Songs That Thrill - 4th Edition
Current mood: blissful
Category: Music
This week's featured song is none other than the obscure posting in June 2007 by "Funtwo" ... a young man in his 20s doing an electric guitar interpretation of Pachelbel's Canon. Within days, the post became a phenom of epic proportions, and has become the 17th most played clip on Youtube.
This particular arrangement of the famous Canon has been dubbed "Canon Rock", and the arranger is Jerry Chang from Taiwan. The artist in this piece is a young man named Jeong-Hyun Lim who simply uploaded this rendition to show Jerry C his chops. He goes by "Funtwo", and has since posted a number of other pieces. He seems to enjoy his anonymity, as he rarely shows his face, and dons his baseball cap for all his rips.
Even if you may have heard or seen this before (and I did do a blog about it when it first came out), it is really worth taking another look.
I'm not only impressed with his dexterity and command of his axe, but of the interpretation of the piece as it progresses. It builds throughout the song, and his chops get even more lively throughout. The deviations from the initial score are original and refreshing. Enjoy!
Class and Classless
Current mood: cheerful
Category: Sports
Well, the 2008 MLB All Star Game is in the books, and we have several great examples of class, and unfortunately a few poignant examples of classlessness.
I thought the whole presentation by the City of New York and the Yankees organization was total class. Even Ole' George's Speech was touching. They showed respect for the game, the players, the history, and the fans.
The players displayed a lot of class, especially the "legendary rival" Red Sox and Yankees players. They understood perfectly well that, for that night - they were united and on the same team. Granted is must have been odd to have the Red Sox skipper managing in the Yankees dugout, but that seemed to only enhance the game.
Both Managers - Hurdle for the NL, and Francona for the AL, were class all the way. Francona ended up shorthanded as the game went into extra innings, because he chose to rotate the players to make sure each had a chance to shine during the game. He even deliberatly replaced A-Rod mid-inning (when the AL was on the field), so that he could get a standing "O" by the local crowd. The next inning, he extended the favor to Derek Jeter.
Class ... any way you want to look at it.
Even Yankees skipper Girardi, a former catcher, donned his catching gear to warm up rival pitcher Papelbon for his 8th inning appearance. Class.
Unfortunately, the class ended with the fan base. Completely classless. I hesitate to say all fans, because I'm quite sure it was only those obnoxiously loud lugheads at any game - but there sure seemed to be a lot of them. They berated the ever mild-mannered, perfect gentleman J.. D. Drew every time he took the outfield, even though he was PLAYING ON THE SAME TEAM!! They took the fiction as fact from a very disparaging, completely lop-sided article from the tabloid rag, the NY Post, which is not fit for toilet paper, as fuel for the fire to completely castigate Papelbon in the 8th. The only time they cheered for a REd Sox player was when Drew tied the game with a late-inning blast. Then they returned to booing him.
When he got the game's MVP award - which he deserved - nothing but boos. Completely classless. At that moment, I felt embarrased for my Yankee fan friends. Seriously. I would have been cringing if I were a fan.
Now, I am not unbiased in this issue. Most people know that I am an avid Red Sox fan. My friends can also vouch for the fact that I also highly respect the Yankees, and you would NEVER hear me chiming in on the "Yankees Suck" chants that seem so popular. I have an apartment in Manhattan, and have many Yankees fans as friends.
The overwhelming majority of these friends, which also includes my daughter's boyfriend, is that we keep it real ... and keep it friendly. Its a good-natured rivalry ... where we rib each other and have some fun, but at the end of the day ... its a game. The players all get this. Why can't the fans?
I am NOT at all saying "Yankees Fans Bad - Red Sox Fans Good" - Lord knows we have some loud an obnoxious idiots who represent us very badly as well. My point is ... whatever these Captain IQs thought they were accomplishing by their incessant boos, what they ACTUALLY accomplished was to demonstrate - for the whole world to see - what complete morons they were. When we go out of our way to disgrace another, we can ONLY disgrace ourselves. Calling someone names does NOT make them whatever name we are calling them, it merely defines US as someone who must belittle others by calling them names.
All in all though - I look past that. It was a great game - with high drama - that ended up being the longest All Star game in history. A joy to watch ... and I appreciated all the class I saw.
Does anyone know a word or expression for this?
Current mood: curious
Category: Writing and Poetry
I'm writing a piece on a particular conflict, and am looking for a word or expression for the fact that a wrong done TO you is always judged in greater measure than a wrong done BY you.
In other words, when we see warring factions anywhere in the world, and we interview either side, both sides will invariably represent themselves on the DEFICIT side of the harms-done-to-each-other equation. Its human nature to maximize the harm to TO our side, while minimizing the harm done BY our side, and thus always feel justified in continuing the cycle of injury/violence.
I'm sure there is an "effect" that describes this, but I've had problems finding it. I think it is something like the "Helsinki Effect", although that is somewhat different.
Songs That Thrill - 3rd Edition - Jobim
Current mood: blissful
Category: Music
Those who know me have probably been wondering how long it would take for me to feature a song by my favorite composer, Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim.
Well, that time has arrived.
Most people would know Brazilian composer Jobim for his timeless blockbuster "The Girl From Ipanema", but he composed literally scores of fabulous songs over a very long career. He is the only composer that Frank Sinatra devoted 2 entire albums to.
The piece I chose for this week's edition of "Songs That Thrill" is called "Se Todos Fossem Iguais A Você", translated literally as "If You Had an Equal". However, the English version is called "Someone to Light Up My Life". There are so many great songs to choose from, but this one has always impressed me because of the powerful vocal line and chordal changes. It drives like a cannon, and has so much energy for the singer to grab hold of. It has been recorded by many artists, and I've chosen 2 versions of the song for presentation here.
The first is an English version by the beautiful and talented singer, Rondi Charleston. Here is her version:
The second version is the original Brazilian Portuguese version, in which it was first written. The singer is the amazingly talented Hevelyn Costa who appeared on a Brazilian talent show recently, at the tender age of 15. Frankly, I think she does a better job of presenting the power in this song. I have tried to find out more about this young artist. I suspect she is related to the Brazilian legend Gal Costa, but I don't know that for certain. Also, one of the young men accompanying her has the last name as the very popular late Brazilian artist, Milton Nascimento. Something tells me we are going to see more of this amazingly beautiful and talented young lady. Enjoy!
To round out this blog, here is a clip of a medley that Frank Sinatra and Tom Jobim did to give you a very small taste of the breadth of Jobim's music:
Currently
listening
:
Terra Brasilis
By
Antonio Carlos Jobim
Release date: 1996-10-29
Dreamscapes of delight seized my onerous fallow … once more laughing jubilantly out of the very heart of a thousand sorrows.
How then could mind-shattering heartache coexist with a lightness that dances on stars with wild aplomb?
Exploding in a whist of awareness … the answer clangs noisily with the subtlety of an anvil dropped squarely between the brows.
The excruciating pain of a love lost points nigh of a love there to lose … and grateful for the pain out of which life itself is witnessed … the fullness of anguish surveys the immensity of the no-longer-there.
But more beyond that still … a faint and distant song gathers pieces of the dark and stitches them together with a ray of light from a faraway perch, gathering strength and confidence.
Its voice is pure and clear with the sound of mountains and oceans vast, as the tapestry of sound and light reveals its secrets ...
Wordless images begin to weave around the tune and whisper a truth not to be understood so much as felt deeply ...
That the tragedy beyond measure sweeps away all the was presumed, and awakens us to the infinite now that exists between the seconds … when pretention is swallowed in the bowels of ravaging currents.
Leaving only the glorious here and now when my mind is left with nothing further to measure … when the utter poverty of my spirit frees me from the yester and the morrow.
The Journey Continues ...
Current mood: adventurous
Category: Life
It may seem like I have done nothing but vacation this year. I went to Costa Rica in February (my son's "destination" wedding), then went on a nearly month-long (work and play) trip that included a cruise on the Mexican Riviera (a Writer's cruise with www.HayHouse.com).
This has been a very unusual year. There was a long stretch of time in my past when I went several years without a vacation - or I "vacationed" in my apartment because I couldn't even afford to go away for a night. After both kids were born, Lori and I decided to go BACK to school, and spent a number of years as full-time students (e.g.: we had nothing, but it didn't seem to matter much).
But to be so fortunate, during a time when everything else seems to be going to hell. Hmmm?
