In contrast to my last birthday, I was actually happy this year - not just happier.
Last year I thought that somehow I was doing great... I guess you take what you can get. But unlike last year, this year I didn't cry, or smoke cigarettes (I have quit!!!) and I also woke up not alone, but with my little family - Karin and Katrina - and they had fixed me a surprise breakfast to celebrate. Karin got me a Journey DVD (some exquisite live videos - my favorite are the ones in the 70s where Steve wears white pants, and Neal is sporting a beautiful 'fro).
Emma came up from Philadelphia for a short visit involving late hours, a sweaty hot Brazilian night club, a terrific Brazilian band, Forro Dancing and lots of fun and laughing. I love my siblings, and I missed the two in Ca.
As usual, it was a chance for me to re-evaluate my life and goals. I have come a long way, but it is time to take things to the next level I know that next year this time is going to be phenomenal. Meet you here, same time next year!!
Xo, Greta
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Star people
Seems very appropriate:
Star People '97
------George Michael
Star people
Counting your money until your soul turns green
Star people
Counting the cost of your desire to be seen
I do not count myself among you
I may have been living in a dream
It's just there seem so many of you
Can't help but hope there's a difference between
And if I live to be a hundred and one
I will never understand what you are, honey?
I'm looking for sympathy
Just get me on NBC
And where's the hell's my dumb ass PR?
I said maybe your mama gave you up boy
(it's the same old same old)
I said maybe your daddy didn't love you enough girl
(how much is enough)
Star people
Never forget your secret's safe with me
Just look at all the wonderful people
Trying to forget just who and what they have been
Oh, it's a dream
With a nightmare stuck in the middle
Are you serious? I'm just curious
Without all this attention
You'd die
I'd die
We'd die (wouldn't we baby)
And if I live to be a hundred and one
I will never understand what you are (I'm talking to you)
You're looking for sympathy from people who work to eat
And they don't really seem to mind
I said maybe your mama gave you up boy
(it's the same old same old)
I said maybe baby your daddy didn't love you enough girl
How much is enough?
How much is enough?
How much is enough?
Are you serious? I'm just curious
Are you serious? I'm just curious
Yeah more glycerine
Let's go back to the day
DJ (why do you wanna tell me that?)
DJ (get yourself some Oprah cash)
Is that what makes a star?
Did you get off on a bad foot, baby
Do you have a little tale to tell
Did you get off on a bad foot, bad, bad foot?
Is that why you're a star?
Do you really think you've got it so hard?
Do you think it might do you some good to look around you
And decide how you might feel
If the pain you felt was real
Tell me
Now nothing comes for nothing, baby
That fame and fortune's heaven sent
And who gives a fuck about your problems, darling
'cos you can pay the rent
You can pay
Star People '97
------George Michael
Star people
Counting your money until your soul turns green
Star people
Counting the cost of your desire to be seen
I do not count myself among you
I may have been living in a dream
It's just there seem so many of you
Can't help but hope there's a difference between
And if I live to be a hundred and one
I will never understand what you are, honey?
I'm looking for sympathy
Just get me on NBC
And where's the hell's my dumb ass PR?
I said maybe your mama gave you up boy
(it's the same old same old)
I said maybe your daddy didn't love you enough girl
(how much is enough)
Star people
Never forget your secret's safe with me
Just look at all the wonderful people
Trying to forget just who and what they have been
Oh, it's a dream
With a nightmare stuck in the middle
Are you serious? I'm just curious
Without all this attention
You'd die
I'd die
We'd die (wouldn't we baby)
And if I live to be a hundred and one
I will never understand what you are (I'm talking to you)
You're looking for sympathy from people who work to eat
And they don't really seem to mind
I said maybe your mama gave you up boy
(it's the same old same old)
I said maybe baby your daddy didn't love you enough girl
How much is enough?
How much is enough?
How much is enough?
Are you serious? I'm just curious
Are you serious? I'm just curious
Yeah more glycerine
Let's go back to the day
DJ (why do you wanna tell me that?)
DJ (get yourself some Oprah cash)
Is that what makes a star?
Did you get off on a bad foot, baby
Do you have a little tale to tell
Did you get off on a bad foot, bad, bad foot?
Is that why you're a star?
Do you really think you've got it so hard?
Do you think it might do you some good to look around you
And decide how you might feel
If the pain you felt was real
Tell me
Now nothing comes for nothing, baby
That fame and fortune's heaven sent
And who gives a fuck about your problems, darling
'cos you can pay the rent
You can pay
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Happy Birthday George!!!
Dear George,
Thank you for expressing your thoughts and feelings in music, for living your life in honesty and integrity, for being open about your struggles and for being one of my biggest inspirations.
Love,
Greta
Thank you for expressing your thoughts and feelings in music, for living your life in honesty and integrity, for being open about your struggles and for being one of my biggest inspirations.
Love,
Greta
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Listening to Music differently PART 2
Last blog I made the statement that lately I feel music more than I listen.
It's true, I actually feel music in different parts of my body. Every artist/piece feels different (yes, I am talking about actual physical sensations), and some music elicits no feeling at all.
As a result I have - for now- discarded most remnants of an intellectual approach to music. Sometimes it's hard (like in relation to my own music or to music I studied in college), but most of the time it's easy to just go with what feels good. I only use analytical listening after I've responded to the music on some physical or emotional level. Or if something about it truly sparks my curiosity.
Lately pop music - Rock and hip hop - has dominated my ear space. These are the latest things that inspired me to go analytical:
1) Here is a link to a 24 page paper about Steve Perry's voice. It is a good historical analysis of Steve's body of work. It has some in depth discussion about his range and style and some compare/contrast of other singers.
http://www.fabricationshq.com/steve-perry---one-in-a-million.html
2) After listening to Beyonce a number of times, I was curious about the "Single Ladies" song structure and harmonic analysis. I found song analysis on the "Fix your Mix" blog which was very interesting:
http://blog.fixyourmix.com/2009/single-ladies-by-beyonce-a-compositional-analysis/
It's true, I actually feel music in different parts of my body. Every artist/piece feels different (yes, I am talking about actual physical sensations), and some music elicits no feeling at all.
As a result I have - for now- discarded most remnants of an intellectual approach to music. Sometimes it's hard (like in relation to my own music or to music I studied in college), but most of the time it's easy to just go with what feels good. I only use analytical listening after I've responded to the music on some physical or emotional level. Or if something about it truly sparks my curiosity.
Lately pop music - Rock and hip hop - has dominated my ear space. These are the latest things that inspired me to go analytical:
1) Here is a link to a 24 page paper about Steve Perry's voice. It is a good historical analysis of Steve's body of work. It has some in depth discussion about his range and style and some compare/contrast of other singers.
http://www.fabricationshq.com/steve-perry---one-in-a-million.html
2) After listening to Beyonce a number of times, I was curious about the "Single Ladies" song structure and harmonic analysis. I found song analysis on the "Fix your Mix" blog which was very interesting:
http://blog.fixyourmix.com/2009/single-ladies-by-beyonce-a-compositional-analysis/
Thursday, June 18, 2009
listening to music differently
A few years ago the guy at a Haight St. record shop was really friendly and nice to me. He might have had a little crush. Dunno. Then one day I bought some crappy CDs - I knew they were crappy too, but I was researching the "classical crossover" genre (Sara Brightman, Andrea Boccelli, Bryn Terfel singing pop - awful!). Yes, they were indeed terrible choices, I agree. I didn't get the records because they were good, but more to try something different. You only know if you try.
It was never the same with Mr. Record Store again. Remember that quote from High Fidelity? John Cusack plays a snotty record store geek:
"what really matters is what you like, not what you are like... Books, records, films - these things matter. Call me shallow but it's the fu*%in' truth"
That movie is right-on as far as its take on the music superiority complex. I get occasional snarky remarks about music I choose to share on my blogs, for instance. It got me thinking about music and how it correlates with soul searching. My personal take on the quote above is that what you like musically is an extension of what you are like as a person...and that is (at least in my case) ever evolving, and sometimes involves looking back or looking forward or looking somewhere frightening and new. You might like it, or not, but you have to try.
Some of us never actually figure that out because we are too afraid of what is hidden, like what if you're a pretentious music geek, and you somehow feel moved by a cheesy Mariah Carey ballad or a corporate Nashville album? What if you are a die-hard Mariah fan, and then you hear a Bach aria or Shostakovich chamber piece that rocks your world? Some people are horrified at the thought to think that they might actually like something different or "bad" (whatever that means to you).
Lately I've been listening to music differently. Less and less do I hear music with my analytical brain - actually I feel it more than I listen. I like music right now when it feels instinctual and animalistic.
It was never the same with Mr. Record Store again. Remember that quote from High Fidelity? John Cusack plays a snotty record store geek:
"what really matters is what you like, not what you are like... Books, records, films - these things matter. Call me shallow but it's the fu*%in' truth"
That movie is right-on as far as its take on the music superiority complex. I get occasional snarky remarks about music I choose to share on my blogs, for instance. It got me thinking about music and how it correlates with soul searching. My personal take on the quote above is that what you like musically is an extension of what you are like as a person...and that is (at least in my case) ever evolving, and sometimes involves looking back or looking forward or looking somewhere frightening and new. You might like it, or not, but you have to try.
Some of us never actually figure that out because we are too afraid of what is hidden, like what if you're a pretentious music geek, and you somehow feel moved by a cheesy Mariah Carey ballad or a corporate Nashville album? What if you are a die-hard Mariah fan, and then you hear a Bach aria or Shostakovich chamber piece that rocks your world? Some people are horrified at the thought to think that they might actually like something different or "bad" (whatever that means to you).
Lately I've been listening to music differently. Less and less do I hear music with my analytical brain - actually I feel it more than I listen. I like music right now when it feels instinctual and animalistic.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
My Steve Perry Obsession
Last year when I was about to leave for the Philippines, someone said "did you hear about the new singer for Journey? He's from the Philippines." I looked it up, and sure enough. Arnel Pineda is an awesome performer and singer who I plan to go see in August at Journey's live show in New York. Really can't wait for that. He's taking the world by storm with Journey - their album is selling like mad, and they're all over the world now on tour.
I knew a few Journey songs - the cheesy ones mostly. My folks stopped listening to contemporary music when they had us. As a result, my musical diet consisted of 60s psychadelica (the Dead, Country Joe and the Fish, late Beatles), folk (Judy Collins, Ian and Sylvia, etc..), Show tunes and classical. Everything I listened to, until about 1984, was pre-1973. I missed about 10 years of pop music. When I started listening to music in the 80s, I was a pre-teen so I listened to Michael Jackson, Madonna, Duran Duran, etc... Totally missed out on bands from the 70s.
Through a number of circumstances, I recently started listening to a lot more of Steve Perry (Journey's main singer from 1977-1996). Wow. What a voice. But, as I have really realized in the last few years, it's about a lot more than just the voice. Something about him is really,really captivating. He gives his all at every moment. His vocal style is heavily influenced by Sam Cooke - the man credited as the founder of soul music.
Journey is a great band - Neal Schon's guitar work is incredible, and they're revolving cast over the past 30 or so years has also been the top musicians around - most notably Steve Smith on drums and Ross Valory on bass. Oh, and just thought I'd mention that they are SAN FRANCISCO boys! I know they get a lot of criticism from some people for their "cheesy" ballads, but you can't deny that they're awesome and have withstood the test of time.
Journey - Separate Ways
Journey - Faithfully
Oh, and I love this video from Steve Perry's 1986 solo album:
I knew a few Journey songs - the cheesy ones mostly. My folks stopped listening to contemporary music when they had us. As a result, my musical diet consisted of 60s psychadelica (the Dead, Country Joe and the Fish, late Beatles), folk (Judy Collins, Ian and Sylvia, etc..), Show tunes and classical. Everything I listened to, until about 1984, was pre-1973. I missed about 10 years of pop music. When I started listening to music in the 80s, I was a pre-teen so I listened to Michael Jackson, Madonna, Duran Duran, etc... Totally missed out on bands from the 70s.
Through a number of circumstances, I recently started listening to a lot more of Steve Perry (Journey's main singer from 1977-1996). Wow. What a voice. But, as I have really realized in the last few years, it's about a lot more than just the voice. Something about him is really,really captivating. He gives his all at every moment. His vocal style is heavily influenced by Sam Cooke - the man credited as the founder of soul music.
Journey is a great band - Neal Schon's guitar work is incredible, and they're revolving cast over the past 30 or so years has also been the top musicians around - most notably Steve Smith on drums and Ross Valory on bass. Oh, and just thought I'd mention that they are SAN FRANCISCO boys! I know they get a lot of criticism from some people for their "cheesy" ballads, but you can't deny that they're awesome and have withstood the test of time.
Journey - Separate Ways
Journey - Faithfully
Oh, and I love this video from Steve Perry's 1986 solo album:
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
