Friday 80s Flashback for March 16, 2012

[When Irish Eyes are Rocking] -- I posted the other day about why I am not celebrating St. Patrick's Day. So, I'm sure it is a tad surprising that the Flashback this week is about Irish bands. Well, I can be opposed to the celebration of St. Patrick and still be in favor of great rock music that just happens to have come out of Éire. Now, when most Americans are asked, "Who is the best Irish band of the 80s?" they will invariably answer: The Pogues. However, the Pogues -- although they do play punk rock with a certain Celtic flair -- are from London, so they will not be making an appearance in today's Flashback (sorry, Gary). And this Flashback post is not about the "best" Irish rockers of the 80s, it's about the most overlooked Irish bands of that era. That means we will be short on chart burners, but long on quality today. Well, I think these bands are long on quality, and I hope you enjoy them as well. To find out who made this week's list of underrated performers, you can read and hear more after the break.

A New Breastplate (And a Message for St. Patrick) Redux

[This post is a slightly updated version of one that I published on 3/17/2009.]

So, Saturday is St. Patrick's Day. Well, I for one will not be putting on the green and celebrating. I do not celebrate the lives (real or imagined) of those who tried to put down my ancestral faith. For those of you who didn't realize, the driving out the snakes thing has been pegged as a likely metaphor for stomping out the ethnic and traditional practices of the Irish people. (However, you should also know that Celtic Reconstructionist Brenda Daverin (Branruadh) indicates that this metaphor is one of three common misconceptions about Patrick). Still, Patrick is the focus of the upcoming holiday as well as the ire of many a Pagan. Hence, this post is directed to "him."

Patrick, if you truly existed (even if only as a composite of several individuals as I suspect), I have a message for you. Neither you nor your brethren drove out the "snakes" -- you merely forced them undergound. Nor did you eliminate their traditions. In fact, your beloved Church is riddled with more of my ancestor's traditions than those of the early Christians, and by this I am referring to practices from the first few decades of Christianity, or "the Way of Yeshua" as it was likely known by its earliest adherents. And in case you missed it, Patrick. The "snakes" are back. We are back, and every year our numbers grow as more people awaken to the old ways -- be they Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, Romanic, etc. -- and make them relevant today. For our ways are relevant as they are a means of being in this world, being with it, and not trying to simply control it or ignore it in the hope of achieving some afterlife. Originally written and posted in 2008, "A Heathen's Breastplate" is still appropriate to post now:

The Lorica (or Breastplate) is a prayer written in Irish and Latin that is often attributed to Saint Patrick. There are many variations of it (one can be found here), but I have decided to rewrite it in "honor" of the old saint who is said to have driven out the pagans. Now it has a nice Heathen slant...

A Heathen's Breastplate 

I arise today 

Heir to the strength of Asgard; 

Light of the sun, 

Splendor of fire, 

Swiftness of wind, 

Depth of the sea, 

Stability of earth, 

Firmness of rock. 

I arise today with mine own strength to pilot me; 

Thor's might to uphold me, 

Frigga's wisdom to guide me, 

Odin's hand to guard me, 

Heimdall's watch to shield me, 

Freyr's vitality to sustain me, 

And Freya's love to bless me. 

Afar and anear, 

Alone or in a multitude. 

The ancestors are with me, 

before me, behind me, 

on my right, on my left. 

As sure as 

The Earth beneath me, 

The Sky above me, 

The Holy Powers within me. 

I arise today 

Rooted in the mighty traditions of my past. 

And I walk Midgard, 

Sending forth the blessings of this day's deeds to generations yet unborn. 

copyright 2008 and 2010, BSW

Friday 80s Flashback for March 9, 2012

Wilhelm Kienzle Wall Clock via VandM

[I'm Saving Daylight for This?] -- This weekend, the United States will renew their annual campaign to save daylight hours. Just as many outdated government mandates, this effort to save daylight is futile as the average American wastes up to five years of their lifetime anyway (give or take a Facebook post or two). Still, Daylight Savings Time, or Summer Time, unites Americans in griping about a lost hour of sleep and it affords me a Flashback theme when I needed it most. Of course, in true Prophet or Madman style, once I settled on this theme I realized that U2's The Joshua Tree turns 25 today. Still, I'm sticking to time idea. So, in honor of turning the clocks ahead one hour, we have songs about time -- particularly about how fleeting it is and how easily and carelessly we waste it. If you would like to waste ... er, I mean, wisely spend ... some time remembering great 80s tunes, then you can read and hear more after the break.

Friday 80s Flashback for March 2, 2012

Calvin & Hobbes demonstrate the not-necessarily-official past-time of Leap Day

[Leap Year] -- Wednesday was Leap Day. We got a whole extra day just tacked right on the end of February! Of course, Leap Day is not a federal holiday or anything, and it occurred in the middle of the week, so it was just another work day. While listening to music sets in my cubicle, I realized that I was not posting Flashbacks when the last Leap Day rolled around. This is my first chance to celebrate the Leap Year in 80s style. Now, there aren't many songs specifically about Leap Year (in my copious spare time, I will start a movement to create Leap Day Carols). So, instead of trying to find songs directly, or indirectly, about Leap Year, I decided to grab a few songs about the act of leaping -- or jumping.  What tunes hopped onto this week's playlist? Read and hear more after the break.

Friday 80s Flashback for February 24, 2012

[Fear of a Two-Fold Theme] -- Those of you who follow this blog somewhat regularly know that last week's theme was inspired by Ernest Cline's novel, Ready Player One. Well, I finished that book the other night, and thought I would do another post featuring songs/artists mentioned in the book. But I also realized I had not yet done a Flashback in honor of Black History Month. But without the contributions of African-American musicians and singers, all of them uncredited and overlooked until later in the 60s and 70s, there would have been no rock and roll. And that means there would have been no decade of 80s music as we know and cherish it today. (I'll just sit here and wait for the haters to get the "blame game" out of their system and leave the room before I continue). Well, who says I cannot do both in one post? Who says I cannot honor the contributions of African-Americans to the music scene and play music (in)directly linked to Ready Player One? That's right, before you can say "Super Hero Team-Up," I combined the two potential themes into one powerful Flashback! Read and hear more after the break.

Friday 80s Flashback for February 17, 2012

 Source: geektyrant.com via Wayne on Pinterest

[Where We're Going, We Don't Need a Theme] -- This has been an odd week. On one hand, I have been immersed in re-remembering the 80s because I started reading Ernest Cline's Ready Player One, a novel of the near future in which people are obsessed with solving puzzles left by a man obsessed with the 80s (that is all-too-short a description of the book; you really should click the link and read the synopsis so you can see how much you need this book). On the other hand, I just have not been able to focus on figuring out a theme for today's Flashback. I keep wondering, how will I know if I have picked the right theme, or even the right songs for that theme? I mean, figuring out a flashback isn't exactly on the same level as trying to answer where do broken hearts go, right? And, normally, I don't think I would get so emotional about something like this, but I care about my fellow 80s-philes. I want to deliver a quality experience. And, although the argument could be made for doing a retrospective of Whitney Houston hits this week, I'm going to go with the first few songs mentioned in Cline's novel. What are the songs for this week? Read and hear more after the break.

Full-Spectrum Santorum?

Rick Santorum claims to be a “full-spectrum conservative.” But what does that mean? Well, let's unpack it.

"Rainbow" could be another term for "full-spectrum" ...

And I suppose Santorum uses "conservative" to mean a true "Republican" ...

So now we have "Rainbow Republican" which seems kind of familiar. What could that mean ...


Wait, I got it! Santorum is a Log Cabin Republican! This totally changes the GOP race!


But it does not change my opinion of Santorum.

Friday 80s Flashback for February 10, 2012

["Short Takes"] -- In the 80s, I subscribed to MUSICIAN magazine, which covered a wide range of music styles and boasted some seriously sharp writing in music criticism. My favorite feature in MUSICIAN was a page of "Short Takes" by J.D. Considine. This was a single page of record reviews, with each review ranging in length from one sentence to a full paragraph, and it appeared after the magazine's full-length reviews. With this format, Considine could easily weigh in on 12 or more new releases and you could read them all in a single commercial break. In my opinion, Considine was at his best when he was both snarky and brief. He was so good at being snarky that, in reply to a particularly perturbed subscriber's letter, an editor wrote: "Mr. Considine is employed for the sole purpose of p****ing off our readers." It is any wonder I enjoyed his work? So, for this week's flashback, I have selected singles from three albums for which Considine employed the cold concision of a miser in his scathingly brief reviews. Read and hear more after the break.

Friday 80s Flashback for February 3, 2012

[Damaged] -- As some of you know, I moonlight as the sound designer for Montgomery Theater. Well, tonight is opening night for our production of Gina Gionfriddo's "Becky Shaw." Now, "Becky Shaw" is set in 2009, so I did not use any 80s music for the sound design, even though most of the characters probably came of age during that decade and are deeply marked by its popular culture. Instead, this week's flashback features songs in honor of the play. These songs evoke the palette of emotions employed during the show, particularly playing upon the theme of being damaged. Which tunes were up to that challenge? Read and hear more after the break.

Friday 80s Flashback for January 27, 2012

[What's in a Name?] -- 80s artists showed great creativity in their music. Some of these artists, however, displayed an excess of creativity in branding their work. And by "excess of creativity," I mean they showed, perhaps, poor judgement in choosing a name. So this week's flashback honors a few of these appellation-challenged acts. Whether confusing, silly, or just plain stupid-sounding, these bands ruled the charts -- or at least left an impression -- for a short time. What acts have I singled out for their interesting monikers? Read and hear more after the break.