Blue Suede Schubert

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We've Moved
2007-11-12 18:39:00
Continue to follow the thrilling adventures of Blue Suede Schubert at our new home here.Why the change? Oh, you know the story. The new place is closer to my work, the kids have more room to run around, etc. Plus there's a pool. I don't have a pool here.

Blake Lewis Is A Jedi Master
2007-11-09 14:22:00
So Blake Lewis , the beat-boxing American Idol runner up, finally has his new album ready to hit the stores. That's the good news. Lewis is a talented artist, and the first cut from the album "Break Anotha" chugs along nicely and shows off his considerable skills. The bad news is that this is the album cover. Yikes. Let me be even a bit more to the point: This is the one they approved. It makes you wonder at how crappy the rejected ones were. It looks like some sort of throwback to a Star Wars movie poster. The good thing is you don't have to look at it, and if your iTunes tries to download it as cover art, you can easily replace it with a picture of your dog.Listen to Blake Lewis, Break Anotha
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What Happened To The Music?
2007-11-08 22:28:00
"Michael Jackson gives rare interview, pronounced normal"That's a real headline from Reuters. Here are a few snippets from the story:Jackson, 49, appears on the front cover of the African-American magazine "Ebony" to mark the 25th anniversary of "Thriller" -- the world's best-selling studio album that also made him a superstar....The cover photo of the magazine, whose December edition hits newsstands on November 12, is causing almost as much of a stir as the interview, which barely addresses the fallout of the trial. Jackson is pictured dressed all in white, with a glowing peaches-and-cream skin. Harriette Cole, creative director of Ebony, spent a day and a half with Jackson during the photo shoot and interview and said, "he came across really as kind of normal.""He's 49. He's a grown-up. If you learn from your challenges, then you become stronger. He certainly seemed like that," Cole told NBC's "Today" show this week. "Honestly ... he was normal."So, what happened to the music...
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What Would You Pay For Paste?
2007-11-06 19:42:00
No, not the gooey adhesive made from water and flour that you used in grade school. That stuff is free... and delicious. I'm talking about Paste , the music magazine that comes with a free CD of tunes with each issue. Like Radiohead, Paste is betting that if readers name their own price for a subscription, they will become long-time subscribers, and maybe even buy the stuff that advertisers promote in their pages (because that's what it's all about anyway). Until November 10 (I think), you can subscribe to Paste at whatever price you want. The only thing is, you have to pay something, even if it's a minimum $1.And if you pay more than the $19.95 Paste typically offers for a one-year subscription, you will be thanked in print in a future issue of the magazine, on a page that can be torn out and framed. Then you can tell all your friends that you were in Paste, and you wouldn't be lying this time.Here's the story: The campaign came about from a casual conversation at the Paste of...

More Tuesday Trivia
2007-11-06 14:34:00
Here's the regular Tuesday trivia questions, once again, courtesy of Ken Jennings.1. What two U.S. states have musical instruments pictured on their state quarters? 2. What unusual distinction is shared by these famous people? Diamond Jim Brady, Rosey Grier, Woody Guthrie, Howlin' Wolf, Ted Lilly, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dwight Yoakam, and Andrew Young.
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Tuesday Trivia: The Almost-Impossible Rock & Roll Quiz
2007-11-06 05:04:00
Rolling Stone has an online "Almost-Impossible Rock & Roll Quiz ." Some of it is pretty easy, but there are a number of questions that are real stumpers (stumpers?).Challenge yourself to four decades of the trickiest, weirdest and most off-the-wall trivia questions ever in our fifty-eight question quiz, and tabulate your own rock & roll IQ.My final score was a 43--"expert level," thank you very much--and looking at the answer key I see that there were a few that I should have gotten right that I didn't. That's pretty good considering I have a memory like a sieve. So, tricky? Yes. Impossible? Not so much.
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Friday Fun: The Incomparable Wing!
2007-11-02 15:47:00
Incomparable is a good word for Wing . Indescribable works too. So does Indecipherable. I've been a fan of this woman since about 2003, but I lost track of her. It's good to know she's still around. Wing is a charming older Asian woman who took up singing as a hobby when she moved to New Zealand. She sings standards and pop songs, all with...ummm... great gusto, and entertains audiences in nursing homes and elsewhere. You have to admire this woman for doing what she does, despite the fact that she doesn't really do it all that well. But listening to her is still quite entertaining. She has a whole bunch of self-produced CDs for sale on her website and via iTunes. She may not be the greatest singer (by a long shot) but she doesn't have to be... she's Wing!Here she is, doin' it live!
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The Police File: Part 1
2007-11-01 17:16:00
Since The Police are currently on tour somewhere, cashing in on a wave of nostalgia, and since Andy Summers announced a film of his autobiography (see below), and since Sting was recently named one of the worst songwriters in rock music (more on that later), niccomm has asked me to do this retrospective of the band's music. So here we go.What can we say about the Police.... three superb musicians, check; three strong personalities, check; three monster egos, double check.Most everyone knows the story of the band, but if you don?t here's a quick Cliff's Notes version. Stewart Copeland, drummer for hippie art band Curved Air, sees the exploding punk scene and wants a piece of it. He finds a bass player/singer who goes by the name Sting in a jazz band. They recruit a French guitarist named Henry Padovani who plays with them for a while, but is eventually edged out by the addition of seasoned axe man Andy Summers. The Police are born.How much of the early Police sound is attributabl...
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Andy Summers, We're Ready For Your Closeup
2007-10-31 14:03:00
Police guitarist Andy Summers is turning his autobiography "One Train Later" into a feature documentary, which will boast 25,000 photos from his collection as well as footage from the band's reunion tour.I didn't even know Andy summers had written an autobiography. (Note to self: get this book) This is good news for a couple reasons. First, in a trio in which two members' egos seemed to be in a continual battle to the death, Summers was the anchor. In the annals of guitardom, he is often overlooked by those who are more impressed by the speed/techno wizards. This is unfortunate because Summers is an amazing player. He is, as they say, "a guitarist's guitarist," playing what needs to be played when it needs to be played. The Police created an amazingly layered and complex sound for a trio, and much of the credit for that goes to Summers.Second, Summers has played a bigger part in rock music history than many people realize, having performed with influential 70s bands like Zoot Mo...
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What Really Happened To Marie Osmond
2007-10-30 13:35:00
This video explains it all. Kind of the Dancing With The Stars Zapruder film. I don't know what's funnier--the video itself (which is okay but not hilarious), or the comments on the page whose level of intelligence make me fear for the future.For example... AirForce11 says:FAKE:starfighters arent real, if they where i dought they would b able to fly inside and her face would have holes in it if the laser hit her there!andwillforbes0 says:FAKE:this was so obviously fake. the star wars fighter was superimposed into the video.Gee, ya think? Idiots.
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Monday Mashup: Pat n' Peg
2007-10-29 15:49:00
This is a classic 1998 track from Osymyso. Pat and Peg, for anyone who doesn?t know, are two characters from the long running Brit soap/drama Eastenders. They are at various times involved with the same men (like in other soaps? what is it with these people? The female to male ratio in soap towns must be 20:1 judging by the way they all fight over the same guys). This mashup is built around a climactic fight between Peg (You Bitch) and Pat (You Cow), and tags on dialog from Frank and Roy as well. Listen to the way Osymyso works in the Eastenders theme music and plays off the natural rhythms of the characters? voices. I guess it would be considered a ?golden oldie? as far as mashups go, but it still holds its own against new stuff. The man is a genius.Listen to Pat n? Peg.
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Rock n' Roll Ghost Stories
2007-10-26 05:04:00
Since Halloween is just around the corner, New Times has a story about some of the strange and spooky things that have happened to rockers over the years. The story only has three examples, by James Valentine of Maroon 5, Steve Bays of Hot Hot Heat, and an Alice Cooper-Joe Perry twofer. The problem is that these aren't very scary ghost stories. Although I'm sure the artists are quite sincere in their beliefs, as you read the stories, other more logical explanations for the spookiness automatically come to mind. Alice Cooper no doubt believes that the noisy old house he and Perry stayed in--both fresh from rehab--had a ghost. But he doesn't seem to question why the house in which Amityville Horror was written (not the house in which the story allegedly took place) should itself be haunted. That's "haunting by association." Come on rock stars, you must have better ghost stories than these.
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Lance Bass Comes Out... Again
2007-10-23 23:18:00
Lance Bass , proving that once is never enough when it can boost a sagging career, tells of how horrible it was to live in terror of being found out as a gay man when he was a member of 'NSYNC. Bass, who came out last year, gave us that insight in an interview promoting his new book, Out of Sync: A Memoir, released today. Now, I really couldn't care less if Bass was straight, gay, or Martian, and if he's happy, I'm happy. But I found it funny that the article ended with this quote: "People have said for so long that you can't be successful in this industry and be out and gay," Bass said. I guess he's never watched Bravo.It sounds like something Daffyd Thomas would say. As fans of Little Britain know, Daffyd is "the only gay in the village"--or at least he thinks he is. Here's a clip of Matt Lucas (Daffyd) and David Walliams talking about Daffyd, "the homosexuliast." Lance should take a look.
