Being a Big Brother

[Sis: when I told you I'd have this up by morning, I meant yours, not mine. The sun is getting ready to shine here. Time got away from me while listening to Chapin. Sorry 'bout that.]

These songs were picked as they are some of my little sister's favourites. In case you can't tell, she is a fan of 70's guitar rock the same way I'm a fan of 80s synthpop.

Cat Stevens-"Morning Has Broken"

My sister called me at 9 in the evening my time. Its five in the morning in Sheffield so when I see her number on my caller ID I pick my phone up while I'm putting my butt back down. 

It turns out she had a horrible nightmare and needed to talk. She thought I'd be a better ear than her friends on this particular subject. 

Gordon Lightfoot-"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"

She had dreamed that she had tested positive for Huntington's Disease.

And she was scared. 

Because it might be true.

Arlo Guthrie-"City of New Orleans"

Like my sister, as the son of a parent with Huntington's Disease Arlo had a fifty percent chance of dying from it.. Luckily for him, he did not inherit the gene.

Gordon Lightfoot-"Sundown"

Did you know Gordon wrote this 

about his then-girlfriend Cathy Smith? 

The same Cathy Smith that later gave

John Belushi the Speedball that killed him?

I had no idea they were an item.

You can bet Gordon was lucky he dodged that bullet. 

Sis, these are the important things

 you need me around to tell you.

So we talked about things the way brother and sister do late into the night when we're scared of things that go bump. Things as wide ranged as my wife's pregnancy to the Occupy Oakland protests earlier in the day ("I thought you said they had freedom of speech?" she rhetorically asked me) which turned into a conversation about the press laws in England. 

Today's Double Feature is the late, great Harry Chapin

Harry Chapin-"Taxi"

Harry Chapin-"Cat's In The Cradle"

Then we started talking about the lack of ethics the press have in the UK. She wanted to know how the press avoided that here in the states. I told her they don't avoid it, but the difference is that reporters will use these tools against each other or even  against their own publication, as we saw here in Santa Barbara with the News-Press. Knowing this, I don't think even Star Magazine's ownership would dare attempt to hide something like the UK's phone hacking scandal. 

"Weird Al" Yankovic-"Midnight Star"

By the time I notice the 80's sound feel to

Weird Al there's a problem.

I've been playing far

too many "hits from the '70's"

By the time we were discussing the Scottish independence referendum our yawns were falling over each other. It was time for both of us to call it a night.

Manfred Mann's Earth Band-"Blinded By The Light"

This is a video I've been saving for months now,

waiting for just the right moment to share.

You see, its rare 

because....

 you can actually hear the lyrics.

*Cymbal Crash*

So Sis, next time: don't wait to call.
Trouble Me

10,000 Maniacs