The Lovely Steph Leann and I have always been told, "You guys will be great parents!" in some form or fashion... either she was told she'd be a great mom, or I have been told how great of a dad I'd be, or collectively, as a parental unit, we've been discussed under the mantra of ideal parents.
When talking about this particular line of conversation that we keep having with people, and mind you this was some months ago, maybe even last year, The Lovely Steph Leann remarked, "Do these people even know us?"
Well, whether they do or not, she and I... we're going to be parents. It's almost a big unnerving, and certainly is enough to weird both of us out. I mean... a parent? Like, there is a kid coming that will look to The Lovely Steph Leann as he/she's mommy? Well, that is actually not a bad thing, and upon reflecting on it, its a great thing. She's awesome. However, that little mush of cells will call me daddy at some point, and that is kinda scary.
So anyway, rather than waxing poetic about finding out, and who knew and all that, I wanted to look ahead to our kid getting here... its been noted on this here website that we'll go with Campbell Isaiah for a boy, calling him "Camp", though I'm wondering if his friends like Will Fisher and Willy Roose and Colin Robinson, or his lady friends like Mattie Sherman or Clara Tuck or Sunshine Ray will call him Cam... for a girl, we'll go with Lorelei Addison, calling her simply Lorelei, and yes, that was the name of Lauren Graham's character on "Gilmore Girls", and yes, that is part of the inspiration, but no, our daughter will not be named after Lorelei Gilmore.
Looking ahead to Camp or Lorelei being here, I came up with a few things that we really want to instill in our child. Obviously, like any parents, we want to make sure our kids understand things like responsibility, accountability, respect and the like... but also like any parents, we might place a higher value on some things than other parents would, and vice versa on other things...
So, I came up with a short list of things that, thanks to Daddy over here, Campbell or Lorelei (I say "or"... its really an "and" because we'll teach this to all our children) will be familiar with at the least, and deeply ensconced in at the most--Mommy will help with some, others I'm sure she'll leave to me...
1) THE LOVE OF JESUS That's any Christ Following family's prayer and hope, that their children will grow up recognizing the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. While we will never force God on our kids, we will make sure they are fully aware of Christ, His death and Resurrection and we pray that one day, Camp and Lorelei will decide for themselves that a life with Christ is immensely more satisfying than a life without.
We'll also hopefully engrain in them how wonderful and meaningful a church family and church fellowship will be, so when Camp is 14, he has somewhere to go for help after he comes out, and when she's 16, Lorelei will be able to minister to her prison boyfriend. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
2) DISNEY
This should come as no surprise to anyone who has any knowledge of us and who we are... we will give our kid plenty of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Lightnin' McQueen, Mater, Belle, Hercules, Cinderella, Mulan, Rapunzel, Simba, Genie, Princess Gisele and so on and so forth. I've already had people tell me that they are holding open debates on how soon Lorelei and/or Campbell will head to The Most Magical Place on Earth, and even though I always said we would wait until our kids are at least potty trained and able to walk on their own, who am I kidding? We'd probably deliver the child on Main Street USA if there was a way to do so.
Gotta get Mike and Sulley into the kid's life early, and often
I have often said that The Lovely Steph Leann will be heartbroken if our daughter isn't into the princesses, or at the least, into Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse. I fear the day when our child declares that she loves Shrek and has forsaken The Mouse. It is then that we will question our parenting, and perhaps will give the child up for adoption for fear that we can no longer raise them right. Its the least we can do.
Actually, I think I'd like our kid to be exposed to "Monster's Inc" relatively early... monsters can be scary until you realize they are terrified by human kids... I plan on putting my stuffed Mike Wazowski with my child soon to let them know Mike & Sully are awesome.
The moment I hear my own kid singing the words to "Hannah Jane", my favorite Hootie song, that's the moment I know I did it right
3) HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH I say "Hootie", but you can also add on Sheryl Crow, Blues Traveler, Boyz II Men, Pre-Skank Mariah, Pre-Crack Whitney, Journey and their ilk. I will be feeding little Lorelei or young Camp a steady diet of 80s and 90s music all throughout their childhood.
Yes, I know, I know, there will be Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in there, and I'm sure they'll pick up other kiddy songs along the way, be it The Imagination Movers or some crap on Nick Jr, but you are darn tootin' my offspring will know something about "Hold My Hand" or "Only Wanna Be With You", or how awesome "Motownphilly" can be at high volume in a Kia Soul.
4) THE WWE This is the one I get the most pushback on... but so? I can't wait for that day when I curl up with mine own youngling in my arms, and we take in an episode of WWE Raw, and I let them know to cheer for John Cena and The Rock and to boo for the likes of The Miz, CM Punk and Sheamus.
"I am not having my daughter watch the WWE," declares The Lovely Steph Leann. I would guess that she'll want a night off at some point, and I'll do my best to make it Monday night. But if its Friday night, then WWE Smackdown will suffice.
5) STAR WARS Another one that The Lovely Steph Leann is pushing back on, though perhaps not as hard as #4 above. But as a young boy myself, Star Wars became an integral part of my life--I saw The Empire Strikes Back as a five year old, and from there on out, my childhood was partially defined by a love of not just Luke, Han, Leia and Vader, but also a love of the imagination, creativity and passion that came behind it.
Kids love Jar Jar. My son will probably dig Darth Maul too. A dad can only hope, anyway.
Ten years ago, I was afraid Star Wars might become irrelevant. It would be the loved and influential movies of the 70s that only people who are around my age would value and cherish... but with the three prequels and now the award winning The Clone Wars: The Animated Series out, there's no reason for Star Wars to fade as a memory. It is prime to influence mine own children with the likes of George Lucas' fine creations.
Now, I'm not saying that I'm going to bust out some dark "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" fresh out of the womb (that one might be a decade down the road), but "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" or "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" isn't out of the question in the first six months of life. Kids love Jar Jar. For that matter, kids love Ewoks, so "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" might also be an option.
6) DAVE RAMSEY Never too young, I always say. Okay, I don't always say that. In fact, I just started saying that. In more fact, I just said that really for the first time, "never too young", at least in reference to the starting age of Dave Ramsey's financial peace.
I want Lorelei and Camp to both grow up never knowing debt. I want them growing up not only know the value of a dollar, but the value of earning it. I want them growing up thinking that if they want something, they have to do what they can to get it, and never expect things to be handed to them.
Now, I'm not saying that we won't give them gifts, or buy them things all along, I mean, there are things I'll see all the time I'll want my kids to have... but I don't want them ever expecting things to just be handed to them all time. I like th FPU way of teaching your kids chores--some they do because they live there are are expected to do, and some as a way to earn money... and out of every dollar, 10 percent of that goes into a jar that say "Giving", another 15 percent goes into a jar that says "Saving" and the rest can be used for whatever.
Wish someone, anyone, had taught me the discipline of Three Jars.
7) COMMON SENSE Going along with the above "Dave Ramsey", I just want my kids to be responsible. Responsible for their own actions. Teach them how to give, but to take care of their own house first. Teach them that the government is not the answer, they themselves are. Teach them that this is the great country in the history of the entire free world, teach them that this country is the good guy. Teach them that not everyone in the world, or even this country, will be nice to them, teach them that some people will be downright mean and hurtful, teach Lorelei that not all guys will be good and teach Camp that chicks can be overwhelming and over-dramatic, teach them that a life as a Christ Follower, things won't necessarily be easy, and sometimes might downright suck (though I'll try to use another word) and teach them that you know what, life just isn't fair...
...but also teach them that God is a wonderful God, and He has a created a beautiful world around us, teach them that there are great people in the world, and teach them that those people are created in God's image and that everyone deserves respect (until they don't) and everyone deserves for someone to be nice to them (until they don't).
And yes, when they get older, if Lorelei and Campbell want to be Democrats, that's fine... but they had better be able to tell me why they believe that way. They need to know that Rush Limbaugh can be believed (mostly because if they pay attention, it makes sense) Keith Olbermann is full of crap (mostly because if they pay attention, he makes no sense) and finally, yes they will get spanked on the backside when they are bad, regardless of what is politically correct.
I think I'd also like Lorelei to be familiar with Audrey Hepburn movies, and Campbell to know about DieHard, but that's later.
I'd like to say we're going to be great parents, but The Lovely Steph Leann would say, "Have you met us?"
The summer movie season continues eating away at our budget intently, as two movies came up on the docket this weekend... the first came as a result of our nephew Benjamin coming to visit. The 9 year old and his family live in Jasper, but they spend time here in B'ham with the in-laws (mine, not theirs) frequently.
One of the activities including him playing hours and hours of LEGO Harry Potter on the Wii, and another was a movie... "Kung Fu Panda 2". Originally subtitled "The Kaboom of Doom", I'm kinda glad they dropped that and just went with the "2" part.
Anyway, I liked the movie as much as the first one. Its premise basically surrounds a panda named Po (voiced by Jack Black) who, in the first film, learned he was a "dragon warrior" and was taught Kung Fu, and joined up with other members of the Furious Five, including Tigress (Angelina Jolie) and Mantis (Seth Rogan) and others. For whatever reason, Grandmaster Flash wasn't included in this.
The bad guy this time around is an evil peacock named Shen, deliciously vocalized by Gary Oldman, and you'll hear other familiar voices like Jean Claude Van Damme, Dennis Haysbert and Danny McBride.
The animation is wonderful, the story is solid and flows well and its perfect for just about anyone of any age. You kinda wonder if there is an attraction between Po and Tigress, but the real relationship moments are between Po and his adoptive father, Mr. Ping. You can tell its adoption when you see Mr. Ping is a goose.
Po wonders who he is, knowing that a goose cannot be his real dad, and begins to question his family... and in a touching moment, Mr. Ping is forced to watch his beloved son Po walk away to battle.
As far as Po's real family, they kinda do that movie thing where one of the main issues in the second movie is an issue they don't even address in the first one... sorta like, when you realize Riggs wife is dead in the first Lethel Weapon, its only a minor plotpoint they use to establish the character, but when Lethel Weapon 2 rolls around, it becomes a major point in the story.
Same with Po's real family--only used to establish Po's character in KFP 1, but in KFP 2, it becomes a plot point. Guess you can do that with sequels...
And man that 9 year old kid loves him some Panda. And Bakugon. And Bey Blades. After the movie, then dinner at Chick Fila, we dropped the quickly tiring The Lovely Steph Leann off at The Cabana, then Benjamin and I spent some time first at The LEGO Store, then Toys R Us.
I do love The LEGO Store. Of course, every time I go there, I look over at ABC Toys, where The Happiest Place in the Mall used to be, and I throw up a little in my own mouth. Like I did last night. Ended up walking out with three LEGO guys he built himself, and a couple of Harry Potter keychains I bought for myself.
At Toys R Us, he spent about 30 minutes in front of the Bakugon and Bey Blade aisle, touching just about every toy and telling me which ones he had and which ones he needed. I listened intently, though I can't say I learned anything.
Should be noted that for whatever reason, he likes rap music. I dont think he fully understands the concept of "rap music", other than its style, so I was forced to fumble through my car for something that he could listen to. Luckily, I had a copy of "The Greatest" by LL Cool J, and was able to pop in "Mama Said Knock You Out", which he rather enjoyed. My other other CDs in the car at that moment included Norah Jones, Sara Bareilles, Sarah McLachlan, Darius Rucker and, of course, Dwight Yoakam's Greatest Hits--$5.99 at Wal-Mart, I considered it a steal.
Songs that I did manage to find on radio that made the cut were the edited version of "California Love" by Tupac and Dr. Dre... "Rocket 2 U" by The Jets... "Head Over Heels" by Tears for Fears... "Big Time" by Peter Gabriel... and "The Come Back Song" by Darius Rucker. "You Give Good Love" by Pre-crack Whitney also came on, but he informed me, "I don't like slow songs. I like rocker songs. And rap music."
We got about 34 seconds into "Dre Day", but I was able to flip the channel just as I heard the syllable "Muth..." and saved the day. Sometimes SiriusXM will censor, sometimes not. And since I listen to 90s on 9 a heckuva lot, I was bewildered that because I hear "Hip Hop Hooray", "Gangsta's Paradise" and "Baby Got Back" repeatedly, I just knew I would catch one of them for Benjamin's listening pleasure... but when I needed them to come on, I got nothing. Thats how I knew my life was outta luck, foo.
He did ask me if I had ever heard an Eminem song... I told him I had. He asked me if I liked any Eminem songs. I told him not many, though there were a few that I kinda liked. He asked me if Eminem was bad. I told him that yes, Eminem songs are pretty bad. He asked me how. I told him there was a lot of language, and that Eminem really liked to use lots of F-words. He asked me, "What's an F-word?" I changed the subject.
I finally popped in a CD that I had gotten from The Happiest Place in the Mall, one that included Hilary Duff, Aly & AJ and some High School Musical stuff. Figured that was safe as anything.
The line of night came when "Hoedown Throwdown" by Miley Cyrus came on... sadly, and I'll admit this to you--I know just about every word to it (and to "G.N.O." that came on later... which I'm guessing that besides me, only Hurricane Rhett would even know that stood for "Girls Night Out", much less know it by heart)... anyway, the song came on and Benjamin said, "Really? Is this Hannah Montana?"
I replied, "Its Miley Cyrus, yes."
Pause.
"So... why are two guys listening to Hannah Montana?"
I'll admit, I'm quite the nerd. Some people would call it OCD, but I would say SOCD, which is Selective Obsessive Compulsive Disorder... I don't obsess about much, but I'm very picky about what I obsess about... its almost like, I know whats important to me, how important it is to have things done the way I want the done... but only about certain things that sometimes no one else cares about.
Case in point... iTunes.
iTunes has this thing called a "play count", which is both a blessed and cursed thing. In my mind, once I play a song, I want it counted. Once I listen to a song, I want it noted... it truly doesn't mean a hill of beans to anyone in the entire world that I've listened to "Everything You Want" by Vertical Horizon 34 times, or that I've fired up the original "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley 8 times.
But its important to me. I dunno why, and I really am not sure I care to psycho-analyze, but that's just one of those quirky, nerdy things about me. We'll come back to this, but first I have to give a bit more exposition, then tie it all together at the end like a good little storyteller.
Yesterday, I finally purchased a portable hard drive. We've owned a regular external hard drive for about three years, and backs up most of what is on my, and The Lovely Steph Leann's, computers. For me its music, audiobooks and pictures, for her its mostly pictures and Creative Memories back-up files... but the problem is, its so clunky and bulky. In the Casa de Pesos apartment, it wasn't a big deal, because our place was so small, we just kept our PC and the back up drive and such altogether, and even when we got laptops, they mostly just stayed in the guest bedroom. I could write and blog and do whatever, and with a television in the room, I could still watch whatever, or play a movie or anything of the like.
When we got The Cabana, though, it was harder, because we kept the back-up drive upstairs, and the laptops stayed downstairs mostly, so I didn't back up much stuff, just every now and then. With my growing love (and ear) for audiobooks, I finally had to move them off of my laptop because I had gotten to the point where I had less than 10gb of space (off of 300gb). It took almost 2 hours, but I moved almost 80gb of audiobooks onto the harddrive, plus a few movies and some other space-taking items.
Now, for anyone who owns an iPod, you'll notice that if you try and sync your iPod, and you've moved some files, a little "!" will appear by those files. And when those files are on an entirely different drive altogether, its even worse, because you get a hundred or two of those "!" when they are audiobooks. So, I now have a set up on our dining room table, this external hard drive to my left, cords and USB cables running everywhere and anywhere, and like, four things plugged into the nearby outlet. Thus, the need for a portable hard drive.
So I'm currently moving, from the external to the portable, over 100 audiobooks, encompassing 32,000+ files (the Harry Potter series alone contains at least 1,500 tracks), which makes up about 140gb of space. I have another 60gb of pictures to move over. And at some point, in the future, I'll move over all my music from my laptop to the portable hard drive.
