Teenbeat XI - Soulville

Seeing it was my birthday recently I decided to review my collection of  Soul cds which go back a good number of years I started from the end of  tape and record era in my music buying and filling in a few gaps.

 
You have to remember I was around in the clunky fade up and down era of 8 tracks tapes in the car and home plus FM stereo stations in the metro districts that influenced my tastes to the point the first records and the later cds reflected my likes so for instance take the first artist, Mr Wilson Pickett was better to known to me for his 70's songs like Soft Soul Boogie Man which I have on the "Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It" compilation cd and compilation 8 tracks of that Soul Train era than his 60's material I had as a child!
"The Commitments" generation had a better angle on him than I did!

So I was lacking a cd of his bigger 60's hits like Mustang Sally so I bought the "A man and a half" 2 cd set of those 60's hits most on this disc also are the mono hit versions rather than wonky stereo remakes on the current individual albums.

On the other hand I did get in the early 90's a 20 track mainly stereo compilation of Otis Redding including I Can't Turn You Loose, Tramp, Try A Little Tenderness and (Sittin' on) The Dock Of The Bay but wanted the original albums in their mono versions so bought this box set of the five that came out before his death after his appearance at the  Monterey festival in December 1967.

 
It brings together the albums remastered as the separate mid 90's Rhino remasters series in a box with card lp covers.

The music of Sam Cooke was something I heard quite a bit of on the radio being championed by Rod Stewart and the Rolling Stones and this set covering his solo work taking in Twisting The Night Away, Shake, A Change Is Gonna Come and Cupid originally issued in 2003 by Abkco is the best sounding bettering 1987's The Man His Music issued on RCA which for a long time the default cd compilation of choice.

This one's where the Soulville entry title came from as that track recorded for Columbia in the 60's is one that closed out the 8 track of "Black Explosion" with soul hits from the late 60's and early 70's I played rather a lot and got a cd with her Columbia recordings like Soulville early on in the cd era.

 
I had picked up the UK Global 2 cd "Greatest Hits" set in the late 90's for her Atlantic material and later Arista recordings but the tracks switch era rather glaring across the discs for me so I got this newly re-issued and recompiled Queen of Soul 4 cd box  set which just focus's on the 1967-1976 Atlantic era running in chronological order thru such songs as Respect, Call Me, I say a Little Prayer and so on with the earlier recordings in their mono original form.

 
To take in that later era covering songs like Jump To It, Who's Zoomin' Who and I Knew You Were Waiting I got cheaply the 1980-1994 Greatest Hits single cd.
Much more straightforward.

Ray Charles: I managed to track down the two specialty DCC His Greatest Hits cds cheaply for songs like Hit The Road Jack from the period he recorded for ABC-Paramount which took in the ground breaking Modern Sounds in Country and Western album. The mastering legend that is Steve Hoffman re did this a few years later with a slightly different selection using a tubed tape machine  and issued on Gold but this one done with solid state machine onto aluminum in 1987 is still really good sounding and cheap to buy used!

Around the sun edition

A few days back I went around the sun again, no not melting from the heat, but metaphorically speaking and it's that which is the subject of this weeks post.

Yes really, as hard as it may seem to some I never really get any older because I've never really stopped feeling 12 with the same birthday wishes whatever it may say on my birth certificate and as for feeling old, well I've had aches and pains in childhood so to me even that don't age me either. I still feel animated when I wake up on the day!!!
So therefore my birthday not surprisingly is very much a childs one and is marked as such.

Okay everyone who was at Camp  - and you know who you are - can run for cover as Cuddles the Tatty Teddy is here in all it's super huggableness.
Also here and I did mention it to Alice I think, is the 1960 Disney movie version of Pollyanna with Hayley Mills and coming soon will be The Parent Trap and That Darn Cat! in the same series on Region 2 dvd.
Mommy brought me a Monsterz talking plushie - she might be finally getting 'it' now - as well as taking me out to dinner where I insisted upon wearing my pink and blue striped girlie sweater and blouse. I had roast Turkey with trimmings followed by Sticky Pudding with Ice cream and a glass of orange juice.
My M.I.A. brother showed up the day before with a card and the other one came too which was kind of handy as together with other relatives they did give me some money which will come in rather handy.
Arriving soon will be some soul cds which I'll write about separately as they needed to be ordered online and they missed today's mail.

