On the radio tonight, driving home from work, I heard a rumor...an AWESOME rumor, one I HOPE is true...wanna know what it is?

I was driving home from Whole Foods tonight, listening to the ElfPod (that's what I named my iPod mini, shut up!). I am an inveterate scanner of radio stations, and funnily enough...I also do this to my iPod. It got me thinking...what are the five songs you'd NEVER skip on your iPod? This is a bit different from "what 5 songs would you stop scanning your radio for" because ... well, on the iPod if you skip past a song, you can go back at any time. You know...it's ON your iPod, it's not going anywhere :-) but on the radio, once the song is over, it's over.

So...these are the five songs I'd never skip on my iPod:

- Werewolves of London, by Warren Zevon: I don't know why I love this song, but I do. With all my heart.
- The Cowboy Song, by Thin Lizzy: Man, I loved Thin Lizzy back in the day...this song just reminds me of the beach, warm weather, good times, boys
- Santa Monica, by Everclear: I was deep in my R&B and rap phase when I heard this for the first time and immediately fell in LOVE with it...lyrics AND music. I FELT it.
- One Week, by Barenaked Ladies: It's bouncy, cute, upbeat and makes me smile :-)
- Suffragette City, by David Bowie: Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Quintessential Bowie, awesome song.

and ... my one guilty pleasure: Method of Modern Love by Hall & Oates. I love Daryl Hall's voice, it's so beautiful!

What are your five songs and your one guilty pleasure? If you don't have an iPod or similar device, feel free to use the songs you'd not pass over when you hear them on the radio :-)

Back in October, I mentioned having a contest, so here 'tis: I put my iPod on shuffle and these are the first ten random tunes that played. if you can name the song and the artist, I'll send you an Imp one of the perfumes (anything but Laudanum or Les Infortunes de la Vertu) I got from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. Have fun! No cheating! And if all 10 can't be named, I'll award the prize to the person who gets the most right (damn...what command of the english language, eh?)

1. It's astounding, time is fleeting, Madness takes it's toll
2. I am still living with your ghost, Lonely and dreaming of the west coast
3. Fat flabby Annie was incredibly big; She weighed just about sixteen stone
4. This speech is my recital, I think it's very vital
5. Everybody's high on consolation, Everybody's trying to tell me what is right for me
6. Now that you are here with me, Baby, let's do it right
7. What they doing, They smile in your face
8. My eyes show me more than I've seen, But unlike my poor heart they're not cautious
9. Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move, Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove.
10. Down to who knows who, just to socialize, I'm waiting for my girls, when you caught my eyes.

BNL! Who doesn't like them? Ok...that would be me, back when they first appeared on the scene. I can remember Megan just loving them, but oh no not me...especially hated the song "If I Had A Million Dollars". Then....I saw them at Great Woods along with a bunch of other bands and was like...WHOA! They're GREAT! Funny and fun and man, can that Steve Page SING (and he shares a birthday with me)!

So anyway...guess who I saw in concert last night? LOL! Met my friend Mo up in Manchester NH last night, along with a friend of hers. We headed to Margarita's for some pre-concert noshing (man, it felt cold enough to snow last night!). Mo had an extra ticket, so I called a few friends and on the third call, struck pay dirt; my friend Diana, who I haven't seen in forever, joined us!

It was fun, especially the flailing guy in front of us who seemed to think he was at a Phish concert LOL!

Mac Rebennack, more commonly known as Dr. John, The Night Tripper and his band, the Lower 9-11 (pronounced "nine, eleven"), features guitarist Reynard Poch, bassist David Barard, and drummer Herman "Roscoe" Ernest III and their swamp pop/blues/gospel/jazz/R & B/funk sound played at Boarding House Park in Lowell Thursday night. They were awesome, as usual! A few pictures:

The band

In this picture, he was talking about Hurricane Katrina, and the damage it did, and how New Orleans still wasn't back to its "normal" self, that in fact it was looking like a third world country.

Caught his eye...

This weekend I got to see the rest of Spike Lee's 4 part documentary, When The Levees Break. All I have to say is shame, shame on the government for trying to take the land away from those people in the 9th Ward. Shame on the insurance companies that won't reimburse them for their losses. Shame on the people who said they'd searced all the houses and they didn't, so that when folks came back home they found dead loved ones inside. Shame on folks who've lived where they wanted to live all their lives, who say, "Well, those people should be happy they were evacuated and have a nice place to stay now."

Shame.

Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows.
Doo, doo, doo, Lookin' out my back door.

Holy mother of all that's good in this world, can John Fogerty ROCK! He's, what, 62, and got more energy than most. He was on stage for a solid 2 hours, sang SO many songs you probably know by heart, and looked damn good doing it (we were only about 10 people from the stage)! My ears are still ringing, man is he LOUD!

If you get the chance to see him, don't miss it!

A almost full moon guided me home tonight, my iPod on Creedence, my mind on how lucky I am to have seen this guy again!

Creedence broke up before I was really old enough to go to concerts, and I never thought I'd get the chance to hear their songs live...especially with all the crap Fogerty went through about not being able to play his own music. Finally, after wanting to see him for almost 35 years :-), I've now seen him 3 times in 2 years...and I'll for sure go again!

Dude...I'm happy :-)

and the nine songs at 9 were:

Stay With Me - Faces (w/Rod Stewart singing) (on the iPod)
Let's Stay Together - Al Green (on the iPod)
Day After Day - Bad Finger
Wild Horses - the Stones
Bell Bottom Blues - Derek and the Dominoes (aka Eric Clapton)
It's a Family Affair - Sly and the Family Stone (on the iPod)
Cry Baby - Janis Joplin
I'd Love To Change The World - 10 Years After
Got Stoned and I Missed It - Dr. Hook

In honor of the fact that today is 6/6/06, Charles' flashback song is by one of the most superstitious bands of all time...Led Zeppelin! He mentioned that it's said if you placed this song backwards (ahhhh the days of vinyl) you would hear a secret satanic message. The song? Stairway To Heaven, about which Charles said "The greatest rock n roll song of all time? You decide."

Does anybody remember laughter?

and the nine songs at 9 were:

Cisco Kid - War (What a fantastic band War was!)
Rocket Man - Elton John
Blue Sky - Allman Brothers Band
Your Mama Don't Dance - Loggins & Messina
Garden Party - Rick Nelson
Tightrope - Leon Russell (I loved this song back in the day..and I'm going to see him this summer)
My Woman From Tokyo - Deep Purple
Superstition - Stevie Wonder
Jackie Blue - Ozark Mountain Daredevils

Charles's flashback was from 1969, Marie La Peau - Salloom, Sinclair and the Mother Bear

1972...hmmm...what an interesting year THAT was. Not that I can remember much...and those things I do remember are not totally clear. Hmmm...

and the nine songs at 9 were:

It's Still Rock & Roll To Me - Billy Joel
I Got You - Split Enz (ahhhhh new wave!)
Fire Lake - Bob Seger
The Tide Is High - Blondie (she's touring with the New Cars featuring Todd Rundgrun as their lead singer this summer)
Rock N Roll High School - the Ramones (soooo New York!)
Kid - Pretenders (hmmm...after Precious and Tattooed Love Boys, she started a downhill slide...or maybe radio just didn't play her tougher stuff anymore)
Freedom of Choice - Devo (then if you got it you don't want it / seems to be the rule of thumb / don't be tricked by what you see / you got two ways to go / I'll say it again in the land of the free / use your freedom of choice / freedom of choice)
Cadillac Ranch - Bruce Springsteen
Boulevard - Jackson Browne

And Charles' "Flashback" song was I Put A Spell On You - Screaming Jay Hawkins

and the nine songs at 9 were:

Hollywood Waltz - The Eagles
Fame - David Bowie
Don't Call Us, We'll Call - Sugarloaf (wow, haven't heard this in a LONG time!!!)
Take The Money and Run - Steve Miller
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon
She's The One - Bruce Springsteen
S.O.S. - AbbA
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Crystal - Fleetwood Mac

and Charles' flashback: Marley Purt Drive - the Beegees (a rocker, not a disco tune)!

