Gary O's Vinyl Haven

Moments To Remember

2010-03-16T14:45:00.000-04:00

So? Where have you been? Red Robot and I have been waiting patiently. Ah well, doesn't matter, you are here now, right?

Today is a very special day. It was a year ago today that my Nan decided she needed a bigger challenge. She had done all she could for us, she reprogrammed an entire nursing home and now it was time to go see old family and friends and see what she could do about re-organizing the heavens above. Let me just tell you, this little lady was a force to be reckoned with and if anyone could do it, it is my Nan. Oh, before I go on, I forgot to tell you...RR has been doing some time traveling (the lucky little bastard). I was not aware of this until I pulled out some pics to share with you and noticed something new in each one.

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Anyway, back to Nan....she was one hell of a woman. She was compassionate, caring to a fault, funny as hell, tough as nails when needed, the ultimate care-giver (sometimes by choice but most times by necessity or circumstance) and although sometimes it was hard to see, she loved and treasured her family above all else. She had a way with people that was, well, how do I put this, all her own (yeh, that's it)! She had a razor sharp wit and an uncanny sense of people. In her heyday, she had a way of making people feel great until they got about a block away and they thought to themselves, "Hey, what did she just say to me?" As the years went by the tact sorta faded and a more "Sophia Petrillo" thing took its place. Loving this woman was 98% of the time as easy as breathing but that 2% was like trying to swallow a meteorite with a glass of warm buttermilk! I will always give her this, she kept us on our toes right up to the very end. She was my friend, my confidant, my protector.....MY NAN!

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Nan loved music!! I can remember from the time I was little, there was always music playing. I think that's where my Dad and my Aunt Bobbie got their love of music and it all got passed down to me. When I lived with Nan and Uncle Bob for a few years, my favorite thing was, on a bright sunny day, we would open all the windows in the house, I would play Nan's favorite music and we would do stuff around the house and sing and dance and laugh and she would tell me the various memories she associated with certain songs. She loved all kinds of music but she had her favorite singers. Dean, Nat, Johnny...the woman had great taste. She also loved the Carpenters and she loved to hear my friend Laurie sing Memory.

So, today, for you Nan, I am going to play some of your favorites. Some are 45s others are from your albums but all are vinyl. Hey, would ya look at that....the sun is shining for the first time in 4 days, I have the windows open and I hope you can the music!

I tried something new with the music. Instead of having to click to start each track, I mixed the clips together into one track. So, just hit play and then come back and read.

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

(click to enbiggen)

1. Moments To Remember - The Ames Brothers (RCA Records) This is not my favorite version of this song but it is a great song. (My favorite is by the Four Lads but I only have that on cd) I loved playing this for Nan because she would always start singing it and mid lyric she would stop and tell me another story. The woman never got a celebrity's name right (Charles Richardson was actually Richard Dawson) but she remembered her past (good, bad and indifferent) with amazing clarity!

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2. On An Evening In Roma - Dean Martin (Capitol Records) Ahhhh Dean Martin! The man had it all - looks, class, style, a voice like no other, a killer sense of humour and there will never be another like him. This version of "Roma" is from an album Dean did in the 60s called "Dino - Italian Love Songs". It is one of two of his classics that he re-recorded for this album. I bought a cd of Dean's best loved songs and Nan and I played that thing to death. It's funny but I play it pretty frequently still and I never get tired of listening to it. How could I? It's perfect.

3. Organ Grinder's Swing - Four Aces (featuring Al Alberts) (Decca Records) Did I mention that Nan loved to dance too? Whenever I would play this she would grab my hands and I would try to keep up with her (I never could) then she would just give up on me and cut a rug by herself!

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4. If I Didn't Care - The Ink Spots (Decca Records) The great thing about listening to music with Nan was that if I didn't have a song she wanted to hear then she would have it and we would go from the music playing in the front of the house in my room to the back of the house with it playing on her stereo in the living room! I am telling you, there were days that house was jamming. Anyway, she really got me into the Ink Spots and this was one of our favorites! "Honey-chile, more than words can say!"

5. Wayward Wind - Gogi Grant (Columbia Records) Not sure what it was about this song that Nan liked so much but she knew almost every word! Whenever company was coming, Nan was always ready and waiting long in advance of their arrival. Like when my parents would come for the weekend and were expected at 11am, Nan was dressed, ready and waiting by 9am! She would putter around and then watch by the window in my room like a little kid. I always made sure she had music to listen to (made the time pass faster for her, in my mind). For some reason, whenever I hear this song that is what I picture....Nan waiting by that window that overlooked the lake and the street AND if the trees were trimmed just right, you could see almost all the way up to 37! Makes the next song that much more appropriate!

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6. Come On-a My House - Rosemary Clooney (Columbia Records) One of my personal favorites. Love Rosie's voice. Of course the song couldn't be played without Nan mentioning how substantial Rosemary had gotten and how thin she was as a "kid". I love the crazy harpsichord that opens the song and plays throughout.

7. Ramblin' Rose - Nat "King" Cole (Capitol Records) Another one-of-a-kind voice and personality. I will forever be grateful to my family for having such great taste in music! Everytime I hear this song I can only picture it coming out of Nan's GE Console Stereo (which thankfully I now have and it still plays beautifully). Funny thing is, I always think of this as one of his new songs! Like Dean, he could have sung the phone book and it would have been incredible.

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8. Chances Are - Johnny Mathis (Columbia Records) One of the greatest songs of all time! Johnny was always one of my Mom's favorites too. I know I have said this before but around the time that she stopped buying his albums I started and I still do. The man is still amazing! I remember dancing with Nan to this song at The Happy Hour, the bar that I used to DJ in on Saturday nights in Toms River.

9. Don't Cry Out Loud - Melissa Manchester (Arista Records) Nan loved this song. It was one of the few songs that, ironically, made her cry. For some reason it always reminded her of her mother. She never told me why but after hearing it she would tell me wonderful stories about Grandma-with-Uncle, another amazing woman!

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10. Memories Are Made Of This - Dean Martin (Capitol Records) I had to put another one in here! Plus it is the original single. There really is not much I can add here that I haven't already said...the man was just amazing.

11. When You Were Sweet Sixteen - Perry Como (RCA Records) This song was written in 1898 and recorded by Perry in 1947. It is such a beautiful song and Nan loved it very much. In fact, it was while I was looking through some of Nan's records that I spotted the title and I asked her if she knew the song. She did, of course, and told me to go put it on. I never did ask her what the song meant to her but you could see it meant alot.

That went by very quickly as did this past year. I am so glad that I have these memories to keep you with me. I love you very much (but you knew that already)! I am sure that Nat, Dean, Karen and Perry are singing to you whenever you want them to, that you know every name of every person up there with you and you have reprioritzed the seating accordingly! Give everyone my love and keep an eye on us, ok?

Freaky Friday

2010-02-26T23:51:00.000-05:00

Today was an outrageously productive day for me. I have been up since 4:30am and I have been cleaning, condensing and re-organizing all day long! So, I thought it would be interesting to see how many people are still coming to the blog and to put you to the test. In keeping with the theme of the movie "Freaky Friday", I am turning the turntable on all of you! Tonight I am going to post the titles of the songs and the first 2 minutes of each song on the player and ask YOU to write your memories of each song. Send me your thoughts at mail@lauriebeechman.com and I will post all of your comments here!

Here are your 10 Songs For Today and Red Robot is asking the important question......

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. One More Night - Phil Collins 4:25 (Atlantic Records)

2. Easy Lover - Phillip Bailey (duet with Phil Collins) 4:40 (Columbia Records)

3. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson 4:50 (Epic Records)

4. 1999 - Prince 3:35 (Warner Brothers Records)

5. Footloose - Kenny Loggins 3:46 (Columbia Records)

6. Rockit - Herbie Hancock 3:54 (Columbia Records)

7. I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash 2:48 (Epic Records)

8. Running With The Night - Lionel Ritchie 4:06 (Motown Records)

9. Out Of Touch - Hall & Oats 3:55 (RCA Records)

10. Communication - The Power Station 3:44 (Capitol Records)

Ok, go crazy, go wild! Tell me the when, where, why, what, how of each song. Email me at mail@lauriebeechman.com and I will post your responses here next Friday! I am giving you one week to speak your minds about the music, about life, about anything you want to talk about.

I just want to take a minute to thank my best friend Dave. It is amazing how, no matter what happens, all roads seem to lead back to you and me. Such a great comfort. I am not sure what I would do if you were not part of my life. You fit so perfectly into my insanity, into my family and into my heart. I could never, ever ask for a better person to be facing the craziness we call life with. I love you more than words can say! For the rest of you, I offer this one piece of cryptic advice....your best friend should never be an obligation, they should be a part of the solution. Now, close your pie hole (and I will close mine) and get inta typing. All of you (ok, both of you)!!!! I want to hear from the 2 people that are still coming to my blog! We (RR and I) don't hear any keyboards clickity-clacking! Ears pressed to the monitor.......................................

Let's Spend The Day Together...

2010-02-25T14:55:00.005-05:00

shall we? I didn't post anything Tuesday because I needed to spend some time updating and cleaning up http://www.lauriebeechman.com/ (the website I created devoted to a good friend and amazing talent)! I am pleased with the results and I got some wonderful feedback from some really special people. There is alot more that I want to do there and I figure by spring it will have a fresh new look with alot more content.

As for today, well, it IS Thursday (we'll talk about Wednesday later) and I DO have something that I want to cook plus there is that bonus song thing, right? I also have a lot of things I need to do around the house too, so I figured I would blog some, get some other work done, blog some, cook, blog some...and at the end of it all, we will hopefully have covered 21 songs today!! It is 9:00am, let's see what time this actually gets posted!!

Among the things I would like to get done today is taking down and putting away my snowmen. As most of you know, my Mom makes the most incredible snowmen and I leave them past Christmas each year. Well, I got a large tote last night and now it is time for them to rest up for next year. Red Robot is in a surprisingly helpful mood today and has already started the process. So, here's the game plan....I am going to digitize 5 songs, go do some stuff come back update here and then repeat.

So, here are the 20+1 Tunes For Today!!! It's an odd mix o' stuff for sure, but there is a Theme to the first 10!

(Click here to listen to the first 10 songs)

1. The Batman Theme - Danny Elfman 2:24 (Warner Brothers Records) This is the theme from the first of the Batman movies from 1989. I love how dark maniacal this is. And then it builds to such a fever pitch in the middle with crashing cymbals and blaring horns. It only seems to subside for a moment before it biulds up again. It is the perfect theme for the action/comic movie it is. I do prefer the theme from the Dark Knight the best but this is certainly a memorable theme and I am big fan of Danny Elfman's!

2. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship 4:29 (Grunt Records) This is from a very fun movie, "Mannequin" and is such a GREAT song!!! It just announces its presence right at the start with those great drums!! Those opening drums are equally matched with the lyrical theme of the song...in your face love!!! "Let 'em say we're crazy. I don't care about that" "And if this world runs out of lovers/we'll still have each other" Swaying to and fro here in time to both the song and RR swaying (well, rocking actually. He's not much of a swayer) with his snowmen in hand! Grace Slick sounds soooooo good and they all just sound like they are having a blast singing this song!

3. The Woman In You - The Bee Gees 4:02 (RSO Records) From the sublime......This is from the rather lame attempt at a sequel to "Saturday Night Fever" called "Staying Alive". I can honestly say that I do not remember this song, AT ALL! I can also honestly say that once it is done playing now, I won't remember it again. It is a decent enough song (an album cut at best) but absolutely not memorable and kind of contrived, even for the Bee Gees. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXTTTTTTTTTT!

4. One Of The Living - Tina Turner 4:10 (Capitol Records) This is the other song from "Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome". I love this song. It is eerie and kind of haunting and I love the guitars throughout. Favorite part of the song is at the end of the chorus when Tina makes this "yah-hoo" sound. Love it!!! Brings back great memories of working at Macys Herald Square and going to meet Jeffrey after work.

5. Hello Again (Love Theme from "The Jazz Singer") - Neil Diamond 3:35 (Capitol Records) Such a beauiful song. Such a simple thought to it....someone that misses his love, his best friend, so he calls her just to say hello. So beautiful. We should all follow his advice and call someone we love today!

Ok, break time. Gonna go clean the kitchen (cause I can't cook until it is spotless so I can mess it up again) and do some laundry. Notice I am putting off Project Snow(man) Removal. Sorry RR, but we'll get to it.

I'm back, second load of laundry is in, kitchen is sparkly and I'm ready for more.. Magical isn't it? It is now 1pm and here come the next 5.

6. The Jetsons Main Title (Longplay Version) - No Artist Listed 2:12 (A&M Records) This is one that Steven brought back from one of his trips to Toronto and I love it. I used to play this alot when I DJed. I have always loved how the writers of this song threw a little bit of "Chopsticks" in there. Kinda random but it works. I apologize, I used to play the flip side of this when I DJed. It's a dub version of the song with bits of dialogue from many different TV shows thrown in. It's called "Jane, Get Me Off This Crazy Thing". I am going to digitize both sides of this and put "Jane" in the player cause we all know the theme song, right? Oh yeh, that's the stuff. I think I have an extended remix of this too.

7. Let's Hear It For The Boy - Denice Williams 4:20 (Columbia Records) This, of course, is from "Footloose" and comes in a close second to Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For A Hero" as my favorite song from that soundtrack. It is such a happy, fun, boppy song and I love Denice Williams voice. Chair dancing here. Love those crazy high notes she hits at the end of the song.

8. Maniac - Michael Sembello 4:13 (Casablanca Records) Ah, "Flashdance". Remember "Flashdance"? I love this movie. I haven't seen it in a long time but it was one of my favorites. I have always thought the sound of this song was so original. I can remember going to Studio 54 with Therry and we would dance our asses off to this song. RR is getting into it too. You should see him go!!!! Sparks are flying! Thank goodness there is no bucket of water and string anywhere in sight. I have a remix of this too.

9. Theme From Star Trek - Gene Page 3:22 (Arista Records) WOW I totally forgot about this. I guess everyone was trying to cash in on the popularity of the Meco "Star Wars" craze. They even used R2D2ish sounds in this disco version of the incredible Star Trek TV Series theme. Gotta admit, I am chair dancing a little bit and RR is loving this song. Must be reminding him of home.

10. Batman Theme - Neal Hefti 2:16 (RCA Records) With the popularity of the first Batman movie in 1989 came an onslaught of nostalgia for all things Batman. Personally, I loved it. My friend Harold, whenever he was hard pressed for something to buy me, if it had Batman on it, he knew he was safe. This is the full recording of the original Batman TV theme. It is still sooooo cool and goofy! I love it.

Ok, time to edit these songs and post the first half of the blog. Then it is onto the snowmen and cooking. So, read, listen, anjoy and I will see you again in a few hours.

10pm Bet you thought I wasn't gonna come back, didn't you? RR is nodding his head in agreement. I wasn't talking to you! I got everything done too! Snowmen are all tucked away safely until next winter, laundry is done, I watched American Idol and Supernatural and I made a great meal.

I made a Lori Rome Quiche. I created this for her for Valentine's Day but made a different version of it tonight for myself. Lori has a gluten allergy so I could not make the quiche with a regular pie crust. I gave it alot of thought and came up with this.....mashed potatoes! I took some Yukon Gold potatoes, boiled and mashed them, then, spread them out evenly in the bottom of baking pan. I then put the pan with the potato shell in the broiler for a few minutes to get the top of the shell crisp so that the egg mixture would not just soak into it. (If you are going to make this for yourself, make sure you lower the oven temp to 400 when you take the pan out of the broiler. If you do everything in the order I did, it will allow the oven's temp to lower) I cut up bacon, sliced a small onion, cut up steamed asparagus and sauteed it all in a pan with a little butter and when the bacon was slightly crisp and the onions transulcent, I laid that out in the potato shell. In a bowl I beat 8 eggs with some heavy cream and a little salt, pepper and garlic powder and poured that over the bacon/asparagus mix and then sprinkled some grated Monterey/Jack Cheese and let it bake until the eggs were firm and the top was a golden brown!! I made a nice salad and that was my dinner!! It was so good, but I am still full and I didn't eat all that much of it.

Now, onto the rest of Today's Tunes.

11. To Sir With Love - Lulu 2:44 (Epic Records) I thought I would start this next set with another movie song! I love Lulu's voice. It is intimate, raspy and strong...the perfect match for this song and let me tell you, she still sounds great!! Look her up on YouTube sometime.

12. Voyeur - Kim Carnes 4:01 (EMI Records) Love Kim Carnes. Not quite as intimate as Lulu but certainly more raspy! Kim Carnes is a great song writer and has written for almost eveyone including Barbra Streisand. Then once Bette Davis Eyes hit, she also had a pretty good recording career. Hit it RR! Oh man, I love this song. I haven't heard it in years. It has such a haunted sound to it. I always mixed this with Abba's "The Visitors". This is another one of those songs that reminds me of going to the Village and going to dances at NYU. (Please note that while I did not attend NYU I did crash their dances!)

13. Runaway - Bon Jovi 3:54 (Mercury Records) WOW I played this one to death, you can hear the cue burn in the begining of the song. I loved early Bon Jovi, then they got a little played out and I lost interest. Then when he started acting I started liking him again. He was GREAT on Ally McBeal! I really have a lot of respect for him. He still looks and sounds great and the band is still making some great music!

14. Tainted Love - Soft Cell 2:38 (Sire Records) One of the most overplayed songs but I still absolutely love it!! I love Marc Almond's voice and those early synths are outstanding. Chair dancing and smiling like an idiot. This is another one from the NYU Dance days. Everytime I hear this song I think of my friend Jamie Champa, who I met at one of those dances! oh crap, that was 29 years ago. next.........

15. Iko Iko - The Belle Stars 2:49 (Capitol Records) I always thought this was a great song but this version is not my favorite. I love what is going on with the nusic but I do not like the lead singer's voice. Especially after you hear Cyndi Lauper do this, there is no going back! Do love the jungle-ish, chaotic sound of this version until this saxophone starts popping up in odd and random spots. I hope that if I am ever wondering through a jungle someone thinks to bring their sax cause it would be fun to recreate this sound (with a better singer of course).

16. Turn To Stone - Electric Light Orchestra 3:48 (Jet Records) Oh boy. I am back at Battery Avenue right now! 1977! ELO was sooooo cool. They created some of the most original music of the 70s and early 80s. I love the crazy little bridge in this song and those violins are just amazing!! They seemed to create a little movie with each song. I almost fogot about that crazy, psychotic ending that keeps building and you are just waiting for it to explode. So cool! ELO was always one of Steven's favorites and this is another song that reminds me of Bill McFarland.

17. Keep On Loving You - REO Speedwagon 3:22 (Epic Records) This is another band that had such a great sound. Love the lead singer's voice (except for his love of the hard "R", makes him sound like a pirate) and their vocal backing is so tight it is amazing. I am very excited because I will get to see them in concert again this year. They will be touring with Pat Benatar again, their last tour together was in 1995 and they were great then!

18. Control - Janet Jackson 3:26 (A&M Records) I know I have mentioned this before but it bares repeating...I LOVE JANET! Well, the Janet of the 80s and 90s. I will always have my fingers crossed for her to do something GREAT again. I keep buying the albums but after one listen, I swear it the same album over and over again. This is the start of it all though. This song is so amazing and changed dance music. Janet and Jimmy Jam were unstoppable. This was another great concert by the way. I saw Janet in 1990 and she was flawless!!! 'Scuse me, I got some chair dancing to do.

19. Grazing In The Grass - The Friends Of Distinction 2:56 (RCA Records) Killer horns!!!! "Grazin' in the grass is a gas, baby can you dig it?" Such a fun, happy song! It just reminds me of a giant block party that goes on and on all night long. Can you dig it, baby? More chair dancing going on and you should see RR!

20. Happy Together - The Turtles 2:50 (Collectables Records) One of the greatest pop songs of all time. I think you would be hard-pressed to find someone that doesn't know this song and it never gets old. I love the way the snare drum comes in at the beginning of the song. This is such a great sing along song especially on the 'Ba-Ba"s! This is another song that reminds me of that shared discman walk through the city with Jeffrey 26 years ago!! (Note to Jeffrey - when are you coming out here to co-blog??? As long as we finish before 12:15am we should be safe!)

21. Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Elton John 6:45 (MCA Records) This is one of my all-time favorite Elton songs. The lyric refers to a time in Elton's life when he was contemplating marrying his then girlfriend and the friend that talked him out of it so that he could pursue his music. Aside from this being a perfect song, the thing that I love the most about it is Elton's conviction that the song not be cut down to be released as a single. The record company said they could never sell a nearly 7 minute song and Elton said, well then it can't be released. When asked what should be released he answered Someone Saved My Life Tonight or nothing. The rest is history.

Well, there ya go folks. It is 12:07am (don't worry, I have my headphones on) and I have finally finished this post. It will be another hour or so before the music is edited and up for the last 11 songs but I really had a lot of fun tonight. I am going to sleep like a baby tonight! See you all tomorrow.

Unfinished............

2010-02-22T23:36:00.001-05:00

The reason that this post is unfinished is because the fat guy that lives downstairs from me decided that Dave and I were too loud and called the police on us! It was 12:15am and let me tell you folks, the music was NOT loud, my speakers are not the best and I can't get it to be loud even if I tried. Dave and I laugh ALOT when we are together, but come on!!!! I am very conscious of the fact that my bedroom (which is where I have my computer) is directly above his! How can I ever forget as I have to hear him snoring all night long, or listen to his tv all night long and don't EVEN get me started about when he has one of his "girls" over! But this big coward, whimp-ass, rather than come knock on my door and ask us to keep it down, calls the police! I am telling you, between the lard-ass that feels the need to monitor my every word and this moron I am ready to pack it up and go live in a very deep hole in the ground! I'll edit and post the song clips later! I am too aggrevated right now!

"I'VE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY!" Dave is here tonight folks! And what would you like to say Dave? "Um....I picked these!" Ok, thank you Dave. Yes, Dave picked these songs and this should be a fun night! He has had an adverse effect on Red Robot though.

Here are Today's 10 + 1 Tunes.......

(Click here to hear clips of these songs)

1. Supernatural Love - Donna Summer 3:38 (Geffen Records) "What?" You were thinking this was Unconditional Love weren't you? "YES! Can we change it?" NO! "I was thinking this was Unconditional Supernatural Love". Surprisingly, Dave has left the room to go get us beers! Um.....the song has ended and he is still not back. Ok, so, I will just say, this is a very boring song and really has nothing going for it except Donna's voice. But even she sounds bored with this one! Oh, look who just came back into the room!!!

"I GOT SOMETHING TO SAY!" What Dave? "Does anyone know what a West Virginia virgin is?" Well, I sure don't Dave! "Ok, Gary, I'll tell you. A girl who can outrun her brothers!" Oh, so you mean there has never been one?

2. Solitaire - Laura Branigan 4:00 (Atlantic Records) I have a great remix of this song! I love her voice. It is nasally and deep. "Yes, I think she has a cigarette in her nasal passages while singing!" The girl could really hold a note. Did you know that Laurie Beechman's "After The Fall" was a Laura Branigan reject? "No I did not!" Well, that is because you never listen to me! Sorry, Dave, what do you want to say about this song? "Yes. I always think of this as a sad song but it does have a happy beat to it, doesn't it?" Yes it does. NEXT...............................................................

3. Hot In The City - Billy Idol 3:30 (Chrysalis Records) This is one of Steven's finds and it was the first time I had heard Billy Idol! I always thought he sounded like Dracula on this one! "Sequel to Monster Mash?" EXACTLY!!! You hear it too? "Well, he's on thin ice with me. Always has been. I never liked Rebel Yell or White Wedding or the remake song......" Mony, Mony? "Yes!!! That one!" Well, then you basically don't like Billy Idol cause that is his career! "Well, no. I like this one and that other one. You know. THAT one!" Oh yes. Of course....THAT one! RR and I are shaking our heads!

4. Let's Go All The Way - Sly Fox 3:54 (Captiol Records) "Dumm-dumm Zigga-ninny Dumm-dumm zigga-ninny Dumm-dumm zigga-ninny!" Great way to start this song! "The sound is incredible. All the different sounds!" HE'S GOT SOMETHING TO SAY! He just can't remember it right now! "they mix it up like no other song I have ever heard. I love what the background singers are doing too!" I know. The basic beat of the song is very boring but what they did with everything else made it so freakin cool!!

5. Working My Way Back To You - Spinners 4:01 (Atlantic Records) This was the song that made me leave the Jeff Samaha Singers. I just couldn't picture us doing this song. And, OH that choreography! Well, now you know! Stop asking! So, Dave, you picked this one. Got anything to say? "I love this song because it always played on my bike radio!" Um, bike radio? "Yes, didn't you have one?" eh, no. "Well mine was taped to the handlebars. Lotta tape!!! man, it was so cool. I was the most popular guy in my 2 block radius!"

6. Sexcrime (nineteen eighty-four) - Eurythmics 3:56 (RCA Records) "Of course, I love this song" AND.......more please. "Having been molested it really spoke to me. The song is about Sex CRIMES, right?" Yes it is! Ok, so that is lyrically. What about the sound of the song? What she does with her voice is OUTRAGEOUS!!!! "I love that deep thump in the background! It still has hope in the music!" Such great memories of when this came out. I played this to death when I DJed!

7. Go Insane - Lindsey Buckingham 3:05 (Elektra Records) "This song conjours images of demons for me. I love how it brings up both good and bad!" And the title means nothing to you? "Oh yeh, I forgot about that! I put my insanity on the back burner." Some big pots belong on the back burner! I think this may be the first single he did after breaking free of Fleetwood Mac, yes? "I think it is!"

8. Swept Away - Diana Ross 3:58 (RCA Records) Ok, we both agree that the music for this song is incredible. And, aside from an occassional growl, her voice is just too thin for the intensity of this song! I point out to Dave that Daryl Hall co-wrote and co-produced this song. "Oh! Now it all makes sense! His voice is just as thin as hers!" "But the video is way over the top!" Over the top of what? Dave? Dave?

9. They Don't Know - Tracey Ullman 2:59 (MCA Records) Oh so 60s!!! This is one of Annette's favorite songs! "Why do I like it? I don't know! It's cause 'they' don't know!" I love the faux 60s girl group sound of this and who knew she could sing?????? Have you seen the video for this song?

10. Wood Beez (pray like aretha franklin) - Scritti Politti 3:39 (Warner Brothers Records) I freakin' love this song!!!!! Ok and you hate it, right? "Didn't this sound like a good idea?" What? this song? "No! Us doing this post tonight! Sounded like a good idea about 4 hours ago!" Now, come on.......when is the last time you have laughed this hard?

11. There Goes My Baby - Donna Summer 4:05 (Geffen Records) Gawd, the beginning of this sounds like Flashdance! "It was nineteen hundred and eighty four when I first heard this song so I bought the album. I had never bought an album for just one song before. Anyway, I was at a friend's house and I played it for him. His mom walked in and heard the song and told us that she loved it. I was so impressed that she knew a new pop song. She then told us that it was a remake of a song that she loved as a kid.

Sauce, Sofa and Song Sunday

2010-02-21T23:53:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I spent the day yesterday with Dave. As usual,we had a great time. Did some grocery shopping and got all the fixing to make a big pot of sauce! Came back here did our favorite thing to do...he kept me company while I made the sauce, a 3 hour process!! He was remarking yesterday, that after 11 years of knowing each other we still have such a great time hanging out together and how easy it is to be around each other. A very rare thing indeed!

So, today, I was basically a slug. Did some cleaning and such but other than that, I made some rigatoni ("That's not rigatoni!!!"), some peas like Grandma used to make, ate and watched a few great movies (Taking Woodstock and Eagle Eye). Now here I sit, with, as you can tell, little to say. So, let's get to the music. Oh, by the way, Red Robot was trying out different looks for the summer. I guess the nice weather today inspired him.

Here they are Today's 10 Tunes....

(Click here to listen to clips from these songs)

1. Rockin' At Midnight - The Honeydrippers 5:57 (es Paranza Records) If Robert Plant and Jimmy Page had met in the 1950s instead of the 1960s this is what Led Zeppelin would have sounded like! Well, maybe not but they are the founding members of The Honeydrippes. This was the follow up to Sea Of Love and has such a cool R&B 50s sound. Love Robert Plant's voice and Jimmy Page's guitars! Great remake.

2. If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man) - Bonnie Tyler 4:08 (Columbia Records) Another amazing Jim Steinman production. The combination of Tyler's voice and Steinman's production was unbeatable. I love this song! This was so different from the other songs they had done together with the familiar elements that made it a Steinman piece. Love the crazy high backing vocals!!! There is an outstanding video for this song. You should look it up on YouTube. I used to play it when I DJed in a great bar on the Upper West Side.

3. Keeping The Faith (Special Mix) - Billy Joel 4:44 (Columbia Records) This is a very cute song but never one of my favorites, especially considering how much I loved Billy Joel. This is kinda when I stopped buying his albums. He had changed so much and as I have said before, I think 52nd Street was his last GREAT album. I kinda put this one with Uptown Girl. Yeh, it's catchy and would be great for someone else, just not my way cool Billy Joel. Although, he does sing a line in this song about listening to his old 45s!

4. Back For Good - Take That 4:00 (Arista Records) I barely remember this song! Yikes! I am waiting for the chorus to hopefully jog my memory. Oh yeh!!! I vaguely remember it. They really had a great sound....amazing harmonies. This song is very middle of the road with nothing really exciting about it, hence my lack of recall! Ironically, this was their biggest hit in the US! They did however, do an incredible dance version of Barry Manilow's Could It Be Magic that he adapted and did in his live shows for many years!

5. Who's Leaving Who - Anne Murray 3:38 (Capitol Records) I have said this before and I will say it again, I love 80s Anne Murray! She was a bit edgy and just sounded like she was having a blast. Granted I am a big fan of most of her work but it was great to hear her having so much fun back then. And she had some great producers working with her. I love the synths in this song!

6. I Can't Go For That (No Can Do ) - Daryl Hall & John Oates 3:39 (RCA Records) Hall & Oates has always been a hit or miss thing with me. Some songs were great and some were just annoying. This one falls squarely in the annoying pile. They just seem to be trying too hard to be cool and anytime you have to try that hard...................................................Sorry, nodded off there for a second. NEXT!

7. I Love Rock N Roll - Joan Jett & The Blackearts 2:45 (Boardwalk Records) Also not a big Joan Jett fan. But this is a really fun song and has become a bit of a classic. Great memories of Brooklyn College days here. This was always playing on the jukebox at the student lounge. I can remember loving it when my friend Therry would sing this!!

8. Walking On Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves 4:00 (Capitol Records) This is a much played to death song but I still think it is so much fun. It is just happy and getting you moving!! RR is bopping all over the place!! I really like her voice, a little husky, a little sexy and you can hear the smile in her voice. Ok, I am chair dancing!

9. Careless Whisper - Wham! Featuring George Michael 4:50 (Columbia Records) This was the beginning of the end for our Wham! boys. George only wanted his name on this one as it was to be his first solo single. The record company had different ideas but a compromise was reached, hence the way it is billed and the two different 45 picture sleeves. Whatever the drama, this is one of the coolest songs ever. It is so soulful and sexy and that saxophone solo is incredible. The man has a great voice!! (Ironically, this is one of two songs co-written with Andrew Ridgely, the other half of Wham!) I was working at Record Factory when this came out and no one knew the name of the song but it didn't stop them from coming in by the truck loads to buy it. They would sing part of it to me, or tap their foot on the floor and try to remember some of the words. Of course, being the sadistic little bastard that I was, I knew what song they wanted but I let them go on! A little something for me, ya know?

10. Rock This Town - Stray Cats 3:24 (EMI Records) Ok, we fake-50s rocked our way in tonight and now we are fake-50s rockin our way out tonight. I love Brian Setzer!! He has continued to create amazing original songs that sound straight out of the rock-a-billy 50s with the Brian Setzer Orchestra and he is soooo great at what he does. This is such a fun song I am chair dancing my little butt off right now!! This one also reminds me of Brooklyn College days!!!

This was a fun night. I really had a hard time getting myself off the couch to do it, but it was fun! See ya tomorrow!

But'cha Gotta Have Friends

2010-02-18T23:42:00.003-05:00

Sorry I wasn't here yesterday, I just sort of ran out of time. Had another great day at my parent's house, helping my Mom make some more stuff for the project she is working on. That woman is so outrageously talented it boggles the mind and I love that I can help contribute whenever possible. I had to get home because a good friend who I haven't gotten to see lately was coming over. She wanted me to meet her new beau (who, by the way, I really liked alot and could not be happier for her). I whipped up my famous spinach/artichoke dip and whilst I was whipping (well, chopping and mixing actually) I got a call AND a visit from another old, very dear friend who I also have not seen in awhile. I really needed that last night. I have been feeling like I was losing my mind the last few weeks over someone that I truly thought I would be friends with for the rest of my life. Like I have said before, people and computers, there is just no figuring them out. Who knows, maybe that friendship will come back around. Everytime I have consulted a power higher than myself, my Magic 8 Ball, it says, "Response Cloudy" "Ask Again Later".

As for today, I would love to tell you that I created an amazing meal, but it was nothing spectacular. I had a really nice piece of Top Round Steak (about 1 1/2" thick) that I seasoned and cooked in the oven for a good long time and then did a potato, peppers and onions medley in a skillet. It was really good but nothing to write home about! But here I sit, fat and happy and ready to listen to some music. How about you?

It is Thursday and you know what that means! BONUS SONG! Red Robot, who by the way is working on his undercover spy look, helped pick out the songs. Here they are folks, Today's 10 +1 Tunes.....

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Sad Songs (Say So Much) - Elton John 4:08 (Geffen Records) I absolutely love this song. This lyric is sooooo true. There are just times when life is too much and you just need to crawl inside a sad song and get lost for awhile. Gawd knows I have lived my whole life doing this. I can remember coming home from grammar school and just needing to be alone with the Carpenters or Olivia and it was always the headiest and saddest songs that I would find my comfort in. Folks, I can tell you, the situations may have changed but the results are still the same...I still find the greatest comfort in hiding in my music. Believe me, these days, I have needed it more than usual!

2. Lonesome Loser - Little River Band 3:29 (Capitol Records) I always related to this song for some reason. I still find myself putting my heart before my head. When will I learn? I love the bridge of this song, the tone changes for a minute and then it goes into a great guitar solo. There was always something magical about LRB to me and this whole album is among my favorites. This is another one that Dave and I pull out every once in awhile, it never gets old.

3. Angie Baby - Helen Reddy 3:29 (Capitol Records) This is one that somehow made its way from the spindles to a sleeve! Hmmmmmmm Ok, this one has got to go on the 100 Coolest List and I would put it in the top 5!!!! Hey, how many times do you hear someone telling someone else that they are "a little touched, ya know" in a song? It's an age old story. Lonely, somewhat nutty girl with only a radio for a friend, thinks that the songs are telling her what to do. Then, "stopping at her house is a neighbor boy with evil on his mind" he enters her room, invites her to dance and then disappears into her radio. "The headlines read that a boy disappeared and everyone thinks he died/'cept a crazy girl with a secret lover who keeps her satisfied" Folks, it happens all the time. Read your papers. Best line of the song - "It's so nice to be insane/no one asks you to explain"! I still think this would make a great movie!

4. September Morn - Neil Diamond 3:40 (Columbia Records) Such a great song. I love the arrangement here. The horns, piano and, of course, THE KEY CHANGE!!! I love singing this song and if it wasn't so late, I would be singing it at the top of my lungs right now. The lyric is wonderful as well. It always conjures an image of two people that knew each other when they were so very young and in love but time and circumstance took them half way 'round the world only to find each other again. In my animated brain, this meeting is taking place at some elegant affair with him in a tux and her in a ball gown. I used to dream that this would be a song I would sing on my first album. Ha!

5. Would I Lie To You? - Eurythmics 4:02 (RCA Records) An absolutely flawless song!!!! Chair dancing here and RR is shooting off his little ray gun making a great light show!!! Love Annie Lennox! But you already know that!!! Freakin' amazing attitude in this song. "Had all I can take now I'm leaving you!"
Ok, I ask you, if you have to lie to someone why would you want to be around them? There is no point to it. I used to be the consumate liar. I elevated it to an art form at one point in my young life. Or so I thought. When I realized that it was costing me friends and lovers, I vowed to never lie to myself (which is all you really are doing) or anyone else again. If anyone ever accuses me of lying these days, all I can say to them is, you are not worth lying to! I would never put all that effort into something with such a questionable payoff. I have zero tolerance for liars and I do not suffer fools well! (Holy venting Batman!)

6. More Love - Kim Carnes 3:40 (EMI Records) AHHH those "violins" in the beginning of this song just bring me back in time. I love Kim Carnes' raspy, sexy voice. This song is one of the greatest white-girl-soul-songs ever! AND it has a key change. Could you ask for more? Seriously! Groove chair dancing! This is a Smokey Robinson cover, isn't it? Why don't radio stations play these songs anymore? Listening to this right now, I can almost smell our old room (it was not a bad smell it just....aw hell, you know what I mean. shuttup) at Battery Avenue and listening to this on the radio!

7. Will You Still Love Me? - Chicago 4:10 (Warner Brothers Records) Oh, 80s Chicago! The decade of Peter Cetera on lead vocals. His powedery voice always cut through me like a knife. Like fingernails on a chalkboard. Like a cat caught in a blender (it could happen, by accident of course. shuttup)! The lyrics to this song are great and remind me of being that young and optimistic about love. Such a sweet feeling. The opening line is so great and simple...."Take me as I am"! I always try to take everyone as they are but for some reason, I am judged by a higher standard. Go figure.

8. Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again - The Fortunes 2:51 (Capitol Records) As soon as RR let this song go I smiled. Those opening notes just make me happy. Which is ironic, considering the lyric! But it just reminds me of being a kid again when hearing songs like this on the radio made me feel sane. Like it was there just for me. "it always seems to be a monday/left over memories of sunday/always spent with you"

9. I Knew You When - Linda Ronstadt 2:53 (Asylum Records) Another amazing "in your face" song from Linda! From a singers standpoint, I can totally understand why Linda recorded this one. It shows off every facet of her voice. Big, bad, angry belt to little tiny quiet voice and she crawled into and inhabited every nuance of this song. Lyrically, I can totally relate. For the longest time, the people that I would date and that I really felt something for would break up with me and then seem to find the love of their lives. It was almost like I was the prep guy! I got them ready to find real love. Well, at least I served a purpose, right?

10. My Life's A Dance - Anne Murray 4:04 (Capitol Records) 80s Anne Murray is probably my favorite Anne Murray. She recorded some of the best original songs during the 80s and this one is no exception. It is such a well crafted song and so very contemporary. The one thing that I love about any Anne Murray song is that you can always understand every word she sings and she sings each word with heart. She relates to what she is singing or she wouldn't have ever recorded it. This song will always remind me of the love of my life.

11. All Fired Up (Single Version) - Pat Benatar 4:08 (Chrysalis Records) This song is as close to perfect as any song could ever be. This is the one that started the Shane-Gary-Pat-Neil fest that has lasted 23 years now. I can't describe to you the thrill I get when I hear Neil's guitars in the opening of this song. It is 3.25am and I am "wide awake" listening to this song. Even RR is bopping and pointing and giving attitude. This was a turning point in Pat and Neil's career when they were only going to record what they wanted to record. EVERYTHING on this album, "Wide Awake In Dreamland" was perfect. "Now I believe there comes a time when everything just falls in line we live and learn from our mistakes the deepest cuts are healed by faith" How freakin' true is that????? I can not wait to see them this summer!!!

I can't believe how late I am actually posting this but I got side-tracked by a phone call from yet another old friend that I have not talked to in awhile. (It is like "Hey, let's call Gary O. Day!) Our friendship was a temporary fatality of that douche bag that I have spoken about before. You know, the one that caused me to become friendly with a pro-bono attorney that is just waiting for him to make the littlest misstep? Anyway, it was great talking to her tonight and I have always sorta known we could salvage our relationship and get back to being good friends. It never ceases to amaze me how the universe provides. If there is one thing I would want to pass on to my nieces it is this.....no matter how bad things get or how depressed and disgusted you could ever possibly be, the universe will always give you something to turn things around. You just have to be willing to see it and accept it! My Mom taught me that! The last two days have shown me that I have not been living my life in vain and that the people I put my faith in, that really deserved it, are still there. I am one hell of a lucky guy! Please make sure that the people you love really know it. Don't bullshit them because, ya know what, they will see right through it. See you tomorrow.

Repair and Prepare

2010-02-16T18:31:00.001-05:00

I have spent the better part of the day today on the computer. I swear I am going to end up with such curvature of the spine when I am older. I applied for jobs and then I did some general maintenance on the computer. I updated the anti-virus program I have and tried to fix things that have just somehow gotten out of whack. It really got me to thinking about the similarity between this inanimate object and people. How do they both seem to change, all on their own, without any assist from me. They both seem to go from being so completely there for you and dependable to just changing in the blink of an eye. They both seem to turn against you and you have no idea why it happened or how to fix it. Ahhh the mysteries of life. So, I am turning everything inward, gonna fix and repair me and, if you suddenly notice that I haven't posted for a few days, it is because I have thrown the computer out the window.

Anywho, I grabbed 10 records today without looking at what they were. Some are really good and some are just average (or borderline bad) judging from the titles and what I can remember of them. We shall see! Oh, I almost forgot.....when I went to take today's picture, I called Red Robot and he was no where to be found. So, I took a few shots and then all of sudden he just jumped into frame and out again. Wasn't until later that I noticed the rope and camo helmet. He must be preparing for the zombie apocalypse!

Here they are kids, Today's 10 Tunes...

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Respect Yourself - Bruce Willis 3:51 (Motown Records)   Love this song and I have not heard it in forever. Guess I have to cue up all the records myself today. Here we go....Oh yeh!!! It's as good as I remember it. Love the Pointer Sisters sangin' their little hearts out with Bruno! Sooo totally chair dancing with at-teee-tood!!! Thank Gawd, finally a song from the 80s with a harmonica that ISN'T Stevie Wonder! This song really speaks to the way I am feeling these days!

2. Breakout - Swing Out Sister 3:46 (Mercury Records) This is probably Dave's least favorite song ever! It's not high on my list either and I keep passing it up when I go to grab records, but here it is...finally! This is one I remember Steven really liking. Alright, it is starting out ok. I am bopping, begrudgingly! Ok, I am also singing along. Aw hell, I like this song. Great horns, fun beat and really cool back-up singing! I used to mix this with a song by Scritti Pollitti called Wood Beez. Screw it, I really like this song. IT EVEN HAS A KEY CHANGE! WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO! It is a harmless, happy song! Gotta talk to Dave about this.

3. Love Will Conquer All - Lionel Ritchie 4:18 (Motown Records) Gonna get this out of the way up front....not a Lionel fan. I do not remember this song by its title, so, there is no pre-judgement here. Ok, it is playing and I still don't remember this song. This must be one of Steven's records. I really should have been more selective when I took his records. Hee hee! WOW This is a very boring song. Very middle of the road pop/soul. I'd be very curious to see if Steven remembers it BEFORE he plays the clip. It really is not a bad song at all, just kinda forgettable.

4. Show Me - The Cover Girls 3:43 (The Fever...catch it! Records) Cool label name, huh?   HA!! WOW I forgot how bad this song is! The lead singer's voice is sooooooo annoyingly nasally bad! I guess it has it's merits for dancing in a club with lots of other sweaty people and as a way for the DJ to sustain a beat to keep people dancing, but other than that..............................................................................! Show Me? Show you what? How to sing? Ok! Sign up for my HowToSingAPopSong correspondence course.

5. Daddy's Money - Ricochet 2:58 (Columbia Records) From silly dance song to silly country dance song! This is fun! Man, I love these songs. This is one of the ones I bought for my Mom to practice her line dancing to and it brings back really great memories of working at Low Places. Damn, I remember all the words to this one! I think the reason I love these country songs is because it reminds of the 70s when they actually played real instruments, actually had some singing talent and you could understand the words, so you could sing along!

6. Should I Do It - The Pointer Sisters 3:53 (Planet Records) Ha! Another one I couldn't place. Such a fun song. Loving the 50s feel to this one. I have always loved the Sisters' voices, such tight, amazing harmonies. A very, very fun song!!! It actually made me smile for a minute!

7. I Love Music (Part 1) - The O'Jays 3:37 (Philadelphia Records) This is one of my favorite songs. I have used this every single time I DJed anywhere. It needs to be in the Coolest Songs Of All-Time list in the top 15 (I say that cause I am sure by now I have used up the top 10 slots)! Bongos!!!! Loves me some good bongos! "I Love Music/any kind of music" AMEN! Such a cool, sexy song!!! TSOP (the sound of Philadelphia)

8. Swear - Sheena Easton 3:35 (EMI Records) Oh so 80s!!!! And oh such a silly song!!! But I love it! This is a way tough Sheena! I would not mess with this Sheena. "Swear! that you love me/Swear! that you need me/ Swear! that you want me!" WOW I forgot about the little spoken part of the song! Listen to the clip! Very cool.

9. The Heat Is On - Glenn Frey 3:45 (MCA Records) GREAT horns! Glenn Frey's voice is sooooo freakin' cool. "Ohh a wah whoooooo The Heat Is On" Another great driving song.  Can you tell I am in need of a road trip? I have all the music on here now!! Got my destination in mind. Now all I need is a car (yeh yeh, with a driver. shuttup)

10. Smokin' In The Boys Room - Motley Crue 3:08 (Elektra Records) I love this remake. The Crue really did a great job with this. Kept the original fun intent of the song but added their "hair band" sensibilities to it. Chair dancing and finger pointin here!!!! Love the end of the song!!! Very cool!

WOW This went WAY too fast! I had a blast today! I hope you enjoyed these songs too! Oh crap, somewhere in the middle of this I missed a call from an old friend that I really want to see again (I haven't seen him in 20 years)! Gotta get my shit together here, get some money together and just listen to myself for a change. I wish I still had some of the youthful, blind faith that things would work themselves out and damn the consequences! Gettin' old is a bitch. I sorta blew my first chance at reconnecting because I let someone else's advice influence me. Ain't gonna happen again! Ok, I am outta here. Go hug yourself! See you tomorrow!

New Dog - Old Trick

2010-02-15T21:43:00.002-05:00

After spending the better part of the day keeping the wolves at bay, juggling payments to utility companies and realizing that I need to get back out there and start another soul-sucking retail job because the little bit that I am getting from unemployment is not going to cut it anymore, I thought I would attempt something more meaningful. I figured I should teach Red Robot how to open my beer bottles for me. Since he has taken a liking to the Simpsons, I figured I would use my talking Simpsons bottle opener to instruct him on the simple art of opening a beer bottle on request. It didn't go very well. Look at the picture and you will understand.

Also, I reorganized the music page and created a separate page for January's songs and will continue to do this each month. There is a link on the main page to get to January's songs if you wanted to go back and listen.

Here are Today's 10 Tunes (click the picture to enbiggen)

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Blue Bayou - Linda Ronstadt 3:57 (Asylum Records) An amazing cover of Roy Orbison's classic. The simplicity of the arrangement and Linda's soft delivery on the verses, really make you feel her longing. I love the way she sings the words "sleepy eyes". How do make a word sound sleepy? She did! Of course I love when she lets loose and goes full throttle. An outstanding instrument on our Linda!!

2. Tighter, Tighter - Alive and Kicking 2:45 (Roulette Records) I love when I can't place a song title right away and then as soon as that first note plays....I love this song! Loving that laid back 60s groove and the combination of their voices, so cool. This is one of Steven's that I think he may have gotten at a great record store in midtown called Downstairs Records.

3. I Want To Know What Love Is - Foreigner 4:58 (Atlantic Records) Don't we all? I really do like this song, alot. Maybe it is just my "I am over EVERYTHING" mood at the moment but all I want to do is smack this guy. Stop whining. There's been heartache and pain in everyone's life and we all have to face it. Geez! This is like the guy that walks around complaining about his life saying he is just not happy! Whannn! Back to the song....there is an amazing all-star group making up that choir toward the end of the song and that is what I like the most about this song! Cause, seriously folks, his voice is a bit whiny, don't ya think?

4. Bad Girls - Donna Summer 3:55 (Casablanca Records) Um, Mr. Foreigner Man, maybe you should talk to Donna and some of her Bad Girls. You may not find out what love is but after spending some time with them, you won't care quite so much! This is such a great song!!! Classic disco and everyone knows this song. Donna Summer ruled the world there for awhile didn't she? This is Giorgio Moroder in the early stages of his career as well. She put out an album last year that was soooooo incredible called Colors. If you like her at all, go out and get it. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

5. Rio - Duran Duran 3:57 (Capitol Records) I really liked Duran Duran back in the day, not all that thrilled with most of what they have done in the last 10 years but they had such a distinct sound. That was not an easy feet at the time when most British Pop Bands all tended to sound the same. When I worked at Record Factory and my hair was really long, people used to tell me I looked like John Taylor! A compliment indeed! Little bit of trivia that I am sure most of you know, they got their name from the villain in the movie Barbarella. Just thought I would throw that out there.

6. Got My Mind Set On You - George Harrison 3:50 (Dark Horse Records) For some reason I have had this song stuck in my head for days and I have not heard it in ages. Hopefully hearing it now will knock it out of there once and for all. Such a happy, obviously contagious song! This song was co-produced with Jeff Lynne of E.L.O. and you can hear a little of his influence in there. I think he may be singing back-up as well. RR is dancing around to this one! He is spinning the bottle opener around. He is going to hit himself in the......head! Gotta pick him up.

7. Upside Down - Diana Ross 3:37 (Motown Records) Ahhh, another classic disco song. Diana Ross teamed up with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic for her 1980 breakout album, "Diana"! It really is a great album! Such a great sound!! Ya know what, I take that back....it is not a classic disco song. It is on the brink of the next phase of dance music and was more of a club song. A little lower key and didn't have all the trappings of a disco song. This definitely had more funk to it. GREAT guitars.

8. Again - Janet Jackson 3:48 (Virgin Records) This one is on translucent YELLOW vinyl kids!! WOOOOHOOOO!! This is my favorite ballad of Janet's. So simple and Janet's voice is right up front, not buried in production. The lyric is so honest and direct. This is someone that is so in love with someone but knows it is not right because he keeps leaving. She is strong when he is not around but as soon as she sees him Again....BAM! Haven't we all been there? I know I have. I'm gonna be strong, I don't need you, I can do this! "Hello!" Oh crap. Ya know what I am saying?

9. Taxi - Harry Chapin 6:40 (Elektra Records) 6:40? Man, record companies did not pay attention to things like this. The song is 5:00 long. I seem to remember it being longer on the album, so they must have used that timing. Anyway, this is one of THE best story songs ever!!! I have said this before but Harry Chapin and Jim Croce were the greatest story tellers of all time. There was a sequel to this song, aptly titled "Sequel". I know I own it but I am not sure if it is a single or on an album. He continues the story of Harry and Sue and gave them a proper ending to their story. This song is why I love doing this blog. It totally took me out of my crappy mood for a few minutes and let me get totally lost in it. Ain't music grand?

10. Shake The Disease - Depeche Mode 3:59 (Sire Records) Ah, another John Vargas accomplishment. He loved Depeche Mode and in turn so did I. Dave Gahan's vocals and Martin Gore's elctronica was a match made in heaven. They created and continue to create some of the most interesting and some times hypnotic music ever. I could relate to alot of their songs but for John, it was like they were writing specifically for him! That was such an amazing time in my life, I miss John alot and I know that he and Dave, my Dave not Depeche Dave, would get along soooooo well!

I had such a great time with THE Lori Rome yesterday. We bitched, commiserated, decided that we should move to Mexico with her mom and open a restuarant, make a crap load of money and then come back. We laughed, shot up the place, ate and just had a great time. She even had a dish, that I created, named for her. As Dave pointed out, everyone should have a food named for them! I wish I could find work doing what I love doing but I just don't know how to find it. Oh well. That will be tomorrow's problem to solve. I still have to get RR to stop taking the tops off my beer bottles. I hope you had a great VD yesterday kids. Love yourselves, take care of you first and then tell someone else how much you love them. That is my new resolve. See you tomorrow!

Happy Hallmark Day!

2010-02-14T15:03:00.002-05:00

There are those

I suppose,

Who prefer their prose

To be contained within a card

That cost them 5 hard.

I, you see

Prefer to be

Alone and free.

And while there is no impending switch about it

I will remain single and continue to bitch about it!

Sorry about that. I have no idea where that came from. Actually, I think Valentine's Day is a very sweet thing. It is a day to tell someone you love them, how can that be a bad thing? I spent the day yesterday with my favorite Valentine, my Mom and later today I will get to spend some time with THE Lori Rome. All-in-all a good way to spend the weekend!

Now, I have given today's songs a lot of thought and was going to go the obvious route and pick 10 romantic love songs but I just knew, after a few songs, my commentary may get a little, oh how can I put this delicately? Bitter? (Kidding) I chose instead to pick songs that had a little more HEART to them. It will be interesting to see just how many of them are actually love songs. Come to think of it, love songs come in various shapes and themes don't they? There is the IN love song, the OUT OF love song, the PINING FOR love song and the DROP DEAD I NEVER WANNA BE IN LOVE AGAIN love song, this may end up being a dual payoff. Red Robot has gotten into the mood today and has his heart on for you all too!

Here they are folks, Today's 10 HEARTfeltTunes.

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Heart Attack - Olivia Newton-John 3:09 (EMI Records) I love this song. Following the success of Physical, Olivia went on a ginormous world tour and her record label issued her second greatest hits album. They needed two new songs and Heart Attack was one of the two. While this is not the greatest song in the world, it is fun. It is a love song, now isn't it? She meets a guy that is so hot he is giving her a Heart Attack. Doesn't bode well for the longevity of the relaionship though if that happens every time she sees him!

2. Heart Of Stone - Cher 4:01 (Geffen Records) This may well be my favorite Cher song to date! I love the sound of it and the attitude. "We never learn, hurt together, hurt alone don't you sometimes wish your heart was a heart of stone" "Do you lose and win or win and lose" This is a slightly remixed version of the song and I forgot how great the mix is!! Ok, I guess I missed a love song category above....LOVE MYSELF ENOUGH NOT TO GET HURT BY LOVE AGAIN love song. I guess Cher has always been in a category all to herself!

3. The Heart Of Rock & Roll - Huey Lewis and the News 3:58 (Chrysalis Records) Another song that starts with a heartbeat. Nice. This is such a happy, driving song! Love Huey's voice! Love the drums!! And that sax solo is perfect for this song!!! RR is dancing like a mad robot!! (Good thing too, now I can sneak my box of chocolates away from him. He is soooo possessive.) Ok, ok, I am chair dancing too!

This is also a love song...the love of the thing that brings us together everyday...love of good music!

4. Change Of Heart - Cyndi Lauper 3:58 (Portrait Records) The beginning of this song is sooooo freakin' cool! That bass line and then when the guitars come in! Perfect. Favorite line - "I could fly/back to when we were younger/when adventures like cars we would ride/and the years lie ahead still untried/while I stand here waitiing for your Change Of Heart" Love it love it love it!

5. Hearts On Fire - Bryan Adams 3:30 (A&M Records) I forgot about this song! It is so good! Obviously, Cyndi was singing her song to Bryan because he has made up his mind about them being together. Excellent pairing, dontcha think? They should totally do a duet together!!!

6. Heart And Soul - the Monkees 3:37 (Rhino Records) Ok, I can honestly say I do not have any idea what this song sounds like. I bought it because it was the Monkees 1987 comeback AND the single is pressed on bubblegum pink vinyl! Need I say more? Ok, RR hit it....RR? Oh crap, he found the chocolates. I'll do it myself. Ok, it is starting off ok, good rock sound to it. Uh oh.....the lyrics. oh no!! No no nononononononooo. This is not good folks."Love in a vacuum/ love in a space/ love without even a little hint of a trace" need I go on? Well, the record itself is really cool! A love of colored vinyl love song!

7. Heart And Soul - The Cleftones 1:55 (Collectibles Records) Here ya go folks, this is the REAL Heart And Soul (sorta)!!! This is a more rockin', greaser version of the song that, if you have ever played a piano, you know what this song is! The best recording, I think, is by the Four Aces.

8. Open Your Heart - Madonna 4:12 (Sire Records) Another fun fun fun song! Chair dancing, but how can you not? Love her or hate her, ya gotta give to her, Madonna wrote, produced and recorded some of the best dance songs. This is definitely a PINING FOR LOVE love song with a hint of stalker mixed in! "Don't try to run, I can keep up with you"

9. Alone - Heart 3:38 (Capitol Records) Alright, so it is a stretch and yes I had other songs with the word Heart in the title, but I love this song. shuttup Ok, it is another PINING song and again it has a hint of stalker/crazy, but hey sometimes a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do! "How do I get you alone?" Well, and this is just a thought, maybe if you stop saying that over and over again OUT LOUD and just think it, he may not keep running in the other direction! Just saying.

10. My Heart Belongs To Me - Barbra Streisand 3:21 (Columbia Records) I saved the best for last! This is such a well written song and the lyric is just so different. Yes I loved you but hey, that was yesterday, I can't hide it, My Heart Belongs To Me. Get off my leg. Quit begging and goodbye! I love it! Nice!

Being in love is an amazing thing. Personally, I think that part of my life is over...to meet someone and fall in love. But I am ok with that. I have the best friends and family in the world and I absolutely adore them all. I hope you all have a wonderful VD and schnuggle with your honey if you have one, if not call an old friend and tell them how much you love them!

See you tomorrow!

Silly Song Saturday

2010-02-13T23:59:00.002-05:00

Everyday, as I flip through the 45s to grab the day's 10 songs I keep passing these songs that I think are so silly or goofy. Some were intended to be comical and other's are just plain so-bad-they-are-funny. So, I said to myself, "Moonbeam (that's what I call myself when I talk to myself) if you can find 10 silly songs why not do a whole post with them!" I found 14, but have narrowed it down to 10. So, that is what today is all about...silliness.

Red Robot has gotten into my Simpson Pez' and decided that Bart Pez is his favorite. Good choice! Only problem is, he is on a bit of a sugar high right now and he is acting, well, silly! Good time to git this thang started, huh?

Here they are, Today's Silly 10 Songs....

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Another One Rides The Bus - Weird "Al" Yankovic 2:36 (T.K. Records) Oh man!!! Obviously this was before Weird "Al" was making lots and lots of money doing his parody songs because this sounds like it was recorded in his bathroom but it is very funny! Based on the lyrics, he obviously rode the bus with me to school cause he described the twice daily excursion perfectly! The accordion playing, foot stomping and what can only be described as "hand farting" noises make this the number one silly song of the day!

2. The Name Game - Shirley Ellis 2:45 (Congress Records) This song gets cross-referenced on 2 lists...silly and MOST ANNOYING! The only thing that saves this song for me is the music. I love the horns! This is the kind of song that I want to see in a movie blaring out as someone goes postal and at the end of the scene they shoot the record player and the record gets blasted into a million pieces. Just saying! RR is in total agreement here. (There's a first! Must be the Pez!)

3. You Look Marvelous - Billy Crystal 3:45 (A&M Records) I love this song!! The music is so totally 80s dance music and then Billy as Hernando starts talking....too funny!! "Just looking into your eyes Darling, I can just tell you have the legs of a dancer!" Chair dancing and laughing my butt off! My Mom used to like this song! I have to play it for her again.

4. Pac-Man Fever - Buckner & Garcia 3:43 (Columbia Records) Too ridiculous to even talk about! Seriously, other than hearing the Pac-Man sound effects, there is nothing really to say! RR is throwing Pez at the record!

5. Pop Goes The Movies Part 1 - Meco 3:32 (Arista Records) Following the success of their Star Wars interpretations Meco set out to take on some of the most memorable movie themes and put them together with an inane clapping dance beat. Personally, I think they did a great job! Really gorgeous orchestrations against that drum-clap-drum-clap-drum-clap beat was pretty ingenious. What do you mean, so what makes this silly? RR, it is silly because I said so. shuttup.

6. Hi-Heel Sneakers 2:45 Tommy Tucker (Checker Records) I first heard this song by David Cassidy on an album he did in the 90s. I liked his version alot and thought I should pick up the original. They are very different animals, let me tell you folks. Not even sure how to categorize this song. Is it blues, is it jazz, is it some drunk guy in his basement with a Hammond Organ and an electic guitar sitting on some beer crates? You decide.

7. Achy Breaky Heart - Alvin and the Chipmunks with special guest star Billy Ray Cyrus 4:50 (Epic Records) Honest folks, you can't make this stuff up!!! This was from an album called The Chipmunks in Low Places! It is as silly as you would think it is! Oh man, this is too annoying to even listen to! Somehow, as time went on and the powers that be needed to milk even more money out of the Chipmunk franchise, their voices got even higher and more annoying. Sorry, the Chipmunks of the 60s were the REAL Chipmunks.

8. Hot Hot Hot - Buster Poindexter & His Banshees Of Blue 3:45 (RCA Records) Ok, this is a really fun, silly song whose only purpose is to entertain and make people on cruise ships dance! Well, it seems to be working on RR, he is dancing as if in a conga line playing little air maracas! Very nice. Hey RR, how you feeeeeeeeeling?

9. Shoppin' From A to Z - Toni Basil 3:36 (Chrysalis Records) Yes, Toni Basil released more than just Mickey! After listening to this again, I can understand why there probably wasn't much released after this! It is silliness at it's best. It is exactly what the title implies....Toni making her way through the alphabet in her grocery store! OYE! I do like her voice though!

10. Hang On Sloopy - The Ramsey Lewis, Trio (Cadet Records) This is not the original version by the McCoys and I have no idea why I even have this record!! It is some jazz combo playing the song in a bar with a bunch of drunk people laughing and clapping and singing the chorus. I thought this a fitting way to end the silliness.

Well, that was a lot of fun, for the most part! Some of it was a bit painful but at least it is over now. Although, I just know I am going to wake up with The Name Game stuck in my head tomorrow! I had a really great day today. Spent it with my parents and helped my Mom make some really cool stuff on the computer for a project she is working on. In turn, she made a fantastic meal! It is something that Nan used to make and was a family favorite....porcupines and corn fritters! Porcupines are simply chopped meat, milk and rice rolled like meatballs, covered in tomato soup and baked (30 minutes covered, 30 minutes uncovered) until the rice pops, hence the name. I am still stuffed! I hope you all had a great day today. Go give someone you love a huge hug. See you tomorrow!!

Play It Again

2010-02-12T20:15:00.001-05:00

There are some memories that are so incredibly vivid and that we all hold very near and dear and then others take a little coaxing to come out of their neatly protected shell. They just need a little spark to rekindle them. Well, I have to admit that some of the songs today are ones that I really don't remember, but I am sure once Red Robot spins em up, they will come flooding back to me.

Along those same lines, I am always saying that I need to write things down and apparently, Red Robot has taken me a wee bit too literally! Oye!

Well, here are Today's 10 Tunes folks. I hope you enjoy them!

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Could It Be Forever - David Cassidy 2:16 (Bell Records "Test Pressing") See? Little things like that get me excited. Not only is this a white label promotional single but it actually has the words "Test Pressing" on the label and in QUOTES yet!! Um...ya know, even though you are only thinking it, I can still hear you screaming GEEEEEEEEEEEEEK through the computer! I think this was the second single from David's first solo album and in my opinion, it is so much better than Cherish! It really shows off his voice and is much less Partridge-y than Cherish. Favorite part of the song for me is when he croaks out the word "but"! Very corny but very cool. Kinda like me, yeh, that's it, like me. Even though you don't have eyes RR I know you just rolled something at me.

2. Oh Julie - Barry Manilow 2:14 (Arista Records) You know how much I love Barry, right? Well, my recollection of this song was that it was very silly and I was not looking forward to playing it today! But you know what? I was so very wrong! This is such a cool, catchy, rockabilly little song and he sounds GREAT singing it! The man is just perfect. Have you gotten his new album yet???? What are you waiting for? Jeez!

3. Modern Girl - Sheena Easton 3:35 (EMI Records) WOW I haven't heard this song in ages. I forgot how much I loved it! Such a fun, silly song! "She eats a tangerine" I guess that is the lyricist's way of showing us that she is a Modern Girl! (HUH?) That or it is the only thing he could think of that rhymes with "magazine". Favorite part of the song is the casio solo! Back to the lyrics for a second...I love when they can't come up with anything so they just brainstorm and come up with "na na na nana"! Genious!

4. Skin Deep - Cher 3:54 (Geffen Records) I love this song but I consider it Cher's 80s sell out song! All the other stuff she was doing at the time had a somewhat timeless rock sound to it. This is pure out and out 80s up to moment gimmeckry at its best and I love it!!  Chair dancing to this one baby! The funny thing is, this a remix/re-edit from the album version to make it sound even more contemporary. The only problem with that is....the more hip and up the minute you try to be the more 5 minutes ago you become.. Funny how that works.

5. A Little Bit Of Heaven - Natalie Cole 4:01 (Modern Records) Ok, here is another one that, right off the top of my head, I can't exactly recall how it goes, I just remember really liking it. These things scare me sometimes. You know like when you have a favorite movie or tv show from when you were a kid and then you see it again as an adult? You hang your head in shame and think, "what the hell was I thinking?" Let's hope that is not the case here, cause I love Natalie Cole. Ok RR, spin it babeeeee! Ahhhhhhh....I remember it from the first note and I do so love this song!!! I love the reggae feel to the chorus! So cool! This is definitely a sombody's-getting-lucky-tonight song but the cool thing is, it is a couple that is already in a committed relationship. Very adult and a little sleazy! Love it.

6. Only Wanna Be With You - Hootie & the Blowfish 3:46 (Atlantic Records) Ahh Hootie! Where'd ya go bud? We miss you and what ever became of the poor Blowfish? Sent them back out to sea did ya? This is such a cool/fun song!! Loving the banjos and guitars and Hootie's voice is just so freakin' cool with his husky mumble! Chair dancing again! Really fun songs so far today, yes?

7. Let It Whip - Dazz Band 3:58 (Motown Records) HA!! I always thought this was such a silly song but man, it sounds so good right now!! Such a tight slick production! Can't type! Chair dancing! Spinning a little too! RR is doing the robot again. (We need to teach him some new moves!) Ok, so the lyrics are beyond silly but who cares when a song sounds this good! "awooohoooo"   "I only wanna be widchew"

8. Another One Bites The Dust - Queen 3:32 (Elektra Records) Till I draw my last breath I will never understand how this song came from Queen! It was so out of character, in my opinion. They were known for huge rock opus' and then comes this song. While it is way cool and sooooooo far ahead of its time, it is still an oddity in my mind! I am guessing they were just discovering synths and were trying to keep up with ELO? Just saying! "Hey hey" Did I ever tell you about the time I met Freddie Mercury at Studio 54?

9. Telephone Line - ELO 3:57 (United Artists) Ok, this seems to be the recurring theme for today. It was really not intentional but....I REALLY don't remember this one. Hell, I don't even remember ELO being on United Artists Records. Hit it RR......nnnnnnnow!   Oh man, the beginning of this song was so totally ripped off by Lionel Richie (thieving bastard)! I remember this one now! Very slow for ELO. Such a cool, Beatlesque sound to it! This is another one of those songs that remeinds me of getting the Superhero stamps while at Nan's!

10. Hurts So Bad - Linda Ronstadt 3:03 (Asylum Records) Now this one I remember and I LOVE!!!! The Ronstadt Era was an amazing one! She could kick the crap out of anyone, vocally/ You did not mess with Linda! She is the consumate actress in a song, whether it be a kick-ass rock song or a big band number. And do you remember her look back in the day? Kinda waifish, with her hair piled on top of her head and those HUGE brown eyes!!! Incredible. I always associate this song with summertime on Battery Avenue.

I love doing this blog. Somedays it is very difficult to write because I know there is some stupid moron monitoring what I say here, and DB ("douche bag" please know that I do indeed have an attorney on my side) and somedays it is very difficult to find anything interesting to say! But, finding songs like these and knowing that I have now digitized them to listen to more frequently is such a great pay off! I love sharing this music with you guys and I love your comments too. I am thrilled that I can help you relive these songs with me. I have some fun stuff planned for the weekend, so make sure you come back. Now, go tell someone you truly love that you love them, believe me, they need to hear it! Never forget to end a conversation with the words I love you. I'll see you all tomorrow!!!!

"Makin' Good Conversation"

2010-02-11T18:59:00.011-05:00

A long time ago, my Mom gave me a book called, "Pooh's Birthday Book". It is a little hardcovered book and it is filled with various exceprts from the WTP series of books. She pointed out the last line of the book to me, which was Piglet and Pooh walking through the 100 Acre Wood with Piglet posing this simple thought to Pooh, "I wonder what good will happen today." Ever since I read that, I have tried to live my life with that thought in mind. Well, lately, I have had some trouble trying to find the good and I know it is all around me. I have been letting something that is beyond my control steal focus from the gifts that I have in my life like Dave (my guardian angel) and Jeffrey, like the fact that Steven is ok and when all else fails me, I can revel in my own geekdom!

How did my geekdomosityness (it is a perfectly cromulent word. shuttup) sneak back in today you maybe asking yourself? Well, almost 30 years after its release and after the 10 weeks that it was number 1 on the Billboard Charts, Olivia Newton-John's Physical is once again number 1 on a Billboard Chart. It was ranked THE SEXIEST SONG OF ALL-TIME!!! How cool is that? In honor of that, of course, I am including it today among the other 20 songs. I am going to do this in 1 post, divided in 2. The first 11 songs are coming right up, as soon as Red Robot gets off my Pepsi Truck, (he has been joy riding all morning). Then I am going to take a break, do some cooking and come back with the other 10! So get comfortable, turn your speakers up and enjoy!

