…Jeffrey gave to you…Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “The Power Of Love”.

Yeah, I’m cheating here, I know, because when the song was released on FGTHs debut WELCOME TO THE PLEASUREDOME album back in 1984, I’m not sure the birth of Jesus Christ was on the minds of the same songwriters whose first hit single from the album was the world-wide #1 (banned in the U.K.) gay sex anthem “Relax” (the anti-war “Two Tribes” was their second consecutive #1).

But, make no mistake, “The Power Of Love” is one of the great love songs of the 80s, and it became one of the great Christmas songs of all-time almost by fiat.  Master video pioneers Godley & Creme (whose classic “Cry” video immortalized the morphing technique later popularized by Michael Jackson’s “Black Or White”) shortened the original album track by two minutes, added a nativity theme to commemorate its December #1 status, and a Christmas classic was born.

The staggering sweep and scope of the song itself lends well to the ideal of the holiday, although lyrically, it’s a head-scratcher to juxtapose (but in the world of music video, how often is the text paralleled to the visual?)

Lead singer Holly Johnson’s opening lines of the song were cut from the video, yet are kept within the song (the hauntingly beautiful imagery of “I’ll protect you from the hooded claw, keep the vampires from your door…”). At times broad-voiced and nasal, his odd vibrato mixed with an unwavering passionate yearning – he propels the ballad into classic territory on aesthete alone.  His delivery is chill-inducing.

I can’t imagine that Frankie Goes To Hollywood ever resented “The Power of Love” becoming synonymous with Christmastime; while it was their third #1 smash in as many releases, it could have lived and died at that, to be scattered amongst the thousands of #1s throughout history as a fond memory (also, I’m not sure who else besides me elevate this to ‘classic love song’ status).  But, thanks to Godley & Creme, this near-perfect masterpiece is an annual seasonal staple. 

Ok, so we had to do a festive theme sooner or later! With workloads relentlessly on the up before St. Nicholas parks his sleigh to make those all important deliveries, it seemed only natural to inspire a bit of festive cheer in The Fashion Office. So from the ever-popular Wham to classic Bing Crosby, here’s our hit list of top Christmas songs to getting you stylishly into the holiday spirit.

Enjoy.

Sostylistic selects: Bing Crosby – O Holy Night.

A Work In Progress picks: Mariah Carey – All I Want for Christmas Is You.

Ellie goes for: Joni Mitchell – River.

New Favourite Thing suggests: Elton John – Step into Christmas.

Gemma recommends: Wham – Last Christmas.

Suzie opts for: Frankie Goes To Hollywood – The Power Of Love.

Kate chooses: Slade – Merry Christmas Everybody.

Soldiersailor suggests: Bing Crosby – White Christmas.

It’s been a couple of weeks since our last The Fashion Office Recommends…Songs About Friends but we’re back on track. Stay posted for next week’s suggestions!

It’s odd, isn’t it, that there are three songs called The Power of Love which all came out within a year of each other? And not covers of the same song, but three completely different songs? I love the FGTH song, but I think that for me Jennifer Rush sneaks slightly ahead. And Huey Lewis and the News have the most boring song, but they get points for being from Back To The Future, so altogether it’s a close call.

So I’m doing a poll! It may go horribly, embarrassingly wrong if I am the only person to vote, which is quite possible: I can’t always tell from my blog stats how many people who visit actually look at the most recent post. Still, if I am the only person to vote, my favourite will win, so that’s OK.

In case your memory needs refreshing, I’ve provided handy links to each song. So which is your favourite:

The Power of Love by Frankie Goes To Hollywood

or

The Power of Love by Jennifer Rush

or

The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News?

Vote now!

The lyrics of this song have nothing at all to do with Christmas, but it has a Christmas video and is on all the Christmas compilations, so it definitely counts.  It’s also a great song. I do like a cheesy Christmas ballad (watch out for several more over the coming days!).

(My laptop is presently in the possession of a nice young man from Brixton who’s going to make it go faster and stop shutting down unexpectedly, so for the weekend’s advent song’s I’ll be experimenting with WordPress’s scheduled post functionality. If the songs for December 5 and 6 appear at the wrong time or not at all, you’ll know I got it wrong.)

I wrote this for MusicReviewUnsigned. When I get a direct link I will update.

Its not necessarily a good idea for band trying to ‘make it’ to release a cover version. The Aftermath though, have just sent a radio only single to media. The band have already notched up three top twenty singles and a top twenty album with their own original music.What makes this different is its a cover of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s classic ‘The Power of Love’ but more importantly, its bloody brilliant.

The Aftermath stay faithful to the original but singer Johnny Cronin brings a tenderness and frailty to this version that hasn’t been felt in the original song in a long time.

The production is clear, and crisp, and often quite haunting as the band have recaptured the essence of this 1984 classic.

You can’t buy it, I haven’t seen it or heard it online, the only way you can is to request it from your local radio station.

After The Aftermath having a great ‘noughties’ this is an immense way to finish off the decade and they show they are comfortable in their own skins by not being afraid of conquering this magnificent cover.

Can I give 10 out of 6?

www.myspace.com/theaftermathband

Sau mai bine zis “simt ceea ce simt”

si pentru ca stiu ca iti place o sa o auzi iar

anyway

and

Un comentariu dragut, facut  prin piesa, m-a facut sa il pun aici. 

si avand in vedere ca melodia mie imi mai place inca o piesa de la aceasta artista, de fapt mai … toate, o sa o pun si pe cea pe care este preferata mea, de mic copil!

I’m in the mood for some more tunes, how about you?

Here is some good old rock n roll to set your night on fire as you have fun surfing the web.

Play a game, write a book, toss spit balls from a straw at your roomates while they watch tv.

Bounce a ball around, throw a nerf ball around.

Do whatever it takes to get some circulation back into your hands.

Another good thing is to drink Green Tea with 2 teaspoons of honey.

It’s great for removing excess water weight from the body, helps with circulation and balances those hot and cold moments when your body decides to hit menopause.

rob-zombie-my favorite

writers_block

Ack! I’ve got Writers Block, what should I do?

Calling all you NaNoWriMo Writers.

Don’t sweat it!

Just take a few minutes, go for a walk, pop in a CD and dance around your office.

Read the newspaper, or watch TV for about 30 minutes.

Start writing anything about what you’ve just watched or listened to.

This will get your writing  juices going.

It should help with what your working on.

Or it will give you a brand new idea of what to write about next.

Ideas are wonderful and music is inspiring.

I find typing to 80’s music is the best thing in the world.

Try and keep up with the tempo, it’s fun!

Huey Lewis And The News Share The Power Of Love At Club Nokia. Photo by JB Brookman © HW Design Inc.

If you closed your eyes, it could have been 1985…

After 30 million albums sold worldwide, 19 Top Ten Billboard singles and a legacy of  entertaining music videos that helped establish MTV in the 80’s, Huey Lewis And The News  can still bring it.  Lewis and his long-standing band took an adoring crowd at Club Nokia on a  nostalgic trip through the 80’s, sharing the power of love and their music.

There is just something about Huey Lewis that makes you joyful.  It’s his voice, his smile, his  classic harmonica sound and just the unbridled fun that he brings to a live show.  There is a  comraderie between his band members that is contageous.  The songs…  well, it is difficult to  quantify the power of a song that can take you back to that certain memory from your youth.   The memory of love, won or lost, or that certain someone.  Songs like, “Heart and Soul,” and  “If This Is It,” took Lewis’ fans to that place on Thursday night.  You could see couples  laughing, flirting and gazing into each other’s eyes as the music swept them away.
 
Highlights of the concert were the opening, “The Heart of Rock & Roll” and two songs from  1985’s Back To The Future, “The Power of Love,” and “Back in Time.” The excited crowd  ranged in age from 20’s to their 60’s and were looking around for Marty McFly or Doc.   Something that this band does at every show and definitely showed their vocal mastery was a  two song acapella section of the night.  Included was a stripped down do-wop version of “It’s  Allright.”

“I Want a New Drug” is one of the great catchy hits of our generation and always makes you sing the words to the controversial Ghostbuster’s single- “Who you gonna’ call, Ghostbusters!”. An extended version of  “Workin’ for a Livin’” closed the set.  It was part of a 3-song encore that the fans demanded as they wouldn’t let Lewis leave.  Ah, yes, the heart of Huey Lewis And The News is still beating.

