give me that old timey music

OK, so why is it that I'm sitting here, listing to Air Supply, and am completely happy to do so? I know, intellectually, that they're not a great band. But I LOVE THEIR MUSIC. It just makes me calm and happy.

Or is that the wine and brandy I've drunk tonight?

(*)>

Teaching the Right Stuff

One thing I really like about the after school program at my kids' school is that they hire both males and females of college age to play with the kids. The boys have guys to look up to - and they totally groove on that. All those boy activities, like Dodge Ball and Capture The Flag are played by boys and girls with enthusiasm.

One of the gents they hired this year is a long-haired hippie freak. He brings his guitar and plays songs for the kids - he's really neat.

One day, he put down his guitar and the other guy, we'll say he's a typical philly guy picked it up. He started playing the intro riff to Metallica's Enter Sandman. I was like "hey, teach 'em good music young!" We both started laughing.

Then one of the kids - not one of mine - started singing "hush little baby don't say a word, and never mind that noise you heard..."

That's a little scary. A second grade Metallica fan. I thought I was bad letting my kids listen to Crazy Train and School's Out.

If any of the kids show up with tats, I'm going to start looking into private schools.

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The Art of the Mix Tape

You know, there are so many movies and tv shows that make fun of us nerds who make mix cd's - nick and nora's infinite playlist is the most recent. But I know it's a casual throwaway to point out that a boy/girl is a stalker-dweeb. It's so wrong.

Mix tapes are awesome and show a real attention to detail that most people just don't get.

I make mix tapes for my favorite beaus - my boys. I make one every summer, which is a blend of summer songs and kids songs they like at the time.

This year, I made an additional one for each of them. There's the camping cd for sean, which has camping songs, mosquito songs, fishing songs, and country/cowboy songs.
Campfire Song Song - Spongebob Squarepants (last year's kid hit!)
Mosquito - Artichoke (if you haven't heard this, it's really cool)
I'm Going Fishing - Bert Susanka
Camping Trip - Tracey Singer (modern hello muddah, I think.)
Mosquito - Brian Kinder
Going Bass Fishing - Anna Moo
Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah - Allan Sherman
It's My Lazy Day - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys (mom? I can hear you sing this)
Black Water - The Doobie Brothers (this reminds me of friends from college)
Mother Nature's Son - The Beatles (every mix I make has the beatles on it. It's a rule.)
The Battle of New Orleans - Johnny Horton (and here we start with sean's cammo fixation)
The Ballad of Davy Crockett - Fess Parker
Daniel Boone - Alleyoop
(Ghost) Riders In The Sky - Johnny Cash (why? well, I ran out of ideas!)
Don't Fence Me In - Gene Autry
Mountain Music - Alabama
Summer Breeze - Seals & Crofts (again, I ran out of ideas! but you do camp in summer?)

Mothy's cd is a cruising cd - all songs about cars/trucks.
Drive My Car - The Beatles
Drivin' My Life Away - Eddie Rabbitt
18 Wheels On a Big Rig - Trout Fishing in America
On the Road Again - Willie Nelson (for Donna)
Hot Rod Lincoln - Commander Cody & His Lost Planet … (for Johnny)
Convoy - C.W. McCall (for my Dad)
Get In The Car - Moxy Früvous (totally for me!)
Fun, Fun, Fun 2:16 Endless Summer The Beach Boys
Ramblin' Man - The Allman Brothers Band
Let It Ride - Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Blinded By the Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band
The Distance - Cake
Cruisin' - Smokey Robinson
Midnight Rider - The Allman Brothers Band
Truckin' - The Greatful Dead (for daddy)
Route 66 - Manhattan Transfer (I really don't know why I kept this one. Tim likes vocal songs)
Crash - The Primitives
Take It Easy - The Eagles

This was def. the easier to make, though I had to kick a lot of songs out. Stinky's was much harder. I simply couldn't come up with a complete playlist. What did I miss?

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trials and tribulations

No, I don't currently have any of those. You'd think that would be a good excuse for not updating. But the fact is, I have no excuse.

We have had several computer woes at the dusty aviary. Our memory challenged machine has finally given up the ghost - either that or the two gerbils we hired to run the processor finally kicked. So, my computer time is mostly at school, and I usually don't have time to blog here.

School is rapidly coming to a close, but some would say not rapidly enough. Our grades go in next friday. Our last day of school is june 23. You might be saying, WTF? I know I was. How on earth am I supposed to motivate whatever kids choose to come (and we're already down to about 50%) to do ANYTHING let alone stop them from being destructive?

At our last teacher meeting (and didn't I leave business to avoid meetings? Dammit.), I decided to ask the other science teachers if they wanted to plan our last two weeks together. Share the misery, as it were. Our department chair was out that day, so, being the ENTJ that I am, I just took over. So, now, the last two weeks look like the best weeks of the year. We're doing all sorts of fun stuff - gameshows, olympics, orienteering, making things go boom - and keeping it science. And if no kids show, well, that's just fine! We'll still have each other to talk to!

~~~~~

On the home front, all is well. The moth just turned 6 last week. On his birthday, I played "Birthday" by the Beatles to wake the boys up. I started singing "you say it's your birthday!" and Tim rolls over, out of sleep, and says "FINALLY!" What a cutie :)

He really is, though. Lately, the kids are really into John Williams music, since I bought them a 4 disk set. I have heard the theme song to Jaws about 10000 times; stinky adores it. But the best was when John and I were sitting in the living room and mothy runs through to the bathroom. All is quiet for a minute or two, and suddenly we hear the theme song to Star Wars. John turns to me and says "I guess everything came out ok." all deadpan. He's like that.

Sean has been working off a debt - he lost one of the two way radios we let him use, AGAIN. We let the boys roam pretty wildly in the back "meadow/forest", but we need to be able to contact them. (We used to let Sean roam the neighborhood with the radio until the time he called us about the white van without windows following him. Seriously. Sheesh, I have to stop watching LMN.) Anyhow, Sean has all these pockets in his cargo pants, but carries the radio in his hand. Puts it down to take a leak and forgets it. First time, we forgave. Second time, he's working off the debt to buy another one.

He works off the debt by picking up dog poop, of which we now have copious amounts. He actually enjoys running the vacuum, which is weird. But he's getting there. He is so excited for school to end, it's not funny. He hates school. Sad but true.

Tim, on the other hand, loves school, and his "cheachers". "Tim, it's TEACHER, t-t-teacher." "Oh, it starts with T? OK. T-t-cheacher."

Reminds me of c-c-c-bookie, Ron.

~~~~~

Another may done, another june to begin. Memorial day has passed and once again I stopped by to say hey to many of the ancestors. It's weird, but I actually like doing that. Kind of a - thanks for living and making it so I could too - gesture. Next year I think I'll take stinky with me. He'll groove on the graveyards, I think. But for now, it's a pilgrimage for mom and me. Makes her awfully sad, which I can understand. They're her brothers and sisters, her husband and parents. I think it makes her feel lonely. But I think she likes to do it, anyhow.

Hope you're all, all 3 of you who still look here once in a while, doing well. Maybe I'll stop by again sometime and let you know what the toilet song of the week is. (This week, it's Axel F. You know, from beverly hills cop and recently used in Monsters Vs Aliens. What can I say, my kids are weird, just like me.)

(*)>

What is Up with These Cover Songs

First, I heard the cover of Careless Whisper by Seether - a "post grunge" band that I know by their hits "Fine Again" and "Broken" (with Amy Lee) - the other day. WTF? It totally is not cool to hear these greezy white guys talking about the dance floor. George Michael must be hurtin' for cash.

But that doesn't end the annoying covers. This morning, I heard a haunting lyric - "shorty want a thug"... you may remember my post about this disturbing song, and now it's been remade, metal style, by some Breaking Benjamin wannabe called Framing Hanley.

Jaysus, canna they come up with their own crap?!?

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Story Songs

I was listening to Michael Smirkonish the other morning, as is my wont, and he had a topic near and dear to my heart.

It seems for some reason, someone played part of Lucille and Mr. Smirkonish ended up "singing" the whole thing. Which got them off on the topic of story songs. They then played Big Bad John and Boy Named Sue. 

When I think of Kenny Rogers, I think of Coward of the County - and I can still hear my mom yelling up: "Hey Girls, that song you like is on WARM!" (on the... Harry West, the Harry West Show -bum-bum). One of the callers brought up Marty Robbins's El Paso, which reminds me of my dad.

I was surprised, however, with the huge Philly connection that no one brought up Jim Croce. Though he wasn't Country/Western, dude told a heck of a story song: Operator, Leroy Brown, Rapid Roy, and, of course, my favorite (for its Superman reference) Don't Mess Around with Jim. 

Anyone have a story song to add?

(*)>

My Favorite Christmas Album -

when I was a kid.

My parents had a bunch of the True Value compilations... and this one, this song in particular, totally means Christmas to me.




And it's a better trip down memory lane than this one. For some reason, I got Annette and Frankie confused with Steve and Eydie in my head. Heavens Forbid!



And now back to the present. Later, gators!

(*)>

Fractured Carols

So, We're all familiar with the Jingle Bells/ Batman thing, which is canon. The grade schoolers since added a bit to start the Dashing through the snow verse, but didn't finish it. I've made an attempt. Here we go:


Batman's in the kitchen (verse beginning via sean confirmed internet)
Robin's in the hall
Joker's in the bathroom, peeing on the wall!
Penguin's eating boogies (verse completion a la hag, needs help)
says they taste like glue
Catwoman is hungry, so she'll eat boogies, too (edited 12/19 on Stinky advice)

Oh Jingle Bells
Batman Smells
Robin Laid an Egg
Batmobile lost its wheel and the Joker got away, hey!

And now for something really messed up: (or cool, if you're a geek like me. Via BigSis)



(*)>

Stayin' Alive...

So, I was listening to XPN yesterday (don't have XM in school) and the news block had the story that if you do CPR to Stayin' Alive, your chances of success are much higher. (And here, the music d.j. totally, totally brain farted. He said "Stayin' Alive, the famous song by the Beach Boys..." well, I guess they don't play disco, but still...)

It seems that the beat is just right, not to mention the message.

The writer of the linked article mentions, "For those of you less optimistic folks, Queen's classic, Another One Bites the Dust, also has the proper beat." Snicker.

(*)>

Memories Triggered

I was driving with my sprogs today, and this song came on the XM 60's channel.

Mary, do you remember this?



I have nothing to blog about. Reading A LOT. Went to the beach for a few days. My back is now molting (ewww). And that's all!

Oh, If OIL goes down to $50 per barrel, go to youtube and search for Lindsey Williams on Alex Jones. Stephen, if you're reading this, this guy is a paranoid whack job. But entertaining!

(*)>

In a Soft Rock Mood

"when the pain of love surrounds you and the world may be unkind
I'll put my loving arms around you, take you far from this place and time"
-Ambrosia

I really love this riff in this song - and a couple of other softies. What is it? Not the words. Sheesh. It's the harmony. If you like vocal harmony, just listen to this section of this song.

I've been able to load up my iPod every couple of days, because the boys and I are spending a lot of time walking. I can listen to tunes as I make sure they don't walk in front of a car. It has an added bonus of shielding my ears from their incessant back and forth jibes.

(did you know that Stinky is a dumb-head? Moth assures us all it is true.)

So, I leave you for the evening, as I listen to the crooning Philly sound of classic Hall and Oates... ahhh, Sarah, smile already. Your song makes me smile, fo sho.

(*)>

I Don't Like Boys

(No, this isn't a coming out post.)

As a person of Christian extraction, I really like the Advent season. And even though it has been taken over as the Christmas season, I'm okay with that. Not so much a purist here.

So, one of my recent holiday traditions is to listen to XM Classical Christmas. They're the only station where you'll here Good King Wenseslas, Carol of the Bells, Poulenc Motets, Britten's ceremony of carols, etc etc.

But they have this strange proclivity for playing boy choirs. I guess I'm weird. I like plain voice, like Cambridge singers, but I cannot tolerate the timbre of a boy's voice. It grates on my nerves. So, what to do? Why, gripe of course. Isn't that what blogs are for?

(*)>

For F’s Sake, Will You Die Already?

One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies.

Anyway.

How is it that Elliot Smith, indie god that he was, is still releasing new tunes 4 years post mortem? This is getting as ridiculous as Tupac and Big E back in the day.

~~~~~

I’m quite stunned at how different my boys are sometimes. Digging through my hard drive, I came across a bunch of songs that I recorded when Stinky was little. It’s funny as a crutch to hear him singing “prince awi” from Aladdin.

Moth, though a much more gregarious kid (and a better singer), has never done that. He sings when he’s playing with his trains (“accidents happen” usually, though “ymca” and the “brady bunch” themesong are recent contenders) and when he’s pooping (don’t ask. I don’t know.), but not when he’s just hanging out. And he won’t sing for me to record. Stinker.

~~~~~

School starts for me next week. My last course before student teaching. I’m feeling myself pull away from Spaceley’s, and it will be a pull. As much as the company feeling has stunk in the past 18 months, I love the people I work with. It’s been a good 10 years.

I also have started having nightmares. This always happens to me when I have a big change coming. I have to ground myself – what’s the worst that can happen? I don’t get a job in January, just student teach, and that will be stressful financially. No doubt. But we can make it through. But in the dark of the night, I’m terrified. What if I’m making a mistake?

Somehow, writing it here has exposed this fear for what it is: nonsensical. It’ll all be fine. I’m so excited to go teach kids. It’s going to be so much different than what I’m doing now. And it will be fine.

Sometimes, I’m too much like my mother. (Most times, though, I’m not enough like her. Now, isn’t that a strange dichotomy?)


(*)>

Three avian tales

6 vs. 36

Stinky is a big Harry Potter fan. He has been reading the books (or, rather, Dad has been reading them to him) and is in the midst of Prisoner of Azkaban. He has watched the first four movies. And, because he’ll never have another chance, I took him to a Harry Potter party the night of the Deathly Hallows release.

Through all the promotional stuff, he’s wanted to try the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans that Jelly Belly has made. I’ve said NO.

Well, I was in the store last week, and they had a box (little one) on the 50% off rack. Among the flavors are sausage, sardine, grass, dirt, earthworm, vomit, rotten egg, soap, booger, earwax. There are some normal ones, too, but good god. Anyhow. I broke down and bought one box.

Sean and I tried at least a nibble of each disgusting flavor. Oh, my god. They were revolting. I’m spitting and chewing gum trying to get over the flavor. Stinky? He’s saying YUKK but loving every minute of it. Maybe it’s because he’s a boy. Maybe it’s because he’s almost 7. But he certainly had fun, being grossed out.

~~~~~

So, I was watching some special on Elton John the other night (I still love his tunes. Find a better song than “Holiday Inn”. I dare you.) and I noted something weird. Every pop star they interviewed had to wear shades. What’s up with that? Sunglasses in the dark, the light, the decent lighting. Sunglasses all of the time. Why are they so afraid of people seeing their eyes? Afraid the window to the soul might show nobody’s home? I thought it mighty strange, anyhow.

And on the music front, if you’ve heard of Blackfield and like or dislike them, drop me a note. I have one song of theirs from a music journal I get, and they seem really cool. But before I drop $$ on them… reviews?

~~~~~

And a Mothman chronicle, for your dubious enjoyment. Tim has got all the charisma that his father, mother, and brother are lacking. It’s like we stored it up and gave it to him. Wherever he goes, he’s the center of all the kids. Well, John took them to the pool the other night (as they do almost every night), and Mothy hooked up with a new group of peeps. He was trying to get one little girl’s attention, but didn’t know her name.

“Hey, friend! Friend? Look at this, friend!”

Now, that’s a healthy outlook on life, no? Must be all the church we take him to. Of course, we haven’t been going this summer, because he’s a bit too loud, and there’s no Sunday school in the summer. So he asks, every week, “Can we go to church?” We decided to go to church last week. We went to the 8:30, because it’s shorter (no tunes) and the kids don’t have to sit still as long.

About halfway through the service, Tim started getting very upset.

“Where’s the toys?!” he ‘whispered’ to me.

Apparently, since he was only 3 last year, he got to play with toys during church school. Well, hey. When we went to leave, he looked up at me with a delightful glower. “I wanna go to play church. Not this church.”

So, we’re back to waiting til September to go back to church.

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The Internet Totally Rules, Part 2 (?)

You know, every once in a while, there’s something that gets in your head that you have to track down. Correct that – if you’re a crazy type-A birdwoman, something gets in your head and you have to track it down. (Yes, dear MIL, I am reading Kitchen Table Wisdom. But the force is strong in this one, and I will not learn to let go for many years, I assure you.)

As many of you may know, I’m studying to be a teacher. One of the pedagogy classes I just finished had us trying to find many different ways of teaching the same material. One of the ways that always reaches out to me (as it would to any self-respecting songbird) is music. Since I’m headed for teaching middle-school science and math, music is a strange but effective tie-in.

Effective, you say?

“to understand the fundamental facts of energy, you must have a working knowledge of its terminology. From atoms down to x-rays, come along and sing with me the ABC’s and 123’s of energy…”

-Tom Glazer and Dottie
Evans, What is Energy, pt 1, as played ad nauseum in Mr. Todrick’s 5th grade “science and music” class. Where it became an earworm of huge proportions for certain members of the birdwoman clan.

So, this song, or rather the "energy in motion is kinetic" "energy that's waiting is potential" song, got stuck in my head when I was writing up a paper for my class. I Googled it today. And, what d’ya know? Jef P. has taken those cool, hip records and provided mp3’s for all of us nostalgic 30-40 somethings to hum along with.

Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go spam my sister’s mailbox with the crazy chemical energy song. Heh.

(*)>

Flattery By Imitation

There are no new ideas under the sun. Music, like every other human endeavor, goes through cycles. In pop music, there are cycles where certain “classic” artists are covered by the newbies. Sometimes, this is done in a tribute, but sometimes it’s just serendipitous.

Supertramp has been the recipient of flattery by imitation lately. First the Goo Goo Dolls covered “Give A Little Bit.” This cover added nothing to the original, but did show a new generation that the old generation could write a darn good lick.

Then a band called Gym Class Heroes wrote a song which takes a riff from “Breakfast in America” and used it in a very clever manner – I think that’s when I like pop best; when it’s clever.

But no matter how clever, the original “Breakfast In America” is still better. Sorry, Heroes.


Oh, a side note on another pop “song”. This dude who goes by the moniker MIMS has a song “this is why I’m hot”. I simply do not understand the appeal of such egocentricism. So, in my usual MO, I make fun of him. I’m ranting on it at supper the other night, saying stuff like “This is why I’m hot?! If he’s so hot, perhaps he ought to take off his sweater, turn off the furnace, open the window, or drink a long, tall, cold one.” Stinky puts down his fork, looks over at me, and states, “Maybe he means ‘hot’ like ‘cool’, ya’ know?” GAK!

(*)>

What Happened to Kim Ferron?

I was listening to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack today. I love some of the songs on there, but the song "Nothing but You" is just awesome. Awesome.

I decided to see if the artist had anything else in iTunes. Nada.

I did a google search. Only the Dean Guitars website has anything on her - hinting that there was a debut album in 2000 and linking to the official website - which has been taken down.

Kim Ferron, if you're out there, you have an amazing talent. I hope to hear more of your stuff somewhere.

(*)>

I lied

two more posts. I've not had the chance to update in weeks... so here's some fodder.

We were watching some music videos the other night, and they had a spate of classic rockers on. They had ELP, the Stones, Yes, CS&N, and others. John asked if CSN were american. I said I thought so, David Crosby, yes, but I didn't know about Steven Stills or Graham Nash. John, in his culturally sensitive manner, said "Graham's a Brit name, like Ian or Colin. I'll bet that guy's a limey."

Wikipedia to the rescue. Yes, Nash is British born. I didn't realize just what a soap opera the bands of the late 60's early 70's were! Crosby got kicked out of the Byrds for hanging with Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield. They partner swapped again with the Hollies, stealing Nash, and forming CSN.

ELP wasn't much better, and went on to spawn Asia (yikes).

But, as the VH1Classic show we were watching played the songs you don't hear so much, it was really neat. I heard Zepplin I'd forgotten I liked, as well as ELP I didn't know I liked. If only iTunes sold it all!

(*)>

Never Gonna Fall in Love Again

So, as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve taken to listening to XM110 (the greatest hits of the last 1000 years) while I drive. It usually calms me and has an added benefit of not getting songs stuck in my head. Usually.

Today, however, they were playing Rachmaninov’s second symphony.

I don’t know which movement – either second or third, because it wasn’t first or last – but one of the movements’ theme was stolen by Eric Carmen. It totally stinks, because I couldn’t listen to the symphony without hearing that song (kinda like when a certain Chopin prelude evokes Barry Manilow), and “Never Gonna Fall In Love Again” is now stuck in my head.

Arrgh!

(*)>

My Favorite Charity

I subscribe to a magazine that’s been through hell. They have a hard time getting to publication; they are in a business that’s going the way of the dodo. Yet, I continue to subscribe.

There were times when we’d go a month or more without a copy, but then, like a resuscitated heart patient, another copy would come in the mail.

What is this magazine?

College Music Journal, now called CMJ New Music Monthly.

They expose all kinds of music and they have fantastic reviews. Nothing you can’t get off iTunes these days, however. They send you a disk of about 20 new songs on a monthly, maybe bi-monthly basis. Again, the internet provides the same.

At one point, they had new publishers coming in and they were giving a presentation for better funding – September 12, 2001 was the day scheduled for that – in Windows on the World, I believe. So runs the luck of this magazine.

But they still rock. I just re-upped for 3 years, even if they’ll only be around for one. I figure it’s just as worthy as a check to some arts fund, who would just use my money to buy politicians…


(*)>