Mom's Back! All About Cars....My Little Red Mustang
March 1, 2008
Most people think that men are the ones who are into cars, talk about them, and brag about them. Women can have favorite cars too!
For over 55 years, my husband bought a lot of cars, mostly Fords, from nine-passanger Ranch Wagons to carry all those six kids and their buddies, to more sedate sedans later when they were all grown up.
My favorite car, though, was not purchased by my husband.It was a gift to me by our two sons, Tom and Ed. My boys had been into cars since they could toddle with Tonka trucks and car models.
They bought a wreck of a '67 Ford Mustang. Tom did the engine work and Ed did the body work and paint job. I knew nothing about this until Christmas Morning, when they told me to look out the window towards the driveway. There it was, with a huge red bow on the roof, a fully restored 1967 Mustang, lipstick red, with a black vinyl roof. What a beauty!
Oh, how I LOVED driving that car! Even though I was a middle-aged grandmother, guys would whistle at me, and come over and talk "cars" with me!
How The Blues Brothers Lived My Gig
Recently, I was searching the Internet for old friends and I came across 36 pages of people with the same name as the Lead Guitarist in my first band, "Best Blues". I checked all the profiles, and finally found someone who seemed the right age and description, a Biker who is also a session musician in Maryland. I messaged him, and was delighted to find out that he is indeed Rick Carr.
It reminded me of our first gig which was later immortalized in the movie "The Blue Brothers", which is my all-time favorite flick. None of us ever had any contact with John Belushi or Dan Ackroid, so this must be something that "just happens" to happen to Blues bands!
I first met Rick and Gary (The Bass Player) at a place in Somerville, MA, called The "Club III". It was open-mike night, and we clicked right away. We got a drummer named John, and began to rehearse together as a quartet named "Best Blues", after Gary & Rick's duo.
I landed our first gig at The Club III, but when we got their, everything had changed! The decor now had a...
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Posted at: 12:38 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
How the Blues Brothers Lived My Gig
February 9, 2008
How The Blues Brothers Lived My Gig
Recently, I was searching the Internet for old friends and I came across 36 pages of people with the same name as the Lead Guitarist in my first band, "Best Blues". I checked all the profiles, and finally found someone who seemed the right age and description, a Biker who is also a session musician in Maryland. I messaged him, and was delighted to find out that he is indeed Rick Carr.
It reminded me of our first gig which was later immortalized in the movie "The Blue Brothers", which is my all-time favorite flick. None of us ever had any contact with John Belushi or Dan Ackroid, so this must be something that "just happens" to happen to Blues bands!
I first met Rick and Gary (The Bass Player) at a place in Somerville, MA, called The "Club III". It was open-mike night, and we clicked right away. We got a drummer named John, and began to rehearse together as a quartet named "Best Blues", after Gary & Rick's duo.
I landed our first gig at The Club III, but when we got their, everything had changed! The decor now had a...
[More]
Posted at: 12:38 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
How the Blues Brothers Lived My Gig
February 9, 2008
How The Blues Brothers Lived My Gig
Recently, I was searching the Internet for old friends and I came across 36 pages of people with the same name as the Lead Guitarist in my first band, "Best Blues". I checked all the profiles, and finally found someone who seemed the right age and description, a Biker who is also a session musician in Maryland. I messaged him, and was delighted to find out that he is indeed Rick Carr.
It reminded me of our first gig which was later immortalized in the movie "The Blue Brothers", which is my all-time favorite flick. None of us ever had any contact with John Belushi or Dan Ackroid, so this must be something that "just happens" to happen to Blues bands!
I first met Rick and Gary (The Bass Player) at a place in Somerville, MA, called The "Club III". It was open-mike night, and we clicked right away. We got a drummer named John, and began to rehearse together as a quartet named "Best Blues", after Gary & Rick's duo.
I landed our first gig at The Club III, but when we got their, everything had changed! The decor now had a...
[More]
Posted at: 12:38 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Mom on the Great Musicals!
January 7, 2008
Mom reminisces about the great musicals on the stage. Some were made into movies, but to me they were always a disappointment and never as good as the live performances.
Strange to say, I was introduced the GRAND OPERA at about the age of ten. Whenever the Metropolitan Opera came to Boston, they played in the original Boston Opera House on Huntington Avenue. My friend Ellie was distantly related to the Lowe Family who owned the venue, and her dad worked as the doorman for the matinee performance. My older sister mary would take Ellie and me on the trolly to the Opera House and her dad would sneak us in to sit in an unused box.So there we were, three wide-eyed little girls sitting in this elegant setting, gorgeous chandeliers, and red velvet everywhere. I remember seeing Rise Stevens as the definitive Carmen. I also saw Pagliacci, Cavalera Rusticana, etc. My sister fell in love with the Opera and it followed her the rest of her life.
