Month: July 2010

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Career History Life Music People Radio Shopping Television Travel

Saturday Night Retro

On this 93RD edition of my ‘Saturday Night Retro’ I take you back to a wild and crazy life that I like to refer to as the Fall of 1986. I was a young 19-year-old USAF Airman (one-stripe) at the time living and working in the United Kingdom at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. During the work week I analyzed KC-135A Stratotanker aircraft maintenance data for the 11TH Strategic Group. After work during the week I took in the British radio and television pop culture via the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4. During the weekends I enjoyed discovering the free nation. Cirencester, Swindon, Oxford, and London were frequent getaways. Shopping and music were common themes. Music concerts were frequent at The Apollo in Oxford and London’s famed Hammersmith Odeon.

This week I continue ‘The Awesome ’80s In August International Dance Party’ with a memorable act from the Fall of 1986. Celebrating their 30TH anniversary in existence it’s the English HI-NRG dance act known as Dead Or Alive. Fronted by Pete Burns (who celebrates his 51ST birthday next week) they scored their biggest smash ever 25 years ago this Summer in 1985. You may remember “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’. They followed-up that anthem with a second hit that was nearly as huge and memorable – “Brand New Lover”. It’s a track that I memorized all of the words to way back then, and even today I could sing it Karaoke style at the drop of a glowstick. It’s one of the greatest dance songs of its style ever made in my lifetime. Let’s kick this thing into HI-NRG ! 

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Animals Blogging Career Driving Food Health History Holidays Home Life Music Philosophy Travel Weather

The Major’s Weekend Blast-Off

WEEKEND GRAB BAG O’ THOUGHT:
TODAY – the 30TH of July – would have been my Dad’s 69TH birthday. He moved on to Heaven 12 nights ago. I’ve got wonderful pictures of him on display atop my living room entertainment center. They span four decades from the early-1970s through the late-2000s. He’s smiling in each and every one of them. One of my favourite family portraits on display was from 1985. I was 18, and proudly wearing my USAF service dress uniform. My Dad was 44 – just a single year older than I am right now. We had that picture taken during the first week of November of 1985 during my short leave after I graduated from 12 weeks of technical school in Illinois and before I moved on to my first duty station over in the U.K. I think my Dad is still smiling today as he looks down at his family that he left behind. I think that he’s proud of each of us. I’m proud of his life.

BEST LUNCH OF THE WEEK AWARD:
Longhorn Steakhouse – Renegade Top Sirloin (8-ounce / Medium-Well), Baked Sweet Potato, Bread, Sprite.

THE FORTUNE COOKIE MESSAGE OF THE WEEK CLUB:
– You will surround yourself with warmth and riches.
– Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you.

15 WEEKEND MINI THOUGHTS:
– Only one more day to go and then July 2010 is in the history books.
– I kicked-off this month on the First by flying to Dallas Texas to visit my family.
– It was a nice 4-day 4TH Of July holiday weekend out west.
– 10 days after returning from Texas I took another short vacation in seclusion.
– About 4 hours after I returned home from that trip my Dad moved on.
– It’s been a long and crazy month, and it’ll surely be a memorable one forever.
– I’ve got no vacations or trips of any kind planned for August.
– After that I’m booked solid with at least one trip every month through January.
– I plan to enjoy ‘Home Sweet Homestead‘ all month long in August.
– I just want to do normal things in August – like work and relax.
– Memo To Self: I’m long overdue for an annual eye exam.
– I look like a dude half two-thirds my age, but I’ve got the eyes of an old man.
– That reminds me I need to get my car washed, so maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.
– I know it’s dirty, but I just can’t see the dirt (because of my bad eyesight).
– This has been more of a ‘dusty season’ rather than a ‘rainy season’.

THOSE CRAZY CRAZY CATS:

BLATANT PROMOTION:
’The Awesome ’80s In August International Dance Party’ continues this weekend on the 93RD edition of the ‘Saturday Night Retro’. I’ll share a tiny bit of my life with you as I knew it from the Fall of 1986 when I was a wild 19-year-old kid hangin’ out in the smoky concert halls of London and Oxford England. On Sunday it’s another day on ‘My Fantastic Journey’. Check back in with this blog later this weekend, and in the meantime have a wonderful time in whatever you do tonight, tomorrow, and the next day. Stay safe. Look out for one another. Spread Love. Believe.

Categories
God Music People

My Fantastic Journey: It’s In The Lyrics

Every Sunday morning at the end of each service that I host at Life Pointe Church right after the connection cards and the tithe and offering envelopes have been collected by the ushers I say the following:

‘ As we prepare to leave this auditorium this morning let us go forth and bring the church in everything that we do and at everywhere that we go. Let us disciple to the world around us. But first – let us – as the church family – stand together as we recite the Benediction.’

{The Benediction follows.}

The end of the Benediction should not be the end of ‘church’ for another week. It should be the start. One of the first concepts that I discovered at the start of my fantastic journey is the fact that the church is not that auditorium – or that movie theatre – or that building down the street with the steeple on top of it. The church is our collective living breathing body of believers of Jesus Christ. We the people. We do not ‘go to church’, for we are the church.

Since we bring the church to that auditorium in that public movie theatre every Sunday morning we should then bring it out into the hallways – the main lobby – the parking lot – the streets of the city – the stores of the shopping centers – the homes of our neighbourhoods.

Whereever we are – that is where the church should be. Represent our Lord And Saviour Jesus Christ well. Disciple to the world around us. Show them how God has radically changed our Life from where it once was.  Use words when necessary. Our actions speak louder than words. Our Father – who sees everything – will reward us.

I’m awake !  I’m alive !
Now I know what I believe inside !
Now !  It’s my time !
I’ll do what I want ’cause this is my Life !

Right here !  Right now !
Stand my ground and never back down !
I know what I believe inside !
I’m awake, and I’m alive !

It’s in the lyrics:

Categories
Animals Driving History Home Life Music Radio Television Travel

Saturday Night Retro

On this 92ND edition of my ‘Saturday Night Retro’ I’m looking back at the Spring of 1985 – just a few months before I turned 18-years-old, graduated from high school, left home, and joined the Air Force – all within a single week !

At home I enjoyed hangin’ out with my 10-year-old brother Danny and our young Manx cat Fluffy. We watched Johnny Carson, David Letterman, and “Saturday Night Live” that I taped overnight on our Betamax videocassette recorder downstairs in our family room. I also enjoyed driving around Langley, McLean, and Tysons Corner Virginia in my beige 1980 Chevy Citation (my first car). It was equipped with a high-quality AM radio !

Back at home (where I actually had an FM stereo) I listened to the Washington D.C. area’s two big Top 40 radio stations – ‘All-Hit-105-WAVA’ and ‘Q-107’. One of the big smash hits during this memorable time of my life as I approached adulthood was this electronic dance smash. It was HUGE all around the world, and I think that they played it at my high school prom. I really don’t know for sure because I never attended my high school prom because I was such an outcast at the time. I was the original ‘All-American Reject’ !

Here’s Animotion – as I kick-off 6 fun-filled weeks of ‘The Awesome ’80s In August International Dance Party’. It’s my “Obsession”: