1)This week's song was once named the favorite love song of Bud Wiser, the godfather to this humble blog. With Valentine's Day coming up, what's your favorite love song?
A. The Wedding Song (There is Love), by Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Longer, by Dan Folgerberg. Both were played at my wedding, more than 30 years ago now. Nothing I've heard since sticks in my heart like these two songs.
2) When this song was first released back in 1973, the "Why don't we get drunk and screw?" refrain was considered shocking. With the explicit sexual content in many of today's songs, it now hardly raises an eyebrow. When is the last time you were shocked? (Not just by a song, by anything at all.)
A. I was playing my guitar during an electric storm back in early summer and lightning hit close and bounced through the guitar strings into my fingers. (I know that is not the kind of shocked you're talking about, but nothing much shocks me in that other way anymore.)
3) Buffett named his first daughter Savannah, presumably after his favorite city. Tell us about your favorite city.
A. I don't like cities so I don't really have a favorite. I will tell you about Roanoke, VA, though, because that is my city (though I'm 30 minutes out from its heart). Roanoke was initially called Big Lick (1852). It was named for a big salt lick down by the Roanoke River. In 1882 it became the town of Roanoke (supposedly an Algonquin name for "shell money") and eventually it became the largest city in southwest Virginia (current population about 95,000 or so). It was a railroad town initially and Norfolk Southern still has a presence in the city. Roanoke has a downtown that stagnated significantly in the late 1970s and 1980s, but it is currently undergoing a revival of sorts. Downtown is host to a farmer's market that is the longest-running farmer's market in the state. The city is generally a blue spot surrounded by red during elections. Roanoke's most famous citizens include Wayne Newton and Debbie Reynolds.
4) Mr. Buffett opened a Margaritaville Casino in Atlantic City. Have you ever gambled in Atlantic City? What about Las Vegas?
A. I have never been gambling. The closest I have come to that is scratching off lottery tickets. I have, however, been through Las Vegas. When I was 12, we took a driving trip to CA and passed through Las Vegas on the way home. I remember nothing about the city because my mother and father were fighting the entire time we were passing through and my mom kept saying "stop the car so I can get a GD quickie divorce" and so I was sobbing in the back seat.
5) Saving Florida's manatees is a cause near and dear to Jimmy Buffett's heart. If we were to make a $100 contribution to any charity in your honor, which would you choose?
A. The American Cancer Society.
6) If today was your birthday, your astrological sign would be Aquarius. How often do you check your horoscope?
A. I read mine almost every day, in print in the newspaper. I don't check it other places very often, though sometimes I grow curious and look at tarot.com or astrologyzone.com.
7) On this date in 1974, the show Good Times ("Dy-no-mite!") premiered and, much to Sam's confusion and chagrin, still enjoys an audience in syndication. Tell us about a pop culture phenomenon that you just never got into.
A. I never watched Seinfeld. I thought it was the most stupid thing I ever saw.
8) Is there a home improvement project on your list of things to do?
A. We need to finish the master bathroom. We installed a new walk-in shower and a new tile floor and the walls need to be painted. I am allergic to paint, though, so we are waiting on warmer weather when we can open the windows for a while.
9) A warm-weather choice to consider on a February day: Ice cream sundae or banana split?
A. A hot fudge sundae with a cherry on top and loads of whipped cream. I haven't had one since I was 12, when it was determined that milk products made me wheeze. I hope I get up the courage to eat another one before I die.
Love Mr. Buffett.
ReplyDeleteI'd choose a hot fudge sundae over a banana split any day. xox
ReplyDeleteI answered "Seinfeld," too! And here I thought I was the only one on earth who didn't like it!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Roanoke is enjoying a revival. I'm a City Mouse and want them all to thrive.
I couldn't get into Seinfeld, either.
ReplyDeleteI watched Seinfeld off and on - there were some funny ones, but yeah - I was "meh" about it. That's so sad about Vegas, :( I hope you get to go and enjoy it some day!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on Seinfeld. I worked in Roanoke temporarily for about a month when Wells Fargo was converting Wachovia. I thought it was a great town and enjoyed the sights in and around Roanoke.
ReplyDeleteAww, that's a sad story about driving through Vegas. It would tear me up every time my parents fought--I'd hide in my room, hands over ears, crying. Makes me wonder if that's why I avoid confrontations in my adult life!
ReplyDeleteI never liked the actors in Seinfeld, so never watched the show. Even now, I don't care to watch them in any other show.
And I had no idea you could get shocked from the strings of a guitar! Wow!
I use to read the horoscopes daily. I drove myself crazy doing it over and over again if I didn't like one so I had to walk away.
ReplyDeleteWas your guitar amped? Yikes what a nasty surprise that must have been. How sad for you about your parents fighting. I never heard any fighting because my mother just never fought back. When she started to, I'd already left home.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that the song by Pete, Paul and Mary was called the Wedding Song, I always thought called There is Love, but by any name it is a great song.
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