Playthings

Just before last weeks adventure, I received this 9 inch original Holly Hobbie doll and as she was small enough to fit in my luggage she went to Camp.

I decided at Camp to call her Annie

Here's the My Blue Nose Friend Peanuts interactive  Tatty Teddy who talks to his friends. Aww.

Chillin out

Writing this entry isn't so straightforward keeping within the accepted rules of being with other littles and being considerate of their own circumstances but here is 'something' about the last few days.
A word that gets banded about in littles predominately the Alg circles no matter what sites you may belong to is "Camp" of which there are a number in North America and the UK and you may well wonder what is that all about.
The concept of a camp is simply a meet up over a fixed period of days of littles where people get the chance to put a face to a name, talk, play and critically be your little selves in a safe accepting environment.
Some may be organized more like a private hiring of a commercial but alg friendly complex with appropriate steps taken to keep the environment one where your privacy is respected especially in  the era of the do it all smartphone.
Others are very much self organized up to the point of say making your own arrangements for things like meals, bringing any play equipment etc with you and their are advantages and disadvantages in both.
Speaking personally It would be great of one could take over a Haven Holidays site for a few days with Rory the Tiger complete with full catering laid on so everyone could stay very much in child-like playing to the last second head-space but you'd need a large number of folk to do this and I can't see that happening anytime soon.
But anyway I went to one such meet up in the UK.

One obvious thing is you need to get there, so I went part way by train and then catching a lift with two littles friends of mine as with my health conditions, driving ain't gonna happen and I tire easily racing around rail stations going from one connecting service to another. Thanks folks.
Like with most kind of meetings, the first bit was more a meet and greet aided by lots of candy on a table you could help yourself to after taking your stuff up to your room as you had a room number allocated and as shown above, also a BIG  name tag on your door should anyone forget where your room is or if you're like me you do yourself.
What you wear is generally up to you as the sense of being little is pretty much in your head-space and people do it differently and in my case I went in my uniform as I feel more comfortable in my own skin that way enabling my little to come out more.
The big thing is playing together - that's right - what most of us did during chronological  childhood.

Seasoned readers of this blog in addition to people in chat know I have major issues around trains and the railway stemming from how they were forced upon Mommy and I to the exclusion of what we wanted to do and the way we were treated for not wanting to go along with it. 
I do get very nervous around them even now.
One of my friends brought a train set which kind of puzzled me as trains and girls generally don't go together but it proved to be quite interesting in that it is a Fairy based set a bit like this with Fairies, Trees and a Station and the Engine and Coaches in painted in girlie colours rather than the more boy sort especially the hobby sort like those by Hornby and the like. 
The track was made from wood with grooves in that you pushed the train along by hand.
I found myself for once in my life actually enjoying  playing with trains, making hooting noises and yes having the odd crash as that school girl!
Perhaps this was just what I needed to work through my emotions.
A member of our little group had been rather poorly for a period and on the Friday evening I heard noises. 
Waking up the next morning I like the rest of the girls found a present which when unwrapped turned out to be a Tatty Teddy blue nose friend with mine being a "Peanuts" model.
Apart from being a really lovely gesture, this plushie didn't just talk, it conversed to others in the series when correctly set up, in an awfully cute way, talking of  having adventures, playing together and being best friends.
To me it seemed to sum up the whole feel of being together as girls sharing and playing together
I spent a bit of time talking about dollies as a few of us had brought our dolls or that bit of our collections we could carry in our cases with us, learning  about them and why they mattered to their owners.
Among the many games I played Scrabble, Frustration (and boy wasn't it just!), Pool (well kind of!) and Tetris which was fun although with my amazingly bad co-ordination and memory it's not my strong point.
One thing I did enjoy which takes me back a bit to actual childhood was playing with guns that fire plastic pellets out with some of the 'younger' ones because many of the girls I played with were tomboys and we did these things while the boys were well out of doors, in the woods.
The Sticky One had the Colour Game going where you are in teams hunting for pictures with clues that lead to others ultimately ending up in winning a prize as we run around camp up and down the stairs several times like crazy!
I'll swear I lost weight doing that!!!
We had a couple of quizzes going too, an arts and crafts session and  several of us did some photography.
Although compared to previous meets it was a bit more laid back in part probably with the extreme weather we had the week or so before making us less inclined to bring outdoor play equipment or organize any sports, I had a marvellous time being me.
Maybe for those of you who read this and are littles who haven't for whatever reason attended such a meet, it may inspire you to find one in your own area or maybe organize one yourself with friends for what you can gain through being together.
One final word, I wore a skirt coming to camp and left returning in one walking out of the car through my friends front door with pride and a much needed confidence boost.

Thank yous: Camp Organizers (details elsewhere), Takeaway collectors (details elsewhere), Girls who bigged up and became chefs and waitresses
And finally everyone who turned up littles and partners of for being so friendly.

New additions

Hey, hey folks this week I'm talking about a couple  of friends who've recently come into my life after requiring a new home.
First up is Millie who as you can see is a  magnificent 8 inch 'vintage' rag doll in her sailor uniform including woollen bloomers in pretty good shape.

In addition to her and I did promise Colleen I would, here is her rehomed friend, Amy

Okay for girls of certain chronological age  this means something because she is one of the Holly Hobbie characters popularized in the works of Denise Holly Ulinskas, an American children's story writer.
The cat-loving, rag dress-wearing little girl in a giant bonnet and licensed to Knickerbocker Toys who popularized these rag dolls in the mid 1970's. 
Amy is an original  and had to be resowed carefully during her previous life but otherwise is in good rather than exceptional shape.
Be that as it may, these were the dolls my female friends played with outside of Sindy and Barbie and I always wanted one badly and now I have Amy.

Important Note:  The next blog update will be delayed as I shall be elsewhere shall we say but I will publish an entry as soon as I can.

Furry animal

Ha! that got you thinking, eh?
Well between the rain dampening my bones and the return of the gale force winds thoughts went back to creature comforts.

No, not the ace pet store in town, but rather cozy fleecy socks like these Mommy bought me the other day that should keep me warm. It's amazing she actually gets stuff I like quite a bit now.
Well kinda connected I guess is this

Okay they're flat ballet pump styled but let's be honest here with the effects of my cerebral palsy on walking as fanciful as heels might be, the one big problem I have is being able to walk maintaining my balance and I wobble badly in heels (maybe I need crutches?) so practicality wins out.
One the other hand they are feminine, do possess a bow and are sufficiently school like to wear with my uniform.
And before I forget a shoutout to Christine!

Can we share the same baton?

Between a number of things like having a cold and encountering a number of interesting websites this week, I was reminded of something which has many implications some of which were relevant to us.

That's right a picture of the game I loved playing at school but it's a sobering thought that sport in many schools has a gender divide going on and not enough people are questioning it.
For instance while in the earlier years girls and boys may play the same sports and if really being radically have mixed teams (just fancy the concept of girls and boys actually co-operating!), as we work our way through the tweens, something starts to happen.
Sports start forming along  rigid gender lines in Britain with boys having to play soccer and girls hockey or netball as if having a few anatomical differences is sufficient to what may interest you or where your sporting abilities might lie.
This is a problem if your abilities do indeed lie in sports not judged to be acceptable to be played by people of your own gender, for instance a boy who is really good playing field hockey may struggle to find a team to play for.
It used to be difficult for girls to play soccer in school although The Football Associations in the UK have been working on that for a while now.
It's also a problem if like me you're transsexual, pretty much out on a limb wanting to spend time with those who gender you do identify with in class, sharing the same interests and yet there's little reason why it should be this way. 
Fortunately my last school was a bit flexible in that regard but many are not. 
It's really  time for a change don't you think?