UPDATED POST: Saturday Afternoon, December 3, 2016
Just wanted to give you a quick update on the snow Saturday night and Sunday.
Nothing has changed from my earlier update except parts of the area are under a “Winter Weather Advisory” later tonight and Sunday.
I still think we’ll see 1-3″ of snow mainly on grassy surfaces. Roadways will still be slushy until later Sunday.
Anthony
ORIGINAL POST: Earrly Saturday, December 3, 2016
Welcome to Saturday and welcome to winter!
This part sounds familiar from my blog yesterday: “After the third warmest November on record in the Quad Cities, winter will be making its return to Iowa and Illinois to welcome December. Over the next week, we have three chances of seeing some snow accumulation.”
Here’s the updated forecast and blog!
If you follow my forecast on “Local 4 News This Morning” or my blogs for winter weather updates, you know I always tell you to keep up on the changing forecast when snow is coming. There’s a good reason. Small changes in the forecast can have big implications.
Here’s an update on the three weather systems that I first told you about Friday morning in my blog and on-air:
Saturday Night: Rain and snow will develop late and change over to snow.
Sunday:Moderate snow in the morning will change to light rain in the afternoon.
Since the ground is still relatively warm and part of the precipitation will come down as a mix or rain, accumulations will mainly be on grassy and elevated surfaces.
We could see anywhere from 1-3″ of slushy snow. It’ll start to melt away during the afternoon.
Monday Night & Tuesday: Wintry mix still possible. It’s not looking too impressive this morning.
Wednesday and Wednesday Night bigger snow: This may very well not happen! Stay tuned. The cold air will definitely be coming in late week!
However, since we may not get a blanket of snow Wednesday night and Thursday, lows later in the week may only drop into the teens and not the single digits.
If we get a blanket of snow Wednesday and Wednesday night, then lows in the single digits are still possible.
Stay up on the latest forecast. This is a developing and changing weather pattern.
The weekend is almost here and can you believe in just three weekends, it’s Christmas already. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.
Since I took a break last week on my “Random Friday Thoughts” since people were shopping and eating leftovers, here’s a short version for this week.
HELLO DECEMBER AND WINTER!
UPDATED POST: early Saturday, December 3, 2016
If you follow my forecast on “Local 4 News This Morning” or my blogs for winter weather updates, you know I always tell you to keep up on the changing forecast when snow is coming. There’s a good reason. Small changes in the forecast can have big implications.
Here’s an update on the three weather systems that I first told you about Friday morning in my blog and on-air:
Saturday Night: Rain and snow will develop late and change over to snow.
Sunday:Moderate snow in the morning changing to rain in the afternoon.
Since the ground is still relatively warm and part of the precipitation will come down as a mix or rain, accumulations will mainly be on grassy and elevated surfaces.
We could anywhere for 1-3″ of slushy snow. It’ll start to melt away during the afternoon.
Monday Night & Tuesday: Wintry mix still possible. It’s not looking too impressive this morning.
Wednesday and Wednesday Night bigger snow: This may very well not happen! Stay tuned. The cold air will definitely be coming in late week!
However, since we may not get a blanket of snow Wednesday night and Thursday, lows later in the week may only drop into the teens and not the single digits.
If we get a blanket of snow Wednesday and Wednesday night, then lows in the single digits are still possible.
Stay up on the latest forecast. This is a developing and changing weather pattern.
ORIGINAL POST: early Friday, December 2, 2016
After the third warmest November on record in the Quad Cities, winter will be making its return to Iowa and Illinois to welcome December.
Over the next week, we have three chances of seeing some snow accumulation.
Late Saturday night and early Sunday, snow may accumulate on grassy and elevated surfaces. Early indications show an inch or two possible. That will melt away Sunday.
Another system could bring some grassy accumulation Monday night and early Tuesday.
However, we could be seeing a winter storm Wednesday and Wednesday night. As of this writing, there is low confidence in the details and the models are not very consistent.
This will have to monitored closely because depending on how this develops, we could be talking little or no snow or a lot of snow.
One thing is certain. Late next week, we’ll see the coldest blast of air this season with highs only in the lower half of 20s and lows could drop to the single digits!
Brrrrr!!!!!!
“LOVE IS THE CURE”
If you grew up in the 1970s and 1980s (and through “The Lion King” and “Candle in the Wind”, the 1990s), you have been touched by the genius of Elton John’s music.
During that same time period, you also heard a lot about Elton’s personal life since he was a pop music superstar. That’s an understatement — he’s an icon.
He’s also a great humanitarian. His 2012 book, “Love Is The Cure: On Life, Loss, and the End of AIDS”, he shares the struggles he went through to give more of himself to fight HIV and AIDS.
If you missed my thoughts on Elton, the book, and “World AIDS Day”, here’s the link.
After you read the touching stories in that blog, check out the book. It’s an incredible read.
A MONSTER BEHIND THAT PRETTY SMILE
Since we’re talking about AIDS, Donald Trump’s Deputy National Security Adviser pick, Kathleen Troia “KT” McFarland is a monster behind that pretty smile.
In 2006, when the New York Times Magazine was writing an article on McFarland, they found a 1992 letter she wrote to her parents shortly after finding out her brother, Michael Troia, had AIDS.
