The Icelandic Volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, is wreaking all kinds of havoc, not only in Iceland and over the skies of Europe, but over the television airwaves as well.
I wonder what Björk would say about this whole volcano debacle. I have to go with THIS.
http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/x1jcto
Bjork – It's Oh So Quiet
Uploaded by scopitones. – Watch more music videos, in HD!
I like old things. Old things are comforting, sort of like old friends. I like stuff and I like to be surrounded by my things, it makes me happy. I'm not ready for Hoarders quite yet, but there are a few things I've had forever and I thought I would give you a peek into my weirdness.
When I was probably eight, my great aunt Mary gave me this little garbage can with my name on it for my birthday. I've always loved just about anything with my name on it because when you have a name with an unusual spelling, you never just find things with your name. It never happened when I was a kid. Those license plates for bikes? There was no Kerry license plate. Pencils, pens, bracelets, diaries — nothing ever had my name. Because I have a weird name. No one ever spells it right and I'll never find it on a notepad. Do you know who always found her name on everything? My sister, Kelly.
So, when my aunt gave me this garbage can, I thought it was great. This was also the aunt who gave me my first Barbie when I was six. My name is in green because the carpet in my bedroom was green at the time and everything had to match. This little garbage can held everything from crumpled up childhood drawings to ripped up teenage love letters in that bedroom. It came to Louisiana Tech with me and survived many, many moves (eight in almost 13 years, but who's counting) and now resides in my scrap office full of paper just like it was back in the day. Only now it's mainly test-run printed stuff for ScrapFest or old to-do lists.
The Kerry Weirdness continues. Every morning I use the same Maybelline eyebrow brush that I've used since I was 12. It's just exactly right, it's old. I've bought others over the years, but none of them handle like the Maybelline brush from the '80s to sweep the perfect amount of auburn onto my blond eyebrows. I have no natural color in my face save for my freckles, so the eyebrows have to get their share of makeup too.
The Kerry Weirdness and old things kind of go together. Hand and glove. Fingerless gloves.
So, I was all set to do a Vonda Shepard '80s Sunday Rewind (you know Vonda – she was the bar singer in Ally McBeal), then after a little research, realized the song she's known for, "Don't Cry Ilene" came out in 1990. Not the '80s. I've been planning a Vonda post all week, but maybe that will be a Tunes Tuesday post instead.
Today you're getting more personal '80s favorites because it's my blog and I feel like it.
Up first is the lovely "Life in a Northern Town" by Dream Academy.
Marshall Crenshaw's "Someday Someway" is a great little pop song. Love the guitars on this one.
This clip of R.E.M. doing "Don't Go Back to Rockville" needs to be saved for future generations. This is one of my favorite songs.
And finally, with one of my favorite first lines of any song, "Such a drag to want something sometime," it's The Pretenders with "Talk of the Town." Fantastic song.
"Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday." Love that song. And just for fun, "Brass in Pocket," which is pretty fantastic as well.
Enjoy your Sunday.
When you weren't looking, Hanson grew up and made a new album due out June 8th. Here is their new video "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" — the video is a Blues Brothers tribute and I believe that's Weird Al on tambourine. You know that makes it awesome.
Thinking 'Bout Somethin'
http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=104317949,t=1,mt=video
HANSON | MySpace Music Videos
I like that. Mmm bop.
You didn't think I'd wear just any old thing to the ballpark did you?
You know in magazine articles and television interviews when people are asked what famous people they would want to have dinner with? I would pick Natalie Merchant and Michael Stipe. And probably a few other people like Jesus and Aretha Franklin and Bill Clinton and JFK and Shakespeare and Hemingway. But really, I'd be fine with just Natalie and Michael.
This post was inspired by two things: talking to a friend about musical collaborations and stumbling across the first video I'm featuring today while writing the Sunday Rewind post a couple of days ago. When I say I stumbled across it, I noticed it in the Related Videos in the sidebar. Now let me explain something to you: I've searched for this video to no avail for several years. When I say I searched for it, I mean it. I adore this version of "To Sir With Love" and have been looking for it for years. This clip is taken from the MTV Inaugural Ball in 1993. I watched it live, in awe. I loved everything about Natalie Merchant. In 1993 she and Michael Stipe were at very high points in their respective careers. I still think Natalie and Michael nailed this song and I love it.
From the same show, "Candy Everybody Wants."
Singing John Prine's "Hello in There" with the fantastic Billy Bragg on guitar. This is good stuff, people.
"Photograph" is a song I love and listen to often — no video, so take a listen.
And finally, one I'm almost willing to bet you've never heard. This is Natalie and Michael doing "Little April Shower" from Dumbo. Yep. It's from a CD called Stay Awake. I've had it for at least 15 years and at times it is a little bizarre. How bizarre? Disney on crack — I wouldn't play it for small children, and I'm not joking. Sinàed O'Conner should not be allowed to sing "Someday My Prince Will Come" and Buster Poindexter? Please. BUT, "Little April Shower" is lovely and the highlight of the CD.
Hope y'all enjoyed the Natalie and Michael Collection. I know I did.
Dixie Carter passed away Saturday. She was a wonderful actress, best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker on Designing Women. I loved Dixie and Julia. Both were strong, intelligent, outspoken southern women. Julia was never afraid to speak her mind and was a role model of mine in my adolescence. Dixie was a Republican playing a Democrat, so that shows you how talented of an actress she really was.
I've found a few favorite Julia moments for you.
This is a speech I should memorize — it would come in handy, although I'm a moderate:
Julia on crazy people:
Julia gets mad (not unlike when I get mad):
Also, once someone has seen me angry they usually say "I didn't know Kerry had that in her," as Charlene did.
Speaking of angry, here's a clip from when Bernice (the crazy person talked about from the Crazy People in the South Clip) had a talk show and Julia tried to straighten poor Bernice out. Hilarious.
Thanks for the memories, Dixie.
I thought I'd take a break from the usual today and not focus on one particular band and do something which allows me to show you videos from bands who may have only had one hit or songs I just love and want to show you again. There are bunches that fit in the latter category. These are the songs that no matter what – when they come on my '80s iTunes playlist make me extremely happy. Some of the songs you will know, some may be knew to you. Enjoy my favorite beautiful '80s tunes.
First up, Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out." Lovely.
10,000 Maniac's "Like the Weather" has been one of my all-time favorites since 1987. I played this record OUT. Yes, I said record, as in vinyl.
Flock of Seagulls. Oh my God, shut up. "Space Age Love Song" is just beautiful. Perfect song.
I love The Thompson Twins. "If You Were Here" simply makes me melt. That's what I said.
The Rave-Ups' "Positively Lost Me" is brilliant. Nothing less than brilliant. I've written about this song before — probably write about it again, but to me — this list of miscellaneous items she lost when she left, then the line "you lost my face, you lost my laugh, and then you lost my confidence" is fantastic.
Another song that was in Pretty in Pink, "Bring On the Dancing Horses" by Echo and the Bunnymen. Fab.
Here is "Pictures of You," my favorite song by The Cure. It's hauntingly beautiful, a song of lost love and heartbreak.
And for your '80s leftover, barely missing the cut by being released in January 1990, it's The Sundays with "Here's Where the Story Ends." This is such a beautiful song. Harriet's voice is unlike any other and I do not understand why her band did not take off like gangbusters. They were wonderful. If you've ever heard their cover of the Rolling Stones "Wild Horses," you know what I mean.
Grey's is a repeat tonight, kittens, so Aunt ReeRee has a story for y'all. Gather 'round.
Way back in the day, there was a nighttime soap called Knots Landing. It was the bomb. Knots Landing was a spinoff of Dallas – you know, the show about the Ewing family.
Well, Gary Ewing was J.R.'s black sheep-of-the-family alcoholic brother. He married Valene (Val) and his mom, Miss Ellie, bought them a house on a cul-de-sac in California, which became the setting for — you guessed it — Knots Landing. No apostrophe.
Knots Landing was the best. It had everything a nighttime soap could ask for — alcoholism, mobsters, lots of affairs, faked deaths, drug addiction, assassins, amnesia, kidnapping, abuse, and my favorite storyline EVER — a murder where the body was buried beneath soil where cement was going to be poured the very next day. Of course, when the cement cracked BECAUSE THERE WAS A DEAD BODY BENEATH IT — the cement had to be repoured and the body was found. TO THIS DAY, when I see a crack in cement I think, "well, it's only a matter of time before they find the body." I'm not kidding.
But my second favorite storyline concerns my boyfriend, Alec Baldwin, in which is what I believe to be the first role I recall seeing him in. He played Val's crazy evangelist brother, Joshua, for a short time on the show. For some reason, he decided he was going to throw his wife, Cathy, off of a building in front of a billboard with her name on it! Does it get better than that?! Yes, it does! His mama, Lilly Mae is there and disowns him, then he falls to his death! I saw this clip on a link from Go Fug Yourself the other day and it brought back such memories, I was in Alec Baldwin heaven. So good and so bad.
Kittens, I give you Alec Baldwin playing a southern evangelist and saying "mama." And playing Cathy is the one and only Lisa Hartman before she was Lisa Hartman Black and she totally has Rod Stewart hair.
You are welcome.
This is Megan’s dog, Chloe. She likes my lap.
