All I know about him is that he was a pianist and sometime character actor, and as I was a big old movie fan, I knew him more as the latter. This was pretty boring and uninspiring as workout music. Don’t get me wrong, I’m open to this kind of music, when I hear it in movies. I just wish I still had my parents’ Montevani record. Part of this recording was sounding like the theme from Perry Mason.
Throughout the workout, I considered turning the record off, but Max really seemed to want to join in tonight, and he’s real cute about it. I’ve had him since he was a kitten, so I don’t know why, other than that his mother was, as I was told, a feral to tame stray with an attitude problem, but Max hates to be held, snuggled or approached as if you may want to give him a little squeeze. It took a long time before he realized he could be petted anywhere but on his head and not find it objectionable. Otherwise, he’s really quite affectionate and has a bit of a sense of humor for a sensitive, scaredy-cat. He has also come to the realization that he likes company.
The workout ended just in time for me to witness a beautiful 5-minute fireworks display near the Statue of Liberty, for what reason I don’t know. I watched from my window and actually applauded at the end. Yes, I have a fabulous view, but don’t be too envious. We can’t stay here much longer, besides, when the fireworks begin, I’m at first a little concerned about the cause of the sounds of explosions and the vibrations until I open the blinds.
Friday was movie-hooky with the ex. We saw Nebraska, which was good, but too slow and didn’t need to be a two-hour movie. The ex and I share an appreciation of non-mainstream movies. We both liked immensly In a World, which we saw over the summer, but as our tastes are not limited plan on seeing American Hustle next.
We have had a few really strong and influential women of song lately. Grace Slick, Ricki Lee Jones, Janis Joplin and now, yes the unusual Cyndi Lauper. And let’s not forget Bonnie Bramlett from back in the Cs and Ds. And there are more to come.
But this is about the Grammy and recent Tony award-winning Cyndi Lauper. And didn’t she also win an Emmy? Like Ricki Lee Jones, her appearance and character could have come off as gimmicky if not for its authenticity and the talent that went – that goes with it.
Cyndi was once with the band Blue Angel that released their only album in 1980. I had heard her in an evening or weekend radio interview back then. I used to listen to the radio a lot. It provided views to the outside world that I appreciated. It was probably on WNEW-FM in New York. In any case, she was talking and she was very unusual then as well. The DJ commented on her multi-colored hair and Cyndi mentioned discovering the harmonics in her voice. I don’t play any instruments, and the only thing I remember from guitar lessons was learning harmonics. I didn’t know, until then, that one’s voice could produce such a sound. They played the song “Maybe He’ll Know” from the album, and lo and behold – harmonics.
I didn’t automatically become a Blue Angel fan, but was intrigued. One night that year, Blue Angel was playing at the club in Bayside that was all of one block up the main street from which I lived one short block. I would have been 24 or so at the time, and though I had no problem driving home late at night, parking on the street and walking back to my apartment, I was wary of walking up the block for a midnight show, then coming home afterward for some reason. My mother, who had parked herself in my living room for three years (don’t ask), was sympathetic to my dilemma and asked if I would like to call her after the show (no cell phones then) so she could walk up the street and escort me home. I did think this was pretty cute, particularly since this was not a type of service she had ever offered before, except I think once when I was in 7th grade. But as I couldn’t ask my mother to do something that I was too nervous to do myself, I didn’t go to the show.
In any case, Cyndi Lauper managed to survive without my support that night. This is her first solo album, and is the one with “Girls Just Want to have Fun,” “Time After Time” and “She Bop.”
Oh Lord – this Voice! Again, I resented my brother for taking Cheap Thrills when Janis was with Big Brother and the Holding Company, and leaving me with this, even though Cheap Thrills was his album. But now, who cares. Janis Joplin could sing anything and it would exude some sort of emotion, whether she’s belting out “Maybe” or bopping to “As Good As You’ve Been in this World.” But “Little Girl Blue” is a killer. If you have ever been unhappy, and you don’t cry when you hear it – well, I would be concerned about you. I put it on twice – cried both times. I’m not bragging. It’s just a fact.
I mentioned Grace Slick’s voice having balls, and I guess you could say that about Janis Joplin. But it’s different, as if it was comprised of many other body parts as well. Her voice was a mask of itself, trying to cover up pain and let it out all at once. If you’ve never listened to Janis Joplin or seen her perform, I recommend you do so. Close your eyes (unless you’re watching a video) and soak it in. Start with “Piece of My Heart” and forego “Me and Bobby McGee.”
And really, not a bad workout album. I can see myself exercising to this again, if only just to hear her voice, and the way she sings, sorry, sang.
Well not really nothing. I took a class on Monday on e-publishing. On Sunday, I worked out to Ram. I decided since the past several posts had been long ones, I would give you all a break. And me too. I don’t know what memories will be conjured up with each album, and in case you haven’t noticed, I can really go on sometimes. Plus, sometimes those memories are not always pleasant and can be kind of exhausting, you know? So, if I think I’m overwhelming you, I will cut back the number of posts per week. I usually exercise at least five times a week, and five long posts must bore you to tears, and I foresee many of my stories to come – real soon.
Fitness update – I’d like to believe that my sweatpants are getting looser because my belly’s shrinking, but I think the elastic has just stretched out. I have noted a wee bit more tightness all around, but still haven’t worked off the 5lbs gained in the week starting with my birthday.
Back in 1979, the musical guest on Saturday Night Live one Saturday night was Rickie Lee Jones. I’d no idea who that was. Her unique and natural jazz/rock style and beatnik attire that could have come off as gimmicky in another’s hands was appealing because she was so authentic and different. I, like many others was very impressed with her persona as well as her talent as a writer and musician, but I didn’t go right out and buy this, her first album. She had a pretty big hit with “Chuck E’s in Love.”
Now you remember the previously mentioned ex, I hope, and how, while we are very good friends now, we had a bit of a tumultuous relationship in the past. We were on and off from when I was 26, and finally split soon after I turned 38. I like to explain that during that time we broke up so many times that we were actually only together for about a week and a half. But, at the beginning of this 12-year period, my best friend had this album and would play the song “Company” for me whenever the ex and I would break up. I eventually had to purchase the record myself. It got played a lot, and a lot of tears were shed as Rickie wailed out the word “crying” over and over. Then, my brother died, and the song took on a whole new, and more significant meaning for me.
I saw Rickie Lee Jones in concert with the boyfriend that looked like Bruce Springsteen during one of those ex breaks, and she did a lovely, slow version of “Walk Away Renee” (for those of you scratching your heads about now, it was The Left Bank), accompanying herself on piano. Great song and great rendition.
Not a good workout album, but a good album nonetheless.
This is my only Billy Joel album. This and the previously discussed Hassles record. I know. I should be ashamed of myself, right?
So many Billy Joel things I could write about, but regarding this album I will start by weighing in on the “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” controversy. What controversy, you may be asking. Even though he has said that the restaurant was a conglomerate, we Syosseters know that the main impetus was Christiano’s, which had the best pizza going. I remember as a little girl, Jimmy Christiano showing me how the dollar bills got onto the ceiling. It’s an old bar trick using tape and a quarter and a good flipping technique. In those days, Christiano’s was as much about the bar as it was the restaurant. For me, it has both fond and unfond memories as during my high school years one could often find my mother on one of the bar stools. Though Christiano’s doubled in size, it is still there in its original location. I have been there a couple of time in recent years and still enjoyed it, but was dismayed to find this article just now from this past August. http://long-island.newsday.com/restaurants/feed-me-1.812004/christiano-s-billy-joel-s-syosset-inspiration-gets-temporary-reprieve-1.5966863
To segue back to Billy Joel, my mother’s favorite song of his was “Only the Good Die Young.” She had been a Catholic girl and her middle name was Virginia. She left the Church as soon as she turned 21. We watched him together on Saturday Night Live in 1978, during which he performed this song and “Just the Way You Are,” both from The Stranger. Mostly though, we were thrilled to see our former neighbor Doug Stegmeyer playing bass.
I’ve heard stories about Billy Joel showing up at Cagney’s in Pine Hollow, I believe between marriages, staying long enough to pick up a girl and leave. I frequented Cagney’s, a small bar with a lot of regulars during those years and never saw the guy, though I kind of doubt I would have left with him if asked. But who knows. It’s a moot point anyway.
Doug’s on the left in the photo from the back of the album.
The beauty of this album is that I not only get to hear “Today” and “Somebody to Love” again, there are three really powerful songs from the Volunteers album on it. Jefferson Airplane seemed to have always been controversial but never more so than with the release of Volunteers, which is motivated by anti-establishment, anti-racism, peace and love sentiments. Following the cautionary “Good Shepherd” and preceding the more in-your-face “Volunteers,” the song “We Can Be Together,” which blends the voices of the three lead singers, contains the line “Up against the wall, mother f-er,” which both lyrically and musically fits into the song very nicely. Again, they sang the actual word, in harmony, but I have chosen not to write it as not to offend anyone who may be. I myself am not. It was major for the times though, really major.
The album side to which I did aerobics ended with the song “Volunteers.” It starts with the lines: “Look what’s happening out in the streets. Gotta revolution. Got to revolution.” It was just a little weird going from the sneer at conventional society to Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” I think these Jefferson Airplane albums represent the best memories I have of that era of becoming more politically aware and protesting against the Viet Nam war. Good times. Maybe the sound is termed psychedelic rock for other reasons, because it sure has transported me far back in time. It brings back such recollections, which is good for me cause I live in the past anyway.