She reportedly wrote, “Have you ever wondered why I have never had anything to do with Mike and have never let my daughters see him although we live only fifteen minutes away from each other?” She added, “He has been a lifelong homosexual, most of his relationships brief, fleeting one-night stands.”
Michael died of AIDS in 1995.
McFarland goes on to elaborate and say that her father was an abusive parent, who beat them with belts and waved guns in their faces.
Responding to the allegations, her father denied them and offered to take a lie detector test. Her other brother, Tom, living in Janesville, Wisconsin, at the time of the magazine article replied, “If I had one word to describe my sister, it would be ‘evil.’ ”
Not surprising, the people Trump has chosen for his cabinet are all anti-LGBT.
It’s going to be a fun four years! (Note: sarcasm.)
THE WEEK OF TRUMP
Since I opened Pandora’s box by mentioning his name…
Pre-election, Donald Trump talked about a “rigged” election. When he won the electoral vote, there was no big proclamations from Trump about the rigged elections.
Now that there’s talk of recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Trump has plenty to say, especially in incoherent tweets and rants.
He’s even saying that millions of California votes are illegal.
Even in victory, he’s such a “sore loser”. It might have something to do with the fact that he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by more than two million votes and that number is still climbing as votes are still being counted. Little man!
Hey, Donald, why don’t we just have a total recount or better yet, why don’t we have another election before the holidays and monitor the voting process even closer.
One final note and I actually agree with Trump on this one: Burning an American flag is just wrong (but allowed by the freedom of free speech).
However, here’s where I disagree with him.
Being threatened with losing citizenship or being imprisoned for burning the American flag sounds a lot like Russia — but, then again, Donald and Russia are friends, so I hear!
ARETHA’S NATIONAL ANTHEM
“The Queen of Soul” is earning mixed reviews for her Thanksgiving Day performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Vikings-Lions football game.
The gospel-tinged song clocked in at 4 minutes and 35 seconds.
Comments on the performance have ranged from “stirring” and “memorable” to “punishingly long”.
YouTube “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” are two to one positive.
What do you think?
LOSING FAITH IN “THE WALKING DEAD”
Season 7 of “The Walking Dead” started off strong with the second highest ratings in the series history with 17 million viewers.
Last weekend’s episode dropped to the lowest ratings (10.4 million viewers) since season three when the ratings were still rising.
The fifth and sixth episodes this season were two of my least favorites. Maybe I should look at it as a baseball game. Those two episodes were strikes, so either this weekend, I need a base hit or I’m out. I’m not interested in a foul or a ball.
Bring Rick (Andrew Lincoln) back and you’ll, at least, have my attention!
I’m not saying I want the show to be cancelled, but if it doesn’t come to life soon, maybe an end date should be set!
“CAPTAIN FANTASTIC”
As the days get shorter and winter settles in, we find ourselves watching more television and movies.
I highly recommend “Captain Fantastic”, which just hit DVD.
This little-seen movie in theaters is about a family living in the forests of the Pacific Northwest away from the trappings of modern life.
Viggo Mortensen plays Ben Cash, the father of six children, who has to decide how to keep his family together after the death of his wife.
It’s a shame that this movie only made $9 million in theaters. It’s incredible and now you have a chance to see it at home.
Spoiler Alert: Seeing Mortensen’s penis should NOT be reason enough for a warning at the beginning of the movie with “Brief Graphic Nudity”. As his character says, “it’s just a penis!”
Wouldn’t “Brief Nudity” suffice?
By the way, on Thursday, Mortensen was nominated for a “Critics’ Choice Award” for “Best Actor in a Comedy”. While I’m happy for the nomination, I have to ask, “comedy”??? There are funny scenes in the movie, but this leans more toward a drama to me.
Another great performance in the movie was from George McKay, who played Mortensen’s son, Bodevan.
GRADE: A
“HELL OR HIGH WATER”
Since I just mentioned the “Critics’ Choice Award” nominations, “Hell Or High Water” was nominated for six — “Best Picture”, “Best Director”, “Best Original Screenplay”, Jeff Bridges and Ben Foster for “Best Supporting Actor”, and “Best Acting Ensemble”.
Chris Pine, Bridges, and Foster are incredible in this crime caper about a couple of brothers (Pine and Foster) on a bank robbing spree across west Texas.
Bridges plays a Texas Rangers nearing retirement when he gets the assignment of catching these small town crooks.
What makes this story compelling is learning the motivation of why the brothers need the money.
What’s also thrilling is that you know things will probably turn out badly for some or all of the characters. It’s a crime drama, so don’t expect a truly happy ending.
GRADE: B
BASHING “CHRISTIANS”
I love Christmas and I always smile when I hear people get bent out of shape about those who write “Merry Xmas”. That takes “Christ” out of “Christmas”.
But, what about the “Christians”, who conveniently leave “Christ” our of their life. Those are the ones I have issues with in this blog I shared last week.
Many have checked it out and here’s that link if you didn’t get a chance to read it. (It’ll open in a new window, so you can continue reading today’s blog.)
Each Christmas, I buy some of the new holiday offerings. This year, I got “Glow” by Brett Eldredge and “A Very Kacey Christmas” by Kacey Musgraves and would recommend both of them.
I also bought the latest Straight No Chaser album, “I’ll Have Another…Christmas Album” and I really wish I had said, “No thanks.”
Don’t waste your time or money on it. Instead, pick up their other two Christmas albums, 2008’s “Holiday Spirits” or “Under The Influence: Holiday Edition”.
Earlier this week, I also decided to give “This Christmas” by John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John from 2012 another listen.
I’ve avoided this album for four years now!
This is what I wrote about it at the time: “I’ll get the bad news out of the way first and then focus on the good. The opening song, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”, is probably the worst version I’ve ever heard. As much as I love Olivia, she couldn’t get “Physical” enough to save this disaster! Three songs later, “This Christmas” would have been better without John’s vocals.”
On the listen four years later, their version of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is still painful and the worst version I’ve ever heard.
However, while Travolta is definitely the weak link and Olivia soars as usual, I enjoyed it a lot more this time and Travolta actually does a decent job on “Silent Night” and a few others.
What I wrote four years ago about “I Think You Might Like It” still holds true today, “It’s a very fun song and if I close my eyes while listening to it, I see Danny & Sandy in “Grease” dancing to it around the Christmas tree.”
2012 GRADE: C+
2016 GRADE: B
ANOTHER TAKE ON OLIVIA’S “PHYSICAL”
I’ve never watched “The Real O’Neals” on ABC Tuesday nights, but this scene looks pretty funny and that so would have been me as a teenager if I had gone to a gym.
16-year-old Kenny (Noah Galvin) wants to check out the fitness center after seeing a sexy guy on the cover of a brochure.
This seems like the perfect time for the original again.
Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” was the biggest song of the 1980s. It spent ten weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 from November 1981 to January 1982!
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
December 1st marks the beginning of “meteorological winter”, the three coldest months of the year (December, January, and February).
After coming off the third warmest November on record in the Quad Cities, colder weather is settling in and even colder weather is on the way.
In December, the average high temperature in the Quad Cities drops from 40° at the beginning of the month to 31° at the end of the month. Average lows from the beginning of the month to the end of the month drop from 23° to 15°.
The warmest December temperature on record in the Quad Cities is 71° (December 4, 1998) and the coldest is -24° (December 23, 1989).
In a typical December, the Quad Cities picks up 9.3″ of snow. The most we’ve ever picked up was 32″ back in December 2000 and the least was in 1889. That December we didn’t see one flake of snow.
However, there have been other Decembers when we picked up just a trace of snow.
We all know that Elton John is an incredible musician and, since the 1970s, he’s been part of the soundtrack of our lives.
I was fortunate to see him in concert in Las Vegas in October 2012 for my birthday.
Elton John is a survivor (drugs, alcohol, and an eating disorder).
He’s also a great humanitarian.
That’s what I want to talk about today on “World AIDS Day”, a day started on December 1, 1988, to remember those fallen by AIDS, to encourage those living with HIV and AIDS to fight, and to raise awareness, educate the public, and prevent future infections.
We don’t hear stories about AIDS today as much as we did in the 1980s and 1990s, but “World AIDS Day” is still very important to remember.
Today, 36.7 million people worldwide are living with HIV and AIDS and of that number, 1.8 million are children.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Elton admitted to having unprotected sex and says he was very lucky he didn’t contract HIV, the infection that causes AIDS.
From the summer of 1981 through December 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that close to 775-thousand people were infected with AIDS in the United States alone and, of that number, about 448-thousand died.
While Elton spiraled out of control through the 1980s, it wasn’t until he met Indiana teenager Ryan White, who contracted HIV and AIDS through blood transfusions, in the mid-1980s that he realized he had to turn his life around to stay alive. He checked into rehab in the early-1990s and has been sober and clean ever since then.
While he recorded “That’s What Friends Are For” in 1986 with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder to raise awareness and money for AIDS research, Elton knew that song and the AIDS benefits he performed weren’t enough.
He formed the “Elton John AIDS Foundation” in 1992 in the United States (1993 in the United Kingdom) and has raised more than $200 million dollars to fund innovative HIV prevention and education programs and for direct care and support for those living with HIV and AIDS.
“Love Is The Cure: On Life, Loss, and the End of AIDS”, Elton’s 2012 book, is an excellent read.
While it does give some eye-opening stats on HIV and AIDS, the book has a heart and it tugs at yours.
Throughout the book’s lean 219 pages, he talks of the friends he’s lost (Freddie Mercury of Queen) and two heroes that defied convention to raise awareness of AIDS — Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Diana.
He shares stories of politicians who have been instrumental in the fight against HIV and AIDS — Bill and Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, and George W. Bush! Yes, despite his short-comings in the LGBT community, Bush made a huge contribution in the fight against AIDS during his presidency.
In “Love is the Cure”, Elton also tells stories of lesser known heroes in the fight against AIDS and ignorance and raising awareness — Elizabeth Glaser and Fumana (a South African rape victim, now HIV-positive, who uses her status and survival as a talking tool to educate others in that country to fight against the stigma of HIV).
Poor Sub-Saharan countries in Africa and the gay community aren’t the only groups that HIV and AIDS are ravaging today.
We have those places right here in the United States — the South is being hit hard and some parts of our nation’s capital, Washington D.C., are devastated with HIV and AIDS.
And, just last year, a county in southern Indiana had an outbreak of HIV cases that reached “epidemic” levels. It was reported that there were about twenty new cases each week because of drug use and needle sharing.
Yes, Indiana — while Vice-President elect Mike Pence was governor and before he was picked to be second in command in the U.S.
