For those that are Twitter or Facebook buds (no? – why not? links below), you know of my “love” of anything pumpkin spiced. For those new to the game, this expresses my “love” perfectly.
Anything pumpkin flavored sucks. Yes, this includes the pie…
So yesterday Wifey® and I were doing the weekly shopping, and lo and behold what do we see in the cereal aisle? Pumpkin Spice everywhere!
Seems that life has jumped the pumpkin spice shark… So sad. I’ll just leave you with this tidbit.
This song has been going around and around for the better part of a month. I almost posted it before, but let it sit instead. In the time that it’s been on hold, I found out some more cool things about the song.
First, it was written by Shel Silverstein, he of The Giving Tree, Where The Sidewalk Ends and so many other cartoons, books, albums, you name it.
It’s based on a true story. From the article on Songfacts;
In the song, Sylvia’s mother is Mrs. Avery, and while that wasn’t her real last name, the rest of the story – exaggerated a bit – was true. Silversteen told Rolling Stone in 1972: “I just changed the last name, not to protect the innocent, but because it didn’t fit. It happened about eight years ago and was pretty much the way it was in the song. I called Sylvia and her mother said, ‘She can’t talk to you.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ Her mother said she was packing and she was leaving to get married, which was a big surprise to me. The guy was in Mexico and he was a bullfighter and a painter. At the time I thought that was like being a combination brain surgeon and encyclopedia salesman. Her mother finally let me talk to her, but her last words were, ‘Shel, don’t spoil it.’ For about ten seconds I had this ego charge, as if I could have spoiled it. I couldn’t have spoiled it with a sledge hammer.”
It’s interesting to know that it was based on a true story because I always thought it could happen to me!
Dr. Hook is one of my favorite musicians. His style (and by that I mean the Medicine Show since there is no real Dr. Hook) has always intrigued me. And of course, the crazy hit (also penned by Shel Silverstein) The Cover Of ‘Rolling Stone is absolutely hysterical! And it did land them on the cover. Although only in caricature.
But back to our song, Silvia’s Mother. I found two very humorous articles about the song. The first is from UnNews.
4 October 2008
Sylvia’s mother, Mrs. Avery, who famously prevented her daughter from continuing her relationship with eyepatch-wearing boyfriend Dr Hook, admitted yesterday to lying during the famous telephoneconversation.
For the first time in over 35 years, she came clean about the call that ended forever hopes of a reunion between Hook and Sylvia.
Yes, Sylvia’s mother lied. What a surprise.
The second is from Ultimate Classic Rock. The article linked is an excerpt from Dear Mr. Pop Star, by English father-and-son team Derek and Dave Philpott. This is a collection of Monty Python-like letters to artists and witty responses from a large number of targets. The book follows the project’s online success over the past 10 years. It’s a “letter” written to Dr. Hook advising him what he should have done during the infamous phone call. The reply is written by Dr. Hook frontman Dennis Locorriere. It’s quite entertaining. (Hint: Click the link above to read it…).
So that’s all I have for this entry. Please enjoy the video, I have a feeling some folks may have never heard this track before.
Oh yeah, please leave your comments here if you can. Thanks!
Well, I’ve had these blog posts sitting here not being posted for quite some time now. All of these have been assigned to “I’ll finish this later”, or “Nobody wants to read about that”, or my fav, “Do I really want to post that?” categories.
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An Anniversary (Of Sorts)
Today is the 30th anniversary of my vasectomy! I realize you don’t really care. But it’s important to Wifey® and me. The funny part was later.
We were stationed at Ft. Greely, Alaska. Four days after my getting fixed was son-the-elder’s birthday. Needless to say, we had a party. And as with most kids birthday parties, the adults consumed massive quantities of alcohol. The big toy that year was laser tag. I don’t remember how many we purchased, but we had several pistols, rifles, vests, and helmets. Many hours and batteries were spent running around in the playground and parking lot shooting at each other. Naturally, I was extremely sore for several days after. The beer kept me from hurting that day but did nothing after that.
Pro tip: Don’t go running around right after having your nuts cut!
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Still Not The Song I Want To Hear
The posts I’m referring to are here and here. After dinner Sunday the family was sitting at our little bar in the kitchen (where we usually eat dinner) and within 10 minutes or so I had to change the station at least 5 times. Nothing but Skynyrd, Zepplin, Springsteen, U2, etc. Even son-the-elder noticed and said I was having a bad night.
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Genealogy Still Sucks
If you missed the original post go here. Since everything I find on my Campbell side either has too many questions to lay claim to or goes back to King Arthur, I have decided to work on some other lines for now. Besides, I can’t get anyone to answer any requests on Ancestry.
I’m just happy that I haven’t found a “tree” that links back to Adam & Eve! Although I have to think that the Campbell’s would have sprung from Adam & Lillith, Eve was too prissy.
I have many DNA links on my paternal grandmother’s side, and my mother’s side (both her mother and father’s sides). I’m also going to start on Wifey’s® tree even though she has cousins with a lot of the family already there. But I have doubts about a lot of the historical family members.
Samhain is right around the corner! Even though we don’t participate much in Halloween (unless we have the girls), I still enjoy this time of year. The Celt in me loves the traditions and once this day passes the next holiday is my absolute favorite of all holidays, Thanksgiving.
We have always enjoyed carving Jack O’Lanterns. But since this year Halloween falls on a Wednesday I think we’ll cut it back this year.
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To Gym Or Not To Gym
Yeah… This post didn’t get very far…
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Mental Health Day (Or Lack Thereof)
I’ve mentioned before that I am bipolar type II. I don’t post about it much because I really can’t. When those days hit the last thing I want to do is talk. Not that talking about it doesn’t help, it does. But, I am not one to talk about what’s going on in my messed up head. And to spit it out only relieves the pain for a very short time. And the roller coaster emotions that this causes is even worse than just dealing with it in my own way.
Then this meme came across my Facebook the other day and I think it may have some merit.
I can understand this. The universe has a finite amount of energy (E=mc^2 tells us this). And since we are all made of stardust (and to stardust, we’ll return) we are all connected. Maybe days when you are sad and can’t place a reason why the universe is signaling that someone needs mourning. I’m down with that.
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So those are all the leftovers that have been ignored. And to continue the Still Not The Song I Want To Hear post, this morning on the way to work, it was either Starship, Aerosmith, or Rocket Man, easily Elton’s worse song. And while putting this post together, Michael Martin Murphy’s Wildfire just came on. There is nothing that will make me change the station faster than that “song”. Has to be the absolute worst thing ever written.
But fear not dear reader (both of you), the music world is still kicking! Saturday night driving home from dinner with granddaughter-the-younger I had the Beatles channel blaring in the truck. Both of my girls love the Beatles. As this song came on, and I was singing it to her, she was laughing the entire time. When we made it home we watched Beatles videos on YouTube. It was wonderful.
(Granted, techniques have changed since I was a DJ, but the basic idea of keeping the music and your comments as coherent as possible is timeless)
So yesterday as I was driving home from work (in the rain of course), listening to Classic Vinyl, and they played a clip of Graham Nash saying how underappreciated Stephen Stills is as a guitar player. And I totally agree. Stephen, with his custom tunings, is an outstanding player. I love to listen to him play.
But here’s the issue. They play a clip about a guitar player and follow it up with what, Suite: Judy Blues Eyes, or maybe Southern Cross? Nope, they played Our House. Now don’t get me wrong, Our House is a wonderful song. But it’s a piano song – a guitar is not heard.
From the Wiki:
The song originates in a domestic event that took place while Graham Nash was living with Joni Mitchell (and her two cats) in her house on Laurel Canyon (Los Angeles), after they had gone out for breakfast and had bought an inexpensive vase on Ventura Boulevard. Nash wrote the song in an hour, on Mitchell’s piano.
In October 2013, in an interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s “Fresh Air”, Nash elaborated:
Well, it’s an ordinary moment. What happened is that Joni [Mitchell] and I – I don’t know whether you know anything about Los Angeles, but on Ventura Boulevard in the Valley, there’s a very famous deli called Art’s Deli. And we’d been to breakfast there. We’re going to get into Joan’s car, and we pass an antique store. And we’re looking in the window, and she saw a very beautiful vase that she wanted to buy… I persuaded her to buy this vase. It wasn’t very expensive, and we took it home. It was a very grey, kind of sleety, drizzly L.A. morning. And we got to the house in Laurel Canyon, and I said – got through the front door and I said, you know what? I’ll light a fire. Why don’t you put some flowers in that vase that you just bought? Well, she was in the garden getting flowers. That meant she was not at her piano, but I was… And an hour later ‘Our House’ was born, out of an incredibly ordinary moment that many, many people have experienced.
So, to get back on topic here. When you talk about a great guitar player you probably shouldn’t play a piano song right after. No matter how good that piano song is.
