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Yep, I missed Monday again, but I did get another chapter and a half done of Sea Strand, so I have that going for me. My apologies, let’s get with the musicality.
Last Thursday Eric and I said good-bye to one of our favorite shows, The Office. For those of you who do not watch it, here is the premise. A PBS documentary crew has been filming ordinary employees of a paper company, Dunder-Mifflin, for nine years. Now the documentary has aired and the show is ending… boo! It is an absurd show with great writing and hilarious characters. We will really miss it.
Creed today
The reason that this footnote in my television viewing habits intrudes itself upon Musical Monday(-ish) is that as the show was winding down it wrapped up the story lines for each character, giving the audience an idea as to where each one ended up. One of the characters is an older man named Creed Bratton. He’s an unusual character, very eccentric and given to speaking in non sequiturs. During the finale the office found out that he was a former member of the band, The Grass Roots, and had been fleeing law enforcement for years on various charges. I perked up when the name The Grass Roots came up as one of my favorite songs is Let’s Live For Today. Hence… the tie in to this week’s Musical Monday (again, I say -ish on the Monday part).
Creed yesterday.
Like so many of us, when something interesting pops up in my day-to-day life, I immediately reach for my smart phone and Google the heck out of the sucker. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the actor who plays Creed Bratton is actually Creed Bratton playing a fictionalized version of himself? How fun and how completely random! In the clip below Creed is the guitar player wearing the blue striped shirt. He doesn’t get a lot of close ups, but it is clearly our funky guy from The Office. Favorite tv shows aside, folks, the song has a great message about appreciating today and the love in our lives.
Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySjxZDT_5SA
This post was written by Erika Gardner. If you enjoyed it, please sign up to receive updates on this blog. Or you can follow Erika on Twitter @Erika_Gardner or “Like” her Facebook page Erika Gardner- Writer and Storyteller.
Today is Monday, May 16th, 2011. It is a day that is many things to many people. For some first and foremost it is a Monday. (A wash of groans comes over the populace. After all, who needs Mondays?) For some it is simply a workday or a school day. Perhaps today is a happy day like a birthday or a wedding anniversary.
It's been three long years. Years without concerts where Ronnie's voice belted out, shaking the beams of the building and moving our souls. This is the post I wrote two years ago, on the first anniversary of his passing- marking our collective loss. If you have not stepped into the fantastical story-telling world that is Dio's music and you have a pulse, you are missing the best of the best.
Ronnie- we miss you still, but we dream and that's when we fly. Thank you for lighting up the skyline of my imaginary world... "Sing me a song, you're a singer."
Let the memories live and the tunes play... Erika
So, here’s the thing, and actually, it’s not so much as a thing as a simple statement of fact, in June I turn forty-four. Talk to me at twenty-four and forty-four would have been a HUGE drama-fest. Now, I have to say, really okay with things.
For those of you who are younger than me, hey, hopefully when the number rolls around you’ll be in a similar place… and if you aren’t- I need to tell you… it’s just a number. It can only hurt you as much as you let it.
I was fine with thirty, but I freaked a tiny bit at thirty-one because then, I was “in my thirties.” Of course then I was busy having a baby every time I turned around and I went without sleep for five or so years so my age seemed sort of like useless information.
Eventually I got my life back(-ish),
Still, forty rolled around and it went fine, but I was braced for forty-one, because, you know, then I’d be IN my forties. Scary. Epic depression oncoming. I was ready. At least, I thought I was ready.
Imagine my surprise when… I liked it!
Now, I’ve always been a little masochistic… after all, I run… for pleasure. Then there’s an ex-boyfriend or two where one wonders why I bothered… but, I digress.
Turns out, I am really okay with my forties. I mean, when someone doesn’t like me, or hates something I wrote, it still hurts, it stings. However, I no longer feel the need to change, to temper my feelings, or dampen my glow. I’m Erika. That’s not perfect and I still have a long way to go for sure, but I no longer worry if the “beautiful people” like me or not.
First of all, my people ARE beautiful and second of all, those “popular” people in high school, yeah, things didn’t work out so stellar for them. I wish them well, but all things considered, no way would I want their lives. Whew. Bullet dodged, who knew?
A fun article got passed around Facebook. It’s attributed to Andy Rooney, but Snopes.com has the author credit as false. I am not mad at it though. Whomever wrote this, props to you. I dig it. Wherever you are, I hope you don’t mind that I am sharing your words here… for all the 40+ women and the people who love them, because you captured something here… and that’s especially hard to do in this case, because… we’re free.
That’s what 40+ does… it frees us.
“As I grow in age, I value women who are over forty most of all. Here are just a few reasons why: A woman over forty will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask, “What are you thinking?” She doesn’t care what you think.
If a woman over forty doesn’t want to watch the game, she doesn’t sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do. And, it’s usually something more interesting.
A woman over forty knows herself well enough to be assured in who she is, what she is, what she wants and from whom. Few women past the age of forty give a hoot what you might think about her or what she’s doing.
Women over forty are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won’t hesitate to shoot you, if they think they can get away with it.
Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it’s like to be unappreciated.
A woman over forty has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women friends. A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn’t trust the guy with other women. Women over forty couldn’t care less if you’re attracted to her friends because she knows her friends won’t betray her.
Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over forty. They always know.
A woman over forty looks good wearing bright red lipstick. This is not true of younger women. Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over forty is far sexier than her younger counterpart.
Older women are forthright and honest. They’ll tell you right off if you are a jerk, if you are acting like one! You don’t ever have to wonder where you stand with her.
Yes, we praise women over forty for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it’s not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman of forty-plus, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some twenty-two-year-old waitress.
Ladies, I apologize.
For all those men who say, “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free,” here’s an update for you. Now 80 percent of women are against marriage, why? Because women realize it’s not worth buying an entire pig, just to get a little sausage.”
Which brings us to this week’s song, “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light ‘em Up).” I chose it because it’s a catchy tune, but a 40+ would never do this whole violent “love me or die” thing. We’re better than that and, frankly, we don’t need to get dramatic and violent. We’ll just move on and you, the cause of the drama, will become a footnote. We have better things to do and awesome lives to live.
But… the song still rocks… Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkIWmsP3c_s
Here are the lyrics to this angry- hey long live teen angst, right?- but so appropriate song…
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
B-B-B-Be careful making wishes in the dark, dark
Can’t be sure when they’ve hit their mark, mark
And besides in the mean, mean time
I’m just dreaming of tearing you apart
I’m in the de-details with the devil
So now the world can never get me on my level
I just gotta get you out of the cage
I’m a young lover’s rage
Gonna need a spark to ignite
My songs know what you did in the dark
So light ‘em up, up, up
Light ‘em up, up, up
Light ‘em up, up, up
I’m on fire
So light ‘em up, up, up
Light ‘em up, up, up
Light ‘em up, up, up
I’m on fire
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
In the dark, dark
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
In the dark, dark
Writers keep writing what they write
Somewhere another pretty vein just died
I’ve got the scars from tomorrow and I wish you could see
That you’re the antidote to everything except for me
A constellation of tears on your lashes
Burn everything you love, then burn the ashes
In the end everything collides
My childhood spat back out the monster that you see
My songs know what you did in the dark
So light ‘em up, up, up
Light ‘em up, up, up
Light ‘em up, up, up
I’m on fire
So light ‘em up, up, up
Light ‘em up, up, up
Light ‘em up, up, up
I’m on fire
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
In the dark, dark
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
In the dark, dark
My songs know what you did in the dark
(My songs know what you did in the dark)
So light ‘em up, up, up
Light ‘em up, up, up
Light ‘em up, up, up
I’m on fire
So light ‘em up, up, up
Light ‘em up, up, up
Light ‘em up, up, up
I’m on fire
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
In the dark, dark
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
In the dark, dark
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
This post was written by Erika Gardner. If you enjoyed it, please sign up to receive updates on this blog. Or you can follow Erika on Twitter @Erika_Gardner or “Like” her Facebook page Erika Gardner- Writer and Storyteller.
I say I saw two friends last week, though actually, it has been two weeks. I went back east and had a chance to reconnect with two very rare souls, then came home and got sick. I am better now and so began to flesh out a piece I began on the plane ride back to California.
I saw two friends last week. Many years passed since I had time with either of them. They did not know one another, though they had met in days gone by. They didn’t remember, but I did.
I joke with my children that everyone has a super power. They say mine is reading, but I wonder… maybe it’s remembering. It’s not a matter of intelligence, God, no; it’s just that social situations resonate for me. Everyone who has ever met me is rolling their eyes in agreement right now- I’m like… social. Super power is too strong and narcissistic a term, though perhaps it gives you an idea of what I mean. Conversations that sparkle, instants captured, moments held; they all exist inside my head. As a book is like a film to me, so too, there exists my own movie; it is my life playing in my head. People far away, but never truly lost because I have them with me on a track I can repeat again and again.
We are born alone and so we end, by ourselves once more. Yet in the intervening time, however long that may be, we each, in our own way, seek to reach out. We strive for connection, understanding and companionship. The best of art, literature and politics are played out when that connection is achieved. It may come in the form of bright, brittle social interaction, forgotten like a may fly in the summer air as we move on to the next encounter. We might find it on a sexual level, heady with a shattering power forged in sweat and shared passion. There are the friendships, those platonic, those romantic and a few which are mixed of both. Some even endure, long beyond the initial connection, becoming lifelong touchstones we return to, brothers and sisters, finding in them our best and truest sense of self. Likewise, the failure to connect, to establish those bonds which sustain us results in some of the worst of humanity: the murders, the bombings, the sadists.
