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Flashback Friday – “Crazy” by Seal

Posted by on February 3, 2012 Leave a Comment

“Oh we’re never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy…”

Seal (AKA Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel) is a British musician with a Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has enjoyed a very successful musical career over the last 20 years, and is best known for his Grammy award winning song “Kiss from a Rose.”

In 1991, Seal’s single “Crazy” was released in the U.S., just a few months after it was released in the U.K. I remember loving it from the first time I heard it on Z100 in Portland. The next time I heard it on the radio, I recorded it on a cassette tape and played it on my Walkman over and over. I also recorded the music video off  VH1, along with other songs like “Silent All These Years,” “More Than Words,” and “Faith.

There’s something about Seal’s voice that I totally love. It’s soulful and kinda raspy, and he just soars on the high notes. I’ve also though that he has a very interesting look to him, with all the scars on his face, and just found out that they were caused by Lupus. He’s been married to the German model Heidi Klum for 7 years, but they recently announced their separation.

Isn’t that crazy?

A few years ago, Alanis Morissette covered “Crazy”, and it was almost as good as the original in my opinion. I love the lyrics to “Crazy,” even though I’m pretty sure it’s a drug song.

“And through a fractal on a breaking wall, I see you my friend, and touch your face again. Miracles will happen as we trip. But we’re never gonna survive, unless we get a little crazy.”

I’d embed the video into the blog post, but it’s been disabled. But you can watch “Crazy” here. Did anyone else listen to this song on their WalkMan?

 

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Christmas Flashmob – Ding Dong Merrily On High

Posted by on December 4, 2011 4 Comments

Handbells! Irish dancing! Waving arms! Incognito directors in USU sweatshirts! People who love to sing and dance and perform as much as I do!

The American Festival Chorus pulled off this awesome Christmas flashmob on Black Friday. One of my blogging idols, Loralee Choate, is a part of the AFC. She came up with the idea to put together this fantastic Black Friday flashmob in a matter of days. And they totally pulled it off! Loralee told me about her flashmob plans a few weeks ago when we saw each other at a bloggers event at Hale Center Theater. I was so excited for her and couldn’t wait until the video was posted online. I had NO IDEA it would end up being such a fabulous production! I wish I’d driven up to Cache Valley to experience it live.
black friday flashmob
Can I just say….I really miss singing in a really great choir? I’m not a soloist by any means. I have that “musical glue” type of blending voice that makes everyone else in the choir sound amazing. If Logan wasn’t so dang far away for weeknight practices, I’d totally join up and quit hiding my musical talents under a bushel. Until then, I’ll just enjoy everyone else’s holiday singing. Until then, I’ll just be friends with @AmFestChorus on Twitter and pretend I’m in that crowd at the mall.

 

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Flashback Friday – “Joyride” by Roxette

Posted by on September 9, 2011 1 Comment

“Hello, you fool, I love you – Come on join the Joyride!” Admit it….when you hear it on the radio, you sing along. “Joyride” by Roxette was tearing up the radio airwaves in 1991 with rocking guitar riffs and “whistling a private tune.” Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle eased their way onto the radio scene with their smooth voices and sexy spiky hairdos. Roxette enjoyed international success from the mid 1980′s through 1990s. Their first US hit was “It Must Have Been Love” on the Pretty Woman soundtrack in 1990. Their album “Joyride” was released the next summer, and quickly became the song I was always singing to myself.

The Swedish pop duo Roxette became my favorite band when I decided it was not cool to like New Kids On The Block anymore. I was so obsessed, that I actually did my 6th grade country report on Sweden. I remember walking all the way (over a mile!) to Fred Meyer, with my stonewashed denim purse, to buy the Joyride cassette (with my babysitting money, of course) I was thrilled when the cassette inside was bright blue, instead of the usual white, clear, or black casings.The “Joyride” music video was so fun! It made me want to ride on the back of a red Corvette with carnival-esqe leggings and a black leather corset. My favorite song on the album was actually “Fading Like a Flower,” but it never got as popular as “Joyride.” Did you love Roxette too?

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Flashback Friday: Losing My Religion

Posted by on June 24, 2011 3 Comments


Sometimes I feel like I’m turning into an old crotchety parent. I’m 31, but I routinely listen to music from the last 5 decades. My daughter Rosie is growing up faster than I can deal with, and recently she told me that she doesn’t always want to listen to my usual radio station.

