Author: debbiehoran

Almost Famous, Band Wives Edition

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First of all, let me say that the Band Wives need a tour bus. There are details still to be worked out, like full-time jobs and families and children, and how the two bands would tour together, but Mobius Jones, Day Ja Voo, and more importantly, the Band Wives, need a tour bus.

Ever since everyone started joking about how I have been stalking Day Ja Voo and Mobius Jones three years ago, people have told me I needed to watch the movie Almost Famous. There is actually an entire list of movies I have never seen, and we are working through it slowly, one by one, so I just put this one at the bottom.  Then I caught the pilot episode of Roadies, the new series on Showtime this summer by the guy who wrote Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe.  After watching this very engaging and electric first episode on Netflix (where they try to get you sucked in to try their Showtime app), I decided to put Almost Famous at the top of the list.  This morning I caught the movie, and I now see what the hype is all about.  This movie entertained me like no other in my recent movie watching history. And I want  to be Penny Lane (Kate Hudson’s character), but without all the sex. And the drugs.  OK, maybe just for Halloween.

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I Want You To Want Me

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At the last minute, I decided to join a couple of the band guys at Taste of Syracuse. It had been a few years since I have gone to a festival in downtown Syracuse, but after a really great concert the night before (Ringo Starr and the All Star Band at the Lakeview Amphitheater) we thought it would be fun to check it out the headliner, Cheap Trick. I met John and Bryan on the NE corner of Washington and Franklin Streets (it’s a Plessas thing), and we wandered into the venue area where we got our $7 craft beers (Shocktop is a craft beer?) and listened to one of the bands of my youth. Well, OK, one of the bands of my high school boyfriend’s youth.  I went to a Cheap Trick concert in high school because Duck (not his real name) loved them and bought tickets for his birthday.  It must be said that later on in our relationship I drew the line at seeing Rush; I bought him a ticket and then I stayed home!

We were pretty packed into the crowd (it was a free concert, after all) and it was hard to move. Despite the cramped quarters, I was proud that I was able to get our 3 beers from the beer tent in the back to the guys without spilling a drop. My secret?  I just found the biggest guy I could and followed him through the crowd and leap frogged from guy to guy until I got back to the guys!  Now if only I could find it as easy to do that when dating, LOL.

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Top Ten Favorite Songs: Lakeview Amphitheater Version

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Pitbull was on Good Morning America this morning, and his new song Messin’ Around has riffs from REO Speedwagon’s Take It On The Run. Not one of my fave REO songs, nevertheless it is so cool that kids today are exposed to some of the great bands of the 70’s!

There is a new concert venue here in Syracuse, the Lakeview Amphitheater.  The first concert was last September, then it was a bit quiet over there, but now the concert season is upon with a vengeance.  Tonight’s concert Ringo Starr and His All Star Band has inspired me to put a list together of songs I love by bands (and people) that are playing there this summer.  If you live in the CNY area, you can look forward to other concerts including Dave Matthews, Journey and Doobie Brothers, and Tesla, REO Speedwagon, and Def Leppard, among others.

 Photograph by Ringo Starr

Here is Ringo with a different sort of all star band in 2009.

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Long May You Run

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This song came to me today while I was thinking about Prince, Michael Jackson, and Princess Diana, and those are just a few. Although it was written about an old hearse that Neil Young loved, I think the lyrics can be applied to celebrities gone too soon.

With your chrome heart shining in the sun long may you run

 

What about those people we’ve loved and admired and then watched as their lives were torn apart in the media after their untimely deaths. Even David Bowie was not immune to the detractors who were confused by his career and labeled him. As I sit here writing this post, a commercial is playing for a Good Morning America segment about Natalie Wood.

These people were talented, caring, and compassionate. They touched our hearts and lives and were constantly scrutinized by the media, being chased by fans who wanted to be close to them and possibly be part of their magic. People with family and friends and a lack of private life. Yes, maybe they were flawed. So are we. And how does it feel when we are the ones put under the microscope?

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Everywhere You Look…Come Home To Fuller House

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Tonight I was channel surfing and my remote landed on Nick at Nite and the 90’s sitcom, Full House. It was the two-part series finale, where Michelle gets amnesia. There are other storylines included, with Jesse doing too many things and not getting any of them right, DJ deciding to not go to her prom, and Stephanie trying get a guy from drama class to kiss her. In the end, Michelle gets her memory back, Jesse learns his lesson about focusing on what is important, Steph gets kissed, and DJ gets to go to the prom with her boyfriend Steve. Touching speeches are made, and there are Tanner family hugs for everyone!

I loved Full House.  A bit older than the intended audience, that did not stop me from watching Full House most Friday nights.  I worked as a group home night counselor for teenage girls.  We watched together and they loved the TGIF lineup, even though their lives were a far cry from the kids in their cushy surroundings on TV each week. The drama, angst, goofiness, and laughter of the original series still make people laugh today, and the powers that be tell us there will be more of the same in the new Netflix series Fuller House, available on February 26.

