Song of the day

Posted on April 3, 2008 by pgold

As mentioned in this blog before, I have a few other music gods, and Billy Joel is one (perhaps at the top). Believe it or not, he is the sixth best selling recording artist in the US. I have been to more Billy Joel concerts than almost any other pop music concerts put together. I have seen at least one show from each tour starting with the Nylon Curtain and having missed only the last tour.

With the Turnstiles Album, Billy Joel had left Los Angeles to return to New York, and his music just skyrocketed. Here is perhaps one of the best songs he ever recoreded. From the Turnstiles album, Summer, Highland Falls.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-jVOFVAfw0&hl=en]

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I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Posted on April 1, 2008 by pgold

Sunday night mkm and I took advantage of her parents’ netflix shipment and we saw the movie “Into the Wild.” The movie is well done and I highly recommend it. It got me thinking though, of some people’s need for solitude. Without wanting to give much away, I understand that the main character in this film had many issues that drove him to where we ended up.

It seems to me, though, that many people seem to need some sort of solitude. At its simplest, perhaps, it is just the need to have 15 minutes of quite time by yourself to get your thoughts in check. Even though I dislike commuting into New York City every day, I can say that the 2 hours of travel time each day is very relaxing.

What of people though, who seem to just stay to themselves all the time. I know too many people who bottle up all of their problems and although they may socialize with others, they are living in a solitude not unlike Chris McCandless. Throwing away all materialism is extreme, but keeping everything to yourself, can be just as extreme.

We are blessed with wonderful friends to whom we can turn for almost anything. And I thank God that despite our problems with Avi, they still choose to be our friends. It does take a village, and perhaps not only in raising children, but living healthily in society.

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Song of the day

Posted on April 1, 2008 by pgold

Time for some silliness. I was listening to Sir Paul on the way to work this morning so I want to have a Paul McCartney (watch this!!!!!) tune today. But I also need a pick me up, so it calls for something silly.

Coming Up is a very fun song, mostly because of the creative video. In the Video, Paul plays all of the instruments dressed as different characters, some of whom are identifiable. Like Buddy Holly, Frank Zappa and Neil Young as well as a Beatlemania era Paul. The song is the ONLY billboard hit that is credited to Paul McCartney. Although he has had many hits since the Beatles broke up, they are either credited to wings or with other people.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvEQmyoP18E&hl=en]

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It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Passover

Posted on March 31, 2008 by pgold

It’s not secret among my friends that Passover is my favorite Jewish holiday.  It is perhaps the quintessential Jewish holiday as it celebrates the birth of the Jewish people.  I spend a lot of time preparing for the Seders and as written in this blog I have been working on a Haggadah for many years.

What I love most about Passover though, are the wonderful youtube videos about Passover.  Well, maybe not what I love most, but many of them are quite funny!  Through the weeks leading up to Passover, I will be sharing some of the best.

I’ll start with perhaps one of the best.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og1pdFGMUMg&hl=en]

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Song of the day plus

Posted on March 31, 2008 by pgold

A few weeks back mkm and I went to the Bat Mitzvah party of a friend’s daughter. It was a nice time and similar to other Bar and Bat Mitzvah parties we have been to. They had a DJ playing music and games for the kids and they brought a couple of dancers to help get the kids dancing. The music was a mix of the all the stuff the kids listen to today. I really cannot comment on it all (although my kids are starting to listen to the Disney stuff like Hannah Montana (warning, PG-13 at least), so perhaps I will have to learn some of it soon).

Anyway, after listening to this music (and of course the all important hora mix) suddenly, we hear music like Mony Mony, Dancing with Myself (warning again), Footloose, etc. Well, we, and all of our friends, got up to dance. It was an amazing 10 minutes. The DJ did not play complete songs, but had a medley of these late 70’s early 80’s tunes. Of course the kids were still dancing too. So for 10 minutes of this party All the kids AND THEIR PARENTS were on the dance floor bopping around to some of the best music ever.

I wonder what the kids were thinking about us. What would I have thought had my parents been on the dance floor with us when we were kids (although they music my parents listen to would never have been played at our parties). Perhaps kids today think it is kind of cool that they share a similar taste in music with their parents. I hope so.

