Happy Thanksgiving

Back in 2010, I wrote about one aspect of my days as a college radio DJ. Here's another story.

Thanksgiving coming up later this week reminded me of a set of radio shows I did back in college: Back then, I had a Monday noon until 3 pm solo radio show and another one with a partner Tuesday from 9 pm until 1 am.

Each year, right before our break for Thanksgiving, during my Monday show, I would ask my listeners to call me with ideas for music that got them in the mood for the holiday. I would then find the songs in our music library or in my personal collections, and play four hours of Songs About Food during our Tuesday night show.

FOUR HOURS! It was quite a challenge!

The lists of songs that we played during those shows are long gone, but I do remember one favorite...



Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Here is the NPR story that reminded me of my story.

New Favorite Song: Neon Trees - Everybody Talks

Here's my new favorite song this week...

Daily Stops

When I get home from work, I take about 20 minutes to browse through some blogs I enjoy reading. I thought tonight I'd share a few of them with you.


Marc and Angel Hack Life: Practical Tips for Productive Living

As you may know, I love lists. This site has lists with great life lessons. Some recent examples:
10 Things I Wish I Knew 10 Years Ago
12 Choices Your Future Self Will Thank You For
10 Ways to Write a Life Story Worth Living
9 Free Ways to Become Wealthy


Wil Wheaton Dot Net (now 2.0)

Yes, that Wil Wheaton.

He's a really witty writer. I think you'll enjoy his writing - especially if you're a geek.

I also own two of his books.
















Reality Blurred

A column all about reality TV


!! omg blog !!
and
After Elton

A summary of the gay items around the internet each day - entertainment and the lighter news.


Towleroad

A summary of the gay items around the internet each day - very political


Literally Unbelievable - "Stories from The Onion as interpreted by Facebook". It's quite funny to read how gullable some people are!


Then I browse through a few blogs dedicated to shirtless and/or nude celebrities, and then move on.

The Bangles & The GoGo's

I was listening to The Bangles recently on Songza. Here's their best song...



Watching the video reminds me of the question I had back in the late 1980's, when the Bangles were hot and when that video came out: Why can't an all-female group just play music? Why do they have to be sexualized to sell albums?

That's a question with many more questions and many more thoughts. For another post.

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We saw them a few years back at The House of Blues here in New Orleans. They're worth seeing live.

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Speaking of girl groups of the 80's and misogyny, the best GoGo's song is Head Over Heels...

Top 10 List: AC/DC Songs

AC/DC is one of those bands that if you like one song by them, you'll probably like all songs by them. From their first album High Voltage (1975) to their latest one, Black Ice (2008), when an AC/DC song comes on, you can tell it's them.

Carlos and I have been trying to keep up with the summer movie releases. Two of the movies we've seen have featured AC/DC songs:

The Avengers - Iron Man's "theme song" is Shoot To Thrill

Battleship - Thunderstruck

Since I love making lists, I thought I'd tackle my Top Ten Favorite AC/DC Songs of All Time. Unlike my entry on Badfinger, however, I'm not going to chart this band's history as I count down.

I will give you a bit of my history with the band.

My first memory of AC/DC is seeing their concert film Let There Be Rock around September 1980 at Lakeside I in Metairie (Louisiana) with my friend Lloyd. We were both 13 so we had my mom drop us off and pick us up. I remember that I was nervous because we were meeting Lloyd's older cousin and her friend. They must have been 14 or 15. I tried to act cool the whole time.

 I have seen AC/DC live once: in the mid 1990's - though I'd love to see them live again. Their encore of For Those About To Rock (We SaluteYou) with the fireworks is incredible.

 AC/DC has never been one of my All-Time favorite bands, but their best songs definitely endure in my mind.

Now the list. Top Ten Favorite AC/DC Songs of All Time

#10 -

Highway to Hell (title track - 1979)

#9 -

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (title track - 1976)

a

#8 -

Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution (from Back in Black - 1980)

#7 - 

Have a Drink on Me (from Back in Black - 1980)

#6 -

Heatseeker (from Blow Up Your Video - 1988)

#5 - 

Shoot to Thrill (from Back in Black - 1980)

#4 - 

Let's Get It Up (from For Those About to Rock [We Salute You] - 1981)

#3 -

That's The Way I Wanna Rock N Roll (from Blow Up Your Video - 1988)

#2 - 

Thunderstruck (from The Razors Edge - 1990)

 #1 - 

C.O.D. (from For Those About to Rock [We Salute You] - 1981)

Lagniappe:

TNT (from High Voltage - 1975)

This one is right outside of my Top Ten. Dedicated to the late Bon Scott. Bits of the song can be now frequently be heard on the cable network Turner Network Television, better known as TNT.

