Meaty beaty big and bouncy

Did you know that Glady Knights bandmates Paul, Isaac, and Phil (the Pips..get it?) aren't the originals. The first three guys only lasted one day. Actually Isaac was an original, but he used to be flanked by Terry and Theo. Gladys Knight and the Tits didn't roll off the tongue quite as well.

I guess.

The Pips get some good play in this one, I especially like the "woo hoo" at about 1:10. There would be worse things in life than to be a Pip.

Speaking of music (and I was)...I've actually been enjoying some good old fashioned radio a bit lately. There's a local station that has been playing all the songs in their catalog from A-Z, and as gimmicky as it sounds I've found parts of it to be quite fun. This station has been around forever and has fallen in and out of favor with me over the years. Let's put it this way...if AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and oh, let's say, maybe Van Halen are your favorite bands, then this is the station for you.



But I digress.

So, like I said, I've been enjoying this A-Z thing they've been doing. Seems as though they have a pretty deep "archive". Christ they've been playing songs that begin with the word I for almost 27 days now.

It's a little up and down. You might get "Blitzkreig Bop" by the Ramones (up), followed by "Blue Collar Man" by Styx (not so much)...or "Chest Fever" by the Band (up, obviously) preceeded by "Cherry Pie" by Warrant (no comment).

Some things I've enjoyed...
Being at the red light directly across from Red's....


...listening to "Give it to me" by J. Geils. Actually I had been rocking to this song for a few minutes (volume up, windows up, of course-I'm not a kid anymore). I got to the red light right when the song kicks in (about the 3:00 mark if any of you bother to listen to the clip I'm going to post)...guitar, police whistle, percussion...white guys don't get much groovier.

Anyway, there's this little girl, maybe five or six years old, waiting for her ice cream, and she is dancing. Crazy dancing. National Geographic indigenous tribe dancing. Whatever thing she had going on in that little head of hers, she was dancing in perfect rhythmn to that same song I was listening to.

Awesome.

Then there was the time "Hocus Pocus" by Focus came on. I won't post another video...but I will point you back to a prior blog that I did post the video on...follow the link if you wish

http://pompatusofpete.blogspot.com/2011/10/bite-me.html


I had been talking about this song with a coworker two days prior. Once again, I was in the car. The song came on, I turned it up (loud), called my coworkers cell phone, then held the phone up to my car speakers. For awhile. Like five minutes. Thought he'd get a kick out of it.
The next day he comes up to my desk and says, "Did you try to call me yesterday?"..."Yeah, didn't you get the call?"..."Nope. Just showed as a missed call."

All for naught.

There was the one that stumped me for the first half minute or so. (I'm usually one of those "I can name that tune in three notes" losers. Like it's a special skill or something).

Turned out to be "I Ran" by Flock of Seagulls. Since it had been so long since I had heard it, I caught myself kind of digging it. Probably like I did this first time I had heard it. By the time it was done I was tired of it, probably like I was after the next thousand times I had heard it after the first time.


Really?

One last song I thought was fun to catch was hearing "And You Bird Can Sing" by the Beatles. Made me remember why they're the best band of all time by playing a song that wasn't one of their hits that you hear time and again on the airwaves
"You say you've seen seven wonders and your bird is green"....

what?

It doesn't matter. I love it.

Time to check out.

Have to pick the winner of the Kentucky Derby and figure out how many mint juleps I can make out of the huge bag of mint I have in my fridge.

Pip.

Bite me...

...two nights before Halloween and it's snowing. Now that's truly frightening. Good timing for a list of things that have scared me (apparently I enjoy lists...seems to be a common theme through these blogs). This probably goes back to my voracious reading of the Book of Lists that I got as a thirteen year old for the Christmas of 1977.

First, in the Halloween spirit - Hocus Pocus by Focus

Now that is yodeling at it's best...Anna loves that one.

So things that scared me...and , let me add, I don't like to be scared. Not really my thing.

• Anyone remember those cheesy documentaries from the 70's that covered things like the Bermuda Triangle, the Loch Ness Monster, and UFO's? Well, the one that got me was "Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot". That was the one that showed the famous footage of Bigfoot walking along this riverbank, then he actually turned and looked back at the person filming him. Are you kidding me?! He saw the guy filming him! How the hell did that guy get out of there alive? But the scariest clip was a scene that showed someone sitting next to a window when ALL OF A SUDDEN, this big hairy arm reaches in through the window. Holy crap! I could not sit next to a window at night that entire Summer. I still remember that scene now. Hang on while I move to the middle of the room....

• The Thing at the Foot of the Bed

Out of the thousands of books I checked out at the library as a kid, this is the one I remember the most. The book was divided into six sections - Funny Ones, Scary Ones, Real Ones, Ghost Games, Witch Stories, and Do's and Don't about Ghosts.

Here are some of the Do's and Dont's

I still remember doing the one looking between the ears of my dog, Duke. Apparently pets can see ghosts. I can say that I can't recall ever seeing any myself though....must have been doing something wrong.

Don't know if this book is even in print anymore, but if it is, and you have kids, get to your local library and check it out.

• The movie Halloween. I could barely watch this the first time, with a bunch of my friends at Danny Browns house. Danny lived directly across the street from me growing up. I don't know how I mustered up the courage to run across the street after watching this movie at his house. Holy cow did that scare me...that music...chills up my spine. That mask that Michael Myers wore. Creepy. I remember that scene where he stabs someone (into a wall I think) then he sort of tilts his head to look at him. 

Here is is, 12 seconds in....I'm not going to watch it myself, if you don't mind..it still creeps me out too much

• All of those Peanuts specials. Yeah they seem innocent enough, but haven't you noticed? There are no adults ! Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and the rest of them are the original Children of the Corn. Those diabolical little bastards! I'm not sure how they did it...maybe Linus' blanket played a role...Pig Pen's toxic dust cloud...maybe Frieda's "naturally" curly hair wasn't so natural after all, those curling chemicals can be as lethal as agent orange...possibly Snoopy's Sopwith Camel strafed the city. I don't know, I just don't like it.

• Spiders. Say no more.

Let's leave it at five, good for you? Good for me.

"Hold on man, we don't go anywhere with "scary", "spooky", "haunted", or "forbidden" in the title". Shaggy (from Scooby Doo)