Today is my parents’ anniversary and I’m marking the occasion by featuring a song by their favorite singer, Frank Sinatra. My dad was a big Sinatra fan back in the 60s when he and my mom became a couple… he largely bypassed the rock music bursting on the scene in favor of ol’ blue eyes. He’s one of those guys who was already 60 when he was 18 (and now that he’s in his 60s he looks like he’s 38, so he’s all over the map).

My mom made room for Elvis and The Beatles but she, too, was a Sinatra fan at heart. She’s been a little more adventurous musically than he has (though I’m admittedly stretching the definition of “adventurous”) but come dinner time in that household, nine times out of ten it’s going to be Sinatra coming out of the speakers. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Now if I have this correctly, and I very well may not, Close to You was the first Sinatra album my dad ever gave to my mom. Many years later he gave her a new copy, the old one having been lost over time. I remember this (or think I do) because the album cover made an impression on me in that I believed Sinatra looked, in that photo, like a Chinaman.

I use the term Chinaman not out of racial insensitivity but because that’s the word Sinatra himself would have used. I’m paying tribute to the master here, folks.

So happy anniversary, Mom and Dad! This one’s for you.

So JLS have dropped their first Debut album titled “JLS”. At first iWasn’t a big fan of JLS, their first single “Beat Again” Was too cheesy for me, and it was just shit especially the video. But they released their second Single “Everybody In Love” which was more R&B than Pop, and iReally liked  “Everybody In love”. I had to listen to this album to see if the album was more like Everybody in Love or Beat Again… In my eyes its like Beat Again!

JLS are using Auto-tune in a track on their album called “Crazy For You”. I personally think there is no need for them to use Auto-Tune! Aston has a strong enough voice.

This album really doesn’t make it! However there is a song iLike off there… JUST ONE SONG! Which is “Close To You” which has the Chris Brown “With You” feel to it. The rest of the album is more of Pop/Dance music. Not my type of music at all! But if ur a Pop/Dance person then u will defiantly like this album. If u think that its going to be more like “Everybody In Love” ur going to be highly disappointed! iThink its best u just buy the singles… The album is not Fantastic at all! iThink Louis is turning them into another Blue, But Blue was better than this!

Such a pretty small
I am ready to droop so deep
Giving all my world
It’s you
Just to be close to you

Such a pretty face
I am ready to hurt so wide
Giving all my life
Only you
Just to be in your side

Such a pretty eyes
I am ready to climb the mounting
Giving all my heart
Because of you
Just to be your man

Such s pretty ladies
I am ready to hell
Yeah it you,
Because of you
For you
I will be the fool lover

by megasatya

Tomorrow marks the day that the love of my life was born.

We’re in San Antonio tonight to start celebrating, with a Saturday night getaway and dinner at Andrew Weissman’s Il Sogno. Tomorrow we’ll have a little birthday cake and champers back in Austin with the gang.

If ever a song lyric rang true in my life, it would be the line from “Close to You”: on the day that you were born/the angels got together/and decided they would make a dream come true.

Tracie B, you’re my dream come true…

As part of her birthday celebration, I made sweet Tracie B a mixed CD, including this track that I wrote and recorded just for her…

Happy birthday sweet Tracie B!

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: National Ballet showstopper Greta Hodgkinson and husband Etienne Lavigne are infanticipating in January,

LANGSTROTH: on a Highwire

but La Hodgkinson will return to the company in time to dance next year’s production of Onegin, with an extravagant new design by Santo Loquasto. Meanwhile, she hasn’t exactly been idle. She’s been in front of the camera again, this time playing legendary ballerina Margot Fonteyn to Nico Archambault’s Rudolf Nureyev in award-collecting Moze Mossanen’s bound-to-be dazzling new Nureyev Arts special for Bravo! … ivory-tickler Ken Lindsay is celebrating his

NICO as NUREYEV

second anniversary at Statler’s. Village favourite Lindsay holds cocktail-hour court every Thursday and Friday nights …rising songbird Dawn Langstroth launches her new CD Highwire tomorrow before embarking on a year of touring to promote it. And yes, You Don’t Want Me, that  wonderful song she wrote with master musical storyteller Ron Sexsmith, is included

HODGKINSON: expecting

on the playlist …  young Aussie director Alexandra Schepisi, daughter of famed director Fred, recently completed a short film called One Night about a group of girls hanging out together. “It’s 23 minutes long and there’s only three lines of dialogue in it!” her proud poppa confides. Sounds intriguing … and when Robin Wright Penn took the stage at TIFF last week, was it just the guys in the theatre who noticed that her legs went on forever but her skirt didn’t? Just wonderin’ … BTW, the talented Ms Penn will co-star with James McAvoy in The Conspirator, based on the aftermath of Lincoln‘s assassination and directed by Robert Redford.

