Listening To An Oldies Channel

I have been doing a lot of driving as a part of my job, and so I have been passing some of the time by listening to a radio station that plays oldies.

I have not done this over the years consistently. But I used to live in the same area 20 some years ago and heard the same channel at that time. Now that I am back and listening to it again I can really tell that the oldies format has changed. I knew it would, and remember saying a number of years ago that as time went on, the songs from the 50s would drop out and songs from the 70s and 80s would be in. And that is exactly what has happened.

20 years ago and a little more, of course some of those songs weren't considered oldies, at least in the same sense. Now that I am listening to it again, I like the newer songs but I wish that they would put in some of the oldies from the early 60s and the 50s. Still, those teenybopper songs from the early 60s, along with Herman's Hermit's, the Dave Clark Five, etc., as good as they were and actually still are, they get tedious when they are on heavy rotation. So I am kind of glad those ones are out.

If I am still around in 20 years I will make the same observation!

Boogling Out To "Low Rider"

The song by War I've got playing. They're the only War I like.

Don't make love, make War. "Low rider is a real goer."

Some kind of pipes sounding. Instantly hummable and boogieable.

I'm a Warmonger. Too bad they dumped Eric Burdon. Or something.

The pipes boogie in this song is sort of like in "Spill The Wine." The two songs are boogleagues. That's supposed to be a mash of boogie and colleagues. Heh.

Why couldn't they be friends?

Twentieth Century Fox

One of my favorite Doors' songs is "Twentieth Century Fox."

She doesn't have "no clocks," though, meaning she's not punctual, I guess, which I wouldn't like.

Everything else I could handle. "The queen of cool."

"She won't waste time on elementary talk."

"Got the world locked up inside a plastic box."

Get Your Groovy Self On Home

I'm watching the Elvis Presley movie "Speedway," bit by bit everyday until I get done. This morning I had the part that includes Nancy Sinatra's song "Your Groovy Self."

This is a cool sounding song, and the kids at the Speedway Hangout seemed to enjoy her performance. I always enjoy it too. I keep thinking, That's Frank Sinatra's daughter hanging out with Elvis Presley. Cool.

She had a rich and great recording career, maybe she still does. I'd love to have all her albums. I have a couple is all, I guess. The "Boots" LP and the "Nancy and Lee" album via a download from Amazon.

Then there's this track from "Speedway." At the Hangout, the guy in charge -- an old hip comedian kind of guy, who's hip to the music of today's youth -- shines a headlight on a random member of the crowd and they have to do something. The first time we saw it happen, it landed on Elvis. He did "Let Yourself Go." Then the next time it was Nancy. So we really lucked out, because if it had been truly random, we might spend the whole movie with bad karaoke performances waiting to get to the main stars.

If you don't know the song, "Your Groovy Self," do yourself a favor. Get it, love it, and live by it. Meaning, "Get your groovy self on home ... to me."

I Got Five Free Downloads

When we bought a movie today, there was a bonus in it of five free downloads, MP3s, from some place I'd never heard of: amplified.com.

It's kind of strange in a way, that a place can be out there like that and no one's mentioned it to you.

It's also strange to have five free downloads, because suddenly nothing sounds good enough to download. Like "Why would I want that?" It's not enough for a whole album, so you have to pick and choose things that you don't have ... but what should I get?

I ended up getting a few oldies. It worked OK. Their prices are based on "credits," and I didn't explore it that much, since I get my downloads elsewhere. But maybe you pay a monthly fee or make an account.

One of the ones I wanted was "The Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy. I searched and they didn't have it. Nothing showed up on the search, anyway. Then I was going to get "All The Young Dudes" by Mott the Hoople, but it wasn't on any of Mott's albums, just a track on the "Juno" soundtrack, that you couldn't download singly because it only came with the album.

So who knows about a service like that? I see Amazon.com has the Thin Lizzy track. And "All The Young Dudes," but for some reason the "Dudes" song is $1.29. I thought the $1.29 pricing was only for new, really in-demand tracks, not oldies.

I'm Your New Commander, You Now Are My Prisoner

The other day I got the soundtrack of "Rocky Horror" from the Roxy Theater. 1974, I believe.

I like hearing it. Since I've heard the movie soundtrack so many times that there's nothing left to hear (and I still love it.)

The Roxy one is of course different. And I haven't heard it enough to know all the differences. It's all nice as far as I'm concerned. I don't care for the Brad song in the middle, which I don't even remember the title to, the one that didn't make the movie. So I keep skipping it -- whether it's the movie soundtrack album or this one.