If you are looking for a great place to catch a show in Los Angeles, and want great music at an  amazing venue, it has to be Club Nokia.  The state of the art sound and atmosphere definitely  adds to the experience.  The size of the venue is ideal as you get the intimacy of a club mixed  with a good sized venue, complete with VIP services.  Even Lewis commented on the  difference between the band’s early days in Los Angeles, playing the Sunset Strip and the  Whiskey A Go-Go and LA Live’s new venue.  LA nightlife definitely has a new scene at LA  Live, including Katsuya, Flemings and the ESPN Zone.
 
Huey Lewis And The News will be appearing tonight (Friday November 13th) on The Jimmy  Kimmel Live Show on ABC.  There will also be an outdoor mini concert following the taping.
 
They will appear on The Bonnie Hunt show on Thursday, November 19.

Greetings,

The letter below has taken my breath away. This letter is from Shelly Lee Williams – Minister of Support – The TAO Metaversity and is beautifully written. I think you will enjoy as much as I did.

Wendy’s trust of  manifesting  a college  for the educational needs to be brought forward to the 20th century have now manifested. Located in Kayenta, 8 miles out side of St. George, Ut.

Wendy has focused on the TAO Metaversity in God’s time and in God’s way showing leadership by heart and trust.  The TAO has a new home under construction in St. George, Utah, (Kayenta).

Blessings, Cam Williams
Marketing support of the TAO
Gurus support

Please join us for an informational meeting, at One World Cafe, Salt Lake City, at 4 pm on November 19th, 2009

Read the letter below~  from Shelly Lee Williams, enjoy her wisdom.

Education that builds on our affinity for life would lead to a kind of awakening of possibilities and potentials that lie dormant and unused in the industrial-utilitarian mind. Therefore the task of education, as Dave Forman stated, “Is to help us ‘open our souls to love this glorious, luxuriant, animated, planet.”  and  as David Orr stated, “The good news is that our own nature will help us in the process if we let it.”

At last, Wendy, at long last!! It appears the TAO Metaversity has found home , not only in the hearts of all of us who feel its flame, fire, potential and truth, but a place, a piece of land, a hectare, if you will, where it; The TAO Metaversity, The Arts Organizations’ Academies, will have home, in form!!! I feel great joy and immense peace at the prospect of seeing this place bestow upon us all that it is.

Reading the descriptions of the curriculum? I have done so. Over and over. They are poetry for being, for life, the music of thought, a symphony of celebratory dance, educing with the purity of intent a profound sense that indeed there is beauty all around and that it can be found within because, that is where it exists. In these Academies, this entire concept of the Metaversity, clad in the beautiful flowing gowns of The Arts Organization, I have found deep inner joy at their contemplation, and in so doing, much has grown within me, a light, if you will, that burns bright.

This is an education unlike any other, an experience in love, an expression of the real Man, the one that remembers, there is nothing to fear. There are no constraints here, nothing that ties Man to a sense of servitude. Where once I felt, (and still work with this) compelled to cover and even destroy the wonder of my truths, with self destructive behaviors, and misplaced faiths, till I could see nothing, there is now healing and it has come, in part from the experience and contemplation of bringing the Metaversity to form. I am very honored to see this from my perspective. I am humbled at the witnessing of this huge act of faith on your part Wendy.

Never have I witnessed, a soul truly living by faith, as a decision, a choice, the only way to be, and in the face of questions and against the current of pessimism and misunderstanding, I have seen you forge on, driven by your calling. A great witness you have been to the power of love and thought, and we shall all, all who choose, reap the reward, as you have made this a gift in the purest sense.. So, thank you dear Wendy and I sing hallelujah and dance a celebratory prayer and I sing praise to all the vision and faith exorcised to produce this manifestation and offer thanks to All that placed you, and where you were placed that I might experience you and the bringing to sight and form the

The Arts Organization – TAO Metaversity and her Academies. God Speed your Thought,

Love to you Shelly Lee Williams – Minister of Support – The TAO Metaversity

Motto: Pain was falling from her eyes in heavy tears of vulnerability.

Strofa I:

In absenta ta,

chipul meu si-a pierdut forma.

Sub gluga si hanorac,

buzele sunt mai subtiri si sanii nu se vad.

Strabat orasul ca un hoinar

nici tanar, nici batran,

nici femeie, nici baiat.

Pe chipul meu hermafrodit,

numai ochii ma tradeaza.

Sunt un om-copil

si dragostea rareori alina

vulnerabilitatea care

mi se scurge pe obraji…

Strofa II:

Parintii mei ma iubesc.

As putea fura, ucide sau viola.

Ei ma iubesc.

Ma iubesc cat timp nu ma schimb

cat nu le vorbesc de frici sau depresii,

cat timp vreau un copil/nunta/sa fiu in randul lumii

sau cat se pot lauda cu mine.

Parintii mei ma iubesc

cat timp nu imi iau oglinda de pe fata

si nu le arat cine sunt eu

si, mai ales, cine sunt ei.

Strofa III:

Cand Dumnezeu ne-a facut,

botzul i s-a rostogolit si s-a spart.

Am ramas imperfecti si uniti,

Aceeasi materie, aceleasi dureri.

Ne putem sparge reciproc,

dar nu ne putem completa.

Caci apa si focul poate nu merg impreuna,

dar apele se pierd una intr-alta.

Strofa IV:

[cuvintele refuza sa iasa]

Strofa V:

Crezi ca ai castigat, doar pentru ca

ai plecat inainte sa-ti spun tot?

Inainte sa-ti vars otrava inapoi,

s-o iei cu tine dincolo?

Crezi ca ai castigat

pentru ca nu te-am uitat?

Pentru ca inca ma dor cuvintele tale

si loviturile tale, si durerile lor?

Copilul asta va trai mai multi oameni

decat ai fi putut otravi tu…

Nu m-ai castigat.

Strofa VI:

And now I don’t know why
She wouldn’t say goodbye
But then it seems that I
Had seen it in her eyes
And it might not be wise
I’d still have to try
With all the love I have inside
I can’t deny

I just can’t let it die
Cause her heart’s just like mine
And she holds her pain inside
So if you ask me why
She wouldn’t say goodbye
I know somewhere inside
There is a special light
Still shining bright
And even on the darkest night
She can’t deny

So if she’s somewhere near me
I hope to God she hears me
There’s no one else could ever make me feel
I’m so alive
I hoped she’d never leave me
Please God you must believe me
I’ve searched the universe and found myself
Within’ her eyes

No matter how I try
They say it’s all a lie
So what’s the use of my
Confessions to a crime
Of passions that won’t die
In my heaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart

So if she’s somewhere near me
I hope to God she hears me
There’s no one else could ever make me feel
I’m so alive
I hoped she’d never leave me
Please God you must believe me
I’ve searched the universe and found myself
Within her eyes

Strofa VII:

Can you help me write it?

I am sad to say that Geraldine has stopped her Movie Musings writing prompt. I didn’t help proceedings at all by not getting my stories in on time. Sorry about that, G.

Anyhoo, I had half-written this story but of course, missed the deadline. I thought I would finish it anyway.

Here ’tis….

Ally was in the garden at midnight. The garden drew her at night now when she couldn’t sleep. Every night she was out there looking up at the sky, imagining entire worlds in the silhouettes of trees, straining her ears for the sound of a nightingale. You didn’t get nightingales in Ally’s part of the world but she listened for them anyway. Old Mrs. Jessop had told her once that when she was a girl she had heard the silver trill of the nightingale. A sound greater than joy, she had said. Ally thought it was possible Mrs. Jessop was delusional, but also that she was right. So she listened, but all she could hear was the wind cupping the leaves of the melaleuca in its hands then releasing them; the gentlest of handshakes.

They were coming in the morning to cut down the bramble bush. The Council. The neighbours had complained that it grew too thickly along the road. Little Stevie from next door had cut his leg on the thorns. Winnie from across the road had thrown up after eating blackberries left too long on the huge canes that arched like swords raised in parade.

Ally had promised Zac she would never cut it down. His mother had made blackberry jam from it, raspberry tarts, bramble puddings – for years.

Don’t cut it down, he pleaded. Don’t ever cut it down.

Ally had agreed, mentally rolling her eyes. The bramble bush made her think of fairytales. Sleeping Beauty asleep for a hundred years. Her castle lost behind brambles, waiting in her dreams for the handsome prince to come with his sword and cut them down.

