song of the day – “Sleeping Angel” (from FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH) | STEVIE NICKS | 1982.

You ever think back and remember how you never thought about age when you were younger?  It’s true.  Maybe we didn’t need to.  My parents took us kids to the movies when we turned 13 and 16, which was fun, but I don’t think I really started thinking about age until I was 15, when I lost my grandmother Leona (my Mom’s mom) in 1982.  That was not so much fun.  She was just 55 and died of emphysema.  She never smoked a day in her life.

But, then, you turn 16, and then 18, and 20, 21 and 30, and so on, and along the way, you think about age, and getting older.  John Hughes tackled age, or rather, life in general, in 1986’s FERRIS BUELLER’s DAY OFF.  “Life moves pretty fast…” 

Remember that funny diatribe about aging by Billy Crystal in 1991’s CITY SLICKERS?  He was at his kid’s school for “career day,” and expanded on Ferris’ advice five years earlier: “Value this time in your life, kids.  This is the time in your life when you still have your choices.  It goes by so fast.”  There’s definite truth to that.

Blondie’s Debbie Harry, turning 73 in July and looking fantastic!

I think back to some of my first TV, film and music crushes when I was 13, and some were as old as my Mom, if not older.  Debbie Harry turns 73 this Summer and is still rockin’ it.  But, at 13, you don’t think about age like that.  It catches up to you, though, and then age does become a part of your life. 

But, it’s also a frame of mind, too.  As I stated in my last blog post, I look and feel better at 51 than I did at 41 or 31.  I know it’s not like that for everyone, but I’m embracing age like never before.  But, John Hughes and his creation, Ferris Bueller, were right – “Live moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”  I’m making sure I stop and look around these days.  With Maryhope, I am the happiest I have ever been in my life, and I don’t want to miss anything.

Maryhope inspires much in my life, and inspired this post.  She reminded me that today is Stevie Nicks’ 70th birthday, which, in itself is hard to believe.  Same age as my Mom, which is pretty cool.  Being stuck in the 80s all the time is fun, but you also lose track of time sometimes.  You think, Stevie can’t be 70!  “Stand Back” just came out!  Then you realize that was half her life ago, and more than half of yours. 

In a ROLLING STONE article from a year ago, of turning 70 this year, Stevie Nicks said, “I don’t like that number.  I see lots of people my age, and lots of people who are younger than me, and I think, ‘Wow, those people look really old.’  I think it’s because they didn’t try.”

For the massive double-album soundtrack to the 1982 classic film, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, many popular artists of the time were recruited, including Donna Summer, The Go-Go’s, Oingo Boingo, Jackson Browne, Quarterflash, Sammy Hagar, Jimmy Buffett and Billy Squier.  Several members of the then-disbanded Eagles were on there, including Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Don Felder and Timothy B. Schmit.  That wasn’t a coincidence.  One of the film’s producers, Irving Azoff, was also a personal manager of The Eagles and Stevie Nicks, who appears on the soundtrack with “Sleeping Angel.”

Stevie Nicks’ monster solo debut album, BELLA DONNA, had been released in 1981, almost a year to the day prior to FAST TIMES, and “Sleeping Angel” was actually meant to appear on the album, but ended up not being used for the record.

Paul Fishkin and Stevie Nicks, 1980.

In my research for this blog post, I found that “Sleeping Angel” was not written about Lindsey Buckingham (as many had thought), but was about a music executive by the name of Paul Fishkin, who she was with in 1980, and who would co-found (Atlantic Records imprint) Modern Records (1980) with Stevie and Danny Goldberg.

I also stumbled upon FleetwoodMac.net, where a bunch of people put the “Sleeping Angel” in perspective, or rather, an interpretation, and it makes sense.  Age comes up in their interpretation, and in the song:

“Well someday when we’re older / And my hair is silver gray / Unbraid with all the love that you have / Like a soft silver chain…” 

On FleetwoodMac.net, it’s interpreted that “age plays a big part in Stevie’s songs, that life keeps going and you can’t stop it; she knows she can’t stop it.  She is trying to embrace old age, embrace death.” 

Well, I’m not at a point where I want to embrace old age or death, but I embrace my 50s and love being healthy and happy and madly in love with Maryhope (who was an absolutely amazing super-sized Stevie Nicks for Halloween 2017), and when it’s my turn to be 70, maybe then I’ll be ready to embrace old age. 

Maryhope is enchanting as Super-Sized Stevie!  I took this gorgeous photo at Kettle Cove, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, 10.29.2017.

I took this absolutely stunning photo of Maryhope (also on 10.29.2017) at Portland, Maine’s famed Evergreen Cemetery.  One of my all-time favorite photos of Maryhope.

On that FleetwoodMac.net interpretation of “Sleeping Angel,” they write about that “soft silver chain” in the song, and how Stevie’s “that chain now: sturdy, letting her sleeping angel wake up.  Stevie is a woman of prophesy – fully aware of who she is and her capabilities…and I believe she doesn’t regret one thing that happened to her.  Now she can stand tall and as a survivor…her sleeping angel has awakened.” 

For a long time, I was pretty dead inside.  Well, maybe not dead, but not really alive, not living life the best I could, or should.  I truly know, especially in the last four years, that Maryhope was the inspiration for awakening my sleeping angel…and for reigniting my love for Stevie Nicks’ music.  Thank you, Maryhope!  I absolutely love you!  And Happy 70th Stevie! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q7mtQKQPQE

song of the day – “Valley Girl” | FRANK & MOON ZAPPA | 1982.

On June 15, 2014, Casey Kasem, host of the longtime countdown program, AMERICAN TOP 40, passed away at the age of 82.  From my first blog post (and prolly some more inbetween then and now), I explained how, in 1979, I was a geeky, lanky and somewhat lost 12-year-old living in Central Maine, had a few friends and not a lot of interest in much of anything, but at some point early that year, I discovered AMERICAN TOP 40, and was glued to it every weekend.  Not only could I hear the 40 biggest songs in the country every week, but also Casey’s cool trivia and facts about the songs and the artists, a trait I treasure to this day.  For me, the show was No. 1 with a bullet.  And still is (thanks to the re-airing of broadcasts of AT40 on iHeart Radio).

In honor of my radio hero, Casey Kasem, for the entire month of June, I will be highlighting a song each day (some days will have two songs!) that peaked in the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (including five (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s), and with every blog post, just like on AMERICAN TOP 40, the hits will get bigger with each post.  On June 1, 2017, I featured a song that peaked at No. 40.  On June 30, I’ll feature a “song of the day” that went all the way to No. 1. 

As Casey used to say on AT40, “And on we go!”

In his far-too-short lifetime of 52 years, Frank Zappa released a whopping 62 live and studio albums, dating back to 1966 and including his work credited as the Mothers Of Invention.  Impressive.  And perhaps even more impressive, since 1994 (Frank sadly died of prostate cancer in early December 1993), the Zappa Family Trust has released 47 posthumous albums, for 109 albums total.  Incredible.

One of those albums is the only album he released in 1982, SHIP ARRIVING TOO LATE TO SAVE A DROWNING WITCH.  And that 34-minute, six-track album contained Frank’s ONLY Top 40 hit on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 – “Valley Girl,” with his daughter, Moon Unit Zappa.

You read that right – Out of 62 albums released while Frank was on this Earth, he only had one Top 40 hit in his American homeland, but I’d almost bet my record collection he was quite alright with that.  Before “Valley Girl,” Frank had hit the BILLBOARD Hot 100 twice before (and missed it another two times), reaching No. 86 in 1974 with “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow” and No. 45 in 1979 with “Dancin’ Fool.”  (Both 1976’s “Disco Boy” and 1980’s “I Don’t Wanna Get Drafted” just missed reaching the Hot 100.)

Frank Zappa had his biggest international hit with 1979’s “Bobby Brown,” a song about a wealthy and misogynistic student named Bobby Brown (“the cutest boy in town”).  This LGBT-related hit spent six weeks at No. 1 in Sweden and also reached No. 1 in Norway, No. 2 in Austria, No. 4 in Germany and No. 5 in Switzerland.

SHIP ARRIVING TOO LATE TO SAVE A DROWNING WITCH was released in May 1982, and of the six songs on the album, the three songs on Side One (including “Valley Girl”) were studio recordings, while on Side Two, those three songs were all recorded live from his Fall 1981 U.S. tour.

The history of how “Valley Girl” (co-written with his daughter, Moon Zappa) came about in two parts – (1) The song started out from a bass riff Frank had written, and (2) Moon Zappa (then 14 years old) had a desire to work with her dad.  And a song was born.

A scene from 1983’s VALLEY GIRL.

According to Kelly Fisher Lowe, Frank Zappa’s biographer, Frank woke his daughter up in the middle of the night, brought her to the studio (most likely the one in his home) to re-create conversations she would have with her friends.  With Frank Zappa not being a fan AT ALL of the San Fernando Valley (he called it “a most depressing place”), this song was an intentional attack on the behavior of those stereotypical “Valley Girls,” and on the slang (or “Valspeak”), of which Moon pretty much supplied Frank all of the content for the song.  She had picked up this “Valspeak” from hearing it at parties, bar mitzvahs and the Sherman Oaks Galleria (or “The Galleria” for short, er, Valspeak).  Both 1982’s FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH and 1983’s VALLEY GIRL (a film inspired by the song of the same name) were shot there.

Moon Unit Zappa was a fan of the legendary KROQ-FM in Pasadena, CA (a station that pre-dates – by over a year – The Beatles’ first No. 1 record in America), and she persuaded the station to play “Valley Girl” during an interview at the station. 

Why don’t I own this already?!

Well, it worked.  There was suddenly a buzz about it.  Sure, it was a huge hit with listeners of the (also) legendary Dr. Demento, but the airplay for “Valley Girl” didn’t stop there.  It was heard all over the country.

The 1980s had its share of big “novelty” hits, but 1982 was especially a big year for novelty hit singles, like Buckner & Garcia’s “Pac-Man Fever” (No. 9) and Bob & Doug McKenzie’s “Take Off” (No. 16; featuring Geddy Lee of Rush).

In mid-July 1982, a month or so after its release, “Valley Girl” debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 at No. 75.  Five weeks later, it seemed to have stalled at No. 46, but regained its chart “bullet” a week later, and entered the Top 40 at No. 34 in early September 1982. 

But, like many “novelty” songs, the “novelty” of it tends to wear off sooner than your traditional hit singles.  “Valley Girl” spent two weeks at No. 32 in mid-September 1982, and, “Like, Omigod!” it was gone from the Hot 100 by mid-October 1982.  It also reached No. 12 on BILLBOARD’s Mainstream Rock chart.

There might be a little in this blog post…

I don’t know as much about Frank Zappa as I should, but I do know he was an amazing musician and songwriter, and hero of the First Amendment, when he, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister and the late John Denver all took on Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) in 1985, opposing censorship of any kind on their record albums and those generic “Parental Advisory” stickers that would appear on the front of those records.

Frank Zappa, admirably testifying before the United States Senate.

In his testimony before the U.S. Senate, Frank strongly stated, “the PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretational and enforcemental problems inherent in the proposal’s design.

“It is my understanding that, in law, First Amendment issues are decided with a preference for the least restrictive alternative.  In this context, the PMRC’s demands are the equivalent of treating dandruff by decapitation. … The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of moral quality control programs based on things certain Christians do not like.  What if the next bunch of Washington wives demands a large yellow “J” on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to concealed Zionist doctrine?”

Frank Zappa and Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider in 1985, fighting the good fight.

Well, despite the spirited testimony of Frank, John and Dee, “Parental Advisory” stickers did eventually get put on record albums, CDs and cassette tapes.  But, when was the last time you honestly saw one those warning stickers on an album?  I can’t even remember.  I would like to think their testimonies from more than 30 years ago had something to do with that.

SORTA FUN FACT: One of the albums to receive the “Parental Advisory” sticker (a year after it was implemented) was Frank’s 1986 Grammy-winning album, JAZZ FROM HELL (though I couldn’t find a shot of the album with the sticker), and may have gotten the sticker because of the use of the word “Hell,” but most likely for the song title, “G-Spot Tornado,” which is funny, because this was an album of all instrumentals and no lyrics (and definitely no talking about G-Spot Tornadoes).  So, riddle me this – how can you have a Parental Advisory sticker for explicit content if there are no lyrics on the entire album?!  Good going Tipper – you lost out on listening to a cool, award-winning album of instrumentals because Frank Zappa pissed you off and you slapped the sticker on there anyway.  Either that, or she was pissed off because Al never ever slipped her the “G-Spot Tornado.”  I’m going with the latter (although I think Al is a lot cooler than he was in 1985).

A really amazing album.  I advise parents and kids alike to check it out and often…

As much as I love “novelty” songs (including “Valley Girl”), I once read that Frank Zappa, Rock music’s leading satirist for many years, was concerned about the label given to him about being a “novelty artist” or “novelty act.”  I mean, would you consider The Beatles to be a “novelty act?”  Of course not.  But, back in 1966, “Yellow Submarine,” the No. 2 title track of their 1968 animated film, was labeled as a “novelty hit.”

Frank Zappa in 1982, perhaps with a future “fuck you” to Tipper Gore…

From what I know of Frank Zappa and his work, I would never call him a “novelty act,” though I would call “Valley Girl” a “novelty song,” mainly because – ironic or not – it did hit on a popular time and a popular way of life in the early 80s in that particular part of the country (I’m guessing they still don’t speak “Valspeak” there, do they?).  Another thing with novelties – most of them wear off, whether it’s songs or films or love or cars.  No one still does the “Macarena” anymore, right?  Christ, I hope not.  I know Al Gore did once in public back in the day (although I think Al is a lot cooler than he was in 1996).

23 1/2 years after he passed away, Frank Zappa continues to inspire musicians from all over the globe, not to mention relatively new bloggers like myself.  Frank, wherever you are, thanks for keeping it real, for all the swell tunes, and for fighting the good fight (with cancer and with the PMRC).  You are missed.  Of that I’m sure.  Totally…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfn9n1w3J4o

song of the day – “Reach” | MARTINI RANCH | 1988.

On Saturday, February 25, 2017, we lost another great actor too soon – the incredibly-talented Bill Paxton, who died from a post-surgical stroke following heart surgery.  The Fort Worth, Texas native was just 61. 

Bill Paxton was a veteran actor, with an incredible resume that spanned four decades.  Though he apparently was in the 1981 Bill Murray gem, STRIPES (as a soldier) I don’t remember Bill in that movie.  I’ll look for him next time though.  His first big movies were prolly THE TERMINATOR and STREETS OF FIRE, both from 1984. 

The first movie I remember Bill in, however, was the 1985 John Hughes film, WEIRD SCIENCE.  It’s my least favorite of John’s 80s teen films, but as the asshole brother, Chet, Bill Paxton played the role so brilliantly.  Seriously, not many people could convincingly pull off playing a giant turd.  And I mean that in the highest regard.  I loved him in that role.

From 1985’s WEIRD SCIENCE, Bill with Anthony Michael Hall.

I loved Bill in many other roles, too, including films like TOMBSTONE, TRUE LIES, TWISTER, TITANIC, ALIENS (for which he won a Saturn Award) and APOLLO 13 (for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Award).  He also had a TV resume that spanned four decades as well, including roles on MIAMI VICE, TALES FROM THE CRYPT, FRASIER, AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D., and his HBO series, BIG LOVE, for which he was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards.  He was also a main character in the brand-new TV reboot of the 2001 film, TRAINING DAY.  All of the 13 episodes had been completed before his death, and just wrapped shooting in December 2016.

In 1976, Bill Paxton met Seymour Stein, co-founder of my favorite record label, Sire Records (and future Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer and Vice President of Warner Bros. Records).  They became friends, and Seymour took Bill to see acts on his roster at the time, like The Ramones and Talking Heads.  Can you imagine?  Hot damn.  Seymour was also encouraging with Bill and his acting work.  More on Bill’s connection with Sire Records in a bit.

What many folks don’t know about Bill Paxton, is that, when he wasn’t acting, he was involved with music.  Before his big break in film and TV, Bill directed a music video in 1980 for a popular 1978 novelty song that had a lot of love on the Dr. Demento show over the years – “Fish Heads” by Barnes & Barnes.

Bill met up with the fictional twin brothers Art and Artie Barnes (actor Bill Mumy of LOST IN SPACE and singer / songwriter / musician Robert Haimer), and volunteered to direct the $2,000 video.  He also starred in the video, along with Dr. Demento himself, who had a cameo as a bum.  The video for “Fish Heads” aired on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE on December 6, 1980 (eight months before MTV), and the following week.

Bill Paxton in 1980.

Bill Paxton’s video filmography didn’t stop there.  He also appeared as a Nazi officer in Pat Benatar’s “Shadows Of The Night” video in 1982, and New Order’s “Touched By The Hand Of God” video in 1987.  Bill was in a couple more videos in the 80s, but they were a bit more personal.

In 1982, vocalist and guitarist Andrew Todd Rosenthal thought up the idea for a band whose sound (a sorta different twist on New Wave) ended up being a precursor for late-80s Devo.  That band was called Martini Ranch.

The idea behind the name Martini Ranch?  According to the liner notes of 1988’s Sire compilation, JUST SAY YO: VOLUME II OF JUST SAY YES, the answer to the “philosophical query” is that Martini Ranch is “a neither dry nor dusty concoction that cheerfully assimilates all media forms in order to regurgitate a colorful, satirical audio-visual mélange of Life As We Know It.  Got that, Martini fans?  Then drink up.”

Between 1986 and 1988, Andrew, Bill and keyboardist Robert O’Hearn – as Martini Ranch – released, on Sire Records, two 12” singles and a full-length album, HOLY COW.  Speaking of Devo, from that lone Martini Ranch album, the first single – “How Can The Laboring Man Find Time For Self-Culture?” – was produced and engineered Devo’s Bob 2 – Bob Casale, Jr. (who we sadly lost in February 2014), and featured Devo drummer Alan Myers (who we also sadly lost in June 2013), and Devo vocalist Mark Mothersbaugh on keyboards.

Also making appearances on this interestingly quirky album were Cindy Wilson of The B-52’s, famed New Age artist and film composer Mark Isham, actor Bud Cort (of HAROLD AND MAUDE), and actor Judge Reinhold (of FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, the BEVERLY HILLS COP trilogy and more).

Judge Reinhold’s appearance on HOLY COW consisted of a sole credit – as the whistler on the album’s second single (and today’s “song of the day”), “Reach.”  The song had a kind of cowboy-meets-New Wave sound (Boys Don’t Cry’s “I Wanna Be A Cowboy” comes pretty close), with a hint of Dead Or Alive.

For a song that was mostly just a fun College Radio hit, Martini Ranch picked up a pretty impressive director for the video of “Reach” – James Cameron.

Long before James Cameron became an Academy Award winner and “King of the world!” with two of the top three domestic films of all-time (AVATAR, No. 2 and TITANIC, No. 3, behind 2015’s STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS), he was an up-and-coming Sci-Fi writer-director, having directed and written – by 1988 – THE TERMINATOR and ALIENS. 

Bill Paxton had appeared in both of those films (and would also appear in James Cameron’s TRUE LIES and TITANIC), and I’m betting his friend James directed the seven-and-a-half-minute cowboy-themed video for “Ranch” as a favor for Bill. 

The number of cameos in this video is impressive, including James’ future third wife (of five), Kathryn Bigelow, who not only directed the New Order video for “Touched By The Hand Of God,” but would become (to date) the first female director (finally!) to win an Academy Award for Best Director (for 2009’s THE HURT LOCKER).

Cameos in the “Reach” video also included ALIENS and TERMINATOR star Lance Henriksen, actor Paul Reiser, the aforementioned Judge Reinhold and Bud Cort, and actor Adrian Pasdar (who I remember most for the role of Nathan Petrelli of the NBC series, HEROES).

The video for “Reach” appears in the brilliant 2005 Rhino / Sire 3-CD/1-DVD box set, JUST SAY SIRE: THE SIRE RECORDS STORY, which features 61 classic Sire gems spanning many genres and decades, and a DVD (which includes “Reach”), featuring 20 videos like M’s “Pop Muzik,” The Ramones’ “Rock ’N’ Roll High School,” “Let’s Go To Bed” by The Cure, “Like A Prayer” by Madonna, “Enjoy The Silence” by Depeche Mode and Talking Heads’ “Once In A Lifetime.”

In the liner notes for that box set, Bill wrote about Seymour in a way anyone who knew Bill or loved his work would prolly write about Bill:

“As anyone who has ever pursued a recording, theatre, or film career knows, it can be a very discouraging road.  I think I speak for all of the artists who have been represented by and associated with Seymour over the years, in so much as when he believes in someone’s talent, he believes all the way.  He will not be swayed by pressure or popular opinion.  I believe that this positive, unflagging support is what has driven many of us to succeed when we might have lost faith.  His great talent comes from a deep, deep love of what he does – finding and nurturing talent.”

Bill Paxton was definitely a great talent, and had a deep, deep love for what he did.  And I’ll miss that.  And I’ll miss Bill.  R.I.P. Bill, and many, many thanks…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkz0Lx6VyxA

Bill Paxton from 2015…