DESTINATION MOON!

Dance/ R&B Diva Deborah Cox somehow managed to emerge from her late-90s heyday ("Things Just Aint the Same"/ "Nobody's Supposed to be Here"), when her urban-flavored album tracks were transformed by remixer Hex Hector into massive big-room club stompers that virtually defined the 1998 club landscape, to find herself planted squarely in 2008, via 1956. DESTINATION MOON is her homage to vocalist extraordinaire Dinah Washington, and is a sultry and swinging collection of a dozen key tracks from Washington's impressive canon. Its easy to be a cynic when familiar voices from the past who have become less- and less-familair as the years go by find themselves exploiting the classics to make themselves relevant again. Linda Ronstadt, most notably, paved the way with her Nelson Riddle trilogy more than 2 decades ago. Rod Stewart has gone back to the well 4 times with his "Songbook" series, each one more successful than the last. Cox certainly doesnt have the name recognition of a Stewart or Ronstadt, so I was more inclined to give her a pass and allow for the possibility that this effort wasnt purely motivated by easy sales. Plus, she's got a great voice-- I was excited to give it a listen, and the gamble paid off! Washington's songs are standards, yes, but ones that were ready to be revisited, and ready to be reinterpreted. These are not the same old handful of tracks that turn up on every nostalgia collection, and Cox's vocal chops more than rise to the occasion. She swings, she belts the blues, and she croons. Best (and title) track: her thrilling take on Dinah's signature "Destination Moon"... A definite Fred's Pick!

HOLD TIGHT

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mCZOPTT7O5EI:mAZRABQKO9P4R

Just finished this one yesterday afternoon-- HIGHLY RECOMMENDED/ Harlan Coben's books are the best>> (Link, above, for a preview)...

Listening to the FUTURE of my PAST...

After getting a link to a great (and CHEAP) site for music downloads I have been going nuts filling up my iTunes library, figuring I should take advantage because nothing this good ever lasts... So, I have been filling up my back catalog of artists that I wouldnt necessarily spring full price for. Therefore, for example,I am no longer content to own the CHANGESBOWIE David Bowie compilation, but now feel I must own every Bowie album I owned as a kid. (Bowie was my obsession as a kid, along with Charlie's Angels and JAWS. I wanted to be him for Halloween- see the posted pic of the "Aladdin Sane" LP cover for my inspiration- but my mother wouldn't let me shave my eyebrows off... I have since forgiven her...) Same with Alice Cooper records. Greatest Hits CDs may be essential, but replacing stuff I owned on vinyl in elementary school is like a bizarre trip down memory lane... Aside from the obvious nostalgia of hearing the more obscure tracks after 25+ years, I find that I really miss holding the record; the 12" square LP record jacket with the pictures and the liner notes, etc etc... So much for a format that was made obscure by cassettes (Ahhhhhhh, the 80s...), which in turn were eclipsed by CDs (Ahhhhhhh, the LATE 80s...), the rapidly vanishing format of a tangible medium. So, now we are all digital. And its all still good, and brings me up to speed. I am completely modern and of -the- moment, and am happily able to live in my past. With just a few clicks!

Duran Duran? 23 years was a long time to wait to own the SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER record, but I held out, and now it's mine. And under a buck, complete with album artwork! And no embarrassment on the checkout line at Sound Odyssey!!

What? Someone else has a blog??

The funny thing about a blog... you never know who has one, and what you may find! The following (below) was discovered by my boss at work, who came upon it completely by accident when Googling for some information on Beacon Hill. Granted, the following blog was posted by someone from last summer-- shortly following the announcement that I was closing my shop--- not exactly breaking news these days...I am re-posting it not just because it is a bit "newsworthy" to me, but also because it touches upon themes of loss, and of taking things for granted, and regret... (i.e. how Ive spent the last few weeks, coping with the loss of my father).So, here goes:



Friday, July 20, 2007

So Yesterday: Running a Video Store

For a while, my Grandfather Rogers was a blacksmith. He chose this profession because it was improvement over life on the farm, and because in the early 1900's he didn't realize that, career-wise, he was beating a dead horse. Sure, there were still horses around for a good long while, but, "Hey, pal, get a car," which is how my father and his buddies would taunt the few remaining horse drawn travelers still around during the 1920's.My grandfather's next career had more long run staying power, that's for sure.With his brother, Jim, he opened a tavern, grandly and quite imaginatively named The Rogers Brothers Saloon. (None of this Roscommon Pub, or Thirsty Druid, or Tir na Og for yer man in those days. I grew up in the same part of Worcester where The Saloon was, and the area was full of equally imaginatively named bars and taverns: McGuire's Breen's, Mulcahy's, Moynahan's, Donahue's, and Hennessey's.) The Rogers Brothers Saloon did have its own theme song, however, sung to the tune of "Back Home Again in Indiana:"Back home again, in Rogers' bar roomThat's the place I long to be...Unfortunately, bar-keeping went tempoarily the way of the buggy whip and blacksmith, and Rogers Bros. was closed down by Prohibition.Neither one of the Rogers Bros. had to spend much time worry about a next career move. They both died - still in their forties, Jim perhaps even younger than that - in the early 1920's, leaving my grandmother and Great Aunt Annie with young kids and little money.Careers come. Careers go. And, technology being what it is, the pace at which they go grows ever more accelerated. (Clerk-typist: does this job category even exist anymore?)I was thinking about all this when I saw in our little neighborhood newspaper, the wonderful Beacon Hill Times, that Fred's Video on Charles Street is closing.Not that I can even begin to feign surprise.When was the last time I checked anything out at Fred's?Not since we got Comcast On Demand, thank you. (Sorry, NetFlicks is just too much pressure to decide in advance. Everything comes around to On Demand eventually.)No more making reservations at Fred's. No more browsing the stacks on Saturday evenings, trying to decide whether we were up for two flicks - or even three. No more pouncing on a video that someone had just returned. No more shoving my returns into the slot early on Sunday morning, only to find that the receptacle was so fillled that you had to prod other returns out of the way.No more Fred.He is shutting down ...Fred Rose has been a neighborhood fixture for so many years, going from Emerson College kid in 1990, when he started working at the store he bought in 1996, to nicely graying before our very eyes.According to the article in the BH Times, he hasn't yet decided what he's doing next. He is personable, hardworking, entrepreneurial, and business-savvy enough to know when to call it quits. (Wish I'd had that good sense a few stops along the way.) I wish him the best of luck. I'm sure he'll do just fine.For now, I'll have to wonder what will go into the spot that Fred's Video is vacating.We absolutely have enough realtors in the neighborhood. We're good on restaurants, coffee shops, grocery/convenience, and liquor stores. We've got a local, unchained drugstore and hardware store. A shoe repair shop. Upscale gift shops, funky "stuff" shops, and shops that cater to rich kiddos, skinny young things, prepsters who buy cumberbunds with lobsters on them, and folks who pay lots of money for handbags. We have our very own Post Office - plus a UPS store. Antique stores we've got.It would be nice to have a bookstore.I know, I know. The ones we've had here haven't been able to make a go of it. There are two Borders and B&N a short walk away.Still, if some rich Beacon Hiller wanted to open bookstore... Someone who, unlike Fred, does not need to earn a living...The space that Fred's Video occupies is not very large. It would have to be a teensie, tiny little bookstore. Perhaps it could just carry poetry. Or children's books. Mysteries. Travel guides. Or books that I like to read. (I'd be happy to supply a list.)I know that we're told that books, like videos, are so yesterday.Still, wouldn't it be nice to have our very own little book boutique? Hopefully owned and operated by someone as nice and good for the neighborhood as Fred was for all these many years.

Puppini Sisters: Must-have download!!!

Sounds like it could be a novelty/ throwaway, but I would call them less of a gimmick than a curiousity that you need to check out... These are serious vocalists, with a tremendous amount of respect for their musical inspirations...Here is a trio, "sisters" a la 40s-era Andrews, complete with vintage hair and outfits BRILLIANTLY covering some of WWII's best-loved swing standards ("In the Mood", "It Don't Mean a Thing if it Aint Got That Swing", etc), yet places these homages alongside cover versions of relatively current hits by such disparate artists as Kate Bush, Blondie, the Bangles, and even Beyonce. So "Crazy In Love" sounds like it BELONGS with a standard like "Sway", and totally kicks it 40s-style... Of course, you will need to have a bit of an open mind if this music is completely alien to you, but if you can allow for that you will be rewarded...

The Puppini Sisters have 2 CDs out now, and a fiercely devoted following. If this were to inspire a revival of Roosevelt-era vocals a tenth of the magnitude that the film SWINGERS did for vintage and new swing, we could all be very lucky. Their version of "Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" gives Bette Midler's definitive take a run for its money.

...and you have never heard Disco stompers "I WIll Survive" or "Heart of Glass" as you will on the Sisters 2 available CDs. Highly Recommended!!!!

As good as the book?

This book ROCKED... Completely creepy, claustrophobic, and freaky. I have put off seeing this film, though, I gotta say. A brilliant horror novel often translates into crap once its adapted. Granted, the writer (who penned the incredible A SIMPLE PLAN, as well as its Oscar-winning screenplay that starred Billy Bob Thornton) also wrote THIS film adaptation. I dunno, the trailers look a bit lame. There arent too many decent thrillers out there, I still may check it out. Id tell you the plot, but then you'd think I was nuts to love the book...

