have yourself a merry little Christmas

Dear Friends and Readers,

It's Christmas Eve and I'm thinking about this holiday and how much it means to me. It's always been my favorite holiday, even with all the chaos that's always surrounded it as a child and now that I have children of my own. As we celebrate the birth of our Savior and reflect on what that means in our own lives, I hope you will take the time to tell the people close to you what they mean to you. While wrapping presents today, I asked my daughters what Christmas is all about and I was so happy to hear them say it's about Jesus' birth and giving. It was a proud mom moment.

Being that I'm not actually Santa Claus, I knew it would be impossible give each of you a gift personally, but I hope this will do. I'm posting two videos that say Christmas to me and I hope you enjoy them. The first is my favorite Christmas song, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," this is the Coldplay version. A few hundred versions are out there, I have my favorites and I like this one. The Judy Garland original is awesome, and although I love Ella Fitzgerald's version, it's a little too up tempo for my present mood, which is reflective and actually peaceful. All of the covers of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" are for your Tunes Tuesday. Go visit YouTube for a few dozen versions. Sinatra's is fab, but pass on Xtina Aguilera. Here' the lyrics for you in case you haven't committed them to memory.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on, our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
From now on, our troubles will be far away

Here we are, as in olden days
Happy golden days of your
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us
Once more

Through the years, we all will be together
If the fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now

That's Christmas. That's what this holiday is to me: friends, family, and forgetting your troubles while you're together.

The second video is one of the best pieces of television ever aired.
It's Linus' speech from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I've been
watching it my entire life and it always brings me joy at Christmas.
The way Linus quotes the book of Luke and then tells Charlie Brown, "that's what Christmas is all about" is pure Christmas Magic. There's something about the belief of a child that trivializes your
worries and brings things into perspective that makes all the chaos and insanity of the weeks before Christmas melt away. I hear it in my children's voices. To hear my daughters say Christmas is about giving is immensely gratifying and lovely to a mother's ear. It makes me think maybe they are listening to me after all, maybe the commercialism of the season isn't ruining the meaning of Christmas after all. That is a blessing and I am grateful for that.

I am also grateful for each and everyone who reads this blog. I wanted to thank you for spending some of your time with me and tell
all of you how much I appreciate your comments and emails. The words
I've head from you make writing worth it. I have such wonderful
friends and readers, y'all are just superfantastic and I wish you the merriest of Christmases.

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night,
Kerry

tunes you need Tuesday: the Cure for what ails you edition

Some call The Cure goth-rock, but they're far from that. Sure, there they are pros at the melancholy (of which I am a fan), but they've gone pop several times as well. I wanted to get that out of the way before diving into why I like them and what makes them a great band for those of you who may have dismissed The Cure as a mopey English band.

The Cure started out as The Obelisk way back in 1976 and won a recording contract as The Easy Cure in a talent competition in '77 (take that, American Idol). Their debut single, "Killing an Arab" was met with critical acclaim and controversy, which is always a great way to start out for a post-punk band. The first Cure song I remember hearing was 1979's "Boys Don't Cry" a perfect little song. I know I didn't hear it until the early 80's, but I knew I liked their sound. It was 1982 when the jazzy "The Lovecats" became a hit and it was the break The Cure needed. Three years later the singles "Close to Me" and "In Between Days" made them a European success and the US started taking note of the band. "Close to Me" is a great little song with horns and a fun sound — not depressing or sad at all like most people think of The Cure. Here's the acoustic version.

See? Not depressing, just fun. Love that and Robert Smith's voice is one of the wildest in the biz. You never know what to expect from him and that's something I love. The Cure isn't boring. Smith's lyrics are literary and introspective, passionate and sometimes silly. I suppose I'll touch on his look, the red lipstick and dark eye makeup, black clothes, and tennis shoes. I'm a fan of all those myself, save for the tennis shoes, but whatev. It works for him and he's had the same look for over 20 years. Maybe he could teach me how to do the smokey eye for an evening out, you never know.

If you listen to a few Cure songs you'll start to notice something that you don't find in many songs of the band's contemporaries — guitars! Yep, these guys like guitars, which are noticeably absent from their contemporaries music, save the Smiths. Robert Smith even has his own model, the Ultracure guitar. Utracure just sounds cool. The Cure are masters of incorporating lots of sounds from all kinds of instruments. I love the rich sound of their music, it's well organized, well played and they are great at playing practically every instrument in the music store and making it sound easy. Just on his own, Smith plays guitar, bass, double bass, violin, flute, trumpet, and keyboard. Now, I played violin back in the day — it's hard — in the wrong hands the thing sounds like a frozen cat going through a woodchipper. So, to play that many instruments and play them well is quite something.

Back to the music.

1987 was a big year for music and was big for The Cure as well. They released Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and it was their first platinum album in the US. You may remember the singles "Just Like Heaven" and "Why Can't I Be You?" Those are superfantastic songs that are fine examples of how different The Cure's styles are — "Why Can't I Be You" is eclectic and uptempo with horns and a chaotic sound. Oh, and in the video not only is Smith wearing a bear suit minus the head piece, he also wears a black jumper, white button down, and black tie. I wore that same outfit in high school, not the bear suit, the jumper, tie, and button down shirt. Really. With wood and suede clogs. I was quite the snazzy dresser. And I fell down the stairs at Byrd High School many times due to those clogs. I blame Robert Smith.

The album Disintegration came out (have you noticed that now CDs "drop" — wtf does that mean?) in 1989 and became the band's biggest success so far. Songs like "Fascination Street," "Lovesong," "Pictures of You," and "Lullabye" all did well on the Modern Rock charts, which among all the titles given to the genre of music The Cure has been called, may fit pretty well. My favorite song of The Cure's is "Pictures of You" and it's a heartbreaking song. Here's the opening lyrics and the video follows:
"I've been looking so long at these pictures of you/That I almost believe that they're real/I've been living so long with my pictures of you/That I almost believe that the pictures are all I can feel."

My friend Megan and I have a running joke, mainly when we're scrapbooking and take turns playing our iPods in the speaker-dock-thingie. It will be my iPod playing, a song will come on and I'll say "I love this song." Well, of course I do, it's on my iPod. Megan does the same thing. We're goofs. But — I love that song.

1992 brought The Cure's Wish album, which was their biggest hit. "Friday I'm in Love" was huge for them and it's a good song. Not my fave, but good. The years prior and after Wish brought big personnel changes for the band and now Smith is the only original member, kind of sad. In the years after Wish, The Cure released a few more CDs and their Greatest Hits in 2001 with the single "Cut Here," which is a favorite of mine. It's a song of regret and the theme is that "later doesn't always come" — I just love that, as a writer, as a person who loves words and expression. Here's some lyrics and the video for "Cut Here:"

But how many times can I walk away and wish "If only…"
But how many times can I talk this way and wish "If only…"
Keep on making the same mistake
Keep on aching the same heartbreak
I wish "If only…"

But "If only…."
Is a wish too late…

Ok, so that's a little Cure for your Tuesday. Hope you enjoyed it, if not maybe I'll hit on something you'll like next week. That's what's so great about music, there is much to be discovered and we can't all like the same things, but it's fun to listen. Y'all be good and I'll be back tomorrow.

tunes you need Tuesday: try a little tenderness edition

I love music with soul. There's nothing like music you can feel, that stirs something in you and one guy who did that like no one else (as far as I'm concerned) is Otis. Otis Redding is and was the best at what he did and what he did was make you feel what he was feeling and as an artist, what could be better than that?

Otis was born in Georgia and grew up in Macon, a town the hubs and I lived in for a couple of years before Molly was born. I don't know what it was about that town, but a lot of musicians came out of Macon. The Allman Brothers, Mike Mills and Bill Berry of REM, and Little Richard are also from Macon — and the kazoo was invented there in the 1840's. It's also home to Capricorn Records, which is pretty cool. And the Georgia Music Hall of Fame is there as well, if you're ever in Macon for some reason (I really can't think of why you would be unless you were attending Mercer or Wesleyan or if you have family there) you should check it out, it will be well worth your time.

Back to Otis. So, Otis said he entered the music business because of Little Richard, who was a big influence on him and wound up recording a few of the best loved songs anyone has ever recorded. Everyone knows "(Sittin' on the) Dock of the Bay" and "Try a Little Tenderness," and I'm sure everyone my age remembers the scene in Pretty in Pink with Duckie lip synching and dancing to "Tenderness." But did you know he wrote "Respect" — the song my girl Aretha ReeRee Franklin is known for? But my favorite Otis song is "I've Been Loving You to Long," followed closely by "I've Got Dreams to Remember" and "Cigarettes and Coffee." Those songs are all soul and better than nearly anything that you would hear on the radio today. I have to admit, I really don't listen to the radio because a lot of the music is annoying and over done, over mixed, and just over. I like music with passion, expression, great lyrics, great melody, and emotion and Otis has it all.

So, here's a little Otis Redding for your Tuesday, and because I obviously can't figure out how to post an audio clip, I'm pulling videos from Youtube, which isn't ideal for listening, but it's the best I can do for now. Happy Tuesday.

tunes you need Tuesday: the films about ghosts edition

There are songs that are a sort of soundtrack of your life, representing time periods, feelings, relationships, and the like. My go-to band for my life's soundtrack is Counting Crows. Now, CC is one of those bands that most people either really love or really hate. I'm not sure what it is about them that brings on the hatred, but it's there, I assure you. I've had some heated discussions with the haters. I haven't written about CC for that very reason, but over the weekend I did a lot of listening and a lot of soul searching and usually that brings me around to CC and Adam Duritz's lyrics, so here we are.

The weekend for me was like a big flashback in a movie. Going home usually does that. For me the best lyric in "Mrs. Potter's Lullabye" is "if dreams are like movies/then memories are films about ghosts." Boy, that fits. Whenever I have flashes of memories from whatever period of my life it feels like that and it sums up my trip home pretty well. The reason I do not reside in my hometown can be heard in "Recovering the Satellites." I know that sounds cryptic if you're not familiar with the song. Here's the heart of the song:

So why'd you come home to this faithless town
Where we make a lifetime commitment
to recovering the satellites
and all anybody really wants to know is…
when are you gonna come down
She sees shooting stars and comet tails
She's got heaven in her eyes
She says I don't need to be an angel
But I'm nothing if I'm not this high
But we only stay in orbit
For a moment of time
And then you're everybody's satellite

When you're the self-appointed caretaker of everyone who needs saving in your circle, you're recovering the satellites and at some point you get tired of that job. I can practically pin-point the moment I resigned that job and I try not to look back. While I was still head satellite-recoverer I went through a dark period that lasted 3 years, my "She Don't Want Nobody Near" period. I still have moments, as everyone does, but when I heard this song in 2003 I had a majah flashback to that dark place in the movie of my life. This sounds like it's straight out of a journal of mine, circa 1993:

http://kerryfaler.typepad.com/files/16-she-dont-want-nobody-near.m4p

Pretty whitewashed lies/Endless alibis
And the reasons that need cleaning every night
Half a world away
You can't wash away the stain of the deceiving
And the things that you cannot believe, and well…

She don't want no one around
Cause she don't want anybody to see
What she looks like when she's down
Cause that's a really sad place to be

Man, that's sad. I was sad. It's really not a depressing song, just melancholy, like me from time to time. If you've taken the Personality Plus test and remember the Perfect Melancholy personality, that's me — with a healthy dose of Popular Sanguine (those really don't go together, but that's me). And I don't know how CC got hold of my journal and turned it into a Top 20 song, but I haven't seen a dime of the royalites. I don't keep a journal anymore, unless you count this blog and stuff scribbled in my Mom Agenda. Anyway, things are good now, no big, but that song is a reminder to me of how far I've come and the dark times I don't want to go back to. Of course, this past spring what I've suspected for years came out when Adam Duritz admitted to being treated for severe depression and dissociative disorder, which makes a hell of a lot of sense when you examine his songs. There's nothing like a little mental illness to bring on creativity in artists, just ask Brian Wilson.

The follow-up to an earlier CC song, "Goodnight Elizabeth," "I Wish I Was a Girl" is one of my faves. In the song, Adam is saying if he were a girl, maybe Elisabeth would believe him when he told her that he hadn't cheated on her, but the lines in the song that always get me are:

The devil's in the dreaming
You see yourself descending from a building to the ground
You watch the sky receding
You spin to see the traffic rising up
And it's so quiet
You're surprised
And then you wake
For all the things I'm losing
I might as well resign myself to try and make a change

Maybe you've never had a time when you felt like throwing in the towel, then had something happen or someone point something out to you and thought, "for all the things I'm losing/I might as well resign myself to try and make a change." But for me, that line nails it. The line "And I could shake this static everytime I try to sleep" is fab, too. The diction CC uses is pure brilliance in my opinion. Like I said, people either love or hate CC, I've loved them from day one, since "Mr. Jones" won over the masses and I've stuck around for everything after. If you see them live, you may have the oppurtunity of seeing the slow version of "Mr. Jones," which I prefer and you'll get to see some superfantastic covers like "Ghost in You" and others. Anyjones, if you've never listened to Counting Crows, go pick up Films About Ghosts (their greatest hits) that came out a while back, then get Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings — it's the most recent CD and chronicles Duritz's climb back out of crazy. It's a good listen and filled with great lyrics as well as beautiful melodies, particularly "When I Dream of Michelangelo." I'm included a live performance of the song just for fun. Hope you enjoy and happy Tuesday.

tunes you need Tuesday: Christmas edition

EDIT: the Christmas song list below is only one of my mixes — the swing/favorites playlist. Y'all know me — I have several Christmas playlists: rock, Elvis, crooners, and the kids list. So, any song you feel I've left out is most likely on another playlist. I take my Christmas music seriously, because at no point will I turn on the radio to hear Manhiem Steamroller, Barry Manilow, Mariah Carey, or God forbid — John Denver with the Muppets.

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I'm a gift-giving fool, always have been. Receiving gifts is not my thing, I'm a giver. When I see something a loved one would appreciate, I buy it 'cause I like to make to make the people I care about happy. Occasionally I'll make a purchase for the sole purpose of aggravating someone, but most often, it's out of love. When I was younger I hated giving music as gifts, but I view it differently now, especially when the gift is well thought out. So, why not make the Christmas mix cd for your fam or friends so they won't have to listen to the garbage on the holiday radio stations. Here's what I included on my mix, it's fun and it swings, rocks, and rolls.

All of the following songs are available on iTunes (I know 'cause that's where I got them). Go download them for a proper Christmas song education.

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is my fave Christmas song of all time. I love it so much I have several versions, but you have to go with the original Judy Garland to start with. If you want to branch out after Judy, get Ella Fitzgerald's version, too.
"(Everybody's Waitin' for) the Man with the Bag" by Kay Starr is just fun, big band, horns, fab.
"A Holly Jolly Christmas" by Burle Ives is a classic and a must if you have kids.
"The Christmas Song" by Mel Torme is the version I like, but you can go with Nat King Cole's — that's the one you hear most often.
"Christmastime is Here" and "Greensleeves" from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special by the Vince Guaraldi Trio just say Christmas to me.
"Jingle All the Way" by Lena Horne is just plain awesome.
"I've Got my Love to Keep Me Warm" by Billie Holiday is one of my faves. Sensing a theme here? I dig the old school Christmas songs that are fun and swingy.
"Cool Yule" by Louis Armstrong is the bomb. Put it on and dance.
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee is a must.
"O Christmas Tree" by Aretha Franklin is on the list because she's Aretha. 'nuff said.
"Please Come Home for Christmas" by the Eagles goes nicely with the rest and it's one of my faves.
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by John Mellencamp makes the list for the notalgia factor.
"I'll Be Home for Christmas" is the only Michael Buble song you'll hear me play.
"This Christmas (Hang All the Mistletoe)" by Macy Gray is really fun and fits in with all the old school tunes.
"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by U2 is my second favorite Christmas song in the history of ever. Love love love.
"Christmas in Hollis" by Run-DMC is the final word on any Christmas mix of mine. If you don't have it, you might as well not make a mix, that's all there is to it.

Well, that's my list for this Tunes You Need Tuesday. I'm sure there are a few listed that you're not familiar with and maybe this is the season to branch out. Why listen to all the traditional stuff when you can swing? And don't you dare play any Manheim Steamroller or Celine Dion around me at Christmas. I'm not kidding, it's like nails on a chalkboard to hear either of those. So, after the turkey and dressing Thursday, download some Christmas tunes that are fun and just say no to the radio this season.

a little perfection for your Wednesday

I debated on whether or not to post this, it’s been a weird day. Too much to go into, so I’ll spare you.

This afternoon, among other things, I’ve been downloading tunes for my trip and came across one of my favorite songs and I thought I’d share. It’s “Space Age Love Song” by A Flock of Seagulls (AFOS for those in the know). I think it’s a beautiful little song, simple little love song, simple perfection. You may disagree and that’s okay, friends disagree from time to time, even interwebs friends. Anyway, it’s a little Tunes you Need Tuesday on Wednesday. This is a song that always makes me smile and I thought I’d share. And the fact that WordPress doesn’t allow me to post just a music file and that I have to post a video is my small gift to you: the gift of bad 80’s hair and bad special effects. Oh, you’re welcome, no — really, no need to thank me.

tunes you need Tuesday: don’t say I didn’t warn you edition

Well, party people, I warned you if I didn’t have a Tunes suggestion I’d resort to the Pretty in Pink soundtrack and away we go. Ok, so not just the soundtrack, but I’ll get into that in a minute.

Pretty in Pink just about defined my life after 1986 and I spent the better part of my teens looking for the Blaine to my Andie, but that just wasn’t to be. I can’t sew a prom dress, have no friends named Duckie, and I’ve never met Andrew McCarthy. Guess what? I don’t live in a movie and they need to have a caution statement at the beginning of teen romance movies. The soundtrack is, I suppose, what turned me onto New Wave, as the kids called it back in the day. It starts off with “If You Leave” by OMD, which really should be the last song on the album if you ask me. It’s a classic, the prom scene song. Next is “Left of Center” by Suzanne Vega of “My Name is Luka” fame. “Left of Center” is probably the biggest outsider sond I’ve ever heard, with the lyric, “and if they ask me ‘what are you looking at?’ / I’ll always answer ‘nothing much, not much’ / I think they know that I’m looking at them /I think they must think I must be out of touch” — that’s written by someone who was not asked to prom, I can almost promise you. INXS, New Order, Jesse Johnson, and Belouis Some are all on the soundtrack and Psychedelic Furs’ “Pretty in Pink” is there, of course. It’s a great song, originally recorded in 1981. The song came before the movie, and in 1986, they band re-recorded a version of “Pretty in Pink” for the soundtrack of the film, which became their biggest hit ever in the UK .

The two stand-outs for me on the album are “Bring on the Dancing Horses” by Echo & the Bunnymen and “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” by the smiths. I’m posting a YouTube video of the smiths, so you can hear “Please Please Please–,” it’s a beautiful, somber song sung by Morrissey and company. Short song, less than two minutes, but packed with melancholy desperation with the lyric: “Please please please let me get what I want, Lord knows it would be the first time.” And if the tune sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve heard the instrumental version by The Dream Academy in the museum scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The 80’s were good times.

It’s a CD I can’t live without, really. In 1986, I had the cassette tape, wore it out. Bought another one, loaned it to a friend, never got it back. Bought the CD probably at the end of high school, like a fool, loaned it to another friends, never got it back. Bought the CD again in college and have had that copy for 12+ years, and no, you can’t borrow it. I love you the best, but go get your own copy. I’ve also had bunches of copies of the movie, I think I have two now — one being purchased in Canada with a French language track, so if I want to relearn French…

The only problem I have with the soundtrack is that it’s missing the band Molly Ringwald asked John Hughes (director) to audition, the Rave-Ups. The Rave-Ups were the bomb. You saw them as one of the bar bands in the movie, singing “Rave Up/Shut Up” and “Positively Lost Me.” Love that. It’s only available now on a Rhino Records 80’s compilation CD that I can’t believe I don’t have. And it’s not on iTunes. Oh, and in Sixteen Candles, Molly Ringwald has the Rave-Ups written on her binder as she’s walking in the school hallway. How’s that for movie trivia? And I know all that from the useless knowledge in my brain, or as call it, Kerripedia. The Rave-Ups never were really played on anything but college radio, so they’re lost on most everybody. I had one of their albums, Chance, at one time and it was good. Here’s “Positively Lost Me” from YouTube.

That song is superfantastic. It’s obviously a break-up song, but I love the list of what the girl’s lost, including honesty, dreams, and his confidence. Good stuff. I’ll end it there. I’m an 80’s geek, what can I say? And I’d bet big money I would beat you at Trivial Pursuit because all my life all of my pursuits have been trivial ones.

That’s it. I’m off like a dirty shirt.

Tunes you need Tuesday by request: hair bands

I have a ton of ScrapFest! stuff to do, but it’s Tuesday (for a couple hours anyway) and Anna Bess requested an ’80’s hair bands “where are they now” post. Never liked hairbands, but I’ll do my best.

Where to start? I found a website http://www.ilovethe80s.com which lists the bands A-Z, but no extra info, so let’s see what we can come up with.

We’ll start with letter B. Bad English was a group who named themselves after something to do with pool, but I wouldn’t know anything about that. They had a big hit that I actually remember, “When I See You Smile,” which was written by Dianne Warren. the band’s drummer. Deen Castronovo, later went on to join a reformed Journey with singer Steve Augeri, Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, and Ross Valory. Bad English played a couple of reunion concerts this past March.

C is for Cinderella. Did you know Bon Jovi discovered the group Cinderella in 1985? Kind of neat. Cinderella’s big song was power ballad “Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Till It’s Gone)” and they released a greatest hits cd in 2005. They had planned a tour this summer, but the singer’s vocal chord hemorrhaged (ouch) and they’re hoping to tour this fall. The album cover I clipped cracks me up. I know it was the ’80’s, but Lord, that’s a lot of look as Tim Gunn says.

D is for Def Leppard. They named their band Def Leppard instead of “Deaf Leopard” as a homage to Led Zeppelin. Maybe they should have went with Badd Spelin. Anywhoodle, they’re still around. In fact, their new album, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, was released worldwide on April 28, 2008. The album debuted at #5 on The Billboard 200. Country singer Tim McGraw co-wrote the the first single is “Nine Lives.”

E is for Europe, which is a band from Sweden and I wonder why they didn’t just call themselves Sweden or something, but whatev. They’re still rockin’ and are going back to the studio this fall to record. This album cover is scary. It’s blue. The guy on the bottom right looks a little like Emilio Estevez’s Swedish bro. They aren’t very pretty, are they?

I’m skipping down the alphabet ’cause I’m bored.

I remember liking the band Living Colour and I had a good friend in college who super liked them. They were the only all African-American heavy metal band that I know of. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Living Colour sang “Cult of Personality,” and broke up in ’95 and have gotten back together, planning to release a new cd next year. BTW, lead singer, Corey Glover (no relation to Danny Glover) is on tour with Jesus Christ Superstar in the role of Judas. No, I’m not making that up. You think he still has the dreads?

Metallica just released a new cd last week called Death Magnetic.

All of Motley Crue’s original members have come back to record and tour. They released Saints of Los Angeles in June and a film adaptation of their band autobiography The Dirt, is due to be released sometime in 2009. They’re saying Christopher Walken may play David Lee Roth and Val Kilmer may play David Lee Roth and that’s enough to make me want to see it. That’s hilarious. You think Pam Anderson will play herself?

After doing a couple of reality shows, (CC DeVille in the Surreal Life and Bret Michaels’ Rock of Love with Bret Michaels) Poison is touring again with their original line-up. In all of my life, I’ve never worn as much makeup as those chicks are wearing. The pursed lips are killing me. I like how the brunette has an understated look. I think 80’s hairbands spawned a lot of the drag queens working today. I can’t look at this anymore. I have an urge to pick up the hairspray and a teasing comb (if I had one). It’s sad that CC DeVille is prettier on this album cover than I’ve ever been, even on my wedding day. I’m going to go cry into my makeup bag now. Hope my mascara doesn’t run.

Tunes I want Tuesday

Had the iPod on in the car yesterday and “Too Late for Goodbyes” by Julian Lennon came on. I so love that song and started wondering, what’s happened to some of the artists I like and haven’t heard anything by in a while.

So, here’s the report. Julian Lennon is working on an album now, should be out this year. His website is under construction and I just added him as a friend on MySpace. I’ve never done anything with my MySpace, but I’d like to be friends with Julian. We could hang out, go to the Corn Dog 7 in the mall and play Pole Position in the arcade. I bet Julian’s a vegetarian. Oh, well, we could get those orange cheesy nachos and share some M&M’s. Oh, and Icee’s. And after we could go to the music store, stand in the section with Lennon and see if anyone recognizes him. I bet some artists do that. You know A-ha does that. And the “My Sharona” guy. And probably the Flock of Seagulls singer. Just for fun, I give you Mike Score from A Flock of Seagulls. That do is the reason I’m scared of birds. Seriously.

On to one of my faves, Michael Penn. Penn put out a compilation last year of some of his best. Can’t find any info on if he’s working on something currently, but how can you not love a guy who writes lyrics like these, “I’m between the poles and the Equator / Don’t send no private investigator to find me please / Lest he speaks Chinese / And can dance like Astaire overseas”. That’s from “No Myth” — I could listen to that 10 times a day. Michael is the brother of Sean Penn, Madonna’s ex and star of one of my favorite movies, “I am Sam” — if you don’t have that soundtrack, stop reading and go get it off iTunes or Amazon. It’s all brilliant Beatles covers. Michael sings “Two of Us” with his lovely wife Aimee Mann (great musician herself — former singer in ’til Tuesday).

Y’all know I love Natalie Merchant. She’s working on a children’s album. No word on a release date.

“Goody Two Shoes” (my theme song) singer Adam Ant is also currently working on an album, said to release in 2008.

My go-to for somber tunes, The Cure is about to debut their 13th studio release. The band also has a 2008 tour in the works. Who wants to go when they come close to New Orleans? I’m in. I’ll bring the mascara and red lipstick.

The Smith’s frontman Morrissey released “All You Need is Me” a few months ago and his greatest hits album comes out in November. And on a side note, this is the cover of his latest album. Now I don’t know, but I saw Morrissey on something a couple of years ago and he looked a little rough. Either he’s had a little visit to the plastic surgeon or he has in fact found the fountain of youth. Does this man look 49? That’s the age Wikipedia has, but he looks 30. Maybe 35, tops. I just noticed he’s sitting in water. Maybe he’s sitting in the fountain of youth. He’s just rubbing it in our faces now. Damn fountain.

Tears for Fears’ site hasn’t been updated since 2005, when their last album was released.

Depeche Mode released a best-of last year and their last album of new music came out in ’05. I missed that one. You know, sometimes it’s best bands have their heyday and go onto something else. I don’t know, maybe real estate, or maybe freelance band-name-maker-uppers. On second thought, I want that job.

What time is it? It’s Morris Day and the mother effin’ Time, fool. Hope y’all get the Jay and Silent Bob reference. Morris, Jerome, and company reunited recently for a couple of performances. Here’s hoping they get in the recording studio and make some music. I want to see Prince and Morris Day and the Time make an album together. Prince can get top billing. Sign up Shelia E, but I never liked that Apollonia, so don’t invite her Purple Rain self in the reunion. I just wrote that Apollonia. First, like there’s another Apollonia out there and B, when did I start talking like my grandmother? That Apolloina. Good grief it’s late, I’d better let the dog in and call it a night. After I watch “The Bird” video on YouTube. Man, that never gets old. Hold on now, this song ain’t for everybody, just the sexy people.

I’ll check out any bands y’all want to know about. Just leave it in the comments.

Tunes you need Tuesday, kinda late, but hey…

Ok, so the comment from this morning made me not want to write anything else today, but hey, it’s Tunes you need Tuesday. Here’s one essential album any REM fan needs: Dead Letter Office.

There’s a good chance you haven’t heard this cd, it’s a great collection of b-sides, covers, and outtakes from the band’s early years. It’s a fitting title — in case you didn’t know, when your mail gets lost or you goofed up the address and don’t put your return address on the envelope, your mail goes to the dead letter office. Well, that’s what they used to be called. Now they’re referred to as Mail Recovery Centers, which sounds like letter rehab. Anywhoodle.

The covers on Dead Letter Office are great. I love REM’s version of “There She Goes Again” by Velvet Underground, it’s one of my favorite songs of all time. The cover of Aerosmith’s “Toys in the Attic” is a fun song, something I always find strange that REM recorded.

“Ages of You” is a song that could have been big, or at least I think so. I love a lot of REM’s music from before they really refined their sound. Here’s a fab line from the song, “the horses just don’t gossip anymore.” I never trusted horses, especially those haughty Clydesdales.

My fun, “try to sing along” song on the album has to be “Voice of Harold.” Michael Stipe used the liner notes to a gospel album (“The Joy of Knowing Jesus”, by the Revelaires) in the studio during the recording of Reckoning with the same backing music track as “7 Chinese Brothers.” I’m sure there was some drinking going on in the studio that night. Finally, the mucho grande fun track of the album is a liqoured-up version of Roger Miller’s “King of the Road.” You can almost smell the booze on Stipe’s breath when you hear it. Seriously. Here’s what guitarist Peter Buck had to say in the liner notes about “King of the Road”: I suppose if we had any shame we would have never allowed this little gem to see the light of day. This was recorded at the very end of a long alcohol soaked day, and I can barely remember cutting it. This first part was an attempt at writing a commercial for Walter’s Bar-B-Q. The second part is King of the Road, kind of. If there was any justice in the world, Roger Miller should be able to sue for what we did to this song.

So, there it is. Go to Amazon and get your copy of Dead Letter Office. It’s $7, I checked it out for you. I didn’t check iTunes this time, but you know how to find it. Oh, I didn’t mention that when the cd was released, they tacked on the EP, Chronic Town, to DLO, so you’ll get the lovely song “Gardening at Night” as a little bonus. I’ve had the cd for years and years, and I pop in it in to play for a fun drive a lot. The cd came out in 1987, before Document and Green, when REM was still pretty much considered a college band and they broke out big. Do yourself a favor and go get all those cds. I have the newer compilations and the old cds — you can’t beat the old ones. There a lots of gems off those older cds that never saw the light of day. Ok, so this Tunes you need Tuesday turned into REM you need Tuesday.

Promise I’ll put up layouts from Scrap ‘n on the River soon. Still haven’t unpacked the car. What? You think I unpacked anything, save for my Vera Bradley Miller bag in Java Blue? Ha. You’re so funny, I thought you knew me by now. I wouldn’t have unpacked that bag, but I needed my toiletries. A girl’s gotta have her hair products, now. Be good.