Music Monday/Monday's Music Moves Me: Celebration and Truth

The theme for today's Monday's Music Moves Me and Music Monday is a song of celebration and a song that describes ourselves. The first is a song celebrating the summer solstice.

Here is a lesser known song by Elton John which describes how misunderstood I tended to feel in my youth. Depressive with an interest in the "supernatural" and the "occult," sure didn't fit in with the local church youth group. Believe me, the rumors flew. 
Like Lady Samantha, I was "harmless and empty of anything bad." I guess the rumors about me being a blood sucking fiend from beyond the grave were more interesting than the reality that I was just a shy, lonely young woman with a vivid imagination who happened to like wearing black.

I still like wearing black, and while it's nice to be understood, if people don't want to make the effort, I'm not going to do bend over backwards trying to make them like me. I've got better things to do with my time.

~DJ Helena~

Stumper: What is This Song?

Can anyone tell The Variety Guy what song this riff comes from? He believes it's from the New Wave era. I came of age during those years, but I can't pinpoint the tune. If you can, go to his You Tube channel and give him the 411!

~DJ Helena~

Psychedelic Furs: Heaven

Heaven, is the whole of our hearts
And Heaven don't tear you apart
Yeah, Heaven, is the whole of our hearts
And Heaven don't tear you apart

There's too many kings
Wanna hold you down
And a world at the window
Gone underground

There's a hole in the sky
Where the sun don't shine
And a clock on the wall
And it counts my time

And Heaven, is the whole of our hearts
And Heaven don't tear you apart
Yeah, Heaven is the whole of our hearts
And Heaven don't tear you apart

There's a song on the air
With a 'love you' line
And a face in a glass
And it looks like mine

And I'm standing on ice when I say
That I don't hear planes
And I scream at the fools
Wanna jump my train

And Heaven is the whole of our hearts
And Heaven don't tear you apart
Yeah, Heaven is the whole of ours hearts
And Heaven don't tear you apart

Yeah, Heaven
Ah, Heaven
Yeah, Heaven

Young Noble Feat. Rip the General: Smoke the Pain Out

TRIGGER WARNING: DISCUSSION OF SUICIDE IDEATION

You may be saying to yourself:

"Petra, how the hell can a middle-aged white broad relate to what these guys are saying?"

Let me tell you.

I've never experienced living in the ghetto or losing my friends to gang violence. I lived in suburbia--the run down part, not the new subdivision. School violence consisted of fist fights. My school was pretty damned homogeneous. There were a few Latinos, a couple of black kids, and a couple of Asians. For the most part, we were white as white could be. So no, I have not experienced the culture these guys are talking about.

What I do understand very well is this line:

"I smoke the blunt to take the pain out and if I wasn't high I'd probably try to blow my brains out."

I got called Pothead Petra back in the day. My fellow smokers said it with admiration. Those who think that "users are losers" said it with disdain.

I wasn't stupid. I got good grades. I was Goth. I was theatrical. Sometimes the darkness welled up inside me and threatened to consume me. I was sure the Devil was coming to take my soul. I thought I was so bad, so wrong, so filled with original sin that God had rejected me and this is why I felt so bad all the time.

At other times I felt like there was a wild beast inside of me that was trying to rip its way out. This beast really didn't want to harm anybody (although if some of the sneering ones had gotten in its way they may well have lost their heads.) 

The Beast was bored of the lame ass crap that the school was cramming into our brains. It wanted to tear out, jump through the window, and run off down the highway in search of the nearest rock concert. It wanted to drink wine and dance naked and maybe have sex if it found a particularly appealing fellow, but honestly, sex didn't much enter into the thought process. It was mostly about having carefree, wild fun--about being able to at last express what I was feeling inside.

But I couldn't. The wild me wouldn't be accepted, and certainly the gloomy, melancholy, anguished me wouldn't be. So I drank and I smoked. The others who smoked with me seemed to like me well enough, but I don't think they understood me.

I didn't understand me.

I graduated high school, went to college, met a guy, got married, had kids, got divorced, had lots of shitty relationships, trusted the wrong people time and again, and hated myself. A movie was always playing in my head that I desperately wanted to come true. It hurt like all the fires of hell that it couldn't.

It took me what may well be more than half a lifetime to start accepting myself.

Before writing off people like the guys in the video, take the time to try and understand where they're coming from. Take the time to try and understand the circumstances they come from.

Users are not always losers.

I always hated that damn PSA.

I'm no longer Pothead Petra, and I haven't been for a long time. That doesn't make me some kind of saint. 

I now understand the nature of the beasts within me. There's a psych diagnosis for that. It doesn't mean that the things I felt are invalid.

Until we can all start to open our hearts and love a little more, to really love and accept each other, people are going to have to smoke or drink or shoot up or pop a pill to take the pain out. And it's not right to judge them for feeling like that's what they have to do in a world full of pain. 

We can hope that one day they don't feel the need to do those things any more. What we shouldn't be doing is using words like "loser" to describe these actions. Being an addict or hurting so much that you can't see any way except to dull the pain with substances does not make a person a loser. It makes them a soul in need of compassion. 

There's enough harshness in the world. Let's try to understand our fellow travelers a little better before we point fingers and cast judgment.

Peace,

DJ Petra

Gloria Estefan: Don't Let This Moment End

Perry Como: Angela Mia

Angela mia, you are my angel, dear,
The heavens sent you down to me from up above.

Angela mia, you are my guiding star,
A sweet madonna that I honor and I love.

You're like the sunshine in all its splendor
And I surrender each time you smile.

Angela mia, my prayers are answered now
And I am thankful for Angela mia.

Netherworld Court TV: The People's Court: Teenage Bully is a Bad Liar

I've been on a "Court TV" kick. It's always amusing in a horrible sort of way when someone tells a blatant lie and expects other people to believe them.

~DJ Wanda~

Splash-a-holics: Please Get the F**k Out Your Feelings

My son and some of his friends have been listening to this track and others by this band. I wanted to express some thoughts.

There's certainly nothing new about angry young men expressing angry thoughts. The words might vary, the thoughts remain the same. The music has an energy, a driving beat, a fire. Expressing angry thoughts through creative activity is actually a positive thing.

My son knows my feelings about referring to women as "bitches." There are a couple of instances of "my bitch" in this tune. I'm not good with that, but it is the vernacular of the culture. My son and his friends are respectful to women in my age group, and they know better than to refer to younger women as bitches or they'll catch hell from me.

My thoughts boil down to this:

It's fine to express angry feelings through music or other creative avenues. It's even fine to express the kind of politically incorrect thoughts that we all have in our subconscious. It helps bring these thoughts to light so we can see them for what they are and work on them.

It's fine to tell a story about what you see, including acts of violence. Sometimes that's what it takes to wake people the hell up.

It's fine to express frustration and anger about a relationship that's gone bad.

It's fine to appease the darkness within by allowing it to express itself creatively.

It is not fine to advocate violence or maltreatment of others based on race and gender.

I'm fine with my son and his friends (who are all young adults) listening to this group and others like them, so long as they understand why certain aspects of the music are problematic.

~DJ Yeris~

Stupid Callous Homophobic Hateful Legislation

There truly is nothing that I can add to this gem.

~DJ Scary Carrie~

Netherworld Court TV: Judge Judy: Justice is Served

I'm by no means a pillar of society, but some of the people going before Judge Judy make me look like the cream of the crop!

The fact that the comments on the video make THEM look like the cream of the crop is truly terrifying.

Here is part 2 of the episode.

~DJ Wanda~

Netherworld Court TV: Judge Judy Sets a Young Lothario Right

Join us on Netherworld Court TV as Judge Judy sets an overconfident young jock with wandering attentions to rights for standing up his Homecoming date. The moral of the story is: don't stand your date up, or you may end up in Judge Judy's courtroom!

Also, a word to the wise: don't read the comments, unless you want to feel unclean after being exposed to the absolute dregs of society.

~DJ Wanda~

One Direction: More than This

Nice young men with nice voices. I wondered if this was going to be a cover of the Bryan Ferry song. I wasn't sure what to think of that, but after listening to this, I think they could have pulled it off.

"Boy bands" tend to get a bad rap. Personally, I don't care if a band is popular or lesser known, or what particular formation it takes. I only care if I enjoy listening to them. These fellows are easy on the ear.

~DJ Tempest~

Cold War Kids: They Don't Write 'Em Like That Any More

If you're not a child of the cold war, you wouldn't understand the real significance. It was more than just a game. It symbolized a fear that many of us lived with all the time.

