Saturday 9: Memories

Saturday 9: Memories (2019)

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

1) This song is a toast. Have you ever performed an official toast (at a wedding, a graduation, a retirement party, etc.)?

A. I gave a speech at my high school graduation, but it wasn't a toast.

2) According to Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine, this is a "toast to the ones here today." Tell us about someone in your life that you're especially grateful for.

A. I would say my husband, but everyone knows that, so I tell you about my brother instead. He's three years younger than I am, and he's a great brother. We talk on the phone at least once a week, and he is there if I need him. Hopefully, I am there if he needs me, too. He was very helpful when my husband was hurt in 2014 and he also helped me get him home in 2019 when hubby had his ankle fused together. My brother also gives the best Christmas presents. His name is Loren, but he has a family nickname that we use, although I tend to just call him "bro" and he calls me "sis." 

3) Levine is the song's composer. He said he was compelled to write it, to help him cope with the death of a friend. His lyrics acknowledge that "everybody hurts sometimes." What advice would you share with someone who is struggling?

A. Hold on for one more day. Change will come your way. (Bonus points if you know where that's from.)

4) Adam Levine was one of the original judges on The Voice. Are you a fan of the show?

A. We have watched it during the Covid quarantine. Prior to that, I didn't even know it existed.

5) Among his friends, Adam is known to be an excellent Scrabble player. Is there a game you're particularly good at (or you especially enjoy)?

A. I don't know if video games count, but my favorite video game is Skyrim. It's a first-person player open-world game. No guns. Swords, though, but you can play without killing the NPCs if you want, and just be a hunter and trader and grow rich.

I also like to play Rummy, if you want a more traditional game. That's a card game, in case someone doesn't know.

6) Though he's a multi-Grammy winner, Adam wasn't always successful. In fact, he was fired after just three hours at his first job as a waiter. Have you ever had a job that just wasn't a good fit?

A. Yes. I went to work for a bank and lasted about two months. I hated it. It was boring and lonely, and I didn't seem to get along well with the other people there, and I cried every night. I finally quit it and went back to college.

7) In 2019, when this song was released, Joaquin Phoenix gave his Oscar-winning performance in Joker. Heath Ledger also won an Oscar for is portrayal of the same character in a different film, and Cesar Romero was The Joker on TV. Today The Batman is doing great business at the box office. Do you have a favorite super hero, or arch villain?

A. At the moment, Wonder Woman as played in the newest movies would be my superhero. The scariest villain was The Borg in Star Trek.

8) Also in 2019, two familiar names had books on NY Times best seller list: John Grisham with The Guardians and Janet Evanovich with Twisted Twenty Six. Are either of these authors among your favorites?

A. I have read all of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books, of which Twisted Twenty Six is one. I've read a few of John Grisham's novels. I wouldn't call either a favorite author. I'm honestly not sure I have a favorite author.

9) Random Question: What's something you wish you'd figured out earlier?

A. I wish I'd figured out that the publishing industry was going to change so dramatically from 1990 to now. I wish I'd known that newspapers were dying much sooner than I did (or I didn't deny it when I did realize it), and that the old way of publishing books was going to change so dramatically that it's practically a matter of luck and who you know to get a book deal. Maybe if I'd realized things were going to be so different, I would have taken a different route.

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