Top 5 Thursday!

Top Five:

Artists My Parents Taught Me to Love

I remember, as a kid, our radio was always on the "oldies" station. You know, besides the classic instrumental and rock we played on our record player. That being said, I developed an appreciation for some artists that I might not have, had my parents not been stuck in the 70s and 80s. Let's face it -- early 90s music wasn't that exciting, anyway.

1. The Beatles

I'm not talking Sgt. Pepper Beatles, or even Abbey Road Beatles. I'm talking Please, Please Me, Hard Day's Night Beatles, and Revolver Beatles. You know, before they were into drugs and crazy experimentation -- though Revolver does have some of the first use of non-Western instruments in pop music. To this day, Revolver remains one of my favorite albums.

(I love songs that end on V! I think that makes me a nerd. Oops.)

2. Led Zeppelin

I went through this phase where I listened to IV on repeat. My parents used to switch off driving me from Tallahassee to Jacksonville at 7am for a modeling class I took for a couple weeks. I would put it on and promptly fall asleep, so I feel like I kind of learned it through osmosis. Plus...Kashmir is an awesome song, you know?

3. Benny Goodman 

(or Glenn Miller or any other bigband bigshot.)

One of the things I remember most about being a kid was going on Tuesday nights to listen to my Dad play with the Swing Band at the Legion Hall on Lake Ella. He gave me my appreciation for big band and my love of some of the great instrumentalists of that time period.

4. Fleetwood Mac

Is it just me that remembers dancing around the house to Tusk and Rhiannon with their Mom? No? Just me? Ok, that's kind of what I thought.

5. Lynard Skynard/Charlie Daniels Band

Ok, so it might be cheating to count these two as one, but my Dad (and growing up in the south) definitely gave me an appreciation for southern rock. I still can't stand country music, but you better know I can sing every word to Devil Went Down to Georgia. (You also know Charlie Daniel's ain't very good at playing the fiddle -- ahh, the joys of music production!)

(link up for Top Five Thursdays over at The Perfect Compilation Tape!)



we are mistake (top five thursdays)

I am linking up with The Perfect Compilation Tape for Top Five Thursdays! I couldn't resist, because this week the topic is...

Top Five Favorite Tearjerkers

(p.s. this is actually kind of hard for me, because every movie makes me cry. i'm a weeper.)

(p.s.s there might be spoilers in here. just sayin'.)

5. Hidalgo 

At the end, when the horse almost dies and then it's a race to the finish between the three horses and then Hidalgo runs the fastest ever and wins and OMG I just cry the whole time cause the little horse did it even when nobody else thought he could and I'm crying thinking about it now. *takes a breath* I love this movie. Nate thinks it's boring.

4. Toy Story 3

I just saw this recently and mostly it's funny and cute and makes me laugh. But then you get to the end, where Andy is giving his toys to Bonnie and telling her all about them and it's just so sweet. It's also makes me strangely emotional to think about how the first one came out when I was younger, and this is (most likely) the last Toy Story movie and how Andy grew up with me. 

3. Ice Princess (judge me, it's ok)

Honestly, this movie was probably pretty stupid, but any movie that deals with a child wanting their parent to be proud of them tugs at my proverbial heartstrings. Being a person who lives for praise from my parents (and friends and...everyone,) when she's skating at the end, and sees her Mom in the stands watching and cheering for her, it makes me all weepy.

2. I Am Sam

Talk about sad. Sad! I pretty much cry this whole movie. It's just so heart wrenching that Sean Penn's character has no idea what's going on, and that his six year old daughter has every idea of what's going on, and she's trying to protect him and Dakota Fanning has the most intense sad little girl eyes ever and WAAAAAAAH.

1. The Notebook (oh come on, I had to!)

I have cried over this movie many times for many different reasons: love found, love lost, wishing, thinking, hoping, knowing, losing. There are some other movies that do this to me, as well (namely: Garden State,) but The Notebook is just so beautifully told. "If you're a bird, I'm a bird."

floating down the river (top 5 thursdays - music!)

Love this topic! It's hard for me to make a list of only 5 songs, but here goes:

(excuse me while I sit here and stare at things for five minutes because this is HARD for me. UGH.)

1. I Want it That Way (Backstreet Boys)

This song is for my sister. Because it's our song. We would sing it to eachother, upstairs in Browning (our houses were known by their street names, because my parents bought houses as our family got bigger, and then kept the old ones and rented them out -- we were not super rich, I promise.) We would text eachother when it came on the radio. We occasionally just text eachother the opening lines. Because it is ours. We're not even really that big of Backstreet Boys fans...

2. Wannabe (Spice Girls)

Because seriously, what girl didn't want to be a Spice Girl? My best friend, Jess, and I used to dance around to this song. We knew all the words. I was Ginger Spice, because I had red hair, and she was Scary Spice because, well...she looks kind of like Scary Spice. ;)

3. Poker Face (Lady Gaga)

So this song isn't all that old, but it reminds me of first hanging out with Nate before we were dating. Specifically, the first time we went dancing with the other memebers of our a cappella group (where we met,) this song came on. We got fed up with not knowing the words to this "new" song and told the other person we would have it memorized by the next time we went dancing. The rest is history!

4. Call on Me (Eric Prydz)

I didn't discover this song until college, when it was played pretty much every Tuesday 80's night at AJ's on the roofdeck dancefloor. AJ's is nasty, but it's where I gained some of my best friends in college and discovered my love for ridiculous 80's powerpop. And seriously, the roof deck would sway if too many people were up there. And if you started jumping up and down -- because that's what you do to 80's songs -- they turned off the music until everyone stopped, so we didn't go crashing down through the roof of the building below. Now, I just get all dancy when I hear this song. I wish it would last forever

5. For Good (Wicked)

This song reminds me of my friend Megan. She's very far away now, and getting married next year. We aren't as close as we used to be, but I love her. Back when we met in high school and were roommates freshman year of college, this was going to be the closing song of our senior recital. Well, we never really got there. But this song (really this whole musical) reminds me of her. She helped me grow up, and be stronger than I thought I could be. We were ridiculous.

I have so many more I could put here: Africa (Toto,) Our Children (Ragtime,) Ironic (Alanis Morisette,) The Luckiest (Ben Folds,) The Next Ten Minutes (The Last Five Years.)  I have so many memories, associated with so many things because I live my life through music. It's part of being a musician. =)

Wanna do this and link up? Go here!

-C

(I was trying to think of songs that reminded me of all three of my best friends from high school, and I couldn't come up with anything that wasn't choral. I have individual songs: Cotton Eyed Joe -- Jessamyn, you know what I'm talkin' about; The Rose - for my Leslie...do you guys remember anything I'm missing?)