A Quick Trip To Santa Cruz With Pictures

April 17, 2012
FamilyFriendsGrandkidsMy LifeTravel

We took a two night/three day trip to Santa Cruz recently, taking along our two granddaughters. Our friends Larry and Robin graciously let us stay with them and we all had a good time there. We took the girls to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and they loved it! The forecast had been for rain, but it didn’t rain until late afternoon. What happened though, is that the crowds were small and so there was no waiting for rides. The kids could just get off the rides and then get back on, over and over and over and over and over and, well, you get the idea.

The pictures are here, check them out and feel free to leave a comment below.

Photo page

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Fifth Annual Record Store Day Is April 21st

April 14, 2012
MusicMy Life

Yes, I did get most of this from the Obsessed With Music web site 😉

I love records. I love music. And I love Record Store Day. It’s a celebration of the coolest places on the planet, namely record stores. So, on Saturday April 21st, go and shop and buy something from your local indie store! And there are lots of special releases just for this day, check out this list.

About this special day, from the official web site:

The original idea for Record Store Day was conceived by Chris Brown, and was founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner as a celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally.

This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on. Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Francisco on April 19, 2008 and Record Store Day is now celebrated the third Saturday every April.

Record Store Day web site

Sacramento area record stores

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The 2012 Sonoma Trip Pictures

March 26, 2012
AlcoholCoffeeFoodMusicMy LifeTravelVegetarian

2012 Sonoma Trip picture collageAs I blogged recently, we won a free (mostly) trip to the Sonoma wine country. You can read all about it here. But now it’s time to show and tell, so here are some pictures from the trip. As usual we didn’t take pictures of everything but I think you will get the idea…

First, to see the collage on the right at a bigger size, just click on it! I downloaded a free “collage” app for my phone and used it to group a few of the trip pictures that I took with the phone’s camera. Very cool and free too. I love technology (usually).

Second, click here to see the trip pictures. Take a look and then leave me a comment!

Thanks!

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A Quick Trip To The Wine Country

March 23, 2012
AlcoholFoodMusicMy LifeTravelVegetarian
1 Comment

Vintner's Inn in Santa RosaRecently, we won a FREE trip to the Sonoma wine country. Yeah, that IS cool! It was a free night at the Vintner’s Inn in Santa Rosa (see picture), along with tasting passes at three nearby wineries, a small bottle of wine in our room, a $100 credit at the high-end restaurant, and a breakfast. We went earlier this month.

The hotel was really nice, including cookies in the room at bedtime, a fireplace in the room, large-screen TV, nice big tub, balcony, cushy bed, and more.But on the way there we stopped in Petaluma for a vegan lunch at The Sunflower Center that was pretty good even though it was in an office building. You never know, do you? Then, after checking in at the hotel, we headed to one of the wineries that we had passes for, Kendall Jackson. The wines were very good and the woman

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Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

March 9, 2012
FamilyMusicMy Life

Turn and face the strange.

This song keeps running through my head. Life has held many changes lately. They say it’s not what happens to you, it’s how you react to it that matters. Do you think that is true? Anyway, here’s the fantastic David Bowie. Check it out!

 

 

You could always leave a comment below…????

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Music We Own: The “X” Stuff (as of today)

February 27, 2012
MusicMy Life

Hello again friends, family, and music lovers…

This is the twenty-fourth in a series of posts about the music we own. We sort-of collect items by certain artists, as you may notice (XTC!). And yes, we are both still obsessed with music!

You might also notice that XTC is one of my favorite bands in the world…

Artists are listed as last name, comma, first name. If it is a band then it is just the band name. Anyway, check it out and see what you think. Leave me a comment below the list!

Name – Title – Format – Size – Country – Comments

XTC – Helium Kidz cass na unk Early incarnation of XTC – .

XTC – 3D EP vinl 12 UK

XTC – Go+ vinl 12 UK Rare UK-only issue.

XTC – Making Plans For Andy cass na unk Dub of Bootleg.

XTC – At The Edge – Toronto 78 CD 5 UNK CD-R Bootleg

XTC – Go 2 cd 5 US One bonus track.

XTC – White Music CD 5 Jap Special album-sleeve package

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Complicated Shadows: The Life And Music Of Elvis Costello

January 27, 2012
BooksMusicMy Life

Have you read this book?

Elvis is King. That’s the message he inserted oh-so-cleverly over and over on the cover of his first album. Of course, there was that other Elvis too, but Costello burst on the music scene full of himself and full of potential. His uber-catchy songs and stunning way with lyrics made him famous and infamous overnight and his fame took off despite his occasional efforts to derail that train. This book details his early years and rise to fame as well as many of the things that he did to mystify and sometimes alienate his listeners from then on, as well as his loves and likes along the way.

He is one of the most talented singer-songwriters ever. There, I said it. He’s made a few mistakes in his life and in his music choices, but overall the depth and breadth of his amazing career is matched by very few. This book tackles both the life and the music chronologically, and unfortunately ends too soon in the early 00’s with the somewhat forgetable North album. But each album from My Aim Is True up through North is discussed and matched with the corresponding events in his personal life (along with his bands and backup musicians). Sometimes the life part goes a little light but there is still insight into the personality and into the music.

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Two Videos! More Concrete Blonde At Ace Of Spades

January 26, 2012
MusicMy Life

Yes, I already  posted about this show, but I am adding a couple video clips from the show. For the original post click here, and here are the videos:

Concrete Blonde at Ace of Spades “True”

The second video is after the “read more”. See you on the other side…

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Music We Own: The “W” Stuff (as of today)

January 22, 2012
MusicMy Life

Hello again friends, family, and music lovers…

This is the twenty-third in a series of posts about the music we own. We sort-of collect items by certain artists, as you may notice (Tom Waits!). And yes, we are both still obsessed with music!

Artists are listed as last name, comma, first name. If it is a band then it is just the band name. Anyway, check it out and see what you think. Leave me a comment below the list!

Name – Title – Format – Size – Country – Comments

Wagner, Jack – All I Need vinl 7 US

Wainwright III, Loudon – Unrequited vinl 12 US Promo.

Wainwright III, Loudon – Attempted Mustache vinl 12 US

Wainwright III, Loudon – Album III vinl 12 US

Waitresses, The – Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful? vinl 12 US

Waits, Tom – Beautiful Maladies CD 5 US

Waits, Tom – Nighthawks At The Diner CD 5 US

Waits, Tom – Blue Valentine vinl 12 US

Waits, Tom – Heartattack And Vine vinl 12 US

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Concrete Blonde At Ace Of Spades

January 21, 2012
MusicMy Life

Note: for photos from the show and the full set list, click on the “continue reading” below…

Another note: I had this posted at SacMusicBlog too.

Veteran rockers Concrete Blonde were at Sacramento’s Ace of Spades last night and brought down the house with an energetic and spirited show that had the audience cheering and yelling for more.

Singer-songwriter Jim Bianco opened up the show with an entertaining set of originals. One audience member called him “a young Tom Waits”, but that’s not exactly true. He does have an offbeat style in both performance and lyrics but is at least a little closer to the mainstream. And was that a nylon string classical guitar that he was playing the crazy heck out of?

Time for the headliners: Concrete Blonde have been together since the late 80s and have broken up and retired more than a couple times. But they are back again and haven’t lost a beat. The show had only a couple numbers that were not immediately recognizable (Rosalie, The Damage I’ve Done). Very early on they played a blazing cover of Beds Are Burning (the Midnight Oil protest song) which was a definite highlight. But most of the show was classic song after classic song. Joey, True, Mexican Moon (acoustic), Someday, Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man, Tomorrow Wendy, God is a Bullet, Caroline, 100 Games of Solitare, Everybody Knows (acoustic), and more. And of course, for the encore, Bloodletting (The Vampire Song).

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The Best Albums Of 2011 – Or Not?

January 19, 2012
MusicMy Life

Finally! And only a few weeks late! Here are my picks for the best albums of 2011. Well, at least for the moment. And by “best” I mean that I liked them best! What did you like?

The Cars “Move Like This”

Death Cab For Cutie “Codes And Keys”

The Decemberists “The King Is Dead”

Eisley “The Valley”

Robbie Robertson “How To Be Clairvoyant”

Tom Waits “Bad As Me”

And also good…

Jack’s Mannequin “People And Things”

Adele “21”

Gavin DeGraw “Sweeter”

Jimi Hendrix “Winterland”

Jethro Tull “Aqualung” 2-CD reissue

Paul Simon “So Beautiful Or So What”

So what do you think? What did I miss? Leave me a comment.

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Our Latest 43 Music Items

December 30, 2011
MusicMy Life
2 Comments

Here is the latest update. Some we bought, some were gifts, a few we burned. Do you love any of these? Hate any of them? Or are you just confused?

Read all the way to the end and then leave me a comment!

ARTIST – TITLE – FORMAT – SIZE – COUNTRY – COMMENTS

Waits, Tom – Bad As Me CD 5 US 2CD Ltd Edition

Bush, Kate – 50 Words For Snow CD 5 US

Jethro Tull – Aqualung CD 5 US Two CD 40th Anniversary Special Edition

Cars, The – Move Like This CD 5 US

Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line CD 5 US

Concrete Blonde – Bloodletting CD 5 US 20th Anniversary Edition, six bonus tracks

Gabriel, Peter – Us CD 5 US

Heap, Imogen – Speak For Yourself CD 5 US

Young, Neil – International Harvesters – A Treasure CD 5 US

Cure, The – The Only One CD 5 US

Cure, The – The Perfect Boy CD 5 US

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A Holiday Greeting – Happy Xmas

December 25, 2011
MusicMy Life

War is over, if you want it. Happy whatever-you-celebrate, hope you find peace and love in the coming year.

And a happy new year. Let’s hope it’s a good one, without any fear.

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John Lennon – Rest In Peace

December 8, 2011
MusicMy Life
1 Comment

John Lennon wanted to change the world. He did change mine.

Thirty one years ago today was a tragic day. We lost a great man and a great artist.

 

 

From Wikipedia:

John Lennon was an English musician who gained worldwide fame as one of the founders of The Beatles, for his subsequent solo career, and for his political activism and pacifism. He was shot by Mark David Chapman at the entrance of the building where he lived, The Dakota, in New York City, on Monday, 8 December 1980; Lennon had just returned from Record Plant Studio with his wife, Yoko Ono.

Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, where it was stated that nobody could have lived for more than a few minutes after sustaining such injuries. Shortly after local news stations reported Lennon’s death, crowds gathered at Roosevelt Hospital and in front of The Dakota.

 

 

And one more video. Let’s “continue”…

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Happy Birthday Woody Allen!

December 1, 2011
ComedyMoviesMy Life

Woody is perhaps America’s best living filmmaker. Certainly in the top five. I have loved his movies for as long as I can remember and look forward to each new one. So I want to wish him a very happy birthday!

Here’s a clip from a very early movie, still funny over 40 years later…

What’s your favorite Woody Allen movie or scene?

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