Saturday Nine: "On and On".. and a wee rant which doesn't go on and on....

Pretty Song!  Thanks Sam!  I love this singer.

Everyone:  If you'd like to join in this fun MEME go HERE

On and On (1977)
Unfamiliar with this week's song. Hear it here.

1) This song describes the plight of "poor ol' Jimmy," who caught his girlfriend kissing someone else. Have you ever spied on a romantic partner? 
Nope  

2) In this song, Stephen Bishop sings that he "smiles when he feels like dying." When did you recently put on a happy face, even though you really weren't all that happy?  
I wasn't all that happy at Christmas Eve, but I was happy enough.  I like spending that holiday eve with my niece's family as well as others.

3) Stephen Bishop always wanted to be a musician, and as a child he began playing the clarinet. Did you take lessons -- dance, art, music -- as a child? If yes, did you take them because you enjoyed them, or because your parents made you take them? 
My parents were, frankly, too poor to give any of us lessons in anything.  My art started before grade school, and so did my singing.  They were a couple of things I was born with a bent for....

4) When he was 12, inspired by The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, he switched to the guitar and began writing songs. Tell us about someone or something that influenced your career path.
 The biggest influence was when Ike organized the IGY, or International Geophysical Year in 1958.  It was the biggest influence, well along with my artistic ability, that influenced my choice of career(s).  Of course... "the best laid plans of mice and men..." was prophetic for me as well as millions of other people in my generation.  People before us, including my grandparents, who weren't east coast billionaires, had to deal with The Great Depression.  

5) Stephen Bishop attended Will C. Crawford High School in San Diego. This school requires students complete 20 hours of community service every year. Tell us about an organization, cause or campaign you volunteered for, either as a student or an adult.  
Uptown Interfaith Service Center.  At the time I volunteered there it was an agency set up to help the homeless, by giving them an address so that they could send and receive their mail and also to receive counseling.  
We provided support for families and for single people to find all available services so that they could have a roof over their heads, a bed for the night if possible, and hot meals.  It was a co-ordinated effort of several churches, thus the name, and was right across from Balboa Park, where a lot of the homeless congregate.
Also, we handed out hygiene supplies and a few other things.  We put them in touch with out patient services.  
The Center has grown an awful lot since I volunteered there. I am so happy to see this.  It is a very good charity. 

6) In 1977, when this song was popular, Seattle Slew won racing's Triple Crown. Sam's mother has always been afraid of horses. Is there an animal you're uncomfortable with?
 I'm just a little afraid of sharks.  I mean the big ones.  The Giant basking and nurse sharks, and small species,  I'm fine with...

7) Also in 1977, moviegoers waited in line for hours to see Star Wars. What's the longest line you waited in recently?
Recently?  None.  Within the past five years that would be the DMV... but  I don't "do" long lines anymore.  

8) The mini-series Roots first aired in 1977. Today Americans are spending more time and money than ever to research ancestry. How far back can you trace your family tree? 
From my paternal grandmother, I learned a lot of names, places, and a family tree rooted in America back into the 1500's, and even further back to both France and to Spain. As to the Native American, or the remaining Europeans amongst my mother's kin, not so much.  I have the Welsh, Irish, Scots, British and Dutch clocked back just three generations, some to the Cumberland Gap McCoys.  One of my non-linear Great, Great, Great, Great etc etc Uncles was one of the Jesuit Priests killed in an Indian raid in Maryland in the early 1600's..  His brother came to the new world later, with Cortés..

9) Random question: It's often said that nobody's perfect. How about you? What quality keeps you from being perfect?
All of them....I am perfectly imperfect in everything.  However,  I used to have perfect English manners, taught to me by my Mother.  They are pretty much gone except for my table manners which are still almost perfect. Tacos, pizza, Pita sandwiches... oh my...  

Otherwise, I guess you could say that I'm just too uppity for perfect manners!  I would likely scream at the top of my lungs at people in office if they were in earshot.  They better keep their bloody hands of the People's "Stack".

"Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the Right- Here I am, Stuck in the Middle with you."

"Money, get back

I'm all right, Jack, keep your hands off of my stack.

Money, it's a hit

Don't give me that do goody good bullshit

I'm in the high-fidelity first-class traveling set

And I think I need a Learjet"

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!