Author: Patrick
Black and white, darkness without light: a spiritual journey begins on a Three Dog Night
The joyful melody and playful rhythm will be all too familiar to my mother, and the eldest of my sisters. I was about 12 when this song came into my life, the first 45 rpm record I recall owning. I spun the disc hundreds of times…maybe thousands…playing it again and again until I’m sure everyone…
A selection of music from the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games Opening Ceremony
Sarah McLachlan, I’ve been told, has perfect pitch. Her performance at the opening ceremony was also pitch-perfect. She had me the very first time she flashed that smile of hers — bright as the sun, and open like a flower in full bloom. That may seem a superficial reason to for loving her as a…
Peter Gabriel & Ken Follet: Fear, the mother of violence
A while ago I was reading Ken Follet’s The Pillars of the Earth. Set amidst the brutality of the English middle ages, it’s interesting to see how all Follet’s characters experience fear, and more interesting how they respond to it and how, oftentimes, they are controlled by it, particularly the most violent of them, and…
The party has already begun: 2010 in Vancouver and I Believe
They’re here. Turquoise jacketed volunteers and orange vested police converge on the city. They’re here. They’re everywhere. Tomorrow, the world’s biggest winter party and carnival begins in this grey, wet city. Is this the first winter Olympics ever held in a place where the grass is green? Where the vines are sprouting with new growth?…
Akira Yamaoka: and now for something completely different, Maria
Just a quickie post. This morning a Facebook friend shared this little humdinger. Stay with it… trust me. My appreciation grows with every listen.
Deva Premal: the tranquility of Gayatri Mantra
A day of stress and frustrations and, in the end, a recognition that I’m not ready to move forward on a course of action requiring a one-year commitment…not just yet…not without a more careful consideration of the options and possibilities. So, a little something to calm the soul…. This is perhaps my favourite of Deva…
Missy Higgins: You have opened up a new door; you can steer
This song featured in a beautiful and moving story told in the comments of of a now defunct post, Kate Miller-Heidke doesn’t like to be ‘poked’. I’ve been looking at the lyrics…I can see why it would have touched so deeply on that night. It’s fascinating to me how the lyrics, or passages in a…
Roberta Flack & Johnny Cash: The first time ever I heard your voice
I love covers. Have I said that before? It’s always a bit of a thrill when I find some beloved song masterfully covered by another artist. (See my post regarding Feist’s transcendant cover of Secret Heart.) What I also love are the emotional inflections each cover artist brings to a song. For example, eighteen renditions…
Who are they? A former supergroup at the Super Bowl with still a bit of super left.
I was never much of a The Who fan.. Sure, I enjoyed the songs I heard of theirs, but I’ve never bought an album, wouldn’t pick one out of someone else’s collection to play, and never would’ve bothered going to a concert…until some buddies at work in the late ’80s cajoled me into joining them…
