This is a 12 inch version of this song that I put on youtube. It got 4 views, I'll take it. Ha ha.

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Around the same time that Elton John had a big hit with "Your Song", Three Dog Night did a cover version and it is pretty good. I just put a copy on youtube.

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There is little talk these days about the predicted pandemic of Swine Flu that was supposed to threaten the world last year. What might have been the reasons for the scare? One reason might be big pharmaceutical companys benefiting from people rushing to get vaccines. Interestingly, the head of the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S, who was part of the effort to scare people into getting the vaccine, quit the CDC and took a job as head of the vaccine division at Merck Pharmaceuticals. An interesting conflict of interest.

http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/2009/07/julie-gerberding-now-officially-paid.html

And this is a British television report on the swine flu scandal:

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It is interesting looking at the views of the videos I posted on youtube the last couple of days. Most have very few views. I think the most have come from my spin friends for my quiz room video (Almost 40 views, thanks!)

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Then in a surprise, the next most views (about 30) is from this old song by The Tubes. This recording has an interesting spoken intro, where a guy says something like "As I mentioned at the close of the last record, this record is another example of the completion backward principle. If you can possibly manage the time, please listen to both sides at one sitting". Then the spectactular song opening. I wonder if the CD version has this because there are obviously not 2 sides of a CD.

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Second most is of course, Dominatrix, that is hot despite being from 1984, with very little airplay, but made by a certain someone I knew. I uploaded a couple of different mixes from the vinyl. Closing in on 20 or so views:

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Youtube says "third party content matched". That sounds like a block but here it is.

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Here in New York City we just had the Gay Pride Parade which was attended by the mayor and governor. I don't have a problem with the idea that everyone should have equal rights and live and let live. I have had some really good friends who were gay (or who I strongly suspected were gay), and it had no bearing on our friendship. But gays try to make the case that they are the same as everyone else, but in the gay pride parade, more than a few people paraded around with their genitals hanging out. Straights don't parade around in G-strings and jock straps in the various other parades in the city. And then gays wonder why some people are hesitant to support things like gay marriage...

This is Roger McGuinn's live version of The Byrds' Chestnut Mare from the 1996 CD "Live From Mars". I met Roger McGuinn when he was promoting the record and even got a hug from his wife!

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I just figured out how to take videos using my digital camera, and how to post videos on youtube, so I made my first movie about the Quiz Room. It is shaky because I was playing the quiz while filming. :)

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QuizBot: 10 seconds left.
Lalala..@!@!*: :-)
QuizBot: The answer is: French Republic, People's Republic of China, Russian Federation, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America
Lalala..@!@!*: aye
[electric. left the room]
kelliewilson80: pants
QuizBot: [QUESTION] Name all five band members of New Kids On The Block in alphabetical order (first names only). (Genre: Music, points: 3)
sam!!: no
Lalala..@!@!*: oh man...
QuizBot: 50 seconds left.
QuizBot: The answer is: Danny, Donnie, Joey, Jon, Jordan
QuizBot: Ending the game...
QuizBot: Rankings:
QuizBot: 1. sam!! (123) 2. lalala..@!@!* (69) 3. bonaaqua (47) 4. stunningsteve (36)
QuizBot: 5. kelliewilson80 (13) 6. quadro (8) 7. farofa (8) 8. martin2010 (7)
QuizBot: 9. deerhunter! (4) 10. bettyswollocks (3) 11. electric. (2) 12. ayrton (2)
bonaaqua: this is all minx's doing
Lalala..@!@!*: hopefully!
Babel: gay gayboy queer poofter and shirtlifter
Lalala..@!@!*: wd all!
sam!!: gg all
kelliewilson80: gg all
Lalala..@!@!*: nice sam!! ~
Farofa: rofl
bonaaqua: wd sam
sam!!: thanks Lalala..@!@!* wd!
Lalala..@!@!*: wd bonaaqua :)
sam!!: thanks bona u2
bonaaqua: merci, gg
Lalala..@!@!*: thank you ☺
martin2010: wd sam
sam!!: thanks martin2010 nice name!
Lalala..@!@!*: wd steve, martin, Quadro , Farofa ...!
Farofa: nah ty wd u

This song invokes memories for me of a perfect summer.

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A great summer song from 1974.

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I didn't find this original version of the song before on youtube so I uploaded it. It is a really great song from 1995 that is pretty much forgotten today. Seems like the video is NOT blocked on youtube, yay!

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Some years ago my father died suddenly on June 25th. Shortly after, I came across this song and it really helped me deal with it. This song is about the circle of life and understanding that is really a way of healing. This is from the copy of the album I bought at the time and I must have played it a hundred times the first year afterward. (Video may be blocked in some countries.)

Tom Rush - The Circle Game

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There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams...

This song has the most bizarre, and great spoken intro, the volume is low but worth a listen for the beginning. From my vinyl copy:

The Tubes - Talk To Ya Later

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How could I not make a youtube of probably the only person who I knew, very well, who had a hit record? I won't mention who that is hehe. I made a CD from the vinyl and then uploaded it to youtube. The picture is from the artwork on the album but is not the actual vocalist.

These are alternate mixes of the original recording including the "Dominant Mix" and "Beat Me"

Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight

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And it is the third song I uploaded to youtube. It may or not be blocked but I can view it.

Mighty Love - Pt. 1 - The Spinners

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This is what young sam!! was rocking out to back in the day. From the original vinyl, includes a skip for authenticity.

We Live So Fast - Heaven 17 (12 inch single)

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I admit I knew nothing about adding videos to youtube before yesterday but I got this one successfully posted this morning after playing a bit with Windows movie maker. It's not really a movie but I got it added to youtube!

Lawnchairs - Our Daughters Wedding

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This song is often considered the best freestyle song.

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This is a $20 note with seven "7"s in the serial number. This is a picture of the actual note I bought.

I agree, dancing is definitely worth it.

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Red Skies - The Fixx

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Steve Forbert was a great singer/songwriter who never made it really big but had some very good songs in the late 70s and early 80s.

Steve Forbert's Midsummers Night Dream

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Romeo's Tune

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From 2007:
Goin' Down to Laurel

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One of the great summer songs by Bruce Springsteen.

Backstreets

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I was 16, going to an all-boys high school, and didn't know any girls. I had no idea what it was like to be in love. It was the most unlikely thing that I would get a girlfriend. But then it happened. This was the days before the internet so there wasn't even that way of meeting people. Due to a strange occurrence, I found myself on a telephone party line and started talking to a few girls. Now keep in mind this wasn't a party line that was created for dating purposes. It was a phone number for a rock and roll radio station. It just so happened that if you called and got a busy signal, somehow anyone else on the line could talk to each other between the sounds of the busy signal. I guess it was nature's way of getting guys and girls together who had no other way to meet.

I met a few girls this way and exchanged phone numbers with a few but none really interested me, until I talked to a Jewish girl in Brooklyn named Lynda. She was 15 and we immediately hit it off. We talked for hours the first day, and I think we said that we loved each other. I guess we were 2 kids who didn't have the defenses or inhibitions at that age. For the first time, I experienced what love was. I went through the whole next day and I couldn't think of anything else other than Lynda. Not a thing. We were a number of miles from each other, and I was taking drivers ed that summer but didn't have my license, so there was no easy way to meet. We did exchange pictures right away and I think we were both pleased with how we looked. I was certainly pleased with how she looked.

So for the next 3 months or so we spoke every night for about 2 hours I would guess. We spoke about teen stuff like school and parents (and even sex), but mainly about our future together. It was a magical summer, and I guess it was a summer fling as it eventually came to an end. So I had experienced first love and first heartbreak. But it was probably the biggest thing that took me from being a kid to an adult. I was never the same after that summer, and I mean that in the best possible way.

I have saved a card/love letter she sent me and I am glad I have it these years later. I believe that love never dies. We grow older but a gift of love exists forever. Here is the lovely card she sent me. It still makes me happy. (She called my by my middle name, Robert, it's a long story lol).

Then a few years ago this song came out about first love.

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I don't really follow the Foo Fighters so I didn't know they made this but wow what a great song.

The Best of You - Foo Fighters

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There is an actual working farm in the middle of Queens in New York City close to where I live. They have chickens, sheep and a cow on the farm, which dates back to the 1700s. Here is the farm's website:

http://www.queensfarm.org/

I took a walk this morning to the farm and took this picture of the chickens:

Here are some of the sheep:

Lat night I was listening to the late night radio program called Coast to Coast with George Noory. The program deals a lot with supernatural topics. The guest last night wrote a book about the old soap opera called Dark Shadows which had vampires in it. It was a very interesting program if you have ever seen the show, which is now available on DVD.

So today I decided to look up more information from the show's website. It turns out the author of the book is a guy who was a friend of my old girlfriend Beatrice. It's a small world sometimes.

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2010/06/18

Heck this is my blog and I will post this video as often as I want to. :)

Great, not good, memories.

From my walk on the wild side....

Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Remastered)

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1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy
and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have a faith that can move mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor
and surrender my body to the flames,
but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies,
they will cease;
where there are tongues,
they will be stilled;
where there is knowledge,
it will pass away.

For we know in part
and we prophesy in part,
but when perfection comes,
the imperfect disappears.

When I was a child,
I talked like a child,
I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man,
I put childish ways behind me.

Now we see but a poor reflection
as in a mirror;
then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part;
then I shall know fully,
even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain:
faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.

What if you slept?
And what if,
In your sleep
You dreamed?
And what if,
In your dream,
You went to heaven
And there plucked
A strange and
Beautiful flower?
And what if,
When you awoke,
You had the flower
In your hand?

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

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The Groove Tube (Warning: some nudity)

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These songs take me to a different world.

Astral Weeks:

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Sweet Thing:

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Madame George:

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Cyprus Avenue:

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If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

- Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Van Morrison has had an almost 50 year music career. He has made pop classics like Brown Eyed Girl, as well as songs in all kinds of genres like jazz, R&B, soul, country, and just good old rock and roll. He went from writing Brown Eyed Girl to writing the album "Astral Weeks" which while not a big seller, is perhaps the most mystical album ever recorded. It touches on all areas of life while seemingly coming from a higher plain than the mere mortal world. He is able to express his soul throughout his career, and it resonates deeply to me. No one has all the answers, but Van Morrison knows the questions.

Days Like This - Van Morrison

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This is the album version of this song. There is a live version from his 1989 Beacon Theater concert video that literally gives me chills up and down my spine.

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I bought Office 2010 today, the home and student edition. It is about $150 and is licensed for 3 computers. I haven't used Office a lot the last few years but that is a good price and worth having.

I forgot how much I liked this song.

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The Bucketheads - The Bomb

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Yaz - Only You

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Up The Junction - Squeeze

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Now a certain man was sick,
Lazarus of Bethany,
the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with
fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair,
whose brother Lazarus was sick.

Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying,
"Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."

When Jesus heard that, He said,
"This sickness is not unto death,
but for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

This time of year reminds me of when I took some summer courses in college. This story is about one I took some years ago in graduate school. (Yes, sam!! has an MBA lol.) I had been in a few classes with a girl named Mary Ellen. We were more than acquaintances but not really good friends. Then one day she made a comment about having dinner sometime. Then, when the summer session was coming up, she said she wished we could take some more classes together. OK, I was game and I enrolled in a course she was taking that summer. I did need the course for my degree, but I enrolled really for the only purpose of being in the class with Mary Ellen.

A few words about Mary Ellen. She had an OK face, an extroverted personality, a sexy manner, and killer legs. Top 5 set of legs I have ever seen. So the summer class started, and Mary Ellen sat next to me during every class. However it was weird, in that before class, and during breaks, she always managed to chat with other people in the classroom, and never with me. This happened once, then twice, then a third time. I couldn't figure it out. I hadn't pursued her, she said she wanted to take more classes with me, and had mentioned possibly going out. It was still early in the summer session so I could still get a refund if I dropped the class. After the third time of her basically not saying a word to me, I didn't tell her but just dropped the class. Then a few days later, after the second class I hadn't shown up at, Mary Ellen calls me up at work and asks where I was. I told her that the class wasn't really working into my schedule. She acted all upset that I was no longer enrolled. I still don't know exactly what was on her mind in that whole scenario. I didn't see much more of her after that.

But...there was another girl I got to know in a class I added after dropping this one. That summer turned out to be my "summer of Marys", as I became friends with a girl named MaryAnne. That was another interesting story in itself.

All Around The World - Lisa Stansfield

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I know anyone who may read this blog wishes I would shutup already about Claudia. :) But she was such a unique person who shared her friendship with me and that was truly one of those gifts that you get once in awhile for seemingly no reason. <edited for tools>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominatrix_(band)

I hope this video gets many more views: (though as I mentioned before they got a model to lip-sync her vocals in the video)

Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Remastered)

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Not a good, but a great song:

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Creed from The Office was in the 1960s band The Grass Roots. Here is him playing guitar in a striped shirt.

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Best of Creed:

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I'm just another heart in need of rescue
waiting on love's sweet charity.

White Snake - Here I Go Again:

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I am not the biggest Madonna fan, but I have some memories of dancing to her music.

In 1990 I was dancing to "Vogue" with a girl I worked with from Citibank at a then hotspot in Manhattan called SHOUT.

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Then in 1996 I was dancing to this with my friend Claudia, who knew Madonna and didn't particularly like her.

Don't Cry For Me Argentina:

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Hot Chocolate:

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Jefferson Starship:

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Foo Fighters:

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Insane Clown Posse: (explicit)

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Simple Minds:

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If I were to say to you
"can you keep a secret? "

Would you know just what to do
Or where to keep it?

Then I say"i love you"
And foul the situation

"hey girl I thought we were
The right combination".

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Persons Unknown is a new series that started last night. The first show was very good. It's about a group of people who apparently get abducted and end up in a hotel in a deserted town. Well it is deserted until a group of Chinese people who show up in a Chinese restaurant. This kind of mystery show is better than Flashforward and V, as the premise is simpler and the people are more interesting. They just need to keep the story moving without too many clues and dragging out the meaning of the story indefinitely like what happened with Flashforward and V.

Found Out About You - Gin Blossoms

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Looking back, 1995 was a good year for music. (Embedding disabled, click on link at bottom of video to play.)

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You might have guessed that I am playing a tape this morning that I made in 1995.

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"I believe the very purpose of life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think the very motion of our life is toward happiness."

"If you maintain a feeling of compassion, loving kindness, then something automatically opens your inner door. Through that, you can communicate more easily with other people. And that feeling of warmth creates a kind of openness. You'll find that all human beings are just like you, so you'll be able to relate to them more easily. That gives you a spirit of friendship. Then there's less need to hide things, and as a result, feelings of fear, self-doubt, and insecurity are automatically dispelled."

- The Dalai Lama

Kind of shocked to read that Jayzik Azikiwe, the "Rollergirl" in this memorable Dire Straits video passed away in 2008. She is pure grace and beauty here:

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Some basic truths here:

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The Look of Love - ABC

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And though my friends just might ask me
They say "Martin maybe one day you'll find true love"
I say "Maybe, there must be a solution
To the one thing, the one thing, we can't find"

This is a good summer song, and I especially like the "working up a tan" line.

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This year I decided to work on my tan, and with a little work was able to get one without much sunburn. I think I look much better with a tan. My legs were pasty white before but now look a bit better. I even feel OK wearing shorts:

(I hope this isn't considered internet porn. lol)

Baywatch:

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We Close Our Eyes:

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Call Me:

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King of Wishful Thinking:

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I saw grief drinking a cup of sorrow and called out,
"It tastes sweet, does it not?"

"You've caught me," grief answered,
"and you've ruined my business,
how can I sell sorrow when you know it's a blessing?"

- Rumi (1207-1273)

This is one of my favorite Stones songs. Very cool. What guy hasn't felt like saying at one time "I'm not waiting on a lady, I'm just waiting on a friend." And this video was filmed on Saint Marks Place in the East Village in NYC.

(Embedding disabled, click on the link below the box to play.)

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When this song was popular, I think around the spring of 1998, I was hanging out and listening to this song with a slacker named Dahlia. I guess that makes me a bit of a slacker too.

Fastball - The Way

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So I fill up my car's tank today and hand the guy a couple of $5 bills. The guy starts looking over one of them and mumbling that "it's white". Now until 3 or 4 years ago, there was no color in the $5 bill. He says to me do you have another bill. I look at it, it is perfectly normal and is from 2003. I say what do you think this isn't real? He repeats do you have another bill. So I give the guy another $5 that has color. People are just bizarre sometimes. I have been going to this gas station for several years, am a fairly clean cut all American male, and I have never heard of someone counterfeiting $5 bills. Plus if you put this guy on an airplane, let's just say he would get a little extra attention from security based on his nationality. But I am the one suspected of passing a phony $5 bill because it is older than 3 years when they started adding color to the bills.

Ever notice that when you are falling in love, this is the kind of song that you keep hearing on the radio?

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Being 16 and in love for the first time. Ah...............

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"Learn to be silent.
Let your
quiet mind
listen and absorb."

- Pythagoras (580 BC - 500 BC)

I just found another CD that has my friend's recording of Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight. It is a compilation of remixes which includes artists like the Bangles, Hall & Oates, Wham, Depeche Mode, Bruce Springsteen...and my friend Claudia. Good company!

Here is the link to the CD.
http://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Edge-Volume-4/release/2171627

And here is the original recording, now with almost 2,000 views in a little over 2 months.

Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Remastered)

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I first heard this on Sunday and I can't get enough of it:

I Was A Teenage Anarchist - Against Me!

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Can't ever forget this great video where Sinead sheds some tears around the 4:00 mark.

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But this may be an even better song. The definition of a kick ass performance.

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