Top 5 On Friday - Week 97

From Music Memoirs

Top 5 - Artists/Bands that should just stop singing. (Tell us why you chose them too)

This one is so easy it's hard.

Celine Dion - This woman needs to not only stop singing she needs to go away, far far away. I don't even thing she belongs in Las Vegas, but isn't that where creepy lounge singer types go to rest out their lives?

If so, she does belong there, but I'm in firm belief that even Las Vegas doesn't deserve her chest bashing self and her squawlling screeching vocals. No one deserves that. Above all else, no one deserves to hear that damn Titanic song more than it's already been played.

Britney Spears - I don't want to hear her sing. I don't want to hear her talk about her divorce. I don't want to hear her at all.

At least she had brains enough to protect some of her fortune by getting Kfed to sign a prenup, unlike some artists that are a hundred times smarter and more talented. I guess the smart part is debatable now.

::sigh::

Make this skanky talentless twit go away!

Justin Timberlake - In N'Sync he was tolerably cute. Heck, I admit to liking It's Gonna Be Me and Bye Bye Bye, they were cute cheesy pop songs. Sexyback? Yikes!

Oh and if that's not bad enough, he's recording a song with Duran Duran.

NO NO NO.

Someone must stop him before that song sees the light of day.

If it's anything like Sexyback, I will not only cry but I will probably lose all the love I once had for Duran Duran, and isn't losing the love for Elvis Costello enough for now?

Bon Jovi - In their heyday they were a good hair band, but seriously, how many times can you make the same song over and over. I mean listen to the stuff, assuming you like to have your ears bleed. It's Living on A Prayer with different lyrics.

Give it up Jon Boy. I'd tell ya to go back to New Jersey, where you came from, but I don't wish to pollute that state with anymore egotistical rockers. They have the Boss anyway and he's more than enough.

Rod Stewart - Isn't it bad enough that he's killed some classic American songs, now he's killing classic rock songs. Stop him. His career is over. Marry your blonde model bimbo, beget a few dozen more kids, divorce her and grow older and less talented far far away from the prying eyes of the world, please and thank you.

There is no need to go on humiliating yourself with these wretched albums. Stop now, while you have a shred of dignity.

Oh wait, too late.

Just go away!

Look At What I Just Got

My little pink Zen Micro now has bling. Lordy! What is the world coming to, when I, of all people, buy pink rhinestone earbuds for my mp3 player. The one I hardly ever use at that!

Mine are the white ones, so as to be perfectly coordinated with the Zen. I'm anal that way, but then why shouldn't I be. The mp3 player is pink and white after all.

Damn it's girlie!

I never thought I'd get a girlie mp3 player. And now a girlie mp3 player with rhinestone earbuds.

Get the spam and head for shelter, the 4 Horsemen are about to ride!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen songs that I hear when listening to 99.3 WPKL The Pickle.

1. The Grass Roots - Let's Live For Today

2. Cher - Dark Lady

3. Elvis Presley - Kentucky Rain

4. The Monkees - Daydream Believer

5. Donovan - Jennifer Juniper

6. Three Dog Night - Shambala

7. Chicago - Saturday In The Park

8. Ringo Starr - You're Sixteen

9. Cliff Richard - Devil Woman

10. The Turtles - Elenore

11. Dusty Springfield - Son Of A Preacher Man

12. Van Morrison - Domino

13. The Jaggerz - The Rapper

It's All About Love

I managed to acquire the four tracks from the radio sampler. I wish I could say I stole it from that geeky little DJ at WPKL, but alas, such is not the case. I had to go through other channels to get the music.

I'm in love with the version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps from the Love Soundtrack.

Which thanks to the little geeky DJ at WPKL I now know came from the Anthology demos. Silly me. I've never played my discs until tonight. I was pretty unimpressed by Anthology 1, so I just bought the last 2 and shelved them.

But you should definitely listen to these three songs:

While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Love Version)

While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Demo)

Not Guilty (Demo)

The last song Harrison fans will know appeared on his 79' self titled album. It's a shame that this song didn't make the White Album cut. This version is definitely better than the final version from that solo album.

