I was working on some administrative stuff surrounding a series of courses I’m responsible for and got a chuckle out of what should be really boring stuff.
In most of my courses, I use scenarios either for learning or for testing. The character, “Henry Rest”, shows up frequently in those scenarios. In fact, if there’s a male character in my scenarios, his name is probably Henry Rest. I really should go back and look to see if he’s been in all of my elearning courses.
You may be wondering why the name. I’m sure everyone has a song that has lyrics that you mishear (my favorite is Suicide Blonde by INXS–I swear “suicide blonde” sounds like “soup and salad bar”). I believe these are called mondegreens. Actually, that would be a good character name, “Monde Green”.
My husband misheard the lyrics in Love Shack by the B52s as “Henry Rest” instead of “tin roof rusted”. And, now Henry shows up in my courses.
I live in Virginia. It’s been a crazy week in the news. I haven’t done a Fridays post in weeks and somehow this song is running around in my head this week. Now it can run around in yours too. Beautiful voices.
This band has a connection to my hometown and this video was shot somewhere in Germany at a Christkindlmarkt. I’ve been to these in a couple of German cities. They are best at night when the whole square is lit up and people are feeling generous and content as they shop. Even though it is cold in Germany in December the gluhwein served in real cups (not that paper throw-away stuff we have here) will help you stay cozy.
There’s one bit of adult language in the video so cranking it up at work may not be the best idea.
I figured it was time to break out the bluegrass. I can remember watching Hee Haw as a kid and my northern-born father would make us all sit still and watch Buck Owens and Roy Clark play.
Who knows what George Gerswhin would have thought of Janis Joplin recording Summertime. This is one of my favorite songs of all time and I’m always interested in how an artist decides to go with the lyrics and music. Janis certainly wrenches every ounce out of this song, doesn’t she?
I think it’s appropriate for Bon Iver songs to sound a little raw when he plays live. The album is one of those that you listen to when you are feeling low or feeling high. The emotion comes through equally well.
I guess that’s what happens when you hole up in a remote cabin and work on music, or essays or whatever. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a cabin in the woods.
Matthew Sweet was once a member of The Thorns. I declared their album my favorite of 2003. No one else paid attention to that fine album. We saw them in concert in support of that album when they opened for John Mayer. We had seen John Mayer before he was huge and that was a brilliant concert. The one with The Thorns was more of the machine that is John Mayer making teen girls scream. Still musically nice, but come on…teen girls screaming is not a good time.
Anyway. The Thorns were super-awesome-fantastic and I was the one screaming. People stared. They were fools for not paying more attention to the opening act. It was like the time Shawn Mullins (also a Thorn) opened for the Indigo Girls at the Carpenter Center. It was amazing to watch and hear the crowd start paying attention to how great he sounded.
I’m not embarrassed to say that I liked the Bangles. I grew up in the 80s which explains a lot of things. I’m especially not embarrassed to say how much I like the idea of Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoff hooking up to cover songs. I’m a freak for covers. Really. Perhaps I’m over-sharing on what’s supposed to be a look at my lifelong learning adventure. But, it’s Friday and you’ve just learned something about me.
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