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  • Stephen Collins… ’nuff said

    Stephen Collins… ’nuff said

    This week has been a bad one for singer, actor, and author, Stephen Collins…

    Anyone who reads my blogs or follows me on Facebook knows that Stephen Collins gets under my skin. I watched him play Reverend Eric Camden on 7th Heaven for years. It’s not because I enjoyed his acting, either. It’s mainly because he was so irritating that watching him was kind of like watching a train wreck. I found his character so uptight, pompous, and sanctimonious that it was unreal. I enjoy snarking on him, too. I even went as far as to review his two albums on Epinions.com, before it went defunct. I wasn’t surprised that I hated his first album, Stephen Collins. I was surprised that I kind of liked his second release, The Hits of Rick Nelson, on which he and the 7th Band covered the hits of Rick Nelson. It’s not that I like Stephen Collins’ music that much; it’s just that in my opinion, he did a better job the second time around.


    Stephen Collins sings “Sandy”, a track from his first, self-titled album.

    I have also read and reviewed Stephen Collins’ works as an author. To be frank, his books showed a different side of the man who played Revered Camden. Indeed, they gave me a clue that offscreen, Collins is definitely not like his character on 7th Heaven. Still, I was pretty shocked when I read and heard about the allegations that he molested young girls, one as young as 11 years old. The fallout in the wake of this news has been pretty intense. Indeed, 7th Heaven reruns have been pulled from the network, UpTV, though you can still see them on Amazon Prime. Collins was fired from his most recent project, Ted 2 and resigned his position on the board of the Screen Actors Guild. His scenes have also been pulled from an upcoming episode of Scandal.

    Now, it seems that Collins’ is being punished before he’s formally been proven guilty of committing a crime. On the other hand, there is an audio tape floating around of him explicitly confessing to molesting girls years ago. And there has been a formal complaint made about him by one of the young women in question. It’s very hard to reconcile the accusations being made against Collins and compare them to his image on 7th Heaven, which holds the distinction of being the longest running family drama in television history.

    I don’t deny that Collins has appeal. He must, given how successful 7th Heaven was and his many successful forays into movies, television, music, and even popular literature. I’ve always found him very annoying, yet something about him still draws me like a moth to a flame. And this latest scandal, I have to admit, makes for some juicy reading… especially since I have been torturing myself with 7th Heaven reruns for the past few weeks. Yes, I was watching even before this big news about his apparently scandalous behavior broke. I generally have a lot of empathy for men who divorce, but that tape that is circulating sure does make Collins look guilty. And I am not one of Collins’ fans.


    Stephen Collins sings “Travelin’ Man”, a hit by Rick Nelson.

    Anyway, I don’t admire child molesters, but I do have some hope for and faith in the American judicial system. Hopefully, the whole truth will come out soon… or at least in a way that resolves this bit of drama. In the meantime, though Stephen Collins’ acting pursuits may soon become rare, you can still buy his albums on Amazon. Incidentally, both Stephen Collins and The Hits of Rick Nelson were produced by Gold Label Records, a company owned by squeaky clean Christian singer Pat Boone. Wonder what he thinks of all this hoopla…

  • A new computer

    A new computer

    Sometimes, when you hard drive unexpectedly crashes, it’s time for a new computer…

    And that’s what happened to me on Sunday. My trusty iMac, just four years old, died in its sleep. The hard drive went completely kaput. My husband Bill and I went out and bought a new iMac. This one is bigger and sexier than the other one was. I didn’t actually want the 27 inch screen, but it was either that or waiting for a new machine to be shipped to me. And I know there are far too many people out there in Internetland who are hanging on my every word. (yes, I’m kidding)

    Anyway, changing computers is a pain in the ass, even if the new machine is sleek and sexy. One major project I had was migrating my enormous music library. I use iTunes and Amazon music and both were conducive to transferring the library. But the bulk of my music was ripped from CDs. Fortunately, I backed up some of the music on an external hard drive and almost my entire library of over 13,000 songs was on my iPod. I also had a new app at my disposal, which I bought last week. Macroplant has a tool called iExplorer, which I bought so I could save an especially touching voice mail I got from my mother a couple of months ago. I know there are probably cheaper and easier apps out there, but this one worked great for my needs. And after I downloaded my mom’s message, it came in handy again, because it allowed me to move all of those ripped CDs from my iPod, too. It could even tell if some songs were already in the library, so they didn’t get doubled or tripled. And it also moved my playlists.