I know things are really tough out there. My business has seen a sharp slowdown (most of my clients are in New York City, where its been a bloodbath lately), and I work/volunteer with groups that see the very worst of it. Lately I've been involved in some outreach with the homeless in NYC, and am appauled at just how difficult it is for people to get off of the streets.
It seems there are many out there who are willing to serve a shift in a soup kitchen, but so few who will actually take the time to walk a person through the task of re-integrating with life, and so many blockages to keep people from doing that. I'm not dissing the soup kitchen volunteers - God bless them, who knows how it would be without them - but I am amazed at how many devices, non-caring policies and technicalities exist to keep homeless people on the street. I am working on a different blog for that topic - so I will move on now.
Sometimes I fight the urge to want to feel bad myself for my relative prosperity. Although I have worked hard all my life for what I have, and had no "rich uncle" to hand anything to me, I have indeed had many people who have inspired me to noble purposes. More than anything else, I learned in my late teens to really follow my heart where ever it lead, and I have never been disappointed.
Sometimes I've been REALLY scared ... often times saying "Holy Shit! Look what you have got yourself into NOW!" - but its been the only life I would have wanted to have lived.
Such a posture also came in handy a few years ago when I had to get honest with myself about my drinking problem. I knew it was nobody else's fault. As the saying goes ... no one held me down and forced alcohol down my throat in large proportions.
But I am completely amazed at the life that has unfolded since then. I'm not talking about material things - they can come and go, and I do appreciate what I have - but the toys no longer DEFINE me. I have found something infinitely more valuable than that. In many ways, Eckhart Tolle's experience and insights parallel my own.
What I came to conclude was that I can't feel so badly as to make a single person feel better. I can't be so broke as to make a single person be richer. I can't be so sick as to make a single person get well. What I can do is try to live my life as authentically as I can, and add my light to the ever-expanding circle of light around me. This resonates deeply in my soul. Today, I'm choosing to shine ... and if that makes me the only ray of sunlight in someone else's life, then I figure that's a good thing.
So that brings me to today.
Tomorrow, I set out for 2 weeks in Europe (yes Europe ... bad exchange rates and all). Lori and I are going to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary (which isn't till the end of July, but who is counting). We've planned this for over a year, and are really excited.
For anyone with suggestions on what to do/see, our itinerary includes: 3 days in Madrid (Spain), 3 days in Lisbon (Portugal - with a dear friend), 2 days in Faro, (Southern Portugal - on the Mediterranean) - then a week in Malaga (Spain - also on the Mediterranean near Gibraltar). We'll be doing a day trip across the Gibraltar Strait to Ceuta (Spain), and Tangier (Morocco).
Its cool, because I recently read "The Alchemist", which has major features that take place in Southern Spain and Tangier.
I'll take lots of pics and (hopefully) be writing stories and poetry, but I'm afraid I will once again be on haitus from myspace for the next couple of weeks.
Best to everyone. Can't wait to reconnect afterward.
Tom
Currently
reading
:
The Alchemist
By
Paulo Coelho
Release date: 2006-04-25
This poem was inspired by a blog posted by my friend NavWorks If you are not familiar with him, you should check out his work - it is quite fabulous, and he always provides fertile soil to get your creative juices flowing.
The poem is more about what I had experienced for many years ... while I was "looking for love in all the wrong places". Its a good remember when.
Consider me at your Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting For my soul is drenched with the dew of a drizzled foggy night
My heart swims in anchors of murky green and darker still And prayers I need ... to be sure ... but for what I know not
When a substance found sometimes bursts with the smallest pin prick Dreams shared in reckless fantasy awaken to the nightmare of their selfish consequence
And so assaults my judgement and casts a wary eye upon confidence itself Leaving me in shambles to contemplate the new now of knowing I fool so easily
How often I cannot separate the earned from the wanted
So please again consider me, and pray thy will be done
And if redemption sounds its hopeful horn, perhaps my heart will once again adorn a hope that it has sought through long nights of empty ritual and shared crescendo
Achieving thrilling release and yet leaving me desperately alone as I consider the stranger still beside me ... having shared all of our bodies and yet none of out hearts
So pray my heart shall know the truth ... even if the burden will obliterate me in a flame
Or perhaps ... if not ... that hope will be once and for all dashed to pieces to keep my aching heart from steeping ... only to be dashed again.