Here are Today's 10 Tunes + Physical....

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Physical - Olivia Newton-John 3:42 (Polar Music International) Here is another song that almost wasn't! After Olivia had recorded it, the night before its release, she called the record company and asked them to pull it because she thought it went too far. They told her it was too late and well, you know the rest of that story. Of course, by today's standards this is like a lullaby, but man o man, when it first came out, it was so hot. Ok, RR get off the truck and spin it! LOVE that opening bass line!!! Olivia has one of THE sexiest, playful voices ever. I just love everything about this song, especially that guitar solo twoard the end. I used to carry this 45 all over NY and ask people (well, DJ type people, not people walking down the street) to play it when it was very first released, before it went to number 1. Geek!! You should hear her newer more "age-appropriate" version of the song. If it is possible, I think THAT version is even sexier than this!

2. Romancing The Stone - Eddy Grant 3:30 (Portrait Records) WOW How very 80s is this song? I totally forgot about this one. "Where da unicorn's da last one at da waterhole"? WHAT? I guess all we needed back then was to know the words of the chorus so we could sing em while we danced! It is good to hear this song again but I will stick to Electric Avenue when I need an Eddy Grant fix! STOP!!! RR is trying to drive the Pepsi Truck into the turntable! You know the rules, even when the song kinda sucks, we gotta let the whole thing play! Oye!

3. True - Spandau Ballet 5:40 (Chrysalis Records) Here's another one for the 100 Coolest Songs list. I love this guy's voice. Ya know, even though I know every word to this song (my friend John Vargas taught me and trust me, they make more sense then the lyrics to Gold) I still am left wondering, WHAT DOES HE KNOW AS TRUE????? So, he went out on a journey, came back, danced around with a pill on his tongue listening to Marvin all night long and this, he says, is the truth that he wants to be known. The best I can gleen from it is the sense of passing time and all we have is this moment that we are in! What do you think RR? Oh crap. He fell off the truck.

4. Private Dancer - Tina Turner 4:04 (Capitol Records) Ya know, these two songs would mix well together. Remember that RR! He just gave me a robotic wink. This song is soooo cool and so sexy. I love that she sings the majority of the song in such a low whisper, like she is confiding in us and then she lets loose and it is back to work at the dance hall! I think this one goes in the Coolest List as well. This whole album is so amazing and is one of the constants that Dave and I pull out and listen to from time to time. It never gets old!

5. There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart) - Eurythmics 4:31 (RCA Records) Annie Lennox is so outrageously talented. The music that she and Dave Stewart made together is some of the best of the 80s. WOW She can do anything with that voice, from the lowest of low notes to the most ethereal of high notes!! Pair that with the orgy of keyboards and synths and it was magic everytime! Listen to the "angel Annie" in the chorus! Ya know, I think Stevie Wonder wandered around from recording studio to recording studio in the 80s with that damn harmonica cause he is on almost everyone's singles from back then. "Hi. I'm Stevie. Did someone call for a harmonica solo?" I actually bought this single for the flip side, Grown-Up Girls after hearing it on WLIR, one of the coolest underground college radio stations.

6. You're The Inspiration - Chicago 3:49 (Warner Brothers Records) Someone really special once put this on a tape for me! I love this song and I loved that part of my life! Oh to feel that way again about someone!

7. If You Don't Know Me By Now - Harold Melvin And The Bluenotes (Philadelphia International Records) Such a great song with one of the most amazing lyrics. How much more honest can you get? If you don't know me by now than you will never know me. And if you don't, then maybe we should say goodbye!! So, incredible. I gotta say, Harold Melvin has one of the greatest soul voices and was so underrated!

8. Holding Out For A Hero - Bonnie Tyler 4:29 (Columbia Records) Another great pairing....Jim Steinman and Bonnie Tyler!!!! Jim Steinman created some of the greatest and most haunting songs of the late 70s and 80s for Meatloaf, Cher, Barbra Streisand and of course Bonnie Tyler! This song is so fast and hard hitting!!! I love it and it fits my mood right now so perfectly! Love the insane drums in this song!!!! I also love how angry she is but still holding onto a hope that a hero will come and save her! Having lived in Lancaster for 16 years now I also have been holding out for a hero as well, but more of the sandwich variety!

9. If You Remember Me - Chris Thompson 2:53 (Planet Records) This is one of my all-time favorite ballads. What an incredible lyric about the end of a relationship. This is someone that HAD to end a good relationship, whatever his reasons and he wants to make sure that the person he left knows how much he loves them! Brilliant!!! Barry Manilow did a very good cover of this song!

10. The Music Of Goodbye - Melissa Manchester and Al Jarreau 3:54 (MCA Records) This is the love theme from Out Of Africa, one of my all-time favorite movies. It was released as a single and then included on a special edition of the soundtrack, which I have searched for since 1986 and have never found. Not only is this a gorgeous movie but the score from it is one of the best I have ever heard! This single captures some of the magic of the score and the pairing of Melissa and Al is genious!

11. Over The Rainbow - Sam Harris 3:01 (Motown Records) This is the song that helped Sam Harris win on Star Search and captured the attention and hearts of everyone watching and cheering him on! Yes, it is a bit over the top but man, listen to his voice. This is a very soulful version of the song and he sells it! He can sing anything!!!

Ok, going to go get some air and go exploring with Dave for awhile. I'll be back to cook and share and listen to some more music.

I'm back. Miss me? Feels like I never left, doesn't it? I am so full, it isn't funny! I made Chicken Primavera with spinach & cheese ravioli!!! This meal is pretty much a heartattack waiting to happen and one you can't have often but man did it turn out great. I cut up boneless chicken breasts into nice sized pieces and sauteed them in a skillet with butter and olive oil. When it was cooked through I removed it from the pan and added sliced onion and minced fresh garlic and diced zuccini. Let that cook till the onion is translucent then I added fresh, steamed asparagus and diced roma tomatoes, I then returned the chicken to the pan and tossed it all together, covered it and let it simmer while I made the sauce. In a separate pan, and here's where it gets unhealthy...I melted butter, added heavy cream and Sargento Velvety Smooth Ricotta Cheese and when the cheese melted down I sprinkled paprika for color and folded in the chicken and vegetables then sprinkled some parmesan cheese and let it simmer for 5 minutes so all the flavors could marry. I put it over the spinach/cheese ravioli and made a pig of myself.

Well, I am stuffed but promised the other 10 songs, so, barring any unforeseen circumstances, here they are folks........(I created two separate music players for the two sets of songs) By the way, it seems that RR has picked up another new habit. Every once in awhile he likes to have a little nip of something! (Doesn't he look guilty in this picture?)

(Click here to listen to clips from these songs)

1. Whenever I Call You Friend - Kenny Loggins 3:59 (Columbia Records) This song was supposed to be a duet with Melissa Manchester but, ironically, they could not agree on the best way to present the song, so Stevie Nicks stepped in. Melissa recorded her own version but never released it as a single. The one thing they both seemed to agree on was to not put the name of their singing partner on either of their records! Go figure. This is one time that I really like Kenny's voice all the way through a song and the pairing of the two voices was quite inspired.

2. Lovin' Every Minute Of It - Loverboy 3:30 (Columbia Records) Funny....I had picked the 21 songs for today this morning and many hours later Dave was playing a Loverboy song in his truck. Ok, not so much funny as it is ironic, no? Spin it RR. Oh boy, he just tripped over the tone-arm. I think he might be a little tipsy. I love this song. I haven't heard it in ages. Hair dancing and finger pointing here! When I worked at Macy's Herald Square I had made friends with this wonderful girl named Sherlene and this was one of her favorite songs. I think of her every time I hear this one. Love the ending of the song!!

3. Run To You - Bryan Adams 3:59 (A&M Records) From a great Canadian rock band to a great Canadian rocker! Love Bryan Adams. Such a cool beginning to this one!! That gravely sound of Bryan's voice is soooo cool and the guitar work is outstanding. It is amazing to see him perform because he looks like a little kid and then this voice comes out of him. He looks the same now as he did 26 years ago!

4. I'll Be There - The Jackson 5 3:35 (Motown Records) "I'll Be There with an unselfish love and respect too" Every time I hear this song I picture the animated Jacksons performing it! I used to have a couple of cardboard records that were on the backs of different cereal boxes and I think this was one of them. I know I had another Jackson 5 song for sure but I'm not about this one.

5. Because Of Love - Janet Jackson 4:11 (Virgin Records) Couldn't leave out baby sister, now could I? Such a fun song!! Chair dancing already!! I used to love playing this when I DJed. Such a smooth, fun groove to it and I love all of the backing group Janet did on this one! You can just tell she was dancing around when she recorded it.

6. All She Wants To Do Is Dance - Don Henley 4:23 (Geffen Records) WOW I totally forgot how this song starts. SOOOOOOO freakin' cool!! Even RR is dancing to this one. He is going to fall down soon!! I love the lyrics to this song, there are all kinds of gang-land references and terrorist references set against this dizzy chic that just wants to keep dancing! Social commentary set to a killer beat!! I am totally chair dancing off that primavera sauce!!

7. Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight 2:27 (Stax Records) And the fun just keeps on coming! This is another one of the magical summer vacation songs! I love how Ms. Knight is totally putting Mr. Stuff in his rightful place and knocking him down quite a few pegs in the process! I am seeing Doc (from the Love Boat) dancing in his platforms and 20 pound fro again! GREAT horns!!

8. Thief Of Hearts - Melissa Manchester 3:39 (Casablanca Reocrds) This is the title track from the movie of same name and is a fantastic pairing of Giorgio Moroder's music and Melissa Manchester's lyrics. There is an unmistakable sound to any Giorogio Moroder song, bright, crisp keyboards and drum machines. I can remember going nuts the first time I heard this in a club in NY. The DJ had an advanced copy so I wasn't even aware it existed. I immediately ran to the booth and said, "that's Melissa Manchester isn't it?" He had gotten two copies of the promo remix single and he gave me one. A good night!

9. Everyday I Write The Book - Elvis Costello & The Attractions 3:54 (Columbia Records) This is my second favorite Elvis Costello song (the first being his cover of "She" from Notting Hill). Really working up a little sweat here, I haven't stopped chair dancing all night! I love that kinda reggae sound and the xylophone is so cool. Not a sound you normally hear in a pop song. Man, there was some great music in the early 80s. This song reminds me of Brooklyn College days.

10. Pride (In The Name Of Love) - U2 3:45 (Island Records) Probably my favorite U2 song so far (cause ya know they are gonna do something else brilliant)! Bono and the boys are the penultimate genious' of getting important messages out to the entire world wrapped neatly in an amazingly memorable (and catchy) song! I recently watched an entire concert they did last summer on YouTube and was blown away. I would love to see them live (not sitting in front of my computer. You know what I meant. shuttup)

It has been quite a day. Olivia was number 1 again, the new Baman/Piderman video (look it up on YouTube) was finally put up, Piderman talked to Baman and hopefully the dark cloud cast by the Big Blue Monster will go the hell away. Listen, if you try the primavera, let me know what you think of it. When I was in Brooklyn College I watched someone make it once and I have never forgotten it. It was the first time someone other than a relative showed me how to prepare a dish and though I had to improvise a bit tonight, it came out just as good as I remember it being the first time. Not a whole lot you can say that about! I hope you enjoy the music and I'll see you tomorrow! Make that meal for someone you love this weekend! (Gotta put RR in his little bed. He passed out on the desk awhile back. Some robots just can't hold their booze!)

Prayers?

2010-02-10T00:00:00.003-05:00

This is purely a retorical question (which means I DO NOT want anyone to comment on it, it is just there for you to think about) but why is it that if I express an emotion and a feeling, the first thing I am met with recently is "I will keep you in my prayers" or "I will pray for you"? I don't get it. I didn't say that I need a new liver or that I have a brain hemorriod or that, gawd forbid, a family member is ill!! Jeez o pete people, save your prayers for people and situations that REALLY need them!!!!!!!! The very simple, basic truth is that life is hard, sometimes it really sucks and sh*t happens. AND sometimes we all need to vent. Trust me, I will ask you for your prayers and support when I need them. If you have some new found faith, LIVE it, do not push it on people. I live in a town where everyone hides behind their faith and throws around "religious" words and their concepts of what they think that means. Tell me you can sympathize or that you have been there or the best advice you can give me is..."yeh, sh*t happens get the f*ck over it!" Don't waste your prayers on it. THANK YOU!

I am really missing a good friend these days. Just saying. Now, if you really are my friend and you care, what you will say is in response to this is......."there isn't anything you can do about it until they talk to you". Followed immediately by "Whah whah. Get the f*ck over it!" Did you see you any praying in there? Didn't think so. If you did however, please give me the name and address of your church, cause that's a church I will go to!

Ahhhh! Ok, I think I have gotten that out of my system. Now, because I have run out of things to clean AND I am wide awake AND I don't know what else to do with myself, I am going to post another 10 songs.

Here is round 2 of Today's 10 Tunes......(Please note that Red Robot has gotten into my private stash of comfort items)

(click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight - The McGuire Sisters 2:50 (Coral Records) I love this song and I love the McGuire Sisters. A very sweet person gave me this 45 from her collection and I treasure it. Listen to those harmonies folks!!!! As I said earlier today, this is music! Pure, simple and magical. I wish had I had been around during the 50s! This is a highly repetitive song but so wonderful! I love the horns!!!

2. I Found Someone - Laura Branigan 4:00 (Atlantic Records) Yes, this is the same song that Cher recorded and had a huge hit with. This came first folks. I love Laura's voice and her interpretation of a song. She is greatly missed in the music world. This version is just as powerful as Cher's but in a completely different way. Laura chose different words and emotions to play on. SOOOOO great to have both versions out there!

3. If This Is It - Huey Lewis and the News 3:46 (Chrysalis Records) What a cool song!!! I forgot how much I really love Huey's voice...gravely, sexy and just plain honest! He always sounds like he is having a great time when he sings!! So rare to hear these days!

4. All Through The Night - Cyndi Lauper 4:29 (Portrait Records) You all know I love Cyndi! This has to be one of my favorite songs of hers. I actually like what she does with it in concert now better than on the original single but, hey a great song is a great song. Especially in the hands of someone so outrageously talented! Of all of my favorite performers, Cyndi is the number one person I want to take my nieces to see live in concert! They NEED to experience her genious! (Barry is second with Pat a very, very close third!)

5. Walk Of Life - Dire Straights 4:07 (Warner Brothers Records) This is the coolest pseudo organ sound I have ever heard in a song!! Such a happy song, it just knocked me out of my funk!!!! Love it!! I have no idea what this song is about but who cares. Hell, even RR is dancing with WTP right now. They are doing the Walk Of Life!!!

6. Steppin' Out - Joe Jackson 3:43 (A&M Records) This is definitely in my list of top 100 Coolest Songs Of All-Time! Oh man, this song has such an amazing sound. I love the driving synths and piano. I also love how Joe Jackson has the chorus of the song written into the melody long before he actually sings it. (Listen to the clip if you are not sure what I mean by that.) I was in college when this song came out and it just brings back such GREAT memories of the one year I did of Brooklyn College. Detrice and Della, I know you will never read this but...thank you and I hope you both went on to have THE greatest lives!!!!

7. Too Late To Turn Back - Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose 3:22 (Liberty/United Records) I am pretty sure that Steven would agree with me on this one....this song has got to be in the top 10 of the 100 Coolest Songs Of All-Time. Such a smooth soul vibe with a great violin (huh?) right in the beginning of the song. Oh, this poor guy with the smoove as silk voice is sooooooo screwed. He met this great lady and is totally hooked! Good for him. Go for it dude! You can't help but cheer him on when you hear this song. His only concern? That she feels the same way! Don't even bother with that, they almost never do. Just enjoy. If it fails, you'll have another number one single! It's all about the music!

8. When Will I See You Again - The Three Degrees 2:58 (Philadelphia International Records) "Whooooooo Ahhhhhhh Haaaaa Whoooooooo precious moments" See? You already know what song this is, right? Apparently, it was programmed into RR's memory banks cause he is turnin' and twirlin' WTP all over the place! The lead singer sounds alot like Maxine Nightingale. BRB Gotta go look that up! Ok, I was very wrong. It was an ungrateful little chippy named Spencer Leigh who was insulted when she was asked to sing this lead vocal. Hmmmmmmmmm. Have you ever heard of her again? Thank you! Such a smooth cool song! Today is just the day of smoothness, isn't it?

9. Anticipation - Carly Simon 3:19 (Elektra Records) Remember when this brilliant song was used for a ketchup commercial? This was the first time I can actually recall what it meant when an artist sold old! Eh, hell. what did it really matter? This is such a great song, it just meant that more people would know it. Man, listen to those drums and Carly's growl!!!!! Carly Simon will always be one of the coolest singer-song writers our world has ever known. I know I have said this before, but, do yourselves a favor and go pick up her latest album, Never Been Gone. Don't think about it! Just do it!

10. Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight - The Spaniels 2:42 (Eric Records) This is the boy version of the smae song we started off with tonight! This is the original version of the song. A few months later the McGuire Sisters' version was released and out sold the original. To be completely honest....the McGuire Sisters' version is a tighter production and, obviously, more sellable. Sorry guys but the girls win this round!

So, here I am several hours and several FB comments later (which I will never again post anything on. FB has become a reading forum now for me) and I must say...my opinion has not changed. Please, if you have faith and feel the need to pray for me, just freakin' do it. LIVE YOUR RELIGION DO NOT TALK ABOUT IT!!! Just pray for me, don't tell me you are doing it. Seriously, get off the cross, we need the wood! I love you guys very much, please understand that I think if you have faith in a religion, that is a wonderful thing and I may need you to pray for me one day, but please stop saying, at the drop of one sad hat, that you are sending me your prayers! Make sense? Thank you. Now please, go tell someone you love how much you love them and make sure they really know it. See you tomorrow!

Yesterday's....

2010-02-09T12:30:00.000-05:00

Isn't it amazing to think that every single you do, say and experience, once you have lived it becomes part of your past? Be it music, movies, friendships even a good meal. At least with tangible things, like music, we get to relive the memories like we do here and with real friendships we live through and survive the good, the bad and the ugly together and at the end of each experience, hopefully, we will always have each other. I am really hoping today that someone that means the world to me really knows that I will always be here. That, my friends, is about as personal as I am going to get. (Again, no prayers, no sympathy or advice needed. I appreciate it but it is not necessary!)
So, here are TODAY'S 10 Tunes (that are part of our past but right now are part of this moment but ooops, they are now part of the past again! See? It's a vicious cycle!)

Oh, sorry to keep prolonging the inevitable here but I just had to tell you...Apparently, when I am sleeping, Red Robot wanders around the apartment and finds things he likes and brings them back to his "home" here by the turntable. This morning I found him with...well, you'll see. Nutty little guy, ain't he?

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Yesterday's Song - Neil Diamond 2:48 (Columbia Records) This is one of those gems that I had forgotten about and, obviously, is what sparked my opening comments. It is such a smooth, happy song with such a great sentiment. Although these "things" come and go, the one thing that is forever is "saying I love you" to the people that you truly love! Good job Neil!

2. P.S. I Love You - The Hilltoppers 2:38 (American Pie Records) Here is another one I bought for my Dad. This is one of his favorite groups and was another song that my Mom and Dad danced to when they were courting! I love this guy's voice. It is a straightforward, simple song - a man wrote a letter to his sweetheart while she is off on a trip and he simply catches her up on things that are going on while she is away and to tell her he loves her. Simple. Wonderful. Magical! You have great taste Chuck (but you knew that already, right?)!

3. Magic Moments - Perry Como 2:38 (RCA Records) Loves me some Perry. (Speaking of which....where is Perry?) Folks, voices like his will never be found again. So smooth, rich and effortless. Yes, he is a crooner and can do that incredible swoop down to those low notes with easy but when he needed to, he could go full-throttle like it was nothing! There is such a  comfort in listening to him sing. I bought this single because I was obsessed with the musical revue "Forever Plaid" when it played here in Lancaster and made friends with some of the cast members. I then made it my mission to own the original versions of each song and then put them together on cd for each of the cast members. This song also reminds me of living with Nan. We would open all the windows on clear, crisp, spring mornings, turn the music up and we would sing and be silly while I helped her clean or whatever needed to be done.

4. Under The Boardwalk - Bruce Willis 3:02 (Motown Records) I was a huge fan of Moonlighting and thus, a fan of Bruce Willis. I used to love when they would do musical numbers on the show, so when he put out his album, "The Return Of Bruno", naturally, I went out and bought it and all the single releases from it as well. I listened to it again not too long ago and it really is a good album. He is not a great singer but he does not pretend to be. He is just having a great time. I love the arrangement and production of this song, it is so relaxed and I swear you can almost smell the Jersey Shore while listening to it (I meant that as a good thing)!

5. Don't Sleep In The Subway - Petula Clark 2:57 (Eric Records) Ahh, an advice song. I love advice songs and believe me, I have taken all my advice from songs like this one from a woman who has probably never ridden a subway in her life. Petula Clark has such a distinct sound. She is one of those few singers that as soon as she starts to sing, you immediately know who it is singing. I love this song and its very 60s sound!

6. Everything I Own - Bread 3:06 (Elektra Records) Ya know, I have had to cue up all the records today because RR refuses to put the Crazy straw down. He keeps poking me with it instead of doing his job. Don't make me take that away from you little man! Anywho......oh such a great song!!!! Again, I am surprised I wasn't more of a Bread fan back in the day.   Such a great sound and I really love his voice. I especially love how, lyrically, the song shifts perspective for a moment and goes from being directed to one person to addressing us directly! "Is there someone you know/you're loving them so/but taking them all for granted/you may lose them one day/someone takes them away/and they don't hear the words you long to say"   Again, advice from a 3 minute song!! This time, I think it is very sound advice (pardon the pun)!

7. Band Of Gold - Freda Payne 2:50 (Oldies 45 Records) Love love love this song!!!! This is another one that I associate with summer vacations and 77WABC!!! Ok, I don't get it. So, this guy marries this girl, rips her away from the shelter of a mother she had never known? Huh? But wait there's more...So, he marries her and on their wedding night he leaves her alone on their honeymoon night? She is lamenting the loss a creep with a god complex who obviously just wanted to control this girl, marry her and dump her? Well, honey, the only thing I can tell you is HOCK THE FREAKIN' BAND OF GOLD AND MOVE ON!!! Geez! There really should have been a follow up song to this called, "I Got Your Band Of Gold Right Here"!

8. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me - Mel Carter 2:27 (Capitol Records) WOW Such a dramatic opening!!!! I love it!! And WOW again. It stayed just as dramatic all the way to the end! I bought this one because I loved Gloria Estefan's version and wanted to hear the original. I love it. This is another simple lyric that is direct and honest and magical. Makes ya wanna just grab someone and slow dance with em, doesn't it?

9. America Is - B.J. Thomas 3:08 (Columbia Records) Yes folks, another song about our great country, you know, a country that allows me to say what I want without some twisted vengeful bastard with the brain capacity of a dead gnat hurting the people I love. Oh, yeh, the song.....sorry. Ok, this is an odd little song that I think was trying to become an anthem of some sort when it grew up but it just misses the mark. Of course, I love the lyrics of the song that extols the limitless possiblities of living in America, but the line that lost me was "irrigate a barron desert that is crying out for rain"! I do love B.J. Thomas' voice and what this song was trying to do though.

