High Fidelity - the ladies of early 90's country radio

So yesterday at work I kept myself motivated by listening to my Spotify playlist called "Chick Country."  While it includes a lot of awesome newer artists like Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert, Pistol Annies, etc. it also has a lot of great early late 80's/early 90's classics like Patty Loveless, Tanya Tucker, Reba McEntire and Mary Chapin Carpenter.  

I forgot, until I rediscovered them just recently, how much I enjoyed these talented female country artists - listening to these songs took my right back to my childhood and the country music I grew up enjoying on shows like the Grand Ole Opry, Crook & Chase, Hee Haw and Nashville Now with Ralph Emery.  Ah, memories!   

So here are a few of my favorites for you to enjoy:

Patty Loveless -" I Try to Think About Elvis"

Mary Chapin Carpenter - "Down at the Twist and Shout"  (I also LOVE "I Feel Lucky" but couldn't find a good video of it).

Tanya Tucker - "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane"

Suzy Bogguss - "Drive South"  (I also highly recommend "Someday Soon"  "Aces" "Outbound Plane" and "Letting Go" - have a hankie ready for that one, it always makes me cry)

Pam Tillis - "Maybe it was Memphis"

Reba McEntire - "Fancy"

Trisha Yearwood - "She's in Love with the Boy"

Patty Loveless "Blame it on Your..." (I know, another Patty Loveless but I LOVE this song, if I ever get the guts to do karaoke by myself this is one of my go-to songs)

So - what are some of your favorite songs from the country ladies of this era?

Dear fellow human beings...

Dear fellow human beings,

Yes, I know I am fat.  No, it is not necessary to point this out to me or make snide and condescending comments as I pass by – I’m fat, not deaf.  I don’t ask for any special privileges or do anything to hurt you (besides exist in your world).  If you could just treat me like a fellow human being who has feelings, that would be great – I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

Much obliged,

Fat chick

P.S.  Yes, I know it is unhealthy to be fat. Yes, I am trying to do something about it and am making slow and steady progress.  Please note, however, that every time someone decides to verbally (or visually) show how much my existence disgusts them it just makes the process even harder as an emotional eater.  So congratulations, you just could have contributed to my being fat even longer (except you won’t because I won’t let you have that power over me.)  So there.



4/9 - Due to the necessity of some people to be complete jerks (all the more proving my point) I have disabled comments on this entry.  People have a right to their option, ie. this post was because "I have a desperate need for attention"... (um, hello - the whole point of this is that I don't want the extra attention!) however the main reason for even writing this post in the first place was simply to be a voice for the other people out there like me who are treated like lesser class citizens just because of how we look and either are afraid to speak up (and who could blame them?) or don't have a medium to do so in. End of story.

Always...

If you are of the same generation as I am, the Harry Potter stories and movies have been a factor of your life (whether you like it or not!).  I won't elaborate on the virtues of the Harry Potter series, because it would make one long blog post, but I will say that they have emotionally affected me (and many others I know) more than any other book series.  Heck, we even had a 50-60 member Happy Potter club (Dumbledore's Army) on my college campus... yes, I was a proud member, have the shirt and everything.  ;)

Are they Pulitzer prize winning fiction?  Nope, but they are encouraging, touching, insightful books with rich characters you as the reader truly end up caring about. Yes, they have magic in them.  No, I do not have a problem with that as a Christian. Good ultimately triumphs evil. Nuff said.

Seeing the books come alive in movie form, while not always executed as well as we HP fans would have liked, was magical because we simply loved the characters so much.  I stumbled across this compilation film on Pinterest today and it was so poignant - it really just emphasizes the attachment so many of us have to these stories.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

 

To sum it all up, a quote from the actor who brought to life my favorite misunderstood character, Severus Snape:

High Fidelity - Owl City

I love Owl City's sound.  Lead singer, Adam Young's voice and style of vocals reminds me of Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge of Blink-182 (if they did electro pop!) and the upbeat sounds tend to simply make me happy.  I also love the fact that he simply started making music in his basement and is just another newer artist who got his break via myspace music. 

Fireflies

Alligator Sky

Good Time

Shooting Star

Dementia - ft. Mark Hoppus (from Blink-182!)

While I enjoy the above songs, it was stumbling across this that made me decide to do an Owl City post.  Turns out Adam is a Christian and recorded this simple, heartfelt version of "In Christ Alone (I Stand)" which I love. 

