I have been changing my tune lately. Though the Celtic vibes still roll through this old brain, I have gone back to those favorite days of my youth where music was pop, and early rock and roll. Though the artist I've been playing really doesn't fit in either of those categories, he has created a little niche for himself that seems to keep growing into newer and younger generations. The first song he sang of course is one probably everyone knows. Here's a bit of a hint - he considers himself a "gulf and Western," singer.
Can't guess who he is? Here's another little hint....well, actually a BIG hint! His first song was in 1977 and it's definitely his signature piece - Margaritaville! Yes, it's that smiling master of fun, Jimmy Buffett. I do have CDs by him and have been finding myself humming his tunes a lot lately. He's really something because with his taste for the Caribbean sound no one thought he would be so big for so long. I really believe his longevity is directly responsible to the songs, and the way his concerts always seem to take you away from life and give that sense of a mini-vacation with each song he sings.
One of my favorite songs at the moment happens to be a little diddy that takes in the realm of the shark - those on the land, that is! His song Fins is silly but it really has quite a catchy tune. If you haven't seen any of the videos of the song online go check them out.
During these fall days a bit of Jimmy and his Caribbean reality is a true gift on a cold rainy fall day.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Thursday, August 4, 2011
A World of Music at your Finger-tips
I have always been a rather odd duck when it comes to what I like whether it be in music, or in electronic gadgets. I'm not quite a geek, though I certainly would love to be considered one, but I have to say I am certainly enamored with the techie gadgets we have today! Especially if they can give me a plethora of music at my fingertips!
For years I have been looking for a way to get good radio reception in my own personal valley on the West coast of Michigan. We get only a few radio stations in clearly, and the reception goes from a solid wall of white noise to an occasional piece of music with a huge amount of static! So that's when I went on a hunt beyond a good radio station and definitely more than listening to my small CD library as well. After looking around for months in local stores and even online I was really totally frustrated!
I didn't want that expensive satellite radio for the car or home, I just wanted to be able to get lovely classical and Celtic music - all the time of course! I don't ask for something simple or easy do I?
My search continued for what seemed to be years, but was only really a few months until I finally discovered something I thought I'd never find. An internet radio. Getting the stations online from all over the world has really turned into quite a bonus, too! I mean who wouldn't want to wake to, say a station from Ireland or England and enjoy their fantastic way of looking at the world? For me there is nothing like waking to good classical music and add to that that British way of speaking and I was hooked.
There are a few glitches that are a definite problem but nothing that someone who loves a challenge to finally get the ability to enjoy great music of any kind as clear as if the it were being piped from the next room.
Since I got my internet radio I've discovered quite a few stations of classical, Celtic as well as other types music theme stations. My favorites today is a station in mid-England which is fabulous to listen to for the music and their really fun commercials. There's also a station in Ireland with some of the best Celtic music I've heard. Add to that the fact that I'm listening to a well known Boston station (WGBH!), as well as one in D.C. and New York City and you are truly getting the feel for what I'm now enjoying with my internet radio! For me, it was not only the best choice, it was the only choice.
Who knew you could get fabulous reception for almost any station you'd ever want to listen too.
For years I have been looking for a way to get good radio reception in my own personal valley on the West coast of Michigan. We get only a few radio stations in clearly, and the reception goes from a solid wall of white noise to an occasional piece of music with a huge amount of static! So that's when I went on a hunt beyond a good radio station and definitely more than listening to my small CD library as well. After looking around for months in local stores and even online I was really totally frustrated!
I didn't want that expensive satellite radio for the car or home, I just wanted to be able to get lovely classical and Celtic music - all the time of course! I don't ask for something simple or easy do I?
My search continued for what seemed to be years, but was only really a few months until I finally discovered something I thought I'd never find. An internet radio. Getting the stations online from all over the world has really turned into quite a bonus, too! I mean who wouldn't want to wake to, say a station from Ireland or England and enjoy their fantastic way of looking at the world? For me there is nothing like waking to good classical music and add to that that British way of speaking and I was hooked.
There are a few glitches that are a definite problem but nothing that someone who loves a challenge to finally get the ability to enjoy great music of any kind as clear as if the it were being piped from the next room.
Since I got my internet radio I've discovered quite a few stations of classical, Celtic as well as other types music theme stations. My favorites today is a station in mid-England which is fabulous to listen to for the music and their really fun commercials. There's also a station in Ireland with some of the best Celtic music I've heard. Add to that the fact that I'm listening to a well known Boston station (WGBH!), as well as one in D.C. and New York City and you are truly getting the feel for what I'm now enjoying with my internet radio! For me, it was not only the best choice, it was the only choice.
Who knew you could get fabulous reception for almost any station you'd ever want to listen too.