Later, when i was a young woman, my husband and I loved Musical Theater. His tastes ran more to Gilbert & Sullivan, but he also enjoyed the Great American Musicals.
The Battle of the Bands began with a James Brown tribute band (Not in the Contest, but as an Opening Act) that included members of the last band The Godfather of Soul toured with before he passed away. The Bass player was a local boy, a friend of mine, a 16 year old PRODIGY named Reggie Sears. Keep your eyes and ears open, folks. this kid is going to go far if he gets the right management and guidance.
Then the first contestant comes on. Bear in mind, the prize is $10,000, and the three judges are making their decisions based on these criteria:
So anyway, this Thrash and burn screaming post-punk grunge band comes on and proceeds to Trash President Bush!!!! I kid you not! Not to mention that their alledged music stunk too. Even my buddies, who are all in their twenties and like Thrash music, (and who are Liberals) were appalled by these guys. I could see the muscles in the backs of the judges palpably tighten up, even through their heavy clothing. (It was a chilly night). My musician friends and I struggled to...
There is an old saying that "if you can survive a Boston Winter, it will build your character." I guess I must have a very strong character. I have survived 80 New England Winters and am now in the throes of my 81st. Three blizzards so far this month and it isn't even Christmas yet.
Oh, sometimes it was fun when we were kids. Templeton Street in Dorchester MA. was a very steep hill. After the plow did a quick run to make a surface, the Boston Police would put sawhorses across both ends and the hill was ours. For three or four days that hill was covered with children coasting on sleds. I had a Flexible Flier which still exists in my daughter's basement. The street was lined with two and three-family houses. I don't think too many people had cars in those days, but if they did, they had to park them elsewhere.
The city also used to flood the baseball fields in nearby parks. We always had good strong ice to skate on. If your foot went through the ice, there were only about two inches of water, so there was no danger like there would have...
Recently my daughter, Mary-Lou Kirshon, gave me for my 81st birthday a CD she had recorded and produced of one of her vocal students named Kristen. What a treasure it is. I play it over and over. She has a beautiful voice, well trained, and from her picture, seems like a beautiful young lady.
Her rendition of "Oh Holy Night" was very moving. As for her interpretation of show tunes, she is superb.
I am an old lady now, but I used to go to the theater all the time. I have seen "My Fair Lady" with the Original Broadway cast twice at the Colonial Theater in Boston, "The Phantom of The Opera" in London, and went to the FIRST EVER performance prior to Broadway of Rogers & Hammerstein's "South Pacific".
Kristen's performance of show tunes beats them all. Believe me, she is better than many famous ladies of the Broadway and London stage.
I am sure this lovely girl will go on to do great things and I wish her well.
I also want to thank my daughter for teaching her and for producing this wonderful CD.
I was reminiscing about WW1 and this question came up.
Trench Warfare was the most horrific feature of the Great War in Europe, which was still fought in the traditional Napoleonic manner of lines and troop movements, but with deadly new weaponry such as tanks, machine guns, barbed wire, and poison gas. Because of this clash of modern weaponry and obsolete battlefield tactics, casualties were huge and conditions were horrible. Men spent months sitting in trenches and holes in the ground, unable to advance or retreat, all across Europe. They lived and died in these nasty places, elbow to elbow. Naturally, vermin, such as lice and fleas, were rampant. The most irksome were the head lice, known as "cooties". Everybody had cooties, officers and enlisted men, and the only relief was to soak a rag in kerosene or gasoline, and wear it on your head, with the four corners knotted to keep it from falling off, to kill the bugs. This was the infamous "cootie rag". There was no shame in cooties, because everybody had them, and in fact, the...
Recently, one of my daughters, who is also a die hard movie buff, asked me if i remembered the first movie I had ever seen. To her surprise, I instantly recalled it. I was about five years old at the time. I am now eighty-one. My mother took my sister and me to what was then a new movie palace in Boston called "The Metropolitan". I thought I had walked into Fairyland. The lobby had huge crystal chandeliers and a double staircase that seemed to be leading up to the heavens. The movie was called "Smiling Through", starring Janet Gaynor and Charlie farrell. There was a song from this film entitled "If I Had A Talking Picture Of You", which I used to sing to people without being asked.
Later, back home in Quincy, MA, there was a local theater called "The Wollaston". It was about a mile down the street from our home. Every Saturday my sister and brother had to take me with them to the Saturday Matinee. I don't remember the names of all the movies we saw on those long ago Saturdays, but I do remember a serial of which we saw a chapter every week....
