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Driving Holidays Music Travel

Saturday Night Retro

December 25TH 1996 – It was the first Christmas with my Mom, Dad, Brother, and Cats up in Jacksonville Florida. They had just moved there after about 28 years up in the Washington D.C. area. That was 2 homes ago (for my parents) and 3 cars ago (for me). I was still in my 20s (!), and my brother was 21. It seems so long ago. It was just a dozen years ago.

Today I drove back home to Homestead from the Jacksonville area, and so another chapter in our lives has now ended. This was our last Christmas in Jacksonville. My parents are getting ready to move (for the final time) to the Dallas Texas area. I’ve got a lot of great memories from the past dozen Christmases (and years) up there, but the good times and great memories shall continue infinitely with my family over in North Texas.

Going back to 1996 I present to you for your ‘Retro’ review this MASSIVESMASH from The Smashing Pumpkins. It’s one of my favourite hit songs of all-time. It’s a 1996 smash that’s all about “1979”. It’s the biggest pop and rock smash of their entire career, and it was Grammy-nominated and certified gold. It’s a hot track that spent 10 months in heavy rotation on TOP 40 radio stations nationwide. Here’s the 1996 MTV Video Music Award winner for ‘Best Alternative Video’.

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Holidays Humor Music Radio

Saturday Night Retro

Ladies and Gentlemen – Boys and Girls – I present to you for your ‘Retro’ review on this Saturday night in December this 1987 Yuletide classic that just keeps on coming back on the radio year after year for the festive Christmas season.

It’s rock and roll radio deejay Bob Rivers and his Comedy Corporation with “The Twelve Pains Of Christmas”, and I’ve got two music videos for you for the price of one – the official late-1980s version of it as well as a modern homemade version done by an apparent college kid and his friend. Check them out:

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Holidays Music

Monday Night Countdown

You know the jam:

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me:
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,

Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,

Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree !

Here are my TOP 5 favourite items from that festive track:

5.  Six geese a-laying – Who could resist the precious start of Life ?

4.  Seven swans a-swimming – I could watch swan swimming for hours !

3.  A partridge in a pear tree – Partridges are cute, and I love pears !

2.  Nine ladies dancing – As a former clubber I totally dig that !

1.  Twelve drummers drumming – Dude it ain’t rock without the drums !

Categories
Animals Computers Driving History Life Music Radio

Saturday Night Retro

1997. It’s the year that I turned 30-years-old and celebrated my 10TH anniversary of living and working here in Homestead Florida. I ditched my longtime 1989 Geo Spectrum (bought brand new) after over 96,700 miles, and I joined the Saturn family by buying my first of three fine cars from the company. I lost my original 486-SX desktop computer system due to a catastrophic hard drive failure, and when that happened ‘MANx CAT BBS’ died after four years. That original classic bulletin board system spun-off ‘MANx ON THE NET’ which evolved into ‘MASSIVESMASH.COM‘ which inspired my MySpace blog of 2007 which morphed into this WordPress blog that you know and love right here.

Boots was my feline buddy and roommate, and I was a loyal and devoted Y-100 TOP 40 radio listener at home, at work, and in the car. Last Saturday night on the ‘Retro’ I presented Reunion’s “Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)” from 34 years ago. Tonight for your ‘Retro’ review I present to you one of the biggest smash hits on the radio from 1997, and it’s kind of like a modern update to Reunion’s classic track from 1974. It’s “I Want You” – the debut smash from the multi-Platinum-selling Australian duo known as Savage Garden.

Check it out: