90's Fest

The 90s are when I became a big music fan. Actually, let's take a step back. I enjoyed listening to 80s music and probably watched more MTV than I was allowed during that decade. However, it was the 90s when I started going to concerts (not including Neil Diamond in the early 80s and Debbie Gibson in the late 80s). When I started buying cassettes (thanks BMG for the 10 tapes for a penny or dollar deal!). It was in college in the 90s when I discovered new bands and musicians from friends, people playing music in their residence halls rooms, and college radio. So I was excited when my Facebook feed showed me information about 90's Fest. Seemed perfect for me. And then I looked at the lineup.

90's Fest, scheduled in July in Sheffield (Go Wednesday! WAWAW!) is apparently the largest 90s music festival in the UK featuring over 100 artists. And based on the list of artists, not many had much of an impact in the United States. UB40 is the notable exception having several monster hits such as "Red Red Wine," "Here I Come (Come and Take Me)," and (I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You." UB40 may also be the only act at the festival with more than one American hit. I mean, look at the performers. How many can you name?

Let's go through some of the other artists. I'm a big fan of 2 Unlimited's Get Ready for This, which features lines "Get ready for this, Mind your own biz" and "Feelin' kind of better, Put on a sweater." 

I really need to use the phrase "mind your own biz" more. Anyway, I think that was their only big song in America.  Same goes with Vengaboys. Of course, we all know "We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)" from the Six Flags commercials.

I went to England in the summer of 2000 and wrote about the songs from my time there including by Five and Sonique. Love "It Feels So Good" by Sonique! Other than that, I have no idea who these people are. Is Darren Styles related to Harry Styles? I'm guessing Fergie isn't the Fergie from Black Eyed Peas. If it is, good on the festival for having one American from the 2000s at the event. I hope that Lange is a tribute band for the late Pittsburgh Penguins' announcer Mike Lange.

Charlie B might be related to Cardi B or Mel B. Actually, why are Mel B and the other Spice Girls not playing at this festival? That would be a huge headliner! In the meantime, it's nice to see that there is a group dedicated to steak sauce in A1. I also think the Tidyboys make the litter that I use for my cat!

Look, I understand that this is probably a 90s festival for UK and European artists, and Oasis, Radiohead, Spice Girls, and Blur are probably too big to attend. Still, how about Bush or Garbage? Why not The Verve, Jesus Jones, EMF, PJ Harvey, Dido, David Gray, Republica, Soul II Soul, Sneaker Pimps, and/or The Corrs? I'm missing dozens of others too.

That's it. I'm going to create my own UK 90s festival!

Spelling Words in Songs

I recently submitted an application for virtual media access to the 67th annual Grammy Awards in February 2025. Unfortunately, the Sean's Ramblings budget does not allow me to travel to and attend the red carpet and ceremony in Los Angeles (assuming that I get accepted), but I think it would be fun to cover the Grammy Awards remotely and provide interesting and informative information to you. To demonstrate my music credentials to the Recording Academy, I am writing this blog post to show a trend in music history maybe not known to many. And my finding/theory is this: 

Spelling a word in a song = H-I-T

Seems simple, right? Like A-B-C (though ABC isn't an actual word), easy as 1-2-3!

While I acknowledge that this is not an exhaustive review of every song with words spelled out, I think this is a pretty thorough list. The idea of this post/theory stemmed from the current Chappell Roan song, HOT TO GO! where the artist spells out H-O-T-T-O-G-O 14 times. It's a really catchy song and Target agreed by featuring it in a commercial. HOT TO GO reached #15 on the Billboard HOT 100 chart, but would easily have reached #1 if Billboard had a HOT TO GO 100 chart. Let's take a look at other songs that help make my argument.

Respect by Aretha Franklin

This is simply one of the greatest songs of all time. Not much more to write except that it went to #1 in 1967.

Saturday Night by Bay City Rollers

BCR (did anyone ever call them BCR?) just comes right out with a spelling lesson. It’s right there at the start of the song. S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night! Saturday Night hit the top spot in 1976.

Jump Jump by Kris Kross 

Two different words spelled in the same song. First, you have the D-A-double D-Y-M-A-C. (Yeah, you know me!) Later, either the Mack Daddy or the Daddy Mack spells out J-U-M-P. Next, wear your clothes backwards, and you get a 1992 #1 song.

Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani

You never realized how much fun it was/is to spell bananas until Gwen Stefani told us. This song was #1 in 2005, or nearly 20 years ago which is B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

U.N.I.T.Y by Queen Latifah

Although this song didn't reach the top 20 like the others above (#23 in 1995), this is Queen Latifah's biggest song and won a Grammy for best rap solo performance.

Gloria - Them

Until I started writing this post, I thought this was a Van Morrison song. Turns out, the song was released by Morrison's band Them in 1964. This is the rare song in this post that didn't chart very highly. Sort of. While Them's original Gloria only peaked at #75, a cover version released around the same time by The Shadows of Knight  reached #10. Patti Smith and The Doors both had their own versions of the song. This song received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and made multiple greatest songs and rock songs of all time lists. While I can't prove it, I don't think this happens without Morrison spelling out G-L-O-R-I-A. (The audience shots in the video below are fantastic.) Thanks to Wikipedia for all of this information.

