Music Meme....earlier this month, Kim tagged me for a music meme. The rules are: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.

Okay, I love music...mostly rock n' roll, but also blues, metal, some country, some jazz, some rap, and some classical. Things have changed for me musically in the last few years though. I don't join clubs to purchase music anymore, and I pretty much just listen to what's on the radio (rock and metal stations, not really top 40). This is because most of "my" music is on cassettes, and cars only have CD players there days. (I was a "holdout", refusing to convert media! I have purchased a few CD's so my son could add the music to his Ipod, though.) Now I have 500+ cassettes that I can only play at home or on my Walkman, along with about a dozen albums (vinyl!) and 20 or so 45's (more vinyl!). Sure, now I have an Ipod that my son gave me, and it holds 30 GB of music...which is a lot. That's nice, but then I have to sit down and make playlists, unless I want it to play random music, and that's too much trouble right now. (Yes, I'm both lazy and busy :) It's so much easier to just open my Walkman and put in a tape...I feel old when I type this, but it's the truth. So until I'm all "hooked up", my song list will just be stuff I like in general. I wanted to go nuts and scan in old concert pics from waaay back, but my scanner is very bogus. So here goes, in no particular order:

1.) Mailyn Manson-The Dope Show... (Not just because this was the most recent concert I attended) I really enjoy the music and his whole "anti-mainstream" attitude.

2.) Prince-Irrisitible Bitch...Yea, you won't be hearing this song on the radio anytime soon! I've always enjoyed his music, and I think he's very talented (not just a "Little Richard" rip-off as some have contended.)

3.) Disturbed-Down With the Sickness...Hard and loud metal (the best kind!) I did see these guys in concert, and it was awesome! (Heh, with earplugs, of course!)

4.) Son Seals-Fridgedaire Woman...Very amusing blues tune about a cold woman, "She opened up her mouth and a light came on"...love it!

5.) David Allen Coe-Cheap Thrills...This guy is as "un-PC" as you can get, and this is one of the cleaner songs. But I have to agree with the idea of being attracted to "cheap thrills" (you don't always have to act on it, of course! ;-)

6.) Tom Jones-Sex Bomb...He was always my mom's favorite, and I enjoy his voice and the various song covers he releases. He did a cool version of Prince's song "Kiss".

7.) Norah Jones-Don't Know Why...This got a lot of radio play, but I heard her sing it on a late show and picked it up before then. I still really like it, and her voice is just phenominal!

Since I don't follow the rules....

8.) Paul Simon-Late in the Evening...Actually, I like all his music, but I picked this one here. I got to see him in the 80's...wow. I want to see him again!

9.) James Taylor-I Was Only Telling a Lie...I've never been able to get any radio station to play this, even though it's not dirty. Certainly not his primary style, but it's a song I still hear in my head when I think about certain guys ;-)

10.) Eminem-My Dad's Gone Crazy...This is one of those artists that used to elicit "Turn that crap down!" from me toward my son until I actually listened. (Maybe I'm not that old after all :)

This exercise got me thinking about other lists, like "cryin' songs". Mine would be short for the "guaranteed tears": Taps and Amazing Grace. I swear, once they play either of those at a funeral, they never sound the same. Then there's the "makin' love" songs. This is highly subjective, varying wildly according to situation. A short list would include:

1.) Marvin Gaye-Sexual Healing...hey man, what can I say :)

2.) Dire Straits-Down to the Waterline

3.) Loverboy-Take Me to the Top

4.) McCartney and Wings-Letting Go

But then sometimes you make your own music, you know? And in the interest of further breaking the rules, I'm not going to tag anyone. Feel free to play along, of course! :)

Seven Random Things...so awhile back I was tagged for this meme by Chuck, and as you see it took me awhile to get to it. It would have been fairly cool to do it on the 7th, but I'm just not that organized. So here goes...
#1-I've always been a fan of silly humor and puns, as evidenced by this old high school age picture. This was at my neighbor's house after a really bad storm-they had 12 big cherry trees come down, amazingly none on their house!

#2-My dad was a really excellent guy, and I miss him a lot. He's been gone 21 years from lung cancer-and now my 24 yr. old son smokes...*sigh* ....hope I can convince him to quit somehow, he really doesn't remember his grandpa enough to realize what an awful way that is to die. (Of course he's unbreakable, like all young people!)
#3-I like changing my hairstyle, even though I haven't done it in awhile. Long and straight...
...late 70's "Barbara Streisand" fro, very short, even a "female mullet" in the 80's (sorry no pic)...frosted.... ...flaxen, waxen, knotted, polka-dotted, twisted, beaded, braided, powdered, flowered and confettied, bangled, tangled, spangled and spaghettied! ;-)
#4-This is what my workspace looks like...I got into medicine kinda by accident, but it turns out that I really love it, even though I'd never considered it a dream job. I just wanted something that provided a good income for a single mother with a small child, and it was only a 2 year program for x-ray...later MRI was on the job training. But I confess, after 19 years, I'm still not bored, nor do I dread going to work.

#5-I absolutely, positively love men! I like the way they sound, the way they smell, the way they move...everything about them! And if you'd told me 10 years ago that I'd end up single at my age, I'd said you're full of it. But here I am, and I must say that I'm very content...in fact, sometimes I wonder why....then I think "Don't be silly-if it works, go with it!" But one thing I've learned about romance-physical appearance has almost nothing to do with it (as evidenced by this exquisite creature I dated a couple years ago), and if some fine, foxy dude wants to get to know you better-you take him at his word and enjoy his company...leave your hang-ups behind!
#6-I also love horses! Since I was very small, I begged my parents for a horse...even wore out my "wonder horse" on springs (y'know, the bouncy, plastic horses on springs-do they even make those anymore?), until finally, when I was in jr. high, they relented. This is her, "Foolish Guns" (I know, stupid name but I didn't pick it), and we had a great time together! Horse shows, trail rides, drill team/parades, even a "costume class" in 4-H...it was a big part of my awesome childhood that I will always be grateful for!
These two were my equine friends that I sold right before I moved to Wisconsin....the smaller sorrel filly is the palomino's daughter. We'd just come back from a long ride, and this is the filly's first time wearing a saddle. I was very proud (and shocked!) that she cooperated so well, and although I didn't keep her until she was old enough to ride, I bet she was a breeze to break. Funny, I was really intimidated at the prospect of handling a foal, but it was really fun, and I'd do it again in a minute!#7-and here we are at number seven....I guess the only other random thing is that I want to put in a plug for motherhood, cuz' it's by far the best experience of my entire life, and probably the only thing I've ever done that really matters! My only regret is having done it only once! So the sun sets on my Seven Random Things...and although I realize that I'm supposed to "tag" seven others, I'm not gonna! Guess that's my "8th" random thing-I'm stubborn as hell! ;-)