Drink With Me....To Days Gone By

I found this image at Charlene's Blog and I thought I'd share a glass with all of you!





And as we all reflect on the old year...I leave you with these lyrics from one of the most beautiful musicals ever to hit the stage.



Drink With Me from Les Miserables

Drink with me to days gone by
Can it be you fear to die?
Will the world remember you
When you fall?
Could it be your death
Means nothing at all?
Is your life just one more lie?

Drink with me to days gone by
To the life that used to be

At the shrine of friendship, never say die

Let the wine of friendship never run dry

Here's to you and here's to me


A blessed and prosperous new year to everyone!

Favorites of 2003

I found this on one of my LiveJournal friends sites. I thought it was very appropriate for today, and will wrap up the year very nicely. I'm editing out some of the unnecessary questions, or rather the one's I don't have an answer for.

Favorite Concert of '03: The Moody Blues (Edward Powers Theatre, Youngstown OH)

Favorite Band/Artist of '03: The Moody Blues

Favorite Local Band of '03: from Pittsburgh...uh..the Clarks

Favorite Song of '03: December Snow - The Moody Blues

Favorite Movie of '03: Love Actually, Pirates of the Carribean, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Burning Down the House. (I'd include Chicago as well, cos I didn't see it until January)

Favorite Actress of '03: Catherine Zeta Jones

Favorite Actor of '03: Johnny Depp and Alan Rickman

Favorite Comedian of '03: Greg Proops

Favorite TV Show of '03: Coupling and Manchild

Favorite Book of '03: Losing Julia (it's not a new book but one I picked up used, can't remember the author's name right now)

Favorite Clothing Label of '03: MKM Designs sold at Dots

Favorite Guilty Pleasure of '03: I'm guilty of nothing...

Favorite Website of '03: artofthemix.org

Favorite Eatery of '03: Pasta Too

Favorite Clothing Store of '03: Dots

Favorite Quote of '03: Time is the coin of life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful, lest you let other people spend it for you - Carl Sandburgh

Favorite Activity of '03: Standing in front of Edward Powers Theatre's stage door to meet John Lodge and Justin Hayward..though mostly John Lodge, cos he was warmest.

And a picture of that other birthday boy

I felt bad that I didn't post a picture of Michael Nesmith. After all, he gave the Monkees some really great songs.

So in honor of his birthday as well, here is a picture of Papa Nez.



A very happy 61st Birthday Michael. Thanks for all the Monkee and Music Magic!

More Birthdays to Celebrate

All of my musical interests seem to be having birthdays this month. Today is Davy Jones and Michael Nesmith of the Monkees Birthdays.

Davy of course being the most important one. At five years old, I was determined to marry the man. I didn't care that he was old enough to be my father and then some. Today, Mr. Jones is 58. One year older than Justin Hayward and the same age as John Lodge.

Oye..I only have a few crushes that are under 40, most are 50 and up. What an odd bird I am.

Yeah ... Yeah...I know, everyone that stops by here knows I'm an odd bird. (with British tendencies)

Anywho..I thought I'd share a picture of the birthday boy of my choice.



Warm wishes on your 58th birthday Davy! You've brought many smiles to my life over the years, here's hoping you bring many more.

Birthday Wishes

Wishing Ray Thomas..the recently retired Moody Blues flute player and songwriter extraordinaire a very happy 62nd birthday!



I hope the music is still in your heart Ray..and thanks for the wonderful years of music you gave to us.

The Saddest Thing

I hate to think this, but I know it's quite possibly true. My love for Elvis Costello is almost at an end. I loved the snarky, sarcastic and cranky Elvis that didn't care what people thought of him.

Suddenly he's married, and at Sir Elton's pad, doing the party circuit and all the stuff that I never would have thought of him.

Something about this makes me think we've lost the Elvis of old and he's been replaced by a "Social Butterfly."

And now he's writing songs with his wife. The new Mrs. MacManus will have a new album out on April 27. It's titled The Girl in the Other Room, and features 3 or 4 tracks with lyrics she wrote with her new husband.

Pass the barf bag will ya.

I suppose if the next Costello album is anything like North I won't buy it and if I do, it will take a long time for me to do so.

I hate to relegate someone whose music I love to the same category as Madonna, whose music I had always loved, up until Music. Now I only buy her stuff after I've heard a good portion of it first. She has an EP out now..and it's kinda disappointing but not as disappointing as American Life.

I do realize that as a musician he must grow and do what is right for him, but I as a listener have to do the same. I've grown or at least expanded my musical horizons again this year. Costello's new music, just doesn't appeal to me.

It's strange too. (not the music, my dislike for it) It's sappy and romantic. So are the Moody Blues, but the sound just doesn't seem right to my ears. It worked with the Juliet Letters which I adore and it worked with Burt Bacharach another album of his I adore. Both are soft and melodic, but neither have that annoying quality that is so prevelant in North.

I think it's because, I'm the type of person that is compelled to sing along with my cds. I can't sing along to North. I'm even past caring that these are "I love you Diana" or "Wah, Cait left me" or some other sentiment like that, kinda songs.

Here's hoping that he creates some sappy songs that I can sing next time. I don't want to lose my faith in Mr. Costello.

And Now What? So Now What?

How is it that when you have plans on doing something, they always go awry? I'm doing my gift exchange with my two friends, Erin and April today, and I really had something in mind to give them, and now I can't find it!

ARGH! It wasn't something great or important, but something I wanted to give them to go along with the presents that I bought. Why do things always disappear in my house?

So I have about an hour and a half to find it (or it's replacement) and get ready. Not that I'm going anywhere. (cos I have no money this year)

I really send out warm Christmas wishes to my boss...who has made the past 5 months a misery to me. I'd also like to send out more warm Christmas wishes to the president..who fuqua'd the economy up. I don't care that we've seen enormous growth this year. Where is it? Fast Food? Oh wait, it's in the company that Cheney worked for.

Ooops season's misery coming out. Better get hunting for the missing gift.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas

I don't have a true love, so I suppose I'm not going to find anything, including the partridge in a pear tree.

As far as Christmas goes, this year wasn't too bad. No one really fought. (except for a small fit pitched early Christmas Eve) The presents were good. I have a kewl new digital camera. (yes my fotolog will be updated regularly now) Things are good.

OK, almost good.

Sister's car has a flat tire. (not an awful thing) My dad took her home last night, so he could get the tire fixed, and as he's coming home, his car starts leaking antifreeze.

Not good.

So, to make sure any further calamities don't occur, I got up at the asscrack of dawn to go, along with my father to pick up the sister and the nephew, and deliver one to work and the other to our couch.

Why, you ask did my father have to come along?

Easy one! My car is jealous! It senses things like other cars breaking down and wants attention of it's own. I wanted protection, just in case mine decided to act unnaturally.

And to make sure we all had a nice scare, my battery light came on briefly. That would be my cars way of letting me know that, it knows what's going on.

Oh how I love my life.

My Christmas Prayer

May the Spirit of "December" touch your hearts today and that everyone the world over remember the significance of this day. It's not the tree, it's not the gifts...it's love..and the love that was given to the world over 2000 years ago.

May the gifts He brought to us fill our hearts today and for the rest of the year. This Christmas may not be white, but with love in our heart, there will always be some December Snow to bring peace and light to the day.



And if this were the last Christmas I'd see, I know I've seen love and beauty this year...in the music.

Merry Christmas and Peace!

If we "Keep the Faith" we can make this world a better place.

Spread some Holiday Cheer - Pass the Wreath

Spread some Holiday Cheer - Pass the Wreath





I found this on Charlene's blog today.

Right click and take this little wreath. Link back to the site you took it from. Leave a message in the comments if you do it.

Merry Christmas from the Family

In honor of the most festive time of year. (HA, the fights have already begun) I thought I'd post the song lyrics for the most truthful Christmas tune written. It's got a fantastic video that makes you really appreciate that every family is dysfunctional. The song was originally done by Robert Earl Keen Jr, (Whoever the heck he is) but it was recorded sometime later by Jill Sobule (aka the I Kissed a Girl chick).

Read the lyrics and tell me you don't see parts of your family in this song!

