Midsummer’s Nice Streams, Or Midsummer’s Nice Purchase

Hi and welcome to another Simpsons on Sundays post. Well, now I know and Season 35 will commence on October 1st, with a premier episode yet to be announced. At least, I can’t find which episode will start this season off.

On the death front, musician Jimmy Buffett has died. I wasn’t the biggest fan of his music, but I did like at least one of his songs and yes, it is the big best known of them all being Margaritaville, which was also a chain of restaurants as well as being his biggest and best known hit. For more on the man, check this out. https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/jimmy-buffet-one-of-the-richest-musicians-in-the-world-has-died-parrotheads-everywhere-are-in-mourning/

This week it is about purchasing the two 90s soundtrack albums and yes, I had done a post on them in January 2022, but this is about purchasing them on CD. I also need to get something off my chest about how as a collective of music listeners and viewers of The Simpsons, we have been directed to stream rather than purchase music. This applies more to digital purchases then physical music but I still feel the same about both and streaming.

To review, Songs In The Key of Springfield was released originally on March 18, 1997 and Go Simpsonic With The Simpsons was originally released on November 2nd 1999 on Rhino Records. They were put together in a limited edition two-disk boxed set and released on July 16th 2001. The two-disk box version was the one I got and I was happy, no matter if it was boxed, or standalone CDs.

On or around September 13th 2013, I had made my way to Sunrise Records at 337 Young Street in Toronto, where I had asked if they had Songs in the Key of Springfield and Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons, along with Retro Active by Def Leppard. They didn’t have either of those so, I had made the decision to pre-order all three, with both Simpsons albums coming in a box. I gave them what they needed to know from me and went home, eagerly anticipating something good coming soon. When I got the phone call on September 20, 2013, saying that my CDs were in and waiting for me, I went down and purchased them. You can imagine how happy I was, when I had them in my hand and I simply couldn’t wait to give the disks a spin at home. I had my discman with me, but I didn’t want to get caught up with the music on the bus and suddenly start laughing hysterically. I mean, there is a time and a place for that. Right? Besides, I had to pay attention to the stop announcements so I would know when I was to get off.

Anyway, when I made it home I certainly gave both disks a work out and I was very happy to have them in my collection. In November and December 2013, I would purchase The Simpsons Sing the Blues and The Yellow Album on CD, the latter of which I believe I also had to pre-order at HMV 333 Young Street in Toronto, which is now a pot shop. Anyway, by the end of 2013 I had everything on CD and it would be years later, that I would catch up digitally because of certain albums being unavailable in Canada in the iTunes Store and 2 of them not available at all for years.

Before I took a chance on pre-ordering the two albums, I had hoped that I would get them from a friend of mine who was a music Director at the radio station I listen to and who also, is a Simpsons fan. Obviously, no luck there and so, it was up to me to go out and take the risk and the worst thing that could be said was no. Thankfully, that was not the case and I got my disks.

The main point of this post however, is about how we used to invest in music we wanted to purchase from record stores of all types. Certainly, I used to purchase CDs at used record stores and they would obviously be cheaper in price than a brand new copy, but what I am getting at here is the fact that streaming has simply wiped out the responsibility we have towards our music. We can get it and just as easily, discard it like tissue. Some of us still buy music, whether it is digitally or physically and others do not. It’s those who do not who need to get a talking to, about what goes into making an album in the first place. There is studio time, mastering and mixing, photo shoots, promotion and the decision of what songs should appear and how they are sequenced on the album. All that takes time, money, blood, sweat and tears. The Simpsons producers and writers agonize over everything when creating an episode and the same with any of the soundtrack albums we have so, why just stream? Why not purchase? As far as I’m concerned, even purchasing through iTunes is fine by me and it would teach those of us who have not had the experience of going out to a record store, how to make a budget and invest in your music. For me, I load up my iTunes account to a certain amount every month and I make sure that I have enough, so when I’m pre-ordering an album I have enough money in my account that I can pay for it. Every song coming down from the pre-order, I am being charged for so, having zero dollars in my account is not an option. Why do I do this? Because musicians and song writers need the money and so do the producers and if you buy music you’re helping them make more money. They get it from songs being played on the radio too. Sure, some people will say that there are those who don’t need the money, but there are younger bands who do. Those are the musicians which streaming hurts the most and to those who just stream, shame on you for being irresponsible and not thinking about the band that you like. I stream, but only as a test case to see if I want to buy an album in the future and quite possibly, the entire catalogue as it stands currently. I also do it to help me with blog posts on occasion, but not for this blog except in some cases where an artist who had died, was not in my iTunes library, or my music library on my phone from Apple. I don’t use Apple Music to stream instead, I use YouTube music. Further to that, if you do stream please listen to a song for more than 30 seconds because it’s from that length of time onward, that the artist gets paid, even if it’s a mere pittance. Even that much an artist gets payed per stream helps.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the convenience of streaming and I love that I can do a search for a song and hear it within seconds. However, I know that this does not exactly help the musician who has to tour, Tour, Tour and Tour Moore, as well as sell merchandise in order to break even these days. I just feel strongly about this because I am a musician and one who, unfortunately never had the chance to go pro. So, I realize the value of purchasing music and I have actually been to a recording studio and I even recorded a song of my own, in another studio. The Simpsons voice actors may only come in to do bits twice a week on average, but the writers and producers are the ones who have to go over everything, to make sure that everything sounds and looks right for broadcast. I can’t emphasize that enough that we should purchase, as well as stream, as this includes the Simpsons on Disney+. Speaking of them, I hope that some day, The Simpsons and Disney will release a collection of videos on iTunes, for those of us, who want to not only view and hear the short films, but purchased them like we do with any seasons we like and The Simpsons Movie. For example: I would love to view the short film with Billie Eilish, as I like her as a musician, and I like some of her music too.

Anyway, I’m happy I bought those two albums, and the other two CDs later in the year, then after many years, getting all caught up digitally. Well, that’s about it for this post and please purchase as well as streaming. Got it?

A Silver Lining In A Dark Cloud

hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday poast. On the birthday front, actor and comedian Bob Newhart turned 90 years old on Thursday, also my mother’s birthday. I have mentioned this in the past but I think it is worth repeating, just because I love mentioning it. There is a connection with my family with his birth date and his birth year in that, he was born in 1929 which was the same year my dad came into this world and as I have said, on my mom’s birthday on September 5. My dad was born on February 9th 1929 and had passed away on September 6th 2003, aged 74. Is it a coincidence that Bob Newhart was born on my mom’s birthday and in my dad’s birth year? Probably but when I found this out some time in the 80s, it certainly made me think of both of my parents, my mom is still with us and dad has been gone for 16 years.

Also, the voice of Marge Simpson herself, Julie Kavner turned another year older yesterday. If you want to know more about her work both inside and outside The Simsons, just use our friend Miss, Mr. and Mrs. Google. You can also find her voice on Youtube and no, she isn’t exactly using her real voice, when she does Marge. It is given extra… something and the same is true with her twin sisters Patty and Selma too. However, her voice is normal and calm, when she voiced Gloria in the episode The War Of The Simpsons, in which Homer and Marge went to a marriage retreat for counseling, along with Ned and Maude Flanders, with their own bible related marriage issues. Anyway, one of the couples at the retreat (on Catfish Lake) is an angry english man (named John) who is married to Gloria, who never cooks or cleans or does anything and this makes him angry. Gloria has an even tone of voice and never raises it, despite her husband’s yelling. In case you didn’t notice, John was also voiced by Dan Castellaneta, like Homer is but of course, with a completely different sound and demeanour then Marge’s bumbling oafish husband. I could go on about the episode but that is not the focus of this weeks post.

This week I simply want to whine about summer’s circling of the drain for 2019 in this hemisphere, to warm the other hemisphere on this planet, as well as talk about where my head was at 6 years ago, before Season 25. First, I will boohoo about the coming colder weather. I do not like the colder weather and prefer hot humid days, where I can ware less clothing and not have to dawn a jacket.

Now I feel better, even though my words can’t change the ever-moving weather patterns or the march of time. On the other side of this is the coming season of The Simpsons and I am looking forward to what this next one will bring. It’s not a continuation of last weeks post but I thought I would talk about what it is like as a fan, who does a blog like this, grasping for things to talk about during the summer, to give you a peak into where I was at 6 years ago and the past 3 years of this blog.

I’ve said this before and I will say it again, for those who are reading this blog for the first time. Sometimes, I recycle posts from another blog where I used to post my Simpsons Sunday entries and I expand them, to make them posts in this blog in their own rights. I am essentially taking from my own work and putting it here, so people reading this can see it. I don’t want to waste the good stuff which I enjoyed writing at the time so, why not? I love what I wrote back then and simply want to share it.

Now, I can talk about where my head was at in 2013, before I had joined Facebook, was on Twitter for less than a month and had no idea that I could use an app, as a platform for a blog. I was simply trying to catch up with what I had missed over the years, first with albums and eventually, with episodes. I was very lucky to get both Songs In The Key Of Springfield and Go Simpsonic With The Simpsons on CD, as they were discontinued and so far, not available on Digital or streaming services as yet… probably due to licensing. You know, it would make sense to release both albums this year, as it is the 20th anniversary of one of them. If you want to know which one, do a Google search. Anyway,I had purchased the latest album Testify, which came out in 2007 back in August 2013. I liked it but it didn’t have any of the songs from the classic period, except the opening theme. Now, I am able to listen to it as a whole with the rest of the albums with actual music from the show. Oh yeah, I can’t forget that I would purchase The Simpsons Sing The Blues and The Yellow Album on CD before Christmas that year. Later on, I would eventually purchase all 3 currently available albums from iTunes and I am still holding out hope that those 2 albums from the late 90s will be rereleased on Digital and streaming platforms, so I can enjoy Mr. Plow’s TV commercial and other classic songs from the first 9 seasons, outside the episodes they appeared in.

As for Season 25, I didn’t even try iTunes until 2014 so, I had no idea what I was missing, besides the sound affects because of a website with episode scripts, which still exists. However, I don’t wish to put a link to it here, unless there is a large demand for it from people.

Otherwise, I was on Twitter and reading Yeardley Smith’s blog at the time and tweeting when I could and when I had something I wanted to say. Is it me??? or when you have more followers on Twitter who are friends who work at an important job, you become apprehensive about being opinionated? At least, that’s the way I feel I have become on Twitter but, not on Facebook and certain magazines I have liked over the past couple of weeks. I had accumulated Twitter followers who work at important jobs such as radio stations and I felt I had to tone down my comments. Also, I didn’t like the 140 characters at the time and I don’t even like the restrictions on characters on that social media platform, which exist now either. So, Facebook has been my outlet for me to express myself, to Friends and like-minded people, depending on the topic and in the case of The Simpsons, I post all blog posts on FB and on Twitter too. However, don’t ask me about Instagram because, that’s completely foreign to me, as I cannot take good photos. Yes, there’s a photo on my Facebook profile but, it was not done by me. I am the guy in the red jacket and the black hat and other than that, I forget what else was going on, except that I was at a flea market. Anyway, I digress.

Anyway, when Season 25 rolled around I did keep up with it and of course, I had found out about and have told the story of how I found out about Marcia Wallace’s death on October 25th that year, the morning after as I woke from a nap. If you wish to know more about that, just look through the archives and you will find something I had posted in October of 2017, 4 years after she had died. She would have been 77 years old on November 1st this year and should still be with us, voicing Mrs. Krabappel and she should still be married to Ned Flanders. Hmmm!!! I wonder if the reason why Ned is Bart’s new teacher is to somehow keep both Marcia and Mrs. K’s memories alive and alive in the writers room. Anyway, The Simpsons followed me on Twitter and of course, I followed them first and had made some flattering comments about the show and its status as the greatest TV show of our time. By the way, I was followed on the night of Season 25’s Installment of Treehouse of Horror and had watched the episode some time in 2016, during my Simpsons binge that year, which was disturbed by life and priority.

Anyway, those of you who are on Twitter are reading this post there and those of you on Facebook are reading it on that platform and those of you who who aren’t, but found this blog by chance are probably reading it anyway and commenting when something comes up. That’s how I had the idea for the post about that song which is sung by Barry White, in a couple of episodes. Either way, thanks for reading and I intend to continue posting, whether they are new or recycled entries. I will finish by saying how much I am not looking forward to the fall and winter and having to layer up. Sure, Christmas is coming and that’s the only silver lining in this dark cloud for me. I guess I have to throw The Simpsons in there too so, I will add it to my silver linings list for the coming months, before the weather is nice and we can ware shorts again.

Summer Simpsons

Hi and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday post. On the birthday front, Metallica singer and guitarist James Hetfield turned 56 yesterday. Him and the rest of Metallica were guest stars on the Season 18 premier episode The Mook, The Chef, The Wife And Her Homer. James writes most of the lyrics and music, along with drummer Lars Ulrich and occasionally lead guitarist Kirk Hammett. One of James’s lines in the episode was “we don’t take rides from strangers” after Otto sees them and offers them a lift, after Bart hijacks the school bus. If you’ve watched the episode, you know what happens. Right?

This week I figured I would talk about something, which is quite apparent to all of us who love this time of year. Summer is more than half over and of course, The Simpsons mostly air new episodes during the fall, winter and spring. They have explored summer in an episode during Season 7 and in fact, the season finale. Summer of 4 Ft. 2 aired on May 19th 1996 and is One of the rare episodes which explores summer… and summer vacation, besides Camp Krusty back in 1992, which is more of a satire on Summer camp, rather than summer vacation with the family.

Anyway, here is a summary of the plot. At the end of another school year at Springfield Elementary School. Bart and Milhouse are discussing their plans for the summer. Also, Lisa is taking care of the distribution of yearbooks. However, even with her academic track record and accolades in the yearbook (she edited the whole thing after Mr. Estes died), she becomes very disappointed when nobody wants to sign her yearbook. Later that day, Ned Flanders makes a deal with Homer to watch over his beach house in Little Pwagmattasquarmsettport while he serves jury duty. The Simpson family head out to the beach house, taking Milhouse along with them.

Seeing this as a chance for a new beginning, Lisa abandons her old, nerdy image, and tries to develop a new persona. She gets a cool new look at the beach, and finds some skateboarding friends: Erin, Dean, Rick and Ben. Trying her best to fit in, she humiliates Bart by telling her new friends a lie that he is a nerd. As she continues to cramp his style, Bart becomes furiously jealous of the attention Lisa is getting, and attempts to ruin her friendships by showing them Lisa’s accolades in her yearbook. Saddened at this event, Lisa runs back to the beach house, crying.

The next day, the family attends a carnival, where Bart and Lisa continue to fight over the previous night’s events. Finally having had enough of her brother’s torment, Lisa dejectedly walks back to the beach house. Once she arrives, she discovers her friends have decorated the family car with seashells. When Lisa asks why they would do such a thing for her, they let her know that her yearbook reputation doesn’t matter. To them, she’s still a great person.

As the family leaves the next day in their car, Bart returns Lisa’s yearbook. He reveals to her that before they left he showed it to her new friends, who all signed little messages inside. Lisa smiles and thanks Bart for the kind gesture, as the Simpsons head home. Oh yeah, Milhouse also signed his name in it too.

I watched this episode once and I don’t not like it but it made me upset that Bart would humiliate Lisa, because of his own jealousy of her becoming cool, to the cool kids. Then again, Lisa did lie about Bart so it’s tit for tat.

Also, going to amusement parks and going on rides was of course, one of my favourite things to do during the summer, when I was a kid. Living in Toronto, we have quite a few options and I went to all of them, by the time I was 15. I enjoyed such heart wrenching exhilarating rides like: log rides, boat rides and even train rides. Well, I like those gentle rides but also a few roller coaster type rides, which I don’t understand. They seem to have some sort of a sequence in that they set you up and wait a few seconds. Then, they launch you off going every which way, upside down and around and around. No, I didn’t scream on those rides because they seem much the same, as another and the difference is whether you are seated or standing up. Either way, I still enjoyed those days of going on all sorts of rides, even a swing at one such amusement park north of Toronto called Canada’s Wonderland and if you’ve never been there, go. Also, go to Center Island and I can guarantee that anybody who goes there, will have a good time, because of the variety of rides and things to do. Even the train ride is interesting and yes, they also have bumper cars and my favorite, the log ride. The latter is quite gentle and you only get splashed a little, after going down the hill, signalling that the ride is almost over. The version at Canada’s Wonderland almost soaks you after it goes down the hill and now that I mentioned those rides, I wonder how fast it actually goes up the hill. It actually doesn’t seem to go down that far, back into the water but I guess that depends on how wet you are, after it docks. Anyway, I digress.

Anyway, it’s a great episode and a great one to end a season. I don’t have much more to add, other than enjoy the rest of the summer.