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?)

Saturday Post Vol. 3, #31 - A Holiday Weekend

I can't pretend that this 3 day weekend is going to be a tough one to get  through.   My job has given me something to do for eight hours a day for five days a week this summer.  Believe it or not I am grateful I have something to do during the week.   It is a great distraction from the turn my life has taken.  Otherwise I would just sit, think,  think some more and ultimately think too much about my life and from there I would feel a bad case of the blues coming on.

I really don't need a long weekend now.  Yes, I feel tired and I know I need some down time like everyone else.  Physically the inactivity is good; mentally/emotionally I need downtime like I need a hole in my head,  as the old-fashioned quaint expression goes.

The Labor Day holiday this year will be a challenge.  Not only is it a day without occupational distractions,  but it will also be the 67th anniversary of Anne Marie's birth.

Now you see where I am going with this?

Any way, I need to be philosophical about it all and treat her day like we always did:  wishing her well and posting some sort of tribute worthy of her memory.  In her blogging days she would post a Saturday Night Dance Party with music which she likes,  sometimes the music said something daring or worthy to remember,  and above it all danceable.   In that spirit I will post three videos which I think were among her all-time favorite performances.

 SING, SING, SING:  BENNY GOODMAN ORCHESTRA

 

This is really an extremely short version of a classic American jazz tune.  This is not the definitive version,  but this performance has Gene Krupa on drums and Harry James on trumpet.  

THIRD MOVEMENT FROM CONCERTO IN F FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA

George Gershwin was one of Warrior Queen's favorite composers.  We always turned up the radio when WRTI played Rhapsody in Blue.   I think this was her favorite performance from the film An American in Paris, performed by Gershwin's protege Oscar Levant.

CAST YOUR FATE TO THE WIND - VINCE GUARALDI

Like most people we got to know and appreciate Vince Guaraldi through his work with the Peanuts television specials.  I'll save Linus and Lucy for another day. For now I will post this in memory to someone who did cast her fate to the wind.  

Happy Birthday, Anne Marie, wherever you are.

(Thank you for reading.  Dance if the spirit moves you even if the rhythm doesn't.)