Music Monday: Which Musicians Do You Miss?

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Barbara McDowell

Flickr image by Finding Josephine

On Saturday, July 23, Amy Winehouse was found dead in her bedroom.  She joins a historic list of artistic talents we have lost too soon.  She is another name added to the dreaded “27 Club” which includes Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain as musicians who lived no further than age 27 and who died after years troubled by alcohol and drug abuse.  By all accounts, those close to her (and I’m sure to the others dying before her) knew at some level early death would be a tragic, but not unforseen event.  Though we wish for it, not everyone can have a happy ending.

My favorite song from Amy is “Tears Dry On Their Own” from the “Back to Black” album.  I love the spunky lyrics, throwback soul sound and sly joy that can be heard in her voice as she sings.  It is a song on the Life Theme Songs playlist on my iPod.  It is what I thought of to make me smile after hearing the awful news of her death because for all the things that haunted her throughout life, I envision she had the purest moments of joy when writing and performing.

Who are some of the musicians that you miss?

Did you have the opportunity to see them live in concert?

What is it about their music and/or life that inspires you today?

Posted in Thoughts on Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Freestyle Friday: When All Else Fails, Watch Dancing Babies

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Barbara McDowell

Ever have a day not go as scheduled? 

What do you do when plans go awry?

My inner overachiever envisioned a morning of strength training, meditation in the sauna, revising a short story, plowing through a suitcase of dirty laundry, grocery shopping, starting a new short story, then losing myself in a novel.  Yeah, I thought I was going to be a rock star today.  

My plans are now sitting on the corner of the sofa, mocking me because I woke up with a migraine – at 1:30 pm.  I’m here to fully confess to bringing on this doozy myself.  While I’ve developed a pretty nifty system for balancing and living with the suckers — one that includes a daily 16 oz. latte (or other coffee equivalent), the same wake time each day and avoidance of trigger foods (like too much sodium or chocolate) — I didn’t do any of that. 

I stayed up to 6:00 am catching up on my recordings of So You Think You Can Dance.  I had repeated servings of double dutch chocolate ice cream in the past 72 hours.  Yesterday’s intake consisted of a bagel, egg and cheese sandwich, 32 oz. of coffee, a handful of ginger snaps and pancakes at 4:00 am with no fruits or vegetables in sight.  Hey, it was good going in.

Then when I finally pulled myself together to be somewhat productive and start getting caught up on e-mails, writing edits and tweets – the power went out.  And so I will end the day with the joy of dancing babies.  And making plans for Saturday.

Posted in Thoughts on Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments