I've got the music in me

Music has always been the most important element in my life (well maybe after love & sex).

My parents both have good singing voices & my mother played flute. The Spokane public school system tested all students in the 3rd grade for musical ability & then made a recommendation to the parents as to what that child should or should not study (this was in the early 60s). I am quite sure they don't offer this service now. It is just wrong that schools have continued to cut The Arts from curriculum.

I had started piano at age 6 & studied until my junior year of high school. The school district's recommendation was for me was to play drums, but my parents said no to that. I wanted to play flute like my Mother, but she thought that playing flute would make me a homosexual...& we all know how that turned out. I started with trumpet & then I got braces. I switched to cello. I played cello until Jr. High when the conductor asked me to switch to String Bass because no one played it. I thought it was a great way to be first chair with little effort. I guess I was pretty good. I played in the Spokane Junior Symphony & had a scholarship at 14 to Tangelwood.

I gave up being an instrumentalist my sophomore year of high school to concentrate on being on stage. I was able to use my musical training as an actor a few times. I played the cello when I played Henrik in A Little Night Music (the pit cello usually played & the actor mimes) & I played the bass in Pump Boys & Dinettes (R thinks that it was my best show ever).

One of my favorite blogs- Deep Dish, challenged readers to name their 35 most influential songs.

Here is my entry:

Once In A Lifetime- Talking Heads

Beyond The Sea- Bobby Darrin

Waters Of March- Antonio Carlos Jobim

Every Breath You Take- The Police

God Only Know- The Beach Boys

Shiver Me Timbers- Tom Waits & Bette's version

If I Had A Boat- Lyle Lovett

Naive Melody- Talking Heads

My Hand Over My Heart- Marc Almond

I Get Along Without You Very Well- Frank Sinatra

Vivaldi's Song- Michael Franks

Train in Vain- The Clash & the Annie Lennox version

Things Have Changed- Bob Dylan

The Windmills Of Your Mind- Dusty Springfield

Fly Me To The Moon- Frank Sinatra (& others)

Take Me To The River- Talking Heads & the Annie Lennox version

One For My Baby- Frank Sinatra

I Get A Kick Out Of You- Jamie Cullum (& lots of others)

One- U2

Mack The Knife- Bobby Darrin (& lots & lots of others)

Little Red Corvette- Prince

Let's Dance- David Bowie

I Will Survive- Gloria Gaynor

I Remember- Stephen Sondheim

Every Day I Write The Book- Elvis Costello

Every Time We Say Goodbye- Annie Lennox

Crying- k.d.lang & Roy Orbison

Older- George Michael

Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk-Rufus Wainwright

Across The Universe- The Beatles

The Ballad Of Lucy Jordon- Marianne Faithfull

God Give Me Strength- Elvis Costello

Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most- Julie London

Anyone Can Whistle- Stephen Sondheim

End Of The World - Matt Alber

Care to contribute yours?

Canines

This is Junior. He is the 5th dog that we have had in our little family. He came to us in August 2007.

He was a rescue dog. Junior was found in the country, outside of Portland, tied to a tree with a piece of rope. The first couple of days he was with us we hardly saw him. I would spy him out of the corner of my eye as he scampered to find a place to hide.

Our vet thought he was about a year old & was Jack Russell & maybe Rat Terrier. His tail had not been docked & he still had dew claws & had not been "fixed". He has the cutest set of nuts...

I know, I know, we need have him neutered, but they are just one fine pair of balls.

He gradually became less shy & has easily become a major player in our household.

Our first dog was a terrier mix that we named Baby. At the time we were living in the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Baby had to go out our door, down a hall, out another door, down an elevator & down a hall to another door just to get outside... & yet she was house trained in about 5 weeks. She was a very cute puppy & as an adult she was a broad. Baby was the canine equivalent of Joan Blondell. She died at 13 of Cushing Disease. We had her put down at home. Her Daddies wailed & cried like Mexican women at the Feast Of Our Lady Of Guadalupe.

Next came a little Jack Russell that we named- Sister, because we had been telling Baby that we would get her a little Sister. Baby hated Sister & I think never really forgave us for bringing her into the house. Sister was a tiny 12 pounds of total alpha dog. She would climb into trees to try & get squirrels. Sister made the move with us to Portland. At the end of her life she was deaf & senile. She would walk in circles for hours & could not find her way out of a corner. She died when she was 16. We had her put down at home. Her daddies wailed & cried like Mexican women at the Feast Of Our Lady Of Guadalupe. She was 16.

After Baby died we got a rescue dog- our first male dog, a Jack Russell that we named Butch.

Butch & Sister got along well. Butch was the best & nicest dog we ever had. He was calm (for a terrier) & sweet natured. Butch got along with everyone. He broke his foot once & we didn't realize it for days. He was so stoic that he never even whimpered. He died very suddenly. I had taken him to the vet because he seemed to be having some trouble. After a couple of hours of testing, our vet said-"get this dog to Dove Lewis Emergency Animal Hospital as soon as possible... he has almost no red cells in his blood & needs a transfusion!" At Dove Lewis I was told that it would be $3000-$5000 just to get a diagnosis. This was not possible for us & we felt incredible pain that we couldn't do everything to keep him going. He died at the hospital at 16. He was so loved & I can still cry when I think about him. He is pictured here (at the top) towards the end of his life.

Larry is another rescue Jack Russell. He is kind of a shit head. Larry is fat & bossy & he demands food when he wants it. He has been know to stare at the drawer in the kitchen that holds the biscuits for hours at a time. He is pictured here with Junior.

The husband & I love dogs...

Baby May 18 1985-February 11 1998

Sister July 11 1989- November 17 2005

Butch December 22 1991- August 10 2007

Larry May 28 1997

Junior ???

VD!

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

I bought the husband really nice, fancy red underwear from a very cool store in downtown Portland- Under U 4 Men. I bought four different kinds including one made of bamboo by C-N 2 & a sexy, great pair by Andrew Christian. The husband is in his late 50s, but he is 5'11'' & 150 pounds with a 30 inch waist. Sometimes I hate him for it. When we were first together we didn't have a separate wardrobe & we both had 29 inch waists. Things changed for me!

By the way... I rarely wear underwear.

I also got a bottle of champagne & truffles from Teuscher Confiserie.

He usually makes me an original piece of art. I have saved them all. This is our 29th VD.

What did you do for this holiday?

Cities

Wow...I started with a bang & just lost momentum right away. How do the real bloggers do this (Kenneth, Joe, Andy, Marc, 3 guys)?

I was watching a bit of The Bachelor last night ( the husband says- "come here quick, The Bachelor is hot & he has his shirt off"!). The show was in Seattle & The Bachelor's house boat is close to where we lived in Seattle.

We both remarked how beautiful Seattle looked & how much it had changed in the 7.5 years since we moved. It made me want to go as a tourist! The Mountains! All that water! The city!

It gave me pause to reflect on how lucky I have been to have lived in such amazing cities. I am a true urban gentleman. I even prefer vacations in major cities.

I grew up in Spokane & left the day I graduated high school. I don't want to say anything too bad about Spokane. My parents still live there & I have friends that remain, but...

I went to college in Boston (B.C.) & Loyola Marymount in LA. I lived in NYC 1975-79 & I lived in Seattle for 20 years. I loved each of these cities.

When we first moved to Portland I thought we had moved to Hooterville. I knew Portland well. We had visited at least once a year all the time we lived in Seattle, but when we arrived, it really did seem SMALL! I have been won over by Portland's many charms, which are considerable. It will probably live here the rest of my life (we often talk about our house as our last). When i lived in Seattle, I used to announce that I would never live anywhere smaller & I would not live anywhere that was not on the coast or a major body of water... so, of course, I moved to Portland!

But...

CITIES I WOULD LIVE IN (given half a chance):

1. Vancouver BC

2. NYC, this time in Brooklyn (maybe Carroll Gardens)

3. Sydney, close to a beach

4. Santa Monica (in a bungalow near the ocean)

5. Chicago

6. Venice

7. Buenos Aires

8. Cape Town

9. San Francisco

10. Amsterdam

The new economy has produced what is known at our house as - The new Austerity Program, & travel is not in the picture right now. But, I can dream about these fabulous cities. Hell, I can spring for a trip to Seattle on Amtrak & I can be a tourist this time.

One of my favortite writers- Brian Bouldrey, rightly claims that travelers ruin the places that they love.