So, in your mercy Lord, save me thus or annihilate me with urgent dispatch.
Songs That Thrill - 2nd Edition
Current mood: blissful
Category: Music
Well, this entry should satisfy my Classic Rock friends. It is a string orchestra rendition of a fabulous Led Zeppelin classic, featuring Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.
As a musician, this has always been among my favorite Zeppelin tunes. I love the composition and transition of the piece, and the chordal progressions are unusual, and yet work perfectly. I also appreciate that it moves from a contemplative, tender mood to a thrashing and powerful crescendo (as so many Zeppelin songs do), and then back to a reflective mood.
Also notice the beautiful way Jimmy Page finishes the song. Its not technically difficult, but it is really beautiful and captures the essence of the song. As a final observation to my musician friends who notice all the little subtleties (yes Dennis, I'm talking to you), Page's Martin looks exactly like my Yamaha FG-340. Great guitar!
Currently
listening
:
Houses of the Holy
By
Led Zeppelin
Release date: 1994-07-19
Something to Consider
Current mood: blissful
Category: Life
Do you have a person in your life that, regardless of how much you try to help, they reject your helpful advice and treat you with utter contempt?It may be your child, a spouse or "significant other".Perhaps it's a trusted friend.
You clearly see a problem they are struggling with, and it is perfectly obvious how they should handle it. When you try to point it out … simply to keep them from unnecessary suffering … they reject it out of hand and become highly offended that you tried to help in the first place.
Here is something to consider.
A man was watching a butterfly trying to emerge from a cocoon.It was obvious that the butterfly was struggling mightily.Compassion took over and the man carefully helped cut away the cocoon to free the butterfly.The butterfly's wings never unfolded, and it stayed in a weakened state. Soon it was dead.What the man had not realized was that it was the struggle against the cocoon that vasculated the butterfly's wings and allowed it the strength to emerge as a complete and healthy butterfly. The struggle had a vital purpose, which the man did not understand.
Quite often we do the same things with those we love.We want to spare them the pain that perhaps we had gone through in our own lives, when at the root of this desire is that we don't trust that their inner strength will develop enough to pull them through. In our innermost selves, we perceive them as weak or defective, or perhaps lacking in strength. We hate to consider that they may have to drink from the same bitter cup that had been our own experience.
Do we ever really know enough to make this assumption?Perhaps we would be better off realizing that our friend/son/daughter/spouse is a child of the Universe, and that Spirit knows precisely how to strengthen them for the journey ahead.Sure, we can weigh in and provide advice when we thing we should, but we would be best to see the divine nature in everyone around us, and appeal to that.
I am very grateful that I was introduced to the book "One Day At A Time In Al-Anon" in my late teens.It was a priceless book of wisdom that I have drawn on time and again through the years.I still have it on my bookshelf.One of my favorite quotes is on page 264 (September 20).It read, "The surest plan to make a Man Is: Think him so." (James R. Lowell).
No doubt we will see, if we but start to practice it, that we can perceive the spark of eternity, the roots of greatness, and the wisdom of the ancients in those about us ... and those we love.
"The Wedding" - Part III
Current mood: blissful
Category: Life
Well, we have been frantically running down the final 150 items on the "honey do" list as we gear up to celebrate our son's wedding reception this Saturday. This will probably be the last time I am online until after the event.
We kind of suspected that there might be some interesting twists on the way here after Eric proposed to Mia on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro 2 years ago. I mean - what do you do for an encore? What happened is that they were "officially" married by the Justice of the Peace at San Francisco City Hall last October. It was a small ceremony with just immediate family - but we had a lot of fun and made a weekend out of it. Then we went to Costa Rica in February for the actual wedding ceremony (on a beach at sunset).
This Saturday, we are having the wedding reception in coastal Maine, with everyone coming back to our home in New Hampshire. Therein lies the need for the gazillion things that need to be done. It seems that every time a large function is planned at one's home, one uses it as an excuse to make all kinds of repairs, upgrades, etc., and I am SO GLAD this is finally drawing to a close (whew!). Its been hard work, and a lot of fun, but I'm looking forward to some more time to write, relax and not be so stressed.
Remember when we used to do all these things on the same day, in the same time zone, and in the same country?
Jeesh, have times changed! All the best to everyone!
blissful
cheerful
curious
adventurous
contemplative
