Musical Memories // David Bowie

Seeing as how it's David Bowie's birthday today*, this post will be all about him. Well, not exactly about him but more about me loving him. Did you know he was my first crush? Him and Clark Gable are the two men I remember as my first celebrity loves but mostly Bowie because not only was he cute but he also was a musician. Some of my earliest memories revolve around music and I have several involving David Bowie's music.

One, I remember very well. I was probably four or five and my dad had picked my sister and I up for the weekend and I was singing Suffragette City in the car. I sang out "wham bam thank you ma'am" and my dad got mad. Obviously he felt those lyrics were completely inappropriate for a child to be singing and obviously they were just words to me. I chuckle every time I hear the song!

A couple years later an incredible duet had just come out and I got the 45 for the game of musical chairs that I planned on playing at my birthday party. The song was none other than Dancing In The Street and my other love, Mick Jagger, sang and danced by David's side. The video was my favorite at the time and if you've not seen it, I highly encourage you to watch it. It very well could be one of the worst videos ever made and their rendition of the song leaves you wondering whose idea it was and why they ever let it happen! haha! Anyway, we played it at my party and I was stoked :)

Needless to say, when Labyrinth came out I was thrilled and jealous that Jennifer Connelly got to kiss him. When Ruben and I started dating we usually just listened to music and he had David Bowie's first album. It's a folk album (we still have it) and while everyone probably knows about it now, back then before the internet it was harder to know about such gems. Anyway, he got big points in my book for owning that record and you really need to listen to it if you never have. "Ha ha ha, he he he. I'm a laughing gnome and you can't catch me."

Do you have a favorite Bowie album, song, video? Please share! I don't have a favorite song (that would be way to hard to pick) but my favorite album is Ziggy Stardust and I love the video for Life On Mars. Happy Saturday! I hope you do something fun!

*I wrote this yesterday.

♥ anne

Chloride, AZ.

We recently visited Chloride, AZ. on our way home from a weekend in Bullhead City. My mom had heard about Roy Purcell's murals and thought it would be fun to go check them out. I'm so happy we made the trip, not only were the murals really cool but the small town of Chloride totally stole my heart!


To get the murals you have to drive through town and out down a dirt road. There are all sorts of cactus and wildflowers along the way and a bumpy road that the kids enjoyed.


The murals were painted in 1966 and they were so colorful and pretty! It turns out the morning is nice time to visit because it's cooler but the sun was rising and shining on them which made it difficult to photograph. Next time we visit I'll wait until late afternoon to take pictures.


I'll be listing that purple kaftan I'm wearing in my shop this week. I thought this location would be the perfect place to model it.


As we headed back to town I spotted several juniper trees and made my mom stop so I could cut some to bring home. The smell is heavenly and we got home I made a couple smudge sticks with my clippings.


I also managed to snap a few pictures of some local birds. A couple roadrunners and my absolute favorite, quails! They are quick and wanted nothing to do with me. They had all their little babies scurrying behind them, a sight that makes me squeal with delight!



There are wonderful old buildings and homes along the main street and what appeared to be some fun shops. It was early in the morning so nothing was open yet but I'm sure I would have found many treasures in the Cactus Cowboy antique store.


We walked across the street to check out Digger Dave's and were greeted by friendly Dave and couple other locals.


The bar/cafe was just opening and Dave made us feel right at home. He got the kids an ice cream and my mom and I an ice cold beer. We sat down and Dave came over to the jukebox and put on "Thank You" by Led Zeppelin. He said the song was dedicated to a new woman in his life, a beautiful blonde who had bought the lot next door. He knew they were meant to be together when he first shook her hand and looked in her eyes. He was filled with love for her and it showed. My mom and I were so moved by his sweet words that she started crying and I was tearing up as he walked away.



We could have sat there all day listening to the jukebox (which was filled with the best music) and drinking beer but unfortunately we had to get going. After all, we had three rowdy kids with us which meant one beer only and leaving before they got too wild. I will definitely be returning to this gem of a town and next time Ruben will be with me.


