Entertainment
Every Mother Counts
I am thrilled to be partnering with Starbucks again for Every Mother Counts 2012, an incredible compilation album featuring 19 songs. Most are inspired by motherhood, some by parenthood, but all benefit community-based maternal health programs around the world.
Through Every Mother Counts 2011, thousands heard our mission to reduce preventable maternal deaths and improve maternal health worldwide. While selecting artists and songs for the first album, we couldn’t resist gathering names for a second, and I am so happy that we did! This year, we broadened our vision to include male artists (fathers) as well, because our mission is something that everyone who values mothers can support to make a lasting impact.
Sir Paul the Crooner
I was watching an iTunes webcast of Paul McCartney performing songs from his new album live from Capitol Studios in Hollywood when I realized that something was a little…off.
The hands! Paul wasn’t holding a guitar or bass and that’s just not what he’s used to.
A Night with Leonard Cohen
A few months ago, I received an invitation in the mail from Columbia Records to hear the new Leonard Cohen album “Old Ideas” played at the home of the Canadian consulate in Los Angeles – Leonard in attendance.
I’ve been a disciple of Leonard’s music and poetry since 1968 when his first record, Songs of Leonard Cohen, was released. Attending meant I would be paying for my travel from Seattle to Los Angeles out of pocket. But I told myself: “You want to do this, so go and do it! You’ll never get this chance again.”
…Still Blowin’ in the Wind
Bob Dylan has been famous for so long that it’s easy to forget how he first became famous. It wasn’t as a recording artist or performer, but as a songwriter.
His self-titled debut album appeared 50 years ago this spring and failed to generate much attention, except among some industry insiders, some of whom dubbed it “Hammond’s folly,” a jab at John Hammond, the legendary producer/label exec/talent scout who brought the barely-out-of-his-teens Dylan to Columbia Records.
Preparing material for his second album, Dylan penned an anti-war tune that came to the attention of th
No Lack of Bacharach
Music by Bacharach features 16 prime recordings associated with a man whose name is synonymous with a certain kind of complex yet assessable pop music.
Burt Bacharach transcends the role as a behind-the-scenes songsmith. Despite the fact that he didn’t sing much and mostly worked in the service of others, Bacharach was a ‘60s star. He hosted prime-time television specials, was pictured on magazine covers and, with his wife at the time—screen star Angie Dickinson—appeared in a series of commercials (“Say yes!”).
Precious Moments to Wind Down
At last, it’s time to log off. You do the 21st century equivalent of punching the clock and face what remains of the day. It’s time to uncoil a bit and music is a vital part of the process.
Our Timothy J. has put together the brand new Wind Down, a selection of a dozen songs that say “day is done.” Bearing a striking nightscape cover, the CD offers up choice gems by Thievery Corporation, Moby,Groove Armada and other modern music innovators. It’s a forum for music with an electronic undercurrent that’s suited for taking things down a notch. Dating from the late 1990s to 2011, these warmly buzzing tracks capture the heyday of international electronica, whether you call it nu jazz, ambient or whatever.
For Auld Lang Syne
The end of the year is at hand. In the spirit of out with the old and in with the new, here are a few track selections for New Year’s Eve festivities, be they outrageous or intimate.
Pink Martini, “Auld Lang Syne” – A recent creative take on the quintessential midnight sing-along from the Oregon group’s holiday collection Joy to the World.
Baby, It’s Cool Outside for She & Him
A recent addition to the parade of annual holiday programming (A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life A Christmas Story and stop-motion classics like Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer) is 2003’s Elf. The movie stars Will Ferrell as Buddy, an orphaned Santa’s helper who leaves the North Pole to find his father in New York City.
It’s a December Tradition, Charlie Brown
Imagine it’s 1965 and you’re a television executive viewing a prospective holiday special for the first time. It’s based on a comic strip that’s popular, but…hey, it’s just a comic strip. The story progresses at an almost uncomfortably slow pace and springs from the misery and misfortune of the main character, who muses in the first scene: “I like getting presents and sending Christmas cards and decorating trees and all that, but I'm still not happy. I always end up feeling depressed.”
Not exactly the feel-good cartoon of the season.
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