I stopped breathing for a moment. I thought I was a cool mom listening to cool music.

My parents stopped listening to most of the latest stuff when I was a kid, opting to ignore the pop/punk/new wave of the 80′s and stick with their mellow 70′s singer/songwriters. I love the 70′s singer/songwriters, don’t get me wrong. My parents always seemed to humor me with a few songs from my station before going back to their cassette tapes of James Taylor, America, Carole King, and Crosby Stills Nash and Young. But around the time I was 11, I definitely had acquired my own unique taste in music. It appears that with my daughter, this has come full circle.

Since my musical tastes evolved so much around the time I was Rosie’s age, I decided to share these songs and stories with her. And because I don’t want to forget my early memories of how these songs affected my life, I’ve decided to do a “Flashback” series of posts about music that made a profound impact on me.

After I got past my tweenage obsession with New Kids On The Block, I started to listen to more “alternative pop.” When I couldn’t sleep at night, I’d sneak downstairs to watch videos on VH1 and MTV (back when they focused on music videos, not reality tv.) There were two videos that made lasting impact on me – Tori Amos’ “Silent All These Years” and R.E.M.’s “Losing my Religion.”

R.E.M’s “Out of Time” album was released in 1991, and “Losing My Religion” was their top hit on the album. Previously, most of REM’s radio airplay was done on campus radio stations. “Losing My Religion” launched this alternative rock band into mainstream radio. It was critically acclaimed for their stark and somewhat sacrilegious imagery. However, the phrase “losing my religion” is slang in the southern United States for losing one’s temper or civility. When you get mad, you sometimes lose your religion.

The catchy E minor, A minor, D and G chord structure combined with a folksy mandolin riff and Michael Stipe’s distinct voice became REM’s most popular hit in the US. And it’s my favorite song off of “Out of Time.”

And it’s a song my daughter thinks is pretty cool, even though it came out when I was her age.

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Wordless Wednesday: Blue Canary Nightlight

Posted by on April 6, 2011 4 Comments

blue canary in the outlet by the light switch

“Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch
Who watches over you
Make a little birdhouse in your soul”
- Birdhouse in your Soul – They Might Be Giants

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Top 10s of 2010

Posted by on December 27, 2010 5 Comments

Top 10 Albums of 2010

1. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

2. Ben Folds – Lonely Avenue

3. Keane – Night Train

4. Florence and The Machine – Lungs

5. Vampire Weekend – Contra

6. Sarah Bareilles – Kaleidoscope Heart

7. Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz

8. OK Go – Of The Blue Colour of the Sky

9. Kings of Leon – Come Around Sundown

10. Maroon 5 – Hands All Over

***
Top 10 Movies I Saw This Year

1: Love and Other Drugs

2. Toy Story 3

3. The Social Network

4. Tron Legacy

5. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

6. The Black Swan

7. Inception

8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1)

9. Despicable Me

10. Date Night

***

Most Watched TV Shows of 2010

1. Big Bang Theory

2. How I Met Your Mother

3. 30 Rock

4. Glee

5. Nip/Tuck

6. Californication

7. The IT Crowd

8. Weeds

9.90210

10. The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret

***

Favorite 10 Apps/Websites/Social Networks/Games

1. Twitter

2. Facebook

3. Foursquare

4. WordPress

5. Get Glue

6. Tumblr

7. Beatles Rock Band

8. LinkedIn

9. Will It Blend?

10. Smurfs Village

***

Bonus:

Not-New Bands  that I finally communed with:

1.Radiohead

2. Incubus

3. Oasis

4. The Eels

5. Linkin Park

***

Best 2 Books I Read

1. Hotel On The Corner of Bitter and Sweet

2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

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Octobre

Posted by on October 26, 2010 10 Comments

October is my favorite month of the year. Not only does the shift in weather punctuate, the end of the hot, oppressive summer; October is the month that I celebrate my wedding anniversary with my Tayviator. The days and nights are a bipolar mix between needing the heat and air-conditioning on. The leaves on the trees change color, shed their verdant rainment, and bear their naked skeleton for a season. The world becomes more monochromatic, making Spring colors even more delightful.

I love breathing in October, especially in Utah. The air is not too dry, not to cold. It’s crisp. It’s invigorating. It’s great for a few weeks before Jack Frost makes a daily residence, thereby torturing my asthmatic lungs. The precipitation tends to be rainy, which I love. Occasionally a few days of Indian Summer will pop up, but I rarely have to deal with temperatures over 80 degrees. The first dusting of snow happens, as it did yesterday, and the “3 month holiday season” begins.  October is my happy place.

In high school French class, I listened to “Octobre” by Francis Cabrel. Every October since, I’ve listened to this song to get in the mood. Click on the video below, and enjoy the soothing music and voice of “France’s James Taylor.”

Octobre de Francis Cabrel

Le vent fera craquer les branches / The wind will rustle in the branches
La brume viendra dans sa robe blanche / The mist will come in its white dress
Y’aura des feuilles partout / There will be leaves everywhere
Couchées sur les cailloux /Lying on the pebbles
Octobre tiendra sa revanche / October will have its revenge
Le soleil sortira à peine / The sun will be just gone
Nos corps se cacheront / Our bodies will hide themselves
Sous des bouts de laine / Beneath bits of wool
Perdue dans tes foulards / Lost in your scarves
Tu croiseras le soir / You will pass October
Octobre endormi aux fontaines /October asleep at the fontains
Il y aura certainement, / There will be certainly
Sur les tables en fer blanc /On the tables of tin
Quelques vases vides qui traînent / Some empty vases lying around
Et des nuages pris aux antennes / And some clouds hanging onto antennas
Je t’offrirai des fleurs / I will offer you flowers
Et des nappes en couleurs / And colored tablecloths
Pour ne pas qu’Octobre nous prenne / So October won’t capture us
On ira tout en haut des collines / We will run to the top of the hills
Regarder tout ce qu’Octobre illumine / And see everything that October is illuminating
Mes mains sur tes cheveux / My hand on your hair
Des écharpes pour deux / Scarves for the both of us
Devant le monde qui s’incline /The world will give into us
Certainement appuyés sur des bancs / Certainly resting on a bench
Il y aura quelques hommes qui se souviennent / There will be some men who remember
Et des nuages pris sur les antennes / And some clouds hanging on antennas
Je t’offrirai des fleurs / I will offer you flowers
Et des nappes en couleurs / And colorful tablecloths
Pour ne pas qu’Octobre nous prenne / So October won’t capture us
Et sans doute on verra apparaître / And without a doubt, we will
Quelques dessins sur la buée des fenêtres / See some paintings of condensation on the windows
Vous, vous jouerez dehors / You, you will be playing outside
Comme les enfants du nord / Like the children from the north
Octobre restera peut-être. / October will stay, maybe


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The End of The End

Posted by on April 30, 2010 7 Comments

Forgive me for my recent lack of posting…I’ve been in mourning.

My absolute favorite radio station of all time, 101.9 The End, disappeared off the Salt Lake area airwaves last Wednesday. I had less than an hour of notice before the last songs of Utah’s Rock Alternative played.

I’m a music junkie. I’m a fan of terrestrial radio. I spend ridiculous amounts of time in my car. Good music is a MUST when I drive. Despite my loaded 120 GB iPod, I like me a little sassy bit of radio personality peppered in. I’ve found stations in other states and cities that I’m loyal to (particularly 93.9 The River in Detroit), and thankfully most of them broadcast online. But it was like the air was stolen out of my lungs to have MY STATION lose its DJs and go jockless. And does America need another crappy Gen X radio station? I think not.

O dear Grant Ruby, Cort and Chunga, and all the others at The End who made the world a happier musical place, please accept my devoted love to you. I wish you much success to you in the future. You’ve got a fan for life.

Now excuse me while I begrudgingly reset the preset stations on my car stereo.

UPDATE JANUARY 2011: They’re back on the air!!!

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I’d Rather Dance With You

Posted by on March 1, 2010 4 Comments

When I’m having a tough day, few music videos make me happier than “I’d Rather Dance With You” by Kings of Convenience. What do you watch/listen to while trying to get out of a sad funk?


I’d Rather Dance With You

(Thank you Brett for bringing this song into my life)

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Flight of the Conchords Fansterpiece

Posted by on January 30, 2010 Leave a Comment

If you are a Flight of the Conchordsfan, you’ll love this Fansterpiece Mashup of “Hiphoppopotomus/ Rhymnocerous.” I wish I’d known about this project, because I totally would have submitted a video to HBO.
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