Unrequited love

Do you remember that song that Leann Rhimes and Elton John sang a few years ago, "Is It Written in the Stars?" It's down below. You can play it while you read, if you want.

I know a couple who have an ill-fated love affair. It's more of a one-sided thing.

She's kind of standoffish towards him and yet he adores her. Adoration unlike anything you've ever seen before.

I should probably take that back. She's not standoffish.

She hates his guts. No one really knows why, he's plenty likable.

Seriously, I've not often seen disdain like the kind she has for him.


But he keeps trying! He's like the little engine than could, I think I can I think I can I think I can make her loooooove me.

She's having none of it. If she were so rude as to speak the words, they'd be "get away from me, you freak. You smell funny and you're rough around the edges. Plus, you're short and I like tall men."

He wouldn't care. He'd still lean in for a kiss.

I love you, Binnie. Wuvoo, Binnie.

It's just like that Elton John song.

I've put it in my Playlist down below, so you can rock it. You know, on second thought that Bonnie Raitt song at the very bottom of the Playlist may be more appropriate for this situation.

- H

It's Willie's birthday so I went out and hoarded food

I am so ashamed. I posted this morning my note from last night and completely forgot that today is Willie Nelson's birthday.

*sigh*

Sorry, Willie. Knowing you, you'll forgive me cause you're high and you probably could care less that you're ninety-seven years old today. You're still rockin, that's all that matters.

Willie is one of my favorite sing-gers of all time. So many of his songs just hit the nail on the head. Uncloudy Day, Whiskey River, Night Life, Blue Eyes Cryin in the Rain, Railroad Lady. He has a way of singing behind the beat and in front of it that makes singing along to his songs always fun. Almost like he's there with me in my car, purposely lagging behind so we sound cool and artsy.

So many good memories in my life include Willie. My friend Gretchen and I went to see him at some country grandstand in Peoria when I was in college. Heart of Illinois Fair maybe? Anyway, it was during the time he would play anywhere because he was trying to pay off his debt to the IRS. I don't know why he bothered, apparently none of our politicians are paying their taxes.

Then I found my favorite Willie CD, while in Omaha visiting my parents about ten years ago. It was in my dad's CD player in his Caddy. I can vividly remember listening to it as we drove from their house out to Valley to go to Harr's Steakhouse, home of the handmade cinnamon rolls that come to your table with your meal. Dottie Harr made them from scratch every day, and it made the meal. Never before and never after have I ever had cinnamon rolls with a steak. But it's good.

I digress. The song that stuck with me, and forever has been on my top ten list, is If You Could Touch Her At All. Hard to find, worth every single second of it.

Sometimes it seems that she ain't worth the trouble at all.
But she could be worth the world if somehow you could touch her at all.

For my 'ligious friends, have you ever sung along with Uncloudy Day? Just when you thought Willie was a heathen, listen to it. It'll make your soul sing. I put it in the playlist below if you want to check it out, along with a couple other favorites that are maybe not so pure of heart.

Oh, they tell me of a home far beyond the skies
And they tell me of a home far away
Oh, they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise
Oh, they tell me of an uncloudy day

Rock on, Willie. I celebrated your birthday by going grocery shopping in case we're all shut-in with SWINE FLU pretty soon. Highly unlikely considering Queens is still up and running despite over a hundred victims of SWINE FLU in their midst. But our fancy pants hippie smartie next-door neighbor who never wears a shirt is a microbiologist (or is it macro?) at Wash U and he's hoarding food for the pandemic, so we figured it was the smart thing to do. Plus, we haven't shopped for food in seven months or something, so we were due.

So we're good. We have food. We have water. We have Willie. Bring it on, Mexican pigs. Bring it on.

- H

I like my tunes kinda lame and funny

There's a certain style of music I like, I just don't know what it's called. I found an XM radio channel (50 if you have it) called The Loft that plays the kind of music I really like.

It's kind of funny, sort of country, without being country, and quirky. I guess if you wore a lot of black turtlenecks and skinny jeans while listening to it from a loft in Soho it could be pretentious?

I just really like sinGers. Singers with an emphasis on the hard G in the word. People who can write songs and play the guitar and sound better live than on a recording. People that really just love to make music and could care less what a studio thinks, so they never become millionaires and go on Dancing With the Stars.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm just saying.

Jim Roll is one of those sinGers. I heard an interview with him on NPR a few years ago and fell in love with this song, Blue Guitar. He said his sister died and he wrote this song for her afterwards. Man, it really puts it into perspective to know the back story, doesn't it? I can't remember if it was a suicide or she just died early.

Then there's Robert Earl Keen. I swoon over Robert Earl Keen. And Willie Nelson, but that's kind of a completely different kind of love.

I added one of my favorite Robert Earl Keen songs to my Playlist, so you can check it out down there. {Bottom o' the page.} I love it, so I hope you enjoy.





P.S. Blue Guitar isn't on Playlist and I can't figure out how to move it from my CD to an MP3 file to the player I can embed in my post. Whew, that was a lot of techno geeky stuff and I tend to hate that stuff. When I figure it out, I'll post it for your listening pleasure.

I figured out the embedded MP3 so now I can share songs!

I am so happy!!!! I finally figured out how to embed an MP3 that I own (not stealing nothing here) into a blog post! I'm totally a CSS idiot, so this is a major feat for me.

Now I can share my current favorite song from Noggin.

It's by The Roots, called "Lovely Love My Family." There is no way you can NOT dance when the band comes on the tee-vee to play this song. Griffin grooves like Michael Jackson to this song. Turn up your volume and enjoy!



And in case you have a birthday coming up...