Happy Hump Day

It truly is a happy hump day, because Rick Santorum lost his Senate seat to Bob Casey and Lynn Swann was defeated by Ed Rendell. The democrats now have control of the House. But that's neither here nor there, because all I care about is Santorum getting the boot! I never thought it would happen, but it did! Yay!

Oh and if Rick was so loved...why was this found spray painted on the Smithfield St Bridge last spring?



But enough of politics, they are icky. A bunch of liars.

Hump Day is all about the hunks...and here are mine for the week. If you don't like em, get your own! I wasn't going to share anyway.

There is only one picture of my geeky dj from Pickle lurking out there it seems, besides the one I snapped at the Peter Noone show last month.



I love geeky men.






I also like silly men. Happy Hump Day!

On This Day In Music History

Thanks to "Fish" at WPKL, my geekily sexy DJ, I now know that nearly 40 years ago, Nights In White Satin held the number 2 spot on the charts.

Blech!

Now we all know that I love the Moody Blues. But did you know that I hate hate hate that song?

Well I do. It annoys the heck and possibly the hell out of me. It's long, it's boring and with Late Lament attached to the end it's downright annoying.

I don't think I've ever said I wanted to listen to that song. GAH. And Justin has awards for writing that. It goes to show that they'll give out awards to anything. He's written so much better material. Tuesday Afternoon is a better song, in my personal honest opinion.

So thanks to that song being number 2, I had to hear it this morning on the Real Dill Pickle Morning Show. Thanks Fish! I appreciate that. Once was enough though. Unfortunately that was not to be the case. Only I can't blame Fish for the second time they played it. Someone actually called in to request it!

Over 14 minutes of my life were wasted staring at the microwave radio @ work. Yes, you read that right, my radio @ work is part of the microwave.

Why oh why couldn't Ride My See-Saw have been number 2?

Good Morning. Good Morning

A few reasons why this is going to be a good morning.

1. Today is election day, which means in 24 hours those damn political ads will stop for awhile. YAY!

2. A bunch of new Christmas music is on its way to my house. My Elaine Paige Christmas CD is finally on its way and I ordered It's About Christmas Vol 1 which has all three Grey Eye Glances Christmas tunes on it, as well as some interesting songs by some indie artists. Woot!

3. We had a beautiful sunrise even though its going to rain today.

4. I'm finally getting reception of my favorite radio station in my computer room. I can now listen to "Fish" from WPKL when I wake up in the morning. I still have the offer out to him that he can have a date any Friday night if he just asks. (A girl has a right to dream you know)

5. Caroline Lavelle sent me another mp3 of a song that will possibly be on her next album. I'm very excited and I'm going to sit down today and listen to both mp3s she sent in my Creative Muvo today.

I think those are good reasons to have a good morning.

And So Starts The Season

For some people the next two months are the holiday season of baking and buying presents, but for me I've got the extra added bonus of it being the b-day month of my mother and my sister and brother.

Way to suck all my cash.

Plus my youngest (read: greediest) nephew's b-day in at the end of January. You know that month when you can't find anything in the stores, because it's all been picked over from the holiday.

So today I bought my second present. My mother's b-day present is a shiny new 6 qt slow-cooker. As anyone knows, my mum loves gadgets and her crockpot has seen better days, so I bought her a new one at Walmart. For Christmas she'll get a shiny new toaster oven. What fun!

I bought my first present yesterday, at JC Penny's website. My dad's getting a new pair of slippers and I'm getting a pair of pink crystal headphones for the Pink Christmas Zen!

I'm going to make up Christmas bath baskets at the dollar store, because they always have the best smelling body washes and moisturizers. Then I just need to get to The Hard Rock to get a shirt for my brother and order another online at Margaritaville, cos it wouldn't be Christmas without a Buffett shirt.

I only wish someone would buy me a CD or two off my want list. (Or give me sufficient cash so I could acquire some new and kewl gadget that I'm craving)

Random 10 - Week 79

From Music Memoirs (which is on the most horrid blog server of them all)

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)

It's funny I can barely remember what I listened to this weekend, but I can tell you that most of it came from one of the cast recordings of Cats...so

Jellicle Songs For Jellicle Cats
The Gumbie Cat
Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer
Skimbleshanks
Memory
Old Deuteronomy
Mr. Mistoffelees
The Rum Tum Tugger
Macavity
Bustopher Jones

As you can tell I was still longing for my sweet Buddah. I thought listening to this recording would help me grieve, but instead it made things so much worse. I had only to listen to Old Deuteronomy once to start bawling like a baby.

My legs are tottery I must go slow and be careful of Old Deuteronmy sounded much like something we'd say about Buddah or if Buddah could have spoken to us, would have been something he would have said to us.

But now for my picture....no wait...pictures, two of my other kitties, Mutchka and Itchy.

Werewolves Of London

The full moon always makes me think of that song. It's funny that I never really got into Warren Zevon. He has that snarky quality to his songwriting that I find so appealling in Elvis Costello.

But that's neither here nor there. Tonight's the full moon. This shot was taken from my porch as I zoomed as much as I could without getting too blurry. I was quite surprised that this one turned out so well. I usually have no luck on moon shots. I don't know why. Maybe it's me. Maybe it's my camera. I don't know.

Whatever, this picture turned out exactly how I wanted it to. It's a beautiful harvest moon, with a little line of clouds running through it. It made me want to find an mp3 of Werewolves of London and play it at full blast.

I wonder if the sunrise will be as pretty as this. If so, my camera will be out and about tomorrow morning.

I Remember

When Madonna wasn't one of the most annoying celebrities on the planet. I'm a child of the 80's, so I grew up with good Madonna. The Madonna that was more than a bit sleazy and slutty and did songs that made you get up and shake it while you sang along.


Seriously, I miss her wearing her cone-shaped bras on the outside. I miss the music that wasn't ripping off ABBA or trying to be political. I liked Madonna, the Queen Of All Pop Tarts, the Material Girl who oddly thought she was Marilyn Monroe.

My Madonna isn't this woman who is pretending to be an uppercrust Brit. Pah, Maddy, you're from Michigan, get a grip.

The last album she did that I really liked was Music. I wasn't too keen on Ray Of Light which came before it, though it was a huge success. The new albums I refuse to buy, they are just too horrible to be considered.

I really should have known it was going downhill when she had to resort to kissing Britney Speers and Christina Aguilera to get attention. The old Maddy would never have had to do that to shock someone. She would have come up with something better, or at least someone better looking to liplock with.

Sadly she's influenced another 80's icon into taking the foray with bad teenybopper pop musicians. Duran Duran are now working with Justin Timberlake on a song for their next album.

I could just cry.

What is the world coming to?

Maddy, why couldn't you have just stayed a slutty poptart that sang passably good pop music and didn't have to drag other bands along with you for the ride.

Fish - Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors

This album is from one of the best singers in Progressive Rock, Fish. I don't even want to know how he got the name. He fronted the band Marillion for quite a time and was the singer of their 80's hit Kayleigh.

This album is full of the fantastic lyrics and vocals that Marillion fans expect. Fish has a soaring voice that's gentle and forceful in the same breath. His songs about relationships always ring true and sound so personal. Cliche is one such track. Seven minutes of pure bliss.

But if you want to experience pure bliss listen to A Gentlemen's Excuse Me. A song about a man trying to move forward in relationship with a woman caught in fantasy world.

The celtic feel of The Company will appeal to those fans of Irish tunes. The song is Fish at his angriest, and yet he can sing like he's ready to bite the head off the nearest person and then do a complete 180 and sound as gentle as a lamb.

State Of Mind is a political rant that seems quite appropriate now though this song is over 15 years old. I don't know which verse rings more true right now in the horrid political mess the US is in right now.

