GBE 90 - Driving

A suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after. ~Peter De Vries





Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to smart Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams. ~Mary Ellen Kelly






Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead.
~Mac McCleary







It takes 8,460 bolts to assemble an automobile, and one nut to scatter it all over the road. ~Author Unknown




The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance," 1841





The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it. ~Dudley Moore








It wasn't the Exxon Valdez captain's driving that caused the Alaskan oil spill. It was yours. ~Greenpeace advertisement, New York Times, 25 February 1990



A pedestrian is someone who thought there were a couple of gallons left in the tank. ~Author Unknown





Leave sooner, drive slower, live longer. ~Author Unknown








Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race. ~H.G. Wells





Your grandchildren will likely find it incredible - or even sinful - that you burned up a gallon of gasoline to fetch a pack of cigarettes! ~Dr. Paul MacCready, Jr.





A city that outdistances man's walking powers is a trap for man. ~Arnold Toynbee








Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. ~Albert Einstein




I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol. ~Author Unknown


Hug your kids at home, but belt them in the car. ~Author Unknown








A tree never hits an automobile except in self defense. ~American Proverb





Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive, there is something wrong with him. ~Art Buchwald, "How Un-American Can You Get?," Have I Ever Lied to You?, 1966





Modern technology

Owes ecology

An apology.
~Alan M. Eddison









Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly. ~Author Unknown



When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot. ~Larry Lujack





The car has become the carapace, the protective and aggressive shell, of urban and suburban man. ~Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media








Car sickness is the feeling you get when the monthly payment is due. ~Author Unknown






The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers. ~Dave Barry, "Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn"





The longest journey begins with a single step, not with a turn of the ignition key. ~Edward Abbey








The car has become a secular sanctuary for the individual, his shrine to the self, his mobile Walden Pond. ~Edward McDonagh





Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities. ~Lewis Mumford






I hooked up my accelerator pedal in my car to my brake lights. I hit the gas, people behind me stop, and I'm gone. ~Steven Wright










A commuter tie-up consists of you - and people who for some reason won't use public transit. ~Robert Brault






You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive. ~Author Unknown






Automobiles are not ferocious.... it is man who is to be feared. ~Robbins B. Stoeckel









The shortest distance between two points is under construction. ~Noelie Altito




Road rage is the expression of the amateur sociopath in all of us, cured by running into a professional. ~Robert Brault



Driving a brand new car feels like driving around in an open billfold with the dollars flapping by your ears as they fly out the window. ~Grey Livingston










If everything comes your way, you are in the wrong lane. ~Author Unknown






Each year it seems to take less time to fly across the ocean and longer to drive to work. ~Author Unknown





Anyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac. ~Author Unknown







The elderly don't drive that badly; they're just the only ones with time to do the speed limit. ~Jason Love






I represent what is left of a vanishing race, and that is the pedestrian.... That I am still able to be here, I owe to a keen eye and a nimble pair of legs. But I know they'll get me someday. ~Will Rogers






Recklessness is a species of crime and should be so regarded on our streets and highways. ~Marlen E. Pew







For every "Drive Safely" sign, shouldn't there be a "Resume Normal Driving" sign? ~Robert Brault






Another way to solve the traffic problems of this country is to pass a law that only paid-for cars be allowed to use the highways. ~Will Rogers









What a lucky thing the wheel was invented before the automobile; otherwise can you imagine the awful screeching? ~Samuel Hoffenstein






If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day Weekend. ~Doug Larson








On the other hand, the Bible contains much that is relevant today, like Noah taking 40 days to find a place to park. ~Curtis McDougall






Road sense is the offspring of courtesy and the parent of safety. ~Australian Traffic Rule, quoted in Quotations for Special Occasions by Maud van Buren






The car has become... an article of dress without which we feel uncertain, unclad, and incomplete. ~Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, 1964









Walking isn't a lost art - one must, by some means, get to the garage. ~Evan Esar



Remember folks, street lights timed for 35 mph are also timed for 70 mph. ~Jim Samuels


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This is my submission to the GBE. This week's topic is Driving. The GBE, or Group Blogging Experience is great fun. Each week (usually on Tuesday) we are given a general topic by our fearless leader Alicia and we have until that Saturday to blog about it. Say whatever you want. Silly, serious, true, fiction, debate.... whatever. It's up to you. If your interested just go to Alicia's Blog and check it out. If you want to participate comment her blog saying "I'm in" , that's it. No big sign up or anything. You blog and she'll link to your blog and everyone else's on Saturday. Make sure you're not private though so that everyone can read your blog.

It's What I Do...

GBE 89 - Pride

“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us.”
~ Jane Austen

“Let your actions always speak for you, but be forever on guard against
the terrible traps of false pride and conceit that can halt your
progress. The next time you are tempted to boast, just place your fist
in a full pail of water, and when you remove it, the hole remaining
will give you a correct measure of your importance.” ~ Og Mandino



“What good is social class and status? Truthfulness is measured within. Pride in one's status is like poison - holding it in your hand and eating it, you shall die.”
~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib


“The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance.” ~ Samuel Butler







“No one ever choked to death swallowing his pride”



“Temper gets you into trouble. Pride keeps you there.”



“Pride comes before a fall” ~ Proverb







“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” ~ Saint Augustine




“In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.” ~ John Ruskin



“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real” ~ Thomas Merton







“And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin is pride that apes humility.” ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge



“My pride fell with my fortunes.” ~ William Shakespeare



“Pride is an admission of weakness; it secretly fears all competition and dreads all rivals.” ~ Fulton J. Sheen







“Vanity is the polite mask of pride.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche




“The sin of pride may be a small or a great thing in someone's life, and hurt vanity a passing pinprick, or a self-destroying or ever murderous obsession.” ~ Iris Murdoch



“The offspring of riches: Pride, vanity, ostentation, arrogance, tyranny” ~
Mark Twain







“Pride is the master sin of the devil, and the devil is the father of lies” ~ Edwin Hubbel Chapin



“Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher



“Pride attaches undue importance to the superiority of one's status in the eyes of others; And shame is fear of humiliation at one's inferior status in the estimation of others. When one sets his heart on being highly esteemed, and achieves such rating, then he is automatically involved in fear of losing his status.” ~ Lao Tzu







“The Bible and several other self
help or enlightenment books cite the Seven Deadly Sins. They are:
pride, greed, lust, envy, wrath, sloth, and gluttony. That pretty much
covers everything that we do, that is sinful... or fun for that
matter.” ~ Dave Mustaine


“Pride is a vice, which pride itself inclines every man to find in others, and to overlook in himself” ~ Samuel Johnson



“Pride the first peer and president of hell.” ~ Daniel Defoe







“The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell” ~ Simone Weil



“Pride that dines on vanity, sups on contempt”
~ Benjamin Franklin



“Humility and knowledge in poor clothes excel pride and ignorance in costly attire.” ~ William Penn








“Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.” ~ Mohandas Gandhi



“Five enemies of peace inhabit with us / avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.” ~ Francesco Petrarch







“Be modest! It is the kind of pride least likely to offend.” ~ Jules Renard



“The avenues in my neighborhood are Pride, Covetousness and Lust; the cross streets are Anger, Gluttony, Envy and Sloth. I live over on Sloth, and the style on our street is to avoid the other thoroughfares.” ~
John Chancellor



“Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride, friendship without envy, or beauty without vanity?”
~ Ronald Duncan






“Pride ruined the angels.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson



“A proud man is always looking down
on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down,
you can't see something that's above you.” ~ C.S. Lewis



“Pride in social status is empty; pride in personal glory is useless.” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is my submission to the GBE on MySpace. This week's topic is Pride.

The GBE, or Group Blogging Experience is great fun. Each week (usually on Tuesday) we are given a general topic by our fearless leader Alicia and we have until that Saturday to blog about it.

Say whatever you want. Silly, serious, true, fiction, debate.... whatever. It's up to you. If you're on myspace and interested just go to Alicia's Blog and check it out. If you want to participate comment her blog saying "I'm in", that's it. No big sign up or anything. You blog and she'll link to your blog and everyone else's on Saturday. Make sure you're not private though. So that everyone can read your blog.

Or if you just want to read some really good blogs, go to Alicia's and follow the links.

Since I've Been Loving You - Led Zeppelin

I was just in the mood for some bluesy
Led Zeppelin. Enjoy.

Jimmy Page's guitar prowess is well demonstrated in different performances of the song from Madison Square Garden in July 1973, as seen in the group's concert films The Song Remains the Same (and accompanying soundtrack) and Led Zeppelin DVD.

This was one of the first songs prepared for the Led Zeppelin III album. The song was recorded live in the studio with very little overdubbing. John Paul Jones played Hammond Organ on the song, using the bass pedals for the bassline. It was the only track from the third album that the band had played live prior to the recording sessions, but was reportedly the hardest to record. One story mentions Jimmy Page taking a break following a series of failed attempts to track the solo. Seemingly unable to get the tone he was craving, he set about a walk around the studio to clear his mind. Sitting outside of the recording area was an unplugged amplifier, which he utilised, and recorded the solo we hear today on the next take. Audio engineer Terry Manning called it "The best rock guitar solo of all time."



As an improvisational showcase for all four group members, and especially for Jimmy Page's electric blues guitar solos, "Since I've Been Loving You" became a staple and fan favorite of Led Zeppelin's live concert performances from 1970 until the end of their ninth American tour in summer 1973 (it was performed less frequently thereafter).





