Another Two Thoughts on Tuesday

Here's Thought Number One: There's another series of books that I've gotten hooked on reading this year.  I've been reading Lauren Kate's FALLEN series which is a love story about a mortal teenage girl, Lucinda Price, and a mesmerizingly handsome fallen angel, Daniel Grigori.

Forever Young

I dunno about you but doesn't Cher and her mom look fantastic for their ages?  Cher's already 66 and her mom, Georgia Holt, is 86.  My gosh, they sure manage to look amazing.

Two Thoughts - Two Disappointing Heartthrobs

Ah man!  One of the celebrities I once had a crush on as a young girl in the 1970s turned up in the news recently in an-oh-such-a-disappointing way.  Don't you just hate that?!  David "I Think I Love You" Cassidy of The Partridge Family fame got arrested for DUI in St. Lucie, Florida last week.  And to think that he's already 60 years old!  I mean how disappointing is that?  You look up to someone all these years and they do something stupid like that...

And if we go back to last month, we'll see that another celebrity I once dreamed about constantly plead no contest to heroin drug possession - Leif Garret!  And my gosh, it's not even the first time he's been caught!  Shame, shame, shame!

Leif, honey, there's nothing that'll bring back those days when you were so idolized by screaming young women or young girls (like I once was).   But the only screaming women you're gonna see with what you're doing now are women screaming for you to stay as far away from them as possible!

Sigh! On a lighter note, news like that kinda makes me feel glad that my celebrity crush dreams never came true. LOL!!!


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American Football

To be honest with you, I don't know enough about American football to save my life (I lost interest after Jim Kelly - my favorite NFL player - retired from the Bills).   But I do know about entertainment and the Superbowl championships always have some of the most entertaining half-time show performances (and commercials). 


Who can forget the 1993 half-time show featuring Michael Jackson?  It was Superbowl XXVII at the Rosebowl, Pasadena.  That was an amazing show, the only one where the TV ratings increased more than the Superbowl ratings.  It was also one of the most watched events in television history.  Michael Jackson had one of the most breath-taking, spectacular performances I've ever seen on TV.  

Another unforgettable show was the Motown tribute in 1998.  It was a celebration of 40 years in Motown history.  That was Superbowl XXXII at the Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.  The show featured magnificent performances by some of my favorite Motown artists - Boyz 2 Men, Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves, The Temptations, and Queen Latifah!  Yeah, I may like rock music more, but I can sing along and get down with these Soul and R & B artists when I want to.  

My most favorite half-time show was - guess!  Yeah, the 2004 Rock the Vote half-time show.  I think I really made the time for it because MTV was plugging that show every second that they could.  Ads were all over the place - the Internet, magazines, radio, and TV, of course.  This took place at Superbowl XXXVIII at the Reliant Stadium in Houston.  And boy, was that show talked about for months after!  Why?  Because this was when Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" occurred.  Don't tell me you forgot! 

Did I just bring back some fond memories?  Well, I wonder what other bloggers have to share about American Football - cheers and jeers...let's check them out with BlogDumps!  Click on the blinking button below to find other bloggers sharing their thoughts on the topic for Top Sites Tuesday.  







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The Music In My Life

Does music affect you or influence you as much as it does in my life?  The BlogDumps Top Sites Tuesday theme this week is about music and the influence it has on us.

I love to write about the music in my life - as well as by other forms of art.  Art, in my opinion, is the universal language of mankind.  Through it we express our thoughts, ideas, feelings.  The musical art form is one of the most entertaining forms of expression but also one that captivates our emotions very easily. It also helps us express those feelings when we just can't find the right words to say.

I love music!!!  I think I have a theme song for practically every major event of my life - seriously!  There was "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" from Bryan Adams when I realized the love of my life (now my husband) was the real thing; "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica when I'm mad about the way I've been treated (face it, we've all been there); "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles for those times I just want to feel imaginative; "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers for moments I just want to be there for a friend or family member.  I could go on and on...

Then again, specific songs remind me various points in my life.  For instance, when I hear Madonna's Like A Virgin album, my mind wanders back in time to my high school days.  I was in high school when Madonna released that album and became a major singing sensation.  (Madonna's a gutsy gal who worked hard to get where she is today and I really dig that!)

High school was also the time that my girl friends and I were so into Duran Duran.  I remember having great admiration for Nick Rhodes, the band's keyboardist.  I just thought he had the most amazing talent - plus he was one of a few males who I thought looked really attractive wearing eyeliner (lol!).

Nick Rhodes is the one second to the right.

After high school, I moved back to the US and started listening to more mainstream rock.  MTV was becoming hugely popular and so was Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me"...whoot whoo, Joe Elliott!  I even got to see Def Leppard some years later (1992) in Champaign, Illinois.  I was also engrossed in Heart's 1985 album simply titled HEART.  I loved those videos they made for "Never" and "These Dreams".

And guess what?  I'm going to see HEART this Friday night.  I won two Gold Circle seat tickets to their concert courtesy of the Virginia Gazette.  How cool is that?!  Wow, I'm getting really excited now.  I don't think I can write anymore tonight... ;)







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Rock loud with Loudness

 

Watch Loudness on YouTube

Okay now...who among you was rocking out to heavy metal and hair bands with me back in the 1980s?  Perhaps you remember this heavy metal band from Japan that hit the charts in the US during that time.  It's the band called Loudness.

The band was formed in 1981 by guitarist Akira Takasaki and drummer Munetaka Higuchi.  They are most noted for being the first Japanese heavy metal act signed in the United States, releasing seven albums, including three in the US, and reaching the Billboard Top 100.

I wonder if these guys are still playing together.  They were really good!!!

My Three Favorite Female Singers of all Time

This week's BlogDumps topic for Top Sites Tuesday is "Three Things" and this time, I am going to write about three things closely related to my favorite topic - MUSIC. Now I could probably write on and on for hours on this topic (which is why my blog was born -lol!) but I'm going to choose to write about my Three Favorite Solo Female Musical Performers of All Time.

While the majority opinion about me is that I'm a headbanger (and I won't deny that), I do appreciate a wide range of music because I grew up surrounded by music and music-lovers, listening to recorded ones as well as live performances. I also lived in different cultures where local music can be quite influential. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that my three favorite female performers are not heavy metal rockers.


Madonna is my number one female vocalist and performer. She is the ultimate star. She has matured before our eyes from a soul-searching college dropout trying to make her way through show biz and sounding like a teenager with her high-pitched voice and limited vocal range. She literally used her sexuality to gain attention but as she did, she also improved a great deal in her performing skills. Her singing voice also developed to a more full-sounding, deeper tone and quality. She even wrote and composed a majority of her biggest hits. She is amazing! I even sketched a picture of her from her True Blue Album. (See the side bar of this blog for my sketch).


Joan Jett could be close to heavy metal, but she's more of a punk rocker than anything else. And I have to include her as one of my three faves because she is part of musical history. Who can say "I love Rock N Roll" without thinking about her? She was at the top of the Billboard charts with that song for nearly two months in 1982. Or what about that famous "I hate myself for loving you" cry she popularized in the 80s? She wrote and sang a lot of songs that a lot of working class folk could relate to. I love her, too!


Maybe marrying Bobby Brown was the worst thing Whitney Houston ever did in her life. But she is still a mega-talented singer with a history of hit songs that will forever be remembered and used for many occasions (weddings, for instance). Her rendition of The Greatest Love of All never fails to bring a tear to my eye. It was sung with such meaning and superior vocal quality very few other performers can match. I have to say she is one of the best female performers I have ever enjoyed listening to.



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Seether interview

I received a notification earlier today that the WalMart-sponsored website, SoundCheck Risers, posted an interview with Seether on their website. I checked out the site today. There are easy to find links for ordering Seether music online as either downloads or CD. One pleasant surprise is a link for a free download of Seether's Rise Above This, as well as downloads for a few other recording artists. Pretty cool if you don't already have that mp3! I didn't already have it so I downloaded it. It was pretty easy and quick to do.

Check out the interview and hear what Seether has to say about living in Los Angeles, how it influences their music, and their future music plans ...