For each letter of the A to Z, I'm going to give you a KEYWORD.
You post in the comments a song with that word in the title. I will
give you one to start (along with a video). If you like, you can go to
YouTube and embed your video in the comments, so that readers can also
listen to your song. No repeats and only post one song so
that everyone can participate. If you're just brimming with songs, come
back in a few days and lay it on me! If you want to see who else is
participating in the A to Z click here.
You guys didgreat with yesterday's word: Rain. Here are the songs you thought of with Rain in the title:
Mary: Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head by BJ Thomas and Rainy Days and Mondays by The Carpenters and Rain Is A Good Thing by Luke Bryan
Rosey: Fire and Rain by James Taylor and Have You Ever Seen The Rain by CCR
Michele: Who'll Stop The Rain? by CCR and Let It Rain by Eric Clapton
Andrea: I Love A Rainy Night by Eddie Rabbit
Birgit: Singin' In The Rain by Gene Kelly
Marcy: No Rain by Blind Melon
Ericka: Make It Rain by Ed Sheeran
Jeffrey: Mandolin Rain by Bruce Hornsby and the Range
Holli: Here Comes The Rain Again by The Eurythmics
Guilie: Why does Always Rain On Me? by Travis
Mich: Raining Blood by Slayer and Kiss The Rain by Billie Myers
Arlee: Rain by The Beatles
Stephen T. McCarthy: Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35 by Bob Dylan
betty: Rainy Days and Mondays (again)
Rebecca: Rain Is A Good Thing (again)
Mike: The Rain Song by Led Zeppelin
D.G. Hudson: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall by Bob Dylan
ABFTS: I Guess It's Gonna Rain Today by Sondre Lerche
Larry: Rain on the Scarecrow by John Mellencamp
John: Raindrops by Dee Clark
Robin (yes, me again): I Wish It Would Rain Down by Phil Collins
and Songs About Rain by Gary Allan
If you can think of more songs from previous letters and WANT to post
them now, feel free to go back and add them:)
It's a new day and a new letter!
What is the KEYWORD?
You can use any word with summer as the root word. Like this:
I present to you....Summertime by Kenny Chesney.
You can comment with a song or embed the video by copy/pasting the code in the search bar. Thanks for playing along!
Special thanks to Arlee Bird and
the A to Z team who make this possible!
Well, this "battle" wasn't much of a battle. I actually think it may have been more interesting if I'd put Diamond Rio, Steve Wariner, and Lee Roy Parnell up against Merle Haggard. Believe it or not, I actually had a different guy up against these powerhouses and my mom said, "That guy is awful compared to the other group." So, I changed it. Turns out, Craig Wayne Boyd didn't fare so good against them either. Go figure.
Like the majority of you, my vote goes to the powerhouse "trio." As you can see with the final tally, I'm lucky this wasn't a shutout.
Diamond Rio, Steve Wariner, and Lee Roy Parnell: 20 votes (inc. mine)
Craig Wayne Boyd: 3
Once again, I realize I blithely skipped over something important from the spring of my junior year in the haste to talk about my horrible summer waitressing job. So, I'm gonna back up for a moment.
Remember when I said all of the women on my dad's side of the family are fairly psychic? No? Well, I've said it a couple of times. Sometimes that just means really good intuition. Other times it's crap like this:
For months, at night as I'd lie in bed (really wanting to sleep) I'd have this feeling.
It was flesh against metal and I'd taste blood in my mouth.
It was creepy. And terrifying. Really disturbing. It was also nearly every night.
It got to the point that I told my friends about it.
You see, I was fairly certain I was going to die.
Of course, the feeling never yielded anything more than what I just told you. I had no idea of any details.
My friends all yucked it up and thought it was silliness. I guess. I know they didn't take me seriously. And I can't say I blame them. It was all really vague.
Plus, they weren't the ones clenching the bed sheets with the bizarre sensation of metal against flesh (but no actual pain) and the taste of blood in their mouth. Nope. That was all me.
When I found out my cousin's daughter was killed by a car, I didn't make the connection at first.
Yeah, you read that right.
She was killed.
This was the same little girl I spent so much time with at Christmas. The one who didn't have any lines on her palms. She was seven. Her dad had been out of work (laid off), so he was taking her to the bus stop. This was his first day back to work. So, a neighbor who also had kids took her (and her two year old brother) to the stop. The stop was inconveniently placed on the other side of a hill. My little cousin ran out into the road just as a car was coming (way too fast) over that hill. The driver was a high school kid late for school.
The whole thing was horribly tragic. It's been over twenty years, and my cousin still misses her daughter.
