Boots McBlog

The mcblog has gone to the birds this week.  Found this old song in -of all places – our iTunes library.  The Angler has good taste in tunes.   Enjoy!

This week thanks to a photographer  I follow on twitter,  I was introduced to Scala and Kolacny Brothers. Although they are new to me,  the group has been around for quite some time.  This pairing of a Belgian female chorus with classicly trained brothers has been turning out beautiful  cover songs since 1996!  How did I  miss them?   I felt better to learn  their first appearance on American soil at the New York Center happened  in Febraury 2009.

Choral music isn’t for everybody.  I realize that.  I happen to have a soft spot for it because of my years spent in school and church choir.  I also fondly remember the nights at summer camp, when all the girls would sneak out of their bunks and sing a choral rendition of praise songs to the boys.  Moonlight serenades were so dreamy and one of my favorite things about summer camp.    Scala reminds me of those happy times – albeit they don’t sing praise songs they sing covers of rock songs and ballads.    As their website describes them:

“The Scala Story is a dream come true. The  classically trained  Kalacny Brothers, Steven (piano) and  Stign (conducting) have turned this Belgian girls choir into an international phenomenon, performing imaginatively reworked covers of Radiohead, U2, Rammstein, and Nirvana songs – just to name a few. As well as their equally successful original compositions before sold out audiences through out the world.”

The 200 member choir  is made up of young women ages 16-26.    According to their website,  ”Scala Live”  will begin airing on PBS late this year, a DVD and CD  ”Circle” will be released Fall 2010, and a US tour is scheduled for 2011.     Some of my favorite covers include  U2′s “With or Without You”,  ”Every Breath You Take” by the Police, and “The Blower’s Daughter” by  Damien Rice.   If these songs don’t move you emotionally,  you may want to get your ol ticker checked out. ( just sayin)

Until their tour and release of their next album, you can bet these songs and others will definitely be on iPod “repeat” from time to time.   I’ll be singing along  adding a 201st voice to their mix.     After you take a listen you may want to be 202.

I love a patriotic tune.  Asking me to pick a favorite is like asking me to pick a  favorite flavor of ice cream or a fave Christmas carol.   Patritotic songs started early for me.   I knew all the words to “God Bless America” by the time I was four.   I learned both versions of “This Land is Your Land” by the time I was six…. The accepted version  and the one my mother forbade.   You know the one.  You sang it, too – the hillbilly version – “This land is my land, it it isn’t your land, I’ve got a shotgun and you don’t got one.  I’ll  blow your tail off, if you don’t get off.  This land is private property”. By third grade when I had matured past the silly song , I embraced the words and tune to  ”You’re a Gand Ol Flag”.  It quickly became part of my repertoire of songs I would sing aloud.  I would belt it out with much bravado.  (Still do).  Even then,  I liked it’s allusion to “auld lang syne” –It’s like a little star spangled mash up.

The summer of ’84,  while American athletes like Mary Lou Retton and Greg Louganis were racking up gold medals in the Olympics, I was honing my “Star Spangled Banner”  pipes.    It was my shower song (or should I say anthem?).  The bathroom acoustics made me sure I was going to sing it for a packed house someday.  This was also the summer that Memorex cassette tapes had an ad campaign which said,  ”Is it live or is it memorex?”.  In the commercial, they would play a tape of a woman singing, the sound pouring out of a speaker next to a wine glass.  The glass would shatter from the intensity  of her voice.    One day,  after quite the patriotic shower performance in my parents’ master bath,  I heard a crack against their french doors.  I pulled back the curtain to see the entire glass had shattered.  WOW!   Who knew achieving the pinnacle note of our national anthem held such power.  I was scared to death to tell my parents my amazing voice had destroyed their bathroom windows.   I kept it to myself.  I wasn’t ready for the world tour.  I wasn’t even a teenager, yet.  I wanted to stay a kid, you know.   Years later,  I found out it was the scorching heat or my brother’s football – not my amazing voice – that cracked that glass.  (Not to mention, reality set in that my singing voice isn’t that amazing, at all.) At the age of eleven,  I picked up a baton for the first time.  Which means,  John Phillips Sousa was often the sound coming from my little jambox in the backyard.  I spent years twirling that baton to the sound of 2/2 time.   Stars and Stripes Forever.  The Marine Corp March.  The Liberty Bell March.  The Battle Hymn Republic.   To this day,  I stand a little taller when I hear a Sousa march.    And I can still do my twirling competition routine.

Time passes and years later the songs above remain dear to me.  I am in awe  of the poetic lyrics of “America the Beautiful”.  My heart SWELLS with pride as I sing the final words “MY home –  sweet home” of God Bless America.    Today,  we celebrate the freedom this country affords us.   The freedom to attend the church of our  choice.  The freedom  to write or read a blog.   The freedom to be friends with whom we choose and the freedom to spend time with our families.    There will be fireworks, hot dogs, apple pie and many patriotic tunes.    May we all take time to stop and remember the sacrifices which inpsired the composition of these lyrics and melodies which will make up our playlists today.  May our playlists not only be  tagged “songs for The Fourth of July”, but may we remember they are songs for us every. single. day.    The beautiful songs of freedom.

God Bless Y’all

and

God Bless America!

Nothing is better than when poetry meets a melody.   Royal Wood is a Canadian singer -songwriter who  knows exactly how to make that happen.   A fellow thirty-something whose life has taken a few unexpected turns, he has set his experiences in life, love, and loss to song.   His music is soothing and thought provoking.  His sound has been likened to Ron Sexsmith and Rufus Wainwright.   iTunes hailed him as one of the best new songwriters.   I think you’ll agree.  His “Lost & Found” EP available on iTunes is a steal under $7.   A bargain when you consider, he is often in a repeat loop  on my iPod.     “Don’t  fall Apart”  is one of my faves.   Not mention  ”Sway” from his Tall Trees EP which can be heard by hitting the play button above.   For more of his amazing work take a listen at his mySpace page.    (His new album “the waiting” is not yet available in the US, but can be purchased through his website)

Of course, his Don Draper looks aren’t too shabby either.

if i had my life to live over, i would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and stay that way later in the fall.

i would go to more dances.

i would ride more merry-go-rounds.

i would pick more daises.

~ nadine stair