SOTD Badge- Cream

Happy Thanksgiving -eve that is.....Just got two nice bottles of wine and look forward to a nice yummy glass and good happy times tommorrow!

http://www.last.fm/music/Cream/_/Badge

My poor guitar teacher Mike - rather than coming and getting down to business each lesson, I would come in the door and sit down and say "hey, can you play this?" He could play anything- and he would alwyas dutifully crank out whatever request I had- from The Beatles to Led Zeppelin or Van Halen. He is married and outside of the studio, with the absence of a guitar slung around his shoulders, I would not be attracted to him. But boy, with that guitar, in that studio setting, I crushed hard on him for years. We would just sit and he would play and I would sing. (or stare googley eyed in groupie wonder, as the case may be) I am surprised that I can play considering how hard it was for us to 'buckle down'. I had been playing Cream on the way to his studio one day and as I pulled in, the song Badge was playing. I walked into his studio and said "can you play Badge by Cream?" Of course he could. Let me tell y'all, when he played that Clapton solo in the bridge, it was all I could do to keep myself restrained.

Boys, it's true. Learn to play guitar. You'll get all the girls. tee hee

The 'un' coveted shoe

Sorry for the blur----but I had to snap these. Every morning when I walk to work, I eye these shoes in this boutique window. I hated the whole gladiator sandal thing, but these somehow were doing it for me each time I would gaze as I passed. They are a little bit gladiator, a little bit S&M, a little 'girly' high heel and a little mid calf boot. Just a little bit sexy everything. I eyed them enough the other night to notice the name- Prada- and the price tag- $1035.00 Not even Carrie Bradshaw would go there. Come on. My desire for them turned to disgust after that--thankfully!

Bruising and overheard conversations

Today I experienced a couple of disturbing things.

*First of which were these bruises on my legs. I very often hit my upper thighs on my desk at work when I go to stand up, and though slight little taps, I get incredible bruises like those you would get falling off your bicycle as a child----I take a multi vitamin with iron, so this bothers me a little and I need to look it up. Like, ouchy big purple bruises.

*At lunch today, I overheard what I think was a mother and daughter having a very serious discussion about what appeared to be an accidental pregnancy (the daughter) and the daughter's determination to keep the unborn child and her mother's worry that maybe she should abort. First of all, I can only speculate that it was, infact, a mother daughter and secondly, I found it very disturbing that they would be so vocal in a public cafe settting to discuss this. I really wasn't trying to hear,but it was unavoidable considering the proximity. I am not going to do a long blog post about my feelings on this subject, but just wanted to note that hearing such an impassioned, real life discussion really gave me pause. I am sure when I have mulled it over, I will blog about it. It opened my mind, to say the least.

****PS From the NY Times yesterday. Interesting. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/fashion/23irony.html?em

SOTD Silver Echo and The Bunnymen

1992-- I am at the landfill/junkyard in East Hampton,NY with my girlfriend Maria getting rid of all the things that I had been dragging around with me from my teenage years in Illinois. Felt like I was getting rid of the little girl in me- the bad furniture, the bad clothes. Last to go was a couple of milk crates (I know, milk crates!) filled with amazing 12" mixes of really great music, alot of which my gf Nikki had gotten for me in London during trips in high school and carefully brought back for me. Maria says "are you sure"? and I tell her yes and toss them. That is actually pretty symbolic for me- to toss without thinking first. hmmmm..

It took me a couple of years to regret it, but I eventually did. Deeply. I have been able to find most on Last FM, Rhapsody,itunes or through ebay, but one of my favorite songs and my fav groups, I could never find this mix until today.

"The sky is blue
my hands untied,
The world looks true through our clean eyes
Just look at you
with burning lips,
you're living proof at my fingertips"


Take in a little Echo and The Bunnymen. ahhhh..found!
http://tinyurl.com/5wx3a9

NARS Blush in Orgasm

Girls, do yourselves a a favor and just get this blush already. It is everything 'they' say it is.

Forget the newly released "Super" Orgasm--tried it today and it is not as good. (I'd like to know what a Super Orgasm is anyway. right?) Plain old Orgasm is the way to go.

You will look peachy, blushy, and beautiful.

