My media player kicks in and blasting in my ear is 15 Step, from their latest album release, In Rainbows. I immediately start to sing, unknowingly, too loud. My wife comes down stairs to see what’s going on. She begins to laugh. It must have been my outfit – a green one piece pajama outfit – and the off key pitch in my voice as I attempt to sound like Thom York. As if that were even a possibility, but I try nevertheless. Kuri reminds me to lower my voice so I don’t wake the baby. Good call on her part. I wasn’t aware of how loud I was due to the headphones. We’ve all been there before, belting out tunes, oblivious of our surroundings and volume of singing.

She returns to bed and I continue to sing along with every song, in a much softer voice. I’m in a zone now baby, as Weird Fishes gets my head to bouncing as if I were in a bumpy car ride. I zoom through my action items list, loving the moment I am in.

Back to the purpose of this blog entry; the team and I are suppose to journal our favorite current song. Well, I don’t have a favorite current song, but I do have a favorite current band, Radiohead. They are simply amazing and with every album release, they seem to blow me totally away.

I have a question(s) for all of you who are reading this blog: What is your favorite Radiohead song? Where were you when you first heard it and why is that particular song your favorite? If you are not a fan of Radiohead, I strongly recommend you hop on the bandwagon. All pun intended. Should you know of someone who is a fan, please send them this blog entry, as I’d love to hear what they think.

Rock On…

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The Soundtrack of my Life:  “Stealing Beauty” compilation. Film by Bernardo Bertolucci. Music by various artists…

1. 2Wicky: Hooverphonic

2. Glory Box: Portishead

3. If 6 was 9: Axiom Funk / Bootsy Collins

4. Annie Mae: John Lee Hooker

5. Rocket Boy: Liz Phair

6. Superstition: Stevie Wonder

7. My Baby Just Cares For Me: Nina Simone

8. I’ll be Seeing You: Billie Holiday

9. Rhymes of an Hour: Mazzy Star

10. Alice: Cocteau Twins

11. You Won’t Fall: Lori Carson

12. I Need You: Sam Phillips

At the very least, this is one of my favorite movies and soundtracks. Since I went to film school and focused my studies on Italian film and creative writing, once I found “Stealing Beauty” I knew I had stumbled upon a gem. I traveled to Italy for a summer studies semester just after watching this 1996 Bertolucci film… and thought I had found love the day I met the film’s lead actor, Liv Tyler’s crush, Ignatio Oliva, in an Italian tavern called the “Drunken Ship.” Sounds like a great place to meet a crush, right? He was such a lovely guy and treated my American crew to dinner and drinks, and offered a little taste of the world of “Stealing Beauty.”  He even told us what it was like to work with Bertolucci, one of my long time favorite directors.  “Let’s just say, this was the most stunning film shoot I have been or will ever be a part of,” he said as we all picked his brain about working with one of the greats. Over several pints, he admitted to temporarily falling for Liv Tyler… He said it was the setting; I think it was the music…

Every single time I listen to this soundtrack, I feel like I should light 600 white candles and take a seven hour lavender bath. I think at heart, I am a romantic girl… aren’t we all deep down, just sappy big-eyed girls who wanna be rescued and swept away?  Maybe not, but this soundtrack hypnotizes me, leaving me doe-eyed.  I often feel like Lucy, the film’s lead, who sets off for an Italian summer vacation to a distant relative’s Tuscan dream home.  If only they lived on a vineyard, then I would jump right into the film itself and make a living. She’s bent on finding the childhood dream-boy she remembers meeting once as a young girl.  The film follows Lucy through her discoveries, her embarrassing escapades, and her travels to a place where she feels virtually alone. Sounds like me at 22, heading out to scary L.A. to make some sort of difference and years later, stumbling upon a well paved path.

Not only does this soundtrack make for the perfect mood setter, but tracks from John Lee Hooker, to Billie Holiday to Sam Philips throw this entire digital age into the trash can… there’s a sound to these older records we’ve somehow replaced with a slicker, overproduced tone.  I don’t mind it so much, but I will say as soon as Liz Phair’s track “Rocket Boy” comes around, I have to immediately fast forward.  It drives me crazy actually, even though this is my favorite soundtrack (nothing’s perfect).  In fact, on my computer, I have it deselected so I never have to hear the song ever, ever, ever again. I know that it made the soundtrack as her “coming of age, throw caution to the wind, Debbie Harry dance routine” scene, but I suppose I don’t relate to bratty, enraged teenagers anymore.   As for the rest (best) of the tunes, my favorite is probably “My Baby Just Cares for Me” by Nina Simone… her voice transcends the decades, her attitude sarcastically demands attention and care.  You have to go get this soundtrack, watch the movie, fall in love with Italy… set up that seven hour bath and candles… and tell me what your favorite track on this record is and why?

