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Showing posts from April 15, 2011

Magical Moment 441, "Dreamin"

I watched a  documentary  about residents in the slums of Brazil whose only option to earn a living was to sift through miles of garbage for recyclable material. It was difficult to watch, and I could almost smell the bitter, damp air that they spent hours breathing in. The pay was next to nothing and the living conditions were atrocious. I found myself naively wondering, "How and why can they live their life like that?" After some contemplation, I realized the painfully simple answer. There was never another option for them. No shred of thought that they could do otherwise. Nothing that they could see, hear of, or even imagine in their wildest dreams. How could they  do  something if they never thought of it? I've slowly come to realize on my own, that the more you imagine in life, the more it becomes an actual possibility. I never saw a female in the Army until I went to an Army National Guard ceremony for my older brother. There was one female in his class and she ear

Magical Moment 440, "Orange Sky"

I remember my father always forecasting the weather when I was little. He would look outside and say,  "Red sky at night, sailor's delight.  Red sky in the morn, sailors be warned." But I never found out what an  orange  sky meant. Based on tonight's orange sky and overall evening, I would guess... Orange sky in the eve And I shall receive A fine night out, Fun without a doubt, A painted view, A love so true, And more blessings than I can count! (Oh, and if you click to enlarge, you can see the tiny little airplane just above the telephone wires.)

Magical Moment 439, "A Troubled Heart"

I got an early Easter egg today. Eddie found this little robin's egg outside. He knows just what kind of presents to get me!  Sadly though, this little egg has an extremely remote chance of hatching now that it's separated from its nest. If God cares when the sparrow falls to the ground, He surely cares about this egg. That gives me comfort knowing there is nothing so small that God doesn't see, or care about.  Everyone in the world has personal troubles and hardships. And it can be difficult to know how to react to them. I read a transcript of a broadcast called " When the Sparrow Falls " by Elisabeth Elliot today and I wanted to share it. I sometimes feel helpless and angry at myself when I read the words, "Let not your heart be troubled." What a simple solution!!! If only I could just DO that! And here, she explores the spot-on question of,  "How am I supposed to not be troubled about something that is extremely troubling?"  If you're

Magical Moment 438, "Progress II"

I'm now going through the most difficult part of recording my album with Modern Vintage Recordings...the vocals! This is a song I wrote years ago with a very country, straight forward sound. The geniuses at MVR, got the idea to put a groove/funk vibe to it, which I LOVE! I'm SO SO SO happy with the way this track turned out. It is still incomplete, no bass yet and no vocal reverb or auto-tune. Just very dry, almost immediately after the final vocal tracking took place. I am especially in love with the background harmonies that one of my audio engineers, Jason Cummings, arranged. It reminds me of the Beach Boys meets funk. Love it! Enjoy! For my OLD version of "I Still Think About You," click here . The progress of recording an album: Progress

Magical Moment 437, "A Prayerful Habit"

I developed a certain habit in high school. It was when I first got hired at  Lee's Restaurant  to play the piano during lunch on Sundays. I was so nervous my first day of work and I only had about 12 songs in my repertoire at that time. I was 17 and had zero experience performing in public. So before I played my first song that day, I sat at the bench and silently  prayed . First I thanked God that I was able to play piano in the first place. Then I thanked Him for this job and prayed that I would never take it for granted. And finally, I asked that I would be able to play well that day for all who listened. I played piano at Lee's 3 days a week for nearly 5 years and continued that habit the entire time. To this day, it's something I always do when I play. It helps to calm my nerves and reminds me that it's not because of my own ability that I'm able to play music, but only because God allows me to. And I do believe that the gifts we take fore granted can be taken

Magical Moment 436, "Rainy Night Songwriting"

It's nearly midnight, I'm alone, on a rainy, thunder stormy night. What better way to spend the evening than write a new, melancholy song? That's a pretty good time for me.  I tried several new things on this song that I've never done before. First of all, I'm playing with a keyboard. I'm a hardcore "piano-only" kind of girl, but the sound affect fit the glum mood of the song so well! Second, there's no real verse-chorus format. Mainly, I just wanted to play around with odd chords and uncommon dissonance in the melody. This is a chord progression I would  never  use if I were trying to write a catchy-sounding, get-stuck-in-your-head kind of song. It's weird, quirky. A little off beat. And honestly, I was hoping the microphone on my computer would pick up the steady rain and pounding thunder outside my window to add to the atmosphere.  Some people who hear my music automatically get concerned that I'm depressed or love sick over someone. I

Magical Moment 435, "Deli-riously Confused"

If you're not from New York City area, you might be unfamiliar with the true "Delicatessen experience." What you see on Seinfeld and The Sopranos, is true. Delis are small, crowded, and loud. But what's interesting is, every customer knows exactly what to order, and how to order it - like clockwork. Eddie and I went to a deli today and threw a kink in their clockwork. We may live in the busiest, most culturally diverse area in the country, but we don't really "get out" much. We're used to ordering sandwiches at Subway's drive-through, or from the menu at  Applebee's . We found that we were out of our element when we pushed our way into the organized chaos of this local deli. For one thing, there we things on the menu that we've never braved before; matzoh balls, knish, chopped liver, and every type of salami imaginable. To keep things as simple as possible, I decided to go with a turkey sub, and Eddie chose ham and cheese.  First, we we