LIGHTS OUT: After almost eight years in the making, Jian Ghomeshi protégée Lights released her first CD this week. Stay tuned … Harry

KARPLUK: music for Erica

Connick’s new CD Your Songs features such golden oldies as Sinatra’s All The Way, The Carpenters’ Close To You and Nat King Cole’s Mona Lisa … look for Joss Stone to duet with Smokey Robinson on tonight’s Jay Leno Show … and EMI Canada released its Being Erica CD this week to coincide with the return of the time-bending Erin Karpluk-Michael Riley series and the release of the Season One DVD. Music from the show’s freshman year, which spans the same decades as the hit CBC series, features tunes by Melanie Doane, The Northern Pikes, Jesus Jones, Norah Jones, Marc Jordan, Fatboy Slim, MC Hammer and, of course,  Erica’s therne song, All I Ever Wanted To Be, by Lily Frost.

BUNNETT: among the first

SHARPS ‘N’ FLATS: High-voltage music-makers set to headline the inaugural season of Toronto’s newest concert venue, Koerner Hall, located in the Telus Centre for Performance & Learning on Bloor Street west, include Jane Bunnett, James Ehnes, Louis Lortie, Midori, Nico Mulhy, Peter Oundjian, Steven Page, Jon Kimura Parker, Quartetto Gelato, Ravi Shankar, Frederica von Stade, Sarah Slean, the Esprit Orchestra, and Richard Reed Perry of Arcade Fire. To sample the upcoming season, and order tickets, just click here.

ABSENT FRIENDS: Yesterday, In my eagerness to share with you some of the stellar names performing this season with the TSO, I automatically included T.O. favourite Erich Kunzel, who was scheduled to conduct three nights of Broadway show tunes here next month.  Would that it were so. After being diagnosed with pancreatic, liver and colon cancer in April, Kunzel passed away three weeks ago. Add his name to the September roll call – Larry Gelbart, Mary Travers, Patrick Swayze, and more – of absent friends who are sorely missed today.

TOMORROW:

Why Kiefer came home.

-/-

As I was digging through my collection of CDs, I rediscovered Frank Sinatra.  Not that I have ever forgotten his silky voice and how expressive it is, but I had conveniently packed his CDs away and had drifted past them.

Some of my most favourites of “Old Blue Eyes” would be when he is singing beautiful romantic ballads.  He has a way to sing his heart out and make you feel every nuance of pain or loneliness or despair and you can feel it!

I love his classic Capitol LPs, “In The Wee Small Hours“,  ”Where Are You?“, “No One Cares“, ”Close To You“, ”Nice And Easy” and the beautiful Reprise LPs “September of My Years” and the elegant “Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim“.  They are just pure magic.

All on the Internet praised the beauty of “Close To You” and for years I have tried to locate it, but failed.  Until a couple of years ago, and at the very start, I was not terribly impressed.  I thought it was far too slow and dreary…but boy was I wrong!  I am listening to it now in a dimly lit room.  The intimacy of the recordings just permeates the air and this voice just fills the room like fine cashmere mist, never rough, just warm enough to keep you cosy and the velvety texture just soothes.  It’s not as painful and tragic as “In The Wee Small Hours“, but just warm, sincere and, that word again, intimate.  I cannot say more than what has already been said about this LP, but to have it on CD is indeed a purchase I questioned earlier, but now confirming that I have no regrets now.

My Desert Island Disc would probably be either “Close To You” or “In The Wee Small Hours” or would it be “Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim”, or can I take them all?  Hmmm?

