It's basically what it says...I have constant random thoughts enter my brain every day...and when I don't... I read about extreme acts of stupidity of other people...so why not share!?
I'm back with another exciting episode of The Beanbag Chronicles.
These were the songs that eased a pimply faced, greasy feathered haired, desert shoe wearing, freckled and bespectacled, hormone raging pre-teenager sitting in my bean bag chair, with my big clunky head phones on, basking in the glow of my lava lamp and multiple candles dripping on old Chianti bottles that my parents threw away.
As with most 7th and 8th graders who start to become sexually aware of "things", Mother Nature plays a nasty trick on you and decides to turn you into the most revolting creature on earth!I turned to music and clung to the tunes that I thought must have been written by people who could have read my mind and knew exactly what kind of torment I was going through.
I had an exciting find while rummaging through my tub 0' photos! I found an actual picture of the beanbag altar!
Here is was:
This was taken when I was a little older...like high school old! I can tell because I had my varsity letter in this picture and the old Chianti bottles were replaced with bottles of wine I actually drank. Some horrible stuff like Reunite Lambrusco or something equally nauseating!
The ol' lava lamp is up in the far right corner...covered by a puppet or something. I was Waaay too cool for lava lamps in high school...I graduated to BIG lollipops and pickled people instead.
Sheesh!!
Compared to my little sketch...I wasn't too far off I don't think?
So...back to the chronicles.
With the last few posts most of you must think I was a semi-suicidal pre-teen.
Not really - I think for the most part I was a happy kid. Moody...but generally happy.
I thought I would "pep it up a bit" this week and post one of my all time favorite artists!
The Captain and Tennille!
These records nearly drove my family absolutely crazy because I played them constantly.
I think Toni Tennille was the first crush that I had on a celebrity. It was something about that blond bobbed, big teeth, big boned gal that I just couldn't get enough of.
The Captain - eh...He kind of freaked me out a little.
:::sigh:::
Anyway - it's Friday...the weekend is here and it's time for some happy music to get it started off right!
I'm off to California today for another conference. I'm just about all out of steam, it's been kind of a hectic month.
This is the last one for a while thankfully!!!
BUT...I couldn't leave without some leaving you some depressing music from my pre-teen years to get you through the weekend!
That's right...it's time for another episode of "The Beanbag Chronicles"
These were the songs that eased a pimply faced, greasy feathered haired, desert shoe wearing, freckled and bespectacled, hormone raging pre-teenager sitting in my bean bag chair, with my big clunky head phones on, basking in the glow of my lava lamp and multiple candles dripping on old Chianti bottles that my parents threw away.
As with most 7th and 8th graders just when you start to become sexually aware of "things", Mother Nature plays a nasty trick on you and decides to turn you into the most revolting creature on earth!
I turned to music and clung to the tunes that I thought must have been written by people who could have read my mind and knew exactly what kind of torment I was going through.
No awkward pre-teen depression would be complete with out some music by the Carpenters.
Even people who never liked the Carpenters, know all the words to their songs and will sing along whenever they play them on the radio.
Oh...Karen....poor Karen. Such talent...so pretty and so tormented by her own demons. There will never, EVER be a voice as silky, smooth or as beautiful as hers.
She battled with depression and anorexia and in the end her tired broken heart just gave out on her.
It's hard to pick just "one" of their songs for this series...so many of them tell of loneliness, heartbreak, depression and a longing to find the love that will make that all go away.
Rainy Days and Mondays It's Going to Take some Time Again I Won't Last a Day Without You Masquerade Hurting Each Other Goodbye to Love
:::sigh:::
They had quite a few heartbreak songs.
The one I've picked for today is: I Need to Be in Love
I used to sing this song, in my hairbrush at the top of my lungs - only Karen knew my pain...
So here I am with pockets full of good intentions
But none of them will comfort me tonight
I'm wide awake at 4 a.m. without a friend in sight
I'm hanging on a hope but I'm all right
I know I need to be in love
I know I've wasted too much time
I know I ask perfection of a quite imperfect world
Driving home from work the other evening, I selected a playlist on my iPod that I must have created a while ago and have no recollection of creating it!
The songs were all female artists...most of them are kind of what you would consider sappy songs.
Slow...kind of mellow...
...then one song came back and I was immediately transported back to when I was in 7th grade. A pimply faced, greasy feathered haired, desert shoe wearing, freckled and bespectacled, hormone raging pre-teenager sitting in my bean bag chair, with my big clunky head phones on, basking in the glow of my lava lamp and multiple candles dripping on old Chianti bottles that my parents threw away.
Stacked on my record player were 3 or 4 albums of pre-teenage "I'll never fall in love" songs that will depress even the cheeriest.
Remember those days?
Your body is starting to mature, you're becoming sexually aware of "things" and at the same time Mother Nature plays a nasty trick on you and decides to turn you into the most revolting creature on earth!
And so...I was brilliantly inspired for my next series of heart wrenching, ear bleeding, nauseating songs.
But...at the time...when I thought I would never find my "special someone", they were what comforted me.
I've mentioned it before, but I was a total teenie bopper. My sister, who is 4 years older than me, was far cooler and into artists like Led Zepplin, Greg Allman, The Rolling Stone, the Beatles and more of the rock genre.
I was teased relentlessly for my taste in music as a kid, but hey...it made me happy at the time and my tastes have "matured and developed" since then!
This first song, and the inspiration for the series, was done Helen Reddy.
Don't worry it is NOT: "I Am Woman"!
This was one of her lesser known misses, but it was perfect for the adolescent little me who was hoping someday to fall in love.
When I was telling M about this song...she remembered it too and she was more from the cool rock genre kind of kids (more the Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath girl actually) , so I didn't feel all that bad about it.
The first line of the song sets the mood for sure, but it's the "oooohhhhaaaaaaahhhaaahhhh" that really gets me!
:::sigh:::
Those were the days!
Oh...and I have many, many, MANY more!
Tune in next week kids for another heart wrenching episode of "The Beanbag Chronicles"!
These were the songs that eased a pimply faced, greasy feathered haired, desert shoe wearing, freckled and bespectacled, hormone raging pre-teenager sitting in my bean bag chair, with my big clunky head phones on, basking in the glow of my lava lamp and multiple candles dripping on old Chianti bottles that my parents threw away.
As with most 7th and 8th graders who start to become sexually aware of "things", Mother Nature plays a nasty trick on you and decides to turn you into the most revolting creature on earth!
I turned to music and clung to the tunes that I thought must have been written by people who could have read my mind and knew exactly what kind of torment I was going through.
This week’s song is Diary, by Bread.
I still tear up when I hear this song sometimes.
The premise is basically – this guy reads this girls diary (why he was reading it in the first place is a conversation for another time), so he thinks that she’s really got the hots for him, only to find out that she likes someone else.
Here are some of the lyrics in case you aren’t familiar with the song:
I found her diary underneath a tree, And started reading about me. The words began to stick and tears to flow Her meaning now was clear to see. The love she'd waited for Was someone else not me.
How many of us felt his pain?
Ohhhhhhh, the humanity!
You gotta love the synthesized guitar in the background that kind of goes: beeeewwweeerreeerrr, boooowweeerrrreeerrrr.
Happy 4th all! Hope you get to see some fireworks!
I was going through the old albums gathering dust here in my basement and trying to find the perfect selection for this week.
Let's see...we've already heard from: Helen Reddy, Jim Croce, Bread, The Carpenters, the Captain and Tennille...oh...there are plenty more.
Just by what I've posted already...you can see I lean more toward the teenie bopper pop stuff.
Every once in a while though...there would be an artist of unparalleled talent that would just make my little 12 year old self get all tingly inside.
An artist so wonderful, so phenomenal...I just knew he was destined for great things in his life.
And technically...I wasn't wrong....but....
Well, you'll see in a minute.
I just remember when this album came out...I just had to have it.
I was staying up at my Aunt and Uncle's house for a week during the summer. I had saved up my allowance for like 3 weeks to buy it. My cousin J, who I thought was just sooooo totally cool actually took me to the store to get it. She was about 18, very pretty, very smart, fun, crafty...just like...everything I wanted to be when I grew up.
The fact that she took me to the record store to buy this...sealed the deal on her coolness.
She even let me play it on HER stereo.
I mean...how cool is that?
At the time...the artist was really starting to peak in his career. Most folks from my generation will remember his as Vinnie Barbarino from Welcome Back Kotter.
He's the guy sitting on the lower left corner! Recognize him?
Yup...John Travolta!
Did you know he had an album?
Yeah...he did.
This was BEFORE Saturday Night Fever and Grease.
It was pretty bad.
I think I played it about 5 times. and then never played it again.
I did look at his picture a lot though - he was kind of dreamy back then!
