An Experiment

Okay, so later tonight I am running the first of 4 races over the next 24 hours. This is an annual event put on by the Lakeland Runner's Club called the "Aching Quad Series." (They are so clever with their double entendre!) So tonight is a 5k at 7:30pm, then tomorrow morning is a 1 mile sprint at 7am, followed by a 2 mile race at 8:30am and then another 5k at 7pm that night. Challenging? Yes. Something I might regret? Definitely. But I even convinced Jacob to run the Saturday night 5k with me, which will be twice as awesome because somewhere in Utah, his brother Nathan, is supposed to be running a 5K and I think there was a little smack being talked last week. So I am thinking there are some bragging rights on the line :) And speaking of Nathan, a while back he posted a song link on my Facebook page. It was to a song called "Magic" by B.O.B and the lead singer of Weezer (who's name I can't remember right now). Anyway, it's a great song, really catchy and as I have used it on my ipod while running these past few weeks, I have decided that it's absolutely hands-down the BEST song of all time to run to. It has the perfect cadence and rhythm. It makes me a run faster and push myself to keep up with the beat and even when I hear it at the end of the run and I am dead tired, I still have to run fast, the beat is just too infectious not to. So my experiment is this: I will put the song "Magic" on my 5K playlist for tonight 3 seperate times; then I can see if it improves my time. Hearing it once makes me pick up the pace, so three times really should be Magic, right? This is psychological warfare at it's finest. Film at 11...

Here is the song in question if you want to hear a snippet- I have checked the lyrics, they are clean :)

Musical Potpourri

A Far Side....




Couple of Quotes....


"I know [canned music] makes chickens lay more eggs and factory workers produce more. But how much more can they get out of you on an elevator?"
— Victor Borge

"I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.' "
— Bob Newhart


"I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the manmade sound never equaled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig."
— Alfred Hitchcock


And finally...

A couple of enterprising bass players, unwilling to sit through a long, bass-less stretch of Beethoven's Ninth, sneaked off stage and into the bar next door. Beer flowed; time passed. "Look at the time! We have to get back!" said one. "Relax," said his partner, "I tied the last few pages of the conductor's score together with string. It will take him a few minutes to untangle it." They staggered back into the hall and took their places. About this time, a member of the audience noted that the conductor was breaking a sweat. "Of course," replied her companion, "It's the bottom of the Ninth, the score's tied, and the bassists are loaded!"


And on two completely musically unrelated notes- ha! Notes! Get it? I guess it's not totally unmusical- Jacob started to build my enclosed laundry room today:



(Wow, I just realized how horribly crappy our garage looks right now, sheesh! I can't wait until I am posting the after picture. Anyway, we have been talking about this for 5 years and finally, Jacob is making my wish come true :) Pretty awesome to have a handy husband, I must say.)



And Cindy finished her latest round of Ballet:







On to soccer!

When all else fails....

Go with a Top Ten :)


TOP TEN REJECTED PRIMARY SONGS

10. When We're Helpless We're Happy
9. I Have Two Little Handguns
8. I Hope They Call Me On A Cellphone
7. Liver Hanging From the Apricot Tree
6. Cheat as I'm Cheating
5. Steal, Said the Little Stream
4. Teach Me To Walk in the Lineup
3. Jesus Wants Me for a Misdemeanor
2. I Often Go Carjacking
1. I Am Child Of Doug

-Mike Bingham, © 1999

And now I will razzle dazzle you...

With this amazing piece of music trivia:


This is the famous band ZZ Top. The name of the guy in the middle who does not have a beard, is named Frank Beard.

I will pause briefly while your head explodes...


Wow, and to think you almost didn't check this blog today! You wouldn't have known that! And then where would you have been, my little friend? Ignorant, lonely, unemployed, in Greenland!!! Let that be a lesson to you. I will see you tomorrow :)

My Most Embarrassing Musical Moment

Well, this is definitely ONE of them anyway... This happened when I was DJing my very first time at a Country Night in Salt Lake City at Trolley Square. To say I was nervous is the biggest understatement of all-time. It's like saying Obama is a terrible president. You feel me? Anyway, somehow I managed to be making it through the dance and feeling okay about my efforts. Until the point in the night where I had one song going and all 500 kids dancing while I was listening to another song I had cued up the headphones. I started to listen to this next song so much that I was bobbing and lip syncing to it for about a minute or so. And that is when I realized that everyone had stopped dancing and was staring at me. And that is because the song that was playing through the speakers was skipping, and I was rocking out and completely oblivious. Finally, someone came up and pulled the headphones off my head and told me. Yes, it's a modern-day miracle I ever had the courage to DJ another dance the rest of my life :)

Favorite Sunday Songs

That is actually the title of the playlist on my computer for music I listen to on Sundays. And I admit, most of it is Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I know it is cliche- I mean, yes, I am a Mormon, isn't liking the choir kind of required? Well, no, not really, but I can genuinely say that I love their music. It is not just that they sound incredibly gorgeous or their music brings the Spirit in two nanoseconds, but their music fills me with overwhelming memories of watching General Conference with my family, lazy Sunday mornings and a huge sense of security, to be quite honest. I mean, if there is one thing that is absolutely constant in the Church, no matter who's the prophet or what year it is, it is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. So I play MoTab every Sunday morning. Every. Sunday. Morning. (Yes, family, you have an awesome mom!) And what's funny is that my kids are totally being conditioned by it. In fact, a few weeks ago on a Thursday morning during the summer, I was editing some music on the computer and accidentally started playing a MoTab song thru the big speakers. It was only about 10 seconds into it when Cindy came running out of her room, leaned around the corner and asked me very worriedly, "Mom, what day is it?" I love how that works :) Anyway, if I had to pick one favorite hymn, it would be really difficult. But I narrowed it down- so when it comes to church songs, here are my top 5:

1. Redeemer of Israel
2. Baptism
3. God Be With You Til We Meet Again
4. God So Loved The World
5. My Shepherd Will Supply My Need

So tell me your favorite Hymns or Church songs. Do you have an all-time favorite?

I will leave you with #5 for your listening pleasure:



Happy Sunday!

A Music-Related Jacob Quickie

A few months back I was trying to find Cindy some Junie B. Jones books at the Library. (Junie B. is a precocious first grader and Cindy loves the books about her many, many adventures). But alas, the library was fresh out, so I settled on a Junie B. Jones book on CD about how she goes to an Easter party. I ripped the disc to my computer so I could put it on Cindy's mP3 player for her to listen at her leisure, but for some reason, it wouldn't work right. I then tried it on out on the mP3 player that Jacob and I both use when we run, just to see if it would work. Well, it worked, but it only ended up putting three chapters on it. (Never did figure out what the problem was.) Anyway, I forgot to mention this experiment to Jacob before his next run with the player, but figured he would figure it out and just skip over those 14 minutes. I had to laugh when, later that night after he ran, he asked me rather sheepishly, "So, did Junie B. pick the purple jelly bean and get to be the Easter Bunny?" Yup, he actually listened to it. And apparently it was a real cliffhanger!

A tribute to music and the visual aid

The truth is funny, isn't it? I just checked my iTunes account and I have 7,217 songs in there. And how many different ones do I listen to on my iPod? About 27. I guess this means I should stop buying more music. Ha ha! Good one, Squidward! As a matter of fact I just downloaded 65 free songs yesterday from eMusic (including an album of classically arranged pop songs) and I also downloaded, for Luke, the theme song from the cartoon Iron Man: Armored Adventures. I have to say it's not too bad! Check it out if you wish, Luke is obsessed: (and just for the record I am now a little obsessed with the band Rooney, who did this video. Their stuff is very intriguing!)




Obviously this is an addiction that cannot be stopped. So what was YOUR last music download? Leave me a comment. Let me know I am not alone in my sickness :) Or am I???

Drumroll please....

Day 2- Songs You Absolutely Hate

And now, as promised, I will reveal to you my most hated song of all-time. ALL-TIME. Are you ready? Here it is:

What's Up? by Four Non Blondes

And do you want to know the worst part about that being my most hated song? It's that it gets played all the time on the radio on the adult contemporary stations. And every time I run into it, I die a little inside. And it absolutely does not help in the slightest that the singer looks like this:

Sheesh, I need to go brush my teeth...


And if you want to know what else gets an honorable mention in my book for worst songs ever, well here you go:

Endless Love by anyone
Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton (no disrespect to a legend, but I hate it)
You Were Meant for Me by Jewel (she is the devil)
Higher by Creed
Kiss by Prince (he is also the devil)
Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seger
The Macarena
Along Comes a Woman by Chicago (sorry, Jacob)
Crank That by Soulja Boy


And just to be thorough:
The Christmas Shoes by Newsong
Last Christmas by Wham
Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney
Baby It's Cold Outside by anyone

And finally, here are two from Jacob:

Rock Lobster by the B-52's
Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? by Paula Cole


So am I way off-base? I would venture to say a big fat Nope! I am spot on! So tell me at least ONE of your most hated songs. You don't have to explain it, just let me know. So until tomorrow, I wish you an evening filled with love, laughter, and with absolutely anything other than Four Non Blondes.

30 Days of Music

So for the next 30 days my blog posts will be all about MUSIC! In some way, shape or form- that is the topic. Come on, my dad is like a walking jukebox and I am married to a DJ. It just makes sense, right? I am actually surprised this idea took this long to hatch. Anyway, there will be something different for each day, and you never know where it might lead my evil genius creative brain, so stay close. And I would love input from your own musical mind, so leave comments telling me your opinion on anything you see on here. (You will then be immortalized one day in print form of The Sweeneyville Saga: Volume 3. That sure sweetens the deal, eh?)

Away we go!

Day 1- Your Favorite Song

Is is really even realistic to ask me to name ONE favorite song? No way. That is like asking me to name my favorite brother- I could never doitChris. I have about a million favorite songs- all for different reasons, but I went back and made a list and at least painfully narrowed it down to about 10 or 14. I think I realized which songs are actually my favorites based on the fact that I purposely listen to them very sparingly. If they get too overplayed they lose their savor.

For now I am focusing on just regular Pop/mainstream music. We got 29 more days ahead of us, so we have more than enough time to get to everything else (like favorite movie music, dance music, guilty pleasure music, songs you can clog to, etc.) But most defnitely not every post will be a list :) I'm easing you into it...

In no particular order, my all-time favorite songs:

1. Stars on the Water- George Strait
2. Cherry, Cherry- Neil Diamond
3. Disappear- INXS
4. Stolen- Dashboard Confessional
5. Learning to Fly- Tom Petty
6. The Answer to Our Lives- Backstreet Boys
7. Zero Gravity- David Archuleta
8. Happy Together- The Turtles
9. Everything- Michael Buble
10. Anything But Mine- Kenny Chesney
11. Hell on the Heart- Eric Church
12. Here with Me- Dido
13. Ever the Same- Rob Thomas
14. Forever- Chris Brown


Okay, so now that we all have the ability to comment on the blog, you can now sound off on the fact that, yes, I like a David Archuleta song that much (though I still voted for David Cook when it came down to the wire). Or more importantly, tell me at least ONE of your all-time favorite songs. Perhaps something that may surprise me. I am sure Neil Diamond took you for a loop up at no. 2, am I right? Yeah, that is all the fault of my mom.

So in the words of Pat Benetar, "Hit me with your best shot! Fire Away!" Musical humor, I love it!

And get ready for tomorrow's post, in which I will reveal my number one most hated song of all-time. (Which I am doing only because I know that no one out there will be tempted to use it against me as some sort of torture tool. Agreed? I didn't hear you agree...)