10. You Could Have Been With Me - Sheena Easton 3:48 (EMI America Records)   As much as I love Sheena's pop/dance/funk stuff, this is what she was born to do!! She voice is so clear and strong and pitch perfect!! I love everything about this song and it goes out to a friend.

I know I missed yesterdy but I hadn't slept at all the night before. Got alot of stuff on my mind that kinda kept me up all night and caused me to sleep most of the day yesterday. Since I got this post done so early today, I will come back this evening and do another one, sound good to you? Make sure you let the people you love know it and always be there for your friends. The hardest thing in the world to do (and trust me folks I am NOT good at it) is to step back and let someone you love go through what they need to go through and just wait for them to come to you. Ok, enough! See you all later!! Love you!

Down The Road

2010-02-07T14:25:00.001-05:00

Here are Today's 10 Tunes folks (with a very special bonus just cause I wanted to listen to it).....

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. America - Neil Diamond 3:27 (Capitol Records) Ah, America. Home of such inalienable rights as freedom of speech. Also home of civil lawsuits and pro-bono attorneys who are not afraid to stand up for the little guy when they feel these basic, inalienable rights are being compromised or stifled. Ain't America grand, folks? Ok, climbing down off the soapbox. Red Robot, put down the flag and spin this suckah! I love the drama of this song...the strong bass line and drums, the dark violins and Neil Diamond's voice!! So very cool!! Loving the key changes, naturally! And of course, the message of what makes this country so great. People traveling so far to the home of a new and a shining place. Freedom's light burning warm. Sweet land of LIBERTY!

2. Stand - R.E.M. 3:10 (Warner Brothers Records) Love the calliope sound in the beginning. This song always makes me happy! At this particular juncture of my life I need to heed the advice Michael Stipe is giving me here. I need to stand firmly in the place that I am and turn my head and look in a new direction. HEY CHANGE!!! YAY!!!! And ANOTHER ONE!!! Such great memories with this song. Reminds me of DJing in a little bar in the Ridge and of course, Harold! Folks, you should see RR! He is doing the choreography from the video. Jumping and turning! If he could sweat, I would need to get him a tiny little towel right now.

3. Lost In The Shadows (The Lost Boys) - Lou Gramm 4:46 (Atlantic Records) Whilst RR catches his robotic breath I will just say, I LOVE THIS SONG, I LOVE THIS MOVIE and I LOVE ANNETTE! This movie and Dirty Dancing will forever be tied to my gorgeous Annette! Ok, hit it RR. OH MAN! Playing air drums here! "Say a little prayer tonight! Lost In The Shadows! Say a little prayer tonight! Lost in the loneliness!" Hair dancing and chair dancing here!

4. You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon 4:39 (Warner Brothers Records) This is one of my Mom's favorite songs and videos. Remember Chevy Chase lip-synching this while Paul Simon played various instruments behind him? Good stuff. Paul Simon wrote this after a trip to South Africa that was still being pulled apart by Apartheid. He used muscians from South Africa which gave this song such an amazing sound! I love how the lyric progresses as the song goes on. This little man that is soft in the middle goes from worrying about himself to looking outside of himself and experiencing all that is going on around him. Such a happy song!!! I have always had a secret theory as to who AL is. I think it may be a nod to the same Al that is in "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime" "Say don't you remember, they called me Al?/it was Al all the time." I have no idea who Betty is though.

5. Now And Forever (You And Me) - Anne Murray 4:07 (Capitol Records) Oh wow. I forgot how much I loved this song!!! This song has a definite Starship sound to it and was produced by the incomparable David Foster. Such a great sound and lyric and when you add Anne Murray to the mix, makes it a perfect song! It even has a key change folks!! Just such a happy song about the that magical feeling one experiences at the beginning of a relationship. I have a dim recollection of it!

6. Naughty Naughty - John Parr 3:36 (Atlantic Records) Hair dancing again folks and playing air guitar and singing back-ups!! "Tatatatatease me" Love the keyboard work in here and those whacky sound effects!!!! A great hard-driving song!! Play that one again RR! Please? oye!

7. Video Killed The Radio Star - Buggles (Island Records) Ahh, the first video ever played on MTV. Remember when MTV used to stand for Music Television and they actually played music videos? Good times. Freakin' LOVE this song!!! "ew-wa-ooh" Such a tragically true tale!!! "ew-wa-ooh" I guess this song could now be re-written as a lament to the loss of music on MTV, couldn't it? "ew-wa-ooh" We could call it, "Self-Importance Killed The Video Station" "ew-wa-ooh" I always mix this one with "Pop Muzik". "ew-wa-ooh"

8. Owner Of A Lonely Heart - YES 3:50 (Atco Records) Before RR spins this one I just want to say this is one of the most perfect songs ever and would be included in my list of 100 Coolest Songs of All-Time! Let er rip RR. (He just gave me a dirty look. He hates when I say that!) Oh crap. It's over and I forgot to type! HA! I don't even know where to start. This whole song is it's own hook! Everything about it is catchy and you can't help but mimic it when you hear it. "Owner of a Loneyl Heart {mmmuch better than the} Owner of a broken heart". The drums and synths are outstanding but man o man, that guitar solo!!!! And the way the horns match the brassiness of his voice....stupendous!!!

9. A Different Corner - George Michael 3:57 (Columbia Records) This is one of those deeply personal, magical comfort songs. You know how people have their comfort foods? Well, I have comfort music. I have been known to turn down the lights and just play this one over and over (as evidenced by the cue burn in the beginning of the record)! There is a dedication on the 45 sleeve that simply says "This record is dedicated to a memory" Ditto! "Take me back in time/maybe I can forget/turn a Different Corner/and we never would have met" followed by the most heartbreakingly honest line, "would you care?"!

10. Somewhere Down The Road - Barry Manilow 3:46 (Arista Records) Speaking of comfort music....you probably don't know this about me but I love Bar.....oh, yeh, I guess I have mentioned that once or twice, huh? Sorry. "We had the right love at the wrong time" I haven't listened to the studio version of this song in many years and I forgot how beautifully it is arranged and produced. ie. perfectly placed key change (natch), the regal trumpets toward the end, the subtle "ahhhhhs" in the background and the fact that he sings the line, "maybe We've Only Just Begun". Then there is that lyric. It is one of the most gorgeous sentiments. Someone that loves someone so much they can let them go because he knows in his heart, they will meet again.....they belong together. Genious! (By the way Barry still sings this once in awhile at his shows but he sings it acapella.

11. (I Used To Be A) Brooklyn Dodger - Laurie Beechman 4:02 (Epic Records) This is the B side of a single that Laurie released in 1984 called "After The Fall". While I do love "After The Fall", "Brooklyn Dodger" is what I really had a hankerin' for today and I wanted to share it with you. This song was written by and originally performed by Dion (of "and the Belmonts" fame) and is one of my favorite songs. Laurie was a one of a kind performer with an outrageous voice, a heart as big as the mountains and a very good friend. (click on her name to visit the website I created dedicated to her life and talent) I felt it was ok for me to use the B side as Laurie herself told me about the single, "It was a case of the B side being better than the A side". This is a song about looking back at the nutty impetuousity (well, it's a word now RR. shuttup) of youth you were and looking at where you are now. Favorite line "but if I had my leather jacket/I swear, I'd give it all another try"! Listen to the vocal work Laurie is doing in the background!!! Love the violin solo and the drums that bring her back in toward the end! Perfect.

Sorry I missed yesterday. I will more than likely do a second post today, maybe even with a special guest.
I know I say this alot but....tell someone you love them today! Maybe I'll see you later!

Freedom Friday

2010-02-05T23:05:00.001-05:00

Hey everybody! Just wanted to let you know that from this point on, unless I have something funny or exciting to say, I will no longer speak about my personal life and we will focus on the music!

Here is Today's 10 Tunes....

(Click here to listen to clips from these songs)

1. Call Me (Theme from the Paramount Picture AMERICAN GIGOLO) - Blondie 3:30 (Chrysalis Records) This may well be my favorite Blondie song ever! Love those cascading drums in the beginning! "CALL ME!!" I have said this before and I will say it again, Giorgio Moroder is a genious! this song just brings back memories of High School, being beaten up, made fun of and getting lost in the pages of GQ and wanting to be that kind of polished. well-dressed guy that would make it into the pages of that magazine. Please don't post prayers or offerings of sympathy for what I just said. Hell, that helped make me what I am today! I have said this before and I will say it again.....I do not regret anything that has happened in my lifetime.

2. Fame - Irene Cara 3:48 (RSO Records) Booom-slide bass! What a brilliantly happy, hopeful and edgy song this is. Yes, of course, we all got sick to death of hearing it when it came out but listen to it again now!!! It does conjure up the image of those kids dancing in the street outside of the School Of The Performing Arts (of which Annette is a graduate) but remember, that whole sequence was shot while they were dancing to Donna Summer's Hot Stuff! Just a bit of trivia. By the way, I love Irene Cara's voice and bought several of her albums!

3. Suddenly Last Summer - The Motels 3:40 (Capitol Records) LOL Um...can't think of thing to say about this song. Oh, wait, I just thought of something, when people as if we know who the Motels were, we can say, Yes, they sang Suddenly Last Summer. Just hope that they don't ask us to sing any part of the song. Such a throw away song! I got nuthin' folks. Apparently, niether did the writers of this song which would explain why she keeps singing the title of the song over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Red Robot? I would not object to you hitting the needle OFF the record!

4. Missing You - John Waite 3:58 (EMI America) Did you see that word? AMERICA? Ok, good! (that has nothing to do with this song but will make sense later on) I really love this. I love the set up of the guitars, I love the echoing back-up vocals and I love John Waite's cool, gravely voice. Lots of people have covered this song but this is the best version of it I have ever heard.

5. Down On The Corner - Creedence Clearwater Revival 2:42 (Fantasy Records) Damn, CCR was one of THE coolest bands of all time! Really not sure what some of the lyrics are here and I know I could look em up but I kinda want to go on believing that he just sang a line about "duct tape", ya know what I mean? (listen just after the first chorus...."something something new kid with duct tape something something") Also, I love that he is singing "da corner" instead of "the corner". Always makes me think of the Ridge! Oh, wait, one last misheard line, I know he is actually singing "you don't need a penny just to hang around" but what I have always heard was (get ready for it) "you don't need a pinhead just to hang around" WHAT??? Cause we all know a pinhead that we could have brought to the party but why sing about it? I would have sworn that was the lyric!

6. Shock The Monkey - Peter Gabriel 3:58 (Geffen Records) Before I let RR let this one fly I must go on record as saying that once Peter Gabriel left Genesis, prior to Phil Collins taking over, that band went down the crapper. (The only good thing they did with Phil in the lead was Paper Late) Anywho, I love this song!!!! I have absolutely no idea what it is about but who cares. The sound of this song and Peter Gabriel's odd, vulnerable, almost ready to break voice, made this so exciting to me. Oh that poor monkey! I always mixed Olivia's Heartattack into the this song. Listen to the clips, you'll understand why.

7. Whip It - Devo 2:37 (Warner Brothers Records) Such a silly song! Great bass line though. I still want one of those red "game piece" hats that the boys of Devo wore in the video.

8. Goody Two Shoes - Adam Ant 3:27 (Epic Records) Another perfectly silly song but with some great memories attached! My freshman year of college, on my birthday, I asked my parents if I could have a birthday party at the house. That was all I wanted as a present that year. Being the outstanding parents that they are, they said yes. They got me all the food that I wanted to have out for the party (foreshadowing of my solo party ventures) and once everything was set up and in place, they went upstairs into their bedroom and just let me have free reign. My Mom and Dad are the greatest and they have done many many cool things for me and Steven throughout our lives, but this stands out among all the others for me as the coolest night! They let me experience what it was like to be a "grown-up" at such a young age. Oh, yeh, back to the song......a very fun cool party song that I would still use when I DJ!!!

9. The Devil Went Down To Georgia - The Charlie Daniels Band 3:35 (Epic Records) How do I even talk about this one? This is just pure classic brilliance. "Deliverance" meets contemporary country music!!! When I was a kid, I used to think I would be so cool if I knew every word to this song. Let me tell ya, I DID know every word to this song and whenever it would play the other kids would marvel at the fact that I knew it word for word and inflection for inflection (much like Patches years before) except that this time around they would make fun of me for being able to do that! Eh! they were just intimadated by my brilliance (hey, it is a short straw but let me grasp at it, ok?)

10. Making Our Dreams Come True (Theme from TV show "Laverne & Shirley") - Cyndi Grecco 2:29 (Private Stock Records) Another very happy song! Yes, it was a theme song to a corny sitcom, but ya know what? If you listen to it now, it just may inspire you to make your dreams come true. Hell, it is making me want to make my dreams come true. One of those dreams is to be free to say what I want to say here without fear of reprisal.

11. God Bless The U.S.A. - Lee Greenwood 3:05 (MCA Records) I know, I know, it is Friday and not a usual night for a bonus track but I could not help but put this on here tonight! I was born in 1964! I grew up in the late 60s and so on....but even from a very young age, I understood one simple truth...we, as AMERICANS, had the right to freedom of speech and expression. Thousands upon thousands of our young men and women have fought and many have lost their lives to maintain that right! Recently, it has come to my attention that I have been the target of that innate freedom. It was almost enough to make me stop posting this blog. But, I will never EVER give in to the maniacal manipulations of some middle-aged douche bag! I will however, protect the people that I love and never again mention their names here or on any social networking website. Karma is a beautiful thing and I truly hope this person gets what's coming to them. With that said, go listen to this amazing song! I love this country and I adore the people that have had the courage to defend it, unlike the loser in question here!

Goodnight! I'll see you tomorrow. Make sure that the people you love know it!!!!

27 Years

2010-02-04T23:03:00.000-05:00

February 4, 1983. It was 27 years ago today that Karen Ann Carpenter left this world. I will never forget that day for as long as I live. I cried as if I had lost a relative. In a way, I lost my very best friend, someone that always knew how I felt and always knew how to make me feel better, someone who would never let me down and that would always be there when I needed her. Of course, in time I realized that I would always have that special secret friend with me and rather than get sad on this day I celebrate. It is very seflish of me but I kinda drop out of existence for the day, I try to do something new and exciting and I ONLY listen to Karen.

Well, I didn't get to do anything new and exciting this year but I have been listening to Karen. In fact, today we are all going to listen to the magic of the Carpenters. I picked 20 of the 30 singles that were released in Karen's lifetime and Red Robot is standing by to play em for us. I have already covered Ticket To Ride, Close To You and We've Only Just Begun in previous posts so what follows will be a random pick (and not necessarily included in the picture below) of mostly A sides with a few B sides thrown in for good measure because, let's face it, there really is no such thing as a bad Carpenter song!

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

A note before I start - There is surface noise on alot of these songs. While I do have pristine copies of them on the actual albums, I used the 45s. Richard Carpenter has always had a penchant for tinkering with these songs that started long before Karen passed away. He would sometimes change the mix on a song from the single version to the album version within the first pressing. I wanted to have all of the songs as they were originally released and we all heard them coming at us from our radios and record players.

1. Rainy Days And Mondays 3:35 1971 Ahhh, that sweet, sad harmonica that bookends this song set the tone right away! Karen had a way of conveying heartbreak and melancholy even at the very young age of 21. She understood what she was singing and lived it out in a neat little 3 minute package. She had amazing control as well, quiet and gentle to full throttle belt in a second. By the way, she is also playing the drums on most of these tracks.

2. Superstar 3:50 1971 I know I am probably going to say this alot today but this is such a perfect song! That harp right in the beginning to the clarinet and flugelhorns and the clear, crisp "TssT" of the cymbals on Karen's drumkit. Richard is a genious at arranging and recording. Example here: on the flugelhorn lines he felt it wasn't a full enough sound, so he would double the track and offset the two ever so slightly, creating a full and almost disonant sound that was remarkable. Sorry if I get too technical sometimes but I used to love reading interviews with Karen and Richard and how they created their sound, so I thought I would pass it on. By the way, whenever I have a DJ gig, this is the first song I always play to test the sound system because it is sonically perfect! Oh and one more by the way...Karen's vocal on this song was her first take and she was reading the lyrics off of a napkin! She was amazing.

3. Goodbye To Love 3:52 1972 Oh boy! When people ask me if I have a favorite Carpenter song my answer is yes but it is broken up ino two categories...favorite hit single and favorite album cut. This is tied for for favorite single with Close To You. Keep reading for my favorite album cut. There is so much about this song that makes it my favorite. The lyric has always hit me really hard (can you imagine an 8 year old child relating to a lyric about saying Goodbye To Love? It means even more now.), Karen's delivery of such a complicated lead line sung in one breath, those drums and Tony Peluso's fuzz guitar solo and the vocal group at the end makes this a standout song!!

4. Two Sides 3:25 1982 This was the B side of Beechwood4-5789 which was released in 1982, however this song is from their 1977 album, Passage. It is such a simple, gorgeous song about a woman looking at her life and realizing that their are Two Sides to every situation and in terms of her current relationship, she explains that "There's another side of me/there's the one you think you live with/the one you never see/it's never really lived but it's never really died/it's never really made it but it's tried" leading to the greatest line..."the other side of me just caught a flight...GOODBYE!" Karen holds that last note forever. Gorgeous!

5. Touch Me When We're Dancing 3:14 1981 This is a very romantic, dance with your sweetheart kind of song that has a great tenor sax solo but it was never really one of my favorites. Don't get me wrong it is a great song but it just never really hit me right. It was the first single released from their last studio album, Made In America and it did well for them on the charts. I think part of my problem was not with the song but with the fact that times had changed so much in 10 years and anything they put out was now religated to the Adult Contemporary Chart and they were sort of dismissed from the pop charts because they weren't doing disco. Oh well!

6. I Believe You 3:56 1978 I LOVE THIS SONG!!!! Little history lesson (don't worry, there is a point to this) - 1977 saw the release of Passage and there were 3 singles released from it, 1978 saw the release of one of THE greatest albums of all-time by anyone, Christmas Portrait and they released The Christmas Song as a single. Well, now, it is the summer of '78 and I remember walking into the Little Record Store, standing at the desk and reading the chart and seeing that this song had been released THAT DAY!! I asked Richie, (WOW pardon my french but I just pulled that name right out of my ass!) if that was right and if they had it. He wasn't sure and was just filling the magic wall of singles when I had come in. He skipped down to the right box and sure enough, there it was. I may be wrong but I believe it debuted at number 83 and made it into the top 10 within a week. The big surprise was that they did not have an album out nor was there one coming out in the near future (in fact the next album was Made In America, 1981). I was so excited. I bought it and RAN home!! It was such a new sound that was coming out of my stereo. Karen's gorgeous voice was there, Carpenter sound was there but it just sounded so fresh and new. Favorite part of the song...little more than half way through, it almost sounds like it is ending and then there is this big, loud, clean drum solo and they come back in strong! Gorgeous!

7. B'wana She No Home 5:36 1978 This is the B side of I Believe You and again, it is from Passage. This is one of my favorites. Passage was a brilliant album because they were experimenting with all kinds of new sounds and new recording techniques. The whole album was recorded on a soundstage utilizing various different orchestras, musicians and even a marching band for one of the tracks. This song always sounds like they made it up on the spot and has a free-flowing jam session feel to it. Karen's voice is very sexy and coy and playful with the silly lyrics that make this such a great song. Basically this is a rich woman telling her maid that she wants to be left alone. Imagine that? Karen singing something so silly and yet making it so outrageously great. Known and loved for her rich lower register Karen hits high notes in this that I am sure made neighboring dogs stand up and swoon! I lived for the few times that Richard would just let Karen loose to have fun! Which brings us to the next song....

8. All You Get From Love Is A Love Song 3:42 1977 This was the first single released from Passage and is just freakin' perfect! Karen never sounded or looked better! The looseness of the song was a new thing and this single did very well on the charts. The lyric is, again, about heartbreak and the end of a relationship but the music is so happy it gives you hope for the next relationship. "The best love songs were written with a broken heart!" This is a prime example of Richard's impeccable arranging skills and musicianship!

9. Sweet, Sweet Smile 3:00 1977 This was the third release from Passage and it is a Juice Newton tune. If you listen to the last three songs here in the blog you can see the versatility of the songs that are on this album and why it stands out as one of their finest. This one has a real country twang to it and you can hear that big ole smile of Karen's as she is singing it. You just know she had a blast making this whole album! I may be wrong about this but I believe this is one of two Carpenter songs that have a banjo in them. (Just felt the need to share that. I am getting a dirty look from RR)

10. I Have You 3:24 1977 This was the B side of Sweet, Sweet Smile and is actually from their 1976 album, A Kind Of Hush. This has got to be one of the most beautiful lyrics ever and Richard was very wise to keep the production very simple letting us focus solely on Karen and what she was telling us. "I was born to belong/to the lines of a song/and make them my home. I believe in happy endings/though I've only known a few/for as rare as they are/like a bright falling star/I've found one in you!" Is that beautiful or what???? "Sometimes when I'm almost to surrender/then I stop and I remember/I Have You to save my day" Favorite part of this song - instead of a large vocal group backing her, we hear two Karen's, one singing the melody line and the other singing harmony to it. Such a beautiful effect.

11. Goofus 3:32 1976 This one still kinda puzzles me. Not the song, cause Gawd knows I love the song, but the fact that it was released as a single! The song was written in 1930 and is a fun, happy little tune and one of those great "album cut" treasures but not one that had HIT written on it....meaning there was no real hook to it, didn't fit in with anything on the charts and was totally out of character for Richard to be so free-wheeling. Anywho, I love this quirky little song and I especially love the way Karen's vocals were recorded. It is almost like she is whispering in your ear telling you a secret when she sings this one. Love the finger-in-cheek POP toward the end that leads to the fading "ooooooooo"s!

12. I Need To Be In Love 3:31 1976 One of the greatest Carpenter/Bettis tunes. Richard and his long time friend and co-writer, John Bettis wrote this one at the end of a very long tour. The opening lines hit so hard and way too close to home for me...."The hardest thing I've ever done is keep believeing/there's someone in this crazy world for me/the way that people come and go/through temporary lives/my chance could come and I might never know". I was 12 when this song came out and I can remember sitting there and getting so lost in it, thinking it was written for me. 179 years later I still feel the same way. By the way, this was Karen's favorite song of theirs. "I know I ask perfection of a quite imperfect world/and fool enough to think that's what I'll find" "I'm wide awake at 4am/without a friend in site/I'm hanging on a hope/but I'm alright"! I would love for Richard to strip this song down a little and re-release it without the slightly too-big-for-this-song vocal group. Karen really belts her way through the chorus of this song and he built everything up to high around her, taking away from her raw emotion and power. I'm just sayin'.

13. There's A Kind Of Hush 2:53 1976 This was the first release from the album and a brilliant remake of Herman and the Hermits original. This is a perfect pop song and Richard really knew how to arrange a song and provide all the right hooks. The castinettes, the hand clap, guitars and tenor sax answering each other back and forth...genious! A very happy song and one of those rare remakes that is more associated with the newer incarnation than its originator.

14. Only Yesterday 3:46 1975 This was the second single released from the album Horizon, an album that took them a very long time to complete. They were experimenting with a new way of recording and mixing to digital (imagine that! In 1974/75 Richard was experimenting with digital recording. How cool is he?) that they felt was leaving the songs very flat and without the depth and heart of their previous recordings, so alot of the tracks were re-recorded until they got the feel that they wanted. Anywho, this song starts with a very cool drum/"TssT" that drives me nuts happy! This song also showcases Karen's amazing vocal range. She starts off in her lower register (as she used to say, "The money is in the basement") and goes into her gorgeous, pure head voice. Another very happy song that you can hear her smile while she is singing. Speaking of HAPPY......

15. Happy 3:52 1975 This is the B side of Only Yesterday and it is simple and brilliant and has Richard playing around with synthesizers. I love the way the drums are used in this song and that finger snap in the chorus....heaven!!!! I included this one to once again show off the versatility of the Carpenters.

16. This Masquerade 4:50 1974 This is the B side to Please, Mr. Postman and is actually from their 1973 album, Now and Then. This caused quite an uproar amzing Carpenter fans back in the day. They could not understand why such a brilliant recording, featuring a more mature Karen would take the back seat to a silly piece of fluff like Postman. My answer to that then as it is now, turn the record over!!!! You got the best of both worlds on one little 45! It really is a shame that this was not released as an A side because when it hit (and it would have hit big) it might have let them explore new areas. Sorry, just got lost in Richard's amazing jazz piano solo.

17. It's Going To Take Some Time 2:56 1972 Picture it! March 28, 1972. Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. My 8th birthday. Folks, this was the year of the LPR (Little Panasonic Recorder) that Grandma gave me along with the Neil Diamond cassette that I have never been able to replace. It is also the year that I got the most perfect album ever made.....A Song For You. In my lifetime, I can honestly say that I own about 6 albums that are truly perfect, meaning you can play them from start to finish and never want to skip a track or leave the room while it's playing. This is the first of those perfect albums. It is also one of the first albums to have 5 singles released from it and have all 5 be in the top 10. Pretty sweet, huh? This is a Carole King tune that Rich had heard and knew exactly what he wanted to do with it to make it right for their sound. It is genious! It's funny, but this song above all others from this album, brings me right back to that birthday and playing that album for the first time.

18. For All We Know 2:35 1970 On a slight break from a very long tour, Karen and Richard went to see a movie called Lover's And Other Strangers which turned out to be very adventageous for them as it had For All We Know as it's theme song. They both fell in love with it and recorded it immediately upon returning back to California. The opening flute lines are so truly inspired and amazing...two flutes playing the same line just slighty disonant to each other creating that sound that EVERYONE knows. Again, I must point out Karen's flawless interpretation of these very adult lryics at the tender age of 20!!! Anyone with a voice can sing a song. VERY few can truly make you understand what the song means the very first time you hear it. This was one of Karen's greatest gifts.

19. All Of My Life 3:02 1970 This was the B side of We've Only Just Begun and will always remain one of the most beautiful recordings I have ever heard. Where Karen could convey heartache and longing at such an early age, she could also convey innocence as she does in this song. This song speaks to young love, first love...the excitement and newness of it all. I remember being 6 years old, laying in bed falling asleep and my Mom coming into our room and getting me up to come and watch an ice skating special that Karen and Richard were performing on. This was the song they were singing! That is one of those magical memories that I will treasure for the rest of my life because they knew how much I loved the Carpenters and they didn't want me to miss this. Thank you! And now for THE greatest Carpenter song ever........

20. A Song For You 4:38 1972 I defy any person on this planet to contest this as THE definitive version of this song. Year after year the twinks on American Idol bastardize it, other people have recorded it but no one and I mean NO ONE will ever even come close to the pure perfection of this recording. The insanity here is that this song was NEVER released as a single. I have loved the Carpenters since 1970, 40 years folks, and this was not released during Karen's lifetime or after....a fact that will plague me and befuddle me until the day I die. (Speaking of which, and I don't mean to be morbid, but this song MUST be played at my memorial as a gift to my family and friends, sorry!) Seriously, I own crap loads of music and there is nothing more perfect than this recording. Karen's voice, that tenor sax, Rich's piano it is all flawless and I am including the entire song in the player today. Listen to it and enjoy the brilliance.

Can't believe we are done. Ya know, it boggles my mind that these two kids from New Haven, CT then later Downey, CA, who loved music and pretty much had the sweetest gig in the world, to write music, sing and entertain people without a thought of longevity would, 41 years later still be so loved and respected. How many people throughout history can that be said about? Is anyone gonna give a crap about Brittany or Lindsay in 41 years? Um, no. Theirs was a gift from above that can never be explained or reasoned away, but I for one am glad that I got to live each and every step of that journey and tonight, I just want to thank my special, secret friend for always being there. You will always get me through my darkest times and my sunniest times. thank you all for droping out of existence with me today and, hey, I guess I did do something new and exciting today. I got to share this with all of you! Go get provisions for tomorrow's snow storm, tell someone you love them and dust off your Carpenters albums. See you tomorrow.

Adult Toys

2010-02-02T23:48:00.003-05:00

Now, now people, this is a family type of blog, so get your minds out of the gutter. My best bud Scott came over today to celebrate, as he puts it, Gary O's Christmas In February. So, I did a mess of cooking (eggplant and chicken parmigian with fresh from-scratch tomato sauce, (made from about 35 tomatoes of various types) over linguini with peas and italian bread), we did a bunch of laughing and then he gave me presents. Isn't every day a good day when you get presents? I mean, really! Well, these were some of the coolest presents anyone could ever get!! He made me a really cool bracelet out of paracord (making it out of paracord really butches the whole thing up and then when he explained how it can be taken apart and used as a survival tool in the event of the zombie apacolypse....well, you can't more masculine than that folks!), an absolutely hilarious extra long t-shirt that was housed in a plastic bucket called, "Crack Spackle"! "Fight plumber's butt!" (see pic below) and then 2 other AMAZING things but, well, just look at the picture!

(click to enbiggen)

Looks like I have a new helper! It was a great evening and I know I have said this many times before, but I am one of the luckiest people in the world. Thank you Scott, Edna and Haylie, I love you guys soooooo much! (If anyone is interested, I have only smoked 7 cigarettes all day today! That's pretty monumental for me. I went from about a pack a day to 7!!! WOOOO HOOOO)

Anywho, onto Today's 10 Tunes. Another nutty bunch of tunes and I hope there are a few that you are going to like! Here they are....

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Everybody Plays The Fool - The Main Ingredient 3:22 (RCA Victor) No truer words have ever been spoken (sung? you know what I mean. shuttup)! I love this song!! A friend from the Toms River days gave me this from her personal collection and I treasure it. Ok Red Robot, hit it....WoW I forgot how much like "Want Ads" this sounds right in the beginning. "Ok, so you're heart broken. You sit around mopin', cryin' and cryin'. You say you're even thinkin' 'bout dyin'? Well, before you do anything rash.....dig this!" Love it!!! I love the little piccolo punctuating each phrase. But, man, ain't it the truth, we all play the fool. To me, you can't really love someone unless you are willing to play the fool. It would be nice if someone would play the fool for me someday! Anybody? Anybody? The nurse will be handing out forms for you to fill out at recess in the gym!

2. You Dropped A Bomb On Me - The Gap Band 3:59 (Total Experience Records) Oh Gawd! I knew this one was in here somewhere, in fact Dave and I were just talking about this song the other day. Cue it up and let it spin Red Robot, I am ready to dance in my chair. (He is giving me a dirty look! Can you believe this guy? Da noive!) HA!! WoW Dance drama! What a ridiculous song! But I am attitude chair dancing (ACD)! "You toin me on, baby" WoW Dude has a mean growl in there! Guess he has to do something to deflect the descending shells of loooove! I used to mix this into Let It Whip by the Dazz Band. That's coming up soon, I am sure!

3. Honky Cat - Elton John 5:12 (UNI Records) Ahhh, the return to sanity! Schweeeeeet! Love that piano and banjo combo!!! HA! This time Red Robot is dancing. Any guess what he is doing? (too obvious, huh? sorry.) Love EJ's little snear when he sings this song. But, truth be told, did anyone EVER buy the notion that Elton John ever tended a farm? I think not. "Get back woooo" The crazy piano at the end of this song is my favorite part of the whole song. It is like the final rebellion of this defiant farm boy turned glam rock star!

4. Someone That I Used To Love - Natalie Cole 4:05 (Capitol Records) Give me a second Red Robot (here-to-fore referred to as RR). This song means an awful lot to me, especially these days and I just wanted to talk about....HEY! I asked you to wait! Ok, I can see we are gonna have some problems here! Aw hell, whatever....oh such a sad opening piano line but it totally paints the perfect image needed for this song...someone completely alone and really taking a cold, hard look at the reality in front of them. In fact, now that the song has played all the way through, I realize that as Natalie gets more confident in her resolve to put this relationship in it's rightful place, the arrangement of the song builds in confidence. "Though you're someone in this world that I'll always choose to love/from now on, you're only Someone That I Used To Love" "ONLY" being the key word there. This is one of the hardest lessons I, personally, have had to learn but I have and I send this out to the love of my life! You know who you are. No, it's not you RR! Put your little robotic arm down. Geez. Three hours in my home and he thinks he is all that! {{sniffle}} Ok, can we get back to the chair dancing now?

5. Cool Places - Sparks and Jane Wiedlin 3:23 (Atlantic Records) WoW that was a tough one to get through. But, you know......DAYUM....Give a guy a chance to regroup here RR. Well, looks like we are going to the Cool Places now folks. Grab your hat. OH SO SWEET!! I love the sound of this song. Another one for the 100 Coolest Songs Of All Time list. The conversational lyrics and the attitudinal (hey, it's a word! shuttup) way that Mr. Spark and Miss Jane are singing is so perfect!!!! Just two people talking about where to go out and party. "he: I like to go where sometimes they refuse she: yeh, I remember last Saturday night!" Such attitude. Loving it. The accappella end is flawless and I always mixed this right into David Bowie's Modern Love. I'll have to make you a mixed cd sometime. I was a really good.....WHAT? Crap, apparently we are moving on. Sorry, that was gonna be a good story. Whaddya gonna do?

6. Hot Fun In The Summertime - Sly & the Family Stone 2:37 (Epic Records) From the cool to the hot....fun, that is! Yes, yes, I know that was corny but give me a freakin' break. I've been up since 6am. Geez, everyone's a critic. Hit it RR! This has got to be on the Coolest List. You can just picture kids running through open fire hydrant showers listening to this song. Chair groovin' here. Even RR has his little robotic arms up in the air swayin' to and fro. This song ALWAYS reminds me of walking home from St. Patrick's in the dead-hot heat of a Brooklyn summer, my little earth shoes melting into the pavement, going down Battery Hill, walking past Margie's house (and smelling her dog) and moving just a little bit quicker to get into the Fedder Air-Conditioned air of our room (after turning it on and smelling THAT smell as it pushed the hot air out and started making that magical cold air that only a window air-conditioner can make)! Have you ever seen the movie "Living Out Loud"? You should. It is brilliant and Holly Hunter is outrageous-good in it. The very last scene of the movie has her walking triumphantly through the streets of NY on a hot summer night with this song playing in the background.

7. The Visitors - AbbA 5:47 (Atlantic Records) This may have been AbbA's last "hit" single release. It is one of my favorites but the critics panned it because they said that AbbA was trying to be more sophisticated in their song writing. But wait, Mr and Mrs Critic, weren't you always putting them down for being too simplistic? OYE! There is no pleasing you guys. See now, this is where my favorite old adage always comes in handy and it goes something like this..."Those that can - DO! Those that can't - TEACH! And those that can't teach - TEACH GYM! And those that can't even teach gym - BECOME CRITICS!!!!" (ok, so I just made up that last line, but it was funny in the moment.) This song is sooooooo eerie and a bit scary. The boys were really able to take the paranoia of the lyrics and make it come to life in the music. It takes a little while but when this song kicks in, it really kicks in. Such great memories of hanging out with Brian Guiney, the speech team and very early High School memories. Oh my Gawd, Ray Proscia and Joe Francini, two of our speech team coaches. Sorry, their names just popped into my head. I know, I know, further solidifying my place in Geekdom history, but hey, I got a Varsity and Jr. Varsity Letter. You? Didn't think so. shuttup.

8. I Wish I Was Eighteen Again - George Burns 3:22 (Mercury Records) I bought this one because my Mom really liked it. I have to admit that, even in 1980, it used to get me choked up. At this particular juncture, I couldn't tell you why so, RR, let it spin. HEY!!! Wake the {{{bleep}}} up!!! We aren't done yet. Yeh yeh, I know I have been talking my fool head off tonight. Spin it!!! Oh wow, as soon as it started I got choked up. Ok, this hit way too close to home for me right now. Can't even talk about this song. But George Burns? Love that man. If we could only do 1/100th of what he did with his life, this world would be a much better place. There will never be another like him. I am so glad I was born when I was born and I am so glad for the family that I have, I would never have been able to appreciate real talent nor would I ever have the compassion and understanding for people that I have. I am going to put this whole song in the player today!

9. Whatcha Gonna Do - Chilliwack 3:50 (Millenium Records) Chair dancing!!!! This is one of Steven's Canadian finds and one hell of a cool song!!!! Fist air-pumping. Chilli's voice is soooooo cool, smooth, sexy, strong. Perfect pop song material. Love that deep bass voice on the chorus too. This may have to be on the Coolest Song List too. When this blog is done, I am going to go back through and make a list of every song I said that about. Knowing me, I could make the whole 100 list. Excellent guitar work here folks and that accapella thing in the break!!!!! Nice!! (He would be loathe to admit this but RR is dancin' his little red metal ass off right now!!) "Gonegonegonegone"

10. The City Of New Orleans - Arlo Guthrie 4:31 (Reprise Records) Gotta admit, this is going to be another one of those, "Oh YES! Of course, that's this song!" moments because right now, I can't place this one at all. Hit it RR. Jeez-oh-Pete. Get off the damn tone-arm, would ya????? OYE!!......."OH YESS!!!!! Of course, that's this song!" "Good morning America, how are ya?" So, this is the folk music answer to King Of The Road!! Seriously, you can almost picture Arlo riding a freight train, strummin' his 6 string and singing this as the train is passing through the amazing scenery of this great country!! Hey, is that Aldo Bruschi I am hearing in the background? Who knew the accordion was a "travelin" instrument?

Well folks, this sure has been another amazing rollercoaster ride. I am sorry for being so verbose this evening. Guess it was just one of those nights that I really didn't want to be alone. I am so glad that I have you here with me. I had the priveledge to tell someone I love that I love them tonight, now it is your turn. Please don't ever miss a chance to do that. And, hey, a hug never hurts either. Oh alright, come here RR, give me a hug! (Happy Birthday, Monica) See you guys tomorrow.

Grammy's - The Morning After

2010-02-01T16:04:00.001-05:00

I remember being a kid and getting so excited that the Grammy Awards were going to be on that night. I would make a list of all the categories, write down the nominees and then pick who was going to win. 9 out of 10 times I was right, too! (we have already established my geekhood. shuttup) That was in the 70s and 80s. Then the 90s hit and I just couldn't be bothered unless someone I liked was nominated and even then it was a chore to have to watch the show. I have to admit that in the last few years I have been watching again but never with that same enthusiasm. No more lists, no more rooting for a favorite. It is more like a removed, bemused, curiousity.

Last night's show started out with a bang. Having Lady GaGa and Sir Elton kick things off was a genious moment. I thought they were great together and one of the few "couplings" that actually worked. Loved seeing Stevie Nicks singing a Taylor Swift song but man, that kid's voice was all over the place...flat, sharp, sharp, flat. She must have been really nervous. Then, later in the show, when Roberta Flack came out? She sounded incredible but looked like a robot and at one point I really thought Maxwell, (who I really like but sounded like crap) was going to knock her over (by accident of course). Loved Beyonce and glad she won as much as she did and, now don't get me wrong cause I really like Taylor Swift, but I would have liked to have seen Lady GaGa win that last award.

In honor of last night's show, I went through and randomly pulled songs that have won Grammy's in years gone by, put them in order of their Grammy Win and here they are....Today's 10 Tunes.

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. King Of The Road - Roger Miller (Polygram Records) 1966 Remember that list of 100 Coolest Songs I was fantasizing about the other day? Well, this would be in the Top 10! Roger Miller's voice is so smooth and just world-weary enough to really make you think that he is riding the rails while singing this! Very nice....he just said, "Chillrun"! Randy Travis did a great remake of this song. You should check it out!

2. Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O'Sullivan 3:35 (MAM Records) 1973 One of the greatest sad songs ever! This one hits you in the face with melancholy right off the bat! "Oh in a little while now/if I'm not feeling any less sour/I promised myself to treat myself/And visit a nearby tower/in climbing to the top/would throw myself off/in an effort to make it clear to who/ever what it's like when you're shattered" But see, here is a guy with a plan. He figures he'll give it a little time and if he doesn't feel better about things he will fullfill a promise he made to himself AND teach the world a little something at the same time. Seriously, this song is heartbreaking both musically and lyrically. I love the guitar solo in the break and don't even get me started on the lyrics at the end of the song. STILL makes me cry! {{{sniffle}}} Next.....

3. (I Love You) I Honestly Love You - Olivia Newton-John 3:40 (EMI Records) 1975 Such a gorgeous song with a very simple message....a woman with her own life (married?) telling a man who also has his own life (married but not to her?) that she loves him even though she knows nothing more can come of it. I love the straight-forward honesty of this song. "You shouldn't blow the chance when you've got the chance to say I love you!" Anywho, I remember seeing Olivia perform this on the Mike Douglas Show in 1974 and I was in love! I have been a fan ever since!

4. I Write The Songs - Barry Manilow 3:51 (Arista Records) 1977 Here is a song that almost didn't happen! Clive Davis brought this to Barry and after reading the lyrics Barry said, "I can't sing this. People are going to think that I am saying that I write the songs that make the whole world sing!" (Little did he know then that he would indeed make the whole world sing his songs but that's another story) Clive insisted and Barry thought, "Ok, but I am going to make this song so big no one will like it and I will never have to sing it again!" Again, man was he wrong! It wasn't until he realized that he is singing about the "spirit" of music that makes the whole world sing that he truly fell in love with the song. (I am sure having it become such a huge hit didn't hurt either) This song was recorded by others before him and his is the second best I have ever heard. The first being the Richard-Nixon-inspired parody Steven and I wrote called "I Erase The Tapes".  But this will always be Barry's song! (stupid legal mumbo jumbo. We coulda had a bigger hit with ours. I am not bitter. shuttup)

5. You Light Up My Life - Debby Boone 3:35 (warner Brothers Records) 1978 Ok, pushing all preconceived notions and memories of this song out of my head. Wait. Give me a second. (pushing, pushing) OK! Hit it! Ok, it is a beautiful song with a great lyric. There is something very weird/funky about the way it was recorded though. I can't quite put my finger on it, but if I could I would have to wash it. Everything seems to be doubled and slightly delayed. The timing of the song is just wrong. I apologize to any Debby Boone fans out there, but in this song, she has no soul, nothing interesting about her voice at all. I have heard more recent things she has done and she has a much more interesting voice now. I guess age and experience helps.

6.  Guilty - Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb 4:24 (Columbia Records) 1981 Unlike last night's Grammy Awards, some pairing were so meant to be! Barbra and Barry Gibb was a genious combination! Amazing lyrics, flawless production work and Barbra singing from the gut (not a HUGE fan of the breathy Gibb sound but it really works set against Barbra's voice)! I love this song and can remember thinking that THIS was the best she has ever sounded. That was true for the moment. Barbra has a way of topping herself and surprising the world. Of her pop singles, this is one of my favorites.

7. Shadows Of The Night - Pat Benatar 4:20 (Chrysalis Records) 1983 Oh man I love that accapella opening and then the drums crashing in! Pat Benatar has one of THE greatest voices ever! In fact, she sounds better now than she did when she recorded this song. I know I have told you this before, but Shane and I go to see Pat & Neil every summer for the past 23 years and I can not wait to see what they are going to do this year! They promised us an all new show! But who are we kidding? I'd go to see her sing phone book!

8. Beat It - Michael Jackson 4:11 (Epic Records) 1984 I will admit this up front, I am not a huge Michael Jackson fan. Sorry. But there are certain songs that were just such a big part of our personal musical history and this is one of them. I do love this song! To me, this is when he was fresh and original and not copying himself. Love, love, love that guitar solo and the bouncing left to right "Beat It"s oh and there is that "eeehee" he stoled from Diana Ross!

9. Addicted To Love - Robert Palmer 3:59 (Island Records) 1987 Drums, drums drums!! Chair dancing!   Sorry. I think this is another song I would put in the Top 100 Coolest Songs. Such a great sound with so many interesting things going on in the background! And who can get the image of the video out of their head when they hear this song. Gotta hear it again, talk amongst yourselves.

10. Somewhere Out There - Linda Rondstadt and James Ingram 3:58 (MCA Records) 1988 So much love for this song! Such a beautiful thought. Two people can be on opposites ends of the earth and still be underneath the same big sky, thinking the same thoughts and loving each other from such a great distance. Apart but always together. I was crazy about someone that lived across the country and when I first heard this song, I didn't feel so alone. I love music. By the way, this is another outstanding pairing of voices. Take a note Grammy people!!!!

I know I started this post 2 1/2 hours ago but it seems like 20 minutes have gone by. And, I only smoked 1 cigarette this whole time! (save your strength) My best bud Scott is trying to quit and we are supposed to get together tomorrow night (yesterday fell through) so, in a show of solidarity, I am going to cut back drastically, which is not easy to do when I am sitting at the computer, with the hopes of quitting too! I figure, why should he go through that alone and maybe just knowing that someone else is willing to go the distance with you will help both of us! I hope everyone had a great weekend and will have a great week ahead. Go give someone a great big hug.....RIGHT NOW! Don't think about it, just do it! See you tomorrow!

Saturday, Saturday, Ever-Lovin' Saturday

2010-01-30T22:56:00.000-05:00

Having been in the world of retail for about a bagillion years and now being unemployed, days tend to run into one another with no separation, no punctuation not even a different inflection in the way one would pronounce the individual day of the week. One big mass of time strung together with, if one is lucky, periods of sleep as the only way to tell one from the next. My point here is, weekeneds usually don't mean anything special to me anymore.

Not this weekend! I have really been looking forward to this weekend all week, something I rarely let myself do. Tomorrow, I get to spend the day with my best bud Scott during the day and his family in the evening. YAY! (Yes, he is taking me to my SECOND gun show. shuttup) Today, I have an unexpected treat! I get to spend the day with THE Lori Rome. Quite simply, Lori Rome is one of the most incredible people I have ever met and she should be running her own country! We are going to eat (I am making a pot roast, something I have been craving for a while now, with oven baked mashed potatoes, fresh green beans with bacon, onions, garlic and bread crumbs and Yorkshire Pudding! That is something I have not had in a million years that my Mom used to make us when she would make pot roast. Steven reminded me of this yesterday and, well, now it is a'happenin'), drink and flesh out a concept idea for a movie that I am hoping to pitch this week! Keep your fingers crossed kids!

So, whilst the roast is a'pottin'(?) and the potatoes are a'baking, I figured I would start today's music fest. Now, without further delay, here they are folks...Today's 10 Tunes.

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Pilot Of The Airwaves - Charlie Dore 3:15 (Island Records) Oh that sweet, tight, four part harmony that opens this gem is so happy and fits the mood of the day perfectly! "Don't waste my time chasing sleep" Amen sistah! Boy o boy, there was so much good music in 1979. Alot of the songs from yesterday were also from 1979! In 1979 my Dad gave me a DC Comics Superhero Collector's Stamp Book. Each new stamp was released over a period of time and I would collect them, put them in protective plastic sleeves and adhere them to the corresponding hero in the book! I always associate that book with going to Nan's in Toms River. We would get there, have lunch and I would patiently await the words, "Well, there are a couple of things I need from the store!" That meant going to Caldor and THAT meant, NEW STAMPS! Everytime I hear this song, I think of Nan and that stamp book, which my Dad has kept safe for me all these years! This song is just so magical to me!

2. Go All The Way - Raspberries 3:10 (Capitol Records) Isn't childhood innocence a wonderful thing? Imagine being a little kid, loving a song so much that you would sing along to it at the top of your lungs, play air-guitar to it only to find out, 20 some odd years later, that it is a song about, again, editting for the chillruns, "getting lucky"! Basically, when the lead singer has actually spit the marbles out of his mouth so we can understand him, he is telling us that this girl he is with is begging him to Go All The Way! Dirty, dirty stuff folks. That said, they did have a great rocking sound and I love those guitars!!! So, cover the kids ears and rock out to this one!

3. That's The Way Love Goes - Janet Jackson 4:25 (Virgin Records) More colored vinyl folks!!! This time it is translucent red!!! That alone is enough to make me chair dance (which I am. shuttup) This is one of my all-time favorite Janet songs. "like a moth to a flame burned by the fire/my love is blind can't you see my desire" Oh, maybe this is what the girl from the previous song was actually saying to him! Good line! Oh so many outrageously GREAT memories associated with this song! Annette, Harold, dancing all night long, playing this whenever I DJed, a slow funky groove that got people grinding! Soooo hot! This whole album is Janet at her very best! Just thinking this one over....this song is dirty as was the previous song. Only difference is, this one was not pretending to be anything but dirty! hee hee It's playing again and I am dancing again. See you in a few minutes.

4. Downtown - Dolly Parton 3:19 (RCA Records) From Janet to Dolly...it's a natural progression! Here's another record I haven't played in forever. I forgot what a fun remake this is. Well, it's Dolly so, "how can you loose?" It has such a great beat to it and her voice is so fun and flirty! I think I even a 12" remix single of this! I remember it being played alot in the clubs! I love the trademark Dolly at the end, "Git-on, git-on, git-on downtown!" Only real difference here for me is, in my head, she is referring to Downtown Nashville and Petula was talking about Brooklyn. (seriously, everytime I heard Petula's version I thought about A&S in downtown Brooklyn)

5. Holiday - Madonna 3:50 (Sire Records) Ahhhh Madonna from when we all thought she was a black chic singer! (I know that was not politically correct. Send all of your emails and comments to ithoughmaddonawasblacktoo.com) This is, was and always will be one of my favorite party songs! You can't help but move to it. A tight simple production and she sounds great....raw, rough and slightly off-key! Who cared? We were dancing our asses off! I remember this song from before the whole Madonna look exploded and it was just a great song. GREAT piano improv at the end!

6. Vacation - Go-Gos's 2:59 (I.R.S. Records) WOW This is really turning out to be a party Saturday, isn't it? You HAVE to bop and dance when you hear the Go-Go's, you just have to! Such amazingly fun girl-power, guitar driven fun!!! Chair dancing and pretending to be surfing! Oh crap! glug glug glug

7. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham! 3:51 (Columbia Records) Trust me kids, this was not planned. But it is kinda funny. Get it? Go-Go following the Go-Go's? No? Ok. (shuttup) Long before George Michael was caught loitering in bathroom stalls, he really knew how to put out...great pop songs that is! The combination of his amazing voice and slick, bouncy production really sold this song and man did it explode when it came out! (Wait, I guess I shouldn't have mentioned the bathroom stalls thing cause now everything I am saying sounds dirty. Sorry.) Another great, silly party song!! Doing my 80s dance out of the room to go check on the pot roast.

8. The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats 2:44 (Backstreet Records) What a great, goofy song! Do you remember the episode of Friends where Monica and Ross do "The Routine"? That's what I think of everytime I hear this song! Mechanical, robotic moves. "Everybody look at your hands"???? Huh? Ok. This is not a shallow man here folks, if your friends don't dance, well then they are no friends of his! Again, this brings back such cool memories of being way too young to be going out in NY! (I am so sure my brohter cringes everytime he reads that! Sorry Steve, just part of the magic!)

9. Is This Love? - Alison Moyet 3:59 (Columbia Records) I told you not to forget her name, didn't I? This is one of my favorites of Alison's. I love her voice. It is soothing, comforting and exciting all at the same time. I think I said this last time but it bares repeating, she writes almost all of her music and always seems to stay interesting, relevent and, well, exciting! I love the keyboards and violins in this song!

10. Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder 3:53 (Tamia Records) Horns blowing, party continuing! Nothing to say. this is a perfect song. "You can feel it all o-o-over/you can feel it all o-o-over people!" Quite possibly my favorite Stevie Wonder song and a great way to end this party!

Well, dinner is done and my day with THE Lori Rome has come to an end. Got some work done, ate way too much and had a fantastic time with the Rome-i-licious one! I hope you all had a great Saturday (weekend by the time this gets posted) and that listening to the clips of these songs will bring back some fun memories of staying out dancing all night with someone special. I would love to find a club that plays this kind of music, we could all meet there and dance the night away. Go tell someone that you love them and then grb em and dance with em! Not sure if there will be a Sunday post yet or not, all depends on the weather (snow = no Sunday with Scott = blog post. you dig?)!

MMMMMMM Pop Music

2010-01-29T22:50:00.001-05:00

Ahhh, pop music! If it wasn't for pop music you and I wouldn't be here would we (I don't mean here on the planet, I mean here in blogworld)? We wouldn't get to spend some time together every day and what kind of people would we have turned out to be if we didn't have our daily dose of coma-inducing aural injections of bubblegum coming out of our radios and record players? {{{shudder}}}

The goal today is to try and make up for the missing Wednesday post. So go get some snacks, make sure the cushion on your chair is comfy (ya know, for chair dancing, if you feel so inclined) and get ready for.....

Today's 15 Tunes!!

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. This Is It - Kenny Loggins 3:35 (Columbia Records) "chhickitchapah - chhickitchapah" I just don't know! I don't know what to say here and I don't know how I feel about the whole beginning of this song. I hate the weird, breathy thing he is doing with his voice, but I love the arrangement going on in the background. Then the music kicks in on the chorus (finally) and Kenny goes full throttle and sounds great! Ok, so we have bad, we have good, then we have good again...until I remembered Michael McDonald's breathy voice is doing the back-ups for him, which in my book makes it bad again. OYE! The other problem I have with many of Kenny Loggins' songs, I can't understand what he is saying. I can make out every thrid word and then he loses me. But the song brings back great memories of going to Nan's for some reason. "The waiting is over/You're going no further" now, see, if I could understand the rest of the lyrics, this wouldn't scare me so much!

2. Modern Love - David Bowie 3:56 (EMI Records) OH MAN!!! That funky guitar slide in the opening of this song just makes me so happy! Doing my best 80s chair dancing here!! "I know when to go out/I know when to stay in" This is such a great party song! Love the horns and pounding piano in here! And then of course, there is Bowie's voice!! Absolute original, one-of-a-kind! Not a technically great singer but what a great sound, you can understand every word he sings and 9 out of 10 times there was some deeper meaning to what he was singing. Take a lesson Kenny, that's how you sell a song! David Bowie is one of the rare few that you can refer to as an artist (with a good dance beat!)

3. Stairway To Heaven - Far Corporation 5:45 (ATCO Records) Now, I know, some of you are going to think this is blasphemous, but I had heard this version of Stairway in a bar in the Village in 1985 and loved it. It is very respectful of the original yet updated (80s style) in such cool ways. Just the right combination of real instruments and very limited synths but it is the driving drums that make it for me! I even bought the album so that I could have the full 9:45 version! Nobody can touch Zeppelin but this and Dolly Parton's version offer a new look at the song. (If you have never heard Dolly's version....look it up and listen. It is outstanding!)

4. Chuck E.'s In Love - Rickie Lee Jones 3:29 (Warner Brothers Records) If there was a list of the Top 100 coolest songs ever, this one would be in the Top 25. "Is he here? I look in da pool hall. Is he heya? I look in the drugstowe. Well, is he heya? No, he don't come around heya no mowe!" "Oh Christ, I think he even combed his hair!" I remember listening to this on my Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Sal's ultra-cool new stereo system when they first got it all set up and was blown away by the way the music was coming at you from the speakers and how you could hear the finger snap so clearly throughout the song.

Time for some chair dancing.

5. Trouble - Nia Peeples 4:15 (Mercury Records) This is one of those songs that I remember absolutely loving when it came out. I haven't heard it in a hundred years, so, I hope I have the same reaction to it now. Cueing it up and.......go. (WOW there is a really good cue burn in the beginning of this one. Think I played it too much?)   Oh yeh! Oh YEH! Still loving it! It is very much like Janet's Pleasure Principle, which is what I always mixed it with, which is perfectly fine with me! Although I have always really liked Paula Abdul, I used to think that Nia Peeples should have been Paula. She could dance just as well AND she could really sing!! (Do you remember Nia on Fame - The Series? Loved it - loved her and Jesse) There was a really hot video for this too!

Worked up a sweat there. Time to slow it down a little.

6. Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye - Neal McCoy 3:17 (Atlantic Records) This is an outstanding, slightly countrified remake. I first heard this version when I was working at Low Places. In between line dance sets the DJ would play "belt-buckle polishers" (songs to slow dance with your best girl to) and I would always go over to my Mom and ask her to dance with me to this one, which she did! I used to love when this came on! Nothing cooler than getting to dance with my Mom! Good times. Neal McCoy's voice is soooooo great! He has an amazing range and such control.

7. I Know There's Something Going On - Frida 4:06 (Atlantic Records) Ahhh, finally, the other "A" from AbbA, Annafrid aka Frida. This song was produced by Phil Collins, who also, very obviously, plays drums on the track. There is such a menacing sound to this song. Frida's voice, well, what is there to say? She is incredible and I love hearing all the backing she did in the choruses. So many, many, many memories with this one. Hanging out with Brian Guiney, going to the dances at NYU, meeting Jamie Champa (a student at F.I.T. who is now a very success country song writer) and, for some reason, hot summers in NY! Gotta love pop music!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEeerch. Gear shift.

8. The Battle Of New Orleans - Johnny Horton 2:28 (Columbia Records) This is one I bought for my Dad because he really loves this song. It was released in 1959 and is a bare-bones recording...a bass, a banjo and some drums, but man, what a cool sound. I am smilling like a fool cause as I am listening to it, I can hear my Dad singing along with it. I am going to put the whole song on the music page so he can enjoy it again. Nothing like a little Civil War ditty to make ya smile.

9. If - Bread 2:33 (Elektra Records) {{{happy sigh}}} This is one of the most beautiful love songs ever. There is nothing for me to say here. "If the world should stop revolving/spinning slowly down to die/I'd spend the end with you/and when the world was through/then one by one/the stars would all go out/then you and I would simply fly away" If I didn't know my parents, I would ask, do people really find that kind of love in their lifetime? But I already know the answer.

10. A Cowboys Work Is Never Done - Sonny & Cher 3:14 (Kapp Records) Here's one from the spindles that Steven promoted to a green paper sleeve. Lots of scratches and LOTS of great memories. Get your harmonica out (ok, S&C used a vocorder but it is supposed to be a harmonica)! Hold it firmly in your left hand and put your right hand over the front and blow...... WWWAAAAA-wwwwa-a-waaaa-waaa-waaaaaaa "RIDE I used to jump my horse and RIDE"" Oh boy, the horns, the banjo, the mandolin and the spread on the drums...such a great arrangement. We used to watch the Sonny & Cher Show every week. It was so well done and they were so great together. Classic!!

Ok, going to go eat something and watch a movie. I'll be back.                                     Miss me? I made Penne A La Vodka with pork medallions and watched Lords Of Dogtown, a movie that my beautiful niece Melissa gave me for Christmas (it is one of her favorites)! Thanks Mel! By the way, if you haven't seen the movie, go out and rent it. It is really good!

Ok, fat and happy and ready to go on. Wow these last 5 are an eclectic bunch. Chair dancin' first thankfully. I can work off some of that pasta!

11. Diamonds - Herb Alpert (Lead Vocals - Janet Jackson) 4:53 (A&M Records) Love this song! Herb and Janet. Who woulda thunk it, right? Well, it is his label and this is such a fun song, why not! I forgot just what a well-produced dance jam this song is. It has that distinct Janet/Jimmy Jam sound and with Herb's trumpet....excellent. "You gave me some candy. It melted! Nice try." "I just want a token that can't go to waste. Diamonds!"

12. High Hopes - Frank Sinatra "and a bunch of kids" 2:42 (Capitol Records) Another one I bought for my Dad, also released in 1959, from the movie "A Hole In The Head". Such a happy opening! "Just what makes that lil ole ant think he'll move that rubber tree plant" Well, he had High Hopes of course. This is a very cute song, but the message is so true. Now if we could only live our lives with High Hopes that we can do anything we set out to do and never give up....

13. The Unicorn - The Irish Rovers 3:18 (MCA Records) I bought this one when I was DJing at The Happy Hour in Toms River. One of the bar tenders, Carol, who turned out to be a great friend, asked me to pick this one up for her. I had never heard it before and thought, ok, but no one else is going to know it either. Boy was I wrong. EVERYONE knew it! (I felt a little silly and greatly humbled) I'd play it and Carol would get up, take my microphone and lead everyone in a sing along. It was so much fun and I really miss her!!

14. Me And You And A Dog Named Boo - Lobo 2:52 (Big Tree Records) Another one I have not heard in a million years. First notes and I am, once again, sucked back in time. Summer family vacations and 77 WABC. This is also another great car song. Never really realized just how laid back and mellow this song is. I am listening and just gently swaying from side to side. Remember when life was this sinple?

Here it is folks...the moment you've been waiting for. Did you think this song would not be here with a title like today's post title....

15. Pop Muzik - M 3:20 (Sire Records) Get up! Get Down! can't          type        dancing   Man o man, you would have to be dead to not move or bop to this song.  Sadly, I know every word to it.  "All around the world/whereever you are/dance in the street/do anything you like/do it in your car/in the middle of the night/lalalalala"! Such a brilliantly goofy song and the perfect way to end today's post.

WOW We were all over the place today, weren't we? So much fun music from so many different eras. I hope you all have a great weekend. Go out and do something fun. Call an old friend and go out for drinks. Personally, I am going to another gun show this weekend!! WOO HOOO! See you tomorrow. Crank up that pop music kids.

Coming Around Again - Happy Thursday

2010-01-28T23:40:00.003-05:00

Sorry I missed posting yesterday but the universe just seemed to be against me. I was having major computer issues and couldn't get the damn thing to do anything I wanted it to. My apologees! But I am back and the computer seems to be coming around again, so keep your fingers crossed.

I chose today's title because when I picked up Barry's new album I also picked up Carly Simon's latest release. It is called, Never Been Gone and it is Carly's re-imagening and re-working of some of her biggest hits and favorite songs. I was nervous about this album because, quite frankly, why mess with perfection right? Well, she and her son Ben Taylor, sat down, planned things out and created an amazing album. I never thought You're So Vain or That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be could be better than the originals but man, she comes damn close to topping herself. The album is fresh and quirky and as original as she is. Do yourselves a favor and pick this one up!

As for yesterday's missing 10 Tunes, I will make that up as the week goes on so we can stay on track here but for now, it is Thursday and we do have that Bonus song thing going on!

So, here are Today's 11 Tunes....Another great mixed bag with one song I am not sure that I even remember! Here they are folks.

(click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Kyrie - Mr. Mister 4:10 (RCA Records) Purple translucent vinyl folks!! Woohoo! Geek Alert! Geek Alert! Gary O. Geek? Party of one? Yes Sir, that would be me! This song means absolutely nothing but who cares. They even printed out the lyrics to this song on the back of the sleeve. "My body burns a gem-like flame/somewhere between the soul and soft machine" HUH? WHA? It still means nothing. Well, I am sure it has great meanig to the writers, but its meaning is lost on me. But man oh man, what a great sound! The lead singer has such a great and interesting voice and the pounding drums and synths.... perfect, especially when one would possibly mix this with the translucent blue single of Starship's Sara, just sayin'!

2. Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees 3:29 (RSO Records) Ahh The Bee Gees! Saturday Night Fever being filmed in our old hood, Bay Ridge, brings back such amazing memories. I can remember seeing a film crew outside of Fisherman's Corner on 4th Ave and being fascinated!! The Bee Gees truly created a sensation with this new sound. I hate the expression "It took the world by storm" but it really did. They were everywhere and the whole SNF look was everywhere! Listening to it again now, it really was a great sound, but not one I would want to hear over and over again. I think this is part nostalgia making me enjoy this so much right now! (the pressing of this single is weird and has a fuzz sound going through it. Maybe his voice was too high to capture on vinyl?)

3. I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love - Rita Coolidge 3:28 (A&M Records) Oh such a beautiful song! Heartbreaking but beautiful. It was written by Carole Bayer-Sager and Peter Allen, which would account for much of the greatness of the song but it is Rita Coolidge's simple, almost conversational approach that really hit home for me. "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love/while I still believe/the meaning of the word" Get out before it gets ugly Rita!! Schmart lady!

4. Bang The Drum All Day - Todd Rundgren 3:32 (Bearsville Records) Sorry, Rita, I needs to do me some chair dancin'! You should too sweety, you'll feel better. Oh yeh!!!!! Another song that just hits you in the face with happy as soon as it starts! The combination of Todd Rundgren's rough, rockin' voice against the Jamaican sounds and back-up singers is amazing! LOVE that bass line in the break! "I can bang that suckah" And let's be honest, who hasn't wanted to bang their bosses head like a drum? Such a good happy song!!!

I hate to do this to you but you may want to get some Kleenex ready for the next 2 songs! Just sayin'.

5. Rocky - Austin Roberts 3:34 (Private Stock Records) Here is another tragic story song folks and another one that was on a K-Tel Album. Crap! I remember every word of this song! Basically, here is a young couple that "got it on together in such a super way" and she is unsure of everything. Rocky, I've never been in love before! Rocky, I've never had a baby before! And ultimately, Rocky, I've never had to die before (duh)! The music to this song is ironically very happy, bouncy and has great guitar work going on with a minimal amount of tragic violin work (and thankfully, no choir of angels)! I love this song and I love the way the lyric turns around to her guiding him when he is unsure. NEXT......

6. Cat's In The Cradle - Harry Chapin 3:29 (Elektra Records) Absolutely timeless song that always gets me choked up! Harry Chapin was one of the greatest story-tellers of all time, whose time was also cut way too short. I really don't know what to say about this song. It is perfect and Harry really encapsulated a sad but true "circle of life" story here.

7. Gold - Spandau Ballet 3:54 (Chrysalis Records) Boy this song starts off kinda creepy! Listen to the synth line behind these GOLDen lines..."Thank you for coming home/I'm sorry the chairs are all worn/I left them there I could have sworn/These are my salad days" Thank gawd he mentioned his salad days cause now it all makes sense! (Dave is here with me for these last few songs. Everybody say "HI DAAAVE!" He says, "Hi and save your strength"!) We love this guys voice, right? D: Oh yeh! Dave wants to know if he is still talking about the chairs being "indestructable". G: Um, I believe he said "Indestructabow"! Dave? Dave? Get off the floor! (He is laughing really hard, I didn't push him if that's what you're thinking!) So, does "soul" really rhyme with "Gold"? Just curious? It is a great sounding song, non-the-less! Moving on.....

8. The Politics Of Dancing - Re-Flex 3:55 (Capitol Records) G: I love the sound of this song!!! D: Me too but it is sooo stupid! G: Um, was "Gold" Mensa worthy? Ok, we are trying desperately to figure out what this song means. We have politicians on the airwaves, "station to station", spreading their message to the dance floors. You can't stop it when it starts to play. D: I'm sure it has some deep meaning. G: And you can dance to it! We both agree that there is some great drum programming going on in this song!

9. The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em) - Greg Kihn Band 2:50 (Beserkley Records) Tandom Chair Dancing!!! (Jealous?) G: I love, love, love this song! D: They just don't write em like that anymore? Amen. Look at the titles above! How long do you think it took them to write the "unnn-uh-unnn-un-un-un-unnn-un"s? G: Who do you think signed off on that? D: the whole Greg Rockihnroll Band, of course. G: Ok, the best hook in the song is the "No they don't. No no!" at the fade!

Ok, folks, you really should be here. Somehow we just broke out in the Libbys jingle. Remember that? "If you have Libbys Libbys Libbys on the label label label, you will like it like it like it on your......" Ok, now that we have lodged that song in your heads....we will move on! Here is the song that I am not sure I even remember.

10. You Can't Change That - Raydio 3:17 (Arista Records) Oh OF COURSE I remember this song! (NOW I hit Dave off the chair) D: Good Lawd. Is that a long chorus or is it just me? G: No, it's not just you. It is way too long. And I remember now why I have forgotten this song! Now, how many people can say they remembered why they forgot something! (singing softly to myself - Libbys Libbys Libbys on the label label label) Sorry, that was more interesting than this song! D: This song is not even good bubblegum. It is like "The New Bubblegum", you know like "The New Coke"? Horrible. I mean, gleen from my comment what I said. G: "you will like it like it like it on your table table table" Oh, I'm sorry. Were you talking, Dave?

Here's the bonus song!!! Drum roll. Dave? Dave? You can stop now. STOP! thank you

11. Does Your Mother Know - AbbA 3:13 (Atlantic Records) Man, I love the beginning of this song!!! I love all the stuff that is going on in the background of this song, too! D: I know! That is true of alot of their songs. Especially at the time, when people were not going that far. It was amazing! G: I also love that this is one of the only hits singles that the guys sang the lead! I think AbbA was so far ahead of their time! D: Yes they were!

Well, that went by way too fast!!! I had such a fun day today. Got to see some of my favorite people and spend some quality time with them. Dave, naturally, Scott came over for a little while and then Dave and I went out to eat and surprised Mom at line dancing! A very fun day! Dave would like to have the last word? (Like I don't already knowthe answer to that question. Ha) D: Word!

Release Day

2010-01-26T23:14:00.001-05:00

It is finally here folks...the release date for Barry Manilow's new album, The Greatest Love Songs Of All Time (click the title to order your copy from Barry's website. I get nothing from you clicking the link, just trying to make it easier for you to get your own copy. I have ordered from them many times and have never had a problem).

Ok, so you would think that just because I love Barry I would in turn love everything he has done. That is not the case. Take for example his 1982 release, Here Comes The Night (very bad) or last year's Greatest Hits Of The Eighties (not really good). While there were elements on each album that were ok, they just generally stunk. Thankfully, that is not the case today! "Love Songs" is one of THE best albums Mr. Manilow has ever done! He sings these songs as if he has written each and every one of them. He makes some of the most tired songs (meaning everyone has recorded them before him) and breathes new life into them. In fact, Where Do I Begin? (Theme From "Love Story") has never sounded so amazing. Barry really flexes his arranger muscles on this album and has come up with some of the most interesting string and horn arrangements I have ever heard. He crawled deep into each one of these songs, mined them for their gold and made them his own!