Adam Young - Owl City

Blessings

Family.

My sister, Mom, me and Dad.  Could we be more 80's? ;)

When asked what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday, they are the first thing that comes to mind.  But my gratitude and love for them isn't any stronger on the third Thursday in November (or the 25th of December!) than it is any other day of the year.  

I love them every day. 

Me and my sissy

  

I think that Thanksgiving is a gift.  It helps us look beyond the day to day humdrum and take the time to reflect on what blessings we have in our lives.  

I've been lucky enough to have a large family on both the maternal and paternal sides. 

Me, Grammy and Laura on the famous couch

Me and my sister with Uncle Cy and Aunt Marlys (essentially our third set of grandparents - lucky kids!)

Ritchie family Thanksgivings tend to be very full.  Full of good food, full of laughter, full of lots of family (usually 20+) and always full of love.

The Ritchie cousins

I'm thankful, so very thankful and very, very blessed.

Equality?

There are some excellent points here.  

While I realize there will always be some who cannot and will not ever accept the LGBT community as complete equals (cause if you deny them marriage you deny them equality, plain and simple) there will also be those of us who will always, no matter how much you quote the very few words from the Bible about the subject to state your case, support equal (or in this case, gay) rights.  

I do not feel that my personal relationship with Christ is threatened by someone loving another of  the same sex.  Nor do I feel that the future of the "traditional family" is at risk because we allow two men or two women to enter a committed relationship with each other, protected by the same laws that protect straight couples.  

I can support the idea of changing the legal term of "marriage" into "civil union" for all people, straight and gay alike - the civil union term would refer to their law bound rights and, if they are a believer in the religious sacrament of marriage, then a "marriage certificate" would be issued by their religious organization of choice.  It would be a choice of the religious institution to offer the option of marriage certificates to just heterosexual couples or, if they are accepting of the gay community, they can choose to extend this to homosexual couples as well.  

This would not take away from the sanctity of marriage, in fact it would increase it because the term would only be used by those who believe in the religious aspect of the commitment versus being used as a blanket term to essentially mean a civil union.


Well, these are my thoughts on the matter - you are free to disagree (or agree!) as you choose.  If you choose to comment, my only request is that you are thoughtful in your reply and that you be polite. :)

High Fidelity - Carrie Underwood

I have always wished that I would have been blessed with a really fantastic singing voice.  There is a feeling of freedom when I really allow myself to let go and sing out, a peace in that moment.  While I can carry a tune, I know that I just was not physically gifted with one of 'those' voices, even if I had extensive training. 

Carrie Underwood is one of those people blessed with a natural talent.  While I know she had a lot of training to get as good as she is now, there was an innate gift that she had which allowed her to be able to mold her voice into the powerhouse she is today.  What a rush it must be to know your voice is bringing such joy to others.


Carrie's newest album, "Blown Away" is by far her best yet in my opinion.  The songs range from fun "One Way Ticket" which sounds like a Kenny Chesney tribute, to heartbreaking on "Forever Changed", and powerful and poignant in "Blown Away" and "Two Black Cadillacs."   

"Blown Away" reminds me so much of Martina McBride's "Independence Day" in the fact that it is a crazy powerful ballad about a young woman who feels like she has no options in life due to domestic issues and the decision she makes to change that.  While I could never condone the actions that these women take in these songs, my heart hurts for the real women in situations like these everyday.  Domestic and child abuse is a sickness in our society and I have always felt a real calling to help women in these types of situations.  It was one of the reasons I originally went back to school for my psych degree and even if I do not end up in that specific field it will always be one that is close to my heart.

"Two Black Cadillacs" is along the same vein as "Blown Away" (for someone who appears to be as happily married as Carrie is, she sure has a lot of songs about guys being jerks... i.e. "Before He Cheats" - Lol).  I just think is a musically haunting and beautiful song, a more serious version of the Dixie Chick's "Good-bye Earl."  I love the visuals created by lyrics, I hope Carrie releases this one because I would love to see this video!

The final one I will share here (although I highly suggest checking out the entire album!) will be "Forever Changed."  This one is a heart-breaker, have some tissues ready.  As someone who has a loved one they are slowly losing to Alzheimer's (my paternal Grandma) and who has already lost another person who was like a Grandpa to dementia, this one hits home.

Life is a journey and the experiences we have inevitably change us, for good or bad...

Carrie Underwood