May Child “Flower Power” Playlist

Yep….I drew that.

Isn’t it pretty?

It’s the month of May….and that means it’s time for those flowers to get here. Lots of snow and zero temps this past winter. It was long and cold. Some showers last month, but we could use more. Beginning this month with 85 degrees in Chicago tomorrow and then hopefully NOT dropping down into the 50’s again for awhile. But despite a weather forecast of some rain and dropped temperatures, I am hopeful that it’ll continue to get warmer and those flowers will pop up everywhere.

Here’s a playlist of happy, sunny, earthy, flower-related songs to get you through this glorious month of May!

This isn’t the only playlist I will post this month. My sister and I each celebrate our birthdays this month. So do several friends and family members. It’s the month of the Taurus and Gemini babies!!!

I will devote my next playlist to May birthday tunes…..for now enjoy this one:

1. Scott Mckenzie…..San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)

2. Seal…..Kiss From a Rose

3. Bette Midler…..The Rose

4. Tiny Tim…..Tip Toe Through The Tulips

5. Simon & Garfunkel…..Scarborough Fair

6. Every Rose Has Its Thorn…..Poison

7. Ramblin’ Rose…..Nat King Cole

8. Push th’ Little Daises…..Ween

9. Good Day Sunshine…..The Beatles

10. Hong Kong Garden…..Siouxsie and the Banshees

11. Flower Punk…..Frank Zappa

12. Lotus Flower…..Radiohead

13. Sugar Magnolia…..Grateful Dead

14. Let’s Get Together…..The Youngbloods

15. I Feel The Earth Move Under My Feet…..Carol King

16. Where Have All The Flowers Gone…..Peter, Paul & Mary

17. Fat Old Sun…..Pink Floyd

18. In Bloom…..Nirvana

19. Flowers On The Wall…..The Statler Brothers

20. Garden…..Pearl Jam

21. Wildflowers…..Tom Petty

22. I Love the Flower Girl…..The Cowsills

April Showers Bring My Playlist

For this month, I was inspired to devote the entire playlist to RAINY DAY related music. In fact the picture posted here is a painting I recently did. A muse came over me and I was compelled to work on this art piece to represent these feelings about this type of music.

I love those rainy Saturdays from my childhood and teenage days. They were wonderful times to play games, watch tv or listen to music while doing homework or trading baseball cards with my friends. What is it about the sound of the splashing water against the house or the crash of thunder and lightning that fascinates me? I really do get so relaxed from such wonders of nature. Not only is there the calm before the storm but there is this sense of beauty that the earth will not let the rain stop coming down until it has refreshed the soil and allow the trees and the birds to have a pleasurable drink.

The music I would listen to taking a drive with my dad to the hardware store or going out to the movie theater with my friends had a soothing effect on me when it rained. I used to stare at the wiper blades and the telephone poles and pretend they were chopping them down. It was the imagination of a child that I once was.

Of course my point here in this post is to share my rainy day playlist because these songs represent those feelings of sitting on a rocking chair enduring late night conversations with my mother. Splashing in the puddles on my paper route while I listened to my walkman is something I treasure.

So I chose songs that have this soothing and melodic sense to them. Memories from my youth but also tracks from films and tunes I would hear in the background at memorial day parties are some of what is represented here. For example the song “No Rain” by Blind Melon reminds me of high school at the sock hops while it stormed outside. “Here Comes The Rain Again” by The Eurythmics tend to bring back the 80’s era sitting in the back seat and being driven to a pediatrician for my usual check up on a cloudy day. Sometimes these tunes just simply are perfect background music during a summer shower.

Finally Jimi Hendrix’s “Rainy Day ,Dream Away” first awakened my sense when I was 18 during my first summer working at the movie theater just before college started as I would blare it in my mom’s minivan driving to work. So why not check out my playlist. Maybe there are some songs not represented here that should be. Anyway here’s the list. GO find these songs and give them a spin.

New Poem About Music

LISTENING

music
oh divine music
come and take my hand
walk me through your land
echo all your sound
to your greatness
i am bound
beautiful song sends me shivers
flowing through me
like a river
spellbound and lost in rhythm
fills me up
with great wisdom
i have not felt so free
in so many years
leaving this world behind
entering the depths of my mind
i know the truth because
i opened my ears

Flashback to the land of Spiders!

Spiderland? What the hell is that? In 1991, a record from a band called Slint landed on the shelves of record stores representing the underground scene. It is a real celebrated album. Spiderland opened doors to a great progression in music and reinvented rock without leaving its primary components behind. Brian McMahon’s voice is a balance of grungy growls and soft whispering with narration. This creates a sublime atmosphere. A cold and dark mood surrounds the record. Actually, it is really intense, sometimes appearing to arrive at the doorsteps of suicidal states of major depression. I would not be surprised if some of the guys in the group had to be committed during the recording sessions. When I listen to the music of Slint, its like I’m floating downstream and being told a story without a happy ending. There are disturbing aspects of adolescent life that are painfully exposed through Brian’s vocals.

But, these guys were actually pretty simple fellas at the time. Upon listening to the first couple of tracks, you realize that it is opening up in a calm environment but slowly progressing towards a shady and swampy era. Guitar relationships and distortions create a strange and yet original effect. I swear these instruments literally sound as if spiders or creatures from the deep are awakening and actually crawling all over the strings and amplifiers. The sound and tone of Spiderland is slowly building towards a climax with heartache and bruises along the way until it reaches it’s energizing finale. Most certainly, the final track entitled, “Good Morning Captain,” is the album at its peak. It is their most well known composition too. Every time I hear it, I get chills thinking about the loss of friends in a terrible event. The combination of a two guitar approach with creepy narration (no singing) create beautiful  and near perfect ambiance. All of this brings us to the final explosion, with a fierce scream of “I’m in hell, I’m in hell, I miss you…”

The recording, in general, makes the listener aware of difference in our world. The band creates an extremely depressing atmosphere with subtle guitar riffs. The sound is trembling, tense and nerve racking. I feel like I am getting close to the edge but not quite going over. It is mind blowing to grasp that four young kids had an amazing visionary construction of rock, opening doors to bands like Helmet, Tool and well much of the post-rock scene. I implore all grunge enthusiasts out there to find your way to a mom and pop record shop. While you’re there, grab a copy of Slint’s Spiderland on cd, vinyl or even on a cassette tape. Play it loud too. This is going to resonate with you for a long time.

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Why Bother With The Box Set? Discovery That Is…

Well I don’t know where to begin with the babble on Pink Floyd. I absolutely love this band. Ever since I was a kid in the 80’s, I was exposed to them. My dad played the records and eventually got the Shine On Box Set in the early 90’s. Very cool box set! It didn’t have the entire collection of their albums but it captured the highlights. I was awakened from whatever slumber I was trapped inside when I listened to this box set and was reading the really cool book that was included. My dad and I had a bond where we’d listen to the music while working in the garage, painting in the family room or driving around in his truck. I was hooked. Then just before I went into college, the 2 of us went to Soldier Field in Chicago and saw Pink Floyd perform one of their last live concerts ever! It was quite an awesome experience.

So throughout the years I began to collect more of their music and read about them and what not. I have all of their stuff on cd or mp3 formats in one way or another. I know that four years ago a box set came out called “Oh By The Way.” Now the “Discovery” one just came out. I’m not saying that new fans or complete fanatics shouldn’t go buy these, but for me, personally, I don’t see the big deal. They probably turned the volume up “one louder.” So what? I have ears and a powerful stereo to enjoy the ones I already have. Also, I will take convenience over quality of “so called” painstaking box sets. Actually they are releasing all 14 albums individually right now in box form and sort of a 2 fold method. One is the Immersions where it is captured in these huge mini-box set releases. (Cash Cow….excuse for all of this stuff? hmmmm) Also then there are the “Experience” versions. THOSE I would consider because they, for one, are cheaper if purchased individually, on occasion. They are usually two discs. One is the original remaster plus live and bonus features. Those are worth it.

The box set “Discovery” is just the studio albums with virtually no new artwork and little cardboard sleeves to wonderfully ruin the discs.  Also no bonus features or a book or anything. Kinda cheesy if you ask me. So I am a traditionalist. I will still go to record shows and look for vinyl and collect artworks. I definitely love surround sound and what not. I just don’t see the big deal in these new box sets. That includes, Oh By The Way, Discovery and the individual Immersion ones. I will say that the “Experience” version of  the individual albums are the ones to look into. At least you can pick these up at your convenience. Besides, convenience is what benefits us all in different ways. I like buying physical cds but I also like to download music too.

Bands like Pink Floyd are kind of worth doing both. I think owning all of the albums is a good thing if done so carefully. Box Sets….hmmm? Shine On was the best one. Sure it came out in 92-93 I think but for what it was…the artwork, the books, the selections and the originality of it all made it the best “box set.” But in general….choose what you like is what I am saying. The new box set for me is just a way to make money and there is no big difference unless you are tripping on acid or something. lol. Anyway “Shine On” or choose “Any Colour You Like!”

Peace Out…C-Note

Movie Soundtrack Pick of the Week

So when I saw the movie Ghost World,  I just had to grab a hold of the soundtrack. Truly one of those rare cd’s you buy and never get tired of listening to it. I haven’t stopped playing it for the past few weeks. This is one soundtrack that has awakened me into a whole new world of music, considering I have listened to and know a lot about tons of music. The old blues, ragtime and jazz can be found on here. As soon as I brought this home late at night, turned on “Devil in My Woman” by Skip James, I actually got goosebumps listening to it. Amazing soulful eerie music flowed through my bones. I had never heard this before and yet it moved me like nothing else I had been introduced to in a long time. Its an incredible song. And of course, I’m now searching for more music like this. And basically the whole thing is just perfect from beginning to end. The theme song from Ghost World is a pretty nice composition. Brilliance comes in many forms. This was a nice treat for my ears and still is. As a member of the MTV generation on his quest to find music that trumps the mediocre junk out there today, this soundtrack is a breath of fresh air. It joins the ranks of one of my all-time favorite soundtracks. Watching the movie is also an interesting experience. I would go into more details regarding that but this is a music site. You’ll just have to watch it to find out more. All in all I would say…..Wonderful!