Opening Night at the LIGLFF: My First Screening

In just about two hours from now, I will be attending the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, a widely regarded, 4-day annual event that takes place at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington. The festival is Long Island's premiere showcase for up and coming films of the genre, and several of the best new films with gay and lesbian themes will be showcased starting on opening night tonight and Monday.

Though I've attended the festival once before with friends, this time is different.  Tonight I've been invited as a guest of one of the filmmakers showing his film on this opening night and I couldn't be more excited.  Writer/director J.C. Calciano, a native Long Islander and longtime veteran of the movie-making business, personally wrote me to invite me to tonight's screening of his newest film, The Ten Year Plan.

The premise of the film is one that takes on a uniquely same sex situation, that of two friends, dissatisfied with their love lives, who make a promise to get together if neither finds love in ten years. ..and the clock is ticking.  The movie stars Adam Bucci, Michael Adam Hamilton and Moronai Kanekoa and I'm so looking forward to checking it out.  Stay tuned...    

For more on the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, including a listing of films, showtimes and ticket options, check out their website here.

Flashback Friday Song of the Day - Neutron Dance - Pointer Sisters

There's no money falling from the sky
'Cause a man took my heart and robbed me blind
Someone stole my brand new Chevrolet
And the rent is due, I got no place to stay
Whoo oooh, whoo oooh

Here's a fun oldie from the Beverly Hills Cop Soundtrack way back in 1984.  The Pointer Sisters, to me, were always a much under-appreciated group even though they had a long string of 13 top twenty hits beginning in the 70's with such great tunes as Fire, He's So Shy, Automatic, Jump (For My Love) and all the way through to their last big one, Dare Me, in 1986. Sadly, June Pointer passed away without much fanfare back in 2006, and with her death, the three sisters faded into a happy yet distant memory.  Enjoy...

R.I.P. Robin Williams

By now, you'd have to be living under a rock to not have heard the news that the great Robin Williams passed away yesterday.  It's one of those deaths that you're always going to remember where you were when you heard the news and for me it'll forever be tied to this P-Town trip.  Robin Williams is dead.  So sad!

theguardian

Rather than talk about the death itself, I'd like to make note that he was, without a doubt, one of our greatest Hollywood treasures.  From his early days in stand-up, that very first appearance on Happy Days as the lovable Mork from Ork, and to his countless movie roles, he proved himself to be both a comedic genius and a talented all around actor.  The shock and sadness that comes with his death makes us realize just how much he's been a part of our lives over the last 30-plus years and he will certainly be missed.  rest in Peace Robin!

Here is a not so great video (somebody filmed it off their television) of one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite Robin Williams, the hysterically funny Mrs. Doubtfire:

Song of the Day - Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynn

Well, today is Thursday and we are leaving Louisville, Kentucky and heading south towards Nashville, Tennessee.  Since we're going to the country music capital of the world, how could I not post some country music?  Since I'm not really a country music person, there's not a whole lot in my repertoire to choose from. I wanted to post something that was a country classic and it doesn't get much more classic than "The First Lady of Country Music."  God, I remember watching Coal Miner's Daughter over and over when I was younger on HBO.  What a great movie!  And who could forget those Crisco commercials, lol?  Anyway, if you know the movie or even just Loretta Lynn (in which case you probably definitely know the movie), click play and take a listen to this flashback...

Song of the Day - We Are Family - Sister Sledge

argenteam

We begin Thanksgiving Week with a song that's universally recognized and almost impossible not to sing along to.  The song was featured prominently in the hilarious film, The Birdcage, which I watched last night for the umpteenth time, and it goes perfectly with the theme of the week.  So Happy Monday everybody. Enjoy!


Sister Sledge - We Are Family (American Bandstand) by DemonPreyer

Hairspray

Press play as you read this post....



Most of you probably know about Hairspray from the 2007 film starring John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky, Michelle Pfeiffer, and others, or previously from the Tony Award-winning hit Broadway musical of the same name that ran from 2002 to 2009.  Well, the scene above is not from either of those two productions, but from the original 1988 John Waters' camp classic, and it's one of my favorite movies of all time!

For those of you completely in the dark, the story takes place in Baltimore, Maryland in 1962 and it centers around a 'pleasantly plump' teenager named Tracy Turnblatt and her unlikely struggle towards integration after she earns a spot on a local American Bandstand-type dance show.

