Name: Natalie Location: New England, United States
I'm older than I care to accept, so I refuse to act my age.
Comment policy: Any and all comments accepted, but if you spam, your comment will go "bam."
About the Music:
All mp3 files are for sampling, but if you like the artist, please go buy their work! I include links, but you can hit up your local merchants, too!
What, That's Not Enough?
I'm home, on the mend, and thankful for all the good juju. Surgery was swift, recovery is fairly painless, and I look forward to eating a slice of pizza in a couple of weeks (and I won't be in pain after eating!) YAY!
...Do you know what pancreatitis is? I'll tell ya what, it's freaking painful. I went to the ER on Tuesday, and just returned home. Now I'm going to bed, since getting sleep in hospitals is like getting something smart out of Dubya's mouth.
Anyway, I go back in on Friday for gall bladder removal. I'll let you know how it goes.
When last we visited Helen Gardom'sHow To Marry The Perfect Man, she told us that the aim of every true woman was to marry! Now, in Chapter 2, she helps us pick that perfect guy out of the crowd. Sure, it's too late for some of us, but we could always help out our daughters and single friends. I'm sure they'll thank us for such brilliant insight. Let's see what our expert says!
This is kind of scary: the further I get in this book, the more I see real bits of wisdom amid the archaic thought. That's it. I have become my mother.
The Bee Gees - Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You Nearly a decade before they caused perfectly normal people to gyrate under mirrored disco balls, The Bee Gees released a perfectly cool psychedelic record, and it was their debut Polydor album, Bee Gees 1st. This gem is often overlooked, simply because the band became synonymous with white suits, medallions, and Saturday Night Fever. It's worth a visit, though, because the earlier Bee Gees offerings were really good rock records. No, really.
Cover of Bee Gees 1st screams psychedelia. And who are those other guys?
This song carries the signature Bee Gees harmonies, but there's a darkly weird chant opening the song that just creeped out my kid. Really, he yelled from the other room, "Mom, could you turn that off, it's scaring me!" (Obviously, he never saw the Gibb brothers in their white disco suits, since that would really scare the bejesus out of him.)
Anyway, enjoy the trippy Bee Gees. I have no argument with their disco-era tunes, since they really did produce the cream of the crop, and I liked those songs, even back then when I was all "death to disco."
I cracked up when I read the allmusic review of their 1975 album, Main Course. The reviewer says Main Course was "the group's first disco album -- and, for many white listeners, the first disco album they ever purchased." Guilty! But, hey, it's one of the only ones I purchased, too, unless you count those Earth, Wind, & Fire and Ohio Players records. And the one Donna Summer.
This week, The Music Memoirs' chosen theme is Top 5 Songs Of the 60's. If you're a longtime reader, you can probably figure out that that's my favorite era of rock music, and many of my favorite songs are from that time. Now, I don't want to sound like a broken record, always picking the same songs over and over, so here are five pop songs I loved during the 60's, and used to wait to hear on my AM transistor radio. They aren't necessarily my top 5 now, but I still love every one of these. Besides, you already know my favorite song ever is In My Life, right? So, on with the countdown!
Tommy James & The Shondells - I Think We're Alone Now - My childhood friend, Patty, and I used to sing this on the school bus, and we had this goofy dance we did with only our arms, since we were sitting. If you can imagine Elaine's weird dance on Seinfeld, it was sort of like that. And when it gets to the "beating of our heart is the only sound" part at the 1:40 mark, we used to thump our chests in time to the heartbeat. I'm sure the other kids on the bus had a blast with that one.
The Beatles- She Loves You- I may have mentioned before that I had several older female cousins who were certified Beatle freaks, which is what we called them back then. I remember one party at my Uncle Don's place when we were all out on his driveway and the girls had their transistor radios all tuned in to the same station, so when this song came on, they all cranked the radios and broke out into spontaneous dancing (the Frug or something?) and screaming. I was a Beatle fan from that moment on.
The Turtles - Happy Together- Sends me into some totally blissful pop place. And I even love the Zappa performance on his Filmore East album.
Paul Revere And The Raiders - Hungry - The Raiders had a tv show, I think it was on every day? I had a huge crush on Mark Lindsay, so I would tune in when I could get my siblings away from the cartoons, just to catch a glimpse of him in that puffy shirt and the red tights.
The Monkees - I'm A Believer - I didn't have to beg my dad to buy The Monkees album when the show became my favorite, since he was a music nut and seemed to like The Monkees show. He would play it on that big-assed wooden hi-fi over and over for me. I'd sing and dance around like a fool, and I knew the words to every song. This one was my favorite, and I loved Mickey Dolenz. Can you believe he just turned 63?
Some stupid, some not. And do I skew things in a certain direction? Unashamedly, I do, and I don't care.
1. "I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."-- George Bush
2. "The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should. I’ve got Greenspan’s book." -- John McCain
3. "Speak softly and carry a big stick.” --Teddy Roosevelt (They don't make 'em like that anymore.)
4. "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.” -- John McCain
5. “It did take a Clinton to clean after the first Bush and I think it might take another one to clean up after the second Bush.” - -Hillary Clinton
6. “But don’t you realize, that’s where I sail.”-- Ted Kennedy, opposing Cape Wind, a proposed wind farm off Nantucket Sound. Another rich bastard proclaiming NIMBY.
7. “Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure.”-- Abraham Lincoln
8. "You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." -- George W. Bush, to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005. This one's a classic.
9. "Those who survived the San Francisco earthquake said, 'Thank God, I'm still alive.' But, of course, those who died, their lives will never be the same again." -- Sen. Barbara Boxer
10. "To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say, Don't be economic girlie men!" –Arnold Schwarzenegger, at the Republican convention
11. "They say I need to be seasoned; they say I need to be stewed. They say, 'We need to boil all the hope out of him -- like us -- and then he'll be ready.'"--Barack Obama
12. "I mean think about it, Rudy Giuliani, there's only three things he mentions in a sentence -- a noun and a verb and 9/11 and I mean, there's nothing else." -- Joe Biden
13. "F**k you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room." --John McCain, to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), debating immigration legislation.
Word association again. Can you guess the theme? Remember it could be a song or a band or an album, whatever you think of first when you see these ten words. Are you ready? Go! Green: Beer: Harp: Irish: Celtic: Gold: Luck: March: Folk: Stone: Mine are: Green: Green River - Creedence Clearwater Revival Beer: In Heaven There Is No Beer Harp: Joanna Newsom - she plays it Irish: U2 Celtic: Celtic Woman Gold: Heart of Gold - Neil Young Luck: Lucky Boy - Matt Nathanson March: Ants Marching - Dave Matthews Band Folk: Pete Seeger Stone: And It Stoned Me - Van Morrison Tell me yours in the comments, if you want to play along.
Scott at My Thermos is keeping this thing going (his last one was a best of Chicago,) so I'm taking a turn to add my favorites from the Warren Zevon discography. And, by the way, that's my favorite Zevon picture, too. You can see the snark all over his face.
These are in no particular order:
Those Incredible Stories: These pretty much explain themselves. Warren could paint a vivid word picture, and these are the best. Werewolves Of London Roland, The Headless Thompson Gunner Boom Boom Mancini Porcelain Monkey
Snarky Classics: His genius at work, with an evil grin. Lawyers, Guns, And Money Excitable Boy Splendid Isolation Poor, Poor Pitiful Me Life'll Kill Ya
The Softer Side: You can see glimpses inside his heart in each of these. Keep Me In Your Heart - This is from his final album, and he asks family, friends, and fans to keep him in our hearts for awhile. I still do. Reconsider Me - Tenderness On The Block Hasten Down The Wind Mutineer - On his final appearance on his pal Dave Letterman's show, he performed this song. I cried right through it. (You can find Warren singing this on YouTube, but I just can't watch it right now. If you go to the 4:01 point on the clip, he sings Mutineer.)
Not only did we have crappy weather over the weekend, here in the US, we had to set our clocks ahead and lose an hour of sleep in the wee hours of Sunday. I was just getting used to waking up with the sun peeping through my window, and now I'm back to stumbling in the dark.
I need to laugh.
Hopefully, this set will help:
Flight Of The Conchords - Beautiful Girl (Part-Time Model) - From their Grammy-winning EP, The Distant Future.
Tenacious D - Wonderboy - Just because Jack Black is one of the funniest people on the planet.
Weird Al Yankovic - You're Pitiful - Come on, I can't do a funny music podcast without this guy, and I love that he is poking fun at that sappy James Blunt song.
Barnes & Barnes - Fish Heads- I'm finishing off the set with two classics from my Dr. Demento years. I don't know where to find his show anymore, but I do have a couple of cds. Anyway, one of the Barnes in this band is Bill Mumy, who was also known to me as Will Robinson from the tv show Lost In Space, back in the 60's.
Julie Brown - The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun - Everybody run! This one had a video that was quite popular on MTV back in the day (and can still be seen at YouTube, of course). I still crack up when she gets to the "I ran down, and I said, in her good ear," part.
I've been receiving flood warning emails for the past 2 days, since we are supposed to get hit with 2-3 inches of rain this afternoon. Kiddo's scout troop is going ahead with their camping plans out West (MA, that is.)
Now, if women ran things, we'd be canceling this trip in a heartbeat. You can't plug in a hair dryer when there's standing water, now, can you? The men? No, we're scouts, we push on. We love rain. We eat rain. Bring it on.
I'll be in a hotel, laughing at the men idiots sleeping in tents in torrential rains and gusting winds. Luckily, the kids get to bunk in cabins. Oh, and I'm spending the day at the mall, whilst they learn knots and what not.
Top 5 "Dreaming" Songs (song with dream in the title...about dreaming...make you dream etc)\
Aerosmith - Dream On - And nowadays that lyric "all these lines in my face getting clearer" really means something to me.
Fleetwood Mac - Dreams - I love Stevie's vocal and Lindsey's whiney guitar, even though "thunder only happens when it's rainin'" is kind of stupid.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - All I Have To Do Is Dream - It's a cover of an Every Brothers tune, but I love the way NGDB countrifies it with banjo. And Teddy Jack Eddy is playin' drums ever so lightly. What, you don't know who Teddy Jack Eddy is? Well, when he does movies, he's called Gary Busey.
The Mamas & The Papas - California Dreamin' - Duh, one of the best pop songs ever.
John Lennon - #9 Dream - It's from Walls And Bridges, which isn't one of my top Lennon albums, but there are high points, including this song.
Every time I hear this song in the car, I can't help thinking it has to be the stupidest song ever. Forget We Built This City, this one trumps it for stupid.
It's been, it's been, it's been, it's been su-su-such a long time, long time, long time since anybody touched me, touched me, touched me the way that you touch me So if I stutter, stutter, stutter and I feel so so so unsexy so maybe I'll just keep my mouth shut at least until you kiss me
[Chorus:]So kiss me again Cause only you can stop this stut-stut-stut-stuttering Kiss me again And ease my su-su su-su su-su s-su-s-suffering
Those lyrics just irk the hell out of me, and the way the guy sings "su-su, su-su, su-su, suffering," is cloying. I just want to say "st-st-stop s-s-singing, y-y-you i-i-i-i-idiot," and gouge his eyes out with a broken cd.
But... I can't stop listening to it. It's even in some gum commercial now. I have to hear it again. Is this like when there's a baby so ugly it's cute?
According to this, we Americans love our cell phones much more than we love our landline phones.
Duh. That big thing won't fit in my purse, would make a huge bulge in my jeans pocket, and the cord won't even stretch as far as the garage. I'm not ditching the landline, though, as some have done. I just like having one, knowing how easy it would be to take down the cell systems in emergencies. How 'bout you?
Pardon the PDA everyone, but today we celebrate our 25th anniversary and K is several hundred miles away in Virginia.
Fort Huachuca, AZ 1982 - Before we got married. San Diego, 1983 - Our unofficial wedding photo, since we eloped. San Diego, 1983 - A Petty Officer and a Captain.
Ipswich MA - 1989 - At a New England clambake.
Destin FL, 2002 - Enjoying a vacation.
Leominster MA, 2003 - The Kilted One and me at Burns night.
Natick MA, August, 2007 - With our boys, the night before C left for Orlando
Salem NH - September, 2007 - Family Day at Canobie Lake
Disney World, December 2007 - Cozy on Christmas Eve
Happy Anniversary, Honey. Here's to 25 more happy years, and lots of better pictures!
When we last visited How To Marry The Perfect Man, I introduced you to the old way of thinking, as presented by our expert, Helen Gardom. All I can say after reading further is, no wonder our grandmothers and mothers were screwed up!
Chapter I - Why Marry?
Helen Gardom, please tell me you never procreated with The Perfect Man to parent The Perfect Kid. And if you did, which sixties radical was your offspring?
I thought it was high time I started featuring early prog and metal in addition to psych rock. Those genres were born from the experimentation of psychedelia, so it seemed like a logical extension of my psychedelic theme, and it gives me the opportunity to shake things up from time to time.
With a name like Atomic Rooster, you might get the idea that this is a psychedelic rock band anyway, sort of like Strawberry Alarm Clock. Make no mistake, this Rooster was crowing to a different tune. Atomic Rooster, formed by Vincent Crane and Carl Palmer in 1969, was one of the premier English heavy metal/prog rock bands. Crane and Palmer had previously been members of The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, who had a huge hit in 1968 with Fire. That's Crane on the badass Hammond organ part in that song. Palmer didn't stick with Rooster for long, since he went off to drumming fame with Keith Emerson and Greg Lake in their little prog outfit, and was replaced by Paul Hammond. Crane added John Du Cann on guitar, as well, to deepen the band's guitar sound.
I found this little gem of a song in a compilation in Mojo Magazine late last year,Heavy Nuggets, which has been lots of fun to explore. This Atomic Rooster cut was pulled from an anthology of lives, rares, and B-sides, Atomic Rooster: The First 10 Explosive Years.
If you're not a huge prog fan, worry not. This song leans more toward the heavy metal sound. In fact, it reminds me of Deep Purple or of one of the songs from the Heavy Metal soundtrack, which hubby and I played ad nauseum on the car cassette player back in the day. I love the heavy-handed organ in the song, which, when accompanied by the sinister vocals, give this song that dark metal bent.
bravenet.com
