• Dawson’s Creek: The Complete Series- While I never watched this show, it really did define a generation and truly speak to the children of the 90’s.  That Paula Cole song that started off each episode was great too.  What ever happened to Paula Cole?
• G.I. Joe A Real American Hero: Complete Collectors Set [The Complete Series]- If Dawson’s Creek helped define the 90’s, the being a young boy in the early 80’s was really defined by the G.I. Joe cartoon, at least for me.  I still maintain that G.I. Joe could kick the Transformers ass, no matter what my buddy Mike says.  Oh and it dead teach us that “knowing is half the battle.”  I think the other half was evenly distributed between red and blue lasers.
• JAG (Judge Advocate General): The Ninth Season
• Justice League: The Complete Series
• Keeping Up With the Kardashians: The Complete Second Season- I can think of nothing to say about this show that isn’t ugly, and my mother taught me that if you can’t say something nice…
• Nash Bridges: The Third Season- The Don Johnson show that wasn’t Miami Vice.
• Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days- I want this for my soon to be born son!

I decided to do away with the instruments, this is acapella sexiness. Unfortunately Paula Cole wrote this song…so it might be gay. But even though you all see me through my carefully constructed world of very feminine men and dogs I’m still not a lesbian. Stop laughing. No I mean it! I have very strong arms and I don’t shave my armpits so I can punch you and then strangle you with my own body hair.

My Song 10 by sdoodle

Paula Cole – I Don’t Want to Wait (aka Dawson’s Creek theme song)

Real Talk.  This is my joint.  I used to watch Dawson’s Creek on the regular.  True Story.

1. Intro (Jeopardy Theme)
2. Excerpt: N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton
3. Excerpt: N.W.A. – Fuck the Police
4. Excerpt: N.W.A. – Gangsta Gangsta
5. Excerpt: N.W.A. – 8 Ball
6. Excerpt: N.W.A. – 100 Miles and Runnin’
7. Ice Cube – No Vaseline
8. Paul Oakenfold – Get ‘Em Up
9. Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes
10. Peter Gabriel – Shaking The Tree (Live)
11. Paula Cole – Hush Hush Hush
12. Paula Cole – Mississippi (Live)
13. Paula Cole – I Don’t Want to Wait
14. No Doubt – Spiderwebs
15. No Doubt – Comforting Lie (Acoustic)
16. Foo Fighters – Gas Chamber
17. Foo Fighters – One by One
18. Foo Fighters – Darling Nikki
19. Prince – All Along the Watchtower/Best of You (Live)
20. Prince – Love Sign
21. Ice Cube – What Can I Do?
22. Eazy E – No More ?’s
23. The Lonely Island – Natalie’s Rap
24. Fresh Air with Terry Gross – Interview

SUBJECT OF SHOW: ICE CUBE
PAUL OAKENFOLD

Paul Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963 in Greenhithe, Kent, UK) is a record producer and a trance DJ. Paul Oakenfold’s career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band. He describes his early life as a “bedroom deejay” in a podcasted interview with Vancouver’s 24 Hours, stating he grew up listening to The Beatles. Later 21-year-old Paul Oakenfold and Ian Paul moved to 254 West 54th Street. Studio 54’s Steve Rubell ran the place and only allowed popular people inside. Oakenfold and Paul used fake passes to sneak into places in New York where they met Maze, Bobby Womak and Bob Marley, whom they also interviewed, as they said to be NME and Melody Maker journalists. Other people were Brooke Shields, Cher, Donald Trump and Bianca Jagger, Warhol, Dali and Yves Saint Laurent.

In 1985, Oakenfold traveled to the island of Ibiza for a week to celebrate his birthday. Trevor Fung, Nicky Holloway, Ian Saint Paul, Danny Rampling and Johnny Walker accompanied him. It was during this time when playing at Amnesia that Oakenfold demonstrated the Balearic trance sound that he would later become known for.

Blade II: The Soundtrack was released on March 19, 2002 through Virgin Records and featured collaborations between hip hop artists and electronic artists. This soundtrack managed to make it to 4 different Billboard charts, peaking at #26 on the Billboard 200, #23 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, #2 on the Top Soundtracks and #1 on the Top Electronic Albums. Track #4 featured Paul Oakenfold in a collaboration with Ice Cube in the song “Right Here, Right Now”

Also in 2002, Paul released his first studio album signed to Maverick. Bunkka is a compilation of styles which Paul has learned to mix throughout his career; the blending in of progressive trance with goa makes the album different from other conventional dance album. An extended play was released featuring live versions of four songs under Peoplesound Records. It is also Oakenfold’s best selling album to date, with sales largely exceeding 1,000,000 (1 million) copies worldwide. The album features the popular rapper Ice Cube on “Get Em Up”

The name Bunkka comes from Peter Gabriel’s studio in the UK, where the album was recorded.

PETER GABRIEL

Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. More recently he has focused on producing and promoting world music and pioneering digital distribution methods for music. He has also been involved in various humanitarian efforts. Gabriel was awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2009.

Gabriel achieved his greatest popularity with songs from the 1986 So album, which produced three UK Top 20 hits (“Sledgehammer”, “Big Time”, and “Don’t Give Up” — a duet with Kate Bush). The album also produced three Top 40 hits in the U.S. (“Sledgehammer”, “In Your Eyes”), and “Big Time” (Gabriel’s most recent Top Ten hit), as well as the single “Red Rain”.

In 1989, Gabriel released Passion, the soundtrack for Martin Scorsese’s movie The Last Temptation of Christ. For this work he received his first Grammy Award, in the category of Best New Age Performance. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score – Motion Picture.

Following this, Gabriel released Us in 1992 (also co-produced with Daniel Lanois), an album in which he explored the pain of recent personal problems; his failed first marriage, his relationship with Rosanna Arquette, and the growing distance between him and his first daughter. Gabriel followed the release of the album with a world tour (with Paula Cole or Joy Askew filling O’Connor’s vocal role) and accompanying double CD and DVD Secret World Live in 1994.

PAULA COLE

Paula Cole (born April 5, 1968, Rockport, Massachusetts) is an American singer/songwriter. Her single “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone” reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997, and the following year she won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

Cole got her first big professional break when she was invited to perform on Peter Gabriel’s 1993-1994 Secret World Live tour. Shortly after this, she was signed on with her first record company Imago Records. Through this record company, she released her first album Harbinger in 1994. Within that year of Harbinger’s release, Imago Records went out of business. In 1995, she was signed on to Warner Bros. Records. The record company reissued Harbinger in the Autumn of 1995.

In late 1996, Cole released her second album on Warner Bros. Records, This Fire, which was entirely self-produced. The albums’ debut single, “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone”, became an instant smash radio (reaching #8 on Billboard magazine’s pop chart) and MTV hit. The follow-up single, “I Don’t Want to Wait”, was a #11 pop hit single. The single “Me” (#35) was also released. The title “Hush, hush, hush”, a duet with Peter Gabriel talks about AIDS and about a young gay man dying in his father’s comforting arms.

“I Don’t Want to Wait” was the theme song for the WB teen drama ‘Dawson’s Creek’.

NO DOUBT

No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, founded in 1986. The ska-pop sound of their first album, No Doubt, failed to make waves due to the popularity of the grunge movement at the time. The band’s diamond-certified album Tragic Kingdom helped to launch the ska revival of the 1990s, and “Don’t Speak”, the third single from the album, set a record when it spent sixteen weeks at the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart.

The group released its next album, Return of Saturn, four years later, but despite positive reviews, the album was considered a commercial failure. Fifteen months later, the band reappeared with Rock Steady, which incorporated reggae and dancehall music into their work. The album was primarily recorded in Jamaica and featured collaborations with Jamaican artists Bounty Killer, Sly and Robbie, and Lady Saw. The album produced two Grammy-winning singles, “Hey Baby” and “Underneath It All”.

In addition, pop-star Prince co-wrote, produced, and performed on “Waiting Room” from Rock Steady. Stefani had previously provided vocals for a song on Prince’s Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic album, “So Far, So Pleased”. In November 2002, No Doubt made an appearance in the Dawson’s Creek episode “Spiderwebs”. Dawson’s characters head to Boston to see No Doubt play. Three songs are featured on the show: “Hella Good,” “Underneath it All” and “Magic’s in the Makeup.”

Tony Kanals favorite musician is Prince and in July 1997 he and the band jammed with Prince at Paisley Park after Prince attended a No Doubt show in Minneapolis.

On August 10, 2004 the compilation Rock Against Bush Vol. 2 was released. It contains a collection of songs by various punk rock artists, some of which were previously unreleased. It also includes a bonus DVD with political facts, commentary regarding the U.S. presidential election, 2004, comedy footage, and music videos. No Doubt recorded a song for the album called “Comforting Lie”.

FOO FIGHTERS

The Foo Fighters were also featured on the 2004 album Rock Against Bush Vol. 2. They recorded a song called “Gas Chamber” which is an Angry Samoans cover.

Dave Grohl joined Nirvana as the group’s drummer in 1990. In order to occupy himself during tours, he took a guitar with him and wrote songs. Grohl held back these songs from the band; he said in 1997, “I was in awe of frontman Kurt Cobain’s songs. And intimidated. I thought it was best that I keep my songs to myself.” Instead, Grohl occasionally booked studio time to record demos, and even issued a cassette of some of those songs called Pocketwatch under the pseudonym “Late!” in 1992.

Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home on April 8, 1994, and Nirvana subsequently disbanded. Grohl received offers to work with various artists including the Melvins, to which Grohl accepted; however this never came to fruition. He also almost accepted a permanent position as the drummer in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Ultimately Grohl declined and instead entered Robert Lang Studios in October 1994 to record twelve of the forty songs he had written. With the exception of a guitar part on “X-Static” by Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs, Grohl played every instrument and sang every vocal on the tracks. “I was supposed to just join another band and be a drummer the rest of my life,” Grohl later said. “I thought that I would rather do what no one expected me to do. I enjoy writing music and I enjoy trying to sing, and there’s nothing anyone can really do to discourage me.” Grohl completed an album’s worth of material in five days and handed out cassette copies of the sessions to his friends for feedback.

Grohl hoped to keep his anonymity and release the recordings in a limited run under the title “Foo Fighters”, taken from the World War II term “foo fighter”, used to refer to unidentified flying objects. However, the demo tape circulated in the music industry, creating interest among record labels. Grohl formed a band to support the album. Initially, Grohl talked to former Nirvana band mate Krist Novoselic about joining the group, but both decided against it. “For Krist and I, it would have felt really natural and really great”, Grohl explained. “But for everyone else, it would have been weird, and it would have left me in a really bad position. Then I really would have been under the microscope.” Having heard about the disbanding of Seattle-based emo band Sunny Day Real Estate, Grohl drafted the group’s bass player, Nate Mendel, and drummer, William Goldsmith. Grohl asked Pat Smear, who served as a touring guitarist for Nirvana after the release of its 1993 album In Utero, to join as the group’s second guitarist. Grohl ultimately licensed the album to Capitol Records, releasing it on his new record label, Roswell Records.

Prior to the release of Foo Fighters in 1995, Grohl drafted Nate Mendel (bass), William Goldsmith (drums), and Pat Smear (guitar) to complete the group. Goldsmith left during the recording of the group’s second album The Colour and the Shape (1997), soon followed by Smear. They were replaced by Taylor Hawkins and Franz Stahl, respectively, although Stahl left prior to the recording of the group’s third album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose (1999).

Chris Shiflett joined as the band’s second guitarist after the completion of There Is Nothing Left to Lose. The band released its fourth album One by One in 2002. The group followed that release with the two-disc In Your Honor (2005), which was split between acoustic songs and harder-rocking material. Foo Fighters released its sixth album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace in 2007. Over the course of the band’s career, three of its albums have won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album, and all six have been nominated for Grammys.

In 2003, the band recorded a cover of the Prince song “Darling Nikki”, which they included as a B-side on their 2004 single “Have It All”. Though their version of “Darling Nikki” was never officially released as a single, it surprisingly found success at American Modern Rock radio, peaking at #15. This version was performed on the MTV Video Music Awards with Cee-lo guesting on vocals. On 4 February 2007 Prince covered their song “Best of You” at Super Bowl XLI. This may have been in retaliation as Prince objected to having “Darling Nikki” covered by the Foo Fighters, and he would not allow them to release it as a single in the US.

PRINCE

“Darling Nikki” is a song produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince and originally released on his Grammy Award-winning album Purple Rain (1984). Though the song was not originally released as a single, it gained wide notoriety for its sexual lyrics. Partly because of the lyrical content of “Darling Nikki,” Tipper Gore founded the Parents Music Resource Center, which eventually led to the use of “Parental Advisory” stickers and imprints on album covers. Trinity Broadcasting Network and Jimmy Swaggart both attacked the song as being “pornographic” and “satanic.”

Prince Rogers Nelson (born June 7, 1958) is an American musician. He performs under the mononym of Prince but has also been known by various other names, most notably the unpronounceable symbol which he used as his stage name between 1993 and 2000. During this period, he was usually referred to as The artist formerly known as Prince.

Prince is a songwriter and musician, having released several hundred songs both under his own name and with other artists. He has won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible in 2004. Rolling Stone ranked Prince #28 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2008.

Prince’s musical palette covers many musical genres including R&B, soul, funk, rock, blues, new wave, psychedelia, folk, jazz and hip hop. Some of his influences are Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Parliament-Funkadelic, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Joni Mitchell, the Beatles, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis. The distinctive characteristics of his early-to-mid 1980s work, such as sparse and industrial-sounding drum machine arrangements and the use of synthesizer riffs to serve the role traditionally occupied by horn riffs in earlier R&B, funk and soul music, were called the “Minneapolis sound” (a hybrid mixture of funk, rock, pop, R&B & new wave) and have proved very influential.

“Love Sign” is a track from the 1-800-NEW-FUNK compilation album released by Prince, from his independent record label NPG Records in 1994.

“Love Sign” was the most successful song released from the album, and it is a duet with Nona Gaye, credited to Nona Gaye only even though the track is a duet. The reason behind this is because Prince (who was known as “TAFKAP” at the time because of his name change to an unpronounceable symbol) was still under contract with Warner Bros. and they would not let him release the single with his name on it, so he decided to release the song under Nona Gaye’s name. A promotional single was sent out to radio stations independently through Prince’s record label NPG Records, and it was not commercially released. The song has an anti-violence message.

The music video was shot by rapper Ice Cube in 1994. Nona Gaye and Prince are both featured prominently in the video. It received major airplay on BET and was very successful on its Top 20 countdown. The video shows Nona Gaye at an anti-violence convention and Prince as a secret love tryst. At the end of the video Nona is laying in Prince’s bed and Prince walks away shaking his head jokingly. Most of the video was shot at Paisley Park.

ICE CUBE

O’Shea Jackson (born June 15, 1969), better known by his stage name Ice Cube, is an American rapper, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He began his career as a member of the rap group N.W.A along with group leader Eazy-E, and later launched a successful solo career in music and cinema. In 1992, he married Kimberly Woodruff, with whom he has four children, and converted to Islam. From the mid-1990s onwards, Cube focused on acting, and his musical output has slowed down considerably. He remains one of the most visible West Coast rappers, having helped originate gangsta rap.

What Can I Do? a single from Ice Cube’s compilation, Bootlegs & B-Sides includes lyrics which make reference to Prince. “They tried to blast me for selling a boulder, Now I got my ass in Minnesota, Got my own crew, it’s on brand new, Damn, what can I do? Already done stack me half a mill ticket, Bought a house next to Prince, so now I can kick it” Prince himself samples Ice Cube in his own recording entitled “Good Life(Big City Remix)”, in particular the verse stating his name.

Demented And Sad But Social – John Hughes Breakast Club Tribute By Flux in LA

By Ali MacLean

By all outward accounts, I lived a charmed high school existence. An A student with long honey colored hair, I played soccer and was captain of the cheerleading squad. We even competed at a national level, which got our picture on the front page of the Boston Globe sports section and on national television. So, I had it pretty sweet. Right? Yeah, right.

Anyone who has seen a John Hughes movie knows the halls of a high school are shark- infested waters that are difficult to navigate. The same was true for me. I lay awake at night worried about everything from what to where, what was going to be on the test, which bitch would be bothering me in the corridors, who to eat lunch with and other terrors of the high school caste system. At most times I felt like a cast member of Heathers, rather than John’s sweeter films, but having his movies gave me strength.

Sure, other teen film auteurs pointed out that the geeks have a hard time of it in school. But John was one of the first to point out that maybe the Claires of this world had just as miserable an experience as all the other kids. Thank Fucking God someone was reading my diary! You mean I’m not the only one who is moody?  It’s ok to be depressed even if you’re sort of smart or pretty or athletic? There are other kids out there feeling ennui of French existentialist proportions? It’s OK to want to blow up your high school with your mind?

Being a cheerleader didn’t really mean anything to me, inwardly. It never occurred to me that I was a popular kid, just like it never occurred to me that other kids were going through the same thing I was. That is, until I saw John’s scripts so eloquently spell it out. Hughes had a knack for getting inside a teen’s head and letting them speak and emote without it sounding like some WB drivel with Paula Cole in the background. Hughes characters, as archetypal as they were drawn to be, were funny, quirky and all too real. It was entirely possible and understandable that I could relate to both Claire AND Alison in the Breakfast Club. OK, I related to Bender, too a little bit. But my rebellion would come a bit later.

Part of Hughes’ talent is that each of his films created characters that everyone could relate to. I felt such a kinship to Samantha in Sixteen Candles, the perennial sophomore whose family doesn’t seem to recognize her misery and pining for Jake Ryan. Or, what seemed like an even bigger crime, they forget to recognize her own birthday, a horror that I’ve over compensated for in such an extreme, that I demand that my birthday be relegated to national holiday status by all friends and family. No, really. October 14th. Mark it down.

Another Molly I related to was crafty Andie. Growing up in posh Newton, it was pretty easy to feel if you were from the wrong side of the tracks. Basically if you didn’t get a new beemer for your sweet sixteen, you were poor. All the Esprit in the world couldn’t save me from my fate. So I started thrifting at an early age. My friend Rima and I would hang out in Harvard Square and pick up strange bohemian trinkets and later fashion them into jewelry. Soon enough I was sporting torn jeans and army fatigues and wearing combat boots with my cheerleading skirt. That didn’t go down well with the Heathers. But what they thought didn’t matter. I would think of Andie with her shears cutting away at pink tulle, dreaming of a boy named after an appliance and trying to gently let down the best friend. It is a triangle scenario that would reappear many times for me in the future: the seemingly unattainable guy who actually might like me vs. the platonic friend who makes me laugh, who might not be so platonic. Decisions are tough but what’s important is that it’s handled with grace…

Possibly my first Hughes obsession during my childhood was Ferris Bueller. I must have seen that movie ten times in the theater and countless times on cable. Partially the mystique was Broderick’s winsome ability to get away with murder and a bit of it was probably the movie’s ability to annoy my parents who were school administrators and professors. Of course, years later, my father admits Jeffrey Jones was probably the best teen comedy foil ever put on film. I have to agree. While I rooted fro Ferris every bounce, wink and mile clocked on the alpha, I do admit I connected deeply to the oft irritated sister Jeannie. Who hasn’t felt a sibling rivalry ratcheted up to a frenzied pitch? OK perhaps the zany parade hijacking and jailhouse scenes may have been omitted from your own family tales but I felt for Jeannie, the least liked Bueller family member. Ferris was just so fun, so popular, so friendly. And Jeannie…wasn’t. Playing by the rules got her nowhere and whining about it got her nowhere fast. Even her cat and mouse game of getting even didn’t pan out. I feel for you Jeannie. Even when I wasn’t the one in the wrong, I was the one sent to my room.

However, the film that everyone comes back to…the one that was recently aped by a documentary film’s ad campaign (American Teen) is The Breakfast Club. The idea of detention is a bummer. But detention on a Saturday? With a bunch of kids not in your clique? I mean, omigawd! Part of what makes the pathos so strong is that though the characters are stereotypes, they are fully drawn out. How else could I be each of these people? I certainly was seen by some to be the bitchy popular girl, Claire. But I identified with the Zeppelin flannel wearing burn-outs like Bender. They probably were the first to listen to grunge! Who hasn’t felt isolated and alone like Allison at some point in their life? I’m most definitely competitive and as a cheerleader competing at a national level, I could relate to Andy’s pressure to win. I even felt the enormous pressure the geek, Brian felt. Not to make a science project or lamp work. But taking Latin classes before school to boost my SAT scores didn’t really do anything for my street cred.

Tomorrow night in Hollywood, the FLUX film series at the Montalban will allow us all to once again become the Jock, the Princess, the Brain, the Criminal and the Basket Case.

In a tribute to John Hughes, guests are being asked to email in photos of themselves from high school and are encouraged to dress in their most fabulous 80s outfit for the screening. Some of use will pull our cloths out of mothballs and others will go over to Urban Outfitters and buy new versions of 80’s disasters that never should have been re-created. Or created in the first place.

A slide show of the emailed high school pictures will be projected through out the night.

This special evening is part of Cinema Tuesdays, a monthly series curated by Flux celebrating innovative film at The Montalbán, Nike Sportswears unique retail and special events theatre in Hollywood.

Tuesday August 25th, 2009

7PM Reunion
8PM Screening + After-party with Lady Sinclair and cocktails by Belvedere Macerated.

Nike Sportswear at The Montalbán
1615 Vine Street
Hollywood, CA

Wanna hear awesome music, but don’t wanna break your bank? Check out the awesome free shows this weekend:

Squirrel Nut Zippers @ Santa Monica Pier
Thursday, 7/23 – 7pm

Mike Marshall, Darol Anger, and Väsen @ Skirball
Thursday, 7/23 – 8pm

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros & Eskimo Hunter @ Hammer Museum
Thursday, 7/23 – 8pm

The Bad Plus @ California Plaza
Friday, 7/24 – 12pm & 8pm

Cut Chemist @ The Getty
Saturday, 7/25 – 6pm

Paula Cole @ Pershing Square
Saturday, 7/25 – 8pm

Where Have All The Real Cowboys Gone 1996

Excerpt ~ Def 1000 songs: In late 1996 Cole released her sophomore album on Warner Brothers, This Fire, which was entirely self-produced. The albums’s debut single, “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone”, became an instant smash radio (reaching #8 on Billboard magazine’s pop chart) and MTV hit. The follow up single, “I Don’t Want To Wait”, was a #11 pop hit single, thanks in part to the fact that it was made the theme song to the popular teen drama Dawson’s Creek …… more

Number 877 - Paula Cole – 1996 – USA – Genre: Alt Pop - Play Song – Vote 4 Paula

prev post [[click above for music vid, bio + much more!]] next post

email crowbarred

Confesso que só ouço um cd dela por achá-lo incrivelmente bom, mas vale a pena ouvir tudo que ela já fez, inclusive os shows (tem dvd) com o Peter Gabriel.

O cd que ouço se chama This fire, é de 1996, e colocarei aqui embaixo a letra de uma das músicas que masi gosto.

Me

I am not the person who is singing
I am the silent one inside
I am not the one who laughs at people’s jokes
I just pacify their egos

I am not my house or my car or my songs
They are only just stops along my way 
I am like winter
I’m a dark cold female
With a golden ring of wisdom in my cave

CHORUS:
And it is me who is my enemy
Me who beats me up
Me who makes the monsters
Me who strips my confidence

I am carrying my voice 
I am carrying my heart
I am carrying my rhythm 
I am carrying my prayers
But you can’t kill my spirit
It’s soaring and it’s strong
Like a mountain 
I go on and on
But when my wings are folded
The brightly colored moth
Blends into the dirt into the ground

CHORUS

And it’s me who’s too weak
And it’s me who’s too shy
To ask for the thing i love
And it’s me who’s too weak
And it’s me who’s too shy
To ask for the thing i love
That I love (6 x) 

I am walking on the bridge 
I am over the water
And I’m scared as hell
But I know there’s something better
Yes I know there’s something
Yes I know, I know, yes I know

That I love (5 x)

But it’s me
And it’s me
But it’s me (4 x)

OBS: Para mais informações: www.paulacole.com

Laila Biali is an amazing Canadian jazz pianist and composer living the life in New York City.  Her radiant spirit is as vibrant as her incredible music chops.  She’s currently performing with Paula Cole on the East Coast of the US.  Laila also loves blue bijou jewelry.  Here is Laila wearing a pair of blue bijou Oriental filigree earrings.

Tune in to Laila’s beautiful voice at http://www.lailabiali.com.

Esqueci-me de contar! Na verdade, esqueci-me de mostrar!

Há um tempinho, minha irmã me maquiou e fez um book meu. A maioria das fotos ficaram horríveis, porque a modelo aqui não ajuda nem um pouquinho. Mas aqui está uma foto que achei duca!

Moi!

Não tem absolutamente nada de especial, mas gostei, e daí!?

Fui obrigada a acordar às 4h30 da manhã, porque a bonita da minha irmã quis que eu fosse com meu avô levá-la até a escola de onde sairia para ir para Campos de Jordão. E lá fui eu, com cara de louca, mas fui! Agora estou aqui em casa, sozinha, apenas com a Atena, porque mamãe e papai também “viajaram”. Estão num retiro vendo palestras e etc. Não sei direito o que se faz num retiro, nunca fui a um.

Almocei com vôvis e vóvis no Burguer King. Saudável, né!? Eles nunca tinham ido e resolvi ir hoje. Eles adoraram! Acho que não sou um bom exemplo. Será que deveria tê-los levado a um restaurante vegetariano? Haha… Agora já era… Estrago feito!

Olha que novidade, tenho trocentas coisas para fazer e não mexi num palitinho ainda. Ah, agora já foi. Cansei! E amanhã tem super almoço VIP em casa, isso porque tenho duas confirmações, que acabam nunca sendo tão confirmadas assim. Sabe como são as coisas!? Existem os imprevistos, sempre! Mas eu virei no meu alomoço, é garantido. Menu: pizza e chá gelado. Dessert: helado de creme. Viu?! Misturei quatro línguas num simples cardápio do dia: francês, italiano, português (é claro, né? Dã!) e espanhol. Chique, benhê, sou chique! Haha… Senti-me Silas Simplesmente agora. O quê? Você não sabe quem é Silas Simplesmente! Caro leitor, que desatualiado que o senhor é. Mas como diz o ditado: Antes tarde do que nunca. Confira aqui: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6gE3DPuIt8&feature=related

Mas adianto que é um dos personagens do Marco Luque no Terça Insana. É um “taxistas, santistas, só levo famosos…” Está no DVD Ventilador de Alegria. Recomendo muito! Merece ser comprado!

E o que seria de mim sem essa maravilha que é a música. Lista de bandas/cantores: Lisa Hannigan, Beirut (que vem para o Brasil em setembro! Preparem os bolsos!), é… quem mais mesmo… ah, Paula Cole! Nossa, já vi essa lista antes! Será que é poque eu sempre escuto as mesmas coisas? Galerinha, tô precisando de indicações. Quem tiver, manda!

E tem fotos novas no Orkut. Exploding Star Orchestra e Roscoe Mitchell. Imperdível! Não sei se tem coisas deles por aí, mas procure. É a junção de um pessoal de Chicago e de São Paulo, até onde eu saiba. (Corrija-me se estiver errada, please!) O Sesc lançará um DVD com as duas apresentações que fizeram lá, mas não sei quando. Outra coisa, tem pouca foto porque fiquei mais do que concentrada. Foi um espetáculo inesquecível. O Mazurek, trompetista criador do projeto, estava saltitante de alegria. Parabéns, cara, arrasou!

Exploding Star Orchestra e Roscoe Mitchell

Chega, né!

