Monday - 1/23/12 

Springsteen's new single. David Lee Roth explains "Tattoo". Update on found Frampton guitar. Steven Tyler to team up with Carrie Underwood. Sleeping apart for better sex. Facebook friends. Working in retail sucks. How to date on FB.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

It turns out it's a good thing Bruce Springsteen's new single "We Take Care Of Our Own" isn't billed to the E Street Band -- because they're nowhere to be found on it. Although the track features wife Patti Scialfa and her longtime cohort Lisa Lowell on backing vocals, along with supplemental E Street-er Soozie Tyrell on violin, Springsteen himself handles vocals, guitars, banjo, piano, organ, drums, percussion, and loops with co-producer Ron Aniello supplying the guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, and loops. Strings are provided by the New York String Section.

As with some of his other songs -- most notably 1984's "Born In The U.S.A" -- the lyrics to "We Take Care Of Our Own" may read like a "love it or leave it"-styled nationalistic anthem, but a closer look at the words shows Springsteen delving a bit deeper into the modern American experience. Springsteen recalled how in the 1980's, "Born In The U.S.A." was almost co-opted by the precise people it was slamming: "I feel that I'm patriotic -- I'm not jingoistic. I felt that I had as much right to claim my own flag and my own country as Ronald Reagan -- who's views I disagreed with tremendously. Y'know, the Republicans were taking everything American and tried to make it theirs, y'know -- including me!"

VAN HALEN

Van Halen singer David Lee Roth has posted a video in which he takes several minutes to explain what the lyrics of "Tattoo," the band's new single, are about. The song is the first single taken from Van Halen's upcoming album, A Different Kind Of Truth, which is due out February 7th. Roth's handwritten lyrics for the tune have already been posted online by VHLinks.com.

Last week, Van Halen posted an acoustic performance of the band's cover of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" online via Yahoo.

That clip was taken from "The Downtown Sessions," a bonus DVD of four acoustic numbers that will be included with the deluxe edition of A Different Kind Of Truth. The other three tracks on the DVD are "Panama," "You and Your Blues" and "Beautiful Girls."  

A Different Kind Of Truth is the first Van Halen album in 13 years and first with singer David Lee Roth in 28 years.

Van Halen's 2012 tour kicks off on February 18th in Louisville, Kentucky. They'll be stopping in Houston on June 24th at the Toyota Center. Listen all week long from 7am to 7pm to win your tickets before you can even buy them. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, January 28th at 10am.

David Lee Roth explains the lyrics

PETER FRAMPTON

Peter Frampton posted an update on his recently recovered iconic "Black Beauty" Gibson Les Paul guitar. Thanks to two die-hard fans in the Caribbean and the Netherlands, Frampton was recently reunited with his legendary Frampton Comes Alive guitar -- 31 years after it went down in a cargo plane while bringing his gear to a show in Panama.

Frampton posted on his Facebook page:

My dear friend, Mike McGuire has been working on the at the Gibson custom shop. We are not changing the appearance just making it playable and cleaning it up a bit. There are some cracks in the headstock that need gluing and every screw hole has to be filled. I guess as screws were lost they looked in the kitchen drawer and said, "This'll do". The frets were in really bad shape mainly in 1st position. (Lots of C, F, G and E, A, D playing I guess. lol.) The great luthier, Joe Glaser, tenderly changed the frets for almost the same ones as were originally on the guitar. I must also thank my good buddies, Phil Bennet and Gordon Kennedy, for coming to the rescue with NOS guitar parts. Caps and pots etc. needed replacing. The electronics were shot but these time sensitive special pieces will be fantastic in bringing it back to it's old self.

I did finally speak with Marc Mariana, who actually gave me the guitar in the first place. I could hear him smiling on the other end of the phone. It's so great to be able to share this great news with him. I will be able to see him in CA during the upcoming tour.

We are documenting every stage of the guitar's convalescence with photos and video. It's the only reality show where you will ever find me! 

STEVEN TYLER

Steven Tyler and Carrie Underwood are teaming up for a special CMT Crossroads, which will air live the night before the Super Bowl. CMT Crossroads: Steven Tyler & Carrie Underwood Live From the Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam will air on February 4th at 11 p.m. ET.

Carrie and the Aerosmith frontman and American Idol judge teamed for the first time during last year's Academy of Country Music Awards, where they weaved together a performance of "Undo It" and "Walk This Way." 

CMT Crossroads will take place in front of an invitation-only audience at the Pepsi Coliseum in Indianapolis.

This is the second year CMT Crossroads will broadcast from the Super Bowl Fan Jam. The first took place with Faith Hill and The Pretenders. 

MORE COUPLES SLEEPING APART FOR BETTER SEX LIVES

More couples are reportedly sleeping apart -- in an effort to IMPROVE their relationship. Realistically, bedtime often becomes tumultuous for couples, because each person prefers a different temperature, one gets up in the middle of the night, one snore, etc. So the Daily Mail claims more are choosing to sleep apart, in separate rooms -- and it's improved their marriages and sex lives. One new adapter told the paper, "We have a healthy sex life. We can make love wherever and whenever the mood takes us, and taking sex out of the marital bed makes it more exciting. When we do make love in bed, it's usually in James's bed. We enjoy a cuddle and a chat afterwards, then I go off to my own room." (Daily Mail) 

DISTANT FACEBOOK FRIENDS HAVE BIGGEST AFFECT ON US

Facebook users generally have more friends online than they see in person -- meaning that collectively, these "distant" friends are more influential than a users' close friends. Writing on the Facebook blog, Eytan Bakshy of the site's data science team said that "Social networking technologies like Facebook let us connect to hundreds, even thousands of people - and have fundamentally changed how people get their information. We found that even though people are more likely to consume and share information that comes from close contacts that they interact with frequently, the vast majority of information comes from contacts that they interact with infrequently." Bakshy added that "distant contacts are also more likely to share novel information, demonstrating that social networks can act as a powerful medium for sharing new ideas, highlighting new products and discussing current events." (Facebook) 

WORKING IN RETAIL SUCKS: A recent study in New York City funded by Retail Action Project surveyed 436 nonunion retail employees and found the median salary to be $9.50 an hour. This includes workers from clothing stores, department stores, book stores, electronic stores and other retail outlets in every demographic from high-end shops on Fifth Avenue to discount stores on Fordham Road in the Bronx. The New York Times reported that in addition to receiving poverty level pay rates, only 30% receive health insurance and 20% have a set schedule every week. 20% of those surveyed also had to be available for call-in shifts. (NYTimes.com) 

TIPS FOR MEN FROM WOMEN: HOW TO DATE ON FACEBOOK (AskMen.com)

Clean Up Your Photos: Clean up any incriminating photos (or at least hide them). Sure you may have been joking around with your friends when you were motorboating that stripper, but you don't need to post a pic of it for all the world to see. I once had a friend of a friend try to ask me out on Facebook. He looked cute from his profile pic, but upon further examination, I realized he was a sex fiend. Or at least he presented himself as such on Facebook. Every other photo was a shirtless shot taken in front of the mirror or a photo of a half-naked female ass. He thought he was an art photographer; I thought he was a perv. Helmut Newton he was not. Keep the drunk pics, the one of you at the porn convention and any mirror self-portraits hidden. They definitely are not going to endear you to a woman. 

Clean Up Your Wall: Next, clean up your wall and be mindful of what you post. Case in point: A guy who I had been talking to in real life Facebook friended me. He was constantly posting comments about possibly hanging out with hot girls or scoping out bikini-clad chicks on the beach. He was hardly the player in real-life; in fact he was anything but, which is probably why he felt the need to talk about hot girls so much. Not only did he come across as immature, idiotic and almost brain-dead, but he also successfully turned me off. Save the bro banter for your friends. She doesn't want to hear about you getting wasted or picking up women anymore than you want to hear about the guy who hit on her last night. 

Make Friends: It almost goes without saying that the more friends you have, the more possible dating prospects you'll find. So become Facebook friends with as many people as humanely possible. Dig up those old classmate and colleagues from former jobs. After you've gone through all the names you can think of, use Friend Finder to import your email address book. You can also join alumni groups to find more people. 

Friends of Friends: Now that you've made friends with everyone you know from here to Zimbabwe, keep an eye on your news feed and see who your friends are posting photos of or are interacting with. Watch all the comments and likes that go back and forth. If someone catches your eye, leave a comment in response to hers, not just to your friend's original status update. Try to engage her in witty banter so she has a reason to comment back. You could also do the old-fashioned Facebook-creep thing and look at the profiles of your friends' friends, and then ask your friend for an introduction. Slightly stalkerish? Yes. But she never has to find out. If you handle it casually, no one will know any better. You could say something to your friend like, "Hey, I noticed your cute friend Amanda on your Facebook page. Do you think you could introduce us?" Simple, to the point and presented in a very non-creepy fashion. 

Send Her a Friend Request: If you've successfully commented back and forth, she will now know who you are and will be likely to accept your friend request. One thing is for sure: Don't poke her. You'll just seem like a weirdo, as this isn't fourth grade. (What is a poke anyway?) Now that you're friends, you can comment on her status updates and photos and IM her. If she seems open and friendly to your online advances, take it one step further and send her a message asking if she would like to go out sometime. 

Keep Your Dignity: If she doesn't respond, let it go and don't go all creepy and stalk her profile. When I broke it off with bikini-commenter after one too many second chances, he kept leaving comments on my wall every time I updated my status. When I started seeing someone else and he put a post about me being an angel fallen from heaven, I knew it was time for him to go. Now he was being a creepster. I unfriended him immediately. Game over.

Thanks for listening to The Eagle while you work. Keep it fabulous, Houston!

xoxo,

Jennifer Tyler

Fabulous Mid-day Diva