Last Ten Cds I've Listened To: Lots of '70s Stuff

This list of the last ten cds that I had listened to as of Tuesday night is indeed a journaey back in time as the latest album was recorded in 2004 and the earliest in 1963.

Most of the music I listened to tends to be from the years 1979-1991 though here there are some exceptions. And, yes, I do indeed listen to lots of New Wave and Turkish psychedelic music! Here is the list:

1. Sonic Youth. "Goo." 1990. Key Tracks: "Dirty Boots," "My Friend Goo" and "Mildred Pierce."

2. The Cars. "Candy-O." 1979. Key Tracks: "Let's Go," "It's All I Can Do" and "Dangerous Type."

3. Selda (Selda Bagcan). "Selda, Vol.2" 1976 (comp). Selda is a Turkish folk singer who was prosecuted for her highly political song lyrics during Turkey's somewhat turbulent 1980s.

4. David Bowie. "Hunky Dory." 1971. Key Tracks: "Changes," "Life on Mars?," "Kooks" and "Queen Bitch."

5. The Cure. "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me." 1987. Key Tracks: "Why Can't I Be You?," "Just Like Heaven" and "All I Want."

6. The Replacements "Pleased to Meet Me." 1987. Key Tracks: "Alex Chilton" and "Can't Hardly Wait."

7. 3 Hurel. "3 Hurel." 1963. The 'Anatolian rock band' 3 Hurel consisted of brothers Onus, Haldun and Feridun Hurel; hence the name of the band.

8. REM. "Out of Time." 1991. Key Tracks: "Losing My Religion," "Shinny Happy People" and "Half a World Away."

9. Tom Waits. "The Heart of Saturday Night." 1974.

10. Mercan Dede. "Su (Water)." 2004. Mercan Dede is a Turkish instrumentalist.


SIDEBAR: The answer to our Rabbit Ears Quiz from last week is b) 1975; that is the year when "Wonder Woman" made its network debut.

The 1,000th Entry and Remembering a Friend

On Oct. 19, 2008, I launched my second blog "The Daily Vampire" after much deliberation. And, as it turns out, it has become an even grander success than my original "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," which originated with AOL and remains active.

Many of my fellow blogger friends, with the exception of Chris Knight from Reidsville, NC, who sort of became famous for his over-the-top "Star Wars" themed ad when he ran for county school board in 2006, have either decided to dedicate more time to their wives and families or atually get some office work done.

But, I image Chris and myself will be at this until we are old men in nursing homes who are playing checkers with the staff.

SIDEBAR: On a much more serious note, I want to take a moment to personally recognize my friend and mentor Dr. Klaus Phillips of Hollins University, a man I knew for 24 years since I was a 17-year-old high school student.

He died unexpectedly last week at the age of 64.

In 1987, when we first met, Klaus had orgazined a video and filmmaking program for area high school students in Roanoke, Va. When he showed us a Jim Jarmusch film called "Down By Law," featuring the singer/actor Tom Waits and a then-unknown Roberto Benigni (who later became an Oscar-winner), he opened a whole new world to me. From that day forward, I have taken film very seriously as an art form and as a way to learn how other people live, irregradless if they are coal miners in West Virginia or village dwellers in Mali.

In 2002, I became a student in the Hollins University film studies program, which Klaus founded. The school announced on its web site that a scholarship in Klaus Phillips' name has been established. For more details, one can log onto the school's web site at www.hollins.edu