Birthday

Did you know that the "Happy Birthday" song took two people to write? No, I'm not kidding, it actually took two people to come up with the simplest song on the planet. Also, arguably, the most awkward song on the planet.

When a group sings "Happy Birthday" to someone, there is inevitably that one person who is completely off-key, and that one person who holds the last note just a little too long. Or try fitting in someone's name that is not evenly two-syllables and things get really funky with different emphases. How about when it's an older member of a family and everyone is singing "grandma/mom/aunt/insert name" all at the same time? And of course there's the ever-fun "cha cha cha" insert between each line, or as my dad likes to sing instead, "you you you." There's even the classic spin to sing to your enemies: happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo, you look like a monkey, and you smell like one too.

So many options, so much variety, such a small song.

This song may not be long, exciting, or even pleasant at some times, but it is special. It makes people feel attended to and loved on their birthday, the one day a year that revolves around them and excuses are encouraged: excused from calories, an excuse to have a party, etc.

My excuse for my birthday this year is to take a little vacation. I'm out of the city, going to the beach, reading a book in the sun, and holding a daiquiri in my hand while Weezer's "Island in the Sun" plays in the background... well not exactly, but something like that. This birthday I am excusing myself from life and just enjoying the relaxation that comes with a getaway.

Now, relaxing the day away doesn't mean I don't want a little celebration too. Here's a medley of birthday/party songs I purposefully compiled as a present to myself to say, happy birthday to me!


Can you name them all?

Tune Tales 1

Almost every Thursday night recently, my new neighbor above my apartment has been blasting different music. The timing of the parties and the music choices have made me curious about what is going on up there, and have inspired me to come up with my own version and write about it. In the story below, only the musical references are real; the rest of the story is entirely fictional, I don't know my neighbor, this is my imagination of how those songs came to be played in the apartment above my head. Stayed tuned for more stories to come in my new "Tune Tales" series!


Naomi Wright just moved into a beautiful new apartment in the Northwest quarter of Washington, DC. She moved there from Pentagon City in Virginia, so this was a much more convenient location for her life. Naomi Wright was lucky to find this apartment on such short notice. Sure, it was a bit pricey, but with a two-week turnaround she wasn't passing it up. Naomi Wright  is about to finish her first year of Grad School at GW. With one final down and two more plus a paper to go, she is very pleased with her progress. But Naomi Wright is not happy, because Naomi Wright was just dumped.

Why did Naomi Wright have to move into a new apartment just a week before her finals? Because her boyfriend, a 2L at Georgetown, decided it was time to end their 4-year relationship just in time for him to have some peace and quiet in the apartment for him to study. Couldn't he have gone to the library, or asked her to give him the study space he needed during this time? Surely Naomi would have understood. But what she didn't understand was how he could use this opportunity to mask his cowardice in wanting to end their relationship; blaming his issues on school instead of facing them and talking through them. Naomi was in school too, but you didn't see her calling it quits every time she needed to concentrate.

Naomi and her boyfriend, excuse me, ex-boyfriend, James, met during their undergrad tenure at the University of Maryland. Naomi was a sophomore, James was a Junior, it was Greek Week, and their sorority and fraternity were paired up for the competition. While they had to work together and fight hard to win the tug-of-war, the talent show, and the fundraising contest; Naomi and James didn't have to battle at all to win each other over.

When James graduated and moved to DC to attend his dream law school, Naomi knew it wouldn't be long until she joined him there too. The year they spent apart was tough for both of them, but James sailed through his 1L year and Naomi kept her head down, preparing for the GRE, and got accepted to GW for their Psychology Graduate Program. They had it all figured out. James was going to go on to be a successful lawyer and Naomi was going to be a guidance counselor; she always loved helping people.

But the tension of spending a year apart never fully went away during the year they lived together, and Naomi found it tricky to help herself. The tension faded, but James had grown accustomed to his space, his new friends, his lawyer jokes. Naomi had spent many nights out with friends from school while James sat at home and worked. She knew they were in a different place than when they were in college, but she had faith in their relationship and a vision for the future. She never thought it would end like this. So abruptly, so heartlessly, so jarring. Apparently, James did not see the same light at the end of the tunnel, and suddenly she was all alone in the dark.

No, she wasn't alone. She had great friends; she enjoyed her coworkers at the restaurant she waitressed at for extra money, for that matter she was making extra money; and she was embarking on the career of her dreams. Who needed James? Well, not him, but maybe his apartment.

