Monday, July 30, 2012

You're So Fine You Blow My Mind

OK, so truth be told this is not the song that I woke up with this morning. The real earworm of the day was Who Will Buy? from the musical Oliver! I have no idea why it was there or from whence it came, but the sad fact for most of the folks who read this is that you all hate on the show tunes and the big dance numbers, so anything clever I had to say about this song/show would just go right over all your hateful heads. So I'm going with the runner up that I heard on the radio earlier, Toni Basil's 1982 hit (were there any others?) Hey Mickey. You guys win.

So, here's what's kind of ironical about all this though (yes I know 'ironical' is not a word,) and maybe even a little freaky-deaky. Here goes: The Monkees Davy Jones (R.I.P. we love you!) was the original Artful Dodger in the Broadway production of Oliver! (he was even nominated for a Tony at the ripe old age of 16,) and Toni Basil renamed her song Mickey (it was originally about Kitty...a girl...raise eyebrows here) after "becoming fond of" Micky Dolenz on the set of Head where she worked as a choreographer (because she too had a history of  show tunes and jazz hands.) Also, someone just asked me if I could find them some books and videos about cheerleading. I sh** you not. I have no idea what is going on right now. My universe just shrank and the only things here are the Monkees, Toni Basil and some ill-fitting cheerleader uniforms! Help!


So this is the video I remember from when I was like 6 or so, but if you feel like wasting another 5 minutes of your life, there's another one with her and her band that is equally (if not more so) bizarre. Toni's still a cheerleaper, but I'm not sure what the other costumes are supposed to be (take note of the drummer's hat and the guitarists torso cape.) And I'm definitely not convinced they're playing their instruments. But Toni's high kicks are solid in both vids so take your pic and cheer on!

Why didn't my junior high cheerleading shoes have those fun pom-poms on them?

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Man On The Telephone

What ever happened to Papas Fritas? Man, I loved them. A lot. Hey Hey You Say was the first song I heard this morning (the result of an impromptu dance party to get Bug's mind off really wanting to watch TV) and I've been singing it ever since. Seriously, I loved these guys. Have I said that already? I mean, I wanted to learn to play mediocre drums so I could pretend to be Shivika when I was singing alone (and loudly) in my bedroom. Yes, I do realize I'm slightly the wrong color to be convincing, but still. Anyway, apparently they're still sort of around. Last year they did an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba (I will find this for Bug!) and they do have a Facebook page (even though there doesn't appear to be anything on it.) But I don't think they've put out a record in the past decade which is super sad. Cause I loved them. Truth.

On their website they claim to have toured so much after the release of Helioself that "we actually bent time and space and played as many as 3.56 shows at once in at least 7 dimensions." Apparently they too have seen Back to the Future one too many times. But if you look at their tour date archives it's easy to believe that it was in fact necessary to mess with the space/time continuum in order to play this many damn shows. And yet somehow I don't recall them ever coming anywhere near wherever I was in the late '90s or early double ohs. I would have totally been on the front row. Because...wait for it...I LOVED them.


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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Don't Need Money, Don't Take Fame

Apparently I'm going through an 80's New Wave-ish phase. BUT, Did you know that Huey Lewis scored a perfect 800 on the math section of the SAT? And that he stowed away on a plane to Europe to backpack for a year with no money and only a harmonica? That he busked his way through Spain to earn enough for his ticket home? Or that he was studying to be an engineer at Cornell?!?

Anatomical references aside, I feel decidedly less uncomfortable about my rekindled (27 years later) love for H.L. and The News. And just admit it, when The Power of Love comes on, you are instantly transported to you favorite Back to the Future scene (H.L.'s cameo in the audition scene for the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, "Sorry fellas...I'm afraid you're just too darn loud") and you sing along. We all know you do. It's fine, I'm not here to judge. How can I when I do the exact same thing myself? I'm even toying with the idea of buying a synthesizer so I can totally rock these four chords in my basement. I don't have a basement. Anyway, let's just embrace "the power" and move on. And if you can't handle the cheese factor of Doc and Marty and Biff, then go watch American Psycho and maybe you'll feel a little better. Personally, I've always been a fan of the cheese. 


Pump that fist, Huey.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Deconstruct Me And Consume Me

Seriously? This is what Matthew Sweet looks like now? What the hell happened? I mean, not that he was ever going to be mistaken for Brad Pitt or anything, but clearly there has been some slippage here. And I'm pretty sure those shades circa 1996 don't fit any more, Matt. Maybe time to invest in a new pair? A larger pair? A pair that would take away from the superabundance of your face just a skosh? Just une petite suggestion.

So the song of the day is Sick of Myself. Yet another ditty that a high-school-aged me would have been belting out and playing air guitar to while driving too fast with a ciggy in one hand and the volume knob on my jambox-that-always-got-shotgun in the other. And they say texting and driving is dangerous? Pshaw! Also, an-almost-35-year-old me still does the belting-driving-too-fast-air-guitar thing when this song (and many others) comes on. Not the ciggies though. Those are bad for you. And holding one while air-guitar driving usually leads to something or someone getting burned. Just ask my old cars...and friends. Anyway, my point is, this song still rocks and Mr. Sweet used to be at least slightly more attractive. That's really all I have to say about this. Au revoir and sayonara.

Monday, July 23, 2012

They Say That The Road Ain't No Place To Start A Family

Faithfully, by Journey was on the radio while I drove to work this morning and I made the mistake of not changing the station. So now I can't stop humming it and my coworkers are growing more and more irritated as the day progresses. Sorry, ladies, but the power in this power ballad is compelling me to hum. Loudly. And often. Deal with it.

So the most interesting claim to fame I could dig up about this song is that it was used as an audition piece for the first winner of the hit TV show Pilipinas got Talent, Jovit Baldivino. ("Pilipinas," of course being the Filipino word for "Philipines." No, I don't get it either so we'll just leave that one alone.) The lucky winner of this show gets to take home 2,000,000 Philipine Pesos, which is roughly the equivalent of 47,510 US Dollars. So good on you, Jovit. You get to take a year off work! And at 16 he'd probably been working for a good 12 years or so, so one can only imagine his relief at his good fortune. In all seriousness, the kid can sing and has now recorded more albums than...well, than me. Which is not a huge accomplishment, but still. I wish him all the best. Suwerte at mabuting kapalaran, Jovit!

(And to my large following of Filipino readers, apologies if Google translator got that wrong. I don't actually speak your language. Cheers.)



Sunday, July 15, 2012

I've Roamed And Rambled And I've Followed My Footsteps

Happy 100th Woody Guthrie. I had no idea you were born on Bastille Day (Vive la France, and all that.) Another fun trivia fact to add to the stash of useless information I'm collecting!

So yes, yesterday marks what would have been Guthrie's centennial and I've had This Land is Your Land stuck in my head since hearing Bob Edwards interview various writers and musicians about him earlier today. I could go a more serious direction with this post, considering the iconic figure that Woody Guthrie is in American history, but that would be totally out of character for this blog, so I'll skip the power-to-the-people-down-with-social-injustice stuff for the moment and just say "gee, what a catchy little tune." And it really is considering that it only has four simple lines of melody that just keep repeating. It's like a broken, but endearing, record. I remember learning it as a kid (the Peter, Paul and Mary version in the house of Moms and Pops) and now I can teach the Springsteen version to Bug. Maybe it's time to learn harmonica.

And as for Guthrie himself, the amount of words he left behind in the form of lyrics, letters, poems, books, etc. is kind of astounding. But out of the bunch I think this is the one I covet most. Cute little feller, isn't he? And what a fabulous way to embellish a letter. Too bad it does in fact render said letter more difficult to read, but hey, as the recipient you are now the owner of an original piece of W.G. art! Lucky you. Now how can I learn to do this with my emails so that when I die rich and famous you will all have something to take to the (piggy) bank?

Friday, July 13, 2012

I Hope That Someone Gets My...

...Message in a Bottle. Ah, The Police. Too bad no one told Sting to quit while he was ahead.

Random factoid of the day: drummer Stewart Copeland (arguably one of the greatest drummers of all time EVER) scored the film She's Having A Baby. That's like way less than 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon. I win.

