Bad-Ass 8 Year Old

Little Juliet puts the Rebecca Blacks of the world in their place.

Little Star (Song of the Week, 1/17/2012)

Last night, Stevie Nicks’s cover of “Not Fade Away” cycled up on my musical playlist and my son and I were bop-bop-bop bop-bopping around the Byrdcave, having fun. I told him it was a Buddy Holly song, so that sent us looking for Holly tunes, then we expanded out and started listening to some other early rock and roll greats.

It was only after I started playing it that I remembered how I used to sing the Elegants’ “Little Star” to him as a lullaby when he was a baby, probably the only lullaby I ever sang to him other than Springsteen’s “Pony Boy.”

A Cool Yule To All Y’all (Song of the Week, Xmas 2011)

Happy Holidays to everyone, whatever their faith or lack thereof. Let’s be nice to each other out there, okay?

Hot Violin (Song of the Week, 12/16/2011)

I want.

Bewitching Kate (Song of the Week, 11/29/2011)

I’ve always loved Kate Bush.

Here she passionately performs one of her biggest hits, with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour adding some blistering guitar that really sets things on fire…

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Dying Day (Song of the Week, 11/7/2011)

I think I’m rapidly reaching the point where my love for Brandi Carlile becomes infinite…

And the official video (with the studio version) after the jump… Continue reading

The Bones Of My Soul

 

Some days, no matter the sunshine or time with friends or shards of productivity, I still mostly feel the corpse waiting in my skin, the creaking bones of my soul. It’s been a year of loss.

Happy Hallowe’en (and the Song of the Week, 10/31/2011)

Halloween/Samhain has always been my favorite holiday. To celebrate, here’s Springsteen channeling the raging ghost of Howlin’ Wolf with a perfect Halloween song…

For the interested, here are some posts from back in my blog somewheres related to Halloweeny goodness…

5 Classic Horror Flicks to Goose Your Bumps

…for those who might like to watch something scary and good, I figured I’d throw you a few bones. Collect ‘em all and you can build a skeleton.

These are just five classics, not my all time favorites or anything with that much thought behind it, not in any particular order. All of them are first rate.

5 New Classic Horror Flicks You Might Have Missed

Some more contemporary works that many people haven’t seen, and everybody who loves a good scare needs to.

Saturday Night With Cthulhu

Sebastian’s Voodoo (A Great Short Film)

A wonderful short animated film by UCLA student Joaquin Baldwin. It’s visually amazing, and the story is very moving.

“The Show Is Over” by Nora Keyes

Last Halloween’s Song of the Week, Nora Keyes gettin’ her serious creep on.

Do Ya? (Song of the Week, 10/17/2011)

A sunny day* deserves a song that evokes the fullness of life…

*And if your day isn’t sunny, you can have some of mine.

Further On Up The Road (Song of the Week, 10/10/2011)

“Now I been out in the desert, just doin’ my time
Searchin’ through the dust, lookin’ for a sign
If there’s a light up ahead well brother I don’t know
But I got this fever burnin’ in my soul
So let’s take the good times as they go
And I’ll meet you further on up the road…”

Roads are forking, taking a beloved friend from my life. This is for that friend.

I’m going to miss you.

“One sunny mornin’ we’ll rise I know
And I’ll meet you further on up the road…”

Again Today (Song of the Week, 10/5/2011)

Not for the first time, Brandi Carlile sings my soul.

And though the footage is nicer in the above, this one has the end of the song, so I’m putting both…

I’m The Answer (Song of the Week, 9/26/2011)

Tim Byrd's Doc Wilde, Art by Gary Chaloner

Pete Townsend’s brother, Simon, with my theme song. Of the week.

Song of the Week for 9/11/2011

Live. Love. Breathe. Dance. Sing. Create. Follow your heart. And be there for people.

It’s too easy to lose each other. And time is always short.

 

Where IS My Mind? My Return, My Headspace, and the Song of the Week…

It’s been a while.

Partly this was due to a very enjoyable New York vacation (thanks again, Phil & Angie, with a drunken shout-out to Ross), partly due to a general psychological crunch brought on by a major health scare (which proved to be false, thank the gods) and the last radioactive traces of the break-up I’d been trying to fix for way too long, partly due to what seems to be a normalization process in my brain after the giddy trauma of electroshock therapy.

I’ve been out of town and off my game. And most definitely off track.

But, I’m back. I’m healthy. My heart is healed, if still grieving at the loss of someone who would be a fine friend (but who, in truth, I think was right about our romantic incompatibility…the signs were there all along, I just chose to ignore them). And the worst of the crazy brought on by my ECT treatments seems to have receded, leaving me still better able to deal with my demon depression, but not an emotional basket case. It’s like my spine has returned from sabbatical. I am again myself. Mostly. I think.

Now it’s time to get back to work. I’m renewing my commitment to my On Track program, formally beginning this coming Monday. And I’m going to be fine-tuning it some, based on my earlier experiences (for instance, I’m upping my daily minimum word count for writing to 1,000 rather than 500).

Also, I should be on here more again. I hope you’ll join me.

In the meantime, here’s the first Song of the Week in a while, a haunting and lovely piano cover of the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” by Maxence Cyrin.

Can’t Stop A Train

Great song by the Derailers (perhaps the perfect theme band for my weeks “off track” of late)…

Another mile, another memory 
of a love I’m trying to forget 
There’s no cure, for my misery, 
or I haven’t found it yet 

Chorus:
Can’t stop a train, can’t stop a heart; 
I’m feeling pain when it’s falling apart 
Can’t keep the one you love from changing; 
When it’s rolling, can’t stop a train 

Our love is a raging fire that consumes my heart and soul 
It ran hot right down to the wire when it burns out of control 
Where is our love, was it just a sweet dream? 
So good while it lasted, now it’s gone, moving on, 
can’t stop a train

Repeat Chorus

When it’s gone, moving on, can’t stop a train, can’t stop a train 

“What A Wonderful World” (Song of the Week 7/4/11)

 

It is a wonderful world. I hope to have a lot more time to experience its magic with those I love.

Dancing Under An Outlaw Moon

I’ve made a YouTube playlist of most of the Songs of the Week and other music I’ve shared on this blog (89 videos in the list at this writing), and will add new entries as I feature new tunes in the future. Of course you’ll need to find individual posts themselves to see what comments, embarassing overshares, memories, or funny thoughts I originally shared with the various tunes.

The link (which is also in the blog’s sidebar, under “Special Stuff”), is:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PLBA769A23F4B98284

“Fireflies” (Song of the Week, 6/20/11)

My depression is rearing to tell me it hasn’t been vanquished for good, but I’m not gonna let it take over things anymore. This Owl City song reminds me of a really happy time, and it makes me hopeful. Plus, it just makes me smile and want to dance.

“If You Ever Did Believe” (Song of the Week 6/13/11)

Song speaks for itself. :)

Happy Birthday, Les Paul…Have Some Springsteen…

Les Paul

In honor of the birthday of Les Paul, I want to share this singularly fucking incredible video of Bruce Springsteen with Tom Morello, performing “The Ghost of Tom Joad.” Not only is it an awesome song and an incredible performance, but there is some ungodly guitar work in this video, especially by Morello.

You’ll want to watch the whole thing, because OH MY GOD.

Then, a vid of the man himself (at 93!!!)…