Nothing Sweet About Me: Gabriella Cilmi’s enthralling presence

Gabriella Cilmi ~ Lessons to be Learned

I’d watched this video a few dozen times before learning that Cilmi was just 17 when it was produced. Oh, my, God! A Nabokovian nymph leaving a wake of men so enthralled they hardly notice or care for their sad state of bondage. Uhhhhmmm…. Excuse me….. I seem to be […]

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Gabriella Cilmi: Lessons to be learned and feel a little safer

Gabriella Cilmi ~ Lessons to be Learned

Gary (my blog partner when we began this blog together) says he’s having some trouble finding Australian music worthy of positive reviews, especially anything produced in the present or recent past. Hmmm… how about this young, little gem? Gabriella Cilmi (pronounced “chill me” — and she does give me chills) […]

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Tijuana Cartel: dancing to the key of coast

Tijuana Cartel ~ They Come ~ Persian

Tijuana Cartel epitomises for me what locals of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast refer to as the Coast lifestyle. An easygoing presence that knows how to have a heckuva lot of fun, more than a little passion and a spiritual base from which all that energy exudes. TC features Paul George’s virtuouso […]

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I Can See Your House From Here. It’s made of Ice, and there’s a Camel parked outside.

Camel ~ I Can See Your House From Here

I first heard this song on campus radio late one night in 1979 at Rochester Institute of Technology, where I was studying photography and living the Art House residence hall. In the next room — good buddy Steve “The Rockin’ Guru” Guy. It was my first year in school, my […]

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Robert McNamara’s Fog of War

Robert Strange McNamara ~ The Fog of War

Among the best documentaries ever made, Errol Morris’ The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, compellingly examines Robert Strange McNamara’s disturbing look back at the 20th Century’s greatest global conflicts: World War II and the Cold War. The result is a chilling set of […]

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Secret Heart: Feist Covers Sexsmith LIVE

Feist ~ Secret Heart

Some weeks ago I watched a documentary about a piano prodigy. In his young teens, the boy spoke about music with a profound wisdom. One thing he said, in particular, stayed with me. I’m paraphrasing, but it went something like: “The more you work with a piece of music, the […]

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Rainy Days and Mondays: Karen Carpenter’s effervescense

Karen Carpenter ~ Rainy Days and Mondays

It’s yet another wet, gloomy day here on the Wet Coast, and a friend of mine mentioned that the rainy days depress her. This song came immediately to mind… Growing up I was never much of a pop music fan, particularly the easy listening stuff my parents favoured. As a […]

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Fugitive Peace

Fugitive Pieces ~ Love Scene

I watched the film adaptation of Anne Michaels’ novel, Fugitive Pieces today. One of the most achingly beautiful love scenes I’ve ever seen is followed, closely, by Michaela picking up Jakob’s journal, holding it, looking at it, quizzically, curiously. she seems to be asking of it, “what else might you […]

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