Look at those blue eyes and cute little dimple on his chin.
:::sigh:::
So...it wasn't one of my better purchases, but I think I can retain the bragging rights to say that I was one of the 10 people in the United States that actually bought this album.
I just wish I still had it...it's a collectors item now for sure!
So...happy Friday all - try not to cringe too much with this one...I know it's bad but give me a break..I WAS 12!!!
These were the songs that eased a pimply faced, greasy feathered haired, desert shoe wearing, freckled and bespectacled, hormone raging pre-teenager sitting in my bean bag chair, with my big clunky head phones on, basking in the glow of my lava lamp and multiple candles dripping on old Chianti bottles that my parents threw away.
As with most 7th and 8th graders just when you start to become sexually aware of "things", Mother Nature plays a nasty trick on you and decides to turn you into the most revolting creature on earth!
I turned to music and clung to the tunes that I thought must have been written by people who could have read my mind and knew exactly what kind of torment I was going through.
This week the song I’ve chosen is: Operator, by Jim Croce. He was like the original "sensitive guy" wasn't he?
The guitar in Jim Croce’s songs was what made me go out and take lessons when I was in 6th grade.
Muehleisen was a classically trained pianist who took up the guitar at age 17. His own career as a singer/songwriter didn’t go far, but he later paired up with Jim Croce and became his lead guitarist.
Unfortunately, both Jim Croce and Maury Muehleisen were killed in the same plane crash on September 20th, 1973.
That was a very sad day.
I remember sitting in my friend Sue’s house playing his album over and over again…I think we nearly wore it out.
Here is an interesting tid-bit from Song Facts: In 2000, the Martin guitar company produced 73 guitars in honor of Jim Croce. In each of these guitars, an uncirculated 1973 dime was inserted in the third fret fingerboard in honor of this song and the final line, "You can keep the dime."
I'm taking a break from the Beanbag Chronicles to bring you a special edition of:
Drippin' with Cheeze
I give a big thanks to my big sis "Neetzy" over at Negative Space because I have never heard of this song before. (You gotta get some of your paintings up there Sis!)
What happens if you get trapped in a coal mine with your friends and you start to run out of food and water?
I guess our basic instinct to survive kicks in and "you do what you gotta do" ya know?!
The song was writing by Rupert Holmes - you know - Mr. Pina Colada guy, and when I looked up the info about this on Song Facts he has this to say about how the song came about:
Holmes: "At the time, I was working on an arrangement of '16 Tons,' the Tennessee Ernie Ford hit from the '50s, for an artist named Andy Kim. While I was working on the arrangement, there was a cooking show on the TV in the kitchen. It was called The Galloping Gourmet with Graham Kerr. It's on in the background and I'm singing the lyrics to '16 Tons,' playing it to a kind of vamp sort of like 'Proud Mary,' and I sing 'Some people say a man is made out of mud, a coal man's made out of muscle and blood. Muscle and blood and skin and bones, a mind that's weak and a back that's...' and I think, you know, that almost sounds like a recipe - muscle and blood and skin and bones, bake in a moderate oven for 2 hours, top with Miracle Whip. I had seen the movie Suddenly Last Summer about a week earlier on TV, and it had a revelation about cannibalism in it, and I thought, If it's good enough for Tennessee Williams, it's good enough for The Buoys. So I thought, Cannibalism during a mining disaster, that'll get banned. It's not like I'm really telling people to go out and eat someone, this is just this dark, horrible thing that happened in this story. So I write this lyric: 'Timothy, Timothy, where on Earth did you go?' It's about three boys who are trapped in a mine with water but no food for maybe a week. When they're pulled free, they don't remember what happened, but they know they're not hungry. One of them is missing, and that's Timothy. We record this on the weekend and I don't think about it again."
I don't think I can add anymore to this story...so here you go!
Bon apetite!
Timothy Written by Rupert Holmes Sung by: The Bouys
Trapped in a mine that had caved in And everyone knows the only ones left Were Joe and me and Tim When they broke through to pull us free The only ones left to tell the tale Were Joe and me
Timothy, Timothy, where on earth did you go? Timothy, Timothy, God why don't I know?
Hungry as hell no food to eat And Joe said that he would sell his soul For just a piece of meat Water enough to drink for two And Joe said to me, "I'll have a swig And then there's some for you."
Timothy, Timothy, Joe was looking at you Timothy, Timothy, God what did we do?
I must have blacked out just around then 'Cause the very next thing that I could see Was the light of the day again My stomach was full as it could be And nobody ever got around To finding Timothy Timothy...
Here in the Garden state it's about 68 degrees(well...it was when I first started writing this...but I've had a few interruptions)...the skies are clear, bright and blue and the weekend looks like it's going to be beautiful, warm and sunny!
It's good to be alive on days like this.
Since normally my Friday blogs have something to do with music, I wanted to keep the same theme going here.
I'm taking a bit of a break from my normal posting of songs that are "so bad but you still sing along with anyway" to post something a bit different.
Not to worry though...I will have more musical mutations for you in the upcoming weeks!
Today I just want to post something about one of my all time favorite groups.
aaaannnd the reason I'm doing this post today is because we saw them in concert last night and they were freakin' AWESOME!!!
M had told me this group was coming to one of the small concert venues near us and asked if I would like to go!
Hell yeah!
There were three bands that were playing. The first one...eh....the second one...FREAKIN' AWESOME...the third one..eh.
We had lawn seats...which were fine because I wanted to "hear" the music more than "see" the groups. Plus it was a beautiful night to be outside.
The first group that sang was Cheap Trick. Not one of my favorites, but I did know the songs they played.
They really had a hard time pulling it together on a few songs and Robin Zander's voice cracked a bit. We did get to see one of those crazy 5 necked guitars though...that was kind of fun.
It was very intersting to see a lot of Mom's and Dad's who brought their kids to this concert. The Mom's and Dad's who are all in their 40's, 50's and perhaps 60's were rockin' out while the kids - mostly teenagers...sang right along with them.
I don't know about you, but I never went to a rock concert with my Mom and Dad.
M rocked out!
She sang every song!
Next up....the best act all night in my opinion!
The beautiful and talented sisters from the Northwest: Ann and Nancy Wilson from Heart.
They were fucking amazing!
They were polished and had a clean sound and Ann's voice!!!! Oh...that woman has THE most beautiful and THE most powerful female rock voices in the world. It's clean and it's clear and she can scream without sounding harsh and belt out blues that will just make you weep.
I LOVE...Heart!
Love them.
Nancy is no slouch either!!!! She can play that freakin' guitar and mandolin and dance and jump all over the damn stage and still sing like an angel.
Both women look fabulous! Just gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!
The band...awesome!
You can tell that they enjoy playing together and they know each other and are professional and talented...and I could go on and on...but I won't because...I just won't...that's why!
The very last band to play was Journey.
What can I say about Journey?
I had one of their albums when I was a teenager. I knew a couple of their songs...and I liked those couple of songs but I always thought Steve Perry was kind of freaky looking.
He was short...he had a big nose and long stringy hair.
I could listen to them...but not watch them!
Well Steve Perry isn't with the group any more and they found this guy - Arnel Pineda to replace Perry who is this freakishly amazing Steve Perry imitator. He is the same build and has the same hair and dances around like a wild man on stage...but the voice...was....the....EXACT same as Perry.
It was a bit freaky.
More than a bit freaky.
Anyway...there were a lot of "wiseguy" wanna-be's in the crowd and I guess they were there to hear "Don't Stop Believing ". (Oh...and I didn't know this song was part of the last scene in the Soprano's because I never watched the show)
We stayed to hear about 3 songs and that was enough.
I still was on the Heart high and didn't want to ruin the moment by listening to the drunken' Jersey boys screamin' to Journey. (It ain't pretty I gotta tell ya)
The dilemma I face was trying to pick the best Heart song to post for today.
That isn't easy.
I could go the easy route and go with the standard: Barracuda
Both are fine...but I wanted to post something that I thought really showed off the talents of both sisters.
And...this is kind of my favorite song of theirs and it's my blog....so deal!
The beginning of this song is one of the main reasons why I love the guitar as an instrument. Nancy plays this beautiful classical intro which shows off her talent as a musician and then BAM...it opens up and Ann belts out the lyrics as only she can.
Originally, this song was played with a quick tempo, but in later years they slowed it down...made it more bluesy and gave it much more emotion. I prefer the slower version ...it grabs you and holds you til the end.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a You Tube clip that shows both versions the way I heard it last night, so I've posted versions of each and then you can use your imagination on how they would sound if you took that brilliant intro part....slowed it down and then add Ann's heartfelt singing to the second half.
I totally recommend cranking these up while listening in order to get the full effect!
So...back to the chronicles.
These records nearly drove my family absolutely crazy because I played them constantly.
