Weekend Ear Candy: Mozz turns 50!

It was 1987 and I was hanging out at a campus bar in Columbus. The name escapes me but you had to go into a basement and it was as if someone had turned their dark and dingy basement into a bar. Dark and full of smoke. The strobe lights beckoned you to the dance floor except before getting hammered no one danced except the girls. After your first pitcher or bucket of swill light beer you got up to the floor and danced with anyone who looked female in the strobe lights. At some point the DJ would play “How soon is now…” and at this basement bar the song seemed to fit the style and atmosphere.

Then too soon the night was over and the staff donned baseball bats to “encourage” you to leave and if you made up the stairs to the ground level you had a good night. Going home with someone or having a non-fake phone number was better – too few – but better.

Morrissey, from The Smiths and his own great solo career, turned 50 on May 22nd. Here is my favorite Morrissey/Smiths song “How soon is Now”

Heritage Christian principal tricks student into dancing

A student going to a private Christian school in Findlay was suspended after attending the Prom of the local public high school. It seems Heritage Christian School has a rule against rock music and dancing and it seems it applies even off campus during a student’s private time. In an ironic twist, the Principal of Heritage had to sign a form allowing the student to attend the event, then when the student did, the student was punished.

“Our stand on this issue should be of no surprise to the student or his parents,” Principal Tim England said in a statement. “For the parents to claim any injustice regarding this issue is at best forgetful and at worst disingenuous. It is our hope that the student and his parents will abide by the policies they have already agreed to.”

England said he has never known a Heritage Christian student to attend Findlay’s prom. He has been principal for 13 years.

Findlay High School requires students attending prom from other schools to get a signature from their principal.

England signed the form for Frost, but told him there would be “consequences” if he attended the dance, Frost said.

“I expected a short lecture about making the right decisions and not doing something stupid,” Frost said. “I thought I would get his signature and that would be the end.”

Instead, England took the issue to the School Committee, made up of church members, where they decided to suspend Frost.

“In life, we constantly make decisions whether we are going to please self or please God. (Frost) chose one path, and the School Committee chose the other,” England said.

Don’t go to prom, school tells teen published in the Findlay Courier 05/08/2009

No one said England had to sign the form especially if you didn’t want the student to go. But because he signed the form, he and the school gave up their authority to punish the student.

What kind of message is the principal sending the student by tricking him to violate the rules? I thought only the devil could tempt us mere mortals to sin.

Weekend Ear Candy: Seal “Crazy”

I will admit that my taste in music has always been mature. While other guys were head banging or playing the latest Rush album when I was a kid, I liked to listen to standards or the music of the Rat Pack – the 1960’s lush lounge music or horn heavy Motown soul. For this week’s weekend ear candy, I am highlighting “Crazy”, the first hit for the singer Seal from 1991. Sure it was a popular song on the radio then, reaching number seven on the Billboard Music Charts, but my friends thought it was a one off novelty song and they didn’t follow his career like I did.

I like his music because of the use of strings and horns on many tunes and the funky electronic sequencing like on “Crazy”. And yes I am jealous that he is married to super model Heidi Klum. Here is a live performance of “Crazy”.

Seal – Crazy

Yes, where WAS the media while the US used torture?

The most ironic thing about this entire torture scandal isn’t that the Bushies and their neo-con lackies are trying to defend the indefensible – which is funny and sad at the same time, but that our mainstream press is now doing their job and asking tough questions and not letting the Bushies off as easy as before. I mean it looks really bad to know they ignored the topic since 2001 when it first came out.

I’m with blogger wmtriallawyer who wrote:

Oh yes, outside of the loons of Hannity, et. al., now many in the mainstream media are showing their absolute indignation (HARUMPH! HARUMPH!) after the Obama administration released the memos to show what we all already knew: the United States of America tortured prisoners, and tried to cook up legal justification for it by calling it enhanced interrogation techniques.

Well, welcome to the club Shep and Norah and whoever else. But you are seven years too late in your outrage.

Where were you this was actually going on? Where were you when the evidence was seeping out? Shoot, where were you when the Bush administration basically admitted they were doing it?

Silent as lambs, you were.

Media Starts Doing Job 7 Years Too Late

So, while I am happy this issue is being treated how it should be – as illegal and un-American – I want to know where the media was seven years ago?

Weekend Ear Candy: Cell Block Tango from “Chicago”

I love musicals. As a kid in school I participated in them when I could. I couldn’t sing or dance but to be around them during productions was fun. The only professional musical I’ve seen in person was “Phantom of the Opera” in Toronto 10 years ago. My favorites are “Guys and Dolls” and “Chicago”.

I liked “Chicago” because of the 1920’s vibe and and the music was great.

For this weekend’s ear candy selection I picked the song “Cell Block Tango” from the movie version. It blew me away when I saw it on the big screen.

“Cell Block Tango” from the musical Chicago