Notes From Upstairs-10

September 28, 2005

Just a little note here for, umm, a few friends of mine:

Some Patsifans are loud movers 'n shakers, but others, I've noticed, move quietly along the sidelines, slinking, observing, studying, then doing something astounding in an oh-so-quiet way that certain loudmouths like yours truly can't seem to get accomplished in a lifetime! I'm reminded of an auction a coupla years ago when some paranormal force miracled those two Patsy blouses into our hands... Patsy, is that you??

I read an interesting article about Gretchen Wilson, whose sass always intrigues me. The writer was comparing singers' emotional styles, and I thought this was an interesting analysis:

She’s cited Patsy Cline and Heart’s Ann Wilson as influences, but the latter seems more present in her style. Unlike Cline, who occasionally sang behind the beat and let the golden tone of her voice linger like smoke rings, Wilson pushes in front of the rhythm and rarely allows much ache to creep in. She sings sad songs as if staring a hole in her male subjects, as if challenging them to talk back. She doesn’t want any man’s sympathy, or anyone else’s for that matter.
This edge is what sets Wilson apart from the other female singers working on Music Row today. Shania Twain, for instance, doesn’t have time for heartache, either, but even when she’s dressing down a guy, she does it with a sexy wink and a coy smile. She’s playful where Wilson is willful.

The much missed Natalie Maines has all of Wilson’s spitfire, and she can handle rockers and country ballads with the same convincing passion. But Maines shows her wounds, as ballads like “Tonight the Heartache’s on Me” attest. Wilson might sing about hurting — not very often, but it’s there on new songs like “Raining on Me” and “I Don’t Feel Like Loving You Today”; she just expresses more anger than pain.

Then I started wondering, on which of her songs is Patsy most angry? I don't really associate her style with anger, but she displayed an amazing array of emotions... what do you think? The first song that comes to my mind is "Ain't No Wheels on this Ship," because she spits that song out like a hellcat, but is that truly anger, or is it playful? Hmmmmm.

Reading about Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, who was making a personal phone call to each person who donated $100 to hurricane relief through his website... wouldn't it be amazing if we could do that to raise money for Patsy's museum? But who would make the phone call? If Snake McCall were still around, we could always raise piles of cash by making him phone up Patsifans who donated $100 to Winchester and allowing them to abuse him verbally.

Still, it's basically a good idea, and I'm gonna ruminate on it awhile.............

Did you get your new Patsy DVD yet? Write and tell me what you think! This is some of the stuff we have begged for, for years!! (Notice I said "some of," which gives me hope that we'll see "the rest of" one of these days. Look up "never satisfied" and you'll see a photo of a Patsifan. We Patsifans are never willing to settle, are we??)

People are constantly, constantly Patsified, every hour of every day, I'm tellin' ya. Dig this bit I snagged from David Sims' column at FirstCoffeeSM at tmcnet.com, this is how he began his column:

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is The Definitive Collection: Patsy Cline. First CoffeeSM had wondered why she remains so popular, but now realizes she never sings a line that a guy wouldn’t want to hear a girl say to him....

Or else they are constantly, constantly demonstrating that they are already Patsified, as in this business column at boston.com:

Do they have leavin' on their minds?

With nary an apology to Patsy Cline, that question is now being posed by businesses about their customers. And if a survey of information technology customers is any indication, the answer can't be very reassuring to technology hardware and software vendors.

Every hour of every day, my fellow Patsifans.

September 23, 2005

Always finding terrific new Patsy things here 'n there. Visit the museum at the Heart of Texas Country Music Association in Brady, Texas for treats like, well, like a gold purse and a white gown belonging to a certain wonderful someone (do we have any photos of her wearing this dress?):

September 17, 2005

Check out this comprehensive site on one of Patsy's pals!

A brainy view of Our Gal: I was perusing Amazon and came across the following item.

"Evaluating Endocrine Disruption In Receiving Waters: Screening For Biomarkers"
by Patsy Cline

Gulp. I guess this is another of Ginny Hensley's forays into songwriting, on the heels of "A Stranger in Your Arms" and "Don't Ever Leave Me Again." But it sounds like she's screening her lovers, for a change, before receiving them and allowing them to disrupt her endocrine system. (I wonder how she managed to find a word to rhyme with "biomarkers?")

Helluva Patsy song title, at any rate! It's a good one, though: it has lots of N's. No one can sing an N sound better than Patsy Cline.

For those of you who enjoy foolin' 'round with XG MIDI music, Yamaha is releasing a new Patsy toy in February 2006:

"Crazy" -- Easy Piano -- Sheet/Diskette Pack

Pre-order it now at Amazon!

Fully orchestrated XG MIDI file and sheet music for XG compatible instruments and devices including: the Clavinova digital piano * the Disklavier piano * portable keyboards.

Hey, I've got a fancy new keyboard, "Crazy" will sound righty purty... can't wait to hear this one!

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