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Fire? What fire? Marie Osmond Fainted!
2007-10-23 21:38:00
If you were watching ABC's Dancing With The Stars show last night, you saw Marie Osmond faint after her routine. That is, you saw it if you didn't blink at the wrong moment, because that's all it took. First she was standing there listening to the judges, then she went down (accompanied by some laughter from the audience who must have thought it was a gag). The host cut to a commercial. After the break it turned out she was fine, the show went on and everyone lived happily ever after.But today, I'm in a Seattle hotel room trying to see what's happening with the wildfires in California (I have friends that live in the danger area) and I'm switching between CNN Headline News and Faux News. And what do I see? Marie Osmond fainting, over and over again. I've seen the story repeated no fewer than 18 times between the two channels since I got up this morning.Now, obviously, the news networks are making the most of it because it was caught on tape (remember Janet Jackson's wardrobe...
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Tuesday Trivia
2007-10-23 21:29:00
Here's a question from Ken Jenning's weekly quiz:What did the Electro String Instrument Corporation change its name to, to capitalize on a distant relationship between its founders and a World War I hero?It's an easy one if you have any familiarity with guitars used by George Harrison, Roger McGuinn, Paul Weller, or Joe Simonon of the Clash. The picture's a giveaway too.
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Monday Mashup: Smells Like Billie Jean
2007-10-21 21:59:00
It's a day early, but since I'll be tucked away in a Jet Blue compartment headed to Seattle for the week, today's Mash up is in honor of one of that city's most famous exports, Nirvana. The band's breakthrough song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" signaled the arrival of "grunge" on the mainstream airwaves (supposedly much to leader Kurt Cobain's dismay).Significantly, the song and album also knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous out of the top spot. So, take Nirvana's breakthrough hit, mix it up with the song that really announced Michael Jackson's career as a solo artist, and you get "Smells Like Billie Jean ." This is labeled as an "MTV Mashup," but I don't know the original source. Anyway, it works well. Enjoy.Listen to: "Smells Like Billie Jean "
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Is There A Future For Zeppelin?
2007-10-21 21:45:00
Jimmy Page is playing it close to the vest in his remarks about the future of Led Zeppelin after the band's one-time performance next month at London's O2 arena. The performance is a benefit for a scholarship fund named for the late Ahmet Ertegun, who signed Led Zeppelin to Atlantic Records in 1968. Although he and Robert Plant have individually said the concert will not be followed by a tour, he hasn't ruled out the possibility that something may come out of the reunion...something like new material perhaps?When asked about that possibility, Page said, "Look, I'd be really surprised if there wasn't--you know, I mean I just know the way we are. We're musicians...as we're playing we'll probably be coming up with all manner of things."
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Friday Flashback: KISS on the Mike Douglas Show 1974
2007-10-19 15:03:00
My friend Lisa alerted me to this great clip of KISS making their first television appearance on the Mike Douglas Show in 1974. For those of you who have no idea who Mike Douglas is, he had a hugely influential afternoon talk show that regularly featured great musical guests, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the Rolling Stones, Hermits Hermits, The Turtles, and Barbara Streisand. Many acts--like KISS--credit his show with bringing them their first national exposure. This performance was recorded on April 29, just weeks into the group's first concert tour, having signed with Casablanca records just six months earlier.
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Teresa Brewer Dead at 76
2007-10-18 16:27:00
(AP) Teresa Brewer, who helped write the soundtrack of the pre-rock 'n' roll 1950s with bouncy hits like "Music Music Music" and who scored big with New Yorkers by recording a love letter to Mickey Mantle, died early Wednesday morning.She was 76, lived in New York, and had been suffering for several years from the neuromuscular disease PSP, which also afflicted the late comedian Dudley Moore.Brewer was still a teenager when she hit the top of the charts in 1950 with "Music Music Music." She returned to No. 1 with "Til I Waltz Again With You," though New Yorkers might best remember "I Love Mickey," a duet she recorded with Mantle at the end of his Triple Crown year in 1956.Mantle contributed a few spoken words while Brewer chirped her affection.Born in Ohio, Brewer made her professional debut at the age of 2 on the local radio program "Uncle August's Kiddie Show." From ages 5 to 12 she toured with the Major Bowes Amateur Hour before returning home and performing locally for severa...
