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Mood: Monday and Song Challenge: Day 25

Art posted here previously was George Michael Singer, acrylics and mixed media on canvas, 2018, by artist Melanie D.

When Jim was here, we talked about the WHAM documentary that’s airing on Netflix. I haven’t seen it, though it’s one of the things I intend to watch.

Today’s song challenge is “a song you like by an artist no longer living.” It was a shock when George Michael died on Christmas Day 2016–too young at 53. In my music television watching heyday, a video with George Michael would stop me in my tracks. I’ve done a lot of research about the evolution of music videos from the 1960s forward (why else? for the Neverending Saga) though of course, they weren’t called “videos” then and were usually shot on 35mm film even after video tape came into existence and “music videos” became part of the common vernacular. George Michael’s videos were art, and I remember them well.

I also haven’t watched The Super Models on Apple TV+, but the holdup on that one for me is that it features the female models who were in George Michael’s “Freedom” video: Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington. However, Tatjana Patitz, born on this date, March 25, 1966, in Hamburg Germany, was also in the “Freedom” video, died last year in January, and isn’t part of the documentary. Because of the video, she became my favorite of the group, so I haven’t had the heart to watch it yet.

Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford

Why doesn’t George Michael appear in the video? He told MTV, “I made decisions a couple years ago to change the way my career was going and my life was going by not appearing in the videos, by not being interviewed, by not doing press. Basically, letting my music kind of do what it’s going to do.”

We don’t see him, but his presence still dominates the video (also, probably a lot of people gasped when his leather jacket gets set on fire).

Song Challenge: Day 23

I’ve long said that we would make our lives so much easier and better if we could learn to say two phrases and mean them: “I was wrong,” and “I’m sorry.” Sometimes both of them together. Today’s challenge is “a song you think everybody should listen to.” I’m not sure there’s any Elton John hit that hasn’t been heard everywhere, but “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” makes me think of those two simple yet rare phrases. When I hear it, it takes me back to certain relationships, certain endings, certain missed opportunities. It also reminds me of times one or both of those two phrases either made things right or started a path to healing. Old Woman Tip: If you waited too late–you didn’t. You might not be able to say it to the person you wish you could tell, but say it out loud anyway to put that kindness out there. You’ll feel it for yourself, too. And if someone has the courage to say those words to you, be as gracious as you can be. I’ve always been a believer in Alexander Pope’s, “To err is human; to forgive, divine.”

Song Challenge: Day 21

Today’s song challenge is “a song you like with a person’s name in the title.” Smokie, a British rock band, had a hit with the song “Living Next Door To Alice” in 1976. It was a cover of the song written by an Australian band named New World, who released it in 1972, but it was a flop for them. (The original songwriters said they were inspired by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show’s song “Sylvia’s Mother,” so let me give a shoutout to Alice and Sylvia for their place in rock-and-roll history.)

Smokie’s version did well, and though it charted in the U.S., I never heard it. I discovered it thanks to a reference in “The Life of Sharks,” a comic strip I follow on Instagram. The strip’s reference, however, was to the second version done by Smokie in the 1995 remake.

Explanation: Over time, when the band performed the song, it became a chance for the audience to shout back at them, “Alice? Who the fuck is Alice?”

That’s become a phrase I sometimes mutter to myself when I’m confused about something, so I share with you the second version. There are videos of the original (without the chant-back) and other chant-back videos on YouTube, but this remastered version is the one I like for its sound quality. May you come to appreciate Alice as I do.

Song Challenge: Day 20

First off, happy birthday to our friend Steve C. When Tom, Tim, and I played cards with Jim last night, we reminisced about several other visits we’ve shared since we met in 1997, including one in which Jim, Tim, and Steve were all in Houston. A photo we mentioned was one in which Steve wanted to pose with our dachshunds Pete and Stevie to duplicate a photo we took of them with Tom’s brother Jeff once. Why? Because Pete had a tendency to dislike and nip strangers, but he was always fine with Jeff. Steve wanted to prove that Pete would be fine with him, too. It worked, and he got his photo.

But my favorite photo is one in which I asked them to pose like the Valley of the Dolls publicity shot. The original:

And Valley of the Dolls: Becky’s Version.

Today’s song challenge is “a song that has many meanings to you.” Dionne Warwick’s “(Theme From) Valley of the Dolls” does have many meanings to me. It’s in my iTunes library and I hear it a lot in my car.

Tiny Tuesday! and Song Challenge: Day 19

Today’s song challenge is “a song that makes you think about life.” Oddly, one of the first songs that came to mind evoked Judy Collins, and though she recorded it, it’s the signature song of its composer, a different female artist.

Then I realized Judy Collins had a 1975 hit with a different song that also makes me think about life, a Stephen Sondheim composition from A Little Night Music, “Send in the Clowns.” Collins received a Grammy for “Best Song of the Year” in 1976 for her rendition. The song was frequently performed by the character Doug Williams on “Days Of Our Lives” in the years when I watched that daytime drama. Funny that the Time cover celebrating soap operas came out the same month Collins won that Grammy and featured “Doug and Julie,” played by real-life married couple Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes. I’m not sure if he’d performed the song on the show before the Grammy win, or if that’s when the writers decided to make it Doug and Julie’s song because the characters were so star-crossed in their relationship.

A favorite memory of mine is living on the bottom floor of an apartment in Tuscaloosa and watching Doug and Julie’s wedding on TV. It was the kind of moment that you wish you could share with another viewer (now we have social media for that!), and I remember being so happy and walking outside just as the girl from the upstairs apartment came out. She looked happy, too, and we smiled at each other. “I know it’s dumb,” I called up, “but I’m SO HAPPY Doug and Julie just got married on my soap opera!” “ME, TOO!” she said, having also just watched it, and thus a friendly acquaintance based on a soap opera began.

Years later, I watched the wedding of the characters Luke and Laura from “General Hospital” with a theater full of people at Ferguson, the student center at Bama, where cake and punch were served to us in their honor. Soaps were a BIG DEAL to college students. In graduate school, I took my daily lunch break in the TV room at Ferguson to watch “The Young and the Restless” with other students (I didn’t own a TV anyway, but it was fun to sit with a diverse group of people and react to the show.)

I don’t have clown phobia, but I couldn’t think of anything at the Hall close to a clown to photograph to tie the song challenge to Tiny Tuesday. Then I remembered this little item from the toy box: the character Nemo from the movie Finding Nemo,, who is a CLOWNFISH. =)

Mood: Monday, and Song Challenge: Day 18

Art posted here previously was Garbage Patch Artwork, mixed media, sculpture on plastic, date unknown, by artist Simone Spicer.

Today, March 18, is Global Recycling Day. The link gives a lot of information about the day and about recycling in general. This paragraph in particular stood out to me: Before throwing something in the trash or even in the recycling bin, first think of ways the item could be reused. Perhaps it would be a good idea to wash out a plastic carrier bag or a zipper closure bag and use it a few more times. Or maybe it would be possible to use those plastic containers from the grocery store in the kids’ lunch boxes. And also try using that piece of aluminum foil again. Anything that can be used just two times essentially cuts the waste of that product in half!

That made me feel a little bit better that all the things I reuse at Houndstooth Hall can actually be having an impact on reducing waste.

Today’s song challenge is “a song you know all the words to.” And while I sang one word of the lyrics wrong for many years, I finally allowed myself to be persuaded that Mary’s dress SWAYS instead of WAVES in Bruce Springsteen’s carpe diem song “Thunder Road.” (I still like the visual and implication of “waves” better than “sways,” and I still disagree that we can’t say fabric “waves,” since somewhere every day someone is listening to or singing our national anthem which asks the question, “…does that star spangled banner yet wave?” It does.)

Here’s an acoustic version of the song, because I have no idea which video on YouTube will eventually be pulled due to copyright. My blog has become littered with those over its twenty years–a different kind of waste.

