Book Review: unSweetined

How rude!

Jodie Sweetin melted our hearts and made us laugh for eight years as cherub-faced, goody-two-shoes middle child Stephanie Tanner. Her ups and downs seemed not so different from our own, but more than a decade after the popular television show ended, the star publicly revealed her shocking recovery from methamphetamine addiction. Even then, she kept a painful secret—one that could not be solved in thirty minutes with a hug, a stern talking-to, or a bowl of ice cream around the family table. The harrowing battle she swore she had won was really just beginning.

Happy Birthday, Vince Neil

Happy fifty-second birthday today (February 8th) to American rock guitarist and singer Vince Neil Wharton.

The Hollywood born native started with his first band Rock Candy in 1980 and then joined high school friend Tommy Lee in Mötley Crüe in 1981. Neil became the group's lead vocalist.

Happy Birthday, Eddie Van Halen

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday.

Today (January 26th) we celebrate the fifty-eighth birthday of Dutch-born songwriter, producer and keyboardist Eddie Van Halen. He is also considered one of the world's greatest rock guitarists, ranked at number 8 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the Top 100 Guitarists and ranked number 1 in Guitar World magazine's poll of the greatest guitarists of all-time.

Happy Birthday, Thomas Dolby

Today (October 14th) we celebrate the fifty-forth birthday of English musician and producer Thomas Dolby.

Born in London, Thomas Morgan Robertson got his first start in music in the choir when he around 10 years old. He soon learned how to play guitar (with folk tunes) followed by piano (which included an interest in jazz). He got into synthesizers in the middle of the 1970's and that changed his musical direction yet again.

Remembering Joe Strummer

On this day (August 21st) in 1952, John Graham Mellor was born in Ankara, Turkey. His father was a British foreign service diplomat. The music world would know him as Joe Strummer, the stage name he would use as singer/guitarist/co-founder for the Clash.

He began performing while attending Newport College of Art in the early 70's; his first group was Flaming Youth who then renamed themselves the Vultures. From there, he and his roommates started a blues and R&B group called the 101'ers. It was at this point he took the name of Joe Strummer.

Happy Birthday, Robert Plant

Happy sixty-fourth birthday today (August 20th) to English singer and songwriter Robert Plant.

From magazines like Hit Parader to Rolling Stone, Plant is considered one of the greatest singers in rock and roll. Over his four decades in music, he has inspired the likes of Freey Mercury, Axl Rose, Geddy Lee, Ann Wilson, Sammy Hagar and more.

Happy Birthday, Madonna

Happy fifty-fourth birthday today (August 16th) to American singer, songwriter, and actress Madonna Louise Ciccone.

The Michigan born woman's road to becoming one the world's top-selling female recording artists of all time (with over 300 million records sold) began with her move to New York City in 1977 to become a modern dance professional. She also began performing with the group Breakfast Club, which led to her getting her own recording contract. The rest has been musical history.

Happy Birthday, Prince

Happy fifty-fourth birthday today (June 7th) to the one and only Prince Rogers Nelson.

Four years ago, I wrote a blog post all about how much I am a fan of Prince's music (click here to read that one...I'll wait). Since that post, his representation in my iTunes library has grown to over 430 songs and over 35 albums. That does seem like quite a lot; it is in fact just a hair under 2% of my whole music library. Still, he is by far the most represented artist in my music collection.

Happy Birthday, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels

Happy forty-eighth birthday today (May 31st) to American hip-hop pioneer Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels.

McDaniels grew up in New York City and attended Catholic school. After he enrolled in St. John's University. Inspired by the recordings of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, he taught himself how to DJ. By the end of the decade, along with friends Joseph "Run" Simmons and DJ Jam-Master Jay, he was preforming rap publicly.

Remembering Robin Gibb

This morning I was listening to the satellite radio in the car (Sirius/XM 70's on 7) and heard an audio clip from a past interview with Robin Gibb. He was remarking at how amazed he was that the music of the Bee Gees was being played at weddings and funerals. He mentioned hearing that "How Deep Is Your Love" records were played in churches as people got married. The interviewer asked him which song of theirs he would have played at his funeral. Without hesitation Robin said "Tragedy", their 1979 hit, and then he added jokingly "Staying Alive just wouldn't work now, would it?"

That's how I felt when I heard the news last night of the passing of Robin Gibb, at age 62, after losing a tough battle to cancer. It is truly a tragedy that we've lost another music legend this year.

Remembering Donna Summer

Today we have a bit of sadness to mark this edition of Seventies Saturday.

To paraphrase from the title of her 1979 song that featured the Brooklyn Dreams, Heaven knows that this week it welcomed an angelic voice to its eternal chorus. LaDonna Adrian Gaines, best known across the globe by her stage name of Donna Summer, passed away on Thursday at age 63 following a battle with cancer. She is survived by her husband Bruce Sudano, their daughters Brooklyn and Amanda, and her daughter Mimi from a previous marriage.

Happy Birthday, Jimmy Destri

Happy fifty-eighth birthday today (April 13th) to keyboardist and songwriter Jimmy Destri.

Destri came from a musical background. His uncle was the drummer in the 1950's band Joey Dee and the Starlighters. Destri's first group was Milk and Cookies. When the band relocated to the UK, he joined Blondie in 1975.

Happy Birthday, Cindy Wilson

Today (February 28th) is the fifty-fifth birthday Cynthia Leigh Wilson, vocalist and founding member of the Athens, Georgia, party band the B-52’s.

Cindy was working as a waitress at age 19 when she and her old brother Ricky joined up with other local musicians for a little jam session. On Valentine’s Day in 1977, they played their first concert for a party for friends. And thus the B-52’s were born.

Happy Birthday, John Travolta

Today, February 18th, is the fifty-eighth birthday of American actor, dancer and singer John Travolta.

Born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, Travolta was the youngest of children. All got the love of music and acting from their mother who worked in radio before becoming a high school English and drama teacher. After high school, we got a roll in a touring company of Grease and then on Broadway in Over Here!.

Happy Birthday, Holly Johnson

Happy fifty-second birthday today (February 9th) to artist, writer and musician Holly Johnson.

Born in Liverpool, England, Johnson started out as a bassist and vocalist in the punk-rock/new-wave band Big In Japan in 1977. That gig lasted for two albums and two years.

From 1980 to 1987, he served as lead singer and lyricist for the band Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Since the mid-90's, he has worked as a painter with his artwork exhibited in places such as the Royal Academy and Tate Liverpool gallery. He has also been a contributor to the monthly magazine Modern Painters.

Johnson can be found interacting with friends and fans on his Twitter and Facebook pages. He also posts occasional new music on ReverbNation.

To read my reviews of his work with Frankie Goes to Hollywood, see the links below:

- for their 1984 debut smash Welcome to the Pleasuredome, click here

- for their 1986 second and final album Liverpool, click here

Happy Birthday, Jeff Lynne

Happy sixty-fourth birthday today (December 30th) to English singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jeff Lynne.

Jeff started out by playing music locally in the early 1960's. In 1970, he formed the Electric Light Orchestra (known by many as ELO) with Roy Wood and Bev Bevan. The group were together for sixteen years and made some amazing, innovative records that were a fusion of rock and classical music.

DVD: The Love We Make

Just released on DVD is The Love We Make, a documentary film directed by Albert Maysles and Bradley Kaplan. This ninety-four minute narrative follows Paul McCartney's activities and encounters during the days post-September 11, 2011 in New York City.

From the introduction, we learn that McCartney was on a jet waiting on the tarmac to take off when the 9/11 attacks occurred. The flight was postponed and he got to feel first hand what the great city was going through during those chaotic and emotional times.

Happy Birthday, Clem Burke

Happy fifty-sixth birthday today (November 24th) to drummer Clem Burke.

When Chris Stein and Debbie Harry were forming the band Blondie in 1975, Burke was their choice as a drummer for the group. Though the band has broken up and reunited a few times, Burke has always been there to pick up the sticks again.

He has also played with other bands and artists like the Romantics, Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan, the Eurythmics, Dramarama, the Fleshtones, Iggy Pop and Joan Jett.

For my review of Blondie's self-titled 1976 album Blondie, click here

For my review of Blondie's 1978 smash Parallel Lines, click here

The band also appeared on the 1980 soundtrack for American Gigilo which I reviewed here

Happy Birthday, Tina Weymouth

Happy sixty-first birthday today (November 22nd) to musician Tina Weymouth.

The California born Weymouth met up with future bandmates David Byrne and Chris Frantz at the Rhode Island School of Design. Frantz and Weymouth dated and eventually helped found the Talking Heads in 1975. Two years later, she and Frantz married.

To help cope with a long hiatus, the couple formed a side project called the Tom Tom Club in 1980. The bassist still is active in music.

For my review of the Talking Heads 1980 album Remain in Light, click here

For my review of the 1981 Tom Tom Club debut Tom Tom Club, click here

Happy Birthday, Anni-Frid Lyngstad

Today November 15th, sixty six years ago, Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad was born in Norway. She had been singing since age thirteen, mainly in jazz and cabaret styles. At age 22 she won a national talent competition where the prize was a recording contract in Sweden. In 1969, she eventually hooked up with her future bandmates that would form the international singing sensations ABBA, enjoying success for a decade from 1972 to 1982.

In 1982, she returned to solo work with an album in English. Something's Going On was produced by Phil Collins and sold very well. It also produced a hit single "I Know There's Something Going On" which was a number 1 hit in Belgium, Costa Rica, France and Switzerland, and a top five hit in Austria, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. In the US the single reached number 13 and was the twentieth biggest selling single in the US that year. It features Collins' amazing drums.

Frida continues her music career to this day, showing few signs of slowing down. In September 2010 she released her most recent album Reconnection. She is also involved in charity work and in environmental protection efforts.

For their self-titled 1975 album ABBA, click here

For the group's final album from 1981 the Visitors, click here