Cold War Kids: They Don't Write 'Em Like That Any More

OR

Rambling Incoherent Bullshit Self-Absorbed Navel Gazing Self Reflection Interspersed With Cool Music and Cultural References From A Bygone Era That I Never Really Reconciled With The Events Of So It Continues To Haunt Me

by

The Cheesemeister

AKA

The Real Cie

AKA 

Creator and Head Buttmunch In Charge (and I use the term loosely) of Team Netherworld

The Breakup Song is the inspiration tune for the Midweek Blues Buster prompt. It also happens to be the song I was listening to as I approached home base last night and it inspired me to do some navel gazing—er—self-reflecting.
This post will only be very lightly edited, and will probably become rambling and go off the rails, because that’s how I tend to roll. See this post about “bipolar disorder” and “brain like the web of spiders on drugs” for more detail about why this happens if you care to learn more about the way my brain works, and why I’ll never be able to be one of your cute little published authors who “made the grade.”
 I will include the tunes as I listen to them, for your listening pleasure as well as mine, because, hey, I’m a generous soul. You can just listen to the music if you want, or you can read my rambling thoughts too.
 Once again, I don’t get to share my work with the Midweek Blues Buster people because, like is so often the case with me, I’m not following the rules. The prompt is for the creation of flash fiction. This isn’t fiction, no matter how improbable it may seem to others, or no matter how much I might wish it was at times. This is my real life and my real, actual, messed-up thoughts.

The mix that I’m sharing here includes the poppier side of the music of my seemingly self-absorbed g-g-g-generation. I was a metalhead, albeit a nerdy one. I’m still a metalhead, albeit an aging one. However, my musical tastes have always been eclectic. I enjoy pop as well as the hard stuff. I also listen to a lot of mellow, ambient tunes. 

As I’ve said before, I like everything from African folk music to Zydeco. Backtracking to The Breakup Song. I’ve never really been able to break up with the demons from the past, even though I changed the locks and took away their keys. I don’t press charges when they stalk me. They generally don’t rip huge wounds in my psyche the way they used to. They just nibble at my already iffy mind day in and day out, and I fear that one day they may consume it, and I’ll wind up a blithering mess not recognizing the fact that I’m sitting in my own piss and shit. 

 I’ve taken care of people in this sort of condition since 1988. True, it’s prions (myself, I think that Alzheimer’s disease is a prion disease) and dementia caused by strokes, and being medicated into a twilight state to offset the horrific agony caused by certain cancers, and other forms of dementia that cause people to become deteriorated to such a degree that they don’t realize they’ve soiled themselves; not having a troubled past or a major but somewhat manageable mental illness or three. 

Still, sometimes I want to run out of this setting screaming. I (and everyone else who works with this population) hopes we die, not before we get old but before we become like this. Seriously, sometimes death is better. I’m not trying to be morbid, although I’m certainly capable of that. I’m being truthful. Name me one person who wants to live unaware of their own bodily functions and unable to care for themselves in any way. Yeah, I thought so. 

This is the Twilight Zone for reals, Bitches

This leads me back to thoughts about getting older. All of my relatives from my grandparents’ generation are dead. My own father died three and a half years ago after a long period of physical and finally cognitive decline. My mother turned 74 on Sunday. I am on my way to becoming the older generation. What the fuck wisdom do I have to impart when I’m still not a finished product by any means? This is my parting wish as I prepare to step into the Twilight Zone. 

Xenophobia does not mean fear of these critters. It means hatred and distrust of foreigners.

Could we please not have another cold war? Could we please stop with the damn xenophobia and desire to appear to be the coolest kid on campus whether we actually are or not? Can’t we all just fucking get along? I hope against hope.

~The Cheese~

Cross-Posted to:

The Cheese Whines

KHEL 666

Strange Forces Acrobatic Dance

I'm blown away by the strength and agility it takes to do what these guys are doing.

Apparently, there is a B.A. Honors degree in Circus Arts. So, if you are far more flexible and agile than I am (of course more than half the people on the planet are, if I'm honest), you may want to check it out!

~DJ Helena~

Lady Gaga & Beyoncé: Telephone

Say what you will about Lady Gaga, there is no denying her creativity. There may be times when she tries a little too hard to show how different she is, but she does come up with some very interesting ideas.

Gaga evidently has been strongly influenced by Madonna. Like said predecessor, the revealing nature of her costumes is not designed to appeal to the male gaze as is the case with so many female pop stars. The costumes are designed to push limits and to be somewhat startling. Gaga may be considered seductive, but she is not in any way submissive.

Musically speaking, the tune is catchy and danceable. I know I have been living in a cave, as I had not actually heard it until now. It will be going into my "Club Mix" playlist.

~DJ Tempest~

KHEL 666 Movie Clips: The Sperm Sample from The Switch

So wrong...and yet so funny. His facial expressions kill me.

~DJ Sadie~

Los Campesinos!: I Just Sighed Just So You Know

It's DJ Sadie, bringing you a gritty, lo-fi slice of life from Welsh indie band Los Campesinos!

First and foremost, let it be said
I am writing this at 7:10 a.m.
On the hot dry tarmac of a vacant forecourt
Astronomically speaking, it's the first day of autumn

The sun is hanging 'round like summer's hungover
They knocked the garage down and made flats for our sin
The traffic's so persistent it barely registers
And it smells like a mix of petrol and dog shit

Just let me be the one you let
Keep track of the moles on your back
I just sighed, the universe replied
Let this pass you by

Sometimes it's just enough to know
I keep him on his toes
Is he as sympathetic as me
To the untimely demise of your synthetic clothes?

I've displayed marriage proposals on the Jumbo Trons
Of ballgames you've not been at
I've written eulogies in guest books at galleries
In the hope that you might pass

Just let me be the one you let
Keep track of the moles on your back
I just sighed, the universe replied
Let this pass you by

She nervous and barefoot chats to me at the front door
New boyfriend inside the same becoming a martyr
Me rolling, writhing on the floor
Stared daggers pulled from my thoracic wall

Well, I hold seashells to my ears
Pretty sure I can hear you

You gave a gift of her favorite book of love poems
Annotate the ones you thought applied the most
I'm gonna win you 'round with prose
If anyone should know I should know

Girl, that must be the reason you let slip
To the point of sending the message
Six months of visceral Catherine wheels
Kissing carnivores to make you seem less of a deal

Just let me be the one you let
Keep track of the moles on your back
I just sighed, the universe replied
Let this pass you by

I promise after this I will pick up the phone book
And choose the name that my eyes fall upon on the first look
A moral of my poorly composed declarations there in the future

I'm so sorry to have put you through
A lifetime of dedications you never desired

And this one sentence bludgeons me over the head
Okay, I'm a little bit drunk and I mean just a little bit
A lush in denial, only rather coquettish

I'm fifteen years old and my parents' only son
Like I barely survived a girl's school education
Prettier now that you've grown your hair long
I'm a slip of a man since I cut mine all off

Please just let me be the one to keep track
Of the freckles and the moles on your back

New Discoveries: Terry He

Terry is a young Canadian hip hop and soul musician. You can find out more about him on his You Tube channel and Facebook page.
The featured song is a gentle, romantic number suitable for all listeners. The video tells a story, and the young women in the video are co-stars rather than objects to be ogled. 
I hope that Terry has a long career ahead of him. With all the "shocking" and "outrageous" acts in pop music today, it's refreshing to find a musician whose focus is good songwriting with a positive outlook. Terry He gets two thumbs way up from me!

~DJ Tempest~

Three Days Grace: Overrated

KHEL-TV Soap Time: Bo and Hope of Days of Our Lives

This person has numerous video clips featuring the Bo and Hope characters from Days Of Our Lives. If you love the dynamic between these characters, this is for you!

~DJ Opal~

Chris Logic: Be My Girl

Soulful young hip-hop artist from Torrance, California. I'm enjoying this smooth, romantic tune and want to spread the word about this talented young man.

~DJ Lily~

Sheamus Brings the Smack Down

Here's one Ginger you'd better not try to kick. It's Sheamus--and yes, WWE is my guilty pleasure.

~DJ Blooming Psycho~

They Bid Me Slight My Dermont Dear

Felicity Lott and John Mark Ainsley sing this beautiful tune from Beethoven's WoO (Werke ohne Opuszahl or Works without Opus Number)152: 25 Irish Songs.

~DJ Spectra~

Guano Apes: Quietly