P.I.M.P. by 50 Cent

Let's go back to 2003. 50 Cent was the biggest artist in the country. His Get Rich or Die Tryin' album sold over 9 million copies. Although P.I.M.P. didn't reach the top spot like 50's first two singles from this album, it made it to #3. Not too shabby.

Safety Dance by Men Without Hats

After being told that you can dance if you want to, this song went to #3 in 1983. I also danced to this song with friends at an 80s dance party in college.

Fergalicious by Fergie featuring will.i.am

Glamorous by Fergie featuring Ludacris

While Fergie may not be a pioneer in spelling words in songs, if you had a spelling contest, she would be the bee champion. Fergie released these songs back-to-back with Fergalicious reaching #2 in January 2007 and Glamorous going to #1 in March of the same year. The former somewhat indirectly spells multiple words like the D-A- double D-Y-M-A-C did 15 years earlier. First, you have "T to the A, to the S-T-E-Y girl, you tasty" followed by D to the E, to the L-I-C-I-O-U-S. Glamorous has none of the "to the" in the middle of a word. That's probably why the latter went all the way to the top of the chart! 

First Class by Jack Harlow

Harlow sampled Glamorous in 2022 and kept the spelling of Fergie's title in his version. The result was another #1 song. 

Lola by The Kinks

Spelling out C-O-L-A and L-O-L-A is just brilliant. This song reached the top 10 by going to #9 in 1970.

R.O.C.K In the U.S.A. by John Mellencamp

#2 in 1986. Maybe this would have gone to #1 if Mellancamp went by John Cougar Mellencamp at the time.

Steal My Sunshine by Len

Although it’s not prominent, Len sneaks in the spelling of L-A-T-E-R early in the second verse. Steal My Sunshine went to #9 in the US in 1999 and is Len's only charting song.

Can’t Hold Us by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton

The winner of the longest spelled word goes to Macklemore for I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T.  No record label is going to sign him. He's not going to sell out! Can't Hold Us went to #1 in 2013 and was the most streamed song on Spotify that year.

O.P.P. by Naughty by Nature

Y.M.C.A. by Village People

Technically, these are abbreviations and not words. O is for other, P is for people. The last P , hmm, stands for property. This song reached #6 in 1991 and was played at every single homecoming dance in America that fall.

Not much to write about Y.M.C.A. Amazingly, it never reached #1 in the US, peaking at #2, though it went #1 in 15 other countries. If someone finds this blog in 100 years and looks through the songs in this post, this is the one that will still be known.

Finally, I'll give an honorable mention to Taylor Swift for her song Me with Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco where she says "Spelling is fun." I agree with Taylor (though apparently there was some controversy with this line), and spelling words in songs is a key to success!

The Zone, The Anthem, & More (Random Ramblings)

To celebrate Presidents' Day, I had the opportunity to take The Moose (age 6) and Pedro Tulo (age 3) to The Zone in Ashburn. I saw that The Zone tweeted this prior to the event:

We are gearing up to host the areas top MOM BLOGGERS at @theZoneUSA tomorrow!
#VIPBloggerEvent #Loudounstation #TheZoneUSA pic.twitter.com/WoN2mtQzaD

— the Zone (@theZoneUSA) February 19, 2018

I truly am honored to be part of the area's top MOM BLOGGERS!

Anyway, The Zone is like Dave & Busters but on a smaller scale. They have plenty of video games and good food (more on this momentarily), but unlike Dave and Busters, The Zone has four bowling lanes, laser tag, and a virtual reality area. My kids were a little young for these activities (though the staff was gracious enough to let them try on the VR gear), so we mostly played air hockey, Space Invaders, and Skee-Ball. This is Pedro Tulo from when he was about 1 & 1/2.

This is Pedro Tulo from Monday at almost 4.

I hope I don't take another picture like this when he's 6 or 7.

The food was definitely a highlight for the boys. The Moose went to town enjoying pizza, chicken fingers, sliders, fries, and a cookie. Pedro Tulo only seemed to want fruit (and a cookie, of course).

I'll go back, though it may be when they are a little older when they can enjoy all of the games and activities available.

Thanks to The Zone and Andrea of Northern Virginia Housewives for hosting us!

- While The Moose seems to doing well reading at school, he has little interest in doing this at home. It's been a battle the last few weeks trying to get him to read to us. Any suggestions on how to make this situation better for everyone? It has been really frustrating for all of us.

- On Sunday, I visited The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in DC and saw the flag which inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled Banner. On Sunday night nearly 200 years after he wrote the famous lyrics, Fergie had a, well, interesting version of the tune.



U-S-A! U-S-A!

- Your TMI for the day. After getting a vasectomy a few months ago, it's now official. My boys can, um, no longer swim.

- Ziggy knocked the Brita off of the counter causing the water pitcher to crack. I guess it's time to get a new one.

- Finally, one of the worst things about my dislocated wrist is that I can't bite the fingernails on my right hand. I know that biting your nails is a terrible habit, but there a way worse vices. (I'll stick with this as a rationale.)

