It's Friday, I'm In Love!

As I perused Facebook this morning (at about 6:30am, no I am not addicted), I saw that my dear friend Amy (former BYU roomie and modest Barbie clothes-maker extraordinaire) asked in her status update to name some songs that can lift you up when you are down. She wants to make a playlist of those songs, and so I immediately thought, Sweeneyville to the rescue! Well, I am a DJ, and making playlists is kinda my professional duty. And I just so happen to have a playlist on my computer called Optimism. What a coincidence! And now I will reveal that playlist to you. I have to clarify that these songs aren't just based on lyrics. They are songs that just make me happy when I hear them. Amy, this is for you! And if you click on the links to the songs or videos on YouTube, the 80s videos are just epically bad. But that is half the fun, I suppose.

The Official Optimism Playlist of Sweeneyville

It's Friday, I'm in Love by The Cure
Everybody Have Fun Tonight by Wang Chung
Dream Lover by Mariah Carey
Streetcorner Symphony by Rob Thomas
Summertime by The Sundays
Good Day Sunshine by The Beatles
Feelin' So Good by Jennifer Lopez
Something Beautiful by Newsboys
Free and Easy Down the Road I Go by Dierks Bentley
Who Wouldn't Want to Be Me? by Keith Urban
Free by Zac Brown Band
Blessed by Martina McBride
Beautiful Day by U2
Grace Kelly by MIKA
Magic by B.o.B (Sorry, I can't stay away from this song!)
Break my Stride by Mathew Wilder (Most of the reason this song makes me happy is because of how much Jacob likes it when it comes on :)
Because of You by 98 Degrees
Stronger by Britney Spears
Only in my dreams by Debbie Gibson
Holiday by Madonna
I want to break Free by Queen
One Fine Day by The Chiffons
Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys
Groove is in the Heart by Dee-Lite
Dangerous by Roxette (I know that's random, but I admit it, I love the Roxette)

Some of these songs might seem a little cliche, but they can't be denied. Plus almost any song mixed with some running or good hard work usually lifts my mood right quick! What did I forget? You will have to let me know :)

In case you haven't heard these songs, you can take a quick listen:

This song is actually done by a Christian band and someone put this picture montage together for it on YouTube. It doesn't really fit for me because I exercise to this song, but the pictures are really pretty anyway. Crank it up!




Wow, 80s music videos are so WEIRD!!!!!







This one is a little weird too, but I still like the song...

Winning Combinations

Yes, this video is over 6 minutes long. No, I don't really expect you to watch the whole thing, but you really should listen to at least some of this video. We all know my secret burning desire is to play the violin or cello. Yeah, I'm working on that. And this video perfectly brings together the violin and some amazing mixing by the DJ in the back. It has over 4.6 million views on YouTube and I think it's been around awhile, but I still love hearing this. If you go to 4:16 into this video you can hear his rendition of Crazy by Gnarls Barkley that is very cool.



If you want to hear another combination of two things that are awesome, here is John Schmidt, piano man extraordinaire, doing a mix of Taylor Swift's Love Story and Coldplay's Viva La Vida. Also been around a while, but still as good as it ever was.




And finally, a video that completely cancels out every shred of magnificense you just witnessed above. Here we have two things that are good separate but terrible together. Leonard Nimoy: Good. Lord of the Rings: Great. Leonard Nimoy singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins: Unexplainable torture.

How did I find this? A friend of mine put it on her Facebook page and I saw it. I've unfriended her. Which you might do to me after watching it AND having the song stuck in your head.

There's a Flair for that

If you are not hip to Facebook, dude, then you might not know about Flair. Flair are virtual buttons on Facebook that are created by members and then sent to each other so we can collect them and put them on our virtual corkboard wall. They can be about anything- movies, pictures, quotes, lyrics, symbols; the sky's the limit. Anyway, I went into the world of Facebook flair and came out with these music-related treasures.

And I expect to see these on your bulletin board by tomorrow...

My Top 5 Musicals

You know, show tunes always seem to get a bad rap, but the fact of the matter is that musicals really do make the best movies. Let's just admit it, okay? Like a lot of people, I didn't always appreciate musicals. We all have those moments when watching them where we think things are getting a little ridiculous and over the top. I mean, who spontaneously breaks out into song right when they have something really important to say? Well, okay, who besides Ellen Foley? Not many of us. But now I can say I love a good musical. And these five aren't just good, they're golden.

5. Barbie as Princess and the Pauper. Did that surprise you? We own all the Barbie movies in this house. ALL OF THEM. And most of them are pretty silly and take the mind of child to appreciate. But this Barbie movie is actually a very well done musical. After seeing it through the first time, I thought, Wow, that actually wasn't terrible! In fact, it was cute and catchy! Martin Short provides the voice of the villain in the movie and the songs have great lyrics and harmonies that are fun to sing. Best Part of this movie: "I am a Girl Like You" duet with Erica and Annalise. One day Cindy and I will sing this for a ward talent show. "One day" is not to be confused with "this year", FYI.

