Tyminski - Southern Gothic

A couple of months ago I discovered Tyminski (Dan) and his album Southern Gothic. His songs are about all the dark, damp, ghostly, freakish things I love from the south.  The whole album is fantastic.  I'd love to catch him in concert in the future.

I have had the title song from the album, Southern Gothic, on repeat for months.  If you haven't heard it, I suggest you check it out.  The music video is also perfect full of eerie images and scenery.  I sure do love me some spanish moss and darkness...

I Drove All Night & Jason Priestly

I just learned that Jason Priestly (Beverly Hills 90210) was in Roy Orbison's " I Drove All Night" music video.  How did I not know this?

Book Review: Kicking and Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock and Roll by Ann and Nancy Wilson

My mom introduced me to the band Heart when I was a young.  I guess I could have been even been listening to their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, while still in the womb. It wouldn't surprise me since their music has made such an impression on me.I recall in the late 80's the Bad Animals album coming out and by that time, my mom had it on cassette tape.  I would borrow her tape and play the song "Alone" over and over on a boom box that I got for my birthday one year.  What a preteen could be contemplating while listening to that song, I always was the moody, pondering type. By the time cds came long, I added The Road Home album to my collection and of course, bought another copy of Dreamboat Annie so I could listen to Heart in the car. I loved the acoustic version of "These Dreams" in my twenties and found it inspirational when I sometimes felt down.

Kicking and Dreaming was another goal fulfilled for me as I work my way obsessively through all that has been produced by the Wilson sisters.  Yes, there are albums which I still don't own and songs which I still haven't heard. I will conquer them yet.  The storytelling felt intimate as chapters were divided between Ann and Nancy, both described their progression over the years. I felt like I was reading a diary of someone's intimate past.  Both so freely spoke about their upbringing, their relationships with friends, lovers, and each other.  I learned that the "Magic Man" was indeed a love interest of Ann Wilson, Michael Fischer, who she had a young, passionate relationship with while she wrote the songs for Dreamboat Annie.  And Nancy Wilson was in a relationship with Michael's brother, Roger, at the same time. Both dated the Fischer brothers for many years.  Later Nancy went on to marry the director, Cameron Crowe, whom she later divorced but also had twin sons with.  I can now tie together the influences Nancy had on one of my favorite film's he directed, Almost Famous. Lyrics were interwoven throughout the book, describing times in their lives because that's what they wrote about.  When the grunge scene hit in Seattle (where they are from), I learned that they not only had close friendships with bands like Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains but heavy influence on who they became.  Grunge bands of the time treated them like Mother Hens.  Ann and Nancy now in their 60's are still writing music and doing what they love.  I really enjoyed this book and raced though it beginning to end.  Last year, Heart was in concert near my hometown and I was able to see the powerful sisters live.  I loved the concert and sang along with them to all the old songs.  Girls who rocked before it was common for girls to rock.  

 

Record Obsessed - Record Stand Upcycle and Expanding Record Collection.

Growing up, my parents had a large record collection.  We often listened to records while cleaning the house on Saturday mornings. I can still recall the smell of Klean n' Shine ... (Remember Klean n' Shine when Florence Henderson (Brady Bunch) did those commercials long before she did the Wesson Oil commercials?) I remember my favorite record albums back then were Heart's Dreamboat Annie, Juice Newton, and the soundtrack to Grease.

The first larger gift I gave my husband back when we were dating was a record player.  He and I often talked about how much we missed the sound of records and thought it would be cool to own one again. I actually had previously owned a stereo system with a record player but it was stolen from my old house when it was burglarized along with several records.  The record player that I got him back then and that we still own now is a Crosley record player with a removable lid.  It isn't the greatest player but works.  I had decided around the same time, several years ago that I wanted to restore an old buffet that I bought at an antique mall.  We decided that it would make a great record stand because it has a door with tall shelving that is the perfect size to put records and allows them to stand up on end.

Over Labor Day weekend, I finally started my restore project. To be honest, my husband has been harping me about it for years and now that he has an arcade room in the basement, he wanted it out of there. The buffet itself was in great shape, the color was just not so appealing.  A light mustardy yellow paint that while very retro, didn't match my décor at all. 

I used Citri-Strip to remove the old finish.  I had never tried Criti-Strip before but it worked quite well.  It just took a plastic scraper to pull off the paint after letting it sit for a few hours.  I did have to go back across the buffet and strip it a second time but I let the chemicals do most of the work.  My husband sanded it for me to get it nice and even work out some nicks that were there prior.

To stain it, I used a staining gel.  I've stained things in the past with gel and always had great results so I didn't doubt my choice this time.  I definitely made the wrong choice. My furniture is all very dark so I chose a walnut color to match. The color itself was very nice but the number of layers it took to get it dark was a lot and the stain was so thick that it ran down the sides of the furniture.  It was definitely a pain to work with.  I think I ended up with 4 coats and still wasn't completely satisfied but in the end, gave up and went with what I had.  To be honest, unless you are right on top of it inspecting for flaws. it is hard to see the imperfections but believe me, there are plenty of them.  I also replaced the hardware with some more modern knobs that matched the stain. 

Over this last weekend, we moved it inside and put it in it's permanent home in our formal living room.  The record player has been relocated and we even tried it out on Saturday night while we played 90's Trivial Pursuit.  We will probably store board games in the drawers or maybe my old CD collection which has all been moved to flip books over the years. 

We have been working to add to our record collection in anticipation of the completed stand.  A store that we both love in a nearby town, Hastings, is going out of business.  We hit their closeout sale and got some records 50% off and others I ordered online.

My haul so far is: Lana Del Rey, Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine, and Pink Floyd - Roger Waters The Wall. I have a couple of others coming in the mail soon.  I definitely will be replacing my old favorites like Dreamboat Annie.  That's actually a pretty easy sell because I am pretty obsessed with the band Heart and have followed them for years.