AAR Loves… Romances Featuring Music and Musicians
Conductors, jazz musicians, rock stars, pianists, sopranos, church choristers – there’s no shortage of musicians in Romancelandia. This list features some of our favorites. […]
You need to watch this show. Right now.
So I didn’t use the show’s name in the title on purpose, because if you’re like me you’d be put off and wouldn’t even read below the break. Which is fine, except you’d be missing one of the most amazing shows currently on TV.
Still here? Okay: the show’s called Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – don’t run away!
If you’re anything like me you won’t have seen it (very likely – the ratings suck), you’ll read that, and you’ll think “not in a bajillion years”. That’s what I thought. Show with a title like that? Probably kooky characters who are adorbs even if they’ve got lots of troubles. Love triangles. Lots of cringing that comes with artificial situations that only happen on TV. Exhausting and phony.
You wouldn’t necessarily be wrong, because CEG does all of that. Except it’s not exhausting or phony. It takes every one of those situations and turns them on their heads. […]
Strangest Ear Worm Ever
Sometimes I wonder about the originality of music – there’s a ton of great musical artists, but so many of them sound so incredibly similar (you can look at the confusion between Katy Perry’s “Roar” and Sara Bareilles’ “Brave” if you don’t believe me). Japan, however, has a different plan. When Suzuku Nakamoto got too old for the group she was in (too old = 16 apparently), her entertainment company decided to try something new – Jpop (Japanese Pop music) needed something a bit more intense, so why not add some heavy metal? (Sorry, can’t embed the video for some reason.
Someone wrote an article about it on The Daily Dot but this is the line that sticks out the most for me – “Babymetal is kind of like a magical, leather-clad, fire-breathing, sonic unicorn.” And it really is. I’m not sure if it’s the oddness of it, or […]
The Story Behind the Carol: Silent Night
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87q5dmW6zDg
On Christmas Eve of 1818 the young priest of St. Nicholas parish church in Obendorf faced disaster. The organ had been incapacitated by mice. The chance of fixing the instrument before the evening service was nil. Father Joseph Mohr was not a man to just give up however. He pulled out a poem he had written several years before called “Stille Nacht”. Mohr took his poem to the schoolmaster and organist of a nearby town, Franz Xaver Gruber. He asked that Gruber write a melody to accompany the poem on guitar. In several hours, Gruber had the music done and the carol was played for the first time that night at the Christmas Eve service.
The song was not translated into English for another 50 years. Episcopalian bishop John Freeman Young published the English translation that is most frequently sung today in 1859. The writing of the song is unique enough but one other interesting factoid makes this carol […]
I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CevxZvSJLk8
Katy Perry’s latest, Roar, has been something of an anthem for me the last few weeks. Love the music but especially love the message. We all need to go from zero to our own hero every once in awhile.
– Maggie AAR
Earworm of the day: Radioactive
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktvTqknDobU
Radioactive by Imagine Dragons is my newest earworm. Absolutely love the song – and the video is pretty funny (in a twisted sort of way).
So what do you think of Radioactive? What is your earworm of the day?
– Maggie AAR
Earworm of the day: On the Street Where You Live
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl-coD6ovc0I grew up listening to My Fair Lady. I am not kidding you: When I was a small child, my parents had a lot of classical music on records, a couple of German songwriters, and My Fair Lady and Fiddler on the Roof (both in a German version). I was allowed to handle the record player from a very young age, and often chose to play the musicals for their catchy tunes. […]
You Call This An Apology?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRkaPdfjzEk
While listening to an oldies station recently I happened to come across this song(Second Chance, 38 Special). I made the mistake of listening to the lyrics and what a surprise! This is (I think) meant to be a loving plea to a wronged lover. All I can say is I hope this poor woman didn’t take him back. I mean, she was willing and that’s all there is to say? Really? So let me get this right. You cheat on me, you don’t even have the decency to care about the person you cheat with and the only defense you can come up with is that she was willing? Should I congratulate you for not messing around with the unwilling ones?
Earworm of the day: Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1pMMIe4hb4Wuthering Heights is the song that originally awakened my interest in Kate Bush. I don’t even particularly like the novel, but there’s something magical and otherwordly about the song, and often it’s the first song I play when I take out my Kate Bush CDs. This video version is delightfully overacted. Enjoy!
– Rike Horstmann
Earworm of the Day: Thriftshop by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK8mJJJvaes
Warning: Strong Language
This song seems to get almost constart air time in my city and as a result is my earworm of the week. I find it intriguing not just because of the catchy tune but the subject matter. Thrift shops don’t tend to be the subject of popular music very often. I can’t help but wonder if that is some kind of statement on our current economy. Has thrift store shopping become a part of our daily living? I don’t know – but I sure do like the song.
What is your earworm of the week?
– Maggie AAR