And the listed site -makeupforlife- is an easy way to get EVERYTHING that you can get at Sephora and MORE online!

http://www.makeupforlife.com/

ok- my girlicious post duties for the week, out of the way. ;)

SOTD OOH BABY BABY - LINDA RONSTADT

With all due respect to Smokey Robinson and The Miracles- Linda does a mighty fine remake
Sing it Sister!

SOTD Maybe I'm Amazed- Paul McCartney

I have thought the exact same thing every time I hear this song, since it's first listen as a child to present day: 'I wish someone would write a song like that to me.'
http://www.deezer.com/track/8679

Once in a Lifetime

If I knew I wouldn't have more to say, I would just get it over with and call this a music blog. :)

Before MTV, there was this music channel from California that played for an hour after school. I would rush home to get every last drop of music in. Before these visuals and new, avante garde, intellectual bands, popular music was Rock and Roll, lots of Journey, REO Speedwagon, just weird late 70's (not the cool early stuff of the 70's)and eary 80's like 38 Special and ZZ Top. When I saw this video and discovered The Talking Heads, I remember sitting cross legged in front of my TV with my head cocked thinking, 'hell yes- This guy is a genius.' It changed the whole landscape of music for me.
Do yourselves a favor and watch their live DVD "Stop Making Sense" someday.
So ahead of it's time.
Check out David Byrne's website, he's a pretty brilliant guy
www.davidbyrne.com

Foot Problems Be Damned!

I just ran into someone who said that she was getting rid of a bunch of her shoes (she dresses really, really kick ass cool) and had this brief exchange:

*Hey Trenny what size shoe do you wear?
"Size 8, sometimes 7 and 1/2, if I really love the shoe and it's a nice high heel."
*Oh, too bad, I'm getting rid of a bunch of high heels, I have a really nice pair of Christian Loubitains that I've never even worn, but I am a 6 and 1/2
"Wait, I could try to squeeze my foot into them!"
*Trenny, you're so funny
"Uh...I'm serious"

I really meant it for a split second. Me and my size 8's!

Head Games- Foreigener

On my headphone shuffle now reminds me that this is, STILL, 25 years later, my favorite album cover of all time. I tried to replicate this skirt in Junior High with black felt, a glue gun and my cheerleading skirt with disasterous results all around.

As I try to re-invent my life, it's funny, because all I can think of is how I can help other people with my hopefully triumphant, small or big, victories. When you go through something tragic, you learn a lot of life lessons, if you choose to wake up.

What I have come to find, ironically, is that for all of my hopes and desires over the years, all I ever really wanted out them was to touch other people. I realize that one of my favorite things ever is to make people laugh. I have made so many people I love sad the past few years, when I used to bring them laughter and happiness, that I feel a great desire to bring joy again. To give love and receive it in return. I want X amount of money or X career,(I never by the way, thought in terms of money- which has it's good and bad points) in the end is just a means to bringing people, especially those you love and that love you, joy. It all comes back to this desire. That is why I so strongly believe you should do what your heart tells you to do, otherwise you will be too unhappy to bring it to anyone else. That's all we are trying to do, give love (in it's many forms) and get it. You know I always knew this and tried to live this way, but when I became so self consumed with my own mis perceived troubles (meaning: things were not as bad as I made them to be) , I had nothing to give. You cannot make everyone happy, but if you do all you can to make your life happy, the things that make you healthy and happy, the rest will follow and it will happen by default.

Funny how things can be so clear in the midst of turmoil. I am ever hopeful.

In staying with that feeling I guess my SOTD should be my sweet James Taylor favorite:
http://www.deezer.com/track/1013780

SOTD Amy Winehouse - Valerie

I highly reccommend you play this and just listen and appreciate her for her raw talent. Really. Just to see her for who she is musically, instead of all the crap that has made her so unattractive to us.

I liked Rehab ('no, no no') when it came out, but all her mayhem took center stage before I got a chance to really delve into what she had to offer musically, so I never knew. This was on my co-workers IPOD and it was piercing. I love watching someone who is just singing from their soul like this- it's so real and such a gift. This makes me want to give her a break. I hope she gets herself together. I hope she doesn't do a Janis Joplin on us. Her twitchy, buggy drug adled state as she sits in the chair cannot go unnoticed. Sad.

I love Eleanor Roosevelt

"One thing life has taught me: if you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else. "

"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events and small and unhappy minds discuss other people"

Eleanor Roosevelt

When I was looking for something by a meaningful President to post regarding election day, I of course, found many by the wonderful Eleanor Roosevelt. I loved these.

