One day I was cleaning the bathroom while my wife worked from home. I was listening to my playlist on Spotify while cleaning. My wife asked if the music was randomly selected or if I chose it. I told her that I built the playlist. She said that she assumed so because it was too weird to be randomly selected. I just now got around to deciding to let others see my weird “driving music” play list on Spotify. Enjoy.
music
My “Elvis” Story
Yesterday was the anniversary of Elvis’s death. As usual, my Facebook feed had several posts of people talking about how they remember where they were when they heard about his death. I do remember. I was 8 years old. I was staying at my grandmother’s house while my dad was in the hospital. It is not an exciting story and not the story for this post. When people talk about his death, I always say I don’t acknowledge it because I have seen him since his “death”. Here is that story.
I was in college at the time. It as either right before my junior or senior year. I was active in the Baptist Student Union and we were meeting at the BSU building to go to a week long retreat at Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina. I was early because I am always early(and possibly because I lived at the BSU that year). Because I was early, I decided to go get myself a cup of coffee. I walked down the street to Hardees. It was a perfect time to be a young man on a college campus. It was sunny and warm. Sorority rush was happening. Campus was full of attractive young women. It was a nice walk.
I made it to Hardees. As I was entering the building, I saw someone coming out. Because I am a person who holds the door for everyone, I held the door open for the person to exit before I entered. As he walked past I noticed he looked familiar. As he said “Thank you. Thank you very much” in his distinctive voice, I realized that he looked familiar because it was Elvis. He wasn’t wearing a sequined jumpsuit or anything. He was jut wearing an ordinary button down shirt and jeans, but he was clearly Elvis. I went on inside and got my giant cup of coffee and then went about my life. I have told that story consistently this time of year every since.
I obviously realize that I happened to bump into an Elvis impersonator on his off time, but it’s much ore fun to say that I have proof that Elvis didn’t die in 1977.
Saturday Rerun – Music
Two thugs in my life that have always helped me when I am down are TV and music. I’ve written a lot about music. Lists of favorites, what comes up when I shuffle the music on my phone, songs that get stuck in my head, fake band names, back stories for the fake bands, etc.
I decided for today I would share the link to the posts I have tagged music. Go back and enjoy some of my random music posts.
A 30 Day Song Challenge in One Morning
A friend of mine did this 30-day song challenge earlier this summer. I was tempted to do it but didn’t because I lack the commitment to finish those types of things. Then, someone else I know transferred their challenge into a blog post. One thing I can do is bore people with random blog posts. So, here is my 30-day song challenge done in a few minutes of boredom while my family is still asleep. I’m too lazy to do links to all of the songs. I will try to link to some of the newer ones people might not know, but I also know not many people will click through anyway.
- A song you like with a color in the title – I will go with the obvious here and pick Purple Rain by Prince. I will try not to be so obvious with the rest.
- A song you like with a number in the title – The only one that keeps coming to mind is 99 Luftballons by Nena. I think this is because my wife only listens to 80’s music and loves the song.
- A song that reminds you of summertime – I will go with a band here instead of a song – Anything by The Beach Boys. I know, another obvious choice. I’m very boring.
- A song that reminds you of someone you’d rather forget – There is no particular person I want to forget, but the song Douchebag by Patent Pending is about the type of person most people probably want to forget.
- A song that needs to be played loud – Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N Roses. I play most of my music too loud, but GNR definitely needs to be loud.
- A song that makes you want to dance – I don’t dance, so none really, but Dance Like a Maniac by The Dollyrots seems appropriate here.
- A song to drive to – I really just need my favorite bands when driving, but I think the best driving song is I Can’t Drive 55 by Sammy Hagar.
- A Song About Drugs or Alcohol – Hooray for Beer by Bowling for Soup
- A song that makes you happy – I’m not sure any song leads to happiness, but I always feel a little better when Footloose by Kenny Loggins plays.
- A song that makes you sad – I think The Girl I Used to Love by People on Vacation is one of the saddest songs I’ve heard.
- A song you never get tired of – I’m a big Elvis fan and I love Burning Love. I will never skip it if it comes up on shuffle. I could also add All Shook Up as well.
- A song from your preteen years – Most of my preteen years my music consumption was driven by what my dad listened to in the car or what my sister listened to in the house. I don’t know when I first heard Stayin Alive by the Bee Gees, but it is one from before I was a teen that sticks with me.
- A song you like from the 70s – This is the same category as above for me. I’m old.
- A song you’d like to be played at your wedding – I have been married for over 25 years. We did not really have a particular song we wanted at our wedding. It was a very traditional wedding in a Baptist church. Options were limited.
- A song you like that’s a cover by another artist – Tainted Love by Soft Cell, but I will say that recently I tend to skip it if it comes up on shuffle.
- A song that’s a classic favorite – I’m not sure what this one means? Like old music? If so, I will go with That’ll Be the Day by Buddy Holly.
- A song you’d sing a duet with on karaoke – I wouldn’t, but if I had to I would go with Don’t Go Breakin My Heart by Elton John and Kiki Dee
- A song from the year you were born – Come Together by the Beatles
- A song that makes you think about life – The Ghost of James Dean by Ryan Hamilton and the Harlequin Ghosts. I love the lyrics “dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today”
- A song that has many meanings to you – I’m drawing a blank here. I’m going to give myself a pass.
- A song you like with a person’s name in it – Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly
- A song that moves you forward – Hold On by Wilson Phillips. This is an odd one, but I have a very clear memory of this playing on the radio when I was in Cincinnati and depressed about my job situation. It still pops in my head occasionally when I’m ready to give up,
- A song you think everyone should listen to – I’m going to just say here that everyone should listen to something by Bowling for Soup because they are my favorite band and their music makes me happy.
- A song by a band you wish were still together – I’ve used People on Vacation before, but I’m putting them here as well. People on Vacation was Jaret Reddick from Bowling for Soup and Ryan Hamilton who then was in Smile Smile Band. They were very good friends and did People on Vacation while on break from those bands, They had a falling out and now seem to hate each other. Here is You May Not Believe in God by them.
- A song you like by an artist no longer living – Maybe I should have saved Prince for this one. I will go with The Gambler by Kenny Rogers. I’ve always loved that song.
- A song that makes you want to fall in love – When I was younger, Almost Paradise by Ann Wilson and Mike Reno was one that made me want to be in love, well, honestly, made me wish the person I was in love with loved me.
- A Song by an Artist Whose Voice You Love – I don’t know if this link will work or not, but hopefully, it will go to a music video by someone who was a regular at my teen idol program at the library and is now an adult and writing her own music. I love her voice and am very proud of her continued success. Waiting for You by Marissa Zechinato
- A song that breaks your heart – I feel like I used this one already on the sad song one. A newer one that comes close is Bearing Down by Dave Hause
- A song you remember from your childhood – A lot of my childhood music memory is classic country my dad played. I still love the Oak Ridge Boys and have Elvira on my Spotify playlist. I also still love The Statler Brothers.
- A song that reminds you of yourself – I have joked before that Just Like All the Rest by The Dollyrotswas written about me. “You’re just another average guy You’re nothing special not worth my time…If you’re boring and predictable you’re not my type at all”
Favorites
Not in the mood to write. My post about my favorite book for each letter of the alphabet was in my memories today, so I thought I would share the links to some of my posts about favorites for new followers. Here they are.
My Favorite Book for Each Letter of the Alphabet
My Favorite Song From Each Year I’ve Been Alive
20 Movies I Will Watch Over and OverMy 20 Favorite Books of All Time
20 Favorite TV Shows of All Time
My 20 Favorite Artists and My Favorite Songs By Them
I’m sure I’ve done a post like this before, but I was too lazy to go look for it.
Tater Takes On Guilty Pleasures, Reviews and Anything Else That Pops Into His Weird Mind
Another throw back post that popped up in my memories today. I still strongly agree with all of these takes. I’m sure everyone is happy I still agree with myself.
Guilty Pleasures: I don’t believe in guilty pleasures. I read, watch and listen to plenty of things people will make fun of. I recently had that happen with my love of the Hamilton soundtrack and musicals in general. Around this same time someone mentioned something being their “guilty pleasure.” I don’t understand the concept of a guilty pleasure. If you enjoy something why would it make you feel guilty. Unless, of course, that “pleasure” is illegal or immoral. If this is the case then, yes, you should feel guilty. I freely admit to things that others would call a guilty pleasure with no shame at all. I love musicals. I watch Grey’s Anatomy. I watched Gilmore Girls regularly when it was on TV. I read sparkly pink YA book meant for teenage girls. I got addicted to the Game Show Network while at my mom’s house and wish I was home in the afternoon to watch Chain Reaction. I watched the soap opera Santa Barbara from the first to the last episode. I’m currently watching Live with Kelly and think Fred Savage should become the permanent co-host. I’m addicted to Facebook and spend a lot of time on social media. Does any of this make me guilty or ashamed? Nope. Why would I be ashamed to send time watching or reading things that make me happy? I don’t feel the need to pretend to be something I’m not. I don’t care if book, movies or music(80’s and pop punk) get good reviews. I only care about how they make me feel.
Reviews: I recently read a review of a comedy movie. Inside the review, the reviewer says you will laugh hard several times. The reviewer then goes on to give the movie a bad overall review. So, a comedy film is funny but is considered a failure? If I go to a comedy, I am going because I want to laugh. If I laugh a lot and hard isn’t that a success? Does it matter if the overall story is great? Are people really going to Neighbors 2 because they wanted a deep, meaningful story? Do reviewers even understand why people go to the movies? There are some movies in every genre that are dependent on a strong story, excellent acting, score, etc in order to achieve what they are attempting. Some movies, like Neighbors 2, are just meant to make you laugh. Did it make you laugh? Mission accomplished. Stop reading so deeply into things that aren’t meant to be deep. Same goes for TV shows. Also, once you no longer like the medium you should probably stop reviewing it.
Performing the Beatles, Prince, Queen, etc : I was already tired of hearing people opine that people should never attempt to cover the Beatles and was reaching that point with people saying the same about Queen. Now, I’ve already had someone on the Today Show(who makes sure to mention regularly that Prince was a friend) say the same thing in response to the Madonna and Stevie Wonder performance last night. There are a lot of bad covers out there. I agree on that point. My feelings, though, are if you are doing a tribute or making the song your own, then cover away. Most will never be as good as the original, but no one is un-coverable.
Rain: Hot take: I’m tired of it. Please stop.
Tater Remembers The Purple One
My ramblings the day of Prince’s death. I don’t listen to his music as much anymore, but I might spend some time tonight watching the tribute show. Actually, I will probably record it and watch it later as I’m probably the only person here who wants to watch it. My daughter won’t care and my wife won’t understand why I want to watch other people perform Prince songs.
Yesterday, I headed out at 1 to get my $1 sub at Jimmy Johns. As I stood in the line, I did what I always do and looked to my phone for entertainment. I went to Facebook and saw a post from Michael Ausiello about the death of Prince. It was reported first by TMZ and as much as I argue with people that TMZ is now a legitimate news source, I held out hope that it was wrong and I would discover it was a hoax. Unfortunately, as I stood in line(it was a long line) it was confirmed that Prince was really dead. I’m still stunned by the news as I watch the tributes and listen to the Prince tribute channel on Sirius.
I can’t remember the first time I ever heard a Prince song. I recall hearing the songs Delirious, 1999 and Little Red Corvette and loving them, but it wasn’t until Purple Rain that I really became a Prince fan. I had the Purple Rain cassette and listened to it a lot all the way through college. I remember the first time I saw the movie on VHS. There wasn’t a bad song on the album. I know most people love the songs Purple Rain and Let’s Go Crazy(and I do as well) but my favorites were The Beautiful Ones and I Would Die 4 U. I also enjoyed listening to Darling Nikki because I knew people like Tipper Gore hated it. While I was a kid who liked a variety of music, I generally listened to more of the hair band stuff, but I loved Prince. His was the type of music that could appeal to everyone. I was a great example of that. While people make fun of the movie Under the Cherry Moon, Parade was another album I loved. I also owned the cassette for that one and listened to it over and over again and again, I loved every song on the album. I loved Kiss, but again loved lesser known ones like Anotherloverholeinyohead and Sometimes it Snows in April more. I have not loved a lot of his newer stuff as much, but The Gold Standard has made its way in to my playlist a lot recently. As I moved on to listening to more pop punk stuff I had forgotten how great his music was. Listening to the tribute station today reminded me of how much I loved it. I’m sad that he is gone and that I never went to see him in concert. I don’t think I will let another icon’s concert pass me by because of price or inconvenience. You never know when it might be the last time you have the chance.
I was going to spend some time ranting about the people who have emerged to complain that we care about his death and not the death of x. Or the people who think it’s good that he’s dead because they were offended by his Baltimore concert. Or the people asking if he had AIDS like that matters at all. I could spend a lot of time telling them what I think of them and I might still do that at some point, but instead I am going to go for a walk and listen to some more Prince. RIP
Tater’s Music Listening History
It’s hard to consider writing these days even though it would probably help my mind. This popped up on TmeHop today and I was thinking about my music selection anyway, so I will update this one. I have started a playlist on Spotify to diversify my listening while I walk. I started with some new songs by Ryan Hamilton and then added some new songs by Tanya Tucker which lead to a suggestion of a lot of old country music. I added those and then added some oldies I liked which gave me a list of more oldies to add. I then added some 80’s stuff. I added some Bowling for Soup which lead to some pop-punk. Then I remembered a ska band I like(Big D and the Kids Table) and added them which lead to Stacked Like Pancakes and Suburban Legends. I added some of my favorite Dave Hause. Now I have a very odd collection of music that includes artists like Buddy Holly, Maty Robbins, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Def Leppard, Billy Joel and the artists mentioned above. I still have an eclectic taste in music.
I should be reading my book during my lunch break, but instead, I will bore everyone with a post about music.
I went to a concert Tuesday night. The opening band was a ska band(Stacked Like Pancakes) and the rest were pop-punk(Direct Hit, Runaway kids and Bowling for Soup). This is generally the type of music I listen to. Bowling for Soup, Patent Pending, The Dollyrots, Suburban Legend, etc, but I try not to be the type of person who listens to only one style or era of music. I went from the above-mentioned concert to listening to 50’s music on Sirius on my drive to work yesterday. I recently spent my drive to and from work listening to a collection of Prince’s greatest hits. It’s about time for me to do my week of listening to the local “hits” radio station to try to keep current with the mainstream music of the day.
I have always been a weird music person(a weird person in general). I grew up hearing county music from acts like Conway Twitty, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Statler Brothers, etc and watching Hee Haw on weekends. I spent a lot of time listening to 45’s of 50’s music when I was a kid. One of my favorite songs is still Blue Moon by the Marcels(I’m listening to it now). I went from that to being the typical 80’s kid and still love 80’s music. I was a fan of bands like Motley Crue, Whitesnake. KISS, Guns N Roses, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Poison, etc. along with pop music like Michael Jackson, Wham, etc. In the 90’s I drifted toward country when I found myself not liking a lot of popular music. I went the direction of pop-punk by accident. I heard a Bowling for Soup song on the radio, loved it and looked for more. I went to some of their shows and started listening to music by the opening acts at those shows. A good portion of the music I listen to came to me from their connection to BFS.
My music history is a weird one, but I think it gave me an appreciation for all styles of music and has kept me from becoming the annoying old guy who hates all music not from his era. I am an annoying old guy in many other ways. Do yourself a favor and, if you are in a music rut or have not given new styles of music a shot change that. Listen to new bands and new genres. You might find a new favorite band.
The Song that Reminds Me of an Accident
I have several songs that bring back specific memories. There is a song that takes me back to the night I was leaving Cincinnati for the last time and moving to Maryland. There are plenty of songs that take me back to various times and people from high school. Some songs will now always remind me of dad’s dance at my daughter’s dance recitals. One song I heard last night, That’s All by Genesis, will always remind me of a minor car accident from my freshman year of high school.
I did not drive while I was in high school, so I spent every morning standing on Main Street waiting for the bus. I rode the bus the entire four years I was in high school. Obviously, this story takes place before I was legally able t drive anyway. I just thought I would try to get people to pity me for riding the bus. Anyway, this particular day I was standing on Main Street as usual. I’m pretty sure it was drizzling a little. I’m pretty sure that’s why someone pulled over and asked us if we wanted a ride to school. I can’t remember who it was. I didn’t know them. I think maybe my brother did. We said yes and piled into the car.
The first stop was at the middle school to dop of the younger kids. The high school and middle school had similar hours. We stopped in front of the middle school, dropped people off and then headed around the school to get to the high school next door to park and go to school. I guess the driver took the curve a little too fast, went off the road, hit the mud and started spinning. We spun around and ended with the car hitting the middle school. The middle school principal charged out and told all of us but the driver to go on to school. Leaving the scene of an accident is not something you should do, but when the principal told us to do it, we did.
I went to school and my first class was Biology(I think, Definitely science). For some reason, my teacher had been talking about a train crash. When the school office told him I was needed there to talk to the police he jokingly asked me if it was about the train accident. I told him close, but a car accident and headed out. The police questioned me about the speed around the curve I answered honestly that I had been in the back seat and looking down at my books to make sure I had my homework so I had no idea how fast we were going. That was the extent of the questioning.
It was a very minor event with no repercussions for me at all, but every time I hear the song That’s All, the song that was playing when it happened, I am taken back to that day.
Fake Back Stories For Some of My Fake Bands
In a blogging group on Facebook Lorna from Gin & Lemonade suggested we post a link to our blog so others could read a few posts and suggest a topic. When I posted mine she suggested I write about two of the bands on my fake band name post that is pinned to the top of my blog. I haven’t updated in a while, but it is where I list phrases I hear in life that I think would make a good band name. I never really thought about a story for the bands, but I will give it a try. I will start with the two she mentioned, but I will try a few more. Also – I would love to see these used in real life. If you know a band who needs a name, please use them..
Hipster Dude Ranch – This is a group of guys who thought it would be fun to “ironically” sing new versions of the old cowboy music of people like Roy Rogers. They soon had a following of other hipsters who love things that are done “ironically”. They perform at local craft breweries and coffee shops. They are universally hated by everyone outside their loyal following.
Tuesday Night Cake – A Sacramento based Cake cover band, They love Cake and love the fact they are from Sacramento. Unfortunately, there is not a high demand for a Cake cover band, even in Sacramento. They only play once a week – Tuesday nights at the bar at the Holiday Inn. Thus the name.
Transient Anus – Death metal band. They produce a lot of shitty music, but only on demand.
Unclean Widow – A band that formed at a grief support group when several members realized they all were musicians. The music is angry and sad and helps them process their grief. It’s also a good way to pick up guys who can also help them forget their grief for a while.
Amish Kindergarten – Acoustic band made up of friends who have known each other since they were 5. They all hate each other now, but they stick together in the hopes of making it big.
I guess i should go cook dinner now, so I will stop there.
