You get Justin Timberlake:
It’s tagged ‘Musicilove’ but a little dancing works too, and Kanye West eat your heart out, or at least shut up for a few minutes. ;-)
And no, I don’t really know the lyrics to this song. It takes me forever to listen to lyrics and sometimes I never get to them.
This was going to be a Valentine’s post, but I can’t hold back any longer!
Tom Jones never fails to put me in a good mood even if I’m determined to fight it. I challenge you to listen to these songs and not end up with a silly grin on your face. I could just put up the videos of his live performances and make you go beyond grinning to laughing out loud, but this isn’t about Tom’s gyrations. It’s about the very hopeful sound of these tunes and lyrics.
Some trivia about this song: it’s in the opening credits of Shakespeare Retold: Much Ado About Nothing*, which is part of the DVD set that includes the version of Macbeth with James McAvoy and Richard Armitage.
Okay, this one is super sexist and dated, but hey, I’m still smiling:
Come to think of it, most of these are sexist and dated. LOL!
Some more trivia: I saw What’s New Pussycat? in the movie theater when I was a kid. This was the first time I heard that Tom Jones (ne: Thomas John Woodward) was a distant relative. I cannot remember how. Need to ask Mom sometime. It’s only been 30+ years since we talked about it. Yes, I’m admitting how very old I am. LOL!
Last but certainly not least:
Does Richard Armitage like Tom Jones’ music? I don’t know, but I imagine him grinning when he hears it whether he likes it or not. :D
Yeah, I know you wanna laugh, Rich:
“Oh, I want to, Frenz, but I’m supposed to be serious now.”
Yeah, sure you are.
*My favorite story on that DVD set. If you haven’t watched Shakespeare Retold, run and get it!
Photo still courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com
A wonderful singer and fellow music lover, Sarah, has a great piece about The Hobbit music:
A Cappella and Middle Earth
It’s not a secret that I am a nerd. I embrace the title. And I have many different “nerddoms” that I belong to. But there are two that I think have been part of my life for longer than the others – Middle Earth and A Cappella. And they don’t generally intersect. Until recently…
The rest here
Sometimes I just get blue. I used to always pick it apart — that blue funk. But analyzing it, nailing it down can be wearying, and sometimes it’s just that I’m a displaced Texan living in the Rockies. Texas can be a terrible and wonderful land, but mostly it’s a big heart with a cutting edge spirit that often thumbs its nose at convention while often appearing tacky with its own. Don’t be fooled by the seeming yahoo. Underneath is a class leveler, and I miss the plain talk and the willingness to be a stereotype in its pursuit. A place where words like ‘shit’ reverberate with meaning way beyond the obvious.
The mentality is best represented in an old joke:
A Texan went to Harvard, and on his first day there he was walking across campus and trying to find a particular building. He saw a group of preppy looking guys and stopped to ask them about it, “‘Scuse me, but can you tell me where the libary’s at?” The obvious leader of this group returned with a sneer, “For your information, it’s ‘library’ and no self-respecting Harvard man would end a sentence in a preposition. Would you care to rephrase that question?” The Texan grinned and replied, “Sure. Can you tell me where the libary’s at, asshole?”
I’m not going to wax on further about my love for Texas. I’ll inflict that on you another day. Feel free to bring the Chainsaw Massacre jokes. I’m ready. :D
Oddly enough, all of this is actually leading to some musicilove.
Shawn Colvin has become the epitome of someone who does her own thing despite her difficulties and is not out to impress anyone unless she wants a boyfriend. ;-). She’s become part of the charm of Austin, Texas along with a cadre of world class artists who make Austin a cultural destination. I’ll talk more about that later if I get inspired. For now I want to focus on Shawn who grew up in London, Ontario and Illinois but eventually settled in Texas. It fit her nature of being tender but hardscrabble when necessary and always startlingly honest.
In her performances she always seems to be trying to get at the truth. She focuses on almost anything but the external, intent on something inside herself, and the timid but wry twist of her mouth reluctantly given makes it devastating. But it’s her voice purring and her guitar along with it that puts a stroke between bone and muscle.
Some of you have heard her pieces. One of her most well known from “A Few Small Repairs” CD:
From the “Serendipity” soundtrack CD:
Other goodies.
From “Steady On” CD:
From “Fat City” CD:
From “A Few Small Repairs” CD:
The title track from “All Fall Down” CD, her latest:
I like that video, but I think I prefer Shawn alone with her guitar:
And I may be wrong about Shawn Colvin’s honesty, but I don’t think so. Just started her memoir. Wow.
And she might wonder, “Who the Hell is Richard Armitage?” I have an answer. :D
Off to listen to the rest of her new CD. She’s also touring in January and Mary Chapin Carpenter will join her in February. I haven’t seen her perform live for years. May have to make a run over to Aspen in February.
edit: I did not realize today is Shawn Colvin’s birthday! Talk about serendipity. :D
Last night I went to a Christmas Eve service at the church house, and it was one of the best I’ve ever attended. It wasn’t that there was beautiful pomp to embrace. There was no pomp. It was people coming through the doors as themselves and feeling they were meeting friends because they were! Oh, it was a motley crew to be sure, but all the more special because of it. God doesn’t make cookie cutters.
When I was a kid, I had visions of church being like this and especially a place where the brokenhearted could come and know there was peace, joy and love because God was there. I saw it last night in a way that made even my dreams pale.
All of this has me wondering once again what others think about the phrase “Merry Christmas.” Of course it can mean the fun of the holiday, or the kindness that’s often shown in lavish amounts more than the rest of the year, or it’s an amenity. But too often it’s associated with something stilted and dare I say, religious. I heard Richard Armitage say he’s not religious. I’m not either, and I mean that in the sense I rarely feel compelled to observe rituals in my relationship with the Lord. His magnificence is simply there and He’s not going away. Hallelujah! It makes me want to share it and say Merry Christmas everyday!
If you have trouble watching this video from my site, click on the YouTube icon in the lower right corner to watch it on YT.
NOTE: for some reason unknown to me, the singer of this song followed me on Twitter this week. Maybe she’s a Richard Armitage fan. Whatever the case, I chuckled when I saw her twitter come up. Maybe she’ll figure out what a crazy place this is and quit following me (may have already), but I’m glad she’s done it long enough to remind me of the greatest gift I’ve received or ever will.
A couple of weeks ago TheQueen and I were here:
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see these guys performing, but we did enjoy the most posh “outdoor” restroom in New York while we were there:
For the uninitiated all of this is in Bryant Park, which is behind the New York Public Library in Manhattan. And it’s one of my absolute favorite places in the City. I told TheQueen she has to return in good weather.
More about the trip in a later post. For now, I hope you all have a wonderful evening!
The Hobbit soundtrack is due out December 11th. Will Richard Armitage’s voice be featured? Absolutely. Fandango has an exclusive on the tracklist. But even if Richard Armitage wasn’t a featured artist on this CD, I would still buy it. I adore the music from The Lord of the Rings. Its haunting, majestic quality with a little quirk thrown in is fitting for work inspired by Tolkien.
Two of my favorites, Riders of Rohan and Samwise the Brave (respectively) from Two Towers:
And in case you have been in a hole in the ground :D, an excerpt of the song Richard and Cast will be singing:
A hearty thanks to TheOneRingnet for posting a pointer to the Fandango article. I really, really appreciate all that they do. Perhaps when Ali gets a chance, she can put up a link on her site to the Amazon pre-order page, so that charity can benefit from what you purchase.
Eminem turned 40 today. Yeah, can you believe it? The angsty rapper (is that a redundant description?), whose cutting edge honesty has enraged and endeared, has officially breached the ranks of the middle-aged. And he just thought he had something to bitch about. Wait ’til he hits 50. Or will he be more mellow in his 40s? I hope he keeps up the anger — at least for entertainment purposes. It makes complaining fashionable for the rest of us, and I find I have some more to wax on about. Nope, not going out with a whimper. :D
By the way, this middle-aged person does like Eminem’s work. Maybe not all of his work, but I don’t like all the work from any artist.
Here are two I especially like and please note there is some foul language:
There are several others that are little gems. Check out more of them in the great write-up by The Detroit News Blog, and some of these are also pretty raw, so enter at your own risk.
The only Richard Armitage connection is that I do wonder what he thinks of artists like this. Can someone like Coldplay, Mahler and Eminem? Yes! I do. But the real question is how many of us are there?
Something to take the edge off after that hefty bout of fangirling Wednesday.
Possibly my favorite jazz pianist:
In this one below, I love how Bill Evans closed his eyes while he was playing. Classic Bill Evans. Check out the bass player Red Mitchell too. It’s the best way to play. Notes are something to be felt, and sometimes embracing the instrument really is almost like falling onto it, yet it cradles you.
Another one:
This is the stuff of my childhood. My dad was a bass player (both bass violin and bass guitar). 40+ years of playing gigs, and it wasn’t uncommon for my mother and me to go with him. I literally spent my youth in places like Village Vanguard. It took growing up to realize most kids are not hanging at jazz joints when they’re ten. These are just some of the things I finally got freed up enough to write about.
Oh heck, one more and with Bill explaining a little of the trio the first couple of minutes or so:
I’m not sure if this post should get the Richard Armitage tag. My CWS must be on the wane, ’cause I don’t have a good sense if this is his thing or not. :D Okay, yeah, he’s cool enough to like it. ;-)
It’s really hard to keep from making most of my posts about music. I never did start that music blog, but I am working on something that will incorporate my passion for it. At present there is quite a massive file of pieces waiting to be published on that site, and I was going to save this as well, but Stephen Fry tweeted about it this morning, and I just can’t help myself:
Another one that gives me joy and thanks to The Queen for turning me on to these guys:
They are the personification of a class act. Is that redundant? Oh heck I don’t care! Be sure to watch this one in full screen, and if you can, try it on a tv. I’ve seen it on a large screen. Epic. I hope you also check out their YouTube channel and site. You will be in for a treat.
Yeah, this one gets the Richard Armitage tag ’cause I would be shocked if he doesn’t love this too. :D
