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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Sunday Jukebox - Material Girl by Madonna

I never actually planned for this to happen, but as it turns out, this weekend seemed to have a common theme to it.

My Friday entry was on Blair and Jo from The Facts Of Life, and yesterday's entry was about the short-lived cartoon series Camp Candy.

Unbeknownst to me, it almost played out like one of those 'Six Degrees Of Separation' games.  You know, the fad where everyone in the world could be connected to Kevin Bacon in as little as six moves?

Hmmm...I wonder if I can attempt to connect myself to Kevin Bacon in six moves...let's figure this out here.

1.  I once saw the Barenaked Ladies in concert about 15 years ago.
2.  BNL released the song 'The Old Apartment' around that time, and it was directed by Jason Priestley.
3.  Jason Priestley starred in Beverly Hills 90210 with Jennie Garth.
4.  Jennie Garth helped launch the show Melrose Place, which at some point had Kristin Davis in it.
5.  Kristin Davis worked on Sex And The City with Sarah Jessica Parker...and...
6.  Sarah Jessica Parker was in Footloose with KEVIN BACON!!!

You see?  I managed to connect myself to Kevin Bacon...albeit very loosely.

That's just how this weekend ended up.  Because all the entries featured in this weekend have dealt with spoiled princesses.

You had Blair Warner, who as you know was the quintessential rich snob at Eastland.
At Camp Candy, you had Vanessa, who was essentially so up herself, it's a wonder she even went to an outdoor camp in the first place.

Today's entry is no exception, even if the artist meant for the song and video to be done in irony.

Want to watch the video?  I'm sure you do!  (Sorry it's backwards...LOL)



ARTIST: Madonna
SONG:  Material Girl
ALBUM:  Like A Virgin
RELEASED: January 30, 1985
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #2

Madonna.  The biggest chameleon in all of pop music.  She changes her image more often than people change their underpants. 

She's arguably considered to be one of the most influential artists in the world of music.  She's influenced current musical artists with her sense of style and her art of performance during concerts.  Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, Lady Gaga...there's a little bit of Madonna in each of 'em, whether you argue for or against it.


By early 1985, Madonna was well on her way to achieving global success and making a household name for herself.  Her self-titled debut album released in 1982 had garnered moderate success, and with hits like 'Holiday' and 'Borderline' making a decent effort on the charts, she was well on her way to success.

Then in 1984, Madonna released the song 'Like A Virgin', which became her very first number one hit, and that song seemed to cement her status on music charts all over the world.  When Madonna's second album of the same name was released on November 12, 1984, it immediately became a huge success, and was considered to be one of the best selling albums of her career. 

Part of that was the success of the title track.  However, that was just the first of the releases from that album.  What song could possibly follow the success of Like A Virgin?

Madonna thought that the song Material Girl would be the perfect song.  In a sense, it was.  Recorded in late 1984, Material Girl came out during a time where yuppies and power brokers were hitting the scene, and where material possessions were sought out for happiness and pleasure.  Even Madonna herself talked about the message behind the song in interviews.  Although she didn't write the song herself, she felt that at the time of its creation, the lyrics seemed to click with her.  In 1986, she said this about Material Girl.  "I'm very career-oriented. You are attracted to people who are ambitious that way, too, like in the song 'Material Girl'. You are attracted to men who have material things because that's what pays the rents and buys you furs. That's the security. That lasts longer than emotions."

At the same time, she thought that the song was quite ironic in comparison to her.  Madonna never saw herself as much of a materialistic person at the time, which certainly contrasted with the song's message, which basically stated that 'poor men need not apply'.

Even the music video for Material Girl was heavily influenced by another blonde bombshell in the past.  If anyone is old enough to remember this movie, or who may have seen it on late-night television, there was a film called 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', which first came out in 1953.  The starlet of the movie was a 27-year-old Marilyn Monroe.  One of the classic moments of this movie was when Marilyn did a stage performance of the song 'Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend'.  Watch it below, and see if you can spot any similarities to Madonna's video.


The similarities are endless, wouldn't you think?  There's even a resemblance between Marilyn and Madonna, even though the clips were shot thirty-two years apart.

The video is another interesting study in itself.  At the beginning you'll see two movie executives (played by Robert Wuhl and Keith Carradine), and the one played by Carradine has an obvious crush on Madonna, and wants to impress her.  Thinking that because she's a famous performer who is used to the very best in life, he attempts to buy her expensive presents that cost a fortune.

But, wait!  As he approaches her dressing room, he overhears Madonna on the phone with Sandra Bernhard or Rosie O'Donnell, or whoever her friend was back in January 1985, talking about a necklace she just got, and how much she HATES it!  Apparently, unlike Marilyn Monroe, diamonds weren't Madonna's best friend.  She so wanted to have normal things, and was not impressed with suitors who were literally throwing their money away to sweep her off her feet.

It is at that point that Carradine takes his expensive present and THROWS IT IN THE GARBAGE!  Seriously, are you kidding me?  You couldn't have just pawned it off and paid your mortgage?  Sheesh.  Talk about throwing your money away for a girl who isn't interested.



We then cut to the musical performance, which basically goes against what Madonna was telling gal pal du jour.  Decked out in Marilyn Monroe garb, and dancing with guys offering her presents, she warbles on about how 'boys who save their pennies make her rainy day', and how all the 'boys with the cold hard cash are always Mr. Right'.

Because in Madonna's performing world, she was living in a material world, and she was the material girl.

Of course, she wasn't really...she was only pretending.  She did have a contract with Arli$$, after all.

So, after the video was all wrapped up, Madonna was changing back into her street clothes (which look like they were borrowed from the 'Lucky Star' video shoot), and Carradine surprises her with a bouquet of...daisies that looked like they were bought at a dollar store. 

Be still Madonna's heart, for the dollar store flowers have made you go all googly-eyed.

So, the two head into the parking lot of the studio and they pile into what looks like a pickup truck where they make out like two sixteen year olds on Lover's Lane.

But, WAIT!  Did you happen to catch the scene where Carradine hands over a fistful of money to the owner of the pickup truck?  You have to wonder...did he fish the expensive present out of the trash and sell it so he could rent out the love nest for himself and Madonna?

I guess no matter what his intentions are, Carradine proved that we really must live in a material world...well, in some fashion.  And that economical measures can cost a great deal to pull off.

Has much changed in the 26 years since Material Girl was released?  Well, aside from the fact that the economy tanked a few years ago, not a whole lot, really.  I still see people who are obsessed with getting the latest gadgets, or having nice cars and houses, and even so much as paying thousands for a prime parking space.  Certainly more people are pinching pennies in this tough economy, but there are some who seem to be the perfect visualization of material girls (or guys).  See Paris Hilton, the Kardashians, etc...

The song still has some staying power.  Although it's a song that Madonna herself has admitted to cringing at performing, she has performed the song at four of her world tours.


And Madonna teamed up with her fourteen year old daughter, Lourdes to create a clothing line named after the song that this blog happens to be about.

Still though, personally speaking, I guess I'm one of those guys who doesn't see how having money makes someone irresistible.  I'm far from being a material guy, and I just can't see myself getting involved with someone who wants to be a material girl.  Possessions come and go, or can be replaced, or can be dwarfed by the newest, sleekest version.  But, if I'm Keith Carradine's character, I would love to have someone like Madonna in that video...someone who isn't impressed by flashy diamonds or expensive gold, but who is impressed by the emotional feelings that one can give.

To me, that's worth more than anything bought at Tiffany's, Cartier, or even Kay Jewellers.

Saturday, July 09, 2011

Saturday Morning: Camp Candy

Have any of you ever been to summer camp before?  Maybe it was a day-camp where you got to do arts and crafts each day?  Or perhaps a sleepaway camp where you roasted marshmallows over a campfire as you talked about canoeing on the lake?

I never had the good fortune to take part in the actual summer camping experience.  I never did the tent pitching under the stars, or sleeping in a log cabin with other campers.  Never roasted weenies or canoed on a lake, or shot arrows at plastic decoys. 

I wasn't completely deprived of the summer camp experience though.

From the age of six to eleven, I took part in a summer playground program that was run by the Parks and Recreation committee in my small town.  Six playgrounds (usually at elementary schools all over the city) were chosen to host each of these camps, and at each camp were three or four counselors (usually juniors and seniors from the three high schools in town).  Each camp had about forty kids.

What sorts of activities did we take part in?

We did all sorts of things.  Although we only went on Mondays to Fridays from 9-4pm from early July to late August, those days were jam-packed with lots of fun.

We'd play lots of games, like Hot Potato, Hide and Seek, Red Light Green Light, and my personal favourite, Drip Drip Drop (think of it like Duck Duck Goose only with a jug of water that we poured over someone's head when we wanted them to be the goose).

Sometimes, we had people come in to talk 'Nature Lore' with us.  They'd bring in plant samples, and occasionally the odd animal for us to look at, and learn about summer ecosystems.  And yes, it was more fun than I let on...believe me!

We didn't just stay at the school playground all summer long though.  We got to go to places in town, and out of town as well.  Every Wednesday, for example, we would take a trip down to the Youth Arena, and that afternoon was spent doing arts and crafts.  All six playgrounds would gather in the upstairs rooms, and it was one of the few times where we could meet kids from other areas.  I was at the Commonwealth playground five of the six years (except that one summer we were at John Knox, as they were doing renovations the summer of '91), but it was neat to see the Bramshot, St. John Bosco, and Westminister kids.

Thursday afternoons were swimming trips, and like most kids did back in the late eighties and early nineties, we'd head down to St. Lawrence Park and take a dip in the river.  I remember having lots of fun times at that park.

We would even have a couple of field trips along the way.  In July, we'd go down to Crazy Horse park and play mini golf and go down the water slide, while in August, we'd go down to Kingston and play at a sports arena called Studio 801 (which later became Celebrity Sportsworld, which I believe closed down, sadly).

Really, there couldn't have been a better way to spend the summer.  I actually grew sad when I got too old to take part in the program.  What's even more tragic is that the summer playground program was shut down around 1995 because the cost to keep it running grew too high.  It's a real shame, because I think the kids in this community need something like that more than ever.

I just thought that my experiences in the playground program were so filled with happiness, and the days were carefree and exciting that I wish I could go back in time to experience that again.

I can think of another camp that I wish I could go back in time to revisit.  The only difference was that this camp would be one that I could only visit on Saturday mornings on the station known as NBC.  Even so, it was a fantastic camp.


Camp Candy.  One of the coolest summer camps I can remember watching, and one camp that I would have loved to have been a part of.

Well...that is...if I were a two-dimensional cartoon character that is.


Camp Candy was first broadcast in September 1989, and the basic premise is that the camp was run by a cartoon version of comedian and actor John Candy.  Mind you, the camp wasn't exactly your normal camp.

For starters, the campers at the camp certainly had their own distinct personalities, and those personalities could either clash or fit together, depending on the situation the campers found themselves in.



Although the camp seemed to have dozens of campers in each of the bunks and around the campfire, the show seemed to only focus on six kids.  You'll see five of them up above (for some reason, Robin is cut out of this picture, but you can see her in the group shot).  They are...

Alex (red haired girl with pigtails), who was a tomboy at heart and loved competing in sports.
Binky (boy in blue cap), who was an adventurer and loved going on explorations.
Iggy (boy in glasses), Binky's brother, who was a hypochondriac and was afraid of almost everything.
Rick (boy in green and pink shorts), who was a practical joker, and often displayed an arrogant attitude.
Robin (girl with pink bows and black curls) who was a nature-lover and who could mimic animal sounds.
Vanessa (girl with jewelry), a spoiled girl who put fashion ahead of everything else.

You can see these kids in action in this Camp Candy episode, entitled Christmas In July, which coincidentally first aired on December 16, 1989.


Okay, so maybe some things were filled with inaccuracies.  I'm pretty sure that you can't freeze the surface of a swimming pool with an air conditioner, but hey...as Vanessa said, it's the thought that counts, right?

The truth is that I really enjoyed this show a lot, and while it's one that not a lot of people may remember, it brought me a lot of happiness watching it on television. 



I mean, if it was popular enough for Marvel comics to publish a comic book about the show (even if it only lasted a little while), surely it must have had SOME impact, right?

That's why it's still sad to know that there won't be a chance to see new episodes of the series ever again, because of John Candy's sudden death in 1994 at the age of 43.

It is nice to know that he made this cartoon.  He certainly made a lot of kids very happy, in addition to many adults across North America and the world.  I'm glad that this cartoon made it on my list of favourite Saturday morning cartoons, and would gladly watch the show again if ever it came back on in reruns.

Friday, July 08, 2011

TGIF: Blair Warner and Jo Polniaczek from The Facts Of Life

Have you ever wondered how two people who might be so incredibly different from each other in personality, social backgrounds, and belief systems could end up becoming best friends?  How they stand by one another and defend each other no matter what, even though they have absolutely nothing in common?

I'll talk to you about one fictional pair of friends who were just like that, but before I go on, I figure I should introduce the show in which these girls came from.