An interesting snippet I heard tonight while at the exercise place -- well, I heard the whole "Rose Tints My World" song. The interesting snippet of this is where Riff Raff says, "Frank N. Furter, it's all over, your mission is a failure," etc. He almost sounds like Little Richard on one part. It's very boisterous and soulful, as compared to the movie's more metallic, driving version.

My Doctor Zhivago Update

I must be about finished with Doctor Zhivago, watching it. I'm on the second tape and it seems like it's getting close to the end.

I also got the soundtrack record today at a thrift store. Honestly, I suppose I have the record already in the basement, but I was at the thrift store, there was a very nice copy for 50 cents, so I got it.

I've never heard the soundtrack record before today ... even though I've known I had it over the years. The front cover never appealed to me, but that was all before I ever saw the movie and really zeroed in on it. I would always glance at the picture of Geraldine Chaplin on the left side and it never appealed to me. Looks like a guy about to kiss a baby seal.

It's funny, I never really looked at the cover at all .... really looked at it. The thing is I'm never interested in soundtrack albums of movies I haven't seen. So I can look at them a million times in thrift stores and recognize them without ever really zeroing in on them. The same thing was true of the "Music Man" soundtracks -- Broadway and film. Now that I've seen the movie, I look at them carefully.

As to the movie, I like it OK. But I don't think anyone could trudge across that frozen tundra and not freeze to death, but hey, I got severely chilled tonight just taking my dog out. And it's not below freezing.

Pink's Heart

Pink definitely doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve. In the first place, no sleeves. And it's gotta go somewhere!

An Ancient Nancy Wilson Cassette

I got an old cassette tape by Nancy Wilson. This isn't one that was put out 10 years ago, but this is one of the older cassettes you occasionally see from the '60s.

Since the album "Son of a Preacher Man" came out in 1969, this is when this tape was from. So it's 40 years old. I got it at a thrift store. And right away I noticed the little fuzzy cube that butts up against the tape against the player head was askew. At first I didn't buy it but then I figured I could always put something in there if it didn't play right.

I got it and put it in the player and it immediately broke upon the rewind. The clear leader was stuck to itself and the tape snapped away from it. So ... that's no good.

My big option at this point was to break open the case and then unscrew an old cassette to transplant it in it. That didn't go well with the first cheap (Halloween sound effects) tape I unscrewed. So I had to do another one. I picked out one I could dispense with if necessary and made the switch.

Finally I recorded the thing on an MP3 player and it's on my iPod now, sounding pretty good.

I'm keeping the paper insert to the album. It advertises other Capitol stereo cassettes from the time, including The Beatles. The last one listed is "The Beatles," meaning the White Album.

I almost could've sent this in to Capitol for replacement. But looking at the warranty it says "If any manufacturing defect becomes apparent within 30 days of purchase..." I'd be able to mail it in for replacement. But this wasn't a manufacturing defect, really, but just the leader had gotten itself stuck by the passage of time. Who knows? Maybe there was some moisture at fault.

Crazy By Patsy Cline

I've got the song "Crazy" by Patsy Cline running through my mind. I'm not sure why since I haven't been listening to it.

It was written by Willie Nelson. And it's a great song. I wonder how much money Willie gets off that song in the course of a year. It must bring in quite a bit.

That's a great thing about writing a hit song, one that people love years later. You had the inspiration, you did the work once, then they pay you forever.

I haven't gone to much karaoke. But I understand "Crazy" is one of the top karaoke songs. Every two bit chick gets up and butchers it, probably. LOL.

I ran into Willie Nelson once, true story. It's a true story with nothing interesting about it. He was walking that way, we were walking this way and said hi.

Willie probably doesn't remember it.

West Side Story

I'm watching "West Side Story" on a VHS tape I got some month ago.

I know it must sound absurd to say I've never seen this, but it's true. How many hundreds of times have I seen the old soundtrack LP over the years. But I never really had any idea what it was all about. Seriously. I'm very out of touch at times.

Whether I've ever owned it, like in a box of records, doesn't mean anything. I definitely never listened to it.

Now, I'm only up to the part where the Puerto Ricans have sung "America," so I don't know if anything else will be familiar. I have heard the song "Maria" or snippets of it, and I could have identified where it came from, and I have heard the song "America" or snippets of it, but I could not have identified it.

So far I'm really liking it. The opening, though, with the weird looking gangs, that was disconcerting. They looked like space aliens to me. Or cult members.

I don't know how much more there is to go ... but it's enjoyable and I hope it stays that way.

Wonderful Summer

There's an old song (1963) that I love, "Wonderful Summer" by Robin Ward.

"I want to thank you for giving me the most wonderful summer of my life. It was so heavenly, you meant the world to me. And anyone could see that I was so in love."

Beautiful song. But it's not one that you can buy an MP3 for, it appears. I remember Dic Youngs on KIOA (Des Moines) saying he used to be neighbors with Robin Ward, lived across the street from him wherever he lived at the time. So he'd play it and it made it extra sentimental.

I'm a big romantic at heart, all that teenage weirdness about falling in love and being sentimental about it. Little keepsakes. A broken heart when we have to part.

One time my family went down by Branson and stayed at a resort and there was a girl about my age. She and I walked up the path, up a hill, and I believe we sat there for a while. I have one isolated souvenir of this event, which is a tiny article I wrote about her in a newspaper in 1971. I just looked it up because I didn't remember her name.

Incredibly the little article tells the name of the resort that her parents ran, her first and last name, and her brother's name. But it doesn't tell about us walking up the path on that rainy day. I believe I took home a baby food jar full of the rain water. (I believe I did? -- I know I did, LOL, but it's long gone, unless it's in my parents' basement somewhere after all these years. What would a 40 year old jar of water be like?)

The year was 1968 or '69 when this happened. Then the newspaper article in '71. Then after high school I hitchhiked down to the area, not to see her, but I was just passing through with a hitchhiking friend. But I couldn't resist, and I don't remember what happened exactly. It seems like I saw her at a restaurant with an open front, but I really don't remember. Maybe she was with some guy on a motorcycle. It doesn't seem like she knew me or cared to know me. My imagination's failing me at this point.

Anyway, I've always loved that song, "Wonderful Summer," not because of this girl.

But thinking about it -- and maybe Robin Ward knew this -- the lesson about such things is this: Never go back! Ever!

Picked Up My Guitar

I have some guitar playing I need to do coming up. No major gig, since I'm actually no good. But I'm good enough once in a while for groups of people to sing to. If I practice like crazy and have the music in the few chords that I know.

So I started working on it today, because I haven't played the thing for a month or so. It just sits there. And that means my fingers lose whatever minor callousing I had. So I was messing with it today. My guitar sounds bad because the strings are old. But I hate changing them.

I've been thinking of getting a new guitar. But I hate to spend the money right now. It's something I've been thinking about for over 10 years, so maybe in another 10 I'll get one!

I was working out the chords for a few songs. I had to essentially learn a few new chords, a couple anyway. And I still haven't quite got them. My fingers hurt and I'm making slow progress. But by the time I need to do it I'm sure I'll be good enough to stumble my way through.

It'd be great to be a good guitarist. I picked it up 40 years ago, was never any good. Then I made one giant leap somewhere along the way and could do the chords I know pretty well, hitting the bass string, all that. But after that giant leap I never made any more progress. Not that I work at it very hard. So that's probably the problem.

Will You Count Me In?

Good things come to those who wait. I got Colbie Caillat's CD "Coco" at a thrift store tonight for cheap.

There seems to be a rash of new and fairly new CDs showing up in the thrift store these days. I don't know what's behind it, but I could guess people are ripping their CDs to their iPod and figuring they'll never need the CD anymore.

Whatever the reason, it helps me in my never ending quest to ... I'm not too sure what. I have wide tastes and not really that much time to just sit and listen to music. Except on my iPod, more or less on the run. And even then I like to have the original CD if I can manage it. And for a dollar pop, that's cheap enough.

Girl Watcher

I listened to the record (45 rpm) of "Girl Watcher" by The O'Kaysions. I've always loved this song. And what a great song for summer, huh? (Huh? Huh? Give it to me.)

I love the lyrics and the lascivious, "Umm, umm" the guy does. "Whenever I detect, a member of the other sex..." is part of it. And that cool, "Here comes one now."

Then I was down by the lake and saw a girl floating on an air mattress and the song ran through my head. "Whenever I detect..." as I did right at that moment.

But since I had my dog, that was right when she took a crap and I had to worry about cleaning it up. Then we went the other way toward the garbage and the joy of the moment was lost.

The Stripper

I listened to the 45 rpm record of "The Stripper" by David Rose today, recording it on my MP3 recorder.