    As I was moving the music, I ended up playing some long lost songs I had almost forgotten about. And it occurred to me that I could listen to my whole library for about 40 days and not hear the same song twice.

    The only major bummer in the death of my computer was losing some music I had recorded for my mom. The touching voice mail she left for me included a request for me to record some hymns for her. I was almost finished with that project and had neglected to back it up on another machine when my hard drive croaked. Yesterday, I spent the day re-recording everything. In some instances, I think I did better, though. Since I had already learned the songs and figured out style and harmony, it took about seven hours instead of several days.

    I happened to mention the death of my computer on Facebook and a few people actually took me to task over it, wondering why it died at only four years old. Truth be told, I am a power user and my computers get pounded on daily. The Mac lasted longer than the two PCs before it combined. Anyway, now that I have a new machine, I can keep communicating with the masses. I can’t remember how I got by without having a computer.


    This song cracks me up. It was ahead of its time.


    But really, when it comes to computer songs, I am partial to Prince’s “Computer Blue”…

  • Happy German Unity Day…

    Happy German Unity Day…

    I am old enough to remember when East and West Germany reunited. And now that I live in Germany again, happy German Unity Day!

    Maybe it seems odd to write about a political event on a blog that is supposed to be about music. But as of today, I’ve been living in Germany again for two months. I had forgotten that today is a public holiday in my current home. However, as a person who came of age in the 70s and 80s, I remember when Germany was divided. I was eighteen years old in 1990, when the two sides formally reunited. This holiday is not actually about the reunification of Germany, but rather it’s about the “unity” of Germany.

    I notice a bunch of my neighbors are home today, which is why it’s probably better if I write rather than work on any musical projects. And given that I remember when Germany was divided into the Eastern and Western portions, maybe it’s good to reflect. I bet I can tie this to music, too.


    A 1990 era news broadcast about Germany’s reunification…


    Germany’s lovely national anthem…

    Actually, as I sit here thinking about October 1990, I suddenly feel very old. At that time, I was a college freshman. The music that was popular in October 1990 didn’t appeal to me that much. I also went to college in a rural town in south central Virginia which really didn’t get very many radio stations. So I kind of quit listening to radio at that point, except what was played on our college station which had all of ten watts of power. I eventually became a disc jockey there, but not until the following year.

    But what I do remember about that time was that songs like “Close to You” by Maxi Priest were popular… Egad.


    Damn, this makes me feel old.

    I did like James Ingram’s “I Don’t Have The Heart”, which was popular around the same time period. I always thought it was a pretty ballad.


    Of course, now that I listen to this now with its many electronic keyboards, I’m reminded a little of the soundtrack for Saved By The Bell. But it also has nice strings, which gives it sort of a majestic air.

    Another popular song in October 1990 was Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby”, which ripped off a vastly superior collaboration between Queen and David Bowie.


    I never cared for this song, but I have to admit Vanilla Ice is sort of a guilty pleasure for me. He won me over when he was on The Surreal Life with Tammy Faye Messner and Erik Estrada.

    I’m not sure if the Germans were into these songs, but they were kind of the soundtrack for this American in October 1990. And October 1990 is when Germany officially started to celebrate its unity, although it’s not the day when the Berlin Wall started to crumble… That event occurred on November 9, 1989.


    This was very exciting news at the time…

    I think we need to make a point of visiting Berlin while we’re here. I have been to so many European capitals, but I have yet to see Berlin, other than the airport. Berlin’s airport, as I remember it, sucked… though I understand a new one is either in the works or already constructed.


    This report has footage as the Wall started to fall…

    My husband, Bill, was in Germany when this was going on. He was on his first Army tour here. I remember the last time we lived here, from 2007-09, we visited the Czech Republic a few times. He always marveled as we approached the border, remembering that he was here when that border was off limits and guarded by very large female Czech guards. It turned out the Czech Republic was happy to abandon communism and quick to bounce back. It remains one of our favorite European destinations for the beer alone. Hungary runs a close second, especially since there’s some great music coming from Hungary.

    David Hasselhoff was once much loved in Germany. He was at the Berlin Wall on New Year’s Eve in December 1989 and here he is, rocking out with revelers celebrating the new freedom for East Germans!


    I want to hassle the Hoff!

    Anyway, since it’s Friday and the weather is fine, I imagine we will celebrate too. Maybe we won’t party like the Germans on Unity Day, although it is pretty exciting to be here now that the whole country is united.

    Have a great weekend, y’all!