Search This Blog

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

January 13, 1968

Welcome to the Tuesday Timeline portion of the blog - a weekly look back through time to see what sort of events happened in the world of pop culture.  I always love doing these things, and therefore, I don't mind putting forth a little extra effort. 

So, let us take a look at what happened throughout history on the thirteenth day of January.  We'll start with a sampling of appetizers from the history books, followed by a side order of celebrity birthdays.  By the end of it, I will have the main course of the Tuesday Timeline entry out of the oven.  And if you're good, I may provide a little bit of dessert for you.

Okay, mouths watering yet?  Here we go!

1547 - Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, is sentenced to death on charges of treason

1815 - British troops capture Fort Peter in St. Mary's, Georgia

1830 - The Great Fire of Louisiana begins

1840 - One hundred and thirty-nine people lose their lives in the sinking of the steamship Lexington, off the coast of Long Island, New York

1847 - The Mexican-American War comes to a close with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga

1898 - Emile Zola's letter J'accuse exposes the Dreyfus affair

1910 - The first public radio broadcast takes place in New York, where a performance of Cavalleria rusticana from the Metropolitan Opera House

1915 - Nearly thirty thousand people die in a devastating earthquake in Avezzano, Italy

1919 - Actor and "Unsolved Mysteries" host Robert Stack (d. 2003) is born in Los Angeles, California

1929 - Famous American sheriff Wyatt Earp dies at the age of 80

1931 - Actor/director Charles Nelson Reilly (d. 2007) is born in South Bronx, New York

1938 - Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Jean "Cabu" Cabut (d. 2015) is born

1941 - Irish author James Joyce passes away at the age of 58

1942 - Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile - 30% lighter than a standard car at that time

1949 - Former president of NBC Brandon Tartikoff (d. 1997) is born in Freeport, New York

1964 - One hundred people are killed in anti-Muslim riots in Calcutta, India

1982 - Air Florida Flight 90 crashes into Washington D.C.'s 14th Street Bridge and sinks into the Potomac River, killing 78 people in total

1985 - A passenger train plunges into a ravine in Ethiopia, killing 428 people

1990 - Douglas Wilder becomes the first African-American person to take the position of governor in the state of Virginia

2010 - Singer-songwriter Teddy Pendergrass passes away, aged 59

2012 - The Costa Concordia cruise ship sinks off the coast of Italy, killing at least thirty-two people

And celebrating a birthday on January 13 are...Frances Sternhagen, Chris Wiggins, Rip Taylor, Edmund White, Carol Cleveland, Richard Moll, Trevor Rabin, Jay McInerney, Janet Hubert, Wayne Coyne, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Trace Adkins, Bill Bailey, Penelope Ann Miller, Patrick Dempsey, Annie Jones, Traci Bingham, Keith Coogan, Shonda Rhimes, John Mallory Asher, Nicole Eggert, Atoosa Rubinstein, William Ash, Orlando Bloom, Katy Brand, Ruth Wilson, Beau Mirchoff, and Liam Hemsworth.

And now, on with today's look back through time. 



Today's event took place on January 13, 1968.  That's 47 years ago today!

And, well...let's just say that January 13, 1968 was a date in which one of the most famous concerts ever performed took place.  The entertainer played to a packed house, and certainly everyone who was in attendance certainly appeared to have a good time.

The catch was that most of you reading this blog post right now probably won't remember seeing it.  Mostly because most of you were probably born after 1968.  But if there's anyone out there reading this post that is old enough to remember this concert, I bet you had difficulty securing tickets to this gig.  That's because none were ever printed.

No, the only way to get into this particular concert was to commit a crime.  A crime serious enough to land you a prison sentence.

Now, I bet you're thinking to yourselves "what kind of man would ever agree to perform a show in front of a group of convicted felons at a prison"?  I've seen episodes of "Beyond Scared Straight".  Performing a concert at a prison would be the equivalent of jumping in front of a speeding train these days!

But country music legend Johnny Cash decided to take a chance and that's exactly what he did.



On January 13, 1968, Johnny Cash performed at Folsom State Prison.  The end result provided a free show for the inmates incarcerated in the prison at the time, and provided material for Johnny Cash's 27th album!

And wouldn't you know it?  When the album "At Folsom Prison" was released four months later in May 1968, it hit #1 on the country charts, and was certified triple platinum in 2003 - the same year that Johnny Cash passed away.

