"Lucky" anniversary video

Starting in April, I began to think about what I could do to give Kyle as a special anniversary present. What I came up with was a homemade music video.  I thought it'd be fun to put together a video of Kyle and me as a loving couple put to a LOVE song. I interrogated Kyle on what he thought "our song" was, but each song he listed was.... well... they didn't work, for one reason or another.  Eventually I decided upon "Lucky" by Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz. I felt the song was an accurate portrait of our relationship.  I then gave the video camera to friends, explaining in secret what I was up to, and set them to work on capturing us at our most gushy moments.  At one point, Kyle catches on that every time the camera is running, I make attempts at being especially loving.  This can be heard at the very end of the video.  If you have trouble viewing the video, please alert me.

Do you hear me? I'm talking to you
Across the water across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying

Boy I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Ooh ooh ooh

They don't know how long it takes
Waiting for a love like this
Every time we say goodbye
I wish we had one more kiss
I'll wait for you I promise you, I will

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again

Lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

And so I'm sailing through the sea
To an island where we'll meet
You'll hear the music fill the air
I'll put a flower in your hair

Though the breezes through trees
Move so pretty you're all I see
As the world keeps spinning 'round
You hold me right here, right now

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again

I'm lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

Ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh
Here's the video

Discovering New Music

Because we live in an international community, we're not only learning and picking up many new phrases, but we're also being introduced to new movies and music.  I haven't always had a love of music.  My family, because of how they were raised, actually many times prefer silence to song.  My mom, even in the car, drives in complete silence.  I think there is something to silence.  It allows your mind to wander, and frees your mind from the girdle and constraints of noise.  Being able to sit with yourself in complete silence commodiously is a skill in itself, something that I continue to struggle with, even to this day, as do most people in industrialized nations. So because I was raised in a family without much music, I was never up to date with the latest musicians.  My music education came in the form of my next door neighbor, who introduced me to the sounds of the radio.  She was appalled when I informed her, I'd only ever heard soft rock.  Today, I mostly listen to music while cooking, eating dinner or cleaning, and occasionally working out, although I've almost completely switched to podcasts.  One evening, as our international gang lounged on our couch, we began discussing musicians.  The lethargic mood lifted to an elevated one, as each of us shared music that the others had likely not heard.  Many European musicians do not make it to America because of the competitiveness of the industry, so it was exciting discovering new candy for our ears.  Below, I have listed a few of the bands we've recently discovered:

The frames are an Irish band.  If you've seen the movie, "Once" you've heard this song.  And although I'd downloaded the album from this movie, I did not discover that THE FRAMES were a band before and after the movie. I LOVE THIS SONG!


Adele is an English singer that has made it in America.  She is actually a grammy award winner so I'm most likely just behind the times in my music knowledge.  Her voice is amazing.


Paolo Nutini is a Scotish musician.  I love his sound.


Save the World is a song by Swedish House Mafia which is as far as I can tell an electronica band, but this new song, which I discovered from a friend on facebook has such a great sound, and the video is HILARIOUS!



Rubberbandits: The Rubberbandits are the award winning comedy hip hop duo from Ireland.  They've won awards for both their music and COMEDY.  They disguise their faces with plastic bags because part of their act is to remain anonymous.
 **WARNING*** DO NOT watch this song if you dislike CURSE WORDS.  DO NOT, because it has A LOT of curse words.  However, if they don't bother you- this song is HILARIOUS.  There is a clean version they played on the radio, but I couldn't find it in video form.


This song is about "knackers"- basically an Irish word for "white trash" but refers to a group of people who travel in caravans (which is why he says he has a horse outside) around Ireland. These people actually even have their own language, but are poor, and have reputations for drinking and poor societal behavior.

A song named for the blog

It's true. I am such a popular blogger that Elton John choose to name a song after my blog, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". He wrote me personally to ask my input for the song. Pay no attention to those skeptics who claim the song was written ten years before my birth and decades before the invention of the internet. Skeptics can't be trusted.

Elton didn't really take my advise on any of the lyrics however, in fact, I don't really understand what his lyrics mean at all. But I am sure they are nothing but a compliment to this blog and its amazing readers :)
So not only did he ignore my lyrical input, he also didn't head my strong plea not to wear such hideous glasses for his guest appearance on the Muppet show. I think he kind of looks like a muppet in this segment. Maybe it was a purposeful choice. But Elton will be Elton, and who will tell a Knight of the musical round table "No!" So without further adeu, this blog's song:




Lyrics:

When are you gonna come down
When are you going to land
I should have stayed on the farm
I should have listened to my old man

You know you can't hold me forever
I didn't sign up with you
I'm not a present for your friends to open
This boy's too young to be singing the blues

chorus

So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse
I'm going back to my plough

Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny back toad
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road

What do you think you'll do then
I bet that'll shoot down your plane
It'll take you a couple of vodka and tonics
To set you on your feet again

Maybe you'll get a replacement
There's plenty like me to be found
Mongrels who ain't got a penny
Sniffing for tidbits like you on the ground

[repeat chorus]

p.s. I have updated pictures on the blog on the right hand side under all of the quotes of the progression of Kyle and me from the time we started dating to 2008 . I am wondering if anyone noticed or if they are too far down to be noticed by anyone who isn't looking for them. I would really like to hear input about this. Did you notice them before I mentioned them?

Popular Russian pop video

My first group of Russian students couldn't figure out how to show me Russian music videos. I think that the music videos show you so much about a culture. This time however, we figured out how to find a Russian keyboard on the internet allowing us to search for Russian songs. This is a very popular song currently in Russia. Enjoy.
Click here

Jazz Festival

We went to a Jazz Festival about a month ago. I like jazz more than Kyle does, but even I can't listen to it unless it is live, especially the non-melodic spouts that go on for eternity moving, swirling and circling but never actually going anywhere. When we arrived at the festival, the boys were starved. Well, everyone was hungry, but the boys might have begun envisioning our arms as large steaks had we not sent them off to fetch food. I assumed, wrongly, there would be vendors nearby or at least a kimbap (sushi roll) place, but as there was not, there was only one thing to do- send the boys- who might have turned King Kong on us had we not. But instead of finding somewhere nearby, they were gone for forty-five minutes and brought back Pho. Now I love pho (vietnamese soup with noddles), but I don't consider it an excellent picnic food. And I was frustrated because they were gone so long they missed, in my opinion, the best band at the festival. They arrived in time for the crazy sprouting, winding, thorny jazz which drives Kyle mad. Because Kyle missed the French jazz band with a melody, I recorded one of their songs. I hope you enjoy it. And I wish I could tell you the name of the band, but I can't because I don't know it. If anyone happens to know, I would love to look them up.

Music in the Schools

San Antonio is trying to spruce up it's local spice. This is a great city, a huge city, but sometimes, there is a lack of activities especially in comparison with other cities of similar volume. Which is why there has been a lot of initiative taken recently by our city council and mayor to change that. One activity for instance was a summer long battle of the bands competition, culminating in one electrifying show downtown at Sunset Station. Well, it wasn't exactly electrifying, but it was good, and as it was only the first year, it will only get better. We learned about this event through my friend Elizabeth who was going to support a friend, Lynette Brehm, an amazing bilingual, guitar strumming, power-house voice musician who was in the competition. (Check out her website and her beautiful songs.

(a picture of one of her band members, her cellist)

While we were there, it was mentioned several times that Lynette had started a non-profit to help students and schools with their music programs. Along with budget cuts for everything else during a recession , fine arts programs are some of the most badly hit. Instruments are expensive and some students cannot afford them. Lynette realized that without help, many of these schools and students would suffer significant losses, so to aide these ailing programs, she started a community based non-profit to help called Music in the Schools. Sadly, I never took up an instrument, a mistake I hope to remedy one day, however, I was involved in fine arts as theater was my life through out middle school and high school. It was a crucial part of my enjoyment level in my childhood and adolescence and I think that schools lacking in fine arts programs are less enriching and less challenging. To learn more about Music in the Schools, and how you can contribute or get your school involved in the San Antonio wide competition, click on the website.