickly become my new favorite TV show.

Could there be a spin-off of a spin-off and Hall and Oates soon will have their own cartoon? One can only dream...














Watch Hall and Oates on the Cleveland Show here.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

H&O Photo Hunt

A non-entertaining Hall and Oates picture is hard to come by.

Below, a gem I came across this evening. For your viewing pleasure, I marked up in red what makes this photo amazing. Note: I am partial to the lucky rabbit's foot (who is the sick person in the 80's that started this trend anyways?).

Artists With The Fever








Brushes With Greatness

John Oates, enigma that he is, can be a tough guy to pin down. Yes, Jen and I have been fortunate enough to do so on one crisp Denver evening in 2007:

But in talking with random folks through the years it turns out we are not the only ones. The guy seems to have a lot going on: he's a ski bum, owns a llama farm, still tours with Daryl and does solo shows. However, what I've come to find out is that more people have had Oates encounters than you might think. Either that or they are smart asses mocking me for my somewhat unusual interest and I take their bait quicker than a pug to pizza. Regardless, below are my three favorite tales of random Oates encounters:

1. Seattle, WA: I'm wearing my H&O t-shirt and a couple at a bar. We get to talking and the man tells me that John Oates is his wife's uncle by marriage. He never knew this until he went back to watch the video of their wedding and he saw a wee slip of a man find a seat in a church pew prior to there wedding. "Honey, there's someone that looks like the short guy from Hall and Oates at our Wedding!" "Oh yeah, that's Uncle John, he's married to Aunt Aimiee." I guess Oates ducked out of the reception line or something. Why can't this sort of thing happen to me? Other random facts: The wedding took place in Bourbonnais, IL (my sister lives there) and the couple spotted us earlier in the day on the street after we had just purchased a garden gnome and I had it tucked under my arm. I believe this story because it would be too weird and cruel to make up. Believability Index: 8 of a possible 10

2. Austin, TX: Enjoying a pizza at Homeslice on South Congress in Austin and drawing H&O on their coloring book (see earlier post) We are chatting with our waiter about what big fans we are of Daryl and John and he casually mentions that he once saw Oates. "I was driving down the Oklahoma Turnpike and I stopped at this giant McDonald's. I was walking in and John Oates was walking out. I wasn't entirely sure it was him (you know, no mustache) but then he got into his car. It was a red Lamborghini and the license plate said Oates." I tried to find out if Oates really does have a Lamborghini or an Oates license plate... can't find anything. Believability Index 3 of a possible 10

Austin TX: Having dinner with some friends, again I'm wearing H&O shirt. My new friend, Todd, who is a musician mentions that he once played in a band that opened for Hall and Oates in Dallas. It was a last minute thing and he had actually had dental surgery earlier in the day and was still numb. (I hope to have a more detailed account of this, Q&A style, in the near future.) Believability Index 9.5 out of 10

Are these accounts true? Can you help me discredit or corroborate them? Do you have a story to tell?

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Holiday Wish List: Giant Mustache

Are you looking for a gift for that special someone? Look no further, 'The Fever' has picked out a few favorites to make your holiday shopping a breeze.


Eco-Friendly Giant Mustache Pillow
$55.00
Available on etsy.com
Description: A giant twirly mustache pillow for your bed or couch or wherever you else you can dream up.







CD: Home For Christmas
Released October 3, 2006
Available on amazon.com









Single: Hall and Oates, Jingle Bell Rock
$5.00
Available on google.com/products/









Silver Album T-Shirt
$9.99 and up
Available on swag-city.com

M-E-T-H-O-D O-F L-O-V-E

"Method of Modern Love" is a single by the American duo Hall & Oates. It was released as the second single from their 1984 album, Big Bam Boom. The song reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1985.



Song Fun Facts
* Song is co-written by Janna Allen, sister of Hall’s long-term girlfriend, Sara. Janna said the phrase “it’s a method of modern love” to Hall and almost spontaneously they sang “m-e-t-h-o-d o-f l-o-v-e”.
* To achieve the percussion effect they were striving for, a Boy Scout’s water canteen was struck with a mallet in the song. It was later digitized through a Synclavier.
* The song was sampled for the hook of the song "Method Man" from the Wu-Tang Clan's 1993 album Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers.

Music Video Fun Facts
* Hall is wearing a shirt with Target artwork by Jasper Johns.
* In the background the number '555-5900' is on the billboard. 1-800-555-5900 will reach 'Wet N' Wild' splash park in Greensboro, NC.
* The drummer uses a toilet brush to play the drums.
* Hall has on leather fringe pants.
* Hall points at the moon to BECOME the man the moon.
* Oates does the sidestroke through cloud sequence at the end of the video. Sidestroke is helpful as a lifesaving technique and is often used for long-distance swimming. The sidestroke was first introduced as an Olympic event at the Summer games of the XIX Olympiad in 1968 held at Mexico City.

What is 'modern love' anyways?
Dating went from cavemen clubbing a suitable mate, arranged marriages, Victorian era courting, meeting at bars, video dating, to online dating or keeping up with significant others’ via web cams. What is modern love these days? Complicated.

Online Dating Stats
* 31% of adults in America say they know someone who has used an online dating service. (Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Report: Online Dating, March 2006)
* 40 million Americans use online dating services. That's about 40% of the adult American single population
* 48% of breakups in online relationships occur thru email.
* For singles who use dating sites, 33% form a relationship, 33% do not, and 33% give up on dating online.
* According to Hitwise, there are about 1,400 online dating sites in North America.

Song Lyrics
In the moonlite
Under startlite
Songs old as the night are what I've been dreaming of
Everybody's hard as iron
Locked in a modern world
Dreams are make of a different stuff
I believe love will always be the same
Ways and means are the parts subject to change
M-E-T-H-O-D-O-F-L-O-V-E
It's a method of modern love
I can call you
Got your number
Share my life with you a thousand miles away
If you've hurt me
I haven't shown it
Time's too tight to fight
And we're never face to face
Style is timeless and fashion's only now
We've got the ways no one needs to show us how

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Halloween '09 - Familiar Faces

The fever was rampant this Halloween. Coast to coast, stores were selling out of mullet wigs and dense mustaches. Below, some of our favorite Hall and Oates costumes.










Origin Story

This is a tale of how Daryl Hall and John Oates came to play such an integral role in life as we know it. By "we" I mean me and by "integral" I mean every moment of every day. No, in all seriousness, by "we" I mean the ever expanding cult of observant folks who recognize the awesomeness that Hall and Oates permeates in the fields of music and both intentional and unintentional comedy.

My friends and I like to credit ourselves with the H&O resurgence that has taken place over the last few years, and yes, there's been a resurgence. Maybe there are cliques like us all over the world who happened to stumble upon this beautiful thing at the same point and time. But maybe, my friends and I started a Gladwellian tipping point that has spilled over to the mainstream. It's complicated. On one hand Hall and Oates are the pop music giants who proved to be one of the most lucrative and exposed recording artists of the early 19080's. I can remember cruising around in my brothers Toyota Celica during this time period and providing background vocals as my brother sang lead to "Kiss on My List". They were as mainstream as it gets. On the other hand, when my friends and I would bring up H&O in the year 2005 to a group of our peers in a social setting......nothing but blank stares. We might has well have been talking up Richard Harris or Engelbert Humperdink.

So how did the love affair start? In 2004 I was working at an Enterprise Rent-a-car as a recent college grad with no career ambitions, (that's what student teaching will do for you). Anyway, As you might imagine, people leave a lot of crazy crap in rental cars all of which finds it's way into our lost in found. I would make a point to peruse the L&F drawer at least once a week to check for useful things. I can remember scoring a Heart CD and a dynamite bouncy ball in the past. On this day I opened the drawer and found "Rock and Soul Part I", the greatest hits of Daryl Hall and John Oates. I don't remember being euphoric about this find but I immediately snatched the CD and took it out to my car.

Over time the music seeped into our heads as I played it on a continuous loop in my Saturn's CD player. I can specifically remember John, Scotty, and I riding along one hungover Saturday morning on the way to retrieve their abandon downtown cars. John sat in the backseat as "She's Gone" played on the speakers. "This is incredible, who is this?" he wondered aloud. A monster was born that day as Hall and Oates MC'd countless drunken dance parties over the next few years. We soon found out that H&O really was the gift that keeps on giving. 40 years of wonderful songs, corny videos, hairstyles, and ensembles. Then the kicker, "What!! They're still touring?!" The rest is history we hope to recapture in this web log, everyone seems to have a H&O story. Trust me, they never disappoint.

Playboy: Hall & Oates - Band of the Year?

Playboy Magazine
December 2009 Issue
2009 Music Poll

Yes, you guessed it. Hall and Oates is up for Playboy's Music Hall of Fame. You can help by voting online. Of course, the featured song Playboy posted to their site is 'Private Eyes'...

Vote online here
.

Oates' Stache is Back - CBS, Sunday, 11.02.09

Homeslice: Pizza Eater

Saturday, November 14, 2009
1:30 pm CST

Welcome to Homeslice Pizza. Home of the... HALL AND OATES CHILDREN'S MENU!






















Utah vs. TCU OR Hall vs. Oates?

Saturday, November 14, 2009.
10:15 AM CST

It is game day. Coffee in hand. Non-widescreen television poised for pigskin fun. Holy shit. Is that Hall and Oates over Kirk Herbstreit's shoulder?

Thank god for our DVR, because this moment could have been a fleeting memory. Low and behold, above a 'New Jersey' sign, there hovers an ominous stache and two overteased, glorious noggins, H&O. Pointing at the TV as if to say, 'you're out of touch, and I'm out of time.'

What an excellent way to start off the day.