Saturday Night Serenade–A Cool Vibe

Okay, sure. He’s a reality television talent show winner. And a boy-band graduate. But Harry Styles has an undeniably cool vibe, and if anyone can move on from insane pop culture royalty (like Justin Timberlake, maybe) to a real adult music career, my money’s on him.

I’m digging Watermelon Sugar. It’s quirky and weird, but resistance is futile. You know you love it, too.

I’m also including this snippet from his recent appearance on Howard Stern where he pays homage to Peter Gabriel’s 80s classic MTV anthem, Sledgehammer. I think you’ll like it.

And just because I love you, don’t miss Harry’s performance with Stevie Nicks at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, where he stepped in for the late, great Tom Petty on Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.

Not mentioning the ‘C’ word tonight. It’s everywhere, and there should be at least one place where you can just chill and forget about the world for a while. That being said, stay safe, be healthy, and at the very least, tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.

I’m still hugging Mr. R because, well, that’s just how I roll. 😉

Happy Saturday night!

Saturday Night Serenade–The 80s Are Calling

Have you read the news? In the Soho Tribune? Or anywhere else?

Four of the most iconic 80s bands are coming together for the Stadium Tour of a lifetime. Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts will be touring together beginning in late June.

The nearest they’re coming to us is down at the Hardrock Stadium (home of the Dolphins) in Miami. If you click the link above, you can see if they’re coming anywhere close to you.

For tonight’s serenade, I’m choosing one favorite from each band. While I’ve never seen the Crue or Def Leppard, I have seen Joan Jett several times and she still kicks ass.

But one of my most surprising experiences was seeing Poison a few years ago. If they’re left over from some of the cheesier 80s moments, nobody told them. They get out and absolutely rock it on stage, and I’d go see them again in a heartbeat.

If the tour is not going to be close enough for you to go see them, or you’re like me, broke AF, maybe these blasts from the past will give you a little taste of the show.

I hope you’re having a great weekend. Be sure to hug those you love.

Happy Saturday night!

Saturday Night Serenade–There’s a Point, I Promise

My friend Susan loves the movie Misery, the screen adaptation of the Stephen King novel by the same name. Given the opportunity, she’ll tell you all about why, in her opinion, it’s the best movie ever made. And she’ll give you the chance to watch it, because she carries the DVD in her car at all times, just in case she runs across someone who never saw it.

So when I started watching the second season of Hulu Original Castle Rock, I had to message her right away. If you’re a Stephen King fan, Castle Rock is exactly your speed. It’s an amalgam of many of his works woven into a creepy new storyline. And Season 2 ups the ante by giving us a little backstory on Annie Wilkes, the main character from Misery.

As the first episode opens, the soundtrack is Carly Simon’s Let the River Run, and it’s been stuck in my head ever since. It’s such a beautiful, empowering song, and the first time I ever heard it was in the classic 80s movie, Working Girl which is where this video is from.

That brings us around to date night. Odds are, the weather where you are sucks right now. We’re here at the end of January and many of us are practically snowbound. So why not pop some popcorn and curl up with Hulu and Castle Rock? Or, if you’re in the mood for lighter fare, Working Girl is currently available on HBO. Either way, you can let the river run.

I hope you’re staying warm and enjoying time with those you love. Be sure to give them a hug.

Happy Saturday night!

Interesting factoid…
In Working Girl, Kevin Spacey had a brief scene as a sexually harrassing slimeball. Turns out, it was type-casting, except that he prefers underage young men.

Saturday Night Serenade–Class of 2020 Hall of Famers

The list is out for the 2020 inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the line-up of honorees is pretty eclectic.

• Depeche Mode
• The Doobie Brothers
• Whitney Houston
• Nine Inch Nails
• The Notorious B.I.G.
• T. Rex

I’m only pulling a few songs, but there could be so many more. First up is Depeche Mode, and it’s kind of a nod to Mr. R–he was a big fan of new wave, while back in the day, I was more about hair bands. But Personal Jesus has a cool bass line that just worms its way into your soul. Plus, I may or may not have seen an X-rated BDSM video of this song that’s hot AF. Dig around and you might find it. 😉

Whitney Houston was an undeniable talent. Her life was such a trainwreck, and her death, an utter tragedy, but I prefer to remember her like this. How Will I Know takes me back to my college days, and it’s a sweet memory.

I can’t believe T. Rex’s Get It On is from 1971! How can that be? I still hear it all the time on classic rock radio and it’s impossible not to sing along.

The 2020 induction ceremony will be in Cleveland on Saturday, May 2, and for the first time ever, it will be broadcast LIVE on HBO. I can’t wait!

That will be a Saturday to remember, for sure. But don’t wait for May. Make this a Saturday to remember. Spend time with the ones you love and be sure to give them a hug.

Happy Saturday night!

Saturday Night Serenade–This Takes Me Back…

Ever notice how you can hear a few notes of a song and suddenly you’re transported to a different place and time?

Mr. R and I are both fans of all kinds of music, but you could probably say that our hearts belong to the 80s. Not that we agree on the same 80s genre. I was always a fan of hair band anthems by groups like Bon Jovi and White Snake, while he preferred the cool tones of New Wave. We do a lot of teasing back and forth, but I have to admit that some of what was considered New Wave was pretty awesome.

Case in point, Der Komissar. The video above is the English version by After the Fire, but the original German version was by Falco. This song takes me back to my freshman year in college. You could hear it echoing down the hallways of the dorm, and it seemed everyone was singing it under their breath as they walked to class.

I’m including another classic, The Clash’s iconic Rock the Casbah. It’s a New Wave/punk gem, and I may or may not have witnessed Mr. R wailing it karaoke-style at a birthday party once upon a time. And a bit of alcohol may or may not have been involved.

I hope you’re staying warm this November weekend. Be sure to hug those you love.

Happy Saturday night!

P.S.–Update–Our new apartment is a couple of blocks from downtown Lake Worth, a genuine small town just south of West Palm Beach. Today we walked up to the main drag to watch the annual Veteran’s Day parade. There’s a lot to love about living in a small town. I can’t wait for the Christmas parade!

Saturday Night Serenade–Cat 4? Why Not?

Happy Labor Day! There’s nothing like a three-day weekend. Unless you’re under threat of a catastrophic natural disaster.

For a while there, things were looking exceedingly dicey here in south Florida what with Hurricane Dorian lurking out there in the Atlantic. Friday morning, Al Roker showed a projected path that had the storm hitting West Palm Beach as a Cat 4 sometime on Monday.

Which, if you know our current situation, was just Donkey Kong chucking another barrel at us. We’re supposed to be closing on our house on Friday. If the storm hit late Monday into Tuesday and we continued to have tropical storm weather through Wednesday, there’s not a chance in the world we’d be able to close on time.

And we can’t secure a place to move until we have the proceeds from the closing. But now that things seem to be settling down a bit, and my apologies to the Carolinas, we may just have a path to the next adventure for us.

We have a line on a short-term rental that will allow us to bring Jack, our 85-lb. rescue German shepherd, and that will work until the end of October, when seasonal rates kick in and we’ll have to find something else.

Fingers crossed, by that time, Mr. R will have secured a full-time position back in television news and we’ll be on our way. So if you know of any stations that need a kick-ass news photog or video editor, just saying…

Thanks for taking this journey with us–your positive thoughts mean the world to us.

I hope you enjoy my cheeky virtual middle finger to effing Cat 4 Dorian. If you’re in the storm’s path, be safe. And be sure to hug those you love.

Happy Saturday night!

Saturday Night Serenade–So I Got Sucked In…

Do you just hate infomercials on television? You know, over-enthusiastic carnival barkers trying to sell you Ginsu knives or a Sham-Wow?

One day last week as the national news ended, before I could change the channel I got sucked in to a 30-minute advertisement by Time-Life. And before you go getting all judgy…

Just imagine, The Best of Soft Rock, great classics from the 70s and 80s. They started rolling out The Doobie Brothers, Ambrosia, Christopher Cross, and Chicago. Suddenly, I couldn’t look away.