This week’s song for Musical Monday is an old one; 1992, in fact. It’s called “Man of Golden Words” by Mother Love Bone. It seems another lifetime when a good friend played this for me, set the song on repeat and we saw the night through.
Of all the ways we find to connect, music has certainly been an important conduit for me. Verses and the lyrical poetry hidden within operate on multiple levels, bringing about a closeness with those whose souls are similarly moved. A long past memory can become more real than the mundane closeness of present day given the right notes played at an unexpected moment. That is the power of song.
I love you, my friends- you shape my life in the most profound ways and, thus, help and change me along my path. Miss you already!
Lyrics to Man of Golden Words
Wanna show you something like
The joy inside my heart
Seems I’ve been living in the temple of the dog
Where would I live, if I were a man of golden words?
And would I live, at all?
Words and music, my only tools
Communication
And on her arrival, I will set free the birds
It’s a pretty time of year, when the mountains sing out loud
Tell me, Mr. Golden Words, how’s about the world?
Tell me can you tell me at all? yeah
Words and music, my only tools
Communication
Let’s fall in love with music
The driving force of our livings
The only international language
Divine glory, the expression
The knees bow, the tongue confesses
The lord of lords, the king of kings
The king of kings
Words and music – my only tools
Communication
Man of Golden Words
This post was written by Erika Gardner. If you enjoyed it, please sign up to receive updates on this blog. Or you can follow Erika on Twitter @Erika_Gardner or “Like” her Facebook page Erika Gardner- Writer and Storyteller.
Okay, for once you have to admit a Monday is looking pretty good. Wait, hear me out, there’s a reason that I am saying this. It’s a new week, thank heaven. Let’s face it, last week was one of the worst week’s in news that we as Americans have faced in quite some time. When the troubles rain, they pour.
Last week’s news brought us:
- The tragedy of the Boston Bombings.
- The defeat of sensible gun control, favored by 86% of Americans. For an interesting post Senate vote perspective click here.
- The appalling loss of life in West, Texas.
- CISPA passed the House and moved on to the Senate. The White House has said it may veto it, but let’s hope it doesn’t get pass the Senate. I’d hate to have to test that resolve. What is CISPA and why should you care?
Taken individually, any one of these four would have been a major news story and a source of deep emotion for this writer. To have them piled in a week is nothing short of mind-numbing.
I got up this morning believing that I was going to have to address at least one of these topics, but I realized something. The emotion involved would be incapacitating. Boston and West, Texas move all of us to heart-wrenching grief, while those senators who have clearly sold their souls to the gun lobby make me so angry I can’t think straight. Likewise, I’m not happy with the politicians who saw the will of the people in defeating SOPA and PIPA last year, only to put forth CISPA now. Grrrrrr.
I absolutely have to function. It’s a busy week and there’s a lot I want to accomplish. I may return to one of these four later, but right now I need to focus on the bright side of life. We all do.
This brings us to today’s Musical Monday. I have chosen Monty Python’s, Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life from their classic 1979 film, Life of Brian.
Because there were good things that happened last week, though albeit dwarfed next to the sadness and anger we faced.
- Babies were born and couples joined in marriage.
- Iran has agreed to return to the table with UN negotiators in mid-May regarding their nuclear program. Mind you I am not holding my breath, but we can always hope.
- Brazil has provided 1.2 billion (that is with a “b”) towards clean energy research. Click here for article.
- The infant mortality rate has fallen by 12% in the US since 2005, due in part to fewer premature births.
- South Korea recently swore in their first woman president.
- Saudi Arabia, of all places, is pushing forward a new renewable energy program to help lessen the amount of oil they are burning.
- We discovered not one, but TWO, “earth-like” planets.
- My family, my friends, all the people in my village, on my island, whatever, are all still here. I shall be taking extra time to hug them.
I grant you, none of these things erases, or even diminishes the bad news, but they are good tidings nonetheless. While I certainly am not advocating ignoring the dark times, I would urge everyone to keep going and not to let them overwhelm or derail us. I have a strict policy in the belief that the good shall outnumber and overwhelm the bad. Light over dark. We can laugh or we can cry. I choose to laugh, although for the moment there’s a bit of laughter through tears in my expression.
I hope with all sincerity and fervor that your week is filled with happier things than last week. I’ll be pulling for us all.
After the storm, the sun.
This post was written by Erika Gardner. If you enjoyed it, please sign up to receive updates on this blog. Or you can follow Erika on Twitter @Erika_Gardner or “Like” her Facebook page Erika Gardner- Writer and Storyteller.
