Happy All Hallows Eve!

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

But then you take my hand
my heart starts to soar once more

KEY CHANGE

High An - XIETY
It's always the same
Hey, Xiety
It's you that I blame
It's very clear to me I've GOT to give in
High Anxiety

(and remember, folks, be good to your parents; they've been good to you)

You WINNNNNN!

"Theme from High Anxiety"
Mel Brooks, High Anxiety Original Soundtrack, 1978

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

My baby's brother never break-a your arm

"My Baby Gives It Away"
Pete Townsend and Ronnie Laine, Rough Mix, 1977

Not to say that "Frank, Gil, and Friends" is the best way for a radio station to start a day with high on-line ratings, but...

...can you figure out which days on this "Total (online) Listening Hours" graph are from the Tuesdays in October?

Feel free to join us on this Tuesday at 9 AM when we'll be talking with Tom Santopietro, the author of Sinatra in Hollywood.

Join us at every Tuesday (8-10 AM) at www.live365.com/stations/wfcs

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Everyone said they were crazy,
"Brenda, you know that you’re much too lazy.
And Eddie could never afford to live that kind of life,"
But there we were wavin’ Brenda and Eddie goodbye

“Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”
Billy Joel, The Stranger, 1977

"Another way to enjoy what you study"

I must admit I do love devouring a good book every once in a while!

Bon appetit!

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Some folks call me a narrow-minded man'
But I don’t think that’s true
Others call me decadent for the things I like to do
Well you can go your way and I’ll go mine
'cause I know we can all agree
that among life’s many pleasures only three things matter to me

Music sex and cookies
Cookies music and sex
And it doesn’t really matter what order you try ‘em
‘cause I like ‘em all the best
I’ve tried therapy and LSD
Been lost but now I’m found
But it’s music sex and cookies that make my world go round

“Music, Sex, and Cookies”
George Uetz, WEBN Album Project 3, 1978

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Louisiana rain
is soaking through my shoes
I’ll never be the same
‘til I reach Baton Rouge

"Louisiana Rain"
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Damn the Torpedoes, 1979

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

I want my portrait done by Andy Warhol
I’d like to market a “Jackie O” doll
Just let me be Jackie Onassis
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah

"(I want to be) Jackie Onassis”
Human Sexual Response, Fig. 14, 1980

Sinatra lyric of the week from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

You were my adored one.
Then you became the bored one,
And I was like a toy that brought you joy one day,
A broken toy that you preferred to throw away.

“Blame It on My Youth” (Edward Heyman and Oscar Levant)
As performed by Frank Sinatra, Close to You (and more), 1957

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

If you're feeling presidential
You can make it, yes, indeed
There are just three things essential
Let me tell you all you need
is an ounce of wisdom and a pound of gall
and the hostess with the mostes' on the ball

An Ambassador has just reached the shore
He's a man of many loves
An important gent from the Orient
To be handled with kid gloves
He can come and let his hair down
Have the best time of his life
Even bring his new affair down
Introduce her as his wife
But she mustn't leave her panties in the hall
I'm the hostess with the mostes' on the ball.

“The Hostess with Mostes’” Call Me Madam, 1950
as performed by Ethel Merman

Of Mice and Merman

With the death of Vic Mizzy, who wrote the themes songs of "The Addams Family" and "Green Acres" (in my opinion, the best literary depiction of country/city dichotomy since the story of the town mouse and country mouse of Horace's Satire II.vi!), I got to thinking about other famous television theme songs. This train of thought led me to the "Beverly Hillbillies" theme by Flatt and Scruggs:

Come and listen to the story of a man named Jed
a poor mountaineer who barely kept his family fed
Then one day he was shooting at some food
and up from the ground came a bubbling crude!

Oil, that is, black gold, Texas tea.

Well the next thing you know
old Jed's a millionaire
the kin folk said, "Jed, move away from there"
Said Californy is the place you ought to be
so they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly

Hills that is, swimming pools movie stars.

That theme naturally led me to the wonderful Ethel Merman number in the Irving Berlin musical Call Me Madam, the best song ever about striking it rich in the oil business:

I was born on a thousand acres of Oklahoma land
nothing grew on the thousand acres

for it was gravel and sand
One day daddy was digging in the fields
hoping to find some soil
He dug and he dug
and what do you think?
Oil, Oil, OIL!

The money rolled in and I rolled out
with a fortune piled so high.
Washington was my destination
and now who am I?

I'm the chosen party-giver
of the White House clientele
and they know that I deliver
what it takes to make them jell
And in Washington I'm known by one and all
as the Hostess with the Mostes' on the Ball!

This, in turn, leads us to tomorrow's lyric of the day! Tune in tomorrow.

Y'all come back now, y'hear?

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Well, a proud daddy only wanna give his little girl the best
So he put down a grand on a cozy little lovers’ nest
You could have called the reception an unqualified success
At a French hotel for 150 guests.

Well, take a look at the bridegroom, smilin' pleased as pie
Shakin' hands all around with a glassy look in his eye
He got a real good job and his shirt and tie is nice
(But I remember a time when she never would have looked at him twice)

“I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll)”
Nick Lowe’s Last Chicken in the Shop (Stiffs Live, 1978)

The question: Are there any good Vic Damone stories?

So, for years, I have argued that Sinatra fans shouldn't be upset by the mob stories surrounding Frank because those stories privilege him in a way since they are attached only to him and not to any of his contemporaries who were singing in the same clubs run by the same mobsters.

I would then add to drive the point home:

"As great a singer as he is, there are no great Vic Damone stories."

Well, I'm about to find out how true that is...having just checked out of the Newington Library, Mr. Damone's memoir, Singing Was The Easy Part (St. Martin's, 2009).

(One potentially bad omen: According to the acknowledgements page, Vic met his co-author, David Chanoff, when he was working on a book with Vic's wife, Rena. Who was the last star who wrote a book after the non-celebrity spouse...much less used the same co-writer?)

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Some people achieve greatness.
Others have greatness thrust upon them.
And then there are those who are born Italian

Opening salvo from Holly and the Italians, The Right to Be Italian (1981)

It's not that I'm clairvoyant (much less a savvy producer), but...

...after I finished at the New Britain Library's book sale last Friday, I checked out three cds (Donovan's Greatest Hits and the cast albums of Annie Get Your Gun and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the latter of which regular readers of this blog will recognize as a show that, given the popularity of Mad Men, I suggested was ripe for revival).

Yesterday in the mail we received a copy of the Goodspeed Opera House's newsletter with the 2010 season announcement.

The season:

Annie Get Your Gun

Carnival

and

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

I need to open myself up a theater!

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

I sing the body electric

I glory in the glow of rebirth

creating my own tomorrow

when I shall embody the earth

I'll serenade Venus

I'll serenade Mars

and I'll burn with the fire of 10 million stars

and in time

and in time

we will all be stars

"I Sing the Body Electric" (Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford)

Fame Movie Soundtrack (1980)

Another sign I saw at my daughter's high school...

...which I've never come across before in any circumstance -- or at least one which I have never noticed before:

Area of Refuge

The unattributed Cecil B.DeMille quotation on a hallway wall at my daughter's high school

It is impossible for us to break the law. We can only break ourselves against the law.

This struck me, initially, as a bit harsh...you know, unnecessarily totalitarian. But then I remembered some of the things I had some of my disobedient high school students write out hundreds of times back in the early-to-mid 80s:

Sometimes you get the bear; sometimes the bear gets you.
(A proverb flashed on the screen at the end of the 1978 film King of the Gypsies)

and

When I fight authority, authority always wins
(refrain of "The Authority Song" from John Mellencamp's 1983 release Uh-Huh)

not to mention

my scrawling the Vergilian descensus Averno facile ("the descent to Hades is easy," Aeneid 6.126) atop failing Latin tests and quizzes...

High schoolers, they're tough!

So much for "Higher" Education...

A "Weaver Institutional Systems for Education" leaflet advertises "Reading Intervention" software for grades 1 through....

14!?!!!

"Readiness through 2 years of college."

Sigh.

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

I could not see for the fog in my eyes

I could not feel for the fear in my life

And from across the great divide, In the distance I saw a light

Jean Baptiste's walking to me with the Maker

"The Maker"

Daniel Lanois, Acadie (1989)

(Almost certainly one of the last new releases I bought in lp form.)

For medicinal purposes only

Can't you just hear Dean Martin testifying (from "Mister Booze" from Robin and the Seven Hoods) regarding the new Department of Justice medical marijuana policy:

I used spirits for medicinal purposes only!

I manufactured them for medicinal purposes only!

Then I started drinking what I manufactured 'til I drank myself out of a helluva business FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES ONLY!

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

You, you know, you know my name
You, you know, you know my name
You know my name, look up the number

"You know my name (look up the number)," (Lennon/McCartney)
45 rpm release from Apple Records (1970)
The Beatles

Frank Sinatra lyric of the week from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

It isn't by chance I happen to be
a boulevardier, the toast of Paris,
for over the noise, the talk, and the smoke
I'm good for a laugh a drink or a joke.
I walk in a room, a party, or ball,
"Come sit over here!" somebody will call
"A drink for monsieur, a drink for us all"
But how many times I stop and recall:

Ah, the apple trees,
blossoms in the breeze that we walked among
lying in the hay,
games we used to play,
while the rounds were sung,
only yesterday,
when the world was young.

"When the World was Young"
as performed by Frank Sinatra, Point of No Return (1961)

Some Cotton Mather for a Friday Afternoon Undergraduate Research Conference

Yesterday was our annual English Department Undergraduate Research conference (the brainchild and labor of love of our Chaucerian Professor Candace Barrington), and in Chairman's welcome, I offered the following quotation from the good Reverend Mather:

"I would by all possible Insinuations gain this Point upon [the students], that for them to learn all the brave Things in the world, is the bravest Thing in the world. I am not fond of proposing Play to them, as a reward of any diligent Application to learn what is good; lest they should think that Diversion to be a better and nobler thing than Diligence."

"Some Special Points, Relating to the Education of My Children"
February 1705/06
The Diary of Cotton Mather Volume I. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing, Co., 1911.

My point to them was simply this: as reward for their hard work (i.e., most of these presentations sprang from papers and projects done in literature, linguistics, and writing classes in the Spring '09 semester) was quite appropriately more work to prepare for this conference. That said, their being there:

1) was indeed a brave thing, and

2) should nevertheless be quite enjoyable.

Their willingness to present their work in front of peers and faculty is a daring act, but, at the same time, they should enjoy the chance to offer their ideas for critique and discussion.

I managed to see two of the six panels, and all six of the presenters did very well and, if their smiles during and after their talks were any indication, seemed to enjoy it!

Call this another SUCCESS, Professor B.!

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

I sat there at the table
and I acted real naive
'cause I knew that topless lady
she had something up her sleeve

"Blow Up Your TV" (Spanish Pipe Dream)" (John Prine)
as performed by John Denver, Aerie (1970)

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

If a cheated man's a loser
and a loser never wins
and if beggars can't be choosers
'til they're weak and wealthy men
And the old keep getting older
and the young must do the same
and it's never getting better
Who's to bless and who's to blame?

"Who's to Bless and Who's to Blame" (Kris Kristofferson)
as performed by Rita Coolidge, Anytime Anywhere (1977)

My Major League Baseball Playoff/World Series Predictions

NL: Dodgers over Phillies 4 games to 2

AL: Angels over Yankess 4 games to 3


2009 World Series: Angels over Dodgers 4 games to 1

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Train, hurry up
bring my baby back
Hallelujah,
look it's comin' on down the track

I remember the love that she gave
I remember the love I gave her too...

"The Train"
1910 Fruitgum Co., 45 RPM Buddah Records

More disappointing divorce story...

Avril Lavigne/her soon-to-be-ex-hubby or Chris Evert/Greg Norman?

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Who am I anyway?
Am I my resume?
That is a picture of a person I don't know.
What does he want from me?
What should I try to be?
So many faces all around, and here we go.
I need this job, oh God, I need this show.



"I Hope I Get It"
A Chorus Line: The Original Cast Recording

Steps I need to learn BETTER for next week's tap class

1.
Right Foot:
Stomp, Stomp, Spank, Dig, Heel

Left Foot:
Stomp, Stomp, Spank, Dig, Heel

Right Foot:
Stomp, Spank, Dig, Heel

Left Foot:
Stomp, Spank, Dig, Heel

Right Foot:
Stomp, Spank, Dig, Heel

Left Foot:
Step

Repeat

2. Triplets

Right Foot:
Stomp, Spank, Dig

Left Foot:
Stomp, Spank, Dig

Right Foot:
Shuffle, Dig

Left Foot:
Shuffle, Dig

Right Foot:
Step

Rest

Left Foot:
Stomp, Spank, Dig

Right Foot:
Stomp, Spank, Dig

Left Foot:
Shuffle, Dig

Right Foot:
Shuffle, Dig

Left Foot:
Step

Rest

Repeat

3. Drawbacks

Right Foot:
Back Slap

Left Foot:
Heel

Right Foot:
Ball

Left Foot:
Back Slap

Right Foot:
Heel

Left Foot:
Ball

Repeat

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Longer boats are coming to win us
they're coming to win us
they're coming to win us
Longer boats are coming to win us
Hold on to the shore
or they'll be taking the key from the door.

"Longer Boats"
Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman (1970)

And you pooh-poohed fried dough!

From Economist.Com

Come fry with me

Oct 8th 2009 | DALLAS

A new way to serve a ball of butter

ON A fine afternoon at the Texas State Fair, a ringmaster encouraged a gaggle of children to flap their arms like butterfly wings. “What could possibly go wrong on a day as beautiful as today?” he asked. But a hundred yards away, something had gone quite wrong. People were queuing for an unusual delicacy: balls of butter, dipped in dough and cooked in a vat of boiling oil. Fried butter, in other words. The balls were dusted with a thin coat of powdered sugar. When bitten, they collapsed with an unctuous squelch.

Fairs are known for their decadent snack offerings. Most are unhealthy, and some push the conceptual boundaries of food into new territory. The Los Angeles County Fair, which ended on October 4th, featured a Meat Lovers’ Ice Cream Cone (don’t ask). The Minnesota State Fair is known for its foods-on-a-stick. The Texas fair bills itself as the fried food capital of the state.

The claim is credible. Sprinkled between the pig races and carnival rides are vendors selling fried ribs, fried guacamole, fried ice cream and even fried bacon. Fried butter is a new development. At the beginning of the fair it won an award for creativity. The inventor, Abel Gonzales, won the same award in 2006 for a different recipe—fried Coke.

Nutritionists would shudder at all the fat, sodium and trans-fats. Defenders say that the key is moderation. “If this is not your lifestyle, then it’s OK to indulge once or twice a year,” says a spokeswoman for the fair.

Opinions among fairgoers were divided. A woman selling toffee said that people had no business frying butter, with diabetes and high cholesterol as common as they are. She said she preferred to cook with olive oil. But a man eating a basket of fried butter with cherry jam was not too bothered. “It’s just butter,” he maintained.

Random Thoughts on the NFL

1. While my Cincinnati Bengals are 4-1 (and would be 5-0 if not for a fluke last minute deflection in Game 1) and atop the AFC North, it's way too early to get too excited. Is this a good place to be? Definitely. Can we stay there? Sure. Will it be easy (with both the Super Bowl Champ Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens in the same division)? No. Be happy, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

(PS: Many many thanks, Raven Ray Lewis, for those anti-officiating comments after last week's games, those plus your overly eager defensive play in the last two minutes this week definitely helped the "Cardiac Cats" win again!)

2. NFL (and, I guess, more specifically, AFC), please decide what uniforms your teams should wear because I'm just gettin' confused. I LOVED what the Broncos were wearing yesterday, but the constant use of these throwback unis are beginning to be too much.

Which leads me to this question...

3) Are more women having mammograms now that every football player seems to be wearing some pink accent on his uniform? Raising awareness is a good thing, but if it's ubiquitous it ceases to be effective. (And I'm not against the color pink: my favorite blazer of all time was a pink Palm Beach blazer circa 1986...SNAZZY)

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

She left even though I said I'm sorry.
She smiled at me and said, "This is fate."
The minutes have turned into hours.
How long must I wait?

"Two Blind Minds"
Bobby Sherman, Here Comes Bobby (1970)

REAL Quick Reviews of Shows I've Seen in the Last 10 Days

1. Lear's Daughters at Welte Auditorium, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT (A week ago last Friday)

Well done, and, man, my daughters left thinkin' I'm the best dad EVER.

2. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at The Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, CT (Last Sunday)

If you like attractive women and grapes, you'll LOVE this show...even if it's not as strong as the other two shows from this season, Camelot and 42nd Street.

3. Lost in Yonkers at The Playhouse on Park, West Hartford, CT (Last Wednesday)

I must admit I thought I was going to see Brighton Beach Memoirs...well, not really, but I had conflated the two shows in my mind. This wasn't BBM, needless to say, and how on earth can any actress make that grandmother even remotely approachable (much less likable).

4. In the Heights, Richard Rodgers Theatre, New York City, NY (Yesterday)

A handsome production, and, admittedly, I was transported to a different place while watching, but now I can't remember a single song much less hum one.

***
Film Review: Up from Pixar/Disney, Cinestudio, Trinity College, Hartford, CT (A week ago last Saturday)
2/3rds of a great movie. I'm on board until the old man becomes James Bond scaling the outside of a dirigible. Call me age-ist, but I like my smart and clever, cane-wielding octogenarians not to all of a sudden be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. I BELIEVED that he could fly a building to South America, isn't that enough to ask of an audience?

Sinatra lyric of the week from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

You date a girl and find out later
she smells just like a percolator.
Her perfume is made right on the grill.
They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil

"The Coffee Song (They've Got an Awful Lot of Coffee in Brazil)"
(as performed by Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra: The Greatest Hits The Early Years Volume I)

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

New York, New York
or a village in I-O-Way
the only difference is the name

"Lonely Town"
(as performed by Mel Torme, Mel Torme Swings Shubert Alley, 1960)

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

There were three men down
And the season lost
And the tarpaulin was rolled
Upon the winter frost

"Night Game"
Paul Simon, Still Crazy after All These Years (1975)

This lyric is especially appropriate because on this day in 1961, my beloved Cincinnati Reds were defeated by the New York Yankees (4 games to 1) in the 58th World Series.

I mention this fact only to remind all that, by 9 October, the World Series was FINISHED -- instead of just getting its silly "Division Series" underway.

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Wish I was an English Muffin
'bout to make the most out of a toaster
I'd ease myself down
comin' up brown

I prefer Boysenberry
more than ordinary jam
I'm a "Citizens for Boysenberry Jam" fan

(Ah, south California!)

"Punky's Dilemma"
Simon and Garfunkel, Bookends (1968)

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Well, I'm just a bartender
And I don't like my work
But I don't mind the money at all
I've seen lots of sad faces
And lots of bad cases
Of folks with their backs to the wall

I need four walls around me to hold my life
To keep me from goin' astray
And a honky-tonk angel to hold me tight
To keep me from slipping away.

"Bartender Blues"
James Taylor, JT (1977)

I sat in on a creative nonfiction class today...

...the lesson in which was focused on humor writing, which, according to Scott Adams, always needs to display at least two of the following six characteristics: Bizarre, Clever, Cute, Cruel, Naughty, and Recognizable.

Here's what I wrote:

After watching Michael Phelps win yet another gold medal during the 2008 summer games in Beijing, my then-nine-year-old daughter turns to me and says, "Gee, Daddy, if you were big, strong, and handsome, you could be in the Olympics too."

Then, directing her attention to her mother, she remarks, "And, you, my dear, need better taste."

She's due to be released from the closet next Thursday.

I think this would be categorized as "cute" and "cruel."

Steps I need to remember for next week's tap class

1.

Right Foot:
Stomp, Stomp, Slap, Dig, Heel
Left Foot:
Stomp, Stomp, Slap, Dig, Heel
Right Foot:
Stomp, Slap, Dig, Heel
Left Foot:
Stomp, Slap, Dig, Heel
Right Foot:
Stomp, Slap, Dig, Heel
Left Foot:
Step

Repeat

2.

Right Foot:
Stomp, Slap, Dig
Left Foot:
Stomp, Slap, Dig

3. Drawbacks

Right Foot:
Back Slap
Left Foot:
Heel
Right Foot:
Ball
Left Foot:
Back Slap
Right Foot:
Heel
Left Foot:
Ball

Repeat

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Daddy's rifle in my hand

felt reassurin'

He told me,

"Red means run, son

numbers add up to nothin' "

But when the first shot

hit the docks I saw it comin'

Raised my rifle to my eye

Never stopped to wonder why.

Then I saw black,

And my face splashed in the sky.

Neil Young, "Powderfinger"

Rust Never Sleeps (1979)

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Someone should knit her a hug-me-tight before she catches her death of a cold.

Ad-lib by Bing Crosby to Rosemary Clooney after she mentions his "breakfast[ing] with Bardot" in the intro to "I Can't Get Started" Fancy Meeting You Here (1958)

My five favorite Sister acts!

5. The McGarrigle Sisters

4. The "Fabulous Adams" Sisters

3. The Lennon Sisters

2. The Andrews Sisters

1. The Clooney Sisters (Rosie and Betty)

It's clearly just as easy for Frank Sinatra to pass through the eye of a needle...

...as it is to find an utterly ridiculous trinket for a rich man to buy as a gift for Simon Cowell's 50th birthday. This sculpture from "PR guru" Max Clifford cost 80,000 pounds (not including the microscope)!

Sinatra lyric of the week from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

...in spite of a warning voice
that comes in the night
and repeats, repeats in my ear:

"Don't you know, little fool,
you never can win
use your mentality
wake up to reality"

But each time that I do
just the thought of you
makes me stop before I begin

cuz I've got you under my skin

"I've Got You Under My Skin" (Cole Porter)
as performed by Frank Sinatra, Songs For Swingin' Lovers (1955)

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Once my clothes were shabby
Tailors called me "cabby"
So, I took a vow, said
"This bum'll be Beau Brummel"

"All I Need is a Girl" (Styne/Sondheim)
as performed by Mel Torme, Mel Torme Swings Shubert Alley (1960)

I, meanwhile, probably couldn't get Frank, Jr. to return a phone call!

Frank Sinatra's hologram to sing at Simon Cowell's 50th

The top 3 reasons why "Frank, Gil, and Friends," unlike "Late Night with David Letterman," doesn't have staffers

3) Extortion is one thing, but extortion by an employee of 48 Hours? Have these CBS people have no network loyalty at all?

2) Even writing a fake check for $2 million is too funny for words

1) "Getting up for the show" would take on a far different meaning

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

Do you remember the days of the old schoolyard?
We used to laugh a lot.
Oh, don't you remember the days of the old schoolyard?

When we had simplicity
and we had warm toast for tea
and we laughed and needed love
yes, I do,
oh, and I remember you...

You were my first love (my first sweet love)
My lovey-dove (my love-lovey-dove)
No matter the place (whichever the place)
I still see your face (your smiling face)
Inside my dreams (in childish dreams)
Like king and queen (God save our dreams!)
And though time may fade (though time may fade)
It ain't never too late
to learn about love (learned about love)

"Old Schoolyard"
Cat Stevens (with Elkie Brooks), Izitso (1977)

Blame it on Rio...

...when President Obama's bid for the Olympics loses.

Rio: Correct hemisphere, new continent.

Not even Oprah can stop this from happening.

Top 5...er...6, Reasons I 'm Not Enjoying MAD MEN As Much as I Used To

6. Bertram Cooper used to be far more pixie-ish (y'know, the way Robert Morse was in How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying*).

**Speaking if which, given the success of MM, shouldn't a revival of HTSIBWRT be Broadway-bound soon?

5. Roger Sterling isn't as nearly as much fun as he was when serially cheating on his first wife.

4. Betty used to be troubled and sympathetic. Now she's just a bad mom.

3. Peggy used to be troubled by her faith and attracted to Fr. Gill. Now she sleeps with Duck (?!?!)

2. Don used to be mysterious and dangerous. Now he's just grumpy and mean.

1. Miss Holloway doesn't work there no more.

Lyric of the day from the Gigliotti vinyl collection

I still remember
sittin' in the sandbox
holdin' hands with you
I still remember two little kids
the things we used to do.

I still hope to see you again,
but I know that can never be.
Kids grow up and go their own ways
Yours was a way away from me!

You're gone, but I still remember things we used to do
You're gone, but I still remember happy times with you

"I Still Remember"
The New Lime (45 rpm, date unknown)