Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

I'm going to switch things up a little bit for today's post. Normally I would post the mix first and then the full album. But today's post is dedicated to my mom's 65th birthday, and she will be less than impressed by the mix today, but I'm putting up the full album post just for her. The picture here to the right is me and my mom when we were living in Okinawa in 1970 or 71. That would have made me about 4 or 5 and mom about 26. I've often marvelled at the courage of my parents in those early years, willing to pack up the family and move away from the safety and normalcy of Baltimore to the vast unknown of Okinawa. For my father, not so much, since he had been in the Navy before all this and had been to "parts unknown," but for my mother to leave her home to follow my father and take us kids (hell, my sister was still in diapers when we got to Okinawa) to live such an isolated life. It took an awful lot of courage for her to do that...more than I think I would have had at 25 years old.

About 9 years ago I was with my mom on vacation in Bruges. We had just left Paris after a week, and we were hanging out in this little street cafe in Bruges listening to this oompah band that was gigging in the town square. Over a couple of beers my mom told me that she felt that she owed me some kind of apology for dragging me and my sister all over creation during our childhood, never really having a stable "home" until I got to high school in San Antonio. My father worked for National Security Agency, so we did a couple of years in Okinawa, then back to Baltimore for a few years, then off to Hawaii for a couple more years, then back to Baltimore, then finally moving to San Antonio where my parents decided to make a permanent home. Anyway, mom thought that she had robbed my sister and I of a normal childhood, which I can understand her thinking of it that way. I can't say that there weren't times that I wasn't jealous of all those kids who had friends that they had known since kindergarten. But I think that what I got in return was so much better. I learned that the world was a damned big place and there was a ton out there to see. And since then I've done whatever I could to see, hear, and read as much of it as I possibly could. I may not know everything in the world that there is to know, but one thing that I have understood is that everyone on this planet does not think about life in the same way that I do. Other people may think they understand that, but not until you have lived halfway across the world away from "home"...even if only as a small child...can you truly appreciate that. So in that spirit I'm posting this album by Cecilio and Kapono, a Hawaiian pop duo from the 70s. My father bought this album while we were in Hawaii, and I have since inherited this piece of vinyl. And it really is Hawaii in the 70s. I can't remember if I've burned this for my mom yet, but if I haven't I hope she'll download this for herself.

For the mix, I'm going to post something even more "geeked-out" then normal. In case nobody's noticed, I'm a HUGE Dylan fan. I've been contemplating how to attack Dylan's discography for the blog. I thought that I might put together a two or three disc "favorites" mix...and I still will probably do that eventually. But I had this kernel of an idea to do something far more involved and quirky. So the other day I searched for and found and online document of all of Dylan's recording sessions from 1961 to present with notations on which tracks from the recording sessions matched up with tracks on released material. So I've begun to compile a master list of Bob's released material in the order that it was actually recorded...as in which song from his first album did he actually record first and where do all those songs from the Bootleg Series fit in. Bob's recorded life in chronological order. Yes, I really am just that much of a geek. Which is why I'm titling the series "Geekin' on Bob." So here's the first volume which covers November, 1961 through July, 1962.

1. "You're No Good," Bob Dylan

2. "Fixin' to Die," Bob Dylan

3. "He Was a Friend of Mine," Bootleg Series, Vol. 1

4. "House of the Rising Sun," Bob Dylan

5. "Talkin' New York," Bob Dylan

6. "Song to Woody," Bob Dylan

7. "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down," Bob Dylan

8. "In My Time of Dying," Bob Dylan

9. "Man on the Street," Bootlegs Seriew, Vol. 1

10. "Man of Constant Sorrow," Bob Dylan

11. "Pretty Peggy-O," Bob Dylan

12. "See That My Grave's Kept Clean," Bob Dylan

13. "Gospel Plow," Bob Dylan

14. "Highway 51," Bob Dylan

15. "Freight Train Blues," Bob Dylan

16. "House Carpenter," Bootleg Series, Vol. 1

17. "Rambling, Gambling Willie," Bootleg Series, Vol. 1

18. "Let Me Die in My Footsteps," Bootleg Series, Vol. 1

19. "Talkin' Hava Negeilah Blues," Bootleg Series, Vol. 1

20. "Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues, Bootleg Series, Vol. 1

21. "Baby, I'm in the Mood for You," Bootleg Series, Vol. 1

22. "Bob Dylan's Blues," Bootleg Series, Vol. 1

23. "Blowin' in the Wind," The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

24. "Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance," The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan