Category Archives: music

music, weather

When Last We …

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When last we spoke, I was preparing to be a pallbearer in the cold. It was indeed cold and the wind was whistling. You could tell the foreigners because they tried withstanding the grave side service in nothing heavier than a suit coat. They were shaking pretty hard by the end since the wind chill was -25 degrees or lower.

Of course then started a warming trend that saw temperatures reaching the upper 50s Sunday and Monday. A lot of the snow melted and the ice could be chipped off. Today started nice but then the temperature dropped 30 degrees and it started snowing. So it is once more snow covered and the temperatures are headed into single digits again. Nothing like the variability of the weather out here on the high plains of Colorado.

Leaving the weather aside, I have been enjoying the outdoors while the weather was nice rather than writing here. (Sounds like a good excuse doesn’t it?)

The other day I was reflecting on how varied my musical tastes are. Everything from Katy Perry to Iron Butterfly to… In fact the only music I really can’t stand is some Rap music and a lot of the old cater-wauling country and western. So what forms of music can you not tolerate?

music, phantom of the opera, weather

Wet and more Wet

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It was sunny until this evening – a real rarity given the rain we have had for the last four days. Nothing like getting inches of rain in the desert to bring on the flash flood warnings and sucking mud in the fields and gardens. At least Molly and I got out for our walk before it rained again this evening.

It has been amusing weather. Last week Molly and I were walking after 10pm so that it would be cool enough to get our 5 miles in without sweating to death. This week we are walking mid-afternoon to stay warm enough not to shiver in the cool. L reported that they even had snow up in the mountains this morning. In a few words, really strange weather of late. At least our melons and squash in the garden seem to be liking it.

Today as Molly and I walked, I listened to “Phantom of the Opera”, the original London cast recording version. I have never heard another version where the voices of the phantom and Christine are so piercingly perfect. It gives me goosebumps repeatedly as I listen to it. (I also like it because the full soundtrack is just about the perfect length for a 6 mile walk – the music ends just as I hit the front door step, arriving home – no jarring letdown of other music in mid-walk.) “The Phantom of the Opera” is the best music Andrew Lloyd Webber ever wrote – at least in my opinion.

So here is “The Phantom of the Opera” theme sung by Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, the original cast members from London:

Enjoy!

love, music

Expressions of Love

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Last night I was listening to music and heard “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton. I regard that song as one of the greatest musical expressions of love ever made. For the rare person who hasn’t heard the song:

Why do I think it is the greatest love song ever? Because it takes the mundane events of life and uses them to express the wonder and joy that is love. That someone so special is in your life and that they care about you is one of the real wonders of the world. I think most men have had the thoughts expressed in the song about the one they love, whether they express them aloud or not. (And I also suspect that most women want the person they love to feel this way about them, but that is conjecture on my part.)

L was not home this weekend, so hearing “Wonderful Tonight” was enough to send me into that melancholy mood associated with missing the one you love. Somehow the adoring looks and head in the lap of Molly the wonder dog is not a replacement for time with the one you love. {*grin*}

My melancholy mood led me to think of other love songs. Being a Heart fan, “Crazy On You” immediately came to mind. As opposed to “Wonderful Tonight” which reflects what guys feel about the one they love, “Crazy On You” reflects what guys hope the woman they love feels about them. So without further ado, Heart:

Now that I’ve shown you a couple of mine, what are some of your favorite love songs?

mama kat, music, writer's challenge

Ahhh, I Don’t Hardly Know Her …

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Once more dear friends, into the breech we go. Time for Mama Kat’s Writer’s Challenge. This week I have choosen to do only one topic:

1.) A song you can’t escape.
(inspired by Stefanie from I’m not much into health food, I am into champagne)

My take is a bit different than the standard lyrics rattling around the skull driving me to distraction. The other night I was listening to music as I finished working on some work work. What to my wondering ears should appear but

followed by

I was struck, in that off-hand stunning way that coincidence slaps you up side the head, by the fact that these songs are associated in my mind with two milestones in the journey to adulthood.

What milestones you ask? Well, Louie, Louie was the first rock song I ever heard performed by a live band. Granted it was a group of fellow junior high classmates playing at the first school dance of my seventh grade career, but it is cemented forever in my mind as the epitome of live and music. To this day more than 40 years later I cannot hear Louie, Louie (or Sitting On The Dock In The Bay by Otis Redding) without casting my mind back to the excitement and sheer joy the live sound brought me. The body throbbing bass, the impact of the drums, the crisp drone of the electric guitars – there is nothing better in the world.

A couple of years later it was 1969 and Crimson & Clover was dominating the AM airwaves. It coincided with the time when I was first seriously entranced by the idea of feminine companionship. Yup, that was when I suffered my first crush on a {*gasp*} girl. Heck, it was the first time I even seriously thought of girls as truly desirable to hang out with for reasons different than guys. Every time I hear Crimson & Clover, I am immediately back in the heady brew of feelings and desires and hormones and melancholy thoughts from that time. Not to mention all the drugs and hallucinogens that were rampant in the world as the 60’s came to a close.

The powerful associations formed by music with our emotional and mental state when we first heard it is spooky and wonderful. Hearing the music brings the memories flooding back. But I wonder if the additional social element of community commonality that my generation had continues today. (Stick with me here – you’ll soon understand what I’m blithering about!) When I was going through adolescence, we all heard the same songs at the same times on the AM and then FM radio. You and all your cohorts heard the same music at the same time, sharing the same music with a common set of experiences. It was only in college that non-synchronous introduction of different music via {*gasp*} vinyl records began to separate out tastes and preferences.

Contrast that experience with kids of the same age today. Each of them tends to listen to their own collection based more on the intesection of exposure and their social networking. Even a group as small as two is likely to have two separate iPods in their individual ears, listening to different sounds. Thus, I suspect that the common music/experience phenomenon is lost in the generations of today. The commonality is no longer in the experience of and while listening, it is the selection of what to add to the collection and to play. A very different set of memories.

What do you think?

chorale, monday, music

Only 10 Days Until Santa Comes

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Sunday afternoon was the Master Chorale Christmas concert. It is always a big event with everything from operatic renditions of classic carols to rock and jazz based carols. A great couple of hours of live voice and instrument to lighten the soul for the holidays.

I was supposed to meet mom at the venue, but I ended up being a few minutes late when Molly turned into a stinker dog and wouldn’t come in. (Anyone want to adopt a dog?) So when I got there, mom and friend had already entered the auditorium and been seated. This being a small town, one of the usherettes motioned to me to enter on the left side of the auditorium and said mom and crew were in the left section about 2/3 of the way down. The directions were a bit off, but I found them after the intermission and sat with them for the second half of the show.

I am one of those people who suffers voice envy when I hear people sing and carry a tune. I have a lifetime ban levied against my person by L and the Son that prohibits even thinking of singing in the shower, let alone singing aloud. But even for the terminal vocal disaster like me, there is something especially moving about the massed voices of a choir that plays with the heart strings. Everyone should attend at least one chorale or orchestral event during the Christmas season. It does your inner being good.

In other news, today was the first official day in my new job. Since the press announcements haven’t gone out yet (’cause I’ll probably end up writing them myself), I can’t say much about what the job is right now. Suffice it to say that I am now the CEO/Executive Director of a not for profit organization. For a total red-herring as to what the organization might be, I’ll leave you with this hint: I spent part of this afternoon as part of a crew stumbling around in snow covered sage brush with wind chills in the single digits using a tape measure, hammer, stakes, and orange paint. Any guesses?

(Notice how the title had nothing to do with what was written. That’s because I liked the title all by itself.)