Top 100 - Hangin' Tough, New Kids On The Block # 8

Story by Felicity


My song is 'Hangin' Tough' by new Kids on the Block. I asked for the cassette for Christmas when I was 12. A cassette-shaped package was put under the tree a couple of weeks before christmas and I was sooo excited that I couldn't stand the possibility it could be something else. So I got out of bed one night after everyone was asleep and carefully peeled off the sticky tape to check what it was. It was Hangin' Tough! I could barely wait til Christmas! On Christmas day I was still just as excited as if it had been a complete surprise!


Artwork by Karin

Shabooh Shoobah

So, here I am on a Friday night all geared up to do work on my Top 100 exhibition...drink poured, music on - and now for the irony.


I bought Shabooh Shoobah last week from the record man at Bus Depot Markets, and that's what I decided to put on. In the first 10 seconds I was taken back to I don't know how many years ago....as a teenager in the back of a car somewhere in Germany, driving back to a little town in the Austrian Alps. And I remembered. On that trip I had a tape - I think it must have been a mixed tape I'd made myself, and as soon as track two came on I was sitting in a car, driving on a highway, past flat and empty fields. 


I was probably wishing I was somewhere else, or maybe not. I would have been daydreaming, that much is for sure and I'd say I was wearing some sort of pastel coloured penguin shirt with matching plastic coloured bangles. The coolest kid on that German highway.

Three wrongs...

Expensive, fake and ugly.

Protecting the perimeter

Twelve years ago, we moved to Canberra, and around that time Barney was taught to 'get the birds'. 

Sometimes I regret that.

Music of 2011

Okay - I thought 2011 was a pretty crap year for music. One mixed CD later and I stand corrected. My friends who write about music much better than I do, should write about all these songs...I'm just going to list the songs and link to my favourites. But before that - how good is getting a mixed CD? I used to love making mixed tapes and I usually make a new playlist for different trips, dinner parties and get togethers. But CD's are fun, so I'm going to say that 2012 is going to be the year of the mixed tape CD.


1. Jay-Z and Kanye with Otis Reading. I guess I got my swagger back, that is a fricking understatement! 

2. Adele - Rolling In The Deep. I don't actually know what Adele looks like, but I want to imagine platinum blond hair, dark eyeliner and 1960's style tops with pussycat bows. And that's what this song sounds like.
3. Black Keys - Lonely Boy. The biggest sounding two piece band there ever was.

4. Kelly Clarkson - Mr Know It All. I have to pass on this one.
5. Lykke Li - Youth Knows No Pain. My friend Taffy Bubblegum gave me this CD sometime last year, and I didn't really listen to it much. I think Lykke Li would definitely go shopping with Adele for pussycat bow tops.
6. Tom Waits - Chicago.Tom Waits belongs in the Iggy Pop school of 'how the fuck am I still alive?'
7. Anna Calvi - Desire. Who is Anna Calvi and is she related to PJ Harvey?
8. Cold War Kids - Royal Blue. Lots of places in the song to clap. Gotta like that.
9. Gotye - Somebody I Used To Know. 2nd pass.
10.Florence and the Machine - Shake It Out. I suspect Florence hangs out with Adele and Lykke Li. They have different musical influences, but they're still all friends. I think they go op shopping on Saturdays, then go drink tea out of vintage limoges tea cups.
11.Kanye West - Made It In America. Sweet baby jesus.
12.Gillian Welch - Way It Goes. This is a lovely song. Actually lovely probably isn't the right description when you listen to the lyrics...
13. Wilco - Open Mind. I'm kind of scared to write anything about Wilco.
14. Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire. I've managed to avoid Ryan Adams. I've now been cajoled into listening... I really like this song. Ryan Adams reminds me of that guy from the movie Once.
15. PJ Harvey - Last Living Rose. PJ is a poet. Amazing.

16. Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers. This was played on the radio a lot. Smoky voice, catchy chorus.
17. Tom Waits - Hell Broke Luce. The best Tom Waits song ever. Left, right, left.

18. Wilco - Capital City. This is a really sweet song. Are these guys the Beatles reincarnate? 
19. Avril Lavine - What The Hell. Dance around in your lounge room to Avril. What? What? What? What the hell? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Karaoke anyone?

Starting to dislike cockatoos

A lot....

Etched ponies

I saw these before Christmas time, when my Bad Episode of the Good Life friend was visiting from Bowral. I so wanted to buy them, but just didn't need glasses. Somewhere between now and then I decided I DID very much need glasses. Especially etched pony ones. Luckily they were still there. From Canberra Antique Centre, which is an excellent shop. When I fall into a bucket of money I'm going to buy all my shiz there. 37 Townsville Street Fyshwick.