ABBA Open Thread
Well, Governor Walker won last night in Wisconsin, we have had more than two million visits to our website, and I am on vacation next week, so I am in a good mood! Time for my ABBA guilty pleasure, and, besides, we haven’t had an open thread in a while. The usual open thread rules apply: be concise, be charitable, and, above all, be entertaining!
25 Responses to ABBA Open Thread
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Gratuitous ABBA!!!
Great news! A victory for life. Maybe things are beginning to turn now so that Catholic values can regain some sway in the public square over against the extreme secularism of the Obama government. Americans, in their hearts, cannot really want the socialist/secular world Obama promotes. It so goes against the “hope” he campaigned on the first time around. How deceived we were! What were people hoping for from him? What a bait and switch he pulled. I hope, too, that this victory will put the LCWR on guard. They are in a power struggle, using contemporary politics, to try and run the Catholic Church according to their feminist, New Age platform. Not gonna happen! The young will not be deceived by this. May we all, old like me and the middle aged and the young, see clearly what is good, what is true, and what is beautiful. Those things are of God and the rest is dross.
ABBA! Your poor wife.
(Guest comment by Don’s wife Cathy:) Fortunately for Don, I like ABBA, too!
Now if I could only convert her to the culinary magnificence of mustard sandwiches and barbecue potato chips!
“Fortunately for Don, I like ABBA, too!”
As the lady likes ABBA I will not debate the merits of the group further. Merits which are mysteriously hidden to me.
Mama mia!
We ate mustard sandwiches and coffee when we were kids. My poor mother.
What about a bit of Neil Diamond then? …..or Bread?……or ELO?…..or Queen?
All from the same era. (I won’t mention John Denver
I Do, IDo, I Do, I Do, I Do……their best.
My compliments to Catherine and Don. Your taste is wonderful.
That would be a bit hard core even for me Mary!
Thank you Karl. We ABBA lovers have to stand together against the Philistines!
JD cannot be mentioned here John, lest the angels of good musical taste appear with fire and sword!
As I’ve got a few minutes to kill before I head off to Cambridge (NZ – not England
) for my diaconate lectures, I thought I should instruct you, Don, on some real dinkum 70′s music. 
Try this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngPXQDIgWQs&feature=related
Last week, as my personal time clock ticked past 70years, and I commenced my 8th decade, I still love this music.
ABBA is great fun — I bought their “ABBA Gold” CD a few years ago and listen to it frequently. And I applaud Don the Kiwi’s choice of Creedence Clearwater, also one of my favorites from that era.
Then, of course, there is the other genre of classical music of which my favorite is the Emperor Concerto by Beethoven –a bit longer, deeper, and wider than the pop stuff, but truly magnificent to savor when there is the time.
I would have to say if I were a fan of ABBA, I don’t think I would say it publicly. However, the 70s did produce some great folk and fl/lrock music like Jim Croce, Dan Fogelberg, Gordon Lightfoot, Loogins and Messina, Bread, Cat Stevens (his unfortunate becoming Yusuf Islam notwithstanding he still has it musically though) and yes Henry John Duescthendorf Jr (better known as John Denver). If the “angels of good musical taste” haven’t come to exact their just pound of flesh from the ABBA lovers, those of us who appciate JD are more than safe. But then again maybe they have:
Don: We, the kids, made the mustard sandwiches for ourselves, rye bread, butter and onion sandwiches, sugar sandwiches (on rye bread), anything to make us keep going until the bats came out to eat the mosquitos. I had almost forgotten. Thank you. John Denver is my favorite, but you and your wife, Catherine are in my children’s era.
Oh Fernando!!
For JD’s sake Greg, I hope being a bad singer involves only temporal punishment to those of us forced to listen to said singer. I recall working in a factory one long summer in the seventies when every other song on the speaker system seemed to be by JD. The factory lacked air conditioning and it was a very hot summer. If I end up in Hell, God forbid, I hope that summer was not a foretaste of what to expect!
Actually, JD was one of the best singers of that era.
Only if “best” encompasses annoying, derivative, schmaltzy and banal. However arguments regarding preferences are the most futile type of argument.
For an ABBA fan to call John Denver a bad singer is the pot calling the kettle black with an Al Sharpton model bullhorn. That being said, arguments based on preferences are indeed futile.
Bravo Greg.
) Don would have done – perhaps he was a little younger than, certainly me, in that era. 
I had this………discussion??….with Don a couple of years ago. Love JD or hate him, he had a very distinctive tenor voice which put him, musically, well ahead of many of his contempories. Having said that, his lifestyle choices, although trendy, were not what I would have done….nor, I’m sure, our mutual brother (nemesis on this matter
Its pleasing to get some support – after all, arguing from the south Pacific against a Flatlander is difficult. (I did not say Flatuslander
)
Well, Don the Kiwi:
The lifestyles of many artists of that era were less than desirable by a long shot. His song Annie’s Song is one of the most substantively beautiful love songs ever. “Come let me love you. Let me give my life to you.” has a very Catholic ring to it. However, his marriage to Annie Martell, the subject of the song didn’t survive. John was also a very
good songwriter (he actually wrote Leaving on a Jet Plane which Peter, Paul, and Mary made a big hit) with a brilliant sense of melody. The main guitar riff in Rocky Mountain High is one of the most distinctive in all of folk/rock. And he vocal melody he sings against that riff is a stroke of genius. not to mention tricky to do. something I know from experience.
Since Don M. is a fan of Gordon Lightfoot, there is at least some hope for him afterall.:-D
Today at noon.
Copied the rally guidelines for this open thread post just in case.
I think the time choice has to do with Good Friday in the Christian world, but many of us have weekday obligations and other distance limits. Looking at the list of locations around the country, it’s a stretch to make a “lunch” time visit. Many areas have nothing planned, sadly Lukewarm. Maybe, it would be good to remember the rallies at noon to Our Lord.
Rally Guidelines and Protocols
The Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom welcomes all participants, of whatever religious persuasion — and even those of no religious faith — who are united by support for and desire to protect the United States Constitution’s First Amendment right of religious liberty currently under attack by the HHS Mandate.
It is not the purpose of these Rallies to promote or advocate for any political party or political movement. Thus Rally participants are asked to not bring political party or candidate signage to the rallies or distribute such literature.
All those who attend are expected to comport themselves peacefully at all times while asserting their Constitutional right to freedom of assembly.
Families, even those with small children, should feel at home and comfortable attending this Rally.
If opposition protests are conducted, Rally participants will not engage counter demonstrators or hecklers with loud verbal argumentation, name-calling or derogatory remarks, nor will such opponents be physically engaged in any way.
Any interference with Rally participants’ rights to freedom of speech and assembly will be referred to police authorities by local Rally leaders.
If Rally participants are approached by media for comment, they should refer reporters and journalists to local rally coordinators for an interview