But here's the million dollar question.  What in the world would possess Cash to even perform a concert - let alone record an entire live album - inside of a prison?



Well, he had wanted to do a project like that for quite some time.  In 1955, Cash released the single "Folsom Prison Blues", a song that came to him after he watched the 1953 film "Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison".  The song quickly became a huge hit, and it gained quite a following inside prisons all over the United States.  Prisoners actually wrote Johnny Cash letters from their cells, asking Johnny to perform the song live inside of their prisons!  Now, in today's world, this would seem unthinkable, but Cash was more than willing to honour his end of the deal.  In fact, his first performance at a prison took place eleven years prior to the Folsom Prison gig, in 1957, and over the next eleven years he had plenty of practice by going around various prisons all over the United States to perform concerts for the inmates.

Of course, the period between 1955 and 1965 was considered to be Cash's golden era of performing.  He had charted hit after hit with such singles as "I Walk The Line" and "Ring of Fire", but by 1965 he found that his music wasn't getting a lot of airplay.  This was also compounded by the fact that Cash had started dabbling in drugs around this time and was becoming quite the addict.  The year before "At Folsom Prison" was recorded, Cash sought treatment for his addiction, and these efforts proved successful.  As 1967 ended and 1968 began, his recreational drug use decreased, and he became more focused on his career.

Interestingly enough, the period in which Cash decided to make a comeback came right around the same time that a change in personnel at Cash's record label was taking place.  The man who was now in charge of the country sector of Columbia Records was Bob Johnston, who was known in the music industry for being quite unpredictable, and often made impulsive decisions and often butted with executive heads over said decisions.

In short, Johnston was the perfect person for Cash to go to in order to float his idea of not only performing at Folsom Prison, but to record an album there as well.  Johnston wasted no time in approving Cash's request, and he even got on the phone to call Folsom Prison and San Quentin State Prison to see if they would be willing to accommodate Cash's request.  Folsom responded first, so the concert was recorded there.

Interestingly enough, there were two separate concerts recorded on the morning of January 13, 1968.  One was performed at 9:40 in the morning.  The second one was performed exactly three hours later at 12:40pm.  The reason for the double performances was simple.  If in case there were any problems with the audio during the morning performance, they would use the recordings from the afternoon performance and splice the two together, if necessary.  As it turned out, the second performance really wasn't needed, as most of the album was made up of songs from the first concert.  Still, two songs from the second set did make it onto the finished cut.

And some may not know this, but Johnny Cash actually had an opening act preceding him.  Carl Perkins performed "Blue Suede Shoes" - later made famous by Elvis Presley, and The Statler Brothers performed "Flowers on the Wall" and "This Old House".  

The end result was that the album was released four months later, and quickly became a best-selling album for Cash.  The album also renewed Johnny Cash's popularity and as the 1970s began, he had been given even more opportunities than ever before.  "At Folsom Prison" wasn't the only album that Cash would release from a prison either.  In 1969, he recorded another album from San Quentin State Prison, which gave us the single "A Boy Named Sue".  Cash also worked out a deal with ABC to have his own television show which ran for two seasons from 1969-1971.

And just to give you a little bit of an idea as to how successful this album became, here's a list of statistics for you.

As mentioned, the album hit triple platinum status in 2003.  But did you know that it also...

- placed 88th on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"?
- added into the Library of Congress' "National Recording Registry"?
- named the third greatest country music album ever recorded by the CMT network?
- named as one of the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time by TIME Magazine?

Now, that is outstanding!

It definitely was a risk for Cash to record and release an album from inside of a prison, but in this case, that risk paid off handsomely.  Cash had another hit record, which resurrected his career at the same time.  Even better was the fact that even though Cash's concert was made up of 99% prisoners, they sat still and behaved themselves during the whole show!

And now for your special treat at the end.  You had better enjoy this while it lasts because I don't believe that anything stays up on YouTube for long.  But if you CLICK HERE, you can listen to one of the two concerts performed at Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash on January 13, 1968.  Have fun!

Monday, January 12, 2015

Trivia 34: The Pop Culture Addict Speaks!

I will be the first one to admit that I am finding this new format for the blog in the year 2015 to be much easier to maintain.  No longer do I feel as though I have to stay up for hours on end to do a ton of research and fact checking.  Writing from the heart has been so much easier for me to do...and it also frees up more time for me to do other things.  After all, no more excuses, right.  The more free time I have, the more I can find ways to improve my life from here.

