Tag: music
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Just a Moment
Sometimes it’s not the whole song but just a moment. Like the verses in “Grease is the Word” from Grease. The chords alternate between Bm and E before hitting F#m7 at the end of the couplet. Then the bass steps up to Em7 at “There ain’t no danger” and walks down to D and C.…
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One Wild Life’s Too Short
I’ve learned that when I encounter two different works of art saying the same thing at basically the same time, I should probably listen. This is what happened when I recently came across references to this query in two different places: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and…
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Each’s Owned
Pictured is the haul ($8 total) from a recent afternoon browsing used bookstores, which I do once in a while, when my time is open and therefore my self-discipline is weak. But I didn’t feel bad about getting more Stuff this time, because I’m coming to something approaching terms with it. I love books, movies,…
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For Prince
I don’t think I could have named a single Prince song before he died. Nothing against him at all; I just never glommed onto his music. Though I was certainly aware of him as an icon, an object of parody, and as one of the few interesting modern Super Bowl halftime shows. Given the outpouring…
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Love & Mercy
As biopics go, Love & Mercy is more interesting than most. I liked how the two arcs and time periods of Brian Wilson’s life start off on their own but then slowly merge like converging highways. Having ’90s Brian in our heads as we watch ’60s Brian slowly devolve personally and psychologically, even as he peaks…
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Refer Madness: Librarians Advisory
Refer Madness spotlights strange, intriguing, or otherwise noteworthy questions I encounter at the library reference desk. If you’re a librarian, it’s likely you’re expected to provide readers advisory. (Or is it reader’s?) Every librarian has his or her own area of expertise and blind spots, but whether through direct knowledge or other resources, you’re supposed to be able to give patrons who ask…
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Burned
When you’re parched and dehydrated and take that first drink of cool water, you can feel it slide down your sandpapered throat like a tingling balm to soothe your thirst. That’s what it felt like to listen to Anathallo’s “All the First Pages” yesterday, a relatively bad day. Fate got fidgety, wanted to spice things up, so…
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Breaking Newsies
My betrothed and I caught the penultimate performance of Newsies: The Musical in Chicago on Saturday night. We’d been watching prices on StubHub for a while and finally jumped on them Saturday morning for the 8 PM showing. So glad it worked out because I’ve been excited to see it since its announcement years ago.…
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The Relient Case for MMHMM
Mmhmm is Relient K’s best album. I thought so when it was released ten years ago and I think so still today. I was in high school when it dropped, on Election Day 2004. The version of Mmhmm I listened to back then, over and over again, still lays calcified somewhere in my subconscious. So…
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The Spirit of American Experience
[Update: the video with show footage was removed, so this one just has the music. Doesn’t have the same effect but it’ll have to do…] This might be one of my all-time favorite things. It’s the older version of the American Experience opening and theme (composed by Charles Kuskin) that so beautifully juxtaposes things I…
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What Is This Feeling?
I made a goal to see more theater (musicals especially) and this year I’ve succeeded. The Book of Mormon, then Once, and now Wicked, which I saw on Thursday. I loved the music of Once in its own right, but it’s different from the others, which are more traditional showtunes. That said, there is something I love about…
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Electrick Children
And you’ll see the glitter of crashing cymbalsand you’ll hear the thunder of rolling drumsand the shimmer of trumpets.Ta-ta-ta!And you’ll feel something akin to the electric thrillthat I once enjoyed.— “Seventy Six Trombones” from The Music Man How does God speak? Through nature, according to the book of Job. Through Jesus and a holy spirit, says…
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New Wonders We Will Sing
Sandra McCracken’s In Feast Or Fallow is a true beauty. This collection of old hymns re-imagined is appropriate for any time and any mood, but especially for Easter. The peril and the promise, the despair and the hope, and the pain and the renewal of this holiday – it’s all in the hymns. The good ones tell Christ’s story…