For me, as soon as she died the nightly trauma stopped. Like that. No more lying in bed feeling metal on flesh with blood in my mouth. I told God I didn't want any more of that. If the information doesn't actually help someone or make someone happy then I don't want it. I've not experienced anything like that again (terrifying and vague).
Every now and then I pull out pictures from that time. I always wonder who she'd be today...
If you're enjoying these posts, feel free to share your own
Soundtrack. This isn't a hop. No requirements at all, but a suggestion
to do it one song at a time. (If you participated in the hop several
years ago, you can still do this. Just post them one song at a time,
with the freedom to add more songs if you'd like.) I'll link to all
participants at the bottom of each of these posts:
According to my calendar, I have something special slated here for Monday, June 2. So that means I am running Battle of the Bands one day early AGAIN. I want to give you folks a chance to vote before it is GONE.Well, not gone, but covered up by another post. You know what I mean.
And I also want to say a Huge Thank You for all of the wonderful comments on my last post. Since I wrote it, I have spent my mornings (which turns out to be my most productive writing time) on my novel. I am actually moving forward again, which feels great. Susan commented yesterday and said something about facing a similar decision. We must decide if we are bloggers who write or writers who blog. I didn't use the quotation marks because I am not sure I got it precisely right. But that is/was my dilemma in a nutshell. My blog was taking priority over my writing and I was a blogger who writes (sometimes, when I can fit it in). Now I am writing daily and I read blogs when I can fit it in. So far, it is working fairly well. I FEEL much better. Going back to the wind sock analogy... I feel free and am riding the wind. It is good.
Let's move on to Battle of The Bands.
My mom and I have been singing karaoke on Friday nights for a while now. Not every Friday night. But most. A couple of weeks ago, a guy sung this song. I knew the song, but I also knew he was singing a different arrangement of the song. So, I asked him who sang it. He told me Looking Glass. Looking Glass? Never heard of 'em. But, I knew right then and there that the version I knew was a COVER. ha! Funny the places you get inspiration for these battles.
Turns out Looking Glass wrote and sang the song back in the 70s. I could tell that from the music. You know how some songs just sound 70s? Well, this was one of them. After some digging around I found out that two covers of this song exist. They are both quite different from the Looking Glass original. I toyed with the idea of pitting two of them (Looking Glass vs Cover) against one another in this battle and then bringing back the victor on the 15th and pitting that version against the other cover. Why? Because I think all three versions are good, but I don't like pitting three songs against one another. What do you think of that idea (for future battles) when there are more than two good versions? (Let me know in the comments because I really am interested in your thoughts on this.)
The song is Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) and Looking Glass recorded it in 1972.
Let's first listen to the original by Looking Glass:
*Notice that whoever posted this video spelled Brandy with an "i" so it is Brandi. That is NOT correct. I really wish people would check spelling and grammar before they post anything anywhere.
The second version is by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is from their Live in Hyde Park album recorded in 2004.
Here is the Red Hot Chili Peppers:
*Notice no spelling or grammatical errors on this one.
And that brings us to the version that I knew. In 2006 Kenny Chesney released the CD The Radio and The Road. That is back when I still bought CDs (thank you LC for pointing out that even I have quit doing this!) and listened to them all the way through. Usually my favorite songs never made it to the radio, so it was a treat. This record has 4 Bonus Tracks including... Brandy (You're A Fine Girl). I have very much enjoyed listening to Chesney's progression as an artist. This was his 11th album and he has become freer with each one to be himself. He really likes beach/island music (not your typical country fare) and every album includes more of it. One day he might jump off the country charts altogether and live in the islands like Jimmy Buffett.
Here is Kenny Chesney:
*Notice whoever posted this video spelled Brandy correctly, but then they ruined it by spelling You Are as Your. ::shakes head sorrowfully::
Tomorrow the rest of the crew will be posting their battles for this feature. Make sure you stop by and vote at the following locations:
Now, is the time to vote. There are three versions. Please tell me which one you liked best and why. Yes, this is the time for that extensive comment you have always wanted to write. I'm listening...
I am going to shoot some bullets at you and then celebrate my bloggy good fortune with you.
Shelby, my dog, is doing oh so very well after her surgery. They removed her leg all the way up to the shoulder. Her incision was very long for such a little dog, but she was a champ. It took her a few days to find her new center of gravity and then she was good. She is now running, jumping, playing, etc. I find that I have much to learn from her resiliency.
My parents are in therapy (that now makes all of us), separately, but there you go. It appears to be working. They are actually talking through their issues. There. And at home. And there have been no more instances where-in I have felt uncomfortable. However, I am prepared should that happen again. Funny, how just knowing what you WILL do takes the nerves away.
I got botoxed for my migraines on Thursday. Yikes. I cannot see the pleasure in doing that for fun. We are now waiting and seeing. If it makes a difference in my migraines in the next two weeks, it will be considered successful. If not, it won't. Simple as that.
I happened to catch the end of Kenny Chesney's concert on youtube. It was the kickoff for his new record: Welcome to the Fishbowl. I have seen him actually live in concert two times.
The first time was at a fair in Michigan when he had maybe one song on the radio. No one really knew who he was. He was the Opener. I do remember someone yelling some off color remark to him from the floor and he blushed so hard that I could see it from my first row cushy seat just under the awning. I thought it was the cutest thing I had seen.Ever.
I was thinking about that blush when I saw him the second time at the Columbia Civic Center for his No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem tour. I don't remember how many times he had been named Entertainer of the Year at that time. The Center was huge. It had a huge screen for those in the nosebleed section. And he came up in an elevator under the floor. Women were throwing their panties at him. He would catch them and throw them backstage, and never miss a beat. I sighed and quietly said a goodbye to the boy who blushed all those years ago. He was long gone. Fame had worked him over good.
Anyway, I still enjoyed that concert. He is doing a lot more writing I think. His stuff really comes from the heart. He likes writing about that boy he was, the man he is now, and how he got here.
Okay, I guess the rest can wait. If you missed my very long V-Log. You can backpedal through here and watch it. If I ever do that sort of thing again, I will learn how to EDIT so that it is much shorter. There is definitely such a thing as too much Robin. If you want proof of that, ask my mom. She will tell you.Now, let us move on to the bloggy portion of this event.
Gossip Girl over at ~~Whatever~~ honored me with an award. These are the rules.
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Name five of your most fabulous moments, either in real life or in the blogosphere.
3. Name five things you love.
4. Name five things you hate.
5. Pass the ribbon on to five other bloggers. (Leave them a comment to notify them of their win.)
5 of my most fabulous moments, either in real life or in the blogosphere...
1. Every single time I have been onstage for a show. I can't really differentiate one show from another because they are all fabulous. But when I am onstage, I know I am alive.
2. All of the time I spent at summer camp. That was like soul food.
3) The moment my junior high school bully came up to me the first day of high school like we were buddies because she was lost. It was a big high school. She had intimidated the crap out of me for three years and she blew it in one day because THAT DAY I saw her for who she really was and she lost all of her power over me. In fact, they all did. They were all just insecure people trying to feel bigger. For the first time in three years, I was FREE. They only had power over me because I gave it to them. That day, I took it back. It was AMAZING.
4) The day I read ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach. It totally changed how I saw the world.
5) The day my first boyfriend said, "You're beautiful." I had been told I was pretty on the inside and had a great personality, etc. But he was the first person who ever said I was actually pretty on the outside. Until he said it, I didn't believe it. I think it is sad that you need one other person to say it before you can accept it as a truth about yourself. However, until that moment I believed all sorts of things about me but that was NOT one of them. I will always love him for that.
Name 5 Things You Love
1) A book that you cannot put down and must read in one sitting.
2) Just about any Joss Whedon series.
3) Just about any game (card, board, etc.)
4) I am still Jonesing for Marshall Mathers. Is he ever going to put out a new record????
5) Pretty much anything that touches my heart and makes me laugh, cry, feel inspired. This can come in pretty much any form and that is what makes it so great. The world is full of inspiration and hope and love and beauty. I love all of it. I want to eat it, swim in it, pour it over my head, pet it ( if it's my dog), hold it close, and let it go.
Name 5 Things You Hate
1) Cruelty
2) Disrespect
3) Lack of compassion
4) People who take advantage of those weaker than themselves. Manipulators. Liars.
5) Arguing over politics and religion. You're just asking for trouble.
Pass this on to 5 Other Bloggers.
1. Liza at Middle Passages. She is in a writing thing and needs blogging material.
Hello blogging world. I promised you your weekly inspirational music post today and *tada* here it is. I still got it all going on, but the world still goes round. I am still sleeping more than I am awake. I am pleased to report that The Powers That Be decided to remove the anvil from my head last night while I was sleeping. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We are back to our regularly scheduled migraine, and I couldn't be happier. That would be the one where I get a little bit of time every day where I can think straight. This would be that window.
I was really having trouble yesterday with my Inspirational To Me song. Otherwise, I would have gone ahead with the post. I did add some music I liked to an already extensive list of youtube action on my favorites. However, nothing really said this is the one. I usually know it when I find it. My warped sense of humor started out my search today by looking for Pat Boone's version of Ozzy's Crazy Train set to Buffy The Vampire Slayer clips. Yeah, that is kind of where I am living. That would have made me laugh... a lot. Surprisingly, no one has used that long with any clips. I am really shocked. I would have thought someone would have had a field day with it. Anyway, people surprise me all of the time, in good and bad ways. So...moving on...
I looked over ~ again ~ everything that I had and still remained unsatisfied. So, I sat and thought about it. I did have this one Tim McGraw song that is new. Tim is doing lots of movies lately. Have you noticed? Not just movies. But good movies. He was in The Blind Side. He is in Country Strong, which I want to see. There are some artists that make me think of other artists. Tim always makes me think of Kenny Chesney. They came out about the same time. Tim came out first. However, Kenny came out not long after, and they are good friends.
That made me think of the first time I saw Kenny Chesney in concert. It was at a fair in Michigan. I didn't even know who he was. He was the first guy on stage. The opener. I was going to a lot of fairs and concerts that summer and he was opening for Sawyer Brown or Alabama. Or maybe Sawyer Brown and Alabama were playing together and he was the opener for both. I just don't remember. It was the mid-90s. I had decent seats. Front row under the covered area. So, I wasn't right up on the stage, but I wasn't cooking in the sun, either. I remember Kenny coming out and playing a few songs and thinking that the kid had talent. He was shy as all get-out, but he had talent. Some woman yelled something off-color to him and he blushed so hard that I could see it from where I was sitting. He was so taken aback that he was completely at a loss for words. He started saying things like, "Well, I don't know about that ma'am." There were a lot of ma'ams thrown in and feet shuffling. His band saved him by starting the next song. I remember nudging my friend and saying, "That is the cutest thing I have ever seen." Yeah, Kenny Chesney was green on the concert circuit. He was still easily flustered and surprised by people. That wears off. Eventually, you become jaded. Nothing anyone does will surprise you. By now, I am sure that he has had so many panties thrown his way that he takes it in stride. Probably throws them to his panty collector and says, "Add them to the pile." I was glad I got to see him before that. When he had no show. No artifice. When he was just a kid hoping to make it doing something he loved.
Well, he made it big-time. He has been Entertainer of the Year so many times now that he is giving Garth Brooks a run for his money. Why? Because he puts on a damn good show. He feels like everyone paid for the ticket and they deserve 110% every time he goes out there. When he rolled through Columbia, SC, back in 2004, a decade later I got to see him again. He wasn't that same kid who blushed at off-color remarks and no one knew who he was. Instead, he was The Main Event. He filled an arena. He came up through the floor with fog and lights and lots of effects. And the race was on. 110%. "Looking back at the moments black and white. I wouldn't change a thing for the worse, for the better."
Kenny and I are a lot alike. I, too, am gone and I ain't back yet. It just isn't quite in the same way. I also wouldn't change any of the things in my past, because I think they all happened for a reason. They were teaching moments, and I needed to learn the lesson. I just needed to sing that song about being not back yet with a little more enthusiasm, and little less bitterness, and that helped. Yeah, I am gone and I ain't back yet. I suppose that maybe we never get back to where we started, and that is a good thing. The point is to move forward. There is no power in the past. Anyway, I will always have a soft spot for Kenny Chesney, and his song OLD BLUE CHAIR will always be one of my favorites. Love, love that song.
Well, now that we have satisfied that Inspirational To Me portion of this blog, let's move on to the 80s and what was rockin' MTV. So many bands in the 80s were pretty. Do you remember that? With that advent of video, prettiness was very important. Of course, Madonna notched up the sexy factor. However, even the boys were wearing make-up and big hair was totally in for everyone in the 80s. My own beloved John Taylor of Duran Duran was a pretty boy. So, what did you do if you weren't pretty? You had to have another hook.
ZZ Top had a car. A red car. With keys that were ZZs. They also had rad guitars and this signature move with their hands. And they disappeared. They also tended to always show up in times of need and be on the side of the underdog. Who doesn't love that? Oh, and there were always very hot girls popping out of the car. (That was the answer to the if you aren't a pretty boy question. People loved ZZ Top videos. The CAR and what might pop out of it any given time was FASCINATING!!!)
See what I mean? If you don't believe me. There are more ZZTop vids to watch. Gotta love that car. Those keys. The arm move. And the disappearing men. How do they get that many people in that car???? Awesome. Freaking awesome. This is the kind of thing that teenagers can think about for hours on end. Way to go guys!!!! I have said it before, but I will say it again. I miss my MTV.