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wOOt: Free download for the gamer in you
2007-10-17 16:18:00
w00t is a collage of computer game sound and images by composer Bob Ostertag and artist John Cooney. It's also a free download from his website.Says Ostertag:"In March of 2006, I put all my recordings to which I owned the rights (14 CDs) up for free download from this site. w00t is my first release to skip the CD-for-sale stage and go directly to free Internet download, under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Please download, copy, send to your friends, remix, mutilate, and mash-up. And please support this attempt to build free culture by sending a link for w00t to your friends. w00t consists of a 50-minute sound collage, a 4.5 minute sound ?trailer,? and associated ?cover art.? There is, however, no cover. w00t is a free, internet-only release."w00t was composed entirely from fragments of music from these computer games:? Balloon Fight ? Congo Bongo ? Contra ? Earthbound ? Halo: Combat Evolved ? Ico ? Katamari Damacy ? Killer Instinct ? The Legend of Zelda ? Massive Assa...
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One Hit Wonder: Disco Duck
2007-10-16 19:05:00
I would be remiss if I did not mention that on this day in 1976, "Disco Duck " topped the charts and stayed for a week. The song, by Los Angeles disc jockey Rick Dees, poked fun at some of the dance styles of the day with its story of a man who dances like a duck. And, like lots of novelty songs that capitalize on a dance or a genre of music, the song didn?t do too much to help whatever shred of credibility other artists working in that style had earned. Although the song appeared in the disco-defining film Saturday Night Fever, it was not included on the multi-bazillion selling soundtrack album, much to Dees? consternation (but to the endless gratitude of the rest of us).So, if you insist on hearing it, you?ll find it here. Otherwise, it?s best to pretend it never happened.

Cover Connection: Red Red Wine
2007-10-16 05:40:00
Most people are familiar with UB40's version of "Red Red Wine ." The band's infectious, reggae tinged cover topped the US charts on this day in 1988, although it took five years to get there. The song was a reissue of UB40's first version, with the addition of a "toast" by the band's resident rapper Astro. Both versions trace their influence to a 1969 ska flavored version recorded by Jamaican artist Tony Tribe. But the original song, written and recorded by Neil Diamond in 1968, was a slower mournful number--a drunk's lament over lost love. Red, red wineGo to my headMake me forget that IStill need her soRed, red wineIt's up to youAll I can do, Ive doneBut memories wont goNo, memories wont goI'd have swornThat with timeThoughts of youWould leave my headI was wrongAnd I findJust one thingMakes me forgetRed, red wineStay close to meDont let me be aloneIt's tearing apartMy blue, blue heartLyrically, it's a great song (as are many Diamond songs) that lends itself to a variety ...
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Monday Mashup: A Bit of Little Britain
2007-10-15 05:12:00
If you have access to BBC America on your cable system, you probably know Litt le Britain . The show has ended its three-season BBC run but lives on in repeats, and rumor has it that Matt Lucas and David Walliams are developing a new program for HBO in the US. If you haven't seen it, the show is built around Lucas and Walliams who portray an incredible range of very odd characters including Lou, a dedicated caregiver, and Andy his charge who isn't really handicapped; Daffyd, "the only gay in the village"; Sebastian, the Prime Minster's aide; Emily and Florence, two not-even-close transvestites; Vicky Pollard, juvenile delinquent who "never did nuffin or nuffin"; Dr. Lawrence and his incoherent psychiatric patient Anne; stage hypnotist Kenny Craig; Marjorie Dawes the abusive leader of a weight loss support group, grossly obese Bubbles Devere, and many, many more. Like a lot of British shows, Little Britain pushes the envelope with scenarios and jokes that would never see air on US n...
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The White Stripes Are Selling... Cameras?
2007-10-13 16:22:00
Yesterday, The White Stripes ' newsletter subscribers received a mysterious message: "The tricks of today are the truths of tomorrow.-Man Ray. X XV MMVII"The quote is from the famous American surrealist painter and photographer. The 'trick' was later revealed to be a teaser for a website promotion in which the duo are introducing designer label cameras. The two-tone (red and white of course) cameras are called the "Meg Diana+ Camera" and the "Jack Holga Camera," and come packaged with custom filters, changeable lenses, camera accessories, and more. The cameras themselves appear to be digital (one of the accessories looks like a flash memory card) but no other details have been revealed yet.The cameras go on sale at noon on October 15, 2007 (X XV MMVII).The first 333 buyers to purchase both camera sets also get a "mystery gift."
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Return Of The Eagles
2007-10-12 18:44:00
The Eagles are set to release their first studio album in 28(!) years at the end of this month. Long Road Out Of Eden will be a double album of 20 tracks. While Hotel California and The Long Run leaned toward a harder sound, the sample clips available from Long Road Out Of Eden seem to be a return to the more laid back sound of earlier albums. One thing that does stand out is the group's harmony, always great, but on these tunes, somehow better. If you've ever seen the vocal warm up scene on the Eagles Farewell Tour I DVD, you'll know what I mean. The tracks on Long Road Out Of Eden are not entirely new--no surprise when the album took some six years to produce. The first release from the album, "How Long," was released in August of this year, and several others ("No More Cloudy Days,""Fast Company," and "Do Something") showed up on special CD sold exclusively through Wal-Mart last year. Besides being available through the band's website, the album will again be exclusively sold...