After all, 2014 was admittedly a rough year.  2015 can only get better from here.  After all, I have some great news to share.  My mother's kidneys are a lot better than they were four months ago, and if she keeps doing what she has been doing, she will be as good as new in no time!  That's something to celebrate, right?

And, this coming summer, there will be even more to celebrate as in August 2015, my parents will be celebrating their...hold on, wait for it...FIFTIETH wedding anniversary!  Fifty years of marriage!  That's like 225 years in Hollywood! 

And, while 2015 does not mark a milestone for me by any means (aside from the fact that it will be fifteen years since I graduated high school), I will tell you that I am going to be turning 34 years old this year.

Wow...34.  I think that's how old Marge Simpson was when "The Simpsons" debuted in 1989.  Weirdly enough, she still happens to be 34 some quarter of a century later.  If only we were all so lucky.

But 34 is a good age.  34 is a number that I see being a lucky one.  After all, three plus four equals seven, which some would consider to be the luckiest number of all!

Of course, my thirty-fourth birthday doesn't happen for a few months yet, but I thought that since we're on the subject of the number 34 (and because I was admittedly struggling to find a topic for today), I thought it would be a good idea to reveal thirty-four pieces of trivia about the person who has been keeping this blog up and running for almost four years now!

Some of these you may already know, but some of you might be pleasantly surprised at what I may reveal. 

So, here we go.  Thirty-four facts about THE POP CULTURE ADDICT!



1.  I was born on a monday morning at 7:35 am.  Even though I was born a morning person, it doesn't mean that I have always been one!

2.  Whenever I know I don't have to work the next morning, it is not uncommon for me to turn in at 2:30 in the morning.  What can I say?  I do my best writing when the sky is dark.



3.  I have a comic book collection that runs into the 4000+ range.  Most are of Archie, of course.

4.  I learned how to read before I learned how to talk.  Don't believe me?  Ask my parents!



5.  i accidentally knocked over my sister's make-up shelf when I was eleven.  As a result, our family bathroom smelled like exclamation perfume for two whole weeks.

6.  I've only been hospitalized twice in my life - once in 1988 for an asthma attack, and once in 2011 to extract my infected gall bladder.

7.  I have only ever broken one bone - my left pinky finger.



8.  My birthstone is the emerald.

9.  My starsign is taurus, the bull.



10.  I used to have an extreme case of globophobia (fear of balloons popping).  It has gotten better, but I still will not pop a balloon voluntarily.

11.  I have 1,011 songs stored on my iPod.

12.  My most recent television guilty pleasure?  Bar Rescue.



13.  I have an addiction to chocolate.  And, no, I am in no rush to go to chocoholics Anonymous for treatment...but on the brighter side...

14.  I can probably go a whole year and only drink a maximum of three alcoholic beverages during that whole time.

15.  My most prized possession is my train ornament that appears on our family christmas tree each year. 



16.  Although I do have a cell phone, I could (and have) gone days without using it once.  I like to have one for emergency purposes.

17.  I do not have any piercings whatsoever.

18.  ditto for tattoos.  Although I appreciate the art that goes into making tattoos, I would never get one because I do not like needles.

19.  my locker number in high school was 2121.

20.  My locker combination in high school was 44-37-06



21.  My ambition as a child was to appear on the television show "You Can't Do That On Television".  Sadly, the show got cancelled before I became old enough to even audition.



22.  The very first video game I ever played was mario brothers.  Not the one where you jump on goombas and save the princess.  The one BEFORE that one.



23.  The very first album that I purchased with my own money was U2's "Achtung Baby".

24.  I have a mild allergy to strawberries.  I eat one, I turn the colour of one.

25.  I hate football, but will watch the Super Bowl just for the Halftime Show.

26.  The only awards show that I will ever watch is the Grammy Awards.

27.  My hair is unfortunately thinning.  But at the very least, it is still dark.

28.  I refuse to shave my hair completely off.  I still have emotional scars from the time I nearly shaved my head at 15.

29.  I consider myself to have excellent penmanship, and am seriously trying to come up with ways to turn that into a side business.

30.  The most I have ever won on a scratch and win lottery ticket is fifty dollars.



31.  I openly admit to watching "EastEnders" on YouTube, as new episodes do not air in canada.  Sorry, Coronation Street fans!