4. Mary Poppins. Julie Andrews is just flat-out amazingly talented. She can sing, she can act, she can do magic, she tames birds, she can make play clothes out of drapes- wow, I love her. We finally bought this movie on DVD a few months ago and the kids are glued to it when it goes in. And if you also don't like Dick Van Dyke, well, I don't think we can be friends anymore. He is an American treasure. Best Part of this movie: I would have to say Uncle Albert's Tea Party on the Ceiling or Dick Van Dyke dancing with the penguins.






3. The Wizard of Oz- I think it would be a new Guinness World Record if there was a person alive that could watch this movie and not find themselves singing at least some part of the songs. With songs like If I Only Had a Brain, Ding Dong the Witch is Dead, We're Off to See the Wizard, I am convinced it is physically impossible. And who at one point or another has not wanted to dress up like Dorothy for Halloween, huh? Okay, Dad, maybe not you, but Brian was all over it. Best part of this movie: When the Cowardly Lion sings, "What makes a muskrat guard his musk?" COURAGE!





2. Sound of Music- I actually used to HATE this movie when I was younger. It always came on TV on a certain Sunday and took like 9 hours to watch. I didn't understand anything about Nazis or Germany either, so the whole movie was really confusing. But as I grew older I realized how truly good this movie is. Having said that, we still need to go back in time and eliminate the scene where the old nun sings "Climb Every Mountain." It kills me. Best part of this movie: Tie between when "Climb Every Mountain" is over and the part when the crowd waves and sings "Goodbye" back to the children at the end of "So Long, Farewell"- I chuckle at that every time.



1. Singin' in the Rain. There is just no possible way on planet earth that anyone can not like this movie. Not only does it have singing, it has tap dancing (by Gene Kelly, no less) AND genuine wit and humor. I really think it could possibly be the most perfect movie Hollywood has ever made. Best part of this movie: Well, it's a toss-up, but this scene wins out for me just because of the tap dancing. But "Make 'em Laugh" is a reeeeally close second :) (I tried to get the video right on here from YouTube, but dang those copyright laws!)


Honorable Mentions: Thoroughly Modern Millie, High School Musical, Annie, & Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory


So what do you like? Some of you may be offended at the omission of Wicked or Les Mis or Phantom of the Opera and the like, however, I can't like what I have never seen. Yes, you read that correctly :)

Stay Tuned

So it finally caught up with me :) I didn't fit my musical blog post in today. I got up early to run, cleaned my bathrooms, ran a bunch of errands, spent almost two hours with the kids at the park in the most glorious weather we have ever had in the month of September, went swimming, cooked dinner and went out for ice cream. My day was action-packed, Pee-wee! But I won't fail you tomorrow! I am working on my list of Top 5 Musicals. And I am pretty sure at least one of my picks will surprise you. If you know me well, you already know what I will pick for #1, but come read it anyway.


In the meantime, I give you:

4 RECENT CAT PHOTOS FROM MY CAMERA!



Annie is such an orphan that she will crawl in the dishwasher when I am loading it and lick the food off the dishes. And that is yet another reason why I refuse to ever pre-wash my plates.


I came home and found the cat asleep on my sofa like this. She is truly a cat of leisure.


Annie also sleeps in my fake plant. Yet again, her orphanyness is showing through.


And on the very rare occasion that she is tired at night, Annie will sleep in bed with Cindy. Unfortunately, Cindy has no idea :)

Until tomorrow, readers!

Bitter-suite

As you know by now, yesterday was not the splendiferous display of BYU football superiority I was hoping for. Not even close. My Cougars! Oh, Cougars! Do I have to get out this picture again? Hmmm?



So, okay, BYU got their trashed kicked and it was pretty hard to watch, especially being surrounded by thousands of good ol' boy FSU fans. However, it wasn't all bad :) When I told you I got some sweet free tickets, I wasn't whistling dixie. We were actually in one of the skybox suites, so even though we watched BYU lose and got made fun of for being part of the Cougar Faithful, at least I got some free food, a fantastic view and had air conditioning. A few pictures...

First stop: Whataburger! I had never eaten there before, but my burger was GOOD! Loved the chopped onions. We even ran into some BYU fans from South Carolina in there. Awesome!

So here is our view from the box. Yeah, it was not too shabby.


I just want to say that this is now one of my all-time favorite pictures of me and Jacob. Here is proof that he has facial muscles that allow him to smile. AND, proof that he can be just as silly as me sometimes. Something really awesome was actually happening on the field when we took this picture. I think BYU gained yards on a passing play. Wait, that never happened the whole game. Couldn't have been that....


