As everyone knows, and if you don’t then read up, our greenish villain was in the process of ruining the Yuletide when who should appear?  Little Cindy-Lou Who, no more than two, that needed a cup of cold water to help her sleep.  Thanks to Cindy-Lou’s insatiable need to hydrate herself, she foils the Grinch’s plan and pretty much guilts him into bringing back everything he stole and helping with dinner.  I know I took a few liberties back there, but you catch my drift, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Well, that is until little Cindy-Lou grew up, realized Whoville wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and couldn’t hold the attention of a precocious twenty-something, so she moved all the way out to Los Angeles and wrote a song about it.  Ok, so I took some liberties back there,, too but that is the premise for this little ditty by New Jersey’s own Laura Warshauer.

In the song Cindy-Lou has grown up and she misses Mr. Grinch around this time of year and she’ll always love him and hold a spot in her heart for him.  The song is by no means a creepy tune; rather, it is an interesting take on a classic story.  Warshauer was the recipient of BMI’s and the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame’s “Holly Prize”, named after Buddy Holly and awarded to one singer/songwriter each year, which is a high honor to be bestowed.  Her voice floats over the guitar while her clever tune plays out and it starts to make sense how she was awarded this prize.

If you happen to be looking for something a little different this year for your holiday music collection, you can find her tune in a few places to stream, download or view a quick video.  Don’t be a Grinch and give this one a spin, you’ll be surprised.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD “I LOVE YOU MR. GRINCH”: http://download.themusebox.net/laura_warshauer/i_love_you_mr_grinch.mp3

WATCH THE “I LOVE YOU MR. GRINCH” VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTaw7WRTrkI&feature=channel_video_title

(Photo: U.S. Marine Corps)

Had she not left the label, Grannis might have been a household name by now, but her work might also have been altered to sound like something Grannis isn’t. Despite leaving the label, Grannis has developed quite a following on YouTube. Her videos have received nearly 80 million views to date. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out her video for “In Your Arms.” Seriously, it deserves to be watched. Not convinced? Here are some numbers about what went into the video:

• 22 months (1,357 hours of work)
• 30 people
• 1 still camera
• 288,000 jelly beans

The video had earned a seemingly huge one million views just three days after its initial release on YouTube. However, unlike Rebecca Black’s “Friday” video, the attention on Grannis’ video is already dying down, which is a real shame. It’s easy to imagine that if this video had been a cover-of-Billboard top 100 hit, it would have more views right now. Though Grannis has gained moderate popularity through YouTube, her original songs do not attract a large enough audience to give “In Your Arms” the attention it deserves.

I give Grannis and her team some major kudos for this video, but almost wish that some mainstream artist was featured in this video, so it would garner more views, to make the effort that went into it worth it. Frankly, the track “In Your Arms” by itself is nothing special. After watching the video, I was left thinking about jelly beans instead of about the song’s melody or chorus. That’s both a credit to the video and a discredit to the music. Both “Message From Your Heart” and “In Your Arms” are singles from Grannis’ 2010 album Stairwells. On the whole, Stairwells is a quite “friendly” album. One might even call it a female Jack Johnson-esque sound. It’s nice. However, just “nice” doesn’t quite make the cut. I’ll keep checking in on the videos that Grannis posts on YouTube, but I think I’ll leave the album on the shelves from now on.

Afraid of Everest is actually a one-man band. The band name was something he made up randomly, because he is afraid of heights. His name is Gerald Ko. He works as a pharmacist, and the only thing he reveals about his age is that he’s too old to audition for American Idol (which does not allow contestants to audition if they are over 28 years old), though he looks much younger. You can find him most readily on Youtube when you search for his account name singindork888, a name he chose simply because “singing dork” was the first thought that popped into his head when he watched the first video he had recorded of himself. It seems he lacks a bit of confidence in his own music, but his videos continue to astound me.

He has done many covers, ranging from Jeff Buckley‘s “Hallelujah” to the Wondergirls‘ “Nobody.” However, not only does he do a great job covering other artists, but he has also posted an impressive number of original songs, which I enjoy listening to just as much if not more than his covers of other songs. One of his most-viewed originals is called “We Are Legend,” which he wrote after having watched Twilight. Gerald has a beautiful voice and the skills on the guitar to provide perfect accompaniment for himself. His own modesty is as sweet as his voice, and I hope he continues singing and posting on Youtube for many years to come.

Those two words are not only the best way to express your feelings in the scenario above, they are also the title to Cee Lo’s newest single off of his forth coming album The Lady Killer.  Finally a pop song that tells it like it really is: I can’t believe you left me, if I had more money you’d stay, I still love you,  I’m happy you’re happy but really I hate you.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, there have been a ton of break up songs–I’ve heard too many of them, but this one lays them all to waste.  The chorus cuts in like a knife and you really can’t help but want to dance a little bit.

The other half that most people can’t get beyond is the use of vulgarity in the title.  Be honest though; you’re just angry that you didn’t think of it first, I know I am.  The best songs, or art for that matter, are the kind that people can really identify with.  Can you really relate to someone singing about owning five jets, 11 houses and a golden toilet?  Can you relate to someone singing about their heart being ripped out and finally being the better person in the end?  Of course you can, which is why this song is amazing.  If you are over 18 and have a YouTube account I suggest checking this song out and really giving it a chance.

VEVO is a partnership between the Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and the Abu Dhabi Media Company. Artists working within any of these music companies have their music videos exclusively featured on VEVO. Other companies including EMI Music, ABKCO, Beggars Group, Big Machine Records, Concord Music Group, Hollywood Records, Lyric Street Records, Walt Disney Records, and CBS Interactive Music Group, among many more, almost use VEVO to distribute their videos.

Basically, it seems like VEVO is a way for these big music companies to get their music out without it “just” being on Youtube. It is their way of making sure that their music and video gets onto the Web in a controlled manner, without some random person posting it. This is something I’m actually completely okay with too, because the videos are of high, or what they call “premium” quality, without any extra hassle on Youtube. In fact, VEVO reduces the chance that I’ll stumble upon a fake video and waste time looking for the artist’s legitimate music video.

Youtube is great, but it can be overwhelming if you’re not interested in the comedies and other videos that people have posted. If you look for videos directly through VEVO, instead of Youtube, you can guarantee that you will be getting only top quality music videos. You can even make a playlist of these videos, just like on Youtube. It’s like your own personal MTV channel, or at least what MTV was like in the past. In addition to that, I especially like the layout of VEVO, and actually find it more appealing than Youtube, especially when trying to find an artist by genre.

Thus, if you are purely interested in watching new music videos streamed in high quality, VEVO is superb and more apt to help you find what you are seeking.

Being sick of the same old stuff, I discovered thesixtyone and started on my musical adventure. The interface of the site just recently changed, so I still am getting used to it, but it is actually pretty fun to use. All you really need when you are using this website is the album or the band, and then you have a few menus that pull out when you hover over areas that allow you to navigate. These toolbars allow you to skip the song, save the song to a playlist, “heart” the song, and more. There are a few things about this interface that I do not enjoy, such as how last time you could simply “save” songs while now you have to save them to playlists that have a maximum capacity of 10 songs. Another odd thing about this interface is that you cannot look at a list of songs to chose from; while you can search for a particular artist, you cannot see a list of the top X songs or so and choose from there.

The cool thing about thesixtyone is that it is a place for new artists, and then it is the listeners who decide what’s good. The more hearts and saves a song gets, the more popular it becomes, and the more well known the artist becomes. They claim to be “nurturing a growing ecosystem where talented folks can sell songs and merchandise directly to their fans.” On thesixtyone artists can make at least $7 per album and are paid every 30 days– that’s  a lot of money in comparison to the standard $1-2 per album.

They’re named after Highway 61– “The road by which people left their homes to take their music to the world.”

First, your public library is a good start.  Going through their music to find new albums, or just stuff that is new to you, is a great place to discover things.  You can skim a few magazines like Rolling Stone or Spin, but if you can get a hold of Paste, or other independent magazines you’ll get a better sampling of music.

I mentioned radio, which isn’t always bad, they just frontload a lot of over-hyped junk at times.  Try NPR online. You may not like talk radio, however, they do showcase a lot of up and coming bands that would otherwise not get any other radio play.

Find a critic that shares the same taste in music as you and keep up with what they review.  Even music blogs aren’t bad, but you have to be careful of heavy bias.  I like using Allmusic.com to get information about a band and see what influenced them.  The site is pretty easy to navigate and easy to get lost in for hours.

Finally, a local record store is a good place also.  I always give album advice to people when I go out: yes, I am that guy.  While you’re there pick up a compilation to hear some new stuff you might not have found before.  I stay away from tribute albums, since I want original material.

I hope this helps, and if you have suggestions, let me know.

One of my favorite features about Grooveshark is that it allows you to quickly create a playlist. You simply search for the track titles or artists that you like, select the names, and they pop into your playlist. You can drag the songs, conveniently displayed by their album covers, to different spots on the playlist, or you can choose to have them be “shuffled” as they’re played. If you don’t want a song to be played, you simply can delete it, or if you want to start from scratch, you can do that as well. Once you come up with a playlist you love, if you create a free account, you can save the playlist and make another one.

Another great feature is the Grooveshark Radio. The Grooveshark Radio looks at your preferences and selects new songs to add to your playlist that the program thinks you might enjoy. If you especially like the song, you can mark it with a smiley face, or if you don’t like it, you can ex it out and it’ll find something new for you. I like the Grooveshark Radio, because one easily can add in a song choice while continuously allowing the radio to make more suggestions.

Grooveshark also has a list of popular songs, so if you’re absolutely too lazy to make your own playlist, you can use a previously made one. Sometimes, I like to simply search for an artist that I like, then I select “Play All”, which causes every song by the artist to jump onto my playlist.

I’ve never used a program for listening to music that is easier than Grooveshark. There hasn’t been a song that I have searched for that Grooveshark hasn’t had. The layout is fantastic, and you even can choose your own themes. If you haven’t yet seen it, I’d definitely recommend that you try Grooveshark today!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.