I Love Music (Now It's Time for a "Listen Along")

Okay, this is an "audience participation" blog.  Before you read any further, scroll down on the right hand side of the page to my playlist, click on the "play" button and then return to read this entry. 

"Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand.  With an equal opportunity for all to sing, dance and clap their hands.
 --"Sir Duke" (1977) by Stevie Wonder

I love music.  Having said that, I am not particularly musically inclined or talented.  Still, when I get in my truck, I almost always scan the dial or put in a CD in search of a catchy tune as I head out on the road.  What's so amazing about music is the effect it has on the brain.  When I hear a particular tune, my memories immediately race back to an exact moment or experience. 

My playlist includes some of my favorite songs (in no particular order) which trigger some great memories.  Here are some examples:  

#4 "Magic" (1974) by Pilot:  This takes me way back to spending summer days at the Westlink swimming pool in Wichita, Kansas--a place where I learned to swim and where management cranked songs all day long on a speaker system that was all treble and little bass.  I still remember hearing this tune and laying on the steaming, hot cement to warm up after spending hours in the chilly waters.

#2 "Ballroom Blitz" (1973) & "Fox on the Run" (1975) by Sweet:  Again, great memories as a young kid running the neighborhood streets of Wichita or playing with friends in Calgary, Alberta. 

 #9 "Love Rollercoaster" (1975) by the Ohio Players:  Ah yes, Wilbur Junior High.  This one contains a high-pitched scream that, according to legend, was someone who got murdered and the scream somehow got picked up by the band's recording equipment.

#31 "In the Dark" by Billy Squier (1981):  One of my roommates at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho had this album.  If we weren't listening to this in our apartment, we were rockin' to Bruce Springsteen, the Cars or Cheech & Chong's Greatest Hit.

#12 "Waiting for a Girl Like You" (1981) by Foreigner:  One of my all-time favorite songs.  I saw Foreigner in concert with friends in Wichita, although I was a bit disappointed because Lou Gramm's voice was so shot that he couldn't hit the high notes.

#20 "First Time" (1978) by Styx:  Another great ballad.  I saw Styx in concert in 1981 on its "Rockin' the Paradise" tour.  The kid sitting next to me threw up before the concert even started.  His buddy and their dates dragged him out before the band even hit the stage.  Loser! 
 

#11 "Down on the Corner" (1969) by Creedence Clearwater Revival: I was way too young to remember when this first came out, but I saw it performed live last summer at the 2010 Western Montana Fair by Creedence Clearwater Revisited, which has two original band members.  They played hit after hit after hit--a great concert.

#16 "Dream Big" (late 1990s) by Ryan Shupe & the Rubberband:  Really the first time I liked a band that didn't play rock or pop.  I love the inspiration lyrics of this tune.  My family and I have seen this band in concert probably 6 to 10 times in three different states.  Hey Ryan, bring the boys to Missoula!

#27 "Free Fallin'" (1989) by Tom Petty:  Two words--Griz football.  Any University of Montana football fan knows when this tune comes over the PA system that it's time to put an eye to the sky and find the skydivers descending from Montana's "big sky" into Washington-Grizzly Stadium.  Gotta love game day!

#17 "Stairway to Heaven" (1971) by Led Zepplin:  One of the greatest songs of all-time.  I love it because we almost always played it as the final song at church dances growing up.  We did that because it's more than eight minutes long and, you know, that final song is your last chance to find that someone special to dance with.

 #29 "Dance the Night Away" (1979) by Van Halen:  We were on a church youth bus trip from Kansas when we stopped for the evening at a resort of sorts owned by the Osmond family near Logan, Utah.  Marie Osmond came on the bus to welcome us and then Jimmy almost ran over some us in a golf cart.  We later danced the night away under the stars with some other youth we met there.

#33 "Tarzan Boy" (1985)  by Baltimora:  It took a bit of surfing to figure out the name of this tune and what group performed it.  It's kind of off the wall, but I like it and it reminds me of hitting some dance clubs and school dances during my days at BYU.  (And "yes," I dance like a white boy with little to no rhythm.)

Back to "Sir Duke," and as Stevie Wonder sang, "Music knows it is and always will be one of the things that life just won't quit.  Can't you feel it all over?  Come on let's feel it all over people.  You can feel it all over.  Everybody-all over people."

Can you feel it?  I can, every time I hear a familiar tune coming out of the speakers.  

By the way, click on the link below to hear music the way I did as a kid--a 45 on a turntable.  "Love is Like a Rock," (1982) by Donnie Iris.  (Too bad it's not available to go on my playlist.)

Beware of "Big Brother"

Don't you hate it when "Big Brother" does something that's "good for you" without you even knowing about it?

Take this blog for example.  'Big Brother," the parent company I work for, urged its on air employees to purchase their own domain name and begin blogging.  So I bought http://www.markholyoak.com/ a little over a year ago.  I started slowly but soon found enjoyment in blogging about different personal, family, and professional things.  I soon realized blogging is both fun and a great way to write a "personal history" of sorts. It also gives me a forum to express an opinion of sorts, since I cannot do so while anchoring the news on the air.  I posted 15 blogs over eight months, but in September of 2010 I went to post a blog about the rescued Chilean miners and my web site disappeared.  I was confused and puzzled.  It turns out there were some "spam" problems with blogs from employees around the country so the company, before notifying any of us, wiped our blogs clean. That was five months ago.  I since had the company restore what's left, but it's a skeleton of what it once was because the graphics, photos and web links are long gone.  And that's why I have this new blog because my old one remains in corporate limbo.

"Big Brother" showed his face this past summer when the City of Missoula decided to "improve" our parking in front of the KPAX studio.  Previously, we had parking slots for 12 cars.  After the "upgrade," we had seven wider spaces including a handicapped spot with large, striped loading zones on each side of it.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for improving access for all, but we already haved two handicapped parking spaces in our small parking lot next door.

"Big Brother" shoved his hands into the mouths and down the throats of consumers last November when The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to ban Happy Meals at McDonalds.  The reason?  It ruled meals must meet nutritional guidelines if restaurants want to include a toy with a food purchase.  Sheesh.  I think we already know what we're getting there.

"Big Brother," President Obama, spoke loudly in the health care reform debate by forcing all Americans to purchase health care coverage or face a mandatory fine.  A fine?  Really?  C'mon.

"Big Brother," President Bush, rode the emotion of the September 11th attacks to get a nation and its allies behind him before invading Iraq in one of the costliest campaigns in American military history.  Saddam Hussein may be gone, but many American families still mourn the loss of their sons to the fighting.

"Big Brother," Michelle Obama, pushed for what is now a law giving the federal government authority to regulate the food sold at schools, including vending machines.  In her words, "We can't just leave it up to the parents."  Hey Michelle, let me parent my own kids.

"Big Brother" roams the halls of our state capitols and in Washington DC.  Don't even get me started there.

So beware of "Big Brother!"  He's lurking, watching, and waiting for the chance to act and remove more of our options and freedom.  Remember, he knows what's "good for you," since you don't.