About Gay Marriage

Originally posted by George Takei, reposted by my sister-in-law...

Paul

To quote a part of my November 25, 2010 blog post:

In my generation, we have 13 cousins. At 43, I am the second oldest. The first five of us are very close in age and grew up together.

My 41-year-old cousin Paul, the youngest of us five, has been battling colon and liver cancer for the last six months or so.

In person, via email and via Caring Bridge, he keeps us updated on his condition.

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I am now 45; Paul is now 43. He is still battling color and liver cancer. From what I have heard, but not from him because he doesn't like to discuss it, he is regularly going to MD Anderson as well as getting treatment here in New Orleans.

While his mom - my Aunt Barbara - was going through the final stages of hospice, her four kids watched over her. She was staying at my cousin David's house, but passed while Paul was watching over her. (David and his wife Becki were out of town for the Easter weekend.)

Here is Paul's Caring Bridge update, posted today -  three weeks to the day since his mom died: 

It’s been over two weeks since the death of my mother, and I think that I may now have enough clarity on the event to sit down and write.  I once said of my cancer and the ensuing events, that it brought no epiphanies to my life and its purpose.  I experienced no parting of the clouds with a booming voice of instructions or recurring dream that clearly showed me the way.  I had not expected such events, so the lack thereof brought no disappointment.  What the tragedy of my mother and my cancer ordeal has revealed is that we are all innately prepared to deal with adversity. The choice to use this ability is solely our own. This fact was once again confirmed by my mother spending her last two months of life under the constant loving care of my brother and sister-in-law. Without a moment’s hesitation they took on tasks and duties that 6 months ago they would have flatly denied having the capacity to handle.  It is this capacity that separates us and defines our character.  It seems to be a tailored opinion that we would fail to rise to an adverse situation, but it is my conviction that it is our nature that overrules our conditioning. 

I will say only a few things about the actual passing of my mother and what I have taken from that experience. I guess my most powerful emotion would be how natural death is. The actual moment of her passing felt so right and so peaceful that you could feel nothing but relief. The body is an amazing machine that wants to live and will fight so hard to do so, but there was a defining moment around 2:00 in the morning where her death was imminent and her body just didn’t want to let go. It was when I felt the most pain for her fight. I just wanted it to be over. I wanted her body to let her die and free her of this suffering. Two hours later her struggling calmed and her breathing settled to almost normal. It was a moment I will never forget. The room went from one of torture and anguish to stark silence. She was gone and there was such an emotion of rightness about it all. 

As a families go, I could not be more proud to belong to such a group of people. Aunts, Uncles, cousins and friends all took part in the last two months of my mom’s life. Mom got to see how much she was loved and experienced how she affected so many. We celebrated her life with a crawfish boil and blaring Cajun music. We all cried a little but laughing is so much easier. There are times when I pass by her number on my phone and wish that she would have left a greeting that I could listen too but Mom was not the most technically gifted person in the world, and I’ll just have to settle for the number. I miss the little things most and those are the hardest because they can’t be anticipated. They pop-up on me like a shiver and demand a moment of reflection.  She was the only Mom I will ever have, and I was lucky enough to tell her so.

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During our Memorial Crawfish Boil, many members of our family stood up to speak about Barbara. Here is Paul's contribution...



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Barbara is gone but not forgotten. Let's now work toward that same sentence not be about Paul...

Song: "Never Let You Go"

I bought an mp3 player recently and I'm filling it with Walking Songs. So I can start walking more. I know I need to lose some weight. Music is - as usual - the key to my current project.

I have a longer blog post planned with a list of all my walking songs. For now, here is one...

My favorite song by a band that I occasionally listen to. But the song regularly steady rotation on my Media Monkey.

First, a live version that I found (with a 10-year-old guest guitarist - the son of one of the members)...




And the video for the original version...



I do like other songs by Third Eye Blind. But that's for another day too.

Happy Easter

Happy (Alien) Easter, Everyone!

Speaking of - the Alien movies, not Easter - have you seen the latest Prometheus trailer?

Aunt Barbara

My Aunt Barbara died late last night. Brain Cancer.

A month or so ago, she was moved to my cousin David and his wife Becki's house. David and Becki left for Monroe yesterday afternoon, for a short Easter vacation. My cousin Paul and his wife Sarah took over the vigil over Barbara.

Email at 5:08 am this morning from Paul:
Mom has passed. Thank you to everyone. I'm so proud to belong to this family. I'm just so grateful of how this tragedy was met.

Email at 5:34 am this morning from Paul:
P.S. You may want to think twice before asking Sarah and I to baby-parent sit. Obviously we are not very good at it.

Our family is great a laughing through the tears.

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Posted by my sister Claudia on Facebook last night:

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Let me take all this in and I may post more about it later.