When The Facts Of Life first premiered on NBC on August 24, 1979, it was initially a spinoff of another successful show called Diff'rent Strokes.  The pilot episode of The Facts Of Life was actually the season one finale of Diff'rent Strokes, and in that episode, Kimberly Drummond (the daughter in Diff'rent Strokes played by the late Dana Plato) was attending Eastland (then called East Lake), where she needed Mrs. Garrett's help to sew costumes for a school play.  At the time, Mrs. Garrett worked as the Drummond's housekeeper.  Mrs. Garrett helped out by making the costumes, and the play was a success.  Mrs. Garrett was asked to stay on at Eastland, but she initially decided to stay with the Drummond family instead.

Apparently, she must have changed her mind over those three months, because by August of 1979, Mrs. Garrett was working as a housemother to seven young girls in Eastland.

The show was a huge ratings success over the years, and the show ran for nine seasons until it finally went off the air on May 7, 1988.  The road to success was kind of a rocky one.  During the first season, the show focused on seven girls (including one played by an eleven year old Molly Ringwald), but by the end of the first season, the decision was made to retool the show.  Four of the girls (including Ringwald's character) were dropped to recurring during the next season, and only Blair, Tootie, and Natalie remained.  To make up for the loss, a new character was brought in named Jo, in the fall of 1980.

And it was in the fall of 1980 that our story starts off between two girls who became friends, even though they had nothing in common.




Blair Warner (played by Lisa Whelchel) and Jo Polniaczek (played by Nancy McKeon) could not be further apart from each other.  In fact, when they first met, they ended up hating each other almost at first sight.


Blair Warner was your typical spoiled princess diva character.  Coming from a privileged family where there was more money than she could even count, Blair had almost everything that money could buy.  Her preppy style of dress and classic blonde-haired beauty look attracted men of all kinds, and she took pride in the fact that she was attractive.  She grew up in the country club scene and was used to having the very best in life.  Blair was also not one to mingle with just anyone.  Although she got along with her housemates Natalie and Tootie, Blair didn't just socialize with anyone.  Quite often, if she felt someone was beneath her, she very rarely talked to them at all.  Her confidence and her appreciation for the rich world have sort of made her a bit flighty, and her spoiled background made it quite difficult for her to appreciate the value of a dollar, or how hard people really worked to make money.  Nevertheless, she was widely considered to be one of the more popular students at Eastland.



Jo Polniaczek's background couldn't be more different.  Growing up in a Polish-American family in the heart of the Bronx, her family was all about working hard to get what they wanted.  Jo's father ended up spending some time in jail for attempted theft...a fact that embarrassed Jo greatly.  Jo gave off the impression that she was a tough street-smart kid who never let anyone walk all over her, but the truth was that she had a softer side that she almost seemed afraid to show off for fear of showing her vulnerability.  While most Eastland students had parents who could afford the tuition, Jo had earned a scholarship to the school.  She rode into Eastland on her motorcycle, which lead to her first meeting with Blair, which didn't exactly go so well.  You'll have to start the video around the three and a half minute mark.



Not exactly the best way to make a first impression, is it? 

Jo disliked Blair because in her judgment, she was a stuck-up rich kid who was so obsessed with material things that she was incredibly shallow.  Blair disliked Jo because she was someone who didn't measure up to her standards, and she found her incredibly classless and tasteless.

Not exactly the seeds that sprout a healthy friendship.

What changed?

As time went on, Blair started to realize that Jo might not be as classless as she initially believed, and started to think that she was misunderstood.  And Jo began to realize that Blair wasn't as stuck-up as she had thought, and that maybe underneath, she was a good person.

In fact, when the girls ended up having to do kitchen duty at Eastland because of a situation that Jo had gotten them into, it was Blair who offered the olive branch first.  It begins into the three minute or four minute mark.




This is an interesting episode, because had it not been for Blair standing up for Jo, and convincing her to talk to Mrs. Garrett about staying, Jo would have left Eastland for good.

Blair also proved to be a good friend to Jo when Jo was invited to a cotillion by one of Blair's rich friends.  It initially didn't start off that way, though, as Blair seemed to be jealous of Jo going out with him in the first place.  But when Jo's date turned out to be a real jerk, Blair helped set things straight.




And, Jo proved to be a great friend to Blair as well.  When Blair got involved with a boy at school who treated her terribly, Jo tried to convince Blair that he was no good for her.





Now, certainly, the friendship between Blair and Jo has been tested quite a few times.  When Jo's scholarship to Eastland was in danger of running out, and Blair tried to get her father to give Jo one, Jo was offended by the gesture, saying that she didn't need anyone's charity.  In the end, she accepted Blair's offer, after a talk with Mrs. Garrett.  And, when Blair's sister came to visit and told everyone that she was going to become a nun, Blair did not take it very well at all.  When Jo tried to defend Blair's sister against Blair, and countered that she wanted to become a nun, Blair immediately got in Jo's face about it and got a punch in the face for her trouble.  It was later revealled that she prayed to God to keep her family together, and the next day, they filed for divorce.  She stopped believing in God after that.  In the end, the event triggered a much needed conversation between Blair and her sister, and she and Jo made up.

Sometimes, the strain between Blair and Jo made for some hilarious moments, such as this 1985 episode entitled 3,2,1.




(Did anyone notice George Clooney was in this episode too?  How surreal.)

So, I guess the point I'm making is this.  Two people can have so many differences between them that it seems almost inconceivable that they would ever become friends.  Yet Blair and Jo did exactly that.  And the reason they did exactly that is simply because they had one thing in common that made all the other differences seem insignificant.

They both wanted to become better people.  And, because of their friendship, they did.

Thursday, July 07, 2011

Thursday Night At The Arcade: Spyro The Dragon

How can a little purple dragon that everyone assumed to be the runt of the litter end up being the hero of several video games, and be regarded as one of the best video game characters of the PlayStation era?

If you are that dragon, and your name happens to be Spyro, it's just a matter of proving your strength and your cleverness to the entire dragon realm, and earning your hero status through hard work and determination.


Spyro The Dragon was released on the PlayStation game console on September 10, 1998, and immediately upon its release, the game garnered positive response from the gaming community, as well as video game magazines and reviewers all over.

In fact, I have a little tale to tell in regards to how I was introduced to the Spyro series of games.  Prior to the PlayStation years, I had been a Nintendo kid for most of my gaming life.  Although my first system was the classic Intellivision, I had always grown up with Nintendo.  I owned both the 8-bit NES, as well as the Super Nintendo.  I never owned the Nintendo 64 or the Nintendo GameCube consoles, as both of them were very expensive, so for years, I remained in Super Nintendo bliss, even after games became harder and harder to find for it.

It wasn't until my cousin ended up buying a PlayStation 2 that I ended up inheriting her old PlayStation console.  Keep in mind, this would be going back to the year 2002.  Nevertheless, I admit that the PlayStation was a huge improvement over the Super Nintendo of yesteryear. 

The first game I ever played on the PlayStation was Spyro the Dragon.  And, what a game it was!



You basically controlled this purple dragon named Spyro (and Spyro was supposed to have been green in the original concept of the game but was changed because the programmers worried he'd disappear against the lush greenery of some of the levels.) through a half-dozen dragon worlds.  Each world had its own distinct theme, and were beautifully designed with intricate detail.  You had the Artisan, Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, Dream Weavers Worlds, as well as the final boss realm to make it through.

In each world were three mini-worlds, a flying level, and a guardian in each world to defeat.

The object of the game was to get rid of Gnasty Gnorc, a vile creature that imprisoned each of the adult dragons in bluish-green crystal prisons.  As Spyro, you had to go through each world to rescue the dragons, as well as collecting gems along the way.  The gems varied in colour and value, with red gems the cheapest and most plentiful, and purple gems being the rarest and most expensive.  Obviously, your main goal was to defeat Gnasty Gnorc.  However, if Spyro could find all fifteen thousand gems, rescue all eighty dragons, and rescue twelve dragon eggs from some of Gnasty Gnorc's thieves (who strangely look like Marge Simpson in a blue bathrobe), then you got to see a bonus ending.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of playing this very addictive game, have a look at one of the levels, as played by some random YouTuber.


Although Dark Passage doesn't appear in the game until you reach the Dream Weavers world, there is a reason why I chose to use this level to show off the game.

For one, out of all the levels in the whole game, this one happens to be my favourite one to play.  It's challenging, it has brilliant colour schemes, and the level has the most dragons to rescue and five hundred gems to locate...one of the longest levels in the whole game to complete.

If you can hear the background music of this level, the composer of it has some previous fame.  You may have heard of the band known as 'The Police'.  It was fronted by Sting, and had a few hit singles in the late 1970's and early 1980's before Sting went solo.  Did you know that Stewart Copeland, who was a member of the band, scored all the music for the first four Spyro video games?  The whole soundtrack of Spyro The Dragon was one of the best video game scores for any video game I've ever played, and it was all because of him.

Even the game play was fun.  You found gems lying around on the ground, but sometimes you had to trigger events to get them to show.  Sometimes, you had to ram through a treasure chest.  Sometimes, you had to shoot a rocket at it.  And sometimes, you had to blow up dynamite to get the gems to appear.  The levels all had secrets to them, and if you found every secret, it got you one step closer to Gnasty Gnorc, and helped you get closer to the secret ending.


Oh, and you could also get gems by killing off Gnasty's minions.

The fight against Gnasty is a treacherous one, and Spyro fortunately has help.  He has a dragonfly friend named Sparx that can help Spyro collect gems, and can even protect Spyro from getting attacked by a monster.  Be careful though...Spyro can only take so many hits before Sparx decides to take off, leaving him incredibly vulnerable.

Spyro's levels are mostly on the ground, but there are some cases where Spyro has to fly through levels in order to collect more gems.  Have a look.





This is Icy Flight, and again, this level can be found in the Dream Weavers World (which happens to be my favourite world, might I add).  It's simple.  You have to smash or torch eight of each item in the level (in this case, lamp posts, treasure chests, barrels, and helicopters), and if you do it before time runs out, you beat the level and add some more gems to your total.

So, all in all, it's a really decent game, and I'm happy that of all the games for the PlayStation that this one was my first one.

There's a reason why I chose to talk about this video game for today's blog entry.

Spyro ended up being a huge hero in the game, but prior to Gnasty Gnorc coming in and wreaking havoc, Spyro was considered to be a bit of a runt.  He didn't have nearly the worldly experience and intellect as the guardians of the Dragon Worlds, and he certainly didn't have the skills.  He could breathe fire and fly somewhat, but he couldn't swim, or climb a ladder, or headbash into objects.  (He wouldn't learn how to do those until Spyro 2)

What he lacked in skills, he made up for in heart.

When all the dragons became frozen, Spyro managed to avoid meeting a similar fate by using his small size to his advantage...a fact that initially was considered to be a hinderance.

But, that's the way Spyro was.  He turned his weaknesses into strengths, and because of that, he rescued his friends, defeated Gnasty Gnorc, and saved the treasures from his hench...gnorcs.

I'm gonna say this.  I've had my own little Spyro moment.  Mind you, I never saved dragons from a monster dressed like a container of Jiffy Pop...but I have a story where I turned a weakness into a strength.

It involves my writing ability...or rather, my penmanship ability.

I used to have the most horrible penmanship when I was a kid.  I mean, it was so bad, I used practically a whole page in a notebook just to write one sentence, because that was the only way people could read it.  My motor skills were somewhat on the underdeveloped side, and I had trouble holding pens and pencils the correct way.  I didn't care though.  As long as I could read it, it was fine enough for me.  Besides, most kids my age at the time were competitive, and as far as the class was concerned, the one who finished class assignments the fastest was the smartest kid in the class, so naturally, as a six-year-old, I wanted to rise to the challenge.

(I never said I was INTELLIGENT at six.)

Anyway, I did finish my class assignments in half the time as most of the others.  Problem was, my handwriting was hard to make out.

My first grade teacher at the time (and believe me, I plan on talking about her quite a bit as she held an...ahem...impressionable imprint on my early childhood), once told my parents that my handwriting was so atrocious that I would NEVER learn how to write neatly, and she made sure I was the last one to get the writing notebook (which was a notebook a student got once they learned cursive writing).  Nevermind the fact that there were kids who wrote just as badly as I did, I was the last one.

I got a D in handwriting that whole year.  And those words from her that I would never learn how to write properly again?  I wanted to prove her wrong.

It may have taken me years to improve my motor skills enough to master the art of handwriting, but I believe that I've done a fantastic job now with it.  I'm even starting to learn calligraphy as a result.

All because I was determined not to be defined by my horrible writing.  I would rather be remembered for being a good person, not for things that I could or couldn't do.

I think that's what Spyro wanted too.


Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Across The Pond and Beyond: INXS

For any of you who have followed this blog with any sort of regularity whatsoever, you may recall that my July 3 entry on Amy Grant had one basic theme going for it.  In that blog entry, I said that Amy Grant made the decision to break out of her comfort zone, and it brought forth some rewards in the form of several Billboard hits, a new fan base, and even a new love interest in the form of Vince Gill.  All because she took a chance and took flight in a new direction that paid off.

The blog subject for today's entry happens to deal with a band from the country of Australia that had a similar experience, triggered by the tragic loss of a key member.  The way they went about finding a replacement for the band was definitely out of their comfort zone.  They took a huge chance in the method in which they auditioned candidates, and by all accounts, the whole experiment could have been disasterous.

