Solid - Ashford and Simpson

 

"The thrill is still hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot"

Happy holidays everyone! As we start to get into the thick of things times can get a little crazy. Social commitments, over indulging, trying to maintain traditions that may or not bring enjoyment.(a very Gen X statement, I know!) 

There's a mix of joy, nostalgia and a bit of melancholy as we think about people (and pets) we won't be able to celebrate with this year. All these emotions can be overwhelming for some so it's important to take a few minutes and listen to or watch something you enjoy. 

If you've been on this blog journey with me for anytime, it's pretty obvious that all things 80's bring me to my happy place. As a special treat I've got a little two for Thursday comin at ya today with a double dose of feel good jamz both featuring amazing hairstyles!

I snapped the picture on the left back in May while walking around Central Park. I saw some people playing guitar and a musician singing Beatles tunes at Strawberry Fields, but unfortunately I did not run into Ashford and Simpson and their crew singing this masterpiece as displayed in the below video. Nickolas Simpson looks so excited to be shooting this video and his hair is pure magic. One can't help but smile and sing along to this 80's gem. Enjoy.

Last but definitely not least is another early 80's visual accomplishment. Shout out to my main man Lionel for getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year (wait, it took this long?!) In celebration of the World Cup, check out Lionel and his fellow Commodores playing the beautiful game with...well as you may have guessed, some ladies! 

If we don't chat again happy holidays everyone. Hope these help someone get through whatever challenges you may be facing. Cheers!

You know what else makes me happy? The What's Happening!! opening credits. Loved watching this show after school. Ok that's it. Happy Festivus.

Ashford & Simpson - Solid, Original Music Video. (My Reproduction 20/20...

Commodores - Lady (You Bring Me Up)

What's Happening Theme Song

Assassins of Youth - The Flaming Lips

 

"I was young yesterday

But now everything has changed after today

And I don't know what to do

Oh, my youngest self, I miss you

Yes, I do"

Happy Halloween everyone! Not as many October posts as I hoped, but I couldn't miss writing on the main event of the season. The picture to the left is a flashback to a 2019 trip my wife and I took to Maine. We started by staying a few days near Acadia National Park and then jumped on the highway to head south on down to Portland to round out the week. When I saw that Bangor was right off the interstate I had to pay my respects to the man who's books and movie adaptations were a big part of my young adulthood and still today. This is the famous Stephen King house of course! The time we drove by, It Part 2 had just been released so the balloons were an extra special erie touch. Favorite movie adaptation? That's a tough one. I was a little behind, but during quarantine I watched 1979's Salem's Lot which was amazingly a TV mini series. Directed by Tobe Hooper of Texas Chainsaw fame (still my fav of the genre and still makes me want to take a shower after viewing) has some of the most iconic images of horror and it's influence can be seen heavily in another one of my favs..The Lost Boys. Definitely recommend if you missed this one.

Fav book, also a tough one. Today I'll go with Misery.

Ok enough about Mr. King, let's get to today's post. The first two entries earlier this month dealt with strangers, and mental illness. Why are people usually so afraid of horror movies? The death of course! Most of us don't like to broach the subject and sometimes have to pretend it's not going to happen. Perhaps it's part of the reason I love these films as it's a coping mechanism for the acknowledgment of an inevitable finale. 

A band that does a fantastic job tackling the subject of death (between psychedelic songs about...well psychedelics)is The Flaming Lips. Singer Wayne Coyne is Willie Wonka personified. The master of ceremonies who brings the party and has a good heart....but a darker side sometimes emerges. 

I had the pleasure of seeing the Lips a couple weeks ago here in Virginia and as usually it was a blast. Hard to leave a Flaming Lips show without a smile on you face and a tune stuck in your head. Before the show I hadn't listened to 2020's American Head album. If you remember, lots was going on that year so I missed a few things. The band played a few songs that night from the album that I enjoyed but the one below is one that hit me the hardest. Sometimes music takes multiple listens to grab you,  but other times the magic hits you immediately and it's such a great feeling. 

The timing was perfect for me to feel these feelings. A childhood friend was having a wedding celebration the following weekend and people I've known for over 30 plus years were coming to our town to celebrate. After the initial catchups, old stories and reminiscing began (especially after a few cocktails) the ball breaking, inside jokes and all around juvenile behavior took over the night. The whole experience was joyous, inspiring and bitter sweet. Bitter sweet since we don't all get to see each other every day like we used to and not sure when/if the same group will be able to come together again. Time will tell. Whether you're 75 or 25 I feel this song touches a nerve. Happy Halloween everyone. Thanks for reading.

Oh, I suppose we should do one more horror movie recommendation. Since we started with King, let's go with 1985's Silver Bullet. This stars the late great Corey Haim and Gary Busey. If you're unfamiliar, a werewolf is going around town killing townsfolk so Corey and Gary buddy up to find out who the killer is. Sounds like a Scooby Doo vibe but as a 7 year old this move was terrifying. Could it be the creepy town priest? Nah, who would think a priest would do anything bad? Till next time ghouls!

 

The Flaming Lips - Assassins of Youth [Live Video]

Stephen King's Silver Bullet Trailer

Don't Talk to Strangers - DIO

 

"Don't smell the flowers

They're an evil drug to make you lose you mind

Don't dream of women

'Cause they only bring you down"

Hard to believe it's been six months since my last post but it was admittedly hard to top the one and only, Cinderella. Like most of you, life has once again gotten busier. I've had the opportunity to travel, see some shows, and live through months of construction on our house. In other words, time has flown but I didn't want to miss out on putting some words down during my favorite time of year.

Here we go again, the Halloween season. The weather is getting cooler, the nights are longer and houses are plastered with witches, ghouls and goblins all up and down the streets. Such a beautiful site. 

Speaking of time flying, I snapped the above picture back in August of 2016 when a couple buddies and I journeyed up to Jiffy Lube Live (the corporate names on some of these venues are awful) in Bristow, VA to see the mighty Black Sabbath! For this tour the band featured three original members (Ozzy, Tony, and Geezer) Bill Ward didn't join the tour for reasons that are different depending on which camp you heard from. The show was a blast. As soon as the sun went down the stage lights went dark, a video of some sort of demon appeared and then Tony Iommi's opening riffs of the song Black Sabbath (Is Bad Company the only other band that has a song with the same title as the band? I'm sure there's a few others) blared from the speakers. Oh man! From then on it was hit after gloomy, sludgy hit and we all obeyed Ozzy for the new two hours as he told us continuously to "make some fuckin noise!" A memorable experience indeed and I'm so glad I got to see Ozzy when I did. 

Unfortunately, I did not get the opportunity to see Mr. Ronnie James Dio (Ozzy's replacement in Black Sabbath) perform before his death from cancer in 2010. Since I've been gone for a bit why don't we celebrate a song from each of these dark legend's solo careers? Figured these two tracks were suitable for the season. Dio has one of my favorite voices in metal so let's feature a live version of a classic from the Holy Diver album. As for Ozzy, this is one of my early favs from his second solo album after Sabbath featuring the late, great Randy Rhoads on lead guitar. Alright everyone, raise your devil horns and crank it up!

Oh yeah, I also wanted to bring back some horror movie trailers this month starting with....1963's Black Sabbath of course! The movie that was inspiration for the namesake of the band that some argue created heavy metal. Till next time ghouls! 

Dio - Don't Talk To Strangers (Live At The Spectrum 1986)

Diary Of A Madman

Black Sabbath (1963) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

Heartbreak Station - Cinderella

 

"My lady's on the fly

And she's never coming back

My love is like a steam train

Rolling down the tracks, yeah, yeah"

Like most of us during the past couple years of pandemic life I've looked back at "better", simpler times for comfort. The times of skating parties, parachute pants, and Mr T. Some things revisited don't quite hold up like you thought (Sorry Alf, I'm looking at you) while others keep weaving in and out of your life and mature like a fine wine. For me 80's metal (or hair metal if you're nasty) is that vintage bordeaux. Sure some bands were fluff, but under the ripped jeans, sequined shirts, teased hair and makeup lied some amazing musicians with an ability to craft extremely catchy tunes. Of course most of the bands of this genre had to have a ballad or two up their sleeves. These songs turned a sausage party situation to having more ladies come to the shows. I believe I mentioned it earlier, but I'm a total mark for a metal ballad. Cinderella was one of those bands that had quite a few amazing ballads, while also pumping out some bluesy hard rock anthems. 

Putting this music on does take me back to the late 80's/early 90's being an awkward middle school kid that loved pro wrestling, Halloween and MTV. I remember two girls in particular in my class that loved the metal scene. They were the girls that smoked cigarettes, wore ripped jeans and were always sporting black t shirts featuring Motley Crue, Skid Row, Cinderella, etc. The kind of shirts you can probably find at Hot Topic today. They also hung out with the older kids and were quite frankly a bit intimidating. I was the goofy, slightly preppy kid but the cool thing about music was that it was a common bond I had with the metal chicks. I loved the songs too, but I didn't express it with a "uniform". Quite frankly I was probably too insecure to rock a Poison t-shirt at the time. One of my older cousins tried to hip us up with a cool shirt but it backfired. She worked at a record store in Massachusetts and mailed my brother and I Guns N' Roses shirts. I was in 5th grade at the time and Appetite for Destruction was a monster album. I remember the shirt had a skull on it (OK cool) the name of the band (right on) and a hypodermic needle (Doh!) Suppose my mom didn't want her 5th and 7th graders sporting t-shirts referencing heroin. Oh well. After a quick search I believe the above picture was the beginning and end of my black metal t-shirt days. The only other time I got in trouble from a shirt was when I bought a Big Johnson t-shirt (remember those?) Yeah that didn't go over too well in the Smith household.

Not sure if Carol and Julie knew we had the love of hair metal in common and I don't know what happened to their lives after 1992, but hearing these tunes in 2022 does bring me back to those simpler times. Let's celebrate two of the ballads today. One for Carol and one for Julie, wherever they are.

Cinderella - Heartbreak Station (Official Music Video)

Cinderella - Coming Home (Official Music Video)

Fire and Desire - Rick James and Teena Marie

 

"I was cold as ice long ago, baby, baby

I wasn't very, very, very nice, you know

Sugar, sugar, sugar

Then I kissed your lips and you turned on my fire, baby

And you burned me up within your flame

Took me a little higher"

As I typed out these lyrics I'm starting to think this may be a love letter to drugs rather than a woman, but I suppose old Rick loved both things during his lifetime. I listened to a lot of funk and R&B in college and became fascinated by Rick James. A man that started off playing in bands with Neil Young in Canada to turning into, well....what Rick turned into. I remember buying a record (I believe it was Street Songs) back then when I didn't have a record player because it came with the poster shown above. (Although mine was in color.) It proudly hung in my bedroom throughout my Junior and Senior year in college. Amazing I remained single for most of that time...

Hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day and whether you're alone or with a loved one, you can turn down the lights and listen to the smooth and sometimes cringy musing's of Mr. Rick James. As a bonus there's a xylophone solo towards the end which is always a plus in my book. As a double bonus, check out Rick the Producer (and background singer) in Eddie Murphy's Party all the Time. Amazing. Till next time lovers!

Rick James & Teena Marie - Fire And Desire

Eddie Murphy - Party All the Time

Disintegration - The Cure

 

"Now that I know that I'm breaking to pieces

I'll pull out my heart and I'll feed it to anyone

Crying for comfort, crocodiles cry

For the love of the crowd and the three cheers from everyone"

Happy February once again. Per usual this time of year in the dojo I'd like to focus on some of my favorite love songs as well as my favorite break up songs. I realize we're all in different places out there so this week we'll focus on those that aren't so lucky in love.(Like Robbie from The Wedding Singer below) I feel ya, I've been there too!

If one wishes to find comfort in other's heartbreak, what better band to turn too than The Cure? My favorite song by the band is Inbetween Days, but my favorite album is Disintegration. Figured we'd go with the title cut, but I'd recommend hitting play and ride this album all the way through if the mood suits you.  I love the way Robert Smith's voice grows more urgent as each verse progresses. It feels like we're going through the stages of a breakup together  as confusion, anger, disappointment and self doubt unfold before us. This is the perfect soundtrack to ride out those long winter nights with a glass of wine, cup of bourbon, panama red, herbal tea..whatever floats your boat! Just sit back, put on your best brooding face, and let the melancholy wave of synthesizers and electric guitars wash over you.

Today's picture has nothing to do with the song, but it's one of my favorite art pieces in the house. Picked this one up a few years back on a trip to New York City. Have a few selections from this shop scattered around the house. If you even find yourself in the neighborhood of the John Derian Company(specifically the one on Christopher Street), I'd recommend doing some browsing. The store specializes in decoupage with the artist cutting out colorful and interesting pictures from his collection of antique and vintage prints. Not sure what's going on in this scene, but it reminds me of something from the Wicker Man so I'm all in.

Have a great week. I'll be back soon with something geared towards all you love birds out there. Cheers!

Disintegration

The Wedding Singer - Somebody Kill Me