32.  On my second day of my current job, I accidentally destroyed an entire display of holiday air fresheners after I lost control of a pallet jack.  I'm amazed they kept me.

33.  I wear a wristwatch with a blue M&M on the face.

34.  I still feel extremely comfortable with the new direction that "A Pop Culture Addict's Guide To Life" is taking.  More importantly, I am extremely comfortable at the new direction that I seem to be taking as well.  My only hope is that the rest of 2015 seems to go in that same direction!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

I Can't Dance, I Can't Sing...And That's Okay!

Okay, I will get to what is going through my mind on this very cold, very icy January day.  But to give you a bit of an idea as to what this topic will be about, I'm posting this music video.  I figure it will be a nice throwback to the days in which I used to do Sunday Jukebox entries.



ARTIST:  Genesis
SONG:  I Can't Dance
ALBUM:  We Can't Dance
DATE RELEASED:  December 30, 1991
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #7



Ah, yes, Genesis.  This is a group that has gone through some changes over the years.  When they first began, Peter Gabriel was the lead singer and Phil Collins played the drums.  Then Peter Gabriel left the band to do a solo career, and Phil took over as lead singer.  Then Phil did some solo work putting Genesis on hiatus for a while.  Some could consider their 1991 album "We Can't Dance" a comeback album of sorts (their previous work was 1986's "Invisible Touch"), but I wouldn't classify it as such, since Phil Collins didn't actually leave the band. 

Anyway, enough about that.  Because I'm shifting my focus in this blog from pop culture to...well...life, I won't be going into too much detail about the song.  Instead, I'll be focusing on the meaning of the song and how it kind of relates to some memory that I have.

All you have to do is listen to the first few lines of the chorus and that will basically describe what I was during the first decade of living.

I can't dance, I can't talk
Only thing about me is the way that I walk
I can't dance, I can't sing
I'm just standing here selling everything

Very little has changed since then.  I still can't dance.  I still can't sing.  And while my walking style has since improved, I can't say that it will get me booked at any "Fashion Week" events.

(Well, okay, there's also the fact that I am also chunky too.  Runways don't like the chunk.)

Oh, and I only highlighted the first three lines of this chorus as well.  The only selling I did as a child was when I sold boxes of chocolates, wrapping paper, and ornaments during the Christmas fundraisers between grades two and eight.

I'm not going to deny the fact that as a child I was clumsy and uncoordinated.  I was a walking time bomb back in those days. 



I guess if I could describe myself as a cartoon character from the past, it would be that comic book character named Pat the Brat.  He was a precocious little boy who often got himself into a lot of trouble just for being a curious and inquisitive little kid.  He was someone who was admittedly very clumsy and awkward, and often did terrible things by complete accident.  He was a brat, sure, but compared to some of the kids that I see running around the store I work at, he's a complete angel.

Anyway, I consider myself cut from the same cloth because like Pat the Brat, I didn't consider any of the things that I was doing to be wrong until someone pointed it out.  Rudely, might I add.

See, whenever I would read Pat the Brat cartoons, I would laugh at the silly antics that he did until he got caught.  And then he was made a spectacle for public humiliation by everyone else.  I didn't quite like that part because I don't feel that humiliating anyone for the payoff of a cheap laugh is much fun - especially when the scapegoat is a child. 

And the reason why I didn't find it funny was because I knew what Pat was going through. 

Now, I suppose some of you probably would argue that Pat caused a lot of unintentional damage to his home, the supermarket, and his school and that some of it might have been warranted to set him on the straight and narrow.  But in my case, I felt like I was singled out for things that I couldn't control and made to feel like some sort of freakish science experiment gone wrong.

And back to the Genesis song we go.

First of all, I will admit that I can't dance.  I used to try to cut a rug on the dance floor.  I ended up shredding the linoleum.  I was horrible back then, and I still don't consider myself a wonderful dancer.  I actually am the type of person who will refuse to go out on a dance floor unless I get a ton of liquid courage inside of me.

Liquid courage being code for alcohol, of course.

And yeah, people made fun of the fact that Elaine from "Seinfeld" had better moves on the dance floor than yours truly.  But that was fine for me, since I never really aspired to be a professional dancer.

And I'll also admit that I had trouble talking when I was a kid.  I suppose part of that could stem from the fact that I didn't say my first word until I was almost three years old.  I'll be the first to admit that waiting until age three to speak was quite late in life.  So late that people actually believed that something was wrong with me.  Of course, I proved them to be wrong, and I can now speak quite well. 

