30 Day Song Challenge – A Song That Reminds You Of Someone

Once again, there are dozens of songs I could list here, because many different songs remind me of many different people. I decided not to go with the obvious, like Chatnal Kreviazuk’s Before You reminding me of my wonderful husband, Scot, or the difficult, like Face to Face’s Wreckless Heart, which I couldn’t find on YouTube, that reminded me of Diane, and old roommate of mine. Instead I picked a song that reminds me of someone who was a very good friend through high school, college and years after, and always makes me laugh because of it.

You Sold the Cottage by Martha & the Muffins is a funny enough song without it making me immediately thinking of my friend Anne. I was always playing new music for my friends, especially Anne. I’d transfer my new vinyl albums to cassette, then we’d go out in my car, drive around and I’d play the new music for them. Sometimes we would go down to the lake and just listen to songs. It was a lot of fun, and kept us busy in a suburb where there wasn’t all that much to do. Anne liked Martha & the Muffins well enough but she always listened to new music critically. What Anne loved to do is smile and laugh. She has a great sense of humor and loved to make other laugh. What sticks to strongly in my mind is during the opening instrumental riff after Martha says, “We’re entering getaway country!” Anne would do this crazy little dance. Every. Time. I. Played. The. Song. It was hilarious. It still makes me laugh today, nearly 30 years later. She probably doesn’t even remember this, but sometime I should play this song for her again and see what she does.

30 Day Song Challenge Day Two – My Least Favorite Song

For Day 02 I am supposed to talk about my least favorite song. I thought about this for a while, and I found that I couldn’t really thing of my least favorite song. Honestly, if I don’t like a song, I tend to put it out of my head. There are plenty of songs that I would change the radio station on, but I don’t feel passionate enough about the songs I dislike to keep them in my memory.

So I thought about genres that I don’t like. I wasn’t a big fan of 80’s metal bands, and was going to pick a song by Poison, because I really didn’t like Poison, but honestly, I just couldn’t work up enough ire toward Every Rose Has It’s Thorn or Talk Dirty To Me (although that one was pretty close).

Rap was the next genre that I really dislike, but the rap songs I don’t like, I don’t know, so I that didn’t work.

Then, yesterday morning as I was walking to work it hit me. I knew what my least favorite song is. It’s Ice, Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice. Besides the fact that it’s a stupid song, it adds insult to injury by taking a brilliant song and co-opting it into a really bad song. Therefore, since I don’t want to post the video for a song I don’t like, I’m going to post the video for Under Pressure (which also happens to be my and Scot’s big Karaoke number) by Queen and David Bowie, which is the brilliant song that Vanilla Ice bastardizes to get his big hit.

30-Day Song Challenge Day One

Why, hello there!  Bet the two of you who have been keeping track didn’t think you’d ever see anything new on here again!  And with Facebook and Tumblr and Twitter and all those other ways of socializing on the web, I honestly didn’t expect to spend anymore time on this page.  But I’ve still got a soft spot for blogs, and when this 30-Day Song Challenge intrigued me enough to try it, I thought I’d revisit our little Just Giblets page and give it a shot.

I’m really terrible with most memes, and I usually never do them, but I enjoy reading them, and have been particularly inspired by Howard’s answers to this challenge over at the Web Pen Blog, so I thought I’d give it a go.  I can’t promise that I will be consistent and post every day for the next thirty days, and I reserve the right to change my response to any particular day’s question five minutes after I’ve posted.  Still, let’s see how this works out, shall we?

So, day one is simultaneously the easiest and most difficult:  Your favorite song.  Everyone has a favorite song.  In fact, everyone probably has several favorite songs.  I have had many over the years, but as far as I can tell, my current favorite song has actually been locked in place for several years, and it’s the first song that pops into my mind when someone asks me what is my favorite song, so I’m going with it.

Kate Bush – Hounds of Love

Kate Bush is without question my favorite musical artist, so it’s appropriate that my favorite song be one of hers.  That said, Hounds of Love didn’t emerge as my favorite song until relatively recently even thought it was released as the title track of Kate’s fifth album in 1985. It was the album’s third single released in the UK on February 24, 1986 and climbed to #18 on the charts.

The driving drum beat and the rhythmic strings propel the song along musically and perfectly underscore the lyrics which use the analogy of a fox hunt to tell the story of a woman who is afraid of surrendering to love with elegance. The lyrics are elegant in their simplicity and their creativity. It’s a perfectly constructed song.

My Friend, Tracy

Tracy Wright was the recipient of the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film’s “Career-so-Far” award in 2006. At that time, I was pretty familiar with her film and television career, and I did some research to fill out my knowledge about her theatre career. You can read my tribute honoring her acting career at the 13th Annual Awards page. But what I knew about Tracy Wright that night was a mere fraction of how I have come to know her in the three+ years since then. Three years ago she was a talented actor that I admired. I was in fact, in awe of her talent, so natural, so creative, so understated yet powerful. In the last three years she has added to her already impressive resume, adding starring roles in Reg Harkema’s MONKEY WARFARE, and Bruce McDonald’s TRIGGER, among others, but for me personally she has become something much more. She has become my friend.

It happened so fast. She was instantly warm, funny, engaging and fun to be with. She was self-deprecating but funny; experienced but down-to-earth; optimistic but at a career-crossroads. She worried. She laughed. She engaged. I felt so lucky to spend so much time with Tracy during her first visit to Boston, and when she returned soon after for MONKEY WARFARE’S stint at the Independent Film Festival of Boston, I felt even luckier. Then there were the couple of trips to the Toronto International Film Festival where we hung out and a final trip in the last month just to see her. Every single one of these visits brought me closer to this amazingly honest, direct, warm, engaging woman and enhanced the quality of my life.

I also learned, through her circle of friends, that she was loved. People loved Tracy, and it was easy to see why. In this way, her life touched so many, whether she was a wife, a long-time friend, an artistic collaborator, or someone she met a few years ago and only saw a handful of times. When we heard she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, it was without a moment’s hesitation that Scot and I decided we would travel to Toronto to visit her soon. We were fortunate enough to get there over Memorial Day weekend, and despite the fact that she’d just had surgery, we were able to see her several times. Our last visit was lovely and we were able to connect with her for a nice amount of time. She was in good spirits and as happy to see us as we were to see her. To hear of her passing just three weeks later filled me with sadness, and gratitude that I had been fortunate enough to know Tracy and to call her my friend.

Tracy, you are so loved, and you are so missed.

Tracy Wright

(This picture was taken by a friend of Daniel’s. I really love this shot. She is so beautiful and full of life.)

X-Men #57 Splash Page by Neal Adams featuring Lorna Dane

X-Men #57, 1969 by Neal Adams

Please excuse this splash page from X-Men #57 from 1969, drawn by Neal Adams, featuring Lorna Dane. It’s one of the very first comic books I ever remember reading, and I clearly remember it getting me very excited about comics. I’m posting this for Gail Simone, who asked for it.