Must. Write. Something.
2007-03-02, 14:43

The last ten days or so have been gray and dreary for the most part, if only in an intellectual sense. There's been a lot going on in my head and I've had trouble getting any of it out. There's a hundred thoughts all shouldering into each other, all trying to get out the door at once. An old story, I guess. Anyway, I feel like rambling a little.

Rod Stewart Must Be Stopped

From the AP newswire, April 8th, 2014:

Self-proclaimed King of Karaoke, Rod Stewart, has announced the upcoming release of yet another new album of song covers, though not from an era you'd first guess. "I've always said, 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,'" Stewart proclaimed.

In the past, Stewart has voiced raspy clones of songs from the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, and pretty much everything from the new millennium, copying classics ranging from doo-wop to death metal (who could forget his song-for-song ode to GWAR's first album?), from standards to synth pop, and from golden oldies to grunge. Stewart's gregarious but short-lived foray into opera classics proved somewhat less popular with the mainstream - not that it stopped radio stations from continuing to place the songs into their on-air rotations.

Stewart ran into some legal trouble last year when he attempted to release an album filled completely with covers of songs that had not even been released yet by the original artists. An investigation is ongoing into how the songs were obtained, though Stewart claims they were "delved by a psychic," which may muddy the legal waters a bit.

While the issues on that album are being cleared up, Stewart has in the meantime produced a record of a somewhat older era of music - Gregorian chant. "Kids today, they're looking for something different," says Stewart, "and I'm going to give them that by recording chants exactly as they were done in the 10th century A.D." He added, "Except for the rasp, of course."

According to the press release, the chant album is to be followed by copies other ancient religious melodies, including works from Native American, Aboriginal, Inuit and African tribal sources.

While unconfirmed, unnamed sources have stated that, once these albums are completed (supposedly by the end of this year), Stewart has plans of actually doing covers of his own cover versions of songs.

When asked about that, Stewart replied, "Well, I'd hate to let any cats out of any bags at this point, because nothing's set in stone. But it's either that, or I have to wait for aliens to come to Earth so I can start doing covers of their songs, assuming that they have any."

"I'd really like that," Stewart mused, "to be the first artist to cover the songs of people from another planet." Of course, there are some that speculate that Stewart himself is, in fact, an extraterrestrial.

When asked about his ability to produce so many cover albums in so short a time, Stewart replied, "I'm still running on a continuous buzz. My body is being sustained by the toxins from all the drugs I did in the 70's and 80's." He claims that he hasn't slept at all since around 1977, which would do something to explain his rather haggard look.

"That's the main reason that Rachel [Hunter] stayed with me for so long - you know, for the contact high." Stewart and Hunter were married from 1991-2005, separating in 1999. They share two children, Renee and Liam, who are both in rehab and only now coming down from the high that they inherited from their father at birth.

10-Day Recap:

Laurana was truly sick last week for the first time since she came home with us, with all-out 102° fever and such. (At one point we were worried it might end up being scarlet fever, because one of the other kids in her day care was diagnosed with it. Luckily that wasn't the case for our little girl.) Needless to say, we didn't get much quality sleep for a few days. All in all she was a pretty good sport about it, though. At least as much as she is a good sport about anything, that is. She's deep in the depths of Two-dom, being a willful monster at times, reacting with anger at being admonished for even little things. I'm starting to wonder where she's picking up these traits, because she's not getting them from us. One or more of the kids at her day care, maybe? It's possible. It's part of the reason why we're starting the process of searching for a school for her to go to, like a Montessori or some other such toddler/preschool. I really feel like we're doing her intellect a supreme disservice by not having her in a more educational environment. She can sing the whole alphabet song, can easily point out almost a third of the letters on her own, knows her colors pretty darn well and can count has high as 15 without prompting. She needs to be in school.

As part of celebrating the onset of the Year of the Golden Pig, we went to the local semi-ritzy Hunan on the square, where the more well off in town can go and pretend they know what culture is. The place does have really good food, and the prices aren't too crazy. To celebrate the New Year, they had a traditional Lion Dance right there in the restaurant, with red envelopes to put in its mouth, tossing out oranges to the crowd, the works. No firecrackers, though. Laurana thought it was pretty awesome, and held up well even though she was still recovering from being sick. We'll have to look into whether there's a more pronounced celebration up in Cleveland in the Chinese district for next year.

And have you put up any red lanterns for New Year? It's for good luck, you know. Even nature is putting one up, as there's a full lunar eclipse on Saturday night, the night of the Lantern Festival that ends New Year season. Pretty cool. I hope it's clear enough to see; slim chance of that in Ohio, where clouds reign supreme.

And what's up for tonight? Kevin Smith! I hope H doesn't leave me for him. He's on her List of Five, apparently. Not to mention he's her friend on MySpace, which should guarantee a strong connection between them.

-- End Transmission --