Also, while the HIV rates are still climbing in the younger LGBT community here in America, the heteorosexual black community is seeing the rates of infection skyrocketing.
Last year alone, 2.1 million people became HIV-positive and, sadly, only 60% of people know they are HIV-positive. That means that 40% of the people that are HIV-positive don’t even know their status and could be spreading HIV without even being aware of it!
GET TESTED! It’s painless and simpleand it could save your life!
Elton John says that the fight against AIDS can only be won when there’s no stigma associated with the disease.
Every person that is HIV-positive, regardless of where they live, how much money they have, their color, their age, their profession, or their religion, needs to be treated for the infection and the disease.
He says how that person contracted HIV and AIDS should not be a factor in getting treatment. A sex worker should be given the same compassion as someone who became HIV-positive through a blood transfusion.
Elton says eliminating that stigma with HIV and AIDS starts with love — “Love is the Cure”.
This is a book that every person needs to read — NOW!
In honor of Elton’s contributions in the fight against AIDS, for love and compassion, and for eliminating the stigma that HIV-positive people encounter, I’m sharing these two powerful songs.
I guess you can say the holiday season is here — trick-or-treating is behind us and we’ve already enjoyed our Thanksgiving feasts.
People are decorating their homes, writing out Christmas cards, and making holiday gift lists and checking them twice.
Meanwhile, radio stations are transitioning from their tired playlists to treat us with holiday standards while sprinkling in a few new offerings of Christmas musical cheer.
I added one Christmas CD to my collection, “My Kind of Christmas” by Reba McEntire.
Yet, I know I’ll resort to listening to The Carpenters’ “Christmas Portrait” (1978) , Michael Buble “Christmas” (2011), Mariah Carey “Merry Christmas” (1994), and Reba McEntire’s “Merry Christmas to You” (1987) and “The Secret of Giving: A Christmas Collection” (1999) over and over again.
I love Christmas music so much that I could listen to it year around.
Christmas is just so magical. I’m mesmerized by the twinkling of the lights and I love holidays parties. I can’t get enough of the appetizers and the baked goodies — the cookies, fudge and divinity, and even the fruitcake!
Each year, my Christmas cards are mailed the day before Thanksgiving to begin the trek across the country.
I’m smiling now because I’m sure someone has already commented on Facebook where the link to this blog was first posted because I put Xmas in the title line.
I know that many people get their tinsel all twisted (that’s a Christmas way of saying “get their panties in a wad”) when they see “Merry Xmas”!
They say that writing Xmas takes Christ out of “Christmas”. After all, he’s the reason for the season!
The whole Christ, Christmas, and Xmas debate got me to thinking.
People get so up in arms about leaving “Christ” in “Christmas”, yet many of those same people claiming to be Christians and living for the Lord can be so hateful and judgmental.
All of a sudden it hit me. Maybe these same people should take a moment to put “Christ“ back into “Christian”! At that point, I decided to write about it and I really thought I was on to something.
As Indiana’s governor, we had Vice President Mike Pence doing all he could do to be discriminatory to LGBT people in his state until businesses started moving out (or threatening to) and it cost Indiana money.
He’s one of those people — “Christians”. Note there that “Christians” is in quotation marks. They are the ones that use religion to hate or discriminate — “Christians”.
Then there are those that love and live for the Lord that also love their fellow man for who they are. They are the true Christians!
As someone who doesn’t believe in “organized religion”, but prays to God and believes in a higher power, I’m all about loving the Lord and trying to live the best life I can.
However, when you “religious freedom” to hate, I don’t think my Lord would like that very much.
So, when I started putting this together, I did a quick Google image search to add a fun and colorful graphic to the story.
It was then that I found that my whole thought process of putting “Christ” back in “Christian” to off set “Christ” in “Christmas” wasn’t such an original idea!
Here’s the bottom line for me. I never write Xmas in a Christmas card, nor do I type it online (except in today’s blog to drive home a point!).
It has nothing to do with keeping “Christ” in Christmas.
In the same line of thinking, when you go to talk about “Christ” this Christmas, live up to what he was preaching. Love your fellow man (or woman) whether they live the same way of life as you.
It’s something that I try to do every day and not just at Xmas. (Ha, I was just seeing if you were still reading.) I fail and then I just try harder the next time.
Christmas will always be Christmas to me and not Xmas.
In the Quad Cities, the Christmas holiday season officially kicks off with the “Festival of Trees” in Davenport, complete with a parade, and “Lighting on the Commons” in downtown Moline.
It’s been a trying period post-election for winners and losers. I hope that we all find some peace and common ground soon.
Thank you for checking out my thoughts. I welcome yours and if we disagree, do it diplomatically.
“HALLELUJAH”
This touching performance from “Saturday Night Live” and Kate McKinnon made me smile a little more this week.
HOLLY DUNN PASSES ON
Back in September, I wrote about country music singer Holly Dunn and her fight against a “rare and aggressive” ovarian cancer and that her chances of survival were bleak.
Earlier this week, Holly succumbed to the disease at the age of 59.
If you listened to country music in the late 1980s, you definitely heard her music. Dunn’s breakthrough hit, in 1986, was the Top Ten smash, “Daddy’s Hands”.
She scored a total of thirteen country hits with nine of them reaching the Top Ten.
“Are You Ever Gonna Love Me” topped the chart in 1989 and in memory of Holly, here’s her other #1 hit from 1990, “You Really Had Me Going”.
Thinking of you, Holly.
I’M READY FOR A “SLUMBER PARTY”
The latest singles from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Britney Spears received only lukewarm responses from Top 40 radio.
To be honest, while “Perfect Illusion” (Gaga), “Rise” (Perry), and “Make Me (Ooh)” were okay songs, none of them represented the best or what was expected of the superstars that released them.
As Christmas songs start popping up on radio, I’m really hoping radio takes a chance on the second single from Britney Spears’ “Glory” album, “Slumber Party”, a new remix featuring Tinashe, a 23-year-old Kentucky-born singer and songwriter. Go Wildcats!
If you’re familiar with my blog, you know I love Britney.
She’s had some moderate success at radio over the past five years, but most of the songs were misses rather than hits.
“Femme Fatale” from 2011 was my favorite album of that year and featured some of the biggest songs of Brit’s career, “Hold It Against Me”, “Till The World Ends”, and “I Wanna Go”.
“Glory”, the new album, is equally phenomenal and the remix version of “Slumber Party” is different from the album and inviting Tinashe to the party was an excellent idea.
Let’s just say the new video is so hot and sexy, it’ll smolder long after you finish watching it. It’ll fuel many fantasies — even with gay men (and maybe even a few open-minded straight women)!
American Top 40 radio, add this song now!
“BEAUTY AND THE BEAST”
In just four months, Disney’s live-action remake of its classic, “Beauty and the Beast”, hits theaters.
After a very secretive first trailer last March, a new trailer was released earlier this week.
It was viewed by 127.6 million people in just the first 24 hours breaking the previous record of 114 views in the first 24 hours set by “Fifty Shades Darker”!
“Beauty and the Beast” hits theaters March 17, 2017.
A BEAUTY WITH A DIFFERENT LOOK
When Todrick Hall’s “Britney and the Beast” came out last June, I can’t tell you how many times I watched it.
I guess I wasn’t alone. It’s now been viewed almost 1.8 million times.
THE WEEK OF TRUMP
I said I would accept the fact that more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton (actually, more people vote for Hillary than for any white president in the history of the U.S.), but Donald Trump won the electoral college vote and the presidency.
However, that doesn’t mean I won’t mention interesting developments in the week of Trump!
He’s now accepting of marriage equality (?), wants his kids to have access to “Top Secret” information (? — Trump denies this), Vice President Mike Pence is going to court to keep his emails hidden (wait, wasn’t emails the biggest part of Hillary’s undoing in the public eye?), and Rudy Giuliani ws rumored to be a front runner for Secretary of State (sorry Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell). Now, it seems that Mitt Romney’s name is floating around for that position.
Stay tuned!
“THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE”
The television buzz last year was all about “Mr. Robot”, which was phenomenal in its first season.
However, my favorite new show last year was Amazon Prime’s “The Man in the High Castle”.
The second season is now less than a month away.
Its premieres December 16th.
“PEOPLE YOU MAY KNOW”
I’m sure there are some great gay movies on the festival scene snow. However, this year, there weren’t too many that I saw on DVD that really stood out.
“Beautiful Something” was a good one.
Last weekend, I finally got around to watching “People You May Know”, which features a LGBT regular and one of my favorites, Mark Cirillo — a Twitter buddy of mine.
In the movie, Herbert (Cirillo), Joe (Sean Maher) and Delia (Andrea Grano) are BFFs and get together to hang out one Friday night with dinner, wine, and cocaine.
When one of the friends goes to bed, the other two continue to party and that leads to a major plot in the movie. (And, just because it’s a LGBT film, you might be wrong on which two hook-up).
While I would have liked to have seen more of Herbert as he got to know Nicholas, watching Delia and Joe work through some very complicated circumstances was rewarding.
The cast is amazing and the movie makes you realize just how important friends are in life through the ups and downs.
GRADE: B
PICK HIT
“Water Under The Bridge” is Adele’s fourth hit release from her “25” album, which has sold 20 million-plus copies worldwide since its release one year ago this week!
Two of the singles, “Hello” and “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” reached #1 on the Billboard Top 40 radio airplay charts and “When We Were Young” just missed out on the Top Ten.
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
It’s been a very warm November, but some big changes are on the way.
Before that happens, we’ll likely reach a record high of 75° in the Quad Cities Thursday.
While we start out warm Friday morning in the low-60s, a strong cold front will pass through the area bringing wind, crashing temperatures, and the coldest air of the season this weekend.
This front is associated with the season’s first powerful storm that will bring moderate to heavy snow to parts of the Plains and upper Midwest.
Blizzard conditions are expected across parts of Minnesota and South Dakota. A foot of snow and 60 mile-per-hour winds are possible there Friday.
For us, we could see a few showers later Friday.
As the cold air and wind comes in, some wrap around moisture may bring a few snowflakes Friday night and early Saturday.
However, it’ll be nothing like the snowstorm that hit us just before Thanksgiving last year (November 20th and 21st). You didn’t forget that record 9.9″ of snow that broke the 1974 record of 9.8″?
If you’re heading out to the Festival of Trees parade in Davenport Saturday, it’ll be breezy and chilly.
By afternoon, for Moline’s “Lighting on the Commons”, it’ll still be very cold, but the winds will start to subside.
Sunday look nice, but chilly. Highs will be aorund 43°.
