Tag: music

Celebrity Kitties

Since The Doubleclicks put up a Kickstarter to make their first album, Dimetrodon, I’ve been a fan and supporter of theirs. (I think it was someone on twitter mentioning them that brought them to my attention in the first place.) The two ladies are geeks and thus write and sing wonderfully geeky songs.

Well, they recently sent a call out to their fans to help them with their latest “lyric video.” They wanted photos of cats (or dogs or other pets) with or without their owners & a word from the song. I requested a word and they gave me “want.” So I wrote “Want” in big print and then tried to get a shot with Linus and Lucy and the word all together. After several attempts (and a spat of photos I accidentally deleted from the camera before they’d been downloads – long story, bleh) I got one that I decided to send along. So now my kitties are online celebrities! They show up the last time that “want” shows up in the video, around 2 minutes and 30 seconds in. (But watch the whole video – lots of lovely cats & other pets and their loving owners.)

In case you couldn’t tell which one was them, here’s the photo that I sent along to the Doubleclicks for inclusion in the video:

want

And here are a couple of the good ones that didn’t make the cut (it wasn’t an easy decision!)

foodbin

lucygrab

2013 in Music

In 2013, I purchased 1840 individual MP3 files (17.3GB) which is over 161 hours of material. Of that, the majority (1437 files, 14.5GB, 134 hours) is what I classify as “Spoken Word” (AKA Big Finish and other audio adventures). What with Doctor Who turning 50 in 2013, I wound up purchasing quite a few Big Finish (and BBC Audio) stories. And enjoyed pritnear all of it. 🙂 (I was also fortunate in that the audiobooks for Ben Aaronovitch‘s first three novels were on sale this year, so I bought them and they’re all well done, too.)

But, on to the music, which is what I wanted to focus on in this post. I wound up adding a couple of new genres to my mix: Zydeco and R&B. This summer at one of the Downtown Troy concerts, the folks and I enjoyed the music of Creole Stomp, so pop and I bought a couple of their CDs after the concert. The R&B (which is a very loose description as the music covers a variety of genres) is for the Janelle Monáe albums I bought.

Janelle Monáe and Fleur Mainville are probably my two favorite additions to my music collection this year. It’s great adding females to my collection and these two ladies are both gifted singers/songwriters/performers. It was thanks to a tweet by Anita Sarkeesian (of Feminist Frequency fame) that I even heard of Janelle Monáe. Turns out Monáe has been working on a story about an android who falls in love with a human and all of the excitement & adventure (including bounty hunters, zombies, etc) that entails. There’s 3 albums thus far and I’ve enjoyed all three.

While doing Yet Another Pointless search for more MacKeel stuff, I found out about their fiddler, Fleur Mainville, doing some solo albums. It didn’t take much listening for me to realize I needed to add her to my collection. Indeed, her piece “Bedlam Boys” immediately found its way into my “Most Favorites of All” playlist (5 star songs). She even has a Christmas album that I had to buy too. Heh.

Oddly enough, I only bought 2 Christmas albums this year – the other one was the Cincinnati Pops album Christmas with The Pops. Just as well – I managed to NOT get all of my Christmas music listened to this year. Maybe I’ll do better next year!

Other new albums include Daft Punk‘s Random Access Memories, the soundtrack to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (along with the Neil Finn single “Song of the Lonely Mountain”), albums by Midas Fall and My First Tooth, the songs of Kaila Picard (and I backed a crowd-sourced music video of hers, too). Oh, and thanks to the tap dancing that Amy, Rachel, and I saw this summer, Train‘s “Hey Soul Sister” had to become part of my collection. (I even bought a copy for each of the girls, too. Hey, it was on sale for only $.69 at the time and the girls are worth it – LOL – and then some!)

I have quite a few “regulars” that I always buy new albums, no matter what. Well, maybe Lady Gaga isn’t there yet, but I did finally buy Born This Way. (Well, I did love “Americano” in Puss in Boots, so it was inevitable.) Pet Shop Boys had two new albums, Ricky Martin had one, Enter the Haggis had one as well. I also got the most recent Gaelic Storm album and Garbage album.

2013 started out very well, musically, when my folks gave me money to buy Neil Innes‘ complete Recollections set for my birthday. It’s pretty obvious from my last.fm statistics that Neil is my favorite solo artist (with Kirsty MacColl coming in second). But not only is it his solo work, but also his work in The Bonzo Dog Band, The Rutles, Monty Python and GRIMMS that I love. So yeah, I had to get that compilation (which also came with a little autographed note – whee!) I’ve come a long way from hunting down rare Innes/Python/GRIMM/Bonzo albums at record collectors conventions! The things you do when you’re 16!!!

Anyhoo, a great year in music with lots of new stuff from my old favorites AND some new favorites to watch out for. 2014 has started out very strong with regards to music since I spent some Amazon gift cards on new (old) music – Hank Williams, Roger Miller, The Beach Boys – gee thanks Sirius (which mom has for her new car – heh)! Hope that 2014 is a great year of music for all of you!

Stress-Free? Could it be?

Perhaps I’m doing something wrong this school year (or perhaps I’m finally doing it right), but these first two weeks of school have been, to the best of my memory, the most stress-free first two weeks I’ve ever had. There’s a small part of me waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the larger part of me has decided that the shoe is a myth. 😉

Apart from my usual “ugh, it’s morning, why doesn’t it go away until after noon!” morning routine, I’m quite pleased to be up & off to teach. I’m hoping the students are having at least half as much fun as I am. Tests/quizzes next week, so that will probably let me know if I’m actually teaching them anything. Heh.

Last weekend was a pleasant Labor Day weekend with a wedding reception & card gaming (different venues to each other) on Saturday, Heritage Festival on Sunday, and just mooching about & relaxing on Monday.

We were at the Heritage Festival for longer than we’ve been in years because we sat & enjoyed the music. Blue Celtic Grass played for awhile (though only half of the guys were from that band – they had 3 others playing with them from another band whose name I don’t recall). The bluegrass got us started, then we munched on foodstuff (with very few folks in line – great for us, not as great for the vendors). I had, throughout the time there, French fries, corn on the cob, strawberry lemon shake-up, bite of sirloin sammich, chicken noodles, and deep fried peaches. I also bought my obligatory saltwater taffy (mostly vanilla with a few mint too) and giant bag o’ kettle corn.

After we’d eaten (but before we bought the kettle corn), we sat and watched Dulahan perform. We’d seen them for the first time this summer at one of the Troy Main Street concerts. It was the best concert this summer, IMO. I immediately purchased five of their albums. Heh. So it was great to hear them live again. They were as fun as they’d been in Troy.

This weekend’s plans are a bit up in the air, though I have decided the theme is “local food.” I had pizza from Indian’s Pizza tonight. Tomorrow morning is pancakes & snausage (& eggs) at the UCC just 2 blocks away. And Sunday, the firehouse is selling barbecue chicken (the folks are coming to join me for that). Yum!

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 9

I decided for my final entry in Christmas Songs I Love to post about my most favoritest Christmas song, ever. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” has been my favorite since, well, since I can remember. Why? Probably because of the minor key. Actually, I dunno why, but it is.

The trouble with having a favorite “traditional” song is finding the DEFINITIVE version. Or at least, it has been for me. Even Julie Andrews‘ version wasn’t what I was looking for in “God Rest Ye.”

The closest, for several years, was the version by Barenaked Ladies that is in tandem with “We Three Kings.” (Oddly enough, I hated that version the first couple of times that I heard it, but it did grow on me.) But it wasn’t the DEFINITIVE version for me.

Then, last year, I discovered that Annie Lennox was going to release a Christmas album. I was excited and ordered as soon as it was available. And there it was, my DEFINITIVE version! I’m not sure what exactly makes it THE ONE, but it has “IT” and I’m glad it’s in my collection. (Let me know if this autoplays an ad – I’ll swap it for another version if it does. I HATE autoplay!)

Anyhoo, today is Christmas Eve Eve, and tomorrow starts the whole shebang with a family gathering at Aunt Becky’s. If I don’t get around to posting before the actual day, Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate! And God rest ye, merry gentlemen & gentlewomen!

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 8

Well, this is the post where I deviate from gregmce‘s original Seven Christmas Songs I Love theme – song 8 (with song 9 to finish things tomorrow). And today’s song highlights another group that I associate with Christmas: The Chieftains.

I believe that I bought The Bells of Dublin because I wanted to hear what Irish Christmas music was like. (This was still back in the BMG days when I was doing some heavy experimentation with CDs.) And I quickly fell in love with the album, starting with the chorus of church bells at the beginning, tumbling through “Il Est Né/Ca Berger” and “A Breton Carol” and finishing with a choral rendition of “O Come All Ye Faithful.” But the Christmas Song that I Love from this album, is “O The Holly She Bears a Berry.”

This song is basically the “Sans Day Carol” which has some similar elements to the more well-known carol “The Holly and the Ivy.” It’s often hard for me to decide if I prefer the Chieftains’ version or King’s College Choirs’ “Sans Day.” And of course, if I extended my list to 15 songs, “Holly/Ivy” would make it to the list. But I decided for the sake of this list, I hadn’t gotten to gush about the Chieftains’ Christmas album yet, and so picked their version.

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 7

Most of you reading this probably know that I have a (bizarre) sense of humor. So in addition to the serious Christmas songs in my collection, there are also a number of humorous Christmas Songs I Love. After all, I have the Chipmunks, Sesame Street, and the Muppets in my collection, and enjoy them all. And, oddly enough, all of them have a humorous version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

IMO, the best way to perform that song is as a send-up of some sort. Eddie Izzard has a fun bit in Dressed to Kill where he discusses the “5 Gold Rings” bit in the song. (Must admit, that’s my favorite bit, too.) But of all the send-ups, my favorite version is by Straight No Chaser, an a capella men’s group.

If you enjoyed this, too, I highly recommend their “Christmas Can Can” as well.

(Today was Baking Day 2011 and we’ve been working hard all day. And we still have stuff to do. Yay for Baking Day!)

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 6

If King’s College Choir is my Christmas group, and Julie Andrews my Christmas female singer, then my Christmas male singer must be Harry Belafonte. And my favorite Belafonte Christmas album is the less well-known Hallmark album, Tradition of Christmas (also with Jennifer Warnes and the American Boychoir).

One of the Christmas traditions that my family had when Amy and I were kids was the Annual Ornament. Each year, both Amy and I would be given an ornament for the tree. During my high school and college years, we often would take a trip to the nearby Hallmark store and pick out our ornaments. Hallmark often released a Christmas album which they’d sell for cheap with another purchase. Julie Andrews had one of those, the excellent Sounds of Christmas. And there was also the Harry Belafonte one, which quickly became a favorite. (Well, I didn’t care much for the Jennifer Warnes songs.)

Anyway, my favorite song (one of the Christmas Songs I Love) on that album is “Mary’s Little Boy Child”, which is a faster version of Belafonte’s “Mary’s Boy Child.” And the American Boychoir sing the refrain, which is another plus (remember my love of boy’s choirs). Unfortunately, I was unable to find this version of the song to share, so I’m posting his more traditional version (which is also a lovely song).

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 5

Alas, YouTube has let me down again. I have found a version of the song I’m going to talk about tonight, but it’s not the version that I love. But it’ll give you a picture of what I love.

I love music in many forms, but there’s a special love for a capella music. Singing in tune with no accompaniment is an art form in itself. And when it is done well, it’s almost magical. And that’s what I think of today’s Christmas Song that I Love.

When my family finally got a CD player, I helped make the transition from vinyl to shiny by buying loads of CDs from BMG (a CD of the Month club). And when Christmas time came around, I ordered all sorts of Christmas albums, including Take 6’s He Is Christmas. Their a capella rendition of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” was worth the price of the album, and then some. (Didn’t know it at the time, so I suspect the CD was on sale. Heh.)

This video is pretty good, but the album version is even better. And I love the overall arrangement of the piece. Simply beautiful.

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 4

For the most part, if an album is primarily Christmas/winter holiday music, I declare the whole thing “Christmas” and play it from Veteran’s Day to Epiphany. So quite a few “winter” songs songs get clumped in like this. I’m not the only one who does this – look at poor “Jingle Bells” and “Let it Snow” – always played at Christmas, but not any other time.

(I was amused when gregmce did his list and had “Linus and Lucy” as his final song on the list. That’s probably the only exception that I make to my music classification rule. To me, it’s NOT a Christmas song and thus gets stuffed in with my regular music and not in with my holiday songs. Go figure.)

Today’s song is not a Christmas (or Hanukkah or solstice, etc) song, but one about the changing seasons. I was looking for a Christmas album that was guitar instrumental and purchased Craig Chaquico‘s Holiday, sound unheard (like “sight unseen,” only musical). Although the album wasn’t quite what I was looking for, it had a piece called “Nonesuch/Ladies’ Bramzel,” which featured a children’s choir doing a round. This piece quickly became one of the Christmas Songs that I Love despite not being a Christmas song.