Singing also doesn't come naturally to me.  I am very much tone deaf.  I remember in Christmas concerts, I was always shoved behind scenery, or made to hide in the back row so that people wouldn't hear how terrible I was.  Upon retrospect, that was probably a horrible thing that was done to try and remedy a problem.  But I am not denying that I couldn't sing a note to save my life back then and still can't today.

And, then there's the way that I walk.  Or, rather, the way that I walked.  The way that was handled is something that I can't quite forgive so easily.  Because it was something that I had no control over.

I said this before, and I'll say it again.  My walking ability was messed up as a kid, though I didn't think it was.  So I walked on my toes about 99% of the time.  It was the only way I felt any comfort.  My arches in my feet were slow in development and whenever I tried walking flat-footed, I felt intense pain.  It got to the point where I went into a hospital so that they could do tests on why I was having problems walking in a way that the world considered "normal".  The problem did eventually go away over time, and by the time I was twelve, my feet had corrected themselves enough, but prior to that was rough.  The other kids in the class didn't understand, so they made fun of me.  The teachers that I had didn't understand, and they made fun of me too.  And the school's idea to correct the problem was to send me out of class with a social worker and forced me to walk around the school with books on my head to correct something that really wasn't bothering anybody else.

Was this how schools worked back in the 1980s?

Anyway, the point that I want to make is that not everybody is good at everything.  I openly admitted to being poor in a lot of different things.  But there are lots of other things that I am fantastic in, and I think that we should all focus on what everyone's strengths are...instead of tearing people apart for things they cannot change.

That's just my thought on the matter. 

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Je suis Charlie

I don't think that I can ever remember a time in which I did not have any sort of art supply in my hand.

I know that in my earliest childhood years, I was always playing with crayons and scribbling all over everything that I could. 

Well, all right...I suppose when I was a kid, I did try eating a crayon or two.  With all the bright colours that crayons could be, I suppose it could be easy for a two year old to mistake them for a delicious stick of candy.  I wonder how many times it took me to brush all of that cornflower blue crayon wax off of my teeth?

Of course, crayons were cool, but pencil crayons were cooler.  I still have fond memories of colouring in colouring books with Laurentien brand coloured pencils.  Any Canadian who remembers these pencil crayons (which sadly are no longer being manufactured) knows that they were the pencil crayons with the fancy names and a number to correspond with each colour.  Well, I had used those pencil crayons so much in my childhood that I actually memorized each colour as well as the number that corresponds with them.

For the record, my five favourite colours were 5, 8, 13, 19, and 22 - otherwise known as Orchid Purple, Emerald Green, Ultramarine Blue, Cherry Red, and Sky Magenta.  And, if you're going to add in the 60 pack in that mix, I was also fond of 25, 33, and 39 (True Blue, Tangerine, Ocean Blue).

I have to admit that when it came to art supplies, I was kind of a bit of a snob in that regard.  In everything else in my life, I was hunky-dory with any brand, but for art supplies, I definitely had my preferences.

For crayons, they almost always had to be Crayola.  Although, there was a store in town called Woolworth's that made a package of 64 crayons which I felt were of higher quality than the Crayola ones.  It's a shame that Woolworth's/Woolco got bought out by another retailer whose name begins with "W", because I really did love Woolworth's crayons.

Pencil crayons had to be Laurentien.  Not because I knew the colours of them, but because they were the only pencil crayons that could withstand the force of those monstrous pencil sharpeners in the classrooms. 

Markers, on the other hand, I was more lax with.  Obviously Crayola makes an awesome marker (and I have the Crayola Marker Maker to prove that fact), but I also love markers that do more than...ahem...mark things.  Have you ever heard of Mr. Sketch markers?  I love those things!  They not only last a really long time (I still have markers that work perfectly after four years), but these markers are scented as well!  Now, some scents are absolutely wonderful.  I'm particularly partial to the raspberry, mint, mango, and grape scents myself.  On the other hand, whoever thought that black licorice would be a great scent needed to get their heads examined.  Oh well, I suppose out of a standard twelve pack, there has to be one scent that is less than special.  

And these markers are great for making posters and signs.  Just have a look at the one I just did using them.



Isn't it lovely?  Of course, I didn't use all of these colours.  I just added them in to make the sign look more beautiful.

But what does it mean?  Je suis Charlie?



Well, I'll tell you what it means.  Je suis Charlie is French for "I Am Charlie".  And, no, I haven't changed my name to Charlie.  It's actually a phrase of symbolism and a phrase of strength.  It was coined by music journalist and artist Joachim Roncin, and he posted the image seen above (the one in black and white, not the one that I just drew) immediately following the tragic events of January 7, 2015 in Paris, France.

By now, everybody in the world has heard of the Charlie Hebdo massacre which took place on that date.  A dozen people were killed at the offices of the satirical magazine by two masked gunmen.  Over the next two days, various other attacks all around Paris took place with hostage situations and shootings.  By the time the majority of they suspects were taken down, seventeen people had lost their lives and another twenty-one injured.

The reason behind the shootings?  Political cartoons - particularly the ones about Muhammad, the Islamic prophet. 

You know the ones I mean right?  In Canada, the political cartoons are splashed all over every opinion page in every newspaper.  Mostly the political cartoons in my area poke fun at the Prime Minister of Canada, or the Premier of Ontario, or whoever the major newsmaker of the week happens to be.  They can hit below the belt, but for the most part they are harmless.  I always say that artists all over the world are free to paint, or write, or illustrate whatever they want because that is how they express themselves.  If people choose to agree with an artist, they can praise them, write them a letter, or share their works with other people.  And if they don't like their stance, they have the right to ignore it, or even criticize it.

What they don't have the right to do is go on a rampage in Paris and kill every single person who has opinions that differ from theirs.

Look, I'm not the type of person who would illustrate political cartoons that potentially could insult a political leader or an entire religious group.  For one, I can't draw very well, but for another, I don't have any interest in political cartooning.  That said, I do believe that people do have the right to express themselves in whatever way they want.  And if that way just happens to involve a little controversy, so be it.  I'm sure that most of the people who died at Charlie Hebdo realized that the drawings that they were doing could potentially upset a lot of people, but they went ahead and published them anyway because they were proud of the work that they had done.

I certainly don't believe that any of the eleven people who were killed in the Charlie Hebdo offices on January 7, 2015 did anything that warranted them losing their lives at the hands of a pair of cowards who chose to use violence to express their rebuttal towards the cartoons.  And anyone who does believe that the cartoonists deserved to die that day, I simply shake my head in disgust.

That's why I drew up my own "Je suis Charlie" sign.  That's why I am posting it here.  To show support to those artists and journalists who died, not just on January 7, 2015, but over the course of modern day history.  As someone who takes pride in his own work, I certainly don't want to be told what I can and can't post because of fear of repercussions.  Not that I really post anything controversial in this blog anyway, but that's beside the point.

We should all have the right to express ourselves in whatever way we want to that does NOT HURT OR DESTROY OTHER PEOPLE IN THE PROCESS. 

Je suis Charlie.

Friday, January 09, 2015

Finding a Little Bit O' Country in a Heart of Rock 'N Roll

How many of you out there have social media accounts out there?  I know I have a couple that I use.  In fact, if you look on the right hand side of this blog, there are listings for the official "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE" pages on both Twitter and Facebook.  Definitely check those pages out if you like.

Well, this post was somewhat inspired by something that happened on one of my social media pages.

You see, many of my connections on social media (well, more than 50% of them anyway) are local people from my hometown or its surrounding areas.  And one perk to having so many local connections is that you literally get to know what is happening in or around your community seconds after it happens.

Now, granted, sometimes that can be a good thing, and sometimes it can be a very, very bad thing.  In this case, we'll go with good thing.



So, according to what people have been posting on their own walls (which in turn appears on my own news feed), country singer Luke Bryan is coming to Ottawa (which is located fairly close to where I live).  And, there are three types of status updates that I am seeing a lot of in the wake of the upcoming Luke Bryan concert.

1.  People have already gotten tickets.
2.  People are going to get tickets.
3.  People are pissed off that they can't get tickets.

Now, as for my own feelings on the Luke Bryan concert, I would consider myself someone who doesn't really care if he got tickets or not.  I can't really consider myself much of a country music fan.  I grew up listening to rock and roll, pop, rhythm & blues, Motown, even the occasional hip hop song.  If anything, I listened to everything other than country to rebel against my family as a teenager!

(I grew up in a family of country music loving folk.)

Even now, you'll find that if you look at the track listing of my iPod, 97% of the songs on it are non-country.

