The Cover of the Rolling Stone

I was really excited  recently when my manager Mr. Bricks called me and he was all out of breath. I was hoping the one-eyed wonder was panting because of one of two reasons:

• He decided to work out and had just got done before calling me.
• He was excited to tell me he had finally got me a record deal.

It was neither.

Turns out that Mr. Bricks was short-winded only because he was so excited to tell me that he had finally found his missing iPod. I didn't even know he had an iPod. But it appears he had misplaced it and it went missing for the better part of two months.  Turns out, it was in the glove box of his car the whole time. I said if he threw away some of the empty diet coke bottles and McDonald's wrappers he would be able to find things in his car. I'm not saying the inside of his car is messy, but it is messy! In fact, if I took pictures of it I could easily get him considered for a new reality series called "Hoarders on the Go" or "Pimp My Hoarder."

Well I was wondering exactly what songs does Mr. Bricks have on his iPod anyway? I was happy to hear that he had my songs on there, and he had some of my favorite bands and artists on it. But he also had a lot of music that was PGG (Pre Greek Girl)...I mean stuff that was being played on the radio way before I was born.

He had a separate playlist for all of this funky 1970's music. One of the artists that caught my attention was named Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show. I said maybe I have heard the name Dr. Hook and I have probably even heard a song or two of theirs, but I don't know any of the songs they sing off the top of my noggin.  And honestly I can't say I have ever heard them called Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show. To me I just always thought they were called Dr. Hook. Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show? Who knew?

Mr. Bricks became really animated when he started talking about Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show, saying he wanted me to hear one of their songs.

The song is called Cover of The Rolling Stone. It's a kind of spoof on the glitzy and glamorous lifestyle of rock stars.  In fact many musicians don't think they have made it until they have appeared on the cover of iconic music industry publication Rolling Stone.  I guess that is true. Once you are on the cover of Rolling Stone it does mean you have arrived in a big way.

Here are the lyrics:

COVER OF THE ROLLING STONES

Written by  Shel Silverstein

Ha ha ha I don't believe it
Da, da, ah, ah don't touch it
Hey, Ray, Hey Sugar tell them who we are

Well, we're big rock singers
We got golden fingers
And we're loved everywhere we go (that sounds like us)
We sing about beauty and we sing about truth
At ten-thousand dollars a show (right)

We take all kinds of pills that give us all kind of thrills
But the thrill we've never known
Is the thrill that'll gitcha when you get your picture
On the cover of the rollin stone

(Rollin stone)
Wanna see my picture on the cover
(Stone)
Wanna buy five copies for my mother (yes)
(Stone.)
Wanna see my smilin face
On the cover of the rollin stone
(that's a very very good idea)

I got a freaky ole lady name a cocaine Katy
Who embroideries on my jeans
I got my poor ole grey haired daddy
Drivin my limosine

Now it's all decided to blow our minds
But our minds won't really be blown
Like the blow that'll gitcha when you get your picture
On the cover of the rollin stone

(Rollin stone)
Wanna see our pictures on the cover
(Stone)
Wanna buy five copies for our mothers (yeah)
(Stone)
Wanna see my smilin face
On the cover of the rollin stone
(talking)
Hey, I know how
Rock and roll.....

SOLO

Ah, that's beautiful

We got a lot of little teenage blue eyed groupies
Who do anything we say
We got a genu wine Indian Guru
Who's teaching us a better way

We got all the friends that money can buy
So we never have to be alone
And we keep getting richer but we can't get our picture
On the cover of the rollin stone

(Rollin stone)
Wanna see my picture on the cover
(Stone)
Wanna buy five copies for my mother (wa wa)
(Stone)
Wanna see my smilin face
On the cover of the rollin stone
On the cover of the rollin

Stone)
Wanna see my picture on the cover
(talking)
I don't know why we ain't on the cover, Baby....
(Stone)
Wanna buy five copies for my mother
(talking)
We're beautiful subjects
(Stone)
Wanna see my smilin face
(talking)
I ain't kiddin, we would make a beautiful cover
On the cover of the rollin stone

Fresh shot, right up front, Man
I can see it now, we'll be up in the front
Smilin, Man
Ahh, beautiful

Then it came to me....so, I reminded Mr. Bricks that I in fact had heard that song before.  It was featured in the 2000 movie Almost Famous, about a 15-year-old reporter writing an article for Rolling Stone.  The band he is writing about sings the song when they find out they made the cover. Oddly enough, the director of that film, Cameron Crowe, was once a reporter for Rolling Stone. The band Dr. Hook also actually made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine on March 29, 1973, 3 months after this song was released.

Personally I think the real reason Mr. Bricks likes the band so much is that the lead singer, Ray Sawyer wears an eyepatch as the result of almost having been killed in a 1967 car crash in Oregon.  Mr. Bricks secretly wants to wear his own eyepatch to cover up his lazy eye.

Speaking of Mr. Bricks....I think he must have an electrical short in his noggin wires - he told me to do a special March Madness offer on my 10-song CD called "Gone" for the readers of this blog.  So if you want to order my CD, just click on the banner below.

Love & Blessings,
Ava  xox

Visit Ava Aston Store & Get Your Copy Today!

What's on Your iPod?

You can tell a lot about a person by what songs they have on their iPod.

A wall street banker might not want to share the fact that he has a Miley Cyrus playlist or a tough looking gang-member will not be very comfortable letting the homies in the hood know that he has Captain And Tennile's "Muskrat Love" on his playlist. That would be an epic fail for both of them, or would it?

As a singer and songwriter, I believe that music is universal and it alone could bring together the different cultures of the world when sometimes war and diplomacy might fail. But then again maybe I've been wearing my rose-colored glasses a little too long. But a girl can dream can't she?

I recently grabbed my manager Mr. Bricks' iPod to get a peek at the songs he had on it. First off, I initially did not even believe he even had an iPod because he is so far behind in technology. You remember this blog about his cell phone don't you?  Seriously, I thought maybe he still had a Sony Walkman with cassette tapes.

Secondly, of course I wanted to make sure he had my songs on there -- hey, I was just checkin'. I am proud to say Mr. Bricks gets an A+ because, yes, he had a whole slew of my music downloaded to his iPod. He also had songs I had never heard of. It turns out that Mr. Bricks is a huge disco lover and it appears he also likes any music that was recorded during the 1970's. It was all there on his little machine for the world to see. (little machine = iPod. That's what I call it.)

So what is on the Blonde Greek girl's iPod? Well, I have spoken about some of my musical tastes from time to time and it is all over the musical landscape. I know I surprise some people when they find out I might like a certain song or artist. My diverse love of music is also shown in the music I record and what I sing at shows. I think Mr. Bricks best summed it up today when he said that my own music appeals to everyone from babies to grandmas, and everyone in between. And that is so true because I have been exposed to every genre of music and I am influenced by it all. So I will continue to record and sing all types of music and I don't think that is a bad thing, no matter what the homeboys in my hood might think of me. Sista Ava is down wit dat.

Here are some of my favorite tunes that are in heavy rotation on my little machine:

Carrie Underwood  -  Jesus Take The Wheel

Almost Over You -  Sheena Easton

I'll Never get Over You Getting Over me - Expose

Lose Yourself - Eminem

My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson

How Am I suppose to live without you? - Michael Bolton/Laura Branagin

I have Nothing - Whitney Houston

Everlong - Foo Fighters

I'm Your Baby Tonight - Whitney Houston

Power of Love - Celine Dion

Alone - Heart

Dreamboat Annie - Heart

We The People - Ava Aston

Independance Day - Martina McBride

Love Will Lead You back - Taylor Dayne

I Believe In You - Amaanda Marshall

Reflection - Christina Aguleria

I also have tons and tons of other songs from POD, Nirvana, Police, Sting, Jermey Camp, Switchfoot, Natalie Grant, Johnny Cash, Journey, Eminem, Daughtry, Evanescene, One Republic, more from Kelly Clarkson, almost eevrything from Journey and the new stuff from Goo Goo Dolls and Heart and blah, blah, blah  --so many more I could go on for hours. Infact I have almost 15 gigs of music with a little more than 4,000 songs on my iPod Nano - If I ever fell down in a ditch while out running and no one noticed me,  at least I would have about 10 days worth of music to keep me going.

So if you look over my playlists you can see that I am a rocker chick with a sappy side. Just look at how many of my favs have the words "over you" or "without you" in the title. yep, I have had my heart broken a few times. Broken love is also is a common theme on my latest CD, "Gone". NOTE: I am proud to point out that my iPod is Lady Ga Ga free, sorry little monsters no Lady G for me -- that's just how I roll.

So, what's on your playlist? Let me know.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

You can vist me at www.avaaston.com

You can fill up your iPod at  itunes/avaaston