Ma and Pa Bingham enjoying the game.


GO COUGARS! Check out the sea of BYU Blue!!!! WE ROCK!




Okay, well, we were slightly outnumbered. Kinda....







Going to that game as a fan of the visitng team is actually something I haven't really done before. I am usually in the home crowd. Of course BYU had it's own little contigent of fans there, but that stadium had at least 70,000 of it's own. It was a little intimidating. And walking through the tailgating section outside the stadium in my BYU shirt was like walking through the bad part of town wearing the Hope Diamond on a gold chain around my neck. (And not because they wanted my BYU shirt, I am making the analogy of the danger. But you got that, right?) Overall, the fans were 'tolerant' of us. Not gonna lie and say I didn't hear some derogatory things being said in my direction, ALL of which had to do with "Mormons". Even when I got my ticket scanned at the entrance the lady said to me, "Hey I got a friend that is 7th Day Adventist. Ain't that like ya'll? " I just stared at her and walked away. I guess I just still don't get it. What is the prejudice against us? I mean, we are different religions, I get it, but I don't go out of my way to make comments about Baptists or Methodists. What exactly is it that we "do" that offends people? Are we recruiting terrorits? Do we leave our shopping carts in the parking lot instead of taking them back to the corrall? Do we answer our phones by saying "Yello?" Do we constantly confuse the usage of their, there and they're? Seriously, what IS the horrible offense? Do FSU fans really think we ALL traveled from Utah to be at the game, beacause OBVIOUSLY Mormons don't live in Florida. DUH! Do they actually think we have several wives and child brides? BECAUSE WE DON'T! We are just like you without the beer and swearing. But I just don't see why it matters!!!! Okay, getting off the soap box......now.

Anyway, we drove up that morning, came home that night and had a pretty good drive both ways. I did forget about the fact that I get carsick as a passenger in the front seat, so we got delayed a solid 15 minutes on the way home while I regained the color back in my face and tried not to hurl. I didn't, thankfully :)

And of course I will relate this to music! So now I give you....


11 Song Titles that describe the BYU/FSU Football Game Experience:

Heartbroken Girl by Beyonce Knowles
Crying by Roy Orbison
I will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
It's Not Right but It's Okay by Whitney Houston
Shattered Dreams by Johnny Hates Jazz
Kind of a Drag by the Buckinghams
Oh What A Night! by the Four Seasons
Why Can't We Be Friends? by War
Rockin' That Beer Gut by Trailer Choir
Hicktown by Jason Aldean
Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer by Billy Currington (because their fans ARE)

GO COUGARS!

As you are reading this today, I am headed up to Tallahassee to watch Florida State play BYU in college football. My father-in-law got some sweet tickets through his work and has graciously invited Jacob and I, as well as my parents and brothers (and their wives too) to go to the game. A HUGE thank you on that one! :) So what better way to combine today's music post and Cougar football than a rousing rendition of the official BYU Cougar Fight Song. I have so many fond memories of singing this while at the games while in school there. Ahhh, good times. Brian, here is your tutorial, have it memorized by next game...



I was meaning to record my own version of what follows, but years and years ago my Dad wrote a parody of this song. I will pause while you get back up because I know you just fainted with surprise at hearing that. A Bingham writing a song parody? What? Anyway, go ahead and hit the replay button up there on that song and sing these words instead :)

Rise all loyal co-eds
And hurl your challenge to the foe:
We will date,
Long and late,
Rain or Snow.

Stalwart men and true,
We’re coming after you!
While we sing,
Go buy the ring
There’s no other hope for you.

Oh, rise and shout
Our cries will ring out
“We all want re-turned missionaries!”
Rise and Shout,
There’s really no doubt
Don’t want no lazy bums or fairies!
Just for you the strip will turn blue,
We all want lots of sons and daughters.

As we join in song
In praise of you,
Our love is strong,
We’ll tell the ugly girls at the U
We found our husbands at BYU!

Rah rah rah rah rah,
rah rah rah rah rah,
rah rah rah rah rah,
Gooooooooo COUGARS!!!!

The Shinguard Song

Remember being a kid and making up songs about pretty much anything and everything around you? This is a talent that Cindy definitely has. Whether she is out in the garden or the backyard playing, she is singing some sort of song she made up. Mostly her songs have words like "I am playing in the garden and this plant is so lovely, but I think it needs water, and I will save you!" These songs always make me laugh. She loves songs so much that the other day she talked with her cousin Michelle on Skype for almost 2 hours and most of that time it was the girls singing made-up songs back and forth to each other. Cindy even wrote down about 6 pages worth of "songs"- one was all about the laundry room and daddy working with tools, but my favorite one was about how I am the best mom ever. What can I say? It's easy to get inspiration from real life :) Anyway, I wasn't sure if Luke would have this talent like Cindy, but yesterday was his first official soccer practice of his life, and when we got him all suited up in his gear, I heard him singing a song about "super soccer shinguards" and how they are "so great and amazing" and how they help him "kick it super hard." Yeah, he really, really loves those things :) So here are the pics from day 1 of what is to be a long and illustrious soccer career:

He actually went in to put his cleats back on a little closer to practice time, but it was too much for him. He crashed and slept til it was time to leave. Not the best plan, as he woke up at Grouch Level 10....


He finally snapped out of his nap-induced anger when I promised him we would go on the swings at the park across the street when we finished practice. Then we actually had a pretty good time.


Luke and the classic squinty-eyed, I'm-not-looking-in-the-right-place pose. But man, he is CUTE in that outfit :)


I am not a liar, we did go to the swings and he was pretty happy about it. I have a feeling this will be our new Thursday routine; soccer and swings. But hey, whatever keeps him playing!

Brain Freeze

(By the way, I put that Summer of 1999 Soundtrack on last night while Jacob and I worked on the laundry room and by the second song Jacob asked me "What play list is this? I love this music!" Shared memories are the best :)

OK, so commercial jingles are so great, aren't they? They are catchy, they give you information, they brainwash you into buying things you otherwise wouldn't- I love them. Ever had a jingle in your head and couldn't remember the exact words? I have two clips from the TV show "The Office." Here is Andy, the Office 'musician' having a brain freeze during a staff meeting trying to remember the ending to what he thinks is "the best commercial jingle ever." The second clip came at the very end of the show where he finally figured it out! And no matter how many times I see the show, I will forever make the conclusion that Jim (the guy in the blue shirt trying to help Andy remember) is my brother Brian.

ONE THOUSAND apologies for the poor quality of the video. I scoured the Internet looking for the right clips and these two really bad recordings were the only ones I could find, but hopefully you get the gist. And turn up your speakers to hear it better....








I think I am going to go buy some Fancy Feast right now! Seriously, with two cats, I need some. But THIS right here is the best commercial jingle every written in my opinion:



I love the part where the cat says "Meow." So classic!

The Summer of 1999

Back in 1999, I had an awesome summer. I was home from BYU, I met this guy from Church named Jacob, I was working in Orlando for Marriott with a group of friends doing really easy work that nobody seemed to explain to us, but we got paid just the same anyway- it was basically just awesome. It was turning out to be so awesome in fact, that I decided to complete a certain number of really fun things (think "30 New Experiences" only 20 years earlier) and then make a T-shirt and matching CD Soundtrack and call it my "Summer of Dreams Tour." The shirt listed all the "stops" and cities on the tour (as all good tour shirts do.) The stops were things like going to a Dave Matthews Band Concert, going tubing on a river, going to a baseball game- all the fun things I did back in the summer of 1999. I still have that shirt somewhere around here. I really ought to find it and see just what exactly I did during those months. Anyway, the Soundtrack for that summer was fantastic. In fact, I remember it was actually the first mix CD I ever made. (Thanks to the help of Marriott's computers :) Jacob also burned a copy of that CD for himself that summer too. I still have a copy of it. Here it is in all its glory, complete with album artwork:



And to this day it vividly reminds me of that summer. I confess that after not hearing it for many years, I put it in the car CD player this morning as I drove Cindy to school, and I was smiling the entire time. I had forgotten some of those songs, but the minute I heard them, BAM! I was back in that summer! It is amazing the power that music has when it comes to memories. So what other songs have the power to transport me to a specific place and time? Well, here are a few:

Name by Goo Goo Dolls- Seminary at Sister Butler's house, Sophomore year?
Champaign Supernova by Oasis- Junior Year of High School
Interstate Love Song by Stone Temple Pilots- playing girls soccer at Bartow High School stadium
Two Princes by Spin Doctors or Stay by Lisa Loeb- EFY in Atlanta, GA
The Train by Quad City DJs- Senior Year of High School
Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve- the last few days in the dorms at the end of my freshman year at BYU
Genie in a Bottle by Christina Aguilera or Bailamos by Enrique Iglesias- Summer of 1999, working in Orlando
Angels by Robbie Williams- Saltair in Salt Lake City and dancing with Jacob
Here's to the Night by Eve 6- being newly married living in Bountiful, UT
Lazy Days by Enya- going on a helicopter ride in Kauai, Hawaii

Those are just a few songs that take me back. So what songs are your personal time machine and where do they send you? Do any of my songs have meaning to you? Because that would be kind of weird actually. Although, it would be fun to compare notes :)