Blondie "Call Me"

Here's a leftover story from New Year's . . .

For the last several years, during the week around New Years, my wife's family convenes in Newport, Rhode Island for a few days at a timeshare.  Prior to having kids, my wife and I might go out for New Year's Eve, but in these last few years, we've generally stayed in.

That was the case this year.  As midnight approached we found ourselves watching Ryan Seacrest as he did the Dick Clark thing.

At some point, Seacrest brought out Debbie Harry and Blondie, who chatted for a few minutes, and then launched into a few of their hits.

My wife's family was remarking how good Debbie Harry both looks and sounds, though she is approaching 70 years old.

My mind suddenly jumped back nearly 20 years.

In the mid-90s, when I was living in Virginia, my roommate was a Virginia Tech grad, and a football fan.  When the Hokies made it to the Sugar Bowl, we decided to hit the road.

New Orleans for New Year's Eve?  Hell yeah!

The football game was exciting.  Tech won.  We were in an upbeat mood as we headed down to Bourbon Street, trying to decide where we'd go to celebrate midnight.

We noticed that at one of the clubs, the headliner for the evening was Debbie Harry.

"Debbie Harry!?!!? C'mon!" I remember exclaiming.

Harry hadn't had a hit in years and years.  I presumed she was old and washed up and why would I want to spend New Year's Eve with that?

So there I was, back in 2013 on New Year's Eve, sitting in a timeshare sipping some wine in my pajamas with my wife and my In-Laws waiting for the clock to hit midnight so I could go to bed, while I watched Debbie Harry rocking out on National TV, whipping the Times Square audience into a frenzy, looking fabulous as she neared 70. . .

I looked at the TV.  I looked at my pajamas.  I looked at the TV and said out loud:

"Who's washed up now, Debbie Harry?"


Hear the song on Youtube.


Hear Blondie on New Year's Eve 2013 on Youtube.

Cousteau "Last Good Day Of The Year"

Hopefully you had many good days this year . . . but either way, this is the last good day of 2012.

Happy New Year!


Hear the song on Youtube.

Charles Brown "Bringing In A Brand New Year"

This song is set to automatically post, just after midnight, because it's more of a New Year's Eve song, than a New Year's Day song. But I wanted to start the New Year off right, with a little Charles Brown.

As I said, this is set to automatically post, meaning either a) I felt the spirit of the occasion, partied a bit and I'm relatively drunk now, or b) I fell asleep playing scrabble at about 9:30.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Tom Waits "New Year's Eve"

Back in the fall, I wrote about my concerns over the idea of adding the new Tom Waits track "Back In The Crowd."

But as we got to the end of the year, it became apparent that "Bad As Me" was going to top many a critics Best Of 2012 list. With the music biz going quiet in December, it gave me time to reconsider records I'd passed over earlier in the year.

And hey, despite my hesitancy as a programmer, as a music lover, I am a full on fan of Tom Waits.

So (will a little prodding from Barbara Dacey, who had fallen head over heels for the record), I got past my programming self, and added "Back In The Crowd."

Just in time for New Years.

So let's celebrate, with another song from the record.

And, if you're one of those folks who is still unsure about Waits, I'll mention that my old friend Dan just recently posted on Facebook, that he wanted to apologize for all the years he had ignored friends who'd tried to turn him on to Tom. But after seeing a certain PBS special, we was totally won over.

Try it! You might like it . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Watch Tom Waits on PBS. See more from Austin City Limits.