Sarah McLachlan & Randy Newman "When She Loved Me"

Some thoughts on last week's Yard Sale . . .

My Mother-In-Law has a big end-of-summer Yard Sale each year.  She invites a few neighborhood folks to set up in her yard too.  So the event is rather massive.  Between 9 and 3 last Saturday, literally hundreds of folks stopped by.

This was the first year we brought stuff of our own, for the sake of participating.   And it was the first Yard Sale that our kids had ever known.

On the car ride to Gramma's, we tried to explain what a Yard Sale is.  And, speaking the language of children, we gave them an example from an animated film.

"Remember 'Toy Story 2'?  The one where Woody accidentally got sold?  That was a Yard Sale.  We're taking all our old toys and things, and selling them to people who might want them."

And we cautioned them to not bring any of their own belongings into the driveway, because someone could think that their special toy was actually for sale, and walk off with it.

To put a fine point on it, we played that Sarah McLachlan song, where poor Jessie gets left behind and everyone in the audience weeps like babies.

And while losing your favorite toy to a grabby Yard Sale-goer sounds like some kind of thing that only happens in the movies, let me point you to the conversation I overheard at the end of Gramma's Driveway.

"Look at that.  Why would you want that?  521 Main Street?  What good would that do you, unless that was you exact address?"**

This was an elderly woman who was admiring, but confused by the address marker at Gramma's house.

Because, if it's in the driveway, it must be for sale, ammiright?

We did surprisingly well with the Grandparent-set.  We had a lot of baby gear and toys that my kids had outgrown.  And the grandparents that filtered through all day long were happy to pick up that spare ride-on toy or set of blocks or whatever, that they could have handy for when the grandkids visit.

One item of great interest was the Jack-In-The-Box.  It was fun to see who was delighted by it, and who it surprised/terrified.


See the video on Youtube.

It was the exact same model as the one Will Ferrell opens in "Elf."  (And for my Cape Ann friends, it is made by the local company Schylling, where my sister Amy used to work)

Somewhere in the middle of the day, a teenage boy picked up the Jack-In-The-Box and turned the crank.  At the conclusion of "Pop Goes The Weasel" he gave a surprised "Hey!" 

But not because of the pop-up clown.

Stuffed inside the Jack-In-The-Box (no doubt put there at some point by my 4 year old) was a Lego figure.

LEGO WOODY!!!

We nearly reenacted the plot of "Toy Story 2" by accidently sell Woody at the Yard Sale!

Fortunately, just like the movies, it all ended well, with Woody coming back home with us, safe and sound.  And the Jack-In-The Box, the talking dinosaur, the travel potty, the ride-on giraffe, the music table, the wooden trains and dozens of other treasures, headed to their new homes where somebody would love them.


See the video on Youtube.

** Not Gramma's real address

Sarah McLachlan "In Your Shoes"

Last week there was a conference of non-commercial radio stations.  I wanted to go, but it was during our Fund drive for Friends of mvyradio.

I was quite interested in the forum titled "The Tori Dilemma."  The question at hand was, if you are a station that breaks new artists, but you've been doing it for years and years, what do you do when your new artists, have become established artists?  You're not really breaking new artists if you are playing the new Tori Amos, Natalie Merchant or Sarah McLachlan.  But if you don't play them, you are effectively ignoring the artists you told your listeners were important to pay attention to.

For MVY, we're not necessarily chasing a younger, more fickle audience.  We still try to break new artists, but we're comfortable sticking with the heritage acts, even if they are "old."



Hear the song on Youtube.

Sarah McLachlan "When She Loved Me"

This week, I'm on vacation with the family at Disneyworld.  So I thought I'd write some posts about Disney songs.
Well, you couldn't be blamed for missing a few details tucked into the sequence of "Toy Story 2" where Sarah McLachlan sings "When She Loved Me" and you learned Jessie's cruel fate.

No doubt you were balling your eyes out, like the rest of us.

Have you read this piece, which theorizes that Jessie's former-owner Emily is . . . bomp-bomp-bommmmm!  Andy's Mother?!?!

It's a little nutty.  But it's a pretty thorough examination . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Sarah McLachlan "Into The Fire"

It was 50-50.  Maybe I was going to be fine.  But maybe I was going to have my body dumped in a ditch.

Just in case it was going to be the latter, I wrote a note and left it at the office.

"I got invited out to a listener's house for some beer and food.  If I disappear, this is where I was headed. (address)"

I was the host of my own nightly Alternative music specialty show in rural Virginia.  The program was a little oasis of modern music, for a niche of folks who couldn't find the stuff anywhere else.

Not long after my show went on the air, I started getting nightly calls from the folks in the kitchen of a local restaurant, who'd tune me in as they were winding down their night.

They were always boisterous and effusive, excited to be hearing some cutting edge stuff on the radio.  Also, they were usually drinking while working.  And drinking after work, as they'd call me from whatever house they were partying at, post-shift.

Over a short period of time, we built up some familiarity.  But I figured it was in the DJ/listener kind of way.  Not the "come hang out" kind of way.  Until . . .

"Are you hungry?!  You should come out to the house!  What time to you get off?"

I hesitated.

I was new to the whole DJ thing, the being on-air thing.  And I'd been warned that often the kind of people who religiously called the radio station, and wanted to "hang out" inevitably proved to be weird.

On the other hand, I was hungry.

I was only part-time, just making little better than minimum wage.  There wasn't much food in the pantry.  A free, hot meal sounded good.

I wrote my note and left it for my co-workers.  When my shift ended at midnight, I got in my car and drove out across the Virginia countryside to the outskirts of town.

The directions sent me down an unlit dirt road.  That couldn't be right.

There were the dark silhouettes of cows moving about in the field next to the road.

I was thinking that maybe I should just turn around, go home and eat another bowl of Corn Flakes.

But I could see a porch light.  And then the whole house.  A large, new-ish looking place, set back on a hill.  And I could hear music.

What the hell, I figured.  I'll go in.

There were just 4 people hanging out.  But it felt like a whole party.  Boisterous and effusive and happy and a little drunk.

They were excited to have a new friend to hear their old stories.  We talked about music and food and not much else.

They made me some pasta, and when I started twirling the spaghetti on my fork, one of the girls said, "Oh God, you're Italian!" which theretofore somehow marked me as a gourmand---never again did they server me something as plebeian as pasta.

This house would be the future site of many a good party, a couple of fun hook-ups and the occasional scene of social drama.  But tonight it was just music and food.

"Have you heard Sarah McLachlan?"

I'd heard OF her, but I hadn't heard her record.

We listened to "Into The Fire" and my personal chef/new friend gave me this "One Sentence Review" that was definitely not intended to be Dismissive, though I have used it on later occasions as a criticism not a complement.

The chef said, "It's like Joni Mitchell on Prozac."

And that pretty much summed up the night:  weird and dark, but ultimately smoothed out.  And not in a ditch.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Sarah McLachlan "Ice Cream"

If you're a doctor, then your family members are going to ask you for medical advice.

If you're a lawyer, your family members are going to ask you for legal advice.

If you're a chef, your family members are going to ask you for cooking advice.

And if you're a DJ, well, your family members are probably going to ask you if you've seen your Uncle the lawyer . . .

Yeah, I don't get asked for weighty advice that makes use of my knowledge base, too often. But it has happened.

When my sister Julie got married, she was struggling to find a wedding song for her first dance.

We were less than 24 hour away, and she was still working for it. That's when I was called in . . .

I suggested "True Companion," by Marc Cohn. Julie said that would likely cause her to cry for the whole dance.

I ran through some standard suggestions, but they were all dismissed as too cliche.

I ran through some offbeat choices, but they were dismissed as to hard to dance too.

My sister doesn't love to dance, and her husband is not a dancer at all.

"It needs to be short," was her final directive.

A doctor would go to her Medical journal. A lawyer would consult briefs. A chef might crack open a cookbook.

But a DJ . . . well this DJ has a million songs in his head.

"How about Sarah McLachlan's 'Ice Cream'?"

It was perfect. It's under 3 minutes. It's an easy-to-dance-to Waltz. And it's about dessert.

The big brother DJ proves his worth!

Happy Anniversary (this weekend) to Julie and Tim!


Hear the song on Youtube.

Sarah McLachlan “Forgiveness”

We experience an artist chronologically.

We hear their first single, then their second single, then their third single. And so on.

Their story is told in successive order.

Because we humans are natural story-tellers, and because we experience time in linear fashion, we may string a chronological narrative together through these songs.

But that’s single-release-chronology. Which is not the same as songwriting-chronology.

An album’s worth of songs may contain various tunes, some that were written years before the record was made, others written during the final recording process.

In real life, Sarah McLachlan got a divorce from her husband.

Her first post-divorce single was “U Want Me 2“, from 2008 greatest hits package. It was clearly a break-up song.

And her next album’s first single was “Loving You Is Easy,” a bouncy, I’ve-found-Love track.

So it was easy for the brain to go: “Oh, Sarah has found love again.”

But then your head snaps back with the follow up song, “Forgiveness,” which goes back to the devastating break-up. And suddenly, Sarah is not okay again.

Confusing, for the narrative-minded.