Music Monday: Concerts

I think everyone who loves music can agree there's nothing like going to a great concert. No matter what type of music you enjoy, seeing and hearing it played live is an experience like no other. Most of the time that is a good thing but, as with anything else, there are exceptions. As fun as a great concert can be, a bad concert is a hellish way to spend a few hours.

I was listening to my Ipod while out walking with Clancy over the weekend and started thinking about some of the many concerts I've gone to over the years. It wasn't hard for me to immediately name the best and worst shows I've ever seen.

The Best:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Born in the USA tour, 1984

I've been a Springsteen fan since I was a little girl and my brother started listening to Greetings from Asbury Park at our house. I saw him live for the first time when I was 15, right at the start of the Born in the USA tour in the summer of 1984. The concert lasted several hours, and I loved every second of it. It was the first concert I ever went to and, after starting with the Boss, it's been hard for anything else to measure up. I've seen Springsteen numerous times since and loved the shows, but there's been nothing to top the magic of that long ago night.

The Worst:

The Spin Doctors, Pocket Full of Kryptonite tour, 1992

If you listened to radio in the early 90s, it's a safe bet that you heard Two Princes by the Spin Doctors. It was a catchy song and my friends and I would walk around singing it all the time. We must have really loved it, because a group of us decided to go see the band when they came to Columbus, Ohio. By the time the concert ended, I never wanted to hear Two Princes or anything else from the Spin Doctors ever again. The whole show was nothing but disjointed noise and I was dying for it to end almost as soon as it started. To my knowledge the band never had another hit album, which was definitely no surprise to me after sitting through that concert.

The One The Got Away:

U2, Zoo TV tour, 1992

I've loved U2 since I was a young teenager in the 80s, but I never saw them in concert until 2005. I had an opportunity to see them in 1992 during their tour to promote Achtung Baby, which I think is their best album, but I didn't take it. I'm glad I finally saw the band live, but I'll always regret not seeing them when they were at their creative peak.

What about you? What's the best concert you've ever seen? Any you'd rather forget? Are there any shows you regret not attending?

Also, I'm really excited to be a guest at The Writing Nut later this week. I'll be hanging out with the wonderful Nutschell on Wednesday for her Wednesday Writer's Workspace series. If you're not already familiar with The Writing Nut, I highly recommend it. Nutschell has a fantastic blog. :)

Music Monday: You Better Think (about what you're doing when you're driving)

I am the world's worst singer, but that doesn't change the fact that I love to sing my heart out when no one is around to hear me. While some would-be rock stars sing in the shower, I've always loved singing in my car. Unfortunately, this has sometimes proven to be problematic, and I've learned to temper my enthusiasm for belting out tunes while behind the wheel.

I love Aretha Franklin, and my favorite song to sing along with the Queen of Soul to is Think. I'd love to tell someone off the way Aretha does in this song but, as an introvert by nature, I don't really have it in me. Except when I'm in the car singing, of course.

One evening I was driving to my sister's house and was happily singing along to Aretha, when I suddenly heard a crunch on the passenger side of my car. I had been so wrapped up in telling some imaginary person who had wronged me that he better think, I'd managed to hit my sister's neighbor's mailbox.

I jumped out of my car, my heart beating so fast I thought I would pass out, and was beyond relieved to see that the mailbox didn't have a scratch on it. In fact, no one would ever have guessed that a moving car had just barreled into it. My car was a different story, however, as the side-view mirror was now hanging on by a thread. 

While I was grateful the mailbox withstood my assault and I didn't have to pay to repair it, I could not escape the damage done to my pride. My family and friends have never let me forget this incident, and I still get teased about it. I still love the song though, although I now only sing along to it when I'm at home cleaning. I figure I can't do any damage with a mop or scrub brush.

You would think I would have already learned my lesson about singing and driving when this mailbox crash happened, as I had already had a singing mishap years before when I got my first (and only, knock on wood) speeding ticket.

