Bread
Snapshot of a Commute, August 2006
If you're lucky, you're the kind of person who can put yourself outside of it, just for a second, and recognize it for what it is and be so, so thankful.
On my way home from work today, I couldn't hold back the smile I felt, the kind that starts at your face but grows to inhabit your whole body. New York City summers are always a little hot, a little sticky, a little smelling of garbage and cursing that damn ice cream truck song that plays on every corner.
In the two block walk from the train station to my house, the neighborhood kids had opened three separate fire hydrants, and the street was a cool arching tunnel of water and fine mist that gave off a metallic smell, a smell of concrete and water and summer like the nozzle on the end of a garden hose. Adults had carried folding tables out onto the street and played card games on the edge of the hydrant's mist, wearing bathing suit tops, drinking beer out of paper bags and wearing dirty white towels around their necks to wipe the sweat and beaded water from their hair and brow. Boom boxes were shoved into the windows of the walkups lining the block blaring 10 different songs all at once and the vibe on the street was as if nobody had a care in the world.
It was infectious.
There was still that sour summer garbage smell in the air, and my clothes were still heavy and sticking to me uncomfortably, but in that moment I didn't really mind. I'm 32, I live in Brooklyn, and I'm doing exactly what I set out to do and I'm living right exactly where I want to be.
What a good feeling. ¶ 7:57 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
There are moments in life where the evolution of time bends itself to the bliss you're experiencing. There are moments where, immersed deep in the pleasure that happens somewhere between breathing and getting what you need, where seconds stretch to hours, stretch to years, and you realize with a start that you're smack in the middle of one of those situations you always said you'd have when you were very small and used to say *that's* how my life will be when I grow up. One of those situations that you think you might want to live forever inside of.If you're lucky, you're the kind of person who can put yourself outside of it, just for a second, and recognize it for what it is and be so, so thankful.
On my way home from work today, I couldn't hold back the smile I felt, the kind that starts at your face but grows to inhabit your whole body. New York City summers are always a little hot, a little sticky, a little smelling of garbage and cursing that damn ice cream truck song that plays on every corner.
In the two block walk from the train station to my house, the neighborhood kids had opened three separate fire hydrants, and the street was a cool arching tunnel of water and fine mist that gave off a metallic smell, a smell of concrete and water and summer like the nozzle on the end of a garden hose. Adults had carried folding tables out onto the street and played card games on the edge of the hydrant's mist, wearing bathing suit tops, drinking beer out of paper bags and wearing dirty white towels around their necks to wipe the sweat and beaded water from their hair and brow. Boom boxes were shoved into the windows of the walkups lining the block blaring 10 different songs all at once and the vibe on the street was as if nobody had a care in the world.
It was infectious.
There was still that sour summer garbage smell in the air, and my clothes were still heavy and sticking to me uncomfortably, but in that moment I didn't really mind. I'm 32, I live in Brooklyn, and I'm doing exactly what I set out to do and I'm living right exactly where I want to be.
What a good feeling. ¶ 7:57 PM 0 comments
Great Music Monday: Laura Nyro
Welcome to Great Music Monday!
Each week I'll be posting a new entry featuring an artist or song that has and continues to move me, redefine my way of thinking, earmark my comfort rituals and otherwise bring fabulousness into my day to day goings on. I picked Mondays because, well, Mondays suck.
I invite you to seek out your own favorites, post them and drop me a comment linking to you, so we can all share the major music love and improve the quality of Mondays everywhere.
For this week...
Laura Nyro
Pretty much everyone has heard Nyro's music, most likely without realizing. Nyro, most commercially popular in the late 60s and early 70s, was a prolific artist with a solid artistic vision she refused to compromise. Hitting the music scene at age 19, she released five albums between 1967 and 1971, proving herself to be an innovative, soulful musician. Although a soulfull, intimate performer, Nyro received the most acclaim and commercial success as a songwriter, writing hits for Three Dog Night, Barbra Streisand, The Fifth Dimension, and Blood, Sweat & Tears and includes billboard hits Wedding Bell Blues, Stoned Soul Picnic, And When I Die, Save the Country, and Poverty Train.
In her own performances, Nyro had a style and sophistication all her own, and was never better than when she sat alone behind her piano and sang to audiences as if she was whispering declarations of love. Growing increasingly frustrated with the direction record producers wanted her to take, Nyro withdrew from the music scene at 24, unwilling to sacrifice her art for the sake of marketability. She returned five years later and continued to make incredible music with no regard for commercial success.
Laura died in 1997 at age 49 of ovarian cancer. She is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated musicians of her era. You may have heard her songs, but you've never really heard them until you've heard her singing them herself. Whether doing her original work or covering other artists of her era (Carole King & Dusty Springfield were favorites of hers) listening to her sing was and is like hearing her song for the first time.
Below, Laura performing Save the Country for an NBC music showcase in 1969. Save the Country was later covered by The 5th Dimension, and is equally formidable (if slightly more mainstream version), but Nyro brings an immediacy and emotional punch to the song that gets me every time.
Further listening...
(tracks I'd recommend)
From Spread Your Wings & Fly: Live at the Fillmore East 1971 (Sony, 2004)
Save the Country
Timer/Up on the Roof Medley
Ain't Nothin Like the Real Thing Medley
From Gonna Take A Miracle (Sony, Original Recording Remastered, 2004)
Natural Woman
Up on the Roof
From New York Tendaberry (Sony, Original Recording Remastered, 2002)
You Don't Love Me When I Cry
New York Tendaberry
Mercy on Broadway
And pretty much the entire retrospective Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best of Laura Nyro.
Happy listening!
¶ 2:07 AM 0 comments
Monday, August 21, 2006
In keeping with my ever expanding love of music, beginning today I've decided to institute a new blog feature.Welcome to Great Music Monday!
Each week I'll be posting a new entry featuring an artist or song that has and continues to move me, redefine my way of thinking, earmark my comfort rituals and otherwise bring fabulousness into my day to day goings on. I picked Mondays because, well, Mondays suck.
I invite you to seek out your own favorites, post them and drop me a comment linking to you, so we can all share the major music love and improve the quality of Mondays everywhere.
For this week...
Laura Nyro
Pretty much everyone has heard Nyro's music, most likely without realizing. Nyro, most commercially popular in the late 60s and early 70s, was a prolific artist with a solid artistic vision she refused to compromise. Hitting the music scene at age 19, she released five albums between 1967 and 1971, proving herself to be an innovative, soulful musician. Although a soulfull, intimate performer, Nyro received the most acclaim and commercial success as a songwriter, writing hits for Three Dog Night, Barbra Streisand, The Fifth Dimension, and Blood, Sweat & Tears and includes billboard hits Wedding Bell Blues, Stoned Soul Picnic, And When I Die, Save the Country, and Poverty Train.
In her own performances, Nyro had a style and sophistication all her own, and was never better than when she sat alone behind her piano and sang to audiences as if she was whispering declarations of love. Growing increasingly frustrated with the direction record producers wanted her to take, Nyro withdrew from the music scene at 24, unwilling to sacrifice her art for the sake of marketability. She returned five years later and continued to make incredible music with no regard for commercial success.
Laura died in 1997 at age 49 of ovarian cancer. She is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated musicians of her era. You may have heard her songs, but you've never really heard them until you've heard her singing them herself. Whether doing her original work or covering other artists of her era (Carole King & Dusty Springfield were favorites of hers) listening to her sing was and is like hearing her song for the first time.
Below, Laura performing Save the Country for an NBC music showcase in 1969. Save the Country was later covered by The 5th Dimension, and is equally formidable (if slightly more mainstream version), but Nyro brings an immediacy and emotional punch to the song that gets me every time.
Further listening...
(tracks I'd recommend)
From Spread Your Wings & Fly: Live at the Fillmore East 1971 (Sony, 2004)
Save the Country
Timer/Up on the Roof Medley
Ain't Nothin Like the Real Thing Medley
From Gonna Take A Miracle (Sony, Original Recording Remastered, 2004)
Natural Woman
Up on the Roof
From New York Tendaberry (Sony, Original Recording Remastered, 2002)
You Don't Love Me When I Cry
New York Tendaberry
Mercy on Broadway
And pretty much the entire retrospective Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best of Laura Nyro.
