Music
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Music Update
I decided that my sidebar hasn’t been updated in awhile. I update the books (semi) regularly. I update my blogroll about as often, with new blogs I’ve found, and sometimes getting rid of blogs that no longer speak to me. But the TV part was boring, so I got rid of that. And the music part? Unchanged. Boring. Time for a change. So, I updated my lyrics, which I suspect no one ever looks at, and means nothing to anyone but me. But it does mean something to me. Music isn’t as big a part of my life as it is to Ted…music is his back-beat, his soundtrack, and he…
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Pimpin’ my Peeps
Oh crap, I’m so excited today, I might pee myself. You see, one of my favorite blogs over there on my sidebar, Riley’s Ramblings, belongs to Jess Riley, whose first novel is being released TODAY! And I’ve been there for a bit of her journey, as her editor changed publishing houses, nearly putting the kibosh on the whole project; the name was changed from “Driving with Larry Resnick” to “Driving Sideways”…which is better, actually, because I am a supremo dork, and got Larry Resnick mixed up in my mind with John Rzeznik from the Goo Goo Dolls, which may have been an interesting novel, but surely not the one Ms.…
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Weekend Wrap-Up
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbpzJRWz6rg[/youtube] Other than the stress related to my mom’s condition, this was a lovely weekend! Friday, Ted and his brother went out for a yummy dinner at Wente, while Maya and I had a nice evening doing some last minute birthday shopping and making plans for the birthday boy. Saturday, Ted’s parents invited everyone to their house, and we had a birthday BBQ for Ted. His mom is smart, and the majority of family functions are ‘pot luck’, meaning we all bring something, and no one has to cook or pay for everything. We feasted on pork ribs, lamb ribs, chicken, corn on the cob, fruit salad, the best potato…
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Dear God
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mRJOXAZApo[/youtube] Dear god, Hope you got the letter, And I pray you can make it better down here. I don’t mean a big reduction in the price of beer, But all the people that you made in your image, See them starving on their feet, cause they don’t get enough to eat From god, I can’t believe in you. Dear god, Sorry to disturb you, But I feel that I should be heard loud and clear. We all need a big reduction in amount of tears, And all the people that you made in your image, See them fighting in the street, ‘Cause they cant make opinions meet, About god,…
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Yaz – Only You
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yod7jc8U94[/youtube] The spring and summer of 1986 is when I discovered Yaz (known as Yazoo in the UK and on Youtube), and Upstairs at Eric’s and You and Me Both were in heavy rotation on my boom box. As a matter of fact, I may not have played anything else for weeks on end. Just to give you a picture, my car stereo was stolen from my rag top ’66 candy apple red WV bug, and since I could see myself offering up a series of car stereos to car stereo scumbag thieves, while driving a car that effectively didn’t lock (the rag top was held in place by snaps),…
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Lick The Tins
Do you remember that 80’s John Hughes movie, “Some Kind of Wonderful“, in which the boy (Eric Stoltz) is in love with the ‘pretty’ girl (Lea Thompson), while the ‘cool’ girl (Mary Stuart Masterson) pines away for him, hoping he’ll wake up enough to notice that she’s actually cute and might be a better match for him? I really liked that movie, especially since I never felt like I was as pretty as my friends, and so worked to cultivate a ‘cool’ persona instead. So I identified with her. Of course, I suspect everyone identifies with the unrequited love theme at some point in their lives. Anyway, the movie ends…
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Have You Ever Had it Blue?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5mKMAgD390[/youtube] Can’t seem to get into my book, though when I read it, I like it. Can’t seem to think of anything interesting to write about on my blog, so I end up talking about some guy who wants you to tap your face to lose weight. Can’t seem to get motivated to get a stupid task done for work, because it’s boring, but hell, they’re paying me to do it, so I need to just DO it. Sigh. I think it’s time for a vacation. Too bad there’s no money or time for one right now.
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Wraggle Taggle Gypsies O!
(artwork by Tracy Butler, found here) We were talking the other day about music in schools, remembering when Maya used to sing every day in class, and how much she liked it, and then how that…ended…when she got to 1st grade. They still had music, but it was a music teacher who came once or twice a week, rather than the class singing songs together. I was reminded of the 4th grade, back in 1976 (I remember because it was an election year, very controversial among the 4th graders), when we had Mrs. Katz, the music teacher, who would come to our class once or twice a week with her…
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Pasta Music
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_emz0o638PQ[/youtube] The other night, I was making dinner and listening to my beloved iPod. First I listened to an episode of To The Best of Our Knowledge, which was mighty interesting, and then I decided on some music. I was making a meal of our favorite spaghetti and meatballs recipe and spinach salad with apple and mustard vinaigrette (thanks, Michelle, it was yummy!). The music that I most enjoy cooking to is The Waifs album, Up All Night. I don’t have any of their other albums, so I’m not sure if I would like them as much, but I really, really love this one. Back when I worked in a…
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Kool Thing
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=0OdSoKfTP1k[/youtube] Some song on the radio reminded me for a brief moment of this song, from way back in 1990, Kool Thing, by Sonic Youth. There’s a bit in the middle when they get all political, and Kim asks Chuck D what he’s going to do for the ladies…is he going to free them from white-male-corporate-oppression? He’s all supportive and kool, saying things like “Yeah…tell it like it is”, that kind of thing. I always liked that song, but here’s the thing. I don’t want a big strong man to save women from white-male-corporate-oppression. I want us to save ourselves. Men can work along with us, but not as our…
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Jolene
Jess had a post the other day about being a dorky 8-year old, and taping songs off of the radio. Back in the day, we would take our cassette player, plop it in front of the radio, and tape our favorite songs, cursing the DJ if he talked over the intro or outro (that’s a real term, ’cause I live with radio talk, so I know!). That reminded me of how my friend Jennifer and I would spend our Sunday mornings…first, I would walk to her house, which was maybe a mile or two from my house…then, I would make pancakes for us (I was 5 years older than she…
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Happy Halloween…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq2RXSboWMs[/youtube]
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Seether – Veruca Salt
I’ve decided to post this video today to divert myself from posting a review of The Almost Moon, which I finished a few days ago, and which I wrote the review for on Tuesday, but I don’t want to post it today because I just posted a book review YESTERDAY for crap’s sake, and can’t I just slow down with the books or something? And I had a good excuse with Number the Stars and Ethan Frome, as they are very short and easy reads, but now I’m back to regular grown up books, and I can’t stop. Would it disturb you to know that as a tween, I used…
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Taken By Trees
Last night, I was sitting, trying to finish up my work for the evening, waiting for my stupid Outlook to open so I could send an email, and Ted had gone for a walk with his iPhone and the dog…I looked over at the Party Shuffle he had on his iMac, and one of the songs was Julia, by Taken by Trees. Hmm, I thought, I wonder how long it’s going to take my stupid Outlook to open? I wonder if that’s a cover of the old Beatles tune? So I clicked it, and lo and behold, it was NOT. So, then I thought, I should check out this Taken…
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My Name Is Red
My Name is Red is a somewhat convoluted murder mystery that takes place in late 16th century Istanbul. The main characters of the story are miniaturists, artists who draw and color the illustrations for books prior to the printing press, when books might be taken apart and rebound in a different sequence, depending upon who is paying for the story that is being told. The Sultan has commissioned a a new book, and he wants part of it to be painted in the new European style, showing things as they appear to people, rather than in the Ottoman tradition of showing the world through the eyes of Allah. For instance,…