Winter Storm

I was at work today for just 3 of the 4 hours I was scheduled. The heavy snow held off until about 6ish. I left work, knowing that there was only a handful of salt for the morning, and nothing I could do about it.

I get to work open and close tomorrow. A fun filled 9.5 hours. And with my luck, no one will come in to exercise.


This is the scene just outside my door at about 5:00 before it started to get nasty 


About 15 minutes later. 


The snow still falling at 6:00.  

I'll post the rest of my snow pictures over at my photoblog tomorrow night, hopefully with some new ones from tomorrow.

Funny suddenly I want to listen to The Moody Blues - December Snow.

Random Ramblings

Today is all about stuff and nonsense.

~ I finished a mix cd over the weekend. It's a Lullaby Mix. The tracks can be found here. Lazy human that I am, there's no artwork, more because I don't have cases then laziness this time.

~ Added some new Diva's to the sidebar of this site. I added the link to Grey Eye Glances and Dar Williams official sites. Both have done some fabulous songs. Worth checking out.

~ Discovered a few new artists over the weekend

October Project

Mary Fahl - who used to sing for October Projet

Cindy Alexander

~ Screen capped more of Yvonne's lovely Moody Blues videos.




Hey..that's a Knight! But not in white satin! (Oye..bad puns abounding today)

And for today's THUD!



~ Oh and feel free to requests songs off the Playlist, just follow the rules in the previous post.

I'm in a sharing kind of mood

I finally got my current winamp mp3 playlist posted.

Here it is.

It's not as clean as I'd like it to be, because of some odd tags on the mp3s, but if you see anything you like, leave a comment here with your email and I'll email them to you.

But first, here are the rules.

1. No more than 5 files. (I do work ya know)
2. All files will be sent to you via you send it. (I may try to zip them, but I'm not very good at zipping)
3. Remember to say thank you.

If you want more than 5 and you're nice to me, well I might just send them to you, if I don't have too many requests. Be nice, not greedy.

My listening habits

I was hunting some music down yesterday and in the process of finding it, I found this music survey. I promptly posted it to Music Memoirs.

So to break the monotony of my posts, I'll do this little survey. It's based on tracks in Winamp/Windows Media Player/Itunes etc.

How many songs? 3835

Sorted by song title, the first and last songs:
Tori Amos - 1000 Oceans
Grey Eye Glances - Your Move

Sorted by artist, the first and last songs:
5th Dimension - Age Of Aquarius
Kim Wilde - You Keep Me Hangin' On (That's an embarrassing one)

Sorted by album, the first and last songs:
Nick Lowe - 12 Step Program (To Quit You Babe)
Matchbox Twenty - Long Day

Top 10 most-played songs:
This data has been compiled since Christmas, which was when I reconfigured this computer. M'kay? I think the artist that you'll see, won't come as a surprise to you.

01. The Moody Blues - Send Me No Wine - 142 Times
02. The Moody Blues - I'll Be Level With You - 86 Times
03. The Moody Blues - Minstrel's Song - 82 Times
04. The Moody Blues - Don't Need A Reindeer - 60 Times (I thought this would be number one actually)
05. The Moody Blues - Yes, I Believe - 58 Times
tied with The Moody Blues - Once Is Enough
06. Justin Hayward - It's Not On - 55 Times (Well then let me turn you..erm it on)
07. The Moody Blues - Survival - 51 Times
08. Justin Hayward and Rick Wakeman - Still Waters Run Deep - 49 Times
09. Justin Hayward - Penumbra Moon - 48 Times
10. The Moody Blues - You Can Never Go Home - 45 Times

Top 10 recently played songs:
Well I'll warn you, they are all by John Lodge, cos I've been in the mood for Natural Avenue.

01. John Lodge - Piece of My Heart
02. John Lodge - Carry Me
03. John Lodge - Threw It All Away
04. John Lodge - Who Could Change
05. John Lodge - Summer Breeze
06. John Lodge - Street Cafe
07. John Lodge - Children Of Rock N'Roll
08. John Lodge - Natural Avenue
09. John Lodge - Rainbow
10. John Lodge - Say You Love Me

Find "sex"; how many songs?
4
Erasure - Sexuality
Bernie Barow - Sexy
Oingo Boingo - Wild Sex (studio version from Nothing to Fear)
Oingo Boingo - Wild Sex (Boingo Alive version)

I omitted the selections that Winamp found that were part of someone's name, Like Ron Sexsmith and David Essex.

Find "death"; how many songs?
0 unless you include Death Cab For Cutie - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

Find "love"; how many songs?
Too many. My winamp brings up 294 songs, of course some of those are as a result of an album with "love in the title"

Find "peace"; how many songs?
13 songs including What's So Funny (Bout Peace Love and Understanding) versions by Elvis Costello and by Nick Lowe, Pipes of Peace by Paul McCartney and George Harrison's Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth). Not to mention a bunch of Christmas songs.

Find "rain"; how many songs?
18 and oddly The Beatles song isn't on my hard drive, but the Madonna one is. Weird.

Find "sun"; how many songs?
About 25..closer to 40 if you include words like Sunday, Sunrise and Sunset.

If you want to hear any of the songs listed here, let me know and I'll update this post with You Send It download links.

Starry Starry Night

In white satin, maybe? No? How about a spiffy tux? Yeah, that's better.

Thanks to the advice of Yvonne, who has the site with the splediforous video clips, I now have some screen shots to share.







These were captured from Justin's performance of Vincent, from 1989. The album that the song came from, for my friends not in the know, is Classic Blue.

And because I love ya all here's the audio file: Justin Hayward - Vincent.

Again, many thanks to Yvonne for the info on how to do the sceen shots.

A fruitless project

I spent last night attempted to convert 4 Moody Blues clips to mpegs, in the hopes of getting screen shots.

HA!

It did not work. (The screen shots that is)

Damn.

it.

to.

hell.

(In a handbasket, wrapped in a butaine blanket.)

I'm pretty darn sure that it's possible, because it looks like there is one screen shot out there already.



Would you look at that face?

Look at those damn eyelashes!

GAH!



Well, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

TGIF

My week is finally winding down. And all I can say is we better not get any more snow this weekend.

I have nothing against snow. Except when I have to shovel it every hour on the hour when I'm working, because the damn salt doesn't seem to work. At least it doesn't work by the parking lot.

GAH!

I had to shovel at least 5 times yesterday in 4 hours. 5 times!!

It's no wonder I was tired and cranky last night. So tomorrow it best not snow. At least not snow that sticks and that I have to shovel. Cos I'm so not in the mood anymore.

Bring on the sunshine and warm temperatures.

I remember some years where the temperatures snuck into the 70's at the end of February. Just to tease us. So much for global warming doing that this year. No. We get rain and obnoxious snow.

What do I mean by obnoxious snow? It's that kind of snow that causes just enough trouble to make you scream and it disappears almost as quickly.

Well, at least it's Friday.

Oh yeah, and the snow from yesterday? It's melting already.

Top Five On Friday

It's time for another Top Five meme, created by yours truly. If you decide to do this meme, remember to go over to Music Memoirs and leave a comment so everyone can see your answers, m'kay?

Top five songs and or albums from artists that are no longer with us.

Songs first:

1.George Harrison - I Don't Wanna Do It
This is an unreleased track written by Bob Dylan. There are at 3 versions of it floating around. I hope you enjoy this one.

2.John Lennon - Every Man Has A Woman That Loves Him
This version has John rather than Yoko on lead vocals. I was never very fond of John Lennon's songwriting after the Beatles broke up, but this is a truly beautiful song. It's one of the few songs that really moved me.

3.Dusty Springfield - Son Of A Preacher Man
I don't think there's much to be said about this song, except that it's great. Dusty had a fantastic voice. She did some great songs with the Pet Shop Boys in the 80's too.

4.Buddy Holly - Everyday
The eternal geek, who has inspired musicians for decades. How can you not love such a catchy tune?

5.The Clash - Should I Stay Or Should I Go
80's night wouldn't be the same without this song. Thanks Joe!

Now for the albums:

1.

Everyone should have this double disc set. It's the first and probably the best of George's solo albums. Not that you aren't going to see another album of his in this list, because you are!

2.

Two songs stand out on this one, Crackerbox Palace and This Song. The whole album is great and remastered now, so there's no excuse not to have it.

3.

No explanations needed. The return of Lennon and probably his most beautiful album. (If you ignore Yoko, which I hope you will)

4.

Two legends are represented in this project: George Harrison and Roy Orbison. There are some fine contributions from both on this album. If you can find a copy, snatch it up!

5.

Monday Monday and California Dreamin' 2 good reasons to own this disc. BTW..I swear there's only one living member of this group left. Crikey.

Atlantic City June 19, 2004 Part 5

Here comes the next 5 pictures, which I've been promising for the last 3 or 4 days, but have been too lazy to post.


Singing a song about see saws. 


Lodgey's doing the heel toe dance. 


Oddly this is one of my favorite pictures. Can you guess why? 

I think this one lurks on this blog somewhere else and probably on the photoblog too.


The lovely Mr. Paul Bliss. 


Another shot during Question. 

And while I'm on the subject of the Moody Blues, what the hell is up with Universal releasing yet another best of compilation? At this point I think there are more of those than actual studio CDs, and perhaps more of those then their studio CDs and solo CDs combined. (Of course a certain bass player is lazy, but I'll forgive him that)

Here's the link to the CD Universe listing of the 2 CD set. As you can see, nothing too unexpected on this. I do like the addition of Strange Times, because that's such a beautiful song and of course, December Snow, but still. ARGH! I'd rather have a new album of new stuff than a new album of stuff I've heard a zillion and one times.

Like February Snow?

Again apologies to the songwriter, but hey, we've got a dusting of snow on the ground today. It's supposed to snow all day, and we should end up with maybe 3 inches of the white stuff when this is all over.

If this would have come two months ago I wouldn't be so aggravated. I wanted snow for the holidays. Did I get it. NO! Nothing much in January either.

It's almost March for crying out loud. My guess is sometime in the middle of next month there will be a huge blizzard. Just to spite me.

If the snow can't come by March, it shouldn't come at all. At least that's the way I see it.

I'm writing a letter to the complaint department about the weather.

Spring = Rain, Sunshine etc
Summer = Heat, Humidity, Rain
Fall = Wind, Rain, Flurries
Winter = Snow, Cold, Freezing Crap.

Of course we're still in the last week's of winter, but crikey, most of our precipitation has been rain! Do you see rain on my list of winter weather? NO! GAH!

I'm going to find the Moody Blues pictures to post now, cos I've been very lazy about that.

I need the sun

I just found this picture while trying to find something to update the photoblog again.


I'm missing days like this 

Isn't it lovely. We're having such a weird winter this year. Little snow, lots of rain and cold. I just want to fill my mp3 player with music and go for a walk, but I don't want to come home an icicle.

So if the weatherman upstairs would please get the seasons to function properly I would greatly appreciate it. But at this point, just bring on spring.

Mid-week laziness

OK, there are still some pictures to go up. I was just a bit out of it last night. Ok, more out of it than usual. I promise I'll fight with blogger to get 5 more pictures posted.

I've been trying to do a few little things for amusement, and oddly I just can't get into it.

What am I doing?

Trying to make a few mix cds.

I have 2 started. I promised I'd try to do one for Brian and it's proving difficult. I'm trying to do a mix of Beatles covers for him, since I have the lovely Nowhere Man, Jeremy residing on my desk now.

On top of it all, I'm trying not to make it painful, as I find most Beatles covers are. The worst bit, is everytime I find one I like it was on the I Am Sam Soundtrack. Grrrrrr! And I've only got about 6 0r 7 that I really like.

Big Grr.

The other mix is a lullaby mix, which inspired last Friday's Top Five On Friday. That one, however is almost finished. I just have to start compiling the tracks on Roxio to see if I have filled a disc properly. (I hate wasting time on CDRs)

I will of course post links or the actual tracklists of the mixes here, if I ever finish them.

See, you thought I only listened to The Moody Blues!

Take Me Back Tuesday

It's time for the Music Memoirs meme via Fallen.

1. Name 5 female artists you admire.

Bernie Barlow - A wonderful backup singer who has a fantastic album out called Golden. Go to her website and buy it. Make Bernie happy. She's currently touring with Sarah McLachlan. (Sniffle, I hope she comes back with the Moodies, and if not...I hope Justin, John and Graeme know what they lost)

Sarah McLachlan - Yay for Candadians! Cos there's another Canadian lady on this list besides Sarah. I loved Possession. In fact, I really prefer her early stuff. Surfacing was a bit overplayed, but even though at the time, I found the songs to be a bit annoying, I still listen to them. Go figure. Another reason I like Sarah. She keeps her damn clothes on!

