Flash back Friday #55-More Girl Power

Yup, I'm going to admit this here. I like girl bands. Cheesy ones. I flew to Las Vegas to see The Spice Girls perform on their reunion tour a few years ago. And if the ladies below tour in the USA where they are relatively unknown, I will go see them too. I will dance at the concert in my sparkly high heels, just like I do at home, singing to my dog.

Girls Aloud are reuniting for their 10th anniversary with an album and tour.
Enjoy one of my favorite songs, The Loving Kind.

Flash Back Friday #48-Jamie Cullum

In July 2010 I flew to Denver to see Jamie Cullum perform at the Denver Botanic Gardens with my Mom and sister. For those of you not familiar with Jamie, he is an amazing jazz musician from the UK. His song Gran Torino for the movie soundtrack of the same name was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

I highly recommend his albums, In the Mind of Jamie Cullum, The Pursuit and Catching Tales.

(For book lovers, he is married to Sophie Dahl, herself an author and the granddaughter of Roald Dahl author of such wonderful stories as James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

It was a fantastic concert especially since I was standing a few feet away from him while he played. Here is a short video I took of him singing "If I Ruled the World".

Enjoy readers and have a nice weekend!

Travel Soundtrack

I always travel with music. My iPod touch is the 2nd thing I pack (after my passport of course). Music saves my sanity during long air, train, car and bus trips and somehow manages to set a mood for where ever I am roaming.

During my trip to France I listened to a playlist titled "Rock, Paper, Paris" (after my favorite childhood game). As I was riding the train to Giverny and Reims the music provided the soundtrack as the French countryside passed by.

Here's a glimpse of my playlist: a mix of pop, jazz, French and folk.

Little Lion Man-Mumford and Sons
Perpetuum Mobile-Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Que Reste-T-Il De Nos Amours-Charles Trenet
I'm Afraid of Americans-David Bowie
Cosmic Love-Florence and the Machine
La Vie En Rose-Louis Armstrong
Teenage Dream-Katy Perry
Un Jour Comme Un Autre-Brigitte Bardot
The Longer I Run-Peter Bradley Adams
Marilou Sous La Neige-Serge Gainsbourg
Listen-Amos Lee
Don't Give Up-Chicane
Bloodletting-Concrete Blonde
Feeling Good-Nina Simone
Cuts You Up-Peter Murphy
Take My Hand-Dido
Carpe Diem-Aldebert

(Photo is a pic of my travel essentials on the way back to Paris from Champagne...yeah lots of water after all the tastings)

What's on your travel soundtrack?

Flash Back Friday #41

Because yesterdays post was a look back at my life in 1989, 1999 and 2009 and a recent Flash Back Friday was music from the 80's, here is a montage of the top hits of 1999. Ya gotta love naughty Lolita schoolgirl Britney Spears singing Hit Me Baby One More Time and a scary embalmed Cher singing Believe.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

It's Monday so how about some album cover art?

The first song I heard this morning was Escape (aka The Pina Colada song) by Rubert Holmes. Or as my Kid calls it "That song from Shrek".

I think the album cover that shows up on my iPod for this song is perfect for the 70's era. Makes me smile every time.

This got me to thinking about album cover art and I started to flip through my music, here is a selection of the stranger ones in my collection.

Pina Colado Song from an album of number 1 hits from the 1970's:


I'm a little in love with Kate Bush. Why you ask...a haunting voice, amazing lyrics and then you have an album cover like this...enough said.


Those Wilson sisters can rock. I love Heart, especially the Renaissance Faire cover from the album Little Queen. This album is so fantastic I had to include the front and back. I love that they are primping in front of a goat. Makes perfect sense.



One of my favorite songs of all time, Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult. Perfect album art work obviously:


Throwing Copper by Live. Weird, like some of the art hanging in the Art Institute that I just don't get:


Diana Ross, the woman was an original. Pearls, fake tiger. Cool.


If you have any suggestions for great, odd or just plain wrong album cover art work, leave a comment.

Whatcha Watching?

In the month leading up to my Annual Oscar Party I try to see 2-3 movies a week. During the past week I saw, Avatar, Nine and Leap Year. This week I am planning on seeing Young Victoria, It's Complicated and Crazy Heart. Last night's Golden Globes was a glimpse into awards season but I only watch the last hour or so since I don't watch enough television to know about the TV shows nominated.

In my opinion it's been a banner year for movies, I've enjoyed almost every film I saw in 2009 with the exception of the WORST movie I can remember, The Ugly Truth. Seriously I was embarrassed for the actors in the film and pissed off that I spent money on watching such a vulgar, insulting film. On the flip side, the movie that has often been called vulgar was the funniest film of the year. The Hangover made me laugh like nothing else. Loved it, bravo for winning the Golden Globe last night, can't wait for the sequel.

The movies I saw this week ranged from the unbelievable (Avatar) to the slow (Leap Year) to a jumbled mess (Nine). I do appreciate that even in a muddled film there can be great performances. Everyone in the musical Nine gave it their all...Daniel Day Lewis, Marion Cotillard and Penelope Cruz were excellent. I have no idea why they put Kate Hudson and Nicole Kidman in for 5-10 minutes each, their parts gave nothing to the film. The real standout was singer Fergie, she was mesmerizing to watch and her voice was terrific. Leap Year, the romantic comedy starring Amy Adams as an American woman who goes to Ireland to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day was slow and silly but the last 15 minutes was full of the romance and magic of Ireland that should have been throughout the movie. I can't remember that last time I saw a film set in Ireland that didn't utilize the stunning scenery and charming people, but Leap Year didn't use either. A definite wait-for-it-to-hit-DVD film.

Avatar. I don't know what I can say about Avatar that hasn't already been said. You have to see it to believe it. I think my mouth was hanging open through most of it at least when I wasn't tossing M&M's in. I saw the movie in 3-D which I haven't done since Jaws 3 back in the 80's. I and was a little concerned I would get ill since I have vertigo and any jumpy camera motion makes me dizzy. But surprisingly not one bit of this film made my head spin. I enjoyed every minute of it, it's like stepping into someones dream, a visual feast and not to be missed. I saw James Cameron on Oprah last week and he said they created an entire language for the film and named every insect, animal and plant. That's fricking amazing, more so if you've seen the movie and the scale of the world he created in Pandora.

I hope you've seen many of the films out right now, let me know your favorites. I'm off to see some Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart soon, I've got a thing for his long hair.

Flash Back Friday #32

My favorite Christmas Carole, the Little Drummer Boy with Bing Crosby and David Bowie.
Enjoy!

Groundhog Day?

Ever been in a phase where you just listen to or read the same thing over and over and over? I'm there. It's kinda like my cheap form of therapy.

Currently I am obsessed with a couple of songs, I seriously have them on repeat through iTunes and must listen to each song a dozen times a day. My drugs of choice,
Imogen Heap's First Train Home and The Temper Trap's Sweet Disposition. T.O.T.A.L.L.Y O.B.S.E.S.S.E.D. I think both songs lower my blood pressure.

There have been a few songs in my life that are always my "Groundhog Day" songs. I've played them so much people actually associate me with the songs when they hear them, it's like my life on repeat. My anthem song is Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill. I've run into people I knew 20 years ago in college, we'll be sitting in a bar and Solsbury Hill will come on the radio and they'll say, "This song always reminds me of you." It's happened a couple of times, I must have played that song A LOT in my dorm. Peter Gabriel is my personal God, maybe that's why friends told me I should name my son Gabriel while I was pregnant (I didn't). Another song is Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear the Reaper, which pretty much defined my life in my 20's. If I only heard those 2 songs for the remainder of my life I would still never tire of them.

Like I have Groundhog Day Songs, I have Groundhog Day Books, books I read over and over again and never tire of. Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind is one. The classic children's book Harold and the Purple Crayon is another. Nora Roberts wrote a trilogy fans call the Irish Trilogy (Jewels of the Sun, Tears of the Moon, Heart of the Sea) set in a small coastal village in Ireland. Reading Robert's trilogy never fails to get me in the mood to travel and even believe in a little bit of magic. Anything by Jane Austen is also on my repeat list.

So what is it about music and books or even movies that makes you listen, read and watch over and over? Is it the mood they put you in? The hope or inspiration they enhance? To me they are old friends. I find a certain comfort in the familiar first notes of a song, of the mystical places a book can take me back too. I renew my belief in the power of music and the sacredness of imagination. I enjoy the memories of being in a certain place at a certain time and hearing a song I love and when I hear the same song 20 years later it's like no time has passed at all. So I'll deal with my Kid saying, "Mom not that song again" but I enjoy even more when he says, "Mom can you play the 1978 live version of Solsbury Hill again."

Here's the 1978 live version of Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill, my anthem.

Fairy Tale

A week ago there was a story in the London papers about a 47 year old, unmarried, unemployed woman who lived with her cat and dreamed of becoming a professional singer. She auditioned for the 3rd season of Britain's Got Talent and when she walked onstage in her frumpy dress and messy hair the judges (including Simon Cowell) and the audience laughed at the sight of her. Well then she opened her mouth and sang and she shocked them all.
The article in the paper appeared BEFORE the show had even aired on television and as soon as I read it I searched for a video clip and since it hadn't aired yet there was nothing. By the time the episode aired last weekend and a clip of her performance was uploaded to YouTube, she was already an internet sensation. Similar to the story of Britain Paul Potts the car phone salesman who won the first season of Britain's Got Talent in 2007 with his opera voice, last week Susan Boyle the unemployed Scottish woman with the voice of an angel shocked the world by singing the song I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables.
A few days ago when the clip was first posted I was able to embed it in my Facebook page but now that the clip has been seen by more than 14 million people the embedding has been disabled, but here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
I've watched the clip about a dozen times and it never fails to send shivers up my spine and make me teary. Each time I watch it, just a short 7 minute video, I'm amazed at how astonishing what happened at that audition really is. I'm sure part of the appeal of the video is a result of clever editing and the hype about the audition that shocked even hard hearted Simon Cowell, but really... what is the emotion that affects the millions who watch it?
Susan Boyle has all the makings of a fabulous fairy tale or a blockbuster movie... an ugly duckling middle age woman who by her own admission has never been kissed and lives with a cat for companionship. She decides to make her own dreams come true and auditions for one of the most cynical men in the music business and with 1 song changes everything. Not only has Susan changed the course of her life when most of the world would have written her off, but she truly, truly touched that part of so many of us who have always believed that their lives were meant to be extraordinary but things just didn't go as we planned. For me it's not just the sheer beauty of her voice or the courage it took to finally chase your dream. It's the magic of watching a real dream come true.

Collections in the White House

I thought you might enjoy this story of a little known White House collection.
Obama's a lucky man.
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25584782/obamas_secret_record_collection

Friday Flash Back #16

I was watching music videos on VH1 this morning while my kid was getting ready for school and was feeling young and chipper until I sat through videos by New Kids on the Block and Gavin Rossdale.
Back in the late 80's while in my first 2 years of college I was working at a grade school supervising the before and after school programs. In 1989 all the kids were obsessed with the New Kids. Their faces were on every lunch box, backpack etc. Horrible really. Then in the mid 90's with the British Invasion of bands like Oasis and Bush (Gavin Rossdale's former band) it was all about hard partying Brit musicians. I saw Bush back in 1995 at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago and they were topping the charts with their album Sixteen Stone. So this morning I sat through new videos by New Kids and the now solo Gavin Rossdale (more famously known as Mr. Gwen Stefani) and seriously aged about a decade in 5 minutes. Rossdale is probably in his early 40's and the New Kids are in their late 30's and these once teen crushes are now nearly middle aged men! Funny that their videos are still aimed at young females with the New Kids video showing them in expensive suits picking up women half their age in a bar and Rossdale's video features him half naked through most of it either in a shower or a pool (I'm not complaining).
After closing my gaping mouth I turned off the TV and went upstairs to rub some anti wrinkle cream on my face.
Geez.....
Enjoy some vintage New Kids on the Block with their video for Hanging Tough.

Rainy Ravinia

Saw Poi Dog Pondering at Ravinia last night. In the rain. Was totally not prepared, no wellies, no umbrella...
Good music, but for the miserable rain I would have preferred to be at Glastonbury in the mud watching Amy Winehouse fight a touchy feely fan.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/music/gig-419894-details/Glastonbury+Festival/gigReview.do?reviewId=23502712

Do You Live365?

This is one of my favorite sites and one I utilize almost daily while at work. Live365 is an Internet Radio site where individuals or organizations can broadcast their station over the WWW. Listeners can chose from thousands of radio stations from all over the world. As a free member you can preset your favorite stations or chose from a wide genre of musical tastes. If you join for a small fee as a VIP, you get extra perks, such as commercial free listening.
Depending on my mood my radio tastes run from Celtic broadcasting straight from Ireland to Sirens of Song, a station out of LA. Live365 has a presence on Facebook where you can request songs as well as a MySpace page.
On the topic of music, I am currently addicted to Ladytron's song Destroy Everything You Touch, here is a clip:

Must Read Book- A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll

I had the privilege of receiving an early and signed copy of the book A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll by Nancy Lee Andrews and edited by Marshall Terrill. The book is coffee table size and "wrapped" in its own hard cover box, it presents like the gift that it is. The author Andrews is a former model and fiancee of Beatle Ringo Starr with whom she spent most of the 1970's and her memories of the era and the Rock and Roll luminaries she knew are captured and preserved lovingly in her book. Each photograph is displayed like a portrait and as Nancy writes, span 10 of the most thrilling years of her life as well as an unforgettable era in music.
When I began reading the book, I found myself stopping at certain photographs, such as a haunting one of Eric Clapton walking away from Stonehenge (picture taken by Carl Radle, the author's first love and a musician and fellow photographer). With each photograph, I wanted to learn more about the person captured in the image, figures like Leon Russell, George Harrison, Bernie Taupin, Donovan and the "Ladies of Rock Roll" such as Jenny Anderson and Kiki Dee. It was a difficult book to put down not only because every time I did someone in my house disappeared with it but because the photographs are so stunning and personal. The author captured those around her in poignant but also silly and deeply personal moments in their lives.
Another one of my favorites, Ringo Starr snuggled in bed with his three small children. That picture sums up what the author captured as a photographer and as a storyteller.

Must Read Book-I Was There

I just finished a terrific book, I Was There: Gigs That Changed The World by Mark Paytress. This fascinating book is a guide to the greatest live music performances from the 1930's to today. Each selection includes photographs and first hand accounts by those who were there.
Some of my favorites:
Elvis Presley on the Milton Berle Show in 1956
West Side Story on Broadway in 1957
Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli in London on 8 November 1964
Velvet Underground in New York April 1966
Frank Sinatra at the Sands in Las Vegas in 1966
Johnny Cash at Folsom State Prison, 13 January 1968
Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970
Iggy and the Stooges, London on 15 July 1972
The Ramones in London, 4 July 1976
Siouxsie and the Banshees in England, 15 october 1978
Joy Division in England 14 march 1979
Michael Jackson in California 25 March 1983
Prince in London August 1986
The Smiths in Manchester 30 October 1986
Jeff Buckley in New York 19 July 1993
Eminem in New Jersey October 2000
Each page makes you feel as if you were there, don't miss this glimpse into the magic of live performances.