RMW & I are closing on our new apartment next Tuesday. Plans for transforming the bathroom are still in the works... happily, we got great ideas from the smart people on apartmenttherapy.com this week, though. Want to see what people have been saying and/or give us some of your own ideas?
Here's the link to the apartmenttherapy post incl. pics of our bathroom and details on our design dilemma...
She played for just under an hour, leaving everyone wanting more of that voice... wow, is this one talented. Every bit of power, alternating warmth and edginess in tone, and perfect pitch (and pitch bending) that you hear on her album sounds, if anything, even *more* flawless live. I know all her lyrics, but she actually shut me up last night. (and if you know me and my involuntary tendency to sing as much as possible, you'll understand what a feat that is). I just was commanded to focus all my energy on listening.
I can't wait for Adele to develop further as a songwriter and as an artist. At only just barely 20, she's got such a long career ahead of her!
p.s. she was pretty adorable in terms of stage presence - she kept saying (as on this clip) how nervous she was -- but then would just belt out these songs. I didn't hear any wobbliness in her voice whatsoever, so I can't imagine what her voice sounds like NOT nervous. She also was so cute in her responses to the crowds' cheers... she would be all serious into the song, and then, see someone cheering (or recognize someone), and this huge genuine grin would melt her face, and then she'd be back to intense focus -- all the while her voice never once betraying any distractions. I found it so charming - she just looked like she was thrilled to be performing for us.
p.p.s She said she was apartment shopping in Brooklyn! :)
GREAT show at the Blue Note last night. Bilal's falsetto live is ridiculous. Robert Glasper is sick on keys too.
It's easy to hear why Bilal's voice is all over hip hop's great albums - from Jay-Z to Clipse to Common... but when he's center stage live, he's even better.
Here's a clip from a show in Amsterdam:
I am so excited. For my graduation, my dad finally gave me his mid-life crisis purchase of 5 years ago that I knew he would never use. Guitar lessons are in my future! Anyone know a good guitar teacher in NYC?
From today's NYTimes science section article "Claudius Conrad: A Musician Who Works With a Scalpel":
Like many surgeons, Dr. Conrad says he works better when he listens to music. And he cites studies, including some of his own, showing that music is helpful to patients as well — bringing relaxation and reducing blood pressure, heart rate, stress hormones, pain and the need for pain medication.
But to the extent that music heals, how does it heal?...
Singing makes me happy. I have never really considered all the reasons why. The most obvious one is that music makes me happy, and singing is part of my everyday ritual for expressing gratitude for the miracle in my life that is music.
In yoga this weekend, though, my instructor Maggie commented that singing and chanting is also a great, easy way to release stress -- for more physiological reasons. Singing forces you to breathe deeply, and breathing deeply transforms your autonomic nervous system, relaxing you. Of course!! Somehow I never thought about that before.
As IF I needed another reason to sing, but hmmm... I wonder if my dissertation committee would mind if I started my defense tomorrow with a group song - ?
My alarm this morning spoke in the voice of 10 year-old Rasheed McKenstry, interviewing his mother, Rhonetta McKenstry, for NPR's Story Corps. Today my heart leapt out of bed before the rest of me. I could listen to these Story Corps recordings all day long. I think once I'm officially all done with my PhD I will.
Here's the text of today's interview featured on Morning Edition. It's better if you listen to it live, though.
Morning Edition, April 25, 2008 · When Rahsheed McKenstry, 10, and his mother Rhonetta McKenstry entered the StoryCorps booth in Memphis, Tenn., he quickly found his own interview style ... a style that uncovered hard truths.
"OK, Ms. Rhonetta McKenstry," he asked, "what are some of the biggest lessons that you learned during your childhood?"
"I feel like I'm at a job interview," she replied.
"I had a very good mother, which is why I think I'm a very good mother," she said. "She used to fix me breakfast in the morning whenever she could. She gave me kisses like I do you and your brother. And she yelled at me... It means she cares."
He asked, "OK, so why are you not still married?"
"Because my ex-husband was horrible," she said.
"Was he violent toward you?"
"Yes."
"Was he violent toward anybody else?"
"You and your brother, which is why I won't let him see you."
"How does that affect you?" she asked.
"It affects me because I'm inquisitive. I want to know everything and he's my father and I should know more. It kind of makes me feel depressed and mad. Not depressed, but kind of mad that those things happened to my mother," he said.
"What kind of man do you think you're going to be?" she asked.
"A very great man — better than my father, for sure."
He asked, "How do you feel about [my brother] Chris and I?"
"See, now you're trying to make me cry," she said. "You have to understand I'm proud of the two of you. Y'all have different personalities. Chris is happy-go-lucky, but you ... I'm just in awe of you sometimes. Y'all keep me going. Everything I do is really for the two of you."
He asks his mother, "Why is your nose turning red?"
"[Because] I'm about to cry," she said. "How many times have you ever seen me cry?"
"Three times. This is my third," he answered.
"I love you, Rahsheed."
"I love you, too, Ma. Thank you for answering all my questions."
Rhonetta McKenstry will be entering law school this fall. She plans to specialize in family law to help women who have suffered from domestic violence.
