Music…

Always with Me, Always with You

Surfing With The Alien

Joe Satriani
and Words

[Instrumental]


More than once I’ve been accused of remembering details with stunning, even creepy accuracy.  My ability to recall details from conversations years before causes friends and family some distress.  Save for that time in high school where I memorized pi to over 130 digits, I don’t try to remember details; I just do.  I won’t tell you that I remember details with malicious intent, at least not most of the time.

On an otherwise ordinary visit to Costco, I come upon the condiment aisle.  I walk by the cartoonishly large portions of whatever they’ve packaged; I observe them in morbid fascination.  Upon finding a gallon-sized container of plain yellow mustard, I stop.  At that moment, a particular memory surfaces.  My good friend detests yellow mustard.  He won’t consume it as a condiment and only occasionally tolerates it in recipes.

Continue reading “A guitar virtuoso, with a side of yellow mustard”

Music…

The Boys Of Summer

Building The Perfect Beast

Don Henley
and Words

Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer’s out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone
I’m driving by your house
Though I know you’re not home

Lyric excerpts from AZ Lyrics.


I attended the University of Miami as an engineer.  Though, it is a private school, we were not wealthy, far from it.  Upon paying for my first semester’s tuition, we did not know how we would fund my college education.  I worked nearly every day when I didn’t attend classes.  I even worked through Spring Break, often filling my weekdays by picking up shifts waiting on tables.

On my sophomore year in college, I took an atypical day off during the week of Spring Break.  My friends and I took the hours long drive from Miami to Key West.  We baked in the sun in the drive down the long bridges that connected they Florida Keys to the very last one.  As we skimmed the surface of the water, it shimmered simultaneously impossibly blue and clear.

Continue reading “A nostalgic look at simple Florida day”

Music…

Hopelessly Devoted To You

Grease Soundtrack

Olivia Newton-John
and Words

Guess mine is not the first heart broken
My eyes are not the first to cry
I’m not the first to know
There’s just no getting over you 
I know I’m just a fool who’s willing
To sit around and wait for you
But baby, can’t you see there’s nothing else for me to do?
I’m hopelessly devoted to you

Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.


Guess mine is not the first fond memory of this movie.  Like many people my age, the movie ‘Grease’ became an iconic film which held many fond memories.  It spoke to many in different ways.  For many, the nostalgia and Americana drew them in, the cartoonish stereotypes of high school with fashion and cars.  For others, it was the music that transitioned from one situation to another, though that’s not necessarily new for musicals.  Though I suspect that for most, the storyline held the most appeal.

The interaction between Sandy, the foreign girl of high virtue, and Danny, the prototypical bad boy was delicious.  The entire movie was a dance, both figurative and literal, between the two of them.  As in any good story, we identify with all characters in the film as we follow them for a school year.  Naturally, we follow the story of both Sandy and Danny, but we also watched characters like Kenickie, Rizzo, and even Frenchie grow and develop.

Continue reading “Hopelessly losing a muse”