Natalie Merchant's enchanting music

I'm dating myself now, but there was a time when the 10,000 Maniacs was part of my life's soundtrack, a cassette regularly popped into my car stereo for driving music.

Natalie Merchant, lead singer of the Maniacs, has released a new album of children's music called Leave Your Sleep that I found absolutely enchanting to listen to at 6:15 this morning. Her eclectic collection of tunes is set to classic poetry from a variety of nations. The King of China's Daughter is a song that has stuck with me all day and reminds me so strongly of my niece Natalie. Here is the text of the poem.

The King Of China's Daughter

The king of China's daughter
So beautiful to see
With her face like yellow water, left
Her nutmeg tree.

Her little rope for skipping
She kissed and gave it me
Made of painted notes of singing-birds
Among the fields of tea.

I skipped across the nutmeg grove
I skipped across the sea;
But neither sun or moon, my dear,
Has yet caught me.

Music has always been a special language for my niece that I don't fully understand. As a child on the autism spectrum, she has profound insights that are expressed in unusual ways. She describes songs by color, just as she describes people as colors. I'm yellow she always tells me with a big smile. :)

I wonder if she would call this "a blue song." Think I'll buy it for her and see what says.

September 8, 2008

Dave Matthews Band performs #41

Back Up, Back Up, Back Up!

Seriously, how many times do we have to be told to back up our computers? And how many times do we get lulled into thinking all is well? That happened to me this week. My MacBook hard drive crashed. I'm OK with having to get the new hard drive, but I think it's been several months since I backed up my drive on an external drive. That may not seem like a long time, but in the career of a writer, it represents hundreds of thousands of words in note and story form.

Fortunately, I have most of the articles as attachments in gmail. But the note files are a big loss indeed. So are the photos, the few that I bother to take these days.

My oldest son is mourning his 800 songs on iTunes. His iPod was stolen from the locker room at school this spring so he doesn't have a back up on all of them. He does have some of his latest favorites on CD.

Can't ever seem to learn this lesson enough. Now I'm gonna upgrade to Tiger OS so I can get the automatic backups.

Celebrating Lady Day

"Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain." — Billie Holiday

Today is the birthday of Billie Holiday, born Eleanora Fagan, in Philadelphia in 1915. She is, quite simply, one of my all-time favorite vocalists. I love that she never sang the same way twice. Her singing reflected her mood. She led a tragic life, which led to an untimely death at the age of 44, but her influence lives on. She is a legend.

Here's Billie singing my favorite song. It's not so much the lyrics of this song as it is the emotion with which she delivers this performance. The longing is palpable and it's hard to listen without feeling it in the deepest recesses of your soul—the place where your heart is most vulnerable.



Billie's music is nighttime music. So tonight, turn out the lights, grab a glass of your favorite beverage, and put Billie on the stereo. And then offer up a toast to legends living and deceased.

Word of the day
luminous: emitting or reflecting usually steady, suffused, or glowing light

Seeing colors in music

Staying in the musical theme today, I'm interested in reading this new book by Oliver Sacks, which explores how music occupies more area in our brains than language and the neurological outcomes of our inherent musicality.

"In Musicophilia, he examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians, and everyday people--from a man who is struck by lightning and suddenly inspired to become a pianist at the age of forty-two, to an entire group of children with Williams syndrome who are hypermusical from birth; from people with "amusia," to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans, to a man whose memory spans only seven seconds--for everything but music."

I stayed with my sister in Columbus this week. Her daughter, Natalie, who turns five on Thanksgiving, has some unusual musical qualities. She has perfect pitch and can drum incredibly complex rhythms, something she has done since she was very young. She often uses music to communicate. But her latest use of music is fascinating and something I'd like to explore further for an article.

Jen was telling me that she likes to listen to Enya on the way to school in the morning. This week Natalie told her mom that she wanted to listen to "The Red Song." Jen didn't know what she meant so she scanned through the CD until Natalie indicated she had the right one. She was happy with The Red Song, but when the next song came on, she told her mom, "I don't like The Blue Song."

Natalie sees colors in music. She's a fascinating little girl and I always wonder what she's thinking. Maybe this new book will provide some insight.

Feeling Good

There's this radio dead zone on Interstate 71 between exit 189 and about Delaware, Ohio, that makes me glad I carry my iPod. I'm not a proponent of driving with earbuds in, but I had to pass the time somehow on my way home from Columbus yesterday if only to keep me awake after a long two days of working over story drafts.

My musical tastes are eclectic, but when I'm driving I like to listen to bluesy, jazzy tunes I can really bellow. Course, I'd never be caught dead doing that in front of anyone. It's not that I can't carry a tune, because I can. I used to take voice lessons, I read music and quite frankly my sight-reading skills are still strong years after I quit putting them to regular use. It's just that it's a private thing, you know, between me and my car.

I never thought I'd find a better rendition of "Feelin' Good" than the one by Nina Simone, but the young Canadian crooner Michael Buble's version comes darned close.

I wasn't gonna comment, but...

I think it's fair to say that objectively speaking country singer Faith Hill is a beautiful woman. That she's 39 (about to turn 40 in September, much like yours truly) and has three children only adds to her beauty. So I wonder how she feels, especially given that she has three daughters, about her likeness being altered so dramatically on the cover of Redbook?

Gawker's Jezebel uncovered this "Photoshop of Horrors" and uses animation and a second numerically annotated version to show us how Faith was airbrushed into being on its July cover.

Of course the editors defend the alterations, and of course she's in an image-conscious industry. But don't you think it's the responsibility of celebrity women to push for a true likeness of themselves (ala Kate Winslet and GQ) and of smart editors to oblige?

Are we that horrified by crow's feet?

The Little Sparrow

Here's hoping La Vie En Rose comes to theaters in Cleveland.

Christmas wrapping

Woo! I'm halfway into a bottle of Cabernet and just finished my Christmas wrapping. Thought I'd take a minute to check in with e-mail and see if I missed anything today in my last-minute Christmas crush. Fortunately, all is quiet on the western front.

Danny took the boys to the St. Ed's/Lakewood basketball game to see Devlin
Roe play and give me a chance to get the wrapping done. I'm finished and I've got my jazzy mix blasting on my stereo. Sway your hips to a little Ray Charles — The Night Time is the Right Time. Hmm, that's right.

"Sing your song, Marcy!"

Ba-bay! (Night and Day)
Ba-bay! (Night Day)
Ba-bay (Night and Day)
Oh Bay-bay (Night and Day)
You know I love you! (Night and Day)
There's no one above you! (Night and Day)
To hold me tight (Night and Day)
Make everything alright (Night and Day)
Because the night time (Night and Day)
Oh, is the right time (Night and Day)
To be with the one you love now (Night and Day)
Oh, yeah now (Night and Day)

With that Creative Ink is officially on holiday. May this Christmas fill you with all the joy and blessings of family and friends. And may 2007 bring us peace.