SOTD Heart - Barracuda (1977)

THE. SINGLE. MOST. INFLUENTIAL FEMALE MUSICAL GROUP OF MY LIFE.
I WOULD SING THIS WHEN I WAS YOUNG TO ANYONE WHO WOULD LISTEN. MY POOR BROTHER! IT WAS THE SONG THAT NAILED ME A SPOT IN THE COLLEGE CAMPUS BAND. AND IF I EVER WIND UP AT A KARAOKE WITH ANYONE OF YOU, I WILL GRANT YOU A PERFORMANCE.;)

Rachel Maddow is a smarty pants

I read this today in a MC Q&A with Rachel Maddow from CSNBC

Q: So, what do you read daily to keep up on the current news and events?

Rachel A: Well, I usually do most of my reading in the morning before or during breakfast as my days are usually so busy. I read the Drudge Report, The New York Times, Huffington Post, BBC online, Chicago Tribune, Mccarthy, LA Times, Wired, Wall St Journal, Boston Globe, and a couple of others.

Q: This, all before breakfast?

A: Well, and during, rememeber?

......of course Rachel, just like me.....ahem...

SOTD Madness - Our House

Man, A week and a half into my whole 'Song Of The Day' thing and I am finding that it might be a little more than I can deal with committment wise. However, I persevere!
Funniest thing I can think of about this is that because this groovy great band and video came out as I was coming of age along with MTV- I insisted, four years ago, when I went to London for Christmas to visit my ex English boyfriend Gile's parents, that we go to this row of houses where this was filmed. I emailed him today to see if he even has the photo he took of me standing there. I'll post it if he does! I just do things like that.....oh boy.

Still.......my fav Halloween photo.

I meant so much to blog this on Halloween. Damn. Belated, anyway.

My friend Sam is so pretty. One of those girls that is a total tomboy, doesn't think of herself that way, (which, of course, always makes a girl even more beautiful) but looks just like a 1940's Vargas pinup girl. A few years ago, she and her friend Maggie did a 'last minute' Halloween costume and went to this Variety store and bought Batman and Robin cotumes, which none of us thought much of. They got to the house, went into the bathroom with scissors and slashed the shit out of them to fit them..well....like they fit. Though I love being girly and sexy, on Halloween, I have always been of the mindset to dress really clownish or goofy, sexy always seemed too nauseting, unoriginal and uninventive to me. Yet, when they emerged in these getups, I was pretty jealous. Though a few years old, it is still my fav Halloween duo among photos of friends dressed up and it just needed to be shared.

New York Fall and The Impending Winter.

This morning when I woke up and looked out the window I saw my very first Fall tree that had lost every single leaf and, against the rainy day gray sky, looked so sad. I sighed and counted and named the months ahead in my mind. November, December,January....I just stopped because I didn't want to torture myself with the cold and tree-less outlook. It was 48 degrees, rainy, gray and bleary here today. No green, no blue sky, no sunshine is just no fun. The philosophy that we 'need the bad to appreciate the good' (ie: dark gray and cold makes you appreciate warm and sunny) is CRAP! I was speaking to a guy the other day from Barbados and just as another guy was preaching that philosophy, he chimed in and said in his warm as tropics accent "I grew up in Barbados my whole life, 33 years, and I NEVER got tired of it, it was beautiful and it made me so happy. I miss it!" I high fived him and told him I was with him! So, here's to making it through the Fall and Winter with grace...ugh...

The 7 Dollar Wedding Ring

You would really have to know me to know the full effect of just how interested in people's stories I am and how unafraid I am to talk to anyone or ask a question if I am just so curious I have to know. This afternoon, I went to grab some lunch for everyone up the street at this little cafe/deli. The line was a little long and as I was waiting, I casually mentioned to the woman standing in front of me, "I like your scarf", which she in turn replied, "I like your hat". Because of the longish line, we began a casual conversation. Casual went to solemn when Frank Sinatra came over the speakers and she said "Oh, my husband loved Frank Sinatra, we saw him at the Cotton Club the day after we were married........he passed away 2 months ago." I said how sorry I was, to which she replied, "we were married 63 years. We met at the beach when I was 15 and he was 18 and I knew I loved him the minute I looked at him." She went on to tell me that he had been shipped off to World War II and she promised to wait for him and when he got back (she was 17), they ran off and eloped to City Hall, to the horror of her disapproving parents. I said, "Weren't you scared, weren't they angry" And cutie pie said "Oh hunny, I was in love, you know how you are when you are in love. He was the love of my life, I would have followed him to the ends of the earth." She said they had $75.00 IN TOTAL to their name, to put a down payment on an apartment, buy a week's worth of food, a wedding license AND a wedding ring! She said her wedding ring was $7.00 from a street vendor in Brooklyn and the most precious item that she has ever owned. In fact, when he once tried to replace it years later when he became an officer, she was offended and said that the one she already owned was just perfect.
And the whole time she told these stories with a smile. I could have listened to her life biography if I had had the time. All we had at the moment was my co-worker's phone camera and I made her stop for this picture. ***She pulled a chain from beneath her sweater just before I left and said "Oh, this is the ring, I wear it close to my heart." And there it was, a little tiny lookin' gold ring. A lifetime of love and memories circled inside. It warmed and broke my heart at the same time.

***This is just an interesting historical fact that I learned that I had to include. When she had said her husband was in WWII, she said that what he had been trained to do in combat, specifically, was drive those little boats to the shore to drop off soldiers and ammunition and that he was infact driving one of the boats on D-Day. Some of you may find it in odd that I asked this, but I did (and she was excited to answer!) I asked her if she had seen Saving Private Ryan. She said that she and her husband 'of course' had. I then asked her if the opening scene of the D-Day invasion was, according to her husband's recollection, totally overblown or pretty close to actuality. She said that throughout the whole opening of the movie her husband kept tugging on her arm and telling her, "that's what it was like, that's just what it was like!" She said that he had actually been driving his boat to shore and one soldier got shot and they really DID throw him overboard. (though she said that he laughed at the idea that guns were fired underwater as he was adamant that this would 'never work'. funny what you would notice after having been there.) Ittotally amazes me, and gives me great pause that these things were just not in the movies and that people really are able to thrive and survive through ordeals like that. Gives me alot of hope for life.

SOTD John Denver - Annie´s Song

To the right and to the left of me in Junior High Choir---oh yes, I was TOTALLY in the choir-were boys, who mostly mouthed the songs we had to sing because they really didn't want to be there. On Fridays, we had what were called "Pop Song' days- where we could raise our hand and pick any song from this kinda outdated 60's and 70's sheet music folder. I ALWAYS wanted to sing this one and everytime I would raise my hand, Stuart and/or Darren would pull it down or tug on my pigtails or step on my foot. I think this made everyone gag, but I loved it.

SOTD HIgh School Musical 3 - HSM3 - I Want It All (Extra, Exclusive, Full movie version video, HQ)

My niece loved these movies and I must admit, I like them too. Colorful, fashionable, musical, and young will always appeal to the girl in me. My friend Jane went to see this and loved it and she is one of the most pragmatic women I know, so you can't deny the appeal if you like music and performance! I just love it!

SOTD GWEN STEFANI - EARLY WINTER (Official Video)

I had the good fortune to see No Doubt really really early in thier career. They were the opening band for a ska festival that I went to see back in 1996. From the moment little Gwen walked onstage and opened her mouth to sing, I was in love. With her style, her voice, I don't think there has been a female 'pop' star that I adore more than her. The sound of her voice, I relate to and, for some reason, just makes me feel at home. And her style- take a look. I tried sooo hard a few years ago to just even get an interview with her fashion company L.A.M.B here in NY. Some snotty English guy always put me off, but maybe someday. Maybe.... I am sure you will see more of her on my blog.

SOTD I Believe - Stevie Wonder

ahhhh-- Stevie Wonder. This has always been my favorite Stevie Wonder song. It was also wisely and beautifully well placed by the ever musically evocative Cameron Crowe as the 'closing credits' song for the movie High Fidelity.
http://www.deezer.com/track/2505672

Ahhh, in an ideal world.......

"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

Teddy Roosevelt

Isn't that the way it's spose to be? ;( What's wrong with a little idealism?
Big Sigh.

Killer Queen- Queen

Because this was playing when I stepped into a cafe this morning
Because Queen was one of the best bands ever
Because Freddy Mercury shouldn't be dead
Because Freddy was FUCKING FABULOUS!

"...She'll absolutley drive you wild, -------- she's gonna get you........."
http://www.deezer.com/track/658