Friday, December 04, 2009

First Winter Day Friday Random Ten

I took out the recycling this morning-- in shorts, t-shirt and sandals-- and realized winter has arrived here in Chicago, though the official beginning is not until December 20th or so. There's a sprinkling of snow on the ground and it's 20 degrees.

I had my last class, other than the final on Monday, yesterday. It was basically a big study hall while the teacher took us one by one and gave us our exit conferences.

I heard some nice things in my conference. I think my teacher enjoyed having me as a student as much as I enjoyed having her as a teacher. I've really come to realize I'm doing the right thing.

This weekend, I'll do a little studying for my final. But today, I'll do a little cooking and a little reading and indulge myself a little.

1. Fire- The Ohio Players
2. Just The Two Of Us- Grover Washington, Jr. and Bill Withers
3. Carefree Highway- Gordon Lightfoot
4. Who'll Stop The Rain- Creedence Clearwater Revival
5. Singing Winds, Crying Beasts- Santana
6. Lorelei- Styx
7. Miracle Man- Elvis Costello
8. Machine Gun- Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsies
9. Avalon Hideaway- ZZ Top
10. Killing An Arab- The Cure



Notes:
1. This song got lumped in with disco, but it's actually really a friggin' great R and B song.
2. One of the great seduction songs ever written
3. Lightfoot was part of the early sixties folk scene
4. CCR's commentary on the Vietnam War
5. A great instrumental on the terrific "Abraxas" album that seques into "Black Magic Woman."
6. Styx when they didn't suck.
7. I should list the artist "Elvis Costello and the News;" Costello's backup band on his angry first album was Clover, Huey Lewis' backup band.
8. Hendrix with his army buddy Billy Cox and R and B great Buddy Miles.
9. From their 1976 "Tejas" album, still one of my favorites.
10. The Cure's first hit, based on an Albert Camus "The Stranger," still sounds good 30 years later.

8 comments:

LegalMist said...

Awesome list.

Funny, just this morning I was thinking winter has arrived early here in Arizona, too. Highs between 60 and 63 degrees all week, lows around 40. Brrrr....

Oh, wait, you probably think that's *warm* or some such foolishness... :)

Johnny Yen said...

Legalmist-
Hah! Very funny! ; )

Earlier this year, I got in touch through Facebook with a kid who lived on the block in a Chicago suburb my family lived after my family moved out of the city. My family moved to another suburb and her family moved to Arizona. She told me that right after college, she moved back to the Chicago area for a while, but could only take it for a few months-- she couldn't deal with the winter.

Churlita said...

I like to think of the Ohio players as being a funk band, and not disco. I also like to think they are awesome. What a great song.

I grew up in Arizona and moved to the Chicago area when I was 10. I had no idea that real cold actually hurt.

SkylersDad said...

Another awesome list JY!

Yeah, I remember the days before the suckage of Styx...

Mnmom said...

oHIO players!

Winter is here too, and it's cold!

dmarks said...

I always thought of the Ohio Players as pre-disco area, and thus not part of it, no matter how long they lasted.

Unlike the Bee Gees, a British band with a long history that got so attached and immersed in the disco era that most don't seem to know that they existed before it.

purplelar said...

Ohio Players had the best album covers!

Erik Donald France said...

Cool tracks. "Machine Gun" is uber'