Singers I Like

Not really singers I like. A more accurate title would be singers from the past that I like that other people don't seem to like. A while ago I did a blog of the famous people I hate, so this will kind of balance things out. 

1. Karen Carpenter - This week I downloaded songs from I-tunes. I did that all by myself. Yes, pretty proud of myself. There were some Carpenter songs that I had never heard before. I had to be a closet Carpenters fan before, because when I was in high school to have The Carpenters be your favorite group was not cool. But they were and are. I just read some postings of people on-line about Karen. (I never know if I use tech words like "download" or "postings" correctly, but you get the idea.) Anyway there are lots of people that are still sad that Karen died. Some also talked about how, unlike today, she would never oversing. Right on. The people on stuff like American Idol have to show everyone not just how good they can sing, but how loud they can sing. Karen never did that. I saw them in Lake Tahoe once. It wasn't as good as I was hoping for. They did a lot of extra stuff - skits, geeky Richard playing the piano. The parts with just Karen singing were great thought. I'm glad I did that, because obviously I don't have a chance anymore. That brings me to #2 -

2. Barry Manilow - There, I said it. Yes, he's kind of dopey and sappy, but I like him anyway. People always used to make fun of him. He is like the kid on the playground that bullies love to pick on because he's an easy target and nobody will stick up for him. Figuratively speaking, if we were on the playground together, I would tell them to leave Barry alone and if they want to pick on him, they would have to go through me first. Then we would both get pounded, but it would be worth it. I have DVD's of old Tonight Show episodes. Bette Midler was on one. I had heard Barry was her piano player before he became famous. On that episode I saw him in her band. His nose alone pretty much gives him away. Most of his songs are sad, but to counter that just play Bandstand Boogie. One of the most fun songs of all-time.

3. Ringo Starr - OK, everyone knows he is the least talented of the Beatles. So what? That's like being the worst player on the Dream Team. You're still probably pretty good, just not in comparison to the others. He's never taken himself too seriously. The other three would do heavy stuff like Let It Be and give him songs like Octopus' Garden. He was always OK with that. He seems like he would have been the most fun Beatle to hang around with. Get his Greatest Hits CD sometime. He had a bunch of hits just on his own.

Saturday or Sunday we're leaving for Kentucky. The exact day is still a little up in the air yet. Then my blog will become a travelogue. I'm not sure how that will work. I may try to write something each day, or that may be a pain and maybe I'll just save up my reports until we get there. Anyway my next blog should be the start of my "travelblog".