Also, I'm petitioning Hubby for a gift from here for our anniversary. He makes fun of me for collecting bottles, but would he poke fun at bottles containing messages?!?! Yes, most definitely. Which is all the more reason to start collecting them asap. These guys claim to be the ORIGINAL message in a bottle shop. Does that mean there are others? Really? As Bug would say, "but why?" Is it really necessary to have multiple message in a bottle stores online? Apparently so. And apparently this store also sells Gators in a Bottle. Which just seems weird.

Anyway, the song. It rocks. Always has and always will. That is all. Now enjoy this video of the greatest drummer of all time EVER playing a chair, and revel in all the blond shaggy hair bouncing in perfect synchronicity! (Get it? Synchronicity?)

Thursday, July 12, 2012

I Don't Wanna Wait

Ugh, this is just annoying. The theme song to Dawson's Creek. Over and over and over and over...I didn't even who the singer was until today (it's Paula Cole as if anyone cares) so why on earth is I Don't Want to Wait stuck in my head? I mean, to be fair, yes, I watched every episode of this show in reruns when I was in grad school (I'm a librarian, grad school wasn't that hard.) And, yes, I had a crush on Pacey. And, it's true, I shed a few tears when Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams' character) died. I mean, they actually killed her off in the last episode! Wha??? But I haven't seen the show since and I certainly am NOT a fan of this song.

I am a fan of this picture though. Makes me want to throw on a pair of khakis, kick off my shoes and go walk through a marsh or something. Maybe paddle a skiff across a creek to sneak in my bf's window. Have conversations with other 15-year-olds using extremely articulate, poetic metaphors constantly, without ever pausing to even appear to think about what I'm about to say ("The opposite of death is birth. Life has no opposite.") You know, all those crazy things we all used to do as kids. Right?

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Come And Rock Me

So a couple of weeks ago Hubby, Bug and I headed to the Georgia mountains with some friends for a weekend of sweating profusely by the lake. At some point (for some reason) everyones' favorite Falco song (did Falco even have any other songs?) Rock Me Amadeus was downloaded and played repeatedly. Why did this happen, you might ask? Good question. I have no idea though. My hypothesis can be explained in the following equation: 2 grown men + 2 much sun * 22 beers = Falco. Seems logical, yes?

Depending on where you go to find the lyrics to this musical gem, the translation from the original German varies ("He was a Punker - And he lived in the big city" vs. "He was the first punk ever to set foot on this earth - He was a genius from the day of his birth.) But basically the gist is Mozart was the first legendary, punk rock, boozing womanizer...who also happened to be a genius. I'm sure the man himself would be fine with this depiction, so thank God someone finally got it right in 1985. And I'm sure he would have been thrilled with Tom Hulce's portrayal (beating out the likes of Mel Gibson and Mick Jagger (?) no less!) of him in the movie as well. Apparently he practiced at the piano for four hours a day to appear convincing. Hmmm, all that talent and now he's playing the voice of Quasimodo in a video game. Well, I for one will never forget him as Larry Buckman in Parenthood, but I digress. The point is this damn song that I can't even sing along to because I do not sprechen sie deutsch is stuck in my head and now it will be stuck in all of yours. Don't thank me, thank Falco. And the 2 grown men mentioned above.


Friday, July 6, 2012

Yes We're Going To A Party Party

So this one will probably be on a constant loop all weekend long. The Bug turns two tomorrow, so Birthday will be our dance party song for the event. In between renditions of the Hot Dog Dance, naturally. And in between swigs and gulps of the I.I. Brewhouse's (brewing since 2010) latest concoction, complete with inappropriate bottle labels of the Bug's bare bottom. I was told that next year it might be time to stop the bare bottom tradition. According to some, at 3 it would just be creepy. Maybe that's a good idea. I mean, I promise I would have stopped by the time he hit 15...probably?

I don't really have much else to say on the subject except really cliché things like "my how time flies," or "they grow up so fast," or "when the eff did I get so old??" or "no really guys, when the eff did I get so effing OLD?!?!" So I'll just leave you with this 2 minutes and 43 seconds of your life you'll never get back. I'm honestly not sure whether to love it or hate it. But I couldn't help but laugh at it, so there you go. Enjoy and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUG!!!