Orient Touch:
http://www.orienttouch.com/index.php?page=all

"When I Was Cruel":

"Girls' Talk": The first Rockabilly song I ever heard. I was 5 and hooked. Some folks claim that it's actually a cover and that Elvis Costello is responsible for the original, but I don't know that. Can any of you verify the claim?


"Queen of Hearts": I really loved this one too, and learned all the lyrics right away. In fact, I requested it more than any of the other songs my father showed me on that trip to Grandmaman's. I still favour this version over all others.

http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2008/04/7-questions-to-finding-your-true-passion/

OneWord is a website where you click "Go" and when you see the word at the top of the screen, you have 30 seconds to write about it. Great tool for creative writing enthusiasts!

http://oneword.com/

The song is fine, but the video is terrible. The main singer isn't that old, but she comes off like a manic, cranky 60-year-old, who is dressed way too young, and really, really needs some saving from her bad case of "English teeth". Those chompers look like widigo (wendigo) teeth!

This is the Divinyls!?!?



Seriously: you have been warned.

This has been your daily dose of SUW . . . (Straight-Up Weird).

At last: someone who lives in the exact shoes that I do. :)

I learned Wabi-Sabi from "The Tao of Pooh", in the the Uncarved Block concept. :)


Wabi-Sabi for the Recovering Shopaholic:
http://www.catanna.com/wabisabi.htm

Portishead - "Roads"


You can try to play this on guitar, but it will not be the same at all without the full orchestra, I guarantee you... plus the missing keyboard section kind of takes away from the overall sense that you've got the real sound down.

What I love about Portishead is that they defend with their choices the notion that a vocalist doesn't need to be playing a second instrument while singing, in order to be either effective or taken seriously. I say second instrument because the voice is really an instrument in and of itself -- much as the word "vocalist" is not interchangable with the designation of "singer".

A vocalist is one who has spent a long time studying not just voice but also singing, breathing and postural techniques, and involved in this is also the study of inner-motion. This is why we don't call most rock band lead singers "vocalists". Their style of music generally only requires them to go part-way on that, with focus on effective use of air intake, tone, listening to all the incorporated sounds together, volume control (though this is less of a problem, given microphones), and knowing what to do if something messes up.

In Portishead we find a very good example of a vocalist. Beth Gibbons, if I have her name right... Watch her again, and note that she is actually reciting a dramatic poem with song, and unafraid to play a character while she does so. Most musicians in the international public eye do not do this. They are only themselves. She approaches this as art, and in so shows respect for the entire study of this genre... Hard not to be a fan of that, or her for it.

It's in Alabama, not far from Mobile and Biloxi, and offers what looks like a pristine environment as well as the chance to enjoy Mardi Gras throughout the season in the nearby settlements.

http://www.townofsaltaire.com/

I almost wonder if it's a joke.

Illustration Friday dot Com:
http://www.illustrationfriday.com/index.php

Antonia Pesanti:
http://www.antoniapesenti.com/