Of course, you're probably wondering something.  I claim to not have much love for country music, but yet only 97% of my iPod reflects that.

Well, I'll be the first one to admit that over the last couple of years, I have started taking a liking to a few country songs.  And over the last couple of weeks, I've been adding a couple of country songs onto my playlists.  I don't see myself completely converting into a country music loving fool who swings my partner round and round, and do-si-do her to the ground...

Wait.  That's square dancing.  Nevermind.

The point is that while I will always be a rock and roll person by heart, I can allow a little bit of room for country music every now and then.  Truth is, some of the stuff coming out of Nashville now is really good.  The songs are upbeat (sometimes), pleasant, and most important have a message that everyone can understand and doesn't resort to repeating the same word over and over again while they show off just how firm and round their buttocks are.

(I'm looking at you J. Lo.)

Now, I will admit that most of these songs come from the "New Country" era, which began sometime in the mid 1990s.  I don't think I could ever get into the twangy old school country, even though I will say that George Jones, Tammy Wynette, and Merle Haggard are among some of the legends of country music. 

But I don't mind sharing some of my favourites with all of you.  In fact, why don't we start with the person who kicked off this blog.  Mr. Luke Bryan himself!



Do I - Luke Bryan
Released:  May 2009

Ah, now this could be considered a loose collaboration with country group Lady Antebellum, as Hillary Scott sings background vocals, and Bryan co-wrote this song with Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley.  Anyway, I know that Luke Bryan is most known for singing songs that have a lot of energy and movement to them (See "Rain is a Good Thing", "Country Girl (Shake it For Me)", and "That's My Kind of Night"), but I kind of like Luke Bryan's ballads more.  This one is particularly good because the song is about two people in a relationship who question whether they should stay together or call it quits.  And, hey, he delivers the lyrics in such a way that you can believe his frustration over making that choice.



So Small - Carrie Underwood
Released:  August 2007

One could argue that out of all the winners of "American Idol", Carrie Underwood is one of two who proved that the formula could work (the other is Kelly Clarkson).  Since winning the fourth season of the reality talent competition, she has definitely made her mark on the country music industry, and I certainly consider myself to be a fan.

But of all the songs that she sings, I would probably have to go with this one as being my all-time favourite.  Sure, all the songs she sings about cowboy casanovas and taking a Louisville Slugger to a pair of headlights are fine, but this one provides real meaning.  It is essentially a song that puts everything into perspective and makes us sit back and not sweat the small stuff.  A good message for the new year, I'd say.



Cruise - Florida Georgia Line
Released:  August 2012

Is it overplayed on country radio?  Probably.  Do I care in the slightest that I enjoy this one?  Nope, not really.

And certainly this single by "Florida Georgia Line" (made up of the duo of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley) burned up the country charts the minute it was released.  It hit the #1 spot on the charts in December 2012.  As of 2014, "Cruise" is the best-selling country digital single of all-time in the United States.  It not only topped the country charts, but peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2013.  And a second version of the song was released with Nelly joining in for the fun.

So, what makes this song so popular?  Well, just listen to it!  I dare you to go ten seconds without getting into the beat of this infectious single!  Go on.  I dare you.



Stay - Sugarland
Released:  September 2007

I have a confession to make.  I absolutely love Jennifer Nettles voice.  It's very unique, but that's what makes it so great.  You can easily tell her apart from the sea of country music vocalists out there.

Did you know that this song was also the first Sugarland song that was written solely by Nettles?  Usually the songwriting process involved both Nettles and Kristian Bush.

In this case, Nettles proved she had the magic touch, as it became a #2 hit on the charts, and became the group's unofficial signature song.

The song itself is quite good, if not heartbreaking.  It touches upon the subject of infidelity...a common theme for country music.



Why Haven't I Heard From You - Reba McEntire
Released:  April 1994

For my final song choice today, I thought that I would choose a song by someone who has been in the country music industry for almost 40 years!  Reba McEntire certainly has been through a lot in those four decades.  She released several albums, filmed a television sitcom, and tragically lost her entire band in a plane crash.  But through it all, Reba has persevered and has officially become one of the modern day Queens of Country Music.

So, to close this blog off, I thought I would post a song that is considered a modern day classic country hit.  And, I admit...I enjoy this one just for the music video alone!

So, there you have it.  Five songs that I currently have on my iPod.  There are others, I'm sure.  I just went with five.

Hey, I figure a little country music in all our lives is fine.  

Thursday, January 08, 2015

I Need A Taser Fridge

It's January 8, and I would probably hazard a guess that if you haven't already broken your New Year's Resolution yet, I reckon that it will be coming within the next week.

I absolutely hate the phrase "New Year's Resolution".  It adds a lot of unnecessary pressure of trying to achieve something that may or may not be even possible.  I think that's why I went along with the idea of having a New Year's Dream instead.  That way, if what I wish for comes true, it was meant to be.  And if not, my dream could be changed to something else.

At least, this is how I try to justify not making any resolutions. 



But I often wonder what some of the most common New Year's Resolutions are that are made.  After all, while everyone hopes to have something that they want to make different for the New Year. it's funny how most of us seem to have the same ones.

I was doing a little bit of research on the subject of New Year's Resolutions, and I found a list of the most common ones that are made, courtesy of www.usa.gov. 

Yeah, I know, I know.  It's an American site, and I'm Canadian.  But I would think that this list is somewhat true for almost all developed nations.

So, without further hesitation, here are the top thirteen New Year's Resolutions that are made every January 1.

1.  Lose Weight
2.  Volunteer To Help Others
3.  Quit Smoking
4.  Get A Better Education
5.  Get A Better Job
6.  Save Money
7.  Get Fitter
8.  Eat Healthier Food
9.  Manage Stress Better
10.  Manage debt
11.  Take A Trip
12.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle More
13.  Drink Less Alcohol

Now, some of these I have been doing all along, and some I don't need to do because I have never needed to do them in the first place (I am a non-smoker, so I technically don't need to "quit").  In fact, I can say with confidence that I do not need to do #3, #6, #10, #12, or #13 on this list.  Truth be told, #6 was my New Year's Dream for 2012, and it is still continuing as of 2015.

The others...well, let's put it this way.  I could use improvement in all of these.  Especially #9 for sure.



But get a load at what the number one most made New Year's Resolution is!  Yes, the top made resolution is to lose weight.  Now, what I don't understand is why the resolution to get fit and eat heathier is all the way down at #7 and #8 on the list.  You would think that losing weight, getting fit, and eating healthy would be the trifecta of resolution making, wouldn't you?

But hey, it does explain why during the month of January, you see dozens of workout DVD's on the shelves of any video store.  Seriously, in the store I work at, we must have every Jillian Michaels DVD ever made.  The television and video game console sales of December are now over, only to be replaced with great deals on treadmills, exercise balls, and FitBit accessories.  And, I would reckon that January is definitely the peak month for all new gym memberships being filed.

Now, how many of those people actually keep going to the gym after January?  Well, that's debatable, I suppose.

But traditionally speaking, we tend to let ourselves go during the holidays.  And, why not?  Christmas just seems to be the absolute excuse to get stuffed!

Well...physically, that is.

Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, gingerbread men, honey-glazed ham, peppermint candy cane infused hot cocoa...these are all foods that I gorged on over the holidays, and believe me, I'm paying the price for it! 

But then, I've always been considered a yo-yo dieter.  In the last ten years, my lowest weight has never gone below 210 pounds.  My heaviest?  Well, we won't talk about that.  Let's just say that it was a lot more than 210!  And truthfully, there's a lot of reasons for it.

When I get stressed, I eat.  A lot.  When I get depressed, I eat.  A lot.  When I get bored, I...well, you get the picture.

To me, food has always been a coping mechanism for all bad feelings that I felt.  And, I admit that when it comes to food, I don't always make the smartest choices.  But I have also found that when I am happy, and making positive choices, that actually curbs my appetite.  Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing, or am I just crazy? 

The point is, it kind of boils down to what my New Year's Resolution Dream is for 2015.  Trying to stay positive in an increasingly negative world.  I figure that maybe if I continue thinking positive thoughts, it will discourage me from eating as much food as I normally would in stressful situations.  Or, at the very least, I should substitute water for food.  After all, water is a lot healthier, and they say you should drink eight to ten glasses of it per day to stay hydrated.

Or, maybe I should try to find out where our old family fridge ended up.  The fridge was avocado green in colour and obviously looked like someone had swiped it from the "Good Times" set long ago.  But one thing that was really special about that fridge?  It would give me an electrical shock every time I tried to open the door!  It was annoying as heck, but at the same time, it certainly helped keep me away from the fridge.

Yeah, I need one of those.  I need a taser fridge.