From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

THE OLD PHONE ON THE WALL

This was sent to me in an email by Chris, aka CHiCKEE. It just goes to show you never know the impact you have on other's lives. Especially the ones closest to you. I just had to pass it on. Go now and read...

When I was a young boy, my father had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember the polished, old case fastened to the wall. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen with fascination when my mother talked to it.



Then I discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person. Her name was "Information Please" and there was nothing she did not know. Information Please could supply anyone's number and the correct time.



My personal experience with the genie-in-a-bottle came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer, the pain was terrible, but there seemed no point in crying because there was no one home to give sympathy.



I walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway. The telephone! Quickly, I ran for the footstool in the parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver in the parlor and held it to my ear. "Information, please" I said into the mouthpiece just above my head.



A click or two and a small clear voice spoke into my ear.
"Information."

"I hurt my finger..." I wailed into the phone, the tears came readily enough now that I had an audience.

"Isn't your mother home?" came the question.

"Nobody's home but me," I blubbered.

"Are you bleeding?" the voice asked.

"No," I replied. "I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts."

"Can you open the icebox?" she asked.

I said I could.

"Then chip off a little bit of ice and hold it to your finger," said the voice.



After that, I called "Information Please" for everything. I asked her for help with my geography, and she told me where Philadelphia was. She helped me with my math.



She told me my pet chipmunk that I had caught in the park just the day before, would eat fruit and nuts.



Then, there was the time Petey, our pet canary, died. I called,



Information Please," and told her the sad story. She listened, and then said things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I was not consoled. I asked her, "Why is it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up as a heap of feathers on the bottom of a cage?"



She must have sensed my deep concern, for she said quietly, "Wayne always remember that there are other worlds to sing in."



Somehow I felt better.



Another day I was on the telephone, "Information Please."


"Information," said in the now familiar voice. "How do I spell fix?" I asked.



All this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest . When I was nine years old, we moved across the country to Boston I missed my friend very much. "Information Please" belonged in that old wooden box back home and I somehow never thought of trying the shiny new phone that sat on the table in the hall. As I grew into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really left me..



Often, in moments of doubt and perplexity I would recall the serene sense of security I had then. I appreciated now how patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a little boy.



A few years later, on my way west to college, my plane put down in Seattle . I had about a half-hour or so between planes. I spent 15 minutes or so on the phone with my sister, who lived there now. Then without thinking what I was doing, I dialed my hometown operator and said, "Information Please."



Miraculously, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so well.


"Information."


I hadn't planned this, but I heard myself saying, "Could you please tell me how to spell fix?"



There was a long pause. Then came the soft spoken answer, "I guess your finger must have healed by now."



I laughed, "So it's really you," I said. "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time?"



I wonder," she said, "if you know how much your call meant to me.


"I never had any children and I used to look forward to your calls."

I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and I asked if I could call her again when I came back to visit my sister.



"Please do", she said. "Just ask for Sally."



Three months later I was back in Seattle . A different voice answered, "Information."


I asked for Sally.


"Are you a friend?" she said.



"Yes, a very old friend," I answered.


"I'm sorry to have to tell you this," she said. "Sally had been working part-time the last few years because she was sick. She died five weeks ago."


Before I could hang up she said, "Wait a minute, did you say your name was Wayne ?" "Yes." I answered.


"Well, Sally left a message for you. She wrote it down in case you called. Let me read it to you."


The note said, "Tell him there are other worlds to sing in. He'll know what I mean."


I thanked her and hung up. I knew what Sally meant.



Never underestimate the impression you may make on others.



Whose life have you touched today?

Love Of The Loveless

I saw the movie "Henry Poole is Here" and the music is absolutely beautiful. This is the opening song. Love Of The Loveless by The Eels.

"Love Of The Loveless"


Don't got a lot of time

Don't give a damn

Don't tell me what to do

I am the man

If there's a god up there

Something above

God shine your light down here

Shine on the love

Love of the loveless



Don't have too many friends

Never felt at home

Always been my own man

Pretty much alone

I know how to get through

And when push comes to shove

I got something that you need

I got the love

Love of the loveless



All around you people walking

Empty hearts and voices talking

Looking for and finding

Nothing



Don't got a lot of time

Don't really care

Not selling anything

Buyer beware

If there's a god up there

Something above

God shine your light down here

Shine on the love

Love of the loveless



Don't got a lot of time

Don't give a damn

Don't tell me what to do

I am the man

Love of the loveless

GBE 88 - Pictures of Envy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is my submission to the GBE. This week's topic is Envy.

The GBE, or Group Blogging Experience is great fun. Each week (usually on Tuesday) we are given a general topic by our fearless leader Alicia and we have until that Saturday to blog about it. Say whatever you want. Silly, serious, true, fiction, debate.... whatever. It's up to you.

