Tag: 1978

Wednesday’s Theme Music

Ever get a craving, and the craving stays with you, getting larger and more intense, demanding that you address it? I have one of those going on right now. It’s all about cheeseburgers.

Love a good cheeseburger. The ones that Miss Lee made in Osan City were pretty good for a dollar, when you’ve been out on the town and are heading back to the base to crash. Better were the ones we had at the original Fuddruckers. My grandmother was visiting, and we decided to take her. Once we got there, we were a bit hesitant because the place looked like a dive. But Grandma insisted, so we ate there, even though the burgers were pricier than what we were used to. They were revealed to be amazing burgers.

Next on my list of burgers that I enjoyed was at a place called Clark’s Mountain Broiler in Mountain View, California. They were most excellent. At almost three hundred miles, it’s a little far to drive for one today. So is the In ‘n Out Burger in Medford. Besides that, the lines there are ridiculous. If I were to drive to get a burger, I’d probably go to the Next Level Burger in Bend. The drive is shorter, easier, and more relaxing than the one to Clarke’s. NLB’s burger is plant-based, but it’s astonishingly good, and their fries were awesome.

But I’m not driving for a burger. Louie’s in downtown Ashland has a good burger, as does Flips, both of which can be changed into a cheeseburger (it’s almost magic!). That craving, though, drives me to share a song that’s been rolling around in my head for the last few days.

Hit it, Jimmy.

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Friday’s Theme Music

REO Speedwagon’s Hi Infidelity album was big news when we arrived to serve at Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan, in 1981. I’d written about that album and a few of their songs off that album before.

REO had been around awhile, and I’d like some of their earlier music, so their success pleased me. This song, “Roll With the Changes,” was one of their earlier songs that I enjoyed. First, it’s from the album, You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can’t Tuna Fish. Yeah, silly title, but it appealed to my silly nature.

The refrain from that song, though, “Keep on rolling,” became one of my personal battle cries as things happened in the military and in my life. Yeah, shit happens, but keep on rolling. Adapt and adjust, and keep on rolling. Short story submitted and rejected? Keep on rolling. Mission issues? Keep on rolling. Typhoon? Keep on rolling. Writer’s block?

You get the idea.

 

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Friday’s Theme Music

George Benson had taken us with earlier albums and hits, but his take of “On Broadway” always enlivened the scene when it played. Released in nineteen seventy-eight, when it came on, everyone jumped up, dancing and singing along with it, and trying to scat with Benson.

Good song for a chilly Friday.

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Friday’s Theme Music

You ever look yourself in the mirror, and ask yourself, “Who are you?” Or think you know someone, and then they do something that disgusts you, so you end up asking the same question, “Who are you?”

Yeah, “Who Are You?” By The Who. Nineteen seventy-eight. Sadly, I associated this song with Keith Moon and his death, as the drummer died a month or two after this song was released. Watch him drumming in this video. What expressions, a one hundred-eighty degree difference from Entwhistle on bass, smoking cigarettes but not showing much on his face. Sometimes, it looks like Entwhistle is secretly amused.

This is also when I turned down a promotion in the Air Force, separated from it, and headed home, where I attempted to be a restaurant owner and a college student. The restaurant didn’t work out, and I went back into the military a year later. So, this is a good anthem for that era of my life, as I tried figuring out who I am.

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Well, like Joe Walsh sang back in nineteen seventy-eight, “Life’s Been Good” to me so far.

There are a few wee differences between the life Joe sings about and my life. Like, I don’t have fans writing me letters telling me I’m great. No gold records on the wall. No Maserati. But to give credit where it’s all due, Joe Walsh is eight years older than me. I still have time to catch him.

On the other hand, I haven’t experienced any of the devastation many people of the world have endured, I’m not starving, ill, or on the edge of desperation. My miseries fall into the category of first world blues.

Can you dig it?

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Thursday’s Theme Music

It’s a joy when a song is out there that satisfies on several levels. It’s even better when several performers or musical groups cover it, and you find that you can listen to these versions and like them all, but for slightly different reasons.

That’s the case with today’s songs. My dreams last night ended with me awakening to this song, “Take Me to the River.” My brain was originally streaming Al Green’s version. I mean, it’s Al Green. But I drifted to the Talking Heads’ take on it, and that stayed with me as I walked and got into the writing mood.

 

But, just in case, here’s Al Green performing, with a few guests. I enjoy the different lyrics from the Heads’ version.

 

 

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Today’s Theme Music

Today’s song is “Runnin’ With the Devil,” by Van Halen.

Why? I was writing a scene in my head as I walked through the town’s growing smoke. New wildfires was generating the smoke, and the winds had shifted…and you know how all that goes.

So, with walking, breathing smoke, and writing in my head, my mind started streaming “Runnin’ With the Devil.” VH-1 named this the ninth greatest rock song in history in two thousand nine. I know that after its release in nineteen seventy-eight, it became a jukebox staple in Airman and NCO Clubs and open messes around the world, and stayed there until at least my retirement, in nineteen ninety-five. Why not? The song has that Van Halen hard rock beat, terrific licks for air-guitars, and lyrics easy to understand and sing, in a style that was most could imitate. You know that when it came on in the clubs, many males immediately shifted their attention to singing along.

Feel free to sing along, too.

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Today’s Theme Music

Just a simple song for a hot day in our little city, “Hot Child in the City,” by Nick Gilder, nineteen seventy-eight.

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Today’s Theme Music

Summer brings to mind the parties orchestrated during my military years. We had good parties every where, legendary parties. Part of that was being with good people.

Doug was one of those good people. I was stationed with him at Kadena AB on Okinawa. Our parties at his house began modestly and then mushroomed into block parties. Parties could be declared for anything from the end of an exercise or operational readiness inspection, to holidays and promotions, to “just because.”

Ad hoc teams were established for music, libation, food, set-up, and games. At the height of the parties, we had four or five sets of Bose 901s set up. The music was cranked up. One of the songs that had to be played was “I Want You to Want Me,” from “Cheap Trick Live at Budokan.”

Doug loved that song. It was one played later in the evening, after the most sensible and sober people had departed. Then, up went the volume, and out came the air guitars.

I think of Doug often, especially when hearing this song. I’ve only seen him once since leaving Okinawa, when we encountered one another during exercises in the Middle East, but the memory of him burns bright.

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