For going through the emotional turmoil of being dumped, kicked out of her living situation and having to find a new apartment, all while trying to study for her finals, Naomi Wright is doing pretty damn well these days.

Summer is right around the corner and she wants to celebrate; put all the drama behind her, uplift her spirits. Her finals end on Thursday and she doesn't have to work until Friday night, so Naomi has decided to throw a Housewarming/End of Finals/Summer's Here - Party, Thursday night.

As she minimizes her Word document with study materials and brings up Facebook on her web browser, Naomi surveys her new apartment and squints her eyes trying to envision the place filled with friends. She creates the event and invites everyone she knows in DC, even including some of James' law school buddies, but not James. She knows that will get his attention. Quickly she receives a handful of "attending" RSVPs and she smiles. Satisfied, Naomi returns to her school work; inevitably she'll check the RSVP list during her next study break, but for now it's back to the books.

---
 

Handing in the blue book that will complete her first year of grad school, Naomi is thrilled that she does not have to think about professors, papers, and projects for a whole three months. So what can she fill her head with now? Books to read on the beach. Maybe plan a road trip with friends to actually get to a beach. TV shows to catch up on. Farmer's markets and new recipes to try. Summer music festivals in the city. James. 

No, no, she will not think about James. She will think about... of course, her party tonight! Focusing on anything other than the broken heart she has been thankful to avoid up until now because of studying, Naomi hurriedly rattles off a to-do list to get ready for her party tonight. She vows that she will only concentrate on party planning for the rest of the day and she heads to the liquor store to start checking items off of her mental preparation list.

---

 

PLOP! PLOP! Practically collapsing at the door of her apartment, Naomi drops the bags that have been weighing her down as she shopped for what seemed like days. She rubs her forearms where the bags have left their mark, and decides that she doesn't need to exercise today, she's given her body enough of a workout already.

Using all of the will power she has not to take a nap on the couch that she swears she can hear calling her name, Naomi starts unloading her purchases to set up for the party that is just a few hours away. Cups, chips, alcohol; napkins, dips, mixers.

Next, Naomi strategically moves her couch a few feet from its current location in order to create a larger seating space. However, her couch was a little heavier than expected and she bumped and banged it along the floor as she got it to the spot that she envisioned. Yep, she definitely did not need an extra work out today. For a brief moment she realized how much noise she was making and she hoped that her neighbor below her, whomever that may be, was not home; they would probably think she was nailing the couch to the floor rather than transporting it.

Having maneuvered the rest of the furniture in the apartment the way Naomi saw fit for a party, she places her snacks around the room and sets up a drink-making station on the kitchen table. Naomi checks her watch to find that there is just enough time to change and eat some dinner before she has to put her hostess game-face on.

---

Naomi stumbles in her high heels through the group of people standing near her closet. Did she even know those guys? So much for that hostess game-face. She kicks her heels off and in the process, lands on the floor with them. The group near the closet comes to see if she is alright and once they have her on her feet again they left her to, well, whatever it was that she was doing.

It looked like Naomi was either counting her shoes or trying to figure out the meaning of life. Her brow was scrunched up, her head tilted down, and there was a confusion in her eyes that screamed, "I'm drunk in my own apartment and I don't even know where I am!"

She was actually looking for her slippers to comfort her tired feet but she couldn't focus long enough to really find them and shortly gives up the search. Naomi returns to the drink-station where her best friend, Tamra, was entertaining her guest.

Tamra and Naomi were sorority sisters in college, and Tamra deciding to do her graduate work at American University was the icing on the cake of Naomi starting her life in DC.

Tamra came to American to continue her studies in the Spanish language and she joined a program this summer to host a student from Colombia who wanted to come to America to further their English studies for 6 weeks, followed by them trading and her spending 6 weeks in Colombia. This student's name was Ricardo, but liked to go by Rico, and Tamra liked to call him Rico Suave. But not to his face, only to Naomi. Naomi didn't know what Rico's real last name was, she only knew him as Rico Suave.

As Naomi plunks herself into a chair at the kitchen table rather ungracefully, she grabs onto Rico Suave's arm for balance. With her free hand, she reaches for her drink, or at least the cup she thought was her drink, but not before Tamra could grab it out of the way first.

"Yo creo que tu ha tenido suficiente," Tamra says.

Naomi stares blankly at Tamra with her mouth open trying to comprehend Tamra's message. Literally not a word she said just made sense, it was like she was speaking another language.

"Tam, Tam, Tam, Tam..." each syllable was accompanied by a hand swipe as Naomi tried to reply to Tamra, never quite reaching her name or the cup. Naomi knew she was stammering but she knew she couldn't help it.

"I think you have had enough, is what Tamra is trying to tell you, Naomi," Rico tried to help.

With Rico Suave's accent, Naomi could never tell if he was speaking Spanish or English. Nope, she didn't get a word of that either; she decided he must be speaking in Spanish.

Naomi blinks to hold back the tears that were forming behind her eyes. First her boyfriend dumped her and kicked her out, then she had to deal with finals, and now she can't understand the magic language that her best friend uses to communicate with Rico Suave; her whole life is falling apart.

And then the flood gates opened to really complete the damage that had been wrecked.

"What is wrong, Naomi?" Rico was kneeling to be eye level with her, he was very concerned.

"It's just, I, well, I miss him. I haven't had time to miss him yet and now I do." Naomi sobbed each word.

Rico looked to Tamra for clarification.

"She's a subconscious drunk," Tamra casually explained. "When Naomi gets drunk whatever is in her subconscious comes pouring out so you never know what you'll get with her when she drinks. One night she could be happy and the life of the party, the next she's ready to throw her drink at the girl who borrowed her pencil that one time and never gave it back. Tonight I guess we have 'Sad Naomi,' wallowing over James."

"Oh no, we are not going to be sad when I am here," Rico stands up. "Uh uh, you need to forget about him, Naomi."

Naomi kept crying, she couldn't just snap out of it like that.

"Listen, Naomi, you're fine without him, look at how much you're doing and he's not a part of any of it!" Tamra chimed in.
 
Tamra whispers something to Rico before disappearing in the crowd. He sits down next to Naomi to console her while they wait for Tamra. She returns having plugged an iPod into the sound system in the apartment, and Beyonce's voice rose above the volume of the party:
Listen, I am alone at a crossroads
I'm not at home in my own home
And I've tried and tried to say what's on mind
You should have known

Oh, now I'm done believing you
You don't know what I'm feeling
I'm more than what you made of me
I followed the voice you gave to me
But now I've gotta find my own

"Is that Dreamgirls?" Naomi was finally cognizant.

"Yes," Tamra saw that she was coming back down to earth, "and you don't need him, you're like Beyonce."

Naomi stands up, and Tamra and Rico exchange a smile of success.

"Yeah, I'm like Beyonce," Naomi was regaining her courage and she was going to prove it by doing the "Single Ladies" dance. But drunk dancing only caused Naomi to fall down again.

Tears were welling up once more, she kept falling down.

Rico jumped in, "here, here, you want to dance? Let's dance! Just one second."

Rico switches the music on the iPod to something he was just a little familiar with: merengue.

He grabs Naomi's hands and pulls her up to dance with him. All she had to do was follow his lead and he could hold her upright for the duration of the music.

Naomi began to smile. She is dancing, she is having fun again, she is doing fine.

---

She is awake! And alone. And clearly hungover. Naomi grabs her head to hold it from falling off her body as she sits up. What time is it? Naomi checks her phone and it tells her that it is 10:15 AM. She couldn't remember what time anyone left or how she got into pajamas or how much she drank for her head to pound so loudly. Loudly, the music. The last thing she can remember was Beyonce and some sort of Latin music. She hoped her friends and guests had a good time. She hoped she didn't bother her neighbors, after all, she was still new to the building. She hoped that her headache would go away and dozed off again giving herself the rest that Naomi Wright desperately needed.


"Listen" - Beyonce on the Dreamgirls soundtrack
"Merengue Mix" - by DJ Luiska (I don't know if this is the exact music that was played but it will give you a sense of what I heard through my ceiling)

Mother's Day

WOW. When you turn that word upside down you get the word MOM. Pretty appropriate for all the times they put up with screaming, yelling, fighting, whining, and crying, with a few smiles mixed in, and still maintain their sanity. Wow, Moms, it's hard to imagine how yo do it all, and you've still kept us around, you really are "Superwoman"! (Well, thanks for at least not telling us about the times you wanted to get rid of us ;)

When I was little, my sister and I would wake up early and "cook" breakfast in bed for my mom. By "cook" I mean pop some frozen Eggos in the toaster and fill a glass up with orange juice and put it on a tray to bring to my parents, waking them up way too early for a Sunday. We were excited, it was our day to do for Mom what she always did for us. It was the one day where we would try to be on our best behavior so that she didn't have to be stressed by scolding us with all of the usual: "The Mom Song." Sometimes that good behavior lasted the whole day, sometimes a couple of hours, but hey, we had good intentions.

Mother's Day is sort of like New Year's in the sense that we take the time to reflect and appreciate our moms for all of their hard work in raising us. We promise ourselves that we won't take Mom for granted this next year, that we will argue less, be more patient, and take the time to show we care more often, tell her she is the beautiful, wonderful, perfect "All-American Girl." But then a week goes by and suddenly all of those new promises fly out the window, just like New Years resolutions, and we are back to our old habits. Sorry about that, Mom.

As we got older, our family Mother's Day tradition changed a little bit. No longer were we toasting Eggos at 7 AM, but everyone was sleeping in and the Dads of the family were baking real pancakes and putting together fruit salad, bagels and lox platters, etc. I don't know how it started, but one year "Girl You Know It's True" was sung and it's just stuck. It's our mother's day theme song, and although out of context, completely true: "girl you know it's true, I love you."

After a delicious brunch it was then the kids' job to clean up, after all, it was the Moms' day to relax. This was just a small way of saying, "Thank You," for the massive job it is to be a mom.

So thank you, Mom, for putting up with everything over the years. Enjoy your one day of gratitude so we can go back to normal tomorrow ;)

But seriously, my favorite song about mothers, the Spice Girls' song, "Mama," says it all a little better than Milli Vanilli: I love you.

White House Correspondents Dinner

It's Prom season, and that goes for here in DC too. Last weekend was the White House Correspondents Dinner, also known as, Nerd Prom. The event does recognize the media: print, televised, online, etc. But it also has become another opportunity for celebrities to congregate, although this time for political involvement and passions. Additionally, it's the time for the President to portray his humorous side and for a well-known comedian, this year Jimmy Kimmel, to roast the media and popular political plunders over the year.

Now typically you would associate the current Top 40 music with Prom, maybe a band of kids from the school, and/or that special slow song you hope to dance to with your date. But for Nerd Prom, I'm thinking more along the lines of "Hail to the Chief," the theme from "The West Wing," (the ultimate DC nerd tune-association), and "Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley, all about how the populous eats up the news as a source of entertainment.

Most people do not get to attend the actual dinner, but the actual dinner is not the most important part of the weekend in DC. No, no, the most important part are the decadent parties that accompany the dinner over the weekend. Think of it this way: if the dinner is the lyrics to a song, the WHCD parties are the musical beats, tones, harmonies, and effects that make the lyrics worth listening to.

Everyone in my office was invited to go to a party that one of my bosses was hosting in conjunction with different media he has relationships with.

The party was hosted on the rooftop of a beautiful hotel near the White House. For those of you unfamiliar with this aspect of DC, the rooftops are the hidden gems of buildings here, and this specific gem had an unbelievable view of the White House, the Washington Monument, and the Jefferson Memorial (see picture below). Looking out at the gorgeous landscape all I wanted to hear was a song about DC, which, shockingly, I didn't have off the top of my head! There aren't too many songs about DC. So, I did a little digging and found this song that would have been perfect for that moment: "Welcome to DC."

The fun beat is also a great transition to the arrival of guests at the party. My colleagues and I came straight from work and were the first ones at the reception. We graciously accepted the mojitos being offered and we just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company outside of the office. We almost didn't even notice the place beginning to fill up with some familiar faces.

Across the room I spotted Arianna Huffington. Then, I turned around and all of a sudden I was two feet away from Chris Matthews. Oh, look, and there's Tamron Hall. And right behind her is Karen Finney and Jonathan Capehart; hail, hail, the MSNBC gang's all here! My friends and I worked up the "we're just nobodies" nerve to introduce ourselves to some of them and they were very nice, and very appreciative of our viewership.

More politicians and media moguls packed in with their guests and soon you could barely walk! Good thing it was time to present some awards... and who should be hosting this part of the evening, but Rosario Dawson! Instantaneously the cool-level in this Nerd Prom Party just upped 50 points. It would have been even cooler if she came out singing her number from the movie adaptation of RENT, "Take me Out Tonight." And those words couldn't be more true, since some of my friends saw her at a different WHCD Party after this one that night. Feline of Avenue B? More like feline of K Street!

After her hosting duties, Rosario was working her way around the crowd and ended up right near where a few of us were standing. I really wanted a picture with her so I waited in line, literally a line, and wanted to say more than "hi, can I have your picture," to her since that's what everyone was doing to her all night. When I approached her, I jokingly said, "I feel like I'm in line for a Disney character, waiting to take my picture with you." She broke out in laughter and said, "well now we have to take a ridiculous picture just because," and she turned around grabbed my arms and yelled "prom pic!" at my colleague who was taking the picture with my camera. I see what you did there, Rosario; my new BFF is so clever! Everyone was laughing, which is why, in the picture below, we are a little blurry, but capturing the moment of carrying on with a celebrity is way better than an un-blurred boring smile shot.

So I spent four years in California, only to be hobnobbing with the stars in DC during Nerd Prom? Ok, I'll take it! Rosario and I were chitchatting for a bit and I was relishing the moment totally playing in my head "Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous" and "Paparazzi."

I'm already excited about next year's prom. I can't help it, it's so much fun to be a DC nerd!

 The view of the White House/Washington Monument/Jefferson Memorial from the hotel rooftop

 My Nerd Prom souvenir picture with Rosario Dawson

Boy Bands

I took a little hiatus from my blog but I. Am. Back! And so are boy bands!

I will be the first to proudly admit that I was a total "teeny bopper" when I was a teenager. I had all of the CDs of N*SYNC, The Backstreet Boys, and even 98 Degrees (come on, you remember "Una Noche," right?). I would study the album cover packet that came with my CDs and learn all of the lyrics to every song, on the radio or not. I couldn't get enough of that music. For a few brief minutes my 13-year-old self believed that they were singing to just me, and life was good. Well, maybe me and three or four of my friends; that was the best part about boy bands, there was more than one boy for me and my friends to "claim." So you could be Mrs. Justin Timberlake, and I could be Mrs. Lance Bass... well so much for wishful thinking.

But those were just my generation's boy bands. This phenomenon dates back to the 60's when the Beach Boys were singing about "Get[ing] Around" in their matching outfits and easy breezy harmonies. The Beach Boys' cool California charisma still resonates, and they even just recorded a new song: "That's Why God Made the Radio."

And let's not forget about the British invasion themselves, The Beatles, who sparked the future of rock and roll with their innovative sound, branding hairstyle (no Justin Bieber, you weren't the first to ignite a hair craze), and risky lyrics in songs like "Revolution" and "Day Tripper," among every other song they ever made. 

During that time there was also The Monkees who were in a league of their own with a TV show named for and starring them: "The Monkees Theme." Each member of the group had a coined "personality" which made them memorable individually as well as a whole. The Monkees were introduced to a new generation through Shrek and Smashmouth with their remake of "I'm a Believer."

When MTV was created in the 80's, the boy bands reemerged in their modern form: a group of 4-6 guys in their late teens/early 20's who no longer played the instruments in a band, but who took on all of the characteristics outlined by their predecessors and now shared lines in their songs and danced in unison to the music in the background. And let's not forget the importance of a great music video to get to the top of the TRL (Total Request Live) countdown every afternoon. Thank you "Bye Bye Bye" and "Everybody."

A friend of mine was a camp counselor over a few summers in college and she told me about how "deprived" her campers were. In order to motivate her girls to clean the bunk and to do so quickly, she would put on an old N*SYNC CD for that up-tempo rhythm to keep them moving. I mean, what's more fun than dancing around your room to "Pop"? When one of the campers asked her what the music was, she explained it to them like this: Do you know who Justin Timberlake is? Nods. Well, before he was a solo act he was in a group called N*SYNC, and this is them. They didn't believe her! They didn't know what a boy band was so they couldn't get excited about it. My friend was right, these kids were deprived, to never know the excitement of a boy band.

But have no fear, because boy bands are back and ready to bring a new twist to the classic structure. This whole resurgence started last summer when New Kids On the Block and the Backstreet Boys decided to get together and go on a mega tour titled NKOTBSB - epic. Nickelodeon scooped up the boy band tv show with Big Time Rush and it has been doing pretty well, so they are expanding their boy band tv show empire and have added a show to star One Direction, one of the newest groups to start stealing young hearts. Come on, with a song called "What Makes You Beautiful," how can you not love them? And of course, Glee did a cover of the new British invasion, The Wanted, with their song "Glad You Came," that elevated their popularity. This new version of boy bands comes with a chill vibe. They just hang out with each other, sing, party, and don't have to do anything in particular to prove themselves like dance or play instruments, they are just awesome from being there.

So now here we are with boy bands in full form once again, as if they never left our hearts for one moment. While these songs may not be soundtracking one particular event, they have kept the tempo from one generation to the next. Who is your favorite boy band?