Keep in mind the description of the Volunteers album as I relate this story: Now, my parents’ generation had Kate Smith, a heavy-set woman well-known for her rendition of the very patriotic “God Bless America” by Irving Berlin. One day, I was hanging out at the previously mentioned record store, when a young guy comes in to return a record. He pulls the album out of his bag showing the manager that he purchased Volunteers by the Jefferson Airplane, then proceeds to pull the record from the sleeve. “Kate Smith,” he says. Yes, Kate Smith’s God Bless America was in every one of the Volunteers album sleeves in the store. It was funny. Kate Smith was a vocal opponent of “indecency” and Jefferson Airplane was considered quite indecent and subversive.
There are tons of Jefferson Airplane stories I could write about, but I’ve already gone on too long, and I only have the two albums. I do want to mention all the members of the group because, well because I should. Marty Balin, Jack Casady, Spencer Dryden, Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen and Grace Slick.
Another good workout.
Such a freakin’ good album.
I realize that I don’t have any albums under the letter I, but do recall having the only Incredible String Band album, and remember selling it at a garage sale along with a Lovin’ Spoonful album and I don’t know what else. The Incredible String Band was a Scottish psychedelic folk trio and I guess I felt I had out-cooled them. I don’t remember a thing about the group or the album.
Jefferson Airplane was a psychedelic rock band, and not exactly timeless music, but oh so good. They pushed boundaries in many ways, offering up a tough female singer whose ballsy voice meshed well with those of the male singers. To me, Marty Balin has just one of the finest voices I have ever heard, male or female, and Grace Slick added power and sex. You may be more familiar with “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit” from Surrealistic Pillow, both of which feature the phenomenal Ms. Slick , but do not overlook Balin’s contributions to the album in the form of “Coming Back to Me” and the even more beautiful, if possible, “Today.”
Here’s a fun memory of which I think I have some facts a little confused, but here goes: It was probably late 1960s or very early 1970s on one of the late night talk shows, either Johnny Carson or Dick Cavett. The guests were Hugh Hefner, Gloria Steinem and Grace Slick. I may be a little fuzzy on Gloria Steinem as it may have been another articulate feminist, but they were sitting in a row with Grace at the end of the couch wearing a short skirt and a see-through black shirt with no bra and strategically placed pockets. Mind you, this was a cool and rebellious look and in no way hoochie. Hugh and Gloria (or the alternate) were arguing, or course, and old Hugh kept citing studies and research done on women having something to do with sex. I know that even as a pre-teen at the time, I was not agreeing with piggy old Hugh, and though she silent for much of the argument, the discourse was broken up when Grace simply raised her arms over her head and cried out “Wire me up. F- me higher.” It was hysterical, and shocking as that was just not done in those days. Grace didn’t say F, I just don’t want to offend anyone though I have been known to use the word from time to time and then some. She said the word without hesitation, which was bleeped, but you got the gist.
Good workout.
I don’t know – I think I got it years ago as an exhibitor give-away at a conference. And that’s all I have to say about it. Gave it a shot but can’t do it. It’s an operatic, chamber-music kind of thing, and I don’t even want to try to be open-minded. I’m a rock ‘n roll kind of gal. I can go earlier, I can go later and I can go to either side, but this is just too far off my compass.
So, it’s Saturday night and we are Ramming.
Update – It’s Sunday night, and Ram is still on the turntable. It is nice to return to, if only to remind me of how this all started.
Good album to come back to. Side one is particularly good consisting of the early Hooters hits that first brought them their much deserved attention in the mid-80s. Talented boys from Philadelphia. I saw them in some relatively small concert venue in New York City after this album came out. They put on a very impressive show.
So this was a three day break during which time I have been eating up a storm, and eating things that have added to my puffed out stomach (cheese, ice cream, pie, Jell-O shots). I just didn’t feel like exercising the night before my birthday, and was busy celebrating said birthday the next day. I had a great birthday, all day, topped with friends coming over that evening. One friend gave me a couple of album cover frames – but which ones to pick to hang on the wall??
I had Thanksgiving dinner with a friend and helped her pack to move farther uptown. We ate at a diner having a slightly better than mediocre turkey dinner and awful service that didn’t dampen my mood or deter me from the task at hand of packing up the kitchen, a task I am really very good at. I ate my leftovers as soon as I got home while watching the tail end of a PBS documentary called Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation. This music movement started before my time, music-wise, and the show focused on musicians who influenced music, social awareness and activism in the very early 1960s, and how they were persecuted for being “un-American.” The gentle folksinger Pete Seeger was blacklisted for not ratting out people whose big crime was singing out against war. I would feel those influences as artists like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Buffy St. Marie and even Phil Ochs spilled over into my music world largely due to shows like Ed Sullivan and later the Smothers Brothers. And of course, FM radio.
I almost didn’t exercise again tonight either. That momentum thing again. I’ve got to force myself sometimes, sometimes a lot, but I always feel better for it. Knowing me the way I do, it also has to do with avoidance of writing as well. I have to write every time I work out, and sometimes that scares me. But once I start the routine, the typewriter in my head goes clickety-clack, and results in yet another blog post.
The Walrus Was Paul 