Happy New Year. I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year’s Eve. I spent most of yesterday trying to avoid the traffic on Colorado as thousands of people began to line the streets with folding chairs and sleeping bags in order to camp out and stake a claim to their seat for the Rose Parade. I’ve never seen the point, honestly, in parades. I was in band when I was a kid, so I’ve had to march in my share of them. I never understood what was so interesting about them if you were older than, say, 5 years old. Especially the Rose Parade. Unless your seat is in the first 1000 feet of the parade, all you’ll see is floats where half the flowers have fallen off, or ones being towed because their engines have given out. Additionally, unless you’re sitting in one of the grandstand areas, the only music you’ll hear from the bands is the drum cadence as they march past.

I can’t remember the last time I went out on New Year’s Eve to party it up. I was probably in my very early 20s. Since I hate crowds and traffic and haven’t had a drink in over 10 years, I don’t see much point in it. These days, I’m lucky if I can stay awake long enough to welcome in the New Year. I try to watch the East Coast feed on the satellite so I feel like I didn’t miss anything.

I spent my evening (pathetically) watching a string of “I Love The 80s 3D” that I had Tivo’d earlier in the day (yeah, I didn’t get the “3D” part, either). It covered 1981-1984, the wonder years of the 80s. I learned more than a few things. For instance, I did not know that the Toto song “Rosanna” was about Rosanna Arquette, who the lead singer was dating at the time. The biggest surprise for me was to learn that Emmanuel Lewis is still alive. Seriously. I thought he had died a long time ago.

I recently got promoted to editor on the show I work on, and my first episode starts shooting after the New Year. Originally, it was supposed to start shooting on the 2nd, but now it won’t shoot until the 8th. So the shooting got pushed a week, but NOT the lock date. In other words, same amount of work, but in a week shorter time. (Did I mention this is my FIRST episode to edit on my own??) Next weekend will be the last weekend I have off until February. Sweet. Maybe I should start back up on the narcotics.

I’ve been waiting to use Billy Joel for the song of the day, mostly because it’s so hard for me to pick between his songs. I’ve always been a huge fan of his, have seen him in concert several times, and have never been disappointed by him. I think he’s the dying breed of singer-songwriter who actually has something important to say, even if he may not have said anything interesting in awhile. He did a lot in the 80s, and it’s really hard to choose. But for today, I’ll pick “Allentown.” This has always been a favorite of mine, probably stemming from the great video that went along with it. I’ve always appreciated Joel’s speaking to the plight of the working man, whether it be steel workers, mechanics, or fishermen. This song comes from his 1982 album The Nylon Curtain, which included other great songs such as “Pressure” and “Goodnight Saigon” (another one of my absolute favorites). I’ve never been a big fan of Greatest Hits albums, but if you love Billy Joel, don’t live without his Greatest Hits Volumes I & II available as a dual album.