Category: Music

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God Life Movies Music

Saturday Night Retro

It’s an extra early edition of the ‘Saturday Night Retro’ this week because I’ll be livin’ it up out on the town until late tonight. No worries though. I’ll be hangin’ out with my Life Group at the mall.

So check this out. In 2003 I was livin’ it up. It was just 5 years ago, but it seems like a lifetime ago – literally. I was 35 and 36 years old – going on 22 years old. The U.S. economy was booming thanks to President George W. Bush and the Republican-dominated House and Senate. I was financially successful but emotionally unhappy. I was miserable at work, but I did a pretty good of hiding it (most of the time). I was happy at home because I had my little feline buddy Boots to hang out with. I spent a lot of time at the malls – and the movie theatres where I saw a whopping 30 movies at the box office during the course of the year. On the radio Party-93.1 was ‘South Florida’s Pure Dance Channel’, and I listened to it day and night. My life had the frenetic beat of an underground European techno track, but it had the soul of a cheap green glow stick.

Watch this 2003 music video from Aquagen. It’s a German techno remake of the Chicago classic “Hard To Say I’m Sorry”. It was my running theme song that year.

It’s all about moving forward in Life, but sometimes ya gotta look back in time to see the growth that’s been made from then to now. I thank God for rescuing me from the dying darkness, saving me, and placing me on His journey especially selected for me into the living daylight.

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God Music

Monday Night Countdown

In a wink and a nod to an over 30-year weekly passion of mine (tracking and compiling hit music charts) I present to you my current TOP 5 favourite songs – for the week ending Sunday October 05TH 2008:

5.  Sleeping In – Nevertheless
It’s pure sugary pop like only these 5 cats from Chattanooga Tennessee can deliver. I’ve liked every single radio song that they’ve released ever since I’ve been on this fantastic journey with them.

4.  Undercover – Deas Vail
I like the cool sound and the mellow feel of this power pop band out of northwestern Arkansas. They almost sound European. ‘Deas Vail’ means ‘humble servant of God’. Truly so. Amen.

3.  Stop It – The Almost
It’s the 4TH hit single in a row from Aaron Gillespie (the drummer from Underoath), and it’s his follow-up to “Say This Sooner”, “Amazing (Because It Is)”, and “Southern Weather”.

2.  Put Your Lips To The TV – Project 86
These hard rockin’ dudes have been together for over a decade of destruction, and this runaway track is one of their hardest to date. Listen to the lyrics. The devil wants their ‘head in a basket’ and ‘on a platter’, but it ain’t gonna happen my friend. ‘You can kiss me goodbye’. You ain’t reaching me no more.

1.  The Sky – Showbread
DUDE !  I totally dig this hardcore smash !  It totally rocks my face off, and although it would so totally frighten anyone at Life Pointe Church over the age of 40 45 I’m still playing it as part of my eclectic playlist out in the main lobby on Youth Service Sundays !  HECKZZZ YEAHZZZ !

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Animals History Music Television

Saturday Night Retro

The year was 1973, and you were there (unless of course you weren’t born yet). I was a 6-year-old kid living with my Mom and Dad in the Washington D.C. suburb of Bowie Maryland on Peach Walker Drive. In September I began attending Catholic school 5 days a week as a first-grader at Saint Matthias The Apostle in Lanham Maryland near my grandparents’ house.

I had two dogs at the time – Brandy – a German Shepherd – and Girlie – a miniature sheepdog. Brandy barked a lot and dug holes out in the backyard. I didn’t really like him very much. In fact I was scared of him. We wouldn’t have him for very long. Girlie lasted a few years longer. She was lovable and squeezeable with an adorable personality. She had a tiny bony tail.

On Saturday nights America stayed home and watched this amazing lineup of TV shows on CBS – “All in the Family” (8 PM), “M*A*S*H” (8:30 PM), “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (9 PM), “The Bob Newhart Show” (9:30 PM), and “The Carol Burnett Show” (10 PM). It may just be the greatest primetime lineup on a single night – on a single network – in television history.

A few hours before that three-hour block of Emmy-award-winning laughs on Saturday nights this hot music and dance show was breaking new ground on the tube, and I was paying attention to it – even as a 6-year-old. It was seen locally at the time on WTTG Channel 5 out of Washington D.C. It lasted for an incredible 35 years in first-run syndication nationwide, but this was clearly its hey day.

Ladies and Gentlemen – I present to you for your ‘Saturday Night Retro’ review – some LOVE, PEACE, and SOUL !  GET DOWN & BOOGIE !

Did anyone spot their young parents (or even grandparents) in that vintage clip ?

Categories
History Life Movies Music Radio Television

Saturday Night Retro

The year was 1995 and I was 28-years-old. I moved from a house in Naranja to my current home in Homestead. I’ve been here ever since then. Homestead was still a sleepy small town back then with mostly narrow two-lane roads. It was struggling to recover from the overwhelming destruction of Hurricane Andrew just 3 years earlier. U.S. gas prices remained rather steady (between $1.10 and $1.20 per gallon). The entire nation stayed home on Thursday nights to watch Friends, Seinfeld, and ER on NBC-TV. I enjoyed listening to ‘Bobby & Footy’ in the morning on Y-100. I only saw two movies at the box office during the entire year – “The Brady Bunch Movie” and “Tommy Boy”.

This song and video was all of the rage on television, on the radio, and at the clubs. It would go on to become a runaway International sensation – and one of the most successful singles in the entire history of the modern rock era. It spent a record-shattering 14 months on the Billboard HOT 100. It’s what I was doing every few months up in Orlando’s nightclub scene: