I was going to post an entry about musicals, but for some reason, IE shut itself down when I was nearing the end of it.  I have no desire at this time to retype it, so instead you get this entry, which has been sitting on my entry page as a draft for about two weeks.

I was tagged on facebook in a note to put your MP3 player on shuffle and put down the song, artist and genre of the first 25 songs that come up.  It also left no room for adding commentary, so I've decided to do it again and add comments about the songs, artists or whatever.  I also reserve the right to cheat and skip a song if I want to!

1. Real Wild Child - Iggy Pop
I first heard this song in Crocodile Dundee 2.  It always reminds me of 1980s gangs that were just delinquents that loitered instead of actually killing people.  Those were friendlier days.

2. Rembrants - I'll Be There
Yes, this IS the Friends theme, but after the show became a hit, they went back and filled it out to a full song about being there for each other.

3. Hot For Teacher - Van Halen
Aside from the obvious fantasy of every schoolboy (and a number of schoolgirls, too, apparently,) I love the parts of the music video where the band is supposed to be dancing in unison and one can't seem to get it right.

4. Hot Corn, Cold Corn - Flatt and Scruggs
It's bluegrass.  It's live.  It's Carnegie Hall!

5. I Like It, I Love It - Tim McGraw
I will look at it as either a view of how great love is that you'd be willing to give up these things or a lesson in why to avoid relationships, depending on my mood.

6. Baby, I Love Your Way - Peter Frampton
AAAAHHHH!!!!!!!  It's Peter Frampton!  As soon as I can find Lisa Bonet's version of this, Pete will go bye-bye, but I think John Cusack said it best in High Fidelty, "I always hated that song.  Now I kinda like it."  *WARNING!!! Video may not be suitable for work.*

7. Another One Bites the Dust - Queen
It's Queen.  There will probably be more of it, even if I have to arrange it that way.  Deal with it!

8. I Hope You Dance - Lee Ann Womack
Dancing may not be the most masculine thing, but it is fun.  So is making the most of life.

9. Everyone's a Little Bit Racist - Avenue Q Cast
Funny and probably true, to some extent.

10. Oh, Atlanta - Alison Krauss
You can go home, and some things WILL still be the same.  It's also okay to love where you're from, even if it is Atlanta.

11. Walking On the Sun - Smashmouth
The song is like a mini history lesson and a tribute to the '60s, with the message to not do drugs.

12. When You Say Nothing At All - Alison Krauss
I fell in love with this song the first time that I heard it.  That rarely happens.  I still love this song.  That almost never happens in conjunction with my first statement.  It's sweet, beautiful and haunting at the same time.

13. I Want You - Savage Garden
Three words: Chica Cherry Cola.  There's that and remembering teasing Keri about music freshman year of college and then realizing that she liked a song that I liked, too.

14. Is It Still Over - Randy Travis
Based on the lyrics, I'd say the answer is yes, but I still think you're an amazing singer, Randy.

15. Flight Of the Passing Fancy - Squirrel Nut Zippers
It's an upbeat, peppy, swinging instrumental, whose name describes it well.  It's kinda ADD, like me.

16. Will the Circle Be Unbroken - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band et al
This is a bluegrass standard for a reason: It's an amazingly good description of grieving in the southern Appalachians.

17. Jump, Jive an' Wail - The Brian Setzer Orchestra
This is one of the songs that brought in the latest resurgence of swing music.  All it took is the former front man of the Stray Cats with a song with repetitive lyrics that don't mean a whole lot and a great beat.

18. Foggy Mountain Breakdown - Hot Rize
Yes, "hot rise" is what was in Martha White's self-rising flour that baked better biscuits, cakes and pies.

19. Country Grammar - Nelly
I started liking this song in college, when I hung out at one of the fraternity houses, where they'd play this all the time, and lived with a roommate who liked this kind of music.  For some reason, I also thought it was alright to have no taste, but now it's one of those songs that stuck in my mind as one that I like.

20. Simply Irresistible - Robert Palmer
The video is full of models, as were his other big videos.  This is also where Shania Twain got the idea for her video for "Man, I Feel Like a Woman."

21. 1999 - Prince
I never did party like it was 1999 in 1999.  I wish I had.

22. Somewhere Nice Forever - Ricky Skaggs
This song always reminds me of a friend who was diagnosed with Leukemia shortly after we graduated college.  Unfortunately, I haven't talked to her since about January or February, so I can't say she's doing okay now, but she was then.

23. Mother - Pink Floyd
I love listening to Pink Floyd whenever I'm feeling a little bit sane.  It fixes that problem right up.  This is also a great example of what happens when you overprotect your kids.

24. Simple Life - Ricky Skaggs
Unlike 22, this is a happy and upbeat song about how life is great, even when you don't have everything... at least until the last part about the cell phone, the internet, GPS and satellites.  Even then, it's still about appreciating the little things all around you.

25. Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
The best way to describe my feelings towards Dave Matthews is to say that it grew on me.... like a fungus.  This is the Dixie Chicken version.  Blame Tall Red Amanda.

Hope you enjoyed (possibly again) seeing how bizarre my music preferences are.

241.6

I had promised an update on last weekend, and here it is!  Friday, a week ago, I jumped in my truck and headed up to PA.  I got to hang out with some wonderful friends, whom I had not seen in almost three years.  We, being reenactors and musicians, went to an olde tyme days faire thing near where they live and played.  Since they were doing strings instead of brass and I haven't learned how to play a string instrument yet, I picked up the tambourine.  My tamborine skills are laughable.  After our first break, Dreamy mentioned that she had a set of bones in her violin case and that I could teach myself how to use them if I wanted to.  I think she figured that I'd give it a shot, fail, and then give up.  By lunch time, I was playing them with my right hand.  (Still not well, but I was playing them.)  Dreamy gave me a glare at one point.  Actually, she glared at me a number of times, and she threatened to poke me with her violin bow.  Apparently, she had not yet figured out how to play them.  By the time we packed up that afternoon, I had gotten pretty good at playing the bones with my right hand, and I was even functional with my left one.  Now I'm thinking that I might want to get a couple pairs of them to take around with me.

On Sunday, I left cool, sunny Altoona, PA, and headed towards Pittsburgh for the world premier of Dog Jack.  I got about 10 miles before my "check gages" light came on.  At that point, I noticed that my engine was overheating.  I slowed down, and my engine cooled a bit and stayed out of the red for the rest of my trip.  (After I got home, I took the truck in to get an oil change, and they told me my coolant was low and I should get my radiator serviced soon.)  I made it to Pittsburgh a couple hours before the show started so I walked around in an attempt to find a place to eat and Heinz Chapel.  On my way to Heinz Chapel, I made mental notes of various eateries in the Pitt area of town.  Heinz Chapel is definitely one of the most interesting churches that I've ever been to.  If you don't pay attention, you'd swear it was a small Catholic or Orthodox cathedral.  The big difference is the stain glass windows of people like Isaac Newton, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  After the site seeing, I ended up eating at Five Guys Burgers & Fries.  I ordered a cheeseburger and fries.  Upon recieving my food, I realized my mistake.  I managed to eat all the fries, but I ended up saving the burger for the trip back home.  (Even cold, it was still one of the best burgers I've eaten in my entire life.)

Dog Jack was entertaining.  It won't win any awards, I'm sure, unless they have Christian movie awards organizations.  I'm sure I won't get any awards for my work in it, but I did appear in no less than a half dozen scenes.  There was even one shot of me where I thought they were filming us for a behind the scenes documentary.  The movie has plenty of historical inaccuracies, but they apparently managed to hide a number of them also.  There is currently no distributor for the film, so it's doubtful that you'll get to see me in the theater for this work.  (I'll let you know when one of my films does hit the theaters though!)  Although the production company is talking to major Christian distributors, I think the realistic hope is to get someone to back them to take it straight to DVD.

That's outside the Soldiers & Sailors Museum.  I'm obviously on the left, since that's Chipmonk on the right.

242.8