How lovely life can be…

…if one takes time to be friendly. I read that in Julia Child’s memoirs  on the train home tonight, and I silently connected with her on that note. Thinking back on the days in which I made the extra layer of effort, working and living life, but with a consciousness  to the connections I made with the people (strangers and not) around me. The more effort I made with them, the more satisfied and full the day seemed to me.

And yes, we have heard this all before, that relationships with people are one of the main purposes of life. But my point is that we have so much control over how grateful we feel about our own lives, and in most cases, it relates to the effort we make with people, and what we get from them in return. So, to me or anybody listening, the next time you stop for your morning coffee, or ask someone about their day while trying to get back to your desk…be present in that moment. Be patient. Listen, and I think, you will get so much more out of it, then by keeping to yourself, and keeping that undivided focus on the other thing you thought was more important. I definitely don’t think this happens for me everday, but, like Julia Child, I notice it when it does.

Music of note:
The Horse by Alessi Lauren-Marke
Games Again by Peter Broderick (this song is like taking a big, gorgeous breath, in and out…just to feel its renewal)

Thru-You. Amazing stuff.

This artist who calls himself “Kutiman”, mixes separate YouTube videos of musicians to create a whole new kind of sound, collaborations from the individual into collective pieces that reaches a new, undiscovered place. I like it. No…love it.

Check out my favorite here:

another couple I enjoyed:

I could seriously list every single song on his “album”, but I think you get my point. 🙂

his channel: here.

about Thru-You:

Free Ballys music mix.

This could be terrible, haven’t checked it out yet, but give it a try (if you are willing to shell out an email address!)

Merry Holidays – Jason Mraz.

The Nutcracker- NYC Ballet.

I highly recommend, especially if you appreciate dance or Christmas in New York, to go see Balanchine’s The Nutcracker performed by the NYC Ballet. I saw it on a weekday evening specifically for its lower ticket price, but was just as dazzled as a five-year-old little girl with ribbons in her hair. Any age would be moved by the familiar Tchaikovsky melodies and the Waltz of the Flowers choreography.

My favorite moments would have to be the famous pas de deux with heartwarming strings, and the Arabian coffee piece with the tickling sound of bells.

A great Holiday present to myself, and I recommend you do the same.

This song could be used as a form of torture…

simply for its sheer repetition.

Also, to sell her music sex now she doesn’t even bother with clothes. I guess that is the only way to step it up a notch. And is it just me or does she rinse and repeat every concept she has already used? I see “slave for you” and “toxic” all over again.

higher quality on her official site.

Follow the music road.

From veryshortlist.com

“The Santa Monica ad agency RPA cut half-inch grooves into a quarter-mile stretch of Avenue K, in the exurban L.A. desert city of Lancaster. The grooves were synched in such a way that driving over them at precisely 55mph caused Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” — a.k.a. the Lone Ranger theme — to echo in the air around you.”

It has since been repaved, but not before some people had some musical fun!

I love Kings of Leon.

If you haven’t heard their new album, I suggest you check out Only By The Night and listen to a preview. Probably one of my favorite current rock albums. Some of my favorites are Closer, Manhattan, Sex on Fire, and Use Somebody, but honestly there really isn’t a song on the album that I don’t like.

See their myspace page here.

The music of Connie Converse.

A very talented gentleman named Daniel Dzula and his friend David Herman are working to restore the voice of a lost 50s songwriter from Greenwich Village, Connie Converse.

(Taken from the Connie Converse fan page)

“Around 1949, Elizabeth “Connie” Converse dropped out of Mt. Holyoke College and moved to New York City to make her way as a musician. Over the course of the next decade, she wrote and recorded a body of truly unique, plaintive and haunting work. Some songs she recorded herself in her Greenwich Village apartment; some were recorded by friends enamored of her music, but almost none ever reached an audience wider than, as she once put it, “dozens of people all over the world.”

By the early 1960’s, despondent over the limited commercial success of her music, she decided to leave New York for Ann Arbor, Michigan where, in 1974, Connie wrote a series of goodbye letters to friends and family, packed up her Volkswagen and disappeared. She has not been heard from since.”

Daniel is working very closely with Connie’s family to restore and remaster this beautiful music to life, Click here to listen to some examples.

My vids from FUERZABRUTA.

This one ain’t mine but I loved the energy it captured.