So, if you're ever driving through Arizona and love dusty old mining towns and amazing bars like Digger Dave's then you need to stop off in Chloride!

♥ anne

Say what?

I've been obsessed with lyrics ever since I was a kid. I remember always getting super excited when I'd get a new album, tape or cd and the lyrics would be on the inside. Often times they weren't included so I'd sit there and listen, pause, write and repeat until I had the whole song written down. I was never a great student and my dad used to get very irritated and say, "If you know all the words to every song how come you can't memorize your ____?" (times tables, spelling words, etc...). I never had an answer but I guarantee if my school day would have revolved around music, I probably would have done much better. 

That being said, I haven't always gotten the words quite right. Sometimes when you assume you know what is being said you never consider that you might have it wrong. Sometimes you go from being a kid to an adult and still have it wrong. And sometimes when you're in your 30's and finally realize what's actually being said you have a big laugh!

Today I'd like to share some of my "scuse me while I kiss this guy" moments. I'll start with my earliest mistakes-

Song- Bette Davis Eyes
Artist- Kim Carnes

Real lyric- She got Bette Davis eyes
mistaken lyric- She got potato eyes

Hahaha! This song came out in 1981, which means I was 3. That totally explains why I got this one wrong because it doesn't sound like "potato eyes" at all and since I didn't know who Bette Davis was it kinda makes sense. right? And yes, I realize I was 3 but I do in fact remember this. My husband always jokes that I remember my birth :)

Song- Fly Like An Eagle
Artist- Steve Miller Band

Real lyric- Shoe the children with no shoes on their feet
Mistaken lyric- Shoot the children with no shoes on their feet

I'm really embarrassed to admit that it was only a couple years ago that I figured this one out. I always wondered why you'd want to shoot kids because they didn't have shoes on. haha Wow!  I feel really stupid right now! Oh but I'm about to feel even more silly after you read the next one!

Song- Sleigh Ride

Real lyric-  Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling, "YOO HOO !"
Mistaken lyric- Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling you Who.

Yep, until last year I always wondered why you'd call someone "Who". It's so ridiculous that my husband didn't believe me this morning when I told him that's what I thought it said.

Song- She Caught The Katy
Artist- Taj Mahal

Real lyric- She caught the katy
Mistaken lyric- She complicated

Ruben and I recently argued over this one and I lost big time! I was SO sure it did not say "She caught the Katy". Listen to it and tell me what you think.

Song- Latest Flame
Artist- Elvis

Real lyric- And Marie's the name of his latest flame
mistaken lyric- And the reasoning of his latest fling

It never made sense. Now I know why!

Ok, Ive embarrassed myself enough! Here's a recent song that I knew couldn't being saying what it sounded like it was saying.

Song- Blank Space
Artist- Taylor Swift

Real lyric- Got a long list of ex-lovers
Mistaken lyric- Starbucks lovers

My daughter likes Taylor Swift so when this song came out I heard it a couple times a day. I knew there was no way she was saying "Starbucks lovers" but it totally sounded like it. I asked Alex what the lyrics were and she said everyone at school also thought she said "Starbucks". Then I thought maybe she was saying "star crossed lovers". That would make sense. Nope. A quick web search revealed the true lyrics!

Alright, now it's your turn to share your "wrapped up like a douche" moments! If you were ever going to leave a comment here, this would be the time! 

♥ anne
Got a long list of ex-lovers

weekly quote

-lyrics from indian summer by the doors

i love that song. i love the doors. and jim of course. actually i have been on a huge doors kick for the last several months. i have a picture on my pinterest of the above lyrics from jim morrison's grave site and i'd been wanting to write/paint it out in some way to give to ruben. so, this morning i water colored them in black on a large piece of water color paper. very simple but i like it. 

i recently re-purchased an american prayer on itunes. i remember hearing that album for the first in high school. it was one of those moments (musically speaking) that you never forget. i especially remember being blown away when i heard peace frog. that song is still one of my favorites by them. and since i'm talking about music i can't fail to mention a new (and shockingly current) favorite band, the deep dark woods. milla suggested them in this post and i am so thankful she did! i rarely like current music so hearing them and actually REALLY LIKING them was huge! i was listening to them while i painted this morning. and as milla recommended them to us all, i now do too :D and hey, if you live near san francisco they will be playing there in november!

i wanted to also say a very big thank you to each and every one of you for the sweet and encouraging comments on my last post. they honestly helped me feel better reading them. and just so you know, i had a very quiet, relaxing night last night and did exactly what i said i was going to do :D thankfully the fog is lifting and i am looking forward to a nice weekend.   

now tell me what your current favorite songs, bands or lyrics are. i'd love to know!

♥anne 

musical memories // pearl jam 1993

this is a sad memory for me. you may already be able to guess where this is going by the ticket stub or rather, ticket with stub still attached. the year was 1993 and i was a freshman in high school. pearl jam was THE band. i was in love with eddie vedder, had pictures of him all over my wall. so this concert was going to be the highlight of my year. turns out that it was my dad's weekend for us to come over and he told me i could not go. no amount of crying, pleading or begging would change his mind. being the obedient daughter that was/am i did not go. and guess what, almost 20 years later i am still very sad i missed this one. 

two of my favorites shared the stage for the MTV music awards that year. i remember watching this and just loving seeing them together! ok, i'm really getting depressed now writing about this :( and what's more depressing is that i never have seen pearl jam live. but on a more cheerful note, i AM seeing neil young in october at the hollywood bowl. now that's something to be happy about! plus, i still could see pearl jam or eddie vedder solo. it's not like it's too late. yes, i'm feeling a little better now :D

above is pretty much what i looked like at the time, although this picture is from the beginning of sophomore year 1994. rita (on my left) got to go to the concert. yep, i'm still jealous rita! that's vanessa on my right. i wasn't friends with her yet in 93 but she opened up a whole new world of music to me when we started hanging out. come to think of it, these two ladies are my two oldest friends! and this may very well be the only picture i have of us all together. i'm proud to say that they are both still in my life. yay for friends!

i have actually kept almost all my ticket stubs and wrote down on the backs all the bands that were at each show. there was a period in my 20's where i stopped but i am back to collecting them again! aren't you just SO curious to peek inside the pages of my little book and see all the concerts i've been to?! well, you'll have to wait! i think my little book deserves a post of her own :D

♥anne 

album art

in the days of downloadable music, it seems like the album cover has lost the impact it once had. i suppose i could be totally wrong about this but to see an album cover on your computer screen compared to holding in your hand...well there's just no comparison. above are SOME of my favorites. i know you all will remind me of the ones i left out, right?

1. sticky fingers, the rolling stones- the rolling stones have so many great covers, but i always loved this one as a kid because the zipper went up and down. i thought that was really cool and still do.
2. london calling, the clash- the clash paying tribute to the King.
3. born to run, bruce springsteen- love this. 
4. harvest, neil young- simply perfect
5. sweetheart of the rodeo, the byrds- great cover and album, because of gram of course!
6. the velvet underground and nico
7. the stooges
8. the best of the new riders of the purple sage- this one is on the top of my list. i think i just really want that shirt! the album is awesome as well.
9. appetite for destruction, guns n roses- i LOVED axl from 6th to 8th grade. 
10. aladdin sane, david bowie- i think david bowie was my first crush. 
11. morrison hotel, the doors- the hotel wouldn't let them take pictures, so they snuck in and snapped some anyway.
12. the flying burrito bros.- nudie suit heaven!
13. double fantasy, john lennon and yoko ono- haha this one stands out from childhood. i remember looking at it and saying, "ewww! they're kissing". 
14. rain dogs, tom waits
15. jesus was a capricorn, kris kristofferson- rita coolidge looks so rad!
16. the freewheelin' bob dylan
17. dark side of the moon, pink floyd
18. abbey road, the beatles- i know, everyone likes this one. it's my favorite cover and album of theirs.
19. the basement tapes, bob dylan and the band
20. so far, CSNY- art by joni mitchell
21. staring at the sea, the cure
22. school's out, alice cooper- i use to have this album hanging on my wall when i was in high school. this one is in my top five. when you open the cover it looks like the inside of a desk. 

