E is for empowerment

I'm listening to Eurythmics' Ultimate Collection to get ready for Monday, because if anyone can help you with that it's probably vocal powerhouse Annie Lennox. So much of their material still sounds so oddly original and fresh.

 

Whenever I want to know the story behind my favorite music I go to Songfacts, which not only can help you with the interpretation of the lyrics but give you great background.

 

"Missionary Man" is not my favorite of Eurythmics singles, but I've always been fascinated by it so I went online to see if Songfacts covers it:

 

The lyrics for this song came from a poem that Annie Lennox had written. Musically, her bandmate Dave Stewart wanted to create a song that would play well in an arena setting, as he was inspired by the concert films Under A Blood Red Sky by U2 and Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads. British synthesizer bands weren't crossing over to big arena shows, and Stewart wanted to buck the trend. He wrote in The Dave Stewart Songbook: "Missionary Man opened the album and became a lynchpin song on the Revenge tour. I wanted to create a spiritual feeling at the opening of the song. I felt like an alchemist cooking up a weird brew of Blues, Rock and Voodoo, with a strange mixture of guitars, synthesizers, backwards noises, and harmonica that spiraled toward the opening line, 'Well I was born an original sinner.' This was the perfect way to take our shows to another level."

 

You can also read what other people think of the song. And sometimes there's just miscellaneous 'I never knew that!' tidbits of stuff. I found the link to "Would I Lie To You?" (my favorite of theirs after "Here Comes The Rain") just as intriguing:

 

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=12841

Sunday odds and ends..."When you talk about food, people's faces light up."

 

My favorite part of Sunday is catching up with the newspapers and scouring them for good things, especially book reviews and more upbeat, less sad news stories.

This article in August 23rd's Wall Street Journal is so intriguing:

Dining From Trash to Table in Brooklyn
by Larissa Zimberoff

Salvage Supperclubs Meals Are Served Inside a Scrubbed-Down Dumpster

Bruised apples, floppy herbs and moldy grapes might not be considered acceptable ingredients for most home cooks. But a Manhattan man is hoping to change New Yorker's outlook on food freshness—one dinner party at a time.

 

Josh Treuhaft, a recent graduate of the design for social innovation master's program at the School of Visual Arts, has hosted seven Salvage Supperclubs, where he served past-prime food to diners inside a scrubbed down dumpster.

 

In all, the dinner rescued 1.8 pounds of food per person that was otherwise destined for the landfill. Culled from farms, farmers markets, restaurants and home kitchens, the waste was still perfectly safe and nutritious, Mr. Treuhaft said—the chef just needed to be creative in its handling...

You can read the rest here:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/dining-from-trash-to-table-in-brooklyn-1408756306



One of my favorite new albums: Yes, It's True. It is so upbeat ("You Don't Know Me" will have you dancing on the couch!) and has a great late 1960s vibe to it:

 

 

 

And thanks to an article in today's New York Times, I was able to discover Medici.tv, which streams classical music and opera performances, many times for free.

 

(for instance: http://www.medici.tv/#!/maria-callas-in-paris )

 

The NYT piece is a great resource and this part especially jumped out, where the author discusses iTunes and listening to opera:

 

...But something seemed to go awry in recent years. Maybe it was just me, or my not-quite-state-of-the-art equipment, but the early versions of iTunes — while great for storing and sorting singles — made me want to tear my hair out when it came to classical music. Forget the long-gone librettos and liner notes of yore: My iTunes sometimes had a hard time figuring out that Act II of an opera should follow Act I. Trying to teach it to sort music by, say, composer could become a daunting task requiring National Security Agency-level coding skills.

 

 For more go here:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/arts/music/an-opera-lover-tests-streaming-services.html

 

 

 

In a move that wouldn't surprise anyone who knows even the littlest about Bryan Fischer (head of the American Family Association) he is on yet another rant about gay people. This time he has been kind enough to speak for everyone by saying "no wants to visualize homosexuality because it is disgusting."

To me, that statement seems ignorant more than mean. First of all, if he has enough spare time on his hands to imagine what people of the world are or are not visualizing, he needs to reconsider his priorities. Second, he would be better off trying to "visualize" what it is like to be gay, instead of picturing actual gay acts.

