Today is Blog Action Day. Yes, yes it is. This is Yoda’s little drop in the bucket. Yes yes it is. I think I’m beginning to sound a bit like Matt Pond when I write– yes, yes I am.

My little attempt to help green our planet, I suggest that everybody try taking a little vacation from their cars, and put some public transportation or muscle mass (aka ride a bicycle!) to use. If you need help or information on how, or why, try visiting the Transportation Alternatives site. Not only will you feel better, but the world will feel better. Which, you know, means that in the long run, we’ll all feel better! And feeling better is good.

Fellow blogger Anja Merret has some interesting things to say. What strikes me in particular is her vow to attempt a more “paperless” office. As someone who spends a large amount of time in an office environment each week, it amazes me the amount of paper saved by this little thing called email. If we all made a concentrated effort to print only what we needed to, to recycle scratch paper, and to make use of digital recordings (ie using highrise to take messages, or using basecamp instead of interoffice memos) we could probably save millions of trees. That’s a lot of air– so we can continue to take deep breathes and calm ourselves down, from all the stresses of life.

So, I’ll admit it, the whole point of this post is to establish that not only do I LOVE the Gray Kid, but that I knew about him and loved him WAY before any of you did. That’s right. I’m in on it. And…now you can be too.

Gray Kid (aka Steve Cooper) used to sing in this band called The Spark from back home in good ol Washington DC. While he was in this band he also happened to be a substitute teacher in one of my classes. Instead of taking attendance in any classic way, he had everyone write down their email addresses so he could add it to his band’s mailing list. Classy. A year or two after that I bumped into him at the mall, where all the true suburban kids always end up. A year or two after that, I remembered my smokin’ hot substitute and wondered what he was up to.

Welcome Google. And personal websites.

The Gray Kid has come a long way. In the two years since I found his new musical incarnation, he has more or less exploded. His parody video of Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack”, remade as Gray Kid’s “PaxilBack” was on the front page of youtube for days, and garnered him a mention in Rolling Stone Magazine.

Gray Kid produces all his own beats, and collaborates a lot with Daniel Stessen. His myspace always includes key tracks as well as photos from his latest shows and promotional material. He makes me wanna dance. He makes me wanna swoon. He makes me think I’m cool because I like him.

He’s bringing sex— er, I mean PAXIL back…go listen to him. NOW.

For a limited time, you may stream the entire new cover album “From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II” on New Found Glory’s myspace page. Set to drop on the 18th, I dare to say this album will do very very well. A follow up to the original “From the Screen to Your Stereo” the featured guest vocalist list on Part II reads like a whos who of the current mainstream radio scene. Singers include- Adam Lazarra of Taking Back Sunday, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, Chris Carraba of Dashboard Confessional, Sheri Gilbert and Sheree Dupree of Eisley, Will Pugh of Cartel, Max Bemis of Say Anything, and Lisa Loeb. This veritable all star cast combines vocal talents with NFG on a number of tracks including standouts King of Wishful Thinking from Pretty Woman, Love Fool from Romeo and Juliet, and Kiss Me from She’s All That.

There’s really not too much for me to say except that I’ve spent the last two days on myspace streaming this album again and again. There’s something so fun about cover songs. If you’re a fan of NFG, you’ll dig the cd. If you’re a fan of the original songs, you’ll probably dig the covers. If you don’t dig it, well. Then I guess you don’t. But at least give it a fair chance. Just a bunch of friends getting together to sing songs they like from movies. Man, sometimes I really wish I could sing well. Or at least not terribly. Until then, I’ll sing along (out of tune, out of key, and a beat behind) to these fantastic covers!