Love Beside Me

"If this is love beside me
I’m working on forgiveness
Laying the past down behind me
Letting go the ways that I’ve been hurt
Let the rivers rise and rage
I’ll try to stand with grace
If everything is love"........Sarah McLachlan

Lindsey Stirling

How did I not know about Lindsey Stirling sooner?!? Oh my goodness, she's amazing. She has a CD of original music out which I encourage you to check out, but also has done some very interesting covers...like this one:



Makes me wish I 'd kept playing violin...(one of us really needs to start playing again sis', lol....you can play  this, right?!)

Lest you who only want to see critter pix feel neglected:

 I gotz my remote...turn it to futball and bring me my chipz!

Courtesy Car

A few weeks ago my vehicle had to be in the shop for several days (long story, but the local dealership got it all straightened out)...while it was there, they gave me a courtesy car. It was the new Buick Verano. Mind you, I already drive a Buick that has awesome features, but I confess this one had even newer bells & whistles that I had fun playing with. The video screen information center was wild and could even show me the extended weather forecast and what was playing at the local movie theatres with the touch of a couple of buttons!

But I'm easily amused, and probably what tickled me the most was the "switchblade" key:

On an unrelated note: I mentioned Tim McGraw's latest release the other day. Here are the lyrics to my favorite of the new songs:

Number 37405

Oh, he listens to the countdown, every Sunday morning
From a cold solitary prison cell
And the music from his radio is like freedom down a dirt toad
Makes that eight by ten a brighter hill
Before he started doing all the hard time that he's doing
He was singing in them honky-tonks and dives
He dreamed of being somebody, now he's number 37405
Well she used to come and see him, every other weekend
And bring him all the news from way back home
It's been two birthdays since he's kissed her,
Five seconds since he's missed her
Now the perfume on those letters ain't that strong
He's got too much time to think about the night he had too much to drink
And all his buddies, they begged him not to drive
Mr. Life of the Party, he's now number 37405
Old judge on the bench said, "Son, your crime's got consequences."
It's what he told him, fifteen years ago
He took a life and that's a fact, he'd give his own to give it back
Today's the day he finally gets parole
He turns in them prison clothes, and stands there at the forkin' road
And mama prays and waits while he decides
And the angels close their eyes...
Listens to the birds sing on a perfect autumn morning
Just down the road, rings an old church bell

Just reading the lyrics doesn't completely get you there...but still....he does some really nice things with the music....I was really blown away the first time I listened to it and got to the line "and the angels close their eyes..." - the music drifts into some nice harmonics...and then after the last line you hear the church bell and the song sort of winds down a bit...very touching.

Reviews

Well, not really...more like just telling you what I've been reading and listening to...so many of my friends were talking about Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn:

I'm not going to give away any spoilers but I will say that it was quite a book! When I first started it, I wasn't sure if I'd like it...found it very difficult to care enough about the characters to keep going, but then shortly after that I was hooked. Unique plot. Interesting style. Surprises you never saw coming.

What am I listening to? No surprise here that I was all excited about the release of Tim McGraw's newest album (sorry...still have trouble calling it anything else...) Had so much fun seeing Tim on tour this past summer...Really like the new release...especially "Number 37405 - a song that gripped me from the first listen.

Rock'n'Roll Heart

[photo courtesy of Eric Clapton's official website: http://www.ericclapton.com/ ]

Slowhand still rules the day!

More on the UK trip soon. For now, I digress to tell you about Monday night's trip to Raleigh to see Eric Clapton. Wow! I can't say enough good things about the man. He is incredible! I had seen him once before in the late 80's/early 90's (can't remember at the moment exactly when that was) but believe he's only improving with age.

I'm not going to do a full run-down of the show here. You can go to his website and see a set list, read other reviews. We had a fabulous time. With no other guitarists muddying the waters, Clapton was free to steal the show, and he did just that, venturing off into terrific extended jams. His blues roots were obvious, as he performed many of his oldies-but-goodies. The acoustic set included "Layla"; my favorites were "Running on Faith" and "Wonderful Tonight". His keyboardists (there were two) were fabulous and the rhythm section of bass & drums were tight.

