Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack...

... is a re-run.  We're listenin' to the Graham Parker station on meTunes Radio this afternoon and the very first tune we heard was "Protection."  "How perfect," thinks I, "and what a good tune for the Happy Hour blog post."  Further rumination led me to believe we'd done this one before and we were right.  Like this:

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack

Graham Parker from Former Happy Days, i.e., 1979-80 or so...

So if you think that’s funny I’m not really laughing honey
Your love letters are confetti I ripped them up my hands were sweaty
And then those ghastly faces recur in nightmare places
Happy hour's come and gone much too short and much too long

This tune is yet another piece part of the soundtrack from my three-year sojourn in Ol' Blighty.  It's kinda funny-strange how the lyrics to any given song change meaning over the years, innit?  Apropos o' nuthin', this tune contains one of my favorite mondegreens.  Towards the end of the song when Parker sang...

It ain’t the knife in the heart that tears you apart
It’s just the thought of someone sticking it in, sticking it in

I heard "It's just Donna Summer, stickin' it in, stickin' it in..."  Ya gotta remember, that was 1979 and 1980.  Disco.  Oh, well... ya hadda be there.
Another from the same album (Squeezing Out Sparks, arguably Parker's best):

Without a doubt I gotta intercept
Must be time someone went shouted in their ear
You look all right in that cheap red dress
But every time you swish it round you make me disappear
Yes I’m aware of exactly what I’m doing
Making everything a mystery,
Don’t bother with it, it don’t bother me

Yeah, it don't bother me.  Right.

Well, it still doesn't bother me, yanno?  But I can't get no protection to this very day...

Almost Mohammed

The view during ADWH this evening...

Close, but no Karbala.

The Perfect Song For Tonight's ADWH*

Mr. Thorogood...

Don't give me no lectures
'Bout stress and strife
So-ber-i-ety
Just ain't my way of life
You better change
Yes, I'm begging you please
'cause if you don't start drinkin'
I'm gonna leave

I've never really had this particular problem, given I've never been involved with someone who is or was a tee-totaler.  That practice would simply be a non-starter from the git-go.  That said, we've been blessed in previous lives with wives, consorts, and girlfriends who had a like mind when it came to the subject of alcohol.  We've even known and loved some wimmen who could drink us under the table.  Yeah, I'm lookin' at YOU, Kid.

So now it's out to the verandah to enjoy a balmy New Mexico evening with three fingers of Mr. Bulliet's fine, fine, fine rye whiskey.  And a cigar.

* After Dinner Whiskey Hour

Broadening Our Horizons, Episode LI

I gotta apologize to Jim, right off the bat.  While Spoetzel bills this as a "seasonal" brew... and Thanksgiving IS "the season" at the moment... the decorations on the label and the carrier shout out "CHRISTMAS," and that's just wrong.  So: apologies.

That said, we grab these beers as soon as they appear simply because we live in a Beer Desert and stuff like this tends to disappear all too soon.  Here's what we're drinking today:

Shiner Holiday Cheer.. rated as "good" by The Bros, and they say this, in part:

Interesting, a flavored holiday ale where we would possibly want more than one. Nice to see something different rather than the usual pie spicing that ends up tasting like organic toothpaste. A good pick for the holiday party, as it will definitely spark some interest if not conversation. This is without a doubt a beer that non-beer drinkers could approach and hopefully get pulled into.

The astute Gentle Reader knows I look upon fruity beers with a jaundiced eye, but I'll make an exception for this one.  Shiner sez the peach flavor is subtle but I disagree... that flavor is up front and it smacks ya right in the nose, too.  That's not a bad thing, to my complete surprise.  I'll definitely buy more of this.

Our cigar today is a Diesel Shorty, also new to me.  It's a rich, robust sorta stick and as such goes very well with what we're drinkin'.

―:☺:―

And then there's this...

Dapper Dan 16 November, 2012 10:59

Dang it Buck, that's some good funny music. Great lyric. And the girl (at least as presented in the lyrics)...she could be the soulmate you've been looking for, no? :-)

Replies

Buck 16 November, 2012 11:27
I had EXACTLY the same thought about the girl. WHERE are the ones like this?

That's a call and response to last night's ADWH post.  I got to thinkin' on my drive out to Cannon Airplane Patch earlier today about that song, Dan's comment, and my response.  And then it occurred to me: The Second Mrs. Pennington and I were EXACTLY like that song in the wayback... we got gloriously drunk together on the day we met, to begin with.  Add in the facts she was a good conservative Catholic kinda girl (easy, too) and I was a SERIOUS Moonbat (and just as easy) and there you have that song.

Fast forward 35 years or so and she's now the Moonbat and **I'M** the conservative, among other salient things.  WTF, over?

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack

What?  After Dinner Whiskey Hour at 1630 hrs?  Yep.  The clocks may have changed but we get hungry... and eat... according to our biological clock, which is still on daylight savings time.  We shall adjust over the course o' time but in the meantime... here's Iris DeMent:



Iris' new album is in the mail as we speak and we should take delivery on Election Day.  I'm lookin' forward to this, as the reviews have all been sterling.  I'm thinkin' this is gonna be fine, fine whiskey drinkin' music.

Tonight's After Dinner Whiskey Hour Soundtrack...

... was mostly (but not all, see below) Van Morrison's new album "Born to Sing, No Plan B."  There ain't any Tube O' You videos for the tracks on this album, and more's the pity as it's great good stuff.  But, Hey... your loss, my gain... I suppose, in that I have the album and you don't.  Mebbe I'll rip a couple of the cuts and post them myself... or mebbe I WON'T.  Rumor has it Van and his lawyers are pretty tough in this space.

So... no music.  But we will tell ya about that Jack Daniel's Single Barrel... which is what we consumed during tonight's ADWH extravaganza.  We did two fingers of said whiskey... X3.  The first two fingers we took neat and we were impressed.  The burn that we normally object to... and mightily so... was there when we took the spirit neat, but it wasn't all that objectionable.  The mouth-feel is astringent but not overly so... and the swallowing gives one a very nice warming feeling in the belly that isn't off-putting in the least.  The overall taste is magnificent... characterized by a certain sweetness that's offset with various spicy favors that escape me when it comes to describing them.

We took the next two fingers with a single ice cube and this was the highlight of our night.  The ice mellows out the burn quite nicely and one is left with a most pleasing and complex assault on the palate that's beyond description... for me.

Our third go-round was Jack with a splash... defined as no more than two tablespoons of spring water.  The water worked as well as the single ice cube where the burn is concerned, opening up the flavors while mitigating the burn.

Our bottom line:  While we prefer Woodford Reserve, we'll add a bottle of the JD Single Barrel to the likker cabinet from time to time.  I like it.

Addendum... We're also listening to Lyle this evening and this tune is one of the best on his new album:



Dang, but I love Kat Edmonson's counterpoint vocal on this tune.  Marvelous.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack

Dido with a tune that's kinda jazzy, kinda laid back, kinda reminiscent of Former Happy Days...

I drank too much last night, got bills to pay 
My head just feels in pain 
I missed the bus and there'll be hell today  
I'm late for work again
And even if I'm there, they'll all imply  
That I might not last the day  
And then you call me and it's not so bad 
It's not so bad

And I want to thank you  
For giving me the best day of my life  
And, oh, just to be with you 
Is having the best day of my life

Yeah, it was like that... often.  These days?  Not so much.  No one's gonna fire me, but no one is gonna call me or stroke my forehead and tell me everythang's gonna be all right.  The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away... or so they say.

I mentioned in our first post today that we broke out our lil electric space heater for to warm our bones during last night's late night inter-tubes surfin' extravaganza.  So, we took said space heater out to the verandah this evening, given the fact it's just a wee bit chilly outside.  Like this:

The space heater... sitting mere inches from our frail lil bod... worked, but only in a manner that calls to mind standing before a campfire on a cold winter's evening.  To wit:  the front o' you is nice and toasty but yer ass is COLD.  And this in temperatures that could in no way be called "cold."

(sigh)  I'm already missing those warm summer evenings where we would sit on the verandah deep into the wee smalls and never feel a twinge o' chill.  And my mind turns, once again to stuff like this.  I think we'll do sumthin' in this space, and soon.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack

Divin' deep into the archives for some serious drinkin' music...



This wasn't the tune I was lookin' for*, but it'll do.  I remain impressed with the Tube O' You, given that the Siegal-Schwall Band wasn't exactly mainstream... outside o' Chicago.  I don't remember how I came upon them, but I know it had to be courtesy o' one o' my buds back in those lost days o' the '70s.  Be that as it may, I bought every one o' their albums I could get my hands on back in the day and committed several of those albums to tape before I shipped the vinyl off to SN2 during the Great Divorce Debacle o' 1999.  It was one o' those cassettes we dragged out for tonight's soundtrack, and we're REALLY glad we did.

*Well, DAMN!  Here it is!



Oh, HELL Yes!  It's a real pity that none of Siegal-Schwall's lyrics are available on the 'net... coz the lyrics are just amazin'.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack

Some down 'n' dirty guitar work from Lucinda Williams and her band...

I don't want you anymore
cause you took my joy
I don't want you anymore
you took my joy

you took my joy
I want it back
you took my joy
I want it back

Complete lyrics here.  Hell, Lucinda... one place is the same as the next... you might could find some joy in P-Ville.  I've been to West Memphis and Slidell and I know from whence I speak. 

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack

It's pretty nice outside, so we opened up the windows and door and loaded a few CDs into the CD player for tonight's soundtrack... one o' which is Don Henley's "Building the Perfect Beast."  We usually set our CD player on "random" and did so this evening... So guess which track came up first?  This:

She passed on your passion and stepped on your pride
Turns out you ain't quite so tough
Cause you still wanna hold her
You must not be drinkin' enough 

Shut UP, Don... I think I'm drinkin' enough.

Don't panic... that's well over a month's worth o' consumption.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack

Townes Van Zandt...

One o' my favorite quotes, posted often in these spaces: "NO ONE is happier than a wino who can afford his own wine."  Or Bulleit, as the case MIGHT be.

Saturday, Part Deux

Now playing in patios and parking lots EVERYWHERE:

Verandahs, too.  By way o' explanation... I heard this clip sometime during the way out and back to the base yesterday and I intended to work the vid into my ADWH post last evening.  It just slipped my mind, along with MANY other things that have fallen through the cracks in the last 36 hours or so.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack... In Two Parts

First... The Lovin' Spoonful:

You and me underneath the roof of tin
Pretty comfy feelin' how the rain ain't leakin' in
We can sit and dry just as long as it can pour
'Cause the way it makes you look makes me hope it rains some more

Yeah, well... it ain't QUITE like that, more like this:

This makes the third day in a row we've had "cow (doin' sumthin') on a flat rock" rain in the afternoon/evening.  And I ain't complainin'... not one lil bit.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack...

Delbert...

Like a macho man, I said I'll fix it myself
I can tell already I'm gonna need some help
Now I gotta get it worked on
I gotta get it worked on
Yeah, I'm gon' have to get me some professional help

[...]

I went down to New Orleans to see Miss Laroux
She said You're too far gone there ain't a thing I can do
But you better get it worked on
Better get it worked on
I can give you a number of someone to call

D'ya still have that number, Del?  I have a friend that might could use it.

Apropos o' nuthin'... I've discovered the best way to drink this Bulleit stuff is on the rocks.  I never took my scotch with ice, bein' sumthin' of a traditionalist in this space, I only took it neat or with a splash o' water.  But ice and bourbon seem made for each other, in that the ice mellows out the burn and makes bourbon a rather pleasant drink.  Last evening I took my first dose neat and the second with a splash, the results of which were less than impressive.  Tonight's a different story and I think this stuff will grow on me.  I can't wait for the rye to arrive...

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack...

Pat Travers, covering Johnny Winter...

Apropos o' not much... it's HARD switchin' over to corn after 30 years of drinkin' single-malts and better blends (of late).  I'm beginning to wonder about the wisdom... if any... behind today's fit o' pique.  But, Hey!  It's all good.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack...

Leon Russell, with a tip o' the hat, a nod, and a wink to Hank...

There was a time...

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack...

Steve Winwood...

Oh, I've been sad
And have walked bitter streets alone
And come morning
There's a good wind to blow me home
So time is a river rolling into nowhere
I will live while I can
I will have my ever after

The finer things keep shining through
The way my soul gets lost in you
The finer things I feel in me
The golden dance life could be

Heard on Pandora this evening... I defined a Steve Winwood station a couple o' days ago, seein' as how (a) I love the guy's music (and I think he's one of the most under-rated artists of our generation) and (b) most of what I have o' his work is on vinyl and currently resides in SN2's basement.  I could have sworn I had this particular album on CD but I can't find it.  I strongly suspect "Back in the High Life" might have left with The Second Mrs. Pennington when she decamped all these years ago, but I can't be sure.  I really should have written down all of the CDs she took (like about a third of the classical inventory) but I didn't.  I kinda-sorta had other thangs to think about.  At the time.

Dog Days Upon Us

Didja ever wonder about that term?  Wonder no more (I loves me some Wiki!).  And they are well and truly here.  We stretched ADWH out until 2330 hrs last evening and checked the temp as we came in from the verandah, just for grins and giggles.  It was 89 degrees at that hour.

We did something we almost NEVER do, given it's gonna be another hot one today (forecast: 108), and that would be setting our alarm phone for 0700 hrs this morning, all the better to get out and about before the broiling begins.  And we did... hitting the streets around 0800 hrs to run our errands (we had to get caffeinated first, yanno?), which we completed in about an hour and a half.  It was nice to run around town in The Green Hornet with her top down and Mick serenading the locals with a suitably loud rendition of Loving Cup, which I'm most certain all within earshot appreciated.  Or not, about which I truly don't care coz it was for me, anyhoo.  So we're done, what with having unloaded our groceries in the relatively cool temperatures of 85 degrees and having received our minimum daily requirement of al fresco motoring.  I'd forgotten how good it feels to get up with the rest of the world.

―:☺:―

And then there's this from My Buddy Ed In Florida...

He didn't like my casserole
And he didn't like my cake.
He said my biscuits were too hard.
Not like his mother used to make.

I didn't perk the coffee right.
He didn't like the stew.
I didn't mend his socks 
the way his mother used to do.

I pondered for an answer,
I was looking for a clue.
Then I turned around and smacked the shit out of him . . .
Like his mother used to do.

******************************

I love a good poem, don't you?

Heh.  I loved every little thing both of my wives did, always... and even most of my girlfriends, too.  My Mama didn't raise no dummies.

Tonight's ADWH Soundtrack...

Nina Simone...

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me.
Yeah, it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me, ooooooooh...
And I'm feelin' good.

No...it's a new night.  It's also 94 freakin' degrees outside, and the sun went down over 45 minutes ago.  But, Hey... it only feels like 90.  We are feelin' good, in spite o' thangs, and we'll only feel better as the full moon climbs higher into the sky and the night wears on.

So there's that.  We've got our refill and now it's back out to verandah to continue as we've begun.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Sly and the Family Stone...

We're just in from the verandah... where we enjoyed a Shiner Ruby Redbird and the remnants of last night's ADWH cigar... and it's HOT.  Like this:

We've already broken the record for this date... the former hottest day bein' 98 degrees back in 2002... but it doesn't FEEL all that hot.  I've been warmer... like this:

The ambient temperature during the day was in the high 90s, as was the humidity. We were working on a blazingly hot white concrete pad, which acted as a hellish solar reflector, intensifying the heat and making working conditions all but unbearable. You literally couldn’t touch the metal pieces of that antenna without wearing gloves, it was that hot. We worked 20 minutes outside, then ten minutes inside the air conditioned shelter, then 20 minutes back outside again, eight hours a day. It took us an entire week to disassemble that damned antenna and pack it up. I must have sweated off ten pounds, and for a light-@$$ed guy like me, that’s a lot.

I've felt hotter on any given August day at Boron AFS in the Mojave Desert.  Or marching to and from school in August down at Keesler Airplane Patch in Mrs. Hippy in the wayback.  Or working inside a radome on Guam.  Or even sitting in the back of a C-130 on the ramp at Don Mueang AB in Thailand.  Or we could be in Abu Dhabi (visualize a wink and a nod here), where the forecast high tomorrow is 111 flaming hot degrees.  So we need to keep thangs in perspective, yanno?  Hot fun in the summertime, indeed.