Music That Gets Me Hopping’!

Music That Gets Me Hoppin’!

I thought I might share some of the tunes that motivate me and keep me moving. It’s an esoteric selection; maybe you’d like to try some them?

Alan Parsons Project

The Alan Parsons Project was one of my early favorites. I listened to them so much I knew them by heart. In fact, when I went into the US Navy and got to my ship the USS Dixon for a Pacific cruise, I went up on deck at night sometimes and quietly sang the entire albums as I looked at the strange constellations and the glowing jelly fish.

The Carter Family

The Carter Family was one of Mama’s all-time favorites and I have a copy of every album they ever made. Their harmonies and musical style influence generations of musicians and song writers. I always remember dear ol’ Ma laughing with my little sisters cavorting in the living room whenever I play the Carters!


Moody Blues

The Moody Blues have lots of album out and I’ve seen them in person, too. What storytellers! Each album has its own mood and theme, so it’s fun to choose between them! These fellows have excellent musical talents but also sing very emotive lyrics that have always touched my heart. These guys bring me up when I’m feeling low.

Oingo Boingo!

Oingo Boing amazed me when I moved to San Diego California with the USN. Their music took my mind off my personal turmoil and worries and grabbed my mind away for a while. Nothing sugary or poignant here, it’s hard driving and when dancing/exercising to it I get a real workout!

Mike Oldfield

My forever favorite, the one I have gone to when torn since my pre-teens after I heard my older brother play Tubular Bells. I have all his albums and treasure each one. Of all of these, I’d recommend you try some of this genius’s music. He plays nearly all of the instrumentation himself and creates the most unique, lively and thoughtful albums with the most intriguing themes. A penultimate musician, his guitar virtuosity is amazing. I think I’ll go down and put Ommadawn on right now!

Cool Stuff From JPL and NASA!

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NASA and JPL have a very neat set of travels posters for Solar System and Interstellar vacation destinations at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/visions-of-the-future/

You can download these as poster-quality PDFs!

ceres is one on the menu, a nice one.

If you download a poster, you’ll come to this screen that has more goodies.

http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/exoplanettravelbureau#Kepler16b

I used Planet Quest by JPL often when researching for the first book in my Elise t’Hoot series; I wanted to get the latest facts on the exoplanets. FYI, exoplanets are the worlds that orbit suns not our own and it’s amazing how many they’re found. They have lots if the latest news on planets, asteroids, satellites, space, and have many helpful pictures to illustrate the concepts. Now they have lots of interactive stuff as part of the “Exoplanet Travel Bureau”.

All the pictures for this post are from the NASA JPL s1te, I hope you try it out and have fun!