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Pop Rock Nation

Category: People

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  • Let it snow!

    Let it snow!

    As I watch tiny flakes fall from the German sky, I think to myself… “Let it snow!”

    Snow shouldn’t excite me as much as it does. I still can’t help but feel excited when I see it, though, especially since I’ve been living in warm places for the past five years. Not counting Thanksgiving 2014, when my husband Bill and I ran into an aberrant snowstorm that dumped a couple of inches in Virginia, I haven’t really seen much of the stuff in years. Now that we live in Germany again, I’m thinking to myself “Let it snow!” I’ll just sit in the house and snuggle with my dogs… and listen to music, of course. Lots of artists have recorded the song, “Let It Snow”, which usually gets played at Christmas time.


    A classic version by Dean Martin.

    This song isn’t really a Christmas song, though, is it? Do they even mention the big winter holiday at all in this song? I don’t think so. Why shouldn’t we sing it in January or February, when snow may be more likely to fall?


    Michael Buble updates “Let It Snow”, along with some manly sounding backup singers.

    I think it works even better with a woman singer…


    Maybe not Jessica Simpson, though… What the hell is she doing to this song?

    I’m kind of partial to the song, “Baby It’s Cold Outside”. You can have a lot of fun with the suggestive lyrics if you have the right partner. The first time I heard this song, it was sung by James Taylor and Natalie Cole, who sounded fine together but didn’t seem to have much chemistry.


    Lady Gaga sings with Joseph Gordon-Levitt… Do they have chemistry?

    It’s kind of cool that Lady Gaga and Joseph Gordon-Levitt traded roles, but I’m not so sure they pull it off. Hmm, now that I think about it, it’s kind of a creepy song. Basically, one person is trying to talk the other to sticking around for some nookie. A little date rape, perhaps?


    Colbie Caillat and Gavin DeGraw sing… after Colbie hawks her Christmas album.

    And here’s a very cute version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” by the Hound + the Fox.


    These two have chemistry! So cute, despite the song’s date rape theme.

    Even I get into the act on this one. I recorded this version with a SingSnap member named Outnumbered 321.


    Nobody’s ever sung this to me for real, though. No one I ever dated could sing worth a damn.

    Sadly, since my husband is currently in hot and sunny Chad, I won’t be snuggling with anyone on this snowy day. Bah humbug!

  • Ugh… Thanksgiving stress!

    Ugh… Thanksgiving stress!

    I’m going to the States next week for Thanksgiving. It’s stressing me out.

    You know how it is, right? If you don’t, count yourself lucky. The holidays are upon us and for many people, that means things are about to get stressful. I try to maintain a sense of humor about these things because stressful family gatherings are just a fact of life. Since I use music as a coping tool, I thought today’s post (which will likely be the last one until after Thanksgiving) should be about keeping cool… or at least maintaining a sense of humor.


    In 1976, the late Andrew Gold penned this song about a “lonely boy” who grew up resentful of his parents and the little sister who came after him…

    In all fairness, I read that Andrew Gold did not mean this to be an autobiographical account of his upbringing. Given that his mother was the amazing sing Marni Nixon and his father was Ernest Gold, an Austrian born composer, one would think Gold’s childhood was full of music. And how can anyone not be happy in a musical household? As one who also grew up in a musical household, I can answer that with one word… “Easily.” But anyway, from what I’ve read, Andrew Gold simply made up the song, “Lonely Boy” and added a few of his own autobiographical details because they were convenient.

    Another song that comes to mind this time of year is by none other than my old friend, James Taylor (we’re not really friends, I just lean on him when I feel down…).


    Here James Taylor sings “Raised Up Family” with Mark Knopfler.

    “Raised Up Family” is basically about the joy of breaking free of family ties once one becomes an adult. I love my family, but damn, it was a wonderful thing when I was finally on my own. I’m sure it was for my parents, too. There’s a lot less squabbling when you aren’t physically close to family members anymore. That’s one aspect of my upbringing that I don’t miss… and I kind of dread when I face my mom and my sisters next week at our Thanksgiving celebration and my dad’s memorial service.

    Actually, as stressful as I think Thanksgiving is liable to be, I find Christmas with my family of origin a lot more difficult. That’s why I don’t do them anymore. Red Peters offers a comical spin on parents who want to plan for a nice Christmas and instead get left behind…


    I’m sure a lot of people can relate to this…

    I think holidays are often laden with heavy expectations. We want them to be idyllic and exciting and full of love. We expect them to be more than just a simple date on a calendar. When they fall short, they cause a lot of angst, which can lead to fighting.

    I have actually made some plans, though, in an attempt to avoid family strife. I have made a dinner appointment with my husband, Bill, on the night after Thanksgiving. Ordinarily, we’d be going to the big party my family throws every year, but since we will be memorializing my dad that day, I doubt I’ll feel much like a party. I’d rather be waited on, and in the company of someone whom I know won’t say anything to piss me off and whom I know won’t be pissed off by anything I say. That way, I won’t feel the need to sing this song…


    Though in fairness, most of the people who currently irritate me don’t have dicks.

    Or this one…


    When the stress starts to build, it’s easy to start hating the world.

    Here’s a friendly reminder to all of you out there in Internetland. Keep the holidays in perspective. If things get too stressful or weird, get in your car and take a drive. Remember that it’s just a day on a calendar and this too will pass. And when all else fails, indulge in something you enjoy. For some, it may be chocolate or a cup of coffee. For some, it may be a brisk walk in the woods. For me, it’ll probably be copious amounts of wine.

    Cheers! Happy Thanksgiving!

  • James Taylor’s Feel the Moonshine

    James Taylor’s Feel the Moonshine

    James Taylor’s Feel The Moonshine is a CD of a live radio broadcast from Pittsburgh’s Syria Mosque in July 1976…

    I pride myself on my collection of music by James Taylor. I have loved his music for most of my life and always make an effort to buy his albums and collections, unless they are different versions of things I already own. I have seen him in concert twice, which may not seem impressive. I’m not much of a concertgoer, though. I don’t like crowds. It’s something that I’ve seen JT perform live twice. I’d gladly go see him again. Better yet, I’d go see his brother, Liv, play live again. Both are awesome on stage.

    Some of my favorite JT collections are his live albums. At this point, I have six of them, since I purchased Feel the Moonshine this month. I hesitated before I bought this disc because I read that it was kind of bootleg and unauthorized. My curiosity won out over my sense of legal propriety and I listened to Feel the Moonshine for the first time last night as I was finishing up the day. On this CD, Taylor is joined by David Lindley on slide guitar and fiddle, Danny Kortchmar on guitar, Clarence McDonald on keyboards, David Sanborn on tenor saxophone, Leland Sklar on bass, and Russ Kunkel on drums. Looking at the packaging, I can see that it was produced on a slim budget. There are liner notes that offer some background of the concert featured, but I notice that there are a couple of typos and the production has a rather cheap feel. No matter, though. James Taylor could sing the phonebook and I’d be interested.

    The 77 minutes of music on this CD comes from James Taylor’s first eight albums. Eighteen of the nineteen tracks were written by Taylor; he includes his popular cover of Holland/Dozier/Holland’s song, “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”. The recording quality itself is not so great. Remember, this was recorded live in 1976 and broadcasted on the radio. The people who produced this CD may have even used a radio recording. There are a couple of places on this disc that sound noticeably distorted.

    Some of the songs on this recording are different than their album versions. For instance, Taylor sings “Bartender’s Blues” at this concert, but on the album version, Linda Ronstadt joins him on the chorus. She’s not on this disc, so he sings it in a different key with a different arrangement. While the different arrangement is interesting to listen to, I prefer the darker, more melancholy sound from JT, the studio album that featured “Bartender’s Blues”.

    On the other hand, this collection has some different song choices that aren’t on James Taylor’s other live albums. Feel the Moonshine curiously does not include “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight”, a hit song from Taylor’s 1972 album, One Man Dog. Instead, he includes “Dance”, a more obscure song from that album. He also includes deeper cuts like “Family Man”, “Hey Mister, That’s Me Up On The Jukebox”, “Hello, Old Friend”, and “Lighthouse”. If you’re a casual Taylor fan, these titles might not mean so much to you, but they do to anyone who is a Taylor zealot like me. And, of course, he includes classics like “Shower The People”, “Fire and Rain”, “Walking Man”, and “Sweet Baby James”. The obligatory profanity laced “Steamroller”, probably one of his most popular concert tracks, is also included.

    While I guess I’m glad to have a copy of this concert, I do caution that it’s got a bit of a bootleg feel to it. The recording quality is not bad, but it’s not perfect. I would recommend this CD to people who are true Taylor nuts and already have all of his albums. If you’re a more casual or discriminating listener, one of his other live albums put out by his label might be a more satisfying purchase. Incidentally, the first live album by James Taylor that made it into my collection was 1985’s Live In Rio, which is not so easy or cheap to find these days. I would hasten to add that while I’m proud to own Live In Rio, it’s definitely not among his best live albums in terms of production quality or track lists. I’d call it a collector’s item. That’s pretty much how I feel about Feel the Moonshine, too.


    Someone uploaded Feel the Moonshine to YouTube.