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Ryan Reynolds, Will You Be My Valentine?

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Yes, I know Ryan Reynolds is a little out of my league.  Yes, I know he is People’s 2015’s Sexiest Man Alive.  Yes, I know he is very happily married.  Yes, I know he is a new father and is devoted to his daugher, James (he is on the cover of People this week as the Sexiest Dad Alive.) And yet, I want Ryan Reynolds to be my valentine.

I first discovered Ryan Reynolds on television in 1998 when he starred in the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (originally titled Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place).  As often happens when there is a choice between a pretty boy and a responsible, preppy looking type guy, I chose to crush on the preppy Pete. I thought Ryan’s Berg was a little dim and self absorbed. Immature and goofy, he was just not my type.

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Day Ja Voo

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Day Ja Voo. I have been following them for years, from fundraisers to dive bars to summer outdoor venues to my own living room. Watching them play and hearing the first few notes of a favorite song leads me to break into a smile and sing along. The love I have for the music and the guys (and their wives) is unparalleled. Let’s go back to the beginning of this journey to fandom.

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The first time I went to see this talented trio was when they were playing for a fundraising walk at Longbranch Park, raising money for children with cancer. I said a quick hello to Vinnie then found a tree to lean on, away from the action, to wait for them to perform.  The teams of walkers started to stream into the picnic area, groups of people wearing tshirts and carrying signs with pictures of kids who had some form of cancer.  As the groups continued to flood in, I realized that some of the kids were no longer living and for some reason, I was so overcome with emotion that I could barely make it to my car without sobbing.  I did not see the guys play that day.

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And You Can Call Me Queen Pee

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20 years working at Barnes & Noble and there are so many stories I could tell: people I have met, books I have recommended, celebrity sightings, crazy questions, one of a kind events, and lots of other things I could talk about. And yet the one thing that stands out is the honor bestowed on me by my coworkers: Queen Pee. A lot of work has gone into the making of Queen Pee. Not only have there been numerous instances of cleaning up the bathroom, I have also been been cursed out by other managers because I was not on duty on days when a bathroom incident had occurred. And yet with this glamorous life I lead, my band wives want me to give it all up.

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I have a long and proud (?) history of cleaning restrooms at Barnes & Noble. When I first started working there, I cleaned the bathrooms just about every night (before my manager found out that we didn’t need to vacuum and empty garbage and clean the bathrooms every night because we actually had a maintenance line in the budget!) My first workman’s comp case involved me getting new contacts because I had splashed toilet bowl cleaner in my eye.

 

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Vinyl Live 6

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It’s Friday night and I am just home late from work, sitting in front of the TV channel surfing.  No one is more disappointed about this than my dad, who admonished me for not having more exciting plans because he says he is living his life vicariously through me.  Normally I do have a lot of fun nights,  Take last weekend, for example.

Vinyl Album Live 6. This show recreated three iconic vinyl albums performed by local musicians here in Central New York.  It was sold out, with dozens of disappointed people standing outside the Palace Theater in Syracuse wondering how that they could have missed out on getting in (I heard that Vinyl Live 5 was only 2/3 full). One of the albums was Hotel California, so it does make you wonder if it would have been sold out if not for the popularity of Glenn Frey, who had died earlier this week.

Anyway, I had heard how great it was last year and thought it would be a fun night of music and invited my friends Chick and Bryan to go along. Three albums were chosen and three bands assembled from local musicians to perform each of those albums in their entirety. In addition, there were other musicians who sat in for certain songs (I think they may have been music students from Signature Music, where some of the admission money collected was donated to.)

This is where I confess that although I did own vinyl when I was younger (Barry Manilow Live counts, right?) I never really experienced it the same way so many people my age did, sitting down and listening to it from beginning to end and having an experience. This is how so many of the performers learned to love all the songs. I usually enjoyed my favorite bands through greatest hits compilations so I didn’t appreciate the lure of the album.

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The Saddest Laugh Is Silence

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I went out to a local open mike night up on the hill (Syracuse University) last week to check out one of my musician friends. I never really thought about how open mike means that anyone who has anything to say at all would be eligible, including standup.  This is when I learned the saddest laugh is silence.

Embed from Getty Images

My friend was number 12 on the list, so I sat through 11 acts (3 of them music), and the MC.  In total, to get to the part of the show I was waiting for, I had to sit through 9 stand up acts (my friend only made it through 4 before he decided to ditch). To quote someone I saw on the internet (juggler Michael Davis), a comic says funny things but a comedianwill say things funny. These guys did neither.

Now I have a sense of humor.  People in my famiiy think I am very funny, as do most of my friends.  The other night the band wives and I laughed and and laughed and laughed all night long!  I will drop an f-bomb when germane to the story but I do not think that someone has to swear every third word just to make something funny (if you do enjoy this kind of humor, check out Drunk Mom on Facebook.)

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