And now, we get back to play counts. See, when I move over the music, I have to reload all songs back into iTunes. And when I do, all play counts go back to zero. Everyone. So me listening to Nilsson's "I Guess the Lord Must Be In New York City" 29 times? Its like it didn't happen.
However, don't think I haven't considering recreating all the playcounts. Easy, really... click on a song, click "repeat" twice (which makes the song repeat) and then click on the end over and over. It will advance from beginning to end, then start over. Yes, this is a really stupid, useless thing to do. Yes, there are far better uses of my time. Yes, I've thought about it. We'll see.
Play counts are a funny thing... it kinda tells you and the world what you truly like. My official Top Five list of songs are: (1) "Possession" by Sarah McLachlan... (2) "I'd Die Without You" by PM Dawn... (3) "Piano in the Dark" by Brenda Russell (ft. Joe Esposito)... (4) "Not the Only One" by Bonnie Raitt... (5) "Head Over Heels" by Tears for Fears. Coming in a close 6th is "Say Say Say" by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson.
Other songs that have wandered their way in and out of my Top Ten including "Let Her Cry" by Hootie and the Blowfish... "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton... "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Paul McCartney and Wings... "Hazy Shade of Winter" by The Bangles and "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John....
But you know what? Out of those 11 songs I just listed, none are in my Top Ten of the Play Count List, and only one is in the Top Twenty, at 19th. So, I thought it might be fun to list my Top Fifty Songs on the Play Count List, the songs that have been played the most. Bear in mind, too, that I listen to a ton of podcasting and audiobooks, so music isn't my top priority most of the time, but sometimes, you just wanna hear Timberlake, or Flo Rida or Billy Joel or Bill Withers...
So, here we go... Song, artist, and (play count)
There is a huge six way tie at 50, featuring... 50-tie. Running From an Angel by Hootie & the Blowfish (34) 50-tie. Clarity by John Mayer (34) 50-tie. 3AM by Matchbox 20 (34) 50-tie. Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon (34) 50-tie. Welcome to Delaware by Watermark (34) 50-tie. White & Nerdy by Weird Al Yankovic (Video) (34)
All the way down to #40 is another tie or two, featuring the only song that appears twice in our countdown, in both audio and video versions. Also, The Dixie Chicks make their first of three appearances. 48-tie. Cowboy Take Me Away by The Dixie Chicks (35) 48-tie. Sunday Afternoon by Joel Blount (35) 40-tie. ...And Our Feelings by Babyface (Video) (36)
40-tie. Only the Good Die Young by Billy Joel (36) 40-tie. Close of Autumn by Caedmon's Call (36) 40-tie. The Trolley Song by Judy Garland (36) 40-tie. Taylor, the Latte Boy by Kristin Chenoweth (36) 40-tie. B.O.B. by OutKast (36) 40-tie. Light My Candle by Mimi and Roger from The Cast of Rent (36) 40-tie. You Mean the World To Me by Toni Braxton (36)
The next set of ten, down to a four way tie at #31... 39. I'll Be Okay by Amanda Marshall (37) 36-tie. Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers (38) 36-tie. In the Light by dcTalk (38) 36-tie. Possession by Sarah McLachlan (38) 35. Snow (Hey Oh) by The Red Hot Chili Peppers (39) 31-tie. Full Moon by Brandy (40) 31-tie. Callin' Baton Rouge by Garth Brooks (40) 31-tie. The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson (40) 31-tie. The Remedy (I won't worry) by Jason Mraz (40)
The next ten are all older songs, anywhere from five to fifteen to thirty... 26-tie. Let's Stay Together by Al Green (41) 26-tie. Still Not a Player by Big Punisher with Fat Joe (41) 26-tie. The Story by Brandi Carlile (41) 26-tie. My My My by Johnny Gill (41) 26-tie. Chains by Tina Arena (41) 24-tie. You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift (41) 24-tie. Say It Right by Nelly Furtado (Video) (41) 23. Season of Love by The Cast of Rent (43) 21-tie. Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawio'ole (45) 21-tie. The Light In Your Eyes by Blessid Union of Souls (45)
And our teens part of the countdown gives us another helping of The Chicks, an obscure but incredible song by Jill Paquette and of course, Cool J. 19-tie. My Favorite Mistake by Sheryl Crow (46) 19-tie. I'd Die Without You by PM Dawn (46) 17-tie. Tortured Tangled Hearts by The Dixie Chicks (47) 17-tie. Drops of Jupiter by Train (47) 15-tie. Sin Wagon by The Dixie Chicks (48) 15-tie. Lift My Eyes by Jill Paquette (48) 13-tie. Crazy by Gnarls Barkley (49) 13-tie. I May Hate Myself in the Morning by Lee Ann Womack (49) 11-tie. Loungin' (who do you love) by LL Cool J (50) 11-tie. If I Ever Lose My Faith in You by Sting (50)
Before we get to the Top Ten, I wanted to give you a list of ten songs that, were I to do this same column in a year two, you'd probably see some of them appear in this very list, maybe because they are new and I listen to them frequently now or because they were just outside the top fifty and have gotten some recent love from my playlist... they include "Hey Soul Sister" by Train... "Travelin Soldier" by The Dixie Chicks... "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" by Elton John... "Relator" by Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson... "You Give Good Love" by Whitney Houston... "Better in Time" by Leona Lewis... "Right Round" by Flo Rida... "I Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum... "Everything Zen" by Bush... and, of course... "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus
Now, here's the Top Ten... a little eclectic, but a little predictable all the same... 10. Collide by Howie Day (53)... I cannot even name another Howie Day song. But I love this one. I told The Lovely Steph Leann if I played guitar and could sing, this would be part of my set.
9. ...And Our Feelings by Babyface (54)... This is a perfect song to sing while driving. My vocals get nowhere near the level of Babyface, but that doesn't mean I don't try.
7-tie. How to Save a Life by The Fray (55)... This and their other big song, perhaps one of the biggest, most awesome one-two song punches ever.
7-tie. You and I Both by Jason Mraz (55)... Its a great video, its a great song, and its also fun to sing. And the lyrics are easier to learn than "The Remedy".
6. My Boo by Usher (ft Alicia Keys) (56)... I was a little surprised when I did this list how far up this list that "My Boo" ended up. But I'm perfectly okay with it.
5. Wildwood Flower by Reese Witherspoon (57)... I bought the "Walk the Line" soundtrack, and I'll be honest, I listened to this song non-stop. When I first got my iPod, I remember this song being the first one to 20 plays ever.
4. Fergalicious by Fergie (Video) (58)... Fine. I'll admit it. I like this song, and this video is fun. I would venture to guess that 40 of the plays were done within a year of it being released.
3. Love Song by Sara Bareilles (59)... If I could use the Billboard Charts term "with a bullet" on my own little list, than I would use it here with this song. I wouldn't be shocked to see this become number one in the near future, because I am completely addicted to this song.
2. Rock Your Body by Justin Timberlake (61)... What can I say? Timberlake is cool. The song is cool.
1. Over My Head (Cable Car) by The Fray (63)... Again, I'm not entirely sure how this song got so high, number one in fact, but I make no apologies. It is a song that I could listen to non-stop (and have) and not get tired of (I haven't).
So what about you? Does your list of favorite songs and your actual play counts tell two different stories?
And we are back... I'll fire up this DVR and discuss the rest of the Top 100 Greatest Songs of the 1990s, as ranked by Vh1! Along the way I'll share some memories, some stories and maybe you have some of your own...
Keep in mind, I don't know who is on this list... everytime you read about a new song, I have just found out what that song was, and don't know what the next one is... Read The Greatest Songs of 90s, Part I with Songs 100 to 48
47. "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch I guess I heard somewhere that Mark Wahlberg doesn't like to discuss his "Marky Mark" days... and part of me can understand why. I mean, he's a white guy rapper, something that until Eminem, would get you lumped in with Vanilla Ice, Snow and the like.
But another part of me wants him to be doggone proud of this ditty. "Good Vibrations" isn't bad, its not even so-bad-its-good, its just a good, good song. And most girls I knew loved them some Marky Mark when he did underwear ads and did this video. He didn't actually wear a shirt from 1994 to 1998, I believe.
I came across this video in iTunes, and let me tell ya, I didn't think--I bought. Immediately.
I've made this point before, but really? If you've ever seen Mutt Lange, you'll know that Shania, left, is the best he'll ever do and the chick on the right is more his type.
46. "Your Still the One" by Shania Twain.
Oh mah gawsh... this song was everywhere. You couldn't get away from this song. But for every bit of eye candy that Marky Mark was to the ladies, Shania is the boys.
Its funny, though, to hear Shania talk about this song and her hubby Mutt Lange, as this show was done in 2007-ish. This was, of course, Mutt so stupidly traded in his Ferrari for a used 70s Pinto.
45. "Only Wanna Be With You" by Hootie & the Blowfish HOOOOOOOOTTTIIIIEEEE ROOOOOOCCCKKKKSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But when Darius Rucker says, "Ain't Bobby so cool?", who is Bobby? Never got that.
44. "Killing Me Softy" by The Fugees Pras, Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill... The Fugees. And for everything the original was, this song is not. The original, while classic, is so freakin' slow... the update by The Fugees made it cool. Made it relevant. Made if fun.
Sang this song in karaoke back in the early 2000s or something. Actually, I didn't sing it, Alexandra Milner did. We were at Common Ground back in the day, doing a karaoke night, and Alex and I hopped on this stage... and she sang it beautiful. I did the "one time time"... and then the "two time time" part. Cause I wanted to help.
43. "My Lovin' (your never gonna get it)" by En Vogue Who just started singing "oh your never gonna get it, no your never gonna get it" as soon as this song came on the television? The Lovely Steph Leann, that's who, not even looking up from her laptop.
This was pre-Destiny's Child, and early-to-mid 90s. There was an abundance of chick groups that came out about the same time, including En Vogue, but also Jade (don't walk away boy, my love won't hurt you, no no!) and my favorite, Sisters With Voices, aka, SWV (can't explain why your loving makes me weak...)
42. "Shine" by Collective Soul From the album "Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid", an album that I couldn't afford to buy in 1994, but I ended buying in like, 2004, because I felt like I should own it.
This song is also awesome, with a great chorus, and lots and lots of "YEAH!"s. Da da da dada YEAH! Da dada dada da da YEAH!"
It is a great song, but my favorite Collective Soul song? "Heavy". Man oh man is that song great to drive with.
41. "Two Princes" by The Spin Doctors My memory of this song will forever and ever be linked to that karaoke bar on the fifth deck of that cruise ship during my senior cruise... there were like, six of us up there, and that group probably included Chris McCall and Tonya Windham, but I know for a fact that Tammy Thomas was up there.
(L-R) Tonya, Chad, Tammy, Yours Truly and Chris. This would be a good guess as to who was singing that night.
By the way, don't hate on the Spin Doctors. Trippy sound, goofy hat of that lead singer guy, he had an awesome voice... and how much fun is this song to sing? Even now! The Lovely Steph Leann stopped singing En Vogue and immediately picked up this song.
Favorite Spin Doctors songs? 4) "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong"... what a great "get out my face, woman" song. 3) "You Let Your Heart Go To Fast"... lead cut from their second album 2) "Two Princes"... Carnival cruises! 1) "Jimmy Olsen's Blues". Man I love that tune.
Just just just go ahead now.
40. "I Wanna Sex You Up" by Color Me Badd Okay, so this song came from the film "New Jack City", not on The Dave100, but probably could be listed in The Dave200, if there was such a thing. There were actually two versions to this song, the album version and the radio version.
Usually, I'm an album-version guy... the album typically has the extra verse, or the bridge or the extra whatever, whereas the radio version is typically edited for content and length. However, in this case, its almost as if they are two different tunes who have the same riffs and rhythm... and I prefer the "come inside take of your coat I'll make you feel at home" radio edit much better.
Two more quick observations: first, lead singer Brian Abrams got really big, and second. this song is, no matter the edit, not Emmy Turnbow Safe. No joke.
39. "Iris" by The Goo Goo Dolls So, I've never seen the movie "City of Angels" that this song came from. This song is good, though, every once in a while, but not all the time. Give me "Slide" or "Black Balloon".... but I will tell you "Dizzy Up the Girl" is an awesome CD. Go get it.
38. "Genie in a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera So, when you are 24 years old, and this 17 year old is singing, and rolling around like she does in this video, you feel kind of skeevy. And I did. Cause she was pretty hot.
Steph Nipp, back in the day, asked me about the lyrics "gotta rub the right way", and I told her "oh, its like, you know, when you rub someone the right way, or wrong way? Like, she wants the guy to be good to her, and treat her right." Steph Nipp says, "Oh, that makes sense." And everytime I heard her tell someone that particular nugget, I would laugh internally, and sometimes quietly, externally. I love Snipp.
37. "Good Riddance (time of your life)" by Green Day So, Green Day, one of the most overrated band in the history of the world.
36. "Gonna Make You Sweat" by C&C Music Factory Totally did this song in high school band, and that crazy part on the sax was sooooooo much fun to play.
And I know every stinkin' word to this song. I mean, this video is like a workout, cause people are dancing and jumping all over the place, you had the chick singing the "Sweat! Sweeeaaaat! Let the music take control, let the rhythm move you..." (though the skinny chick was a front--the real singer of that was one of the big sistas from The Weather Girls, and she sued), you had that awesome sax in the middle and Freedom Williams singing the rhymes that told you he was a just a squirrel trying to get a nut to move yo' butt to the dance floor so yo' whats up, hands in the air, e'rbody over here e'rbody over there..."
35. "Wonderwall" by Oasis Talk about a song I love to sing... Today is gonna be the day that their gonna throw it back to you... I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now...
Its like a good Beatles song. This, with "Champagne Supernova", but especially this, is just about as close to a perfect rock song as you can get.
Chick named Reanna in children's theater Pied Pipers used to walk aroung singing "Wonder Bra". Kind of annoying, but at the same time amusing.
34. "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind So this song is actually about hard core drugs and gettin' it on. The lyrics are so dirty. But its proof that people don't pay much attention to the lyrics, because its so catchy and this song was pretty big for about eight months. But I usually turn it when it comes on. Not a huge fan.
33. "Wannabe" by Spice Girls This exchange just happened: Me: Oh wow The Lovely Steph Leann: You knew this had to be on here Me: Oh, I like the Spice Girls. I dig this song. The Lovely Steph Leann: OMG, I LOOOOOVE the Spice Girls
Ten, twelve years later, its kinda funny seeing where they all ended up, but back in the late 90s, you couldn't get away from Spice Girl. I was always a Baby Spice guy myself.
We just spent the next five minutes coming up with the titles of the other two Spice hits.... "Two Become One" and my favorite, "Say You'll Be There" (she sang along to both when I dug 'em up on my iTunes)
32. "No Diggity" by Blackstreet featuring Dr. Dre Dude. No Diggity was dope. Back when Dre and rap was fun and cool, when Hip Hop was going from innocent to a little edgy, this song is just awesome.
Not sure what "diggity" means. It might mean "no doubt", as in "no diggity, no doubt".
Play on, play out.
31. "Creep" by Radiohead There were two versions of this song, the "so very special" and "so effin' special" version. As in, "I wish I was special. So very/effin special". Because I'm an album purist, I like the second one. I have this cassingle upstairs.
I won a tape from a radio station once, called "Kid A." And after listening to it a few times, I can honestly say, Radiohead is a band I never got.
30. "Tearin' Up My Heart" by N*Sync So, the boy bands returned in 98, after a seven year hiatus with the loss of New Kids on the Block.
Remember when Justin Timberlake was this frosted tipped little kid? And out of like, all the boy banders in all the boy bands, something like 19 of them, JT is the only who made it out. Its not cool to like any of them... except JT. Its cool to like JT.
And I'm sure JC Chasez is sitting at home, playing "Blowing Me Up (with her love)", wondering what went wrong and why not him.
No, of course I don't have "Ice Ice Baby" on Cassette Single. Why would I need the cassingle when I have this entire album on tape?
29. "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice I could spend an entire column, like 4,000 words on this song. I don't even know where to begin with this song, other than, I love it and am not ashamed.
28. "Livin' la Vida Loco" by Ricky Martin I got nothing. That sound you hear is the Unintentional Comedy Scale exploding into small, loco pieces.
27. "Mr. Jones" by The Counting Crows First, lets be clear... Adam Duritz. Ladies, is he hot? Seriously? Cause he got with like, fourteen different 90s hot chicks from Jennifer Aniston to Courtney Cox.
Secondly, who is Mr. Jones?
26. "My Name Is" by Eminem I remember hearing this song for the first time as I was coming to my apartment in 1999. It was odd, it was laughable, and it was creative. Some years later, he busted out with my favorite Eminem tune, "Without Me" which is absolutely brilliant.
Love him, hate him, he is so talented. What he can rap, the words he spits out are amazing... not the content, but just his tone.
25. "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden This was a cool song, but this video was just creepy with the stretchy smiley face thing going on. Everyone's smiles get all weird and distorted and strange.
24. "Jump Around" by House of Pain Dude... from the very first note, this song rocks. Like, this song is awesome. Everyone jumps to this song. And my favorite lyric, though its terrible, is "I'll serve yo' --- like John McEnroe, if yo' girl steps up, I'm smackin' da ho'"... This makes me want to go and hear this song right now. This would be in my Top Ten songs of the 90s.
23. "Whatta Man" by Salt n Pepa featuring En Vogue What a great song. Seriously. Why is it that there are so many songs out there that are all about how bad your man is, and he cheated and he's a jerk and all that... but here's a song that celebrates how much she loves her man.
I'd like to think that The Lovely Steph Leann, were she a R&B rap artist, would sing this song to me. "d$, you so crazy... I think I wanna have yo' baby..."
22. "Loser" by Beck Does anyone even know what this song means? No you don't. Don't try. Don't even try to explain. I made it a point to learn every word to this song at one time, and loved to sing it... and would hear it often on cassingle.
If there was a way to do playcounts with cassettes, surely this would have a huge count from back in the day.
21. "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion Oh, there go the flutes. From one of my favorite movies of all time, 9th on The Dave100, near, far, wherever you are, you couldn't NOT hear this song. And seriously, were it not for the fact that I have heard this song about 8,000,003 times, I would still love it. However, its still a great song. And before Celine married Rob Reiner and decided to lose 188 pounds, she was so awesome. I mean, really. I would put her next to pre-crack Whitney and pre-skank Mariah, easily.
The Lovely Steph Leann: Oh, I cried at this song.
20. "Mmm Bop" by Hanson You laugh right now, but dont even joke. You freakin' loved this song. You sang this song. You bought it, you own it, and when it came on, you turn it up, even if you only can sing the "Mmm Bop" part.
Hanson is a band that got the shaft--they make great pop rock music, played their own instruments, wrote their own songs, and were defined by that one single song.
19. "Sabotage" by The Beastie Boys There are fewer songs that, combined with the video, are as cool as this song. This song is loud, this song is boisterous, this song had this funky, hard edge, goofy sound... and it ROCKS. Put this is your cars CD player, preluded by "B.O.B." by OutKast and followed by "Machinehead" by Bush, and you can make it from Birmingham to the beach in about 90 minutes.
18. "Enter Sandman" by Metallica "The national anthem of headbangers" was what one guy said on the show, and I agree. And when lead singer Triple H James Hetfield, its a song that really... kinda punishes you.
Hush little baby don't say a word, and don't mind that noise you heard.
Indeed.
17. "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child Back when it wasn't just Beyonce, but Beyonce and three, yes three, other chicks. Hey, say my name you love me in front of other people. And somehow, they sang 73 words in the span of 4 seconds, so much so that Eminem would be proud.
And for the record, I love me some Kelly Rowland--she's my favorite D'Child.
16. "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer That phrase, "U Can't Touch This", tossed in with "2 Legit 2 Quit" will forever be a part of our lexicon. Lorelei Addison and Campbell Isaiah will be saying these phrases and not even knowing what they mean...
...oh no, forget that... they'll be hearing them some MC Hammer.
Its Hammer go Hammer MC Hammer yo Hammer and the rest can go and play, Can't Touch This!
15. "Under the Bridge" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers When this song popped up, The Lovely Steph Leann looked up and said, "ah!" I asked her if she liked this song, and she nodded feverishly, "I Love this song."
And why not? Its a great song. I remember this video where Anthony Keidis, in black and white, long hair flying, running as fast as he could towards the camera, looking all buff and intense. It was cool.
14. "Vision of Love" by Mariah Carey
Totally had this poster on my college dorm room wall
Sigh.
I miss pre-skank Mariah.
Anyone under 21, stop what you are doing, go to iTunes and download three songs: Emotion, Dreamlover and this song. And listen to them for an education. THIS is how you sing. THIS is how you entice. THIS is how you are FREAKIN AWESOME.
I would love love love love to see her in concert. I mean, one of my top five most desired concert experiences.
13. "Nuthin' But a G Thang" by Dr. Dre introducing Snoop Doggy Dogg In the late 80s, rap was killin, ghetto, hood, shooting, the plight of black people, the plight of poor people, the man holding us down...
When G Thang came out, it all changed. Rap suddenly didn't have to be a social commentary, it could be just something fun, laid back, smokin' a blunt, drankin' a fo'ty, ridin' in yo' bouncing hyrdrolic low rider,
12. "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette How fantastic is this song? How fantastic is this whole "Jagged Little Pill" album? I remember hearing this song for the first time, I hopped in my car, drove around the corner from Willow Terrace to across the street to On Cue Records and Tapes, and paid $15.98 for it. Didn't have it, probably bounced the check, but it was worth it.
She's a little mellow now, and released an acoustic version of this whole album a few years back--and it was good, but it wasnt great. It wasn't great because she wasn't angry anymore. I love Angry Alanis.
11. "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam Remember me telling you about sitting at home, listening to Open House Party on Saturday nights? This is where I learned about Pearl Jam and heard "Jeremy" for the first time. And I owned the tape and would play it in my car at school I daresay before anyone knew who was Eddie Vedder even was.
I remember doing some painting work for my boss at The Wright Place restaurant at his home, painting some metal beams for a barn that he was building. And with my jambox, I had this tape blaring loud and proud. Back then, kiddies, you got about five songs, then you had to flip the tape over.
10. "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinead O'Connor I cannot tell you how awesome this song is. I mean, seriously. This will be another song that Lorelei Addison will hear as a very young little girl.
The video is so amazing, as she's starting at the camera, tears streaming down her eyes. Its on my list of the Saddest Songs Ever. That countdown is due for a re-do, and "Nothing Compares 2 U" might rank a little higher.
And this is on my current rotation of songs that I sing while I'm making drinks at Starbucks.
9. "Losing My Religion" by REM I've never been a huge REM fan, but this song was captivating. That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight, losing my religion. I do believe that not too long ago, Michael Stipe surprised no one when admitting he was gay, he admitted that this song was his struggle with being an Other.
We used to make fun of REM, saying that REM stood for Rear End Men. Turns out I wasn't too far from being right.
8. "Waterfalls" by TLC For all the songs that The Lovely Steph Leann liked on this countdown, I daresay there aren't many songs she hates more than this one. I like the song itself, but usually only hear it when I'm listening to a playlist that includes my favorite music from that Troy State era.
7. "...Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears Let's be honest. Back in 1998, you liked this song. Don't tell me you didn't. You had no idea that K-Fed, bald heads, kissing Madonna, that VMA snake, Chaotic, slutsville, rehab, two children, bad music, that Vegas marriage was coming. All you knew at that time was that this song was awesome, it was catchy, the album was fun, and speaking as a guy, we loved it.
6. "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mixalot I LIKE BIG BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE is a line that forever will go down in the "First Lines to a Song" Hall of Fame. I mean, you can't even say the words "Oh My Gah Becky, look at her butt" without someone laughing, or continuing the line or quoting the song. Seriously.
This is song is so engrained in our pop culture, it will be one of the songs on this list that will last for decades, maybe a generation. I don't know if Campbell Isaiah will be exposed to Mixalot at an early age, but it seems to be a good song to sing to babies. On Friends, Rachel sang it to her kid to calm her down, and when I was visiting my best mate Wookiee, I was holding their daughter Abby Grace and when AG got a little grumpy, I started to whisper "I like big butts and I cannot lie. You other brothers can't deny..." and like magic, AG quieted.
5. "Vogue" by Madonna Eh.
4. "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston From a favorite film, 51st on The Dave100, its pre-crack Whitney at the top of her career. As this song started, I just put my head back on the recliner, looked at The Lovely Steph Leann and just sighed, "This song... is just so great."
A few drug hits and a Bobby Brown later, she can't hit those notes like she used to. But while you are on iTunes downloading those Mariah songs, make sure you get "How Will I Know", "Saving All My Love For You", "I'm Your Baby Tonight" (radio edit) and this song. Go now.
3. "I Want It That Way" by The Backstreet Boys The Lovely Steph Leann just piped up "This is the BEST!!!"
So one night, Mikey Nipp and I were going to a party somewhere. We walked to the door and he turned to me, said "I'm going to have the entire room singing Backstreet in ten minutes. Just watch this."
He walked in, quietly singing to himself, "you are... my fire... my one... desire..." and sure enough, within ten minutes every girl, and some guys, in the room were singing to themselves "I want it that way" and "you are... my fire..." and so on. It was hilarious.
2. "One" by U2 When "Achtung Baby" came out, I really dug "Mysterious Ways", which turned out to be my favorite U2 song of all time.
But I'll just be honest with ya here... this is my absolute least favorite U2 song out there. When this comes on the radio, I end up just turning it. There. I said it.
1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana When we were about three songs from the end, I said, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is probably number one." And I was right.
I was the first kid in my high school to own "Nevermind" with the naked baby on the front cover of the tape. And this song was played a whole heckuva lot in my car. Kurt Cobain is perhaps not as amazing as people remember him to be (who is, really) but he deserves alot of credit for, along with Pearl Jam, bringing the new grunge alternative sound to the forefront, inspiring rock music like never before, and making all those kids around me who felt Metallica and Alice in Chains were a little too loud have some hope in rock.
And then, when Weird Al Yankovic came out with "Smells Like Nirvana", I was laughing so hard I literally ran off of the road while driving down the highway in Enterprise, Alabama.
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Finally... a week and a half of promising, I'll deliver the new music on Clouds in My Coffee. Its always hard not just doing the same songs over and over, cause frankly, I know what I like. I'm a repetitive person, to a point--like, I'll eat the same cereal over and over for two or three months, then after that, I don't want cereal for six months.
Music is like that with me. I have my famous "Hannah Pruitt" playlist (the story of that name is listed in a previous post) which gets changed out every month... artists should consider it an honor to get on this list, as these are songs--new and old--that I will listen to over and over for weeks on end. Then, I'll punt them out of the list. All of the following songs are from this current edition of Hannah Pruitt.
"You're So Vain" by Carly Simon... this stays on the website. It just does. Get over it.
"You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift... my current favorite song of the year, and should rank quite highly in the Coolest Things of 2009. I think what makes this song for me, though, is the video. Unfortunately, for some unknown copyright reason, its hard to find. But me, being as awesome as I am, have it here...
I think they'd give special permission to have it appear here on Clouds in My Coffee. Right? Right.
"Good Intentions" by Toad the Wet Sprocket... You know where I found this song? On the FRIENDS Soundtrack CD, one of the first five CDs I've ever purchased. I remember its also from 1995... because back then, I was going out with Julie Haynes, and I made her a couple of mix tapes with my favorite songs of that year, and this was my 2nd favorite song of 1995. The first? "Dreamlover" by Mariah Carey. Or was it "Fantasy"? Either one.
"Love Song" by Sara Bareilles... She gets the award for the last name thats hardest to remember how to spell. I've written a post that I haven't put up here yet (until just a few minutes ago, I think I forgot I had it) and its basically how to dissect a Romantic Comedy. I think I need to add one more step... when you make the trailer, you need to put this song over it. Why not? 104 other Rom Coms do it. By the way, I think I've heard this song so much, I've tried to get tired of it... and I can't. Love it.
"Just Started Lovin' You" by James Otto... This should have been on the Coolest Things of 2008, but I didn't know the name of it, nor who sang it, so I had no point of reference other than "that cool country song where the guy sings like this and..." I plan on putting it on the end of this year's list, with an honorable mention, a la "Bourne Ultimatum".
"Steel Bars" by Michael Bolton... Sigh. That's fine. Laugh. Make fun of me. I don't care. I dig this song. Heck, I dig Michael Bolton, puffy Kenny G hair and all. This song is cool. Okay, maybe "cool" is not the right word, but seriously, from 1988 to 1996, he had one heck of an 8 year run.
"Running From an Angel" by Hootie & the Blowfish... my favorite song from one of my all time favorite CDs, "Cracked Rear View". I was riding with Hootie with Hot Sista' Cheney (another name with a story, lest you think Chris Hansen and I are BFF) recently, and I took a gander at her iPod. I think a person's iPod can tell you as much about them as just about anything else (unless you've got 10,000 songs on it, like mine, in which you would probably deduce I'm either OCD or bipolar... or maybe ADOS... you know, Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!) and I saw that she only had two or three Hootie songs on it. She's a bit younger than I, so naturally, why would she have more than "Let Her Cry" and "Hold My Hand"?
That's the problem with today's younglings... all they care about is Eminem and Lady GaGa and anything with a beat that talks about the po-po and smackin' up my beeyotch and so on and so forth. I would love a radio station that played some good 90s stuff. Sheryl Crow, Boyz II Men, pre-skank Mariah, pre-crack Whitney, even early pre-crazy Britney Spears would be fine. Am I the only one? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!
Anyway, in our conversation, we discussed how she needed to learn more Hootie, and for that matter, early, good Sheryl Crow. Before she went all "use one piece of toilet paper" crazy enviromental.
So sayeth Sheryl: "I propose a limitation be put on how many sqares [sic] of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don't want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required. When presenting this idea to my younger brother, who's judgement [sic] I trust implicitly, he proposed taking it one step further. I believe his quote was, "how bout just washing the one square out."
Later she said she was kidding. I'm not sure I fully believe that she was kidding.
Found these two magazine covers online... Sister Cheney, meet Hootie. Hootie, Paige.
Anyway, I ended up making Hot Sista' Cheney a couple of CDs, one being Hootie's entire "Cracked Rear View" album and a few songs from "Fairweather Johnson" and "Musical Chairs, and other with Sheryl Crow, most of her great stuff from the first several excellent albums, with emphasis on "The Globe Sessions", one of my favorite CDs.
Where was I?
"My Life Would Suck Without You" by Kelly Clarkson... This song makes a 2nd month appearance on the list. I don't dig all of her stuff, some of it is really silly and monotonous... but what I do enjoy, I really enjoy. Her song "Behind These Hazel Eyes" made the Top 100 (#25) in 2005, where she herself ended up the 6th Coolest Thing of that year. And this song? Bound for the Top 20, perhaps even a Top 10 appearance, if not for the emergance of "You Belong With Me", as listed above. Kelly and Taylor, slug it out. I knew a girl named Kelly Taylor once. She was pretty.
"Hard Luck Woman" by Garth Brooks... This was featured on the KISS tribute album entitled "KISS My A$$", which though the use of "$" doesn't disguise the words true intentions, its still a comical and clever title anyway. Garth doesn't sound like Garth here, but he does sound awesome. I actually, and this might be sacrelige to some, like this better than the original.
"Dream Lover" by Mariah Carey... I've often lamented my sorrow at how Mariah has turned into a string wearing punchline. She used to be so great, when every song didn't have a subtitle of "(featuring T-Pain)" or "(featuring Common)" or "(feat. insert stupid common word or acronym based rapper gangsta name that will forgotten in a year other than bloggers using it as a joke here)". But I digress. I was tempted to post a few pictures of Mariah, one from 1994 and one from last year, but any picture of Mariah in the last few years is bound to not be Emmy Turnbow safe.
"Motownphilly" by Boyz II Men... This song never gets old. However, I'm sure there aren't many below, say, 28 years old who will understand the line "A-B-C, BBD, the East Coast Family..." in this song.
"I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City", by Harry Nilsson... Finally, this song is available on playlist.com, where is where I pull my playlist from. I tried to link to it before, and wasn't able to so do, but viola! Here it is. One of the classic 70's Songwriter's Tunes, its also featured in one of my top 15 movies in The Dave100.
"Basic Instructions" by Burlap to Cashmere... This is the album version, I believe, and still a great song. The better one, though, is the live version from "Live at the Bitter End", a five song EP released shortly after their first (and only?) album... it might not have been their only album, but it was really the only one with any relevance. The live version is a brilliant driving song, wedged in between "La Grange" and "Everything Zen" on my driving playlist. By the way, it took stupid me forever to figure out the "Basic instructions before leaving Earth" reference.
"Fingerprints of God" by Steven Curtis Chapman... Its underrated. But awesome. Simply fantastic. One of those "Let me sit back, listen and remember and praise how awesome God is." Well, those were the words I used to describe "Speechless", which was originally on here... however, even though it stays "Speechless", it plays "Fingerprints of God". Which is great too, so we'll go with it.
And thats our new list. You like it? Tell me what you think.
What a gorgeous day. You know how sometimes you want to roll the window down, feel the air coming in as you drive, but either its a bit too chilly, or its just too hot, even traveling at 40, 50+ miles per hour, so you end up rolling the window back up, and you have to pipe down the radio, because you had it blaring--blaring out because your windows were down, right?
Today was the kind of day that you could roll down the window and drive, the air felt treeeeemendously awesome and the CD playing could blast away. My CD of choice? "Cracked Rear View" by Hootie & the Blowfish. Normally, I use my iPod, but with the car dock, sometimes its all staticky, and I wanted to feel the air rushing around my head, even in my ears, so I had to dispense with the earbuds...
Hence, an actual CD in my car stereo. And you can't go wrong with "Cracked Rear View", by far and away their best CD of the band's career.
The latest stop on my Reunion Lunch Tour had me meeting for lunch with Barrow, a friend from the old days at Troy that I hadn't seen in at least 10 years. Very good to see Barrow, though next time I have a reunion lunch--or any kind for that matter--its gotta be somewhere different than Chick-fila. Had it like, three times in the last four days. Too much.
Had to stop for gas, as Toni Rocki Honda was gasping for fuel, then stopped off at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) to run up to the theater and pick up a suitcase I left backstage. I was using the suitcase as a prop on Sunday morning's KidStuf performance, another one that we thought would be an unmitigated disaster, but came off extremely well... actually, I worry more about those KidStuf Sundays when everything seems perfect.
The Funniest Man of 2008, Rhett Barnett, and I joked on Sunday that when its perfect, it almost feels as if we're too arrogant, and God puts us back in our place. When we royally screw it up over and over, its as if God steps in and says, "Oh my Me, you guys just need to back up and let me handle this. Geez. Want something done, gotta do it Myself".
Stopped off at the Hoover Public Library to tour the audio books, which they've expanded (still didn't find much of anything good at the time) and the CDs (which they are currently removing for a few weeks to sift through, get rid of old ones and put new ones in the selection). I did pick up a copy of Natalie Grant's new CD, as well as one from Third Day, so we'll see what it looks like.
By the time I had pulled out of the parking lot, the Hootie CD had run its course, so I had change out the music... I was disappointed to learn that I had not put in "The Globe Sessions" by Sheryl Crow in my CD wallet, so I settled for "Sheryl Crow" by Sheryl Crow, which made for another good driving CD.
Took a trip to Starbucks on 119, my current store to pick up my tips, saw my friend MZ and also Lil Sister Ashley, so I conversed with both of them. Got my tip money from last week, and then finally headed to my final destination before coming back to The Cabana... Veteran's Park, where I planned on having a good ol' fashioned quiet time. Though they aren't nearly as frequent as they should be, they are getting more frequent now as time goes by. My prayer of "Help me need a quiet time" has been coming truthful, as I actually want to have one. Strange, I know.
The scene from where I sat at Veteran's Park. Life rocks. Except for the pollen that is now embedded in my Word Sheath, all things are great.
Also came up Paulie Walnuts and his wife, Sammi C, as they were picnicking with Baby Cate on this wonderful Spring day.
I flipped through Luke 23, as directed by my Sunday Scho.... er, Life Connection book that we've going through, but found myself on Psalm 40:
I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened. He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn't slip. He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God. More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God. -- vs. 1-3, so sayeth The Message
Love it. David knew he was writing for readability, so he broke up Psalm 40 into sections, much like most of the Psalms are, and so it might be nice to take a few verses at a time over a couple of days.
Also, while listening to the iPod on a playlist called "Open Me Up" name for a song by Watermark, one of my favorite bands, a gem came up that, had I an iPod and play count capability in 1997, I would imagine that this song would have had a couple of dozen plays... "Man of God" by Audio Adrenaline, off of the forgotten but much loved "Bloom" album. While its true that I think the band peaked with "Underdog", the aforementioned "Bloom" was great.
Here's my take on Audio Adrenaline... the first CD was just silly. Its kinda like dcTalk's first CD, or their second, "Nu Thang", with the immortal classic "I Luv Rap Music". Shoot me. The second, "Don't Censor Me" was good... it wasn't great, but it was good. It features the oft recited and hand motioned "Big House", which can be annoying if you hear it more than twice in, I dunno, a year. Next was "Bloom", which like I said, was solid but not perfect. I think "Bloom" was the album the studio wanted them to make, and then they did "Some Kind of Zombie", which was excellent (you ever want to get a party going, pop in the title track, or "Blitz", their collaboration with The O.C. Supertones)... but it was like, they wanted to make something more rockin' than the previous stuff, so they overcompensated on the rock effect with "Zombie"... don't get me wrong, its a great CD, but they went from one extreme to the other.
"Underdog" got it right. The fine balance between rock, pop and just a little grunge with some Holy Spirit mixed in all of it was just perfect. Loved that CD, probably listened to it a dozen times or more in the first month it was out. The next several, like "Lift", "Worldwide" and "Until My Heart Caves In" all kind of sounded alike to me, though I'm probably going to give them all another try at some point.
Anyway, my point is I heard "Man of God" again for the first time in maybe five years... and its a great song...
Sometimes I'm a liar, sometimes I'm a fake, sometimes I'm a hypocrite that everybody hates. Sometimes I'm a poet, sometimes I'm a preacher, sometimes I watch life go by sitting on the bleachers But I've never been left alone in any problems that I've known Even though I'M TO BLAME (blog authors emphasis) There were times when things were dark and I've been known to miss the mark But Someone fixed my aim
Sometimes I'm a Man of God Sometimes I'm alright Sometimes I lay down and close my eyes and pray to God...
Sometimes I don't feel good, its hard to start the day, its hard to climb the obsticles that sometimes come my way If I make it, I'm a good man. Am I a bad man if I fail? I know I'm never good enough, so I left GRACE PREVAIL (blog authors emphasis, again) I've never been left alone in any problem that I've known Even though I'm to blame There were times when things were dark and I've been known to miss the mark But Someone fixed my aim
Sometimes I'm a Man of God Sometimes I'm alright Sometimes I lay down and close my eyes and pray to God... I'm ready for the night
Right now I'm alright, right now I'm alright, sometimes I'm alright I'm alright, I'm alright, thank God, thank God
Cause sometimes I'm a Man of God Sometimes I'm alright And sometimes I lay down and close my eyes and pray to God...
