Retro Music Friday - My 1st 45.

In my younger days my mother frequently took my sister and I shopping at Ann & Hope.The best part about our trips to Ann & Hope was that we both got to pick out one 45 to buy at the end of our shopping trip.

I think at that time 45's were fifty cents - in my mother's eyes I think the fifty cents was a small price to pay for us to 1) be motivated to behave in the store and 2) was a cheaper alternative to candy, which we didn't get much of anyway as kids ( the exception being Sweet Tarts ).

The very first 45 I just HAD TO HAVE was Wake Me Up Before You Go Go by Wham. I was in love with this song from the first day I heard it on the radio - in fact, I still love this song and it's on my Zune.

The funny thing about Wham is that looking back on it now how could we not have seen that George Michael was so totally gay? I mean, women loved him - and he was cute - but when you see the video now you're like " HOLY CRAP HE'S SO GAY !! " Not that it matters, but I'm just saying.

But I suppose one doesn't think about these things when you're 8 years old. Which I was when this song came out in November of 1984.

For extra credit can anyone name the other half of Wham ? Anyone ? Anyone?

The answer is listed below.

In a somewhat related story; Brock and I were thinking up this whole elaborate gag were were going to pull at Thanksgiving this past year. We were going to get all dressed up in 80's band T-shirts and go to T'giving dinner in them. Target was selling retro t-shirts in the jr. girl's dept at the time - which gave us the idea.

We also thought about pegging our pants ( come on, you know you all did it ! ) and I was going to tease up my hair really high. The plan was that we were going to act all serious and whatnot, if not to make our family laugh then at least to get a good giggle out of it for ourselves. I'm sure we would have been a sight to behold. We didn't end up pulling it off though. Brock wanted a Guns n' Roses Appetite for Destruction shirt and I wanted the CHOOSE LIFE shirt from the Wham video, but they seemed to be tremendously hard to come by. I did see a FRANKIE SAYS RELAX shirt in Target, but it wasn't in my size.

Beware the next time any of you invite us over for a holiday...LOL !

XO

Bunny

P.S. The other half of Wham was Andrew Ridgeley.

Sheena Easton Needs To Get A Job.

I'm sure you all remember Sheena Easton's tune Morning Train ( 9 to 5 ). I used to love this song...really. I always felt that it never got enough air time on the radio.
As I said, I used to love this song.....until I listened to the lyrics.
Here they are;
( my comments are in red )




I wake up every mornin', I stumble out of bed
Stretchin' and yawnin',
another day ahead,
starts out promising, you start to think that perhaps she's got a lot going on.
it seems to last forever, and time goes slowly by
perhaps her job is boring.
Till babe and me's together, then it starts to fly
time always flies when you're having fun, I'll give her that.
'Cause the moment that he's with me, time can take a flight
The moment that he's with me, everything's alright
Night time is the right time, we make love
Then it's his and my time, we take off
Ok, so she and the Mr. are hot for each other. Good for them.



CHORUS:
My baby takes the morning train,
does he even own a car ?
He works from nine till five and then,
He takes another home again to find me waitin' for him

REPEAT CHORUS


He takes me to a movie, or to a restaurant, to go Slow dancing, anything I want
Lucky bitch.
Only when he's with me, I catch light
I'm in no way condoning cigs here but jeez... can't she light her own smokes ? She seems awfully needy to me.
Only when he gives me, makes me feel alright
there is a giver and a taker in every relationship. I think we all know what she is.
Moreover, doesn't it sound like she needs a man to feel fulfilled ? Clearly she's never seen an episode of Oprah.


CHORUS:
My baby takes the morning train,
He works from nine till five and then,
He takes another home again to find me waitin' for him



All day I think of him,
dreamin' of him constantly
Obsess much Sheena ?
I'm crazy mad for him,
and he's crazy mad for me
He has issues- he's in a relationship with a needy, unemployed woman.
When he steps off that train,
I'm heading for a fight
OK, so she sits on her ass all day waiting for him to get home from working all day and now she wants to pick a fight with him? Not very nice Sheena.
Work all day to earn his pay, so we can play all night
What does she do all day ? Does she even have a job ? It sounds like she just likes spending his money. He must be tired from working all day and all she wants to do is screw and party all night.


CHORUS:
My baby takes the morning train,
He works from nine till five and then,
He takes another home again to find me waitin' for him (chorus repeats out)
He's always on that morning train He works so hard To find me waiting for him...



Sheena redeemed herself with For Your Eyes Only, I believe that was from a James Bond movie. She also did some stuff with Prince and that's always tops in my book, I love Prince.

BTW, did you know that Sheena had a role on Miami Vice as Don Johnson's wife ?





XO

Bunny

Bunny: The James Lipton Interview.

I'm not sure if you're all familiar with Inside The Actor's Studio on Bravo. James Lipton is the host and he does some really in depth interviews with various actors. Just tonight he was interviewing Johnny Depp.
Speaking of Johhny Depp, from watching him on 21 Jump St. did you ever imagine that he's one day be Willy Wonka. The man certainly has range as an actor. Wow.
So in the sprit of Inside the Actor's studio I decided to ask myself the famous 10 Questions.
Here goes;

1. What is your favorite word ?
Yes.

2. What is your least favorite word ?
Republican.

3. What turns you on ?
Strength of character.

4. What turns you off ?
Pettiness

5. What is your favorite curse word ?
Motherf*cker.

6. What sound or noise do you love ?
Thunder and chirping birds.

7. What sound or noise do you hate ?
When my neighbor downstairs slams the door.

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt ?
Fashion design.

9. What profession would you not like to attempt ?
Accounting.

10. If Heaven exists, what would like god to say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates ?
" You were always right - and yes, nobody ever listened ! "

So there you have it. Feel free to answer these questions for yourselves and email me back the answers. I'd love to hear them.

In other news, tomorrow is the RED SOX HOME OPENER ! As I've stated before, this should be a state holiday.
Although my beloved Sox are kind of in a slump right now. I think this whole continent hopping they did at the beginning of the season plum wore them out. They had a terrible outing in Toronto ! I'm hoping that being back at Fenway will turn things around for them. They're certainly not going to win me any furniture at this rate.
CLAP CLAP CLAP !! GO SOX !!! WOOOO HOOOOO!!!

XO
Bunny

P.S. You really can buy the weirdest crap on Amazon. No pun intended.

Yankee Fans Beware.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A certain New York Yankee slugger should beware: A student taking a tour of Fenway Park today was attacked by a red-tailed hawk that swooped off its nest, drawing blood from the girl’s scalp.

Her name: Alexa Rodriguez. Her age: 13, the same jersey number the Yankee third baseman wears.

“She’s fine, a little shaken, but OK,” said Vince Jennetta, a teacher who chaperoned Rodriguez's class trip from Memorial Boulevard Middle School in Bristol, Conn.

The eighth-grader was taken by ambulance to a local hospital and treated for the small scratch on her scalp.

The 3 1/2-pound hawk has been building nests at Fenway since 2002, but has always been chased out before opening day so she and her mate could find a new home, said Tom French, assistant director of MassWildlife.This spring the raptor used a brown-knit cap and twigs from trees on Yawkey Way to build a nest on a green overhang near the press booth above home plate. She laid a brown-speckled egg last week, but it rolled off the nest, wasn’t properly incubated, and was no longer viable, French said.

Wildlife officials removed the egg and the nest after the hawk's attack, which was captured by veteran Globe photographer John Tlumacki.

Could it be an omen for Yankee Alex Rodriguez ?

XO

Bunny

P.S. Apparently the girl's nicname is A-Rod.

How To Drive Your Husband Crazy In Three Easy Steps.

1. Squeal like a school girl when New Kids On The Block appear on the Today show.




2. Play NKOTB videos on YouTube all morning.



3. Put NKOTB songs on your brand new Zune and dance around the house like a Mexican hooker on uppers.




A little piece of Bunny trivia here; NKOTB was the very first concert I went to. I was 12 ( 1988 )and I went with Jessica ( who lived next door..Hi Jess ! ) and Jessica's mom and my dad. It was at the Providence Civic Center, which is now known at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

And lately I've found that you cannot find a woman who is in her later 20's or early 30's that does not have a favorite New Kid.
I took an unofficial poll and far and away everyone's favorite seems to be Donnie, with Joey Mac running a very close second.
I have to say through, my friend Lisa has ALWAYS been a Jordan fan.
So for all you Donnie fans, I give you this.

I should add here that Brock is also a big Donnie fan, but not because of NKOTB. Donnie, who turned out to be a fantastic actor, was in Band Of Brothers on HBO. Speaking of Donnie being a fantastic actor, I watched The Sixth Sense in it's entirety and when they got to the credits at the end Donnie's name flashed on the TV. And I'm all like..." Donnie was in this movie ? "

For the life of me I could not figure where he appeared in that movie, and lo and behold we was in the very beginning as the crazy dude in the bathroom.

I also took a peek at their new website, they are looking good and their new song is great. It still sounds like NKOTB, just more grown up. Check it out if you have time.

_______________________________________________

In completely unrelated news; If you look at the bottom of this page you'll see that I have a brand new ticker. We have been officially wait listed to apply to Wide Horizon's new Taiwan program. Let me clarify - we are not waiting for a referral from Taiwan. We are on the wait list to apply to the Taiwan program. More news to follow. Stay tuned.

XO

Bunny

Retro Music Friday. Then, Now & In Between.

I'm sure that you could all gather from this post that REM is my favorite band. I felt that they were a great inspiration for this week's RMF for a couple different reasons.

1. Tomorrow is the 28th anniversary of their very first show. At that time I believe that they were still an unnamed band. Their very first show was for a friend's birthday party and I think they only intended it to be a one off show.

and

2.Tickets for their summer concert tour go on sale tomorrow.

I've picked a few videos that I feel best represent REM from the early days right up until today.

This is Wolves, Lower. This song was off their debut album Chronic Town. It was released in 1982




Man on the Moon. I love this song. It's one of my favorite REM tunes. I saw them do this live the last time I saw REM in concert in 1995. AWESOME !



This is Supernatural Superserious. It was just released this week to great reviews and I have to say I really like it a lot. It's very catchy and might I even say, it rocks.

I was a little worried when their drummer Bill retired in 1997. They had been a four piece for 17 years and obviously it was a formula that worked very well for them. They seemed to flounder a bit for a few years, but I think they're finally back in the groove.

I intend to be 1st in line ( so to speak ) when tickets go on sale tomorrow.

I hope you all enjoy these videos as much as I do.

XO

Bunny

Flaky Katie.

Brock and I had perhaps the worst dining experience we've ever had in our lives tonight at Bertucci's.

Let me backtrack a bit here.....Bertucci's was always our old stand by. Great food, great service, reasonable prices. However I think they've become a victim of too big too fast. They've been adding new locations like crazy and both the food and service had suffered because of it.
The last time we ate there the food was average at best and the service was inconsistent.

Tonight however was a real gem. We had the Flaky Katie experience. First off, we got seated right away - always a good sign. We were given menus - great ! Then we proceeded to wait for Katie for almost 20 minutes to even come to the table and give us a " Hi my is Katie, I'll be taking care of you tonight. " which she followed up with " and I'll be right back. "
And she took off for another 10 minutes. No rolls, no water....... " I'll be right back "

Katie then graced us with her presence again to take our order. By this time I think we both had the menu memorized and we figured since she was at the table we should just get all of our ordering out of the way...who knows when she would return, or if she would even remember that we were seated in her section.
Katie takes our order and leaves.....still no rolls or water.
Katie comes back at least 5 minutes later with a dish of olive oil for the rolls that we still don't have.
Katie leaves again.
Another 5 goes by, Katie comes back with rolls. And then her mouth opened again and what came out of it blew. our. minds.
" Mmmkay.. ( giggle ) the rolls are like..all the way over there ( she points over her shoulder )
and like the oil is all the way over there ( pointing over the other shoulder ) ( another giggle ) .....this is hard. "
We are stunned.
Rolls + oil = hard.

Still no drinks.

Katie leaves again.

Brock waits until Katie is out of ear shot and says " Another one of the unemployable employed by Bertucci's"
I'm starting to have a little sympathy for Katie because I'm beginning to think that she is perhaps learning disabled.

Several more minutes go by.
Katie comes back with water and Brock's beer.

3 more minutes go by.
All of our food comes at the same time and we've not even had enough time to finish one roll each.
Katie disappears for at least 25 more minutes.
At one point she proceeded to have a conversation with the two ladies seated at the table next to us. I can assure you that the meaningless drivel that spewed from her mouth to them was equal to the rolls + oil = hard comment she made to us. I figured better them than us ' cause Brock's fuse with stupid is real short.
Brock waits until she's out of ear shot again.
" Clearly she's a mensa candidate "

By this time I'm beginning to find the whole situation amusing.

Katie reappears to two very clearly empty plates on our table. " How is everything ? Can I get you anything else ? "
We say no, we're fine thankyouverymuch. Katie then assess the situation at our table and decided that I needed a refill on my water.
So there we are, sitting at a table with very clearly empty dishes and a nicely refilled water.
I'm sure you can all guess what happened next...yep, Katie vanishes again.

I spy her at another table. I can't hear what she's saying to them, but I'm positive it was pretty lame.
I ask Brock " Do ya think that Katie is the waitress that bangs the chef in the walk-in cooler after closing time ? "

To which Brock replies " Only if he's got a huge bag of weed. "

Finally Katie reappears with the check. Thank g*d 'cause my butt was falling asleep I was sitting so long.
I threaten Brock within an inch of his life if he left her a tip. Which he did. And then we ran out of there like our asses were on fire.

It will be a long, long, long time ( if ever ) before we go back there again.

XO
Bunny

P.S. Sox start opening season week 3 for 4. Woo Hoo !