Roger Daltrey opened up for Clapton. We thought his performance was good as well...a pleasant surprise as we had not been impressed with the Superbowl halftime show. He played a number of Who favorites including "I Can See for Miles," "Behind Blue Eyes" (always my favorite Who song), "Who Are You," and "Baba O'Riley." I was delighted with his version of "Give Me a Stone," a song I was not familiar with. Youtube has a video of it from another show.

Altogether a wonderful night.

360

Review of our U2 360 tour experience coming soon. It was an incredible show and I'll have to gather my thoughts to tell you all about it.

Besides that, we had a terrific long weekend spent with family and friends. The weather was great and we had a good time noodling around in Charlottesville.

More soon.

What a Weekend!

Well, it's back to the work week, eh? I'm feeling refreshed from a truly incredible weekend. I joined my mom for a conference on church music that was held at Trinity Center, a retreat and conference center owned and operated by the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina.

Later on I'll tell you more about the conference itself. For now, I'll just tell you that the clinician was Dr. David Flood, the Master of the Cathedral choristers and the organist at Canterbury Cathedral! Yes, *that* Canterbury Cathedral! The man is truly amazing.

For this morning, I'll just share two pictures I took at the outdoor chapel on the grounds of Trinity.

Gone to the Dogs

I've been in love with greyhounds for years now, Phil being our second retired racer. I've learned much about the racers, and watched videos of them run...but never been to the races in person. Until now. On our recent visit to Florida, we went here:
And saw this:

And this:

And this....poetry in motion:

More on all the action later. Have a greyt day!

SotD: "You Want Me To" by Sarah McLachlan. Picked up a great one yesterday: Vol. 2 of her "Rarities, B-Sides, and Other Stuff". Must have gotten other songs of hers percolating in my subconscious.

Oh, yeah, btw: I didn't get a chance Wed. night or yesterday morning to yell: WHOO-HOO!!! We're goin' to see U2!!!! Got faboo' tix for the Charlottesville, VA show in October. Can hardly wait.

Get on Your Boots...

...and check out _No Line on the Horizon_, U2's latest offering. I can not say enough good stuff about this new album! (Okay, okay, so I'm dating myself. So they're not really albums anymore. Now, for me, they're not even CD's since I'm into downloading the digital version straight to my computer. And while I'm talking about that let me tell you that I think it's incredible to be able to find it, download it, play it all within a matter of minutes. How cool is it that I got this new U2 on the day of release...*and* for under $4.00!!! Amazon rocks!!!!)

Now, where was I? Oh, yes. The new U2. I love it. I loved it the first time I listened to it, and it's gotten better every listen since...which has averaged once a day. I first fell in love with U2 with the release of the Mtv video for "New Year's Day" (again dating myself). The love affair has gone strong ever since. Admittedly, there have been times when I haven't been as passionate, as fanatical...maybe even going a while in between listens. But I've never stopped loving their music. This new release, to me, is a perfect blend of new and old U2. It combines modern sounds with the classic crunching beat and Bono's soulful wail that I fell in love with all those years ago.

How excited was I to check out the upcoming tour dates the day they were released? I can't tell you. You wouldn't understand. Unless you're a crazy U2 fan, and then I don't have to tell you. I've been fortunate enough to see the band twice in concert. The first time was during _The Joshua Tree_ tour, the second was during the _Achtung Baby_ tour. Both were incredible experiences. This band is absolutely stunning live. I've gotten to see a lot of big acts in my life. It's to the point now that there are very few live concerts I'll go to anymore. A lot of acts I'm content to stay home and watch the dvd or the high def' concert on the big-screen tv where I don't have to fight any crowds, etc. etc. But U2 is one act I'm all about seeing again. Plus, LoML hasn't seen them yet, so it's definitely time. You can go to the band's official site, http://www.u2.com/ and see all the plans for the new set. It looks to be spectacular.

Not surprisingly, I've listened to the new songs so much that they've been rattling and humming around in my subconscious pretty much nonstop. Today's SotD: "Moment of Surrender" (my favorite of the new tunes)...yesterday's: "No Line on the Horizon".

So, why are you still here? Go. Go listen. Enjoy.