The song plays over a screenshot of "Hit Parade", one of their greatest hits compilations.
Alright... its almost 5pm. I'm going to go enjoy the rest of my day off, the day that He tossed at us to take delight in. Cause that's how He rolls. Idol results tonight.
In case you've noticed, or haven't, there are a few new things added to the Clouds in My Coffee Blog... my ultimate goal is to make my site your one-stop shop for news links, weather links, sports links and other fun stuff to read, but that's farther down the road... we'll get there.
Added a new blog column to My Recommended Blogs list. Heather "The Angel" Hanson (now Conkle... and The Lovely Steph Leann thought she had it bad going from Campbell to Dollar...) writes a blog--I managed to find Heather via Facebook. In fact, Heather plays a role in the most embarrassing and at the same time most hilarious moment of my Troy life involving boxer shorts, but that's for another day. Her blog is entitled "Tell Me the Old, Old Story", and you can find it here... or on the links on the side. Show HH some love.
I've added a couple of widgets to the side--a "widget" is a little block of links an info--that you might find fun... one is Birmingham's weather, another in the sports section is the ESPN widget, for sports. Near the bottom, under my facebook widget, is The Sports Guy, who is one of my favorite columnists. Not too far under that is an iTunes widget, followed by a Pop Candy link to USA Today's Pop Culture columnist, Whitney Matheson.
And thanks to Heather "The Angel" Hanson, there's now music playing on the Clouds In My Coffee Blog.
You may be enjoying it, or you might have immediately gone to find it and shut if off. Right now I've got it autostarting, and randomly playing the list... if you are like me, when you visit a blog page, you are usually not there long enough to get through more than one or two songs, much less an entire playlist. With that in mind, I wanted to make sure the songs on the bottom got some love too, not just the ones near the top.
The fun part of doing any kind of playlist like this is... what do I put on here? You can put up to 100 songs on the list, via the site I used--Playlist.com. But really, I don't know that I want a playlist of 100 songs on any site, and definately not mine.
So I chose music that I really enjoyed, music that perhaps wouldn't rank in my top ten, but nonetheless that I loved, that I knew, and styles that I felt would represent who I am. Much of it is from the 90s, during music was at its peak, but there is some earlier and some later stuff.
This might be the closest I've done to an iTunes Celebrity Playlist... Here's what I chose, let me know what you think...
"Little Green Bag" by The George Baker Selection. Featured prominently in "Reservoir Dogs" during the brilliant opening sequence, its fun, its catchy, and its a great way to kick off the Clouds In My Coffee music list.
"You're So Vain" by Carly Simon. How could a blog entitled "Clouds In My Coffee" not feature the song that the words came from. This song is truly amazing, a song of anger, yet sadness. And Carly has never been better.
"Possession" by Sarah McLachlan. My. Favorite. Song. Ever.
"100 Years" by Five for Fighting. The more I hear this song, the more I like it. The opening is just hypnotic, and the lyrics just make you think about your life. Maybe thats a good thing, maybe not, but it only takes 100 years to live.
"Running from an Angel" by Hootie & the Blowfish. Make fun of it if you want, but if you were in high school or college from 1993 to 1996, Hootie was one of the biggest bands around. This is my favorite song off of one of my favorite albums ever, "Cracked Rear View"
"Time After Time" by Nichole Nordeman. The Cyndi Lauper version is really good. There's another out there now with both Lauper and Sarah McLachlan... but this one, this version off of Nichole's live concert CD is a masterpiece. Seriously, I almost cried when I heard it for the first time.
"I'd Die Without You" by PM Dawn. This was my favorite song ever, until earlier this year, when "Possession" finally took it over and ended its 15 year reign at the top. So it resides at a very close #2.
"Callin' Baton Rouge" by Garth Brooks. Garth is just awesome, and this is my favorite country song ever. This is perfect to be sung loudly while traveling 78 on I-65 heading to Montgomery. Or wherever.
"Full Moon" by Brandy. Being born a poor black child, I'm a fan of R&B, and it doesn't get any more R&B'ier than this joint from Brandy. Dis juke is my jam, boo.
"The Remedy" by Jason Mraz. As much fun as this is to sing, its more fun when you can nail all the lyrics. That slammin' part in the second verse? Uncovering the ways to plan the next big attack they were counting down the ways to stab the brother in the be right back after this, the unavoidable kiss, where the minty fresh death breath is sure to outlast this catastrophe, dance with me, because if you've got the poison, I've got the remedy
"Love Will Never Do Without You" by Janet Jackson. Its hard not preceeding this song with "Miss You Much" because on Janet's "Rhythm Nation 1814", another one of my favorite albums, they go right together. But, in an effort to not feature two songs by the same artist, I picked this one. Mostly because... well, it makes me happy. We all have songs that just make us happy, for no reason other than it does. This is one of those.
"Stay" by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories. This is the most. fun. song. to. sing. ever. Seriously, this is the song that, when you walk into a room and start it, someone in that room will join you, if not multiple someones. "You say... I only hear what I want to, I don't listen hard, I don't pay attention to the distance that you're running to anyone, anywhere, I don't really care, I'm only hearing negative no no no baaaaaadddd...." NYCJenny is rolling with this song right now.
"Come and Talk To Me" by Jodeci. If I were a pimp, this might be a theme song for one of my ho's. Just sayin'.
"In the Light" by dcTalk. This is one of five songs that define my life as a Christ-Follower. Powerful and convicting, I dare you to find harmony as good as this.
"My Favorite Mistake" by Sheryl Crow. Off another one of my favorite all time albums, "The Globe Sessions". We all have our favorite mistakes, don't we?
So, for about 16 years, my favorite songs have really remained unchanged.
Some songs that could be considered are "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Paul McCartney & Wings, "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John, "Running from an Angel" by Hootie & the Blowfish, "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers, "Roam" by the B-52s, "Dilemma" by Nelly (ft. Kelly Rowland), "Come Undone" by Duran Duran, "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon,
At #5 on my list is "Head Over Heels" by Tears for Fears, from the album "Songs from the Big Chair". The opening tune is melodic, and on the album version, there is an awesome instrumental that leads to a live version.
"Head over Heels" had been developed nearly two years prior as part of a segue with the song "Broken", which was previously a stand alone B-side to the 1983 "Pale Shelter" single. As the two songs share the same piano/synth motif, "Head over Heels" eventually came to be sandwiched in between two bookend parts of "Broken" in live performances. This placement carried over to the final track listing of the Big Chair LP, with a studio recording of "Broken" preceding the song and a live reprise following it. The song features guitarist Roland Orzabal on lead vocals.
For #4 on the list, "Not the Only One" by Bonnie Raitt, from the "Luck of the Draw" album. I like it because its bluesy, it jazzy, its sweet and its fun. "I was in a daze, movin' in the wrong direction... Feelin' that I'd always be the lonely one... Then I saw your face, on the edge of my horizon... Whisperin' that I wasn't the only one... The lonely one..." I've managed to get alot of Bonnie's stuff, and you know what... I really like it.
At #3, its the smooth sound of Brenda Russell, backed up by Joe Esposito, with "Piano in the Dark". It was actually on her album "Get Here", though the title song was actually covered by Oleta Adams for a huge hit.
You know how, sometimes, the lyrics can be really, really cheesy, but if the right voice sings it, the cheese goes away? Alicia Keys gets a pass on that with "Fallin", because the lyrics are kinda dumb. Same thing with "Get Here". No one would take it seriously... unless you have a voice like Oleta Adams singing it. But I digress.
As written on February 28th (the bottom of the column), music is difficult for me to rank. But I've made a decision. So, for the first time in 16 years, I can declare that I have a new favorite song.
