For "anonymous"

Tori Amos

This link is for "anonymous" (alias "mom") who wanted to be introduced to Tori Amos' music. Just click on the blue "Tori Amos" above and you'll be connected with Tori's first ever performance on David Letterman back in 1992. I went through a number of possible attachments but settled on this version of "Crucify" since it's likely the first Tori song I fell in love with back in the early 1990's. It was probably during that same "angry" music era as Alanis Morissette - so this is the perfect introduction - the same intro I had :)

I will warn "anonymous" that you will probably not enjoy the music of Tori Amos. It has no similarity to Peter, Paul, Mary or Johnny Mathis!

Here is the chorus that fits with my 28 year old, depressed about the thought of turning 30, self back in 1992:

"Why do we crucify ourselves
Everyday I crucify myself
Nothing I do is good enough for you
Crucify myself
Everyday I crucify myself
And my heart is sick of being in chains"

Stay Big!

Don't make yourself (read "myself") small...nuf said...

"Squint your eyes and look closer
I'm not between you and your ambition
I am a poster girl with no poster
I am thirty-two flavors and then some
and I'm beyond your peripheral vision
so you might want to turn your head
'cause someday you're going to get hungry
and eat most of the words you just said..."

Ani DiFranco, 32 Flavors

Addendum for Mom 9/14/07:
This is about not caving under pressure. It's easy to make oneself small in response to various stresses - so this is a reminder to be big! It's really about trying to just be oneself while letting others just be themselves. Choosing to include those last four good lines does add a "little jab" to the whole philosophy - but that would be me just being me :)

Don't Stop Believin'

"Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world
She took the midnight train goin' anywhere
Just a city boy, born and raised in south detroit
He took the midnight train goin' anywhere"

Journey, Don't Stop Believin'

Whenever possible, I try to match my "one good line" blog to what's going on in the "Blue Mailbox". Today is no exception. This afternoon I heard the above song blasting from the earphones, yes, I said earphones, of a thug on MARTA. All I could do was smile in that this song, and this group, was SO awesome when I was graduating from high school in 1982. And here's this guy, with a grill a sparklin', just jammin' to Journey. If anything, I was expecting Tupac or 50 Cent to be coming from his headphones.

And even funnier is that I went to my first Karaoke bar last month and this was one of the massacred songs. Actually, the young girl did quite well considering she was probably born the year the song came out. Don't tell Doc. B. but I went to the bar during a business trip to Nashville and I'm not supposed to have fun on work-related trips :)

Anyway, is there really such a place as "South Detroit"? I'll have to ask baby sis, but isn't that just called "downriver"?

I just love 80's music and always will (knod to KO). Perhaps that's why I can't help but watching American Idol (and forcing Doc. B. to join me)? There's Randy Jackson, formerly of the band Journey, and then add Paula Abdul herself...that's about all I need.

Before He Cheats

Some lyrics just speak for themselves - I don't know why, but I just smile whenever I hear this one. Plus, don't you think she looks just like me? Oh wait, I mean, don't you think her name is very similar to mine?

"'Cause I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seats...
I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires...

Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats."

Carrie Underwood, Before He Cheats

"Don't you let your fantasies be blinded by the light

You don't have to save your wildest dreams for the night

Don't hold back, don't hold back, don't hold back, reach out

Touch the sky with your mind's eye, don't be afraid to reach out"

Alan Parsons Project, "Don't Hold Back", from the "Eve" album, 1979

I remember when I bought this album as a teenager. At first glance, it looks like the women's veils have little decorative marks on them. But if you zoom in closely, you'll notice that both women have moles on their faces. I guess all that mole talk, as mentioned on the blue mailbox, brought back this memory.

Cornflake Girl

"Never was a cornflake girl
Thought that was a good solution
Hangin' with the raisin girls
She's gone to the other side
Givin' us a yo heave ho"

Tori Amos, "Cornflake Girl" from the album, "Under the Pink"

I have no idea what those lyrics mean. But I'll call it a synchronicity that it popped up on my iPod random play list as I waited for my MARTA train at the Candler Park Station. Why would that be synchronicitous? Because most days one can smell the aroma of the Edwards Baking Company just across the tracks from the station. Smells exactly like the entire city of Battle Creek, Michigan, home of the Kellogg's Company, oh, and my birthplace.

Lush Life

"I used to visit all the very gay places
Those come what may places
Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life...
From jazz and cocktails."

Billy Strayhorn "Lush Life", 1949

I have the Queen Latifah and the Ella Fitzgerald versions of this song but I'll listen to just about anyone's version. A little scat never hurt anyone! Everyone's done a remake of this song so check em' all out from John Coultrane and Johnny Hartman to Sarah Vaughn. What's not to love?

Do You Know?

"Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to?
Do you know...?

Do you get
What you're hoping for
When you look behind you
There's no open door
What are you hoping for?
Do you know...?"

The Theme from Mahogany, Diana Ross

I find it funny how the (my?) mind works.

I finally got around to cleaning all of the pollen off of the upper deck so that Doc. B. could enjoy it (it being the hammock we purchased on our last trip to Cape Cod) while I travel over the next couple of weeks. As I was wiping the yellow dust from the exterior of the door, I couldn't stop my brain from singing the theme from Mahogany - since that's what the door is made of, bitch....

Anytime I hear the word "Mahogany", that's what I do. Hmmmm.....

Don't Look Back

“Don’t Look Back”, Boston

"Don't look back, the morning's breaking
It's been too long since I felt this way
I don't mind when I'm not taking
The morning's coming
Today is the day"

This is what Doc. B. and I will be singing as we head out on our vacation just one short week from today!!

New Shoes

"Hey, I put some new shoes on
And suddenly everything's right
I said
Hey, I put some new shoes on and everybody's smiling"

Paola Nutini, "New Shoes"

Ain't it the truth - that if you put on some new shoes, your view on life changes? It is for me. I got new shoes recently at Parisian. They were MAJOR on sale and Doc. B. helped me find them. And how appropriate that I had new boots for my first ever country music concert (see Blue Mailbox for further details).

This is my second pair of "real" boots in my 42 year history. I remember purchasing my first ever pair on a trip out west with my family when I was about 13 or 14. Have you ever heard of Wall Drug? I'm thinking that's were I got them but I'm not certain. I squeezed my size 8 feet into those size 7 boots for years - many years beyond the time that I actually wore a size 7. I eventually gave them away and have never owned a pair since. Now I do... and everybody's smiling...

Misunderstood

"But I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood"

"Don't Let me be Misunderstood", Yusuf Islam, Formerly Cat Stevens

Sometimes I like to borrow CD's to see if I like enough of the songs to buy the whole CD or decide if I want to simply download a few of the songs from iTunes. I recently borrowed a CD from a dear friend (who shall remain nameless since I'm about to bash the CD - but you know who you are and I love you nonetheless!). It was Cat Stevens', I mean Yusuf Islam's, newest release - a CD cleverly entitled "An Other Cup". I always liked Cat Stevens old stuff though I had never purchased any of his music. I thought I'd give the CD a chance while we were cooking breakfast this morning.

I liked a few of the songs, sort of. But overall, I just really didn't care for it. Too sappy. Too dreary. Perfect if you are in a deep depression, which I hope to avoid at all costs - including the cost of ongoing therapy.

With some assistance from Doc. B., we decided that Yusuf's intentions were good, but that the name of the CD should have been "The Artist Formerly Known as Cat Stevens, needs money". As Doc. B. says, "nuf said".

Chicks of Dixie

PHOTO courtesy of Time Magazine

"I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over"

Dixie Chicks, "Not Ready to Make Nice"

The Dixie Chicks won BIG last night at the Grammys - for every category in which they were nominated, they won. Thanks Baby Sis for turning me on to this new album. "Taking the Long Way" is one of my favorite songs on the Album of the same name but you just gotta love "Not Ready to Make Nice".

Southland in the Springtime

"When God made me born a yankee he was teasin'
There's no place like home and none more pleasin'
Than the Southland in the springtime"

Indigo Girls, "Southland in the Springtime"

Yeah, I know, it's not spring yet. But one day last week, the thermometer on the upper deck showed 70 degrees. This was while, in my home state of Michigan, the schools were closing due to frigid temperatures.

I've been in Atlanta now for about 15 years. Ever since my very first Christmas trip home to Michigan, and every single winter holiday visit home thereafter, I've generally spent the entire time with my frozen feet (not to be confused with Michael Franks' "Popsicle Toes" from his 1976 Album entitled "The Art of Tea") tucked under someone.

When God made me born a yankee he was absolutely teasin'.

See more details at Blue Mailbox.

Maybe = No

PHOTO: Lewis and Clark

"It seems to me that maybe,
It pretty much always means no
So don't tell me you might, just let it go"

Jack Johnson, "Flake"

We're in the process of preparing to host a going away party for "Westward Ho", a friend of ours who is following a long-time dream of moving to Oregon. Doc. B. and I have always wanted to visit Oregon, but have never made it a priority - until now. Once "Westward Ho" gets settled in, we've informed her that we are coming to tour Portland, her new home city, and at least get to the Willamette Valley wine country and the coast.

So "Westward Ho" came over last weekend and we created the standard eVite to every single person we could think of (bitch) that might know her. The theme was: "stop in to say hello, and then goodbye" - cute, huh?

As with all of the eVites on which I've been included, you get the option of RSVP'ing with a "yes", "no", or "maybe". You can bet that anyone who responds with "maybe" is not going to show up - it's hard to say no, so this a good way not to have to.

So far we have 31 yes's, one "no", and only one "maybe"...Oh, and one of the yes's might even spin fire at the party - I'll keep you posted!

The Power of Humility

Photo Courtesy of People Magazine


“Because after all what fun is power
If you can’t act like a rock star?

...And since it seems clear
There’s no one leading us here
The only thing left it appears
Is to task ourselves to be better each time
Than those before us…”

Excerpts from “The New Wild West”, Jewel (Kilcher)

At the moment, I don’t recall what Doc. B. and I were talking about that brought up the whole "acting like a rock star" thing. It really could have been just about anything these days what with our political climate and all. No matter the conversation, I’ve just always liked that line – what fun is power if you can’t act like a rock star. Just take a minute to think about the last time you felt full of power - what did you do with it?

I admire those with power who have also been able to smoothly blend it with humility. It's what, I believe, the American public is seeing in Barak Obama. I'm not ready to say I'm voting for him, I'm just saying...