You Gonna Cry??!!

Sunny - Hi 49 Lo 30 for Baghdad, Iraq
Light Rain - Hi 54 Lo 37 for Qandahar, Afghanistan
Rain - Hi 39 Lo 27 for Northern KY, USA

Song of the week: Stop Your Sobbing, The Pretenders

I think I was 16 when I heard the Pretenders for the first time. The song was Tatooed Love Boys and I thought it was the coolest song I had heard... it was edgy... and just under the punk movement radar... the best part.... the front man of the group was a chick... not just any chick... but a chick from Akron, Ohio... just up the highway-- a mere 3 hours away. See, when I was 16 you had 3 --- OK 4 camps for female artists--- Pat Benatar , Debbie Harry, Patty Smith and Chrissie Hynde. All were talented.... Vocally, Pat Benatar had the most talent and pop appeal. Patty Smith was one of the "founding fathers" of punk rock- but she was too raw... too self absorbed... too angry for my taste. Deborah Harry from Blondie was great... always gave the impression that she didn't care about anything... Blondie played at CBGB's.... a place I always wanted to go to but never made it there... Chrissie Hynde on the other hand was simply cool. She played guitar... she wrote.... she sang... she was the decision maker in the band. I admired her. I wanted to be her... and in my bedroom in front of the mirror, singing into my hairbrush... I WAS her.... When James Honeyman Scott and Pete Farndon both died from drug overdoses... I was pissed. The band had put out 2 albums and both were fantastic... Both are burned in my memory... I know them both cover to cover... Scott was wonderful and created some gorgeous music... idiots-- what a waste... Chrissie and Martin Chambers persevered and came out with Learning to Crawl my senior year in high school.... Back on the Chain Gang and My City was Gone (Rush Limbaugh's theme song). Too me though... there first two albums were the most resonant... Mystery Achievement, Kid, Private Life and this cover from The Kinks.... good stuff...

Ramble:

I was going to do a long rant on crying... but... it is getting late in the morning and I have a couple of projects I need to get moving on, so this will be short... Have you noticed how much more everyone is crying? While vegging in front of the television, flipping through the channels and stopping on any reality show, you will find yourself watching some poor sap burst into tears.... male- female- kid- doesn't matter... sooner or later... someone is going to be crying... Michael and I thought this would make a great drinking game... anytime someone cries... drink... the rules have been modified for Biggest Loser... you drink every time someone cries or you see a man boob....one drink per pair.... ew.

I'm the first to admit... I'm a baby... a sentimental sap.... I get teary eyed over a sweet commercial... I get all weepy when I think about my nieces and nephews and how quickly they are growing up... I cry at the playing of our National Anthem.... I weep when I think about the brave young men and women defending us against evil.... When did it become okay to cry in public? When did it become so easy for men to cry? I have seen my grandfather get teary eyed twice in my life.... once at the grave site of his little girl and once on my wedding day just as he was getting ready to walk me down the aisle... Maybe I am just "old school" and believe crying to be a private thing only to be exhibited in public on the rare occasion... I don't care who you are.... but if you are a parent... don't cry in front of your kid... You wanna freak a kid out? Be an adult and cry.... A kid needs the adult in the relationship to be the rock.... I remember seeing my mother cry once... she was so sad and I remember, I started crying too.... I was scared out of my mind... Stop crying...

You never saw Steve McQueen, or John Wayne or my beloved Yul Brynner cry... even when he had a lung removed and he knew he was dying....

I guess the icing on the cake was when I saw the footage of Hillary Clinton getting "emotional" about how concerned she is... Flashes of Susan Smith and her crocodile tears went racing through my mind... PLEASE NOTE: the comparison is CROCODILE TEARS nothing else...

I don't know... I just have to wonder how we are perceived as a nation.... a bunch of self absorbed cry babies consumed with self indulgent behavior and crying every time we don't get our way....

Have a great week everyone!