GBE #17 What Is the Musical Backdrop to My Life

 

 

 

 

That is my life. Without music in it, my life would "b flat"

 

I grew up an only child whose mom loved music and introduced me to all kinds. I was a member of the Singing Boys of Orlando (performed at Disney World between 5 and 6 times), was a member of the school band, and for a year toyed with a drum kit in a band. That went no where, but my love of music was deeply ingrained in me. I would never expect how much I'd need it when my parents got their divorce right after I graduated from High School.

 

That was in 1980 and I was working the night shift. We all liked rock and one evening a radio show commemorating the 10th anniversary of the death of Jimi Hendrix was on. I had never heard of him and I promptly went out the next day and purchased the Essential Jimi Hendrix, Volumes 1 & 2. I thought there were no other albums. I ended up collecting over 60+ records of just Jimi's because I went down a rabbit hole.    

 

Jimi's music provided me with escape and dare I say... healing? That is what Hendrix dreamed and wanted his music to do. So in the 80's and 90's, I was listening to current music but I also was listening to late 60's/early 70's.

Music is always on at my home/office. Even when I sleep it is playing. I currently listen to pop, blues, jazz, R&B, funk, country, classical and metal. In my opinion, classical and metal are closer than many want to admit. Example: Metallica's S&M. The Call of Ktulu is a symphony by itself. With the orchestra, it's a masterpiece.

 

 

Without my music I feel lost. I love coming across new and obscure bands. I came across X Japan on YouTube. The band's backstory is very interesting. Gene Simmons said if they had been in the US or Europe, they would have been a huge act. Sadly, the guitarist with pink hair died a short time after this concert in the 90's. The band reformed and he is still considered an active band member,

 

 

 Recently I discovered The Warning and Larkin Poe. 

Both of them are sister acts.

 

 

 

The two groups which got me into metal - White Zombie/Rob Zombie and Metallica. See videos below  

GBE Reincarnated, Topic #5: BEAUTY

This weeks subject is Beauty. 

Merriam-Webster's defines Beauty as: 

1 : the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit : loveliness 

• a woman of great physical beauty 
• exploring the natural beauty of the island 
• A thing of beauty is a joy forever. John Keats 

 2 : a beautiful person or thing 

• His new car's a real beauty. 
• especially : a beautiful woman 
• She was a great beauty in her day. 

3 : a particularly graceful, ornamental, or excellent quality 

• Well, at any rate, he had two great beauties—the pale flat white of his skin and his great shaggy mass of dark hair.— Dorothy C. Fisher 

4 : a brilliant, extreme, or egregious example or instance 

• caught a couple of beauties on our last fishing trip 
• that mistake was a beauty

In my opinion, beauty is not on the outside, but inner beauty is what I find most attractive. 

 And now some pics and quotes on Beauty...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Was My Motivation When Joining The GBE, And What Did I Hope To Get Out Of It?

The prompt was "WHAT WAS YOUR MOTIVATION IN JOINING THE GROUP, AND WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO GET OUT OF IT?"

It all goes back to a few days before Friday, July 4, 2008 and my first blog for the GBE - Independence - GBE 44.

I had been an avid reader of the blogs and I sometimes commented on certain ones, OKAY... so I was a lurker. lol.

A couple of bloggers both gently urged me to join in; to go ahead and blog.

I was SOOOO nervous hitting that POST button, but it was worth it. I had hoped to find a sense of community and I did. I met so many people in GBE #1 that I continued to have friendships with after the mass migration.

As for my motivations, I have lost touch with them. C'est la vie.

Letter to my Younger Self

Me at 16; I lost my 7th grade yearbook to a waterbreak.



Hello younger me.

Just a heads up... Life is not going to go the way you have planned. You are a planner by nature, and you will only become more of one as you age. Here are some things that I would have liked to have known going into 7th grade. Below are suggestions for just the next 3 years (7th - 9th grades):

1) First off, enjoy your time in middle school. Thank goodness you don't have social media to follow you home. Home is going to become your refuge.

2) In elementary, you were happy go lucky but the world is a cruel place. (Shocker, I know!!!) 7th and 8th grades are going to be hell for you. You are going to be bullied.

3) Don't go crushin' on CD. She is out of your league and when you ask her out, don't be surprised when she laughs.

4) Do NOT rock on the tetherball pole with MH. When he jumps off, you will get hit on your forehead. That one event will forever change your life and how you live it.

5) Ages 14, 15, & 16 are going to be the most difficult ones for you. When it comes time for 10th grade you have found yourself. You will become a bridge between "cliques", being welcomed into the brains, the jocks, the band, and the stoners. But events are going to happen in the latter years of HS that will forever change the way you live your life.

But you will survive.

Oh... btw... keep the thought of trade school in the back of your mind. College is not for everyone.

Larkin Poe - A Band Worth a Listen

A package deal since 1991 🖤🖤
📷 Bogdan Popa #larkinpoe

I just love how this photo captures Rebecca and Megan Lovell's musical partnership. Not only sisters, but great bandmates as well.

GBE #2 - TIME

I saw the prompt and immediatley thought of 2 songs.

The lyrics:

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine
Staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long
And there is time to kill today

And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun

And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun
But it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way
But you're older
Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter
Never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught
Or half a page of scribbled lines

Hanging on in quiet desperation
Is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over
Thought I'd something more to say

Home, home again

I like to be here when I can

When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire

Far away, across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: David Jon Gilmour / Richard William Wright / Niclas Brekley Mason / George Roger Waters
Time lyrics © Roger Waters Music Overseas Ltd, Pink Floyd Music Publishers Ltd

The lyrics:

She was staring out the window of that SUV
Complaining, saying "I can't wait to turn eighteen"
She said "I'll make my own money and I'll make my own rules"
Mama put the car in park out there in front of the school
And she kissed her head and said, "I was just like you"

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In her one bedroom apartment and her daddy stops by
He tells her, "It's a nice place"
She says, "It'll do for now"
Starts talkin' about babies and buyin' a house
Daddy shakes his head and says, "Baby, just slow down, 'cause"

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'
One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin'
And she keeps apologizin'
He says, "They don't bother me
I've got two babies of my own
One's thirty-six, one's twenty-three
Huh, it's hard to believe, but"

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

You're gonna' miss this
Yeah
You're gonna' miss this

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Ashley Gorley / Lee Miller
You're Gonna Miss This lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Spirit Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc

The Way Love is Suppoosed to Be

Thank you Elizabeth and Tai for getting me back into the new reincarnation of the GBE. And thank you Alicia for organizing it. I hope that you will have themes like in the past. When I first joined the GBE back on MySpace, I was a "lurker"... meaning I read the blogs and sometimes commented on them. It was with the push of two people (Katy and Chickee) that I began to blog. Too bad that I have totally lost touch with both of them.

Wow... It has been 7 years since I have blogged??? 🤦🏻‍♂️ Unbelievable! A lot has happened in those seven years. Good and bad: I lost my mom to cancer in 2019 and 2 years later I was offerred my old job back; no more self-employment. 😃 Truth be told though, I'd rather still have my mom and be hustling to find work.

When MySpace was imploding, I transferred all of my blogs to this site. I used a lot of photos and Photobucket has watermarked a majority of the pics that I used.

Now a little music.