Another Music Meme...

I wasn’t tagged, but it looked like a cool meme so I thought I would join in… rather than try to r
I was born in 1973…and my early influences in music were my parents and my brother… thankfully, my parent’s choice of music at the time didn’t stick with me (Anne Murray? Yikes!) but my brother’s did… The Beatles, and LOTS of it…

1973: Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run

1974: Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

1975: Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac

1976: Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life

1977: Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

1978: Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy

1979: The Clash - London Calling

1980: John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Double Fantasy

1981: Men at Work - Business as Usual

1982: Donald Fagen - The Nightfly

1983: Yes – 90125

1984: U2 - The Unforgettable Fire

1985: Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms

1986: TIE: Paul Simon - Graceland & XTC - Skylarking

1987: TIE: Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction & U2 - The Joshua
Tree

1988: Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1

1989: The Black Crowes - Shake Your Moneymaker

1990: They Might Be Giants - Flood

1991: Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend

1992: Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 months, and 2 Days in the Life of…

1993: Liz Phair - Exit to Guyville

1994: Green Day - Dookie

1995: Oasis - What’s the Story Morning Glory?

1996: Cake - Fashion Nugget

1997: Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever, Amen

1998: Elliot Smith - XO

1999: Wilco - Summerteeth

2000: Elliot Smith - Figure 8

2001: Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs

2002: TIE: Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot & Norah Jones - Come Away with Me

2003: Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers

2004: Green Day - American Idiot

2005: Paul McCartney - Chaos and Creation in the Backyard & Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

2006: Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways

2007: TIE: Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Fountains of Wayne - Traffic and Weather

2008: haven’t found anything this year that qualifies

Next Stop: Disney

I leave tomorrow for yet another trip to Disney World, this time not only with HoMu, The PB & The J, but the rest of HoMu's family...

All.

18.

Of.

Us.

Now, I could write about how much I'm dreading fearing looking forward to the trip... or I could beg for guestposters... but I won't.

Instead I'm asking for YOUR help.

I need some new music for my iPod and before perusing I thought to myself, what better source than my b-l-o-g-m-i-g-o-s and the rest of the blogosphere to get some ideas.

So I'm asking all of you... what new albums/music should I illegally download?

Memories

Kemp’s Note: I know I’m going to get thrashed for this song by, well, quite a few of my blogmigos, but a memory is a memory, and it can’t be changed…

Memories are a strong thing, a strong thing that stays in the recesses of our mind and comes out with certain cues we get… the smell of cookies baking reminding you of your grandmother Florence… the sight of a red sky in fall reminding you of your beloved Uncle Nishan… and music, perhaps the strongest mental cue there is.

The best time of my early, pre-adult, pre-bill paying life was college… I had a circle of friends (most of whom I still stay in touch with) that were close, one of which would eventually become my wife.

Since my roommate and I had the largest apartment out of the group, everyone would congregate there… and one particular moment has stayed in my mind more than others.

It was me, HoMu, my roommate and the rest of our little gang. There were only two days left in the semester before winter break… and the six of us were having a beer (imagine that), talking about life and the holidays and the future. It was a great time… and then, if by design, it started to lightly snow outside and the below song started playing on the stereo…

The images… the sounds… the feeling of all of us sitting there and talking are fully ingrained into my brain, and whenever I hear this song, I’m immediately transported back to that time… and those friends. A time of youth and few responsibilities… a time that saw a love blooming… and the holiday season upon us.

Memories…

Enjoy the song… it’s Mariah Carey’s, “All I Want for Christmas is You”

A Sign of Things to Come

“The female of the species is more deadly than the male.” - Rudyard Kipling

Oh you have no idea Rudyard… you have no idea…

This past weekend, Honey Mustard and I took The Peanut Butter & The Jelly to the Illinois State Fair in Springfield to see Corbin Blue/Drake Bell in concert.

Who’s Corbin Bleu you ask?

He’s one of the stars of the evil empire’s Disney’s “High School Musical,” he also starred in The PB’s favorite movie; “Jump In.”

There were approximately 7300 people at the concert, with the breakdown something like this:

• Girls anywhere from ages 3-17; 6899


• Boys anywhere from ages 3-17; 100


• Mothers/grandmothers/etc; 291


• Fathers/grandfathers/etc; 10

Ok, there were probably more than 10 men there, but not a whole-lot more… I was definitely outnumbered and realize I could have been trampled and overpowered at any given moment, but that is part of being a good father. And when The PB & The J told me that I was the best Daddy in the world for taking them to the concert... well, my heart was bursting with pride and joy.

When the first act, Jordan Pruitt, came out the audience response was a succinct; meh.

When Drake Bell (of Nickelodeon’s Drake & Josh) came out… the audience roared with approval.

When Corbin came out, all I heard was the squealing of thousands of girls… something along the lines of "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

That was immediately followed by a semi-constant ringing in my ears that went away… well, it really hasn’t yet…

The PB & The J enjoyed themselves immensely… and were dancing and singing with all the other girls in attendance.

The PB & The J are five… and we saw plenty of other girls around the same age… with their High School Musical or “I heart Corbin” t-shirts on… teeny-bopping around, screaming, and generally acting like a concert-goer.

But seeing all of this – seeing the throngs of girls in a tizzy ready to rip the eyes out of any other girl that made eyes at Corbin – made me realize one thing;

I am oh-so-screwed…

It’s gonna be me… HoMu… and The PB & The J… no other males in the house…

Me… and three females…

Pray for me…

In all seriousness though; Bell wasn’t bad. His musical influences are The Beatles, and you can definitely hear it in his music and also in his fashion with his publicty photo on the state fair’s website looking very early-Beatlesesque;

As far as Corbin goes, he’s been working out since “High School Musical.” Midway through his show he removed his shirt to reveal a tank top with a glittery peace sign, and his muscles were a’bulging with more than a few of the mother’s oooing and aahing… never mind the fact that he’s only 20…

And one other question; when the HELL did concert t-shirts get so ridiculously expensive? $30, are you kidding me?

Valentine's Day

I wrote a trivia-laden Valentine’s Day post last year which you can view HERE. This year I am going a different direction.

I agree with Croutonboy (a phrase I guarantee you won’t see me repeat often).

I don’t like Valentine’s Day… never have… probably never will. With that in mind, I give my message in the preferred short and sweet method:

I love my wife more and more each day.
Each day I am grateful that she is with me always and forever.
Each day I am grateful that she has given us our beautiful daughters.
Each day I am grateful that she laughs at my jokes and compliments my cooking.
Each day I am grateful that she makes me a better man, husband, and father, and for that I can never thank her enough.

Now, rather than fill the remainder of this post with more saccharine, which we are probably all full of by now anyway, I present to you… mine and Honey Mustard’s song, the one we remember from college and the one we had our first dance to as husband and wife, Love Will Keep Us Alive, by The Eagles.

I was standing
All alone against the world outside
You were searching
For a place to hide

Lost and lonely
Now you’ve given me the will to survive
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive

Don’t you worry
Sometimes you’ve just gotta let it ride
The world is changing
Right before your eyes
Now I’ve found you
There’s no more emptiness inside
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive

I would die for you
Climb the highest mountain
Baby, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do

I was standing
All alone against the world outside
You were searching
For a place to hide
Lost and lonely

Now you’ve given me the will to survive
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive

Kemps Blog: The Musical?

The Peanut Butter and the Jelly are musical people with music in their heart. They both love to sing and they both love to dance.

They love watching anything on TV with music… one of their new favorite movies is “Mary Poppins”… if it has music, they like it.

Henceforth lies the problem…

How many of you saw the musical episode of “Scrubs” a few weeks back with the stirring musical numbers “Everything Comes Down to Poo”, “Guy Love” and “Dominican Tango”?

Not a bad episode, and the musical numbers were catchy…

The problem is that is has become The PB & The J’s favorite show.

More so than Mickey’s Clubhouse or Handy Manny… they now want to watch the “singing doctor show.”

Every. Single. Minute.

Why is this a problem? Because now I have all of those songs stuck in my head.

Everything comes down to poo!
From the top of your head, to the sole of your shoeWe can figure out what's wrong with yo—

Stop it...

Every. Single. One.

Sometimes you're better off not knowing
But this isn't one of those times
Your world's become a musical
And your doctors speak in—

I said stop it...

I can’t shake them. No matter how much I listen to my iPod, no matter what I listen to on my iPod… I can’t shake them…

Let's face the facts about me and you
A love unspecified
Though I'm proud to call you Chocolate Bear
The crowd will always talk and stare

I really need to stop that, don’t I?

I’ve even tried replacing it with a colossally-annoying song-worm like The Wiggles or Dan Zane… but to no avail.

The thing is guys remember facts
Like what Derek Jeter hit last year, which was 3-oh-3!
And that is why our brains are maxed
And there's no room for things like birthdays or ethnicities

Son of a bit—

Help me. Please help me.