This is the other song I can’t get out of my head….
It’s like a bridge song between two phases in my life….
At college, at Washington and Lee, we would dance to Martha and the Vandella’s singing this song…
Then Bowie and Mick did it in the early 80’s when we were moving out to the “real world.”
It was the MTV era and this played constantly….
And no one, but Bowie, could pull off a faux camo, pseudo paisley jumpsuit….
Filed under Uncategorized
One of my colleagues at work today asked me to cover for her in September while she went to a wedding.
I said, sure, but asked her where she was going…
She said home to Allentown, Pennsylvania….
I haven’t been able to get this song out of my head ever since…
I’ve loved Billy Joel since “Piano Man”, one of the great songs of my generation. Right up there with Carly Simon’s “That’s the Way I Always Heard It Should Be” as an anthem for my generation. And our parent’s generation….
Most people love the “Stranger Album” and I do, too. But my favorite will always be “Turnstiles”. Wonderful album. Less commercial, but….”James”….”Say Good Bye To Hollywood”….”I’ve Loved These Days”…and a true classic: “New York State of Mind….
But “Allentown” is still so timely….
I love Billy Joel and always will…
Even if he aged worse than I did….
Filed under Uncategorized
For some strange, unknown, reason, I thought of this song tonight.
It was a modest hit when I was like 12 years old…
Even then, I must have had nostalgia issues….
But….I came across this video that is just too strange not to share….
Enjoy!
I hope….
Or, whatever…..
Filed under Uncategorized
I don’t thing anyone of my generation would ask any questions if anyone said: “Do you remember 54.”
To those of us in small towns across the country, it was our Mecca….
A place we dreamed of and hoped to visit one day to pay our respects….
And it was so totally egalitarian and accessible…
As long as you were young and cute….
Bianca, Liza, Andy, Mick….
You could have met them all if you could have just gotten to the door and been cute enough to get in….
And we all thought we were cute enough then….
Money wasn’t the currency: cuteness was….
And we all thought: “If only we could get there…”
I’ve been to so many shows at the theatre that replaced Studio 54.
Each time I walk in, I think of 54 and the disco ghosts I missed….
Filed under Uncategorized
This article on the Huffington Post relates to a new rule the FCC is working on to prohibit or limit autodialers calling cell phones.
A few thoughts:
Many pollsters are worried that the small ruling will have outsized impact, making it difficult to gauge public opinion on a wide range of issues. It could “create a political system where politicians can do whatever they want without knowing what the public thinks,” Mollyann Brodie, president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, told The Huffington Post. “It should be of grave concern to both our political leaders and the American public at large.”
Since when do Lawmakers pay attention to public opinion? If they did we would have at least some basic Gun Control laws and be expanding, not putting at risk, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Lawmakers only care what their rich donor’s think.
I’m waiting for the election where all the polls turn out to be wrong and worthless. I don’t think that’s too far away-autodialer or not.
More: Pollsters Worried FCC Chairman Doesn’t Care If They Go Out Of Business.
Filed under Uncategorized
Most people have forgotten about the debates between William F Buckley and Gore Vidal. They were riveting television for the intellectual and political classes and turned into entertainment for the masses. They are legendary in the Gay community for Buckley calling Vidal a “queer” on national television in 1968.
Many people see these debates as the beginning of the loss of civility in public political conversations. I see them as the beginning of the end of civility, in general, when two such famously civilized men acted this way in public.
Some would say they were also, to a degree, the precursor to the Alexis/Crystal battles on “Dynasty” some years later. A Cat Fight Supreme….
And it was the beginning of the move towards confrontational, partisan “journalism” that poisons the airwaves today by focusing more on entertainment value and opinions than on presenting facts.
But, I loved Gore Vidal and his writing.
And I can’t wait to see this documentary!
Review From Michael M. Grynbaum in the New York Times:
Before partisan panels, split-screen shoutfests and brash personalities became ubiquitous on cable news, there were two men who despised each other sitting side by side on a drab soundstage, debating politics in prime time during the presidential nominating conventions of 1968. There were Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr.
Literary aristocrats and ideological foes, Vidal and Buckley attracted millions of viewers to what, at the time, was a highly irregular experiment: the spectacle of two brilliant minds slugging it out — once, almost literally — on live television. It was witty, erudite and ultimately vicious, an early intrusion of full-contact punditry into the staid pastures of the evening news.
What transpired would alter both men’s lives — and, as a new documentary argues, help change the course of how the American political media reports the news. “Best of Enemies,” which opens July 31, makes the case that their on-screen feuding opened the floodgates for today’s opinionated, conflict-driven coverage.
More: Buckley vs. Vidal: When Debate Became Bloodsport – The New York Times.
And here is the Trailer:
Filed under Uncategorized
We have a sick dog…
A middle aged, Rescue Dog with a history of abuse that has come so far thanks to Loving Pet Inn Adoptions, his Foster Mom, his trainer and us….
He now has an injured paw that requires a “collar” to keep him from chewing on it…
With a Rescue Dog, this is a big challenge….
I’m so grateful to our supportive friends and excellent vet that have guided us through this little mini-trauma…
But I also can’t help but think of Cecil the Lion and that whole horrible story…..
Animals really are a gift to us all. If there is a god or goddess, they are their way of bringing us down to earth and the basics of existence.
And the basics of love…
Filed under Uncategorized
I just had a moment that reminded me of this old blog post…
Amatuer cooks really should not have good knives…
I just got some really good knives…and almost had to call the EMT’s.
I was trying to make a tomato sandwhich, with Duke’s Mayonnaise of course….
The knife slipped and it suddenly looked like the Manson Family had come to visit…
I do love good knives, but I may have to accept my limitations….
Maybe dull Dollar Store knives really are best and safest for me.
But anyway….
Here is an excerpt and the link to the older blog post:
As I said before, my Mother really could not- or would not- cook.
She always blamed my Grandmother. She said she never bothered to teach her. Or she blamed my Aunt Goldie, who she said stopped my Grandmother from teaching her because she was too little and fragile.
Both my Grandmother and my Aunt Goldie were wonderful cooks. My Grandmother’s kitchen was about the size of a walk in closet, but she could turn out delicious Holiday meals, made from scratch, for a dozen people without seeming to make much effort. She cooked 3 meals a day until the day she died.
Goldie lived for “Southern Living Magazine” and sometimes seemed to try every recipe in every issue.
My Mother would call from work and ask if we wanted anything from the Drive Thru on her way home…
More: Kotex and Funeral Pies
Filed under Uncategorized
I always think of this song when the political Campaign season starts heating up….
And I love this version by Three Dog Night….
Who else remembers Three Dog Night? They were really big when I was an early teen and had so many hits in the 1970’s.
Jeremiah was a bullfrog….
This was one of their best….
Filed under Uncategorized
Addiction is such a cruel thing. And perhaps the cruelest part is that it impacts more than the addict….
Poor Bobbi Kristina Brown never really had a chance….
It just compounds the tragedy of her Mother, Whitney Houston’s, death that her only daughter follows so closely behind her…
And I know Whitney must have hoped for so much more on so many fronts…..
Somehow, Liza, Lorna and Joey seem to have survived Judy Garland’s issues. Liza, especially, has had her struggles with addiction.
But our generation’s Judy Garland, Whitney Houston, didn’t have a child that strong….
So, so sad….
Filed under Uncategorized
Lost in the 21st Century 