Song Challenge: Day 15

Today’s challenge is “a song you like that’s a cover by another artist.” This just serves as a reminder to myself that I haven’t replaced one of my favorite drowned albums, as pictured here after the Harvey flood of 2017.

The song is “Blue Bayou,” written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson and covered by Linda Ronstadt. Here’s a live version.

Song Challenge: Day 14

Today’s challenge is “a song you liked hearing at a wedding.” I sat here thinking of all the weddings I’ve been to in my life, and the only songs that immediately came to mind are from marriages that ended in divorce. For all those weddings I’ve been to where couples are still together, I can’t remember their music! My advice to people getting married is: Pick music or songs you’ll continue to feel affection for no matter how things end up, and don’t let anybody talk you out of your music choices. That music may be among your best memories.

“Colour My World” is the first song I taught myself on piano. Yes, it was played at a wedding. My first one.

Song Challenge: Day 13

Some beautiful fabric squares Debby gave me at Christmas. I haven’t decided what to do with them yet, but I know I will.

Today’s challenge is “a song you like from the ’70s.” That’s the decade with the shifting variety of music that probably most influenced me, so where would I begin? I reached back to 1971 for a song that in my soul remains larger than a single artist, time, or place.

Wikipedia provides an an interesting account of the history of “What’s Going On” and Marvin Gaye.

Tiny Tuesday and Song Challenge: Day 12

Happy birthday today to my nephew Josh!

A song I got tired of hearing long ago… In June of 1974, the Lynyrd Skynyrd song “Sweet Home Alabama” was released on their album Second Helping. I lived in Alabama then. By July of 1974, I was pretty sure I’d heard it at least three times a day for a month, and that might have just been on the 8-track tape player in my boyfriend’s car.

It became the Inescapable Song not only because I lived in Alabama, but because I later went to the college known simply as “Alabama.” The record was played on the sound systems in bars and clubs. It was performed by anyone with a guitar anywhere they could stand or sit with a pick and an audience of one to infinity. It was played at ball games loud enough to reach the outermost/uppermost row of any stadium, gym, or auditorium, not to mention every dorm on campus. Tailgate parties. Blaring from every frat house.

It.never.ended. It still hasn’t.

The interesting thing is, “Sweet Home Alabama,” like so many songs, is an overlooked protest against some of the things it seems to be praising. I salute that and include it with many protest songs people misuse because they hear only those lyrics that seem to glorify what they admire/revere. There’s always hope that after somebody takes a hit off that pipe or bong or joint and lies in the dark listening to the song again, they’ll suddenly think, Hey, wait a minute…

Cool. I just don’t want to hear it again.

Last week, I had a bad experience in a local store. It was not because of the store or any worker in the store or any other customer in the store. It was just a set of circumstances that hit me at a time when I was not feeling well for a range of reasons. I realized I wasn’t doing well when I stood up from the chair where I waited and began to pace. Among other things, I recognized that my blood sugar was dropping quickly. I went to a cooler and bought a sugary drink, and when I walked back to my chair, I spotted something dark beneath it.

It was this tiny plastic turtle smaller than my palm. I almost always rescue lost toys, especially when they’re small. This one seemed fortuitous. Just breathe, I told myself. Be slow and steady, like the turtle. Think of how long turtles can live. How most of what they need they carry with them, and nature provides the rest. From now on, when you hit these spots, just remember turtle wisdom.

It worked in that moment. Later, back at home, I wondered if the turtle is now my totem animal. That led me to think of the word factotum, defined as “a person having many diverse activities or responsibilities.” I named this little turtle Fac and hope thinking of him in future moments where too much is coming at me and from within me all at once, I can remember to step back and breathe.

So today, instead of a song I never want to hear again, I offer The Turtles’ 1967 hit “Happy Together,’ which I don’t mind hearing at all.

Today is also the birthdate of our late friend Tim R. He’d like this turtle story.