Category: Music

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Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

I don’t know if you’ve heard or not, but there is some mysterious illness affecting dogs that is spreading fast throughout the U.S….

A mysterious and potentially fatal respiratory illness in dogs has been reported in several states across the country, as veterinarians continue to search for what may be causing the condition that has killed some dogs.

The illness starts out as a cough that can last for several weeks, but it may not respond to typical treatment, such as antibiotics, which can leave the dog struggling to breathe and with severe pneumonia.

A potentially fatal mystery illness in dogs is spreading in the US. It starts with a cough, Yahoo News, November 17, 2023

Now, anyone who knows me knows how much my boys mean to me…

So in honor of my boys, and all of (hu)mans’ best friends all over the globe, and in hope that they all stay healthy and happy…

Let’s dance!

Okay, this perhaps isn’t the most dance-friendly song – I could have gone with Elvis’ “Hound Dog” (courtesy of Big Mama Thorton) or Baha Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out” …

But “Old Blue” was a favorite of my children’s, and mine, when they were growing up. There are many versions of it, The Byrds’, Joan Baez’, and Willie Nelson’s just to name a few, but Disney’s version is my favorite since it has so many happy memories attached to it.

#prayforthedoggies

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Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

Life is all it is – joyful, sad, comprehensive, confusing, peaceful, violent, and on and on and on…

Of course, regardless of what reality tries to tell one, it can only be what one – you, me, each unique individual making up the all of we – says it is.

And no matter how hard we/I try to understand it, to challenge it, to master it, chances are we/I never will; and chances are along the way we/I will alienate those who see reality 180 degrees differently than you/me.

So, understanding our understanding and execution of life will always be incomplete and often inaccurate, and way off kilter to many, accepting that some will love us for what we do and, sadly, some with hate us for the same, will hopefully make it all a bit less painful.

So, we might as smile the best we can and dance.

#embraceyourreality

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Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Mood of the Dance

Doing a reread of Big Will’s Titus Andronicus so what better way to summon the happy dancing spirits today than by rocking out to a song by, you got it, Titus Andronicus…

If only ours was a union even a little more better…

#letsdance

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You know, sometimes it’s okay to meet your hero…

George Winston in pencil with graphic design
George Winston as rendered by an admiring fan

Rest forever, hero, in the peace and comfort you and your music has provided to so many…

The following article was originally published in November 2014.

Most of what little refinement I have can be attributed to my lovely and loving wife.

I would say all of it could be attributed to her, but I do have a pretty good three-object juggling technique that I’ve worked hard on over the years to perfect.

Metaphorically speaking, the wife can juggle just about anything thrown her way; non-metaphorically speaking, however, she’s not a juggler by any stretch of the imagination.

But other than my juggling skills, just about anything else refined about me — especially anything artistic or intellectual — more than likely has its foundation somewhere within in my wife’s lovely and loving intellectual and artistic brain.

Continue reading You know, sometimes it’s okay to meet your hero…
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Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

2022, here’s looking at you, kid.

We’ll always have Paris.

2023…

Is this the greatest love song ever, or what? That was a rhetorical question, of course.

#HNY

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Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

You probably know that Steve Earle is a world-renowned folk/country/crossover singer-songwriter…

And maybe you know that he is also an actor, having appeared on The Wire, Treme, and other productions, his characters mostly mirroring his life as a musician, as in Treme, or as a recovering heroin addict, as in The Wire.

But did you know he is also an author?

And a damn fine one at that?

Yeah…

Dude’s def got it going on, I must say. Obviously, I’m a big fan.

His book I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive is named after a Hank William’s song. I listened to the audiobook version, of which Earle performed. It’s great. The main character is a down-and-out, disgraced doctor, and an addict, who angelically performs illegal medical services for the locals of his unruly hood, particularly for the at-risk sex workers. It is a sad, touching, funny, magical, hallucinatory/ghostly tale (Hank Williams plays a critical role… or at least his ghost/Doc’s hallucination of him does) of which I highly recommend.

Anyway, have a listen of this little ditty of Earle’s from when he was a much younger human, and tap a toe or two while you’re at it…

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Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

It’s been a long while since we did any movin’ and groovin’ around here. So…

Let the movin’ and groovin’ begin!

Check out all of Willis’ movin’ and groovin’ tunes at Soundcloud.

#dancelikethereisnotomorrowbecausewhoknows

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#ICANTBREATHE – Dido’s Lament

“Not again. I couldn’t believe it. I felt helpless and I had to do something,” Yves Dharamraj has said. “We’ve all seen the scenes from Minneapolis, from New York, from everywhere.  Normally, I would’ve gloved and masked up, and marched down Broadway with my fellow protesters crying out against police brutality and racism. 

“But, instead, I took up Anthony McGill’s #TakeTwoKnees call-to-action for musicians to record themselves and post it online.”

Cellist performs heartrending version of Dido’s Lament in memory of George Floyd, Classic FM, June 15, 2020

#BLACKLIVESMATTER