Mr. R walked in and asked what we were going to watch. “You’re looking at it,” I replied. “Shhhhh!”

We both sat mesmerized as we heard songs that brought back the simpler times of old. And we knew every word of every effing song. It was magical.

Obviously, we didn’t buy the collection. I mean, who buys CDs? Where do you even play them?

But the next time you have a spare half hour and you fine this little gem, don’t miss it.

For tonight’s serenade, I picked one of my all-time favorites by America, Sister Goldenhair. I love this song.

Hope you enjoy it and that you have a wonderful weekend. Be sure to hug those you love.

Happy Saturday night!

HOMELIFE UPDATE:
We made it through the inspection period, and we and the buyers are now locked in. Assuming the appraisal that was done yesterday is at least the price of the house, we will be closing on Sept. 6.

Beyond that, we still don’t know where we’re going. We had a HUGE garage sale today and got rid of tons of things that were stored in the garage, and we sold some of the furniture we won’t be taking with us.

We’ll continue to keep you posted about our new adventure. ❤

Saturday Night Serenade–Publix Music

Have you been to the supermarket lately? I hadn’t. I hate grocery shopping, and I don’t cook. I was smart enough to marry a man who is a culinary genius.

Anyway, one day this week, I ended up at Publix, where shopping is a pleasure. And you know what? It was, kind of. Because they play some kick-ass music. Seriously, when did they ditch the elevator Muzak?

I had not heard Missionary Man in years. So there I was in the dog food aisle, dancing and singing along with Annie. In case you’re wondering, they followed up with Def Leppard. At freaking Publix. We went in for ice and bread, and rolled out with a cartful of stuff. I guess somebody did their market research.

There’s no real deep meaning this week, other than that I had forgotten how awesome this song is. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Have a wonderful weekend and be sure to hug those you love.

Happy Saturday night!

Household Update:
It appears we have the house sold. It’s now too late for anyone to back out, so barring some breakdown in funding, we should be ready to close by the first weekend in September. Which means we have to get packed up and ready to go.

Where are we going? We still don’t know.

Stay tuned–we’ll keep you with us for the adventure…

Saturday Night Serenade–Summer Days and Nights

Happy August!
Around here, everyone’s getting ready to head back to school, but for me, August has always been about long, hot, lazy summer days.

And Love Shack is the perfect summer song. Don’t you wish there was a place you could go and just cut loose, forgetting all your troubles?

Tonight, let’s just push aside all the stress and deadlines. We’ll enjoy a cold one or three and create our own funky little place.

Be sure to hug the ones you love. Happy Saturday night!

Update on our situation:
We’ve had a couple dozen people tour the house. Everyone seems to like it, they all say the asking price is fair, but we have no offers. Not even a low-ball, ‘let’s negotiate’ offer. So that’s discouraging.

We did find a temporary transportation solution to the end of our car lease in a couple of weeks, so that’s good news.

Fingers crossed, the house goes under contract soon.

Saturday Night Serenade–Dance the Night Away

Have you noticed that they’re playing the best music now all over town? The grocery store, the car dealership… Maybe it’s just that I’m getting old, LOL.

I just remember shopping with my mom when I was a kid and all they played was elevator music. And my mom used to listen to Perry Como and stuff in the morning while we got ready for school.

This week, Mr. R and I were running errands and I heard this song. I can’t remember the last time I heard Van Halen’s Dance the Night Away. What a great song. We even commented on how they were playing awesome music. The young man assisting us just nodded blankly.

That’s okay, Skippy. In the age of Auto-Tune, you just don’t know any better.

Tonight, I hope you’re enjoying the countdown to summer. I, for one, can’t wait. I love summer!

Be sure to hug the ones you love. Happy Saturday night!

P.S. I’m leaving you with my all-time favorite Van Halen tune in tonight’s two-fer. ❤