Aww Mondays

A pair of parti tri-color American Cocker Spaniels

Monday’s Music Moves Me

Back in February I used a free choice week to feature some of the iconic keyboard players of country/pop/rock n roll music. Needless to say I left a lot of great musicians out, so I am going to add to the collection today. There was a time in country and pop music that instrumental recordings made it on to the top 40 playlist. One of the first that I can remember from my pre-teen years was Floyd Cramer. I believe the song started on the country charts and immediately crossed over to the pop radio stations and stayed on the charts for weeks and weeks. Recently I found the song recorded by none other than Conway Twitty and to be honest, I never knew there were lyrics. Last Date will always be an instrumental to me. Here is Floyd Cramer and “Last Date.”

A keyboard player that came out of an R & B and transitioned into a pop icon was Mr. Fats Domino. Perhaps his biggest hit was “Blueberry Hill”. Fats had it all, a great voice, great keyboard musicianship, and an infectious personality. Come on, find your thrill on Blueberry Hill.

We all know that walking is good exercise and most of us do far too little of it. Maybe if we put this on our playlist before we put our earbuds on we might walk forever. Once again, Fats Domino and “I’m Walkin'”.

One keyboard player that almost nobody mentions is Booker T. Jones. If that name is not familiar to you maybe the group Booker T & the MG’s might ring a bell. The very first time I heard “Green Onions” I had to have the album. From Wikipedia, “Booker T. & the M.G.’s are an instrumental R&B/funk band that was influential in shaping the sound of Southern soul and Memphis soul.”

Going from the obscure to one known as “The Piano Man”, my last artist this week is none other than Billy Joel. Among keyboard players Billy Joel ranks among the very top with a career that has spanned decades.

In 1993, Billy Joel released his final studio album River of Dreams, an album that details Joel’s issues regarding trust, betrayal and the idea of everlasting love. Watch the official music video for ‘The River of Dreams’, which became a Top 10 hit in the US and his highest-charting track of the 1990s. Have a blessed week.

Spring Break

Aww Mondays

Cocker Quartet

Monday’s Music Moves Me

The musical theme this week is Musicians born in March. A quick search reveals that there are plenty to choose from, regardless of your musical preferences. I am going to go into the “Wayback Machine” and pull out a couple of oldies. I was barely a teenager when some of these artists were popular which means several of you probably were not born yet. First on the list is Lloyd Price.

Lloyd Price was one of the early rock ‘n roll artists that brought a R&B influence into pop music. Several artists covered this song later but my first recollection of  “Stagger Lee” was this 1958 recording. Price was born Mrach 9, 1933. Lloyd Price had several R&B hits make it on to the pop charts and he is a member of the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame.

Shifting gears and genres, brings me to the incomparable James Taylor. The folk rock era of the late early ’70’s was lead by James Taylor, Carol King, and Gordon Lightfoot among others. Sweet Baby James is one of the best folk rock albums of all time. James Taylor was born March 12, 1948. Taylor’s first hit was “Fire and Rain”, followed by “You’ve Got a Friend”. Fire and Rain is a song about his early battle with depression, drug addiction and the suicide of his friend. James Taylor’s career has spanned five decades and he is still performing limited engagements.

Slipping back into R&B brings me to Mr. Wilson Pickett. Wilson was born March 18, 1941. The high water mark of his career was from 1965-74 and his biggest hit was none other than Mustang Sally…ride Sally ride. I have a personal affection for this song because I owned a ’68 Mustang and it remains one of my favorite cars to this day.

Closing out the March birthday celebs is Ms. Carrie Underwood. Everybody knows that Carrie burst onto the music scene as a contestant on American Idol. I remember watching her audition and thinking, this girl can win it all…which is exactly what she did. One of the reasons I was pulling for Carrie to win AI is that we are both from Oklahoma. To date she is still the biggest star to come from American Idol and now she is an established country music superstar. The song I’ve picked is “Mama’s Song”. It speaks to how fast our children grow up and how soon they leave the nest. The same is true for the grand kids. It seems like only yesterday that we were attending our oldest grand daughter’s U8 soccer matches. This past December she got married and now has her own life and career. Next week she celebrates her 23rd birthday. Hold them close cherish every moment with your little ones. They will be adults long before you are ready to let them go. Have a blessed week.

Spring Soccer

So far this season the team has scored 9 goals in three matches and the grand daughter has scored 7 of them! YES…I am a proud grandpa.

First goal of the day.

Prepared to launch another goal.

Second match of the day and once again the ball slips past the goal keeper as the lady in black scores again.

The defender becomes merely a spectator to the last goal of the evening.

Nap Time

Monday’s Music Moves Me

The theme this week is your choice, so I am going to take this opportunity to share music that is close to my heart and soul, gospel/inspirational music. The very purpose of gospel music is to honor the God of all creation and rejoice that heaven is the eternal destination of believers.

The Bible gives us the history of mankind. Genesis tells us where we came from and Revelation tells us where we are going. The truth is man has a soul and that soul will spend eternity somewhere. All of us are going to step into eternity some day and the only question is, “Are we prepared to step into the everlasting and where will we spend eternity.” Scripture tells us that those who refuse to believe that Christ is the only Son of God and will not accept Him as Savior will spend eternity in a place called hell. Those who acknowledge that Christ is the Savior, repent of their sinful behavior, and seek His forgiveness will depart this life and step into eternity to a place specially prepared for them by Christ Himself. In the third verse of the fourteenth chapter of the book of John, Christ tells the disciples, “…I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” A few verses later Christ declares, “I am the way, the truth and the life, and no man comes to the Father except through Me.” So by the mouth of the Savior Himself, there is only one way to heaven, and that is the truth. The unique thing about the truth is that it does not require us to believe something in order for it to be true. The truth is the truth, whether we believe it or not. God has provided us with the gift of eternal life and salvation through Jesus Christ and the choice is ours to accept that gift and spend eternity with the Creator and the promise that we will never shed another tear! Okay, I’m through preachin’ now. I’m going to let the most uplifting music in the world take it from here. Have a blessed week.

SLAM…Dunk!

Aww…Mondays

Lucy, our American Cocker Spaniel and house princess, makes us say “Aww” on a regular basis. She is smart, funny, energetic, and always wants to know where her two humans are located. She prefers that we are in the same room so she can keep an eye on both of us with minimum effort. From her favorite chair in the den, she can keep track of activities in the front of the house too. Yes, Lucy is an awesome 2 year old cocker spaniel.

Monday’s Music Moves Me

It has come to my attention that I have completely blown this week’s theme. I’m not even sure where I got the following theme, but I can assure you I didn’t make it up. Oh well, it’s posted and comments are coming in, so it’s too late to retract the content now. I’m just going to chalk this one up to a “senior moment.”

I honestly thought that the musical theme this week is body parts. Well, that could go a lot of different directions but the first thing that crossed my mind was the mind. There is Georgia on My Mind and Always on My Mind that come from classic country music and this song, Do I Ever Cross Your Mind. One of the first “vinyls” that I ever purchased was the classic Modern Sounds in Country Western Music by Ray Charles and I was a Ray Charles fan from that moment on. One of his last releases was a duets effort titled Genius Loves Company and one of my favorite tracks is Ray and Bonnie Raitt singing “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind.

I have several favorite female vocalists. Linda Ronstadt, Trish Yearwood, Carol King, Karen Carpenter, Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, and the ladies of Heart are among my personal favorites. One artist that seems to get overlooked in the list of favorites is Anne Murray. While this is a signature Willie Nelson song, Anne had a hit with “Always on My Mind”.

Too much stress on the mind can cause headaches and heartaches and it appears that some people are a walking around looking to be an intentional heartache in someone else’s life. One of my favorite country artists of the 90’s was Dwight Yoakam. Dwight and Buck Owens championed the Bakersfield Sound in country music which brought a little hillbilly and a little rock and roll into mainstream country. While this may not have been a huge hit for Dwight, I love this video.

Okay, okay, let’s close this out with another Ray Charles classic, from his appearance on Midnight Special in 1976 “Georgia on My Mind.” Have a blessed week.

Cold Morning – Busy Feeder