Far, Far Away

Last night, we had tickets for the touring company performance of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. What a show!

The Peanut and I saw it a couple of years ago when they were in Morgantown, but Mr. ReddHedd missed that performance due to a severe hacking cough and fever, and we decided that Typhoid Bill was not an appropriate way to spend a matinee performance with hundreds of small children and their parents.  (You are welcome, people who were there.)

The performances were magical, and we were blessed with a live orchestra and not just canned music for the background, which is always pure heaven.  The sets were beyond amazing -- works of art, intricately built and multi-dimensional as they were folded and re-purposed over and over through the show by stagehands and actors dressed as gargoyles.

Pure genius.

But the star of this show, for me anyway, is always the soaring lyrics written by Howard Ashman, in his last work before AIDS took his life all too early.  During most of the time he was writing the music for this movie and show, AIDS was ravaging his body and tearing his life apart, and he was, at times, confined to his home and writing from his bed.

Howard Ashman's lyrics on The Mob Song still, sadly, ring true in a lot of quarters.  Imagine being a person who felt like other people looked at you this way every day:

Take A Walk On The Wild Side

Whoa.

You know how some people always seem larger than life and completely indestructible?  This rocked my world today:  Lou Reed passed away.

Huge.  That's just huge for me for some reason.  Via Rolling Stone:

With the Velvet Underground in the late Sixties, Reed fused street-level urgency with elements of European avant-garde music, marrying beauty and noise, while bringing a whole new lyrical honesty to rock & roll poetry. As a restlessly inventive solo artist, from the Seventies into the 2010s, he was chameleonic, thorny and unpredictable, challenging his fans at every turn. Glam, punk and alternative rock are all unthinkable without his revelatory example. "One chord is fine," he once said, alluding to his bare-bones guitar style. "Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz."

You have to love a quixotic purist with some serious flare, don't you?

Black Magic Woman

Heard this on the radio this morning. Had not heard this in ages and, for some reason, it has been stuck in my head ever since.

The ache that comes across in the guitar is just amazing.  Good stuff for a Monday.

Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody

Some days?

You just wake up thinking "I need some Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody."

Don't you?

The combination of classic Queen and The Muppets is truly irresistible.

But put down all liquids and swallow first before you hit play -- your keyboard will thank you.  Enjoy!

Shake It Out

It's always darkest before the dawn...

Love this song by Florence + the Machine. 

This more spare version of Shake It Out from an AOL session is amazing.  Really powerful stuff for a Monday morning.

Enjoy!

Enjoy

Who doesn't want a little hot, young Sting to start off the day?

I mean...honestly.  Enjoy.

Taking That Next Step?

I can always tell when I'm moving toward a change or needing something new in some way:  I start seeking out music that calls to the traveler within.

And lately?

 I've been on a Silk Road Ensemble and Loreena McKennitt kick.

This piece, played by Wu Man on the pipa, is particularly evocative.  Thought everyone else might enjoy a listen as well.

When you get restless, how does it manifest itself for you?  I have a friend who finds herself in the middle of reorganizing and cleaning the entire house, and another who gets in her car and just drives for hours while blasting old honky tonk tunes.  For me, it always seems to end up being a lot of inward thought while listening to music that calls to my restless need for exotic travel (even though I never seem to actually travel anywhere exotic!).

It's funny how our minds work through whatever may be eating at our souls, isn't it?  But that may just be the Olympic-induced exhaustion talking from too many late nights in a row watching physical excellence while sitting on my behind.

Whatever the impetus, I feel something stirring that calls for change of some sort.  It's always interesting to see what shakes out when that particular internal storm begins to brew...

God Bless The Child

While we were in New Orleans, we discovered a great jazz club right on Bourbon Street.

Grammy-winning trumpeter Irvin Mayfield has joined with the Royal Sonesta Hotel and opened a quiet little club tucked away inside the hotel lobby away from the bustle on Bourbon Street. The drinks are a little overpriced but, with the exception of Irvin's live night on Wednesday, there is no cover charge and the friendliness of the bartender and waitstaff and excellence of the performances make the extra cost on drinks more than bearable.

We spent a lot of time just hanging out and watching some live shows several evenings while we were on vacation.

Found this upload, that gives a little taste of what we got to see -- not this performance, but just the live vibe feel.  Nice little mental vacay...enjoy.

Unwind: Bebel Gilberto

Cannot understand a word she is saying, since I don't speak any Portugese. But every song of hers is so lush, so layered with innuendo, longing and buried joy that I just cannot wait to listen to another.

If samba and jazz had a child, it would be Bebel Gilberto, daughter of the great guitarist and bossa nova legend, João Gilberto.

This is some serious cocktail party or date music.  Or something to wind down with after a really tough day. 

Or just something to pop on with a glass of wine and perhaps enjoy a slow dance or two in the living room.

Wonderful stuff.

Silent City

It's a Monday.

Enjoy a step onto the Silk Road and their performance of Silent City from one of their newer albums, New Impossibilities.

One Of These Days

Pink Floyd performing One of These Days (from their Meddle album), live in 1994.

Love the Doctor Who theme that sneaks out at 2:17 -- brilliant!

Sweet Child Of Sitar

This morning, my nephew shared a link to this hilariously fun YouTube.

And I had to share it with everyone.

The world is small. And some of it? Is really awesome.

Especially when you mix it up altogether and stir it in a pot and see what comes out from the melding.  Just imagine for a moment what could be if we look at the similarities and the things that bring us together instead of the things that pull us apart.

This is an advertisement for Channel (v), which is a sort of Mtv of India, my nephew says. In case you don't recognize the tune, it is Sweet Child O' Mine being played on the sitar.

Too fun! Enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Van Morrison.

The Chieftans.

Performing Raglan Road.

Does it get any better than this? Enjoy!

These Are The Days

Van Morrison.

These Are The Days.

Love this song, love his voice...love it.

Enjoy. It's a run-around day for me today -- too much to do, too little of me to get it done.

If The Stars Were Mine

Love this song from Melody Gardot -- If The Stars Were Mine, from her album One And Only Thrill.

Enjoy!

Maybe

A little mellow awesomeness for a drizzly, gray Friday morning.

Ingrid Michaelson singing "Maybe" in a live performance for Billboard magazine.

This is just wonderful stuff.

Enjoy!

No Oscar Nod for Alan Rickman? Arrrrrrrgh!!!!

Dear Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:

There are no words to express my disappointment in the lack of a nomination for the brilliant Alan Rickman and his subtle, nuanced and incredibly moving performance in the final Harry Potter film.

Disgusted does not begin to cover my feelings, so I'll just leave with this: your bias against science fiction and fantasy films is showing. 

Arrrrrrrgh,
Christy

PS -- The above YouTube is a fantastic interview with Alan Rickman about his role in all of the films and so much more.  Well worth watching!

Happy New Year!

U2 performing "Beautiful Day" in Ireland with Slane Castle as a bit of backdrop.

Wonderful stuff to start off the year.  Enjoy!

Wishing you as much joy, laughter and love as you could ever want this year.  Plus a little more just for comfort.

Happy, happy new year everyone!

Wish You Were Here

Woke up this morning, it feels like spring or summer but for the little bit of nip in the air when the breeze blows.

It's winter, but not.

It's a Pink Floyd kind of day. YouTube is a montage of photos set to "Wish You Were Here." Just what I wanted this morning. Enjoy!

Smells Like...Muppets

Stumbled across this YouTube of the Muppets covering "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

Hilarious.

The giggle was just too fun not to share it. Enjoy!