Traveling Wilburys Edition



In 1980, I went with my family to see Olivia Newton John and Gene Kelly, in his farewell tour film, in a movie called Xanadu. It was a couple of years after Grease, and Olivia Newton John was on fire. She was I wanted to see the movie.

But I came away from the film with a much bigger appreciation of ELO than I had ever had before. Through high school, I came to truly enjoy Jeff Lynne's voice and music. That like for Lynne triggered my interest in the Traveling Wilburys when the band came out with its first album.

To me then, Lynne was the Wilburys. I was far from being a Bob Dylan fan, and Tom Petty didn't excite me in the least, either. I didn't think either one of them could sing. I knew only a little of George Harrison and Roy Orbison. So Lynne was the reason I bought the CD.

In the 1980s, every album purchase was a risk. There was no Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, or YouTube Music on which you could listen to song samples to see if you might like the music enough to buy it. Maybe you'd get lucky now and again and be able to linger in a music store while the album you were contemplating played through the sound system.

But from the beginning, I was hooked. And surprisingly, Dylan's Tweeter and the Monkey Man became on of my top three Wilbury favorites.

So what else is going on, from audio to video...

Audio - Since I'm just finishing one book, I started Edinburgh Midnight by Carole Lawrence on Audible. Eventually, I'll read and listen to finish it faster. But for now I've settling into the tale read by Simon Mattacks. It's the third Ian Hamilton mystery. The first, Edinburgh Twilight, was read by Napolean Ryan, who is much better than Mattacks.

Books (personal) - Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson. Around the time of George Floyd's death, the various movie services were highlighting race movies. Just Mercy was one that I watched, and that led me to vote for that book for the end of summer read by the Rutgers Alumni Book Club. Glad I did. I never cease to be stunned about the way people treat people.

Books (work) - Inbound Content, by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. I already mentioned that I had read Inbound Content and taken Hubspot's content marketing certification course. I felt as it I had to back track a bit and read the book that started it all. This is worth the time, but even though the book cover says its revised and updated, it's still a bit out of date. For instance, there's a section on Google+ and building circles. I bet most people don't even remember what that is; it came and went so fast.

Music - Not much more to say. Here are the Traveling Wilbury's via Amazon Music.

Video - Want to see a family that has fun on YouTube? The Holderness Family creates original music, parodies, and Vlogs to poke fun of themselves and celebrate the absurdity in circumstances most families face.This channel has provided several laughs during this crazy time in which we're living.