Under a Red Roof

Plugged In

April 17, 2009 in Listening, Spotlighting by Colleen | Permalink

Is it Friday already? How did that happen?

Yesterday was a really nice day, weather wise, and the weekend (save today), if the forecasters have it on the money, is supposed to be exceptional. I plan on being out in the sunshine as much as possible. I am envisioning some major weed pulling, a long walk (wearing a skirt!), a bicycle ride, and clothes hanging dreamily from the line.

In contrast to last week’s music for drifting along, I’ve got a little something meant to get me plugged in, dialed up, moving, singing, shaking, and smiling. Here goes:

“Pimpf” – Depeche Mode

“Roadhouse Blues” – The Doors

“No One Knows” – Queens of the Stone Age

“O Valencia!” – The Decemberists

“Over the Hills and Far Away” – Led Zeppelin

“Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver” – Primus (Les Claypool rocks)

“No Love Lost” – Joy Division

“White Tooth Man” – Iron & Wine

“Everything” – Stereo MC’s

“I Got You (I feel good)” – James Brown

“Don’t Sweat the Technique” – Eric B. & Rakim

“Giant Steps” – John Coltrane

“A Little Less Conversation” – Elvis

“Ain’t No Other Man” – Christina Aguilera (the girl can SING!)

“Again & Again” – the bird and the bee

“Let Me Go” – CAKE

“Prayer For You” – Texas

“Here’s Where the Story Ends” – The Sundays (the story but not the playlist)

“I Don’t Know What It Is” – Rufus Wainwright

“Back” – Alpha

Here’s hoping we all have a wonderful weekend!

I Hear Music

April 10, 2009 in Listening, Spotlighting by Colleen | 1 comment

I watched part of the American Masters program on Philip Glass the other night. He is quite the dynamic character, and his music really reflects this. It was so fascinating to learn how there is always music playing in his mind, and when he composes, sometimes he has to strain to hear the notes. He doesn’t necessarily feel as though he is writing, but rather listening and scrambling to get it down with pencil and paper before it is gone.

I think writing is like that for me. I’ve always got my stories going, and sometimes, not nearly often enough, I sit at the keyboard and try to keep pace with the words as they stream through my mind. On the occasions when I hear music, unlike Mr. Glass, it is never my own, unique composition, though sometimes it is one of his!

This is what I’ve been hearing lately and actually queued up on the I-Pod. I call it Drifting. Try it yourself, you’ll see why.

“From the Same Hill” – Brian Eno

“Astral Weeks” – Van Morrison

“Sunset Soon Forgotten” – Iron & Wine

“Johnson’s Aeroplane” – INXS

“The Way” – Jill Scott

“Dime Que Te Quea” – Gecko Turner

“Umi Says” – Mos Def

“Sometime Later” – Alpha

“Jennifer” – Eurythmics

“Naima” – John Coltrane

“Moonlight Mile” – The Rolling Stones

“Going to California” – Led Zeppelin

“North Dakota” – Lyle Lovett

“Blue Sunday” – The Doors

“Violet” – Seal

“Alone in Kyoto” – Air

Have a great weekend!

Just Like Summer…

March 27, 2009 in Listening, Spotlighting by Colleen | Permalink

I am cold and shivery and have been craving summer like nobody’s business. In my desperation, curled up in front of the fire, I close my eyes and imagine sitting outside, sun on my cheeks, bare feet tickled by the grass, the occasional flutter of a bird’s wing and drifting clouds filling my vision.

The soundtrack to this day dreaming is Gecko Turner’s Guapapasea! Oh how this sounds of summer! It is wiggle until you jump out of your seat and dance, roll the windows down, crank the volume music. He is a mix master of the royal degree, using Afro-Cuban, jazz, pop, and plain dreaminess to enchant the listener through the dozen tracks.

Sung mostly in Spanish, and therefore, mostly foreign and vacation-like, it makes me reminisce about my honeymoon (nearly sixteen years ago!) and our wanderings through Spain. Warm and wonderful, eating kilo after kilo of cherries and paella, then washing it all down with the fantastically mouth puckering Kas Limon. Sweet summer perfection and a very grand time.

So, if, like me, you want a little summer right now, but aren’t scheduled on a flight to paradise, cozy up, put the music on, and dream away…

Tags: Music

Cheated, Redeemed, and Always Delighted

March 6, 2009 in Eating, Listening, Spotlighting by Colleen | 2 comments

If you are one of my Facebook friends (I’m everywhere!), then you know that I went to see Itzhak Perlman with the Oregon Symphony this past Sunday. Above are the slightly blurred lights of the marquee at the Schnitzer, and the photo below is of the lovely interior. Man was I excited about this, having bought the tickets ages ago. The hubster and I got dolled up and everything. Then came the cheat, Mr. Perlman played beautifully for exactly sixteen minutes. Sixteen. After that, he sat in the conductor’s chair and led the symphony. Now I don’t care too much for whining, but as the sweet lady in the seat ahead of me said (and she’s been going for seventy years), “I paid to hear him play, not conduct.” Amen to that!

I wish I didn’t feel this way because the music was quite good and the rest of the players very talented in their own right, but, honestly, I’d rather cozy up on the sofa and listen to my favorite Schubert CD set, which I’ll tell you about in just a minute.

However, now is about redemption, and that is thanks to the bar at Higgins, my very favorite in town. After the symphony disappointment, we walked rather swiftly up the Park Blocks, hoping the place wouldn’t be packed. Thankfully, we were quicker than the rest of the bunch, nabbing the last booth. I ordered a Maker’s Ginger and felt much better, not that the experience drove me to drink. I’m not that kind of person, but when in Rome or a good bar, I do enjoy a cocktail.

Then, as is always the case, we enjoyed impeccable service and some pretty stellar food: smoked Northwest seafood (sturgeon, black cod, and salmon), a delicious salad, house made pickles, and a key lime tart with a hot pepper marmalade (the perfect balance to the sweet filling). I savored every last bite! Thank you Higgins for making our okay night at the symphony a super night on the town!

Now for the Spotlight I promised. It is Friday, after all.

I am a girl who likes all kinds of music, good music that is. Jazz, rock, funk, ska, rap, punk, country, classical, opera – if it is done well, I am all for it! So it should come as no surprise that today’s spotlight is on a classical composer, the always delightful Franz Schubert. He is one of those great prolific writers – composing over 1000 works in his short thirty-one years on this earth (1797-1828). I get a little weepy thinking that what I am listening to is nearly 200 years old. That’s something.

As I am a person who much prefers cheeriness over gloom, the Complete Works for Piano and Strings of Franz Schubert fits me like a glove. Robert Schumann famously said of Schubert’s Piano Trio in B-flat, Opus 99: “One glance and the troubles of our human existence disappear and all the world is fresh and bright again.”

I could not agree more. This is the perfect music for a sunny day or one where the clouds make you wish for it. Additionally, the total playing time for both discs is more than two hours and twenty minutes. You can easily while away an afternoon or evening, happily dancing about. Give it a try; I have on more than one occasion and am much better for it.

Nine More

February 6, 2009 in Admiring, Listening, Spotlighting by Colleen | Permalink

Last week I told you that Shabooh Shoobah had one of my top ten album covers. Here are the rest, in no particular order. The music ain’t bad either…