Twisted Mix Tape Tuesday: We Can Dance If We Want To

Dance music.  Initially this prompt made me think of clubbing.  Clubbing makes me think of douche bag dudes (ala Jersey Shore) and drunk chicks dressed like hookers (ala….well, Jersey Shore).  I’ve never been a clubber.  While I was a teen in the 90s, I missed the whole rave moment (thank God) and I’ve always preferred going to a show or hanging at a bar  instead of a dance club.  Really the only type of dance club I’ve ever remotely enjoyed is a gay one, but that’s a story for another time.  Until that time, here’s a picture of me and my best friend Bee tearing it up on stage at Jungle (Atlanta).  Yes, we have choreographed moves.  Yes, there was alcohol involved.

Okay, on to Jen over at My Skewed View’s prompt for the week: Dance music.  Actually, this prompt really wasn’t as challenging as I first thought.  I came up with this list in no time flat.  I’m giving you 3 from the 80s, 2 from the 90s, and 2 from today.

 

80s PICKS

THE decade for dance in my humble opinion.  Nearly every song is danceable.  New Wave is actually dance music for snobs.  Or Brits.  Or snobby Brits.

When Smokey Sings- ABC

One of my favorite 80s groups.  This song just oozes 80s from the first note.  Try not to dance.

Head to Toe- Lisa Lisa & the Cult Jam

Give me a synthesizer beat and some shoulder pads and see if I can sit still.

 

Push It- Salt n Pepa

Still my jam.  Timeless classic.

90s PICKS

The 90s were FULL of dance music.   After all, there had to be an opposite to the grunge/alt rock movement.  Most of it is bad and falls under the guilty pleasures category-

Better Off Alone- Alice Deejay

And some of it…..seriously, WTF is this?

Blue (Da Ba Dee)- Eiffel 65

Yes, I owned this album.  I thought I’d bleached it from my memory, but it cropped back up today.  Just….wow.  It should have been on my list two weeks ago:  Embarrassing Albums I Owned.   Take it easy on me, I’m baring some of life’s biggest lapses of judgement through this list.

Today’s PICKS

Oddly enough, when you listen to a lot of the indie music today, it is actually dance music!  While rock owns my heart, I have plenty of room for this too.  It’s an 80s synth rehash with a slight rock vibe.

Punching in a Dream- The Naked & Famous

Midnight City- M83

This song got played to death, but for some reason I just never tired of it.

 

Stay positive & love your life!

-Melissa

 

Today:

Listening to:  Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden – Blue Hotel

Eating:  Leftover taco.

Random thought:  You know you’re a book nerd when you’re super excited to start your next book while you’re still reading your current book.

 

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Five for Friday: Five Mom Songs

Many, many years ago today,  in a magical place known as Poland, OH, a wonderful lady was born.  She somehow managed to survive childhood in a house shared with four brothers.  She also conquered challenges like inadequate car safety features (I just imagine kids bouncing around a back seat while a death wagon barrels down the interstate), second hand smoke (smoking indoors and having your kids play in the smoke clouds was the norm back then), and the fashion of the 1970s (leisure suit anyone?).  In 1980 she made what many may consider her biggest contribution to the world when she gave birth to a beautiful and ridiculously intelligent baby girl.  After such a momentous occasion, she worried that she’d peaked and all other life events would pale in comparison.  And she was right!  But I guess she somehow managed to trudge on.  The fact that she got to raise this wonderful child must have inspired her.  Below is the soundtrack to many a car ride taken with that young, miraculous girl.

Happy Birthday Mom!  I hope you enjoy this playlist; you inadvertently created it by subjecting me to all of these jams through the speakers of a Ford Escort.  I still love every single one of these songs and bands, but not nearly as much as I love you!

 

Number 5:  Crowded House- “Don’t Dream It’s Over”

Probably her best contribution in terms of musical talent.  Neil Finn is pretty amazing.

Number 4:  Bruce Hornsby & The Range- “Look Out Any Window”

 

Number 3:  Level 42- “Something About You”

 

Number 2:  INXS- “Mediate”

I could have listed any song off of this album, but I remember thinking this song was so cool.

Number 1:  Rick Astley- “Never Gonna Give You Up”

My Mom was Rick rolling people before it was even cool.