If your interested just go to Alicia's Blog and check it out. If you want to participate comment her blog saying "I'm in" , that's it. No big sign up or anything. You blog and she'll link to your blog and everyone else's on Saturday.

Make sure you're not private though. So that everyone can read your blog.

Save the Antelope

Something from Chris... Thanks girl, I laughed at this.

The Interview

I read a blog this morning, where the person wrote an interesting "interview"; one which posed 4 questions.

Here are my answers.

Questions:

1. Most of us feel misunderstood on some level. What part of you do you most want people to understand and SEE?

Funny, I do FEEL it most of the time. But feeling misunderstood and actually being misunderstood are two different things entirely. It is all my perception to a degree. Ever heard the song "Everyday People" by Sly and the Family Stone? I am just one of those... An everyday person.

I am also a work in progress. :)

2. Have you ever felt truly understood by anyone? If so, who? If not, why do you think that is?

I feel only one person has ever understood me and loved me for who I am. My mom. Perception...

3. Do you follow the rules or break them? Do you play it safe or take risks? Explain.

I am one who always, in my head, wants to break the rules. But I never seem to. I don't want to rock the boat, so I do play it safe.

4. I believe in living in the moment, but I also think it's good to have a plan, a general direction. Where do you hope to be in five years time?

Where do I see myself or where do I hope to be. Again, all a matter of perception on my part. This is a question I'll need to mull over for a little bit.

Or maybe just take the "Fifth" ;)

"Piece of My Heart" times 3

I recently posted a blog about the song "Home Sweet Home" and how Carrie Underwood had covered it. Clarkster said in a comment that if she had "made it 100% country, rather than trying to keep the rock element to it, it would sound better; more her own." That got me thinking of other songs that have been covered and one song came to mind right away. This particular song has since been remade by several singers, including Janis Joplin in 1968, Sammy Hagar in 1981, Jenny Morris in 1990, Faith Hill in 1993, Melissa Etheridge/Joss Stone in 2005, Beverley Knight in 2006, and most recently by Pink on her "Live in Europe: Try This Tour [DVD]" The song is "Piece of my Heart" and I want to zero in on three different versions. The original, Janis Joplin's and Faith Hill's.


Text in blue is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Piece of My Heart" is a song written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns and originally recorded by Erma Franklin in 1967. The song came to greater mainstream attention when Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company covered the song in 1968 on their album Cheap Thrills and had a hit with it.

In 2004, the Big Brother and the Holding Company version of this song was ranked #344 on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song is also included among The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Franklin said in an interview that when she first heard Joplin's version on the radio, she didn't recognize it because of the vocal arrangement.



Noted cultural writer Ellen Willis wrote of the difference: "When Franklin sings it, it is a challenge: no matter what you do to me, I will not let you destroy my ability to be human, to love.
Joplin seems rather to be saying, surely if I keep taking this, if I keep setting an example of love and forgiveness, surely he has to understand, change, give me back what I have given". In such a way, Joplin used blues conventions not to transcend pain, but "to scream it out of existence".


All three are different. Tell me which, if any, you like. :)

Erma Franklin's original recording: 1967



The original version of "Piece of My Heart" was recorded by Aretha Franklin's older sister Erma in 1967. The song was a top ten R&B hit in the U.S., and also peaked at number sixty-two on the U.S. Pop Singles chart. In the UK, the single was re-released in 1992, due to a successful Levi's jeans commercial, when it peaked inside the UK Singles Chart at number nine.

Janis Joplin version: 1968 - The one that is remembered.



The song became a bigger pop hit when recorded by Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1968, with lead singer Janis Joplin. The song was taken from the group's album Cheap Thrills, recorded in 1968 and released on Columbia Records. This rendition made it to number twelve on the U.S. pop chart.

Faith Hill version: 1993 - Her producers had it right (read below). This is definitely pop-country. No rock; no blues.



Country artist Faith Hill included the song on her debut album, Take Me as I Am (1993). Though it met criticism from rock listeners more familiar with Joplin's version, when released as the album's second single, it topped the U.S. Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in the spring of 1994. During the recording of the song, her producers were shocked to learn that Hill had never heard Joplin's version. Her only exposure to the song was the country arrangement that had been sent in the form of a demo recording by the song's publisher. The producers ordered Hill not to listen to Joplin's version until recording was complete so that it would not influence the new artist's vocal interpretation. After hearing the Joplin version, the influence was immediate as live performances of the song became much more rock-influenced.



Hill has since re-recorded the track for the international pressing of her third album, Faith, released in 1998. This version can also be found on her 2001 international greatest hits album There You'll Be. Her original version was included in her 2007 greatest hits album The Hits.

Faith Hill

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