The Musical Memoirs Move to Cougar Country
It’s sort of ironic that the only movie my dad and I saw at the theater together was “Breaking Away.”
Because a couple of years after seeing that film, my mom and I would break away to Bloomington, IN – where ”Breaking Away“ was shot – leaving my dad and the Chicago suburbs in […]
Posted on June 27th, 2008 by Pat
Filed under: Music, Songs in the Key of Life: My Musical Memoirs | 2 Comments »
Musical Memoirs Gets a Makeover with KISS
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Okay, I’ll admit: I was once a KISS fan.
Maybe it was the cool makeup. Perhaps the funky boots. Or possibly even the blood-spitting Gene Simmons, who – rumor had it – had a cow tongue grafted onto his own.
Using wooden spoons as microphones, my friends and I would […]
Posted on June 19th, 2008 by Pat
Filed under: Music, Songs in the Key of Life: My Musical Memoirs, The World According to Pat | 3 Comments »
The Musical Memoirs Takes a Detour to Graceland
There weren’t many famous people from the little town my mother grew up in.
One of her childhood friends became a running back with the New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Viking before losing his final game – a deadly contest of Russian roulette – at the age […]
Posted on June 13th, 2008 by Pat
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The Musical Memoirs Continues With the Blues Brothers in Chicago
My grandfather was a pretty good pool player – especially considering the fact that he was missing four fingers.
Okay, well – maybe not technically four fingers. On one hand he was missing two entire fingers. On the other hand, two of his fingers were half gone. So […]
Posted on June 10th, 2008 by Pat
Filed under: Music, Songs in the Key of Life: My Musical Memoirs, The World According to Pat | 4 Comments »
Musical Memoirs Enters Suburbia With Stevie Wonder
I wasn’t around the day my friends were kidnapped.
If I had been, I probably would have been snatched up with them. Because when school was out in Elk Grove Village, IL, we spent much of our time riding bikes around the neighborhood. And it was while riding bikes that my […]
Posted on June 4th, 2008 by Pat
Filed under: Music, Songs in the Key of Life: My Musical Memoirs | 2 Comments »
The Musical Memoirs Continue with a Trip to 1974
Growing up the youngest of three, I always felt like a pest in the eyes of my brother and sister.
In fact, the age difference was so much – I was still raising hell in elementary school when they were raising hell in high school — I often […]
Posted on June 2nd, 2008 by Pat
Filed under: Music, Songs in the Key of Life: My Musical Memoirs, The World According to Pat | 3 Comments »
”Cry Baby Cry” Was a “White Album” Classic in 1968
I’d like to say my parents played “Cry Baby Cry” when I was in the crib, but it’s highly unlikely. My parents, after all, were never Beatles fans.
And, frankly, that kind of annoys me. Even though my dad was just 29 when the “White Album” came out, […]
Posted on May 30th, 2008 by Pat
Filed under: Music, Songs in the Key of Life: My Musical Memoirs, The World According to Pat | 4 Comments »
There’s a Barenaked Ladies song called ”It’s All Been Done,” which, translated loosely, means: It’s all been done.
While the song is basically about relationships, I like to cite it – okay, maybe even sing it — when making a case about art. Because, really, nothing is new – it’s all borrowed and tweaked.
Now some may […]
Posted on May 29th, 2008 by Pat
Filed under: Music, Songs in the Key of Life: My Musical Memoirs, The World According to Pat | No Comments »