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What Radiohead Hath Wrought
2007-10-11 17:26:00
It took just one band to get the ball rolling. Following Radiohead ?s release of In Rainbows via direct download from the band?s website, other acts have announced similar intentions.Trent Reznor, posting on the Nine Inch Nails website, says the band is now free of any recording contract with any label. ?I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate. Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008. Exciting times, indeed.?Oasis and Jamiroquai are also said to be considering following Radiohead by offering their new recordings on a ?pay what you like? basis.And Madonna is reported today to be leaving her long-time Warner Bros. Records label for a deal with the concert promotion firm Live Nation, which would digitally distribute three new stud...
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This Day In History: The Doors At Danbury High School
2007-10-11 15:11:00
Forty Years ago today, The Doors played a concert at Danbury High School . Why is this significant? Well, for one, Danbury is my hometown, and the high school became part of the college I attended. But, more important it was the site of a memorable live recording of the group.The Doors had just released their second album Strange Days four days earlier, and had run afoul of TV censors in an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show less than a month before. (The censors objected to the "Girl we couldn't get much higher" line from "Light My Fire," and when Jim Morrison sang it anyway, Sullivan banned the group from ever appearing on the show again.) Then it was back on the road for a concert swing through the northeast, including the Danbury stop.The concert was put on not by Danbury High School , but by Western Connecticut State College as part of its Fall weekend. The scene is set by this description from www.doorshistory.com: This show is primarily attended by nearby college students from...
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Tuesday Trivia On Wednesday
2007-10-10 14:56:00
Ken Jennings is apparently on vacation (vacation? what's that?) for a couple weeks, so he hasn't been sending his weekly trivia contest. But have no fear, we now know the answer to this question posted on September 25: What unusual distinction is shared by these songs? "American Woman" by the Guess Who, "Glamorous" by Fergie, "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani, "I'm Back" by Eminem, "I'm Henry VIII I Am" by Herman's Hermits, "Lola" by the Kinks, "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats, and "Turn On Me" by the Shins.Take a guess first, then highlight the space between the lines with your mouse to see the answer.-----------------------------Answe r: All songs have a part where a word is spelled out:"American Woman" by the Guess Who ? A-M-E-R-I-C-A-N"Glamorous" by Fergie ? G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S"Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani ? B-A-N-A-N-A-S"I'm Back" by Eminem ? W-H-I-T-E"I'm Henry VIII I Am" by Herman's Hermits ? H-E-N-R-Y"Lola" by the Kinks ? L-O-L-A"Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats ? ...
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Radiohead's Bold Experiment Starts Today
2007-10-10 06:16:00
There's been a lot of buzz about Radiohead's new album In Rainbows which is officially released today, and is available for http://www.inrainbows.com/Store/Quickinde x.html">download from their website. The buzz, of course, is that the band has chosen not to sign with a label for this, their seventh studio release, but will initially distribute it digitally through the internets. Moreover, they are offering different combinations of what you can order. For example, for $81 you can pre-order (for December shipping) a "discbox," which consists of the 18-song In Rainbows on both a CD and on two vinyl LPs. (If I still owned a turntable, this would be the way I'd go.) It also comes with an enhanced CD with digital photos and other images, as well as additional songs. And, to top it off, the discbox includes a hardcover book of lyrics, artwork and other liner notes.But the kicker is that if you just want the music, you can get it. And you set the price you want to pay. When you go to ...
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Happy Birthday John Lennon
2007-10-09 06:25:00
"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. It's getting hard to be someone, but it all works out--it doesn't matter much to me."John Lennon would have been 67 today had a madman not ended his life. However, this post is not about his death, but of his life and what he did to bring truth, beauty, and peace to the world. Lennon was my hero when I was growing up. I was a fan of his songs, his humor and his attitude. Through him I learned that there was nothing I can do that can't be done, and nowhere I can be that isn't where I'm meant to be. All I need is love. And, believe it or not, I found solace in those and other Lennon lyrics during some rather dark times of my life. They were positive messages, and helped me see that despite how bleak my situation seemed, it was within my power to change things for the better. And it was. To me it was a humanist philosophy that became part of the fabric of my life. "All You Need Is Love," "Give Peace A Chance," "Tomorr...
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