Tomorrow, it will have been one week since Merle Haggard’s death. I am sure his family are still heart broken and wishing they could have just one more moment with him. My prayers are with them and I hope they find some comfort that he is up rocking and waltzing with all of those who have gone before him.
For me, Haggard is part of a California childhood that is drenched in memories of Hee Haw, Lawerence Welk, Dr. Suess, Days of our Lives, General Hospital, along with so other many memories.
Haggard is one of those musicians that crossed boundaries between rock and country without an apology. He basically dared you to listen to his music without tapping your toes, singing along, or letting a few tear drops fall.
Yes, his family will miss him. However, they have the support, the love, the tears, and the prayers of a million or more fans around the world grieving with them.
Because of health and legal stuff, I had to disappear for awhile but I’m back. I’m bruised, broken, and well generally feeling like crap. In other words, not much has changed, oh wait, I did have a surgery that will hopefully prevent a low iron problem. Maybe, if I’m lucky, it’s a female thing okay. Let it go.
I was absolutely depressed in the gutter trying to decide what to do next. Literally. I finally decided that maybe I should check my e-mail and social media accounts. Interesting how you can disappear for a few months and this blog and my Twitter account blow up.
I was responding to messages, writing a post for a different blog, and just generally trying to find a reason to care about anything any more. Then, wham! I find this little jewel from Forever Still.
I have no idea who they are honestly, absolutely none. They followed me on Twitter and messaged me back in wow, uuummmmm let me check, December. Ouch that stings a little on my part. Anyhow, I checked them out on You Tube and this is the most recent video that I could find.
All I can say is wow. Talk about finding the right song to motivate you into finding your voice and standing on your own two feet. Thanks Forever Still, this was the perfect song to help me get out of my pity party.
Okay, so I made a list of the bands or artists on Twitter that follow me. I had a few more than I thought so I must be doing something right.
Also, I have a few bands and artists that have been with me since my very first tweet was posted in 2010.
Scour from Hollywood, California was one of the first bands to jump on my crazy ass bandwagon. I think they have been threw some line up changes while I wasn’t paying any attention.
Thanks for the follow and I hope you continue to rock on.
This song was released in 1989 by Chris Isaak and I hated every single fucking second of it. Why? Because it was played by everybody everywhere. It was one of those stupid songs that you couldn’t escape.
I personally don’t care for Chris Isaak’s voice, to me, it sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard but that’s me. They are several artists whose voices have this effect on me.
In fact, I quit telling people that I hated this song in the 80’s. Apparently, my opinion was not a personal opinion and I just didn’t know good music. Still trying to figure out how that works since it is MY opinion.
Anyway, I wanted to share a HIM video and came across this gem. I kinda recognized the melody and the lyrics but couldn’t place it. I was bobbing my head along and trying to sing with my scratchy throat when the chorus started. Let’s just say the lightbulb was turned on.
Needless to say, I love this version of ‘Wicked Game.’
Okay, I tried to go back to sleep so I could kick this cold out of my body. The thing is my body and my head have decided to force insomnia on me. So I guess you are just going to have to live with me posting some more music from some of my new favorite artists.
Maybe, I’ll take some time to check out my Twitter followers that happen to be bands as well. I don’t know, I’ll see how I’m feeling for the next little bit.
Anyhow, back to Finland with Ville Valo singing Summer Wine with Natalia Avelon.
I have been real sick lately. I guess that’s what happens during Winter when your thyroid isn’t working. The season turns into one giant ball of coughing, sneezing, hacking, and gagging. However, this means I also get to catch up on my music explorations.
I was checking out some older videos of Apocalyptica when I found their song Bittersweet featuring Ville Valeo and Lauri Ylonen. Talk about mind blown away with two amazing voices, I’ll share this video later.
In fact, I was so impressed with both male vocalists that I started doing some research. Mainly, who the hell are these guys and why the hell haven’t I heard of them.
Turns out Ville Valeo is the lead singer for HIM, a band I am somewhat familiar with because of one of my sons. Lauri Ylonen is a different matter. He is the frontman for The Rasmus who I have never ever heard of.
Both bands are from Finland, go figure. Now, I realize that I live in a small town that only has one local radio station. There are other radio stations from other towns but I can only get them in my car. My car has Sirius and I have specific channels that I listen too. I have no idea what channel The Rasmus would get played on. And, don’t even get me started on the video stations like MTV.
I guess I’m a little disappointed in a music industry that would rather shove Miley Cyrus down my throat then play some music with heart.
I guess what I’m saying is I want a music revolution. One that includes a TV station or radio station that plays music from around the world with no specific labels or classifications. Hell why not let the Video Jockeys, VJ’s, and Disc Jockey’s, DJ’s, actually pick the music instead of the station only playing what sells.
As I was digesting my bountiful Thanksgiving feast, the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon came on. We laughed our asses off at the comedy and we really loved the holiday parody songs that he did with his guests. Then Queen Latifah came out and talked about her mother’s heart failure condition.
For almost a year, I have had high blood pressure of 196. My chiropractor thought his machine was broken because according to him, I should have been in the hospital. The nurse practitioner that I was seeing said, it’s high and we should probably put you on meds but she quit her practice shortly after.
Last year, I had to go to the emergency room because I stepped on one of my cross stitching needle and got an infection. That doctor said your blood pressure is high and when you are ready to do something about it come see me.
This year, in June, I tried to donate blood. It was a blood drive sponsored by my local Elks lodge and the American Red Cross. This is my way of fighting my needle phobia and it seems to be working. However, on this particular day, the American Red Cross worker turned me down. My iron was low and my blood pressure was high. They printed off some paper work and suggested I see my doctor.
I was devastated, I didn’t have a doctor that I could trust to go running to with this information. I remembered the doctor from my emergency visit and I made the apponitment. I went in and he had me do some blood work. My blood pressure was still at 196.
This doctor prescribed a blood pressure med at a low dose and put me on a strict diet. In October, my blood pressure was down to 129 and I have lost over 100 pounds. My clothes fit better, I have more energy, and I just feel better.
This why this video of Queen Latifah and her mom is today’s video of the week. I was heading towards heart failure, heart attack, or stroke. I had no symptoms other than being tired all the time which I assumed was my depression or tremors.
Heart failure or heart disease can effect anyone at any age. I can not stress how important it is to get tested, to talk to your doctor, or to just make some simple lifestyle changes.
I know, I know, this is a song about cheating in relationships. However, today I was goofing off on Facebook when I received a friend request. I accept any and all requests because I’m just that type of person. Sometimes, little warning bells go off and I check the person’s profile.
This person that added me had some major warning bells. I checked out her profile and sure enough the bells were right. First, the profile was new like it had nothing but some info and a picture. Second, the profile said she worked at Facebook HQ. I started laughing.
I waited about a minute or two and sure enough she sent me a private message that went something like this: Hello Melinda Anderson. My response, Hi. How are you and your family doing? My response, Good, how are you? ALSO Good. I’m Charlson Sherry Ann, form United States of America ,I work for Facebook social Network Inc..and you? My response, I’m from the US. I have my own business that makes no money. I was authorized to contact you by the Facebook Organization and to pass some vital information that can change your life for good which is the reason why i added you. My response, Okay, what’s the info? Before i proceed with the message i will like to know if you have heard about the Facebook online lottery. This is where I started laughing and went off.
This is the second time this year some one has tried to pull this scam on me. It took me like 20 minutes to do some research the first time to learn two things. First, the Facebook lottery is a scam. Second, Facebook employees are not allowed to contact users via private messaging on Facebook. I shared this information via Facebook the first time and this time I shared it on Facebook and my different blogs. Both times, I also shared the so called ‘profile’ of the people involved.
I understand that life out in the wide world is hard and people are trying to find anyway to make some money to survive. However, ripping off other people who work hard for what they have is not the right way to go about it. Especially, since there are people like me who will do the research, report the problem to the authorities, then warn everyone they know via social media. I may not be able to protect everyone but I can protect my small corner of the world.
Grindle Music 