1978: A Rockin’ Year to be Seventeen

Image from http://www.fanpop.com

Evolution of X just had a post about her memories of 1978. She invited readers to do the same.

So, let’s see. Not in chronological order:

Lenin’s Favourite Songs: A Copyright Question

(Image from Wikipedia)

So in my last post I wrote the story of how I got this tape of Russian music, that I thought was called Lenin’s Favourites. I have looked high and low for a CD of the music, in all the music shops, on Amazon, etc. It’s not to be found and no one has even heard of it.

How Lenin Made My Day

(Image from biography.com)

I will have a question in my next post.

But first the story.

In the summer of 1989, two years before I met my husband, my girl friend H and I went backpacking in the Cairngorms in Scotland. We took the ferry from Rotterdam to Hull, hitchhiked to the Cairngorms,

Top Ten Musical Memories

When I hear a song I haven’t heard for a while, I immediately remember where I first heard it, or where I bought it, or which hangout played it a lot. . .

I thought I’d share some of them.

1. Morning Town Ride by The Seekers

Armadillos and Music

Two of the great things about living in Austin are the wildlife and the music. One of my favorite Austin bands is The Austin Lounge Lizards, and one of my favorite Austin Lounge Lizard songs is “Arnold”.  I feel like I’ve posted this before, but I can’t find it. And if you’ve listened to it before, I know you will love to listen to it again.

Hee Amsterdam, ze zegge dat je bent veranderd…

Just a quick link to some fun photos of Amsterdam by Fig and the Wasp. Also check out these posts by same: this one and this one.

And if you want to enjoy the photos with an iconic song about Amsterdam, click here, or listen while watching the video, because it’s worthwhile, too.

Fillaflah Revealed

Okay, this is neither here nor there. Or it’s both. It has nothing to do with being an immigrant, though. Just with being a 51-year-old user of modern technology. Every now and then there’s this technology moment that blows my mind. The younger you are, the less you will understand this, but my contemporaries will.

Sponteaneous Piano

Austin never ceases to surprise me. One day last spring, on a walk with R along Town Lake, I suddenly saw a piano at our favorite break spot. A few days later it was gone again.

Austin Musicians

Last night we went to a fundraising concert for our school. This year is its tenth anniversary! Bob Schneider was great by himself, better than the time we saw him with his band on the big stage at the Nutty Brown Cafe–less generic sounding. I had never seen Alejandro Escovedo, even though I’ve heard  his performances announced on the local radio for years. He and his band were phenomenal. He has a violinist and a cellist along with a regular rock group and it gives it a wonderfully deep sound. Loved it.

So I thought I’d do a post listing a few of my favorite  musicians that are based in and around Austin. Here goes.

Airport Guitar 1

A blog that I visit a lot is A Flamingo in Utrecht, which has wonderful photos of Utrecht, the Netherlands: streetscapes, vistas, and photos of everyday life. It inspired me to post regular photos of Austin. It doesn’t have much to do with being a Dutch immigrant here, but oh well. I love Austin and all its quirkiness, so let’s just say it’s a counterweight to all my griping.

Gerard and Willy

Another strange link in music: I was about fifteen, I think, in Holland, in high school at the Werkplaats in Bilthoven, when Gerard Cox had a hit. “‘T Is Weer Voorbij, Die Mooie Zomer“. Roughly translated it’s “Summer’s Over.”

How-How-How-How

Living in America, the music I used to listen to in Holland as a teenager and college student now has a whole new dimension. Take ZZ Top. I was in the second year of library school in Deventer, around 1980. My boyfriend and I had broken up but we still lived in the same student house and he would play his music really loud when he got back from the bar at 1 a.m. He drove me nuts, pretty much literally. And definitely consciously. A friend of mine who was in a biker phase at the time introduced me to ZZ Top and it was the perfect music for being mad.