Best album: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

Diana Krall - The second yay for Canadians goes to this jazz singer/pianist that has stolen my Elvis from me, but that's ok. Elvis Costello got her writing her own songs and hopefully will encourage her not to murder anymore Beatles songs. At least he better.

Best album: The Girl In The Other Room

Annie Haslam - Annie is an all around great lady. I don't know what more I can say to encourage you to give her a listen. I mean even Justin Hayward did a song with her!! (You knew he'd sneak his skinny ass into this post, right?)

Best album: Blessing In Disguise and It Snows In Heaven Too (this one is a Christmas CD)

Keri Noble - She only has one release. The album is called Fearless. Go buy it! Now! And if you can't do that, go to her site and watch the video for Talk To Me.

2. Name three female artists you wish would just go away.

Only 3? C'mon I wish most of the female singers to perdition. At least most of the ones in the Top 40 charts.

1. Any female songbird who's last name is Simpson. (Both of them are talentless tarts)
2. Celine Dion - I think we already came to the conclusion that her songs make our ears bleed, so can we give her back to the Canadians that could keep her for themselves?
3. Britney Spears - I want her gone totally. I don't want her to record, design clothes or act. I want her to move to a cave somewhere in Siberia. I never want to see her or her hubby. And would someone please explain to me why she was worthy of a Grammy?

3. If you could tour with any female artist - who would it be?
Only if she's touring with my honey bunnies. Bernie Barlow. Oh hell, if she did a solo tour, I wouldn't mind touring with Bernie. But I would prefer to tour with her when she was with the Moodies, cos I'd get to stare at Justin's butt all the time. Mmmm and Lodgey's butt. I mustn't forget that.

Life couldn't be any better than that really.

A Moody Moment

It's funny the ways that the Moody Blues creep into my life. In ways and in places where I'd least expect them. You know like walking down McKean Ave in my little hamlet of Charleroi on Mon.

I literally stopped dead in my tracks when I heard Justin Hayward singing "Your Wildest Dreams" through the street speaker system.

I was floored around Halloween when they played an odd Oingo Boingo tune. Today they hit me with the Moodies. Bless their little hearts.

Of course, the people in town thought I was insane when I let out a squee, when I realized what I was hearing. I mean I've only heard the Moodies in public one other time and that was muzak. (It was For My Lady, and I was in Panera Bread at the Galleria in Upper St. Clair)

Now onto the pictures, before I fall asleep at the computer, because I went around the Curves circuit 16 times total today.


All three Moody Men 


Justin clapping and it looks like Paul and Gordy are sharing a joke. 


John's doing the heel toe dance 


A shot of the guys during Question 


Graeme! 

Meet Me Halfway

OK, I've worked half a day already. I have another 4 hours to go. It's the first full day of work I've put in, in longer than I care to say.

All the ladies that come to work out in the second shift, which is mine, were there this morning. ARGH!

I'm going to be so bored this afternoon.

And before you say, "Well you can exercise." Let me just say this.

I'VE ALREADY GONE AROUND THE CIRCUIT 9 TIMES TODAY!!

I was even trying to find things to do, to keep me from exercising too much. It didn't work. I finished too fast.

So now when I go in at 3 I have nothing to do but exercise and show one person the facilities, who's coming in to sign up.

I hope it isn't possible to die of boredom. Because that might just happen to me today.

I should be getting the next five Moody Blues pix up late this evening. Assuming I haven't died of boredom or overexercise.

Atlantic City June 19, 2004 Part 4

Wow! I can't believe that we're coming up on twenty photos. I think some of them are pretty good. When I have them all posted, I hope some of you will let me know which ones were your favorites.

I know the Justin one's are nice and they make nice 8x10's. I think if you click on those images they appear in their full form. If not, and you want them, leave a comment and I'll email them. The group photos and all but the Lodgey Hug pictures have been cropped etc, so they don't enlarge as nicely.

Now onto today's pics


The black bra on the stage is mine. The pink one is my sister's. We're a bunch of wild women! 


Taking their bows. 


I think there was a bug on the stage in front of John. 


Another one during Question. 


Another Graeme, Gordy and Paul shot.