Sometimes we all need a little attitude adjustment. I’d like to think I’m doing better than I used to do, keeping a positive spin and a grin on my outings in the world (compared to chagrins of old!). But yesterday as I rushed into an appointment, and my practitioner was running late anyway, and I was hot, and traffic had been sticky, and I knew I was inconveniencing the person helping me with a ride, and the song on the radio was so annoying, and and and… Lo and behold, what song came on next in the waiting room? “Put a little love in your heart… and the world will be a better place for you and me just wait and see!” Thanks for the reminder, Universe Radio. Needless to say, I changed my tune, sat, breathed, and smiled. There is so much room for so much love in my heart, and I definitely want my attitude to help make the world a better place! With love, light, and song… ~Melissa~
Last week I was fortunate enough to see one of my long-time musical loves, Lawrence Gowan, at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. Over 60 now, Gowan still sings, plays, dances, performs, and writes better than the majority of artists out there half or less his age. He is truly an inspiration and I had the time of my life at this concert! He played all his greatest hits and generously shared memories and musings with a very dedicated, fan-filled audience. I remember spending many afternoons in the basement, where I had my own record player, listening to my Strange Animal LP. The quality isn’t great but here is the original (You’re A) Strange Animal video, plus a fun mini-interview with Gowan from last year about recording the song. I can’t even say anything profound right now because I am still swimming in joyful memories and delerious feelings from the concert! With love, light, and song… ~Melissa~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4eT_0tnj1w (Unfortunately this video won’t embed, so click on the link above and watch it on YouTube, please! The video is blurry but it has the best audio out of the links available.)
“Every whisper, of every waking hour, I’m choosing my confessions…” Remember last week I mentioned that Anthony Rapp sang a great cover of R.E.M.’s Losing My Religion? Well I went back into the same theatre the very next night and heard it again (over the loudspeakers before the second show, original version). It’s a song I love, and it’s certainly a tremendously popular song, so I guess it’s not that weird to hear it two days in a row. But in the same venue? I think it might just have been a Universe Radio selection coming at me, trying to catch my attention! I love that “losing my religion” is actually a southern expression for “losing your cool”, and I love that this was Anthony’s song choice for the original Rent audition panel. Here’s a great live version. With love, light, and song… ~Melissa~
It’s Saturday, so it’s time for a little something funny. Today’s song is inspired by a very kind gesture I received today. While running a rehearsal for my students for an upcoming local music festival, one of the lovely parents brought in lattes for me and our accompanist. Very sweet, very unnecessary, very unexpected. In honour of this cuteness, I’d like to share Kristin Chenoweth’s hilarious version of the equally hilarious song Taylor the Latte Boy, written by the inimitable Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich. Enjoy! With love, light, and song… ~Melissa~
As you have no doubt heard by now, Prince died today. I’m not going to pretend I was a huge Prince fan, because I wasn’t. I was a bit too young to see Purple Rain when it came out, and I just missed out on the mass hysteria surrounding him. But I respect the intense devotion of true Prince fans, and I certainly recognize him as the icon he was. He was a madly and passionately gifted songwriter and performer, and without a doubt we all love and listen to someone who was heavily influenced by him. As a kid, I remember watching the videos for Let’s Go Crazy and When Doves Cry a lot. Later on we had a cassingle (remember those cassette singles?!) of Diamonds & Pearls which probably wore out because we played it so much. But my favourite Prince song is Nothing Compares 2 U. Sinead O’Connor’s iconic version of that song was tremendously popular in my youth, but Chris Cornell’s version holds my current affections. May Prince rest in peace, and enjoy a beautiful heavenly reunion with the young son he lost years ago. May his family’s pain be lessened by the musical legacy he left. With love, light, and song… ~Melissa~
I love attending live performances. It’s a testament to how wrecked I feel through every winter that I’ve yet to post any live music reviews on my own blog and it’s almost two months old. Well, situation rectified as this week there were two amazing concerts at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts that I couldn’t miss!
Last night my sister and I heard Telly Leung and Anthony Rapp in a combined concert. Telly Leung is a Broadway star best known for roles in the revivals of Godspell and Flower Drum Song, plus he’s been with Rent on tour, and on the tv show Glee. He’s very talented and entertaining but since I wasn’t there to see him, it was a tough hour-long set. Instead of wowing us with traditional Broadway fare, he sang a number of overworked arrangements of non-Broadway music that I certainly recognize as accomplished vocal performances, but just weren’t good arrangements. He sang with a band, but the mix in the house wasn’t great. Hands down my favourite song he sang was Before The Parade Passes By from Hello Dolly, which he had seen Carol Channing sing live(!) and she inspired him to pursue his Broadway dreams. Very moving.
When it finally started at 9:15pm, the second half of the concert featured the sensational Anthony Rapp and a guitarist friend of his who was truly outstanding. I could share his name if they’d printed a program! Anthony Rapp is the original (and best) Mark Cohen from Rent. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say I’ve had a love affair with this show for almost two decades now. If you can hear the words “December 24th, 9pm, eastern standard time” and not hear Anthony’s voice, well, that’s a reality I can’t imagine. Anthony is a unique talent; his turn of phrase, the way he can dig so deeply into a lyric, his uncommon tone, wouldn’t fly from just anyone. He’s a real singing actor, and he brought me to tears with his takes on Losing My Religion (his audition song for Rent), Falling Slowly (from Once), and to a near standing ovation for his cover of Radiohead’s song Creep. I hate Radiohead but that song is amazing. It’s so great to hear someone else sing it! I’ve been privileged enough to see Anthony in Rent twice in New York (about a decade between shows), three times in the Rent reunion tour in Toronto, and once in his solo show, also called Without You. Without You isn’t Mark’s song in the show, but has become a hallmark of Anthony’s as a dedication to his beloved mother, and the creator of Rent, Jonathon Larson, both of whom tragically passed on. My only complaint about Anthony’s part of the show was that it was too short, although since he’s in town for the tour of If/Then, I suppose it was wise to sing a reasonably short set before eight more performances the rest of the week! I’m looking forward to seeing If/Then with my sister next week. I’ll definitely review it. And I’ll come back to Rent in future posts, as it indelibly affected my listening life.
YouTube videos with quality audio of Anthony’s solo performances are hard to find, so here’s the recording of Without You from his solo album of 2012. Cue tears at 2:38. No one can sing this piece like he can. With love, light, and song… ~Melissa~
“And I said way-hey-hey it’s just an ordinary day, and it’s all your state of mind, at the end of the day, you’ve just got to say it’s all right.” Indeed it is, and indeed you do! I can’t believe this song is gaining on twenty years of existence. If you’ve seen Great Big Sea in concert, you know there’s nothing ordinary about them at all. Their music is endlessly fun, inspiring, beautiful, and engaging. As performers who can lift you up, then bring you tears, make you dance, then make you laugh, it’s no wonder they’ve had one of the most successful Canadian music careers. My first Great Big Sea experience was as an opening act for Blue Rodeo at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1996, and while I’m not the most dedicated fan attending every concert, I’ve never wavered in believing they are truly something special.
Experiencing happiness every day really does come down to your state of mind. I think the video for this song really undersells the message and doesn’t do its brilliance enough justice. “I‘ve got a smile on my face, I’ve got four walls around me. The sun in the sky, the water surrounds me. I’ll win now but sometimes I’ll lose; I’ve been battered, but I’ll never bruise, it’s not so bad.” So simple and yet I need this reminder all the time. Ordinary is beautiful, ordinary is wonderful, ordinary is something I’m so darn lucky to have. “In this beautiful life, there’s always some sorrow. It’s a double-edged knife, but there’s always tomorrow. It’s up to you now if you sink or swim, keep the faith and your ship will come in. It’s not so bad.” Just plain and direct and hardcore truth of life. I love it. With love, light, and song… ~Melissa~
As a little comparison to Wednesday’s post, here’s the introductory Kyriemovement from Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor. Written a full 233 years ago, this is a popular mass on choral and orchestral programs around the world, year after year. It’s Mozart, so there’s literally nothing I can add to the interwebz info-wise, other than I’ve been privileged enough to sing this beautiful work of art with two wonderful choirs. As I’ve mentioned before, nothing compares to the physical, emotional, spiritual, and universal energetic vibration created by 100+ voices raised in song, and well-trained classical voices at that. This recording features the Hungarian Radio Choir and Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia, conducted by Michael Halasz, and this movement features soprano Viktoria Loukianetz. With love, light, and song… ~Melissa~
N.B. While every other movement of mass text is Latin, the opening movement always uses the Greek Kyrie eleison Christe eleison Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy).
“When I was young, I thought of growing old, of what my life would mean to me. Would I have followed down my chosen road, or only wished what I could be.” I don’t know the answer to this question! What did I wish I could be? I’m trying so hard to remember. What I do know is that if you listen to this song on YouTube, you’re inevitably reminded of this other Mr. Mister song, Kyrie! I’m sure I had no idea what kyrie eleison meant when I was a kid (it’s Greek for ‘Lord, have mercy’, and I’ve since sung it hundreds of time in choir pieces). But this song always spoke to me. I loved this song as a kid. I may have even thought the line was “Kiri A Lays On Down The Road That I Must Travel”, and thought wow, poor Kiri A, she’s so tired she has to lie down on the street! Ok, probably not! But for sure now it resonates with me on a spiritual level. What I can unequivocally say resonated with me as a kid was the catchy melody, the kickin’ heartbeat tempo, and oh yeah, the acoustic magic at 3:05 and 4:09. Shivers! Every time! Insert deity of your choosing and try this… “Kyrie/Lord/Creator/Spirit/Source eleison/have mercy down the road that I must travel…through the darkness of the night…where I’m going, will you follow on a highway in the light.” With love, light, and song… ~Melissa~
I love synchronicities. They used to freak me out a little, but now I literally can’t wait until the next one occurs! If you’re not sure what synchronicity means, think of a “meaningful coincidence” (a Jungian term) or a set of seemingly unrelated events that blow your mind they occurred together. So for example… yesterday, an online friend created a new group on Facebook for her work with all things angelic: angelic healing, angelic readings, products, etc. At the same time I was invited to join this group, the song Broken Wings by the 80s band Mr. Mister came on the Stingray Music channel I had on the tv. I mean COME ON! When’s the last time you heard that song? Tell me those events aren’t related! I definitely chalk this one up to Universe Radio. “Take these broken wings and learn to fly again, learn to live so free. When we hear the voices sing, the book of love will open up and let us in.” COME. ON. With love, light, and song… ~Melissa~