Merry Christmas From the Family

Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk
At our Christmas party
We were drinkin' champagne punch
And homemade eggnog
Little sister brought her new boyfriend
He was a Mexican
We didn't know what to think of him
Til he sang Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad

Brother Ken brought his kids with him
The three from his first wife Lynn
And the two identical twins
>From his second wife MaryNell
Of course he brought his new wife Kaye
Who talks all about AA
Chain smokin' while the stero plays
Noel, Noel, The first Noel


Carve the turkey turn the ball game on
Mix Margaritas when the eggnog's gone
Send somebody to the Quik-Pak store
We need some ice and an extention cord
A can of bean dip and some Diet Rite
A box of tampons and some Marlboro Lights
Hallelujah everybody say cheese
Merry Christmas from the family


Fran and Rita drove from Harlingen
I can't remember how I'm kin to them
But when they tried to plug their motorhome in
They blew our christmas lights
Cousin David knew just what went wrong
So we all waited on our front lawn
He threw the breaker and the lights came on
And we sang Silent Night
Oh Silent Night


Carve the turkey turn the ballgame on
Make Bloody Marys cause we all want one
Send somebody to the Stop 'n Go
We need some celery and a can of fake snow
A bag of lemons and some Dite Sprite
A box of tampons and some Salem Lights
Hallelujah everybody say cheese
Merry Christmas from the family


Feliz Navidad.

A Quiz for Your Amusement Purposes

I stole this from the LiveJournal of Steph.

1) using names of bands/singers that you like, spell out your name.
Abba
Nick Lowe
Duran Duran
Roxette
Erasure
Adam Ant

2) Have you ever had a song written about you?
No, but I was thanked in the liner notes of the GA band Montage's last CD. I used to be chat buddies with the lead singer.

3) What song(s) makes you cry?
Too many to mention..but I'll try
Stuck Inside a Cloud - George Harrison
On This Christmas Day - The Moody Blues
From a Distance - Bette Midler
The End of the Line - Traveling Wilburys

4) What song(s) makes you happy?
Don't Need a Reindeer - The Moody Blues
Always - Erasure
The Reflex - Duran Duran
Peek a boo - Siouxsie and the Banshees
Vive Le Rock - Adam Ant
Street Cafe - John Lodge
Next Time Round - Elvis Costello

5) What do you like to listen to before bed?
The Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn
Sarah Brightman - Harem or Dive
A mix compilations I made called "In the Mood"
Erasure (self titled)

6) Name a song by Coal Chamber.
I know not what they do...though I have heard of them before.

7) Who was/were your idol/s when you were younger?
Madonna, Cyndi Lauper...loved them...The Beatles and the Monkees.

8) First album you ever bought?
The Monkees Greatest Hits...I used to watch reruns of the show all the time!! I wanted to marry Davy Jones. I still would, if he asked.

9) Name a song that reminds you of someone.
Fruitcakes by Jimmy Buffett reminds me of my brother. No..not because he's a fruitcake, but because that was the album he played for me, while we were making an excursion to a record fair in Monroeville. It was the first Buffett song I really paid any attention too.

What I really want for Christmas.

I stole this idea from Stacy. Now you will be subjected to what I really want for Christmas.

~ A quiet peaceful holiday.

~ A Moody Blues tour very soon .... Justin and Lodgey..I miss ya!!

~ My job to return..and with it paychecks that don't bounce like a rubber ball

~ Justin Hayward's hand in marriage...and if not that..to be a kept woman...his kept woman. (I will also accept being Lodgey's kept woman)

~ Elvis Costello to recall that he is a rock musician and not a jazz singer. (Jazz singing would be his wife's job)

~ The size 6's to start fitting again.

The last-minute Christmas to do list

OK, it's less than twenty four hours before the madness starts. There should be little lest to do, but that's never the case. My list may be small, but the stuff left to do is well not so small.

1. Keep the cat from eating the tree in my computer room. (I've had to wash the tree skirt twice now)

2. Finish dejunking the computer room. (That way I can take pictures of the tree and my cd collection on Christmas Day without being to embarrassed)

3. Find a home for the remaining dejunked clothes that don't have a home to go to.

4. Burn my holiday mix cds for myself. (GAH...how did I forget that!!)

Not a long list by any means, but 1-3 may take forever. (especially since a certain kitty finds plastic so refreshingly tasty.)

Hopefully all this will still allow me time to finish about 5 more pages of Man Out of Time and the last 100 pages of the book I'm reading.

Yeah, I'm dreaming I know. I'll be up til 2 a.m. either cleaning or working on the story, because I won't go to bed until the 5 pages are finished now. Yesterday's update was the hardest. I was getting pulled all over creation yesterday, to the mall and to Walmart. (to of the so not fun places at this time of year)

But I survived!!

