I know why you’re crying ~ Orbison & lang know why too
Sometimes the words bring a song to mind. This poem was in my thoughts this morning and as the words of it washed over me a melody rose out of words. And out of a melody rose k.d. lang’s wail, Crying. Roy Orbison wrote about a cry arising from reasons much different than those I [...]
Hearts traveling faster than the speed of love ~ the B-52s, Topaz
A vivid memory of dancing solo on an Australian beach, the full moon intermittently obscured by racing clouds even as its rays glitterred off the cascading breakers pounding the beach. This song, Topaz, blasting at top volume from the small portable stereo speakers attached to my iPod. A breathless churning of limbs and heart and [...]
Teach Your Children Well ~ A Manifesto
A friend of mine teaches music from her home and had this to say about how she goes about the task. I teach with all I have. It’s a promise I made to the little girl I used to be… that the children who come to my door would be protected, guided, loved, inspired, and [...]
Neil Young: He came dancing across the water
I can remember the first time I heard this album, Zuma. I was all of 20 years old, ski bumming in Whistler, BC, and gathered with a bunch of friends after the bars had closed. I can’t remember her name. She was skinny and not very attractive in any traditional sense, but there was something [...]
Courage
I started a post about courage, featuring this song, a couple or three weeks ago. It’s still sitting in the drafts folder. The Tragically Hip are a favourite Canadian band from the late ’80s and early ’90s, a time when I, and many other Canadians, considered them the best rock band on the planet. Fully [...]
Cloudbusting a rainy day in Vancouver: Kate Bush is in my subconscious
Maybe it’s due to the thick layer of clouds busting down with rain overnight and today. Maybe it’s about getting caught up in a rearward look last night. Maybe it’s about the upbeat glee of a gift and a moment shared with a friend across the miles. I’m not sure what put Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting [...]
Nothing Else Matters when Bif Naked is your muse
Bif Naked came into my life in an odd way, the leading edge of a wave of the odd, the uncanny, the revelatory. This song has a lot of meaning for me, coming as it did the fist time amidst upheaval, chaos and — ultimately — awakening. And she came right into the middle of [...]
Ingrid Karklins: A Passion to Race the Sky
A trip across Australia with Midnight Oil and Yothu Yindi in a Holden Gemini leads to passionate encounters with love and the extraordinary passion and beauty of Ingrid Karklins’ music.
Remembering with Shakti: Lotus Feet and Vancouver’s Sea Wall
It was a couple years ago that this piece of music resoundingly re-entered my life. The spring in Vancouver seemed to be a never-ending stream of sunny, tranquil days, riding my bicycle along the miles and miles of sea wall ringing the city. This is a spectacularly beautiful city once it wakens from its winter [...]
The Philosopher Kings all dressed up for San Francisco, bringing their charms
It was the summer of 1995. I was back from extended travels through Australia and SE Asia, living in a Deep Cove cabin with the gentle high-tide waves lapping on the rocks just 20 feet below me while I busily built a website (a blog long before the name became popularised) from the travelogue and [...]
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