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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Donna Summer

  • The beat goes on…

    The beat goes on…

    He came, he saw, he interviewed, and got passed over for another candidate. The beat goes on…

    So my husband, Bill, went to New York City last week and had a good time, even though the trip was super fast. While he was in New York, interviewing for a job, Bill got to go to Eataly, where he drank some wine and purchased chocolate for me. I’d say the trip to the Big Apple was worth it for that alone! Unfortunately, this round of interviews did not end with a job offer, so Bill is still pounding the pavement.


    Sonny and Cher sang it best, right?

    Personally, I hate job hunting; that’s why I haven’t done it since 2005. I understand that if Bill doesn’t find appropriate work, I may be forced to join him on the job hunt, which I am certainly willing to do if it means keeping the lights on and a roof over our heads. Being an Army wife hasn’t been so good for my career development, though, and I fear I might end up waiting tables again…


    I know from experience that waiting tables is good exercise and can be a good way to make quick money… but it does terrible things to my disposition. Good on Donna Summer for making this video.

    I have a feeling this period is going to be tough. Bill hasn’t had to launch a serious job search since 1999, when he decided to go back on active duty in the Army after a four year separation. Thanks to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he’s enjoyed fifteen years of job security. It’s a little mind blowing to think about being a civilian again after so many years in a uniform. I have been trying to help him as much as I can. A couple of weeks ago, I even used some skills I picked up from a job I had working in a menswear store back in the 90s. We bought him some new clothes and shoes…


    ZZ Top is right. Every girl’s crazy about a sharp dressed man. Incidentally, Bill went to the same high school Billy Gibbons did…

    I gotta say, Bill cleans up beautifully and looks great in his new duds. The fact that he bought them in Texas is especially meaningful, since there’s a certain macho attitude in this state that pervades everything. A little boost of confidence is a great thing during the dreaded job hunt. Of course, after yesterday’s rejection, Bill worried that he was overconfident. Anyone who knows him personally would probably have a hard time believing that he was ever overconfident. He’s a very down to earth kind of guy.

    But he’s gone back to the drawing board and is still circulating his resume. Also, the recruiters who broke the news to him yesterday told him to stay in touch, which I take as a promising sign. That’s good, because…


    I’m kidding, of course. I am no gold digger. A gold digger would have serious issues being married to a member of the Armed Forces.

    And unfortunately, I think I’m too old for the oldest profession…


    but Bill would sing this to me anyway, if he could sing.

    Ah well. Something will come up. In the meantime, the beat goes on. I’ll do my best to make sure Bill keeps the faith… I’ll even do my best Kate Bush impression.


    Somehow, I think it will all work out… as long as we don’t give up.

    Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

  • MisenPOPic: The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Is A Fuckin’ Joke!

    Every year around this time, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame nominating committee submits their list of finalists of which five artists will be selected for future induction.  I always get excited each time but then always forget that the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame is a fuckin’ joke.  Instead of inducting bands that have truly made an impact on popular music, what seems to happen is that Jann Wenner and his cronies go with the bands on their personal favorites list.  If they don’t like the artist,  accomplishments like album sales and influences on other artists still won’t matter.  Jann Wenner is such an egotistical bastard that he even inducted himself into the Hall Of Fame.  I won’t discredit his contributions as founder and editor of Rolling Stone, but shouldn’t he be inducted when he’s bit older, or maybe when he’s dead?  I understand that listening to music is very subjective, and we all love to argue about who’s deserving to be in the hall of fame as much as we do about best songs of a decade, or greatest guitarist, etc.  But of any shrine to an art form or sport, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame has totally missed the boat.  I respect the following artists, but of any bands in the Hall Of Fame, they are the best examples of musicians whose overall impact is questionable: Traffic, Frank Zappa, Buffalo Springfield, Sex Pistols, and The Talking Heads.   Traffic introduced the world to Steve Winwood, but have they really ever produced a meaningful song?  Frank Zappa might have been innovative, but for a guy whose best known song is Valley Girl, does he really deserve to be in the hall?  Buffalo Springfield only had one album with Stephen Stills and Neil Young and have only one relevant song (For What It’s Worth)!  The Sex Pistols are also known for one album, and it’s a fact that Sid Vicious wasn’t even good enough to play bass, so he performed without his guitar even plugged in.  I personally like the Talking Heads, but they are more known for their unique videos on MTV than their actual music. Only the creme de la creme should be in the Hall Of Fame: those that no sane person could argue such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Michael Jackson.

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  • The (Old) Boys of Summer

    I had a disturbing realization last month. Disturbing, at least, from the point of view of a guy whose entire adolescent self-identity was wrapped up in the idea that he was ahead of the curve in all things pop music, that he could tell you with metronomic precision the Top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 at any given moment (at a time when the Top 10 actually changed from week to week – and not just due to the latest event single). At the end of the summer, I’m looking back on the music I’ve purchased and listened to this year, and I’m finding that a disproportionate number of my favorite records of 2008 are by old farts.

    Willie Nelson. Photo by Kjell Ove Hattrem.
    Willie Nelson. Photo by Kjell Ove Hattrem.

    Now, I realize that as most people settle into their adulthoods and are faced with the imminent onset of middle age – dear god, I can already smell the despair-laced liquor and cigarette smoke at the hall of my 20 year high school reunion – with growing debt loads, and growing children with growing attitude problems, it’s perfectly natural for a guy to reassess his priorities away from discovering the hottest new pop thing. No offense, Katy Perry, but it’s perfectly natural, and even admirable, for a guy like me to spend his Sunday night watching an inspirational Disney movie on DVD with his kids and dogs rather than sequestering himself in his basement tracking the hit parade according to Seacrest. And as we settle into our cosy adulthoods, it’s perfectly natural to fall back on the favorites and golden oldies (like “Rock the Casbah”!) we grew up with.

     

     

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