So This Stripper From Space Comes Skating Down Into The Path Of A Spy In The 1930s...

I cannot believe the 25th anniversary of the greatest moment in my personal music history came and went and it took a late-night intervention by last.fm to remind me. Shameful, I know.

For Christmas of 1983, I was given a radio. My very own radio. It was from Sears, and it had a broken tuner. That was sad, but the second one, the second one...oh the times we had. I also got the first shipment of my Columbia House record club crack cassettes, Private Eyes by Hall and Oates, the Flashdance soundtrack, the soundtrack to Return of the Jedi, and then two albums I didn't even realize my family knew I wanted--because even I didn't know they were the ones I'd been obsessing over for the past month or so, After Eight by Taco and Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) by Eurythmics.

Also included in the box was Lionel Richie's self-titled solo debut, the only one I used to lie and say wasn't part of the original six just so I could listen to Olivia Newton John's Greatest Hits Volume 2 instead.

To make up for missing the taking up of my main drug of choice (next to cats, which is a condition I was born with), I'm going to subject you to the videos for the main hits off each of these glorious works. Note how the only version of You Are I could find totally lacks Lionel Richie. Hmm.

I suggest you let all these load and play them at the same time. Because that's a good approximation of living in my head on a good day.

So This Stripper From Space Comes Skating Down Into The Path Of A Spy In The 1930s...

Daryl Hall Says It's The Right Time, I Do Not Argue.

The media and stores have been insisting it's Christmas since October. The neighbors have had decorations and lights up since before Thanksgiving. This past week we got a ton of snow--and meterologists may frown upon my ballpark weight of the snow, but they didn't have to shovel it out of my walkway. Ton.

But it really isn't Christmas yet, it isn't even winter for another four days, even though Paul Winter's had his concert down in St. John The Divine already.

Today, however, I finally heard Jingle Bell Rock by Hall & Oates with Daryl Hall singing. There are two different versions, you know, and for some reason the station that went all-Christmas music before Hanukkah seems to only play the John Oates version. I don't have anything against Oates, you can't have Hall & Oates without him, but in 1983, the first year I decorated the tree mostly by myself, it was the Daryl Hall vocal I had burned in my head as my Princess Leia doll handed me red glitter balls and wondered if Han would make it for Christmas.

...I did say I decorated the tree mostly by myself. Tony the cat also helped.

But I digress, Daryl Hall has sung his song, and that was enough of a signal to get the stuff on the tree and start decorating.

Behold, videos for both versions of the song!

Hall:



Oates:

Daryl Hall Says It's The Right Time, I Do Not Argue.