The "Snow Up The Yin-Yang" Friday Random Ten

Sorry for the long absence from posting; I've been keeping up with my favorite bloggers, but haven't had the energy, given the circumstances, to post much.

As most people know, we got socked by a blizzard here in Chicago. It's made life a little more crazy than normal. I'm sore head to toe-- not only from shoveling snow, but from a spill I took down the back porch steps-- ironically while going to the basement to get a bottle of wine.

I am partaking in the infamous Chicago "dibsing;" the placing of lawn chairs, brooms, garbage cans, etc. to stake out a space you spent hours digging out for you car, and in my case, my wife's car as well. Above is my neighbor's "dibs," which scores high in every area of classic dibs: variety of material, ugliness and overkill. He also scored points for clearly being drunk when I saw him with his nephews digging out the space at 11:30 in the morning.

Tonight is a night in with my kids and two of their friends. My wife and her friend (the mother of one of the kids) are going to a meet and greet with Rahm Emanuel, who's the likely next mayor of Chicago (she just posted this picture of herself with him on Facebook). Besides spending time with the kids, I'll also been hitting the books; I'm assuming that although my school was closed on Wednesday that our test will go as planned on Monday, since the material on Wednesday wasn't going to be on the test. I've realized lately how bloody exhausted I am, but keep reminding myself that there's only about three months left to this journey. Plus, I got a little added incentive. This week they announced graduation day: May 11. It happens to be my 50th birthday. Finishing this program would be the best 50th birthday present I could give myself.


1. Real Man- Todd Rundgren
2. Beautiful Brother of Mind- Curtis Mayfield
3. Silver, Blue and Gold- Bad Company
4. Joker Went Wild- Bryan Hyland
5. Valley of the Dolls- Dionne Warwick
6. I Can't Tell You Why- The Eagles
7. Sean Flynn- The Clash
8. Mississippi- Bob Dylan
9. Talkin' About You- The Rolling Stones
10. Lady Madonna- The Beatles


Notes:
1. First heard this one on WXRT, our local "Prog Rock" station in the late seventies. Still one of my favorites.
2. This guy, who grew up in the projects here in Chicago was amazing. His son roomed with a friend of mine at Eastern Illinois University.
3. A guilty seventies pleasure; I love these guys. They wrote a ton of great songs.
4. One of many hits Mr. Hyland had.
5. Love Ms. Warwick's voice, especially when she's singing the songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
6. The one hit of theirs sung by newcomer Timothy B. Schmidt.
7. About the combat photographer Sean Flynn, who happened to be the son of the actor Errol Flynn. He disappeared with another photographer near the Cambodian border while covering the Vietnam War, and is widely assumed to have been murdered by the Khmer Rouge. I read a New York Times article about a year ago about a friend of his, a fellow combat photographer, who is still trying to solve the mystery of his disappearance.
8. From the great "Love & Theft" album.
9. From "December's Children."
10; One of the songs Paul penned. A few years back, I saw Yoko refered to Paul as "Solieri to John's Mozart." Not only was this an ungracious thing to say, it's wrong. Paul is a phenomenal songwriter.