Instead, the band has regrouped from their loss, and their replacement has fit in (after a rocky start).  In fact, this particular band played at a summer festival here in town three nights ago.  A band I would have loved to have seen.

(Had it not been for my schizophrenic scheduling at work, I would have...but that's a different issue at the moment.)

So, what band am I talking about?


First, let's get a little bit of history about the band, as well as introducing the original line-up.



Okay...if my facial recognitions are correct, here was the original line-up when INXS began in the late 1970's.

From left:
1.  Tim Farriss - lead guitar
2.  Kirk Pengilly - guitar/saxophone
3.  Garry Gary Beers - bass guitar
4.  Michael Hutchence - lead vocalist
5.  Andrew Farriss - keyboards/guitar
6.  Jon Farriss - drums/percussion

The band released their first album in 1980, and had a bit of success in their native Australia, releasing their second album shortly after their first, and having a few modest hits between 1980 and 1981. 

It wasn't until INXS released their third album 'Shabooh Shoobah' that they started to have international success.  One single from that album, 'The One Thing', peaked at #30 on the Billboard Charts in May 1983.  A decent effort, but more was to come as the 1980's progressed.

During the course of the 1980's, INXS released three more albums.  1984's 'The Swing', 1985's 'Listen Like Thieves', and 1987's 'Kick'.  'The Swing' spawned the single 'Original Sin', which ended up being INXS' first number one single overseas.  And 'Listen Like Thieves' gave the band some success as well.  In particular with this song, which happens to be one of this particular blogger's favourite INXS tracks of all time.



(Didn't that video just regurgitate every 1980's stereotype out there?  I still love it, even though I was barely in junior kindergarten when it was released.)

Their last album of the 1980's ended up being INXS' most successful effort, and it was that album that really propelled them to super-stardom.


First things first, how cool is this album cover?  Seriously?  With random band members posing on the album cover, and with Michael Hutchence staring out the corner of his eye at...well, who knows what?  Perhaps he's noticing that he's going to get clonked over the head by that Tony Hawk wannabe on the skateboard?  Only Michael knew the truth, and as you'll discover later on as you read this, he won't be talking about it.

Kick certainly lived up to its name.  Four top ten singles were released from this album.  'Never Tear Us Apart', 'Devil Inside', 'New Sensation', and this hit, which ended up becoming the band's only number one hit on the Billboard Charts.



Need You Tonight is widely considered to be the band's signature hit, and why wouldn't it be?  Not only was it a number one hit, but at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards, the video ended up winning five awards.  That's an incredible feat. 

The band followed the success of Kick with their 1990 album 'X', which spawned hit singles with 'Suicide Blonde' and 'Disappear'.  At the time, Michael Hutchence was involved in a relationship with pop singer Kylie Minogue, which brought some of Kylie's fans to the INXS fanbase, and in 1991, embarked on their Summer XS tour, which was a great success.

By 1993, however, interest in the band began to fade.  Certainly their next two albums had charted consistently in Australia and the United Kingdom, but received a lukewarm reception in North America.  In 1997, INXS released the album 'Elegantly Wasted', which was intended to be a comeback album of sorts, and while reviews were mixed, it still managed to sell quite well in Canada, Australia, and the UK.  It seemed as though the band was on the right track again, and the future for the band seemed endless.


On November 22, 1997, Michael Hutchence was found dead inside a Sydney hotel room.  He was only 37 years old.  The reports of his death was ruled to have been a suicide, fueled by alcohol and drug use.  However, that ruling has since been disputed by several sources, including fans of INXS, and really, as of 2011, perhaps the real cause of Hutchence's death will never truly be known.

With Hutchence's death, the band was now left without its voice, as Michael was the lead vocalist on almost all of the songs that brought INXS fame.  The band took a year off to cope with the sudden death of Michael Hutchence before playing again.  They attempted to perform concerts again with replacement vocalists such as Jon Stevens and Terence Trent D'Arby, but it just wasn't the same.

Remember that part at the beginning of this blog entry about how the band took a big risk in trying to find a new lead singer for their band?  This is where it comes into play right here.



By 2005, reality television was gaining in popularity, and talent shows such as American Idol were gaining in popularity.  If you had told anyone ten years earlier that INXS would be using reality television to search for a new lead singer, they probably would have laughed off the idea.

Yet that summer, the band did exactly that.

Rock Star: INXS premiered on CBS on July 11, 2005, where fifteen people competed for the chance to become the new lead singer of the band.  Amongst the competitors were Suzie McNeil, who later achieved success on Canadian music charts, and Tara Slone, a Canadian who had minor success on the charts as well.

The eventual winner of the competition was, yet another Canadian.  One who was living in his car when he applied for the show.


J.D. Fortune had taken a huge chance by applying for the show without so much as having a permanent address at the time.  When he was on the show, he took an even greater risk that ended up influencing the band's decision to choose him as the eventual lead singer of the band.

When the show reached the point where only eight contestants remained, there was a challenge where the competitors were split up into two teams of four.  The challenge was to write lyrics to a melody, provided by Andrew Farriss.  J.D. happened to be in a team where he had trouble seeing eye to eye with the other members in whatever ideas he had for the lyrics.  What eventually happened was that J.D. broke away from his team and wrote lyrics of his own.  This was a risky move, because it could have been seen as J.D. being unable to work in a team environment (which would not be a good quality to have if one were to join an already existing band), but it was a risk that J.D. wanted to take, and he hoped it would pay off.

What was the song in question?  Have a listen.


'Pretty Vegas' was the hit of the show.  The fans loved it.  More importantly, INXS loved it.  The fact that it was a J.D. Fortune creation just made it that much better. 

It was that song that cemented the band's decision to hire J.D. as their new lead singer.  In fact, the song proved to be so popular that when INXS released their 'Switch' album later that year, 'Pretty Vegas' appeared on the album and was released as a single that November.

You see what I'm talking about with the whole idea of stepping outside the comfort zones and bending the rules, and how it can lead to great things if timed correctly?  This was a perfect case.  Had INXS not agreed to do the reality show, they wouldn't have met J.D. Fortune.  Had J.D. Fortune not sent in that application to the show, he wouldn't have been a contestant.  Had J.D. not have broken away from the group challenge to write his own solo lyrics, 'Pretty Vegas' would have never been written, and so on, and so on.

Granted, the road for both INXS and J.D. Fortune hasn't been a rocky one.  It was reported in 2009 that J.D. was fired from the band in Hong Kong (in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Fortune had admitted to cocaine use during this time period), and that lead to a rather tumultuous time period for the band.  By 2010 however, the band had released another album together, and it appears as though INXS has given J.D. another chance.

The band is now currently on tour, with Brockville, Ontario having hosted them for a July 3 concert for the town's Riverfest celebration.

A concert that I would have loved to have gone to.

However, if the success of the concert and the band's future plans are any indication of the what is to come, I have a feeling that I might get another chance to see them in concert again.

I certainly hope that is the case.

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

What Balloons Have Taught Me About Myself


I'm sure that some of you remember the NBC show 'Fear Factor'.  The show that used to place contestants in worst case scenarios all designed to help them face their fears in some of the grossest and heart-stopping situations possible. 

Could you imagine dunking your whole head inside a tank filled with scorpions and Madagascar hissing cockroaches?  Could you imagine having to swallow whole spiders or half-developed duck embryos?  Could you imagine balancing on one foot on a tightrope between two buildings four hundred feet up in the air?

People on 'Fear Factor' have done all those things, and more...all for the chance to win a fifty thousand dollar jackpot at the end of each episode.

Now, I don't know about any of you out there, but I don't think I could do any of those things for $50,000.  Not because I'm fearful of any of those things, mind you, but because you're gonna have to add a couple of more zeroes onto that number before I even think about choking down eggs that have a duck fetus inside of them.

Still, they are legitimate fears that a lot of people do have.  A lot of people are afraid of insects, and try to avoid them.  I know...ever since I stepped on a bee and it stung me in between the toes, I haven't really liked them very much after that.  Some people have fears of trying foods that they find disgusting.  I think I've talked enough about duck embryos to illustrate that point.  Some people have fears of heights.  I know I don't particularly like them much myself.

Again, all rational fears that a lot of people in this world have.

But what about irrational fears?  People, places, or things that people find scary, even though there's no rational reason behind what makes them that way.

They could have an unhealthy fear of lollipops, intersections, Colonel Sanders.  Whatever the reason, they get freaked out by it so much that their reactions can range from mild discomfort to full-blown panic attacks.

Would you be shocked if I told you that I have an irrational fear?  A fear that most people don't seem to possess, but yet is one that I have been cursed with having.  A fear that if you've read the title you probably know what it is.

That's right, everyone.  I have an irrational fear of balloons.  But not all balloons.  Speech balloons in comic books are all right.


These balloons don't bother me too much.  They're beautiful to look at up in the sky, and while I get a little wary of high places, I am not afraid of hot-air balloons.  We used to have a hot-air balloon festival in my hometown years ago called 'The Great Balloon Rodeo'.  No, these balloons are okay.


I actually don't even mind the Mylar balloons either.  They're pretty to look at, and they aren't as easy to destroy as the other ones. 

No, actually, it's these balloons I can't stand.



Look at them.  All eight of them smiling at me like they claim to be filled with more than just air.  They have that look about them.  All big and bold, in the brightest possible colours.  Their warm smiles hiding the real cruelty within.  Sure, they may look innocent, but these balloons are evil!  EVIL!

I imagine that there was a time in which I absolutely loved balloons.  Balloons were great fun at one time.  In fact, I think there are some old photos kicking around of me at age two where the whole ceiling was filled with balloons. 

But somewhere along the line, I began to like balloons less and less, and I started to fear them more and more.  There was some instances in which I actually skipped school because I found out ahead of time that the class would be popping balloons in gym class, or rubbing balloons on our heads to demonstrate the wonders of static electricity.



And, don't even get me started on those silly clowns who twist those long, skinny balloons into balloon animals.  People like that gave me nightmares.  I couldn't stand the noise that the twisting and the rubbing of the balloons as they became dogs, and swords, and other animals.  We occasionally get people making balloon animals for charity at my workplace, and I understand that kids are excited to get black and blue balloon swords.  Myself, I try to stay far away from the balloon animal breeder...as well as the destructive little urchins that happen to be holding these 'weapons of mass sonic destruction'.

I imagine the lot of you are reading this, and laughing out loud, because you've never met anyone with an obvious hate for balloons like me.  Most people love balloons, and I reckon in North America, millions of dollars are spent on balloons for decorating wedding receptions, prom dance floors, parade floats, and birthday parties. 

I'll admit that if balloons are positioned in such a way that they can't be accessed by the average person, I'm fine with them for decorative purposes.  Just keep them away from me.



You see...I really cannot stand the loud bang that a balloon makes when it's pricked by a needle, or squashed by stomping on it, or just by blowing them up too big (a phonomenon that is called 'blow to pop').  That loud bang has made me literally run screaming from one room to another, usually at my own expense.  I know it sounds like a really oddball thing for someone to have a fear of, but I've never made it any real secret that my way of thinking is kind of oddball on my best days.

There are dozens of videos on YouTube that show lots of people blowing up balloons so big that they get that little lump on the bottom of the balloon, and they'll keep blowing into it until they make one gigantic bang.  Apparently, these videos have garnered quite a following, and some people have even gotten turned on by watching these videos.

The only thing I want to do is turn off the videos!  I don't want to see them!  I'd throw a bowling ball through my computer screen just so I don't have to hear that big bang.

You want to know what the most frustrating part about my fear of balloons is?  I have absolutely no idea why I have this fear in the first place.  None whatsoever.



I mean, yes...balloons do make a loud bang, but so do other things.  Some of them do bother me just like balloons.  I always had to wear earplugs as a youngster whenever I would head down to the Canada Day fireworks display.  I never played with cap-guns because I hated the bang they would make.  I avoided Christmas crackers like the plague.  Still, other things, like loud music or bass drums, or motorcycle engines.  They don't seem to bother me as much as balloons do.



The truth is...it's a mystery to me as to why I can't stand balloons.  It's something that I've tried to adapt to, and I'm at the point where I can be in the same room as a balloon provided that a little child doesn't try to grab it.  Oh, and don't expect me to win you a gigantic stuffed Smurf at the fair by playing one of those pop a balloon, win a prize games, because that'll never happen.

When I was a child, I tried my best to hide my fear from others, but during one school day, some people from ScienceQuest came to visit our school.  They had this experiment where they lit balloons that were filled with different kinds of gases, and with every balloon that got torched, my fear was exposed to my classmates.

After that day, some of the more...shall we say...immature of the bunch immediately headed off to the store to buy those Quarter-Pound bags of balloons and brought them to school with the purpose of trying to exploit my unusual fear.  They'd chase me around the playground popping them, or they'd stick them on my locker, or they'd simply threaten to bring them to school.

It was such an awful feeling to have to go through.  Imagine them knowing your weakness, and having them try to exploit it every day at school.  It was incredibly difficult.