Happy listening!
¶ 2:07 AM 0 comments
Party People in the House Stand Up
Were I a better singer, I would annoy everyone I know by busting into song old MGM style mid-conversation when people's words jar a lyric or three. Being that I'm not a great singer, a fact I consider to be among the great tragedies of my life, I keep it to myself. But nod smugly, that I've got the song for any and every occasion.
I'm one of those annoying people that turn the music up and insist that everyone in the car just listen when a great song comes on... stop with the conversation, people, and just hear that music. I'm on of those people who make mix CDs for friends and give them album names, themes, cover art and a dossier describing why each song was included and what's so great about it. I collect music of all kinds; I love finding rare covers, b-side tracks, long lost bootleg live recordings... the more obsolete the better. Since the advent of the internet, I'm in heaven.
In short, I'm an audiophile.
Imagine my pleasure, then, to discover MOG, an all music lover's community. Similar to myspace, MOG aims to connect people through their musical tastes. You create a profile, and then upload a list of your entire digital music collection. MOG makes daily listen lists for you based on what other users are listening to who have some of the same titles in their collections as you do in yours. MOG users don't play; it's all about the music. There's a live playlist feature that allows you to link your music client (Itunes, MusicMatch, Winamp, Windows Media Player, whatever) to your blog, myspace or webpage and publish a self-updating last played list. In other words, any of you fine folks reading right now can skip your glance over to the right side of this page and check out what I'm listening to this minute, or whatever I was listening to the last time my computer was on. It's a great way to share music, get the lowdown on new things to hear and fall in love with, and generally broaden your musical horizons.
Of course, being relatively new (launched at the end of June) it still has a few kinks to work out, but as far as I can tell it's all about music loving, and has no spam, privacy violations or spyware involved.
I encourage ya'll to check it out.
MOG's main page is here. MY MOG is here. Check out my live playlist, scrolled at the right... ¶ 7:29 PM 0 comments
Monday, August 14, 2006
SOOO, anyone that knows me knows that I'm a complete music junkie. If I'm doing laundry, there's a song in my head. If I'm on the train, a song in my head. In the shower, waiting in line at the movies, cleaning house, talking on the phone, doing paperwork for my job, in a staff meeting, at a funeral, WHEREVER I am, I've got an inner soundtrack.
Were I a better singer, I would annoy everyone I know by busting into song old MGM style mid-conversation when people's words jar a lyric or three. Being that I'm not a great singer, a fact I consider to be among the great tragedies of my life, I keep it to myself. But nod smugly, that I've got the song for any and every occasion.
I'm one of those annoying people that turn the music up and insist that everyone in the car just listen when a great song comes on... stop with the conversation, people, and just hear that music. I'm on of those people who make mix CDs for friends and give them album names, themes, cover art and a dossier describing why each song was included and what's so great about it. I collect music of all kinds; I love finding rare covers, b-side tracks, long lost bootleg live recordings... the more obsolete the better. Since the advent of the internet, I'm in heaven.
In short, I'm an audiophile.
Imagine my pleasure, then, to discover MOG, an all music lover's community. Similar to myspace, MOG aims to connect people through their musical tastes. You create a profile, and then upload a list of your entire digital music collection. MOG makes daily listen lists for you based on what other users are listening to who have some of the same titles in their collections as you do in yours. MOG users don't play; it's all about the music. There's a live playlist feature that allows you to link your music client (Itunes, MusicMatch, Winamp, Windows Media Player, whatever) to your blog, myspace or webpage and publish a self-updating last played list. In other words, any of you fine folks reading right now can skip your glance over to the right side of this page and check out what I'm listening to this minute, or whatever I was listening to the last time my computer was on. It's a great way to share music, get the lowdown on new things to hear and fall in love with, and generally broaden your musical horizons.
Of course, being relatively new (launched at the end of June) it still has a few kinks to work out, but as far as I can tell it's all about music loving, and has no spam, privacy violations or spyware involved.
I encourage ya'll to check it out.
MOG's main page is here. MY MOG is here. Check out my live playlist, scrolled at the right... ¶ 7:29 PM 0 comments
