Magical Feeling

There are times when someone responds to one of your blog posts and you feel like you won the lottery. So to speak. I felt like that yesterday when my friend Shane responded to my post. I have always respected his taste in music so I always feel good when we can engage on musical things.

International Beat - Magical Feeling

I tend to forget how happy 2 tone Ska makes me. But it never fails when a Ska song pops up in the old random player I just feel good. There is something about this kind of music that makes me so happy.

ACDC - Carry Me Home

Here is a taste of a little rare ACDC. This never appeared on a regular release. You never mistake the sound of Bon Scotts voice. I always enjoy a little ACDC myself and in highschool I listened to this band so much.

Grateful Dead - Minglewood Blues

I have been getting more and more into the Dead and that is because I never really understood what their music was like before. I honestly did not realize how good of musicians they were. Also, once I started getting more into bluegrass it became a natural progression to start listening to the Dead.

Manowar - Guyana (Cult of the Damned)

A little bit of epic metal from the mighty Manowar and their song about the Rev Jim Jones and his death cult in Guyana. It is truly not a shining moment in American history. But it is a fascinating tale and the song rocks if you like this kind of epic metal and I do.

Reel Big Fish - I'm Cool

There was a time when I loved this band. That being said. I still do enjoy this song. It is a classic from them.

Dark Moor - In The Heart of Stone

EPIC METAL TO MAKE YOUR EARDRUMS BLEED. I love this stuff so much and it is a perfect spot to end today's musical ramblings. Thanks for listening folks.  Now I need to join Don Draper and do a little relaxing.

Random Thursday

Oh..my neck is sore today. I am feeling very groggy, I think the lack of sleep has finally started to catch up to me. I imagine a crash will be coming soon.

Picky Bugger - Elbow

It has been a pretty rough few weeks since Eric left us. I supper pretty rough doesn't do it justice at all. It feels like things have gone totally off of the rails or I suppose I should say that things are barely on the rails and it is taking most if not all of my focus to stay on the track and even then I am not sure that I can keep things on the track long term. There are fleeting moments of laughter but even that takes place in kind of a grey flatness and I am not sure who to even describe what that means. If you have been there then I suppose you know.

Liar - Queen

It is easy for me to start to feel acutely alone right now. On an intellectual level I totally realize that it makes no sense for me to feel that way and that I do have a lot of friends around me. But on an emotional level the intellectual just gets wiped out. The lack of predictability of the mood swings is almost maddening to me. There are moments during the day that I feel actually pretty good or I will be with someone and they are a good enough distraction that I am able to shut out the clamoring chorus of "Why" and "How Come". But I can't be around people 24/7 and the moments when I am laying in the dark and trying to actually get some sleep is when the voices seem loudest.

A Life For Revenge - Dark Moor

I have some really, really good friends that are doing all that they can to keep me busy and that means a lot to me. I think that in some ways actually in many ways I am scared to fully let myself go and experience the grief of this whole thing. I am scared as to what the end result will be of it. So because I am trying to keep everything totally locked down and only releasing the valve in fits and spurts I feel like I have a little bit of control over this. I fear that if I fully release things I may not be able to close the valve back up and I do not know how deep the reservoir is and I don't know what happens if I empty that.

The Educated Fool - Iron Maiden

 As usual I honestly do not know what any of this means. I am hoping that by writing I am able to achieve a little bit of control over this process and I can let the pressure out in a more controlled less insane manner. I do not need to be clutching randomly at strangers or hanging all over my friends because I am desperately craving the touch of another living being. I know, once again, intellectually that this is not socially proper behavior at all . But it feels at times like there is a emotional beast raging inside of me that just wants me to hug everyone around me to let them know that they exist and I exist and there is realness to the physical contact. I want to make eye contact with them and to hold their hand and let them know that they have value to me. I want to absorb their sadness into myself and give them some freedom from it and the only way that I know how to do that is to be able to put my hands on them and sadly not everybody is comfortable with that.

Hope Once Again - Kansas

So I guess if you want a hug or are okay with some hand holding and potentially uncomfortable intimacy then feel free to look me up.

In case you weren't sure I am obviously the curly haired one with my back to the camera. 

Random Music Thursday...

Nothing start the random music journey better then some classic tunes...

Run Run Run - The Who

So far and I realize that it is still early, but today feels like a pretty good day. The sun is out and the Timbers play tonight. So I should be able to keep myself pretty well distracted for a few hours. I do not always try to do that and I do not think it is something that I actively do either. But sometimes it just happens.

An End So Cold - Dark Moor

I have been listening to a lot of music lately and I know that has made a difference in my mood that is for sure. The music, for me, serves two purposes. It helps me to relax and space out a bit and it helps me to remember Eric and the good times I had with him in terms of shared musical experiences. I really think he was one of the few people that liked music like I do and also had the vast and varied musical tastes like I do. I remember once taking a look at his Itunes library and being pretty impressed.

Oh My God - Pink - Phew, this song is kind of dirty. Wow.

Flying Dream - Elbow - Not much to say about this one. I enjoy it. But I do not listen to them all that much.

Beggar's Farm - Jethro Tull - I always enjoy a little Jethro Tull. They were a far better band then people realize I think.

Thank for reading, I'll catch you folks later.

More Random Music Wednesday

Going On - Dark Moor - This is one of my favorite epic metal bands. If there is one thing that I miss about the newer more modern music is the state of heavy metal. I miss this kind of power ballad metal and I wish that there were more American bands who played this way. But at least there are still some Northern European bands that can still bring the thunder.

Kisses Sweeter Than Wine - Jimmie Rodgers - This is a great, great early folk song. I can't recommend it highly enough. If you like folk music at all please give this one a listen. It really brings a smile to my face.

Finding My Way - Rush - This is the first Rush song off of their very first album and it rocks so hard. If you can't at least enjoy some of what Rush has brought the world musically then I have some doubts about you as a person and because I am a gentleman I am not going to express them right now. But I will be thinking them.

Despicable - Eminem - Ummm, this one is not safe for work at all. I had forgotten that I even had any Eminem in my collection. I enjoy him but he is for sure not for everyone. I think he has some real talent but I am not a big fan of the constant flow of profanity. But that is just me. The beats he uses are funky fresh.

South Bound Saurez - Led Zeppelin - This is a great song and to be honest there is not a song by Led Zeppelin that I do not enjoy in some form. The piano on this one is very good and kind of reminds me of Elton John

That is it for today folks and I think that today the selections showed how varied my musical tastes are. I hope you enjoyed it.

Friday Random Music

Friday is here and I don't know about you guys but I am excited to keep this little musical experience going.

1: The Go Getter - The Black Keys: Yet another sweet tune from the Black Keys. There is a crunchiness to the guitar and bass in this one that just is awesome. This is a song that I can just close my eyes and bob my head to. It's got a sweet beat and you can really groove to it.

2: No Quarter - Led Zeppelin: This one is an interesting song for me. There is just an almost ambient nature to it, which I love. It just isn't what I think of when I think of Led Zeppelin and often when I choose to listen to them this isn't a song that I usually pick. But the cool thing is that it also kind of fits with the previous song. Which makes the randomness of it even better.

3: Muleskinner Blues : Old & In The Way - This was a side project of Jerry Garcie and is pretty much just toe tappin blugrass. I love this kind of music so much. It never fails to bring a smile to my face.

4: Innocent Bones - Iron & Wine: There are songs that I just enjoy and songs that are so lovely that they just almost make you hurt because you know that you can never play or create something that beautiful. This is one of those songs for me. I love the guitar in it. So much.

5: Beyond the Fire - Dark Moor - Oh ya, finishing the randomness up strong with some epic metal from Spain. If you like epic, majestic metal then do yourself a favor and check these guys out. They are awesome.

One of the things that I really like about this process for me is that it really reminds me of how diverse my music collection is. I like that. Because I really do like almost all kinds of music. 

More Music (Dark Moor)

I know that today's music is not going to be for everyone. It is the band Dark Moor and they are from Spain. I am pretty sure that they are the only Spanish band that I have in my collection and I have just about 8 hours of their music in my collection seven studio albums and one live album.

I like to think of their music as epic metal. It is melodic and operatic but still has some wailing guitars and lots of awesome drums and rockin vocals. I know for a fact that I have a few friends who really love this kind of music. I am not totally sure why I do since I tend to be a snob about things. But, for some reason I just really love the over the top nature of it. So here we go

Here is there version of a little bit of Mozart.



Here is their 8 minute version of Swan Lake. It is hard to not get pumped up listening to it.



"The Bells of Notre Dame"



And finally "Maid of Orleans"

Thursday

There was a Timbers game last night. It turned into a late night. So I got nothing today. Take a moment and enjoy the bit of wisdom above. Now if you excuse me, I am off to slay some Goblins and perhaps an Orc or two.