Is there any more evocative song than this? It only stands for one thing, someone likely a very good friend of Rusty Warren of "Knockers Up" fame.

I have a good tape somewhere of a DJ doing an on air striptease to this song. What was really going on in the studio, of course I don't know.

30 Days

For some unknown reason I'm thinking of the old Chuck Berry song, "30 Days." I haven't heard it for a number of years. I have a Chuck CD but it's not a good one. Now that I think of it I might have more than one. I'll go check...be back...

Nope, I just have that one crummy CD. It's a "Best of" that is from Japan, and an old budget CD from the '80s. It doesn't tell you it's either re-recordings or concert versions of his songs. So you can tell it's a loser.

I see it does have the song "Thirty Days," spelled out like that.

Here's what I remember of the lyrics: "I'm gonna give you 30 days to get back home." Bringing up the question, Why so generous with the timeframe there of 30 days? I would hate to wait around for 30 days for someone to get back home. I suppose if they're an astronaut or Arctic explorer, Shackleberry or Shackleford, that's only fair.

Then here's another snippet: "I'm gonna send out a worldwide hoodoo, that'll be the only thing that'll suit you, I'm gonna see that you be back home in 30 days." So, there's a worldwide hoodoo involved, meaning that maybe the 30 days is necessary. She might be in Tibet, studying at the feet of whoever's left over there. Or in the Andes, buying mints. Or floating on the Amazon, looking for rare books. Or in Australia trying to find out what the Australian word for "Beehh" is.

A hoodoo, I'm taking that for a ruckus or a call that is bound to be heard, talked about and effective. It will "suit you," maybe meaning she needs quite the persistent persuasion to get back home in 30 days.

Susan Boyle

Susan Boyle, of the You Tube video fame, is a very good singer. It was fun watching her, even not knowing any of the back story or rules of the show or anything.

But it's odd in my way of thinking that nobody had any clue that she was good. Is the show just a show where anyone can walk up and do things? Doubtful. So it's obvious she had to pass some kind of audition to be allowed on stage.

The judges, including Simon Cowell (the guy gets around), seemed truly surprised that she was good. Why, exactly, I don't know. The outside of the body doesn't have that much to do with it. Singing has to do with the throat and nobody knows what the arrangement down there is like till you've heard it.

I hope she knows plenty of songs -- assuming the show is one where she's back over and over -- because she'll probably need them.

Black Oak Arkansas

I had a sudden flash of a memory today, out of the blue, that the rock group Black Oak Arkansas gave away deeds to a square inch of land in Arkansas a long time ago.

Whether I ever owned one of these deeds, I don't have 100% recall. I know I've had their albums over the years, even though I wasn't such a huge fan. I liked some things, like whatever they played on the radio.

I looked it up on the internet and sure enough, others remember this. The way I remember it was with all the musing about what you are supposed to do with one square inch of land and whether anyone actually ever showed up to check out their property. Probably someone.

It's fascinating in the same way that you can name stars after yourself or others for a fee. Except with the land, you really could go there, especially if your square inch is near a border with public access. I could just lay there and look at my land, maybe dig in it and see if any worms are trespassing, or, to be nice about it, legitimately tending the soil for me.

Cassette Culture

A few days ago I was at a music website and they sold their music on cassettes. My first thought was they ought to put it on CDs. But just a little exploration made it clear that they not only preferred cassettes, for reasons of their own, but that's all they used. Unless there were some 7" vinyl, I don't remember.

It seems like everything that's just about to go by the boards comes up with fans at the last second. Maybe there's an 8 track tape group, too. I have some of those. But they've always had troubles. I do remember getting an 8 track tape player one time and thinking I'd collect my music on 8 track tapes. That didn't last long, though, with some of the creative ways that 8 track tapes can find to break. Plus, I always hated the idea of a song being "continued" from one program to another.

Now cassettes, I've always liked cassettes and reel to reel tape. I used to record the radio on a reel to reel tape player, when I was a kid, and listen to the songs ... obviously without paying for them. It wasn't patched into the radio though; this was just a microphone held up to the radio speaker. There's one song by the Beatles, "Do You Want To Know A Secret?" that I recorded like that, and I can still hear (without knowing the exact words) the announcer leading into it, saying something like "vintage Beatles." This was the mid '60s and by then they were already saying "vintage" for the earlier stuff.

I still have a number of cassettes around. Not collected exactly in one place. Some in the closet, some in the basement, who knows where.