Friday, March 25, 2022

Music Friday: Bob Seger’s Sweetheart Is ‘Looking So Right in Her Diamonds and Frills’

Welcome once again to Music Friday when we bring you fabulous songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. In the 1978 classic, “Hollywood Nights,” Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bob Seger tells the story of an unsophisticated Midwestern boy who moves to the West Coast and falls for a bejeweled beauty.

Seger sings, “And those Hollywood nights / In those Hollywood Hills / She was looking so right / In her diamonds and frills.”

In the end, the girl who had “been born with a face that would let her get her way” abandons our hero, leaving him brokenhearted and unsure whether he should pack up and return home.

Seger told the Detroit Free Press in 1994 that he was inspired to write the song while living 2 1/2 months in a rented house in the Hollywood Hills.

“I was driving around in the Hollywood Hills, and I started singing ‘Hollywood nights / Hollywood Hills / Above all the lights / Hollywood nights.’ I went back to my rented house, and there was a Time magazine with [model] Cheryl Tiegs on the cover. I said, ‘Let’s write a song about a guy from the Midwest who runs into someone like this and gets caught up in the whole bizarro thing.'”

Seger noted that the power behind “Hollywood Nights” comes from the use of two distinctively different drum sets playing different patterns and then dubbed over one another. Drummer David Teegarden played one pattern for the initial session, and then recorded a second pattern using a different snare, kick-drum, hi-hat, etc.

“Hollywood Nights” was released as the second single from Seger’s album, Stranger in Town. It reached #12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and became an instant favorite among concert-goers.

Born in Detroit in 1945, the multi-talented Robert Clark “Bob” Seger is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Among his many hits are “Night Moves,” “Turn the Page,” “Still the Same,” “We’ve Got Tonight” and “Against the Wind.” He’s also credited with co-writing the Eagles’ chart-topper, “Heartache Tonight.”

In all, Seger has sold more than 75 million albums. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012.

In the video, below, Seger is joined by country star Jason Aldean in a live performance of “Hollywood Nights.” The lyrics are also here if you’d like to sing along…

“Hollywood Nights”
Written by Bob Seger. Performed by Bob Seger and Jason Aldean.

She stood there bright as the sun
On that California coast
He was a Midwestern boy on his own
She looked at him with those soft eyes
So innocent and blue
He knew right then he was too far from home
He was too far from home

She took his hand and she led him along that golden beach
They watched the waves tumble over the sand
They drove for miles and miles
Up those twisting turning roads
Higher and higher and higher they climbed

And those Hollywood nights
In those Hollywood hills
She was looking so right
In her diamonds and frills
Oh those big city nights
In those high rolling hills
Above all the lights
She had all of her skills

He’d headed west cause he felt that a change would do him good
See some old friends, good for the soul
She had been born with a face
That would let her get her way
He saw that face and he lost all control
He had lost all control

Night after night
Day after day
It went on and on
Then came that morning he woke up alone
He spent all night staring down at the lights on LA
Wondering if he could ever go home

And those Hollywood nights
In those Hollywood hills
She was looking so right
It was giving him chills
In those big city nights
In those high rolling hills
Above all the lights
With a passion that kills

In those Hollywood nights
In those Hollywood hills
She was looking so right
In her diamonds and frills
Oh those big city nights
In those high rolling hills
Above all the lights
She had all of her skills

Credit: Photo by Adam Freese - Mitchell, SD, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Thursday, March 24, 2022

The Royal Mint Employs New Method to Extract 99% of Gold From Electronic Waste

Utilizing a patented, transformative technology, The Royal Mint will be able to extract 99% of the precious metals contained within electronic waste – in seconds, at room temperature.

The Canada-based company called Excir is credited with developing the innovative, ethical and sustainable way to separate gold and other precious metals from the circuit boards of discarded laptops, tablets and smart phones.

The Royal Mint will employ the new technology in a first-of-its-kind recovery plant in South Wales. The facility will create a new source of high-quality, sustainably sourced precious metals for The Royal Mint's core products, which include coins and bullion bars.

When fully operational in 2023, The Royal Mint's facility will process up to 90 tons of UK-sourced circuit boards per week – generating hundreds of kilograms of gold per year. Embracing the principles of a circular economy, the plant will be able to process the entire circuit board, helping to reduce the environmental impact of electronic waste and foster new skills and employment in the UK.

Previously, 99% of the UK's circuit boards would be shipped overseas to be processed at high temperatures in smelters.

Commenting of The Royal Mint's initiative, Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus, told Sky News, "Our research has indicated that if all the unwanted electricals we hoard or throw away every year in the UK were recycled, we'd have enough gold to make over 858,000 rings."

Of the more than 50 million tons of electronic waste that is generated globally each year, less than 20% is currently being recycled. If nothing is done, this number is set to reach 74 million tons by 2030.

“We are transforming our business for the future — expanding into areas which complement our expertise in precious metals, champion sustainability and support employment," said Anne Jessopp, Chief Executive of The Royal Mint. "Our investment in a new plant will see The Royal Mint become a leader in sustainably sourced precious metals and provide the UK with a much-needed domestic solution to the growing problem of electronic waste.”

Credit: Image courtesy of The Royal Mint.

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Houston Women Take Control of Their Relationships in 'Marry Me Now' Reality Series

OWN just premiered Marry Me Now, an unscripted reality series that follows eight Houston women who have run out of patience and refuse to wait any longer for their clueless partners to pop the question.

Each week, love and life coach Rebecca Lynn Pope will guide one woman as she takes the reins in her relationship, secretly constructing all of the elements for a surprise wedding — including selecting the rings — and culminating with a surprise public proposal to her unsuspecting groom-to-be. And it all happens in just three days.

Viewers will follow the mad scramble to secure the ideal wedding dress, select the flowers, break the news to both families and pick the perfect engagement ring and wedding bands. According to OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, some couples will, indeed, experience a fairytale wedding, while others will be utterly disappointed.

Developed by ITV Entertainment — the creative team behind Queer Eye (Netflix), Love Island (CBS), Hell’s Kitchen (FOX), My Mom, Your Dad (HBO Max), The Chase (ABC) and The First 48 (A&E) — the hour-long relationship series promises to be an unscripted rollercoaster ride of emotions.

Whether or not the couples make it down the aisle, these women will finally get the clarity they need to move forward and live happily ever after.

Marry Me Now premiered on Saturday, March 19, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, following the OWN network’s big hit, Love & Marriage: Huntsville. The new series will also stream the same day on discovery+.

Check out the Marry Me Now trailer, below...

Credit: Screen capture via Youtube.com / OWN.