Today at RDP, Martha asks us to get creative
with the word ‘global’. Thanks, Martha!
The prompt took me back to something I
wrote in 2021. It’s always been a favorite.
Tag: New York City
RDP Thursday: street lamp
Today at RDP, we are asked to share a story,
poem, photo, painting, essay, etc., focusing
on the word ‘street lamp’. And at Esther’s
Writing Prompt #88, today’s word is ‘leave/s’.
Using both prompts, here’s my take.
Light My Fire Unplugged
Written for Song Lyric Sunday.
Here’s what I have to say.
By The Light Of The Silvery Moon
This week at Glyn Wilton’s Mixed Music Bag,
he’s asking us to write about a song in which
the title or a line mentions the current month.
Here’s my featured artist for June and her song.
The Bus Ride
Written for OLWG #410.
The three prompts are shown below.
This is my story.
The Story of Youngblood Priest
Written for Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday
post ‘Get Over It Day’. This is my song.
Going Back To New York City
Want To Watch A Movie?
Full disclosure: I’ve never been a Will Ferrell movie fan but a friend kept badgering me to watch Elf so, to get him off my back, I agreed. I loved this movie from the start and now I’m hooked. It doesn’t hurt that Zooey Deschanel is so adorable and James Caan has a great gift for comedy. And casting Ed Asner as Santa was a stroke of brilliance. Watch this movie; you’ll love it! I am an Elf convert; it wouldn’t be Christmas in my house without watching this wonderful movie.
Arguably Will Ferrell’s best movie ever, Elf follows Buddy, a boy who’s raised as one of Santa’s elves after he’s accidentally sent to the North Pole. However, he doesn’t exactly fit in with the rest of the workers. Determined to find his real father, Buddy leaves the North Pole and ventures to NYC to search for him. But when Buddy finally reunites with his dad, chaos ensues.
Here’s a teaser:
I’ll save you a seat. Enjoy the movie! 🎥 🍿 🥤
NAR©2024
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy ~ The Sicilian Storyteller, Nancy (The Sicilian Storyteller), The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk, and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.
A Walk On The Wild Side
My only excuse for what you’re about to read is that I have a lousy head cold, a cough and a sore throat which have thrown me off my game. I know the Mixed Music Bag prompt letters for December are X, Y and Z. However, in my Delsym Cough Syrup-induced stupor, I thought the letters were U, V and W. I spent too much time working on this post and I don’t have the energy or desire to start over. I could have ditched it and skipped this week all together but I think it’s a pretty good write so I decided to keep it as is. Today’s post is brought to you by the letter V.
Continue reading “A Walk On The Wild Side”The Eighth Of December
A tribute to John Lennon who was taken from us on this date in 1980. Many of you have read this; many of you who are new to my site have not. Please indulge me one more time. Roughly four years ago I had the great pleasure and honor of narrating a few of my stories on the BBC Radio program called “Upload”. I also submitted my story, “The Eighth of December”, never expecting to receive an email from the program manager of the radio station asking me if I’d like to read my story and do a live interview. To us here in The States, The BBC is a pretty big deal so I was rather blown away and, despite my nerves, I agreed to the interview. The format of the radio station has since changed and “Upload” was replaced by another show; it’s now impossible to find my interview. All I have is my story; every word is true. This is “The Eighth of December”.
Continue reading “The Eighth Of December”Put Them In The Iron Maiden
Written for Glyn’s Mixed Music Bag #19, where we are asked to write about a song by a group or solo singer beginning with the letter I or J.
Iron Maiden is an institution. Over the course of 48 years they have come to embody a spirit of fearless creative independence, ferocious dedication to their fans, and a cheerful indifference to their critics that’s won them a following that spans every culture, generation, and time-zone. A story of gritty determination and courageous defiance of the naysayers, theirs has been an adventure like no other. Every one of their songs is a story and that for me, as a storyteller, is one of the key ingredients to their success. They are unique and different from every other heavy metal band with song lyrics covering such topics as history, literature, war, mythology, society and religion.
Iron Maiden has released 41 albums, including 17 studio albums, 13 live albums, four EPs and seven compilations. They have also released 47 singles and 20 video albums, and two video games. The band has played some 2,500 live shows and is still touring today. Iron Maiden has become one of the most influential and revered rock bands of all time.
On the evening of October 2, 1982, my husband Bill and I hired a babysitter for our boys and drove into Manhattan for what would be one of our final rock concerts. It had been a while. Now that we had kids, who knew when we would be able to have this experience again. We were all grown up with a different set of priorities but this was one event we could not miss. Performing that night at Madison Square Garden were two British groups Bill and I didn’t have a chance to see B.K. (Before Kids). They were Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. And one of the songs Maiden performed that night was “The Number Of The Beast”.
Upon release in 1982, the song caused controversy in the United States where its religious subject matter caused outrage among religious groups. In spite of this, it remains one of the band’s more popular songs, reaching #18 in the UK singles charts on its original release, and #3 on two successive occasions in 1990 and 2005. It has been performed on almost all of their concert tours.
According to the song’s writer, bassist and band-founder Steve Harris, it was inspired by a nightmare he had after watching the film “Damien: Omen II” late at night, in addition to the poem “Tam o’ Shanter” by Robert Burns. The song opens with a spoken word passage which quotes Revelation 12:12 and Revelation 13:18. The track is known for its very long, high-pitched and guttural wail at the end of the intro, which AllMusic describes as “the most blood-curdling Dickinson scream on record“.
Live from Madison Square Garden in New York City, this is Iron Maiden with “Number Of The Beast”
Big thanks to Glyn for hosting Mixed Music Bag every week.
Thanks for stopping by and hanging with me today..
See you on the flip side. 😎
NAR©2024
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.
And It Goes Like This
Jim over at Song Lyric Sunday has challenged us to write about a song that mentions a dance style or craze or a song that has it’s own dance. My choice covers all those options.
The Peppermint Lounge was a popular disco on West 45th Street in New York City from 1958 to 1965. The club had a lengthy mahogany bar running along one side, many mirrors and a dance floor at the back, a capacity of about 180 people, and a large gay clientele. It was a happening scene.
As Chubby Checker’s “Twist” craze hit the scene, celebrities swarmed to the Peppermint Lounge, big names such as Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Liberace, Noël Coward, Frank Sinatra, Norman Mailer, Annette Funicello, even the elusive Greta Garbo had a swinging time there. Jackie Kennedy was such an enthusiast that she arranged for a temporary Peppermint Lounge to be mounted in the White House.
The Beatles were filmed visiting the club during their first U.S. visit in 1964. Artists who performed at the Peppermint Lounge include the Beach Boys, the Ronettes (who made their professional debut there in 1961) the Crystals, the Isley Brothers, Chubby Checker, Liza Minelli and the Four Seasons. But the crowds loved to dance to the house band, Joey Dee and the Starliters …. especially after they recorded their biggest hit song “The Peppermint Twist”, written in 1961 by Joey Dee and Henry Glover.
Capitalizing on the “Twist” dance craze started by Chubby Checker and the name of the nightclub where Joey Dee performed, “The Peppermint Twist” hit No.1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in early 1962. The song was a huge hit, replacing Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” at the No. 1 position.
I was just a kid but that didn’t matter; people of all ages loved dancing to “The Twist” and still do; “The Peppermint Twist” was no different. It was lots of fun, easy to do and had a great sound. Get ready to start cutting the rug. Here are Joey Dee and the Starliters with their biggest hit …. “The Peppermint Twist”.
And it goes like this…..
Lyrics
Well they’ve got a new dance and it goes like this
(Bop shoo-op, a bop bop shoo-op)
Yeah the name of the dance is Peppermint Twist
(Bop shoo-op, a bop bop shoo-op)
Well you like it like this, the Peppermint Twist
It goes ’round and ’round, up and down
‘Round and ’round, up and down
‘Round and ’round and a up and down
And a one two three kick, one two three jump
Well meet me baby down at 45th street
Where the Peppermint Twisters meet
And you’ll learn to do this, the Peppermint Twist
It’s alright, all night, it’s alright
It’s okay, all day, it’s okay
You’ll learn to do this, the Peppermint Twist
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Ey yeah
Ey yeah
Ey yeah
Ey yeah
Ey yey yeah
Ey yey yeah
Ey yey yeah
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Henry Glover / Joseph Di Nicola
Peppermint Twist (Original Artist Re-recording) lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Wixen Music Publishing
NAR©2024
This portfolio (including text, graphics and videos) is copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and is not for use by anyone without permission. NAR © 2017-present.
THE EIGHTH OF DECEMBER
A tribute to John Lennon who was taken from us on this date in 1980.
Roughly two years ago I had the great pleasure and honor to narrate a few of my stories on the BBC Radio program “Upload”. I also submitted “The Eighth of December”, never expecting to receive an email from the program manager of the radio station asking me if I’d be willing to read my story and do a live interview. To us here in The States, The BBC is a pretty big deal so I was rather blown away and, despite my nerves, I agreed to the interview. The format of the radio station changed and “Upload” has since been replaced by another show; it’s now impossible to find my interview.
All I have is my 5-year-old story to share with you.
Every word is true.
Here is “The Eighth of December”.
The people you see are some of the mourners
who had just learned the awful news.
Notice the flag atop the building already at half-mast.
While cradling my year old son David in his bed after a bad dream, I sang softly to him my favorite Beatles song, In My Life. He stared up at me, his blue eyes moist with tears. Slowly his breathing became calm and his eyelids began to flutter. At last he was asleep and I kissed his eyes, removing the last traces of salty droplets as I pulled up his covers.
Closing the door gently behind me, I went back downstairs where my husband Bill was watching Monday Night Football. One look at him as he sat on the sofa, his head in his hands, told me his team must have been playing very badly. I kidded him about being so upset over a game but he didn’t react. I called his name and when he looked up at me there were tears running down his face. Something was terribly wrong.
I sat next to him and he turned to me, taking my hands in his. As if in some sort of fog, Bill told me that John Lennon was dead, shot on the doorsteps of his home, The Dakota. I stared at him in shock. Why would he say such a horrible thing? Who would ever want to hurt John?
He turned the tv volume back on; the game had been interrupted by the report of an incident involving John. I dropped to the floor as the reporter droned on about ‘rapid gun shots’ .. ‘police/John/hospital’ .. ‘dead on arrival’.
I cried uncontrollably and kept repeating no! no! no! as Bill held me in his arms and I sobbed in unimaginable sorrow and disbelief. We sat on the floor for a long time, clinging to each other, unable to stop our tears or unhear the words coming from the tv.
At one point our three year old son Billy crept down the stairs, frightened and wondering what was wrong with mommy. My husband quickly scooped him up and brought him to his room, whispering that mommy was very sad about something she saw on tv and she would be ok tomorrow.
But I was not ok the next day. I was not ok the next week. I was never truly ok after that night. No living, loving soul was ever ok again. The entire world was grieving.
These days, almost 38 years later, as I cradle my grand-babies in my arms and rock them to sleep, I sing In My Life and I remember John.
NAR © 2018
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