The Last Piece Friday Random Ten

I finally found that piece I'd been looking for-- the last piece. I moved my old clunker bicycle that got me to and from both nursing school and work for the last few years, from my old place to my new place this afternoon, officially completing the move.

Remember that scene toward the end of "The Blues Brothers" when the Bluesmobile finally gives up the ghost? That's the way I feel about things. That clunker bike is in need of repair. And last night, my little Apple Powerbook that I hoped and prayed would get me through nursing school finally crapped out (though I may be able to revive it by restoring some software).

So tonight I'm up at in my attic office space, at a desk that my great-grandfather owned (and purportedly built) on a hand-me-down laptop. Despite herculean efforts, I still have a ton of unpacking to do, and then after that, I have to move a ton of stuff from the storage space I used to transition the move (books, dvd's, musical instruments, etc.)

I was a little wistful as I pulled away from the old place today. I raised two kids there. But on the way from running one of the bicycles from the old place to the new place, I ran into an old, old friend. My friend Lois, who was my lab partner in high school chemistry class, was out chatting with a friend. She and her husband come into the restaurant once in a while and I knew she lived in the area. I think that it was a good omen. I think my kids are going to love this new place. And I think I am already getting to really like it.

1. Smokin' In the Boy's Room- Brownsville Station
2. We're a Happy Family- The Ramones
3. Just the Way It Is Baby- The Rembrandts
4. Hold On- Santana
5. Lover's Concerto- The Toys
6. Bop 'Til You Drop- The Ramones
7. Hawaiian Island World- World Party
8. Back In '72- Bob Seger
9. Why Me?- The Planet P Project
10. The Girl With the Far Away Eyes- The Rolling Stones


Notes:
1. Great seventies one-hit wonder
2. "Sittin' here in Queens/Eatin' refried beans..."
3. Hard to believe this song is over 20 years old.
4. Written by Ian Thomas, who had a one-hit wonder in the seventies with "Painted Ladies." He's also the brother of SCTV's Bob Thomas.
5. The melody for this song is based on a classical piece.
6. What's the only thing better than a Ramones song in your Random Ten? Two Ramones songs!
7. World Party was pretty much Karl Wallinger. The self-titled debut album is now 25 years old, and one of my "desert-island" albums.
8. Seger's on my "Bucket List" of performers I still need to see live. He played here in Chicago recently, but it was on the night of my "Turned 50/Graduated Nursing School on the Same Day" party. Maybe next year.
9. The Planet P Project was a solo project by Rainbow keyboardist Tony Carey. A while back, I heard the song on my shuffle and I was thinking about the lines:
The last man to be here was never heard from again
He won't be back this way till 2010
It sounded really futuristic back in 1983, but it was now last year.
10. I wasn't crazy about the "Some Girls" album when it came out 33 years ago, but it's grown on me over the years.