"Another Saturday Night....."

"Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody I've got some money 'cause I just got paid Now, how I wish I had someone to talk to I'm in an awful way"

Okay, maybe this isn't 100 percent true but that tune has been cycling through my mind over and over and actually both versions of it...Sam Cooke and Cat Stevens? 

If I had to have one of these versions stuck in my head for eternity, which one would I choose?....Okay, gotta be Sam Cooke cuz heeeeee sends me, I know that heeeeee sends me......

So, which version do you prefer?

Let's play a game. Do you remember the following songs and who recorded them? Who do your think did the best job?

A Groovy Kind of Love? Diane and Annita(who?) or Phil Collins, hands down Phil Collins, who else could make those lyrics sound so cool and sophisticated. Patti LaBelle and Sonny and Cher also recorded it, though not memorably (is that a word?)

You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling? Righteous Brothers, Elvis Presley, Hall and Oates, Kenny Rogers (I know, he doesn't rate the list but he did record it) and don't forget The Boom Boom Band.

Dionne Warwick recorded it too. Close race between Righteous Brothers and Elvis but I've got to go with the Righteous Brothers...got goose bumps just thinking about it.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da? The Beatles, Herb Alpert or Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops? I know, No contest. And I don't even like the Beatles!

You Send Me? Back to my dream partner Sam Cooke. Who would be so foolish to try and follow up the best slow-hold-me-tight-honey-and sneak-a-kiss song in the entire galaxy? The Supremes, nice try girls, Steve Miller Band, Richie Havens, Percy Sledge, Michael Bolton, uh, no, and Rod Stewart, which was nice but not Sam, and didn't Chaka Kahn sing it too? Sam where are you?

Crazy? Now Patsy Cline wins this one hands down and Norah Jones comes in a close second but the list of people who didn't record it would be shorter than the list of everyone who did.

Patsy Cline gets my vote for Walkin' After Midnight too.

Am I Blue? Great song, best when alone with a half pint of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia, flannel jammies, box of tissue and big fluffy pillows. Okay, everyone at the same time....Ethel Waters! But it was also recorded by Fats Domino, Charlie Rich, Linda Ronstadt (was that pre or post Jerry Brown) Bette Midler and when I was a little girl, Gloria Lynne.

Have I lost all you readers under 40 years of age?  Do you even know any of the songs above? 

Try this for a battle of the ages!

Michael Buble or Frank Sinatra? Come Fly With Me

Queen, Diana Krall or Michael Buble? Crazy Thing Called Love

Michael Buble or Paul Anka? Put Your Head On My Shoulder! Paul Anka, because I remember my head on Mike Gardner's shoulder when I was 16 and it felt good...he never could understand why I broke up with him...it might have had something to do with the fact that he wanted to be a priest when he grew up!!!!

Let's Fall In Love? Now tell me that song isn't great no matter who is singing it? Diana Krall, Tony Bennett and, uh, what's his name, oh yeah, Rod Stewart. Its delicious anytime.

Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) Phil Collins, he's the man, Scott Savol, I love his voice; and, eventually, Mariah Carey...get a job, honey!

Cruisin' Now this is a contest and I love Smokey Robinson but I gotta tell ya Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis harmonized themselves into my heart, any of my kids readin' this, I want the Duets sound track for Christmas.

Speaking of Huey Lewis, what about Little Bitty Pretty One? Doesn't that song just make you want to put a poodle skirt and jitter-buggin' shoes on and cut a rug! Let me see, Bobby Day and the Satellites, Frankie Avalon, The Dave Clark Five (oh yes they did!!!), the Alley Cats, The Dovells (was over quickly), the Jackson 5, yeah, them too! Actually, the Doobie Brothers recorded it, too. I think they tied with Huey! Just a good song to dance to (or mop a floor).

Love Huey Lewis but Frankie Avalon didn't suck....at least that's what my mommy told me (wink wink knudge knudge)

Riding in a Stolen Car (might just be Stolen Car), Patty Griffin, Bruce Springsteen or the Rocking Chairs (?). Sorry you rockers, gotta go with my girl, Patty.

Break On Thru To The Other Side: Doors or Stone Temple Pilots? Doors, baby!!!

Speaking of the Doors, how could I have forgotten L.A. Woman. Billy Idol, The King, Days of the New. THE DOORS! geez' doesn't anybody have a clue?

Takin' It To The Streets, Doobie Brothers, shame on Take 6 for even trying.

Remember Captain and Tenille and Love Will Keep Us Together. So who do like in this one, Neil Sedaka, The Captain and Tenille, The Tubes or Nickleback or DelBo?

Nickleback also did Saturday Night's Alright. The Who, Elton John, Flotsam and Jetsam or Nickleback. Can't answer that one, haven't heard Nickleback sing it but Elton and The Who are pretty close....alright, Elton, no The Who, no Elton...uh, let me think about it.

Tiny Dancer? Elton or Red Hot Chili Peppers. Elton John and he really did do Saturday Night's Alright the best, yeah, yeah, that's my answer and I'm stickin' to it.

Good Day Sunshine? Lampshade or Beatles..Lampshade, what were you thinkin'?

Monday, Monday? Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs or Mamas and Papas. Who can beat Mama Cass's harmonies?

Well, that was a nice little walk down memory lane and I'm still alone but now I truly feel really old and I'm back to humming: "Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody I've got some money 'cause I just got paid Now, how I wish I had someone to talk to, I'm in an awful way"

That's Just Not Right

Yesterday the troupe and I discovered that we live with a mad man! Mr. Steady-As-A-Rock got knocked off his axis! It was damn scary!

We have new neighbors. They bought the house next door, 4 bedroom, 3 bath, for about $200,000. Not such a good deal! It's been empty for over two years, everything that could be stolen was stolen, yard mostly dead and, turns out, there is a mad man living next door!

The people who bought it are extremely flora-challenged. They chopped down at least 5 trees in the back yard and two little trees in the front. There was an 8' hedge across the front of their yard that was at least 3' thick. Mad-man did trim the hedge back from the sidewalk this spring but it was still very thick. The flora-challenged folk hacked the hedge down to ten 3' sticks with 4 or 5 leaves at the top of each stick. Those poor sticks have never been naked, until now. They are exposed to direct sunlight in triple digit Redding heat (108 the day of the massacre). It is in the middle of a drought, extreme heat, and over 99% pruned. (Can You spell Shock and Trauma?)

Don't bother looking up Shrubbery Protective Services in your phone book or Google. It's a sad world we live in.

As we pull in to our driveway yesterday after church, the flora-challenged (wait, that's a lot to say each time I speak of those people; let's just call them the idiots!)

We pull into driveway and one of the idiots is standing on our lawn, attacking our 6' bushes with cutting tools. She had already cut away about 70% of the greenery, leaving the trunks exposed to sun.
Bye-bye privacy screen.

Mad-man slammed on brakes, and was out of the car before we came to a complete stop!

"What are you doing?" he yelled to idiot.

"Trimming my bushes!" she smiled back.

"Those are my bushes!" yelled red-faced Mad-man.  (Mad-man never gets red-faced....ever!)

"Well, I am just helping you!" Idiot kept clipping away at greenery.

"I don't want your help!" Mad-man actually got louder  (Mad-man never gets loud....ever!)

"But see, here,"  clip, clip, clip, "and here" clip, clip, clip...

"Stop!"

"But I'm helping you!"

"Stop! Stop right now. I don't want your help!"

"Well!" Surprise! Idiot displays indignation!  "These bushes are on my side of the property line."

She did quickly step on her side of bushes, continuing to snip away at random stems.

"STOP! CUTTING! RIGHT! NOW!"

Mad-man stomps into our house and starts pacing. (Mad-man never paces....ever!)  Back and forth he paces. His fists are deep red, almost purple against his bright white knuckles. He paces some more.

I tell him to take a deep breath and he just stares at me with big mad-man eyes.

He heads back out the front door to make sure she has stopped.

There are now ten people standing in her yard, our yard and the street trying to decide where the property line is.

Mad-man stomps back into house. He paces more, mutters a couple of not-nice words under his breath. (Mad-man does occasionally mutter not-nice words under his breath but the breath and not-nice words are typically not accompanied by spit! Spit was present and accounted for!)

I was afraid my normally calm husband was going to have a stroke in the middle of our family room.

"Dead Man Walking!" Bill whispered in my head! Of course, I smiled. Bill does amuse me at times.
Mad-man scowled at my smile.

Mrs. Richardson suggested we call the police and report the vandalism and get on with changing out of our church clothes so that we might start in on our Sunday chores.

"Let's go knock the shit out of those idiots! Who's with me?"  Beatrice is always ready to knock the stuffing out of anybody for anything. Not that she would actually do any of the "knocking" but she incites the fight and sits back and calls all the "sissy punches"!

Carly-Anne and Ms. Machado disappeared in the shadows. BabaMara kicked off our shoes and poured us a glass of cold Riesling. I really like BabaMara.

She made us popcorn, just in case there were any further encounters with the idiots.

The idiots disappeared inside the shell of a house.  Half an hour later they were tossing kitchen cabinets out onto the lawn. Frankly, I've never seen happier kitchen cabinets. They were probably relieved not to have to share space with the idiots!

Last night, as we prepared for bed, all of us (except Mad-man) knelt at the side of the bed and prayed.

Dear God,
Please bring energy to the poor bushes outside, help them survive.
Please help Mad-man return to his Solid-Rock state of being.
Please, have mercy on our household and make the idiots next door be flippers and not residents.
Thank you for the Reisling.
Amen.