Live From South Florida: Steelers-Dolphins Recap

I traveled to South Florida to attend Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Miami Dolphins game at Joe Robbie, er, Pro Player, no, Dolphins, I mean Land Shark Stadium. No again? The stadium that opened in 1987 is now known as Sun Life Stadium since the company was unsuccessful in getting KC and the Sunshine Band to change its name.



Is the Sun Life Stadium name going to stick for more than a few years?

Before I discuss the game and my experience at the game, let’s take a look at the Sun Sentinel’s preview. Although the paper predicted a Steelers 24-21 victory, I thought the rationale in giving the Dolphins an edge in “intangibles” was interesting.

“This is the first 1:00 PM game of the season, and considering it’s still warm in October it’s possible the Steelers could wilt courtesy of South Florida’s heat and humidity. The Steelers have won the past four games in this series.”

So the newspaper suggested that it wasn’t hot during the Steelers’ training camp? It seemed pretty warm during Pittsburgh’s road games at Tennessee and Tampa earlier this season. I’m sure that players like Ryan Clark (LSU); Bryant McFadden (Florida State); Mewelde Moore (Tulane); Troy Polamalu (USC); Maurkice Pouncey (Florida); Max Starks (Florida); Ike Taylor (Louisiana-Lafayette); Lawrence Timmons (Florida State); and Mike Wallace (Mississippi) aren’t used to heat and humidity. Besides, the fact that the Steelers won the past four games of the series indicates that the heat and humidity weren’t a factor.

Perhaps the paper should have given the edge to the Dolphins since the Steelers may not have been used to the alternating rain and sun throughout the game. Regardless, the Steelers clearly won the intangible battle thanks to the odd and controversial call by the referees. More on this momentarily.

The Dolphins had promotional messages on the scoreboard during timeouts of celebrities essentially saying Go Fins. Of course, some of the celebrities like Venus and Serena Williams and Gloria Estefan are actually part (I’m sure a very small part) owners of the Dolphins. This led to the following exchanges with my friend, a Dolphins fan.

Me: Are Cheech and Chong owners?
Friend: No

Me: Is Daniel Tosh an owner?
Friend: No, but he’s from here and is a big Dolphins fan.

Me: Fergie’s an owner?
Friend: Yes
Me: Really? Why?
Friend: I don’t know.

The best video featured Ozzy Osbourne. I have no idea what he said except for something like, “Are you ready to party South Florida?” To my knowledge, he never mentioned the Dolphins.

My guess is that between 1/4 and 1/3 of the crowd consisted of Steelers fans. This made for some good-natured trash talking in the parking lot and inside the stadium. There’s nothing quite like being with your mother when she talks smack.

My favorite “trash-talker” though was one Dol-fan who just kept yelling 305. 305 Baby. He totally disrespected the 954. Apparently, I was standing next to Pitbull.



After every Dolphins first down, the stadium announcer yelled, "That’s another Dolphins..." followed by the crowd responding “first down.” It was cute.

I enjoyed seeing two fellow Woodland Hills graduates live: Ryan Mundy for the Steelers and Lousaka Polite for the Dolphins, who did a nice job of blocking James Harrison on this play.



The Army Golden Knights jumped into the stadium during halftime. Simply awesome. The black and gold parachutes were a nice touch. Read more about the jump at the US Army Golden Knights website. What wasn’t mentioned on the website was the fact that it was quite windy during the jump. It was a little scary watching them land, but they truly are professionals.



OK, let’s talk about the play. Actually, today is Wednesday so both Steelers and Dolphins fans are tired of talking and reading about Ben Roethlisberger’s fumble and the referee’s decision. I will refer you to ESPN’s article quoting the former NFL vice president of officiating, Mike Pereira, if you truly want to read more.

The only negative about attending the game is that you have no idea what's going on. Specifically, it wasn't until I returned from the game that I learned about Aaron Smith's injury. Smith will be a big loss for the Steelers, but I hope that Ziggy (Hood not my cat) and Nick Eason can try to replace him.

Overall, the Steelers are now 5-1 and off to a great start to the season. Plus, I had a great time watching a Steelers victory.

Random Links

Fergie is coming to Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax. No, I’m not kidding. (Click on the meet Fergie tab.) Here’s your chance to challenge Fergie to a spelling contest! She will be at Verizon Experience store at 3:00pm on Tuesday, May 29.

Good luck to the Ithaca College Women’s Crew team at the NCAA Rowing Championships!

I admit that I’m not as devoted of a Lost fan as most other followers, but the season finale on Wednesday was really, really good. Here’s a good recap of all things Lost. Please note that most of the theories are way above me.

Fourteen Ithaca College students of the a cappella group Ithacappella, some of them seniors skipping their own graduation ceremony, opened the set of an Incubus concert in LA. Here’s the article; here’s the YouTube video.

Roger Federer and Pete Sampras will meet in an exhibition match in Kuala Lumpur as part of Malaysia’s 50th anniversary of independence celebrations. I’m guessing that they will both receive nice paychecks. It would be an especially interesting match if the Pete Sampras of eight years ago could play today’s Federer.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!