Category Archives: MUSIC

♥ I wish…♥

14 Saturday Feb 2015

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Pearl Jam:  Wishlist

Oh Eddie, you had me at I wish.  “I wish I was the souvenir you kept your house key on.” Sigh!  “I wish I was the pedal break that you depended on.” Swoon!  You see, I wish I could iron your flannel shirts all day while staring into those baby blues, Mr. Vedder, but since that’s about as likely as me moving to Seattle (and you giving up that rock star thing), I’ll settle for listening to my favorite love song, “Wishlist.” From Pearl Jam’s “Yield” back in ’98, it’s a song so simple and yet so moving, I’m stopped dead in my tracks every time I hear it.

Who wouldn’t give it up to someone who proclaimed “I wish I was the verb ‘to trust’ and never let you down?!”  A stream of consciousness kind of ditty with only guitar and drums, it shows Pearl Jam and its frontman at their gentlest, even sweetest, yet still with a wink and a nod:
I wish I was as fortunate, as fortunate as me.
Pure Eddie Vedder Gold!  Wish fulfillment resolved.  Or is it?  That’s the beauty of his song-writing, and the wonder of this song, my Valentine’s Day gift to you.

Woo-ha woo-ha! (Song of the Summer)

16 Tuesday Sep 2014

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Water Fountain

by tUnE-yArDs

“Woo-ha woo-ha!” I heard on the radio back in May when tUnE-yArDs’ new song “Water Fountain” was released, introducing me not only to a very cool band but to a very very cool tune.  As summer finally winds down, I find myself still listening to it, the cheeriest song to hit the airwaves since, well, last year’s “Happy.”  tUnE-yArDs (yup, that’s how they spell it) is actually Indie darling Merrill Garbus and her partner Nate Brenner, who compose some of the most eclectic music out there; equal parts Afro and Indie pop, funky percussive beats and odd rhythms. And all featuring Garbus’ soulful and incredibly unique voice, which really shines on “Water Fountain.”

Most of all, though, the song is just plain old FUN!  It hooks you in fast, builds momentum, and adds layer after layer, leaving you almost dizzy.  Is this Bjork, you think?  Cat Power?  The Talking Heads with a new singer?!  Nope, it’s tUnE-yArDs, no matter how you spell it, and since I can’t seem to get it out of my head nor stop dancing to it, it’s my nomination for Song of the Summer 2014!

Like it?  Check out more tUnE-yArDs, ie. the bluesy “Powa,” and “Gangsta,” explosive and sultry and recently heard in the Netflix hit “Orange is the New Black.”

JT/JZ!

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

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Justin Timberlake & Jay Z

“I got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one,” I sang to the doorman of my chi-chi apartment building the other day. “Say what, white girl?!” he laughed. “Hit me!” I replied with a fist bump as I tried to act cool.  But acting it was as I only really discovered Jay Z’s music last summer, when I caught the Justin Timberlake/Jay Z stadium tour at Fenway Park, and full disclosure: I went for JT but I left for JZ!  Yup, I’m one of these cougar-aged women who secretly love the curly-haired, former ‘Nsync singer … If I had kids, they’d be mortified by my dancing to “Sexyback.”  So I bought the tickets, eagerly awaiting to see my love live for the first time.  Yet I found that Timberlake’s music is much better suited to a smaller, more intimate setting, while the inimitable Jay Z blew the invisible roof off!  His stuff was grand, theatrical, fun, and funny.  It had rhythm and panache – never mind his outfits – and I was relieved that I knew at least a few of his hits.  So if you’re like I was until recently and one of the few in the universe who’s not a fan of Beyonce’s better half, check out my favorite tracks, below, and just try not to sway and smile.

(I hate that 3 of my 4 tracks include Kanye “Father of North” West, but, sigh, they’re good collaborators and great songs. Notice, too, that I did not include any of his songs with JT.  Not my faves.)

“Otis” — Jay Z & Kanye West (featuring Otis Redding)

“99 Problems” — Jay Z

“Ni**as in Paris” — Jay Z & Kanye West

“No Church in the Wild” — Jay Z & Kanye West, featuring Frank Ocean

 

 

Mozart, baby.

06 Tuesday May 2014

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Out of Africa11

Remember that scene in “Out of Africa” where Robert Redford takes Meryl Streep flying in his little yellow plane, soaring over the lush plains of Kenya, an equally lush soundtrack soaring overhead?  Now, do you like babies?  Read on…

A good friend of mine, successful and single, recently had a baby, and one night six months ago, she rocked my world when she asked me if I would be her “birth coach.”  Say what?!  Birth what?!  Me?!  I could go on and on about that night and all that followed, but let’s just say I accepted and it was indeed one of the most heart-stirring and memorable experiences of my life. One of the things I’ll never forget?  The music! Despite my desire to  put together some dramatic, eclectic playlists for the big day, my friend only wanted to hear Mr. Baby Music himself, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  Me, I’d want to hear some soothing Chopin followed by a Jay Z opus or two, but I wasn’t the one popping this baby out.  So a Mozart playlist it was, and when the day arrived and I got THE CALL, I stuffed my Bose SoundDock into my bag-in-waiting, and nervously headed uptown to start my “coaching.”

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About 8 hours and 2 epidurals later, it was time for the final push.  I got on one side, the nurse got on the other, and Mozart played on.  I tried to remember all the breathing instructions I was supposed to impart on to my slightly-drugged yet valiant friend, but all I could think of was, Oh my god, Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto just came on!  This baby’s got to be born during the 2nd movement!  And me being me, that’s exactly what I said.  “One, two, three …. the Adagio is almost here, the music they used in that great scene from “Out of Africa,”  PUUUSH! … six, seven, eight …. “  And guess what?  Beautiful little Claire Luna, all 8 lbs. 2 oz. of her, was indeed born to this beautiful music, below.  And let me tell you, Robert Redford’s got nothing on baby Claire.

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Baby Claire, minutes after birth

Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major, 2nd movement (Adagio)

Womb

26 Wednesday Mar 2014

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I once had a boyfriend who sent me a recording of Brahms 3rd symphony, and on the cover of the CD he wrote, “The 3rd movement makes me want to crawl into your womb and dwell there.”  Too much?  Yeah I know, we didn’t last.  But I kinda’ get it.  It’s gorgeous stuff.

Brahms: Symphony No. 3, 3rd movement: Poco Allegretto

 

 

Madonna ♥ Estonia

13 Thursday Mar 2014

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Remember Swept Away, that laugh-inducing movie from 2002 that starred Madonna and her spray tan?  Well for those of you who ran for the exits after its first excruciating minutes, you missed its one redeeming moment – the inspired choice of using Arvo Part’s hauntingly beautiful “Spiegel im Spiegel” during a particularly heart-wrenching scene. Scratch that, I’m sure it was supposed to be heart-wrenching, but who could do anything but roll their eyes throughout that entire Madonna vanity project, directed by her then-husband Guy Ritchie.

The guy sure did one thing right, though.  He or his peeps knew about contemporary classical music from Estonia (who knew?) and introduced anyone not too distracted by Miss M’s inability to act to a sublime piece of music.

Arvo Part:  Spiegel im Spiegel

And I guess I’m not the only one who thought so, because since then it’s been used in the trailer for Gravity, the New York City Ballet’s After the Rain,  Mike Nichols’ Wit on HBO, and countless others.  Swept Away, indeed!

(Holy Sh*t!) It can not be!

24 Monday Feb 2014

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Costa Brava, Spain, September, 1990 

I was about to suffer sun stroke on a sweltering bus trip from Barcelona to a tiny town up the coast, sticking to my vinyl seat and gulping at my agua con gas.  What saved me?  A voice from above, or actually, my Sony Walkman (1990!) in the form of The Three Tenors recording.  Sure there was plenty of fun stuff from the other two, but it was Placido Domingo singing a song that I had never heard that made me forget my woes and the smelly guy next to me. The song was “No Puede Ser,” a popular Zarzuela, or Spanish operetta, aria.  It’s a big, schmaltzy love song for tenor and orchestra meaning “It can not be,” but that doesn’t matter.  What does matter is the last three notes of the song, which so floored me I stared dumbfounded at my Walkman before rewinding again and again.  The video was released a few months later and lo and behold, the conductor Zubin Mehta does the same thing!  He literally stares at Domingo when he finishes, almost shaking his head in disbelief at what he’s just heard, and bows down to him as they shake hands.

The Three Tenors (Domingo, Carreras, Pavarotti) and conductor Zubin Mehta

It’s that good.  Domingo in his prime, not in “Tosca” at the Met, but in a knock-em-dead performance of a lovely little ditty.

No Puede Ser
Performed by Placido Domingo

Listen first:

Then watch:

Trauma

08 Saturday Feb 2014

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Electronica with an organ riff??  Yes, please. I’ve loved this jazzy dance track for years; it’s soulful and naughty with just the right amount of funk.  Imagine my surprise, then, when I was flipping channels the other night and there it was, perfectly accenting the chilling last scene of an old “ER” episode.  Remember when cutie-pie Carter and his impressionable intern Lucy were stabbed by a mental patient?  Carter falls to the ground in pain and suddenly sees his young charge staring back at him, motionless on the floor in a puddle of blood. “Trauma, trauma, trauma…” goes the soundtrack.  Brilliant!

Lo Fidelity AllStars (Featuring Pigeonhead): Battle Flag

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http://www.allmusic.com/song/battle-flag-mt0010512225

Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon

06 Monday Jan 2014

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Neil Diamond: Hot August Night

My friends have made fun of me for years but I don’t care.  I love Neil Diamond.  There, I said it.  And I’ve loved him for a long, long time.  It all started when my older brother gave me his entire record collection as a Bat Mitzvah present, which come to think of it, was a pretty sweet gift. And out of all his records, I liked “Hot August Night” the best – a live recording of Diamond singing his songs on, well, a hot August night in 1972 at the Greek theater in LA.

Say what you will about his later, schmaltzy stuff and those shiny dress shirts he wore — back in the 70’s, ND was one cool dude.  He wrote songs like nobody’s business, and he shines at the Greek in such classics as “I Am … I Said” and “Holly Holy”.  And I’m sorry, but how could anyone listen to “Cherry Cherry” and not grunt along and love it?  There’s the occasional silly stuff (“Porcupine Pie”?), but check out his “Red, Red Wine” and “Solitary Man” before they were covered by younger pop stars.  Listen to the romantic “Play Me” or the lovely “Canta Libre” and even “Sweet Caroline” before it was over-played at Fenway Park.  His voice is strong and soulful, his band is tight, and listening to this old album almost erases the memory of his god-awful remake of “The Jazz Singer” with Laurence Olivier.  Huuuh!

http://www.allmusic.com/album/hot-august-night-mw0000098473