Saturday Night Serenade–Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2017

It’s back again–HBO’s annual special, their broadcast of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony for 2017, held earlier this month.  This year’s inductees are talented and diverse.  The class of 2017 includes Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur, Journey, ELO, Yes, Joan Baez, and Nile Rodgers.  Rolling Stone posted tiny snippets from the ceremony on Instagram the following day, and if those little tidbits are any indication, we’re in for a great show.

While I appreciate all of the inductees, Journey and ELO hold special places in my heart.  Journey always takes me back to my college days.  Don’t Stop Believin’ has become a part of our cultural landscape, as a song in its own right, but also as the last thing we heard as The Sopranos headed off into the sunset.  And have you ever seen the Broadway show, Rock of Ages?  Journey’s quintessential anthem is the show’s finale.

But that seemed like a way too easy pick for this occasion.  So I went to one of my all-time favorite ELO songs, Mr. Blue Sky.  Mr. R disagrees with me, he’s not a fan of the Electric Light Orchestra, but I say he’s wrong.  Which he sometimes is when it comes to music.  I mean, he likes Bread for corn’s sake!

I hope you join us, and probably a couple of other people, tonight as we relive the glory days with some of rock’s royalty.  It’s a great way to spend a few hours.

Happy Saturday night!

Saturday Night Serenade–Happy Earth Day!

It’s a beautiful mild day here in south Florida.  I hope it’s nice where you are.  It’s the perfect kind of day to celebrate the earth and all it’s natural beauty.

Click for the Grassy Waters home page

Not far from our house, in fact I pass it twice every day, is a huge wetlands preserve called Grassy Waters.  There’s a nature center, and boardwalk paths above the marsh.  You can walk for quite a ways observing the swamp with its palms, scrub, cypress trees, grasses, and countless birds and frogs.  I’ve never been there when I didn’t see a gator or two.

They offer natures hikes, guided canoe and kayak outings, and they have educational programs for kids.  But it’s not just a nice place to spend a few hours.  It’s an integral part of the system providing drinking water for the city of West Palm Beach.  The wetlands act as a filtration system for the water flowing north to south, full of toxins and pollutants from the massive farms further to the north.

Seems the powers that be would like to connect a couple of local east-west roads by running a connector north and south.  Which would mean paving a section right through Grassy Waters.  It would make things more convenient for residents, they say.  And it would only interfere with a small portion of the preserve, they say.  Plus, it would mean jobs.  Which is what they always say when they want to win over single-issue voters.

Hells bells, they might as well tack on a big oil pipeline for good measure.  Maybe try to dig out some coal or something else while they’re at it.  Because we all know, it’s the old Golden Rule.  He who has the gold makes the rules.

As for me, I’ll stick with the Lorax, who speaks for the trees.  And I’m happy to be watching the Planet Earth marathon on BBC America today.  Brilliant film making about a beautiful subject.  And tonight, Big Yellow Taxi seems like the perfect song.

I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful spring evening with the one(s) you love.

Happy Saturday night!

Saturday Night Serenade–Classically Cool

Happy long weekend!  I hope everyone’s doing well.  My boy is here from Omaha, so I’m a very happy mom.  We’re hanging out, catching up, remembering times past.  Later on, we’ll all head out to some of our favorite haunts.

One thing we’ve been laughing about is our recollection of carpool karaoke, the delightful moments on our way to and from school, the kids and I singing along enthusiastically with classic rock on the radio.

Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is among the best for an impromptu sing-along, but maybe we have Wayne and Garth to thank for that notion.  This version is by Pentatonix, the wildly popular acapella group.  See what you think.

From our house to yours, we wish you a very Happy Easter.  Be sure to hug those you love.

Happy Saturday night!

 

Saturday Night Serenade–Joan Jett

Oh, my gosh, did you think we’d NEVER get to this weekend?  The work week was fraught with stupidity on so many levels, it’s such a relief to have two days to simply think my own thoughts, make my own mistakes instead of someone else’s…

Mr. R and I had a good time at the Improv last weekend.  We were running a little late that night, which might have been a little bit my fault.  Hey, looking this amazing doesn’t just happen, LOL!  But when we made a wrong turn, it worked out better than anticipated, because we ended up in a little parking lot only a block away from the club, so we were seated in plenty of time for the show.

Before the opening act, we placed our first order in compliance of the ‘two-drink minimum’ and sipped contentedly as the first two comedians ran through their sets.  The headliner was Andrew Schulz, and we laughed a lot.  I’m including a snippet from his act, although this clip is from a performance in NYC.

We had such a great time.  Long ago when we first started dating, Mr. R and I visited a comedy club in Boca several times.  Once, on the 45-minute drive back to northern Palm Beach County, Joan Jett came on the radio and, with the windows open and the music blasting, we joined in with a LOUD, slightly tipsy rendition of I Hate Myself for Loving You.

I love collecting memories like that.  They remind us of what we have together.  I hope this weekend finds you well, and that you’re able to make so great memories with those you love.  And remember, it’s a 4-day work week.  Yay!

Happy Saturday night!

P.S. I wanna be Joan Jett when I grow up.  Just so you know…

Saturday Night Serenade–April Fools!

Happy April!  And it’s April Fools Day.  I thought about playing a joke, like announcing to the world that I’m pregnant.  But that’s not even funny at this stage in the game, LOL!

The best April Fools prank I ever heard was a radio ad.  One spring morning I was listening to my favorite classic rock station on my way to to work when an announcer came on:

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!  At Moroso Motorsports Park! 
Bullfighting!
The finest bullfighters in Spain are coming to show off their bullfighting skills.

That’s weird, thought I.  Why would they do bullfighting at the local drag strip?

The Spanish national anthem will be performed by Enrique Iglesias.

Then I realized it was April 1, and I cracked up.  But more enjoyable than the original joke was the reaction PETA-types had.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love animals.  Mr. R and I currently have a rescue German shepherd and two pound kitties.  But sometimes, animal activists have no sense of humor.  Histrionic phone calls were made, boycotts were planned.  After realizing they’d been had, the official response was, “That’s not funny.”

Ooooh, yes it is.

Mr. R. and I have tickets to the Palm Beach Improv tonight.  The headliner is Andrew Schultz.  I never heard of him, but it’s one of those deals where they offered us free tickets.  We just have to comply with the two-drink minimum.  Well, if I must…

Aretha Franklin’s Chain of Fools seemed appropriate for the occasion.  I found this great version with Mariah Carey, and I hope you like it.  These days, it seems there are plenty of fools to go around.  Remember to laugh a little and hug those you love.

Happy Saturday night!