Top Five On Friday - Week 78

From the musical ladies at Music Memoirs

Top 5 albums that cure the summertime blues....

Roxette - Have A Nice Day



There's something about Roxette that always puts me in a peppy mood. I guess it's just that they are pure pop goodness, and we have so little of that.

Justin Hayward - Night Flight



OK, so it's not a brilliant album, but it's fun and I'm Sorry has made me smile many times when I didn't think a smile was possible.

Duran Duran - Seven and the Ragged Tiger



A little Duran Duran is always good for the mood, especially when it's the album with The Reflex, Union of the Snake and New Moon On Monday.

Erasure - Wild!



I just have to think of the song La Gloria and I smile. This album has some real bouncy tunes and it makes me smile just thinking of it.



Not the best EC album but it's probably the most fun. I like New Wave EC.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things I want for my birthday that I won't get.
(My birthday is this coming Sunday)

1. Elvis Costello and his wife to show up on my doorstep, bringing presents and offering to take me out to dinner.

2. My bills to all have zero balances.

3. Bernie the Beretta to turn into a new shiny fuel effecient Ford Focus.

4. The new Kodak EasyShare camera with 12X Zoom and Image Stabalization to show up on my doorstep.

5. A slot machine to flash me and spit out lots of change.

6. My computer to suddenly become faster and with much more storage space.

7. Davy Jones to bring me breakfast in bed, and tell me about the l'ttle m'tal bottle tops on the living room floor. (See The Monkees Series One DVD set if you have any confusion)

8. John Lodge to personally deliver a bottle..no a case of Krisemma wine in a pair of paisley silk boxers.

9. Peter Noone to personally deliver my birthday dessert and sing "You Won't Be Leaving" to me.

10. My hair to finally behave and look cute when it's not cut in a pixie (twiggy) cut.

11. Those 10 lbs that showed up in the last few months to go away...far far away...onto some supermodel's hips. (where they belong)

12. Simon Lebon and Nick Rhodes to show up and take me dancing.

13. Justin Hayward to be found curled up in my bed waiting for me when I get home...(what happens afterward...well I'll just let you guess)

Hump Day Hunks

I haven't been to Curves in a week, because I still have this damn cough. Most of the other symptoms have gone, but as always, with a cough it lingers, and the more active I am, the more I cough.

Blech!

My hump day hunks will make me feel better, I'm sure. That's what there are there for, after all.

I'm Dreaming Of Elvis

It's been a long time since I had a dream about Elvis Costello, or any other celebrity for that matter.

This whole, Elvis and Diana having a baby is really getting to me. I'm sure it didn't help that I was looking at Elvis pictures before bed, but still.

Apparently I'm happy for him. (At least subconsciously)

I congratulated him and gave him a huge hug when he got out of the red pick up truck he was driving. (Yes a wonderful WTF dream moment) He was wearing that hideous fringed leather jacket again. (because subconciously I must like it)

The next thing I know he's at my house talking to my father on the porch. I remember saying something to my mum in the dream and her telling me it was nice that he was out there talking to my dad.

Diana was nowhere to be found.

Ah yes, the joys of freaky dreams! My nyquil must really have been working overtime last night!

Random 10 - Week 60

10 songs that sum up your weekend...or were on your weekend playlist...and one picture that relates back. (oh, and if you feel like it, tell us why you picked the songs you did)

There wasn't much time for music this weekend, with an ailing kitty sucking up all my time. I don't begrudge her a minute of it. When I wasn't worried sick about her, I was watching stuff on You Tube.

The Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin (from some concert this year)
Sorethumb - I Want To Be Your Davy Jones (I love love love this silly song)
The Moody Blues - Fly Me High
Diana Krall - I Don't Know Enough About You
Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint - Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further
The Monkees - You and I

These three were all clips I saw on You Tube.

Erasure - Miracle
Herman's Hermit's - Sleepy Joe
Keri Noble - Answered Prayer

These three were tossed out at me at random by my Zen

The Monkees - Rosemarie

This one was played a few too many times by my media player at home this weekend.

And the picture is something I scanned this weekend.



Play along if you want over at Music Memoirs

One Heck Of A Weekend

Just a few things...

~ Itchy is home and doing well now. Thank God! To anyone out there with a female cat wondering if they should get her spayed. Do it! Itchy was sickly when we first got her and we didn't want to put her through the surgery, as she was a house cat and wouldn't likely get preggers. Sadly that decision cost us. Her hospital stay was nearly $700. Yikes! But that's a small price to pay for an animal that we all love dearly.

~ I did nothing else this weekend at all, expect care for and worry about the kitty. I'm mental drained, physically exhausted from the trips to Castle Shannon, which is near Pittsburgh, and I'm still sick. I have to stay awake until 10 to give Itchy her antibotics for the evening.

~ The weather stunk here for the last two days, so at least the plans that I originally had that got swept by the wayside would have been swept away anyway.

~ I'm supposedly starting my new schedule tomorrow which allows me a half hour for lunch tomorrow. I would be fine with this, except that I'm so damn sick that I don't even want to eat much of anything.

~ Nyquil or rather Equate Night Time tastes like crap.

Rants and observations ended...go in peace...

Update on Itchy

The vet called at about 1:30 in the morning to tell me that Itchy had come through the surgery without any problems.

Thank god!

We won't discuss what this is costing, but suffice to say, I love my sister more than anything for making it possible to keep Itchy with us just a little while longer. My parents and I don't have the kind of money that is needed for emergency treatment.

At 10:30 today I have to call the vet in Pittsburgh and find out if she can come home today.

The house isn't the same without her.



And she says she's not ready to go anywhere!

Pray For Itchy

My sweet sweet kitty Itchy is in surgery right now for an infected uterus. I'm waiting for a call from the animal hospital to see if all went well.

Chocolate Addiction

I was never one for excessive amounts of chocolate, that is until I went to Hershey a few weeks back. Now if I don't have at least a little block of chocolate a day I get cranky!

And lordy, Hershey makes some darn good chocolate these days. Huge Special Dark bars..Dark chocolate with nuts, cranberries and blueberries oh and raspberry fruit slices (swoops).

Drools.

Some of my favorites...

Kissables



I could eat bags and bags of these

And then there are the lovely 60 calorie Sticks!!



Mmmm pass the chocolate. I'm getting a craving right now!

So Many Favorites

My last meme for Music Memoirs made me realize that I had way too many favorite artists/bands. I ended up doing 2 versions of the meme, because I felt I neglected artists that I loved. Granted the ones I posted here are my current Top 5 bands.

It was hard to even narrow it down to 10. I like such a vast majority of bands. Even now I feel guilty for not including Diana Krall on the list, or Keri Noble or Cheap Trick.

Seriously I can't say I like one better than the other, and since the musical styles are different it's like comparing apples to oranges.

I think I omitted The Monkees from my list simply because I couldn't upload anything from Justus, because it's not on my hard drive.

If asked right now what my top ten were in order from 10-1 I think this would be the case.

10. David Bowie
09. Cliff Richard
08. Oingo Boingo
07. Grey Eye Glances
06. Erasure
05. Duran Duran
04. The Beatles
03. The Monkees
02. Elvis Costello
01. The Moody Blues

I figure with those 60's bands I can incorporate all the solo stuff done by the band members, right?

I have so much love to go around....I can't settle it on just one band or artist!

Top 5 On Friday - Week 77

From those ladies at Music Memoirs

First: Pick 5 of your favorite artists.

Second: Pick your favorite song off their last album. (if their last album was a greatest hits album...go to their last studio album)

Elvis Costello

From The River In Reverse



International Echo

The Moody Blues

From December



Don't Need A Reindeer

Justin Hayward

From The View From The Hill



Sometimes Less Is More

Duran Duran

From Astronaut



Bedroom Toys

Erasure

From Nightbird (since their last album is an acoustic album with no new tracks)



Don't Say You Love Me

Another Birthday Fast Approaches

July 2nd is my 32nd b-day.

Yuck!

I haven't decided where I'm venturing to on said b-day. I've thought about heading to the Mountaineer in WV, so I can see another casino and the World's Largest Teapot, but I don't know yet.

I hate the thought of getting older. Mainly because I'm stuck in a deadend job that is really the best situation I can be in right now. It would be better if the pay were a bit more.

I keep thinking I need to do something with my writing or my photography...but what I don't know. I have no real background in either area, my degree is in Business Administration. Oh and I have no money to put into starting a business, so that's really out of the question.

I just somehow need to find an additional source of income. I hate this feeling guilty for doing things I want to do and I also hate not having money.

32 wasted years.....

But hey! I can say I was a groupie!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Reasons Why I Should Go Back To Bed...

1. The summer cold that seem to be going away yesterday is back with a vengence today and I've run out of Advil Cold and Sinus.

2. It's storming outside and has been for the last 3 hours off and on. Rainy days are good sleeping days.

3. I went around 3 times at Curves, which I think aggravated the cold that was going away. Exercise is not always a good thing.

4. If I sleep through Thursday the weekend will get here faster.

5. My head feels like it's going to explode and if it has a pillow over it, the damage will be contained to a small area.

6. No one wants to hear me hack up a lung or two.

7. I feel too awful to do much of anything else.

8. Music is giving me a headache.

9. The computer screen is making my eyes water.

10. I lost about 2 hours of sleep when the thunderstorms started at 3 a.m. I seriously thought I was going to end up in Oz when the first batch came blowing through.

11. If I'm sleeping I can't eat and thus put more poundage on my body. Funny how the scale won't go down even when I haven't been eating much.

12. I think my nose ran away during the night, maybe if I stay in bed it will come back.

13. I feel like c-r-a-p!

On that note, I can't stay in bed, because I need money and where I work there's no such thing as sick days or vacation days...so I'm going to suffer and then come home and go straight to bed, even if I do feel better in about 8 hours.

First Day Of Summer Hunks!

Happy summer! My cold now has acquired a cough. I'm actually glad I've been giving Curves a rest these last few days, because I'd hate to hear how I'd sound if I'd been going.

But cold or not, it's time to celebrate the first day of summer with some hunks, cos it's still Hump Day!!






Hmmm, methinks John Lodge has too many clothes on...considering Davy, Paul and George are all nearly nekkid! But then again, the Moodies do have issues with taking clothes off! (hence Justin not making the post..that man wears too many clothes)

Now I Feel Guilty

I've done my best to conserve all extra cash that's come my way this year,in order to pay off some bills. My J.C. Penney's bill will be gone at the end of this month. My debt is really shrinking. In 2 years I'll be in good shape. Not the best shape, mind you, but better than I have been in a long while.

I came home with money after the Hershey trip and I did buy myself some cute things. (2 tee shirts and loads of candy) But suddenly spending money on 3 concert tickets and put me into a tizzy.

I wasn't in a tizzy over the tickets for the Moody Blues shows last year and they were more expensive. Plus, I'm getting reimbursed for 2 of the 3 tickets.

GAH!

I've even been careful about the CDs I've bought. The Elvis Costello disc and the few discs I purchased in Hershey at the concert and at a discount music store.

I shouldn't feel guilty about spending 25 dollars on concert tickets for a man that I've adored since I was in kindergarden!

Someone deprogram my brain, please!

Summer Colds Suck!

I don't know if it's allergies or just a nasty cold, but I feel like crap right now. My nose is stuffy, my throat is sore and my eyes feel like they are going to pop right out of my head.

Fun!

Yeah, right!

The fact that it's been near 90 or at least felt like near 90 for the last few days hasn't made it any better. I just want to stay in bed.

Oh and to make things even worse, I think my router is dying. It kicked me offline at least 5 times last night and part of this morning.

I'm a very cranky camper when I can't check my email in the morning.

See, even my router is sick!

Davy!!

Davy Jones is playing a show in Washington, PA on July 29th

One very small word.

SQUEE!!!!!

And guess who is going to be there?

Me!!!!

Monday Musings

~ Lordy but I could not sleep at all in this heat. I had a half hour nap yesterday, but I doubt that could be what kept me up most of the night. Blech! Little to no sleep is not a good way to start the work week.

~ I'm trying to find a cheap motel for my weekend trip to Erie in 3 weeks. This is not going easy. Why are there no Red Roof Inns in Erie? Lordy, I don't need anything fancy, just a bed. I plan on spending the time there snapping loads of pictures, not chillin' in a motel room!

~ I need to remind myself to take the few photos I took in the backyard off the camera. I'm so lazying when it comes to doing this, when the photos aren't important. (You know like Gary Puckett or Elvis Costello or The Moody Blues) I was fiddling with a few settings this weekend and taking pictures of the blooms in our garden. I got some nice shots too.

~ The 12x Zoom EasyShare camera with image stabilization is $284 at Walmart. I think this is going on my Christmas list. Mind you my 10x Zoom EasyShare is only a year old! I'm such a camera whore these days.

~ I almost bought the Cheap Trick CD Rockford yesterday. I'm actually glad I didn't, not because I don't want it, but because I ended up spending too much money at Walmart. Walmart is the devil. Somehow when I'm going there for a few things they manage to suck all my money.

~ I wish baby starlings would stop falling out of the nest. This year starlings seem to be the most prolific. Which means out of every batch of babies one must fall out and be cute and die! I'm getting sick of this! I hate watching baby birds die!

~ I miss my moody men. I can't say this enough. Summer just isn't summer without a Moody Blues concert! Dammit guys it's your 40th anniversary, this is not the time to celebrate by taking a vacation!

When He's 64

Even though the Beatles were long since broken up when I fell in love with their music in the late 70's, I always found it hard to believe that they'd ever be as old as 64. To me they'd be eternally those lovable moptops. Well today I want to wish Sir Paul a happy 64th b-day. I hope by the time he's 65 his marital woes are straightened out.






Young or old I still love ya, Paulie!

Musical Disappointments

I create the Top 5 on Friday every week and sometimes there are ideas that I want to use but I don't think will work well for the meme. Musical disappointments are one of the categories I thought wouldn't work. After all, I want people to play the meme.

That doesn't mean I won't blog about it. Why? Because I've had at least 5 musical disappointments. Some by the same artist! And do you know what? I'm a glutton and I go back and buy more, because I'm loyal.

Duran Duran - Thank You



There are one or two good tracks on this album, Perfect Day, White Lines and when I'm in a charitable mood Watching The Detectives. Other than those 3, the album just makes me a bit nauseous. The backup bimbo, Lamya, has the screeching banshee voice that will make you want to run screaming from the room. Plus, Duran Duran covering Public Enemy's 911 is a Joke, would be laughable if it weren't so painful.

Elvis Costello - North



I was sent a copy of this disc about a month before it was released. I knew it was bad then and still I bought it. OK, I'm being unfair in saying it was bad, to me it's just boring. It's Elvis doing a bunch of jazz-ish ballads in the style of his wife. The lyrics are gorgeous and I really wish Diana would have done them. Just as there were a few songs off her A Girl In The Other Room disc that I would have loved to hear him sing. (Particularly the title track)

Now it's not that I don't like EC doing ballads. I loved the Bacharach collaboration. But the songs on that one had some life to them. This album is good for only one thing. Putting me to sleep. The stand outs? Still, North (which you had to download) Impatience and Too Blue (Bonus tracks that are on the European and Japanese versions of the disc and on the copy I was mailed)

Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint - The River In Reverse



Two boring albums in less than 5 years. Thankfully his live album, My Flame Burns Blue makes up for the new studio album being dreadful. The lyrics as always are good, but something just doesn't sit right with me on this one. I like North better than this one. I also think that with the way he's been working with other artists that his best bet would be to do an album with Diana. I'd love to hear them sing together. And anything would be better than hearing some of these lifeless songs.


Cheap Trick - Woke Up With A Monster



Easily the only album by these power pop guys that I don't like. I made the mistake of ordering the new Elvis disc instead of their new one, just because I haven't been on a Cheap Trick high lately. Big mistake. Rockford is a better disc then The River In Reverse ever will be.

I disliked this one so much that I can't really tell you anything about any of the tracks on this disc. I don't remember them. The title track is the only one that have a vague recollection of. I actually had to go to amazon and listen to clips to remember it. It's not quality Cheap Trick. If you don't want to buy Rockford, 1997's self titled album is damn good. I think I'm going to rip it to my hard drive now, because my Muvo might want to have some Cheap Trick on it soon.

Now as much as I love Cheap Trick, they don't have many albums that I love completely, but the 97 album is pretty damn close to 100%, and then there's Lap of Luxury and Busted for the real poppy Trick. Any album but Woke Up With A Monster!

Erasure - Loveboat



First let me say, I like this album, its just not up to Erasure's standard's of a great album. I look forward to anything these guys put out. It's great fluffy pop music that forces you into happiness. There should be more music like theirs in the world, but this album, just isn't a good representation of their work, even though it has some stellar tracks on it, like Here In My Heart, Love Is The Rage and Mad As We Are. The rest are ok, but they fall flat. Even the single Freedom, just isn't up to the standards I hold Erasure too. This album was the followup to Cowboy and well, Cowboy was so upbeat and bouncy that it compared to the perfection of I Say I Say I Say from 94. They had too many near perfect albums in the 90's, so they started out the millenium with a near dud. I'm so glad they've more than made up for it with their next 3 discs.