Music Monday – Top 5 Billy Joel Songs

Heidi-ho, it’s music Monday and I’m here once again to thrill and wow you with my musical choices. Today’s list comes from my piano lessons as a youth. I began piano lessons at the age of five. I hated them. But then by the time I was in middle school, I’d discovered Billy Joel, and thought that I, too, could be Piano Man. Alas, that did not work out, thankfully, I think, but that hasn’t tarnished my love for Bill. Take a gander at my favorite songs (at least today) from this artist. The list is in no particular order.

Piano Man

The song that started it all. For some reason, I was fascinted by the fact that you could sing and play the piano. (Bear with me,I was kinda young at the time.)

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Downeaster Alexa

The music beneath the melody just makes you feel like you’re bracing yourself against the sway of a rolling boat.

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Goodnight Saigon

A sad song about lost, broken, lives.

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River of Dreams

In the middle of the night….

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Pressure

That jabbing synthesizer rift….

“You have to learn to pace yourself.”

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And there’s my faves from the piano man. Have any Billy Joel favorites? Drop them in the comments!

Peace, Love, Unity

Dahlia

Music Monday – Top 5 Songs – The Police

There were five Police studio albums released between 1978 and 1983. I know this because I owned them all. For Music Monday, let’s take a trip down memory lane and name my favorite track from each of these studio albums.

Outlando D’Amour was the first album released by The Police. They “broke out” with the hit “Roxanne”. I don’t need to go into the whole story now, everyone knows what the song is about. However, while I did like Roxanne, my oh-so-favorite track from this album is “So Lonely”.

Reggatta de Blanc

Released in 1979, the hot “hit” from this album was Message in a Bottle. While I do love Message in all its iterations (the acoustic version is especially stirring), here’s my go to from this album:

Zenyatta Mondatta

The song “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” hit the U.S. charts with a bang and spent three years there. I guess….people liked it? 😉 The songs did have staying power. My personal favorite, because I know you’re waiting for it is…Shadows in the Rain. Who can resist a song that begins “Woke up in my clothes again this morning/Don’t know exactly where I am…”

Ghost in the Machine

Their fourth studio album. My pick: Secret Journey

Synchronicity

The final studio album before Sting broke out on his own, although after listening to some of the early “demos” on YouTube, it seems that The Police was mostly Sting and two guys. Regardless of who wrote what when and where, my pick from this album is Tea in the Sahara.

There you go, there it is…my five favorite Police songs!

Peace, Love, Unity

Dahlia

Terrific Tuesday – Best Book to Movie Adaptations

Greetings and salutations!

Today I’m going to talk about some of my favorite book to movie adaptations – just like it says on the tin. I love books and I love movies, and when the two come together, it touches a chord in me that cannot be duplicated. I won’t tarry on a long-winded introduction: let’s get to the meat of the post, shall we?

What makes a book to movie adaptation terrific? If the movie captures the essence of the book, the characters and offers the same or improved ending from the book. Mind you, a terrific adaptation doesn’t necessarily mean the movie sticks as close to the book as white on rice, nor does it mean the movie leaves you with a terrific feeling. It just means that as a reader of the book, you’re satisfied with the spirit of the movie.

Here, in no particular order, are my top ten terrific movie adaptations.

We Need to Talk about Kevin – Tilda Swinton can make anything good. If you haven’t read the book yet, watching the movie gives you a taste of the awful foreboding of the book. You know something is going to happen, the question is just. when. This movie will not make you comfortable.

Jurassic Park – Now this movie was a bundle of fun for me. Yes, the book was a lot more techincal and dense to get through, but the screen writers managed to sprinkle in the genetics along side the breathtaking spectacle of the dinosaurs on scree. An excellent film that I watch every time it comes on television.

The Godfather – The book was good, but it did include a few side stories that detracted from the main narrative. The movie slashed and burned enough of those side stories and emphasized the family saga. It helped that the author, Mario Puzo, had a hand in writing the screenplay.

The Silence of the Lambs – What more can be said? The movie made me read the book, and I wasn’t disappointed.

To Kill a Mockingbird – The actors (Robert Duvall’s first screen role as Boo Radley), made the book come alive. The only person I missed in the movie was Calpurnia. Her part in the book seemed to be larger and wittier.

No Country for Old Men – The Coen Brothers helped bring Cormac McCarthy’s story to life. Both movie and book complement each other.

The Remains of the Day – I went to see this in the movies and I did have tears. Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson really bring Kazou Ishiguro’s story to life.

Wiseguy – I never met a gangster movie I didn’t like. Re-titled “Goodfellas”, the movie actually improves on the newspaper style reporting of the book and brings the characters to life in blooming color.

The Shining – While I did not care for the character death in movie, I really felt that Kubrick’s adaptation captured the essence (yes, that word again) of the book and the frightening visuals and hidden clues are quite effective.

Requiem for a Dream – This is a film that I never wish to see ever again. A gut-wrenching odyssey of three separate stories of drug addiction, Requiem for a Dream is a visceral experience that leaves the viewer stunned. The book is a little more “in your face” than the movie is, but both are effective.

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption – Renamed as The Shawshank Redemption….well, I’m pretty sure that you’ve all heard of the movie, yes?

Into the Wild – Written by Jon Jon Krakauer, who freaked me out with Into Thin Air, about folks climbing Mt. Everest, Into the Wild is the story of a young man who wanted to live off the land in the wilds of Alaska.

Music Monday – Goth Classical Music

Hey! It’s Music Monday!

There’s nothing I like better on a cold winter’s evening (and sometimes in the summer too) is a cup of Irish coffee and some dark classical music. Whether it be a mournful aria or a draggy dirge in a lovely minor key, the dulcet tones of a sorrowful violin or the lamenting mezzo-sorprano.

I thrive on that shit.

Forget about the dog dying in movies or some drama on television. Youwant to bring a tear to my eye, play me a tune in a minor key. Those gloomy chord progressions will get me every single time.

Here we go.

Dido’s Lament – Dido and Aeneas, Henry Purcell

In operas, someone always dies. Here, it’s Dido. She’s taken poison because her great love, Aeneas, has abandoned her. Grab the tissue and take a look at her first lines: (Belinda is her lady in waiting)

“Thy hand Belinda….darkness shades me….on thy bosom, let me rest…
More I would….but death invades me….Death is now a welcome guest….”

And the great, greatc Jessye Norman brings these lyrics right to your doorstep.

“Remember me….but ah! Forget my fate…..”

Goosebumps!

Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven

One of the comments on this video (paraphrase): “I listen to this in the dark with a cup of tea…like a psychopath”

Frederic Chopin – Waltz in A minor

Sergei Rachmaninoff – Prelude, Opus 2 #2 in C sharp minor

John Williams – Theme from Schindler’s List, Performed by Itzhak Perlman

Go ahead. Get the tissues, sob, breathe, then touch up your black eyeliner and tighten the laces on your Doc Martens. I hope you enjoyed my little gothy list of classical songs.

1Love

Peace, Love, Unity

Dahlia

Blogtoberfest – American Gothic Roots Music – Rachel Brooke

Welcome to today’s Blogtoberfest post! It’s another dark country/roots song by artist Rachel Brooke.

“Take everything you think you know about country music and throw it out the window. That pop rock crap y’all call country is nothing compared to what Rachel Brooke is laying down. She’s an old soul in the way Hank Williams and Memphis Minnie were, culling together both country and country blues into an album that is easily digestible for anyone who gets scared off by real country music. Etta James once said that the blues and country music were kissing cousins. Rachel Brooke is their love child.” -Chip McCabe

and

“Producing and playing most of the instruments herself, Rachel demonstrates her immense talent and diversity on this album. (Down in the Barnyard 2011) The song writing is top notch, her voice is eerily old-time-authentic, and the whole album has the ability to whisk you away on the country technicolor lullaby head trip that she has painted during it’s near-hour long set. Rachel is just hitting her stride, but with this release is proving that we should all be keeping our eyes on her.” –Shooter Jennings, ”- Moonrunners”