Grammy Awards, ACM Awards, and CMA Awards winner Kacey Musgraves also just delivered her first Christmas collection, “A Very Kacey Christmas”.
Although she’s a country music singer, like Brett Eldredge, you only have to start this album to know she’s true to the genre. It’s real country with real Texas twang and I mean that in the very best way.
This album features many popular Christmas classics such as “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “Let It Snow”, and “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve”. But, Musgraves expands the cultural horizons with “Feliz Navidad” and “Mele Kalikimaka”.
She’s not afraid to show what an amazing songwriter she is on the album with four original songs (out of the twelve featured).
My favorite original on the album is “Ribbons and Bows”, followed closely by “Present Without A Bow” with Leon Bridges, and “A Willie Nice Christmas”, which features country music outlaw and legend, Willie Nelson.
While you do hear songs about having too much to drink at Christmas (that spiked egg nog will get you every time), it’s very rare for an artist to sing about staying “higher than the angel on top of the tree”!
If you know anything about Musgraves, you know she boldly sings songs that she wants to and she doesn’t stick to the tired and safe guidelines of country music.
Her first country radio hit, the Top Ten smash “Merry Go ‘Round” featured her brother “hooked on Mary Jane”.
And, Musgraves other Top Ten hit, “Follow Your Arrow”, not only was about rolling joints, but she told you to “Kiss lots of boys/Or kiss lots of girls/If that’s something you’re into”, which is definitely not your parents or grandparents country music. (Okay, there was Garth Brooks’ “We Shall Be Free”, which told us we would be free “when we’re free to love anyone we choose.”)
The point I’m getting at here is she takes chances. The biggest on this Christmas album is with the remake of The Chipmunks’ “Christmas Don’t Be Late”. Yes, that one! However, with Musgraves in control and without Alvin, Simon, and Theodore terrorizing Dave, it’s a bona fide true country Christmas song.
The only misfire on the album and this is strictly a personal thing for me is including “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas”. It’s one of my least favorite holiday songs. However, I’ll add that Musgraves’ performance is incredible, as it always is. I just don’t like the song.
“A Very Kacey Christmas” is definitely a great addition to your growing list of Christmas albums.
It’s early fall, but there are already several new Christmas albums on the market to fill your holidays.
The a cappella group Pentatonix just released their third Christmas set in less than four years (!).
Country acts Chris Young, Jennifer Nettles, and Rascal Flatts are offering holiday cheer this year and just today, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood released “Christmas Together”, which I just bought.
“Glow” is the first Christmas album from Illinois native and relative country newcomer Brett Eldredge.
He’s already released two hit country albums and, since 2012, has scored five Top Ten hits on the Billboard Country chart. His latest, “Wanna Be That Song” is at #12 and will likely be his sixth Top Ten.
But, we’re talking Christmas and “Glow” here.
The standard edition features eleven songs and the Target exclusive gives you three more.
The only original song on the album is the title track. I’ll be forthright in saying that I love the classics and I have to warm to new originals and I did with “Glow”.
Brett is not only an attractive young man, he also has a very strong voice.
If you only buy the standard edition, you’ll likely listen to the eleven songs (“I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, “White Christmas”, “Winter Wonderland”, and many more) and think, “it doesn’t sound very country”. It doesn’t. The music is very much jazzed up.
It’s like he’s channeling Michael Buble and that’s a good thing. But, comparing Eldredge’s voice to Buble’s is like comparing Mick Jagger’s voice to Paul McCartney’s. Both strong, but very different in delivery.
Now, if you buy the Target exclusive, the three additional songs are the only ones on the album that lets you know that Eldredge in a country music star.
It’s like you changed discs in the player from a jazz artist to a country one.
“Glow” is an exceptional Christmas album and it solidifies the fact that pop star Meghan Trainor should be on every duet!
On this album, she sings “Baby It’s Cold Outside” with Eldredge and just last month, she appeared with Michael Buble on “Someday” from his “Nobody But Me” album.
On Wednesday, my “Random Friday Thoughts” went through a major re-write.
The script changed.
I had to delete the part of thanking God that more Americans and enough blue states “elected a proven leader as the 45th president of the United States and sent an egocentric, racist, and overall, scum bag packing.”
So, here’s the updated version. Thank you for checking out my thoughts. If you disagree, do it diplomatically!
A HEARTFELT THANK YOU
Senator Hillary Clinton, I want to take a moment to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me hope that all I’ve worked for in life would continue on through your presidency.
Thank you for being a forward-thinking First Lady. My one vote made a difference in 1992 and, again, in 1996.
Thank you for all of the years fighting for those that needed a voice, a strong person and not just a strong woman. You were there for children, mothers, the LGBTQ community, people of color, minorities, the environment, but most of all, the world.
We failed you!
I’ll never forget that cold, January day in Davenport, Iowa, when I had a chance to tell you “good luck” and you placed your hand on my shoulder.
I hope that we meet again. You’ve been an inspiration to me for 20-plus years and for that, I’m grateful and honored to have fought the fight with you.
We may have lost this battle, but I’m still with you.
(Editor’s note — that’s me, by the way: As I’m sitting here Friday morning, proof reading and putting the finishing touches on today’s blog, I’m tearing up again reading back what I wrote a couple of days ago. I was more invested in this election, more than any before it, and I’m devastated. Laugh if you want because I fear that I won’t be the only one shedding tears over the next four years.)
REMEMBERING MY SWEET MOTHER
I think about my mother for one reason or another every day.
My mother, Dessie, died 26 years ago this week. At times, it seems just like yesterday and at other times, it seems so long ago, which it was.
Mom, Tammy and I miss you greatly. But, we both know that you are with us every step of the way in life.
Many of you checked out the blog I wrote about my mother last year on the 25th anniversary of her death. If you didn’t, here it is again.
As I’ve stated before, I get much of my real reading done on the treadmill after work. Since I knew the anniversary of my mother’s death was coming up, I wanted to read about another incredible woman — Lillian Carter, the mother of my favorite President Jimmy Carter.
“A Remarkable Mother” is from 2008 and was published twenty-five years after Miss Lillian’s death at the age of 85.
I’ve read many funny stories about Miss Lillian. She definitely said what she wanted and she didn’t care what her son’s presidential handlers thought.
She was a strong advocate for racial equality back in southwestern Georgia during the turbulent period all the way through the 1960s, when President Lyndon Johnson was running for re-election.
If you didn’t know, she even joined the Peace Corps and traveled to India when she was almost 70-years-old.
There are many fun quotes and stories I remember reading over the years and President Carter shares many of them in the book.
This is my favorite. When Jimmy Carter was running in the 1976 presidential race, a female reporter from “The Washington Post” met Miss Lillian in Plains, Georgia, and said, “Miss Lillian, your son claims that he will never tell a lie. Do you believe him when he says that?”
Miss Lillian said Jimmy had always been truthful and she didn’t think that would change, but the reporter didn’t drop it. Finally, Lillian said, “Well maybe a little white lie every now and then.”
When the reporter said, “Aha! Aha! And what do you mean by a little white lie?”
The always quick thinking Miss Lillian responded, “Well do you remember a few minutes ago when I met you at the door and said that you look very nice and that I was glad to see you?”
I sure hope that my mother and Miss Lillian are friends in heaven. They are just two of the remarkable mothers we’ve lost!
SAD MICHAEL BUBLE NEWS
Singer Michael Buble and his wife, Luisana Lopilato, are putting their careers on hold following the devastating news that their 3-year-old son, Noah, has been diagnosed with cancer.
He’s being treated here in the United States.
A couple of weeks ago, I previewed Michael’s new album, “Nobody But Me”, which is incredible.
In my random thoughts on October 21, 2016, here’s what I wrote: “My early favorites are “I Believe in You”, “On an Evening in Roma (Sott’er Celo de Roma)”, “Today is Yesterday’s Tomorrow”, “God Only Knows”, “Someday” (a duet with Meghan Trainor), and the title track.”
For Michael and his family, I’m featuring “God Only Knows” this week.
I’ll be saying an extra prayer for Noah, Michael, and his family !
Also, it’s that time of the year that his 2011 album,”Christmas”, goes into heavy rotation and it’s sensational.
ANOTHER THANK YOU, BUT THIS ONE ISN’T SO NICE
I’m moving on from this week’s presidential election after these three parting thoughts.
I expected the race to be close and it was. As of this writing, Hillary Clinton (60.3 million) got more votes than Donald Trump (60 million). It’s incredible that with more than 126 million votes cast, there was only a difference of about 338-thousand votes.
There are two camps I blame for Clinton’s loss. One is the 38% of Americans that didn’t vote.
However, the people who I mostly blame for Trump winning the presidency are not just the people that voted for him. While that’s vital, it’s the people that didn’t like either Clinton or Trump, the “protest voters”.
4.1 million people voted for Gary Johnson and 1.2 million for Jill Stein. In toss-up states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida, the margin of win was small enough that the “protest votes” for Johnson and Stein were enough to turn blue-leaning states red.
I’m all for having three or more viable parties that have a chance to win a presidency. However, I tried and tried to tell people who didn’t like either front-runner that a vote for Johnson or Stein was a vote for Donald Trump.
Well, since we live in an “electoral college” voting world, thank you very much. Your protests were successful in electing Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States. I hope you can live with it. I’ll have to.
Thank you again!
MY ABSOLUTE FINAL THOUGHT
I’m going to highlight this, so there’s no confusion — I don’t believe that every person that voted for Trump is a racist, but there are those that are and you know who you are.
With that being said, if you deny that Trump didn’t do enough to distance himself from the love and flattery he was getting from David Duke AND if you don’t think that Trump also repeatedly made very racist remarks in his campaign, then you’re clearly (God, how do I say this with people being so sensitive) ignorant, misinformed, in denial, oblivious, or you just don’t care?
That kind of hate used to live in the darkness of night and hide under sheets. That isn’t just a part of our sad history in the United States, it’s still very alive today. The only difference now is that it doesn’t have to hide.
If you believe in a higher spirit, say with me, “may God be with us”!
BETTE MIDLER GETS CANDID
Okay, that’s not shocking at all.
But, for once, I’m not talking entirely about her no-holds-barred Twitter feed. It’s about that and her own mortality.
She recently spoke to “Entertainment Weekly” and Twitter came up: “I look at it as entertainment, but I don’t need that much entertainment in my life. Then you feel like you’re missing out on your life. I don’t have that much time left, so I’m going to spend it looking around and observing and thinking and memorizing poetry.”
In the spring of 2017, Midler returns to Broadway as the widowed and brassy Dolly Gallagher Levi in “Hello Dolly”
In honor of her upcoming 71st birthday (December 1st) and the holiday season, here’s Bette with “Cool Yule”, the title track of her 2006 Christmas album.
Bette, thank you for being the voice of reason in such a crazy world!
“CHRISTINE”
The most popular movie with the title, “Christine”, is based on Stephen King’s novel about a possessed vintage car. But, now there’s another movie with that title that I can’t wait to check out.
It’s a true life story about a Florida news anchor in the 1970s that changed television news forever and shocked and scarred viewers.
It stars one of my favorite actors, Michael C. Hall (“Dexter” and “Six Feet Under”) and Rebecca Hall (no relation).
PET SHOP BOYS CONCERT
Last weekend, I finally got to see the Pet Shop Boys in concert on their “The Super Tour” in Chicago.
Here they are performing their Top Ten hit, “Always on My Mind”.
If that whetted your appetite to go back in time, here are my 20 favorite Pet Shop Boys songs. And, since they only had six Top 40 hits in America, I bet you’ll find some fun ones you haven’t heard. Just click below.
With that being said, I’ve been listening to Christmas music for a couple of weeks now and here in the Quad Cities, Mix 96 has switched over to continuous holiday music!
BRETT ELDREDGE PUTS A “GLOW” IN CHRISTMAS
It’s early fall, but there are already several new Christmas albums on the market to fill your holidays.
The a cappella group Pentatonix just released their third Christmas set in less than four years (!).
Country acts Chris Young, Jennifer Nettles, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, and Rascal Flatts are offering holiday cheer this year.
“Glow” is the first Christmas album from Illinois native and relative country newcomer Brett Eldredge.
He’s already released two hit country albums and, since 2012, has scored five Top Ten hits on the Billboard Country chart. His latest, “Wanna Be That Song” is at #12 and will likely be his sixth Top Ten.
But, we’re talking Christmas and “Glow” here.
The standard edition features eleven songs and the Target exclusive gives you three more.
The only original song on the album is the title track. I’ll be forthright in saying that I love the classics and I have to warm to new originals and I did with “Glow”.
Brett is not only an attractive young man, he also has a very strong voice.
If you only buy the standard edition, you’ll likely listen to the eleven songs (“I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, “White Christmas”, “Winter Wonderland”, and many more) and think, “it doesn’t sound very country”. It doesn’t. The music is very much jazzed up.
It’s like he’s channeling Michael Buble and that’s a good thing. But, comparing Eldredge’s voice to Buble’s is like comparing Mick Jagger’s voice to Paul McCartney’s. Both strong, but very different in delivery.
Now, if you buy the Target exclusive, the three additional songs are the only ones on the album that lets you know that Eldredge in a country music star.
It’s like you changed discs in the player from a jazz artist to a country one.
“Glow” is an exceptional Christmas album and it solidifies the fact that pop star Meghan Trainor should be on every duet!
On this album, she sings “Baby It’s Cold Outside” with Eldredge and just last month, she appeared with Michael Buble on “Someday” from his “Nobody But Me” album.
GRADE: A
“A VERY KACEY CHRISTMAS”
Grammy Awards, ACM Awards, and CMA Awards winner Kacey Musgraves also just delivered her first Christmas collection, “A Very Kacey Christmas”.
Although she’s a country music singer, like Brett Eldredge, you only have to start this album to know she’s true to the genre. It’s real country with real Texas twang and I mean that in the very best way.
This album features many popular Christmas classics such as “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “Let It Snow”, and “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve”. But, Musgraves expands the cultural horizons with “Feliz Navidad” and “Mele Kalikimaka”.
She’s not afraid to show what an amazing songwriter she is on the album with four original songs (out of the twelve featured).
My favorite original on the album is “Ribbons and Bows”, followed closely by “Present Without A Bow” with Leon Bridges, and “A Willie Nice Christmas”, which features country music outlaw and legend, Willie Nelson.
While you do hear songs about having too much to drink at Christmas (that spiked egg nog will get you every time), it’s very rare for an artist to sing about staying “higher than the angel on top of the tree”!
If you know anything about Musgraves, you know she boldly sings songs that she wants to and she doesn’t stick to the tired and safe guidelines of country music.
Her first country radio hit, the Top Ten smash “Merry Go ‘Round” featured her brother “hooked on Mary Jane”.
And, Musgraves other Top Ten hit, “Follow Your Arrow”, not only was about rolling joints, but she told you to “Kiss lots of boys/Or kiss lots of girls/If that’s something you’re into”, which is definitely not your parents or grandparents country music. (Okay, there was Garth Brooks’ “We Shall Be Free”, which told us we would be free “when we’re free to love anyone we choose.”)
The point I’m getting at here is she takes chances. The biggest on this Christmas album is with the remake of The Chipmunks’ “Christmas Don’t Be Late”. Yes, that one! However, with Musgraves in control and without Alvin, Simon, and Theodore terrorizing Dave, it’s a bona fide true country Christmas song.
The only misfire on the album and this is strictly a personal thing for me is including “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas”. It’s one of my least favorite holiday songs. However, I’ll add that Musgraves’ performance is incredible, as it always is. I just don’t like the song.
“A Very Kacey Christmas” is definitely a great addition to your growing list of Christmas albums.
GRADE: B+ (Thanks Hippopotamus!)
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
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