I'll Have the Cuba Libre With My Breakfast, Please

Back in a past life, I used to have to wear a uniform and sometimes Uncle Sam would order me to go to Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico for periods of time to do cool military stuff. Trust me, Puerto Rico isn't the most difficult of assignments a young airman can receive. I really had a great time whenever I went and I'm surprised I survived each trip relatively unscathed. Yes there was danger involved with the "cool military stuff", but the real danger was the super cheap bottles of Puerto Rican rum and how easily it poured down my throat. I remember one morning, after a long night of clubbing, my buddies and I decided to get some breakfast. We sit down at an outdoor bistro/breakfast booth kind of thing and on the menu was the typical Puerto Rican breakfast fare. I think I got eggs with ham, some damn good local bread and fruit. When asked what to drink I look up at the menu and I notice cuba libre was cheaper than orange juice. For those of you not in the know, a cuba libre is basically a glass full of white rum with a splash of coke to change the color slightly and a lemon or lime wedge. So, being a broke airman, trying to save all the money I could, I got the cuba libre, of course. Good times.

The whole conversation about Puerto Rico was supposed to be a segue for the competitive reality show, "The Sing-Off". Before I get started, I'm not really a big fan of these types of shows. It isn't that I don't like them because I've watched the very first season of "American Idol" as well as "America's Best Dance Crew". My buddy, Dusty, is a big fan of "So You Think You Can Dance" and she's shown me some really cool stuff from that show (in fact, she just blogged about it). So, I do watch those types of shows, but the real problem I have with them is they take too long to get to the end. There are like 20 contestants and they slowly whittle them down one-by-one until you reach the climactic finale. So, I find myself not watching it until they get to the last few episodes.

"The Sing-Off" is a little different because the show started on Tuesday with 8 groups and by Thursday they had it narrowed down to the 3 finalists. The voting lines are open and they'll announce the winner on Monday. Yes, a competitive reality show that is only a week long...PERFECT! Anyway, the premise of the show is groups sing songs sans instruments...all a cappella. Yes, most of the groups remind me of glee clubs, but there is one in particular that owns the competition. The group is Nota and they're from Puerto Rico...enjoy:




Finally, how in the hell do you do an a cappella version of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"? Like this: