Happy Friday the 13th!

Part I: Friday's Feast
Friday's Feast for Friday, 27 October 2006

Appetizer What is your favorite fruit?
Cantaloupe.

Soup Who is someone you consider as a great role model?
Mr. Hess, my high school math teacher and cross country coach. He was an intelligent, compassionate, and dedicated person, a genuinely good human being. I heard that he and his wife were in a car wreck recently and they're now both in rehab. Best wishes, Mr. and Mrs. H.

Salad If you were to spend one night anywhere within an hour of your home, where would you choose?
Park City - it's romantic, the scenery is beautiful, and it's a lot cooler (and less hazy) than down here in the valley.

Main Course Name something you do too often.
Eat too much. I've noticed it especially over the past week or so. I guess I eat too fast, and don't realize I've reached the 'Full' level until I've already passed it. Got to work on that.

Dessert Fill in the blank: I really like ___________ because ____________.
I really like blogging because it gives me a way to keep in touch with scattered friends and relatives.

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Part II: Top Five on Friday
Top 5 On Friday - Week 132 from The Music Memoirs

Top 5 Musical Collaborations
(Songs, albums - it can be a mixture of both.)


» Chess by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson, and Bjorn Ulvaeus
Before Aladdin, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast, Rice collaborated with Andersson and Ulvaeus (formerly of ABBA) on this musical story of interpersonal and international politics at the height of the Cold War. Many people don't know that Murray Head's 1984 hit single "One Night in Bangkok" is the opening of the second act to this play.


» G3: Live in Concert by Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Eric Johnson
If you like instrumental rock guitar, it doesn't get much better than this. Satriani. Vai. Johnson. Together. Wow.


» Neck and Neck by Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler
Knopfler (perhaps better known as the guitar and voice of Dire Straits) is one of the few British rockers who cites country music as an inspiration. Atkins was one of his idols. Another album full of great guitar work, and you can tell by listening that they had a lot of fun making it.


» Half Nelson by Willie Nelson
Willie's always been willing to play with people of different musical styles. This album features collaborations with artists as diverse as Hank Williams, George Jones, Neil Young, Julio Iglesias, and Carlos Santana. And of course there's the classic "Seven Spanish Angels" with Ray Charles, which leads us to....


» Genius Loves Company by Ray Charles
Just look at the guest list on Ray Charles' final album. Norah Jones. James Taylor. Diana Krall. Elton John. Bonnie Raitt. Natalie Cole. Willie Nelson. Michael McDonald. B.B. King. Gladys Knight. Johnny Mathis. Van Morrison. And let's not forget the brightest star in this musical constellation, the incomparable Ray Charles himself. This is a modern classic, and more than worthy of all the awards (including an Album of the Year Grammy) that it won.

And one song for extra credit: "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett.