Tom Keifer - The Way Life Goes (2013)

The frontman from one of the '80s best (and underappreciated) "hair bands," Cinderella, finally released a solo record last year. This is, as far as I can tell, Tom Keifer's first release of new songs since the band last released an album in 1994; this gulf is partly because Keifer's voice has finally recovered after years of issues with his vocal chords.  

History:  Cinderella passed the "eye test" as a hair band, but their music was far more a blues-rock effort than their peers in the genre.  I saw him on That Metal Show with a guitar, no band, and figured this album would be a blues-y, folk-y, one-man-acoustical-jam-with-occasional-screaming, introspective comeback.

Wrong.

It's a full-on rocker from the get-go -- think Cinderella 2.0.  The first track, "Solid Ground," makes it clear immediately that this is a two guitar, bass, keyboard, and drum attack.  Despite his past vocal issues, Keifer can still hit the high notes, although the lower range shows some signs of wear and tear.

Tom Keifer - "Solid Ground"

Other highlights:  "It's Not Enough" grooves, shimmies, and shines through a blues wave.  "Cold Day in Hell," "Fool's Paradise," "Babylon," and "Mood Elevator" are all plus tunes.  In all honesty, there isn't a dud on the album.

It's an easy listen, but holds enough edge and challenge to ensure you'll be back for more.  I'm not the first to say it, but that don't mean it ain't the truth:  this may be the best album of his career. (Which is saying something, I know.) Whether you are jumping back on board or getting on the train for the first time, this is definitely worth listening to.

CD Placement rating:  Car iPod. 

- Snilch

NCAA Conference Tournament Viewing: Why You Should Root for the Favorites

For many of you, this will be the first time you have watched college hoops since last year.  For others, sadly, that time has not yet arisen.

So here is my advice for you all:  as you watch these smaller Tournaments, root for the favorite.  Every favorite.

This goes against the grain of the natural instinct we all have as fans:  seeing the Cinderella story, the impossible dream, the buzzer beater that gets the ugly kid into the big dance.  But the fact is that if every regular season conference champion won their tournament, the four play-in games would all feature 20+win teams (as opposed to the 20 LOSS Liberty team that has already qualified this year), and the back-end of the field would be much, much deeper.  And we’d still consider them Cinderellas, as who would expect a team from the Atlantic Sun or Big South to do anything anyways?

To me, this is the logical path towards a 16 beating a 1:  when a senior-laden squad from some tiny school that would typically be a 15 or 14 seed gets shoved back to 16, because the upsets by lower ranked teams in conference tourneys don’t happen.

My final point:  we don’t remember the thrilling conference tourney buzzer-beaters from years.  We do remember Tournament buzzer-beaters.

There are some exceptions, obviously.  Seeing chaos in the larger tournaments is a lot of fun, especially as upsets of the bigger teams does not take them out of a bid.  And if you have a rooting interest in a smaller school; self-interest wins out, obviously.

But in all other cases:  in one-bid leagues, hope the better seed wins.  It’ll make the real Tourney that much better, and Cinderella will still be attending in any case.  She'll just be tougher to get into the carriage at the end of the night.

- Snilch