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Category: People

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  • Another day, another Van Morrison album…

    Another day, another Van Morrison album…

    I’ve been on another musician kick. This week, it’s Van Morrison.

    I’m not sure what got into me the other day. I was listening to a Van Morrison album and one thing led to another. Next thing I knew, I was ordering two more of his albums from Amazon.com. This is no easy feat, since Van Morrison has been pretty prolific over the years and some of his best albums are not available as MP3s. I made a concerted effort not to bring CDs to Germany with me, but sure enough, I ordered a few of Van Morrison’s. A couple of them arrived this week and I’ve spent a couple of evenings this week listening to them. Then I found myself making a Van Morrison playlist. I wondered how, growing up in the 70s and 80s, I only knew him for songs like “Moondance” and “Brown Eyed Girl”.


    Van Morrison singing “Moondance” live back in 1996.


    Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl”.

    I mean, the man has been making music for decades and putting out albums by the dozen. But my interests in his music have come in slow waves. The first one was back in the 90s, when I bought several CDs. I think it was because I heard his song, “Tupelo Honey” on a made for TV movie and thought it was lovely and moving. I bought the album it came from, along with a few others.


    “Tupelo Honey” is such a beautiful love song…

    As I listened to the albums I bought, I was introduced to some more of his pretty ballads, as well as some of the more upbeat numbers like “Wild Night”. At the time, John Mellencamp and Me’Shell Mdegeocello had a duet cover out and I had also heard a funky version on the soundtrack to Thelma & Louise. Neither of these covers held up to Van Morrison’s version.


    Yes, it sounds retro, but in a very cool way.

    In the mid 90s, when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia, an Irish friend sent me a mix tape. He included a couple of Van Morrison songs on it, including this one…


    Such a pretty and peaceful song… It always takes me to a peaceful place, “In The Garden” of my mind, which is always fertile with ideas and ripe with inspiration.

    I got over my Van Morrison obsession for awhile, then was reintroduced to it when I was planning my wedding in 2002. I wanted to incorporate hymns in the service and found Van Morrison’s version of “Be Thou My Vision” on his album, Hymns To The Silence.


    Van Morrison’s “Be Thou My Vision”.

    I really got into the rest of the album, which had some very interesting songs on it. I particularly liked the ones that featured organ, since I have an uncle who plays a Hammond like nobody’s business.

    Then for my 33rd birthday in 2005, my husband, Bill, surprised me with a copy of Magic Time, which I ended up loving. In fact, as awesome as many of Van Morrison’s albums truly are, Magic Time is probably one of my all time favorites. I love it as much for the music as I do the memories it inspires.


    I love Van Morrison’s version of “Stranded”… so romantic and inspiring.

    Time went on and I started finding myself introduced to Van Morrison’s older and more obscure albums, as well as the ones that are considered classics but aren’t as easy to find nowadays.


    Van Morrison sings “Beautiful Vision” on German TV in 1984.

    This week, I’ve been getting to know his 1972 album, Saint Dominic’s Preview, and his 1997 album, The Healing Game. I mentioned on Facebook that I had picked up these albums and a friend of mine– I’ve never met her offline, but have known her for years online– expressed admiration and appreciation. We are the same age and have some similar tastes in music. She has more Van Morrison albums than I do, though at 28 and counting, I am catching up to her fast.


    Van Morrison sings “The Healing Game” live in 1999.

    Van Morrison is not above doing the occasional children’s song, either. I love what he did with “Bein’ Green”.


    Van Morrison’s 1973 take on “Bein’ Green”, from his album Hard Nose The Highway. How can you not smile listening to this?

    I should be getting more Van Morrison soon… and the obsession will continue apace. Happy Friday, everyone. Hope your weekend is full of high quality music from someone like Van Morrison.

  • Beep beep!

    Beep beep!

    Our cars are finally here! Beep beep! Time for a few automotive tunes!

    We shipped our two cars from Texas to Germany in late July. It’s now September 23 and supposedly our cars are finally ready for us to collect them. In retrospect, we probably should have just driven up to Bremerhaven in northern Germany and picked them up. We would have had them a lot sooner. But that would have involved about six hours on a train or flying somewhere and finding our way to the port. Our dogs would have had to go into a kennel. We opted to have them shipped to southern Germany and now they’re finally here.

    Since we have maybe another week or two of weather that might be agreeable to driving with the top down, I decided today’s post would be about cars and the many songs that have been written about them. I don’t mean driving music… I’ve already done a post or two about that. This is a post celebrating cars and how glad I am that we’re finally getting ours. I just hope that I don’t have an accident trying to drive again after two months.


    Believe it or not, it was Martha Stewart who introduced me to the great singer-songwriter David Wilcox, who contributes a great guitar laced number, “Rusty Old American Dream”. This is a great song about a classic car waiting for the right last owner.

    Some years ago, I bought a CD of songs compiled by someone in Martha Stewart’s company. It was full of adult friendly songs that are gentle enough to soothe babies to sleep. One of the songs on the compilation was by David Wilcox. I liked it so much that I bought one of his live CDs and “Rusty Old American Dream” was on it. Neither of our cars are American and I doubt either is made of much chrome. But we’re glad to have them back, anyway, as long as neither was damaged in transit.


    Gary Numan joins Nine Inch Nails at a concert in London singing his classic hit, “Cars”.

    This song from the late 70s always reminds me of roller skating or watching shitty movies on HBO. But given that the song is called “Cars”, I think it belongs in this post. Besides, how cool is it that Gary Numan is doing this song live with Nine Inch Nails? This is a pretty great live clip. Sometimes YouTube makes me so happy!


    Paul McCartney sings a classic Beatles hit, “Drive My Car”.

    Actually, I think the greatest version of “Drive My Car” I ever heard, aside from the original, was done by Melissa Etheridge. And here I’ve found a video of a bunch of stars singing “Drive My Car” and Melissa Etheridge is among them, belting out the chorus…


    This video is fun, though a little odd…

    Speaking of Melissa Etheridge…


    “Baby, You Can Sleep While I Drive” is quite sexy. I like Melissa’s original and Trisha Yearwood’s cover, too.

    And finally, there’s the very annoying yet whimsical 50s era song, “Beep Beep” by The Playmates.


    Does anyone drive a Nash anymore?

    Today, as we collect our vehicles, I imagine we’ll be dealing with Germans beeping at us. I look forward to taking my Mini Cooper, which I bought here in Germany five years ago, on the autobahn with the top down… the car’s, not mine. Have a great Tuesday!

  • Cringeworthy musical moments on classic TV…

    Cringeworthy musical moments on classic TV…

    This morning, I saw a YouTube video that totally inspired me to write about cringeworthy musical moments on classic TV…

    Forgive me. I’m having issues coming up with a good topic today. When this happens, I often turn to YouTube for inspiration. The very first thing I found was a classic video from 1978.


    Here’s William Shatner performing “Rocket Man” while smoking a cigarette and backed up with a disco version of Elton John’s and Bernie Taupin’s classic song.

    Some people claim this video is unwatchable, but I find it strangely fascinating. I sit here and wonder what possessed someone to ask William Shatner to act out this song. On the other hand, it’s kind of hilarious, especially when he gets all boogiefied with his bow tie undone. Bizarre and definitely cringeworthy.

    Never one to pass up an opportunity to be cringeworthy, Donny Osmond also makes this post when he sings this truly horrifying cover of “Johnny Be Good”. He’s changed up the lyrics, though, to honor the then nearly elected U.S. President, Ronald Reagan.


    This is godawful. I notice that no one in the audience seems to get into this number. Is it just because they’re straight-laced Republicans? Or is it because this number is truly cringeworthy?

    Marie Osmond does her best to rally the crowd, but it all kind of falls into a cheesy kind of hell. I like the guy sitting behind Reagan, who looks like he might need to pull the underwear out of the crack of his ass.

    In 1975, the late country singer Charlie Rich showed up for the 1975 Country Music Association awards completely bombed out of his mind. Watch how he presents the Entertainer of the Year award…


    I like how Glen Campbell introduces Charlie Rich while holding a lit cigarette. Everybody smoked in the 70s, didn’t they?

    And because everybody smoked, Mr. Rich had a cigarette lighter with him, which he used to light John Denver’s winning ballot on fire. I’ve read that poor Charlie’s career suffered due to that little stunt. I also love the way Glen Campbell looks nervously at the camera… which immediately reminds me of this scene from 2005.


    I remember watching this live in 2005 when Kanye West went off script…

    Poor Mike Myers looks like he wants to just fall through the floor. Bless his heart. Totally cringeworthy, although I can understand why many people were fine with what Kanye West said.

    Kanye West was also at the forefront of cringeworthy at the 2009 MTV awards, when he totally dissed poor Taylor Swift, who was just trying to graciously accept an award…


    I’m not a Taylor Swift fan, but I thought she handled this fairly gracefully. If I were her, I’d be itching to kick Kanye in the cojones.

    Here’s a relatively mild clip from the ACM awards from 2003. Vince Gill presents an award to Toby Keith…


    If you recall, Toby’s name was referenced on a t-shirt worn by a certain Dixie Chick.

    Maybe not as cringeworthy as Kanye’s antics, but I do like the way Vince and Reba banter back and forth.

    And finally, here’s a clip from 1993 starring RuPaul and Milton Berle…


    I don’t remember when this happened… but dayum! Definitely cringeworthy. I think RuPaul won that round, too.

    I’m hoping to get out this weekend and find some fresh inspiration for my music posts. For now, I hope your weekend isn’t cringeworthy and you don’t spend it watching TV.