Great news on the sister front – last week her CT scan came back good, so the brain drain tube was removed along with the feeding tube, and she was moved from Neuro Critical Care Unit to a ‘regular’ hospital room. The power of prayer, for sure!
She’s paralyzed on her right side, but actually moved her right foot a little bit when she was walking the parallel bars in Physical Therapy last week. Such great news! She’s ready to be sprung from the hospital, so my niece and other family members are trying to find a nursing care center that has a bed available.
Hopefully she’ll get to move this week – I would love it if she would be able to come to my mom’s house for Thanksgiving, but we’ll have to see. There’s a chance she might be able to be there for our birthday celebration in a couple of weeks. (fingers crossed!)
Meanwhile, it’s Monday, and Monday means music! For the month of November, our Spotlight Dancer is our friend and cat’s meow, CK from Stunning Keisha! She has chosen the theme for this week, which is “Songs about toys (people or pets) in honor of Black Friday”.
Let’s start with a song that came up under a ‘toy’ search, but is more about our dependence on social media and technology (and technically, the .
So put your phone away / Let’s roller-skate
The song resonated with this artist to such an extent that she’s severely reduced her call phone usage. She was quoted as saying:
“I’m off email, I text twice a day, my phone is always on silent. I ‘m present and not addicted to a screen. It’s improved my quality of living a lot.”
The artist’s two adopted sons sang on this track, along with three of their buddies.
Give a listen to Sheryl Crow with “Roller Skate”:
Next up is a Christian artist who explained this about the song:
“[This is] my letter to toy companies everywhere concerning my greatest pet peeve. It is a little much for me when a toy requires scissors, wire cutters, a screwdriver and a near-death experience to open it.”
I’m pretty sure we all agree.
Get ready to be entertained, here’s Sara Groves with “Toy Packaging”:
Next up is a song from a group of Scandinavian musicians and DJs who had originally formed under the name Joyspeed. This yielded some small chart success in their native region, but the group grew disillusioned and started over as Aqua. This song was written after the group saw an exhibit on “Kitsch Culture.”
Mattel sued the band, saying they violated the Barbie trademark and turned Barbie into a sex object, referring to her as a “Blonde Bimbo.” Aqua claimed that Mattel injected their own meanings into the song’s lyrics. In 2002, a judge ruled the song was protected as free speech under the first amendment, and also threw out a defamation lawsuit Aqua’s record company filed against Mattel. The judge said in the ruling that “The parties are advised to chill.” The case was dismissed, and in the process, it garnered loads of media attention for the song and the band.
In late 1997, a few months after this song peaked on the American charts, Mattel announced that they were changing Barbie’s body for just the third time in her history. Barbie’s new body had a bigger waist, slimmer hips and breasts that were shrunk to an honest B cup.
Because I’ve collected Barbie for years (not as much the last 10 years or so like I did in the 90’s) and because I do OOAK (One Of A Kind) Barbies, a friend of mine bought me the single CD of this song – I still have it, and love to annoy people with it occasionally…heh!
Without further ado, here’s Aqua with “Barbie Girl”:
I also stumbled across this remake – the video is actually fun, so here you go.
Here’s Tori V with the Remake of Barbie Girl:
Last, but certainly not least, is this artist’s third single from his debut album that finds him using a Lego house as a metaphor for a relationship.
I’m gonna pick up the pieces and build a Lego house / if things go wrong, we can knock it down
When the artist got the news that he’d scored his first #1 with this song, he went to Hamley’s toyshop and bought a Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon. Then together with his pal, One Direction’s Harry Styles, they spent the night building spaceships with the colored bricks.
The song’s music video was filmed at the Forum, University of Hertfordshire and features Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint as an obsessive fan. The artist said that it was Grint’s Harry Potter colleague Tom Felton who was responsible for his starring role in the clip. He said:
“Tom is a fan of my music and started tweeting me, so I just took a chance and he hooked it all up. It’s all down to him.”
Apparently Rupert Grint gets mistaken for this artist all the time, though personally I don’t understand the comparison, aside from red hair:
I had to google who was in the video, because I knew immediately it wasn’t my boy Ed…heh!
This is the song that got the attention of Taylor Swift, who reached out to the artist after she heard it. The two ended up collaborating on her song “Everything Has Changed,” and they quickly became good friends and tour-mates.
Without further ado, here’s Ed Sheeran with “Lego House”:
That’s a wrap for this week – have a great Monday and see you on the dance floor!
Now on to the particulars of Monday’s Music Move’s Me:
I have the supreme honor and privilege of being a co-host with the inimitable Xmas Dolly and our musical cohort, the awesome Cathy from Curious as a CAThy, Callie of JAmerican Spice, and Alana of Ramblin’ with AM!
Want to join in the fun? It’s easy – just find a tune that rocks your boat, post it and link up – don’t forget to grab Xmas Dolly…er, um, I mean her button…over at her place here. Check out Xmas Dolly’s sidebar for the random themes we sport each week – and you can always ask for a specific theme of music you like, too. Check out the other music lovahs and let’s jam!
CK from Stunning Keisha
Recently I was faced with a major medical issue requiring surgery. My new favorite Scripture became Ephesians 3:20-21 that reminds us our God is exceedingly, abundantly able to do more than we think or ask. There was a small army of believers lifting my wife and I up in prayer. To say that the surgery was a successful doesn’t begin to describe what God has done. Praying for you and your family. Have a blessed Thanksgiving.
Stacy,
How marvelous to read of your sister’s progress! God is indeed good. The proof is in the puddin’ or prayers in this case. We’ll keep them going until she regains full health again. Thanks for sharing the dance floor with us when you have more than enough on your plate – emotionally and physically. Have a blessed Thanksgiving. Y’all have a lot to be thankful for this year, doncha? I’m thankful you are my friend! xx
Nice playlist!
Very happy to hear about your sister as her recovery from the stroke progresses. Tell her not to be discouraged as she goes along: just being able to get out of bed and start PT at this point is a giant step in the right direction.
Great songs this week!
Great job! This was a tough topic for me.
Good to to hear about your sister as her recovery from the stroke progresses.
I’m happy to hear about your sister’s progress. Please continue to update us. You featured one of my “guilty pleasures” the Barbie song that was so popular when my son was in late elementary school. I so enjoyed the Tori V remake of the video. Also the Ed Sheeran song and “Toy Packaging” fortunately I am not having to worry about that at this point in my life. I hope many of your Thanksgiving hopes came true – you have been through so much this year.