Gotta Get Up Gotta Get Out Gotta Get Down,Time to Go Out And Have Some Fun, Gotta Break Away From This Day To Day, Gotta Get Away On A Summer Vacatio
--"Summer Vacation", The Party
I'm not afraid to admit it. Back in the early 90's I was a diehard MMC fan. Every weekday I would watch the show not because I thought it was highly evolved and thought-provoking television, but merely because it was fun. Even in those days very little of my day was spent in activities that could solely be classified as fun. Those thirty minutes were probably my fun quota for the day. I left the thought-provoking and emotionally wrenching material to the likes of Avonlea; MMC was my E-ticket to enjoying a small part of my day. There was a time when I could rattle off the casts from each of the 7 seasons in the order they appeared in the opening credits. There was a time when I would actually try to predict which member would sing that day's music video or star in that day's big comedy sketch. There was a time when I actually thought I knew what they were like off-set just by how they acted in the show. For instance, Miss Brandy Brown, even though I thought she was the cutest member of the show ever, I thought had to be the biggest bitch on set just because whenever the camera wasn't focused on her for a sketch she always seemed to have a scowl on her face. Or, in another case, I thought they had to have hired Ricky for his dance moves because that guy never tried his hand at acting or singing or the show.
It's a little known secret that about 50% of the reason I agreed to travel out to Disney World with my aunts and brother was to go and see a live taping of that show. I was also hoping to meet up with Miss Brown, given my enormous enamoration of her. However, the closest I came was meeting another Brandy.
Another highlight of the early part of that decade was when the five oldest members of the original cast went ahead and formed a singing group called The Party. I don't know about you, but even then my musical taste was being formulated around what was socially relevant and globally ambitious. You had performers and bands like U2 and Michael Jackson, musical propaganda like Band Aid, and this general idea that music had to serve a higher moral purpose than mere listening. While that was all well and good, a part of me just wanted music that was great to listen to. I didn't want to think about what the lyrics were signifying or what kind of action I needed to take because I'd heard these songs. I just wanted something catchy to occupy a small portion of my day. The Party was perfect for this pursuit. It is still my belief that their first eponymous album stands up as one of the finest albums just to lay back and lose yourself too. Or, better yet, to break out your goofiest dance moves and just laugh at yourself and your friends with. Many times I would break out this specific album and get my mind off the drama, the stress, and the general malaise that had become my life once high school had begun. To this day, even though I've lost that album to the black hole of forgetfulness and misplacement, I still find myself humming a few bars of "That's Why" or singing the chorus to "Sugar is Sweet" ("Sugar is sweet / But not as sweet as you"). It takes a lot for a person to remember an album one no longer possesses in any shape or form, but The Party was that kind of album.
Contrary to popular belief, I do not choose to surround myself with the most melodramatic and tragic pieces of entertainment possible. Yes, I do enjoy a good tear-jerker like Little Manhattan. Neither is it true that everything I consume for pleasure needs to involve exercising my brain. Yes, I do enjoy a good novel by Julian Barnes. But a big part of me, like Carly says, is just a giant goofball waiting to be set free. I'm still the guy that has an overwhelming desire to build a 24-square-mile maze and a spinning house. I'm still the guy that would kill for someone to open a 24-hour drive-through buffet. I'm still the guy that wants someone to incorporate pure, uncut caffeine into sundaes or pancakes. I'm still the guy that enjoys listening to The Party to this day.
And, man oh man, did Tiffini and DeeDee provide some of the best hooks for their songs in their day.
Yes, folks, even I get tired of the doom and gloom of writing intellectually morose or somber posts day-after-day, just like even I get tired of searching for the deeper meaning to a Rilo Kiley song.
Sometimes I want to write a post about my days of being an honorary Mouseketeer and sometimes I want to get away on a Summer vacation from my own thoughts and be thirteen again. Sometimes I just want to be that thirteen-year-old whose biggest pressing engagement was to catch The Party singing on The MMC.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
I'm not afraid to admit it. Back in the early 90's I was a diehard MMC fan. Every weekday I would watch the show not because I thought it was highly evolved and thought-provoking television, but merely because it was fun. Even in those days very little of my day was spent in activities that could solely be classified as fun. Those thirty minutes were probably my fun quota for the day. I left the thought-provoking and emotionally wrenching material to the likes of Avonlea; MMC was my E-ticket to enjoying a small part of my day. There was a time when I could rattle off the casts from each of the 7 seasons in the order they appeared in the opening credits. There was a time when I would actually try to predict which member would sing that day's music video or star in that day's big comedy sketch. There was a time when I actually thought I knew what they were like off-set just by how they acted in the show. For instance, Miss Brandy Brown, even though I thought she was the cutest member of the show ever, I thought had to be the biggest bitch on set just because whenever the camera wasn't focused on her for a sketch she always seemed to have a scowl on her face. Or, in another case, I thought they had to have hired Ricky for his dance moves because that guy never tried his hand at acting or singing or the show.It's a little known secret that about 50% of the reason I agreed to travel out to Disney World with my aunts and brother was to go and see a live taping of that show. I was also hoping to meet up with Miss Brown, given my enormous enamoration of her. However, the closest I came was meeting another Brandy.
Another highlight of the early part of that decade was when the five oldest members of the original cast went ahead and formed a singing group called The Party. I don't know about you, but even then my musical taste was being formulated around what was socially relevant and globally ambitious. You had performers and bands like U2 and Michael Jackson, musical propaganda like Band Aid, and this general idea that music had to serve a higher moral purpose than mere listening. While that was all well and good, a part of me just wanted music that was great to listen to. I didn't want to think about what the lyrics were signifying or what kind of action I needed to take because I'd heard these songs. I just wanted something catchy to occupy a small portion of my day. The Party was perfect for this pursuit. It is still my belief that their first eponymous album stands up as one of the finest albums just to lay back and lose yourself too. Or, better yet, to break out your goofiest dance moves and just laugh at yourself and your friends with. Many times I would break out this specific album and get my mind off the drama, the stress, and the general malaise that had become my life once high school had begun. To this day, even though I've lost that album to the black hole of forgetfulness and misplacement, I still find myself humming a few bars of "That's Why" or singing the chorus to "Sugar is Sweet" ("Sugar is sweet / But not as sweet as you"). It takes a lot for a person to remember an album one no longer possesses in any shape or form, but The Party was that kind of album.
Contrary to popular belief, I do not choose to surround myself with the most melodramatic and tragic pieces of entertainment possible. Yes, I do enjoy a good tear-jerker like Little Manhattan. Neither is it true that everything I consume for pleasure needs to involve exercising my brain. Yes, I do enjoy a good novel by Julian Barnes. But a big part of me, like Carly says, is just a giant goofball waiting to be set free. I'm still the guy that has an overwhelming desire to build a 24-square-mile maze and a spinning house. I'm still the guy that would kill for someone to open a 24-hour drive-through buffet. I'm still the guy that wants someone to incorporate pure, uncut caffeine into sundaes or pancakes. I'm still the guy that enjoys listening to The Party to this day.
And, man oh man, did Tiffini and DeeDee provide some of the best hooks for their songs in their day.
Yes, folks, even I get tired of the doom and gloom of writing intellectually morose or somber posts day-after-day, just like even I get tired of searching for the deeper meaning to a Rilo Kiley song.
Sometimes I want to write a post about my days of being an honorary Mouseketeer and sometimes I want to get away on a Summer vacation from my own thoughts and be thirteen again. Sometimes I just want to be that thirteen-year-old whose biggest pressing engagement was to catch The Party singing on The MMC.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
posted by mojo shivers @ 12:15 AM
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