'11 = '81: a music related post which you may or may not dig

I don't usually post about music (which is weird, 'cuz it's a serious passion of mine), but today I felt like doing just that.

If you don't dig this kind of music, it's cool - you don't have to. But I like tons of different genres of music - from jazz to metal; soul to synthpop - and I sure do love me some old school synthpop.

These cats have been doing it for a lonnnnnnnng time, and it seems they are pretty much back in'81 with this new stuff. Which I like.

1981:




2011:




I decided to post the clean MTV version of "Girls on Film" simply because I don't know for sure the age range of the potential audience here, and the original (official) version gets pretty racy in some parts - and even shows boobies! Oh dear. Anyway, in an effort to keep it somewhat clean here, I went with the censored one. If you want to see the naughty parts, then you'll just have to get your Google-Fu on. It's out there. Or so I've heard. Word on the street. A friend of mine told me he saw it. LOL

Annnnnnnyway... Back in the day, when we rolled the polys on the dining room table, I will admit there really wasn't much Coltrane or Sam Cooke on the "tape player" (although I love them both). But there sure was plenty of Dio, Maiden, and AC/DC - mixed right in with some tracks by The Police, U2, and The Fixx. See our soundtrack was often MTV (or tuneage they would eventually play), and it was almost always on in the background. So along with those acts I just mentioned, you can bet there was a fair share of Duran Duran.

Now I could try to make it seem fitting, like say playing "Hungry Like the Wolf" during a Ravenloft session, or "Planet Earth" during some Gamma World or Star Frontiers. No? How about playing "New Religion" during a crawl through B4 - The Lost City? Still no? LOL - OK, I'll stop.

Although I don't personally know your musical tastes, I sure know mine. And I must say that IMO, new Duran² is pretty much old Duran². And that is pretty much good².

'80s themed Birthday Bash (with pics! - one of them quite shameful)

(Ok, so this post is waaaayyyy behind. Three months almost to the day. At any rate, I'm behind in most things these days, so here's a little catch up.)

I turned the ripe ol' age of 40 last week. (keeping in mind that "last week" is last week, 3 months ago)

My wife threw me an '80s party cuz...well...cuz she flat out rocks!

So here are a few pics. I'm only posting a couple shots, mainly to protect the innocent (the rest of the crew may not want their mugs pasted here). Maybe more pics will follow in a future (past) post. I can't believe I'm posting a shot of me in full '80s gear, but hey, if I'm gonna "reveal" myself, it may as well be disguised in:

* a mullet wig
* a Member's Only jacket
* an Atari t-shirt
* a skinny tie
* a pair of Vans (sorta)
* some smooth shades
* rubber gel bracelets

and...wait for it....

* zebra-striped spandex


Ah well, all shame aside, here ya go:

"Oh the humanity!"


Here's a shot of the "Table o'Eighties" which was a very popular stop for the partygoers:


And here's one of my gifts (didn't even know they still made that crap):


There are many other better pics, but they are on my sis-in-law's camera, and I'm not sure when I'll get a digi copy of those, so for now, these will have to do.

Anyway, I hope I brought a smile to your face today with these...or at least sparked a memory or two. I had a perma-grin on all night during the bash, and felt like I was 15 again (God knows I sure acted like it...ha!)

Oh yeah, my fave part was watching everyone's faces trying to figure out how I had MTV from 1983 (yeah, not quite Back in '81 but the best I could do) on my TV all night. I found some sweet files on teh internets that had about 4 hours or so of actual MTV footage from 1983, commercials and all. This video footage is now pretty much all over the interwebz, so you can find it pretty easily. If you haven't watched it yet, it's well worth a viewing...and a "right-click, save-as". Mark Goodman was the VJ during that timeslot, and it was freakin awesome to have as the backdrop and soundtrack for my 40th b-day bash.


So...there ya go.

/shame_off