Eventually, around high school, I had enough of it, and I told a complete bold-faced lie to the lot of them in an effort to get them to stop, as well as getting bombarded with constant questions like 'why are you afraid of balloons' that were really nobody's business but my own.  I told them that there was a childhood trauma associated with balloons...that when I was younger, I was blowing up a balloon, and it popped in my mouth.  I then told them that one of the pieces went down my throat and I almost choked to death.  I told that story so convincingly, and with a couple of notable exceptions who will remain nameless, the majority seemed to believe the tale, and laid off accordingly.

So, that was that.  I got them to leave me alone, even by lying through my teeth.

And you know, it really shouldn't have even come to that.  I shouldn't have to lie to people in order for them to be my friend, or to understand my fears and anxieties, as absolutely mind-boggling as they might be.

And I won't from this moment on.

My fear of balloons may be an inconvenience, and it may be a fear that I may or may not completely get over.  But if there's anything that it taught me, it's that I shouldn't have to explain away, or make excuses for any unusual traits or personality quirks I might have.  I should embrace them, and if I want to change them, I should do so at my own pace...not because others tell me I have to, or because I feel like less of a person if I don't.

If people feel a need to harass me or make fun of me or torture me because of this fear, they are not welcome in my life.  I don't need the drama, the hassle, or the hurt feelings. 

It is a quirk and an unusual fear, I admit it...but I've made efforts to try and get better at handling it.  And really, those people who are my true friends will understand, and not judge me any differently because of it.  I know that to be true in my heart.

Who knows?  Maybe one day, I'll have a son of my own who wants to buy every balloon in the circus, and maybe, I'll buy him as many balloons as he wants.

Or, maybe I'll just take him to the movie theatre or some other balloon-free zone instead.  ;D


Monday, July 04, 2011

Monday Matinee - Independence Day

Hello, blog readers!  I just wanted to start off by wishing any American readers out there a happy 4th of July!


The 4th of July is a very important holiday for those who live in the United States of America.  It happens to be their independence day.  This year marks the 235th birthday of the U.S.A. and for most American citizens, it's an excuse to celebrate all things American.  Baseball games, barbecues, fireworks.  It's a fair assessment to see many of these things present as America celebrates its independence day.

Therefore, it almost seems out there in a sense for the 4th of July to be associated with spaceships, aliens, and worldwide destruction.  Almost.

Independence Day 1996, however, proved differently (well, in a fictional sense anyways).


On July 2, 1996, the movie Independence Day was released in theatres.  The original release date was supposed to have been the following day, but due to the hoopla and the buzz surrounding the film, some theatres opted for an earlier release.

And why wouldn't people be excited about it?  Directed by Roland Emmerich, the film made a total of over $800 million and as of July 4, 2011, it is the 27th highest grossing movie of all-time. 


It's been fifteen years since the movie was released, so I am only in assumption that the majority of you who are reading this blog entry know what the movie is about.  For those of you that do not though, here's the Cliff's Notes version.  At the beginning of July, a fleet of speceships led by one massive mother ship enter the Earth's atmosphere.  There are thirty-six in total that are positioned all over the world, but in this film, we only see three.  One in Los Angeles, one in New York City, and one in Washington D.C.

(Apparently Chicago, Dallas, and Miami were deemed not worthy enough to be shown being invaded.)

Anyway, in New York, David Levinson (played by Jeff Goldblum) discovers transmissions coming from the aliens which he thinks is a countdown to a global attack.  He tries to head to Washington D.C. to warn President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) about the attacks.

Meanwhile, the alien presence wreaks havoc in the cities where the alien saucers are located.  Television signals get jammed, and people who believe that the aliens have come in peace celebrate their arrival, not aware of the danger that they are about to face.

Levinson makes it to D.C. just in time to warn the president, and they board Air Force One just as the aliens launch their attack.

The ensuing attack completely destroys New York, Washington, and Los Angeles, as well as other cities around the world, and as dawn breaks on July 3, the loss of life is staggering.

There are some survivors.  Hiller's girlfriend and her young son take cover inside a freeway tunnel, and they happen to find the First Lady, clinging to life after her helicopter went down in the attacks.  Hiller is sent to an area outside of the destroyed Los Angeles to launch a wave of attacks against the aliens.  During the course of the attack, he manages to capture one of the alien pilots and with help from a refugee group, finds out why the aliens have attacked Earth.  The alien species travel from planet to planet, to drain the planet's resources before moving on to the next planet.  They did not come in peace, as some people had believed before they were fried.  Instead, they came to destroy.

And that was something that the surviving people of Earth would not let happen.

I don't really need to go on any further with this.  This movie is a classic tale of good versus evil, set in a science-fiction world where the Santa Monica beach erodes and the Empire State Building goes up like a roman candle.

The one thing I would like to talk about in regards to this film is how a huge group of people, who could not be more different from each other personality wise, comes together in the face of tragedy.


Now, granted...the odds of aliens hovering over our planet to turn our major cities into a gigantic stir-fry are astronomically high.  Not saying that it can NEVER be possible, as none of us really ever know if there is life elsewhere on Earth, but for the sake of argument, let's just say that it won't be happening today.  The point is that in the face of disaster, it's nice to know that people can put aside their differences to reach a common goal, and really, shouldn't we all feel that way?

I mean, let's look at the characters.  You have David, who can best be described as the computer nerd type.  You have Captain Hiller, a brash and fearless fighter pilot who doesn't know the meaning of the word afraid.  It seems highly unlikely that the two of them would so much as acknowledge each other if they ran into each other in the middle of Times Square.  But once Times Square was blown up by the aliens, and the two had to work together to fight them, they actually made a decent team, who ended up becoming heroes as a result.

You could say the same about the scenes in the nuked Los Angeles between Hiller's girlfriend Jasmine, and the First Lady.  By all appearances, the First Lady was a demure, sophisticated lady.  Contrast that to Jasmine, who worked as an exotic dancer, and whose exotic dancer friends ended up getting zapped by the aliens during the attack.  But when the First Lady suffered serious injury, Jasmine was there for her.  Jasmine's quick thinking also managed to save the lives of herself, her son, and their dog during the attacks. 

So, I guess if there's one lesson that we can learn from this movie, it's that we really shouldn't go up on top of a skyscraper to greet foreign flying objects, because otherwise, you may end up being cremated. 

More importantly though, if there's anything we can learn, it's that in times of crisis, we all need to stand by each other and support each other in order to approach a common goal.  Whether it be raising money to stop a hospital from being closed, or rebuilding a town that was torn apart by a tornado, or helping find shelter for those who have lost everything in a natural disaster, people can achieve more on a united front, and get more accomplished.

Maybe this speech from the fictional President Whitmore might explain things better than I can.


Sunday, July 03, 2011

Sunday Jukebox - "Baby Baby" by Amy Grant (Plus a BONUS song!)

Crossover artists.

Many have tried to be successful with switching from one type of music to another, but not a lot of people seem to have had success with it.

It can be a tough enough job to make a mark on the music scene in one category alone.  To go out of that comfort zone and make a name for yourself to a whole different type of music with a completely different fanbase than what you're used to...it can be a scary experience.

I can't really say that I know what it is like based on my own experiences.  I'm such a tone-deaf, terrible singer that I would likely be barred from American Idol, The Voice, and America's Got Talent at the same time.  I can only imagine how tough it can be though.

Sometimes, people do succeed.

Right off the bat, I can name off Shania Twain and Michelle Branch in the success category.  Shania in the mid-1990's dominated the country charts, but had a couple of successes on the pop charts with "Man, I Feel Like A Woman" and "That Don't Impress Me Much", giving her success on country and Top 40 radio.  On the flipside, Michelle Branch had success in the Top 40 charts with songs like "Everywhere" and "Breathe", and a couple of years later, formed "The Wreckers" and had success in country music as well.

Some haven't done so well.  Jewel as a folk-like singer.  Good.  Jewel as a dance-diva singing "Intuition"...not so good.  And don't even get me started on Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines, the most unsuccessful crossover of 1999, and possibly of all time.

And sometimes you have singers who actually do better in their new style of music than they ever did in their original path.

I bet it might shock some of you knowing this but, did you know that when Katy 'I Kissed A Girl' Perry first started out, she was a contemporary Christian artist?  It's true!

The artist featured in this blog entry also started out as a contemporary Christian artist, much like Katy Perry did.  While she's been kind of quiet on the charts lately, and while she never changed her image as drastically as Katy Perry, she still had a ton of success on the pop charts, and even had a hit or two on other charts as well.  She's more versatile than you think!


Amy Grant was born in Georgia on November 25, 1960, and she started off her career in contemporary Christian music.  Some people even refer to her as the 'Queen of Christian Pop'. 

This isn't at all surprising though.  Since she released her first album in 1977, she has sold more than thirty million albums, cassettes, and compact discs globally.  That's mighty impressive.

With songs such as "El Shaddai", "Angels", and "Father's Eyes", Amy Grant became a sensation on Christian radio, and in 1986, she made an impact on the Billboard 100 by singing a duet with Peter Cetera entitled "The Next Time I Fall".

The duet with Cetera proved to be a major hit, hitting #1 on the Billboard charts in late 1986.  Still, Amy Grant had never had her own solo hit on the Billboard charts.  Certainly, she had scored several number one hits on the Contemporary Christian charts, but it wasn't until five years after that duet with Peter Cetera that she would score her own number one hit on the Billboard charts.  It was that one hit that cemented Amy's place on the Billboard charts for the next few years.



ARTIST: Amy Grant
SONG:  Baby Baby
ALBUM:  Heart In Motion
RELEASED:  January 18, 1991
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 3 weeks

Amy Grant's main goal was to become a singer.  However, she also wanted to be able to broaden her musical message and to widen her fan base.  Her dream was to be the first Christian singer-songwriter to also be successful on the Billboard charts as well.  The seeds to her pop career seemed to have been planted around 1985, when she released her album 'Unguarded'.  The album cover showed Amy dressed in a leopard-print jacket, and had a more mainstream sound than her previous albums before that.  The album still had contemporary Christian songs, but there were a couple of pop songs for a wider audience to listen to.  Her 1988 release 'Lead Me On' was more of the same.  A mixture of pop and contemporary Christian music which seemed to perform well on the Adult Contemporary charts, but didn't really make much of an impact on the pop charts.

It wasn't until 1991 that it seemed that Amy Grant had decided to steer her career almost entirely away from the Christian pop that had made her well-known, and more into the mainstream pop world.


When Amy Grant released the album 'Heart In Motion' in March of 1991, her fans seemed shocked that the album was mostly pop music, and that only a minute few of the tracks were Christian themed.  While most of Amy's fans embraced Heart In Motion, some members of the Christian community frowned upon the album as a result of Amy's desire to change the focus of her music. However, Amy did get her wish, as Baby Baby, the first release off the album, hit number one status in April of 1991. 

Certainly the album was very successful in both the pop and Christian charts.  Five of the album's singles reached Top 20 status between 1991 and 1992, and it set the stage for Amy to continue with her career on the pop charts, releasing two more albums in 1994 and 1997, also with some Billboard success.

Baby Baby is probably her most well-known hit, and what some might not know about this song is the inspiration behind this song.

In 1989, Amy and her then-husband Gary Chapman had a daughter, Millie.  Millie's birth was actually the moment that inspired Amy to write the song Baby Baby. 

The song Baby Baby wasn't initially about falling in love with the right person, and pledging your love to them forever, as the music video portrays above.  In fact, it was Amy writing about how she loved Millie, and how she promised to love her with 'the sweetest of devotion'.  If you really listen to the lyrics of the song closely, you can see that the lyrics are ambiguous enough to be defined as both the love for a child, and/or falling in love with someone special. 

Of course, there are some reports that the video for Baby Baby was not the original concept.  Had Amy had her way, she would have sang the song in a mermaid costume while dozens of diaper-tushed babies crawled all over her.  Thankfully, she didn't go that route.  Could you imagine what might have happened had the original concept had gone through?  As much as I like Amy Grant and this song, I don't think it would've been well-received.

Over the years, Amy Grant has made several changes in her life, as well as her music.  She never stopped performing contemporary Christian music.  She still records and sings it even today. 



In 1994, Amy Grant sang a duet with established country music artist Vince Gill, entitled "House Of Love".  The song became a Top 40 hit for both Gill and Grant, and unbeknownst to them, it would be a song that would change both of their lives forever.  One might call it kismet.


Because six years after they recorded that song, Amy Grant and Vince Gill ended up getting married to each other.  With both of them coming out of divorces, and having formed a friendship since 'House Of Love', they fell in love with each other, and have been together ever since.

And to think, none of that would have been possible if neither Gill or Grant had been afraid of change.

I think that's ultimately what we all want.  None of us can't be too afraid of change that we end up stagnating ourselves.  In order to make something out of ourselves, sometimes we have to take change, and stare at it in the face to become better people who get the most out of life.

Amy Grant's decision to venture out into the world of pop music by stepping away from her safety zone was a big risk for her to take, but she wanted success so badly that to her, it was worth the risk.  And it was.  She ended up having a hit record because of it, and it was because of her pop ambitions that she ended up working with, and later falling in love with her current husband.

So, I guess the lesson Amy Grant can teach all of us is that sometimes, taking risks can be worth the payout.  You'll never know until you try.

And, hey...if Amy Grant can make a success out of herself for taking risks, I suppose I can do the same.

(But, try to make your risks realistic...and not to take any that'll cause bodily harm.)