MY FAVOURITE PICTURE FROM MY FIRST YEAR OF BLOGGING.
I've been listening to India Arie. "Sometimes I shave my legs and sometimes I don't/Sometimes I comb my hair and sometimes I won't...I'm not the average girl from your video/And I ain't built like a supermodel/But I learned to love myself unconditionally/Because I am a queen/I'm not the average girl from your video/My worth is not determined by the price of my clothes..."
I have been trying to learn what India seems to know intrinsically.
ANOTHER ONE OF MY FAVOURITES FROM THE LAST YEAR.
I have also been listening to Nina Simone. Especially SINNERMAN. I can not find her perfect version of Leonard Cohen's SUZANNE on CD.
If someone is going to ask you to choose, it will always be between Good time and good girl Ella, tragic bad girl Billie, or wicked but musically wed Sarah. (I choose Sarah and her perfect musicianship; but it is a close second for Billie. )
Nina is never included. She is not a good girl, but she is true and honest. She is tragic, but she is not a bad girl. She is the seductress. She is the Siren. She is the wisewoman that lives at the edge of the forest. She is the friend to giants and freaks and spirits in the night. She is jazz, gospel, folk, blues, country, and soul.
When I hear her I hear the music my mother listened to, Modern America Folk music and the folk music of Great Britain. But I also hear my grandmother's Mahalia Jackson records.
Like alot of artists, I don't think Nina ever found the right producers. Some artists, like Prince, can produce their own songs, but most can't. No Doubt's ROCK STEADY and Stevie Nicks TROUBLE IN SHANGRI LA prove that the right producers, and probably there needs to be more than one, can take the artist to a whole new level.
(I am not talking here about "artists" like Brittany Spears, who need a team of producers and engineers just to get a record with some "music" on it. For the most part popular music-- even with talented singers and musicians like Beyonce, or even diva Whitney Houston-- belongs to the labels and the work label producers do in the studio to give a voice or good looking girl a hit record.)
THIS WAS MY AVATAR FOR AWHILE. I REALLY LOVE THIS LITTLE MONKEY.
Before I heard TROUBLE IN SHANGRI LA I thought I was a "sort of" fan of Fleetwood Mac. After hearing SHANGRI LA I realized I was a huge Stevie Nicks fan and that Fleewood Mac just watered her down.
I don't care for Sheryl Crow as an artist, but she did an amazing job of producing a good number of those songs, and every Stevie Nicks fan owes her a big Thanks!
TO RUN LIKE A CHILD THROUGH THE FLOWERS.
TO WALK IN PERFECT LIGHT
This Friday is my twenty one year anniversary of living Los Angeles. Can you believe that I am 40? Thank goddess I am a witch. We get younger the more years that pass.
TOODLE ON!!!
8 comments:
Happy anniversary! I prefer the second cake in your last post but I think they are fake.
I know what you mean about a good wander, I haven't been anywhere in about 1 1/2 years. I mean I might drive 10 miles a week.
I sometimes wish for change but remember the saying, be carefull what you wish for, you might get it.
Hasn't worked for the lottery yet though.
How have you been able to stand living in La La Land for so long?
Hell, if I had known then what I know now I would have partied a lot more.
It's important for our well-being to accept who we are, and not have our self-esteem be influenced by external standards. This is a non-negotiable personal judgement not subject to public evaluation. But don't you think too many people confuse self-love with self-aggrandizement? You see this when you watch the auditions for Pop Idol (Amercan Idol), where the most appalling singers are convinced they have what it takes and rejection is not an option. Contrary to popular opinion you can't create your own reality when it comes to excellence.
I've always held up Ella as the yardstick by which other singers have to be measured, but I realise this is due in the main, to my admiration for the purity of her voice and her perfect pitch. Sarah, Nina and Billie however, are different and can't be measured in the same way. I really ought to listen to them more often. As for production, I wonder if the Beatles would have fared differently without the brilliant and innovative production of George Martin?
What a great age you're at. In my opinion women don't ripen (in every sense) until they reach this milestone. I hope you soon get to put your troubles behind you so you can enjoy this time of your life..
Erm... forgot to sign it
Regards,
Don
I could imagine you living in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. It's by and far the most beautiful state in the union (IMHO). Take the animals and go there!
Ya, sometimes we are stuck physically. But I can still use my dreams to travel.
ahhhh nina simone..when she sings 'I love's you Porgy'..it makes me weep....
The Flying Carpet is back. I threw it all in and moved with my boyfriend to Sri Lanka. Sometimes being here, away from my home town of 15 years, all of my friends, co-workers, and patients, feels like being dead. Like all of these people and things made me into myself. It is really interesting to pull the rug out from under yourself.
eek I am 41 in a month or two...all I can think is yeowsa my parents have a daughter in her forties. I mean when the fuck did that happen...*cackling*
the tulip picture is just gorgeous innit...tho the hedgehog [?] triplets keep my eyes coming back to them.
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