I know I've gone on about this before, but of all the homophobic comments I've read or heard throughout most of my adult life, the one that gets to me most is "I don't care what two people do in the privacy of their bedroom, as long as they don't talk about it."

As far as I know, no one (gay or straight) talks about their sex lives, unless it's a bunch of close friends out on a Friday night, (generally) venting about how much better things could be with their significant others. More importantly, whether you are straight or gay, relationships and sexuality are about so much more than the bedroom.

One of the few convenient things about being single, celibate and and harboring feelings for someone you're definitely not meant to be with (especially if that person is so neat and special, no one else really interests you that much) is that you learn to pretty much be happy alone. 

I know if I never ever have any kind of intimacy of that level that I will be absolutely fine...I also know I'm still gay whether I ever "act" on that part of me or not. For Bryan Fischer to reduce gay people to "disgusting" sex acts shows an ignorance that is far far more insulting (to me, at least) than anything else to ever come out of a such a staunch homophobe's mouth.

Bryan Fischer also acts as though no one has ever said this before. I imagine there are millions of people who find acting on homosexuality "disgusting." For them the solution is simple: just don't visualize it. No one's asking them to...on the other hand, asking someone to "stop" being gay (whether in their hearts or with their bodies) is pretty much impossible. The repercussions of trying to do so (i.e. suicide) are extremely heartbreaking and harsh.

I wish Mr. Fischer (nor anyone else who is anti-gay) no ill will. I just sincerely wish from the bottom of my soul homophobic people tried to truly understand those they oppose. That is all. 

Gay people are not here to destroy the world. We are here to love...just like anyone else.

Last night I dreamed I dropped and broke my glasses during the zombie apocalypse. I was sad, not because it was the end of the world, but because I couldn't read very well. And, of course, non-electronic books with small print were the only ones around.

Food became very scarce and without good vision it was also hard for me to tell the difference between zombies and humans. Everything soon went to Hell.

I finally found a survivor camp and, in the best part of the dream, met a really nice girl who seemed to like me. :) But it was so real (SO REAL!) and we had to get shots (long after things went south) to try and help us not be infected if bitten and the pain I felt stunned me.

I tried to wake myself up, but couldn't and so for a while I thought everything was actually happening. The girl (woman, really, since she was my age) helped me after I stumbled when I rose from the cot to let the next person get vaccinated. 

"I've got you," she said gently, then handed me one of my favorite books ever, holding it close. "And I've got this for you." It was so weird that I recognized the title because I normally can't read or write in dreams (this is apparently a common thing for most people as the part of brain used for reading is "shut off" while we sleep*). That I could see words only made it more convincing that it was real life.

Oddly enough, it was one of the best dreams I've ever had, even if it had scary parts and didn't always make sense.

 *
"Lots of people find they can't read text in a dream, that if they see text it's almost always garbled or hieroglyphics or doesn't make sense or it's fuzzy. People who can read in a dream will still report that the text is not stable; if they look away and then back, it says something different or there's no longer any writing there. So trying to read something in a dream is a good test for lots of people. Others find that things like light switches and other knobs that are supposed to turn things on and off work normally in their real world and don't do what they expect them to in a dream."
--from: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-control-dreams/

"Take A Giant Step" shuffled on to my player tonight and put a smile on my face. The Carole King/Geoffrey Goffin penned-song is such a great mood-changer:


Though you've played at love and lost
And sorrow's turned your heart to frost
I will melt your heart again.
Remember the feeling as a child
When you woke up and morning smiled
It's time you felt like you did then.
There's just no percentage in remembering the past
It's time you learned to live again at last.

Come with me, leave yesterday behind
And take a giant step outside your mind.

You stare at me in disbelief
You say for you there's no relieve
But I swear I'll prove you wrong.
Don't stay in your lonely room
Just staring back in silent gloom.
That's not where you belong
Come with me I'll take you where the taste of life is green
And everyday holds wonders to be seen.

Come with me, leave yesterday behind
And take a giant step outside your mind.