"Sham Rock Special 2011" - The Playlist

It's winding towards the end of St. Patrick's Day... and also towards the end of my annual St. Patrick's tradition... the "Sham Rock Special." If you're not familiar, I'll post the description from the event page on Facebook:

The "Sham Rock" Special is a celebration of faux-rock music every St. Patrick's Day. It began in 2010 when news came down shortly before St. Patrick's Day that ABBA had been inducted into the Rock & Roll hall of fame. Initially only noticed by a couple of radio professionals and self-professed music geeks, it's growing to an event for rock fans everywhere to discuss the dilution and homogenization of rock music by encouraging enthusiastic debate about the boundaries of the genre.

Despite that description, this really is all about having fun and enjoying a day of bad "rock." So put up your favorite Elton John song (or ABBA... or Bon Jovi... or Monkees... whatever your taste may be), kick back, relax, and keep the debate civil.

The event was open to the public, with several people invited to post and include their selections. As of 9:17 (CDT) this evening, here is the playlist by artist, song, and the Sham Rocker who posted them:

ABBA - Dancing Queen (Eric Wolfe)

Bruce Willis - Respect Yourself (Chas Andrews)

Starship - We Built This City (Eric Wolfe)

Don Johnson - Heartbeat (Chas Andrews)

Eddie Murphy - Party All The Time (Angela K. Marvin)

Falco - Rock Me, Amadeus (Eric Wolfe)

David Hasselhoff - Jump In My Car (Chas Andrews)

Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science (Eric Wolfe)

Leonard Nimoy - The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins (Chas Andrews)

William Shatner - No Tears for Caesar (Chas Andrews)

O-Zone - Numa Numa (Wendy Ribelin)

Big Time Rush - Oh Yeah (Wendy Ribelin)

Edward Furlong - Hold On Tight (Chas Andrews)

WHAM! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (Eric Wolfe)

Elton John - Club at the End of the Street (Eric Wolfe)

Bad Company - Rock and Roll Fantasy (Stephen Wolfe)

The Kinks - A Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy (Stephen Wolfe)

Hall and Oates - Maneater (Eric Wolfe)

David Cassidy - Rock Me, Baby (Stephen Wolfe)

Billy Joel - Uptown Girl (Eric Wolfe)

Hanson - MMMBop (Eric Wolfe)

Rod Stewart - Da Ya Think I'm Sexy (Eric Wolfe)

Some of these require explanation, but I'll leave it to the poster to justify why things made the list. Feel free to add your own list or discuss this years "Sham Rock" playlist below or on the event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133091153430936

Make your reservations now for Sham Rock 2012. I don't expect tickets to sell wildly... I'm not even SELLING tickets... but it's good to have something to look forward to, even if it's something completely ridiculous.

You Never Can Tell

I have a number of friends with romantic difficulties at one of the rare times I'm not overly concerned about that area of my life.

Peter Wolf expressed the opinion (later re-popularized by Adam Sandler) that "Love Stinks."

What stinks about love is that you never can tell. You don't know instantly if you've met "THE ONE." You only learn with effort if a person is worth the effort. You only learn if the risk is worth it by actually taking the risk. I've had a LOT of failed relationships. Much more than my share. I could claim to have wasted most of the last decade on relationships that didn't pan out.

On the other hand, you really DON'T know instantly if you've met the one. Something might not initially seem worthwhile, but will prove itself worth the effort. What keeps me rolling when I should have given up on love YEARS ago is the knowledge that someone is worth that effort. Not only is someone out there worth that effort... someone is out there that is worth all the effort I've wasted on other women.

The whole thing is a crap-shoot... which is frustrating to many, but fascinating as well.

Craig Ferguson, speaking about something entirely unrelated, may have said it best: "Between safety and adventure, I choose adventure. Every time."

What stinks about love is that you never can tell. It's also what makes it great.