You might not meet Liv Tyler or Ignatio Oliva, or even Jeremy Irons, but after you see the movie and listen to it’s soundtrack, you’ll feel as if you belong on that Tuscan ranch… Enjoy.

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Behind the Scenes EagleEar Entertainment

from Eagle Ear Entertainment on Vimeo .

Links to follow…

Stephanie

Hey everyone! Welcome to my first blog. I must admit I am a bit timid when it comes to publicly journaling my thoughts, but I know this is going to be an exciting adventure that we will take together. Your comments and ideas about the things I will share over the course of time will become a key component to make this blog space interesting and unique. So thanks in advance for what you and I are going to explore together.

My inexperience for preparing for this blog immediately surfaced when it took a ridiculous 30 minutes to pull off the CD image of my “life’s soundtrack” from the internet. I had to laugh at myself and realize that there are plenty of other “30 somethings” out there who would probably agree that the tweeners have become our mentors on this sort of thing…but heck-I can totally do it….my hair just may turn grey before it happens! HA! Would you agree?

So anyway–Day 1–my current season of life is best defined by the first album I ever bought as a child “Grease”. Yes, it is a bit embarrassing to admit I have always felt like the famed Sandy (played by long time mentor Olivia Newton John)… who brilliantly created the role of the straight laced, conservative, America’s perfect little sweetheart. Along with those qualities, surfaced the desire to be liked and accepted by her peers. Yet in the last scene of the movie she emerges as a svelte, skintight pants wearing, sexy, super-confident, pop singing diva-adored by her handsome Danny!

Sandy’s finale is something I strive for-especially as a musician (minus the leather pants). I am ready to find my voice and come out of the predictable and safe music shell I have been living in. I am ready to move boldly into the world with a clear sense of who I am as an artist and a person– not worrying about what others think about me. I am ready to define my own authentic sense of “cool” which will be magnetic. I am thankful that I have a beautiful husband, Jason (my Danny) who will help me discover this new confident self and my two beautiful kids (Jackson and Julia).

Wanna join me? It’s time we all find our inner-rock star!

Well, I know I must love and respect relationship.  Love the idea that I can love as much as I want, and no one can slow its pace.  I must live with a sense of passion.  Believe in what I love and feel its passion.  I must trust in Good.  I must trust that Goodness will have my back and protect me against that which threatens my love.  Despair will surely show its face, but I will be prepared as the aforementioned will have positioned me to embrace it.  War, well, it seems that will always be present.  Maybe it has something to do with people not wanting to love and be loved.  Lastly, sacrifice.  I have profound respect for sacrifice, for it is the ultimate expression of love and selflessness.  What am I willing to sacrifice for love and relationship?  Emphatically, EVERYTHING!

The soundtrack that set the stage, that evoked such emotion, is The Last of the Mohicans .  I’m not asking any of you to embrace my feelings about this soundtrack, but I am curious however to hear of any soundtrack, that moved you, that struck a cord, that made you say, I really like that.

So, please share with us your soundtrack of life?

My earliest musical moment I can remember came with the purchase of our family “singing machine”—the first Karaoke machine invented I assure you. In fact, I have that machine in my attic to this day that plays 8 tracks tapes signifying the influence that little sound maker played in my life. Stephanie and I would sing on opposite ends of a single jump-rope wailing complicated tunes from Barbara Streisand (Duet with Neil Daimond, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, Memory from Cats, and The Way We Were). While I don’t sit in my car these days blurting these tunes out…they shaped me and remind me of my younger days of musically connecting with my sister!

During my 4th grade year at Bright Elementary (brightschool.com), I debuted as the starring role in the Chattanooga Little Theater’s play, Annie. The song, Tomorrow, will be forever etched in my soul to remind me that when hard times comes, there is hope in each God given day.

I think back to my days of 8th grade at Baylor High School (baylorschool.org) during our crazy co-ed dances where I found so much joy twirling in the dark, strobe lights of our gym to The Bangles song Walk Like an Egyptian. Every time I hear that song I am freed by the reflection of the innocence of my youth. In my later years, I think on the song from one of my favorite movies Pretty In Pink, If You Leave, by OMD. I call those my technotronic days. Please forgive me.

College years included a love for songs by Depeche Mode (Personal Jesus and People are People) The Cure and a longing to be musically cool and “in the know” by my peers.

Of course the last decade of my life is really summed up as a musical smorgasbord. If you saw my IPod you would think I was totally schizophrenic, but I like it that way. I am most intrigued by artists who are selling lots of product, and I am trying to identify why the industry thinks they are endearing. For instance, what up with all this “throw back” music (with the likes of Duffy and Amy Whinehouse)? Is it really that good musically or just fulfilling a niche that hasn’t been occupied in a while? What artists do you listen to and are they selling? Why or Why not?