Hello Folks...

Hello there fellow Lazy Eyed Girlers. I’m Mr. Jibbers. I’m going to be writing about music and other fun stuff for this “blog” that all the kids are going so crazy over. First, a little about who Mr. Jibbers is.

Well, to start off, I am NOT Paul Shirley. Not trying to pick on the dude too much here, so let me give you a little background here. I don’t read many blogs about music. Usually, I just take a few bong rips and try to figure out what Bootsy Collins was doing on the bass on that one James Brown recording instead. So, when your friend and mine, Halfacrian Canadian, asked me to write a little bit about music, all that bubbled up in my head was that one Paul Shirley article. If you are part of our target demographic of 16-35 year old males who hit the refresh button on ESPN.com every five minutes, you may be familiar with Mr. Shirley’s work. A basketball player who has on opinion on music and pop culture? How trite! I’ll start you kind folks off with this little ditty:

I can appreciate The Beatles' contribution to the world of music; I can recognize their influence on Oasis, on Guns 'N' Roses, on White Lies. But if I hold their records up to the records of those bands and listen to them -- listening only for musicality and entertainment value -- I will never come away saying, "OK, 'Abbey Road' is better." I might be able to say that it was ahead of its time, or that it was groundbreaking work. But because I wasn't there, and because I couldn't give a damn about the mythology of The Beatles

Oh man, so many red flags popped up in my head when I re-read this paragraph, much less the whole article. Lets just dig in, shall we? First off, I had to look up who exactly White Lies were. Now, I will admit that I do not stay as up on all the contemporary alternative white boy bands as well as people like Paul Shirley do. But, my ignorance of the genre aside, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!?! I don’t think you could even come up with a list of songs from all of the bands that Shirley mentions that even comes close to anything on Abbey Road, much less the whole Beatles discography. OASIS???? The most “entertaining” thing about them is how those two little Brit brothers just cannot seem to get along. “Wonderwall” was decent enough song, but over anything on Abbey Road? Does not pass the smell test. Let’s continue:

Much like a novelist or musician, I'll learn which argument worked and which argument didn't. By the time I draw my last ragged breath, I'm sure I'll have figured out something more about the right way to argue about music.

At this point, Shirley does us a favor by telling us who he really is. He, in his own words, is NOT a musician. In my own half-baked opinion, 95% of musicians probably appreciate the Beatles more then Mr. Shirley does. People who know things about music, unlike Mr. Shriley, can draw entertainment from the Beatles. Hopefully, by the time he draws his "last ragged breath", Mr. Shirley will have learned to appreciate the Beatles a little more. I do not really care all that much about Paul Shirley. Journeymen NBA players that cannot hook on with any teams do not tend to hold my interest for all that long. My only problem with this dude is that he has been given the platform to spout this drivel to the whole world wide web. So, in the coming months, I will be talking about good music that interests me. Those of you who share Paul Shriley's opinion of the Beatles will probably not be enjoying my writing. Plan accordingly. Until next time, Jibbers out.