“Close To You” (Capitol Records) – Frank Sinatra

“In The Wee Small Hours” (Capitol Records) – Frank Sinatra

“Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim” (Reprise Records)

One of my favorite novels of summers’ past (well, 2003, at least) is Audrey Niffenegger’s odd little gem, The Time Traveler’s Wife—a sci-fi romance novel that really defies both genres because of the strong writing and in-depth characters. The film version is being released this weekend, an interesting antidote to the hyper realistic, anti-romantic, time travel to the 1960s, season 3 premiere of Mad Men, which is also this weekend.

I’ll be missing them both: I’m going on my own little travels for a few weeks. I’ve always found that saving summer travel until the end of the summer allows me to return to academia in a much more restful state of mind. But an entire summer spent on the home front has me a bit on edge and anxious to get out of Dodge and see the world—or British Columbia, at least. And, if you think of Victoria as a city that replicates Colonial England, then I suppose that I, too, will be time travelling.

Inktopia has been time travelling to the 1980s by cleaning her closets. And while many of us (of a certain age) wish our favorite dancing dress from the 80s was still in style (or at least, zip-upable), most of us have long since donated or trashed our old clothes. 

But I have saved the more packable mementos of my past, such as my Autograph book from 1975, signed by teachers and classmates during the month of our “graduation” from 6^th grade, when I was 11 years old.  Junior high began for us in 7^th grade, in the much larger building on the other side of town, and although we were the only elementary school in this small town, and thus we were all going to the same junior high, it was still a big deal (lockers, different teachers for different subjects, 9^th grade boys, etc). 

The first page, written in what I remember as my very stylish handwriting, is the following “poem” (misspellings included): “Who ever steals this book of knowledge shall graduate from Sing Sing collage.”

Then there’s a page titled “My Favorites”: in 1975 my favorite book was Laura’s Luck by Marilyn Sachs, a book I don’t remember at all (and here I thought that my blog’s namesake, The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a book a DO remember well, was my favorite book at that era!). Sachs’ novel was one of a series about a poor family living in the Bronx (well, I obviously was quite fond of New York-centric fiction); in this book Laura faces a summer camping trip with great dread (I still relate to that).

My favorite song in 1975 was “Close to You” by the Carpenters (and note that in this video poor Karen does look anorexic—even though she is wearing a puffy shirt!).  My favorite “Motto” was “Keep on Truckin’” and my favorite athlete—who was more likely my brother’s favorite athlete—was Rusty Staub of the NY Mets (we were a Mets family growing up, though my nephew is decidedly a Yankees fan, much to my brother’s horror). 

Of course the most interesting parts of the Autograph book are the autographs from friends and teachers.  And they are not just signatures, but little rhyming poems. Where did we GET all the little poems, anyway? From older siblings? How did we know to do that?

Here are some gems, again with a few creative spellings included:

From Debbie (sorry, Debbie, don’t remember you at all, but she is the FIRST to sign my book):

Standing before the judge
Do I see tears
Sentenst for J.H. [junior high]
It’s only 3 years.

And, right below it from the same Debbie:

God made candy
God made cake
When he made you
He made a big mistake.

And, included on top of the page in smaller print:

Dated till France gets Hungry and Fries Turkey and Greece.

Other “dated tills” throughout the book include:

Dated till the sidewalks.
Dated till tulips kiss.
Dated till bacon strips.

How we loved such punning.

There are several “emeralds are green” poems, such as this one:

Emeralds are green
Pearls are white
Some kids are good
But you’re out of sight.

And, squeezed onto many pages is this little math equation:

2/young
2/go
4/boys

Being 11, there are lots of “poems” about boys or marriage, though what’s interesting is how cynical many of them are. In fact, the last two nearly make me cringe—what sort of family life did my mostly 2^nd generation Italian and Irish classmates have?:

If all the boys
lived across the sea,
what a good swimmer
Annie would be.

Sailors like ships
babies like toys
but all Annie likes
is boys boys boys

When you’re sitting with your honey
and your nose gets runny
don’t think it’s funny
cause it’s snot.

When you get married
and have a set of twins
don’t come to me for some pins.

When you get married
and live in the slums
send me a picture
of each little bum.

When you get married
and your husband wants a drink
take him to the kitchen
and say here’s the sink.

When you get married
and your husband gets tough
pull down your pants
and show him your stuff.

Others are a bit more sophisticated, like this one, oddly appropriate for me on a daily basis these days:

Can’t think
Brain numb
Inspiration
Won’t Come
Poor ink
Bad pen
That’s all
Amen.

There are a few rare comments related to academic success in junior high, or happiness in life generally (mostly from relatives and teachers). This first one is from the one and only classmate I remember very well since we’ve recently found each other on Facebook:

May your life be like arithmetic:
Joys added
Sorrows subtracted
Cares divided
And happiness multiplied.

Several teachers also wrote in my book: my 4^th grade teacher, Mrs. Ryan, who encouraged my poetry writing and tutored me in math, wrote “You’ll never stop being a favorite.”  And my music teacher, Mr. Garrie, whose page I folded differently to express, I believe, my great crush on him (he loved Broadway show tunes, and had the 5^th and 6^th grade girls’ vocal ensemble sing a rousingly funny rendition of “All That Jazz” including doing the motions for rolling “our stockings down”!) wrote: “It has been a real pleasure knowing you these past two years. Never stop singing or playing—have a ball this summer and get ready for next year.”  

[Update: I still sing, but only when I’m alone (you’re welcome), and I’ve long since stopped playing violin and guitar (I was never very good); I no longer write poetry but I still struggle with math (thank the goddess for Quicken).]

Does anyone else remember having an autograph book? I suspect they were limited to elementary school, since by junior high we had yearbooks with photos to sign.  From my brief survey of friends on the subject, it seems that elementary school autograph books had a brief period of popularity, limited to the 70s or so, but I’d love to confirm (or refute) that. And did only girls keep them or did boys have them, too?

Soapte, melodie, versuri, ritm, bass, vibratie, tacere, cuvinte! Mai mult decat o simpla relatare, mai mult decat un sfat sau un cuvant de incurajare, muzica ma intareste. Atunci cand sunt slab, cand aproape nu mai pot lupta pentru ceea ce iubesc si ceea ce CREED, atunci cand totul pare ca se stinge in jur,  ma intorc la muzica. Ascult muzica pentru ca ma vindeca, imi acopera slabiciunile, imi reda increderea de sine si imi deschide inima.

Who’s the cat? I’m the cat! Who’s the cat? I’m the cat! Suna cunoscut? Daca va aduceti aminte, sa stiti ca la mine functioneaza. Motivatia vine din interior, si muzica este un bun catalizator. De ce? E simplu!

Muzica imi atinge sufletul.

MULTI-PLATINUM SELLING

R&B/GOSPEL SUPERSTARS

BEBE & CECE WINANS

RELEASE SINGLE ON ITUNES

 (Nashville, TN-June 30, 2009)    Multi-platinum selling R&B/Gospel Superstars BeBe & CeCe Winans are together again ready to release their first album together in over 15 years. As fan anticipation mounts, BeBe and CeCe have released their single Close to You on ITunes so fans can get a taste of what is to come.   

 On Tuesday, June 30, diehard followers and newcomers alike can experience what many have been waiting for, a sample of BeBe and CeCe’s forthcoming project. The Close To You single has already received rave reviews across the airwaves and for those who have yet to experience the chemistry this dynamic duo has, hold on to your seat!

 Beginning their career together in 1987, this dynamic duo has garnered many successes with the crossover hits “Heaven”, “Addictive Love”, “I’ll Take You There” and “I’m Lost Without You”.

 BeBe and CeCe’s 20 year career in music includes multiple platinum and gold albums in both the Gospel and R&B music genres, numerous awards including 5 Grammy Awards, 8 Doves Awards, over 12 Stellar Awards, 2 NAACP Awards, 12+ charting R&B singles, and countless #1 Christian and Gospel radio singles.

 BeBe and CeCe are planning their Reunion Tour for Fall 2009. It’s a date you won’t want to miss. Keep watching for details.

Segundo single de AZU en lo que va de este año, su nuevo material se titula I Will, y estará a la venta a partir del 1 de Julio en las versiones CD Regular y DVD Limitada.

CD Tracklist
01.I Will
02.Close to you
03.I Will(Instrumental)
04.Close to you (Instrumental)

DVD Tracklist
01.I Will -Music Video-

AZU- I Will (PV)

**Video Actualizado**

Mimi Maura

I might have had too many whiskeys last night, and like every night (drunk or sober), I had an unforgiving friend bothering me as  I slept. This friend is a bird outside my window that is either really affected by light pollution or just likes to mess with me. I want to think that last night it was just trying to remind me about our Song of the Day. And it did by bringing to mind, “why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near.” I’ve been a fan of Mimi Maura ever since I got into the Latin-American Reggae scene, so when I heard that she was doing a Ska with Argentina’s Dancing Mood I was kinda excited. It wasn’t a disappointment at all. She has a rather deep voice, so to lighten it a bit for a classic American love song was a great move. And of course, Dancing Mood composed a perfect Ska cover of the track. It’s better than The Carpenters’ version. That’s it. I’m hungover. Enjoy.

Dancing Mood (featuring Mimi Maura)-Close to You (MP3)

Decennium Album

Track List:

01 Decennium

02 구속 (Corner) *

03 Close To You (Feat. Dynamic Duo)

04 가버려 너 (Leave, You)

05 Good Girl

06 Song For You

07 즐겨 찾기 (Looking For Enjoyment) [Feat. Leessang 'Garry']

08 술 (Alcohol)

09 마지막 기도 (Last Prayer)

10 사랑이겠지 (It Must Be Love)

11 눈물아 미안해 (Sorry Tears)

12 온음표 (A Whole Note)

Todo partió un viernes, en la casa de un músico de 42 años, con el que me vi, más o menos, obligada a conversar, y que se detuvo para lanzar su crítica hacia la falta de profundidad en los temas de conversación del chileno medio.

–Chile es un país donde no se habla de casi nada, ni de temas de ecología, ni del calentamiento global, ni de las matanzas en el Líbano, en Gaza… ¡La gente no habla! ¡no lo comenta! Quizás no tienen la resistencia emocional para hablar de un tema tan terrible como ése y no caer en depresión. Y no hablo sólo de desastres, sino también soluciones. Pero no, es un país complicado, hay que hablar de otras huevadas y con la boca llena de sonrisa para funcionar.
–A ti te encanta el tema de la ecología…
–Sí, me interesa. Vengo hablando con unos amigos desde hace 15 años de utilizar la energía eólica en Chile, y ahora recién están saliendo a debate temas como ése en el país y aún así no pasa nada, pudiendo organizarse en el sur, con el presupuesto de lo que gasta…

Y entonces, ocurrió. Juro por lo más sagrado que el tema de la ecología me importa y que sueño, al igual que muchos, en ver que el cielo de mi país vuelve a ser azul, pero tras el discurso anti trivialidad de mi interlocutor, mi cabeza se aisló cantando, casi a modo de protesta, de la conversación sobre la renovación energética.

–Porque también hay un debate con la energía nuclear, de que aquí no se debe implantar (Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near…) para el proceso de los criaderos de (just like me, they long to be…) en la producción, y eso tiene que ver con el presupuesto que se  destinaría a (wa wauwá, close to youuuu)…

Desde entonces, ha sido como una pesadilla de autorecriminaciones por no poder evitar que en mi inconsciente diversas canciones se asomen para distraerme de las conversaciones, aunque sea con amigos.

 –¿Y cómo has estado?
–Más o menos. Ando con mil cosas… Imagínate que me levanto a las 8 y media de la mañana y no paro hasta las once. Apenas me levanto… Ya, me ducho, me lavo los dientes, tomo desayuno, y ahí me… (Me dicen el matador nací en Barraca… Si hablamos de matar mis palabras matan… No hace mucho tiempo…) Y después del trabajo, no alcanzo ni a comer y ya me tengo que ir a a… (tututú tutú tu, Frei, Frei)

ACTO I

ESCENARIO: Son las dos y media de la tarde y el sol del otoño entra por los fierros que cubren la terraza de mi lugar de trabajo. Es tercera vez en la semana que como omelette con arroz (el cocinero no se esfuerza mucho en la creatividad del menú), y converso con un amigo del trabajo, acerca de nuestros panoramas para el fin de semana.

X: Hoy quedé en acompañar a una amiga al cumpleaños de una amiga de ella. Tengo cero ganas, estoy muerta. Si se ponen a hablar de algo fome, me voy a quedar dormida.
F.M.: El fin de semana pasado fui al cumpleaños de mi mejor amigo del colegio. Fue horrible.
X: ¿Estaba lleno de matrimonios con sus hijos?
F.M.: No. Invitó a sus compañeros del doctorado de filosofía…
X: ¿Y se pusieron a filosofar ahí mismo?
F.M.: No salió Schopenhauer a la conversación, pero sí eran medios densos. Estoy evaluando, seriamente, la opción de no ir el próximo año.

Recordé las palabras del músico y mi infierno interno. ¿Cómo lograría prestar atención a lo que otros me contaran esta noche, con todo el sueño que venía arrastrando desde el lunes? ¿Qué nueva canción vendría al repertorio de mi cabeza protestante? Al llegar a mi casa, tenía todo planificado; dormiría unas horas para recobrar las fuerzas,  antes de partir al gran evento gran… Pero todo se vio truncado ante la presencia de mi sobrina de dos años y esta conciencia que hace que se me estruje el corazón si ella quiere jugar conmigo.

–Ya, yo voy a ser la mamá y tú la hija. Hija, juega…
–¿Y tú qué vas a hacer…eeeee, mamá?
–Yo te voy a hacer la comida…

Adiós sueño. Qué lejos estabas de mí, oh, dulce mundo onírico que me alejas del mar de autos de la calle, del estrés laboral y de mis deseos no cumplidos. Con unas ojeras de ultratumba debí comer aceitunas invisibles, bailar la canción de Barney -imitando a un gorila- y subir y bajar la escalera de mi casa con 18 kilos que adoro a cuestas. Para las 10 de la noche, yo ya era uno de los extras de “La noche de los muertos vivientes”, en su versión más gore. Pero un compromiso era un compromiso.

ACTO II

ESCENARIO: Son las 11 de la noche. El balcón de la casa de la amiga de mi amiga acobija a los tres  fumadores que han debido salir del departamento para calmar el vicio.

Fumador 1: Oye, tanto tiempo que no nos veíamos.
X: Sí, ¿qué estás haciendo ahora?
Fumador 1: Trabajo como sobrecargo de vuelo…
X: Hiiii, ¿y te ha tocado pasar sustos con las turbulencias?
Fumador 1: No.
X: ¿Y has tenido pasajeros locos?
Fumador 1: Sí, una vez, a una mina le vino una crisis de pánico en pleno vuelo. Se agarraba tan fuerte del asiento que ni entre cinco gallos la podíamos parar…
Fumador 2: Es horrible eso de las crisis de pánico… A mí me dieron como por dos años, después que murió mi vieja… (silencio incómodo en el balcón, acompañado por sendas miradas de condolencias entre el fumador 1 y yo, hacia el fumador 2, quien continúa…) Es que yo soy así, soy sensible, verdadero, no ando con las cosas por atrás… (why do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near) Porque los neonazis son así… (¿Ah? Me perdí) Y yo digo, ¿para qué? Si al final todos hemos sufrido… (wa wauwá, close to you…)

Y ahí estaba yo, con la boca llena de sonrisa para funcionar, sintiéndome la escoria de la sociedad.

Al final, el Fumador 2 se fue, y poco a poco el departamento se fue vaciando para dejar a unos pocos que terminaron por quedarse en el balcón. De la nada, aparecieron unos lentes blancos de plástico, que se puso el Fumador 1 para caracterizar a un actor de peli porno entre las risas de todos, hasta que el frío nos obligó a entrar. Prendieron la tele y pusieron un canal de karaoke de bar de carretera, donde los últimos éxitos de Nino Bravo nos hicieron cantar hasta las 4 de la mañana, hora en que el conserje subió para pedir que nos calláramos. Y todo, sin ninguna otra canción que las del karaoke en mi cabeza.

¿Lo pasé bien? Sí. ¿Me enorgullezco de no prestar atención a lo que me dicen? No, pero me estoy acostumbrando y lo veo en el futuro bastante soportable.
Y ahora, a cantar…