We the people are getting tired of your lies
We the people now believe that it's time
We're demanding our rights to the answers
We elect a precedent to a state of mind

or

We the people want it straight for a change
'Cause we the people are getting tired of your games
If you insult us with cheap propaganda
We'll elect a precedent to a state of mind

Truly a brilliant album by a voice everyone should hear at least once.

What Do You Do

When it becomes too much to sit around and think about the fact that your sweet little Buddah kitty isn't with you anymore.

I know I haven't exhausted my tears. All I have to do is look at a certain spot in my kitchen where he used to always lay, or look at a picture and I'm in tears.

I love my animals. I even love my sister's strange little cockapoo that has a huge attitude, but don't tell them that.

If I divorced I'd let any kids I had go before I would my animals. Their lives are too precious and way too short, though Buddah lived at least 17 years or more, which is quite long, I'm told for a cat. Most of those years were spent with us.

I had to get away from the house Thursday night. So I grabbed my sister, who was in mourning for a concert that was cancelled and we went to Redd Dawg's in Rostraver.




I drowned my sorrows with a Long Island Ice Tea and a Hawaiian pizza. I probably could have had 5 of those ice teas and I still wouldn't have lost the empty feeling I have when I think of my Buddah.

He would have loved the pizza too.

Loreena McKennit - Book Of Secrets

If you aren't familar with Loreena's The Mummer's Dance that appears on this disc, you either slept through 1997 or you never turned on a music video channel. Somehow Mtv Networks let that song slip into it's rotation allowing an unsuspecting audience to discover Celtic music.

God bless them for doing something right.

Each song on this disc is guaranteed to soothe and relax you. Gentle guitars and violins captivate you and take you to another world, where the fairies dance and who knows what else.

Loreena's style can't be compared to the other first ladies of Celtic music. In this album particularly you can almost picture yourself in a gypsy caravan traveling through Europe.

The songs are by no means short either. The Highwayman clocks in at 10 minutes and 20 seconds, but the song is so captivating that you don't even notice. Even the instrumentals are captivating enough to hold the listeners attention. Marco Polo is one such track.

Loreena McKennit is not Enya or Moya Brennan of Clannad. She's definitely a genre unto her own. It makes me wonder though, why it's taken her almost 10 years to record a follow up to this beautiful work.

Top 5 On Friday - Week 96

This week's topic came from Michael for the Music Memoirs meme.

Top Five Albums That Have Had an Influence on Your Life

1. Elvis Costello - Spike



This album definitely affected my preceptions of pop music. It was the first Costello CD I bought. It's still a favorite of mine. Until this album most of the music I listened to was cheesy pop and The Beatles. (The Beatles are a category unto themselves) Mind you I still love cheesy pop, especially if it's from the 60's and the 80's.

2. The Moody Blues - The Other Side Of Life



Your Wildest Dreams had a huge affect on my writing. So many stories came out of the plot of this song's video. It's amazing that I didn't buy the CD until a few years ago. I know I wanted it when it came out, but I never got around to buying it.

3. The Phantom Of The Opera - Original Cast Recording



My love of musical theatre started here, with the cast that included Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. Oh and it's the only cast recording worth having. The movie version makes me cringe, much like any cover of Nights In White Satin.

4. Oingo Boingo - Best O'Boingo



This is the first Oingo Boingo CD I listened to. This band pretty much defined my senior year in high school. The good the bad and the ugly all wrapped up in a Danny Elfman song.

5. The Moody Blues - December



This is the album that made me really love Christmas music. Blame Don't Need A Reindeer for that.

Up Up Up To The Heavyside Lair

If you are familiar with the line I used in the title of this post, you'll know it's from the musical Cats. The Heavyside Lair was T.S. Eliot's cat heaven, so to speak, and today my Buddah, aka: Poopy, Little Shit, Booder and countless other nicknames took his journey up up up to the Heavyside Lair.

He was the kitty that loved everyone. He didn't have a mean bone in his body. I think he even loved his fleas.

Life is going to be quite different without him sitting on the table, trying to stick his little face in our soup or cereal bowls. (Though in the last few weeks he has been confined to a cardboard box on the kitchen floor, instead of his beloved kitchen table and chairs) Age caught up with him in a nasty way this year.

I'm thankful that god gave him a few extra weeks with us. He had a gimpy leg that kept him from getting around well in the last months and we thought we were going to lose him in Sept when I was away in Atlantic City.

Buddah was the sweetest cat. I wish I had known him longer than the 12 years that he lived with us. He was a stray that crept into our lives on my birthday. He loved my father and until he became too gimpy to walk around much, he could always be found on my dad's lap.

When he wanted his head petted, he'd put it in your hand. Another odd trait of my Buddah was his ostrich tendencies. He liked to bury his head in your stomach or arm.



This was a recent pic, right after he recovered from his gimpy leg a few weeks ago.



This picture was from Christmas 3 years ago, with my first digital camera. The top of the microwave was another one of his favorite resting spots in the house.

We buried him near the garden in our yard. I'm going to have to find something pretty to mark his life, which was a full happy one, filled with other kitty and human friends and good food and loads of love. He was an angel of cats and I'm going to miss him terribly.

Goodbye my darling Buddah. You'll always have a place in my heart.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen photos from my trip to Pittsburgh for the fall flower show last weekend

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13.

The rest of my pictures from my jaunt to the big city can be found here

Chuck Negron - Joy To The World

Chuck Negron is one of the incredible voices that made up the band Three Dog Night. When I checked his website and saw that he had a holiday/Christmas CD out, I had to check it out.

Now before you groan that there's another 60's hasbeen recording a Christmas CD, I beg to differ with you. Chuck shouldn't be discounted as a hasbeen. It only takes one listen to this CD to hear that.

Yes, this album is full of the traditional songs that you can expect on every Christmas CD. White Christmas is there as well as O Holy Night and they are done beautifully. O Holy Night has a gospel backing that updates this standard with a bit of a kick without changing it into something unrecognizable.

The more contemporary Grown Up Christmas List is another stand out track. The backing on this one is a children's choir. The result is stunning.

The best track on this disc is Joy To The World. No, not that Joy To The World, or maybe it is, because those fishes in the deep blue sea make an appearance in this rendition of the classic carol.

This version will make you get up and dance, just like that other Joy To The World does. Oddly the two songs blend well together.

Another traditional carol that gets Chuck's special treatment is O Come All Ye Faithful. The backing harmonies are well done.

It would have been nice if this album could have rocked out more than on just Joy To The World, but the songs Chuck chose to record weren't the kind of songs that should rock. His vocals are superb on all tracks, making you wonder how he managed to stay away from the recording industry for so many years and why the industry ignores the beautiful voice that he possesses. But then again, if you and I listen, it's not completely ignored, is it.

A wonderful addition to any classic rock fans Christmas collection.

Hump Day Randomness

~ It's the first of Nov, which means it's time for NaBloPoMo. My CD reviews will be posted each night, because I don't have time in the morning to write anything too long and detailed that requires thought. I'm not completely coherent until at least 9 a.m.

~ The Zen is going Christmas tonight. I'm ready for this holiday, I really am! In fact I may even start Christmas shopping soon. I've got a few presents I'm ready to purchase. Sing with me...Christmas Time....Mistletoe and Wine!

~ We only had about 6 Trick-or-Treaters last night. I was forcing candy upon any kid that happened my way as they were walking home. We had a whole bag of snack size Reese's pieces and Hershey S'mores bars, both of which would be dangerous for the waistline, if they stayed in the house.

~ I haven't gotten over the Halloween burst of Oingo Boingo. Suddenly Boingo is moving forward in my list of favorites, and yet there's no hope of ever having a new album or a reunion from these guys. I mean if you made a few million scoring films, why would you try being in a rock band. :::sigh:::

~ It's Wednesday, which means its Hump Day Hunks Day. No, I didn't forget. I was just pondering who to post.