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  My Favorite Things

Favorite Books

Here's some of my favorite reading:

The Keepers of Light.

Beginning at a White Oak.

Women Keepers of Lighthouses

Favorite Music

Lisa DeBenedictis has a wonderful album out, called Tiger (and the title song is the strongest) which is very original and mines the ethereal pop vien without channelling the Beatles. She compares well to the aritsts listed on the website, Tori Amos, Sarah M., Aimee Mann. She reminds me of Enya and Kate Bush meets a little Brian Eno with the slightest touch of Beatles or Procol Harum. Her songs remind me of Tori Amos, only a little quieter. She is casually listenable while at the same time intrigues. Also, I highly recommend taking a listen to Tom Paul . His lyrics are original and accessible, which makes listening to his songs a joy and not a chore.

If you love music, read this. And visit the Creative Commons.

Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow (CD). Fantastic "monster" guitar and funky Wurlitzer. There's not a bad sound on this CD, reminds me of an Exile on Main Street with better playing and production quality. Although this CD is recorded and mixed in analog it is very quiet and clear with excellent dynamic range. Good job, Sheryl.

Kelly Willis - Well Travelled Love. For me, this is the Kelly Willis I first became acquainted with on Austin City Limits. Great mix of rockabilly, Bill Haley and country with her unique bluesy country vocals.

Shawn Colvin - Holiday Songs and Lullabies (CD). I never heard a melancholy Christmas record before, but this one is wonderful. It's overall quiet "sound" and sensitive singing of traditional airs is suitable for any season.

Diana Krall - All For You (CD).

Alanis Morrissette - Unplugged (CD). The only unplugged I can stand, because it's not very unplugged.

Patsy Cline - Heartaches. Excellent, superior production quality for a compilation CD of some of her best work. Rich, lush sound with a hint of hiss from the original master tape--if you don't hear that then you know it's over processed.

Patsy Cline - Live at the Opry. Rare original recordings from her radio show appearances lend and air of excitement, honesty and out of control-ness to old favorites. No lush strings, not crooning backup singers, the slide guitar is up front and Patsy is not toned down for television!

Mary Chapin Carpenter Hometown Girl
10,000 Maniacs In My Tribe
Alison Kraus Now That I've Found You
U2 Joshua Tree
Pam Tillis Homeward Looking Angel
Police Every Breath You Take: The Singles

Some Albums (LPs) I have (or had before selling off the collection )
Talking Heads More Songs About Buildings and Food
Police Synchronicity
U2 War
U2 October
U2 (October original DJ-album recorded live)

Other Stuff:

Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing (CAS). Tom's Diner and Ironbound Schoolyard, need I say more?

Waiting in the wings: Alison Krauss, Kelly Willis (Bang Bang), Natalie Merchant, Sarah Brightman, Natalie Imbruglia, No Doubt, Dave Matthews, Blondie (Parallel Lines, Plastic Letters), a smattering of Jewel, Simon and Garfunkel and John Philip Sousa.

Favorite Songs

Favorite Songs (not including anything from 60's bands, 40's standards, traditional):

Closer to Fine - Indigo Girls
Like the Weather - 10,000 Maniacs
Sunny Came Home - Shawn Colvin
Redemption Song - Bob Marley
Hand in my Pocket - Alanis Morissette
Thank You - Alanis Morissette
Possession - Sarah McLachlan
Voices Carry - Aimee Mann
Dreams - Cranberries
Don't Speak - No Doubt
What I am - Edie Brickell
Heirloom - Bjork
Torn - Natalie Imbruglia

Favorite Films

Sarah McLachlan - Mirroball (DVD).
Sarah Brightman - La Luna (DVD), very entertaining show.

Some random musings, not altogether there, but I had to put them somewhere.

"Closer to Fine" has to be up there with the best songs ever written and was a song I fell in love with the first time I heard it on WHFS back in the early 80s. Whatever your opinion of the Indigo Girls, I like the way they trade off guitar rhythms and use space when both playing at once. You should give the version from Lilith Fair DVD with the Indigo Girls, Meredith Brooks, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan a listen. Natalie Merchant has a lovely rich warm voice and "Like the Weather" was a song I instantly identified with. When I first heard "Redemption Song" in the late 70s it sent chills up my spine.

Okay, you want some traditional airs? Campbell's Farewell to Redgap. Blow the Wind Southerly. Marches? Sousa's Washington Post; Stars and Stripes Forever.

It is prophetic that two favorite songs have always been Amazing Grace and Redemption Songs by Boby Marley. The melody of A.G. is simply the most haunting I have ever heard. I like the soft laid back quality of R. S. It is nothing short of the intervention of divine providence, as our ancestors would have said, that in my search for roots that I should discover I am descended from the desperately sought connection to the American Revolution and at the same time discover that my ancestor who served the cause of Liberty so well and at such great risk and personal cost would come from a slave holding family.

One of my favorite pieces is the Stars and Stripes Forever by John Phillip Sousa, which brings us to the interesting topic of the national anthem. You may not know it but the Star Spangled Banner is set to the melody and accompaniment of an old English drinking song To Anacreon in Heaven. The Star Spangled Banner is the current national anthem of the United States of America. Unlike most national anthems, which are warmongering paeans to the destruction of their enemies, the national anthem of the United States is about the survival of the then new nation. The "rockets red glare" is that of fire being received and withstood, the "bombs bursting in the air" are those of British warships firing on Ft. McHenry in Baltimore harbor. The words to the Star Spangled Banner were written by Francis Scot Key, held prisoner on a British ship during the bombardment. In the morning he was relived to find the flag of the United States of America, the "Stars and Stripes" waving over the Fort McHenry. The giant flag, nicknamed "Old Glory" still exists, battle scarred, and can be seen in the Smithsonian Institution.

Stephen Foster and John Phillip Sousa are perhaps the two greatest American musicians to come out of the nineteenth-century. Foster was the first professional songwriter and is of interest to the current debate over Napster. Pirating of his sheet music cost Foster uncounted millions (and this is billions of dollars today) and may well have been the richest man in the world had he been able to track sales of his songs. The irony was that Foster was an accountant by occupation. It's clear that copyright law is being used to stifle artistic creativity and academic endeavor today, having become a slave to business and twisted against the law's stated purpose: the furthering of the arts and the protection of artist's rights. It now functions mainly to protect the interests of large corporations that have largely turned music into a commodity with little regard for the livelihood of artists. We always seem to go from one extreme to another. It's natural in a democracy the interests of business are given greater importance than the social goals spelled out in the preamble of the copyright law. This is because politicians always side with anything that will bring greater prosperity to their community, more revenues to their coffers, more power to their selves.