Para você que conseguiu chegar até o final desse post, meu xero especial!

OBS: Almoço musical! Para quem não vier, apenas uma palavrinha simbólica: Perdeu!

OBS2: Teve show do Gilbert de graça no Shopping Interlagos. Queria ter visto. Que ódio! Hahahaha…

Since I turned 30 a few days ago, I thought it fitting to come up with a new soundtrack, since the last one I did 3 or 4 years ago seems outdated (and my life was so drastically different then). So here goes….

“Love Will Come to You” by Indigo Girls

And I wish her insight to battle loves blindness
Strength from the milk of human kindness
A safe place for all the pieces that scattered
Learn to pretend theres more than love that matters

Ailene will always be precious to me, for a lot of reasons (naks) and one of them is because of this song. At the height of the great depression, she sent me this beauty of a song, and it helped me understand that truly inexplicable emotion called love. And now, I sing this to all friends who have had their hearts broken. Always, with a catch in my throat

“Me” by Paula Cole

And it is me who is my enemy
Me who beats me up
Me who makes the monsters
Me who strips my confidence

Whenever I feel my confidence erroding, I always turn back to this song and try to remember who the real enemy is. You should meet the “me”, more than 5 years ago; self-loathing, immature, always insecure, self-doubting me. She sometimes still rears her ugly head, but I would like to believe I got rid of most of her sometime back

“The World is Our Playground” by Up Dharma Down

I swear I belong
This is where I belong

Enough said

“Lost” by Coldplay

Just because I’m losing
Doesn’t mean I’m lost
Doesn’t mean I’ll stop
Doesn’t mean I would cross

For those who believe I’m lost…refer to my previous post, and that is all I’m saying about the subject

“Orange Sky” by Alexi Murdoch

When I am alone 
When I’ve thrown off the weight of this crazy stone 
When I’ve lost all care for the things I own 
That’s when I miss you
You who are my home 
And here is what I know now 
Goes like this
In your love, my salvation lies 
In your love

This is my love song for my Lola, my Mom, my Brother, my friends who know me inside and out and who accept me (as cliche as it sounds) for who I am

“Naive Orleans” by Anberlin

And I finally found that life goes on without you
And my world still turns when you’re not around

This is my song for all the men (boys) who have intentionally and unintentionally broken my heart. It took almost half a lifetime of learning (and I’m still learning in some ways) but I think I finally got it

“Grace” by U2

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things 

No matter what my personal convictions are now, I still believe in grace, a thought that practically changed the world as we know it. And this song, for me, encapsulates this, in the simplest words I know

“Quiet Little Place” by K’s Choice

And now everything I feel
Whether it’s fiction or it’s real
It’s so much clearer
Like the color of this light
It seems more dangerous and bright
But I don’t fear her

For the past 3 or 4 years, my life changed drastically, and as I said before, from my own perspective, I’ve become a much better person because of this. It’s not like a major overhaul of my life, but a slow, subtle, shift in perspective and direction. I know I am still a work in progress, but for the first time in my existence, I am not afraid of where it will take me, be it back to where I came from (I am still very much open to that) or somewhere totally new (and I am not scared to death of that)

And on that note, I would like to thank my facebook friends for the gazillion greetings, my M2comms family for the “surprise” party last Friday and my real family, for the simple but meaningful day I got to spend with them. I did not celebrate my 30th with a bang, but I know this year is gonna be a blast

*as always, no real camera on my birthday, so let’s just settle for this

In 1996, Sarah McLachlan became frustrated with concert promoters that refused to feature two female musicians in a row, as an opening act and main concert. With the help of Nettwerk’s CEO Terry McBride & Dan Fraser, Sarah created an all-female tour to be named Lilith Fair!! Between 1997 & 1999, Lilith Fair raised over $10M for women’s charities throughout North America & helped pave the way for female musicians the world over. In 1999, Sarah McLauchlan chose to concentrate on her family & the tour went on hiatus…

Well, yesterday, Terry McBride tweeted “Lilith Fair 2010 here we come!!”

I’m sooooooooooo EXCITED!!!! I went to 2 out of the 3 and saw the likes of Paula Cole, Emm Gryner, Natalie Merchant, Emmylou Harris, Dixie Chicks, Deborah Cox, Chantal Kreviazuk, Sheryl Crow…. It was BY FAR my best concert experiences!!

Volviendo a los 90’s esta chica gano muchos premios con este buen disco “my fire”

Y ahora donde estará Paula ahora???

Miss Moneypenny reporting for the Undercover Times

A abertura de um concerto memorável: Secret World Live (um DVD que vale a pena ver). A senhora é a Paula Cole. O senhor é, obviamente, Peter Gabriel. Dispensa comentários…

The wretched desert takes its form, the jackal proud and tight / O terrível deserto ganha forma, com o chacal orgulhoso e firme
In search of you, I feel my way, though the slowest heaving night / À tua procura, vou testando o terreno, pelo meio da noite mais lenta e agoirenta
Whatever fear invents, I swear it make no sense / Seja o que for que o receio inventa, tento jurar que não faz sentido
I reach through the border fence / Tento ultrapassar a barreira
Come down, come talk to me / Anda, vem falar comigo

In the swirling, curling storm of desire unuttered words hold fast / Na tempestade revoltosa do desejo, as palavras por dizer permanecem
With reptile tongue, the lightning lashes towers built to last / Com língua de réptil, com relâmpagos feitos torres que duram para sempre
Darkness creeps in like a thief and offers no relief / A escuridão entra como um gatuno e não dá alívio
Why are you shaking like a leaf / Porque tremes tu como uma vara?
Come on, come talk to me / Anda, vem falar comigo

Ah please talk to me / Oh, por favor, fala comigo
Wont you please talk to me / Por favor, porque não falas comigo?
We can unlock this misery / Podemos desfazer esta tristeza
Come on, come talk to me / Anda, vem falar comigo

I did not come to steal / Não vim para roubar nada
This all is so unreal / tudo isto é tão irreal
Cant you show me how you feel now / Não podes mostrar-me como te sentes agora?
Come on, come talk to me / Anda, vem falar comigo
Come talk to me / Fala comigo
The earthly power sucks shadowed milk from sleepy tears undone / O poder terreno suga o leite denso de lágrimas sonolentas por chorar
From nippled skin as smooth as silk the bugles blown as one / De uma pele eriçada tão suave como seda, as cornetas tocadas em uníssono
You lie there with your eyes half closed like theres no-one there at all / Ficas aí deitada com os olhos semi fechados, como se não estivesse aí ninguém
Theres a tension pulling on your face / Há uma tensão a crescer no teu rosto
Come on, come talk to me / Anda, fala comigo

Wont you please talk to me / Por favor fala comigo
If youd just talk to me / Se ao menos falasses comigo
Unblock this misery / Desfizesses esta tristeza
If youd only talk to me / Se ao menos falasses comigo

Dont you ever change your mind / Nunca mudes de ideias
Now your futures so defined / O teu futuro está agora tão definido
And you act so deaf and blind / Ages tão cega e surdamente

Come on, come talk to me / Vem, anda falar comigo
Come talk to me / Fala comigo

I can imagine the moment / Posso imaginar o momento
Breaking out through the silence / De romper o silêncio
All the things that we both might say / Todas as coisas que ambos poderíamos dizer
And the heart it will not be denied / E que o coração não será renegado
til were both on the same damn side / Até estarmos ambos no mesmo lado
All the barriers blown away / Com todas as barreiras derrubadas

I said please talk to me / Por favor fala comigo
Wont you please come talk to me / Por favor, porque não falas comigo?
Just like it used to be / Como costumava ser
Come on, come talk to me / Anda, fala comigo
I did not come to steal / Não vim para roubar
This all is so unreal / tudo isto é irreal
Can you show me how you feel now / Podes mostrar-me como te sentes agora?
Come on, come talk to me / Anda, fala comigo
Come talk to me

I said please talk to me
If youd just talk to me
Unblock this misery
If youd only talk to me

A friend recently tagged me in his response to a Facebook meme I had no choice but to follow: The “25 Albums” meme.

Because of my age it’s a bit difficult to avoid breaking Penn Jillette’s Three-Year-Rule (in basic principle, anyway) for lauding music, so I do recognize that nostalgia greatly influences what I’m choosing. Because really: It’s not that The Postal Service is better than the Rolling Stones. It’s that I heard the Postal Service instead of the Stones when I was ready to be influenced.

And there are a lot of great albums which did influence me which I could’ve added to the list but didn’t because they didn’t come to mind in time. So rest assured that I realize albums like The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” are just flat out better music than, say, Letters to Cleo’s “Aurora Gory Alice” (which I don’t list but do mention). These albums are just apparently less likely to get stuck on repeat in my head as I process internet memes. Wha’cha gonna do?

Per my friend’s post, here’s how the list works:

“Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of, they musically shaped your world. They stood up, they lasted, they mattered. They still matter, in some way (even if only in memory). Doesn’t have to be THE 25. Just THE 25 RIGHT NOW, as memory and listening demand.”