LOL I had a dream about Charles last night...we were in some beach house with a bunch of other people, and he was saying that he didn't like hip hop. I said, the old skool stuff was GREAT and handed him my iPod and put on Doug E Fresh's The Show for him. Then I woke up LOL!

and the nine songs at 9 were:

We Gotta Get You A Woman - Todd Rundgren [wow! I used to LOVE this song, haven't heard it in years!]
Moondance - Van Morrison [classic]
That's The Way - Led Zeppelin [Zep!]
Share The Land - the Guess Who
After The Goldrush - Neil Young [OMG AFTER THE GOLDRUSH!!! I ADORED this album and this song]
Memo From Turner - the Stones [not a bad tune from a band with a lead singer who can't sing]
Instant Karma! - John Lennon [funny how with just one note you can recognize a song!]
Apeman - the Kinks [OMG! APEMAN!!! Ray Davies is/was/will always be the man!]
Me & My Arrow - Harry Nilsson [OMG!! ME & MY ARROW!!! It's said he was on acid when he wrote this...d'uh!]

And the flashback song was: Keep It Warm (lyrics in the extended entry) - Flo & Eddy

I think Chuck should keep revisiting 1970, what a GREAT bunch of songs! This got Pat and me emailing fast and furious LOL!

and the nine songs at 9 were:

1. Veronica - Elvis Costello
2. Free Falling - Tom Petty [love this song]
3. Love Shack - B52s [this one, too!]
4. The Heart of the Matter - Don Henley
5. Riviera Paradise - Stevie Ray Vaughn
6. This Woman's Work - Kate Bush
7. Thing Called Love - Bonnie Raitt
8. Angel Eyes - Jeff Healey Band
9. Major Tom - Peter Schilling

Chuck's flashback: The Fish Cheer & I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag - Country Joe and the Fish (click on the extended entry for the lyrics to this...could be appropriate nowadays)

In 1989 I was DEEP into hip hop and R&B; also,Yo MTV Raps debuted-loved that show! Here's 9 of the songs I was listening to that year:

1. Children's Story - Slick Rick
2. Jinglin' Baby - LL Cool J
3. You Ain't Heard Nuttin' Yet - Heavy D
4. Me, Myself and I - De La Soul
5. The Gas Face - 3rd Base
6. Spread Your Wings - Troop
7. Self Destruction - KRS-One w/other NYC rappers
8. U Can't Touch This - MC Hammer
9. The Humpty Dance - Digital Underground

And my flashback is: Shower Me With Your Love - Surface (hahaha DJ Chilly, where are you???)

and the nine songs at 9 were:

Pretty in Pink - Psychedelic Furs
Every Little Thing She Does - Police
Gloria - U2
Shake it Up - Cars
Arc of a Diver - Steve Winwood
Morning Train - Sheena Easton
The Voice - Moody Blues
Tempted - Squeeze
Be Good Johnny - Men at Work

And the flashback song was Fever - Peggy Lee.

When I heard Charles say 1981, I laughed to myself. Gotta listen to this, I thought; after all, 1981 was the year I got married for the first time (September 21st, to be exact).

The first few songs, ok, yeah, the Police & the Cars, not bad...then Charles played "Tempted" and I burst out laughing.

Tempted was the song that was playing when my ex proposed...at a club in Lowell (The Raft, where we spent most Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays for a looooong time and where I first saw Andy Pratt, but I digress).

Strange song for a proposal, right? He was getting ready to leave for basic training, you see, and I'm sure that was on his mind. I think he wanted to make sure I'd wait for him...I, in my weird way, thought it was rather sweet.

Makes for a nice story, anyway!

And then...Be Good Johnny...LOVED that song!!!

Today's year was 1980 and Charles started off talking about John Lennon's death. That still makes me sad and mad at the same time, all these years later. Charles said something about how sometimes he wished he was a republican so he could torture the guy who killed John Lennon, slowly, day by day. I wish, too.

- Beautiful Boy: John Lennon
- Skateaway: Dire Straights
- Crack That Whip: Devo
- Brass in Pocket: the Pretenders
- It's A Night For Beautiful Girls: The Fools
- Deadline: Blue Oyster Cult
- Wonderin' Where The Lions: Bruce Cockburn
- I Don't Like Mondays: Boomtown Rats
- Don't Do Me Like That: Tom Petty

and today's flashback song was Turning Japanese, by the Vapors.

It's ironic that Charles talked about Lennon this morning; when I was scanning the radio this morning, Mike Douglas (he used to have a talk show that was on at 4 in the afternoon) was on some station, and the DJs asked him what John and Yoko were like (they did an appearance weekly on his show for 5 weeks). He said John was a brilliant, sensitive soul and that he really liked him. As for Yoko...he said he sympathized with Paul McCartney a bit...LOL!

Seen over at Crazy Thoughts by Chelle:

The rules:

List seven songs you're into right now. No matter the genre, whether [or not] they have words, or even if they're any good, they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs, then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

* You're Beautiful ~ James Blunt (I just love his voice)
* Dirty Little Secrets - All-American Rejects (one of the best videos I've ever seen!)
* She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5 ("tap on my window" reminds me of the old Aretha song, Until You Come Back To Me
* I Do The Rock - Tim Curry (Interesting explanation of the lyrics here)
* Such A Night - Dr. John (...sweet confusion under the moonlight...)
* Kiss On My List - Hall & Oates (they are NOT Wuss rock!)
* Tattooed Love Boys - The Pretenders ("I shot my mouth off and you showed me what that hole was for." Hmm...wonder what Chrissie means by THAT!)

Like Chelle, I'm not tagging anyone...if you want to do it, go ahead (you know you want to). It was interesting to me that there are no Zeppelin songs on the list!

Last night, Krista and I met up at the Rock Bottom Brewery, had some delicious mac & chicken & cheese and steak tips, accompanied by a couple of beers, natch, and headed off to see Ray Davies at the Orpheum.

Hmmm...well, the Orpheum is a beautiful old theater that has fallen on hard, hard times. It's like the old Comm Avenue Grand Dame who is house rich but money poor and things are falling apart. It has a LOVELY ceiling:

and is desperately in need of renovation. It's a shame they (whoever "they" are) don't do anything about this.

Ray was...ok. He was Ray, meaning he was demanding, impatient, took too long to start, took too long of a break, played too many songs off his new CD and not enough old ones for my taste. Although...the ones he DID do were fantastic! 20th Century Man (1st song on my iPod), Sunny Afternoon & Low Budget (LOVE that one, hadn't heard it in years) were a few I particularly like. He did look like he was having a good time, tho and the fans LOVED him.

Review from Boston.com

and the 9 songs at 9 were:

Conquistador - Procol Harum
People Are Strange - the Doors
2000 Light Years From Home - the Stone
Strawberry Fields - the Beatles
Jennifer Juniper - Donovan
The Wind Cries Mary - Jimi Hendrix
Go Ask Alice - Jefferson Airplane
Knights In White Satin - Moody Blues
Holiday - the BeeGees

And Charles' acid flashback: Behind Blue Eyes - The Chieftans & Roger Daltry

and the 9 songs at 9 were:

Warrior - Scandal
Chain Gang - the Pretenders [huh. My favorite song by them was Precious, closely followed by Tattooed Love Boys, but you won't hear them on the radio anymore]
All She Wants To Do Is Dance - Don Henley
I'm Goin' Down - Bruce Springsteen
The Old Man Down The Road - John Fogerty [he just does it for me, yum!]
Lights Out - Peter Wolf
Here Comes The Rain Again - Eurythmics
Panama - Van Halen
Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

Charles' Acid Flashback: When Doves Cry - Prince. Dude...if that's a flashback, then I'm a ladybug. Puhlease.

the 9 songs at 9 were:

Jesus Is Just Alright - Doobie Brothers
Take A Walk On The Wide Side - Lou Reed
Honky Cat - Elton John
Long Distance Runaround - Yes
Sandman - America
{some weird parody spoof of Rod McKuen's poetry}
Roll Over Beethoven - Electric Light Orchestra [awesome violin!]
Melissa - Allman Brothers
Big Brother - Stevie Wonder [knew it was Stevie by his voice, but can't say I've ever heard this song before]
Angry Eyes - Kenny Loggins [this is the type of song I totally remember Charles playing...the middle goes on and on and on and you almost forget what you were listening to and then the lyrics come back and you go...oh!]
Chuck's Acid Flashback: The Messiah Will Come Again - Roy Buchanan

and the nine songs at 9 were:

Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears for Fears
I Drink Alone - George Thoroughgood
Take On Me - Aha [adore the video]
Voices Carry - Til Tuesday [one of my co-workers, who was also a friend {I photographed his wedding!} 'borrowed' this album and would NOT give it back LOL! I never did get it, either]
Slave To Love - Bryan Ferry
Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush [Oh. my. God. How this song reminds me of going through the divorce w/Blake. Wow.]
Fortress Around Your Heart - Sting [ironic this song was after Kate Bush.]
Rockin' In The USA - John Mellencamp

I missed the 9th song today. Normally I stay in my office with the door closed but duty called...dang. Anyway Charles' flashback song was Give Blood by Pete Townsend.

Y'all doing anything fun this weekend? I'm meeting up with a couple friends for BBQ tonight, and then we're going to see a Neil Young cover band. Saturday I'm gettin' up at the crack of frickin' DAWN to drive to HELL and back picking up furniture for Kristaloo, then we're going to see a scary movie, The Hills Have Eyes. Sunday, the highlight will be going to see (FINALLY) The Libertine (what, you haven't heard of it? Not surprising...), which is Johnny Depp's latest. He plays John Wilmot (1647-1680), second Earl of Rochester, a free thinker, unrestrained and immoral, for whom sex and drinking was most fun.

And deaf to nature's rule, or love's advice,
Forsake the pleasure to pursue the vice.
To an exact perfection they have wrought
The action, love; the passion is forgot.

Most of the reviews agree that Depp's performance is one of the best of his career. I've been looking forward to seeing this for quite some time. It was made in 2004 and for a variety of reasons, just now released nationwide.

...the 9 songs at 9 on Backspin were:

Madman Across the Waters - Elton John [this was Elton at his best]
Every Picture Tells a Story - Rod Stewart [ditto for Rod]
Baby Blue - Badfinger [funny name for a band lol]
It's Too Late - Carole King [my fav song by her is Jazzman]
Tupelo Honey - Van Morrison [I love this song, it's sad & lovely]
Chicago - Graham Nash [haven't heard this one in a LONG time]
Bargain - The Who [not a band I ever really liked...but then I would've said that about Zeppelin, too, prior to 2001]
Mercedes Benz - Janis Joplin [only song I can sing from memory]
Can't You Hear Me Knocking - Rolling Stones [eh...Stones...eh]

Charles's flashback: Cross-eyed Mary - Jethro Tull [Jethro Tull is such a flashback LOL]

...the 9 songs at 9 on Backspin were:

Feeling Stronger Every Day - Chicago
La Grange - ZZ Top [great choice!]
Warm Love - Van Morrison
D'yer Mak'er - Led Zeppelin [Chuck...you pick this instead of Over The Hills And Far Away??? *shakes head*]
In between these two songs, Charles played some dialogue from The Exorcist...SCARY!!!
No More Mr. Nice Guy - Alice Cooper [Pat and I really wanted to see Alice Cooper one time, so we went with two guys just to see the show, we probably didn't have the money or a way to get there...and once we got there, we lied and said I was sick so we didn't have to stay with them...karma, baby...karma is slapping me ALL around!]
Friday On My Mind - David Bowie
Ma-Ma-Ma Belle - ELO
Monday - Pink Floyd
Trapped In A Reggae World - Jimmy Cliff

Charles' "flashback": Hypnotized - Fleetwood Mac

"Well, I'm not a crook."
- Richard Nixon

I had a really hard time keeping track of the songs, something about work interfering, blah blah blah...

99 Red Balloons - Nena
Drive - the Cars
then a song by Dokken, I think, followed by a Stevie Ray Vaughn song
Chain Gang - Pretenders
Slippery People - Talking Heads
another song I didn't know
Cover Me - Bruce Springsteen
Driver Aid - REM

Charles' "flashback": The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking - Roger Waters

You can listen to Charles' show by clicking on this link.

Next up on my list of old guys to see in concert: Ray Davies!

Did I even mention how much I adored the Kinks in the late 70s, early 80s? I brought my [first] wedding album in to work one day, to show my much beloved and missed office mate, Diana. As she thumbed thru it, she saw a picture of my apartment in Colorado (where I lived for six months while the first ex went through Air Force tech school) and noticed a Kinks poster on the wall. She said...who are the Kinks? I started singing Lola...L O L A...Lola and she went OH! I know that song!

Bet you just did, too :-)

I met her in a club down in old Soho
Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-cola
See-oh-el-aye cola
She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said Lola
El-oh-el-aye Lola la-la-la-la Lola

[OMG, 1976, the memories LOL]...the 9 songs at 9 were:

Gotta Give It Up - Marvin Gaye [would've never guessed this was from 1976!]
Hotel California - the Eagles [I adored this whole album!]
Somebody to Love - Queen [what a voice on that man!!!]
Don't Take Me Alive - Steely Dan [this song gives me the chills to listen to...Steely Dan was always great to listen to when a bit messed up...]
Takin' It To The Streets - Doobie Brothers [my two memories of the Doobie Brothers are 1) they're actually the first band I ever saw...I went to see T. Rex, but the Doobies were the warm up band for them! and 2) l used to have a cloth hanging with one of their album's names What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits- tie dyed on it. Loved that albums title, and so damn true!]
Dirty Deeds - AC/DC [my absolute FAV song by them!!!]
Where Did Our Love Go - J. Geils [another great Boston band!]
Tvc 15 - David Bowie [dude, he must've been SO high]
Main Street - Bob Seger [good song back then, but man, it's played to death]

Charles' "flashback": One More Cup Of Coffee For The Road - Bob Dylan

And guess what...now YOU can listen to Charles' show and these songs too! Here's the link, you're welcome! You should listen, just to hear Jim Breuer doing the Hokey Pokey by AC/DC, too damn funny!

the 9 songs at 9 on WBOS were:

Miss You (Disco version) - the Stones [Disco sucks! I still have that tshirt somewhere]
Good Lovin' - Grateful Dead [excellent rockin' song!]
Lights - Journey [don't like Journey]
Just What I Needed - the Cars [such an awesome Boston band!]
Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy - the Kinks [I HEART the Kinks! In fact, there was an article in EW last week about Ray Davies]
Dreadlock Holiday - 10 CC [lol made me want to be on the cruise NOW]
Excitable Boy - Warren Zevon [I HEART Warren Zevon!!!]
Because The Night - Patti Smith [did you know Bruce Springsteen wrote this song just for her?]
Hollywood Nights - Bob Seger [I really liked Bob Seger back in the day, went to see him a few times back in the 70s, but...not now]

And Charles' "flashback": Walking In The Rain by Flash & The Pan [LOL and what a flashback it was!]

the 9 songs at 9 were:

Beds are Burning - Midnight Oil
Like the Weather - 10,000 Maniacs
Got My Mind Set On You - George Harrison
Where The Streets Have No Name - U2
Tunnel of Love - Bruce Springsteen
Big Love - Fleetwood Mac
The One I Love - REM
What've I Done To Deserve This - Pet Shop Boys
Paper and Fire - John Mellencamp

And Charles' "flashback": Learning to Fly - Pink Floyd

Charles nine great songs from 1972:

1. David Bowie- "Starman"
2. Bill Withers- "Ain't No Sunshine"
3. The Doobie Brothers- "Rockin' Down The Highway"
4. Neil Young- "Heart Of Gold"
5. Moody Blues- "I'm Just A Singer"
6. Billy Preston- "That's The Way God Planned"
7. Jackson Browne- "Doctor My Eyes"
8. The Temptations- "Papa Was A Rolling Stone"
9. Steely Dan- "Do It Again"

Ok, why is it that I can barely remember what I had for breakfast, but I know EACH of these songs...with the possible exception of #6...OMG I forgot about the chiro appt~! Bye!!!

Anyone have a copy of Father Christmas by the Kinks, or Santa Claus And His Old Lady by Cheech & Chong?