Top 5 Marriage Songs, ArtWalk Kickoff and Dedication, West Hartford ShopRite Help Bag Hunger Event

Good morning, West Hartford! Today is Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013; there are 110 days left in the year.

I used to have a lot more lists in this feature when I was the editor in The Granbys and South Windsor than its current incarnation. Since it’s late and I’m feeling a bit lazy and very married at the moment (my wife and I are celebrating our first anniversary soon; she’s a very lucky woman), I’m going to reprint one of my favorites on my top 5 songs involving tying the knot:

5. Two Princes (Original Artist: Spin Doctors) - Every generation has a band that has that one album, and the Spin Doctors’ “Pocket Full of Kryptonite” fit that bill in 1992. I was a junior at Syracuse University when this album broke out, and you couldn’t walk down the street without hearing Two Princes blaring out the window of every dorm room and fraternity house. Anyway, it tells the tale of a guy who is competing with another dude for the heart of a woman.

4. White Wedding (Billy Idol) - I can think of no finer song about shotgun weddings than this.  Well done, Mr. Idol. Uh, not that it’s a huge genre or anything. Honorable mention: Keep Your Hands to Yourself by the Georgia Satellites.

3. Love and Marriage (Frank Sinatra) - Best remembered as the theme from the TV show Married with Children, this song marks a second Daily 5 appearance for Ole Blue Eyes. Welcome back.

2. Slide (Goo Goo Dolls) - ZOMG, don’t tell my friends I like this song. Please. But it’s sweet sounding stuff about a ne’er do well who is in love with a woman and tells her to slide into his room so he can run away with her and get married. Until Metallica covers this song, my street cred = 0.

1. Wouldn’t it Be Nice (Beach Boys) - Pure cotton candy.

Honorable mention: All the Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) (The Beyonce). OK, this is less about marriage than it is about what happens when you don’t lock it down with The Beyonce. She’ll end up at the club with a man hanging on her tighter than her Dereon Jeans, that’s what will happen. In an unrelated note, I love The Beyonce.

Here are five things going on in the area today:

1. I’m going to be bagging at ShopRite today at 10 a.m. as part of the Help Bag Hunger event. Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman will be among those also bagging groceries for a good cause.

2. The West Hartford Art League is having a public dedication at 5 p.m. on Memorial Road for the three horses by sculptor Karen Petersen. This event will officially kick-off ArtWalks 10th anniversary celebration. ArtWalk was founded by the League in 2004 as a way to bring art into the community.

3. The Junior League of Hartford's 12th Annual Links & Laughter Golf Event takes place today at the Hartford Golf Club.

4. Early stage memory loss support group is today at 4 p.m.

5. The Connecticut Academy of Irish Music is accepting registration for fall