Shawna

boo-ya! Same to you, my friend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SISTER!!! Celebrate life with your gorgeous nephew, your beautiful sister, and all of your family surrounding you. It's a beautiful thing.

We saw "Captain Phillips" and "Gravity" both within 2 weeks of each other. As good as "Gravity" was, I thought "Captain Phillips" was more of a white-knuckler. Long, but I had no clue how much time had gone by until I left the theater. Remarkably well acted by Tom Hanks.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROCKY!!! Hope you're out from behind the Penney's counter to celebrate like you should today.

Better you than me, Laurie. Congratulations!!!

I know a Shawn. And he is, indeed, male. His wife is my best friend. It's a mess when I write them an email, since I'm constantly sticking an "a" on the end of his name.

I would think it's because Beverly Hills is in California and it's where all the movie stars live (or a lot of them), lots and lots of money there...

Well done, Laurie! Your job is not the typical 8-5 desk job in a cubicle. You have a job that makes so much difference in the lives of so very many, and that takes spirit, patience, and a very warm heart. I so love that I know you. (well, sort of.)

there was something on a Pink Floyd album, I think the Wall, where if you played it backwards it says, "Congratulations, you've found the hidden message, please send a post card to" and it gave the name and address of their guy who was committed. Or something like that. I wouldn't have believed that story, but I heard it myself when a crazed Floyd fan played it for me. Hence, my aversion to everything Floyd.

Me, I just hold a hairbrush like a microphone. Or a bottle of shampoo, if I'm in the shower. Once while driving from Phoenix to San Diego, I had inadvertently hit the "voice memo" app on my iPhone and recorded a half hour of myself warbling the dulcet tones of some serious Roger rock & roll at full volume. VERY happy I got to that and erased it before anyone stole my phone and it went viral on the 'net.

It's here! It's like Christmas when I was a kid! My article on Roger... Play On, Roger Clyne. Go read it. Now. It's a different type of article/interview for me. This was for two reasons. One, the interview took place in person. And two, I styled it after a Rolling Stone interview, where a lot of it is my own original writing, and then the actual interview afterwards. And Roger's rep said, "This is exceptional!" and "Wow, what a great read." So I figure it came out well. Now's your chance to get to know Roger and randomly listen to some songs through the videos. (My Jeff took several of the photos at a concert we went to the weekend after the interview.)

Yes, it's true. Roger Clyne graced me with his presence of a couple of hours a few months ago, even helped me set up my recording gadgets for premium recording advantage. And then, when he had to leave for a business meeting and I still had questions for him, he called me from the bunkhouse on Clyne Ranch the following week, during a storm, and I could hear the wind howling behind him in the background. Roger is a game individual. Game for anything that will make his music more accessible to the masses. He plays the big theaters, he plays the small theaters, he plays the dinky clubs... it doesn't matter, so long as he's doing what he loves doing best: playing. Even when all members of the band can't get together at the same time, Roger and sometimes his drummer P.H. Naffah, will go do acoustic duos, and when P.H. can't make it, either, Roger will go himself and do an acoustic session at a bookstore somewhere, randomly picked, just on a whim. There are a couple of key points to remember about Roger should you ever happen across him. He remembers everything. I was a face in the crowd at one of many shows one night, when I threw my black-and-white striped straw hat up on stage (that's what you do at Peacemakers concerts - he wears them and throws them back) and since the hat was so light, it didn't make the distance and landed instead in the area just before the stage where security would not let me re-fetch it. That was maybe 4 years ago. At this luncheon meeting last Spring, he remembered me. Without prompting, even. He puzzled over it for a few minutes and then nailed where he'd seen me before. Very random. Very disconcerting, given we hadn't really "met" formally before that very day. The other thing is, he is smart. And for all that smartness, he is also tactful. Most people I've known with that kind of intelligence are socially inept and come off as jerks. Rogert, though he caught every mistake I made (thankfully, there were only two ~ when I misquoted one of his lyrics and got the definition of a word wrong), he corrected me - very gently - both times. Being mildly chastened by Roger Clyne wasn't on my Christmas list, but it was Roger Clyne, so I considered it gift-wrapped. Some of my takeaways from these conversations: Roger is a loyal friend, he sticks with those that are important to him like a dog to a bone. He is always evolving in his musical and lyrical pursuits, continually finding subtle and not-so-subtle ways to impart his message of peace and music, and peace through music in new styles. Don't mess with his creativity. There is no worse way to alienate a musician than to restrict what he can and can't do with bringing his imaginings to life. And beyond all, he enjoys being accommodating, even to the point of digging in his photo archives for the one photo of their tipi they had left to send me so I could include it in the "Mexican Moonshine" section of the article. I don't know many rock stars that would do much beyond paying it lip service. So I heartily raise my cup and say, Play On, Roger Clyne.

I know, right?!?!?

Hi Troubador ~ Welcome! There is a feature where you can search for the artist... or anything else. On the Main Page, up in the upper right corner, there are two little boxes side by side, and it says, "Search Everything," and then in the first box there's a pull-down menu, if you click that it gives you the option to choose "artist" or something else, then in the second box, type in the artist you're looking for. It's that easy. Happy hunting!

the timing for the dog is never more right than right now.

Marc, get yer kids offa my lawn!

"Physical" by Olivia Newton-John was a thinly dressed love song, the video she had for it was all about people working out in a gym. "Lucky" by Mary Chapin Carpenter "no master doom gonna get in my way, oooo I feel lucky today." Don't know if that fits in what you're looking for. "Head Over Feet" by Alanis Morrisette has a line that says, "I've never felt this healthy before." I'll think on this one...

My son was laughing hysterically one night so I poked my head in his room to see what was all the fun about, and it was "The End" that he was watching. Said I probably wouldn't like it, because it was mostly "guy" humor. But, man, he had a bellyache from all the laughing. Puerile? probably. But he's 20. Whaddaya want.

oooo Jenny. I so feel for you, you've no idea, sister. If you were here, we'd go out and drink each other under a table. My car is nearing 100k miles. It's first problem - the brakes were grinding. The ABS and T/C lights came on. Took it in, they fixed it, replaced the (encased?) wheel bearings to the tune of $350. Not so fast. I got to the first stoplight at the end of the block after driving my car off their lot, and the exact same thing happened, this time no lights. Thought I was insane, as it didn't happen again for a week. Sure enough, luckily Jeff was in the car with me when it happened 3 times in a row, so he felt it, he heard it. We took it in. They hooked up their computer and it told them to replace the other side. Another $350. Drove it off again. Now it's doing something similar, but not as bad nor as noticeable. It took a week this time, but the ABS and T/C lights finally kicked on again yesterday. We took it in and are waiting to hear what could be this fresh hell. Jeff says I've been doing well with a car pushing 100k, no major repairs so far, outside of this. Which he-who-knows-about-cars doesn't call "major." But with $700 out the window so far and more promised, I call it bad juju AND major. Plus, I've been without a car now for a week totaled up, and who knows how long this time? I'm a mover and a shaker, man, I got stuff to do!!

not sure if this qualifies, but there's theories that abound that the Monkees were based on the Beatles.

Nice! Fitz made it! Well done.

well, then. Gillian Flynn just went on my list of "to-read" books. I have a handy notepad on my phone so every time I hear about a book I want to remember, I put it there. I have recently become addicted to Philippa Gregory's Cousins War series... and all the rest of her books. I read "The Red Queen," "Lady of the Rivers," and now to round out the Cousins War saga, I have "The White Queen" and "The Kingslayer's Daughter." But then I went on ebay and bought all the rest of them for under $20. Amazing. So I've got a stack of 8 Philippa Gregory books now in my pile. And each and every one of them I'm looking forward to. Gregory, BTW, is behind the book/movie "The Other Boleyn Girl," and the book/Starz TV show "The White Queen." Good stuff. She writes about the women - who wielded the true power - behind the men who were the kings and warriors of the land. Turns out these women all had their own constant game of thrones.

"Captain Phillips" Like "Argo," I knew how this one would end, but it was still so incredibly well done that my heart raced, I cried, I white-knuckled the armrest for almost the entire last hour of the movie, and I even grew a heart for the bad guy (a small, mildly beating heart, but still there). I'd followed this story when it was unfolding in realtime, but there was a lot I never knew until now. Exceptional, definite must-see. Hanks is superb, as is the Somali refugee who plays the lead pirate. 10/10 Hanks'll be up for an Oscar, no way around it.

Happy birthday, you! Hope it's sensational!!

The two that immediately came to my mind were "Rumours" ~ Fleetwood Mac, which is already on the list, and "Fizzy Fuzzy Big and Buzzy" ~ Refreshments, which, on a sidenote, even the tracks which I've heard that were left off of that album are incredible.