On The Road, But You Got No Destination - TT#48

It's no secret I tend to be music oriented or obsessed if you listen to my family but this time around I thought I would try something a bit more ambitious than your basic shuffle. This time around I am shooting to tell you a bit of the story of my life...autobiographically! Now 13 songs is just not enough so please realize this is a mere smidgen of my existence. TEENY.

1. Aquarius - Hair Broadway Soundtrack. I am born. Now this NOT the horrid 5th dimension version that sucks ASS compared to the original Broadway cast recordings. This is the real deal. This album and The Moody Blues Days of Future Past were my first two "real" records outside of Mary Poppins. I was 7 I think? Red Plastic Suitcase Record Player days, baby! We will not speak of the gawd-awful movie.



2. Philadelphia Freedom -Elton John- I LOVED this song when I was a wee one. Loved Elton in general but this was my favorite song evah. Check out Soul Train, people. Those clothes! And I don't mean Elton's. And thanks to Malcolm for the correction!



3. Dreamboat Annie - Heart - Remember Ann Wilson when she was thin? The running joke on this entire album is that it was what my mother would play as she drove back and forth over the Golden Gate Bridge. Where we would be after she pulled me out of bed in Salt Lake City and DROVE to cause she was pissed at my dad. I shit you not :P



We leave the 70's with many other songs and memories unmined. A close one for the actual list is Boston's More Than A Feeling. I used to play that on my fathers UBER COMPONENTS. On the down low. Cause I might fuck up the diamond needle ya know. I gloat to this day about playing that album after school every day ;)

As we move into the 80's there are also several songs that almost but not quite made it. ELO's Don't Bring Me Down...roller disco anyone? The Buggle's Video Killed The Radio Star which of course heralded the beginning of the MTV Era and brings me to 80 choice numero uno.

4. Rio - Duran Duran Fanatic Fan reporting for duty. I had, gosh.... lemme think. One...two...three..........8 posters in my room. I was a John Girl in case y'all are wondering. And I can still tell you their birthdays!



5. Let's Go To Bed from The Cure is here to represent both my love of 80s British bands from Ska to Punk to New Wave to, naturally, Goth. Suck it up Robert, you and Siouxsie and Eldritch and Murphy are ALL Goth. They may deny it now but each and every one of them is in fact so Goth (and by that I mean the original incarnation not the Hot Topic Emo Tard or the Kindergothen of today) that they fart bats.

The list of bands I could have popped in here is staggering. But we were are gonna let non-bloated Robert rep for the entire continent. Special Huggles to The Smiths and And Depeche.New Order. And Bauhaus. And The Specials. And The Clash. And........



Ahhh... High School. This is was a no brainer and yet could have been a close second to In Your Eyes, since Say Anything is both my all time favorite 80's movie and uncomfortably autobiographical. Oh and Valley Girl was also right on up there and I Melt With You is another strong candidate.

But in the end I went with the movie that I remember seeing in the theater so vividly I can tell you to this day what I was wearing. A white shirt with what looked like pastel brush swashes in pastel colors of purple, blue, peach and pink. Light blue checked jeans and white ballet flats. And Tatiana perfume. Which I pretty much wore from 1983 to 1990. I went with Jill, Tina, the dorks they were dating, and the infamous Todd and Jason combo. We saw it at Valley River cinemas in Eugene. Ladies and Gentleman #6 with a bullet - Don't You Forget About Me By Simple Minds and The Breakfast Club by John Hughes biographer of Generation X.



Now let's talk U2. I have loved this band from the day I first heard I Will Follow in Diana's Record Store in Eugene Oregon in 1981 when I was all of 12 years old. They are indeed the soundtrack of my life and my all time favorite band. As such I could pretty much put them anywhere in the last 26 years. They are the background music to every major event in my life and damn near all the minor ones as well. We are gonna go with the Streets cause it's would kinda be sacrilegious not to. 21 years ago this was the turning point for U2, #7 Where The Streets Have No Name.



8. Welcome to the Jungle - Guns And Roses - This is another 80's song albeit a late 80's song but it is here to represent my move out of Eugene and up to Portland. This was the first album I bought when I moved here. Jason and Todd thought I was nuts. I thought Axl Rose kicked the ass of every other metal band out there. To me this kinda herald in what I loosely term as adulthood since, really, your 20's are just teen years with more alcohol.



So now we enter the 90's. By 1991 I was divorced from ex-husband #1, hanging out with ex-husband #2 and the Kinda Ex Boyfriend. Conveniently when I moved out of the marital abode, Ex #2 and The Kinda Ex (who happens to Ex #2's cousin and Ex #1's best friend) all move in together. Can you say clusterfuck? We are the children of divorce, the original latch key kids and raised by televison. Our friends became our family. Bet those of you who are older watch movies like Clerks and Reality Bites and Singles and wonder if Gen Xer's are really that fucked up. Short answer? Yes we are.

Here We Are Now - Entertain Us.

9. Smells Like Teen Spirit- Nirvana



So regular readers will by now have figured out that I did marry again in 1993 to Ex #2 after first dealing with the total disintegration of The Kinda Ex. Yay Drugs! Oddly enough I loved the 90's. Or at least the first part of them. The later ones when you are dumped for a video game and your marriage goes down the shitter, not so much. Appropriately enough, right after my Titanic Obsession, this cheery little ditty came along. Thank God I didn't blog then, I'd have driven masses to suicide. But with a chuckle cause those old diaries are bleak as hell but rather funny. A select few of my readers have read them. Poor babies!

10. Iris - The Goo Goo Dolls



So yeah drama. Free advice to gamer widows everywhere. Playing said game ain't gonna fix the problems. A headphone favorite from my Everquest years and the birth of my alter ego, Starrlight. Not the real video cause SONY BMG sucks ass. #11. Meet Virginia - Train




At this point we are moving to the 00's. And I suppose the big story here is my ex bf and my time spent in Atlanta. Much Ado About Nothing or Slackers Rule. In honor of the good and the bad and my future home, let's all ask, #12 Why Georgia? - John Mayer




Lucky #13 is of course, Beautiful Day from U2. It's my anthem. Ya just gotta keep on keepin on, folks and remember to stop and look around. The little things count as much as the things that tie you up in knots.

Thursday Thirteen # 16 - We Are The Champions My Friends

I was watching VH1 classics the other day and they played Bohemian Rhapsody followed by Van Halen. I remarked to Kidlet that there were two of the greatest Front Men of all times. Which in turn gave me the idea for this list. Now first off, I had 13 choices people. 13. *13* That is not many. And I didn't include people like Hendrix or James Brown or Prince who God knows, OWNS as a Front Man. Why did I not list them? Mostly because when you think of them, you pretty much think of them and not a "band." Same goes for Springsteen. There are no Beatles on that list because unlike the Stones, they all sang. Now Ringo was no Lennon and I know that, but I think of the Beatles more as a "collective."

So without further ado I bring you my list, incomplete though it may be, of 13 Great Frontmen!


1. Freddie Mercury - Hands down the single greatest in my humble opinion. There was Freddie and then there was everyone else. We lost a huge talent there.

2. Diamond David Lee Roth - He may be just a Gigolo and Van Halen may have been reduced to a joke, but in their day, boy howdy. Saw them in concert. Twice. Still have hearing loss. And Dave? Dave was the man.

3. Robert Plant - The Tall Cool One. Although it is very nearly impossible to think Plant and not think Page as they played off of each other so much. But Robert had an intensity that pretty much locked you on his performance.

4. Bono - How many other front men double as the Messiah? And admit it? Bono is the man. And if you have seen them in concert you would be surprised to find that he is not quite the saint he is made out to be in the press. And he has a thing for the ladies ;)

5. Axl Rose - Will Axl sing? Will Axl scream at the crowd? Will Axl start throwing punches? Who knows, but you damn sure wanted to stick around and find out. Cause when he sang, Axl saved Metal from bands like Poison.

6. Michael Hutchence - Um ok, look I could totally go on about his talent, cause he was hugely talented. But people I saw the man in concert when I was 17. White shirt, black leather pants. I still get wobbly thinking about it. Hutch had talent and HUGE sex appeal.

7. Jim Morrison - The font of all shamanesque sex appeal and the Lizard King of the black leather pants. Morrison was Morrison. What more do I need to say?

8. Kurt Cobain - Patron saint and martyr of Generation X. Regardless of who killed him, we all helped with our adulation. Kurt was goofball in person. Something I think you would have had to have seen very early on in his career before he became the voice of a generation. We really lost a good one there.

9. Mick Jagger - The Original Bad Boy. Got to love The Mick. How can you NOT love The Mick? Who else would have the balls to write and sing Under My Thumb? Mick did and does and manages to make you wanna be under that thumb all at the same time. That is talent.

10. James Hetfield - James-AH has-Ah an entire-Ah speech pattern-AH all to-Ah himself -AH. Plus he set himself on fire on stage. That totally rocks! The Napster thing, not so much.
PS...Lars you are a dink.

11. Billie Joe Armstrong - Pint sized but my God does this boy have energy. Billie actually sounds like Billie live. He is not one of those canned in the studio voices. He is also all OVER that stage and totally gets involved with the audience. Hands down the best rock show I have seen. (Desert honey, don't get pissed, U2 shows are more like a religious experience, mmk?)

12. Joe Strummer - Citizen Strummer was the man. I was beyond fucking bummed when he died. Just crushed. I totally was holding out for a reunion. And yes, Mick Jones sang too, blah blah blah, bite me. Joe Strummer WAS The Clash.

13. Johnny Rotten - What can one say about Johnny that he has not already said himself? The tag line to 24 Hour Party People comes to mind. Genius. Poet. Twat. John went beyond being a front man. He was a movement.

Baby It's The Guitar Man

Anndi recently tagged me with the Top 5 Guitar Solo meme and oh man this really SUCKED! Just 5?!? That is a joke right? Well this being my blog and me being in charge and all I said screw you guys I am pickin 10. I am feeling lazy so no link love for you people :p First off let me make something very clear. The minute Jimi Hendrix picked up a guitar everyone else became also rans. Jimi owned. Second item to make clear, there is no Clapton on this list. No King. No Robert Johnson. No Guy. No Son House. I pretty much decided to stick with mainstream RnR guitar gods and frankly Clapton gets enough play. So I present to you the Top 5(x2) Guitar Solos in no particular order. Well except Jimi. Cause Jimi is Jimi. Got that?

Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing
Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child
Eddie Van Halen - Van Halen - Eruption
Allen Collins, Gary Rossington - Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird
Stevie Ray Vaughn - Texas Flood
Slash - Guns N Roses - November Rain
David Gilmore - Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
Kirk Hammett - Metallica - One
Dickie Betts - The Allman Brothers - Blue Sky
Duane Allman - The Allman Brothers - Statesboro Blues (Live)

** Blew up the original and reposting to see if this fixes Bloggers issues with disappearing comments. We can only hope they figure this shit out

If You Got The Money, Honey We Got Your Disease

Ever get the feeling that you are gonna get screwed? And not in an "oh baby" kind of way?

I am getting that vibe. Kidlet is supposed to have a flu shot today at her ped's office. But I never got a reminder call for the flu clinic. No one is answering at the office cause it is a Saturday and they are closed. Or open for the flu shot clinic but just not answering. And the website is dead.

Ok, it's a for sure, I am fuxored. Just got my online horoscope:

"Sparks may fly today in your interactions with others. Whether in close intimate relationships or casual discussions with friends, it can feel as if everyone is just trying to purposefully upset you. You can all too easily respond with an overblown display of anger. Don't waste energy arguing. The best thing you can do is to chill out and not take it all so seriously."

But why can't I get pissy? Not everyone can do "overblown displays of anger" with flair, but I can. 13 pieces of flair, no less!