 

Honorable Mentions:

Anything by-

REM

John “Cougar” Mellencamp

Tears for Fears– Still my favorite 80s group.

 

Stay positive & love you life!

-Melissa

 

Today:

Listening to:  Editors – Lights

Eating:  Leftover pasta

Drinking:  H20

Random fact:  My mom’s first car was a aquamarine colored Ford Mustang.  I think it looked kind of like this:

 

 

 

 

Five for Friday: My Top Five Educational Programs from the 80s.

Boy oh boy do I have a great list for today’s Five for Friday! If you’re under the age of 30, most of these are going to look like relics pulled from the dusty drawers of a PBS storage closet.

That’s the Public Broadcasting System for those of you who’ve never experienced living in a house without cable;  long before the Al Gore even thought about inventing the internet.  They showed a lot of educational programming, Dr. Who, British comedy, and every fifteen minutes they come on and beg for your money. 

Some of these are quite amazing aside from being dated; others, not so much.  But time and memory have a way of making you embrace things.  So even the worst of these occupy a corner of my mind and my heart.

One final word before I get to the list, I did not include “Sesame Street” because it’s still going strong.  I wanted to focus on some great shows that met their ends long ago.  Clearly “Sesame Street” would be included in anyone’s  top educational show list!

Number 5:  “Trust Me” starring Curt Hiss, the beatboxing, drug-free snake (1987)

Never heard of this?  Yeah, I doubt many have.  This was a shoddily made puppet show movie released on VHS (that’s how us weirdos watched movies long before Netflix and Blueray; they were tapes that went in an odd contraption known as a VCR).  Some how the preschool where my Mom taught pre-K got a hold of a copy.  Therefore, I was subjected to viewing it 400+ times.  Learn about the scary effects of smoking a joint and the risks of peer pressure.  How’d this make my top 5?  Well, I just felt that others should be subjected to this WTF memory that is burned into my brain.

Seriously, take the next 22 minutes of your life and watch this.  It is ridiculously bad and hilarious.

Number 4:  Square One (1987-1992)

The goal of this show was to teach kids about mathematics and abstract mathematical concepts.  It featured sketches, parodies, and even some game shows.  My favorite bit was Mathnet.  It featured two detectives who solved crimes using math.  No wonder I grew up to love the show “Numb3rs”!

Number 3:  3-2-1 Contact (1980-1988)

This show taught kids all about scientific principles and their applications.  It was responsible for creating little home scientists long before “Bill Nye the Science Guy”!

Number 2:  Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood (1963-2001)

Who doesn’t love Mr. Rogers?  He taught kids so many wonderful lessons about life, being good to others, and appreciating the world around them.  I was enthralled with the Neighborhood of Make-Believe and adored Henrietta Pussycat.

Number 1:  Reading Rainbow (1983-2006)

It had one main goal:  to encourage kids to read.  As a self-professed bookworm and soon-to-be president of the LeVar Burton fan club, of course I’m going to rank this at the very top of my list!

And as a special treat, here is Jimmy Fallon doing The Doors sing “Reading Rainbow”-

Honorable Mentions:

Tomes & Talismans (1986)  A show about kids traveling around in a Bookmobile trying to save the world’s knowledge (books) from these beings known as The Wipers.  Essentially it was a tricky way to force kids to learn about the Dewey Decimal System (back in ancient times this is how we organized books in a library…..no, a library is way different than the book shelf on your Kindle….never mind).

The Letter People (1972)  These guys were still going strong in my small town when I entered Kindergarten in 1985.  They were letter-based characters designed to teach kids how to “sound out” words.  They used the basic rules of phonics in song and story.  I was obsessed with them!  Of course my favorite Letter Person was Mr. M, with the munching mouth.  I bet I can still name every one of them!

Wanna hear all of their letter songs?

What were your favorite educational shows as a kid?

Stay positive & love your life!

-Melissa

Today:

Listening to:  Hello Saferide – Highschool Stalker

Eating:  A mishmosh of leftovers.

Drinking:  H2O

Reading:  “Dreamsongs Volume I” by George R. R. Martin

Random fact:  I will force my children to watch all of the shows one day.