For that I deserve a medal or at least a cookie.

WalMart Shopping - Save Me

There is one thing worse than dejunking, and that's shopping at Walmart. It's bad year round, but on the 22nd of December it's unbearable. Some really scary people come out to the Walmarts in more rural areas. It can be quite hard to find more than a handful of people with a full set of teeth running around the place. (but that's another rant all together)

I have a statement to make.

I hope the person that bought To Our Children's Children's Children and On a Threshold of a Dream is happy

I had intentions of finding homes for these two Moody Blues CDs. I'm really surprised that they were gone. That means at some point in time, in redneck Belle Vernon, someone (that wasn't me) purchased two Moody Blues CDs!!

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

It's a shame Walmart didn't stock the new album, "December."

Now mind you, if you are someone like Hillary Duff, there will be an abundance of your musical garbage around. If you have talent, well then...no. They didn't have the Loreena McKennit discs either and she has two seasonal CDs.

Allow me to Grrrrr at that.

Though I have to say, Walmart has a great holiday specialty area. Tons of fun gift ideas...like S'mores kits, Campell's soup kits.. all with pretty mugs and fun food items. Really fun gifts at reasonable prices.

Those are the things I appreciate most in life, fun food items.

Like Orange Kit Kats...mmmm and Lindor Truffles...and have any of you seen Swoops yet? Oh are they yummy.

But really, going into Walmart there was a line of cars..almost backed up onto the main road. The parking lot was nearly full!!

My brain...my sanity!!! And heaven forbid people just park their cars...they have to circle the lot for that perfect spot by the door!!!

ARGH!!

Walk dammit..walk...you could probably use it!! I know I can..that's why I parked at the back of the lot. It's good for tension relief too...after dealing with the crazy people inside the store.

The Christmas mantra

~ It's not polite to kill people

If you say that enough times to yourself you can possibly make it through the store and finish your shopping with most of your sanity intact and maybe one nerve.

Dejunking Continues - Save Me

I continued dejunking yesterday. Oh mylanta, when did I get so many clothes? I got rid of about 7 grocery bags full of clothes yesterday,and I still don't have room for the rest. ARGH!

A vast majority of the stuff are sweats that I sleep in and concert t-shirts. I have about 5 concert t-shirts I actually wear in public; my Costello shirt, a cute Def Leppard one that I got last tour, my Eddie Izzard shirt and the Moody Blues shirt. All the rest, however pretty they are get relegated to sleepwear.

I also have shirts from some of the musicals I've seen. Yup about 5 or 6 Phantom of the Opera shirts, a Cats shirt, The Secret Garden, Les Miserables, Tommy, oh dear and a few more. I really need to figure out what to do with this stuff!! I want my room to be livable in a few days.

I have entirely too much stuff. At least my books and cds are orderly. The magazines and stuff I had were relatively easy to dejunk. I have one empty drawer in my huge monstrosity of a desk now. (I'm planning to rid the world of that desk sometime after Christmas)

So I did accomplish something. It's just now I still have some huge piles of clothes that need to find homes. (There's no room in the inn so to speak) I knew I never should have started this project!!

Reflections on 2003

This was a very odd year to say the least. So I'm going to go through and list somethings that I thought as highlights of the year. (from a worldwide and my own perspective) Then I'll list some of the low points. (Which are of course more fun)

2003 the Good Bits

It was a musically good year, seeing releases from Madonna, David Bowie, The Moody Blues, Sarah McLaughlin, Cyndi Lauper, The Beatles, Erasure, Sarah Brightman, and Cheap Trick to name but a few.

Eddie Izzard did a stand up tour of North America and the UK. (and Pittsburgh was one of the cities he played)

Anne Rice released yet another volume in the Vampire Chronicles - Blood Canticle (sadly though this is the last one)

It was a good year for concerts too (If you lived anywhere but Pittsburgh) David Bowie embarked on his first world tour in years..(after a bout with the flu delayed it a few days) Elvis Costello continues to rock audiences (even though his new album doesn't) The Damned and the Misfits toured together in the Fiend Fest, The Moody Blues spent 3 months touring the US. (not bad for a bunch of old blokes) Duran Duran played a few dates in the summer than embarked on a sold out tour this November of small venues.

No I didn't forget the new Harry Potter novel...that I haven't read yet.

Elvis Costello was one of the inductees to the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame and he hosted Lettermen as well.

A fabulous year for movies: Love Actually, Pirates of the Carribean, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Bringing Down the House, yet another Lord of the Rings film. Gee I know there are more, I just can't remember them all now.

Tim Burton's new film - Big Fish opened in select cities this month. (and is getting nods for Golden Globe awards)

I had some lovely celebrity sitings this year: Brad Sherwood, Eddie Izzard, John Lodge and Justin Hayward.

Oh and we caught Saddam.

2003 the not so great bits

We started a war with Iraq over WMD's and we still haven't found any.

Elvis Costello married Canadian jazz songbird Diana (Krallomort) Krall.

Ah-nold gets elected governator of CA, proving that there are less than 10 working brain cells in that state.

Michael Jackson again gets charged for well...child molestation.. (Mostly because it's completely legal to be a total freak)

Danny Elfman married actress Bridget Fonda on Nov 29...the 2nd anniversary of the death of George Harrison.

The world lost, John Ritter, Johnny Cash and Maurice Gibb to name but a few celebrity deaths.

NBC unsuccessfully tried to clone BBC's Coupling series to replace Friends, it was cancelled after only 4 or 5 epis.

The RIAA started suing people who download music, but they haven't done anything at all to make people want to buy it.

Mexican Food Restaurant Chi-chi's files chapter 11 and gets hit with being the lucky restaurant to start a hepatitis outbreak in Western PA..thanks to some green onions imported from Mexico. (GRRRRR...poor Chi-chis)

Whose Line is it Anyway...is slowly taken off of ABC

Dejunking: The Unsavory Task

I'm blaming this on Linda, (who I was very cranky too yesterday..and I apologize) she started the dejunking thing a few weeks ago. I'm looking around my house and realizing..OYE..Junk everywhere.

I'm terrible at throwing things away.

I keep magazines and stuff that have nothing to do with people I like anymore. Dear god, you should see my desk drawers.

I do have one dilemma with this. What do you do with old calendars? I used to get Beatles calendars every year for the pictures. I have a Paul McCartney calendar too. Should I keep them? Its so hard to decide. I've made up my mind to toss the Phantom of the Opera calenders. (they aren't necessary to my existence)

Getting rid of my junk is going to be like an amputation..Bring that back!! I've had it for 25 years..you can't toss it. The real amusement in this, is that I can pitch anyone else's junk in a heartbeat. My own? Fuck no...you can't touch it.

I will be clinging to my junk even as I toss it in the garbage can. I will wail and cry as I throw it in the furnace to burn. (yes we have a coal furnace here)

I'm also going to go through some of the mix cds I've made..cos there's a pile of CDrs on my desk that need going through. This is a complete dejunking.

What are the reasons for it?

Well in the one room, it's because I have every intention of getting a new desk..and I need to clear away stuff, before we can start breaking the big monstrosity of a corner desk down to chuck.

In my (giggle) entertainment room it's more of a need for a clean sweep.

BTW I got the old digital camera to snap a picture of my Charlie Brown tree..(with the Moody Blues Ornament) If my sister will host it..I'll post the picture here. If not, I'll upload it to my fotolog page.

Time to start cleaning, and also work on Man Out of Time. I have 5 pages to write today!!

100 Pages!!

Man Out of Time has hit 100 pages. And not without issue. I had 4 pages done and my computer froze taking them with it.

GRRR!

Everyone who gets updates has the milestone post. I hope you enjoy it. I'm very excited and very tired. I need to relax for awhile so I can continue on with the story tomorrow.

Writing Goals

I made a wish to hit page 150 on Man Out of Time a week or so ago. I thought it was in jest. I thought I'd never make it to page 100 by the year end.

I was wrong.

Very wrong.

Man Out of Time is now at 95 pages, back to being the longest thing I've ever written. (Love Eternal finished at 91 pages) I have a personal goal to write 5 pages a day. Well since I was so close to 100 my goal today is 7. I want to hit 100 pages tonight.

I think the story is coming along so much better now. I'm really proud of it, more so than I was 6 months ago. I really hope that one day in the next year or two..when you are at Waldenbooks or Borders or Barnes and Nobel you see Man Out of Time on the shelves, and maybe even hear of me signing a copy for the man that inspired the character Tristan.

Wish me luck!!