January 18, 2007

 Thirteen Record Albums from the 1980s

That I Have Hanging on my Basement Walls

Yes, about four years ago I decided to take all of my old albums out of storage and do something with them, so I hung them all up on my basement walls (after I'd painted them white). They're quite the conversation piece, really, especially when someone from my–dare I say generation?–comes over.

So here is a selection of thirteen of them…how many did you have? Come on, 'fess up!

(By the way, I take full credit for all of them. My Music Man wouldn't touch most of them with a ten-foot pole.)

 1. Prince/Parade

2. Crowded House

3. Billy Joel/Songs in the Attic

4. J. Geils Band/Love Stinks

5. Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band/Against the Wind

6. YES/90125

7. The Clash/Combat Rock

8. Sting/Dream of the Blue Turtles

9. Cutting Crew/Broadcast

10. U2/The Unforgettable Fire

11. Talking Heads/Little Creatures

12. The Thompson Twins/Into the Gap

13. Culture Club/Kissing to be Clever 

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January 9, 2007

In case you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a gal of the '80s. Graduated smack dab in the middle of the decade, so I have many fond memories from both high school and college.

I know I'm not the only one who gets a little nostalgic at the mention of Adam Ant, or Naked Eye, or Van Halen (before they were Van Hagar)…or Family Ties, Footloose, or Back to the Future…and obviously, Broadway producers know this too.

I can think of at least three musicals based on '80s nostalgia that have recently hit the stage theaters–Movin' Out (the one with all the Billy Joel songs), Footloose, and The Wedding Singer.

Of course, I've seen the original Footloose with Kevin Bacon. (Side note: the theme song for my senior prom was the love theme from this movie. Anyone remember it?) And I've seen The Wedding Singer movie. (I thought Drew and Adam Sandler were adorable together.)

But I'm wondering–are these '80s-themed shows any good? Or are they just a culled-together attempt to grab a piece of the first wave of Generation X and its *gasp* middle-aged pocketbooks?

Have you seen any of the musical theater productions, and if so, which ones? Were they good?

For some great tongue-in-cheek '80s humor, I think The Wedding Singer takes the cake, and I hear the show does even moreso than the film…true? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? 

January 2, 2007

I haven’t done a Retro Tuesday in awhile, so I thought it would be fun to do one about movies that came out in 1987. Yes, twenty years ago! (Are we getting old or what?)

Here we go….

1) “Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die.” Name the flick and the actor who is currently on a hit TV show.

2) The female villain in this movie was named one of the greatest movie villains of all time by the American Film Institute in its list “100 Years, 100 Villains and Heroes” list. Who was the actress, and what film was it?

3) In which movie was Star Wars’ Millennium Falcon parked outside at a diner?

4) In this movie, which is known as one of the most quoted movies of all time, a well-known actress made her debut.

5) In Roxanne, Charlie Bales (Steve Martin) is challenged to tell 20 “nose” jokes. How many does he actually tell? (”Fashionable: you know, you could de-emphasize your nose if you wore something larger, like…Wyoming. Personal: well, here we are, just the three of us. Punctual: all right, Delbman, your nose was on time but YOU were fifteen minutes late!”)

6) “Give me the keys. I’ll go to the supermarket. What do you want?”
“Truth and justice.”
“Anything else?”
“Donuts.”
“Why not? We’re cops.”
One of the lead characters in this movie later came out of the closet. Name the film.

7) In this first film of a wildly successful franchise, a house is firebombed. That house was the original family home in The Partridge Family and also the Kravitz’s house in Bewitched. What movie?

Have fun and happy 2007!

December 5, 2006

Here’s a short version this week, so you can spend your time paying it forward instead of flipping through that old ’80s collection!

1. Just don’t ask me how I am
2. Your lights are on but you’re not home
3. Take your passion and make it happen
4. That little faggot he’s a millionaire
5. I was wrong, now I find just one thing makes me forget
6. So if you’re feeling low, turn up your radio
7. It’s no better to be safe than sorry
8. Darlin’ in my wildest dreams I never thought I’d go
9. The road is long, there are mountains in your way
10. The Salvation Army band played and the children drank lemonade

(notice I did resist the urge to post a pic of Sting again…I could have, too–quite legitimately!)

And don’t forget to enter the Pay it Forward contest. You have until Friday at midnight!

November 28, 2006

Name the band…

1. To have you with me I would
swim the seven seas
2. Crazy little woman in a one
man show
3. Went the distance, now I’m
back on my feet
4. Got in a little hometown jam,
so they put a rifle in my hand
5. There is freedom within,
there is freedom without
6. But whatever road you choose,
I’m right behind you win or lose
7. I need fifty dollars to make
you holler
8. So let’s sink another drink `cause it’ll give me time to think
9. Goddess on the mountain top
10. Couldn’t see how much I missed you (now I do)
11. They even bother my poor father `cause he’s down with me
12. Where can I find a woman like that
13. Paul, I think I told you I’m a lover not a fighter
14. Mine’s an ordinary life, working when it’s daylight and sleeping
when it’s night
15. I had a whiskey on the rocks and change of a dollar for the jukebox

(and yayyy! I have an excuse to post a pic of my favorite singer!)