When Tiffany sang "you put your arms around me and we tumble to the ground," could I really have pictured a boy and girl tumbling down a hill—like, rolling down it log-style, maybe just before engaging in a potato-sack race? I've spent a lot of time trying to imagine how I sang that song without … Continue reading Memories of Casey Kasem’s American Top 40
80’s Pop Music
I Wanted My Own Bitchin’ Camero
It's the mid 1980s. Bands like REO Speedwagon, Foreigner and Wham! ruled the charts. But there's an underground movement bubbling up -- punk rock. Listening to my Sony Walkman late at night, the local college station would spin strange songs and bizarre artists. Sometimes, the songs were so awful my ears hurt. Other … Continue reading I Wanted My Own Bitchin’ Camero
How On Demand Is Cheating Our Kids
In an age when it’s too easy to become a Ninja Netflix addict, stealthily clicking “next episode” on the iPad at 2am, knowing that you’ll regret it, and not being able to resist doing so, because it’s RIGHT THERE, right NOW, on demand, it’s hard to imagine that there was a time when life was … Continue reading How On Demand Is Cheating Our Kids
FirstNotes and ForeverMusic
I was raised in a pretty shut-down household, where the music available was a strict diet of Classic FM (which I now love), Classical CDs (I love some of them), ‘Churchy’ music (still not that keen), and Gilbert and Sullivan (hate it with a passion). There was one exception (other than the stalwart ‘sung Times … Continue reading FirstNotes and ForeverMusic