So here’s a live version of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes for you. Have a great Labor Day weekend for us in the USA or just a fabulous weekend everywhere else!
As I mentioned in part I of this new series, I really enjoy being able to change the station when a song/artist/band comes on that I don’t want to hear, and not have to play it and pretend how great it is like when I was a DJ.
Not that I did much of that, in fact pretty much the exact opposite. When I was an on-air DJ at this particular country station (won’t mention the call letters or anybody’s name – just in case), the program director insisted that we would not play a certain song. He didn’t think it was “country” enough. The music director told me to play it (my shift was overnights, from midnight to 6 AM). He knew the program director wasn’t listening. So I played it quite often. Always the rebel!
The program director couldn’t figure out why he would get calls requesting the song when “we don’t play it” but the caller would insist they heard it last night. We never told him we were playing it. But he did relent eventually and added it to the rotation.
That song was Swingin’ by John Anderson. It hit #1 on the US Hot Country Songs (Billboard). But yeah, it ain’t country enough.
But, as usual, I’m down a rabbit hole. Let’s get back with the subject of today’s post.
Stuff that makes me change the station immediately;
Bread. Has to be the most overplayed sappy crap of all time. If you can listen to an entire song and not go into a diabetic coma, it’s a damn miracle.
Rupert Holmes. Seriously? How did this guy ever get a recording deal? I won’t even get into how bad Escape (The Piña Colada Song) is. I got queasy just typing the title.
The Doobie Brothers (but only with Michael McDonald). Early Doobie stuff is excellent. McDonald was to the Doobies as Yoko was to the Beatles.
10cc. Again pure syrup.
Damn near any 80’s synth stuff. Too many bands to list here.
Stuff that gets turned up:
Jackson Browne (with the exception of The Load Out/Stay). Way overplayed.
Steely Dan. When I was about 14 (this would be about 1972 – 73) one of the older guys across the street from my house told me that the Dan would be the next Beatles. They may not have made it quite that big, but they came close.
Santana. Another guitar god. Europa (Earth’s Cry, Heaven’s Smile), Samba Pa Ti are two of my favorites. Smooth, on the other hand, gets turned off.
That’s my list for today. I’m sure there’ll be more to come.
Here’s Steely Dan doing Rikki Don’t Lose That Number, which I’ve heard is about Rick Derringer (Rock And Roll Hootchie Coo). Rick and the Dan were set to record together, but Rick didn’t come back after the first session. At least that’s the story I’ve heard.
Welcome to a new series! The “What’s Stuck In My Head” series will be, mostly, music, but will also have other items I can’t seem to shake. Maybe a news item (but not a lot of politics), art pieces, meme’s, books etc… In other words, totally random, just as the blog title says.
So going off of yesterday’s random music video post, today’s “What’s Stuck In My Head” is a comedy video. I picked what I believe to be one the greatest comedy skits of all time. Abbot & Costello’s Who’s On First.
I do hope you enjoy that skit as much as I do. Please leave me a comment or two, and maybe a recommendation of something to add to the series. I’d love to hear from you!
On 19 August 1977 (41 years ago), we lost one of the greatest comedians of all time. Julius “Groucho” Marx. He was, at the least, the driving force behind the Marx Brothers comedy. Somewhere I have bootleg copies of all of their movies. A Night At The Opera, Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Duck Soup, and my favorite A Day At The Races. But I do have to admit that Cocoanuts, a story about the Florida land boom of the 1920’s is still very relevant today. Just read any of Carl Hiaasen’s “Skink” books or Tim Dorsey’s “Serge” books, and you can see they fit into the same mold.
Groucho has always been one of my favorites, from the grease paint mustache (said to have come about because he arrived late to set and didn’t have time to put the fake mustache on, or he hated taking off the fake one since it hurt!), the stooped over walk, and especially his always ready quick comebacks. To this day I still use one of his standards “Now that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” (in a very poor imitation) in damn near every situation.
Some notable quotes:
I never forget a face, but in your case I’ll be glad to make an exception.
Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.
From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend on reading it.
I sent the club a wire stating, “PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON’T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER”. (I have used this quote when giving lectures several times. My all time favorite.)
When he was turned down for membership to a country club due to being Jewish, it is rumored that he asked “Can my daughter go into the pool waist deep? She’s only half Jewish”.
I did watch reruns (I’m not THAT old!) of Groucho’s TV show You Bet Your Life, and while at times very funny, the censors wouldn’t let most of his asides on air. A lot of the Marx Brothers’ movies were “pre-code”, meaning there wasn’t as much of the more risqué stuff cut. Naturally, there was no foul language or nudity, it was the 20’s and 30’s after all, but a lot more innuendo was allowed then.
Here is one source for some audio clips of all the Marx Brothers. A quick search of YouTube turns up some great Groucho clips. Here’s one:
For those just joining the party, a little history. In a previous life, I have been a DJ. I worked at a country station, a big band station, and did mobile DJ work. All in the early 80’s in and around Miami.
On Crandon Park Beach. Employee party for the T.G.I. Friday restaurant chain. With Reflections Productions.
Also in a previous life, I was a worship leader for several churches in the Daytona Beach area. I have been told that I was the “Christian Tom Petty” and that my voice was like the guy from Lady Antebellum. I take both as huge compliments.
Long ago, in a universe far far away…
Now that we have that out-of-the-way…
What I came here to talk about today are artists/bands/songs that either make me turn up the volume or change the station. This is not a comprehensive list and I ask for comments, both where you think I’m wrong and anything that could be added. And as I’m writing this post, Jethro Tull’s Aqua Lung is playing. While I love this song (and the “follow-up” Locomotive Breath) Wifey® will leave the room when either play, and I’ll turn it up. So that’s a perfect kick off!
Stuff That Makes Me Change The Station
Anything, and I mean anything, by George Thorogood. There is just something about his whole style that I do not care for. And I love the blues in general, just not his version.
Along the same lines is Bruce Springsteen. But not every song, just most of them. Again it’s a style thing for me.
Almost anything from Lynyrd Skynyrd. Especially Free Bird. I will let Simple Man and Curtis Lowe play. Growing up in Florida, they had to be the most overplayed band of my youth. Along with our next entry.
Led Zepplin. Again, they were like every third song on the radio. I’m so over them.
Stuff That Makes Me Turn Up The Volume
The Beatles. When my granddaughters on riding with me in my truck, we always have The Beatles channel on SiriusXM playing. But not too loud, don’t want their ears to get as bad as mine.
CCR. I love John Fogerty’s style. Every one of their songs gets me rocking.
Crosby, Stills & Nash (with or without Young). Songs I learned to play very early. Although I could never quite get the right sound out of my guitar. It wasn’t until much later that I learned that Stephen Stills used an alternate tuning.
So we also need to add Neil Young as a solo artist. Wifey® doesn’t care for Mr. Young. Something about his voice. But I love his melodies, harmonies, and lyrics.
Just about any other “Southern Rock” band other than Skynyrd. Molly Hatchet (Especially their cover of Dreams), .38 Special, the Outlaws (High Tides and Green Grass), Marshall Tucker Band.
The Allman Brothers. Sure you could place them in the “Southern Rock” category, but they play the blues more, and better than the others. Is it odd that I like their instrumental works best? Melissa, Jessica, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. Now that I’ve put that down, maybe it’s because they’re all named for women?
Bob Seger (except for Turn The Page, again way overplayed). But if Main Street or Night Moves comes on, the volume goes up.
Eric Clapton. Doesn’t matter which band. The Yardbirds, John Mayall Blues Breakers, Cream, Derek & The Dominoes, or solo (even with Delany & Friends). His guitar soars above everything else. And that leads me to –
Steve Winwood. Just like Clapton, it doesn’t matter which group or solo. Spencer Davis Group (as “Little Stevie Winwood”), Traffic, Blind Faith etc, etc…
So lets put them together. Clapton and Winwood did a three-day gig at Madison Square Garden. Has to be one of the best of all time. They covered each of their bands and other stuff. That cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Little Wing is my all time favorite.
Jimi Hendrix (oh nice segue there dude). Such an amazing guitar. Nothing else needs to be said.
The Monkees. Yeah, it’s bubblegum, but my very first album I was “More Of The Monkees”. I watched the TV show every week. It was the one night I didn’t have to help with dishes! And, in my opinion, Michael Nesmith is a very talented musician. His music, both with and without The Monkees are some of my favorites.
Staying with the “pop” genre, let’s go with The Bangles. Great music, and easy to look at. Their cover of Simon & Garfinkle’s Hazy Shade of Winter is so much better than the original. But the video sucks. Wifey® would add The Go-Go’s here, but they weren’t my favorite (but I do follow them on Twitter).
Yes. That’s the band there, not just some random exclamation. Such interesting melodies, not to mention Jon Anderson’s vocals! I also have several of Rick Wakeman’s solo albums. The Six Wives of Henry VIII is so out of this world, I used to blast it outside on Halloween night.
Heart. I have seen these ladies in concert three times. They put on a great show! I had a poster of (my wife to be – before I met Wifey®), Nancy Wilson in my bedroom.
The Who. Really anything by Pete Townsend. His style of blending guitar, keyboards and either his or Roger Daltry’s vocals are superb. It’s that “wall of sound” that gets me.
Stuff That Doesn’t Get Turned Up, But I Don’t Change The Station
Cat Stevens/Yusef. His music saved me during those tough High School years. But I have to admit, I did turn up the volume now and then.
Dan Fogelberg. More music that saved me after those tough High School years. I tend to like the earlier stuff better.
Linda Ronstadt. Hers was the other poster up in my room. Her voice was what I fell asleep to most nights.
John Denver. Yes, John Denver. Just something about the folksy sound I really enjoyed. Except for Grandma’s Feather Bed et al…
As you can see, I have a lot more likes than dislikes. And I’m happy that I’m no longer behind the mic and have to play stuff I don’t care for, and pretend that I enjoy it.
I’m sure you can add others to both sides of this list. I didn’t go into much of 80’s music. But there are some I enjoyed, some I didn’t, and some that are hit and miss. I didn’t go into any Beatles solo projects either. But I’ll save that for another post…
EDIT: My b
I’ll leave you with a video of Clapton & Winwood. Enjoy!
So it’s been a while since I posted anything. So let’s catch up, shall we?
The reasons I haven’t posted are several. I had a killer head cold for about 2 weeks, that I couldn’t shake (same one I mentioned in my Celebrate Good Times (Come On)! post). My work issued laptop died on me, and I’ve been so busy at work that when I get home and I feel like crap due to the cold, I had no desire to sit in front of any PC. When you consider how much computer time I log at work, it’s rather surprising how much I use one at home.
But not everything was bad. I bought a new SiriusXM radio for my aging truck. It’s an external device that plugs in through the aux port on the existing radio. I also stream, mostly the “Classic” (oh, how I hate that term. Can we go back to AOR please?) stations. I like SiriusXM over the local radio because the DJs don’t think they have to be funny so they can get hired and go to a larger market. SiriusXM’s market is North America. Quite a bit bigger than any terrestrial market. Plus these DJs know what they’re talking about. I also like SiriusXM over most streaming services (Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, etc.) because they play the music the way it was recorded. One thing that always pissed me off with the various streaming services is they tend to cut apart songs the segue into each other. A classic example is Jackson Browne’s “The Load Out/Stay”. Streaming radio turns those into two separate songs. It increases the total number of songs in their library, but it totally screws up the listening experience.
My office replaced my very small Micro$oft Surface Book with a beautiful 17″ HP laptop. This thing is a beast! An i7 CPU, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, and this wonderful huge screen! These tired old eyes can see again!
Wifey® and I have planned, and made the deposit on, something that is on both of our bucket lists. A trip to Scotland, the land of our heritage. We’ve both did the Ancestry DNA tests. I’ve posted about this before. Turns out both of our DNA points directly to Scotland/Ireland/Land of the Vikings. I’d like to try to find the ancestor that made the trip over the pond to settle in America before we go. But that costs money, and right now we’re trying to save, not spend so we can blow the whole wad while in Scotland. I’m hoping the duty-free shop in the Edinburgh airport has a good selection of native scotches. I will have a separate post(s) about the trip as things get closer, and when we are in country.
We had a wonderful dinner the other night with my brother and his wife here at my house. I smoked three whole chickens. Not that I expected we would eat them all that night, I planned on leftovers so we (as in Wifey® and son-the-younger and myself) could make pot pies from the leftover chicken and other veggies we made that day.
Yup, there are 3 whole chickens in there!
We ended up with 10 pot pies of varying sizes
I confirmed something I learned the last time I smoked chicken. From now on I’m only buying leg quarters. There were 4 and a half breast quarters left, but only one leg quarter. Seem we prefer the dark meat!
And I’ve read a couple of good books too. I won’t write any reviews. If you want book reviews, there are plenty of sites that have them (I recommend Once Upon A Spine).
I’ll leave you with a video. Has nothing to do with this post, but the opening line “Been away, haven’t seen you in a while”, fits with the theme. Plus it’s Dave Mason. I’ve been a fan of his since his days with Traffic.
