100 Riffs

100 Riffs (A Brief History of Rock N' Roll) from Chicago Music Exchange on Vimeo.

So very cool, found by my brother Eric. 100 famous guitar riffs, played back to back in a single take, that gives a brief history of rock and roll.

My Thumb Hurts Now

Ava borrowed Cole's guitar the other day and started rocking out in her room. Taio Cruz's Dynamite was the song of the day, and she tore it up.

Never Say Never

Driving home from homeschool co-op yesterday, the kids were listening to the Kidz Bop version of the Bieb's "Never Say Never".

Zachary was sitting up front with me, and he was listening to the lyrics pretty intensely. During the first chorus, after hearing the Bieb say, "I will never say never...", Zachary said to no one in particular, "Uh, you just said it."

After Justin sang it again, "I will never say never...", Zachary again muttered, "...And now you just said it again."

At the end of the song Zach said quietly, after counting on his fingers, "Mom, I think he said "never" at least 27 times."

Waltz Shmaltz

It's Showcase Waltz song choice time. Sasha and I were up last night listening to music, and we narrowed our list down to two.

Wynonna Judd, I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry

...and Fairytale, by Court Yard Hounds.

listen here

We're going to take both songs to the studio tomorrow and dance a little bit to each one, to see if either one feels better to dance to, and then make our decision. But feel free to chime in if you have an opinion on which song you'd like to

Dumb Songs That Get Me

Same Auld Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg. Don't know why, but it's very angsty, which is my go- to emotion. Sentimental never gets me, but angst always will.....

That's A Rap, Folks

Well, after tonight, DJ Jazzy Shmoozizzle will be no more. The once a month 4am drives home from NYC need to come to an end. I will miss the lovely folks at The Big Apple Ranch, but I'm sure I'll return once in a while just to social dance.

This was a fun moment in my life, but one that couldn't last long at my age I guess...

Duets

Yesterday was Duet Day during piano practice.



I could watch Zachary's Ray Charles head bob all day long.




And I love how Colson sells his mistakes in the exact style of Uncle Andrew. I mean really, played with confidence, can anything really be a mistake?




Miss Cool Cucumber. I'd given her a few corrections seconds before we took this video, and we didn't practice them. Sure enough, under pressure, she incorporated all of the corrections and played her piece the best when the camera was rolling. Momma's girl.

WELCOME 2011

While I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, this year I have decided to set a few creative goals. One is to become a certified UCWDC judge, but since that is already in the works, I won't really count that one.

My musical goal is to learn to play two of my all time favorite pieces, Debussy's Clair De Lune and Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata by the end of the year. I so loved the heavily structured early classical music, Bach, Hayden and the like, when I studied piano that I never let myself move on to the darker middle stages of Beethoven, and wouldn't even dream of letting myself learn impressionistic composers like Debussy. Theirs was the music I played in my dreams, but didn't then fit into my teenaged everyday structure of scales and Dozen A Day technical exercises.

Now I'm ready to tackle classical melodic structure that, in my mind, requires more emotional maturity and less metronome.

As for my dance goals, I'm determined to learn to do one foot turns as well as Tatiana Mollman.



And I will also learn to glide like Guyton does at 1:20 of this video...or like how Michael T. does at his house in the kitchen on New Year's Eve.




Maybe I'll post periodic updates on my progress....

I Vomit On Belkin

This is my Public Service Announcement for the week. Griffin products are the only way to go when buying an iPod FM transmitter for your car. Whatever you do, avoid Belkin products like the plague. They'll make you want to drive your car into a telephone pole every two minutes, which is how often the channel will become full of static.

I got this Griffin when I needed to play my iPod in the car. I chose it because it was the least expensive. I rarely had to change the station, I would put it on 92.9, and could drive for at least 2 hours in any direction before static would start creeping in and I'd have to scan for a new station.

Eric got a Belkin for his iPhone, assuming it was better because it was more expensive. He got this one:




It's a tragedy. I've never played music on it without static. After my car accident I had to buy a new FM iPod transmitter. I decided to try a fancy Belkin, thinking maybe Eric's was a fluke. I got this cool wireless one. Well, it was an even bigger tragedy, of Romeo and Juliet proportions. Between the Radio Shack and my house, which is about a mile, I had to scan for a new station twice.



I returned it the next day and got another Griffin. The difference is unreal. So don't be fooled by Belkin's price tag. More expensive isn't always better.

The Best From Down Unduh

Yesterday morning I woke up with Rolf Harris melodies running through my head. If you don't know Rolf Harris, he is an Australian singer/songwriter/comic. My parents had his All Together Now LP when I was growing up (why? not sure...maybe Dad went to Australia and brought it back?), and it was probably the most listened to music in our house. This LP was only second to the Bill Cosby stand-up routines LPs. Andrew and I spent hours at a time listening to and singing these songs. I adored Rolf's accent and his ability to tell a story not only with his lyrics, but with his intonation and inflection. I shall now share his genius with you.


I can't listen to Rolf sing Waltzing Matilda without getting a little misty-eyed, as if I've suddenly become a displaced Aboriginal Australian who longs for her homeland.





Every now and then, for absolutely no reason at all, this lyric runs through my head....it's like my brain masturbating for a moment, indulging in the delightful combination of tongue twisting lyric played against the syncopated rhythm, "Now if you want to take some pictures of the the fascinating witches who put the scintillating stitches in the britches of the boys who put the powder on the noses of the faces of the ladies of the haram of the court of King Caractacus, you're TOO LATE!!!!!! (TOO Late???)" (in fact, my brain just went and did it again twice while writing this...shameful)




Maximilian Mouse, one of the greatest story songs ever. Download this one for your children. Well, download them all for your children, but this one especially.

• Maximillian Mouse by Rolf Harris

More Rolf Harris music on iLike

Another amazing story song, Six White Boomers. This one filled (to be honest, FILLS) my soul with Christmas magic, and made (makes) me long to live in a country that had a story so much cooler than flying reindeer with glowing noses.





My first taste of, and still the standard by which I measure all, beatboxing. Andrew and I will occasionally bust out a little "he, honh, he, huh-uu-uu-uh... he, honh, he, huh-uu-uu-uuh..." (...wow, it's hard to type in beatbox...)


And if your children don't adore I've Lost My Mummy and ask for you to play it over and over and over, I'll refund you the $1.29 it costs to download it....(my own Mummy choreographed a little routine for me when I was a teenager, for the church talent show, in which I lip-synched this song while changing hats for each part; the child, the store worker, and the mother.)




So many more songs from that album, but these were the only ones I could find to share. If you get a chance, go to iTunes and download these songs for yourself and for your children. You moms are guaranteed to have quiet in the car as long as Rolf Harris is playing through the speakers.