A Rare Friday Post: At 62

I am 62 today.  In past years it would mean a nice card from  Anne Marie, something to unwrap, and a dinner out.   This year...62 is just a number.

I am 62 today, and a changed man from the one I was many years ago. I suppose I have been always been a moody person, but it only took one person to change all that.  She awakened so much passion within me which I never realized existed inside.  For now the passions are stored away again, waiting for someone or something else to unpack them.  I am grateful and sad at the same time.

I know my present moodiness needs to be dealt with.  I know I need to experience this so that I can fully appreciate happiness again when it happens.  

A blogger nod to fellow birthday companion Raybeard.  I hope he is back for a while.  Happy Birthday, Raybeard.  And I will try to do the same.  Please visit him here: https://raybeard.blogspot.com/

Yes, this song, for obvious reasons.

(Thank you for reading and listening.)

Abba Dance Party: Strike Three

We end our multi-week Abba tribute with songs that may not have been danceable, but memorable none the less.

Besides you can only needle a spirit for so long.

Voulez Vous

A catchy melody so long ago on my AM station so far away.

 

 

 

Super Trouper

Yes, an international hit about a spot light.   Go figure!

I had to run a super trouper when Dave Mason sang at my college.  It was extra money I earned, even though I never ran a spot light for a show before.  And I have never run a spot light again since that night.

The spot light I was given was a bit cantankerous.  The light was not created by a filament, but rather by an arc of electricity emitted between two carbon rods.  In this case the rods ran unevenly and I would have to shut down every 10 minutes or so to put in another rod.

The experience was not pretty,  the roadies decided to dispense with my services after about 30 minutes,  and the concert was cursed any way.  Mason had a sore throat and cut his performance short.  Ever the professional he would return at a later date to give ticket holders their money's worth.

 The Winner Takes It All

Well, we had to know the party would have to end someday.  This one hit a certain chord with me.  My heart had been broken before, but that year the pain was more unbearable than ever. Little did I realize what I would be feeling now...

 It was released in the summer of 1980, but really got a lot of airplay that winter.  It was a bad winter not just for Abba, but also for the rest of humanity.  When it was over we had lost John Lennon and Abba was losing its innocence.

The song was written in the aftermath of the break up of Bjorn and Agnetha,  but everyone agreed there were no winners in that event.

 

 

When All Is Said and Done

A song written about the other half of Abba breaking up.   Aw, well.  It was all very nice for a while.

(Thank you for reading, listening, dancing and whatever you want to do to enjoy the life we have while we have it.)

Saturday Night Post, Vol. 3, #34: And The Secret Word Is....

I have no particular thoughts this week.  I can't think of anything to commit to the blogosphere.  I am also in one of my  "No-Hurry-To-Be-Anywhere Moods".

These have been happening a lot lately, but we will soldier on.

As it happens today is the 131st anniversary of the birth of Julius Henry Marx, or Groucho to the rest of us.  I cannot escape the day without a small tribute who made me (and so many others)
laugh so much over the years.

My tribute is not your typical Groucho Marx encounter:  it is in total silence.  No rapid fire puns or insults.  Just blissful silence.

Sometimes silence says more than every word that mankind has ever published. 

 

 

(Thank you for reading and laughing!)

Abba, Part Duex

 Time for another dance party featuring Abba, sure to raise the ire of the dearly departed Warrior Queen.  I will cope.

Dancing  Queen

I confess.  This was the first ABBA song I heard on my AM radio station that I did not immediately like.  Perhaps it was my aversion to dancing, but for some reason (still inexplicable to me)  why I didn't warm up to it. 

This became ABBA's biggest hit in America,.  Shows you what I know!

 Knowing Me, Knowing You

Aw!  Cold and dark winter!  Now there's the stereotypical upper Scandanavian concept we know.

Take A Chance On Me

An acapella hook!  I loved it and still do.  No points for copy-catting the Brady Bunch configuration at the beginning.

 

Chiquitita

Just a beautiful melody.

Does Your Mother Know?

Seriously, does she,  or is mother already out on the dance floor ahead of you?   Shake it, Frida!

(Thank  you for reading, listening and of course, dancing!

Come back, Warrior Queen, so I can taunt you a second time!)

Forever Autumn

This is a special mid-week entry to mark the change of our season.  I have marked this change by posting this video in past years,  but this year the season seems more appropriate with my mood.  It is, in my humble opinion, one of the most hauntingly beautiful recordings made in the rock era.

In the past the lyrics have been melancholy to me.  This year they will be cathartic.

Honestly, I can't remember if autumn was Anne Marie's favorite time of year or not.  Her love, or perhaps obsession, with loud,vibrant colors in her knitting projects would certainly make me think that autumn was the season to end all other seasons for her.  The others wouldn't matter. 

Yes, this will be helpful to me.  I hope it can do the same for everyone who knew her.

(Thank you for reading and listening.)
 

Saturday Morning Post, Vol. 3, #33 - The Poomf Explained

 I have a full weekend planned.  My brother will be down to help out with a few projects.  Then, on Sunday,  I will be meeting up with the other officers of our AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders) for a luncheon at a nearby sports bar and grill.  I anticipate that we will have to wear masks while indoors and show proof of immunization.  It will be nice to see these ladies again; I am the only current officer who is a male.  We have had monthly Zoom meetings, but we have not seen each other face to face in over a year.

So, this will be a short post, but one that will clear up the mystery of The Poomf.

I'm sure many couples develop their own private ways of communications over time.  A certain facial expression from one partner to the other should tip off the second partner of how to proceed with whatever is being discussed.  The "look" could mean anything from  "I totally agree with you on your point," to "Choose your next words carefully.  They may be the last words you ever speak in this lifetime!"   

In my marriage to Warrior Queen she came up with a playful way to get a certain point of view across.  She would stand behind me,  draw her knee up sharply into my buttocks and say, "Poomf!"  I don't know where she learned to do this or what inspired her to do this, but it would happen to me a number of times during the first years we were living together.  All I know is I would do or say something to merit me getting a "good poomfing."  An authentic, but gentle kick in the pants.  No rubbish.

Her action would be playful.  There was never any pain or hurting involved.

Some may think that this was abuse, but I played along and did not (to my recollection) retaliate more violently.  I am old-fashioned;  I would never strike a woman.  I will admit that sometimes some members of the gender deserve a good and proper spanking, say at the hands of a professional like John Wayne.  Besides sometimes I would got the opportunity to poomf Warrior Queen.

If this admission gets me banned from consideration for hosting "Jeopardy,"  then so be it!

So, that's the story of the Poomf.  Sorry, I don't have any diagrams to illustrate it, but I think people will get the idea from my description.

Some week soon I will do something on this blog* that WQ will undoubtedly poomf me for doing. It is a punishment I am willing to accept.  I dearly miss that attention....

*I.E. Posting more Abba videos! 

(Thank you for reading and Poomf on!)

 

ABBA Dance Party, Part Uno

This maybe the anger portion of the grieving process taking over,  but  I’m in a rebellious mood.  Recently there was a dreary, rainy Saturday afternoon and I was sick and tired of being depressed.   I brought up Youtube and played Abba’s Greatest Hits.  

Strange, the music is making me feel happy again.

So, let’s start the healing process and get this out of our systems now.  The posting of these videos will definitely bring me a “poomf” from the other side.*

In the order that the songs appeared on my AM radio in 1974:   WATERLOO.

I’m a history major and I learned more about this decisive military engagement from hearing this song on the radio then in any history class I ever took.  Aw, well, better learned than lost.  By the way, can Bjorn’s guitar get any more glam?

SOS

MAMMA MIA

I DO, I DO, I DO, I DO

I always loved the saxophone hook on this song.  This recording probably did as much for saxophones on a pop music recording as Wings Mull of Kintyre did for bagpipes.

 

 

FERNANDO

I always thought that the lyrics were a mini-drama between two lovers on the eve of battle.  Today, I read the lyrics and…that it is rather about two freedom fighters reminiscing not as lovers,  but old comrades once in arms.  Crossing the Rio Grande?  What?  They were fighting Texans?

Whatever you do, Fernando, make sure you wear a mask when crossing into Texas.  The sight of masks and the thought of unlimited suffrage pisses them off right now.

*Poomf – another term which strangely is not included in Spo and Wagnells, but it will be explained in a later posting.

(Thank you for listening.  Why wait for Saturday night to dance?)