For that wonderful 10 minutes I can truly say that I felt like I was back in High School at a USY dance. And it all came rushing back. In my married life I have never been much of a dancer at these parties. This night, I think I freaked out my wife. When “Footloose” came on I was dancing like I was in that movie! And when today’s song of the day came up, I was bopping around like I was in High School.

Here’s to getting a chance (albeit short) to relive some of high school.

Oh, yeah, the song is “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMD7Ezp3gWc&hl=en]

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Trying to move on

Posted on March 28, 2008 by pgold

Avi went to the neurologist today and we are going to try to up his Adderall doesage.  We’ll do that for a few weeks and see what happens.  I hope it helps, as Avi i starting to shut down in many ways.  When he gets in a situation where he cannot control what is happening, or he is feeling frustrated he either lashes out or he just shuts down.  So at school he is beginning to just refuse to do some things.

He has always loved working on the computers at school.  Out school as a great program where they do some learning on the computers.  The system is somewhat adaptive so it gets more challenging as the kids go farther.  Now that Avi has hit a point where it is more difficult for him, he just does not want to use the computers anymore.  There are lot of other examples.

We know that the meds are not a cure.  He is not going to just turn around and start doing the things he has stopped doing.  But hopefully he will be better able to focus on everything around him and then he might be able to start tolerating the things that frustrate him.

Sometimes it seems like a vicious circle, I hope we find an off ramp soon.

Posted in ADHD, Avi | Tagged | 1 Comment

Song of the day

Posted on March 28, 2008 by pgold

Today’s song is really pulled from a hat. As is apparent here on my blog, my music taste is diverse, but tends to focus on music that is at least 25 or more years old. I rarely listen to the radio (unless it is an oldies station) and even then I don’t like much of what I hear.

A few years back there was a TV show on called “American Dreams” and mkm and I watched every week. It was a show about a family in Philly and the daughter in the center was a regular on American Bandstand. Forgetting about the plot, the music was great and was a big part of watching the show.

The theme song of that show became a favorite of mine. It is called Generation and is sung by Emerson Hart (formally of the group Tonic). So I started listening to some of Tonic’s music and some of Emerson Harts solo stuff and I found I liked it (believe it or not).

Anyway, just goes to show you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Here is a the video for the song Generation. It is a promo piece for the tv show and is a bit cheesy, but you get the whole song.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NyQnrHqByg&hl=en]

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Passover Haggadah Project

Posted on March 27, 2008 by pgold

I have the next five pages from my Haggadah uploaded on my Passover Haggadah blog. Please take a look and leave me comments!

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Rough times

Posted on March 27, 2008 by pgold

I did not want to go two days without writing in my blog so here is a quick post. The past few days have been difficult for Avi. On Friday, Monday and Tuesday he caused enough trouble in class that his teacher called us on Tuesday afternoon. On Saturday in Synagogue he threw a ball at someone and today he was sent to the principal’s office for biting someone.

We had a meeting on Monday with Avi’s therapist and we have the beginnings of a plan and direction, but I know that it will take time. I wish I could see a light at the end of the tunnel, but who knows. We will be speaking with the neurologist soon to discuss his meds and maybe that will help?

Only time will tell.

Posted in ADHD, Avi | Tagged | 1 Comment

Song of the day

Posted on March 27, 2008 by pgold

Let me start by saying that generally, I hate covers. When someone or some group records a song, that should be it. Leave it alone. I understand that there is some flattery in covering someone else’s song, but maybe spend more time on getting your own stuff together and we wont have to listen to Fran Sinatra singing “Yesterday.”

The Beatles may be the most covered group in history. For sure, “Yesterday” holds the record for the most covered song. There are only a handful of good covers of Beatles tunes, and a whole bunch of them can be found in the movie “Across The Universe.” I love this movie, and perhaps some day I will post something about it. In the meantime, my song today comes from the “Across The Universe” soundtrack.

There are a few songs on this album that I feel are as good as or even better to the Beatles version. One in particular that I would not say is better for as good is “Let it Be.” In the movie the song is sung by a gospel choir at a funeral in Detroit. After hearing the song as a gospel song, I thought to myself “why didn’t Paul think of that?” And that is saying something.

Anyway, here is the full scene from the movie.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQNpEET9WqQ&hl=en]

Posted in Music, The Beatles | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment