A quote by the conductor, Carl St. Clair really struck me today. He said, “Music will never enter our lives in a command… Music exists in the space between.” It reminds me that we need to let go, constantly. Thinking that we own something is an illusion. What is true is that which happens in between.
Source: onlinemeditation.org
So I will learn to let go of some things and accept. I will forgive. I’ve crafted a playlist so that we may all try to chill the fuck out.
Ano ba ang pakiramdam ng wala? Mahirap isipin ang hindi naiisip. Ang hindi nagugunita ay tila hindi pinaguusapan, diba?
At ganito nalang ang nararamdaman.
Feeling very old school nostalgic. I don’t know how I managed to wander off to urban jams. But heck, I did. So check out these really sick urban jams.
Asher Roth – Dope Shit
J Cole – Work out
And something totally off tangent. A piano cover of one of my fave jams from M83. Geez, I wish I could play the keys as well as this.
M83 – Midnight City (Piano Cover)
Wish I could fly
There are just moments in life that I just want to shut out my own head and feel the molecules in my body lift up to the sound of good music. It’s by far one of the best ways to de-stress from an otherwise stressful situation.
Found a few gems that have helped me relax for a bit. I never thought I would get in to chill out music (the one by Telephonic, at least), but I always surprise myself. Kind of like getting lost in a conversation, losing track of time and possibly, falling in love with someone totally unexpected.
Here’s to getting lost and being grateful for silly things like…a gym in my building and a $5 yoga mat.
The Sea Of Cortez – Telephonic
Kaki King – Montreal
Tegan & Sara – The Ocean
Boy – Railway
I have kept my eyes shut for nearly five hours but I feel as though I haven’t had a single minute of sleep or reverie. I have tried taking a hot bath, and lit up some fragrant oils to simulate that soothing sleepy effect. That didn’t work. Camomile tea – took the precaution of having decaf. Nada. Could it be that having yoga before you sleep is a guaranteed wake-upper? Hmm. I just couldn’t stop thinking about the waves at Huntington beach. And the quaint food places along Little Saigon. Then I started thinking about my dream house. And skinny dipping. And that time I ate meat by accident back when I was a vegetarian. Random shit.
Anyway so I’m having trouble sleeping.
Yessir, it's quite the ungodly hour.
As a kid, a radio would lull me to sleep. You hear the cheesiest stuff on the radio back in the early 90s. They’d play 80′s ballads like there’s no tomorrow. But that my friends, would guarantee my trip to lala-land.
Who knows why I turned out with such an eclectic taste in music?
In any case, I wondered if the same remedy still worked on me. I started with The Jets and their song “You got it all” and then followed by Billy Ocean’s “Suddenly”. Gee, these are actually the songs I think about singing in karaoke. Subconscious much?
I’m sure some of you who were born in the 80s must have gone through something similar to this experience. Ah, radio memories. For indulgence’s sake, I thought I’d post some songs I put on tonight. Oh, and watch out for the saxophone guy! Such an 80s staple.
I’m struggling to write a post about how to make the perfect mix tape. There are too many elements that I want to include that it might take a while before I can come up with a definitive write up. So for the meantime, I’ll give it a rest and just mess up your ears with what I’m currently listening to.
In the process of coming up with this list I remembered something my boss used to tell me. Disc jockeys are never the masters of their playlist. They pander to their audience. There may be occasional digs but only because you love it as much as your audience. But for everything else…there’s no way you’re going to play to others the music you play in your bedroom.
I’ll let you in my room for now. Just click and listen.
Not my ACTUAL room but...once upon a room.
Warpaint – Set Your Arms [ Download ]
Oh Land – Wolf & I [ Download ]
Cults – Go Outside [ Download ]
Mumford and Sons – The Cave [ Download ]
James Blake – Limit to your love [ Download ]
I have been sitting on this for some time and have been thinking to myself quietly. I have to say that my solitude and relative freedom from distraction have given me the energy to devote myself to learning new things and taking care of my body. I fell ill my first few days in America and I suspected that these were withdrawal symptoms from all the things I thought my body was tough enough to handle. Now that I’m better I don’t look for it anymore.
I guess all forms of transformation go through some precipice.
Sunset while driving up to Los Angeles.
