Day: November 14, 2009

Saturday Night Retro

~ Chris M. Day

Long before The Jonas Brothers, ‘N Sync, The Backstreet Boys, Hanson, New Kids On The Block, Leif Garrett, and David Cassidy there lived another HUGE teen pop idol that all of the young girls swarmed after. I’m talking of course about the incomparable Neil Sedaka.

From the age of 19 until the age of 24 (1958 to 1963) young Neil racked up an amazing 14 TOP 40 hits including the # 1 smash “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” and the TOP 5 smash “Calendar Girl”. But then the American music landscape radically changed in the mid-1960s, and young Neil was no longer the hot thing. (He wasn’t British for one thing.)

Fast forward more than 15 years after his initial debut, and Neil Sedaka started hanging out with Elton John who was at the peak of his long career. Elton helped to pull Neil out of his extended slump, and Neil returned to the top of the pop charts as a middle-aged dude. He took his classic “Laughter In The Rain” straight to # 1 at the start of February of 1975, and just 8 months later in October of 1975 his funky “Bad Blood” (with Elton on back-up vocals) hit # 1.

Here now is that very funky middle-aged version of Neil Sedaka from 1975:

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

~ Chris M. Day

Time: 6:33 AM – 7:13 AM
Sky: Clear
Temperature: 58°F
Dewpoint: 55°F
Relative Humidity: 89%
Winds: W 3 MPH
Barometric Pressure: 29.93 Rising

Here are my walking thoughts in 15 words or less:

– This morning I walked around my neighbourhood in the cold.
– 58°F is cold after a long hot and humid South Florida summer !
– I did something quite different this time around.
– I woke up, I put clothes and shoes on, and I did my walk.
– Last season I’d take a hot shower before the long walk.
– That really didn’t make too much sense to me.
– Especially when it wasn’t too cold out and I sweat.
– Now the hot shower comes after the long walk.
– It was the nicest-feeling hot shower in recent medium-term memory !
– This was actually my first walk around my neighbourhood in over 8 months !
– I last did the walk on the first Saturday morning of March !
– I set no records with this walk, but I did walk an estimated 2.2 miles.
– I did that in 40.7 minutes.
– My legs started to hurt just a little bit towards the end of the walk.
– That’s what happens when I don’t walk for over 8 months.
– Sunrise occurred at 6:38 AM – 5 minutes into my walk.
– The Sun first hit me at an incredible time.
– It was when Jesse Santoyo was singing on my iPod Shuffle.
– “I feel so alive – You are by my side.”
– I got the chills when I heard that as the Sun hit me.
– That’s the daylight that I’m chasing on this fantastic journey.
– Walking a couple of miles around my neighbourhood is good for me.
– It’s good for my health, and it’s good for my mind, heart, and soul.
– Thank You Lord Jesus for allowing me to live within your great creations.
– Thank You Lord Jesus for giving me a second chance at this thing called Life.