The album was recorded on a soundstage with a full orchestra and it has an almost live feel to it, like he is making it up as he goes and it is spot on perfect. He goes from quiet intimate numbers like We've Only Just Begun (which I give him my stamp of approval on, unlike his awful treatment of Close To You but that's another story) to a BRILLIANT Mills Brothers inspired Nevertheless, wherein Barry sings with his favorite back-up group...himself, lots and lots of hims! Outstanding. His big band sound on You Made Me Love You and It Could Happen To You is impeccable and it sounds like we are back in the 40s. He ends the album with one of Nan's favorite songs, When You Were Sweet Sixteen, and it actually made me tear up a bit. In fact, I think Nan would have loved this entire album. Buy it, listen to it, you will love it. I guarantee it.

Oh, so much music today!!! From Barry to a brief Idol break to some REALLY great singles Here they are folks, Tuesday's 10 Tunes.....

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of - Carly Simon 3:58 (Arista Records) This is such a completely brilliant song from one of Carly's best albums, "Coming Around Again". This one has deeply personal memories for me. Let's just say that it was the first and only time that someone gave me a song because of what it said and how it related to us. It is a moment that I will never forget for as long as I live. For anyone that is bored with their relationship or their own life, listen to this song. Carly is telling us to take a new look at what we have and who we are, stop looking for something more because it is already right in front of us. It is a joyous song (and trust me, I don't use that word very often)!

2. Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations 2:57 (Eric Records) "WHYYYYYY Do you build me (build me) buttercup baby just to let me down..." I love the vocal arrangement on this song. The way the back-ups keep popping up and echoing the lead, so cool! "oooooooooowoooo (ooooooowoooo)" the horns and the constant tamborine and this guy's voice all makes me so happy!!! I played this song at every gig I ever had and you can hear the cue burn in the beginning of the song! "Hey hey HEY" The one thing that has plagued me for years is why they did a key change (yay) at the end of the song and then fade out right away? Very frustrating. I wanted it to go on, only higher!!

3. Right Back To Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale 3:16 (United Artists Records) WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO I love this song! It just starts off being happy!!! No slow build to the happiness, it just smacks you in the face right from jump! "Do you remember that day? (that sunny day) When you first came my way!" I am actually typing to the beat of this song. LOL STOP! Maxine Nightingale's voice is so cool. Bright, clear, soulful with just enough sass. And you can just hear the joy in her voice! Interesting to note that this song is not only similar in theme to Carly's song but both end in prepositions! (Where the hell did that come from? Oh this tired ole random brain of mine. Better to just go with it folks, otherwise you'll get a headache) CHAIR DANCING and playing that one again. BRB

4. Ready To Take A Chance Again - Barry Manilow 3:01 (Arista Records) Did you really think I would let "release day" go by without hearing some Barry? Come on people, I thought you knew me better than that by now! This was the main title theme for the movie "Foul Play" with Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn. I love the message in this song...bored with your life - do something about it. Scared (or scarred) from a past relationship - get over it and take a chance. You never know unless you try, right? This, like many early Manilow hits, just keeps building and building but the man always knew when to stop. He never went overboard...just high enough (granted, sometimes it was nose-bleed high). Genious! Have I mentioned that....oh, yeh, well, I guess I have. (Oh Gawd, I can almost hear you all yelling at your computer screens! Relax! Shhhhhhh. Think calming thoughts. See? I didn't say that I love this man! DOH!)

5. Livin' In Desperate Times - Olivia Newton-John 3:57 (MCA Records) Now, I know I have not had the chance to mention this yet (but most of you already know this) I ADORE OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN! This song is from the soundtrack of "Two Of A Kind" with John Travolta and it got me through some really tough times. It was 1984, I was 20, living in NY, I had no friends (yet) and I had a chip on my shoulder the size of Nebraska. I thought the whole world was against me. I would just play this song over and over again and it gave me the balls to get up and keep fighting and not give into what I perceived was the bullshit out there. To this day when things get really tough I pull this one out! It is one of Olivia's best! Hard-hitting, brilliantly produced by David Foster with a GREAT video! It also really showed off Olivia's vocal ability. She uses that Olivia growl (which I love but Jeffrey hates) and her sweet, higher voice as well! Ok, I am ready to take on the world.....BRING IT ON!

6. Mellow Yellow - Donovan 3:42 (Epic Records) Um, ok. I guess I'll take on the world later. Gonna Mellow out with muh boi Donovan first! This is another one of my Mom's favorites! Another very happy song. Amazing brass throughout and ya just gotta love Donovan's voice. So cool so layed back and so in control at the same time. Now, since this is one of my Mom's favorite songs and she hates when I tell her what these songs are REALLY about, we will let it go. But let's just say that if this were a movie, it would have a triple X rating. (I just read a very lengthy interview with Donovan and he confirms that statement!)

7. Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted - The Partridge Family 2:43 (Bell Records) This is my number one favorite Partridge Family song! Somehow, even as a kid, I could relate to his feeling of being alone and wanting to be wanted. Funny what a little kid can relate to without really understanding it. Thing is, sometimes, I still feel that way. Although David Cassidy hated having to record the spoken part of this song and he put up quite a fight over it, that is my favorite part of the song (sorry David).

8. Sunglasses At Night - Corey Hart 3:54 (EMI Records) Such a cool begininng...those bouncing synths. I love Corey Hart's voice. It is pouting, gravely and strong when it's needed. This is a totally non-sensical song but man, what great memories....going to dances at NYU, going to Danceteria, making friends with some very cool DJs who would always play Olivia for me and going to Studio 54 with my friend Therry Delfino from Brooklyn College. Good times that I was entirely too young for but hell, the soundtrack to the times was great!

9. Sara (edited) - Starship 4:18 (Grunt Records) This one is on translucent blue vinyl folks. So cool!!! (See? I am still a geek, I told you!) WOW I forgot how great this song is. It has so much going on in it and it all works...the bouncing drums, the synths, the "harmonica" and Grace Slick's backing vocals in the bridge are insane!! I also love that only Starship could get away with adding a whole other syllable to the word "happiness"!

10. Energy Crisis '74 - Dickie Goodman 2:20 (Rainy Wednesday Records) I can not tell you how much I love Dickie Goodman "songs"! For those of you who don't know who he was (he passed away in 1989) or what he did, here's a little history lesson for ya. Simply put, he would take a hot political topic or a hot movie plot or whatever really was holding the public's attention at the time and, by using snippets of hit songs, he would create a commentary of the situation. He was the first person to "sample" other artists work. In most of his records there would be a reporter, hot on the trail of a breaking story and the people he would interview would answer with the sampled song. Brilliantly funny and brings back soooo many summer memories from Battery Avenue. Energy Crisis '74 is probably my favorite as it samples the Carpenters. Did Mr. Jaws? I can't remember. I've included the whole song on the music page.

What a great day filled with friends, food and music, just the way I like my day to be filled. Got to spend some fun time with Dave today, went to Outback and had a great dinner, listened to Barry and spent this time with you guys! Enjoy the music and the memories and I will see you back here tomorrow! Gonna go listen to Barry again!

Left In The Dark

2010-01-25T16:39:00.002-05:00

I suffer from insomnia. I am not ashamed to admit it folks. Hello, my name is Gary and I am an insomniac. (hold your applause and save your strength) It figures that after getting a half-way decent night of sleep last night, I would wake up this morning filled with energy and ready to tackle anything and the power goes out....FOR TWO FREAKIN' HOURS!!!! I, of course, immediately called the electric company and varified that it was because of the weather and not my being late with my bill, which naturally I am. Oh the joys of being unemployed. Well, I can't even begin to tell how much this stresses me out! (the lack of electricity, not the being unemployed) I do have a big ole camping lantern that I bought the last time my electricity was out and I have an incredible tube shaped speaker/amplifier thingy about the size of a toilet paper roll that I can plug my flash drive loaded with music into, so I got through it. Trust me, I cleaned everything in site and got a good work-out in. This is the one and only time you will see me extole the virtues of having a cell phone. Having the ability to text my best bud Scott this morning kept me calm, so thank you Scott for being there. WOW I admitted a fear and said something good about cell phones all in one, very long paragraph. A sign of the apocolypse? Perhaps.

On to the music!! I must admit one more thing (good lawd, somebody stop me) I did change out the 10th song in the line-up today. You'll understand when you see what it is! Anywho, here they are folks, Today's 10 Tunes......

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1. Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant 3:47 (Portrait records) Blazin' synths!    "DOYEEE!" "We gonna rock down to....Electric Aven-you"   I love this song. Chair dancin' and groovin' here. My nieces love this song too. In fact, last year, they sat on the floor of my living room and went through all of these singles with me until we finally found it. They looked at every title and even helped me organize the cabinet that these records live in. My nieces, Amanda and Melissa, are THE best! I love them very much and I love being around them. They always make me laugh and feel so good! Anyway, where were we? Oh yeh,we were rockin' down to Electric Avenue, sorry. What made this song so unique was the combination of Reggae and electronica. I am pretty sure there was not one real instrument used in the creation of this song. It is such a boppy fun song and Eddy Grant's voice is so cool.

2. Take It Easy - Eagles 3:21 (Asylum Records) This is a perfect "driving" song. Yes it has a driving beat to it but it is the kind of song you want playing during a long road trip. In my head I am seeing wide open deserts whizzing by on either side of me. It just has such a relaxed free-spirit feel to it. It must be the combination of guitars, banjos and those vocals. It has nothing to do with the lyric, trust me. This is a song about a guy that can't commit to anyone or anything and is looking for a girl to save him, not exactly a song about being out on the open road.   LOVE that drumbeat at the end before the wooo-ooooo's!

3. I Got You Babe - UB40 with Chrissie Hynde 3:09 (A&M Records) Ok, Sonny & Cher they ain't, but this is a very cool re-invention of a song we all grew up with. The combination of Chrissie Hynde's gravely, deep voice and UB40's smooth, cool Reggae sound make this one of better cover songs I have ever heard. Perfect summer-time song to be listening to on this cold, miserable, rainy day! I want an adult frothy beverage with an umbrella in it now! Damn!

4. Lead Me On - Maxine Nightingale 2:50 (Windsong Records) Oh wow!!! I forgot about this song and how much I love it! Talk amongst yourselves for a minute, gotta sing along (the fat man downstairs is at work, so I can be loud!) "I'd rather be a fool with a broken heart, than someone who never had a part of you" FINALLY! We have a song about wanting love but from an adult perspective!!! Not a stalker, not a sulker nor some creep sitting in a bar! This woman knows that nothing can really develop from a relationship with this man but she doesn't care. She wants him! She told him right up front what she wants and he, apparently, is too much of schmuck to realize what he has in her but she is going to be contenet with what she can get from him and accept the consequences of her actions! LOVE IT! And I love the insanely high back-up vocals she is doing at the end of this song! Brilliant. Playing it again, forgive me!

5. (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone - The Monkees 2:25 (Bell Records) Mickey Dolenz shoved Davey Jones out of the way and took the lead vocal on this very cool, male emancipation song! Such a great, funky 60's sound. Not your typical Monkees bubble gum song. Trust me, he ain't takin' no crap from no woman! I love the thumping bass line in this song!! Soooooo good! Doing the frugue here.

6. Disco Lucy (I Love Lucy Theme) - Wilton Place Street Band 3:35 (Island Records) Blaring horns, tom-toms, bongos and lotsa tsst-tsst's coming out of my speakers. I LOVE THIS SONG! Not alot of people know this song, well this version of it I mean, but I remember seeing it on the chart at the Little Record Store and snatched it up! I have never regretted it and at any place I have ever DJed, I work it in. In case you haven't guessed, it is the I Love Lucy Theme re-imagined to a disco-funk beat with the only vocal being, "Let's Dance" and "Dance Dance Disco Lucy". Goofy? Absolutely! Fun as hell? You know it! Chair dancing and finger pointing here!

7. Candida - Dawn 3:02 (Bell Records) I have now let this song play through twice and totally forgot to type a thing! I keep singing along and doing a little cha-cha dance. I really don't know what to say....this is a perfect 3 minute pop song. Amazing hook, outstanding vocals and a brilliant arrangement. My only question is, "The further from here girl the better" Where is here? And where does he think he can take the girl of his dreams to start this great life together? I guess we'll never know.

8. (Keep Feeling) Fascination - The Human League 3:43 (A&M Records) What a fun 80s song! Between the funky bass line and that guy with the deep voice "narrating" to off-set the typical 80s lead vocals, this is a great piece-of-fluff song. The Human League knew how to write a good pop song of the day, and I know I have said this before, but if anyone wanted to know what the 80s were like, just play them this song and show them the picture sleeve!

9. Delirious - Prince 3:56 (Warner Brothers Records) Prince at his best! He truly is a master at his craft! Not only is the music to this song a perfect hook that you can't help but mimic, so is what he does with his voice! Man, this brings me right back to the days of hanging out with John Vargas in the apartment on 89th St. I know this song predates that, but he loved Prince and we would both dance around the room like fools whenever I would play this!! Good times.

10. Left In The Dark - Barbra Streisand  (CBS/Sony Records - Japanese Import) Ok, ok, so I put this one in the mix for today, shoot me. I just thought it was the right thing to do. This is a Jim Steinman song (think Meatloaf and Bonnie Tyler drama-fests) and it gave Barbra a chance to really show off! It had an amazing video too! I love the spoken intro! She asks the man that she loves, who is cheating on her by the way, all of the questions I think everyone dreams of asking their partner when they find out they have been unfaithful! A brilliantly written song! I love the different ways they used the title throughout the song! They used to show this video in the bars all the time back in 1984-85 and I never got tired of seeing it! I still don't!

Uh oh!  I finished this one WAY too early! It is not even 2:30 and I am done. By the time I get the music edited and posted it will be about 4:30. Not really sure what to do with the rest of my day! I know, I will take my own advice and call some friends and have them over and play some of this music for them. Have a great day! Oh look....the sun is actually coming out!!!! YAY! (Happy Birthday Grandma, I didn't forget) See you guys tomorrow!

Super Song Sunday

2010-01-24T20:33:00.002-05:00

Happy Sunday folks! Dinner last night was a whopping success. My Dad even cleaned his plate bare, TWICE! In fact, the dishes looked as clean at the end of the meal as they did before I served the food! I consider that quite an honor! Got everything cleaned up, put out some new "picky" food and then my best bud Scott came over. I have not laughed so much in such a long time. (Oh that poor Sierra Mist bottle. A moment of silence for our fallen brother) You have no idea how lucky I am that I have such great friends. We can laugh and cry together, they listen as much as they talk and everytime they leave I feel like the luckiest guy in the world! Thank you!

We are heading right into the music today!! The song I am most excited about is, aptly, the last one (completely by chance) but they are all great songs. Here they are, Today's 10 Tunes......

(Click here to listen to clips from these songs)

1. The Never Ending Story - Limahl 3:32 (EMI America) Limahl! Limahl, Limahl, Limahl.....I wonder if his hair is still those colors! Anyway, he was the front-man for the group Kajagoogoo and broke away to record this GREAT Giorgio Moroder song for the movie of the same name! Cueing it up folks....here it comes............I've never quite understood the long slow fade in on this song. It's almost like we walked in on the middle of the song. "turn around/look at what you seeeee-hee-eee-eee-yeee-eee" "The Never Ending Storeee-hee-eeee-eeee-yeee-eeeee" While that is a great hook for an already great song, it just makes me think that the lyricist couldn't come up with more words and just told them to drag out the ends of the last word in each phrase! Giorogio Moroder in the sound booth to Limahl and the chic singing with him, "No, No. NO! Longer. More eeeeeees! Damnit!" Love that song!

2. That's What I Think - Cyndi Lauper 4:17 (Epic Records) I know we have covered this already but....I just love Cyndi. Such a fun, funky song! (The scratches that you hear in this are courtesy of Cyndi, not me) Excuse me, must chair dance and sing (oh that poor fat guy downstairs)! This may well be my favorite Cyndi Cyngle. She manages to combine a strong social message into a song about a loving relationship while keeping the party going. "Sometimes I think, things are overwhelming, sometimes I think, I don't know what I'd do, But I forget the world and everything around me, That's What I Think When I Think About You!" I love that throughout the song there is a Recorder Flute line. Remember having to learn how to play the Recorder in grammar school. Aldo Bruschi, accordion in hand, taught me how to play mine. Steven just recently brought me a gift. It was Aldo Bruschi's 4th allbum! Yes, that's right folks, I said FOURTH album entitled "Requestfully Yours"! Oh, one last thought about this song, I love the way it ends. Cyndi sings "That's What I Think when I think about" then the music stops and she sings the last word, "You!" Very cool.

3. What Have They Done To My Song Ma - Melanie 4:02 (Buddah Records) Yes folks, she's baaaaack. Nary a rollerskate in sight this time. Just one of my all-time favorite songs in tow. Speaking of the accordion....I wonder if that is Aldo playing. Ok, so this time around, Mel is pissed. Well, not so much pissed as disheartened because someone done something to one of her songs that, best I can tell, they used it like a piece of chicken in a bag full of Shake-N-Bake! She is so disheartened in fact, that she, as one does in such situations, breaks out with a whole verse in French. Come on, tell me you've never done THAT! Oh wait, she is now thoroughly pissed by the end of the song. (Stepping away, talking about summen else cause I'm ascared of her right now) Favorite line in this song? "Look what they done to my brain, Ma/look what they done to my brain/well they picked it like a chicken bone and I think I'm half insane, Ma" Her poor mother. I mean, I am sure she wants to help her daughter, but there is only so much a parent can do, right? I know it sounds like I am making fun of this song, but I REALLY love it and I love her voice as well as the lyrics!

4. Teach Me Tonight - DeCastro Sisters 2:55 (Collectables Records) Here's one I bought for my Mom and Dad. My Dad has it on 78 but, now I was able to play it when I DJed and I could use it on mixed tapes. When my Mom and Dad were courting, they danced to this song. In fact, they would dance to this in the basment of Nan's house when they had some of the neighborhood kids over. I love this song, not just because it is a darn good song but because of the memories it invokes when my parents listen to it. I close my eyes and I can seem them as teenagers dancing much as I have had the pleasure of seeing them do today!

(click to enbiggen)

5. Montego Bay - Bobby Bloom 2:53 (L&R Records/MGM Records) Oh I love that whistle in the beginng of this song! I was so upset and jealous and angry about that when I was kid. Why, you ask? Because I coud not whistle. I would try and try and I would get so mad. Then Aunt Bobbie busted out this single and taught me, patiently, how to whistle. The irony here was that I don't think she could whistle either. (Have I mentioned that she is my favorite person on the planet?) Still not the best whistler, but man, do I love hearing this song and remembering that! (I believe this was her single) This is such a cool, happy, fun song. I am chair dancing and trying to whistle. Bobby Bloom has a GREAT soulful voice. "Come sing me Montego Bay!" "...like how cool the rum is from the silver tray, I thirst to be thirsty in Montego Bay!" Who knew he sang about rum in there? "Dance in the streets!" Love that in the fade, so cool!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrccccccccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Gear shift.

6. She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby 5:09 (Capitol Records) This song is all synths and drum machines and it is so freakin' good! You KNOW I am chair dancing to this one! Thomas Dolby is a genious. Loving his voice..."Scie-eye-eye-eye-ence" "She blinded MEE with Sciyunce" "There she goes again! she's tidying up and I can't find anything! All my tubes and wires and careful notes!" There are so many incredibly fun things going on in this song, I just don't know where to start! Aw hell, go hit the play button!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrcccccccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Gear shift, again.

7. Boot Scootin' Boogie - Brooks & Dunn 3:16 (Arista Records) Here's one I bought for my Mom for line dancing practice. Truth be told, I loved these songs too. I was a bartender at a club called Low Places where my Mom dances every Thursday. She is quite the little dancer, although she will tell you she is not good. She is amazing! For awhile there, my Dad was going with her and they would do most of the couples dances together. (Even I learned a few so I could dance with her) Oh man, this is such a fun song! Love their voices and hearing real instruments and amazing musicians jamming and having a blast was the best part of that job. I had some really fun times there! (Nice the way time erases the bad memories, isn't it!)

Last gear shift, I promise. Everybody's necks ok out there?

8. Ewok Celebration - Meco 3:23 (Arista Records) Annette, this one is for you! ROFLMAO Oh man, this is too funny! Raggae Ewoks! "manamanamana" This is too funny! I forgot about the rap in the middle!! "Daboo-daboo Darth Vader" I got nothin'! Can't stop laughing. Make it stop. My stomach hurts. Tears rolling down my face. I am sorry, but ya know when something just hits you "funny" and you can't stop laughing? Me! Right Now! Nnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeexxxxxxxxxxxxxxttttttttttttttt......

9. Don't Bring Me Down - Electric Light Orchestra 4:08 (Jet Records) Ahhhh! Ok, breathing again! Steven? Are you listening? This is one of his favorites! That smashing, crashing beginning!!!!! Love it! "Don't Bring Me Down Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuce!" Their harmonies were always flawless! The combination of Jeff Lynne's vocals, the synths and the hand claps!! Perfect! It is just a fun hard hitting song that brings back soooo many memories. This was the year before Xanadu, the movie that THEY claim ruined their career. This song has a lot of the same elements they used in their songs for the movie. Um, fellas, maybe you just ran out of steam? Blaming Xanadu! Really! (shaking my head in disapproval) Tsk tsk tsk. By the way, this song always reminds me of Bill McFarland, a good friend of Steven's (and mine a little bit) and a GREAT DJ! I think about him alot while I am doing this. He taught me how to cue up a record.

here it is folks....one of my all-time favorites!

10. Last Song - Edward Bear 3:15 (Capitol Records) First of all, being the huge fan of W-T-P that I am, I loved this song first because of his name, "which was the name that hung above the door to the house in which he lived"...Edward Bear (in which Pooh, the bear, lived. Don't know if Edward Bear, the singer, had a plaque with his name on it over his door or not) I love this song. It just makes me so happy! This is another song that got the LPR treatment, many, many times. "Did you know I'd go to sleep and leave the lights on? Hoping you'd come by and know that I was home, still awake. But two years go by..." Oh man, gotta step back and analyze this! Eddie! Eddie, Eddie, Eddie! Sit down, dude, we gotta talk. First of all, I think it is great that you loved this chic so much that you left your lights on, every freakin' night, HOPING that she might possibly happen to walk by to see if you were still awake. But, man, what did that do to your electric bill? (Not to mention your self-esteem) And did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe she did come by on the night that you had fallen asleep from the vodka induced coma you put yourself in? Eddie? EDDIE? Where ya going bud? Oh well, ya try to help some people. Meh...Moving on.....This poor bastard is almost threatening this woman, who has obviously moved WAY on, with one more song about his undying devotion. I think we can all figure out where he went wrong, can't we? (And you know that she did everything she could to avoid walking down his block, right?) If only he had met Melanie and her rollerskates. Bygones! I still love this song. (on second thought, maybe he did have a plaque with his name on it over his door. Not so much for himself but, again, just in case his lady-love walked by, so she would know he still lived there?)

WOW Another really fun night and another 3 hours that went by in the blink of an eye. Such a diverse group of songs but they all have one magical thing in common, the memories of the places and faces that go with them. Well, I am going to go and heat up the leftovers from yesterday. Go call or text someone and make plans to get together with them. Go make some new memories and make sure you have the music playing! Have a great night. See ya tomorrow!