A Happier Friday!

Something as simple as the day of the week can make me happy.

I didn't even work five days this week because Washington, DC got so much snow on Monday that the federal government shutdown, the buses weren't running and I had the day off.

 

Still, today is Friday and that feels great.  The grind of this week is almost over and the weekend is within sight.

 

 

Friday evening is one of the best feelings in the world, don't you think? You've just finished working through one work week and now the whole incredible weekend is in front of you.  Have you ever noticed how happy everyone is on Friday evening when they are leaving their offices?

It's as though the principal rang the bell at school and announced "Recess!" I swear if I could bottle that Friday evening feeling I would make a ton of money. 
 

So embrace your fabulous Friday feeling and, better still, keep it going as long as possible.  Maybe you have plans to do something today you wouldn't do on any other day of the week!  Lighten up and spend some time playing.

Friday.  As Pharrell Williams sings in his infectious hit song, "Happy," I feel like a room without a roof. . . .

Lea Michele & Cory Monteith

Songs are touchstones; expressions of personal thoughts, emotions or memories.  An outpouring of experiences.  Songs can transport and inspire and also energize.  Songs can also help the writer and the listener process emotions of loss or grief.

 

Actress and singer Lea Michele had been working on her new album, Louder, many months before the tragic and sudden death of her boyfriend, actor Cory Monteith, who died from a toxic mixture of heroin and alcohol.  Michele and Monteith also connected professionally, playing high school sweethearts on Fox's award winning series, Glee.

With the recent release of Louder, Michele is giving candid interviews about Monteith and she recently recounted that Monteith had privately listened to and critiqued many of her new songs and he sent her notes about his thoughts on the album as she continued recording.

 

Naturally, Michelle's work on Louder stopped after Monteith's death on July 13, 2013.  While mourning the loss of Monteith, Michele searched for songs to add to the album that would reflect her feelings of spinning out of control and songs that might explain to others the depth of what it felt like to be without Monteith, how much she loved him, and how scared she was to go on without him.

 

She found a song titled Cannonball; a song she said she plays over and over because it helps her feel emotionally stronger and hopeful about the direction of her future.  "Grief is a scary thing," Michele says.  Yes, it is Michele, very scary and that's why it's so great that you are talking about it.  Sadly, we don't truly know how scary it is until it happens to us.  You are brave to share your feelings and thoughts, letting others know that they are not alone in their grief journeys.  I am so sorry for the pain of your loss. 

 

Below is the story TV Guide recently published about Michele, her new album and tragedy of Monteith's battle with his addictions.

 

Lea Michele

Lea Michele: "Grief Is a Scary Thing"

Mar 6, 2014 10:08 AM ET
by Liz Raftery
TV Guide
Lea Michele says writing and recording her new album Louder helped her overcome her grief after losing her boyfriend Cory Monteith last summer.

"I had this experience happen to me [and] decided to write about it," the Glee star tells the Los Angeles Times. "That's what felt organic."

Monteith, Michele's Glee co-star and boyfriend of four years, died in July from a toxic combination of heroin and alcohol.

The album's first single, "Cannonball," is about new beginnings. Michele recalls hearing the song for the first time:  I just literally keeled over because grief is a very scary thing, and there comes a point where it can really take you down," she says. "['Cannonball'] lifted me up. It was what I needed to get through my difficult situation."

Rather than avoid the topic, Michele decided to address Monteith's death head-on on the record, which was released Tuesday. "A lot of people don't know how to touch this situation. It's like walking on eggshells," Michele says. "I felt 'Cannonball' ... puts it all out there. It's like this is really hard, we're not denying that it's hard. We're gonna get through it."

Another track, "If You Say So," which Michele co-wrote with Sia Furler, is a reflection on the last conversation she had with Monteith. "It's something beautiful that came at a very difficult time," Michele says of her record. "If I've learned anything from this past year is that you have one life. ... You have to love as hard as you can love and live as hard as you can live because we just have one life. I feel like Louder really expresses that."

Johnny Cash's To Do

I write about the great American singer songwriter Johnny Cash today for two reasons: the first is it's his birthday and if he were still here with us he would be 82 years old (Happy Birthday Johnny!) and the second is his infamous "to do" list.

 

Cash's iconic songwriting talents crossed over into so many different kinds of music that he is one of the few people to have been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.  Incredible right?

 

Cash's most powerful songs to me are "Ring of Fire," "I Walk The Line," and of course, "Folsom Prison Blues."  All three resonate with themes of pain, redemption and love and reflect Cash's tumultuous yet successful and award winning life as a musician that was also sadly marked by his brother's childhood death, drug abuse and divorce.

Johnny Cash -- The Man in Black

So with all that Johnny Cash had going on in his life, you might think his To Do list would reveal the secrets to what inspired him.  You might expect to see a To Do List that says things like "Call My Agent," "Lunch with George Jones," "Must Write Lyrics to New Song," or "Rehearse for Upcoming Tour."  I would have figured that the guy is a big time celebrity and the stuff that he reminds himself that he has to do is going to reflect that right?  But it doesn't. 

 

Cash's list is worth reading because it appears he used it as a tool for him, a healing tool that helped him take the next step.  I can relate to the whole idea of list making as a way to put life's priorities in focus.  If you have any doubt about what Cash's priorities were, look at what he puts at the top of the list.  Don't Smoke.  His health.  He is trying to fight that awful nicotine monster just like any other ordinary person. 

It just goes to show that sometimes public people have simple needs and desires just like anyone else and that the things he worried about or tried to keep under control are the very same things we think about or worry about, such as not eating too much.  In other words, I think Cash felt life might not always be fair in the habits you have to fight but it's still damn good!!

 

Unfortunately, Johnny Cash died in 2003, less than four months after his second wife, June Carter Cash died.  Cash writes about his list in the autobiography that he wrote titled, "Cash: An American Man" and when the original of this list went up for auction, someone paid over $6000 for it.

 

I love #2 and #3 and #9!

What's on your To Do list today?

Summertime Music In December

Baby, it's cold outside isn't it?

 

Weather predictions of flurries, dropping temperatures and possible black ice bring with it winter's outer armor of boots, scarves, gloves and woolen hats.  Meanwhile, kids around the nation are praying for snowstorms to arrive for Santa Claus and Christmas and extra days off from school.

 

And in the midst of all this Winterness, a friend tweeted this rockin' new video (see below) titled "Keep This In" by Phillip Noss that transports me to one of my favorite places: THE BEACH!!!!

 

Santa Delivers To The Beach Doesn't He?

 I love the warm, breezy feel to this song and I think it's the perfect antidote to the current all play all day Christmas carols that seem to be piped in to every stereo system that I come into contact with.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am not being a Scrooge this year at all.  It's just that sometimes I get burnt out about the commercial aspects of Christmas very quickly, especially since it seems to start earlier and earlier each year.

 

Please notice that no one in this video has a coat on or anything resembling winter gear.  From the first seconds of Phillip Noss' good ole rock and roll song, I am immediately transported to a Coney Island boardwalk wonderland of arcade games and even bumper cars and I can practically smell the caramel popcorn and taste the greasy fries that are part of the beach's mandatory menu.  Just so you know, pizza is also on this mandatory beach menu!

 

It's Summertime in December by watching the below link to Phillip Noss' new song and video, Keep This In, the first single off his upcoming album, Lover On The Run:
 

Holiday Mash-Up

In music, mashups are when a performer or group combines the instrumentals of one song with the vocals of another song and then the mashup, or blending if you will, is played as a new song.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it flops.

 

In retail, this is the time of year for practicing what I think of as a huge marketing mash-up.  Stores no longer wait for one holiday to almost happen and then stock the shelves with the decorations or products for the next holiday.  There is no longer any retail restraint with regard to holidays; it's just throw it all out there at any time and let the calendar be damned.

 

I guess if I made a living in retail I would understand this "go for broke" philosophy.  Most stores are counting on shoppers during the holiday season to help them rack up profits for the year but the holiday marketing mashup makes it awfully hard for those who have lost a loved one and are using all their strength to emotionally keep it together.

 

Christmas decorations are on the shelves in October, Thanksgiving table decorations are on sale in September and Halloween candy can be found next to August's displays for school supplies.  It's confusing to know what time of the year it is if I'm using stores as a seasonal guide.

 

Since most of the retail rules got kicked to the curb, I'm suggesting a few things for those who are particularly emotionally vulnerable the holiday season.  If you are able to embrace the holidays in all their magic and wonder then good for you!! I congratulate you on your good luck and I hope that no matter what holidays you celebrate that you have the best holidays ever!!

 

But for people who are newly widowed or have lost a child, a relative or a friend, the holidays are filled with memories and expectations.  And this is where the marketing mashup causes problems.

 

Memories, yes, are wonderful, and I feel blessed to have some great memories of my late husband but I know from personal experience and also from conversations with those who have experienced a loss that as much as you steel yourself for the celebration of religious and traditional holidays, you only have enough emotional energy to deal with them one at a time.  Holiday reminders thrown at you all at the same time can put you into emotional overload which is not what you want at all.

 

Your life has changed and it's important to take care of you.  There is no requirement that you celebrate your holidays the way that you always did when your loved one was alive.  If you haven't already, talk to your family and friends about what you want to do over the holidays.  If traditions and time honored routines give you comfort, then please continue with the ones you feel you need and want to keep.   If you want to create new traditions, then you should feel free to celebrate in a new way.

 

Holidays are a highly charged time of year and you deserve to find a healing zone within these months of eating, drinking and making merry. 

Trust your  instincts.  It's best for your mental and physical well being to take the holidays at your own pace and celebrate in your own way, not a mashed up, commercial version of what Madison Avenue thinks you should do.
 

Alicia Keys -- Listen To Your Heart

My new thing is to listen to Alicia Key's "Girl On Fire" CD on my way to work.

 

Alicia Keys is amazing!  I have loved her music from the first time I heard her groundbreaking song, "Fallin",  on the radio about 10 years ago.  I didn't know who she was but I googled and youtubed until I found out.  I have been lucky enough to see her perform live twice and that is the best!! 

 

 

Alicia Keys "Girl On Fire" CD

 

She has a beautiful, smooth, soulful voice, is an incredible songwriter and her music pulls you into some kind of a powerful healing zone.

 

Listening to all kinds of music brings about little miracles every day.  It brings people joy, empowers them to think positively, connects them to memories and can also offer relief from pain.

 

We are all on a journey, and as Alicia Keys says, there are people out there telling us what they think is right or what is wrong, but if we listen to our hearts we will know for ourselves which way to go.

 

Let's take the time to mellow out a bit on the last day of the work week. 

 

Please click on this link and listen to Alicia Keys sing song number four on her "Girl On Fire" CD, "Listen to Your Heart":

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4BHZnOEGvI

iPods Forever

I am deleting all of the songs on my iPod and starting over.

Here is a blast of a song from the '80's that I will be adding to my new song list.

I don't know what happened to Lisa Stansfield but I always turn up the volume when I hear this song:

I hope you are having a great weekend!

A Heavenly Summer Wind

Happy Birthday Love today to a Special Person in Heaven.

 

The Birthday Boy was an abrupt-on-the-outside, marshmellow-on-the-inside kind of a guy who was my husband and my friend for 17 years plus.  He was an old school kind of Dad to five talented and fantastic children and took a HUGE amount of pride in his work as an award-winning reporter/writer.


He never forgot his New Jersey roots, having been born and raised in Red Bank, and was a die hard Giants and Yankees fan.  He loved everything about New Jersey: the infamous jokes about exits, the rumble tumble way of life and the edgy personalities of those hailing from the Garden State.

 

In honor of his birthday, I am posting a video of Hoboken's own Frank Sinatra singing one of his favorite songs: The Summer Wind.

Happy Birthday To The O:

Mele Kalikimaka -- A Hawaiian Christmas Song

Aloha!! This is a Christmas song that you may not have heard before but it is a song that I know from my childhood.

 

My Dad is a big Bing Crosby fan and he would always play this song every Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

My sister (the one who is my Irish twin) and I thought it was a very funny song because it has a funny title and is about Christmas in Hawaii and "the land where palm trees sway."  While dressed in our pajamas, my sister and I would get up and perform for the rest of the family and sing and dance the hula.  I'm not sure why our other siblings didn't join us but they always would watch as we got up and emoted all over the place.

 

These kinds of memories hold a special place in my heart and I find them comforting as well as healing.  They help me remember that there is still that little girl still inside me who knows how to be silly and enjoy the moment!

 

I hope you have similiar holiday memories that you also cherish and perhaps you even made a few yesterday as you celebrated Christmas with your family and friends. 

 

As they say in Hawaii -- Mele Kalikimaka!

 

That's the island greeting that I send to you and yours during this holiday season.

Here is the YouTube version of Bing Crosby singing Mele Kalikimaka and a slideshow of Hawaiian scenes: