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Monday, December 04, 2006

Dad Update/Britney/More Christmas Music

Remember back in June, when I posted that "they" found that Dad had cancer (with a little "c")? I was chatting with someone tonight, and they mentioned that their mother was going into surgery this week. It dawned on me that I hadn't updated about Dad! A decision was made last month to go ahead and perform surgery on him because the tumor was still bleeding. So Mom & Dad ran off to Vegas last week (I think--I haven't talked to them since last weekend...), and then Dad was to have surgery Tuesday. While I was chatting with the aforementioned person, I got this following email from Mom (in its entirety):
    Dad's surgery today went very well. He'll be in overnite and should come home tomorrow. Later, Mom
I missed it. It was Monday. I mean, I'm glad that he came through it OK, but I'm upset with myself that I spaced it out. And I'm a bad son. And again, my mother doesn't love me.* No "Love, Mom". "Later, Mom".

This is what they did to him. Wrong on so many levels. But I guess he's OK. You know as much as I do. I'll get an update for you.
*--It should be noted that I have a great relationship with my parents, and that I'm being facetious about all this. Other than the fact that I really thought the surgery was supposed to be Tuesday. And that I haven't spoken to them since last weekend. And that Mom emails me, in spite of the fact we live two blocks away from each other... Rachel will vouch for me!
When I was managing a CD store in the latter part of the 90s, I got a phone call from a young woman asking if we had the new single out by Britney Spears. I used all my resources and came up with nothing. No artist by that name. This woman told me that Britney was her cousin, and that her grandmother had the single, and that she had a website through her label. Lo and behold, there she was--this pubescent schoolgirl with the big smile. And her first album was to come out soon. Being all about customer service, I clicked on the "Email Britney!" button, explained that I was writing for her cousin. Two days later, I got a reply. From Britney. Highly doubtful it was from one of her flunkies, because it came from more of a personal AOL account, and mentioned her cousin by name, which I hadn't done. Of course, she also managed to get me some singles for her cousin.

Fast forward a couple of years later. Her cousin got us some autographed materials for the store after going to SLC to see her in concert. I still have the insert to the first CD, autographed by her. It was a big attraction in the store. Helena gossip machines were in full force when it was leaked that she had snuck into town to visit her family here. Of course, she hadn't, but we had the autograph, so we played up the fact that she was in the store, and had signed it here, and her DNA was probably on the counter by the till. Fast forward another year, and I saw her in concert in Washington at the Gorge on my way to a different concert in Seattle. Luck of the draw there, but I did get to see her in her "prime".

Fast forward to the present. If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing it yet, or even hearing about it, there are pictures of her out on the town with Paris, with no panties, and flashing her hoohaw to just about anyone with a camera nearby. I won't bother with a link--just google it. There's plenty out there. It's a little (OK, alot) pathetic what money, fame, bad parenting and bad management has done for that particular generation of young females. Brit, Lindsay, Paris, Nicole, Ashley, Mary Kate, and numerous others. Almost all of them lacking real talent, all of them totally out of touch with normal reality, all of them totally out of control. Used to be a time that every boy's fantasy would be Britney appearing in Playboy. I don't think Hef would even be remotely interested anymore...
To cleanse the palate...I'm going to start with the Christmas music review. This won't be a daily thing, but I'll try to do at least every other day. Depends on how busy I am. I'll include the singing snow people to let you know it's a Christmas song coming up!

Today's particular song is "Jingle Bells" by the country trio SheDaisy. They released their Christmas album in 2000, after just one CD to their name. In my opinion, this album is, BY FAR, the most original album of Christmas music of anything out there. It's got their trademark vocal sound, of course, but the arrangements are superb. What do you do to "Jingle Bells" that hasn't been done before? You Celtic-ize it, rework the melody, and present a totally different sort of a song. They give other diverse treatments to many familiar songs, and add a couple of their own songs to the mix. Overall, a highly recommended CD (even if you're not a country fan--little of this album sounds "country").


christmas-music-piano


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