michael jackson |

Gawker ran an article today highlighting Michael Jackson’s song, “They Don’t Care About Us.” I loved this song from the get-go when I bought his album HIStory. It was such a dramatic song and I loved the beat and the anger all around it. I had known about the version of the video that was set in Brazil as that’s the only one that existed officially within the U.S., or at least so I thought. Obviously with a lot of the unrest around Missouri and NYC and the country, the lyrics from the song have resonated for a lot of people, and not surprisingly. This article today linked to a version of the video I never knew existed and apparently was banned at the time of its initial release – but talk about how some things just don’t seem to have changed:

Well, color us all surprised, right? I actually am posting again and it hasn’t been over a month. I finished up all my laundry unpacking, changing sheets, and weeding out my t-shirt drawer. I swear that I had more t-shirts in that drawer than should have fit, but by God, I made them fit. I have to say I’m glad that I did finally get it into my head to clean out the drawer – I found shirts in there I’ve had for over 10 years. Why do I feel the need to hold on to this shit? Be gone!

It’s been a hot couple of weeks here in New York City, and when it gets this unpleasant, I typically don’t enjoy going and doing things. So not too many stories on this front, although there are some updates:

Pat came out last Tuesday evening and visited the last night before she headed back to Texas. It was a good trip but very brief. Luckily we had the chance to go out to one of Larry & my favorite Italian places and drink a bottle or two of Riesling wine. That ensured that when Pat asked if I’d play some guitar, well, I would. And horribly. Ugh. I am promising myself that I will record some of my guitar-playing for this site so as I hopefully get better, there will be some proof. I think I’m going to resume classes in early September. Anyway, the next morning, I escorted Pat to Grand Central where her bus to LaGuardia awaited, some pictures of which are right here:

Grand Central Station

Pat says farewell

Waiting for LaGuardia

Larry & I are also headed back to Colorado Springs for an extended weekend in early September! I really can’t wait to go back and see Susan and KD & Eric. It’ll be a blast to hang out again in my old “hood.” I still don’t think I can go by and see my old house, but I think I have to, just so that Larry can see it. This will be Larry’s first visit there so of course we’ll have to do the touristy stuff, including Pike’s Peak, as well as get into Cheyenne Mountain, since I still know Susan and she can give us the tour. It’ll be neat to go back there. CAN’T WAIT for a little vacation, to be honest!
Work is work, and progressing well. NBC and our associated properties are still on the air…most of the time. But enough about that!
I’ve got some more iPhone pictures posted in the latest batch of downloads in the My Pics section, so head on over there if you care. I’m also going to shamelessly borrow an idea that my old friend Civilian Jenny borrowed as well. Not that C.J. is old, but I have known her for about 8 years now. CRAZY. She was just little young AIRMAN Jenny way back then too. Holy crap, that’s been a long time ago. Ah, Vegas. So much fun but also so much ridiculousness, at least at work. It was probably one of my most favorite places to live though – my finances may not have agreed, but the option to go play craps after work is something not to be taken for granted. And there were some days when that was the cure for what ailed me. Oy. Oh yeah, I was about to talk about the idea I’m borrowing from C.Jen. Every day, I have to post something according to this chart. This will make me post, people, so it’s a good thing. I bet no one will even notice – hobiebarnes.com is certainly not enjoying it’s glory days of web traffic, that’s for sure!

The 30 Days each have a different topic, so I guess I’ll start with Day 1 while we’re at it:

DAY 01 | Your Favorite Song

Oh lord, where do I find the strength to pick just one song. How trite, right, to say, I can’t name just one!? I can’t puss out on the first day, dammit. So I will talk it out with myself to see if I can figure it out. We all know I’m partial to certain artists: Madonna, Missy Elliott, ABBA, Lady Gaga…(did I mention I was gay?), Beyonce/Destiny’s Child, Michael Jackson, En Vogue…. Damn, it’s now even more difficult to figure it out. If I were to look at my most-played song on iTunes right now, I would be willing to bet it’s Telephone by Lady Gaga/Beyonce. A super-gay combo value meal, I tell ya. Indeed, I just checked. It’s Telephone by a landslide. But would I say it’s my favorite song? No. Top 20 for sure, but not favorite. Single Ladies will never fail to entertain me, but again, it’s not #1. I think I can tell you what is #1 though, after thinking about it. It’s…..

Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Something.” No doubt about it. I find it immensely more entertaining than “Thriller” or “Beat It” from that same album. You can hear it now and it still feels current. That initial intro drum beat that lets you know the song is now ready for you to shake your ass, the bass line that leads into his iconic “ooooooooo”, the call/repeat of the “yeah yeahs” and the “mama say mama saw mamacusah”….so awesome. I have quite a few different memories of this song throughout my life. One of the most memorable of these is back when I lived in LA and I was at Universal CityWalk with Roni and her family one night. We would always go hang out and we’d always hit up the Sam Goody store there as it was so ridiculously huge and had a really good selection of music to pick from. Never priced that great, as it was Sam Goody. It’s really not a shock that place went out of business – $18.99 for a CD? Bitch, please. And that was back in the 90s. But there we were in this store that had 50-foot high ceilings, as it was still quite a cool place to hang out, as they played the music loud there, much like Virgin Megastore over on Sunset (sniff, sniff… a moment of silence for that wondrous store’s departure as well….where ARE all the awesome music stores nowadays?). So there we were, browsing away, when WBSS’ telltale intro beat BANGS the hell out of the speakers. You knew the store DJ was a fan as he had cranked the volume up for this song. Everyone in the store was immediately hit by the groove and everywhere you looked, heads were bouncing and feet were tapping. No one can resist this song when played full blast and my memory is crystal-clear of the moment when the song hits the point where the music has stopped and it’s only MJ and the chorus singing and clapping “mama say mama saw mamacusah” – the entire store was completely rapt by this amazing song at that point. Everyone was either grooving along or even clapping along to it. I wouldn’t call it a seminal moment in my life, but I still remember everything about that moment and it was over 15 years ago that it happened. It was a moment where you just realize how wonderful and powerful music can be.

The other memory isn’t quite so vivid and epic, but it’s stupid and hilarious to me. While down in Montgomery, Alabama for one of the Air Force’s officer training thingys – I’m pretty sure it was the Squadron Officer School one in 2004. Anyway, one night we went to this local bar/club that I can/t remember the name of. They were playing mostly repetitive hip-hop/Top 40 stuff, and I knew that everyone would probably like hearing some classic MJ so I requested WBSS. They did actually play it, but my statement in the previous paragraph is dead wrong. It’s not a guaranteed party maker. In fact, only me and a girl in our group who was brave or drunk enough to dance with me were the only ones out there. And getting stared at by a bunch of unimpressed and frankly amused/annoyed locals wondering what this white boy and girl thought they were doing. I blame the DJ on this one though, as he had obviously set the music speed at a faster setting so it sounded like the chipmunks instead of Michael Jackson. Whatevs, I still love that damn song.

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