I’ve been fighting for peace of mind and acceptance. However, there are times when I stumble on thoughts that upon looking back with rationality, I ought to have dismissed. I promised myself that after this post I will never again speak on the subject again. After this post.
Months ago, I had been listening to a song as I always do when my heart is afloat. This song carried me through those days that I would look forward to see and hear from a certain someone. It captured how I felt about her at that time.
Right now I am marinating in the tragic implication of the song: how as time passed she relates to it with no connection to the time we shared whatsoever. It feels like…I am moved by a musician’s song not intended for me. That’s fine. That’s life.
And so I looked for other versions and I found one by The Kooks that still has that uppity beat I love about it. It’s imperative not to be a slave to something I like – the song for instance. It’s just a song, I tell myself. The one I found is different in many ways from the original, but it still carries the same poignant theme no matter how I listen to it.
The Kooks – Young Folks [ Download ]
Time to put this song to sleep and find another one.
Totally random start: my NFL team NY Giants won the 46th Super Bowl. Eli Manning is truly the man. Hurrah!
Manning, the happy quarterback (c/o Reuters)
And there is a great show produced by Steven Spielberg that’s been tugging at my heartstrings. It is a TV drama-slash-musical featuring actresses I admire namely, Debra Messing and Anjelica Huston. But above all, at the heart of this new show are the two wonderful talents, Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee. This is very much unlike Glee – no offense to Gleeks out there – which tends to be very adolescent. Now, THIS. This is more my age bracket. And this is so reminiscent of my good ol’ days as a Broadway kid.
If my childhood constituted as something like in this image...picture me now.
So to put it simply, I love musicals and this one certainly got my attention. Watch the trailer!
Okay, so what happened to Taylor Hicks? You know, the guy who won the title of American Idol over Katharine McPhee?
Hmm. I guess runner-ups may one day end up…in a Spielberg production.
Wish my life narrative was a Broadway show. Hah. NOT.
Almost any other fruit I like taste sweeter in Asia, with the exception of oranges. Oranges taste sweeter in America.
Certified Orange County (source: Vintagraph)
My mom used to know a man who grew oranges in his back yard. According to her, his oranges made the phrase Orange county meaningful. Paul was a world war II veteran. He was especially proud of the fact that he was a navy seal. Even when random young men were carted away to the war, only the brilliant ones were picked out to join the seals and he was one of them.
In the war, he served as an accountant. Not a typical soldier out in the front line. After all anything for the war effort was appreciated. He was really good at what he did. In his time, he topped the board for the whole state of California. That’s how good he was.
I always thought myself to be quite savvy when it comes to technology. Boy was I wrong. Moving to America just made me realize how much slack I need to pick up. Maybe ten years worth of technology. Sure they already have internet TV back in the Philippines, but not the services that come with it which they have over here. It’s just fascinating what you can do with the internet these days.
Also, I used to think myself so handy when it comes to hardware. I got dizzy just trying to set up the television to my liking (what with four remote controls to work with). FINALLY, I figured it out after a couple of hours reading manuals and randomly pushing buttons.
A bunch of tech idiots
In the US, television is a big thing here, which is frankly one part of acculturation I try to resist. It’s not that easy, mind you. With over 500 cable channels to choose from and being able to instantly stream shows and films. I have to admit, the streaming really impressed me. Because the internet speed is just ridiculously fast over here compared to the Philippines, you can stream films on to your TV almost instantly without all the freezes. Wow. What really blew my mind is how I was able to find supposedly hard to find films and in just seconds they were there on the screen, playing seamlessly.
Okay, enough TV drone talk.
What I really wanted to mention was the fact that since I’ve moved here, I’ve had trouble with my FTP server. I can’t seem to connect to the damn thing. Could it be that I’m being blocked by my own firewall? I’ve been trying to read up on it but to my dismay, I could not figure out what’s wrong. So as much as I’d like to share more music, the way I usually do…I can’t.
Although, I have this to share: a really fantastic video by the artist, Lissie. Frankly, I love this song played live better than the studio record. So check this one out. For those of you back home, just wait it out to buffer for uninterrupted viewing. Yep, I know. First world internet speed rocks my socks.
Oh and to my ignorant compatriots: Here, you can watch YouTube videos on TV. Aha! Fancy that?
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