Tag: Music

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Any Topic

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Inspired by Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Any Topic

 

When we downsized in 2016 one of the many things eliminated was more than half of our record collection. Vinyl records…LPs and 45’s. We sold some to a local antique dealer. We sold some at a garage sale. We gave some away. Most we don’t miss. Some we do.

We saved two cabinets’ worth. No way was I parting with my collection of Carole King records or the “Three Bs” Barbra, Bonnie and Bette. Or classic Original Movie and Broadway Cast Recordings…Hello Dolly, West Side Story, Porgy and Bess, Saturday Night Fever…to name just a few. My tattered 4 record set 97 WWDJ/TOP HITS made the cut. My husband and I combined our Beatles collections via negotiating sentimental value of each. My beer stained copies of Meet the Beatles and The Beatles’ Second Album won out. My collections of The Carpenters, Herman’s Hermits and The Moody Blues did not.


Fortunately we still own our original turntable from the 1970s. My musician husband has maintained it meticulously over the years, along with the receiver and multiple wires and jacks and whatever. Including a cassette deck. And a CD player. No wireless mp3 system for us!

He also alphabetized all our music. The records are organized first by genre and then by last name or group. We have a zillion CDs alphabetized the same way. Phew.

One of the two record cabinets sits under the window in the living room area of our condo. Never mind that I flashback to dorm life.

A reminder of when rock was young…and when we were young as well.

LPs
Record Albums – Cabinet #1
(D. Ackles to B. Springsteen)

 

[We are also well aware that this collection will be the only thing our daughter and son will probably fight over when we are long gone. I doubt they’ll wish I had saved Close to You or Days of Future Passed….so I can rest easy]

Twisted

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Inspired by Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge. The prompt: Twisted

 

All it takes is a simple twist. Or two. Or three. Of wire, silk and nylon.

Six strings stretched tight. But not too tight. The ends threaded into post holes. Then twisted…little by little…with the turn of a peg. Carefully. Adjusting the tension.

Until each one – when plucked – sounds…just right.

On a simple guitar made of wood.

twisted strings

 

My first – and only – no-name guitar shows its age. As do I.

Bought with saved up allowance for $28 on September 29, 1967.

I headed to guitar lessons taught by a local folk singer. For weekly group lessons with other aspiring young guitarists…struggling together to strum chords…

G  and D7…to play through Ain’t Gonna Study War No More.

C, F, Am and G7…for Blowin’ in the Wind.

Added Em and B7…and we managed to make it through Cruel War.

By that point the fingertips on my left hand were sore and complaining. From pressing down on those strings…especially strings 4, 5 & 6…the thickest ones.

three strings

Those twisted strings were replaced many times. As I sang and played through a thick looseleaf binder of mimeographed folk songs assigned by my teacher. To which I added my carefully typed copies of Homeward Bound, Hey Jude, It Was a Very Good Year, Leaving on a Jet Plane…among many others. Guitar chords written or typed in red above the words.

I did not sing or strum with much finesse, but it was the 60’s after all – and it was fun.
It never occurred to me to take it more seriously. I never saw any female guitarists on Ed Sullivan or American Bandstand, heard any on AM radio or in my stack of 45s.

This guitar went to camps and college with me. It was then retired to a closet…until my son tried it out after his college days. It traveled up and down the east coast with him for a few years…until he had a guitar of his own. Like his dad…and his sister.

And now it is back here with me.

my guitar

Ready for its next chapter.

 

 

Radiant

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This post inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo

The prompt: Radiant

 

Version 2
“Barbra: The Music, The Mem’ries, The Magic”
Boston, MA

 

“The Three B’s”
Bette (Midler), Bonnie (Raitt) and Barbra (Streisand)

My concert bucket list…
For over 30 years.

Bette…check!
Bonnie…check!

The last holdout?
Barbra.
I figured I’d never be able to check her off my list. Sigh.

Why?
She rarely, if ever, toured.
Tickets would be horrendously expensive and impossible to get.

August 16, 2016 changed all that…when I received an early Christmas/Birthday gift from my daughter, son and son-in-law. Thanks to my daughter’s herculean skills at navigating multiple internet browsers. To score tickets. The instant they went on sale.

Floor seats to a Barbra Streisand concert extravaganza in Boston. Complete with a light show beyond anything I had ever seen before. As cliché as it may sound, I was transported by the music, her one-of-a-kind voice, the showstopper after showstopper. Including my favorites – which was just about the entire set list – the super fan that I am.

Radiance on all levels.

One of my all time bucket list dreams finally came true.

Check!

Monkey Mind

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This post inspired by V.J.’s Weekly challenge #47: In-Between

This week, I need your inspiration – where do you go in the in-between? How do you survive it? Or maybe the in-between is ripe with gifts?

~~~

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We will call you when the all the lab tests come back…
Pathology could take a while…
You’ll have to wait for the results.

       Waiting

Watching
Worrying
Wanting
What If
When Will
What Now
What Then
Why
When
Where

Waiting

The monkey mind churns.
Stealing today’s minutes in-between.
Poof.
Gone.

Helpless jumble of thoughts line up unbidden Bumping into each other Scrambling gibberish Is it five minutes or five hours I can’t stand another secondof….

Turn It Off

Short circuit the loop of lunacy.
Plug in
Three minutes of song.
Shut frantic tired eyes

One-Two.
One-Two-Three-Four.

Volume up.
Way up.

Melodies seep past fear laced neurons
Soothing the gray matter of terror
A foot tapping rhythm takes over…
Three minutes of happy.

ListenHearFeelMoveSingScream
Breathe deep.
Taste hope.

Familiar anthem
From the before.
Temporary respite
Filling the now..
The in-between.

“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”…
“Lovely Day”…

or a more recent discovery…

“Brighter Than the Sun”…

…whatever reaches deep.

Repeat.

Hold on.

As the clock keeps ticking

Sunup to Sundown

In-between.

Song Lyric Sunday – Hurt/Pain/Agony/Suffer

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My contribution to this week’s Song Lyric Sunday (Prompt: Hurt/Pain/Agony/Suffer

 

Cidney Bullens (formerly known as Cindy Bullens) wrote “I Gotta Believe In Something” after the death of her 11 year old daughter Jessie, from cancer, in 1996.

“I Gotta Believe In Something” is part of the critically acclaimed album “Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth” released in 1999. Backing vocals: Bonnie Raitt and Beth Neilsen Chapman.

Grief is palpable, as is the unimaginable pain behind the lyrics in this haunting song.

Cidney Bullens, an American singer/songwriter/guitarist, grew up in Massachusetts. As Cindy, she began her singing career as a backup vocalist for Rod Stewart and Elton John. She released her first well received album “Desire Wire” in 1978 – the first of 8 albums – and was nominated for 2 Grammy awards. He is currently working on a new solo album.

 

 

I GOTTA BELIEVE IN SOMETHING

 

By Cindy Bullens

I can’t figure it out
As if I ever could
Everything I planned
Didn’t work out like I thought it would

I’ve had my share of tragedy
I’ve felt the darkness cover me
Till I can’t see

But I gotta believe in something
I gotta believe in something
That there’s just plain nothing
Don’t sit right with me

I gotta hold on to something
I gotta hold on to something
Even if it’s nothing
But a little dream

Some days just breathing
Is all that I can do
And I curse the disappearance
Of everything I knew

But there’s only so many tears I can cry
I need to point my soul to the light
So I can see

And I gotta believe in something
I gotta believe in something
That’s there’s just plain nothing
Don’t seem right to me

I gotta hold onto something
I gotta hold onto something
I can’t live with nothing
To believe

I can’t figure it out
As if I ever could
Everything I planned
Didn’t work out like I thought it would

So I gotta believe in something
I gotta believe in something
That’s there’s just plain nothing
Don’t seem right to me

I gotta hold on to something
I gotta hold on to something
Even if it’s nothing
But a little dream

I gotta believe in something
I gotta believe in something
I can’t live with nothing
To believe

© 1997 Mommy’s Geetar Music/BMI

Song Lyric Sunday – Boogie/Rock/Rolling Stone

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My contribution to this week’s Song Lyric Sunday (Prompt: Boogie/Rock/Rolling Stone)

 

The late great Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin wrote “Rock Steady,” an “upbeat song that will get you up out of your seat moving and grooving…” (All Music Guide to Rock 2002 – 3rd ed.) for her album Young, Gifted and Black in 1971.

The song – classified as funk – was also released as a single in 1971 – reaching #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

To quote Dave Marsh from The Heart of Rock & Soul (1989), “She cries out like a woman backed to the wall, shouting for truth and nothing less: ‘Let’s call this song exactly what it is!'”

Enjoy!

 

 

Rock Steady

by Aretha Franklin

Rock steady, baby
That’s what I feel now
Just call the song exactly what it is
Just move your hips with a feeling from side to side
Sit yourself down in your car and take a ride
While you’re moving, rock steady
Rock steady, baby
Let’s call this song exactly what it is
(What it is, what it is, what it is)
It’s a funky and lowdown feeling (what it is)
In the hips from left to right (what it is)
(What it is) what it is I might be doin’
(What it is) this funky dance all night
(Put your hands up in the air)
(Got a feelin’ you ain’t got a care)
(What fun to take this ride) 
(Rock steady will only slide) 

Rock steady, rock steady baby
Rock steady, rock steady baby

Jump and move your hips with a feeling from side to side
Sit yourself down in your car and take a ride
While you’re moving, rock steady
Rock steady

Let’s call this song exactly what it is
(What it is, what it is, what it is)
It’s a funky and lowdown feeling (what it is)
In the hips from left to right (what it is)
What it is is I might be doin’ (what it is)
This funky dance all night, ah
(Put your hands up in the air)
(Got a feelin’ you ain’t got a care)
(What fun to take this ride) 
(Rock steady will only slide)

Rock steady baby, rock steady, woo
Rock steady

Rock steady, rock steady (what it is)
It’s a funky and lowdown feeling (what it is)
In the hips from left to right (what it is)
What it is is I might be doin’
This funky dance all night, ah
(Put your hands up in the air)
(Got a feelin’ you ain’t got a care)
(What fun to take this ride) 
(Rock steady will only slide) 

Rock steady, steady baby, rock, rock steady, baby

Baby (what it is), baby, baby (what it is) baby

Song Lyric Sunday – Burn/Fire/Flame

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My contribution to this week’s Song Lyric Sunday

One of my newest favorite singer/songwriter/guitarists – Mary Chapin Carpenter – has actually been making music for 30 years. Born in New Jersey, she spent the early part of her singing career in Washington DC before releasing her first album in 1987. The winner of 5 Grammy awards, she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012.

I discovered her a few years ago at a local outdoor concert. I was blown away by her voice and personal catch-ya-off-guard lyrics. I couldn’t take my eyes – or ears – off her and the amazing band she performed with. Playing seamlessly together.

MCC concert
Mary Chapin Carpenter – Prescott Park Arts Festival – 2017 

 

Her most successful album Come On Come On was released in 1992 and went quadruple platinum.

Walking Through Fire is from this album.

 

 

Walking Through Fire

by Mary Chapin Carpenter

When you set a match to your heart, fueling it with bitterness and doubt
That’s the place that once it starts, no amount of tears can put out
I know you’re scared, but no one’s spared when you play with matches

You got me walking through fire
You got me walking through fire

Maybe you’ve been burned by lovers, maybe you’ve been scarred by the pain
But baby, I’m not like the others, drawing moths to a flame
Spite is like a spark, crackling in the dark, consuming all it catches

And you got me walking through fire
You got me walking through fire to get to you
Got me walking through fire (walking through fire)
You got me walking through fire (walking through fire)

You can see the toll it’s taking, you can feel the faith it’s shaking
You can hear the heart it’s breaking now
Baby, I’ve been burned by the fever, I’ve been scorched by desire
But baby, I am not your deceiver or your eloquent liar
Your jealous heart is tearing us apart, turning love to ashes

When you got me walking through fire
You’ve got me walking through fire to get to you
Got me walking through fire
You’ve got me walking through fire

You’ve got me walking through fire (walking through fire)
You’ve got me walking through fire (walking through fire)
As the flames shoot higher
You got me walking through fire (through fire), walking