I've spent far too much time over the course of my 40 years explaining, defending or sometimes outright apologizing for movies, music & TV shows that I enjoy. Well, not any more. The crappy things I love (and make no mistake, some of the stuff I love is pure unadulterated crap) are crap, but they're my crap, dagnabit! Confession is good for the soul, so here's a few things that I have adored and, in some cases, still do:
Bruce Willis' "The Return of Bruno"
I listened to the cassette so much, I wore it out. If it was available on CD, I'd wear that out as well
"Rhinestone" starring Sylvester Stallone & Dolly Parton
There's nothing funnier than Stallone trying to be a country singer...except Stallone making his debut singing "Drinkingstein." I had the soundtrack to this as well
Grease 2
I liked it better than Grease & watched it at least once a day the summer I taped it off of HBO
"Convoy" by CW McCall
The ultimate truck driving song. I even bought McCall's Greatest Hits CD.
Hudson Hawk
Bruce Willis strikes again! A complete mess of a movie that entertains me every time I see it.
"Patches" by Clarence Carter
Maybe not as well known as "Strokin", but this "dead father places burden of family farm on son" song is awesome on so many levels.
Necessary Roughness
I love this Scott Bakula/Kathy Ireland football epic like a fat kid loves cookies.
Hee Haw
Grew up watching it. Still love it. The Hee Haw Honeys were my first crush.
There are many, many more that I could list...and still might. Some would say that this is my "guilty pleasure" list. They would be incorrect. I don't feel guilty at all.
I love this crap!
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Yule Love It!
So, for whatever reason, I was feeling kind of down today. Nothing was especially bumming me out, but nonetheless I had the blues.
I had resigned myself to just riding it out...and then I had an inspiration.
I went to the You Tube and built a playlist around my favorite time of the year...Christmas.
You see, the few short weeks starting with Thanksgiving Eve (hey, every holiday should have an "eve") through December 26 mark the highlight of my year. I love everything about it. I'm generally in such a good mood that I can't even muster much aggravation at the two most recent grinches of the season...People who hate the holiday and feel that no one should celebrate it in any fashion and extreme conservatives who think that not being allowed to put a manger up in city hall constitutes a "war on Christmas". At any other time of year, extremists of this sort could look forward to a severe tongue lashing at how monumentally stupid they were being...but they get a "Peace On Earth, Goodwill to Men" pass.
So, my playlist...in case anyone was curious....here's what the You Tube provided to lift my mood...
I had resigned myself to just riding it out...and then I had an inspiration.
I went to the You Tube and built a playlist around my favorite time of the year...Christmas.
You see, the few short weeks starting with Thanksgiving Eve (hey, every holiday should have an "eve") through December 26 mark the highlight of my year. I love everything about it. I'm generally in such a good mood that I can't even muster much aggravation at the two most recent grinches of the season...People who hate the holiday and feel that no one should celebrate it in any fashion and extreme conservatives who think that not being allowed to put a manger up in city hall constitutes a "war on Christmas". At any other time of year, extremists of this sort could look forward to a severe tongue lashing at how monumentally stupid they were being...but they get a "Peace On Earth, Goodwill to Men" pass.
So, my playlist...in case anyone was curious....here's what the You Tube provided to lift my mood...
- Hardrock, Coco and Joe: A pre-Rankin/Bass stop motion extravaganza that occasionally shows up on WGN during the holiday season
- Nat King Cole: The Christmas Song
- A Charlie Brown Christmas: Linus's speech about the true meaning of Christmas
- John Lennon: Happy Christmas, War Is Over
- Weird Al Yankovic: Christmas At Ground Zero
- I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas
- MST3K: A Patrick Swayze Christmas
- MST3K: Merry Christmas, If that's OK
- Judy Garland: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
- Cartoon Voice Actors Read "Twas The Night Before Christmas"
- Twisted Sister: O Come All Ye Faithful: What's a Christmas playlist without a traditional carol?
- David Bowie/Bing Crosby: Little Drummer Boy
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Three Albums That Changed My Life
Today I'm going to reflect on music that changed my life. For the younger readers out there & for the sake of clarity, I will be referring to them as "albums". In the interest of full disclosure, I only owned one of the three in "album" form...but you get the point.
So, in somewhat chronological order, are the Three Albums That Changed My Life!
BILLY JOEL: GLASS HOUSES (1980)
As a little kid in pre-car tape deck Southern suburbia, my musical influences were limited to (a) what my parents listened to on the radio and (b) what records my parents played around the house. That and "Hee Haw" every Saturday night. So, I grew up listening to Johnny Cash & the Statler Brothers...music that I still enjoy, but first liked because of genetics and osmosis.
Then in 1980 "Glass Houses" was released. I don't remember exactly how I discovered it...I think the first single was "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" and I probably saw Joel sing it on "Solid Gold" (which I would watch after Sha Na Na...yeah, I was that guy). But when I heard it...something clicked. I got the album and realized for the first time that music was more than background noise. I won't say it "spoke" to my 11-year old self, but it was certainly the first album I truly loved on my own.
It still a great record with some fantastic songs..."You May Be Right", "Don't Ask Me Why" and the aforementioned "Still Rock & Roll", but even the non singles are pretty bitchin'.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND: LIVE 1975-1985 (1985)
To be fair, I got into Springsteen the way that most of non-New Jersey America did...with "Born In The USA", and on the strength of that record I had gotten several of Bruce's earlier work. I liked it...but wasn't really blown away. Then, in the fall of my Junior year in High School, the Live set was released...and then the lights went on and I was Born To Run.
It can be argued that all of Springsteen's best music is about alienation and being the outsider (ironically, the same could be said of Billy Joel). As I rolled into my junior year, I was all about feeling like the outsider. Now, pretty much everyone who has ever been 16 feels like this and in retrospect I didn't have it all that bad, but I did have a penchant for running outside the pack. I went to movies I wanted to see by myself if I couldn't find anyone to go with me, I didn't drink or party and I was looking for music that reflected how I felt....and boy howdy, did I find it.
From the opening acoustic version of "Thunder Road" recorded in a small club to the closing strains of "Jersey Girl" played before a packed house in Giants Stadium, this 3 record set put words and music to all of my teen angst. Bruce knew what I was going through...and even better, knew that eventually everything was gonna turn out all right. I didn't have a girlfriend or a cool car...but I had Bruce and the Band and that was enough.
TODD SNIDER: SONGS FOR THE DAILY PLANET (1994)
By 1994, things personally were looking up. I had a job that I liked and was good at. I was happily married. The family was doing ok. But there was something missing. I found it wandering through a Turtles Record store.
There was a cd playing...the voice sounded vaguely like Springsteen, but when I asked the clerk who it was, he told me it was this singer/songwriter named Todd Snider. I listened to the whole album in the store, bought it and listened to it for about 2 months straight.
It was the track "I Spoke As A Child" that sealed the deal. Twenty Five is an interesting age...you're definitely an adult, but there's still time to decide what kind of adult you're going to be. You can chase money and success or you can appreciate the good things that life has to offer without compromising who you are. In the song, Todd is paraphrasing the biblical passage "When I was a child, I spoke as a child", but then adds the poignant twist "I wish I could remember what I said." It was a wake up call to remember the good things and count your blessings.
Now, just in case you think Todd is all maudlin and weepy, he also sings about a band that refuses to play on "Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues" and claims that, despite his bad habits that he still believes he's an "Alright Guy".
I've gotten every album he's released since then and seen him in concert half a dozen times. He's like the main character from Kris Kristofferson's song "The Pilgrim":
He's a poet, he's a picker, he's a prophet, he's a pusher
He's a Pilgrim and a Preacher and a problem when he's stoned
He's a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction
Taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home
So, there you have it...Three albums that changed my life. I have a lot more artists that I love, but these three were the ones that made a difference.
So, in somewhat chronological order, are the Three Albums That Changed My Life!
BILLY JOEL: GLASS HOUSES (1980)
As a little kid in pre-car tape deck Southern suburbia, my musical influences were limited to (a) what my parents listened to on the radio and (b) what records my parents played around the house. That and "Hee Haw" every Saturday night. So, I grew up listening to Johnny Cash & the Statler Brothers...music that I still enjoy, but first liked because of genetics and osmosis.
Then in 1980 "Glass Houses" was released. I don't remember exactly how I discovered it...I think the first single was "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" and I probably saw Joel sing it on "Solid Gold" (which I would watch after Sha Na Na...yeah, I was that guy). But when I heard it...something clicked. I got the album and realized for the first time that music was more than background noise. I won't say it "spoke" to my 11-year old self, but it was certainly the first album I truly loved on my own.
It still a great record with some fantastic songs..."You May Be Right", "Don't Ask Me Why" and the aforementioned "Still Rock & Roll", but even the non singles are pretty bitchin'.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND: LIVE 1975-1985 (1985)
To be fair, I got into Springsteen the way that most of non-New Jersey America did...with "Born In The USA", and on the strength of that record I had gotten several of Bruce's earlier work. I liked it...but wasn't really blown away. Then, in the fall of my Junior year in High School, the Live set was released...and then the lights went on and I was Born To Run.
It can be argued that all of Springsteen's best music is about alienation and being the outsider (ironically, the same could be said of Billy Joel). As I rolled into my junior year, I was all about feeling like the outsider. Now, pretty much everyone who has ever been 16 feels like this and in retrospect I didn't have it all that bad, but I did have a penchant for running outside the pack. I went to movies I wanted to see by myself if I couldn't find anyone to go with me, I didn't drink or party and I was looking for music that reflected how I felt....and boy howdy, did I find it.
From the opening acoustic version of "Thunder Road" recorded in a small club to the closing strains of "Jersey Girl" played before a packed house in Giants Stadium, this 3 record set put words and music to all of my teen angst. Bruce knew what I was going through...and even better, knew that eventually everything was gonna turn out all right. I didn't have a girlfriend or a cool car...but I had Bruce and the Band and that was enough.
TODD SNIDER: SONGS FOR THE DAILY PLANET (1994)
By 1994, things personally were looking up. I had a job that I liked and was good at. I was happily married. The family was doing ok. But there was something missing. I found it wandering through a Turtles Record store.
There was a cd playing...the voice sounded vaguely like Springsteen, but when I asked the clerk who it was, he told me it was this singer/songwriter named Todd Snider. I listened to the whole album in the store, bought it and listened to it for about 2 months straight.
It was the track "I Spoke As A Child" that sealed the deal. Twenty Five is an interesting age...you're definitely an adult, but there's still time to decide what kind of adult you're going to be. You can chase money and success or you can appreciate the good things that life has to offer without compromising who you are. In the song, Todd is paraphrasing the biblical passage "When I was a child, I spoke as a child", but then adds the poignant twist "I wish I could remember what I said." It was a wake up call to remember the good things and count your blessings.
Now, just in case you think Todd is all maudlin and weepy, he also sings about a band that refuses to play on "Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues" and claims that, despite his bad habits that he still believes he's an "Alright Guy".
I've gotten every album he's released since then and seen him in concert half a dozen times. He's like the main character from Kris Kristofferson's song "The Pilgrim":
He's a poet, he's a picker, he's a prophet, he's a pusher
He's a Pilgrim and a Preacher and a problem when he's stoned
He's a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction
Taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home
So, there you have it...Three albums that changed my life. I have a lot more artists that I love, but these three were the ones that made a difference.
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