23. madonna- my first style icon. 
24. live through this, hole- i really loved this album when it came out. haven't heard it in at least 10 years.
25. aja, steely dan- i know there are lots of steely dan haters out there but i AM NOT one of them. i had this shirt from one of their concerts i went to in jurior high. ruben could never see the girls profile, can you?

well there you have it! now tell me your favorite album covers.

♥anne

musical memories // take the money and run aaooooahhh!

back in high school we congregated around the snowbird at lunch(pictured above). shawn, the owner of the snowbird, made delicious frozen yogurt and also supplied us with music. sometimes it was classic rock on the radio and sometimes it was a student's cassette tape. since there was a variety of tastes in music, people occasionally got in small tiffs over the selection of the day. everyone mostly got mad when a grateful dead tape would go in. now, i had nothing against the grateful dead back then, but i didn't particularly like some of the deadheads at my school. anyway, one day we were sitting there eating frozen yogurt. the deadheads were near by playing hacky sack and take the money and run came on the radio. when it got to, "they headed down to, ooh, old el paso" we all did the hand claps (you kinda have to do the hand claps on that part, right?). we all glanced at each other and laughed. that was the day steve miller band brought us all together. the date was 2-15-94. hahaha JUST KIDDING! i don't remember the date! but i do think of this story every time i hear the song.

have a fun weekend!

♥anne

musical memories// marky mark leads me to lou reed

oh man! this is a good one folks!
back in 1991 i was in 8th grade. my taste in music went far and wide. all the way from the beatles and stones to guns n' roses to (ahem) marky mark and the funky bunch. thankfully i was allowed to explore all genres, no matter how good or bad they were (this is something i have been known to struggle with as a parent :D but i am working on it). anyway, growing up we had an extensive album library, in alphabetical order too! you don't know how many times i have longed for that library! so, one day i've got marky mark playing in my room, i was most likely trying to memorize the lyrics, and my step-dad comes up to me and says, "you know that song is a cover, right?" ... "it is?" i say. we take a walk down the hall to the office/music room and he locates lou reed's transformer and puts it on the record player. there were obvious differences, but i remember being stoked about this new info. i also remember trying to impress my friends with all my musical knowledge... they weren't interested.
i wish i could say that after this day i delved into the music of lou reed and the velvet underground, but that didn't come until later...

here i am in eighth grade.

do you have a musical memory you'd like to share? it's really fun!
post about one on your blog or leave a comment and let me know. i'd love to hear about it!

more musical memories here

♥anne

frank zappa//musical memories

i wanted to start something new here- musical memories. basically i will be sharing a song and some memories that are attached to it. so get ready for a WIDE variety of songs i love and songs i hate (i've been wanting to do a playlist of songs i can't stand. haha i think that would be fun!). so here's the first one. i don't anticipate anyone making it through the whole song but we'll see.

i first heard apostrophe by frank zappa when i was a junior in high school, so that was 1994. i remember being totally blown away by it and loving how bizarre and different it was compared to most/all music i'd heard. the fact that he was not known by most 16 year old's at the time made it even cooler to me. we had this album on vinyl, so i recorded it onto a cassette and listened to it for months straight in my car. i've only met a couple of zappa fans in my life, i suppose it's not exactly the type of music most people would choose to listen to but it's fun and this album in particular brings back lots of memories for me.

some of my favorite song quotes come from this album-
1."is that a real poncho or is that a sears poncho?"-definitely one of my top 5 favorite song lyrics ever! i was watching mystery science theater 3000 one time and they said that, i was so stoked! it doesn't take much to make me happy people :D
2."watch out where the huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow"- saying this a must, when in snow!
3."I'll take a drive to BEVERLY HILLS just before dawn an' knock the little jockeys
Off the rich people's lawn"- i think of that every time i see a lawn jockey.

there ya have it! i would have included a picture of me from 1994, but someone (shane) misplaced my camera (i don't have a scanner so it would have been a picture of a picture). next time.

♥ anne