Ally’s brambles weren’t being cut down by a handsome prince. It was a man with a chainsaw. By the looks of the tangles out there he’d probably need a stick of dynamite or two as well. Or a bulldozer. Maybe a tank.

She was worried about it. She hadn’t been able to sleep since she’d received the letter saying the brambles must go. She spent every night in the garden wondering what to do. She had offered to cut back the parts of the bush growing onto the road but there had been so many complaints the Council had said the whole lot had to go.

The night sky was lilac grey. Why did people say the night sky was black? It never was. It was layer upon layer of greys and blues and purples, sometimes whites. You could see your hands under it, glimmering as if from the world of faerie. You could see the trees raising up their branches like supplicants, bound to the textured dark.

She had promised Zac, but he was gone. Documenting war and misery in lands with hot, yellow skies. She heard from him in bits and pieces. It’s hard to get through, he said. His voice crackled as if his throat was full of sand.

He had been gone for over a year. Ally feared she might not see him again. Whenever she turned on the news she held her breath, struggling to listen to stories of bombings and death, crossing her fingers that it wouldn’t be him. Dear God, please don’t let it be him.

The bramble bush twisted, arthritic in the shadows. She could smell the raspberries split by small birds. She admonished herself for not making jams and treats that she could hand around the neighbourhood to keep the peace, but she hadn’t been able to touch a single berry.

The bramble bush was a beacon. He would come back if she left it as it was. She knew it. Only he could tame its curving, thorny wildness.

But if it was gone he might stay gone for good.

Overnight Ally worked herself into a panic. She could convince the Council there was no need to cut all of the brambles down if she just made it neater, safer.

At dawn she was chopping and sawing. But her shears and saws were inadequate, flimsy under the might of the brambles. After an hour she was exhausted, covered in juice and blood.

With every slice and hack she imagined the ghost of Zac’s mother wailing, begging for mercy; but she persisted, for every slice and hack brought Ally closer to keeping the bush and ensuring Zac’s return.

The man from the Council came at eight o’clock. He had a big truck and two assistants wearing heavy black boots so scuffed that the toes were white. Ally begged them not to start work.

Look, I’ve been trimming it back, it’s much better now, she said. I’ll keep it in check, I promise. Please don’t cut it down.

The man from the Council looked at her. My old gran used to make bramble jam, he said. We’d eat jars of it in one sitting it was so good, on thick, white slices of toast.

Ally felt her heart soar, but the man shook his head. I’m sorry. I got me orders, love, he said. You’d better go inside, this is going to make a bit of a mess.

Ally sat below the kitchen window and wept as the chainsaws sang. She heard them cracking and tearing the brambles. The smell of dust and wood and crushed fruit rose. She imagined the ghost of Zac’s mother, pounding at her chest in anguish, deciding to leave this world for good.

When it was over the man from the Council came. Handed her a clipboard. Sign here, he said.

Ally’s hands were still bleeding from the thorns. She could barely hold the pen.  When the man from the Council left she steeled herself to go out into the garden.

It looked better, bigger. Bare. Already Ally could see where she could put some flower beds. Maybe a bird bath. She chided herself for seeing the positives in what was really a negative. The bramble bush was gone. Zac probably was too. The symbol of his return had been destroyed.

That night on the news there were reports of journalists being caught in an explosion. Authorities were unable to identify the bodies.

For an entire month Ally called, faxed and emailed; trying to ascertain if Zac was alive or dead. Nobody knew.

She stood in the garden every night, looking at the place the bramble bush had been. The ground was violet, obscuring the past. Ally wondered how it would feel to live the rest of her life alone.

In the morning Ally couldn’t get up. She was tired of standing night after night in the garden, clinging to something that was no longer there. A car pulled up, idled for a long time before driving off.

Someone knocked at the door. Ally hoped that whoever was standing there would go away. She was warm under the covers.

Ally. The voice was soft.

Ally. Louder now.

Ally knew that voice. It was as familiar as her own skin. She threw open the door. It was Zac.

Zac. It was all she could say.

Zac. She was memorising every detail. His dusty clothes. The shadows under his eyes. The bandage on his head.

Zac. He was alive.

Holding him, touching him was better than  anything. Anything. No poet in the history of poetry could describe it. It was better than anything.

