Food, Family and Fun - Happy Thursday

YAY!  It's Thursday again. We are going to make the most boring day of the week fun, damnit! We get to talk food (yes, I cooked a great meal tonight), family (mostly about my Nan and Uncle Bob) and you get a bonus song tonight!  Ok, am I the only one finding this fun?  Anybody?  anybody?  eh....

Advice for the today...NEVER GO GROCERY SHOPPING WHEN YOU ARE HUNGRY!! Especially when you have to walk home with the groceries.  AND, when it is really muddy between your house and the store.  AND, well, ok, that was kind of the end of the joke there, but you get the idea, right?  So, I decided I was going to make pan seered, stuffed pork chops in brown gravy over egg noodles with zuccinni in tomato sauce!  I got some fresh thyme and fresh basil, cut it up really fine, added some 4C Bread Crumbs and mozzerella.  Then I tore up some sliced bread and soaked it in milk and mixed the whole thing together and that is what I stuffed the thick cut pork chops with.  Browned em up in the pan, deglazed with some beer and like Nan, I was able to make a brown gravy out of the pan drippings.  Then I let them simmer for an hour or so.  MMMMMMM!  The zuccinni I cut up into nice size chunks (I hate that word when it is involved with food but I didn't know how else to describe it) did the same with an onion and a couple of deep red Roma tomatoes, some fresh garlic and put it all in a hot skillet.  Let it cook down a little and then added some tomato sauce and let it also simmer.  A great meal!  Fat and happy here and ready to talk music.

Here are today's 10 and once again, I am prepared to chair dance my little butt off. (the family part of this will come later)

(Click here to hear clips from these songs)

1. The Things We Do For Love - 10CC 3:32 (Mercury Records) AHHHHHH  I love that big loud burst that opens this song! "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooh" "Com-une-eeekcayshun is the problem to the answer"  Is that bizarre or profound? I am going to side with profound!  This is such a great pop song.  Smooth as silk production, great lead vocal until you get to about a minute before the fade.  How many FREAKIN' times can you say, "the things we do for love" before someone shuts off the radio or breaks the record in half?  Oh, sorry. It must have just rubbed me the wrong way tonight or else this would have Grandma's cellophane tape on it already.  Um, hey!  Hey! Look over there.....(cue up the next record...QUICK!)

2.  Dream Weaver - Gary Wright 3:15 (Warner Brothers Records) "DWWWWWWEEEEM WEAVER!!!"  I love this song!!!  Man, the way the drums roll underneath his vocal at the chorus!!!  This is such an odd, goofy, great song.  Gary Wright has such an interesting voice (and I mean that in a good way).  My only problem with this song is the whole Elmer Fudd thing he has going on and I don't mean that in a Stevie Nicks kind of way.  I mean, his "Rs" come out like "Ws" when he sings Dream Weaver.  That aside, I love the whole fantasy thing going on in this song and how someone is actually acknowledging the concept that there is something beyond ourselves that may weave our dreams and help us see the morning light.  I mean, dreams are supposed to be our subconscious helping us work through the crap of our everyday lives, right? What if there is some power kind of guiding us through the process? (this is very Native American spiritual in nature)  Ok, enough mystical mumbo-jumbo.  Next.........

3.  Gold - John Stewart 4:21 (RSO Records) (that is John with an H not Jon Stewart) Love that driving beat that hits you right from jump!  I forgot how gravely this guy's voice is.  Gargle with glass much bud?  Oh perfect! Guess who is singing back-up for him!!!!  STEVIE NICKS!  Perfect match.  Ya know, this whole song has a Shoulda-Beena-Fleetwood-Mac-Song sound to it now that I think about it.  Sadly, unless it turns up on a playlist or a blog like this, I think it would mostly be a forgotten gem.  Not being mean, just asking, if someone asked you to name 15 songs from 1979, would this come up on your list?  Ok, thank you!  Now, I am sure this next one will be on everyone's top 5 list of 1977 (can you smell the sarcasm through your screens?)

4.  Whodunit (no!  I am not drunk!  that's how it is spelled on the label.  shuttup) - Tavares 3:35 (Capitol Records) One no. No no no no no................no!  This song goes along with those chaps asking the CIA to secure a phone line so they can talk to their babe.  Oh, so bad.  Ok, they do name every single tv detective of the day in the song and I guess that is cool (and could account for my involuntary...INVOLUNTARY I TELLS YA! chair dancing) and I guess it does have a really slick horn and rhythm arrangement and crap, his voice is kinda cool, but other than that, this song sucks! Sucks (for making me like it)!!!!  You hear me.  (Hee hee He is crying for his mommy at the fade!  wuss!) Ahit but why?  It's a bedside mystery!

5.  Don't Make It My Brown Eyes Blue - Crystal Gayle 2:37 (United Artists Records) Oh boy!  From forgettable to indellible! (Hey, that rhymed sorta enough to qualify for one of these pop songs! shuttup) That bluesy, late night, smokey piano-bar piano that starts this song off......perfect.  Amazing lyric about not realizing what you had until it is gone.  How true is that?  There are times in life where you just don't appreciate what you have until let it walk away.  Then you just cry for three days straight and put your friends through hell while you.....Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot you were still here!  oooops! Seriously, the combination of the arrangement, the lyric and Crystal Gayle's pure voice was a match made in heaven.  I can just see her singing this, gently swaying to and fro and her floor-length hair wafting from side to side.  (Oh, come on!  You know I had to mention her hair in here somewhere!)

From the time that I counted out today's 10 Tunes until this very minute I have been looking forward to and dreading this next song. It is an amazing song and it holds but one importance to me.  When it first came out, a man that I loved very much told a woman that I adored more than most, that this was their song. The man was my Uncle Bob, the only Grandfather I knew, Robert W. Snyder and the woman was my Nan!

This was a big, gruff, surly man that, when he spoke, he would scare the crap out of me.  When I was a kid, I was always afraid to be alone with him because I was SURE I would do something wrong. But from the time I was little I always knew how much he loved Nan (and us)!  As I got older and I got to know him better, he was more like a protector than a disciplinarian.  When we did something wrong (like when I picked up the "gun" lighter that I was warned not to touch, and Pudgy, Nan's dog, softly bit me, he just looked at me and said, "Well, what did you do?" oooooo I was so mad at him for saying that!) he let us know that he KNEW what we did and was keeping track of it all!

         

                   (Ok, no one can be scary when they have Winnie-The-Pooh on their head)

But this was the same man that I would sit outside and feed the ducks with for hours on end and we would plot the demise (without action) of the seagulls, for stealing their food.  This is the same man that loved my Nan above all else in the world. And, oh, did he have a soft-spot for my Mom and vice-versa.  He was a tough, structured man right up to the end with a heart of pure gold.

          

Ahh, my Nan!  I miss her so much!  There will be plenty more stories about her and our music and US in posts to come, but for now, here is his song to her (one I have not listened to since he pased away)!

6. You Needed Me - Anne Murray 3:38 (Capitol Records) Well, they weren't exactly kids when they met, so maybe there is hope for me!  I love you both and always will.  Thank you!

7. You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show) - Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr. 3:40 (abc Records)  Same idea as above but with about 10,000% more, um, Bazooka(?) in it!  Ah, those magic voices that made The 5th Dimension so popular, out on their own now.  Can they cut it without the other 3 dimensions?  Meh!  (yes, I said "Meh!")  It's a good song but kinda falls a little flat in my book.  It's a little too 2 dimensional for me. collective groan (Oh yeh right, like you expected more from me there!   shuttup)

8.  I (Who Have Nothing) - Tom Jones 2:55 (Parrot Records) Just look at the title folks!!  "I" parenthetical Who Have Nothing.  Mr. Jones was a little bit full of himself, wouldn't you say?  I think this may have been another record that Uncle Howie gave us (and by US I mean my parents). Oh my dear!!  It starts off like an old western movie song and ends like a really bad pirate movie!  Maybe that's why he was on this label?  There is no questioning this man's talent or his appeal, but come on, this song is no Delilah!  "He buys ya diamonds/bright sparkling diamonds"  Do you care?  One word.............................next.

9. Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got) - Four Tops 2:59 (abc Dunhill Records) One of my all-time favorite singles!!!!! Oh that sound!!!!  So smooth, so classic, so scratchy.  PTD!  They played this ALOT on Kmart Radio and I always stopped what I was doing and smiled and sang along.  Not really sure why I love it so much, especially with a line like, "Cause it's my word/my word she'll obey"  but I just love his voice and that ultra-smoove sound!  "Wooo-hooo"  Not chair dancing....more like chair groovin'!  Try it sometime.....it can change your whole outlook!  yeh...

10. Easy Come, Easy Go - Bobby Sherman 2:43 (Metromedia Records) WoW Both songs, one night after the other!!!  Again, this could be his greatest hits SINGLE!  Refer back to last night's post about Mr. Sherman, who by the way, still looks great whilst hawking those late night 60s/70s "best of" cds!  OH MAN!!!!  Another big start, but not a drop of drama in site this time.  Just bursting with happiness!!! Ironic as this song is about the end of one relationship and him, now single, trying to "dig the show" again!  "Awright!" Very Partridge back-ups here!!!!  Hmmmmmm. Must inspect the label when this is done.  "Hangin' around/Taking it slow"  Nope, no connection to the Partridges other than the sound!  So much fun and sooooooooooo many summer vacation memories.

BONUS SONG - I have been jumping up and down all day waiting for this!!!! (what a geek)

11. Heartbeat - It's A Love Beat - The DeFranco Family featuring Tony DeFranco 2:59 (20th Century Records) As they always said, "The Real Family Of Pop" ladies and gentlemen....The DeFranco Family.  Drama drama drama!  Lots of drums and "tsst"s!  "Oh a Heartbeat, It's a love beat.  Listen to my heart pound, listen to my love sound"! My love sound?  Gonna let that one slide on by, ya know, for the chillrun's sake.  They just don't write em like this anymore folks!!!!! Chair dancing and hair flipping like mad!  In terms of pure unadulterated bubblegum memories, this song is my favorite of the night!

People come and go in our lives all the time and if we are lucky, we get to tell them how we feel about them before they leave us.  Whether they be fare-weather friends or family members (family meaning by blood or by circumstance) that helped make us who we are. I can tell you this right now, I have lived my life without any "what if's" and without having to look back in regret. That is the one area of my life I am most confident in. We will always have the memories of those people, good bad or indifferent (and we all know how much we associate music with people and situations) and trust me, everyone that comes into your life serves a purpose! So, please, make sure you tell the ones you love that you love them.  You never need to say why or how much, just make sure you end a phone call with those words or hug them before they leave you.  It makes a world of difference to you and them!  Goodnight!  See you tomorrow! Oh, by the way, tomorrow we move away from the "loose" singles to the SLEEVED singles.  If you thought this was eclectic and random, just wait.  We got it all coming up....80's, country, pop, more 70s, some 50s, some broadway, hell, EVERYTHING!