Friday, December 17, 2010
My kind of Christmas Music
Okay, I know I'm more than a bit abnormal, but I don't like hearing Christmas music (You know the kind!) playing in my ears for over 60 days this time of year! I was okay with it after Thanksgiving through Christmas but this is ridiculous! Don't get me wrong, I love the season, but I hate what we as a culture have done to it, though.
More than a few years ago I thought I, who love classical music could surely find classical Christmas music that was different in every way. I was totally frustrated from the start. I searched but was frustrated at every turn. That night my husband and I went to a local restaurant for dinner after Christmas shopping. I'd gotten much of what I'd wanted to find for the kids, but we'd also searched for some Christmas music for me and found nothing. I felt defeated and miserable, miserable that is because I was hearing the constant rewind of typical December music.
Well, this little restaurant was a real in-expensive haunt of ours and as we sat there first ordering then eating I was drawn into the music that was certainly not the typical Christmas elevator music that was playing everywhere, in fact it was beautiful! On our way out I asked the manager on duty what it was, but he didn't know since they were all on a tape that contained lots of different pieces of music. I kept calling over the next few days and asking if there was anyone I could ask about the music! Finally he said that he'd ask the general manager about it, but he was not promising me he'd call me only that he's see if he could get the information and I might ask for it the next time I was in the restaurant.
Well, I was more than a bit persistent and finally the general manager did call me back personally. He explained that the music came to him and he wasn't even sure who it was on the tapes, but he did give me a breadcrumb...there was a name on the cardboard that was on the box it had come in two weeks before. Music for chain restaurants in those days were bought in bulk and half the time they weren't even sure what they were getting when they put them in the sound system each night.
The name he gave me was the key to the best music I've ever had for Christmas and I will never forget this musical discovery. The name on the box was Nonesuch, the actual title of a group that had also produced an album called A Nonesuch Christmas from the Baroque, Renaissance, and Middle Ages. I found the music at the record store (Yup, in vinyl) and found it to be even better than I imagined. That of course wasn't the end to my searching since the tape actually had many songs and instrumental pieces from that period by such composers as Bach and one who've I've learned to really appreciate, Michael Praetorius (late 1500s to the 1600s.)
My search turned up at least five other albums after that first discovery that I literally wore out every Christmas for years afterward. It was actually something musically I looked forward to every year as my own personal sounds of Christmas. Since then I've searched to replace those albums, but I haven't been unable to find the record in CD format no matter how much I've searched(Available in vinyl at over $100, though!). It contained the most beautiful music created by harpsichords, lutes, voices, and so many other ancient instruments of the 1500s. I have to say that I really miss those Christmas albums, but I do love the memories of that music and the memories of the music that still plays over and over in my memories during the Christmas Season.
It's funny how something so simple as a piece of music can truly come to define a season, or better yet describe a life during a period musically, but it certainly did for me. And you need to know I'm not giving up - I'm still searching! Out there I will find the music again, but until I do there are the memories of so many of those musical pieces will just have to carry me through.
More than a few years ago I thought I, who love classical music could surely find classical Christmas music that was different in every way. I was totally frustrated from the start. I searched but was frustrated at every turn. That night my husband and I went to a local restaurant for dinner after Christmas shopping. I'd gotten much of what I'd wanted to find for the kids, but we'd also searched for some Christmas music for me and found nothing. I felt defeated and miserable, miserable that is because I was hearing the constant rewind of typical December music.
Well, this little restaurant was a real in-expensive haunt of ours and as we sat there first ordering then eating I was drawn into the music that was certainly not the typical Christmas elevator music that was playing everywhere, in fact it was beautiful! On our way out I asked the manager on duty what it was, but he didn't know since they were all on a tape that contained lots of different pieces of music. I kept calling over the next few days and asking if there was anyone I could ask about the music! Finally he said that he'd ask the general manager about it, but he was not promising me he'd call me only that he's see if he could get the information and I might ask for it the next time I was in the restaurant.
Well, I was more than a bit persistent and finally the general manager did call me back personally. He explained that the music came to him and he wasn't even sure who it was on the tapes, but he did give me a breadcrumb...there was a name on the cardboard that was on the box it had come in two weeks before. Music for chain restaurants in those days were bought in bulk and half the time they weren't even sure what they were getting when they put them in the sound system each night.
The name he gave me was the key to the best music I've ever had for Christmas and I will never forget this musical discovery. The name on the box was Nonesuch, the actual title of a group that had also produced an album called A Nonesuch Christmas from the Baroque, Renaissance, and Middle Ages. I found the music at the record store (Yup, in vinyl) and found it to be even better than I imagined. That of course wasn't the end to my searching since the tape actually had many songs and instrumental pieces from that period by such composers as Bach and one who've I've learned to really appreciate, Michael Praetorius (late 1500s to the 1600s.)
My search turned up at least five other albums after that first discovery that I literally wore out every Christmas for years afterward. It was actually something musically I looked forward to every year as my own personal sounds of Christmas. Since then I've searched to replace those albums, but I haven't been unable to find the record in CD format no matter how much I've searched(Available in vinyl at over $100, though!). It contained the most beautiful music created by harpsichords, lutes, voices, and so many other ancient instruments of the 1500s. I have to say that I really miss those Christmas albums, but I do love the memories of that music and the memories of the music that still plays over and over in my memories during the Christmas Season.
It's funny how something so simple as a piece of music can truly come to define a season, or better yet describe a life during a period musically, but it certainly did for me. And you need to know I'm not giving up - I'm still searching! Out there I will find the music again, but until I do there are the memories of so many of those musical pieces will just have to carry me through.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
A Celeration of Life, and Music
My mother-in-law was the last of my husband and my parents alive. She died on May 30th at 90 years old. Today we celebrated her life in the music of her grandchildren. She was a piano teacher for 30 years, and played that and the harpsichord for years. It was a real celebration of her and the legacy of music that has permeated the family for more years than I cam count.
She tried to teach me piano when I was in my late 30s, but it didn't take with me. Though I can sing, the piano was way too confusing! But on rainy afternoons when I visited we use to sit at the piano and while she played I would sing along with almost every song that had words. She knew I loved the old gospel songs, and the Big Band music from the 30s and 40s and her memorized repertoire of songs was huge!
I grew to really appreciate her gift over the years and though only the girls of the family had the gift for music, we all got to experience in the generation of the grandchildren the gifts of music that were passed on. Today there is a concert level pianist, who teaches music as well; a violinist who is really phenomenal; and another granddaughter who teaches piano and has a voice like an angel. Actually all 21 of her grandchildren love music, and many play piano or guitar simply for their own enjoyment, as do two of her daughters as well.
There are 15 great-grandchildren of varying ages who were exposed to her love of music, and two more on the way by the end of the summer. We really all are anticipating her cherished gift of music will continue and sprout from these children's music loving homes in the coming years as well.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Good Medicine for Hard Times
Surviving in a world where multitasking can drive anyone to distraction in this fast moving society is not always an easy task. Everyone seems to have a way of dealing with it, but for many the strains of a song can make the world seem an easier place to deal with and make any day a little better. In fact music has become the drug of choice for many of us these days.
Music has been proven to sooth the beast in many of people over the centuries, and today it has become a must between the craziness and intense pressures that seem to populate our personal worlds. But, it can also drive our passions, and certain kinds of music are really great for getting physical work done fast!
There are so many kinds of music out there and all of us have favorite types of tunes that make our everyday lives survivable or even make them exciting. For me, as many of you know Celtic music is a main driving force, but it certainly is not the only music I love. When it comes to what I love on the music scene today, I am more than a little bit eclectic. The music that captures my attention ranges from some of those oldies from the 60s (I am after all a baby boomer!); any and all types of Celtic from all over the world; 30s and 40s big band and swing; and of course all kinds of classical music.
So does the music we love really define us in anyway? Well, we know scientifically that music does affect our brains in so many ways and for those who are living with Alzheimer's disease music is often what stays with people longer than words or language.
It amazes me that when the people who have the disease don't have the memories of names or even relationships and seem so lost in their not knowing. But when a well known piece of music from their past is played they seem to come alive and often can sing it through to the end of the song. It also often changes their whole demeanor because it is still some how is a vital part of life that they can respond to though so much of life is gone for them.
Why is music so important to the very places in our lives that makes it such an integral part of our emotions? When 80 to 90% of the people when asked say that if they've had a bad day they turn to music you know it is the emotional strength that we often totally rely on. If we examine the phenomenon of the iPod it is hard not to see the importance of the lyrics and tunes in our lives.
The most interesting research over the past few years has come from those who deal with all kinds of diseases and infirmities. From music therapy to a simple need to escape from the world to the images and sounds that music can create, our connection to music, the tunes, the rhythms, and lyrics have been proven over and over again to be some of the strongest connections in our personal histories. John A Logan, a U.S. senator from our country's past said it best, "Music's the medicine of the mind." It is a medicine we can all use more of these days.
Music has been proven to sooth the beast in many of people over the centuries, and today it has become a must between the craziness and intense pressures that seem to populate our personal worlds. But, it can also drive our passions, and certain kinds of music are really great for getting physical work done fast!
There are so many kinds of music out there and all of us have favorite types of tunes that make our everyday lives survivable or even make them exciting. For me, as many of you know Celtic music is a main driving force, but it certainly is not the only music I love. When it comes to what I love on the music scene today, I am more than a little bit eclectic. The music that captures my attention ranges from some of those oldies from the 60s (I am after all a baby boomer!); any and all types of Celtic from all over the world; 30s and 40s big band and swing; and of course all kinds of classical music.
So does the music we love really define us in anyway? Well, we know scientifically that music does affect our brains in so many ways and for those who are living with Alzheimer's disease music is often what stays with people longer than words or language.
It amazes me that when the people who have the disease don't have the memories of names or even relationships and seem so lost in their not knowing. But when a well known piece of music from their past is played they seem to come alive and often can sing it through to the end of the song. It also often changes their whole demeanor because it is still some how is a vital part of life that they can respond to though so much of life is gone for them.
Why is music so important to the very places in our lives that makes it such an integral part of our emotions? When 80 to 90% of the people when asked say that if they've had a bad day they turn to music you know it is the emotional strength that we often totally rely on. If we examine the phenomenon of the iPod it is hard not to see the importance of the lyrics and tunes in our lives.
The most interesting research over the past few years has come from those who deal with all kinds of diseases and infirmities. From music therapy to a simple need to escape from the world to the images and sounds that music can create, our connection to music, the tunes, the rhythms, and lyrics have been proven over and over again to be some of the strongest connections in our personal histories. John A Logan, a U.S. senator from our country's past said it best, "Music's the medicine of the mind." It is a medicine we can all use more of these days.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Drivin' My Life Away
I'm not much of a fan of country music, but one artist has grabbed my attention over the years. He died of lung cancer quite a while ago but was a great song writer before actually singing some of his songs as an artist himself.
He had quite a few hits and if you were around in the 70s and 80s I'm sure you heard whether you were a pop, rock or country lover since many of his songs were cross-over hits. Okay, I haven't given you too many hints, but the biggest is the title of this blog is based on a huge hit of his called, "Drivin' My Life Away." Since I'm a writer I felt it appropriate to honor his memory by simply saying it like it is for me, and many who are driven by what they do. Some are driven literally by the life behind those big wheels as a truck driver going and living from place to place. I am driven instead by my need to write (or journal) and express my thoughts, ideas and experiences.
So here is my dedication to that song-smith, Eddie Rabbitt who like those early blacksmiths could form and forge not metal but words and music that set a tone and created feelings which often made any given song the one with the stand out response to touch us and give a small vacation for the heart.
He had quite a few hits and if you were around in the 70s and 80s I'm sure you heard whether you were a pop, rock or country lover since many of his songs were cross-over hits. Okay, I haven't given you too many hints, but the biggest is the title of this blog is based on a huge hit of his called, "Drivin' My Life Away." Since I'm a writer I felt it appropriate to honor his memory by simply saying it like it is for me, and many who are driven by what they do. Some are driven literally by the life behind those big wheels as a truck driver going and living from place to place. I am driven instead by my need to write (or journal) and express my thoughts, ideas and experiences.
So here is my dedication to that song-smith, Eddie Rabbitt who like those early blacksmiths could form and forge not metal but words and music that set a tone and created feelings which often made any given song the one with the stand out response to touch us and give a small vacation for the heart.
Friday, November 28, 2008
A Season for Peace
Life after surgery for me is stiff, extremely stiff. I stayed in one position for over 48 hours before and after the event and my rib cage feels so out of practice for sitting.
I went shopping for groceries with my husband tonight...shopping for bargains in these tough times can be fun. We mostly did the "big box" stores so I rode around in one of those carts with a basket. I must admit I was quite a hazard since they aren't always easy to control but I didn't run over anyone.
It was really good to get out of the house and see people, even if I didn't know them. I scooted around with my poor husband trailing behind me. I had asked him if he wanted to stay in the car, but he said he didn't wanted to so I just kept going and got all we needed in three stores for less than I thought I would.
I still have to get to the dog's market, but that's for a small item thank goodness.
Christmas as a season has begun. This is always my favorite time of year, and not because of presents! I love the cold, and early snowfall, Handel's Messiah, classical and early Christmas music and of course the way our church looks all decked out in evergreens.
This can be the beginnings for a season of peace. We all need that.
I went shopping for groceries with my husband tonight...shopping for bargains in these tough times can be fun. We mostly did the "big box" stores so I rode around in one of those carts with a basket. I must admit I was quite a hazard since they aren't always easy to control but I didn't run over anyone.
It was really good to get out of the house and see people, even if I didn't know them. I scooted around with my poor husband trailing behind me. I had asked him if he wanted to stay in the car, but he said he didn't wanted to so I just kept going and got all we needed in three stores for less than I thought I would.
I still have to get to the dog's market, but that's for a small item thank goodness.
Christmas as a season has begun. This is always my favorite time of year, and not because of presents! I love the cold, and early snowfall, Handel's Messiah, classical and early Christmas music and of course the way our church looks all decked out in evergreens.
This can be the beginnings for a season of peace. We all need that.
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