I thought you would never come back, Ally said. They cut the bramble bush down and I thought it meant you were gone for good.

I was always going to come back, Zac said.

They walked out to the garden. The place where the bramble bush had been was full of birds scratching for seeds. The sky threw bolts of gold on the grass.

Let’s plant some flowers, Zac said, holding Ally close.

*Image with thanks from Ryde Cemetery.

One day, a boy says to his father, “Dad, will you run a marathon with me?” And his father says yes.

They run their first marathon together. Again, the son asks, “Dad, will you run a marathon with me?” And his father says, “Yes, my son.”

One day, the son asks his father, “Dad, will you run the Ironman with me?”

The Ironman is the most challenging triathlon there is: swimming for 4 km, biking for 180 km and running for 42 km.

And the father replies, “Yes.”

The story seems simple… Until you watch the video of the race…

 I highly recommend viewing this. When Lucia and I watched it the first time last night it brought tears to our eyes. When we watched it a second time it again brought tears to our eyes AND  the cookies in the oven burnt!

Enjoy,

John

John Haines is the author of In Search of Simplicity: A True Story that Changes Lives, a startlingly poignant and inspiring real-life endorsement of the power of thought, belief and synchronicity in one’s life. 

Subscribe to In Search of Simplicity by Email

The power of love

Feels like fire
I’m so in love with you.

Dreams are like angels
They keep bad at bay – bad at bay
Love is the light
Scaring darkness away – yeah.

I’m so in love with you
Purge the soul
Make love your goal

The power of love
A force from above
Cleaning my soul
Flame on burn desire
Love with tongues of fire
Purge the soul
Make love your goal

I’ll protect you from the hooded claw
Keep the vampires from your door
When the chips are down I’ll be around
With my undying, death-defying
Love for you

Envy will hurt itself
Let yourself be beautiful
Sparkling love, flowers
And pearls and pretty girls
Love is like an energy
Rushin’ rushin’ inside of me – yeah

The power of love
A force from above
Cleaning my soul
Flame on burn desire
Love with tongues of fire
Purge the soul
Make love your goal

This time we go sublime
Lovers entwine – divine divine
Love is danger, love is pleasure
Love is pure – the only treasure

I’m so in love with you
Purge the soul
Make love your goal

The power of love
A force from above
Cleaning my soul
The power of love
A force from above
A sky-scraping dove
Flame on burn desire
Love with tongues of fire
Purge the soul
Make love your goal

I’ll protect you from the hooded claw
Keep the vampires from your door

From the soundtrack of the 1985 movie Back To The Future, one of the Choob’s all-time top-three films, it’s The Power Of Love by Huey Lewis And The News.

This is the full-length version of the video, featuring a guest appearance by Christopher Lloyd as Doctor Emmett L Brown… and a certain modified DeLorean.

Enjoy!

I have found Unconditional Love.

What does this mean?

It means sometimes my guy does things, or says things which upset me.

But it doesn’t matter.

No matter what happens. No matter what he does. I just Love him anyway.

And I do now believe he Loves me.

Because he is aware of all of my failings. He’s seen all my ugly bits. And still, he Loves me.

We’ve been through so much.

And we always bounce back.

We always come back into Love. Naturally.

Whatever happens, we always wake up in the morning and the first thing we say, and the first thing we hear, is, “I Love you.”

The Power Of Love. Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Click on image to watch/hear.

To me this is Unconditional Love.

Just Loving someone for who they are.

Love without stipulation, manipulation, condition or control.

I feel I’m really lucky to have found this.

I know whatever happens, I will always Love this guy, Unconditionally.

As Damian Marley says, Unconditional Love is scarce.

Damian Marley. There For You. On YouTube. Click on image to watch/hear.

♥Ali.

I have an Angel.

I have many Angels.

One of my Angels is called Andrea.

She is my best friend in the world.

I Love her so dearly.

We’ve known each other since we were schoolchildren.♥

We reckon, when we were teens, we were hippy chicks.

Then in our 20’s and 30’s we did a bit of a detour, doing children and career.

And it was all a bit Thatcherite and all about power.

Now in our 40’s we’ve come full circle and are back to hippy chick! Peace and OneLove.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood. The Power Of Love. On YouTube. Click on image to view.

♥Ali.