It seems like lately there is no shortage of novels about first loves resurfacing decades later in the lives of various female main characters.

And in real life, as well, people aren't shy about sharing their memories and experiences, especially about former high school sweethearts.

In the novel Always Something There To Remind Me Beth Harbison writes:

Everyone has a first love, one person they never completely got over, right? Picture yours. Because when you come down to it, it isn't really anything about the way they look that distinguishes them in your memory-hair color, physical shape, style. It can change all the time. It's the way you remember feeling when you looked at them.

In one book and a couple of articles I read on the subject of first loves and crushes, one common thought came up again and again in the minds of people wondering about that special person from long ago. It wasn't so much that they wanted to see them again or (worse!) leave a current relationship in some weird hope they could rekindle 'that old magic.'

The thought was this: that they hoped (especially when they had no way of knowing for sure) that former love, or even just that former crush, was somewhere, somehow, happy and healthy.

Call me corny, but I couldn't agree more.

This weekend there is an "I Love Lucy" marathon on Hallmark...yay!!! For many of us Lucy is not just a treasured icon of comedy, but someone whose beloved sitcom has gotten us through bad colds, bad break-ups and just plain bad days.

Saturday, August 6th is what would have been Lucille Balle's 100th birthday and Hallmark is celebrating in the best way possible!!!:

read here

Do you ever find something in your hard copy music collection you're just appalled to find you still own...something you thought you got rid of years ago, but now realize you must have held on to for nostalgic reasons? And then, do you put that album on anyway, listen to it and suddenly feel just a tad overwhelmed by the past and just how much you loved that goofy music at one time? :)

The other day I found myself putting two Debbie Gibson songs on my iPod, one of which I would be willing to defend to the end as actually being a really good love song. "Foolish Beat."

It was a song she not only wrote and sang herself, but also produced. She would have the record for being the youngest artist to do so until 2007.  Years later "Foolish Beat" would make VH1's 40 Most Awesomely Bad Break-up Songs...Ever, but I actually loved the song and still do.

Maybe others find it melodramatic or just plain bad, but I hear something in it that speaks to the pain of being young and in love. And when it became a hit in 1988, I was seventeen and going through the worst kind of teen angst...so maybe that's why I liked it so much.

Virgin Voices is one of the best tribute albums I've ever heard. I happened to come across it when I was doing a Madonna search on Spotify.

All of the tracks are more than decent (well except for the dreadful and very odd cover of "Material Girl"), but the incredibly impressive ones include: Dead or Alive's take on "Why's It So Hard," Heaven 17's "Holiday," Annabella Lwin's "Like A Virgin" and Flock of Seagull's "This Used To Be My Playground."

Atralasia's version of "Vogue" is intriguing vocally, but the tempo has been intensified to the point that it sounds almost cartoon-like, a sound that also shows up on "Bad Girl" (James Hardway with Amanda Ghost.)

Front Line Assembly's "Justify My Love" actually improves on the original, sounding more sultry than sleazy. "Open Your Heart" by Ofra Haza has an opera quality to it and is very beautiful. I could go on and on about the rest of the album (on two discs) but it's so awesome you need to discover it for yourself!

Another Madonna tribute album that's not half bad is by The Popettes. Instead of a variety of artists, it's just one and while the Popettes take few creative liberties and stay almost 100% faithful to the original versions, Tribute to Madonna is still worth a listen.

Of particular note is the Popettes' take on "Miles Away;" it's actually better than Madonna's.

In reading news stories online about Amy Winehouse, I've already seen dozens and dozens of  rather unkind comments posted about her specifically and drug addicts in general.

The most striking note (one that is kind and sincere) I saw posted simply said, "He who is without sin cast the first stone." I'm not a particularly religious person, but I've always liked this line.

I don't know a lot about drug addiction, but I do know that unless someone is deeply suicidal, chances are she is not planning her own death when she takes that first drug. And that once her life begins spiraling out of control, she  is truly helpless to take it all back and start over unless someone else is deeply committed to helping her.

All I really can say for certain about Amy Winehouse is that she had a spectacular voice and was instrumental in bringing about the recent wave of 60s girl group (say The Shangri-Las) sound fused with jazz. Duffy, quite good but not nearly as much a belter, came after Amy...as did the amazing Adele.

"I know Amy Winehouse very well," Lily Allen once said. "And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."

Sometimes it's easy and tempting to say drug addicts dig their own grave, but I think it's a lot, lot more complicated an issue and that expressing sympathy and other heart-felt emotions doesn't mean you condone drugs. It just means that your heart is big enough to feel bad for anyone who is suffering no matter what the cause...