Tag: links

Button Sunday

I follow a young man, Bobby, on Instagram who is a musician and an artist. Recently I ordered a print of one of his drawings. Eventually when I can shop again (i.e., when there is not a huge surge of COVID cases in Houston, as is true almost everywhere else) and get a frame for the print, I’ll share it on here.

Along with the print, he sent a couple of buttons of his logo, so that’s where the pictured buttons came from.

I’m not sure how I became aware of him. I probably posted something with a hashtag that he follows or something, and he liked it, and he followed me, so I went to check him out as I usually do new followers, and as I scanned through his Instagram feed of the past few years, I thought, Old soul. Back in the day when I was a youngster, he’d have been the kind of friend I wanted. I mean, I think he’s WAY too cool for me now because I’m 135 years old. But I still appreciate creativity and coolness, and he’s got it.

More info forthcoming when I feature his artwork on here. However, if you’re on Instagram and so inclined, you can check out his music and art: wizard_brain. He’ll have a new album out soon.

Tiny Tuesday!


Have you met Stardust? He’s the favorite wee pet of Lord Cuttlebone, who was featured here on a recent Photo Friday post.

Do I think Stardust is real? That’s like asking me if I believe in magic. DO YOU KNOW ME?

Do you believe in magic in a young girl’s heart
How the music can free her whenever it starts?
And it’s magic if the music is groovy
It makes you feel happy like an old-time movie
I’ll tell you about the magic that’ll free your soul
But it’s like trying to tell a stranger about rock and roll

If you believe in magic, don’t bother to choose
If it’s jug band music or rhythm and blues
Just go and listen, and it’ll start with a smile
That won’t wipe off your face no matter how hard you try
Your feet start tapping, and you can’t seem to find
How you got there, so just blow your mind

If you believe in magic, come along with me
We’ll dance until morning till there’s just you and me
And maybe, if the music is right
I’ll meet you tomorrow, sort of late at night
And we’ll go dancing, baby, then you’ll see
How the magic’s in the music and the music’s in me

Yeah
Do you believe in magic?
Yeah
Believe in the magic of the young girl’s soul
Believe in the magic of rock and roll
Believe in the magic that can set you free
Ohh, talking ’bout the magic

The Lovin’ Spoonful

Button Sunday

Recently, Tom and I ventured out to my favorite Heights antique store because I was looking for something specific (which I found), but of course, I had to browse. I picked up a few little things, including some buttons, and this Eric Clapton button in particular.

I’m a fan of Eric Clapton’s guitar playing, though I’ve never seen him in person. My friends Christine and John did and tell an amusing story about him glaring at people at the concert. Honestly, people at concerts can be jerks, and they probably deserved it. [ETA in 2022: Boy, has Eric Clapton behaved badly through the pandemic. Whatever, I don’t take medical advice from musicians (nor superstar guitarist advice from physicians, probably), but it isn’t EC’s behavior about Covid that soured me on him. It was Patti Boyd’s memoir. Ugh.)

One of the reasons I love YouTube is because I can see so many great blues guitarists in concert together. I can’t even imagine the vibe when some of the brightest lights in the rock firmament shine from the same stage. I get chills watching the videos. The energy in person has to be incredible.

I never made note on here of the fact that former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green died back in July. In the Eighties and Nineties, I was an avid reader of magazines featuring/books about guitarists. I’ve probably forgotten most of what I used to know, but I remember many stories about Peter Green and Eric Clapton. They were always compared, particularly because Green replaced Clapton in John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers.

If you aren’t immediately able to identify Green’s original songs, I’ll name one that you can’t have missed, though you probably know it best as recorded by Santana: “Black Magic Woman.”

About a month before Green died, a good article about him was published by Guitar World. If you like blues guitarists, or guitarists, Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton, and blues rock and roll history, it’s a detailed, informative read.

One day, maybe I’ll stumble over a Peter Green button in my exploring.

Alive in the World

Good Saturday morning! Enjoy a bit of Jackson Browne. It’s not as random a video as you might think. =)

I want to live in the world, not inside my head
I want to live in the world, I want to stand and be counted
With the hopeful and the willing
With the open and the strong
With the voices in the darkness
Fashioning daylight out of song
And the millions of lovers
Alive in the world
I want to live in the world, not behind some wall
I want to live in the world, where I will hear if another voice should call
To the prisoner inside me
To the captive of my doubt
Who among his fantasies harbors the dream of breaking out
And taking his chances
Alive in the world
To open my eyes and wake up alive in the world
To open my eyes and finally arrive in the world
With its beauty and its cruelty
With its heartbreak and its joy
With it constantly giving birth to life and to forces that destroy
And the infinite power of change
Alive in the world
To open my eyes and wake up alive in the world
To open my eyes and finally arrive in the world
To open my eyes and wake up alive in the world
To open my eyes and finally arrive in the world

Jackson Browne

For five young ones as they grow up.

The sky is made of stone

Today, I’m writing, and the song inspiration for this chapter is a favorite Jimmy Webb song of mine, “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress.” I had an eight-track that I played over and over my freshman year of college, Joe Cocker’s I Can Stand a Little Rain, and this song was one of two of my favorites on it. The other was “Guilty,” one of the main inspirations for a character who remains with me to this day (and I can’t recommend enough listening to either Joe Cocker or its composer Randy Newman sing “Guilty,” WHAT A SONG).

Since in the chapter I’m writing, a woman with a soprano voice is singing “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress,” I’m linking to the Linda Ronstadt rendition. I’ve never heard a bad version of the song, and you can find it on YouTube by Jimmy himself, as well as Joe Cocker, Judy Collins, and Celtic Woman, among others. So, so beautiful.

Bless Jimmy Webb, Randy Newman, and all the songwriters who soundtrack our lives and inspire my creativity.

No Man Stands Alone

I am writing, and in my writing, I thought of the old Lettermen song, “No Man is an Island.” You never know, really, all the music that shaped you in your childhood. I have so many influences, favorite singers and songwriters, bands, and songs.

One way old songs come to the forefront of my brain is that when I drive alone, very often I turn off the tunes and simply sing. This is one of the songs that makes up my repertoire. When I went to look for it on YouTube, I found this version, recorded in May 2020.

I have no more words except what’s on the video and beneath it. Peace.

For over 30 years, the members and alumni of the Victoria Chorale and Victoria Junior College Choir have held this song dearly to our hearts as our anthem. Our joint battle against COVID-19 has demonstrated that neither person nor country can be disconnected from each other. Each person, or country, may play his or her part, but it is only together that any collective goal can be realised.

The 103-voice virtual choir is made up of singers from the very first batch of VJC Choir members (1985-86), to current members (2020-21). In the making of this video, many of us were initially in a position where we were not used to singing alone. Yet, our individual performances serve as our contribution to the collective performance. Together, we are greater than the sum of ourselves. Only if we do our part in containing the spread of the virus, can we change things for the better.

No man is an island, no man stands alone.
_____
Artistic Director
Nelson Kwei


Editors
Kenneth Tay
Malcolm Ravindran
Dayne Taniajura

Tiny Tuesday!

Oh, Doonesbury. I’m not sure there were ever such small squares that packed such a large wallop. Monday I was researching iron supplements (circa 1970s) for the WIP, and suddenly I was absolutely sure the tag line I remembered was in fact for Geritol. Yeah, it was. Played right into the scene I was writing. I love these happy coincidences.

But this guy… Did ANYONE like this commercial?

Memory Lane, with honors

Y’all want to do a little time traveling with me? Back in 2006, I shared an eBay find on my blog. When I was a senior in high school, on awards day, I won the English and Journalism awards. For these, I was given small medals that I later put on a bracelet with other gold charms. I also had a silver bracelet for my silver charms. Charms have meaning to those who wear them. Even charms that were not real gold or real silver had deep sentimental value.

Except for my rings, all my jewelry was stolen in a home break-in when I was in graduate school. My mourning for those charms was deep, because they had been coming to me since I was in fifth grade. They were from my parents. From school. From church. They celebrated milestones and accomplishments, friendships, and boyfriends and love. Charms are symbols of a person’s life, and it hurts to lose them.

When eBay came around, I would periodically look for things I’d once had, including those awards medals. In 2006, I found the Journalism award. It was from Balfour, and when it came, it was like having a piece of my history returned to me.

I tucked it safely away, and periodically, I’d check eBay again in case the English award pendant ever showed up. And THREE TIMES, because I never learn my damn lesson, I found one and bought it, and THREE TIMES, I got the Herff Jones version, which is not what I had and didn’t match the Journalism replacement.


I continued to check, and only one time did I find the Balfour English pendant, and it had been sold five days earlier.

Fourteen years later, in a text exchange with Marika in which we discussed the current sad condition of merchants who will rip you off, she said, “Stay away from eBay.” And not that I’m contrary or anything, it just reminded me that I hadn’t checked eBay in a while for the English award, and…

Guess what came today?

Now they are reunited. They are slightly different in tone, and one has a textured back, which probably means they weren’t manufactured the same year, but they are the same style as my originals. I found a gold-toned bracelet for them. Because I’m laid off and can’t buy real gold–and ha ha, couldn’t when I was employed, either–but I will wear these with pride. Not because I won two awards a million years ago that nobody but me remembers, but because I have defied thieves and reclaimed the symbols of my memories.

Tiny Tuesday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARIKA! In honor of this day, I think you should do what I’m doing today. WRITE.


I used to always read the blog of Jenny Lawson, popularly known as The Bloggess. She really is one of my favorite people on the Internet because she’s smart and real and broken and mended and funny. Somehow I missed her 2017 You Are Here: An Owner’s Manual for Dangerous Minds, though I was up-to-date enough to know she and her husband were opening a wonderful bookstore in San Antonio, Nowhere Bookshop. You know, just as the pandemic hit… And yet, they are offering curbside service and taking mail orders and they have readers’ groups and book reviews–so a healthy online presence. Some of Jenny’s quirkiness has been incorporated into the bookstore, which makes it even better. Trust me, one day I WILL GO THERE.

You can check out her blog, linked above–with the must-read origin of the phrase “knock-knock motherfucker” right here!–totally worth it–or follow the shop on their Instagram account.

I now have You Are Here and it’s filled with wisdom and wit, lots to think about, and even pages to color. Like this.

I left that one section uncolored for your imagination.

Always remember, small things have greatness. (Hi, Elle–will see you soon!)