Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the music category.
Stephen King’s playlist from EW
It’s pretty good….
Some songs are NSFW
FYI – Stephen King (yes, THAT Stephen King) writes a monthly column for Entertainment Weekly magazine. In the 11/20/09 issue, he gave a playlist in his column. I went to imeem and put together the playlist fer yer listnin’ pleasure. There are a few substitutions but only where imeem didn’t have the suggested song. Enjoy.
Weekend Round up /Contest reminder
- The Force of Nature’s soccer team won a game!
- -ate some wonderful food at Mezzaluna (try the Eggplant Parmesan appetizer; fantastic!)
- saw the movie “Good Hair” with some friends (I enjoyed it)
- Got some more Kureyon for the Lizard Ridge blanket (I’m halfway there)
- made zero progress on the Tapestry Cowl
- got “The Individual formerly known as Homeschool Kid”’s hair cut. Yay!
- since my hairstyle was making me feel OLD, I even got my hair cut (I now now own a flatiron to style it with….)
- no band rehearsal because the bandleader had a heart attack (please say healing prayers for Sylvester!)
- spent what seemed like endless hours tryna fix the Force of Nature’s cobbled-together iPod (I should post a picture – it’s held together with rubber bands for REAL) and to remove some rather nasty spyware from my ‘puter
- Studmuffin left for Cali on a business trip
- I didn’t remember to call my brother for his birthday til like 2 am. I still haven’t called
( - Natasha’s limp has gone away as mysteriously as it came.
- posted one of my cutest ever posts (I think) about Domo-kun with cute pictures AND NOBODY COMMENTED :::sad trombone::: I guess everyone is too busy? Or do you just hate Domo-kun? Or is it me?
Today, I:
- forgot to put out the trash
- felt like crap all day
- spoke to 2 wonderful friends on the phone (I love you guys!!!)
- finished knitting No.1 Son’s birthday prezzie and am felting it (and felting and felting….)
- took a nap and was
- late making dinner and so
- burnt the spaghetti with meatballs……..
Life is good but I still feel yucky. It will pass….. WHERE is the goshdurn heating pad?!
Meal plan Monday:
Mon- spags & meatballs
Tues- Shepherd’s Pie a la Cracker (this didn’t get made last week; I WILL share the recipe)
Wed- leftovers
Thurs- Mac & cheese & salad
Fri- Romano Beans & rice
Sat- Soup & sandwiches/Corn Chowder
Sun- Chinese take out
CONTEST Reminder
Contest ends on October 31st, 2009 at midnight Alabama time, and the winner will be announced when I get around to it (probably during the following week). My choice will be completely arbitrary and humor is encouraged. )
Please submit prospective names in the comments – the name I choose for him will win a $14 gift card to Starbucks. If you live someplace without Starbucks, I’ll contact you directly and we’ll work it out.
See all the other names submitted in the comments here
Toodles
A mid-week video
OK, ok so it’s kind of lazy to just post videos instead of writing….well, at least I think so. However, I think the video below applies to what’s happening with me right now.
I’ve been kinda consumed with fear about this new band venture I’m involved in. Yep, I’m playing keys for an R&B/funk band. We had our first rehearsal on Sunday night and they are good, and I am NOT. So I’m practicing and practicing and trying not to panic.
See, this may seem strange to many, but I know that this fear is a good thing and it’s a big reason why I decided to do this. Since my brain went wonky four years ago, even the way I learn music is different than before…and it’s much harder. I really enjoy playing piano/keyboards but I m not very good at it, and I know I don’t practice nearly enough to reach competency. And of course I’ve got every excuse as to why I can’t/won’t/shouldn’t/don’t feel like practicing at any given moment. So I really needed an opportunity just like this, where other people are depending on my skill and God provided it for me.
Don’t get me wrong, the possibility of failing at this big time & in public is VERY real and at the moment, it seems just about certain! But this is why it’s so good for me because there’s also the chance that I will rise to the occasion, and this is a very different kind of gig for me: I’m NOT in charge, I’m not singing any leads, I’m not running the rehearsals or doing booking, and not only am I the newest member of the band (some of these folks have known each other for many years), but I’ve got the fattest(not phattest. oh no….), geekiest look happening, I’m the lone white person AND I’m the weakest musician. How’s that as a recipe for success? I’m way out of my comfort zone…and that’s GOOD.
So here’s a motivational little clip for ya. Wish me luck y’all and I’ll let you know when our next gig is.
Some music for the weekend
Ok, ok I could NOT get the widget to work properly, so you’ll have to go to the mirror blog to listen. Sorry.
More music for Ayyam-i-Ha!
Well, Ayyam-i-Ha was officially over at sunset yesterday (March 1) but I had promised to post more music for y’all and since I got distracted by my life this weekend and didn’t post anything, I decided to go ahead anywayand give y’all some more!
Are you surprised by any of the folks on this list? On this list everyone is a Baha’i *except* the Procussions, but the featured vocalist is Tara Ellis and she *is* a Baha’i. And I am not completely certain that Buffy Sainte-Marie is *officially* a Baha’i, but she has performed at a number of Baha’i conferences over the years, is listed on Wikipedia as an adherent and there is video someplace of her accurate explanation of the Baha’i belief in Progressive revelation…so she if she isn’t officially a Baha’i, she’s one at heart and that’s what counts. )
Ayyam-i-Ha Music for you
Today I thought I’d post several songs by fairly famous musicians who are Baha’is. It’s mostly jazz artists for today, but I put Dan Seals at the top of the list because he’s very ill and in pain right now and is in need of your prayers. Hope you enjoy the music!
Some people think there’s nothing new under the sun…
I beg to differ. )
knitblogs, knitting and tunage
My Google reader has been 1000+ unread posts for over a month. I’ll no sooner get it down below 1000 and then it’s back up again. Grrr. Guess why I’m up so late? Well, it’s because of the holidays. Ya see, most every knitblogger I read has been posting their merry fingers off since they’ve had a bit time off for the holidays, so the number of unread posts is WAY up above 1000. Call me the knitblog Scrooge.
On a happier note, I’m about half-way done with the Ice Queen cowl I started a few days ago for my secret pal, even after frogging back 4 or 5 times. I sure hope she likes it……. I’m making it out of the 100% cashmere lace that I overdyed. Some of the dye is crocking off onto my hands as I knit, but not nearly as badly as a few of the indie dyers I’ve bought yarn from. I even got some really pretty beads to match it for next to nothing at Michael’s. Pictures maybe tomorrow.
AND some rather marvelous news: one of my favorite musicians ever, David Wilcox, has more demos, outtakes and live songs to download, so I did. He’s one of the few artists that Studmuffin and I both really like, and he’s a truly excellent storyteller with a lot of earnestness (is that a word?) in his lyrics and his voice. We went to see him for the first time ever a few years ago at Workplay in Birmingham. First off, if anyone you’d even halfway like to hear live performs at Workplay, you should GO. It is a simply wonderful place to hear live music – period. They used to have a supercool website – not anymore, but hey! They’ve put their $ into the actual place. But I digress…….
Anyhow, I coerced Studmuffin into coming out to see Wilcox – it wasn’t that hard, but it did take a wee bit of cajoling, and it was fantastic. I sang a little harmony to myself on most every song, plus the place was packed. I was in heaven, and the Studmuffin insisted, after I mentioned a whim to do so, that we should hang around after and meet him. I wish now that I hadn’t – not because he wasn’t nice because he was, but I gushed stupid fanguage all over him(something like “I own everything you’ve ever recorded! Gee by golly whiz bang, Mr. Wilcox, I think yer great!”). A year or so later for some giftly occasion, like his birthday, I gave STudmuffin a live concert DVD of Wilcox…and it turned out to be the show we had seen in Birmingham. Cool huh?
So I say allllllllll of that to get to this: he’s recording a new album, but in the meantime I now have about 18 more tunes of his, most of which are unfamiliar, to listen to until then. Life is good.
A New Year neato-thing
Yes, in case you have been seriously out of pocket, I’ll remind you that as of today it is 2009.
The neato thing I discovered today was that Amazon has about 500 mp3s one can download for free. I love downloading music legally – there’s a lot out there and much of it is worth hearing and you certainly will not hear it on ze radio. I have only downloaded 1 song illegally. I did it 5 years ago and I still feel guilty. Stealing is BAD and I know it. I have been waiting for it to be available for purchase so I can purchase it legally and begin to erase the blot on my conscience.
There’s a lot of blogs out there with free downloads on them; I won’t list those that I know of because my taste in music is SO eclectic and wide-ranging most anyone else would be very frustrated trying to find music that they like. I will however mention that Magnatune and eMusic have a daily free music download, and Performing Songwriter puts 12 free downloads on their site every month. Actually, eMusic has lots of free music available if yer a member. And then there are the podcasts…… I have so much new free music that I now would like to get an external drive to hold more music because I won’t hardly ever delete music and the addict wants to be sure of her supply. )
————————————————————
I have 2 New year’s resolutions that I hope to keep. The first is to give more money to my favorite charity rather than less(and therefore buy less yarn because I really DO have enough). To keep this one, I’ll have to really keep the second one, which is to keep my own personal checking account on the plus side MORE than it is on the minus side. Someone once asked me if I was really bad at anything, since to that poor misguided soul I had created the illusion of competency – even excellence- in a number of areas; along with maintaining a sylph-like figure, I am really bad at caring for money.
Money does require care; it’s like a poorly domesticated pet. It’s always off peeing in the corner, rolling around in something foul smelling and dashing out the front door at top speed so you have to spend hours chasing it, then when you finally get the wretched thing contained, it demands to be fed. Hmmmm…perhaps my attitude has something to do with…? Could be. I don’t really care very much about money, so it’s hard for me to take it seriously, kind of like housework. It’s just a tool and I derive no pleasure from its management. But Studmuffin takes money management very VERY seriously and sees my lackadaisical attitude as a kind of disrespect for him (because it’s ALL about HIM), plus it’d be nice to spend my money upon things I’d like as opposed to spending it on banking fees. SO this year, I’m going to pay more attention to it, take better care of it. Pray for me – I’m way outta my comfort zone on this one.
I promise – actual knitting content is on the way.
Christmas meme
But first this:
more animals
———————-
I got this from the fabulous blog of Smariek Knits:
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? Usually none, and the Force of Nature will draw one on paper and tape it to the piano. However this year I have a sour orange tree that lives outside during the warm weather and now it’s inside. The Force of Nature has decided it is suitable, has hung several ornaments on it and pronounced it our Christmas tree.
3. When do you put up the tree? N/A
4. When do you take the tree down? N/A
5. Do you like eggnog? yes, but only the homemade non-alcoholic kind. Studmuffin and the kids like storebought…which tastes like glue to me.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably the Laura Ingalls Wilder books my grandmother gave me every year.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Studmuffin; he doesn’t really *get* the whole gift giving thing…..
8. Easiest person to buy for? The kids.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? No.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? A few of both
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? The year I got absolutely no gifts for my birthday or Christmas (my birthday is on the 13th) from husband or kids….after busting my but to do everything for everyone else.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? It’s a 4 -way tie: The Bishop’s Wife (with Cary Grant), Holiday Inn (which I hardly ever get to see), Muppets Christmas Carol(if you haven’t seen it, you MUST!), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (with Jim Carrey). I only saw that last one 2 years ago and I just adore it. Bill Murray’s Scrooged is a close runner up; Bobcat Goldthwait is SO funny in this movie….
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Whenever I see something that I think will serve, but we do Christmas pretty small so usually the bulk of the presents shopping is done about a week before. Shopping for the Christmas dinner takes much more time.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Oh yes. I would much rather give a gift to someone else who will love it than to store it unused in my all-too-cluttered house or throw it away (Horrors!).
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas cookies.
16. Lights on the tree? No.
17. Favorite Christmas song? That changes just about daily with me! See the last two posts for a sampling.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Staying home.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Of COURSE! Dasher Dancer Prancer Vixen Comet Cupid Donner Blitzen and Rudolph….though I love the Ray Stevens’ song “Santa Claus is Watchin’ You” where he renames the reindeer: Bruce Marvin Slick Clyde Doright and Leon.
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? In the morning. Growing up we always did it Christmas Eve which I prefer, but Studmuffin insists upon the morning so….
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The hysterical crazy over commercialization of Christmas in the U.S. Last year I was in British Columbia for a few days before Christmas and it was really really nice and relaxed…even charming. If it wasn’t so cold, I might emigrate.
22. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love snowflakes.
23. What do you want for Christmas this year? Peace on earth
24. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither
25. Favorite Christmas dinner?One I do not personally have to cook. )
a nice christmas II – MP3 Music Streams on IMEEM
You didn’t really think I could stop at just ONE now did you?
A Nice Christmas – MP3 Music Streams on IMEEM
Last year I did much better in posting some of my favorite holiday music to de blog; I’m sorry I didn’t start earlier. Anyway, this collection is rather eclectic – you’ll find a rather wide variety of stuff but not to worry, there’s enough familiar stuff here to make everyone pretty happy.Have a lovely Christmas.
Music Meme
The rules:
A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year
C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you don’t like, and ??? for the ones you don’t remember.
1986 is the year I graduated so here goes:
1. That’s What Friends Are For, Dionne Warwick, Elton John, and Gladys Knight
2. Say You, Say Me, Lionel Richie
3. I Miss You, Klymaxx
4. On My Own , Patti Labelle and Michael McDonald
5. Broken Wings, Mr. Mister
6. How Will I Know, Whitney Houston
7. Party All The Time, Eddie Murphy
8. Burning Heart, Survivor
9. Kyrie, Mr. Mister
10. Addicted To Love, Robert Palmer
11. Greatest Love Of All, Whitney Houston
12. Secret Lovers, Atlantic Starr
13. Friends And Lovers, Carl Anderson and Gloria Loring ???
14. Glory Of Love, Peter Cetera
15. West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys
16. There’ll Be Sad Songs, Billy Ocean
17. Alive And Kicking, Simple Minds
18. Never, Heart
19. Kiss, Prince and The Revolution
20. Higher Love, Steve Winwood
21. Stuck With You, Huey Lewis and The News
22. Holding Back The Years, Simply Red
23. Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel
24. Sara, Starship
25. Human, Human League
26. I Can’t Wait, Nu Shooz
27. Take My Breath Away, Berlin
28. Rock Me Amadeus, Falco
29. Papa Don’t Preach, Madonna
30. You Give Love A Bad Name, Bon Jovi
31. When The Going Gets Tough, Billy Ocean
32. When I Think Of You, Janet Jackson
33. These Dreams, Heart
34. Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone), Glass Tiger ???
35. Live To Tell, Madonna
36. Mad About You, Belinda Carlisle
37. Something About You, Level 42
38. Venus, Bananarama
39. Dancing On The Ceiling, Lionel Richie
40. Conga, Miami Sound Machine
41. True Colors, Cyndi Lauper
42. Danger Zone, Kenny Loggins
43. What Have You Done For Me Lately, Janet Jackson
44. No One Is To Blame, Howard Jones
45. Let’s Go All The Way, Sly Fox ???
46. I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On, Robert Palmer
47. Words Get In The Way, Miami Sound Machine
48. Manic Monday, Bangles
49. Walk Of Life, Dire Straits
50. Amanda, Boston
51. Two Of Hearts, Stacey Q ???
52. Crush On You, Jets
53. If You Leave, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
54. Invisible Touch, Genesis
55. The Sweetest Taboo, Sade
56. What You Need, INXS
57. Talk To Me, Stevie Nicks ???
58. Nasty, Janet Jackson
59. Take Me Home Tonight, Eddie Money
60. We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off, Jermaine Stewart
61. All Cried Out, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam With Full Force
62. Your Love, Outfield
63. I’m Your Man, Wham! ???
64. Perfect Way, Scritti Politti
65. Living In America, James Brown
66. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A., John Cougar Mellencamp
67. Who’s Johnny, El Debarge
68. Word Up, Cameo
69. Why Can’t This Be Love, Van Halen ???
70. Silent Running, Mike + The Mechanics ???
71. Typical Male, Tina Turner ???
72. Small Town, John Cougar Mellencamp
73. Tarzan Boy, Baltimora ???
74. All I Need Is A Miracle, Mike + The Mechanics
75. Sweet Freedom, Michael McDonald
76. True Blue, Madonna
77. Rumors, Timex Social Club
78. Life In A Northern Town, Dream Academy
79. Bad Boy, Miami Sound Machine ???
80. Sleeping Bag, ZZ Top ???
81. Tonight She Comes, Cars
82. Love Touch, Rod Stewart
83. A Love Bizarre, Sheila E.
84. Throwing It All Away, Genesis
85. Baby Love, Regina ???
86. Election Day, Arcadia ???
87. Nikita, Elton John
88. Take Me Home, Phil Collins
89. Walk This Way, Run-D.M.C.
90. Sweet Love, Anita Baker
91. Your Wildest Dreams, Moody Blues
92. Spies Like Us, Paul McCartney ???
93. Object Of My Desire, Starpoint ???
94. Dreamtime, Daryl Hall ???
95. Tender Love, Force M.D.’s
96. King For A Day, Thompson Twins
97. Love Will Conquer All, Lionel Richie ???
98. A Different Corner, George Michael ???
99. I’ll Be Over You, Toto ???
100. Go Home, Stevie Wonder ???
The ones I’ve bolded, I can remember the all the lyrics to almost all of those songs….. Is it any wonder that I cannot remember stuff now?
A fairly strange thing happened…..
Last Friday, the UPS man came by with packages. That in and of itself is not so strange; he often comes by to deliver things and my dog Natasha loves to bark her head off at him and/or the brown UPS truck (she hates them for some reason). So these two big boxes came and I was thinking to myself, “Wow. Your brain is degenerating even faster than you know!” because I couldn’t remember buying that much of anything, like, ever. I do order things and then immediately forget about it but they are small things like a skein of yarn, a book, a cd, etc., and the last thing I remembered ordering was a magazine.
Once I got these large boxes inside, I glanced at the sender’s address: Interweave Press. Well, that whom I had ordered the magazine from! Did I win something? I was a little excited, and so were the kids. Louisa was saying loudly, ‘I thought we didn’t have any money right now!” and I agreed that it was true; cashflow right now is down to a trickle…..
I opened the boxes and found a packing slip: it was almost $500.00 worth of knitting books that was supposed to be sent to a yarn store in Georgia. Ian was all for my looking through the books – there were some in there that I really wanted to see, but I was a good bunny and didn’t. And the magazine that I ordered from them also arrived but in the post.
On Monday, I called Interweave Press and described what had happened. They said they’d arrange to have the “evil brown truck” come back and pick them up in a couple of days, which did happen.
My little devil that sits on my shoulder keeps asking, “What if you hadn’t called them? What if you had kept the books? it wasn’t your mistake,” and so forth. I know what would happen – I wouldn’t be able to sleep and my dishonesty would haunt me for the rest of my life; it’d be like stealing. But I do wonder just a bit; the person I spoke to at IP didn’t even say, “Thank you for your honesty,” or “Sorry for the inconvenience,” or even”Thank you for calling us.” I mean, I did just find almost $500 worth of books and I think I should’ve been thanked….just a little.
It sure was weird to receive those books though. On a practical level, it was a silly shipping mistake, but on a deeper level I wonder why the universe sent that shipment to me?
I must say, tonight I think it was the first time I’ve ever had to cancel choir rehearsal on account of SNOW. Like John Prine says, “It’s a big ole goofy world.”
<cross posted to my LJ (and you can hear the song there too)>