The original features a veritable who's who of B-List stars, including Ricky Lake as Tracy, Jerry Stiller and Divine as her parents, Sonny Bono and Deborah Harry as the Von Tussles, parents of Tracy's arch-rival on 'The Corny Collins Show,' Amber Von Tussle, Ruth Brown as radio hostess Motormouth Maybelle, and a host of other cameos and cool extras.

 

Amber, Velma, Edna and Tracy

spokeo

John Waters' Hairspray makes me smile straight through from the opening to the closing credits. The music and the dancing is authentically vintage 60's, and it's so much fun to watch (the music's very toe-tapping, too!).  Just check out this cool clip of one of my favorite dance sequences, where our Ms. Tracy first gets noticed by Corny Collins.  It's one of a few such sequences in the film, and they all just add to its charm.

    

Music and dancing aren't the only things great about the original Hairspray.  John Waters is the king of camp and if you like that type of movie, then you'll love this one.  There are so many one liners and little things going on, you have to watch it a few times to catch them all.  From the names of the characters to comical interactions and happenstances among them, this film adds comedic, surreal genius to a great setting.  Here are some of my favorite one-liners from Hairspray:

Penny Pingleton, you know you are punished. From now on you're wearing a giant P on your blouse EVERY DAY to school so that the whole world knows that Penny Pingleton is permanently, positively, punished.

Prudence Pingleton, mother of Penny Pingleton, Tracy's best friend

polarimagazine

Geometry Teacher: Tracy Turnblad, once again your ratted hair is preventing another student's geometry education.

Tracy Turnblad: It's feathered, not ratted.

Geometry Teacher: Whatever you call it, it's a hair-don't.

unruly.ca

Edna Turnblad: It's the times. They are a-changin'. Something's blowing in the wind. Fetch me my diet pills, would you, Hon?

divineofficial

Velma Von Tussle: And you HAD to pick a colored song, didn't you? You got something against Connie Francis? Shelley Fabares? I LOVE Shelley Fabares!

Amber Von Tussle: Mother, Shake a Tail Feather has a wild song. It's got a good beat and you can dance to it.

When I'm high, I AM Odetta. Let's get naked and smoke.

Beatnik Chick,played by Pia Zadora

tumblr

Oh, there are so many things about this movie I love, and from writing this post I think I may just have to watch it real soon.  Yeah, the musical and the 2007 movie were entertaining, no doubt, but the original is still the best!

Tweet

Thousands of sharks off Florida's coast force shutdown of beaches

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

black tipped shark

best-diving

A report came out today from the Palm Beach area where thousands of black tip and spinner sharks were spotted just off the edge of the beach earlier this week.  The toothy dominions of the sea are on their yearly migration northward towards the coast off the Carolinas.  The sighting caused officials to close three area beaches.  A sight like this is hardly rare among these parts, and just reaffirms my own fear of swimming in the ocean.

“If you are looking at swimmers along the beach line and you look at pictures of these sharks, the sharks are right there," Florida University graduate student Shari Tellman told CBS.  She said. "These swimmers may or may not know that. But if they did they probably wouldn't be in the water.”

I know I wouldn't be.  Ever since seeing the movie Jaws back in the late 70's, I've been terrified at the prospect of swimming with sharks.  When I was a kid, I always loved scary movies, you know, vampires and werewolves, Frankenstein and the mummy, but I always knew they weren't real, but when I saw that one I knew that being attacked by a shark was way more real than getting bitten by a vampire.  

That movie gave me nightmares for weeks, and in a Yahoo article, I dubbed it The Scariest Movie of All Time.  All of these sharks in Florida follow a deadly great white attack in New Zealand just last week and remind us all to be wary when entering the territory of these voracious predators of the deep.

Tweet

Song of the Day - Fire/Foxy Lady - Jimi Hendrix

Wikimedia Commons

I noticed Jimi Hendrix's name as one of the top searches on one of the search engines yesterday and decided to check it out. As it turns out, Jimi tragically passed away September 18th, 1970, 32 years ago yesterday. He was 27 years old. Though he was gone before my time, I did have a little spurt of Jimi for a bit sometime in the 80's.

I first remember the song "Fire" from a roller coaster special hosted by then teen heartthrob Matt Dylan as it played backdrop to one of the featured rides. The music fit perfectly to the coaster and I liked the song immediately, and soon ran out to buy one of his greatest hits albums.  It is fast paced and infectious rock and roll like no other!  Check it out:

 

Jimi Hendrix: Fire from Susan Young on Vimeo.

Listening to Jimi's greatest hits I got to learn some other of his great stuff, classics like Purple Haze, The Wind Cries Mary, and Foxy Lady, featured in this next hilarious clip from the hit film Wayne's World:

Anyway, I can't help, like many others, what more Jimi would've come up with if he hadn't died so young.  Rest in Peace Jimi Hendrix.  You're still missed! Check out his greatest hits collection below...

Tweet

I Love the 90's Song of the Day - My Heart Will Go On (Titanic) - Celine Dion

The year was 1997, and during that year and the years that followed, nearly everybody on the planet saw the James Cameron film, Titanic, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.  The tragic romance aboard the ill-fated ship between a penniless Jack Dawson and young, high-class Rose DeWitt Bukater struck a chord with movie audiences worldwide, making it one of the best loved movies of all time.

MSNBC

The film was nominated for a whopping 14 Academy Awards and won 11 of them, including Best Picture, tying a record set by the 1959 film Ben Hur. Titanic was the first movie ever to reach the billion dollar mark, earning over $2 billion, and it remained the highest grossing film ever until Cameron's Avatar surpassed it twelve years later.

teenfrequency

The song, "My Heart Will Go On," was almost as huge a success as the film, selling 15 million copies worldwide, and becoming Celine Dion's most successful single ever.  The theme song fits the movie perfectly, and anyone who was around back in 1997-98 heard this #1 tune on the radio probably more often than they'd care to remember, and on a cruise to Bermuda in 2000 I simply could not get the song out of my own head for seven straight days. Enjoy and Happy Tuesday!

Oh, and there were so many couples on the boat, too, emulating that memorable scene between DiCaprio and Winslet towards the front of the ship.  I bet that still happens!

MSNBC

Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On by surfmary 

sasstag

Note - Just recently, a commemorative 3D version of the movie hit theaters nationwide for a limited time in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster, April 15, 1912.  I'm sorry I missed it!

Tweet

Madonna in the 90's: Conclusion

The Girlie Show

In September of 1993, Madonna hit the road with The Girlie Show, a tour in support of her Erotica album. It's one of the few Madonna tours I missed, but that could be because she only played five dates here in the US (due to the low sales resulting from the backlash against Sex and the album).  I did watch the show on DVD, however, and it wasn't her best.

iOffer

The Girlie Show was part circus act, part burlesque, and a little too much sex for my taste.  The show did not include many of her past songs, except for a select few, and much of the Erotica album was covered.  Check out a Girlie Show performance of Bye, Bye Baby, one of my favorites off Erotica:

 

Bye Bye Baby - Erotica

Bedtime Stories

Next up for Ms. M was the much overlooked Bedtime Stories album.  Released in October of 1994, this one carried on in much the same vein, musically, as Erotica, and much less sexual in nature.  The lead single was the smooth, rhythmic Secret, for which a beautifully shot black and white video was made.  The song hit number three on the charts, followed by the tender Take a Bow hitting #1.    

In March of 1995, Madge held a Pajama Party to introduce the video to the title track, Bedtime Stories, an expensive masterpiece unto itself.  The party was broadcast live on MTV from Webster Hall in NYC, with superstar DJ Junior Vasquez on hand.  During the show, Madonna told a bedtime story (Miss Spider's Tea Party), cajoled with the fans, and did an interview with then MTV correspondent Kurt Loder, which you can see here:

Evita

EW

In late 1996, Madonna landed a role she'd been yearning to play, that of Argentine First Lady Evita Peron.  Though she never won accolades from her acting before, this performance was by far her best, earning her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.  The soundtrack was splendid and included an original song, You Must Love Me, which hit #18 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Here's a clip of one of my favorite tunes from Evita, the tender and sad Another Suitcase in Another Hall:

Ray of Light 

                                                                         digitalpulp

After an almost four-year absence between studio albums, Madonna came back with a vengeance in March of 1998 with her Ray of Light CD.  Once again, the singer reinvented herself into a new kind of electronica, employing the talents of well-known DJ/producer William Orbit.  

The first single was a dark masterpiece called Frozen, and its mystical video, in which Madonna portrays a witch-like creature, is equally wonderful.  In all, the album spawned five singles, three of which would hit the top twenty (Frozen (#2), Ray of Light (#5) and Power of Goodbye (#11)), and one (Nothing Really Matters) hit #1 on the Dance charts. along with the first two as well.

Here's my favorite track off of Ray of Light, one that inspires me and has been my driving theme to life and this blog.

Beautiful Stranger

The last thing Madonna would do in the 90's was a song for the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.  Beautiful Stranger is a fun song that remains as one of the singer's best.   Since I can't share the video on this blog, you can check it out on YouTube right here.

axecstaticprocess

So there you have it, Madonna in the 90's.  If she came out on fire in the 80's, it was the 90's that cemented her status as a world-class superstar.  I hope you've enjoyed this little trip down Madonna memory lane.  Stay tuned for more 90's stuff....

Check out Part I of Madonna in the 90's

Tweet

I Love the 90's - Austin Powers

Handbags and Handguns

I've been meaning to do more than just 90's music for John's World's "I Love the 90's" month, and I think it's about time that I did.  This morning I included a bonus clip with today's Song of the Day from one of my favorite all-time movies, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, featuring the inimitable Dr. Evil singing his own hilarious version of today's song, and thus the inspiration for this trip down Nineties Memory Lane.

Introduction

"Spy" was the second in a series of three Austin Powers movies: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), and Goldmember (2002), and the whole thing was the brainchild of one Mike Myers, who was a longtime cast member of Saturday Night Live, among other things.  Myers had been a big fan of the old James Bond movies and the Austin Powers series is one giant spoof on those famous spy films of the sixties.

The Austin Powers movies are full of sexual innuendo and outrageous humor, with lots of memorable one-liners that fans of the series still love to use once in awhile: 

               comic coverage

                                                                     explow

Here are a couple of quote clips that always make me giggle.  Click "play"...they're short and funny.

The Cast of Characters

The cast of characters throughout the three movies got better and better as the series went along.  Several characters, including Austin himself, Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard and Goldmember of them were played by Myers himself.  



it pays to entertain

One of my favorite characters was Frau Farbissina (played by Mindy Sterling), Dr. Evil's assistant and one-time lover:

        Love it!

And the product of that "love" was the young, neglected, reluctant to be future leader of the world and very critical Scott, played by Seth Green.  And then there was Mini-Me (Verne Troyer), a miniature, cloned version of the bad doctor who wins over his love, much to Scott's dismay.



The rest of the characters include some big-name talent in some very comical roles:

Michael York - Basil Exposition
Robert Wagner - Number Two
Rob Lowe - A younger Number Two
Fred Savage - Number Three (Moley, hehe!)
Michael Cane - Nigel Powers
Will Ferrell - Mustafa
Kristen Johnston - Ivana Humpalot

The Powers Girls


And each of the three movies had a different Powers' Girl, the first being Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley), who turned out to be a fembot.  Then there was model Heather Graham as Felicity Shagwell in the second, and Beyonce Knowles plays Foxy Cleopatra in Goldmember.

Vanessa, Felicity and Foxy......

Wild Sound

The Music

Of course, with any movie there's gotta be music, and the second film produced a Grammy-winning song by Madonna.  "Beautiful Stranger" featured Austin himself cavorting with Madge in what is still one of the singer's best-loved tunes.  Other tunes were covered in the film series, such as the One of Us version by Dr. Evil.  Other memorable song covers include Dr. Evil and Mini Me on "Just the Two of Us" and "Hard Knock Life," but my favorite is this one from the first movie.  As Frau would say, "BRING IN THE FEMBOTS!!!"

Anyway, I hope I didn't leave anything out!  There's really just too much to cover...ya just gotta see the movies to appreciate them.  You can buy them all at a low price at Amazon below.  In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed this little trip down Nineties Memory Lane.  If you love the Austin Powers series, I'd love to hear some of your favorite moments.  As always, thanks for checking me out...

 

Tweet

A Trip to the Movies - A Movie Theater Ripoff; The Amazing Spiderman

nerd bastards

One of the things I've been trying to do more of this summer is going to see movies.  I love movies, yet for some reason I only end up going once or twice a year.  So far in the last month I've seen two of them, The Avengers and The Amazing Spiderman, and I'll be going to see the new Batman when it comes out.

You might think from these that I only like superhero flicks.  Though I do like them, I do like other kinds of movies like comedies and horror, drama, suspense, and so on.  It just so happens that summer is blockbuster movie time and superhero movies usually fall into that category.

Another Movie Rip-Off

Any-who, the reason for this particular post is to talk about my visit to the Island-16 Cinemas in Holtsville the other night, and the newest Spiderman flick.  Something happened before we even got into seeing the film that really ticked me off.  One of my big beefs in life is how people always complain about how much money teachers make, yet they have no qualms about paying $15 bucks to see a movie so it's star can earn in the millions for acting.  Doesn't seem right, right?

Well, my pal Dita gets discounted movie tickets from his place of employment and so whenever we go, we only pay $7.50 a ticket, which is really not too bad.  Of course if you want to see the movie in 3D, that's extra dough at the movie theater, but the other night we had to pay an ridiculous, extra $2.50, which really pisses me off! Why, you ask?  Well I'll tell you...

The viewing we were going to see was some sort of special viewing where we picked our seats ahead of time and had waiter service before the movie.  For this, the tickets to this particular showing cost the extra two-fifty.  Otherwise we'd have had to wait another half-hour for the 'regular' screening.

Now, normally a summer blockbuster might cause you to have trouble finding a good seat, but it was Wednesday night and there were maybe 30 people inside.  And as for the wait service, now that's just plain ridiculous!  As it were, my medium popcorn and medium soda cost me over ten bucks, which is of course a long-standing movie theater ripoff that I guess I've gotten used to, but to have to pay extra for being lazy enough to have my food brought too me inside the theater is simply ludicrous!

Right before the movie started, one of the workers at the theater yelled out that it was last call to place a food order, and it was only a reminder of how ridiculous the whole thing was.  Of course, no one placed an order.  In fact as far as I could see no one in the theater placed any orders whatsoever, so the theater got an extra $2,50 per person for doing absolutely nothing!  I even think the girl knew how much of a joke it was, for I could tell by the way she said it that she did.  But I'll bet you'll never see this in the editorial page of the newspaper.

hollywood

The Amazing Spiderman

When I suggested that we go see the new Spiderman movie, I'll admit that I knew relatively little about it.  For some reason I thought it would be a whole new story, but it seems that like they've been doing with the Batman series, they've started from scratch in a whole new way.  Now I enjoyed the Toby McGuire movies, but compared to this one they were a lot more serious.  This Spiderman film is more lighthearted and a little different.

For this film, 28 year-old Andrew Garfield plays the lead role, and this time Peter Parker/Spidey is a skater boy high school student with an appropriately relative sense of humor.  The movie takes the story from the beginning, where Peter is abandoned by his scientist father and his mother and left to live with his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field).  Peter is a kind of goofy skater-boy type who doesn't quite fit in with his peers in high school, except for Gwen Stacy (played by Garfield's real-life girlfriend Emma Stone).

collider

When Peter discovers some of his father's work notes, he decides to investigate further, leading him to his father's old partner, Dr. Curt Conners.  Of course, a bite from a genetically engineered spider leads Peter to develop his unique powers and amusingly enough he has a little fun with it.  After Uncle Ben is murdered by a street thug, Peter decides to avenge his death by going after bad guys, and thus Spiderman is borne.

I won't give away too much here in case you'd like to see it, but the super-villain in this one is a scary-looking lizard creature borne out of Dr. Conners' work.  The film is action-packed, funny in parts and all around great entertainment.  I highly recommend it.  Oh, and that Andrew Garfield?  Adorable!  (I wish I had his hair!)

n4g

Guardian

Collider

Tweet

Song of the Day - He's a Dream - Shandi

He doesn't mean a thing to me, just another pretty face to see 
He's all over town, knocking 'em down, honey I'd never let him next to me 


Oh he's the kind of guy who thinks he's smart 
He's the type that always looks the part 
He's so on the make, it's so hard to take, honey 
An' I never let him touch my heart 


Ever since I posted Irene Cara's "What a Feeling" yesterday, I've had this one on my mind.  It's another favorite from "Flashdance," but this one's kinda different from the other dance stuff on the record.  This one's slow and oh so smooth, with a kicker guitar track and seductive vocals.  I've actually heard later reworked versions of the song, but the original is definitely the best!

The video is a straight-up scene from the film, and is typical of many of the sequences throughout, which was a big part of the movie's appeal.  Check it out...

Lyrics courtesy of MP3 Lyrics

Tweet

Flashback Friday Song of the Day - Flashdance (What A Feeling) - Irene Cara

Flashdance is one of my favorite movies of all time, even though it's been a long while since I've seen it last (hmmm???). The flick was and still is a cult classic, with cool dancing, a sweet love story, and of course great music. Here's the theme song to the film, which was one of its biggest hits, as well. Love it!

 

Image Source: popeighties

Tweet

D is for Dark Shadows

When I was very young, I used to be fascinated with horror movies. No, not the type with hatchets and chainsaws and lots of gore, but the kind with vampires, werewolves, witches and zombies, mummies and of course, the Creature from the Black Lagoon. These were the creatures of my nightmares, and I loved it!

From the years 1966 until 1971, ABC ran a popular soap opera with a horror theme. Dark Shadows was a serial that followed the eerie happenings in the Gothic town of Collinsport, Maine. I was only two years old when it started, but towards its end I had already begun my fascination with the genre and I'd be glued to the television nearly every single afternoon. I was always happily scared out of my wits by the likes of Barnabas Collins, one of the show's main characters and Collinsport's resident vampire, and his fellow inhabitants that included werewolves, witches and the like.

I particularly remember a scene that gave me nightmares. It took place in a mausoleum, and consisted of a little scuffle between a vampire, presumably Barnabas, and a werewolf. Those nightmares resulted in me not being allowed to watch the show any longer. Since I was only five or six at the time, it wasn't a big deal to me because there were many other things to keep me occupied, but I always kept a nostalgic interest in the series. When I was older, I once rented videos of the series, but found it to be too dated in its acting and very slow-moving (It was a soap opera, after all!), so I returned the videos to Blockbuster and forgot all about it, until now.

Recently I've been seeing ads for a new Dark Shadows movie coming out in May. It is directed by Tim Burton and stars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter, of course, among many others. At first I was kind of excited. Ii thought that maybe they'd update the story into a more contemporary spin, with cool special effects like they have these days. Maybe the good old fashioned horror flick was back, at least for one movie, but from the looks of things, I think I might have been wrong. Here's the short synopsis of the film from IMDb:

An imprisoned vampire, Barnabas Collins, is set free and returns to his ancestral home, where his dysfunctional descendants are in need of his protection.

"Dysfunctional?" That word has now led me to believe that maybe this new spin on an old story may just be a comedic one, which is not what I had hoped for, and the trailer seems to confirm it:


 

Ah well, I'm probably going to check it out anyway. I love comedies just as much as I like scary movies, so perhaps it will be entertaining at least. But I will say that I am a little disappointed! To read more on the new Dark Shadows movie, check out the Daily Blam.

Image Sources:

Boston Herald

Werewolves

Daily Blam

Tweet

S is for Summer Songs

Okay, we're back on track, a little, with the Z-A Blogger's Challenge. Today's letter is "S" and since this is one of my favorite times of year, I decided to dedicate this one to summer. In recent weeks I posted two articles on Y!CN: 10 Great Summer Albums and Awesome Summer Songs for All Sorts of Summertime Scenarios and both articles put some of those songs in my head, especially the ones that I haven't listened to in years. So, this post is dedicated to some of those great songs that many of us associate with summer. Take a look at the articles to check even more of them out, but in the meantime, enjoy these choice selections...

S is for Summer Songs

Summer Nights
- John Travolta and Olivia Newton John





Anyone who was around in 1978 will remember that classic summer movie, Grease. The film was all about a summer romance between John Travolta's Danny Zuko and Olivia Newton John's Sandy Olsson and was full of memorable tunes such as this one. 'Summer nights' comes at the beginning of the movie and I can remember playing it over and over again during that summer of 78. Check it out:





Cruel Summer - Bananarama



The year was 1983 and these three harmonious British gals were just beginning to make waves with this summer hit...





Soak Up the Sun - Sheryl Crow



This one from folk/rock/pop singer Sheryl Crow is one of my all time favorite summer, feel good songs.

I'm gonna soak up the sun, gonna tell everyone to lighten up...





Rock the Boat - Hues Corporation



So I'd like to know where, you got the notion...

Oh man, I remember this one from when I was a wee one! So catchy and so timeless...

Rock the boat
Don't rock the boat baby
Rock the boat
Don't tip the boat over





The Locomotion - Little Eva



Everybody's doin' a brand new dance now...

This one's not necessarily a summer song, per se, but it makes for a great old fashioned summer dance song. Kylie even remade this one once upon a time!

You've got to move your hips now...





Kokomo - The Beach Boys



What would summer music be without the Beach Boys? This one, from the 1988 film, 'Cocktail,' is one of the later songs from these California, surf music innovators, but it's just as loved as any of their big surfin' hits.


Beach Boys - Kokomo by jpdc11





Let's Get Loud - J-Lo



This one's perfect for a hot summer dance, with a little Latin flava! Love this song!!!





Well there you have it, some choice selections for pure summer music enjoyment. Though summer hasn't officially begun yet, the weather's already nice and the time is ripe for some great summer music. I hope you've enjoyed my picks for some of the best summer songs out there and remember to check out my articles above for more great, hot summer tunes. Until next time, peace!
Tweet