More PICKS! (Or "Picks-To-Be", hopefully...)

As I just finished TURNING ANGEL, the book I blogged about last week, I am now in the market for my next book, which will most likely be the new thriller by Mary Higgins Clark. I find her consistently reliable, a quick and easy read, and her fiction to happily be not overly dense. She's about all I can take right now! (WHERE ARE YOU NOW/ Released Today...)

Next week sees the release of Harlan Coben's new thriller HOLD TIGHT. He is definitely me favorite author of the moment, and Ive read everything he has ever written, often in one or two sittings. Intricately plotted, rollercoaster-ride suspense with twists upon twists-- Im hoping this is as good as his previous ones. Again, that comes out next Tuesday...

Wednesday

Today I am on auto-pilot. My father is being cremated this afternoon, and I feel completely isolated and disconnected. The memorial and "Celebration of Life" will be held in mid-May, but today is a dark day for me.. Here is a great pic of Dad and me from one of those Woolworths photobooth things/ I think Im about 3 years old here>>

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...and here is a great pic of my father in his Navy days, posing here with his buddies and Eva Gabor..

...his last words to me were "I Love You, and You Take Care". Im trying. I will be glad when this week is over

On a happier note...

...and a much-needed distraction, it looks like that condo deal is going through after all! I hope so, because I am running out of Snoopy pics! The inspection is set for this Thursday at 4pm...

My Dad...

This past Friday my father passed away. The reality is just beginning to settle in, as this was a man who battled (and beat) cancer 25 years ago, and after a 1997 quadruple bypass managed to outlive his expected 5-6 years by double that amount. We often joked that 20 years from now we would still have him around defying the odds, sitting outside, having a smoke and greeting the neighbors who all knew and loved him... Now, flowers mark the place where he once held court...

This is my first experience with someone so close to me passing away. I was close with my grandmother, sure, but the generational disparity there alone assured me some distance when the inevitable happened there, thirteen months ago. I had lost a good friend very unexpectedly in an automobile accident during the Christmas season, 2002. But a familial loss is different.

Suddenly, all the little nuances and attributes of my relationship with my father took on greater resonance. Things that I had long forgotten about resurfaced. The personality traits of his that were less than spectacular took a backseat to memories of him taking my friends and me to drive-in movies and rides to the mall or the skating rink on weekend nights. Of he and I doing the dishes in the kitchen while I blared records from the den, enlightening him to the Stray Cats, Blondie, the Ramones, and Culture Club. "What's Blondie been up to these days?" he would often ask, as recently as a few years ago... He was proud of my owning my former business, and was very inquisitive about my new job in real estate. He was also happy and supportive of my personal relationships, and got to meet Greg and his parents-- That I am particularly happy about!

I was also happy to have been a relatively frequent visitor to Hawaii, where I got to see him on a somewhat recurring basis over the years. We weren't HUGE communicators, to be honest, but we always talked about my friends that he remembered from when I was growing up, about books that he had been reading, and about my nieces (his grandchildren) who were his pride and joy. Dad was happy to keep to himself, was happy to lose himself in a good spy novel, and to keep me updated on any hijinks involving Yasmin, Jihan, or his other buddies (the cats!).

The fact that he wasnt overly forthcoming about any mysteries surrounding his own upbringing and family life, nor were any insights shed about a few unanswered questions about things that went on when he was raising us, leaves us with a father who was a flawed guy with a big heart; a simple man on many levels, yet enigmatic to the end...

I love him, and I miss him...

IN MEMORIUM...

Charles E Rose (8/21/30- 4/4/08)

BOOOOOOOOOOOO..

Red tape!! Deal stalled for now... All is not lost/ more showings lined up, and another open house this Sunday. Why did I assume everything would just go smoothly??? LOL...

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Condo offer was finally accepted!! Let the paperwork begin...

A literary "Fred's Pick" in the making!

I'm one-third of the way through TURNING ANGEL, another of author Greg Iles' Mississippi-based thrillers. I have read several of his novels (including the recent TRUE EVIL), and I have to say that he's got to be one of my fave writers. His fiction is dense and literate, and deals with difficult issues of morality and ethics against a backdrop of smalltown seaminess, murder, and more. His protagonists never fail to draw you in, and this one is no exception. Its too soon to delve into plot (as his plots are never what they seem), but rarely has a book grabbed me this quickly. This one is a few back in his catalog/ I think he has written two since TURNING ANGEL, but any of his books are a good launching point. The tension tightens like a vise as the chapters fly by. For those who like their thrills on a DVD player, seek out TRAPPED, based on Iles' novel 24 HOURS...