When I first finished school I lived in a small town outside of Columbus, Ohio called Marysville. After driving home to Cincinnati for a weekend, I was driving back to Marysville on a Sunday night and, of course, listening to music. It was late and I had the country road to myself. Or so I thought.

I was listening to Free Fallin' by Tom Petty and really got into it, much like Tom Cruise's character did in this scene from Jerry Maguire. This incident happened a few years before Jerry Maguire even came out, and this scene totally cracked me up when I saw the movie. At least I wasn't the only one to get a little carried away with Free Fallin'.

Next thing I knew I heard a siren and saw flashing lights behind me, and I realized too late that I was not in fact the only car on the road. The officer asked me if I knew how fast I was going and I had to admit that I really didn't. I didn't think I should tell him that I was too wrapped up in my singing to notice. I wasn't that far over the speed limit, but far enough to get a ticket, and learn an expensive lesson.

After both of these mishaps I really did learn my lesson, and I've always been much more careful when driving. I was lucky the only things that were hurt by my silliness were my pride and my wallet. And in spite of these incidents, I really am a good driver, I swear it.

What about you? Do you like to belt out a tune when no one is listening? If so, have you ever been caught in an embarrassing moment as a result?

Music Monday: K-Tel Records

I've been a lazy blogger ever since the end of the April A-Z Challenge but I am hoping to get back on track for the summer by writing about something fun. I've always enjoyed reading other bloggers' posts about music, movies, tv, or other aspects of popular culture, so I thought I would try my hand at writing about some music memories of my own.

While I have absolutely no musical talent and I can't sing to save my life, music has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. I can always be found with my Ipod's earbuds in my ears, and I never drive anywhere without listening to music. So when trying to think of a fun subject to write about, music seemed like an obvious choice.

First up on my musical walk down memory lane is a trip back to 1972, which was the year I turned 4. If you were around in the '70s, you've probably heard of K-Tel records. Their commercials were everywhere on tv, and the albums, with their garish "only in the '70s" covers, were drug store staples.

I'm the youngest of five children and when I was growing up I spent most of my time trying to be just like my siblings. That included listening to the music they liked. While this often led me to great artists that I still love today, that wasn't always the case. It certainly wasn't when it came to my brother's K-Tel Believe in Music record, which featured 22 of 1972's biggest hits and stars. Original hits and original stars, no less.

I loved listening to this record and I was amazed when I found the actual commercial for it while doing a little research for this post. It makes me laugh that the announcer for the commercial yells everything he says. It sounds like he was trying to startle kids into buying the album.

 As soon as I saw the track listing for the album most of the songs came right back, and the funniest one to me is Sweet and Innocent by a very young Donny Osmond, who actually appeared twice on this compilation. Osmond sang about a girl who was too young to know the score so he wanted her to come back when she was older. I have to wonder now just how young this sweet little girl must have been, since Osmond himself sang the song in a falsetto that made it clear he wasn't anywhere close to puberty yet himself.

My favorite song on Believe in Music was Cher's Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves. I thought the song was so dramatic, and I loved singing along with Cher.

In spite of my love for the song, I was very confused by it. The lyrics went way over my 4 year old head, particularly this verse:

Picked up a boy just south of Mobile 
Gave him a ride, filled him with a hot meal 
I was sixteen, he was twenty-one
Rode with us to Memphis
And papa woulda shot him if he knew what he'd done

I always wondered what the boy did on the way from Mobile to Memphis, and I couldn't figure out why the song was so vague about it all. Not even Cher singing later about being a "gal in trouble" and the song ending with the birth of a baby helped to clear up the mystery for me. By the time I was old enough to understand what the song was about, I'd lost interest in the record and it had taken up permanent residence in a box in my parents' basement.

What about you? Did you love any songs as a child that went completely over your head? If you were around in the 70s, did you have any K-Tel compilations of your own?

I'm sorry I have fallen so far behind on my blog reading, but I'm hoping I can get back on track with that this week as well!