Fast Car

As a music lover, I've always been a sucker for songs with music that bring an original, new sound to the public's ears. But I also go for the entire package. It's a big bonus for me if a song with beautiful and original music is also endowed with a great set of lyrics. It's poetry set to music.

The following song is one of those. I've loved this song from the very moment I first heard it when it came out in late 1988.

The song's called "Fast Car", written and performed by Tracy Chapman, a great American folk singer. The acoustic guitar introduction and sound was, for me, one of the most original I've ever heard then and since. In terms of originality, I would rank it up there with the guitar and sitar combination that served as intro on the Beatles' song "Norwegian Wood".

I loved the lyrics too. They spoke of sadness, heartbreak and disappointment. In her desire to leave a life of despair and hardship behind, a girl fell for the charms of one who seemingly offered her a way out poverty, one who could help her fulfill her lifelong dreams. But as they lived a life together, she finally realized that all the hopes she had in him were misplaced.

Ms. Chapman eventually won a Grammy ("Best Female Pop Vocal Performance") for this song. Let me then share with you the words that went with the music.

You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere

Any place is better
Starting from zero got nothing to lose
Maybe we'll make something
But me myself I got nothing to prove

You got a fast car
And I got a plan to get us out of here
I been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
We won't have to drive too far
Just 'cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And finally see what it means to be living

You see my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
I say his body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school that's what I did

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so we can fly away
We gotta make a decision
We leave tonight or live and die this way

So remember we were driving driving in your car
The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
And we go cruising to entertain ourselves
You still ain't got a job
And I work in a market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better
You'll find work and I'll get promoted
We'll move out of the shelter
Buy a big house and live in the suburbs

So remember we were driving driving in your car
The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
And I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of your kids
I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me would find it
I got no plans I ain't going nowhere
So take your fast car and keep on driving

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so you can fly away
You gotta make a decision
You leave tonight or live and die this way

The Baker Goes On A Mini-Hiatus

I'll be on a brief one-week mini-hiatus from blogging. There are some matters I need to attend to and as a result, my blogging has to take the backseat for just a few days. Nothing bad or negative so please don't worry about me. I'll be fine.

I say mini-hiatus for I don't think it will be a complete break from posting any blog entry. I may be able to sneak in one or two during the week.

I'll probably bloghop whenever I get the chance but I seriously doubt that I will have the time to post a blog entry due to a rather tight schedule. Will try my best though. :)

Anyway, please take care of yourselves and I'll see you all in a bit. Who knows? You might even see me in one of your regular haunts. :)

Photo Hunt: Shoes

This week's Photo Hunt theme is Shoes.


My contribution to this week's theme is a picture of my left shoe. I took the picture at work earlier this week.

The shot was rather hurried because I didn't want my boss to see me taking a picture of my shoe. He would have found it quite weird and he would have busted my chops no end. :)

Have a great weekend, folks!

Cohesion

Cohesion is said to be the act of uniting or sticking together. In the context of a team, work unit, in relationships or even a family, cohesion refers to a couple or a group that's united in working towards a common goal or purpose.

Cohesion takes time to form because it requires that the development of a certain degree of trust and support among a group's members. It requires that such trust and support be elevated to a certain degree of sophistication that it becomes second nature for all the individuals involved.

Various factors influence the degree of cohesion a team has or would have. Shared experiences, the quality and amount of time a team has been together, and the dynamics within a team are some of those factors.

A team starts losing its cohesiveness once distractions surface. A sports team that finds itself embroiled in controversy or scandal often loses its will and focus to win. Morale among the players eventually break down and before everyone realizes it, the desire to win is no longer there.

Same is true in a work environment. Once a scandal flares up or once an individual pursues an agenda separate and counter to the team's, the spirit of camaraderie within a department or group soon deteriorates and unravels.

In relationships or in a family, cohesion is impacted when a member becomes withdrawn from the normal activities, begins to spend less time with a significant other or from the spouse and kids. Withdrawal leads to indifference and eventually leads to an unraveling of a relationship.

Cohesion is a delicate quality that needs a lot of work to sustain. Teams, couples, families, and even nations that have successfully attained it have reaped many rewards from it. Those who have failed to achieve it or those who simply don't have it are destined to wallow in mediocrity or are doomed to failure.

A Shortage of Engineers (and Nurses too)

This article ("High-tech Japanese, Running Out of Engineers") was from Saturday's (May 17) issue of the New York Times. It seems that after decades of sustained economic success that has catapulted it to the position of the world's second largest economy, Japan now finds itself facing the same problems that a lot of industrialized nations are facing: a lack of engineering and technology graduates.

At first glance, such shortage may present a much needed opportunity for engineering and technology graduates from poor nations. One of the world's largest economies, one that boasts of the highest standards of living in the world is experiencing a rather severe skill shortage. Thus, graduates from poorer nations ought to be flocking to it in droves, right?

Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Japan, unlike other industrialized nations, will probably have a harder time attracting foreign talent to its shores. This is due to the fact that unlike its first world peers, Japan unfortunately has gained a reputation for being a closed society where language and culture have proven to be strong barriers to any outsider.

English is not widely spoken and there are still a considerable number of companies that are against the idea of bringing in foreign workers into their fold. There are glass ceilings in a lot of companies and discrimination against foreign workers is still quite common. There may be some bright spots here and there but as a whole, the country presents quite a number of barriers that a foreigner could find difficult to deal with.

Such attitudes against foreigners is also reflected on its immigration policies for Japan has one of the lowest, if not the lowest immigration rate among industrialized nations. Aside from engineers, Japan is also experiencing a shortage of nurses. However, unlike the US and a number of European countries, it has steadfastly refused to increase its recruitment of foreign workers.

Japan's population is slowly but surely aging due to a negative population growth rate. Unlike China and India with their huge talent pools, Japan does not have that benefit. As per the article, Japanese companies can either increase their hiring of foreign workers or put up factories outside of Japan just to stay relevant and competitive in the global economy.

If it fails to hire the engineering and technology graduates it desperately needs, Japan's competitiveness could slide into irrelevance within the next 100 years. If it fails to bring in more nurses, the quality of health care in that country would also deteriorate. The country urgently needs to step out of its comfort zone to stay a step or two ahead of its rivals. If it fails to do so, then it might as well consider ceding its title as Asia's richest economy to China soon.

Some Awful Truths

Just wanted to share with you a couple of articles that were published on this Sunday's (May 18) issue of the New York Times. Both articles are rather long reads and thus, I will keep my commentary brief. In light of the food crisis that's going on all over the world, both articles serve to remind us of the challenges ahead and what steps we as global citizens can do to alleviate the problem.

This first article ("One Country's Table Scraps, Another Country's Meal") discusses the amount of food an average American family throws away each month. It says that Americans, on the average, throw away 27% of the amount of food available for consumption. The report cited figures from way back in 1997 where statistics showed that a staggering 96.4 billion pounds out of 356 billion pounds of edible food was never eaten.

The food numbers mentioned represent figures from just a single year. It is probably safe to assume that given that the US population has increased by millions more since 1997 that the numbers of food wasted today are billions of pounds higher.

The article does not surprise me one bit. Having lived in the United States for more than a decade, I've always been struck by the amount of food that gets tossed away on a daily basis. It's a common sight in restaurants to see busboys pick plates up with significant amounts of food left and see such food tossed. And yet, the insanity in the restaurant business is that in spite of the amount of food that gets wasted, restaurant executives still keep pushing for bigger serving sizes.

There's a lot of blame to go around. Not only are the industrialized nations guilty of this but poor countries are as well. In a lot of third world countries, our beloved Philippines included, food get wasted even before they get distributed to the consumers due to lack of technology and inefficient distribution methods. When will we in the Philippines ever start developing and constructing an efficient railway system to distribute food products and other goods all across our country's biggest islands such as Luzon and Mindanao?

Although, the article talked about food wastage, it also discussed some steps being taken by responsible restaurant owners and some organizations to put the leftover food to better use.

This second article ("World's Poor Pay Price as Crop Research Is Cut") was reported from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. The article talks about the challenges of battling the global food crisis in the face of reduced funding from the US and other foreign governments.

The IRRI, and other similar food research institutes, became victims of their own success. IRRI successfully introduced varieties of rice that were both high-yielding and pest-resistant that by the late 1980s and early 1990s, the world enjoyed a food surplus. Except in some countries in Africa where drought and corrupt governments conspired to starve millions of people, the rest of the world enjoyed relative stability and security in its food supply.

The problem was that such success bred complacency in a lot of governments. Since the threat of global hunger faded from the front pages of newspapers around the world, the need and urgency to fund the food research institutes faded too.

The good news is that IRRI's researches are still confident that they still have the technical capability to develop rice varieties that could resist future plant diseases and pests. The challenge, however, is to make foreign governments realize about the urgency of the problem and that if no action is taken soon, the threat of world hunger may come back to the front pages of our dailies, if it hasn't done so already.

A Little Lesson 2

Since the weather has turned warmer in my part of the world, I decided this morning to pull the car out of the garage so I could do some serious cleaning and washing. I must say that it took me a good two hours to clear the clutter off my garage and to bring back some sort of shine on my garage floor.

As I was wrapping up, one of the neighborhood kids stopped by for a quick chat. The kid thanked me for helping him out a few weeks ago. You see, the school year is coming to an end here in the United States and a lot of high schools are either currently having or have recently completed their junior and senior proms. So two weeks before his school prom, this particular kid had stopped by my place to ask me if I can show him a few moves on the dance floor. Since he was a very good kid, I happily obliged.

I showed him a few moves and within an hour or so, he was able to master both the moves and the steps. He happily told me this morning that he was such a hit on the dance floor, that he was able to impress this girl so much with his dance moves that they're now dating, and that as a result, he has become quite a popular kid in school. He was so happy that when I asked him if I could take a video of the dance moves I taught him, he was more than happy to grant my request. The only thing I asked was that he be careful because my garage floor was still a bit slippery after the washing I did.

Good kid, isn't he? The kind that will make any dance mentor proud. :D

Which brings me to this other kid I tried to help out a month or so ago. Although a bit chatty, this kid shows quite a bit of promise as a dancer. I strongly believe that he has the talent. He has the fundamentals. I showed him a different set of moves this time. As you will see in the following video, I think he has the moves too.

Unfortunately, the video also showed the problem I have with his parents. I have not found them to be that cooperative and supportive of their son's talent. His father even interrupted his son's dance to ask the kid to make a quick run to the neighborhood store to get a pack of cigarettes.

Were it not for that one interruption, both the dance and the video could have certainly turned out a lot better, right? I think so too. :D

Anyway, and seriously now, the dance tune you heard in both videos was called "Let It Whip" by the American funk music group called The Dazz Band. The song came out in 1982 and was hugely popular in a lot of dance parties I went to at the time. The song was a very big hit and it won the group a Grammy in 1983. I remember that every time this song was played, teens, myself included, immediately got up to dance to it.

Now if you will excuse me, I'll just get my car back into my garage. Thanks.

Video credits: Lejone Ehran (First video), Theqdective (Second video)

Replying to A (Supposed) Kid's Question

I was tagged by Monaco for this meme. It is fairly easy because all one needs to do is respond to a kid's question. (I need to be introduced to this rather perceptive kid. Who knows? He might end up becoming a Pope or the Dalai Lama someday. Hehe) Anyway.....

Copy here:
1. Answer the Kid’s Question by Gregory Stock, PH.D. (Remember: Don’t respond as you think others want you to. Respond the way you actually feel!)
2. Add your name (linked to your blog)
3. Tag everybody else!

Kid’s Question #1
If you were the ruler of the world and you could have anything you wanted as well as have people do anything you wanted, do you think you would get greedy and mean or would you be a good and fair ruler?

My Answer:
If I were the ruler of the world, I would work on establishing a fair and free trading system between all nations. I firmly believe that the world has enough resources to sustain and feed everybody. It is just a matter of coming up with a system to make sure that the world's resources are distributed equitably and fairly. No nation will be allowed to have weapons of mass destruction, including the ones that first developed them.

On the personal side of things, the authors of the blogs I link to will be guaranteed Cabinet positions in my administration. :D

However, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I can be a big head and say to everyone that absolute power will never corrupt me. And if I do say that I will most certainly be lying. I just hope and pray that I will remain wise enough to carefully select the people I will surround myself with. I hope that some, if not all, of them would be courageous enough to remind me of the moral responsibility that comes with such power. Should they fail to stop me from my corrupt ways, I hope that some, if not all, of them would have the courage to shoot me dead before I end up bringing the world back to the problems it faced when I first took power.

Participants:

Jhong, Alpha, Women Xplore, Em, Something Purple, Our Journey to Life, My Planet Purple, Princess Bela, Princess Vien, cookie jar of entertainment, allinkorea, kim, idealpinkrose, korean food, Jackie’s Everyday Life, Jackie Simply Pinay, A Whole New World, Tasteful Voyage, A Mom’s note, There’s no place like home, The Girlicious side of a woman, Discoveries, My Online Journal, Thoughts Of Me, Precious Words, In My Kitchen, Em, Something Purple, Bigeyedgal, Chronic Shopper, A Simple Life, Hailey’s Beats and Bits, ,Hailey’s Domain, PinayWAHM, Teacher’s Corner, ZangCaesar, Read my Mind, A Man of My Town, You're NEXT!

I decided not to tag anybody else for this exercise. Feel free to do so in case you want to respond to the question.

Hometown Hero

My apologies that both my blogging and bloghopping had been quite erratic these past few days due to a rather busy work schedule. I had just completed a one-week assignment in Greenville, Texas and I'm scheduled to fly home first thing Friday morning.

Greenville, Texas is a rather sleepy rural town about 50 miles east of Dallas. Except for a few businesses, the town is made up mostly of homes that sit on huge tracts of land and numerous cow farms. The town has a small airfield, Majors Field, that is owned and run by one of the companies operating in the area.

Aside from being in a major cotton producing area in the United States, Greenville's other claim to fame would be the fact that it was in this town where Audie Murphy (1924-1971) signed up to join the US Army in 1942. To those who are into military history, Audie Murphy is known as America's most decorated soldier in World War II. He was born near Greenville but his actual birthplace is in dispute. Some historians say that he was born in the town of Celeste but a couple of people at the office I visited, both long-time residents of the area, said that he was actually born in the neighboring town of Kingston.

The son of poor sharecroppers, Audie had a very rough childhood. He was the sixth of 12 children. His father abandoned their family when he was 12 while his mother died when he was about 16 years old. Prior to signing up for the Army, he had to send some younger siblings to foster homes to ensure their proper care and survival.

Contrary to some biographical acocunts, he never really lied about his age when he signed up for the Army at 18 in 1942. In the battlefield, he showed exemplary courage in his three years of active service and as a result, ended up garnering 33 awards and decorations, among them the Medal of Honor. He joined the army in 1942 as a private and ended his military career in 1945 as a second lieutenant.

To Filipinos, he became known and popular when he starred in his autobiographical film To Hell and Back which was released in 1955. The movie was based on the book of the same title and my father, like many teenage boys of his generation, saw the movie when it came out in Manila. In fact, I learned of Audie Murphy through my father when as a kid, I had entertained thoughts and ambitions of joining the Philippine Military Academy after high school.

Although he eventually became a Hollywood star and had quite a number of War and Western movies to his credit, Audie Murphy's story was not all bright and happy. Like a lot of young men who got exposed to violent and brutal combat situations then and since, he had also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental problem that was also known at the time as "battle fatigue". For the rest of his life, he suffered from recurring nightmares, insomnia and depression. He even reportedly kept a gun under his pillow to possibly ward off enemies that came to him in his dreams.

His life came to an abrupt and sad end in 1971 when he died in a plane crash in Virginia while on a business trip. Although Hollywood glorified his exploits as a war hero, his lifelong mental problems also showed that he also counted as one of war's many victims.

As for yours truly, although my dream of becoming a soldier faded long before I entered college, my interest in military history and in its related areas remain. I have always maintained the highest respect for the common soldier for his/her willingness to put his/her life on the line to defend our way of life. It needs to be said that a lot of these people often come from poor families. It's quite ironic then that the people who have been willing to pay the highest price to defend our freedoms and democratic ideals come from families who hardly benefit from those materially.

Thus, in spite of the scandals we often hear about in the upper echelons of the Philippine military establishment, let us set aside our cynicism for a while and pay homage to the lowly enlisted man who continues to serve and be loyal to his country in spite of all its problems, broken promises and imperfections.

Not in Love

Talk about a love song with unconventional lyrics. The song's words talk about a man who denies having strong feelings of love for his special someone.

The song's called "I'm Not in Love" performed by the British band 10CC. The song, written by band members Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart, was released in May 1975 and quickly became a worldwide hit for the group.

I was still a kid at the time this song became popular. I immediately fell for it mainly due to the beauty of its music and because of the way the group performed it. I loved the way the lead and backup vocals blended. But although I quickly learned its words, I never gave much thought to what they truly meant. All I knew was that the song was about love or maybe, the absence of it. In short, I liked and sang the song without understanding it.

I was already in my early college years and after experiencing my first romances when upon hearing the song played on DWRK 96.3 one weekday afternoon that I suddenly realized what its words meant. That was when I really listened to the lyrics and internalized them. I saw the song in a different light after that.

Let me then share with you its lyrics.

I'm not in love
So don't forget it.
It's just a silly phase i'm going through.
And just because
I call you up
Don't get me wrong, don't think you've got it made.
I'm not in love, no no, it's because..

I like to see you.
But then again
That doesn't mean you mean that much to me.
So if i call you
Don't make a fuss
Don't tell your friends about the two of us.
I'm not in love, no no, it's because..

I keep your picture
Upon the wall.
It hides a nasty stain that's lying there.
So don't you ask me
To give it back.
I know you know it doesn't mean that much to me
I'm not in love, no no, it's because..

Ooh you'll wait a long time for me
Ooh you'll wait a long time
Ooh you'll wait a long time for me
Ooh you'll wait a long time

I'm not in love
So don't forget it.
It's just a silly phase i'm going through.
And just because i call you up
Don't get me wrong, don't think you've got it made.
I'm not in love
I'm not in love

In the Still of the Night

So before the light,
Hold me again
With all your might
In the still of the night.

In my drunken stupor, thoughts of you come to me. That's then when they find me at my loneliest, when they find me at my saddest.

Shorn of the control and discipline that sobriety uses to shield me, my tears and pain come and flow easily.

I guess I'll just have to close my eyes and let alcohol's power lull me to a deep sleep. At least when the morning comes, she'll find sobriety back fully recovered and me smiling at the world again, even for just a while.

Photo Hunt: Share ANY Photo

This week's Photo Hunt theme is Share ANY Photo.


My contribution to this week's theme is a picture I took when I was out in Carlsbad, California a few years ago.

The picture above is a depiction of a San Francisco city scene, probably the city's famed Marina area, at Legoland's theme park. All structures you see (including the roads) were built out of Lego bricks. The park's truly worth a visit for aside from San Francisco, this park also showcased replicas of other cities around the United States such as Washington D.C., New Orleans, and New York City.

Who Am I?

I was tagged by Mec for this meme that I found to be quite fun to do.

I AM.... a person who enjoys the simple pleasures of life. I tend to zero in on things that truly matter to me. I value substance over form. Although I also enjoy and avail of the material comforts in life, I do not consider myself as materialistic.

I WANT.... a Playstation 3 (Oops! I think I just made a liar out of myself based on the last sentence I wrote above. Hehe Well, anyway, for every rule there's an exception, ok?.)

I HAVE.... a very deep affection and a very soft spot for kids. I probably got this from my father who was, and still is, a favorite uncle to my cousins. To hear children laugh is, for me, one of those things that make life worth living.

I WISH.... I was devastatingly handsome. Naks! Hahaha Seriously, I wish I got to meet my grandparents and my father's siblings who were no longer around by the time I was born.

I HATE.... to see very good things and very good lives come to an end.

I FEAR.... the loss of a loved one and not necessarily just through death.

I SEARCH.... for meaning in any major activity I embark on in life.

I WONDER.... at times if I'm truly in the right religion given all the nasty things (conquests of foreign lands, the Crusades, the Holocaust, the Spanish Inquisition, etc.) that have been committed in its name for thousands of years.

I REGRET.... having to leave my country for a better life elsewhere.

I LOVE.... Loving and being loved.

I ALWAYS.... arrive for meetings, appointments and dates either on time or ahead of time. I absolutely hate being tardy. I would rather wait for the other person than have the person wait for me.

I AM NOT.... gay.

I DANCE.... to entertain kids and to make them laugh. Mimicking Stevie Wonder's moves never fails to elicit laughter even from kids who hardly know of him. (You guys ought to try it too some time. It works I tell you. Hehe) But the moment another adult walks into the room I promptly stop. :D

I SING.... in my head a lot of times and regardless of my mood.

I CRY.... whenever I hear of kids being physically or psychologically harmed, neglected or abused. They didn't ask to be brought into this world so why should they be made to suffer?

I WRITE.... because I can express what's in my heart and mind better through writing.

I WON.... several Math and Science contests for my class in 6th grade. It led the homeroom teacher of another class to complain as to why I was always competing and winning. Ha! Sore loser.

I AM CONFUSED.... as to why some people just go with the flow and not question things. For me, a mind is a terrible thing to waste and to simply go with the flow leads to inappropriate or incorrect decisions and wasted time and effort.

I NEED.... to know WHY I'm being asked to do or believe in certain things. I am a skeptic. I will steadfastly refuse to do or believe in anything until someone has convinced me of its logic.

I SHOULD.... take a bath more often! Hahaha Was just joking there, ok? Hehehe But seriously, I should exercise more to keep my weight down and cut down on drinks and food that contain a lot of sugar. This is due to the sad fact that complications from the big "D" have killed a number of members of the Panaderos clan.

THE LAST THOUGHT YOU GO TO SLEEP WITH IS.... the people I love.

Now I am tagging Dr_Clairebear, Liquid, and Mitsuru.

A Little Lesson

Feeling rather a bit blue and lonely earlier this evening, I decided that I needed to do something positive to lift my seemingly sagging spirits. So I sat for a while and did some serious thinking. After a few moments, I decided to do something that I haven't done in a long while.

So I decided to fix up a part of my living room, moved some of the furniture out of the way to create a little open space, and put up some striped drapes as background. I then went upstairs to put on a white shirt, dark trousers, and a pair of shoes that I haven't worn for quite a while.

Once I got back downstairs, I pulled out my tripod, set a video camera on it, and trained the camera on a particular spot on my living room. After setting the scene, I then rehashed all the complex movements in my mind, moves such as The Rolling Grapevine, the Eggbeater, the Travolta, and the Chicken. Ok, I think I'm all set.

Here it goes then, "a 5, 6, 7, 8...!!"

Ok, now if somebody could please get me a glass of water, I'd appreciate it. Thank you. :)

Seriously, the music you hear in the background is called "The Hustle". Released in 1975, "The Hustle", by Van McCoy, became one of the biggest dance hits during the disco era. In the US, it remains a favorite in dance clubs and ballroom dances more than 30 years after its release.

Now, if you would please excuse me, I think I'll just lie down for a while.

Monday, Monday

This song was the #1 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart on this day in 1966.

The song is "Monday, Monday" by the group "The Mamas and The Papas", a group known for their elegant vocal harmonies. This song was written by the groups's founder, the late John Phillips. He is the gentleman with the guitar in both videos. For the information of my younger readers (ouch!), he was also the father of Chynna Phillips of Wilson-Phillips, a trio of ladies who shot to fame in the early 1990s.

Aside from John Phillips, the other members of The Mamas and The Papas were his then wife Michelle Phillips (Chynna's mom and also a former actress), the late Denny Doherty, and the late Cass Elliot. The group went on to win a Grammy in 1967 for this song.

They also scored another hit later in 1966 with the following song, "California Dreamin'". Although a big hit, this song failed to reach #1 unlike Monday, Monday.

Personal issues between the members led to the band's breakup in 1968. Ms. Elliot pursued a solo career for a while but suddenly died in 1973 from cardiac arrest. John Phillips died in 2001 because of illnesses suffered from years of drug abuse. Denny Doherty died in early 2007. Although these folks have long been gone, their music still lives on.

Photo Hunt: Time

This week's Photo Humt theme is Time.


My take on this week's theme is the Passage of Time as illustrated by the two photos below that I took over the last few months.


This photo was taken a few months ago when Winter was at its height. Not a single leaf on any of the oak trees.


A few months later, we see the signs of Spring. We're witnessing the greening of the exact same oak trees. We're also seeing a more generous amount of sunlight being cast on those trees.

Dancing to "Superstition"

While we're on the subject of Stevie Wonder and his song "Superstition", I want to post a request for help to any of YOU, my dear readers out there.

But first, please watch the following video:

If there's anybody out there who can dance the way these folks danced, please let me know. The request is urgent. I need to learn those moves. My SO wants us to dance to this song the next time we meet. She claims that she can do these moves with ease. Hahaha

HELP!!!

Seriously, I'm not sure from what program this footage was taken. I'm speculating that it might have been Soul Train but I'm not positive on that. The video has not aged that well and the audio is quite out of sync with the video. But I still posted it anyway because this whole video presents a snapshot of how those times were. Plus, the dance moves are still quite cool even by today's standards.

A Day of "Wonder"

When you believe in things that you don't understand,
Then you suffer,
Superstition ain't the way.

I was in my early elementary years when this particular performance on my favorite educational television show turned me on to both the artist and the song.

The artist was the great Mr. Stevie Wonder and shown above was a live performance of his 1973 hit "Superstition" that was featured on the popular children's tv show Sesame Street.

As a child, I had spent a lot of time in the company of older cousins. The music they listened to at the time became my music too. Thus, at a very early age, I was already exposed to both electric and electronic sounds on a number of pop and rock songs that were popular at the time. That early exposure to rock and pop music quickly turned me on to this song the moment I heard its opening notes. My eyes stayed glued to the tv throughout the entire performance. I became an instant fan.

It wasn't a surprise to me then when many years later, I read on some magazine that some music critics consider the above performance of Superstition on Sesame Street as one of Mr. Wonder's finest live performances ever of the song.

Superstition wasn't his first hit. Prior to this song, he had already scored hits with the songs "For Once In My Life" and "My Cherie Amour", the latter being another personal favorite. He first became famous in the US back in 1963 when he scored a hit song called "Fingertips (Pt. 2)". But it wasn't until the early 1970s when he truly became a worldwide superstar.

Mr. Wonder went on to score more hits throughout the 70s and the 80s with songs like "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", "Isn't She Lovely," "I Just Called to Say I Love You", "That's What Friends Are For", and "Part Time Lover" to name a few.

But to this day, Superstition remains a sentimental favorite of mine simply because a great live performance of this song on a children's television show introduced me to a great artist.

To honor such a great artist, let me end this write-up with the following:

Question: Have you seen Stevie Wonder's new house?

Response: Nope, but neither has he.