Still coming down

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/K/Knopfler_Mark/ConcertReviews/2008/07/19/6205721-sun.html

OTTAWA - As guitar gods go, it's hard to find one with less flash and celebrity polish than Mark Knopfler.

Dressed in jeans and black shirt without a feather boa in sight, he looked like one of the National Arts Centre's stagehands. An ordinary 58-year-old, working-class shlub out for a night at his local.

But when the former Dire Straits frontman strapped on his electric guitar -- one of eight he played throughout the night -- he transformed into a guitar superhero.
And what a transformation it was.

Unlike his Dire Straits MTV hit Money For Nothing, the one with the salty appraisal of flittery rockstars, "he get's his money for nothing and his chicks for free," Knopfler worked reasonably hard for his pay packet.

Backed by a veteran house band of multi-instrumentalists including piano-player Guy Fletcher, Glenn Worf on bass, drummer Danny Cummings, fiddler John McCusker and guitarist Richard Bennett, Knopfler did what any smart musical superhero does and kept a low profile early in the show. With a stack of vintage-looking Marshall amps and speakers behind him, he kicked things off with his honky-tonk Cannibals, Why Aye Man, the soothing ballad What It Is and Sailing to Philadelphia. All lovely Celtic settings for Knopfler's unmistakably spare solo guitar.

Here his performance was gorgeously deliberate, as if he was picking one note at a time out of the air.

Then, with a thick Maritime fog blowing across the Southam Hall stage, Knopfler went straight for the jugular with lots of subdued emotion on True Love Will Never Fade, The Fish and The Bird and two hits from his Dire Straits' days, Romeo and Juliet and the show-stopping Sultans of Swing, with a long stretch of guitar on which he really let it rip. Even if Knopfler sang as if he had a lozenge in his mouth, something akin to an occasional whisper, it was his guitar playing that was loud and fabulously articulate, and got the sold-out house cheering deliriously on their feet.

By then, Knopfler settled down to some serious big bad blues with Song for Sonny Liston and Marbletown before deadline beckoned me away from what was one of the best concerts of pure music-making you'll see at the NAC.

Pics at my flickr site : http://www.flickr.com/photos/mickiegirlca/sets/72157606256755286/

Mechanically inclined, I'd say.

Daniel was trying to get out of doing the dishes, a job that would take all of five minutes.

Three ceiling fans have been sitting in the foyer in boxes for about three weeks. I did the dishes and he put together all three within an hour. Cool ! And I got the easy job ! :0)

Remembering the quiet
is the hardest to let go of
next to knowing you aren't into me
or that's what you wanted me to believe
which i do

Trying not to listen
to good advice, to pay attention instead
to my own patchwork heart
until it's ready to move on
in it's own time
for it's own reasons

"Someday Soon" - KT Tunstall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmjIyOV_e2Q

I think it's time to put myself away
Seek out a little silence
Close the doors and sit a while
Walk a little

And as I put my words away
The flow slows
See this penny in a stream
Picking it up is easy.

Follow the shape of it.
Jump in.
Swallow it whole.
Jump in.

Even though I know my way around
Possibly there's something new I found
Holding on for finding solid ground
Someday soon.
Someday soon.

I'll turn myself into the grass
And I'll grow
Take this space above my head
And live a little, little.

Gonna wear my feathered headdress
Like an Indian chief.
Gonna stretch out both my arms
I'm gonna test the temperature.

Follow the taste of it.
Jump in.
Swallow it whole.
Jump in.

Even though I know my way around (even though)
Possibly there's something new I found (possibly I, possibly I)
Holding on for finding solid ground (ohh..)
Even though I know my way around (even though)
Possibly there's something new I found (possibly I, possibly I)
Holding on for finding solid ground (ohh..)
Someday soon.
Someday soon.

Maybe walk a little
Someday soon.

It's all about the music !

Two music-related websites / tools came across my radar this week :

WIRED: Top 10 music sites

A recent blog post in WIRED magazine provides a helpful top 10 list of the best music sites available. From learning how to play a guitar through online lessons via IVideosongs to using the MP3 music search engine available at SeeqPod, the article provides a wealth of information for anyone interested in music online.

I thought that Sellaband/SlicethePie was a really unique way for fans to invest in bands they see a future in :
"Once they reach a certain level of fan investment, bands on Sellaband and SlicethePie get to use a pool of their inverstors' money ranging from $30,000 to $50,000 to record and market an album. Not only do investors get a copy of that album, but they see a return on album sales and can trade shares in bands as they would a company's stock. well as bands /artists who want to promote or launch their music online "

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This one is just pure fun and games (and no one loses an eye !!!) Some songs are easier than others .... Sure, it's aimed at teens, but who cares ! LOL

LibraryStream: Musical Tag Clouds: A New Game?

Na? Yes, na. That’s a tag cloud of “Hey, Jude” by the Beatles. I was tinkering with tag clouds one evening last month and had the goofy urge to see what the song with more than one hundred nas at the end would look like as a tag cloud. I wasn’t disappointed. You simply can’t miss the na. Of course, hey and jude are pretty obvious, too.

That prompted me to think of a nerdy little game that teens (primarily) might enjoy. Suppose people created tag clouds of various popular songs and then challenged others to guess the tune from which they had sprung.

Of course, some titles are so much a part of their songs — with the key words repeated (or in some cases, hammered) into our ears so frequently — that it’s hard to miss the cues among the tags. Take the classic rock song from the ’70s shown at right. That title is probably easy to pick out.

Or the (mostly) instrumental marching band anthem from the 1960s [left]. Its one word tag cloud is surely the simplest ever.

But we can make this game more challenging!

See if you can pick out these next two songs. You can click through to larger versions on my Flickr page if that would help. One song came from a major rock band and the other is a tune from an “American Idol” contender.

Does that give you a sense of the game? Here are two ideas I’d like to propose:

1. A game for library teens

If you have a teen group in your library, let them pick the songs (remembering, of course, that not all lyrics have PG ratings!), give them the tools*, and let them create their own tag clouds. If you want to add a scoring element, you might award 20 points for the correct song + 10 points for the singer + 10 bonus points for guessing both within 30 seconds.

Hang the tag clouds on the wall after they’re solved. The song was already musical art. Now the words are visual art!

2. A collection for all of us

I’ve created more than a dozen musical tag clouds already. You can find them in the Musical Tag Clouds set on my Flickr page. If you (or your patrons) create* more, post them to Flickr and tag them “MusicalTagClouds”. There’s also a Flickr group with the same name. Toss in a hint if you think it’s warranted. Over time, our global collection could grow incredibly large and varied. The images would be available for a solo challenge or a classroom game at the drop of a hat. How fun it will be to randomly choose among them and try to guess the songs.

—–

* There are many tag cloud generators on the Internet. I used Wordle for all of mine because of the colorful and playful clouds it produced. If you find something better, go for it. Just have fun! Or, as the Beach Boys might say:

Wishing Heart

"Wishing Heart" - Lisa Loeb


www.youtube.com/watch?v=Och4r3k2MvM

no teacher to follow, no prophet to tell me how,
but i know what i want, i know what i want now.
like water, it rushes,
it's the last thing you see when you close your eyes,
it's the one place you want to be.

but if it doesn't brush my shoulder, and it doesn't beat my heart,
that's not what i want, that's not where i will start.
i never kissed somebody so that they would break my heart,
that's not what i want.

if you don't know what you're missing
cause you don't know where to start,
follow your wishing heart.

i was restless,
i was restless,
i was restless,
i was restless.
i just want this to be good,
i just want this to be good.
but you don't understand,
you don't understand me, and i want to be understood.

but if it doesn't brush my shoulder,
and it doesn't beat my heart,
that's not what i want - no, that's not where i will start.
i never kissed somebody so that they would break my heart,
that's not what i want.

if we all leap before we crawl, we might fall,
and it's not always candy spun from head to heart,
and it's not always meant to be,
and it's not always up to me.

but if it doesn't brush my shoulder,
and it doesn't beat my heart,
that's not what i want, that's not where i will start.
i never kissed somebody so that they would break my heart,
that's not what i want.

if you don't know what you're missing,
cause you don't know where to start,
you don't know what you're missing,
follow your wishing heart.

In The Sky

In The Sky - Mark Knopfler

Are you home from the sea, my soul balladeer
You’ve been away roaming far away from here
weathered a storm, your heart unafraid
crossed every ocean in the boat that you made

Been blowing your horn, scaring the spooks
No crotchets or quavers in your books
Gone sailing all night, straight in the vein
like a bird on his own flight in his domain in the sky

Running in on the tide with the first of the stars
the moon on the water and the sound of guitars
Glide into the homing as the night falls
to tie up in the haven by the old harbour wall

And the hard-bitten stranger as deaf as a post
who stands at the fire where a poet’s dreams roast
He can’t know the story, he can’t feel the pain
and all of the glory falls around him like rain in the sky

You’re a light in the dark, a beacon of hope
and strong as a sea boat, strong as a rope
And the vagabond wind, whispers over the bay
and the songs and the laughter, are carried away in the sky


True Love Will Never Fade


July 18, 2008 National Arts Centre, Ottawa

True love will never fade, x5

I wonder if there's no forever, no walking hand in hand
Down a yellow brick road to to never-never land
These days I get to where Im going, make it there eventually
Follow a trail of breadcrumbs to where im meant to be, to where Im meant to be

I don't know what brought you to me. that was up to you
So many come to see me who want their own tattoo
I fixed a needle in your holder, laid my hand upon your spine
there upon your shoulder I drew the picture as your sign

when i think about us i see the picture that we made
the picture to remind us true love will never fade x4

I'm with the rowdies and day trippers, now and then I think of you
any which way were all shuffling, forward in the queue
they like to move my operation they like to get me off the beat
and I dream I'm on a steamer pulling out of here

when i think about us i see the picture that we made
the picture to remind us true love will never fade x4