Define Me

Honk to Reluctant Rebel.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Gotta love it:



To download the song:

Itunes Link
Amazon Link

Note: For many long years, I've wished somebody or somebodies would do a gay update on all the old standards (and not just holiday tunes). Maybe it will happen someday.

WTF: Drop Dead Beautiful

Okay guys, your Head Trucker has to admit to being an old fart who just doesn't understand the younger generation.  I never thought I would say those words, but I guess it happens to all of us sooner or later. 

What really confuses me is the way straight boys act so g-a-y in this day and time, always hugging one another and such.  So would somebody please clue me in here:  are these guys gay or what? 

I mean, I'm serious - my gaydar was never that great to begin with, and I really can't tell about kids these days. 




Or is this just one of the dreaded aftereffects of the repeal of DADT that the republitards warned us about?

Sunday Drive: The Holly and the Ivy

It is a tradition in Anglican/Episcopal churches to have a Service of Lessons and Carols about this time of year, and the famous choir of King's College, Cambridge, is world-renowned for their beautiful sounds. 

On a personal note, this song reminds me of my late husband, who was, albeit stuck in a tiny Texas town, a really world-class organist; he played every Sunday at the Methodist church there, and just as beautifully as you hear in this piece.  "The Holly and the Ivy" was a favorite of his, which he often played in his annual Christmas concert.  Enjoy.

Pop Tops: It's the Little Things

Way back when your Head Trucker was young and still thinking he was supposed to grow up to be straight, he had a major crush on Cher. Here's a wonderful clip I found that I've never seen before, from 1967. Just look at how lovely Mrs. Bono is at 21 in that babydoll dress, so young and spirited and naturally beautiful - who wouldn't fall for a girl like that?



I made a little playlist of Cher's songs from the sixties, if you want to listen to more. Just open this video in YouTube, and you'll see the playlist at the bottom of your screen.

World Aids Day: All of My Memories

Thirty years since we knew the plague was among us. Twenty years since I lost my best friend Tommy to it. This is for him and all the others I knew, or never knew . . .

Sunday Drive: Autumn Leaves

Use the full screen on this one, guys.

Sunday Drive: Wings to Fly

Sunday Drive: Country Roads

Forty years ago this summer, the late John Denver had his first big hit with this evocative song, which was all over the radio. I can't believe it's been that long ago already. Whatever. Enjoy:

Groovy Guys: Graham Nash

In my younger days the Hollies were a fun group, featuring a very young - and studly - Graham Nash. 

This song always makes me smile: the steel drums remind me of flying into the Bahamas, where they used to have a steel drum band meet all the planes - a DC-6, let's say, or a Lockheed Electra - to serenade debarking passengers as we emerged into the sea-scented air and brilliant tropical sunshine, and descended the steps to the tarmac.

But the young'uns among us won't even be able to decipher that last sentence, so just enjoy the song:



Later, of course, after a string of hits with the Hollies, Nash teamed up with David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and sometimes Neil Young, and got his second wind with another truckload of rock classics, including the delightful "Marrakesh Express," which I very fondly recall from the summer of 1969. Here's a hairier, more worldly and wizened Nash doing an interesting live version (1974) with Crosby - consummate musicians:



In 1977, I was lucky enough to see them in concert performing so many great songs, including this one - sung a capella except for Stills's acoustic guitar - all of them perfectly on pitch just as you hear it in this recording, and not a hundred feet away from me. Man, what a thrill that was. I tell you what.



And here's Nash in 2009, explaining why you never hear protest songs on the radio anymore:




Bonus: The guys team up with blues queen Bonnie Raitt on this awesome rendition of "Love Has No Pride":



I remember the song - hell, I lived it once.

A great mistake; but we love and learn.

Sunday Drive: In the Garden

This was my mama's favorite.  She would have turned 89 this month, strange to think.  I'm glad she is in a better place than this rough old world.

Afternoon Drive: Chances Are

The ex-roommate called last night excited about this clip of actor Garrett Hedlund from the movie Country Strong, and I can see why:  the boy is hot, with a magnificent smile and a gravelly voice that grabs you someplace deep.  Probably straight as a board, but oh well.

Give him a whirl, see what you think.

Tom Goss: Lover

Damn. This music vid just blew me away is all I can tell you, guys.





Honk to Americablog Gay.

Independence Day

The awesome Pat Benatar leads this kick-ass live performance of Martina McBride's great hit:



The first time I ever heard it, it didn't grab me. But over the years, I've come to think of the chorus as a kind of anthem for anyone beaten down, despised, and abused. Including all of us queer people.

One day our true freedom to be all that we are will come. Meanwhile, enjoy the holiday, y'all.

Groovy Guys: Rob Grill, The Grass Roots

Um, so this may or may not be the start of a new feature on the Blue Truck:  hot-looking dudes I remember from the days of my youth.  Implies nothing about their sexuality, of course.  But sure did something for mine.  Maybe some of you fellas will remember too.

Today's featured artist:  mustachioed Rob Grill, second from right in this line-up of The Grass Roots, circa 1970.



Rob peforming in 2004:

WTF: Wait a Minute, Mr. Postman

Sigh. Now I know why my parents shook their heads at the crazy ideas of my generation. Some days it seems like the whole world is being super-sized . . . in reverse. Apparently the next thing to go is your mailbox, if this article from Canada is any portent:

End door-to-door mail delivery

. . . you didn't stop to make me feel better,
by leaving me a card or a letter . . . .

 

Another Land

A favorite by Ivor Novello - he's family, y'all - as featured in the movie Gosford Park.

Lovelight: When You Kiss Me

Cody

A gray, gloomy day in Texas, a day of quiet tasks and deep thoughts. A day to shut the doors, keep the wind out, and avoid looking in mirrors. It is not until you begin to grow old that you realize what a cruel thing that aging really is. A thief, a robber with no mercy. Nothing you have is safe from his clutches.

All the more reason to enjoy your youth while you have it.

Yesterday would have been my husband's 61st birthday.  Not looking for sympathy; nothing anyone can say about that now.  Just remembering.  Funny how time slips away.

But my husband had a rather Egyptian idea of immortality:  that no one dies as long as their name is spoken and remembered. 

So this is for Cody: and for me, a meditation on what was, what might have been . . . and what can never be.

Sunday Drive: There But For Fortune

An old favorite of your Head Trucker's for this Sunday morning.  Rather fitting as we collectively prepare, in name at least, to give thanks this week for all we have.

Sunday Drive: Ave Maria

This brings me peace this morning.  I hope it does the same for you, my buddies.