Bart "J.B." Hopkins's Blog, page 35

Musical Interests Part 3

Earlier today I was listening to the familiar melodies of The Police.  Not the sounds of those that serve and protect, but the band that made great music in the 70′s and 80′s.  I realized that my first memories pretty much coincide with the timeframe I recall first hearing them.  They really made some wonderful music.

1978 & 1979

During those years The Police produced two albums:

Outlandos d’Amour (1978)

Regatta de Blanc (1979)

Four of my favorite Police songs came from those albums: Roxanne, Can’t Stand Losing You, Message In A Bottle, and Walking On The Moon.

If you’re wondering what happened to The Police, they broke up in 1985/1986 and Sting continued the pursuit of a solo career which he had already begun.  A mistake?  Depends on your tastes, I suppose.  I never much liked his solo work.  They did get together around 2007 for a reunion tour.

Something I find very cool is that almost 70 bands have covered Police songs on their albums!  Wow.  The Violent Femmes, Pearl Jam, UB40, and an eclectic mix of other groups have paid homage through the years.  For a full list, check out this site on Police Cover Songs.  I didn’t verify the accuracy, and I think this only lists those songs that were actually used on an album.

Keep it up, Keep it up…

Good night.

 

Friday

Thank God for Fridays.

That is all.

Twist…Twist…

I submitted a short story to a paranormal anthology that’s going to be published in April.  Yesterday, the cover was revealed…

Beautiful cover, isn’t it?

My story is called Sweet Lenora and it’s my first dip into the paranormal pool.  Rocky, my nearing-12-year-old, liked the story, so it has to be okay, right?

Many thanks to Cynthia Shepp.  Without her – no anthology!  She is the creator and idea lady behind it.

Cover designed by Rene Folsom’s Phycel Designs.

That is all!

Author Genetics

I just ordered this book, Chasing Sunlight, from Amazon.  I hear it’s really good.  It’s by this author that I commonly refer to as Dad.

What?  My dad is a writer, too?  Was it something in the water?  Genetics?

That’s right (write)!

Here’s the description:

“Burke Dennison is a contemporary Quixote, tilting against personal demons and searching for truth in his own way. He is a man who does not always see things the way that others do, and that is both his curse and his story.”

I can’t wait to read it.  If you like this cover art, it was designed by my sister, Krystal Hopkins.  It’s a family affair.

So, if you’re looking for a good book, anything by Bart Hopkins (me) or Bart Hopkins, Jr. (my dad), is probably decent, wink-wink.

If you’d like to check it out, you can read about it here:  CHASING SUNLIGHT

~Bart~

 

My 2013 Fasching Experience

So, prior to Lent each year in Germany, there’s a big celebration called Fasching.

Fasching is packed with parades, parties, people, costumes, and well, a good deal of beer for some people.  It’s like a tame Mardi Gras.  Sort of.

My kids were in the parade this year with their Boy/Girl Scout groups.  You can see Ryan and I in the picture above, waiting for the parade to start.  We kept our costumes simple:  mustaches.

Ryan and the other little dudes fired candy to the people we passed.  A few pieces inadvertently struck bystanders unawares, mostly yielding laughter, but there was a scowl or two.  I stood behind them, making sure things didn’t get out of hand, soaking up the admiring looks that my mustache was drawing from the crowds.

 

 

 

My girls (above) enjoyed it, too.  They were up front with my wife (behind the camera).  By the way…you might think it’s a costume, but my daughter Jax wears that Wolf hat everywhere – she loves it – and people chuckle good-naturedly everywhere we go.

Song of the day: Gangnam Style.  Every other float was playing it.  Yeah, I danced to it – I’m old now – I can get away with it.

It was a good time, even if it was a little cold (28F).  That didn’t stop some people from carting those tall, bar tables out to the roadside and setting up shop with beers and friends.  Oh, yeah, and they don’t do that whole “earning beads” bit here.  A little cold for that, I imagine

Most important of all…I’m psyched up for Mustache March.

Happy Fasching!

Paranormal Activity 4

Disclaimer: this is not a review; however, it borders on spoiler material.  Sort of.

We watched PA 4 this weekend and I would like to share some of the conclusions I reached, my lessons learned, if you will.

1. If you have a door that opens, or closes, on its own…run away.

2. If your wife leaves a knife on the counter and it disappears when she turns her back on it for a minute…consider running away.

3. If your new neighbor mysteriously goes away for several days and leaves her strange son behind, and you volunteer to watch after him…be prepared to execute Operation RUN AWAY.

4. If a garage door tries to kill you…run away.

Okay.  Just wanted to get that out there in case anyone is struggling with decisions akin to these.  Have a good night!

Musical Interests Part 2

1985.

There is noteworthy music every year, even when it isn’t a great year in music.  1985 holds a strange place in my heart.  I think there was a lot of good music that year, but I’m not sure whether it was one of those great years.  If I could sum up my 1985 musical interests in one word, it would be eclectic.

My musical tastes that year were driven primarily from what was popular on the radio, however, I was also beginning to be influenced by what friends listened to and by what I discovered on my own.

So this list is that eclectic combination of music that dominated my 1985.  I’ve always enjoyed a mix of genres, which is probably evident from the list.

Here are my standout albums and songs:

Knee Deep In The Hoopla by Starship.  ”Sara”…wow, what a song!  I agree, there isn’t any good time for good-byes.

World Wide Live by Scorpions.  I can’t stop my head from moving when “Rock You Like A Hurricane” comes on.  Those guys toured recently and I am truly sorry I made no effort to go see them, even if just to relive the old times.

Songs from the Big Chair by Tears for Fears.  ”Shout” and “Head Over Heels” were my go-to songs on that cassette tape.  I always enjoyed their sound.

Lovin’ Every Minute of It by Loverboy.  Good album overall…even though I’m pretty sure all the dudes in the band had perms.

World Machine by Level 42.  Something between soft rock and pop, I really enjoyed “Something About You” back then.  I’m only human, after all.

Catching Up With Depeche Mode by Depeche Mode.  I didn’t get into Depeche Mode until three or four years later, but several of my DM favorites started on this album, so it deserves a mention.

Mike and The Mechanics by Mike and The Mechanics.  I can empathize when it comes to being at a creative loss for ideas.  Is that why bands self-title their albums?  Or maybe they’ve just used up all their creative juices on the songs.  I don’t know.  This album’s best:  “All I Need Is A Miracle.”

Heart by Heart.  Another self-titled release.  I remember “These Dreams” receiving a lot of airplay on MTV back then.  Nice music.  Not extraordinary, but really good.

The Breakfast Club (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).  A decent soundtrack, but let’s face it…Simple Minds OWNED it.  Big time.  ”Don’t You (Forget About Me)” is one of the great songs of my time and being tied into The Breakfast Club just makes it a ridiculous favorite of mine.

Whitney Houston by Whitney Houston.  Sure, Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown plummeted later, and became, really, pretty trashy over the years, but at one time…Whitney had a good voice.  A great voice.  I’m not afraid to say I liked it back then. Strange factoid:  Bret Easton Ellis gives her a nod in his book, American Psycho.

UTFO by UTFO.  1985 was hot on the heels of my breakdancing days.  Yes, that’s right, I used to keep a sheet of cardboard handy that I’d throw down at the drop of a dime.  I was always ready to bust out a backspin.  Remind me to write about Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo in a different post.

Radio by LL Cool J.  I’ve always liked LL Cool J and this was his debut album.  Too awesome.  Just a few years later, I would hear “Going Back To Cali” sung repeatedly by my fellow 8th graders.

King of Rock by Run-D.M.C.  I remember our 5th grade class taking a field trip to Jones Park (a local park a few blocks from my elementary school).  Somebody brought a boombox–I brought King of Rock.

Meat is Murder by The Smiths.  A classic.  Also the first album I heard by The Smiths, one of my favorite groups through the years.

Riptide by Robert Palmer.   “Addicted to Love” is great and was my initiation to Robert Palmer.  It was, no doubt, the most popular song from this album, though my personal favorites from Palmer are “Simply Irresistible” and his remake of “Mercy Mercy Me.”

It doesn’t make the list of my favorites from 1985, but I’ll give Eddie Murphy some credit for being a diverse entertainer.  He had an album out that year called How Could It Be, which had the song, “Party All The Time,” that wasn’t half bad.

One final nod to the music of 1985…you’ll always have a place in my heart and on my iPod.

Musical Interests Part 1

Initially I wanted to write a quick post with Bart’s favorite albums from each year of his life, 1975-2012.

But, that quick post turned in to three hours of me looking through albums, and track lists, and realizing that identifying just one album per year would be difficult.  Very difficult.

Then I started thinking of ways I could compartmentalize my musical selections in order to make my task easier.  There were a lot of options…too many options for the time I have:

Best xx albums of all time…

Best albums of 19xx or 20xx…

Best year in music…

Best band of all time…

Top (insert genre of music) bands…

Top 3 albums from each year of my life…

Indecisive as ever, I couldn’t decide which of these would be most fun or challenging or whatever.  So, I’m going to periodically fire out random thoughts about bands, albums, or singles that have influenced me in some way.  Or maybe, more simply, just bands or songs that I like.  I’ll go wherever the road takes me, whatever pops into my head.

Today I’m going to start with the only easy year in music from my initial search to find the best album from every year of my life.  The year was 1980.  The band: AC/DC.  They released Back in Black that year.  I was only five years old at the time, so I don’t remember specifically whether I heard them that year or even knew who they were.  But I do know I’ve listened to the songs from that album hundreds of times over the past 25 years or so.  I did as recently as this week.

Favorite song from that album:  You Shook Me All Night Long.  Obvious, I know, but what a classic, eh?  It sounds great today, just as it has for years, and strangely, it is one of the few songs that I’ve heard which never sound dated to me.  I never hear it and think of it as a 33-year-old song.

And, so, a quick nod to AC/DC, walls that are shaking, earth that’s quaking, and the year 1980.

Good night!

God-Shaped Hole: A Quick Review

God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie DeBartolo

I’ve never been to a fortune-teller, but Beatrice “Trixie” Jordan has, and more than once.

Trixie’s story (the novel) starts with a flashback to being 12 and having her fortune told at a party. The fortune? That her “one true love would die young and leave…” her all alone.

Is that what happens? Read the book…

The Basics: it’s a contemporary love story set in LA. It’s quirky and mostly lighthearted, but it has some serious content, too.

I’m not too into the standard review format, and I’ve only done this a few times, so I’m going to just fire off some random thoughts on this book.

I enjoyed the storyline and DeBartolo’s writing style. Her prose was, mostly, very pleasing and her descriptions were fun and unique. I was amused by the ever present anti-Los Angeles theme, which was mostly done in a humorous way.

The characters were subject to the occasional whimsical thought and action, in interesting, quirky ways. I felt like Jacob and Trixie were people I might know…a good trait in a novel, right? Their friends were also people anyone might know…a mix of lovable, quirky, cliche, and annoying but loyal.

A quick note: I appreciated that the story was inspired by a Chris Cornell song. Always enjoyed his music.

The one sticking point for me was that it felt like I would read several beautifully written pages and then hit something jarring, usually a single sentence that felt out of synch with the writing to me. Several of those were random, vulgar bits of commentary. It wasn’t that her sometimes crude humor was shocking, it was that she inserted it into (my opinion) inappropriate spots in the book. I’d be reading, pulled into it, then I’d be derailed by an oddly placed sentence. It was just a little strange, but that’s my only negative critique…then not even negative, not exactly.

I enjoyed this book…it’s a fun read. I struggled to decide whether it should be 4 or 5 stars. It really was right in the middle for me…

**OVERALL 4.5 Stars**

Rated R for language and adult situations/actions

Three Fave Quotes:

“I guess the feeling that came over me could be described as joy, but only if joy can be profoundly painful.”

“…there are certain sorrows that never fade away until the heart stops beating and the last breath is taken.”

(metaphor about people filling the void in their life and keeping it filled…)

“That’s the real trick, isn’t it? It’s easy to plant a seed and sprinkle it with water, but once the sun scorches the ground, and the earth soaks up all the moisture, you’re left with nothing but a thirsty little flower trying desperately to make it out of the dirt.”

Let’s Get Digital, Digital…

I just started reading God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie DeBartolo.  My sister fired it across the ocean to me for Christmas, and so far, it’s pretty good.  It’s a paperback.  That’s right, it’s a physical book, with a front cover AND a back cover, and pages that you turn.  It’s the real deal and it feels good in the hands.

Over the past few years, I’ve been reading more and more books digitally.  It started in 2010, I believe, when my wife surprised me with a Kindle.  Wow, I loved that thing!  Now I have the Kindle app on my iPad, and iPod, so I’m never anywhere without something to read.

My appetite is smaller than some, but bigger than others.  I usually read two or three books each month.  I am guessing that in 2012, probably 90% of those books were read on one of my gadgets.

That statistic, by the way, is loosely based on 3-4 seconds of intensely critical thought on my part.  Don’t worry…I’m a weather forecaster.  Throwing random percentages at people is part of my job.  You could call it verbal sleight of hand.

Back to the books…I’m a digital dude now.  But, oh, the pleasure, when I get my hands on a real book!  Now and then it happens…and it’s cool.

Except, there are some sticking points to physical books, as you probably have discovered during your own reading…

1) Holding my finger down on a word in a paperback doesn’t bring up a definition of the word.

2) Just like #1, except you can’t highlight or type a quick note to yourself.

3) A paperback doesn’t remember what page you were on if you close it.  This one is a heartbreaker.

4) Physical books don’t have email capability or an alarm.

Life is tough, right?  First-world problems, I tell ya.

But, I think I have a solution.  Are you out there, Jeff Bezos, buddy?  Maybe you could make a Kindle that lives in the shell of an actual book.  When you flip it open you have digital innards, but on the outside, some covers, and pages, and all that old school stuff.  Then you could keep the feel of a hardcopy book with the benefits of digits.

When you incorporate this idea, Jeff, and the money starts pouring in, feel free to send me my share.

Until then, I’ll be reading 90% of my books digitally…maybe 91%.

Cheers!