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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Question of the Year: Elton John or Billy Joel?

Five Questions I Got From the Owner of this BLOG.

Do you squeeze the toothpaste tube or roll it? What's the advantage of your method?

If I have a tube, I squeeze then roll. This has the advantage of getting all the toothpaste out of the tube. Eventually I'll be a millionare with all the money I've saved by being frugal with my toothpaste. But I use Mentadent now. I press down. It's the best.

What's one regret you live with?

Having bought a laptop with credit. Ha. Ha ha ha. That was SO stupid. Credit card debt is the dumbest. I also regret having used student loans to pay for college. Ha ha. Loans suck.

What’s one of your nicknames? What do you preferred to be called?

Darlene. A lot of people think I resemble Sarah Gilbert from the sitcom Roseanne. It started in junior high with a group of older boys who thought Darlene's name was DJ. But DJ was the little brother. Anyway, they called me DJ for forever, and then later, some other people started calling me Darlene. I can't escape it. For a long time it seemed like Darlene was based on me and my winning attitude.

I prefer to be called Nik by people who know me well, Nicole by people who don't, and Nikki by my family. Someone recently started calling me Holden, sarcastically, I think. I'd rather be called Holden than Darlene.

Billy Joel or Elton John?

Ooh that's a tough one. Both suck these days, but you have to admit they're amazing songwriters. They really know how to turn a phrase and work a chord change just enough to make your stomach drop. They both used to be better and they're both iconic, and somehow, growing up, I confused Billy for Elton and Elton for Billy. So odd, since they look nothing alike, names or faces. But it's funny that you should ask which of the two. Is it because they're both piano rock stars, or because they're names are so similar?

Honestly, I loved them both to death as a kid. "Sad Songs Say so Much" was a big hit with me, but so was "Uptown Girl." Secretly, I loved the hell out of "Nikita," I didn't even know what it was about, but I liked to pretend Elton had written it about me. At some point "It's a Matter of Trust" and "Innocent Man" were favorites, but because I liked to listen to them, not because they were Billy Joel's best, most probing works. Same with how I felt about "I Guess that's Why They Call it the Blues." I listened to the radio a lot back then and that's what formed my opinions about music. If I could dance to it or if it played into my romantic ideals, I loved it.

Anyway, now when I think about what songs I love by Elton John, I think of "Rocket Man," "Yellowbrick Road," and "Bitch is Back." And he's still going strong without looking like shit (like some rocks stars I might name, i.e. Keith Richards). That's always something, right? Elton hasn't burned up like the rest (they all flew a little too close to the sun*). So, sorry Billy, I have to go with Elton as my pick for best piano rock star.

What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?

It's so funny because it's so damn impossible. Everyone wants their own piece o' the pie and that often means stepping on other people's faces to get there. Peace, love, and understanding? Ha. Ha ha ha ha.


*"You let him go to the sun?!"




FINE PRINT:

Here are the rules if you want to keep it going: Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me." I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions. You will update your weblog with the answers to the questions, and let me know that you answered. If you don't have a blog, but would still like to play, I can send you the questions, and you can answer 'em in the comments. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

5 comments:

Jodie Kash said...

Hey! Where you been? Glad to see you back mad-posting.

LOVE your answers, esp the Billy-Elton thesis. I had Elton on vinyl growing up and thought he was so strange and odd and interesting. Now, he's an old queen and I groan when I hear anything "new" from him. "Nikita"! Loved the song and the video (some odd hot-Russian-guard-girl thing). Oh I miss my MTV.

And I confess…I liked “We Didn’t Start the Fire”.

Nicole said...

Jodie,

I too loved "We Didn't Start the Fire" back in fifth/sixth grade. I sang along with it but had no idea what half of it meant, like "hypodermics on the shore." And never really thought much about that particular phrase until recently, while watching an episode of Reno 911 when one of the guys steps on a needle on the beach. He doesn't get AIDS; he gets off easy and only gets Hep. Sometimes it takes me a while to get crap like that.

The music video of "We Didn't Start the Fire" is kind of interesting too. Did you know that table in the kitchen is just like the table me and Stoker have? Yeah, it's from the 50's. It's pretty sweet.

I miss old MTV, before it was all crap. Old MTV when Buggles was on there and Bonnie Tyler. You know what I mean.

I had a work deadline and the home PC is on the fritz. There was no time to post. I have time now. Hope to replace the crap computer with a dream machine. We'll see.

Anonymous said...

Thus whole post made me miss you....sorry if that makes it akward.

Hook me up with an interview.
Em

baughtronic said...

Darling, interview me if you must.

Anonymous said...

You should get your new dream machine computer on credit. Bwa hahahaha!