************************************

My Top 25 Most Influential Albums

1. Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill

After growing up listening to Amy Grant and a lot of Oldies, “Jagged Little Pill” was the first secular CD I ever purchased. (The first secular *album* I ever purchased was Ace of Base’s “The Sign” which I bought on cassette tape from a Meijer’s grocery store on a trip home from Michigan with my grandmother when I was in 6th grade.) I have always and probably will always love this CD. From “All I Really Want’s” growling drive for peace to “Mary Jane’s” haunting plea for survival, this is a lyrical masterpiece of the then burgeoning Grrl Power artistic movement* of chick folk melting into chick alt-rock and I still thrill at the sound of every last rant, whine, cry, and wheeze of comeuppance. (*Yes. I know. I meant the *1990s* version.)

I also wish I had known better at 14 than to pay $18 for it at Sam Goody.

2. The Beatles – Abbey Road / The Beatles (The White Album)

I’m torn on these two as I like them both pretty much equally and they stand shoulder to shoulder as far as their influence on me.

On the one hand there’s Abbey Road’s contributions of “Come Together,” “Because,” “Mean Mr. Mustard,” “Polythene Pam,” and “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window.” You simply cannot deny the power of an album that introduces you to both a man who keeps a ten bob note up his nose, and a woman with a habit of entering homes through unconventional means via the protection of costly flatware. Abby Road could’ve been a one-sider featuring only “Come Together” and still been a rock classic, you know?

But where would we be without “Happiness Is A Warm Gun,” “Blackbird,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” the achingly hippie-sexy “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?,” and “Sexy Sadie” from the White Album? She’s well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand indeed. Kudos to the most/least successful firearm marketing campaign ever conceived.

I’m “not a girl who misses much,” including the necessity of including the existence of the song “Honey Pie” on a Top 25 Albums list. And Rolling Stone Magazine’s 2003 “Top 500 Albums of All Time” list pegs the White Album at #10 and Abbey Road at #14, so I guess errbody keeps these two kinda close.

3. The Beatles – Revolver

“Even though you know what you know/ I know that I’m ready to leave/ ‘Cause you’re making me feel like I’ve never been born.”

Something about listening to this album just always made me feel cool. Made me feel connected to music. Made me feel like I had tapped into that thing, whatever it was, that made the ever present “then” so much better than “now.” Especially after I received it on vinyl for Christmas in 8th grade and could lay back on my bedroom floor and rock out to every last pop and crackle the beautiful black disc afforded. This album? This is my number one album. Ever. Of all time. Love me, love my Revolver.

4. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

“For the benefit of Mr. Kite/ There will be a show tonight on trampoline./ The Hendersons will all be there/Late of Pablo-Fanques Fair, what a scene!”

Welcome to *drum roll please* Rolling Stone’s #1 Album of All Time. You’ve got LSD, men in shiny nautical uniforms, helpful friends, good mornings, and holes being fixed right and left. When you play this album you just– you’ve really just got to admit it’s getting better. A little better all the time. And that drugs plus mustaches make for some seriously great tunes.

5. Ben Folds – Rockin’ the Suburbs

I first started listening to Ben Folds in college when my then boyfriend introduced me to the work of Ben Folds Five. “Rockin’…” came out the fall of my sophomore year (on 9/11, no less) and was an instant fave. I was so proud of myself for finally getting the claps right on “Annie Waits,” and for finally not crying during “The Luckiest,” possibly one of the most beautiful modern love songs I’ve ever heard. (Click here for lyrics) And you haven’t experienced the ache of a life forgotten- in song form- until you’ve heard “Fred Jones, Pt. 2.” Brilliant album. Fun and funny, touching, memorable, goofy, and genius.

6. Ben Folds Five – Whatever and Ever Amen

You want songs about abortion? We got songs about abortion. You want songs about hippie chicks with monosyllabic names? We got songs about hippie chicks with monosyllabic names. You want songs about angry dwarves and solemn faces? We got those too. Hell- we got 200 solemn faces! Another classic album that reminds me of college. And concerts. And road trips. And sing alongs around the piano. And boyfriends. And break ups. And ex boyfriends. And being 19 again. And that I don’t ever have to be 19 again…

7. Cake – Fashion Nugget and 8. Prolonging the Magic

In a true and lasting testament to my having begun serving my time in a liberal arts college in the early 2000s, when Napster reigned supreme and Morpheus was around as a back up when the first shudders of the RIAA’s lameassness began to strike: I never actually owned either of these albums outright. Just had gobs of mp3s of their songs- album versions, remastered versions, “clean” radio versions- in tidy yellow folders on my computer under the master heading of “Guys.”

(As opposed to my other master headings of “Gals,” “Soundtracks,” “Diverse,” “Spoken Word,” “Comedy”, “Burn for Friends,” and “Chill”…)

I eventually burned copies of both full albums onto CDs, but my favorite Cake discs were the ones that combined the best of both albums onto single discs alongside filler tunes from They Might Be Giants. I first started listening to Cake in high school, but it wasn’t until college that they really stuck in my craw. But, you know, in a good way. I’ve been told they’re not as much fun to listen to *quality-wise* in concert because of John McCrea’s sprechstimme-y approach to the songs. I long for an opportunity to verify this for myself. From the front row. With friends.

9. Clem Snide – The Ghost of Fashion

I was first introduced to Clem Snide when lead singer Eef Barzelay and band member Pete “Can-Make-An-Instrument-Out-of-Anything-Then-Use-It-To-Create-Haunting-Melodies” Fitzpatrick opened for Ben Folds in Madison in 2001. (2002?) I dug their sound from the get go, but it wasn’t until I had my first (and last) crush on a hipster that I realized the gold I’d stumbled upon in hearing this group.

The blushing truth behind my greatest musical discovery? I met a guy who looked like a cross between Eef Barzelay and Bob Saget at a party hosted by an actor I barely knew at an apartment downtown. A party full of import beers, girls puking in crushed velvet elevators, and hipsters before there were hipsters. I felt So. Cool. And this guy. This cute guy who told people at the party he was from Haifa. This cute guy who drove a forklift and cried during the scene in The Royal Tenenbaums when Richie meets Margot at the bus station– this guy *loved* Clem Snide. So I gave them a different kind of listen.

That different kind of listen completely remolded my taste in music for the rest of my life and shaped not only my social life in college, but shifted the guys I liked, the poetry I read, the essays I wrote, the dreams I had, to something more holdable, more beautiful, more… me. Thank you Andrew James John K. No matter where you’re from, or how many middle names you really have.

10. Clem Snide – Your Favorite Music

Loneliness finds her own way
Cause her skin is so soft
I’m cutting my teeth on her shoulders
And cracking my knuckles while holding her hand…

Loneliness finds her own way
For her I won’t be afraid
I’m holding on to her picture
Cause her good looks have faded from all those parades

11. The Cranberries – No Need to Argue

Dolores O’Riordan goes blonde for this one, but fret not: It’s even more kickass than “Everybody Else Is Doing It.” I rocked the eff out to this one in high school. If I had had my license my sophomore year of high school, “Zombie” would’ve been my driving song. Now I listen to it more for songs like “The Icicle Melts” and “Daffodil Lament.” I guess when the hardest decisions you’ve had to make thus far in life involve choosing electives over Study Halls it’s hard to identify with lyrics like “All night long, laid on my pillow./ These things are wrong./ I can’t sleep here./ I have decided to leave you forever.” But oh how I found ways to identify with them over the years…

12. Damien Rice – O

The first time I heard a song off this album I was at the home of an area actor/musician for the kind of party I had never before been invited to and haven’t been since. The kind of party that’s not a party. More of a gathering. A gathering of  folks. Folks who are all cooler and more talented than me at everything we have in common, and even more so at everything we don’t. We drank beer. We drank wine. We smoked cigarette after cigarette on the balcony. We ate chocolate syrup straight from the bottle, off each other’s skin, from unwashed spoons. And I listened. A lot.

There was this impromptu jam session at this particular party in which instruments magically appeared from nowhere as voices I’d only ever heard speak began harmonizing to songs I always wished I knew. One girl there in that circle in the darkened dining room… one girl there sang “Volcano.” Acapella? With a guitar? I can’t remember if there was music behind her voice or merely the hush of our collective awe, but I never forgot the song.

Thank you, “O,” for getting me through the heartache of my last month in California. It meant the world to me.

13. Fiona Apple – Tidal

I wrote a review of her performance on the Jimmy Kimmel show after I watched her perform for his taping out in the parking lot behind his studio. Basically it says she’s spastic. Beautiful and fragile and strong but broken and utterly, utterly spastic. I should really post that somewhere…

I dug, and continue to dig, “Tidal” the most out of all three of her albums because it has the greatest number of songs that “work” for me, though really I enjoy everything she’s done. (Her rendition of “Sally’s Song” from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is unbelievably sad and sultry.) This album is really all about “Never Is A Promise” as far as I’m concerned. “Never is a promise, and you can’t afford to lie…”

14. Jude – No One Is Really Beautiful (very closely tied with 430 N. Harper Ave.)

The same boyfriend who turned me on to Ben Folds also got me into Jude. I’ll never forget driving with him one Fall to see Jude play at the Cafe Montmarte in Madison (Michelle Branch was the opening act, can you believe it?) only to be turned away at the door because it was a 21+ show, a fact conveniently missing from all the show’s promo details. But never fear, comrades. Jude’s tour manager, and then Jude himself, came outside and got me into the gig after learning my bf ran a website of tabs and chords for Jude’s tunes. Fast forward a day and the bf and I are driving to Ann Arbor, MI to see Jude perform again, this time getting in for free along with an invite to have a few beers with the band on the tour bus. We didn’t stay longer than maybe an hour, though, as we had the drive back to Milwaukee ahead of us that same night. It really was just one of the coolest music related experience I think I’ve ever had.

Every song on “No One…” is great, but I think I like “The Asshole Song” most of all now. Ah but “You Mama You” is also pretty groovy… Hm. If you can find a copy to buy, rip, whatever: do so. Just suck it up and grab the album. The songs are catchy enough that you’re bound to like at least a few, well penned enough that you’re bound to appreciate the lyrics that keep getting stuck in your head, and beautifully played enough that you won’t mind hearing yourself humming these songs incessantly after your first full-disc run through.

15. Mazzy Star – So Tonight That I Might See

I’m a bit torn on including this one. Like– Mazzy Star? Really? I only get to list 25 albums and I choose to include “So Tonight That I Might See”?! I think I toss groups like Mazzy Star into the same mix alongside groups like The Murmurs and Letters to Cleo and their ilk when I think back on “that era of influence.” Kinda like how I lump Citizen King and Soul Coughing together even though their sounds and approaches were different. It’s like they’re on the same shelf in my mind; I just can’t list them all here. It’s not that they necessarily sound the same or make me feel the same way, it’s just that they– well they just go together, okay? Stop hassling me already…

16. Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?

Between “Wonderwall,” “Don’t Look Back In Anger,” and “Cast No Shadow,” this album was an easy pick for me to include on this list. Great modern rock. Great music in general. It takes me back in a way few other albums can, and I’m almost always in the mood for a listen (though I have been known to skip over the lagging instrumentals of “Champagne Supernova” to give “She’s Electric” another listen before changing the CD). Back in the day I thought Liam Gallagher was just the cutest stinkin’ thing ever, after John Lennon and Chris O’Donnell of course, and singing along to these songs made me feel cool enough to be at least nineteen, maybe twenty.

17. Phranc – Folksinger

Phranc could’ve released this with only “Female Mudwrestling” and “Amazons” and it would’ve been a worthwhile EP. The rest of the tunes are just icing on the cake. The very, very gay cake. “Lifelover” is a nice touch musically, but a chorus of (presumably) lesbians singing along with a crooning Jewish bulldyke in a crew cut about how they “don’t like female mudwrestling” is about all the estrrrrrogen I can handle on one album. I’m generally more of a Melissa Etheridge/k.d. lang kind of gal, you know?  I mean– lang’s cover of “Hallelujah”? Priceless. Utterly priceless.

Ooh shoot. Should I have made Alix Olson’s “Built Like That” my #17? There really aren’t enough lesbian artists on this list considering how many have been in constant rotation on my cd player/iTunes for the past 10 years…

18. Poe – Haunted

Before we begin: GO BUY MARK DANIELEWSKI’S “HOUSE OF LEAVES” RIGHT NOW. “House of Leaves,” much like “Haunted,” is not for the feint of heart nor the short of attention span. Sure you can find something neat in the mere concept of the novel or of the album, and perhaps even get a kick out of a line or two in them. But to really fall in love with either you’ve got to be willing to commit to, and then be torn apart by both.

This album is glorious on its own; in an indie way, in a creative way, in a creepy way, in a cohesive story way. It’s just not until you read Poe’s brother’s “House of Leaves” with this playing in the background, however, that you are forced to smack yourself in the forehead at how totally and purely and unadulteratedly awesome this album is not only in its artistic integrity but in its massive scope. That and the “Hey Pretty” video is dead sexy.

19. Poe – Hello

Though “Hello” was released the same year as Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” and via it’s singles can easily (although inaccurately, in my opinion) be lumped into the same “angry woman bitching about men” genre, it has a distinctly heavier “alternative rock” feel to it which I greatly admire. I didn’t really discover this album until 1997 when I was 15. I was madly in love with “Angry Johnny” and “Choking the Cherry,” (Emo much?), but it wasn’t until college that “That Day” hit me. And it wasn’t until a peacefully sad break up that “Fly Away” busted my shit. That “Fly Away,” man. That’s some real music right there.

20. The Postal Service – Give Up

I hung out with a lot of writers, actors, communists, homosexuals, wiccans, stoners, homeschoolers and democrats in college. Boy do those guys know how to pick good up-and-coming bands. “Give Up” came out my junior year of college and was immediately the most burned album amongst my comrades and me. And when we heard TPS was playing at MSOE like a month later? Dude. We were so there. I wore rainbow belted blue pants from Ragstock to that show and danced my little heart out with moves I couldn’t dredge up now again if I tried. That’s where I first heard Andrew Bird, incidentally. He was one of two opening acts. Him and The Muldoons. I love me some Andrew Bird. I love me some Postal Service. I think I have an autographed copy of “Give Up” somewhere actually. I– I should really find that…

21. Sigur Rós – ( ) / Ágætis byrjun

I don’t know what I can really say about Sigur Rós except that to love them is to– is to love them? I guess…?

I first heard them in 2000, my freshman year of college. I was heavy into downloading music at the time and remember I was downloading some Boards of Canada or Mira Calix or something in that vein from somebody with a fast connection speed so I checked out their library and they had all this music by this weird group whose name I couldn’t pronounce. I grabbed a few songs, had a listen, and was hooked. If I did drugs, this is what I’d do them to.

If you’ve got the time, have a listen to them on YouTube so you can take a peek at some of their videos as well. I promise they’ll give you a renewed interest in Iceland. And if you just want to ease into the sound? Nice and sweet and simple like? Want to rest? Want to just lay down all hushed like and drown in soft, soft sounds? Listen to “Staralfur” from “Ágætis byrjun” and sail on. It’s pretty mellow. It’s also only one aspect of their sound, which is quite diverse and… cold? Tight? Quiet? White? Chilly? Sad?

Be sure to check their website for tunes before putting down dough on their music, however. They keep a pretty sizable number of their tracks available for downloading for free on there. Album cuts, live stuff- all there. Have at it. (They are worth a good spend, though. For real.)

22. Soundgarden – Superunknown

And now for something completely different! This was and is my only real “hard” album that I enjoy cover to cover. I’m not much for harder rock tunes, and I know by many accounts even this wouldn’t count, but for an Erin McKeown fan: “Superunknown” is a bit of a stretch.

“Black Hole Sun” was, like, the coolest thing in the world in seventh grade. If you knew the lyrics you were hot shit. If you knew the video? Oh man. You were untouchable. Luckily there’s more to this album than the thing in it that pulls in 12 year olds. That’s when it meant the most to me- from age 12 to about age 15- but it still gets me going even today. “Kickstand” is great for when you’re putting on make-up to go someplace where you know you can’t sit on any of the chairs. “Spoonman” is great for when you’re drinking room temperature beer at clubs where everyone is convinced they’re cooler than you when you know precisely the opposite to be true. “Fell On Black Days” is great for whenever. Just– whenever.

23. Tegan and Sara – This Business of Art / Under Feet Like Ours

There’s a lot of overlap in the track listings on these two CDS, the first albums from singers/ songwriters/ twins/ Canadians/ lesbians Tegan and Sara Quin, so I’m including both as #23.

I don’t remember when I first started listening to them. Some time in college, I suppose, since that seems to be the era in my musical history in which I am irredeemably stuck. At the time I was big into feminist artists, female folk singers, chick rockers. And if they were lesbians– all the better. But with these two– Twin lesbians? From Canada?! JACKPOT! I don’t know where this musical attraction came from, to tell you the truth. I like guys. I really do. But boy nobody can rock out vocally to a guitar quite like a woman with a motive and an alibi. Especially if the motive involves your girlfriend…

I don’t listen to them quite as much any more, though I do enjoy watching their videos on YouTube, something I couldn’t do back when they first entered my “sphere.” (No, James. That is not a euphemism.) I do still dig the sound, but I feel like the part of me that really got into that kind of throaty indie pop was left behind in college, pinned to the shelf above my desk alongside play tickets, lighting project assignments, and phone numbers given to me by boys I had no intention of calling but lacked the guts to turn away when they asked me to call them sometime.

“Fear is the colour you’ve all exposed./Now I gotta get up here/ And prove the importance of my clothes,/ Of my pose/ I suppose/ Again.”

24. Tori Amos – Boys for Pele

This is one of those albums that’s got so much on it that’s so diverse in sound, instrumentation, lyrical stylings, etc. from one track to the next that if I’m not in the mood for one song, I can almost guarantee I’ll be in the mood for another. It satisfies most of my thirsts, and I like that in a “Top 25 Albums” album.

You’ve got your easier-to-break-into songs like “Caught A Lite Sneeze” and “Father Lucifer,” your shorties like “Agent Orange,” “Mr. Zebra,” and the choral cut of “Way Down, and the indie film waiting to be born out of “Little Amsterdam.” In fact… That’s not a bad idea. Who’s reading this who can make a movie happen? I’m ready to be buried with a butter bean bouquet.

25. Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes

I *might* be mistaken on which album it was, but I *think* my high school boyfriend bought me this CD for my 17th birthday. Either this one or “From the Choirgirl Hotel.” But I *think* it was this one. I’m almost always in the mood for some Tori, and “Little Earthquakes” is the easiest one for me to jump right into. “Boys for Pele” I kind of have to ease myself into over time. Flip back and forth between tracks. Work myself up for it. But this one I pop in and I’m rightthere. “Happy Phantom”?  Incredible. “Crucify,” “Silent All These Years,” and “Precious Things”? Poetry. “Me and a Gun”? Haunting. This one was a favorite as early as the first time I heard “Crucify” on the radio, and remains high on my list of must-recommends.

************************************

There it is. My Top 25 Albums. Now go write yours and then tag me! I’m dying to read what makes your lists. ;D

ETA: As I read friends’ lists I’m seeing a lot of albums that definitely deserve a home on my own list. I’m including them as Runners Up, but they’re more influential than just the “honorable mention” feel the title of Runners Up gives them. Perhaps I should expand this to include my Top 30 or Top 50 Most Influential Albums? At any rate- here they are, once again in alphabetical order by artist/band, my “Other Albums I Thought Of Too Late To Include”:

1. Amy Grant – Heart In Motion

2. Indigo Girls – Shaming of the Sun

3. Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack

4. Paula Cole – This Fire

originally published July 2008

Laila Biali

Vancouver native Laila Biali is among the standout artists attracted to this year’s Jazz Festival to run July 16^th – 20^th though it’s now known as the Wreckhouse International Jazz and Blues festival. Since its start in 2002, this will be the first year it incorporates blues artists as well as jazz. The Laila Biali Treo is suited by neither label really as Biali shared, she’s coming back to Newfoundland after long supporting tours for Paula Cole and Suzanne Vega supporting of her own album From Sea to Sky.

Have you been to St. John’s before?
Yes!  During my last year of high school our band trip went there and Nova Scotia.  I remember climbing down the coast to stand on the “easternmost tip of [North America].” Something about that was thrilling and stands out to this day.  I also recall looking out onto the Atlantic through mist and fog, being filled with a sense of history and wonder.

What are you looking forward to?
The joyous people!  I grew up in Vancouver and heard that Vancouverites are statistically the most depressed people in Canada and Newfoundlanders are the most joyful!  Not saying I agree, but somebody else apparently had the research to prove it! The delightful accents; one morning we were at a local diner ordering breakfast and our lovely waiter exuberantly repeated our orders.  None of us had a sweet clue what he was saying!  We were shocked at how strong his accent was and embarrassed we weren’t able to better understand! Everyone, including the waiter, had a laugh.

Any nervousness about covering Canadian ‘greats’?
Not particularly, though I felt it was an honour; something to be treated with seriousness and respect.

Who did you learn the most from, recording this album?
That’s a hard one.  I learn from everyone who’s involved with a project.  From the artists whose repertoire I was exploring to incredible musicians and engineers. I think Claire Lawrence, the producer, stood out amongst the rest in terms of his role and the number of things I learned.  He’s an incredibly diverse, experienced professional, who’s been a musician for many years and was the producer for CBC’s jazz beat show.  He’s worked with and produced many of the world’s best artists.  Claire is a very quiet man, almost shy, but bold in vision and very strong in opinions. He works incredibly well with artists, clear and opinionated but sensitive and cooperative.

How did you meet your various band members?
My first encounter with George Koller was at the distillery jazz festival, in 2004 I believe.  He was playing with “the shuffle demons” on one of the outdoor stages.  Something about him seemed mysterious and i was immediately drawn to him and his playing.  Then, during one raucous number he picked up his bass and started screaming.  That’s right. He just stood there and screamed.  The person next to me must have noted my surprised response and explained that George had recently traveled to some exotic jungle in central or South America and studied animal calls.  I don’t know if that was true (and believe it or not i still haven’t asked George himself!), but what i do know is that i have yet to meet as adventurous and experimental a musical spirit.  He’ll do anything!  And yet he never compromises the music.  It’s never the stuff of “circus stage antics.”  he is the real deal. I first heard Larnell Lewis, our drummer, on a demo that a former piano student of mine once brought into a lesson.  I was really impressed with the young man playing the bass, and my student told me it was this young multi-instrumentalist, Larnell. And i mean this guy was really playing the bass.  His pocket was amazing, and at that time he was only in high school.  Within the next couple of years, Larnell graduated and attended Humber College’s jazz program.  That was when word of his prodigious drumming got out.  The crème de la crème at Humber (teachers like Don Thompson) were buzzing about this new young drummer who sounded like Tony Williams.  I’d also heard only rave reviews about his personality.  Stuff like, “the nicest guy you’ll ever meet.”  He was on my radar for a couple of years before i finally had the opportunity to work with him on “from sea to sky.”  Now he’s a part of the family, and we’re all just thrilled.

What was your favorite space to perform in and why?
That’s another tough question.  I have to admit that the capitol theatre in Moncton was stunning.  I believe it was, along with the adjoining “empress theatre,” one of the first built in Canada (1922).  The history of the theatre is incredibly colourful.  It was devastated by a fire just four years after it was built.  Once restored, it became a hub for vaudeville entertainment and then a major venue during the silent film era.  It was even left vacant for a relatively lengthy period of time.  Now it is one of our country’s heritage jewels.

What do you think drew you to piano?
According to my mom, it was Sesame Street, the popular kids show in the 80 that drew me to the piano.  The way she tells the story, I was just three and a half years old when I climbed onto the piano bench and plunked out the theme song.  I hadn’t been taught a note of piano yet I was able to play by ear.  She and my father, who had been considering enrolling me in gymnastics classes, quickly changed course and settled on piano lessons.  It was love at first note for me.  Even as a little girl, I’d dream of performing virtuosic concertos for large audiences, as a princess, of course.

Why were you attracted to this style and genre?
To be totally honest, initially it was by default that I got into jazz.  I ran into arm problems as an aspiring concert pianist in my teen years. It had been my dream to go to Juilliard and at the age of 12 I was already playing very demanding ARCT level repertoire.  By the time I hit age 15, all sorts of overuse symptoms had started to pop up, which is strange because, although I was very ambitious, I was never consistent with practicing.  But the arm problems were a very real issue, and eventually I had to stop playing classical music and take a break.  That was when I discovered jazz.  I was in my final years of high school and Mr. Rebagliati, the music teacher at Handsworth Secondary, started turning me onto a few jazz records and had me play in the senior combo.  But it wasn’t until i heard Kenny Wheeler perform at Humber College that I genuinely knew that jazz music was something I wanted to pursue longer term.  His music reminded me of the contemporary and impressionistic classic music I was in love with as a classical pianist.  But then there was this exciting element of improvisation. Suddenly, the gap between classical and jazz was bridged and I knew that I could find my voice here.

What’s the ultimate duet for you?
I would have to say Bobby McFerrin.  His duo record with Chick Corea, play is a desert island record for me.  If you mean another pianist sitting with me at the same piano, I’d say Keith Jarrett.  But I would be the “phantom” duet partner and would just watch him play both of our parts by himself!!  (Doesn’t he have two brains and four hands?? Sure sounds like it!!)

How was touring with Paula Cole?
Amazing.  I have learned so much from Paula, as a musician and a human being. She is one of the most sincere people and artists I’ve ever met.  Absolutely electric on stage. But fiercely smart and talented though she may be, she has such a gentle spirit.  She loves to learn and is always observing and listening.  She is profound.

Are your skills and style self taught or studied?
A combination.  I spent 11 years training very seriously as a classical pianist, who laid a firm foundation technically and harmonically for me as a jazz pianist and composer.  I also certainly learned a great deal while at Humber College as a jazz major, from the teachers and other students.  As a vocalist, I’ve barely studied.  I had a handful of lessons during my years at college.  But I am now studying voice privately in New York City on a more regular basis with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

How did you select the songs for the album?
I borrowed piles of CD’s from my local library, saturated myself with the music of my favourite Canadian songwriters, then chose the songs that would lend themselves to a jazz context and that I connected with the most.

What have your travel experiences been like, various world festivals?
A luxury.  Though the travel gets exhausting and artists often only get to see airports, hotels and venues (as opposed to actual cities). I’ve been blessed to experience such a breadth of culture still while young and one learns how things vary from place to place, stylistically.  Audiences demonstrate appreciation in very different ways, depending on where you are in the world.  It’s been fascinating.

How’ve you found going from Vancouver to Toronto to New York?
Wonderful!  I still bounce back and forth between all 3.  I don’t feel like a travelin’ gal with no home, but one who has 3 beautiful cities to call home.

What can people expect from Laila in the future?
I just moved to Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY and feel like I’ve entered an open and somewhat “anonymous” space where I can be free to shake off any pre-conceived notions and labels that have been used to define what I do.  Definitions and categories can be helpful, but I reached a place recently where I started to feel boxed by labels like “jazz pianist and composer who also sings.”  My ideas about audience expectations in accordance with these labels started to colour the creative process.  I found myself trying to come up with songs that would fit within those labels.  I started to obsess over what people were expecting from me and trying to answer to these imagined expectations.  It completely stifled my creativity.  So moving to NYC was the best thing I could do.  After touring with Paula Cole and Suzanne Vega during in 2007 and early 2008, I found myself wanting to move beyond simply writing instrumental original jazz music and arranging songs by other songwriters.  I wanted to find the intersection between the instrumental music i was already hearing and writing and the capacity of lyrics to connect powerfully with the listener. And so, in a sense, i am exploring a season of song-writing.  It’s very different than just arranging other people’s songs or writing instrumental music.  I find it much more demanding.  But the results are so rewarding.  I’m also trying not to think of myself specifically as a “jazz artist.”  Even though jazz is an incredibly open and generous category, it can also feel limiting.  I want to create music that is its own category.  Something distinct.  Something utterly unique.  All of that said, a new recording is definitely in the works.

So, the other day I was thinking and I caught myself singing the Paula Cole song “Where Have all the Cowboys gone?” and I found myself wondering, “where have all the cowboys gone?

From the Rockmine Almanac for today (Tuesday, 6th January):

Birth

1948. “Sandy” Denny (Fairport Convention; Fotheringay) born Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny in Wimbledon, London.

On Tour

1977. The Sex Pistols are playing Rotterdam Art Centre but back in London, EMI Records chairman Sir John Read decides that press coverage of the band’s behaviour at Heathrow Airport is the last straw. As of today, the band’s contract is terminated. Pressing plants are instructed to cease production of “Anarchy In The UK” and the single is deleted from catalogue.

In Court

1998. Paula Cole’s tour manager, Phillip Sullivan appears in a Kentucky court charged with attempted rape, assault and burglary. He pleads not-guilty to the charges and is released on $ 10,000 bail. Sullivan had been arrested at Boston’s Logan International Airport on December 24th following an incident in Kentucky on December 17th. His lawyers say it’s a case of mistaken identity and believe they have a “rock solid alibi” as he was on tour at the time.

In Hospital

1997. Frank Sinatra is rushed to the Cedars of Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles suffering from an irregular heartbeat. Barbara Sinatra, the star’s fourth wife is at his bedside and children Frank Jnr., Nancy and Tina are on their way. The 81 year old singer spent ten days in hospital at the end of last year after suffering from a heart attack and pneumonia.

On The Web.

2008. Rockmine’s first blog appears on WordPress!

On Television

1971. The Johnny Cash Show (ABC, U.S.A.) 46. Guests include Erik Anderson, Derek & The Dominos, Connie Smith, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Homer & Jethro. Here are Derek & The Dominoes with “It’s Too Late”

Death

1987. Folk singer Alex Campbell dies in hospital in Tonder, Denmark, aged 63. He had suffered from throat cancer since 1983.

Go to Rockmine’s main site here.

© Copyright 1995 – 2008 Rockmine Archives. Use of this content is prohibited unless licensed by Rockmine Archives.

If your life was a movie — and really, shouldn’t it be?? — what would the soundtrack be? Sorry, no original music allowed, even if you’re BFFs with John Williams, Danny Elfman AND Randy Newman.

Here’s how it works:
1. Open your music library on iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, or whatever
1. Shuffle it
3. For every ‘scene’ below, type the title and the artist in the order the songs come up

OR

1. If you’re old and don’t have your tunes online, close your eyes and pull out 16 CDs, albums, cassettes, 8-tracks or 78s.
2. Actually shuffle them. Be careful, though — they’re antiques.
3. Type in the first title and artist for each scene below
4. Whichever way you do it, no cheating!

Waking up:
Falling in Love:
Fight Song:
Breaking Up:
Prom:
Life:
Mental Breakdown:
Driving:
Flash Back:
Getting Back Together:
Wedding:
Birth of a Child:
Final Battle:
Death Scene:
Funeral Song:
End Credits:

Here’s the soundtrack of my life …

Waking up: Something Bad — from Wicked
Falling in Love: Let’s Get Mesolithic — by Eddie From Ohio
Fight Song: Make Someone Happy — by Jimmy Durante
Breaking Up: Superstar — by Sonic Youth
Prom: Mony Mony — by Tommy James and the Shondells
Life: Where Have All The Cowboys Gone — by Paula Cole
Mental Breakdown: I’m Not That Girl — from Wicked
Driving: Hand Jive — from Grease
Flash Back: Best Shot — by Pat Benatar
Getting Back Together: Words of Love — by Buddy Holly
Wedding: As We Stumble Along — from The Drowsy Chaperone
Birth of a Child: Schadenfreude — from Avenue Q
Final Battle:  Our House — by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Death Scene: Loose Lips — by Kimya Dawson
Funeral Song: Whip It — by Devo
End Credits: Don’t Ask Me Why — by Billy Joel

Most of them are perfect. Some made me laugh out loud. For instance, picture doing the Hand Jive while driving. Oh wait. I think I’ve done that … no, nevermind. I’m thinking of when I go to the dentist.

And for those of you who are not Eddie From Ohio fans, “Let’s Get Mesolithic” is a sort of love song, in that drag-your-mate-by-the-hair kinda way.

Benatar as my flashback song? Perfect, as she was the mini-soundtrack of my life for every event I attended in college. And, by ‘event’ I mean anything other than classes. Always after dark. Usually in a large crowd. Often with my fraternity brothers.

I’ve already left instructions for my survivors to play “Whip It” at my funeral. Try to detect it. It’s not too late. To whip it. Whip it good. Devo definitely puts the fun in funeral!

And Jimmy Durante? I don’t care who you are, that’s just funny.

What’s the soundtrack of your life?

“Where have all the cowboys gone“? That was the question posed by Paula Cole in a song several years ago. “Where is my John Wayne? Where is my prairie son? Where is my happy ending? Where is my Marlboro Man? Where is his shiny gun? Where have all the cowboys gone?”. Well, that certainly is a good question, isn’t it?

Men have been told by an increasingly feminine society that anger, properly vented and controlled in a manly fashion, is out of place in a modern world. Defending a woman in the post feminist era is not chic and demands some sort of psycho-therapy. Western society has determined that the sexual activity of the homosexual male is welcome in spite of the overwhelming evidence of the negative social and medical effects on a base level. This societal embrace has led to a feminizing of men delivering a paradigm shift in the definition of manhood. The new “norm” is the old “effeminate” man.

Effeminate

Ef*fem”i*nate, a. [L. effeminatus, p. p. of effeminare to make a woman of; ex out + femina a woman. See Feminine, a.]

 

1. Having some characteristic of a woman, as delicacy, luxuriousness, etc.; soft or delicate to an unmanly degree; womanish; weak.

 

The king, by his voluptuous life and mean marriage, became effeminate, and less sensible of honor. –Bacon.

 

An effeminate and unmanly foppery. –Bp. Hurd.

 

2. Womanlike; womanly; tender; — in a good sense.

 

Gentle, kind, effeminate remorse. –Shak.

 

Note: Effeminate and womanish are generally used in a reproachful sense; feminine and womanly, applied to women, are epithets of propriety or commendation.

Homosexuality has become mainstream in the movie industry. It seems every film coming out anymore has the obligatory “gay man” in it. Paula Cole would be happy to know that, yes, there still are cowboys out there but the modern Marlboro Man would have no interest in her on a romantic level i.e. Brokeback Mountain. The result in the heterosexual community is, well, the effeminate man. The man who feels bad about nearly vomiting at the notion of a man in the intimate embrace of another. The man who feels the need for counselling because he put his fist through a wall in a jealous rage over his girl’s infidelity,or gave it a moment’s thought. The man who believes a woman can do everything a man can do and a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. Women do not turn to the same sex lifestyle because they were born that way. They turn to it because all the cowboys are gone. John Wayne has been replaced by John Carry the metrosexual. Today’s man is soft spoken and gentle. He never raises his voice and certainly knows nothing about how to defend himself. He lives vicariously through the UFC and self medicates with the new-age drugs of understanding and tolerance of all opinions. Jesus would not have qualified…

John 2:13  And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
14  And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15  And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16  And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
17  And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

The Bible is not ambiguous about the condition of erased lines of gender. The male/female distinctions were created to compliment each other. Men are not supposed to wear women’s cloths and vise versa. Men are to act like men and women like women and, on the list of people types who will not make it to heaven, the effeminate male gets honorable mention…

¶Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
1 Corinthians 6:9

Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:10

So, as you see, this is serious business. The trend seems to be leading to unmanly men being led around by underdressed women who seek to dominate and blurr the lines between the sexes. Marriages, families, and lives are being destroyed by the constant onslaught of femininity. To illustrate my point there was a news story released recently which highlighted the case in Japan where sales of bra’s and women’s undergarments to men has risen thirty percent in recent years. These were purchased for self use and not for their significant other. Imagine that. The once noble and manly Japanese are all but erasing the gender lines.

“A woman will always try to turn her man into a woman and if she succeeds she will hate him for it”. – Anonymous

The Church must resist this intrusion into manliness. It must be the bulwark against the feminizing of the male gender. Not in judgement and harshness, but in the steady, rock hard masculine mentality.

 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.
John 1:42

Jesus, when He met Simon, changed his name to “Cephas” which means “Stone”. Simon is referred to in the rest of the Bible and church history as Peter. His personality was reflected in his name. He was a coward before but once he received the baptism of the Holy Spirit he was a rock. He became a leader in the church. The man who denied Christ three times was transformed into a key figure in reaching the world for Christ. The “stone” was a characteristic of the unwavering strength of voracity of faith. It was also a reflection of his immovable emotional strength.

Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
1 Peter 3:7

Women are “weaker” in a couple of areas; at least they’re supposed to be. People are not created equal. God created them male and female. Women are emotionally unstable during certain monthly cycles due to the reproductive process. It is what it is. I’m not judging… only describing. Women are also weaker physically. Again… only describing. Men, on the other hand, are not supposed to be weak emotionally or physically. They are supposed to be rocks, or “stones”. To be strength in the family and the world when emotions run wild in the wives and children dealing with out-of-control hormones. The man is the stability… the rock.

Where have all the cowboys gone? I don’t know. I know that when I look in the mirror I’m looking at a man. A rock. A fortress. A Christian.