Meet Me Halfway - Kenny Loggins

 

"We are stronger when we are given love

When we put emotions on the line

Know that we are the timeless ones"

Valentine's Day may be over but the love train continues here on Cobra Kai!

Flowers, chocolate, nice bottle of wine, fancy dinner, arm wrestling movies..all of us celebrate love in different ways. Kenny Loggins was the king of 80's soundtracks. Caddyshack, Footloose, Top Gun and one of my favs, Over the Top. Ironically the song Over the Top was sung by Sammy Hagar but Meet My Halfway is the main theme or mantra of the film (in fact if you watch the below trailer this line is mentioned twice. They really wanted to hammer that message in!) As with most 80's movies, the main theme echoes throughout the film usually instrumental at first, perhaps a bit slowed down version and then when the movie is about to take off.... bring it all together and kick in those vocals! Such a powerful trick that movies of this time constantly pulled out of their hat's...and I loved it. 

Stallone was on a red hot streak at this time and I watched whatever he starred in (Much love for Cobra!) Even to this day when I'm on the highway and see truck drivers I kind of hope they're making their way cross-country, having arm wrestling matches in the back of truck stops on the way to Las Vegas for the championship. Could be true? 

If you're unfamiliar with the plot, a mom is dying of cancer so has her estranged truck driver husband (Stallone) pick up their son at military school so they can drive cross country to see her and get to know each other on the way. Not only does Stallone want to be a better father, but he also wants to win an arm wrestling championship so he can start his own trucking company. Oh yeah the son has a wealthy grandfather who despises Stallone and tries to kidnap him throughout the film. Sounds amazing right? I re-watched this early on in the pandemic and I have to say it holds up really well. It's got a big budget, killer soundtrack, and a great final villain. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's the best arm wrestling movie ever made.   The film made such an impression on me that in a college public speaking course when we had to read any dialogue that emitted emotion I recited a few lines from Lincoln Hawk (Stallone's character) ..and yes I ended up getting an A. Don't let the arm wrestling deter you from watching, this one's got heart and I think you'll enjoy it. 

On a sad note I'd like to say RIP to Prince Markie Dee formally of The Fat Boys. Going to have to watch 1987's classic flick Disorderlies again soon out of respect. Remember that time the Fat Boys and The Beach Boys (not the Brian Wilson version) teamed up to sing Wipeout? No? Well check it out below. Cheers everyone! 

Kenny Loggins - Meet Me Half Way

Over the Top (1987) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers

Fat Boys & The Beach Boys - Wipeout (HQ)

Let The Music Play - Barry White

"I think I'm gonna be alright, ha ha ha

If I can make it through the night, oh lord

I'll just pretend she's here with me 

I'll close my eyes, her face I'll see (won't somebody help

me?)

My love of 70's soul music and fascination of Blaxploitation movies began after seeing the Wayans' Brother's 1988 classic, "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka." The movie spoofed 70's blaxploitation movies much like they spoofed the horror genre years later with the Scary Movie franchise. I found this movie hilarious as a kid and watched it repeatedly. Skip ahead a few years and you'd find my buddy and I combing the video stores looking for the original movies that were spoofed by the Wayans. 

I'm sure most of you had the mom and pop video stores growing up (you know the ones that had the back rooms where people kept their heads down while walking out?) Anyway, the great thing about these stores were the deep cuts they had on display. I suppose some of these movies were cheap to buy so they figured they'd load up and if they got rented once or twice they were making money. Well my buddy and I would go to the action section and be amazed by the covers. Three the Hard Way, Across 110th Street, Superfly, Shaft we watched them all. One standout for us was the day we rented Dolemite 2: The Human Tornado. At this point we hadn't seen part 1 (I don't think Video World had that one) but we were able to pick up on the plot fairly quickly. I posted the trailer below and I'll say if you're easily offended these are not for you. While I was working at Best Buy in high school the Rudy Ray Moore VHS boxset came out and I had to have it. The set featured Dolemite, The Human Tornado, Petey Wheat Straw : The Devil's Son in Law, and Disco Godfather. All had their merits and have a special place in my heart.  I was fascinated that movies like these were able to get made. I loved the clothes, the all out pandemonium, the shaky camera work and most of all, the music. 

Through these movies I discovered the amazing music of Curtis Mayfield and Isaac Hayes but the movie soundtrack that made me go further down the soul rabbit hole was 1995's Dead Presidents. I remember liking the movie when it came out but it was the music that really made an impression on me. Much like my Milli Vanilli tape, I was able to acquire Volume's 1 and 2 of the soundtrack through the BMG Music club. These albums featured Al Green , The O'Jays, Sly & The Family Stone, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, James Brown and many more. One of my favs though was this man, Barry White. Never Never Gonna Give You Up was the tune featured, but I picked a different song for this week's post. 

I realize Valentine's Day isn't a joyous occasion for everyone so we'll split between songs of love and songs of loss. I came across this video while searching for this song and it's pretty fantastic. Not sure what this footage is from as Barry doesn't seem to be singing to this particular song but his collar game is out of control (in a good way) If you've been unlucky in love or just have the rainy day blues this one's for you. 

The Human Tornado - Trailer

Into My Arms - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

 

" And I don't believe in the existence of angels

But looking at you I wonder if that's true"

What's Love Got to do With it? What About Love? Love is a Battlefield, You Give Love a Bad Name...In my unscientific estimation 99% of songs are about love while the remaining 1% of songwriters really want us to dance. In fact they don't just ask, they demand it! For example The Bee Gee's commanded "You Should Be Dancing" ,J Lo  forcefully summoned us to "Get on the Floor" and Billy Idol sneered his proclamation that he was "Dancing With Myself" ...whoops, that one actually is in the 99% category under "self love" songs. 

My saga seeing Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds for the first time involved 14 hours in Toronto, border crossing issues, Vermont, fantastic seafood, minimal sleep and Ric Flair. 

My wife purchased tickets to see Nick and the boys for my birthday. At the time Nick only had a handful of North American tour dates. He had a show in DC but we were going to be in Burlington, Vermont for vacation. Well the vacation ended on a Sunday and that's when the Toronto concert was taking place....so we jumped in the car and drove from Burlington to Montreal to get on a flight to Toronto. Little room for delays or error's on this trip. If all went well we'd land in Canada after lunch and head to the Scotia Bank Arena by 7 to catch the opening band (Cigarettes After Sex) Luckily everything was on time and we checked into our hotel mid afternoon, immediately  jumped in an uber and headed out to Birreria Volo  for some pre-show brews. After some delicious mid west suds and snacks we headed out to make our way towards dinner. On the car ride over we stopped a few blocks away from the restaurant and walked through some type of Fall street festival (this trip was in October) I miss the feeling of getting lost and blending into a new city or town. After the festival we headed to dinner and while sitting at the bar overlooking the open kitchen we enjoyed one of the best seafood meals we've ever had (shout out to Grey Gardens )

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and walked over to the Scotia Bank Arena. I grabbed a Molson and some popcorn and away we went. What a fantastic show. Nick crawled around the arena like a deranged spider weaving in and out of out piano ballads and distorted rock and roll opuses. It almost felt like we were all some type of experiment to Nick while he tested his powers over the audience commanding us to touch him so he could steal our energy and at one point bringing people on stage and having them stand and sit at his command like a deranged cult leaded with a great voice. Anyway if you're into passionate performances mixed in with great song-writing and a little bit of madness I recommend heading to this show when we can again. I saw Nick months later solo in Washington DC which focused on songs like this one.  Figured I'd also share one of the wild tunes so you could get an idea of his range.

So Ric Flair. The picture above is from the early 2000's when I met Ric at a Verizon opening in Summerville, South Carolina. I don't remember what I said to him but he reciprocated with that million dollar smile. The only other celebrity I've seen "out in the wild" is Flavor Flav. That's a story for a different time. After the concert my wife and I crashed around midnight, got up around 4 to catch a 6am flight from Toronto to NYC and then back to Richmond. I was at my desk for work around 10:30 am thinking to myself "was that a dream? When we got off the plane at JFK I looked to my right and in a sleep deprived quiet voice I said to my wife "There's Ric Flair." I think she thought I was pointing to someone who resembled Ric but it was indeed Ric himself! Professional wrestlers don't exactly "blend in." He was standing behind some rope gate with a few security personnel around him looking tan as ever. Apparently there was a pay per view in Brooklyn the night before so I suppose he was heading home. I walked by and just offered a head nod to pay my respects. Anyone else miss traveling?

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Into my arms

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - From Her To Eternity - Live in Copenhagen