Sorry for not getting a new story up on the site this week but I have been recovering from surgery and simply put, it's kicking my butt!
So I decided to re-post two (actually Parts 1 and 2) of my favorite stories from the archives for some of my new readers that may have missed it and for my old readers, maybe you want to read it again.
Nuff said...least till next time
Peace Out
Bear
Musical Footprints or The Mix Tape Of Life - Originally Posted March 9, 2009
The other day when it was pouring outside I did as I usually do when 
bored, I put on a movie that I have watched so many times. I watched the great John Cusack movie "High Fidelity" and it rang true to me how music is a footprint of our lives.
Most of us listen to music daily. We listen to music when we wake up on our alarm clocks, while were getting ready for work, in our cars on the way to work, sometimes while at work, on the way home, when we get home and are cooking dinner, sitting in front of a roaring fireplace, on a plane with our ipods, working out, etc, etc, etc.
Music is always around us and for good times and bad we connect songs and bands to moments in our lives.
Musical footprints are everywhere in our lives. We might not even know we have them stored in our minds until a single moment when they are triggered when a song comes out of the blue on the radio, when a good feeling comes over us and we relate it to a song that we heard the last time we felt it or on the opposite when a song is related to a bad time in our lives. This is why music is so important to us and why we surround ourselves with it.
Every time I hear "Born To Run" it throws me back to Friday afternoons with Kid Leo's kicking
off the weekends on WMMS as well as "Good Morning" by The Beatles as the wakeup call with Jeff and Flash in the mornings. When I'm out of town and Colbie Calliat comes on the radio I think of my wife because she plays the cd all the time and it makes me happy. "We Belong Together" by Rickie 
Lee Jones bring back memories of listening to it in the first house we lived in. "I Believe" by Stevie Wonder is pictures of my kids when they were little. "Just One Victory" by Todd Rundgren and "Magicians Birthday" by Uriah Heep take me back to the college dorms. "Captain Fantastic" takes me back to an old girl friend who stole my copy of the album back in 1975 that I would love to forget but can't (hey, can I at least have it back!). Marvin Gayes "Let's Get It On"..... well we'll leave that one alone. These footprints can also change as new memories happen as a song is playing. "Comfortably
Numb" use to have a totally different meaning to me but now when I hear it, it reminds me of seeing David Gilmour on his last tour with my son. We made the trip to Chicago and after the show, the first thing he did was call his college room mate and tell him "I just heard Comfortably Numb live!". This footprint changed because the importance of the footprint changed. I now relate it to the excitement and feeling my son had hearing the song live for the first time. Our musical footprints can change like we used to do with our old cassette tapes. We record over them and over them, but some are so strong in our psyche that no matter what, for good or bad, they are there in back of our minds waiting to be released. They are our mix tape of life.
Enough writing, I think it's time to go put on "Let's Get It On"
Musical Footprints Part 2, Your Stories - Originally Posted March 16, 2009
I have to thank the readers here. When I hit on a subject you respond and respond you did. I had over 400 emails this week on this subject alone. The story (Musical Footnotes or The Mix Tape Of Life) was just a little thing about how when I hear a certain song it triggers memories for me and it registered with you also. That is why I am posting Part 2, using your stories.
Just a note here on the stories below. I emailed everyone back and asked their permission first before publishing their stories. Most said "sure go ahead" others were not sure about the statue of limitations!
Most of the ones sent in were funny but some were sad. I did not post the stories where the songs reminded the reader of a loss of a loved one as It seemed personal and I didn't want to bring that back to them in print.
So go ahead and enjoy, maybe some will trigger a new musical footnote of your own. If it does send it to me. There might be a Musical Footprints 3. I definitely have enough material!
