Caterwauling

Lachlan posted about the music she grew up with. On 8-track. And also being born in ’74, I felt her pain that the young’ns in her life can’t fully appreciate the music we hold so dear, even if it IS Barry Manilow. (Don’t judge — I love it too!)

I recently had the honor of playing “Guitar Hero” with a dear friend, and well, we appreciate it for COMPLETELY different reasons. He totally rocks at it and knows the songs because, well, that’s probably where he knows most of the songs from. (Ah, to be 25 again. …) And he was GOOD at playing along with songs such as Kiss’ “Strutter” and Kansas’ “Wayward Son” and other goodies from Cream and Bad Religion and White Zombie. *swoon*

(Clearly “Headbanger’s Ball” ruled my world. Yay for the VH1 Classic station!)

See, I completely sucked at the game because I was far too busy headbanging and singing and having flashbacks of WHEN THESE SONGS WERE ON THE RADIO. And not satellite radio or “oldies” stations — when they came out, kids. (Don’t get me started on how much I was digging Warrant’s “Cherry Pie,” either. LOVED IT.)

He was terrific at the game because he played it enough to learn the songs and feel the rhythm and could actually play at an advanced level. Old-ass here couldn’t even master the beginner level because she was too busy remembering how much she wanted to be a GROUPIE, not a GUITARIST!

(I have my grandfather’s guitar now. I totally have “taking lessons” on my to-do list now.)

I felt really old when I realized my companion hadn’t even been born when MTV launched; I think I was 8 years old but I remember diggin’ me some Buggles on that glorious August day. 🙂

It’s funny — MTV used to play the same 15 or so videos in constant rotation way back when. But now that they have MILLIONS of videos to choose from, you’ve got to be up at 4 a.m. in order to see any of ’em because everything’s “Real World” and “Road Rules” and whatever shows distract us from, gee I don’t know, learning about new music and enjoying some of the old.

I really don’t think that I’m all that old, but how sad is it that the music I grew up with is “new and hip” to the next generation and for me, it’s nostalgia?!?!

Oh, and don’t THINK I haven’t downloaded the “Guitar Hero” set as my new-favorite iTunes playlist. … 😉

I miss the recently departed “angsty Goddess” because the blog entries when I’m in a dither tend to be a little more substantial. At least I squoze a few half-decent tirades out of my last cycle, though. 😉

Anyway, loving “Lost Highway” already and I’ve only listened to four songs. So far my favorite is “Whole Lot of Leavin.'”

The band showed up on the “Today Show” this morning. I was busy throwing my underwear at the TV, although I think I’m going to need a new screen because I happened to be in them at the time.

Bon Jovi’s starting its world tour in January. I’m thinking that I should use the vacation hours I’m losing to go travel to see one of the “local” shows they’re holding (local to themselves, that is), although A) they’re in Newark and B) they’re in October. Rats.

I just saw a note from Pratt that at least the band will be on “Unplugged” Friday. *squee!* I may have to turn down a date to spend the evening with my favorite shaggy-haired rocker, but I think the sacrifice will end up being worth it. 😉

Now back to my regularly scheduled navel-gazing. ….

It’s a Nina Gordon/”Bleeding Heart Graffiti” kind of day here in the neighborhood. Although it’s more of a “Turn on Your Radio” day than the “Don’t Let Me Down” that this entry title stems from.

All I have to say is this. I’m hoping I’ve finally reached the point in my existence where the universe has tormented me enough for one lifetime. There’s a part of me that feels so free of all the crap right now, and it’s almost scary how easily things will fall through your fingers if you just let them.

Scarier still how other things slip away, too, as though you were holding on with a thick coat of baby oil slicked on your skin in the process.

Oh well.

I think this is the point where normal people question their self-worth. And maybe I’m odd in that I don’t. I just think maybe I had to burn out and die a little bit so that something new can rise from the ashes. It just never ceases to amaze me that, no matter how irons a girl can throw into the proverbial fire, everything can still end up icy cold.

“All the horses and all the men
Couldn’t bring her back again
And we tried so hard
But couldn’t save her day
All the millions and the billions
Of stars that shine into her eyes
Were barely bright enough to light her way.”

— Nina Gordon, “Bones and a Name”

On heavy rotation at Chez Caterwauling tonight, perhaps the first night I’ve been OK in a long time. …

“It’s closing time
Got no place to go
No, I’m not tired
Nobody’s waiting at home

Hey, what about you?
Looks like you’re leaving alone
Guess that makes two — me and you
By the way, my name’s Jones

Yeah, I know a place
It’s not far from here
That’s my dented red Chevy out front
You can follow me there

There’s no neon lights
And it don’t stink of beer
It’s just a mile up the road
Just a minute from here

These arms are open all night
If you need someone to talk to
A hand to hold onto
And if it feels right
These arms are open all night

Now the band is through
They’re breaking down the drums
They took the singer’s keys
Man, he was really drunk

They’re turning on the lights
We can’t stay here no more
Yeah, I can take a hint
Find my way out the door

So what do you think?
Yeah, are you going my way?
There’s still a whole lot more left to this night
Baby, what do you say?

These arms are open all night
If you need someone to talk to
A hand to hold onto
And if it feels right
These arms are open all night

God only knows
How long it’s been
That I’ve been this lonely

Back there at the stop sign
I see her headlights
I think she’s coming with me

These arms are open all night
If you need someone to talk to
A hand to hold onto
And if it feels right
These arms are open all night”

— Bon Jovi, “These Arms are Open all Night”

Why does iTunes insist on making the best songs only be available with the full album purchase?

Irk Tweeted yesterday about the greatest invention in Web radio since, well, the Groove Salad station on iTunes, Musicovery.com. You pick your mood, you tell it what genres to play (or not play — they were throwing in too much Spanish shit if I didn’t set some controls in my dark/calm area of the spectrum).

In any event, the site allows you to check out the song that’s currently playing on either Amazon.com or iTunes, which has emptied my debit account more than I care to admit. Damn it. 😉

So anyway, I heard Massive Attack’s “Protection,” sung by Tracey Thorn (of Everything But the Girl fame). OMG, had to have it. But when you go to find it in the iTMS? You see the little “Album Only” bullshit.

Don’t get me wrong — I loves me some Massive Attack and will go ahead and buy the album, even though I already have two of the songs (acquired from other sites, so I can’t even get an album credit). But damn it, it sucks to discover new music when you have to discover 13 other related songs in the process when I’d much rather use those dollars to buy other singles.

This is why I stopped buying CDs in the first place — paying for one good song and getting the rest for so-called “free.”

All right, just got caught up on “American Idol” from last night. Now I can blog.

Underwear change was mandatory first, however. 😉

OK, Phil and Chris need to go. They sang “Blaze of Glory” and “Wanted Dead or Alive,” respectively. And the dudes paid brilliant homage to their songs. Phil clearly knew every note by heart, and Chris faked it enough to make it.

Now, I know every word, note, breath, guitar riff and keyboard chord by heart that Bon Jovi has ever played as well, but it doesn’t mean I can carry it off. I think they were both high-grade karaoke renditions. Entertaining, absolutely, but star quality? Meh.

Blake shook things up with a beatbox version of “You Give Love a Bad Name.” I was prepared to hate it. You don’t fuck with Bon Jovi in my world. But given that they will never be able to do the original as, well, the original was done (see above), Blake didn’t even try. Which made it magical and memorable. I’m not a huge fan of his, but that he didn’t ruin the song AND that he took something I’ve heard 20 billion times and made it new again, I gotta give him his props. Dawg. Word.

The girls stole the spotlight. I disliked Jordin’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” from the first note. But I love her, period. You can forgive an off night for her because she had fun. She knew she stunk, but she was rocking out. To Bon Jovi. WITH Bon Jovi. I mean, really, how bad a night could a girl have?

Melinda did a GREAT job with “Have a Nice Day.” It’s weird, the songs of Bon Jovi’s that get overplayed, when they have an AMAZING collection going back to 1984, when my wee 10-year-old self became a drooling fangirl with the first strains of “Runaway.” In any event, Melinda seemed almost weirded out by her task of taking on “HAND” but her voice is too good to write her off on a technicality here. And it sounded DIFFERENT than the original. Which, let’s face it, when you’re an obsessed fan like me, if you can’t rock it like they did in the first place, you might as well do a 180 and run with it. It worked.

My favorite was LaKeisha, who I was sure was going to be voted off last week. She picked “This Ain’t a Love Song.” Which, OMG *swoon.* Bon Jovi’s best album, and certainly the most underrated, was “These Days.” That one was filled with heartbreaking anthems like “My Guitar Lies Bleeding in My Arms,” “It’s Hard Letting You Go” and “Something to Believe in.” And I love love LOVE “Hey God” and have quoted it in this blog quite often, as well as the title track (“Don’t you know that all my heroes died/And I guess I’d rather die than fade away.”) *sigh*. And to hear that man sing “Lie to Me,” lord. *quiver*

Oh, yeah, LaKeisha. Anyway, she was gorgeous. I loved her shirt. I found her one silver ballgown from Diana Ross night on Igigi.com, so I’ll be looking for the black-and-red shirt later. 😉 But wow, even I got chills when she did “Love Song.” And I think I was everyone’s toughest critic, so to say I loved her? Meant she was pretty fucking amazing.

Thank god I wasn’t a contestant this year — I doubt I would have been able to stop dry-humping Jon’s thighs enough to concentrate on the songs. But maybe it could have worked, as I DO have them all committed to memory.

Bon Jovi’s performing live on “Idol” tonight, which starts in 10 minutes. EEEEEEEEE!!! No shortage of masturbation material tonight, kids. None whatsoever. … ;9

I had a three-hour window in which I could potetially have slept, but I was clock-watching instead so as not to snooze straight through the alarm and blow some deadlines.

I was all hyped up from The Killers concert last night. And some of you are scratching your head, wondering how or why I would even think to go to their show when I was too cheap to spend the same amount of money on Melissa Etheridge tickets not too long ago. 🙂 Let me put it this way, the company with whom you spend these events is more important than where you actually end up. And it all resulted in a confluence of awesomeness that made for a kickass show, so it was a good decision. I might even have to download their CDs now!

But, worth the ticket price alone, was the middle act The Silver Beats. As the four of us stood around discussing last night, the best word to describe that experience was “d00d.” Seriously. I already knew I was one of the oldest people at George Mason’s Patriot Center last night, but when these adorable Japanese boys in snazzy suits started playing Beatles covers better than, well, the Beatles did, I found myself singing along oh-so-happily and wondering if half of the kids had ever heard of the Fab Four.

There was an opening act, which I see nobody has blogged about in my circle, so I’ll take a stab at it. Red Romance was what my friend dubbed a one-trick pony. They came out promising enough — I actually liked them. But then the rest of the set was sort of like an extended dance remix. Were there five songs, six or two? Couldn’t tell.

As one of the gang said, it’s like when a Web site tells you that, based on your purchase of a Killers CD, you might also like this name. What goes without saying is that you might NOT. 😉 LOL, don’t mean to be too harsh on Red Romance — I’ll probably grab a single somewhere down the road, and it won’t matter which one as it will probably reflect the sound of the whole EP!

Gawd, I’m exhausted. I don’t want to talk about how many times I zoned out, driving back to D.C. from the show. Lord, if you love me at all, even just a little bit, please make this day go well. Better yet, let it go quickly so I can make acquaintance with my bed and not be curled up in a ball under my desk with my massive shoe collection. ‘Cause, you know, ouch. 🙂

Bon Jovi’s new single, “(You Want to) Make a Memory,” is coming to iTunes on Tuesday, April 14.

Since I lose all the Post-It Notes on which I write shit, this serves as the “note to self” I cannot *possibly* lose this time around.

And, um, *squee*!!!!

So I rolled into work today armed with a list of 20 to-dos, as I am launching a Big Ass Motherfucker of a Project in four days and, oh, BTW, *bwahahaaaaaaa.*

And yet, I’m pretty much where I started not only today, but about four weeks ago. So, really, what’s the rush? 😉

What’s wrong with staring out the window and catching the five-minute bursts of sunshine that are book-ended by seemingly never ending cloud covers?

In any event, I find it interesting that I voted my fingers off for Taylor Hicks on last season’s “American Idol,” and his single is the only one I haven’t bought from the cast of season six who has one available. Go figure.

I was always rooting for Taylor, but really, it took Chris Daughtry (*swoon* *pant* *slobber*) getting the boot to make me swing my votes his way. I HATED Katharine McPhee, yet I am “so into” her “Over It” song. I don’t love it, mind you — her voice grates on me like nails on chalkboard, but if I were of the variety who made mixtapes, this would definitely make the playlist cut.

But who I love now? Elliot Yamin. His “Wait for You” would possibly be another mixtape-type contender.

I find that I hate this season of “Idol.” That Sanjaya kid — you can’t tell me that he is one of the eight most-talented singers in the country who auditioned for that show. Their ratings are a lot lower than they were at the beginning of the season, and is it any wonder? I missed the past three weeks of it and only tuned in at the end of the Wednesday episode to see better people than him get the ol’ foot up the ass.

Although losing Hayley last night? SO not a loss. Quite honestly, her skirts got shorter and the tops got tighter every week — if she stayed any longer, she’d have had to come in on a bikini next week and just be naked the next.

In any event, I’m rooting for Jordin Sparks to win this thing. I don’t care that half of Microsoft and Comcast’s tech support workers in India are voting for Sanjaya (while they should be helping their poor, screwed customers instead) — I think sanity will prevail at the end of this mess and someone with talent is actually going to triumph and salvage this goddamned season. Christ, all we need is another Jasmine Trias/Diana DeGarmo/Ghetto Fabulous Fantasia trifecta like we saw in season three — I don’t think the show can recover from another mess like that.

OK, and we wonder WHY my Big Ass Motherfucker of a Project isn’t coming along so well, eh?

It’s only been out a day and I’ve got the lyrics memorized. Stream Bon Jovi’s new song here. I swear, I fall in love with JBJ even more with every passing year. Why can’t I get a guy like this? 😉

“Hello again
It’s you and me
Kinda always like it always used to be
Sipping wine
Killing time
Trying to solve life’s mysteries

How’s your life
It’s been awhile
God, it’s good to see you smile
I see you reaching for your keys
Looking for a reason not to leave

If you don’t know
If you should stay
If you don’t say
What’s on your mind
Baby just breathe
There’s no where else tonight
We should be
You want to make a memory

I dug up this old photograph
Look at all that hair we had
It’s bittersweet to hear you laugh
Your phone is ringing
I don’t want to ask

If you go now
I’ll understand
If you stay, hey
I got a plan
We’re going to make a memory

You want to steal a piece of time
You can sing the melody
To me
And I can write a couple lines
You want to make a memory

If you don’t know
If you should stay
And you don’t say
What’s on your mind
Baby just breathe
There’s nowhere else in life
We should be
You want to make a memory

Do you want to make a memory?”

— Bon Jovi, “(You Want to) Make a Memory”