January 1, 2009

• Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

  Here is some writing and music I like:

  Working Through Silence
  Noise as a Distraction

  Our lives are typically filled with noise. There are the noises from the outside world that we cannot control, and there are the noises we allow into our lives. These noises, from seemingly innocuous sources like the television and radio, can actually help us avoid dealing with uncomfortable thoughts and emotions. However, using noise as a distraction hurts more than it helps because you are numbing yourself to what may be internally bubbling up to the surface for you to look at and heal. Distracting yourself with talk-radio, television, or other background noises can also prevent you from finding closure to issues that haunt you.

  Noise as a distraction can affect us in many ways. It can help you stay numb to emotions that you don’t want to feel, allow you to avoid dealing with problems, distract you from having to think, and make it easier for you to forget reality. Drowning out the thoughts and emotions you find uncomfortable or overwhelming can complicate your issues because it allows them to fester. By tuning out noise and relishing silence, you create the space to experience and express what you are hiding. It is only then that self-exploration can begin in earnest and you can stare down frightening issues. In silence, it becomes easier to let your strongest feelings come forth, deal with them, and find new ways of resolving your problems.

  When you go within without the veil of noise to shield you from yourself, you’ll be able to figure out what you need to heal. Embracing silence and introspection allows you to work through your thoughts and emotions and transmute them. Free of the need for noise, you can accept your pain, anger, and frustration as they come up and turn them into opportunities to evolve.

  Careless Love
  Madeleine Peyroux
  2004

  After a lengthy hiatus since her debut album, jazz vocalist Madeleine Peyroux returns with Careless Love. Within the first minutes of the album, the siren immediately asserts her ability to deliver torch songs with elegant grace, seamlessly covering songs from such diverse artists as Elliot Smith, Josephine Baker, Bob Dylan and Bessie Smith. The opening track, Leonard Cohen’s classic “Dance Me to the End of Love,” and indeed the entire album, sends the listener into the world of late-night smoky cabarets. On this song, the honey-voiced chanteuse channels Billie Holiday in a playful mood, calling to mind classic jazz conversational phrasing, and transforms the original’s haunting atmosphere into sentimental Swing Era balladry.

  Reinventing rock and blues songs with an effortless classic jazz delivery, Peyroux delivers stunning twists such as the uncanny interpretation of Bob Dylan’s gem, “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go.” While the original is steeped in mildly self-doubting undertones, Peyroux’s playful version sounds like a cheery valentine to a lover who’s simply stepping out for a few moments. The combination of orchestral guitar punches, organ fills, and a sprightly piano perfectly complements her sweet melodic styling of the lyrics: “Dragon clouds so high above / I’ve only known careless love / It’s always hit me from below.” To tackle such an iconic staple and successfully shift it into a completely different setting is an achievement of rare beauty.

  Another mesmerizing cover of the album is her exquisite makeover of the often overlooked Elliott Smith gem, “Between the Bars.” Peyroux’s delivery is so rooted in the 1930s and ’40s that it is difficult to believe the song was written in the 1990s. Once again, the savvy crooner turns Smith’s haunting tune into a bittersweet jazz standard that could have appeared on a Billie Holiday LP. Her bluesy alto vocal glides over a stirring chamber of traditional, dazzling jazz. Not a note is wasted while she and an ethereal piano transport the listener to another era altogether.
  

  	Listen to all sound clips from this CD
  “Dance Me To the End of Love” “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” “Between the Bars”

  
  
  

  Buy this CD

  I didn’t see the new year in, but I did get up around 6:15 am
  does that count?!

  Hope all your 12 months of the new year are what you want and need!

  I love you!!

  

  Post humorously

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC9ftIE8XRQ (click on this)
  

  • 9:22 am
  • 9 Comments