"Rockin Down The Highway by The Doobie Brothers" Every time I hear it, it reminds me of going cross country with 2 of my high school buddies and the tape got eaten by the tape deck in Oklahoma. 400 more miles to go and no tunes. (Frank from Bay Village)
"I Love You More Today Than Yesterday by Spiral Staircase" My husband played in a band in the early 70s and that is how I met him. He sang it to me then and on our 30th wedding anniversary he surprised me by having the band to play it and he got up and sang it to me there. (Sue from Mayfield Village)
"Reflections Of My Life by Marmalade" My first girlfriend, if you could call it that in the 5th grade broke up with me and I remember playing that 45 over and over until my older brother broke it in half. God I hate that song! (Mark from Columbus)
"Boogie Shoes by KC and the Sunshine Band" Going out with my girlfriends to the Cosmopolitan and dancing every Saturday night (Nancy from Mentor)
"Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac" It reminds me of a summer vacation boyfriend in Myrtle Beach. It was only 2 weeks, but a great 2 weeks (Gina from Cleveland)
"Dancing In The Moonlight by King Harvest" Bonfires, drinking wine and dancing in the moonlight, It was great being young (Susan from Avon Lake)
"Melissa by The Allman Brothers" It used to be my favorite song by them but now every time I hear it I'm reminded of that stupid phone commercial! I’ll never buy one of their phones after ruining that song. (Chuck from Toledo)
"Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana" Brings back memories of high school and wanting to get out of there. Seeing the video on MTV for the first time, I related to the people in it. Now I see it and think, I really should have washed my hair and showered more (Mike from Canton)
"Give Me Just A Little More Time by Chairman Of The Board" A girl named Theresa who played it on the jukebox all the time. Every time I hear it her face still pops into my head. (Michael from University Hts)
"Rockin Into The Night by 38 Special" Cruising from bar to bar on the weekends with my friends. This song was always on the tape we played. (Alan from Kent)
"Paradise By The Dashboard Light by Meatloaf" My ex wife. That song could have been the story of our whole life. (Kurt from Cleveland)
You can tell a lot of my readers are from Cleveland as a lot of Cleveland bands and their songs were mentioned, here is a few:
"Tonight by The Raspberries" Anna Marie P_________., what a girl! (Dom from Little Italy) Note: I took out Anna Maries last name, just in case she's reading this
Waste A Little Time On Me by Michael Stanley Band" Stage Pass. I remember being at the Agora when they recorded it and when the album came out. I love that album. Do you think Jonah still has those suspenders he wore on the album? (Marcy from Westlake)
"Skinny Little Boy by Alex Bevan" Seeing him play at the Agora for the Christmas Coffee Break Concerts. It was such a great time in my life. (Alice from Tremont)
"Grand River Lullaby by Alex Bevan" Having Alex play it twice one night at my old bar Cafe Rock because it is my wife's favorite song (Bear - I had to put my own Alex moment in)
"Go All The Way by The Raspberries" The Friday night dances at Marymount High School. Catholic school girls and the Raspberries were always a hit for a 15yr old guy. (Tom from Garfield Hts)
"Stop Wait And Listen by Circus" This song takes me back to the school dances every time I hear it. (Mary from Bedford)
"Funky Poodle by Wild Horses" I put on the Pride Of Cleveland album a few months ago and when Funky Poodle came on it took me right back seeing Billy and the boys playing around the Cleveland bars (Dennis from Cleveland Hts)
Weddings were a big theme for a lot of readers, some very cool choices also:
"Come And Get Your Love by Redbone" It was our first dance at our wedding. (Brenda from Wooster)
"Into The Mystic by Van Morrison" Our wedding song. A little different but so are we. (Erin from Cleveland)
"Always And Forever by Heatwave" It was our wedding song. (Pam from Painesville)
"Get Ready by Rare Earth" It was our wedding dance song. a very cool wedding! (Angela from Mayfield)
"In A Little While by Uncle Kracker" Our first dance at our wedding. (Mark from Lakewood)
"Sweet Child Of Mine by Guns And Roses" She picked it for our first dance at our wedding. (Bob from Cleveland)
"You're My Best Friend by Queen" Our first song we danced to at our wedding. She was right in picking it, she is still my best friend. (Ryan from Chagrin Falls)
"White Wedding Day by Billy Idol" He picked it for our wedding dance. Might be why it didn't last! (Sally from Twinsburg)
There were some other themes that are not hard to figure out:
"The Wanderer by Donna Summer" The first stripper I ever saw, this was playing at the Crazy Horse. (Don from Cleveland)
"Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard" The Crazy Horse. They played this all the time in the late 80's. (Sam from Parma)
"Cherry Pie by Warrant" Reminds me of Tiffanys downtown whenever I hear it. (Tony from Berea)
"One Toke Over The Line by Brewer And Shipley" What else do you think it reminds me of. (Tommy from South Euclid)
"Up On Cripple Creek by The Band" Me and my buddies used to get together on Saturdays. We used to put the album on, roll a couple and the next thing I remember it would be Monday. (Jim from Cincinnati)
"Brain Damage by Pink Floyd" It reminds me of listening to Dark Side Of The Moon at the Pink Floyd light show they used to have at Geauga Lake and just being toasted and sitting in the stands and staring into space with the lights and music all around us. (Bruce from Hudson)
"Panama Red by New Riders Of The Purple Sage" Being able to actually buy Panama Red. The good old days. (Mort from Cleveland)
"Maggot Brain by Funkadelics" They used to play it every Friday at midnight on WMMS, Driving around with by buddies. It would come on and it was time to roll another one. (Phil from Parma)
"Fins by Jimmy Buffett" Summers at Blossom. (Paula from Bath Twp)
"Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett" Blossom in the summer. What a party. (Mike from Medina)
"Cheeseburger In Paradise by Jimmy Buffett" Blossom every summer. (Mark from Akron)
"Let's Get Drunk And Screw by Jimmy Buffett" The parties at Blossom. (Allison from Cleveland)
And one song that became legendary in Cleveland history:
"Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen"
.....Kid Leo and Fridays (Dave from Long Island, NY, formally Cleveland)
.....Kid Leo and WMMS. You knew the weekend started when you heard it. (Owen from Parma)
.....The weekend started when you heard Murray Saul and The Boss (Billy from Cleveland)
.....WMMS. The buzzard was the place to tune to on Friday afternoons (Ralph from Geneva)
.....Kid Leo and MMS. I still get that great feeling. I miss Cleveland (Susan from Nashville, TN)
.....The Get Downs from Murray. I couldn't wait to hear what he had to say. (Rick from North Royalton)
.....The right way to start the weekend. The Boss. (Frank from Slavic Village)
.....The Kid and The Boss. What else would you think of. (Dave from Strongsville
Nuff said, At least til next week
Peace Out
Bear
Isn’t that what you, America wanted. Ryan Seacrest makes it seem that all of humanity has been sitting on the edge of their couches waiting for these two titans of music to make it to the finals. I mean could 86 million voters be wrong? You heard me right, 86 million votes were supposedly cast to put these titans of the music world into the finals, at least that’s Ryan told us at the start of the show last week and you know what I say to that, Bullshit. Look they need to pump up the image of American Idol as the all encompassing-end all of the music industry to keep this cash cow going for Fox and 19 Entertainment but 86 million voters, again Bullshit. Look according to Neilson ratings last week an estimated 23 million people watched American Idol (based on about 5000 people who were asked what they watched last week) and if these estimated 23 million people that watched it actually picked up the phone and dialed the number to vote (for me that’s too exhausting) each person would have had to vote around 3.6 times. I personally don’t care if 86 million people voted once or 86 people voted 1,000,000 times it doesn’t matter. This show is a reality show, nothing more. The winner of this show will have as much to do with the future innovation of the musical landscape as the winner of the Bachelor or The Biggest Loser.
Why is this show such a sham to me you ask. Look how it starts each and every season. If this was just a singing contest as they keep telling us, we would not be deluged with the William Hungs of the world and the other train wrecks they put on and on and on during the so called auditions. Why do we see these sad people week after week? Ratings of course. We like to see people make complete fools out of themselves and you know what the sad part of it all is? If these people don’t really know how bad they are, it makes for better TV and the American public eats it up. Nothing is better for ratings than human suffering. If this was truly a singing contest don’t you think out of the thousands that tryout we would see more talent coming on that stage than we do. Look if my theory about watching these train wrecks doesn’t compute into ratings then how is Paula able to keep her job? Remember when she critiqued one of the singers a couple of seasons back on their two songs when they hadn’t even done their 2nd song yet. Priceless television! You can almost see week to week the adjustments of the meds.
Oh I know I am going to be overwhelmed with emails from some of my readers but come on folks, wake up! What has this show given us after 8 seasons? What is the total now, 4 of the past winners still have their recording contracts. Four. That’s it. Four total winners have not been dropped by their labels. I thought Ryan told us each and every season that these “artists” were the best in the country if not the world. Each and every week Randy or Paula tell us one these people are going to be huge stars and since this seems to be said at least once to each and every contestant during the season, where are the 80 superstars this show promised us over the past 8 seasons? (Okay lets make it 79, I can’t seriously put Sanjaya in there)
People as I said earlier, wake up. The winner of this “reality show” is not going to fix our economy, cure the common cold, end global warming or even be someone we are talking about in a year let alone inducting in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 25 years. The only time they will enter the Rock Hall is when they buy a ticket. They did their jobs already. They gave you something to watch on television over the past 12 weeks so your mind didn’t have to actually think for those 2-3 hours it was on. That’s all it was meant to do, if not why did we have to sit thru those groups songs each week.
