the ginger library

2012-01-15T23:05:00.002-05:00

2012 Wish List

2012-01-02T14:12:00.003-05:00

Recordings from NICK PAINTER.

Studio album for Liz McDaniel.

Looking for a Cure - Single by Liz McDaniel

2011 in Music

2012-01-01T17:50:00.004-05:00

So many exciting albums this year. It really was a turning point, and I have renewed my faith in the industry. Many artists are seeking independent means of releasing their material (just see Louis C.K. and his $5 a pop stand up comedy). There were handfuls of artists that released good albums, but it takes something special to create new and varying arts from previous works. There are too many to mention, so here's a couple of my faves for 2011:

St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
Annie Clark is always improving with age, but that's a wine I can't keep my hands off of. Her solo debut Marry Me had our attention, with her unique song writing. Marrow, composed through Garageband, was a knocked out of the park with her pairing of "gnarly" guitar and distorted sax tracks, and orchestration of brass and winds. Strange Mercy is another masterpiece, combing the tenderness of her first album with the rock energy of the second, delivered through ambient lenses. Her 4AD session shows the raw energy she exudes in her performances. "Northern Lights" is another standout track.

Slothpop - Kokoro
So much love and respect for our Indianapolis friends, Slothpop. They helped kick off 2011 with their release of Kokoro in January. The whole album is a journey of euphoric sounds, tempting you to place it on endless loop. The group released some video teasers the month prior in 2010, also worthy of mentioning.
Slothpop by Slothpop

SLOTHPOP : SAILING BIRD // a one-take show from One-Take Shows on Vimeo.

Emily King - The Seven EP
This is everything I hoped alternative R&B would be. The innovative Emily King has taken the genre to a new level. King has stepped back from the mainstream, independently releasing her new album, with more authentic, sweet, sultry sounds. She is definitely ahead of her time, and I can't wait to see what more she does.
The Seven EP by Emily King

King - The Story
Another glimmer of hope for R&B meets electronica. I about geeked when I first heard this song on Nick Austin's WDET show. WHY DON'T THEY PLAY THIS MUSIC ON MAINSTREAM RADIO. Ugh, anyhoo. I really look forward to seeing more of this trio in 2012. They have toured with Janelle Monae, and Prince is starting to check them out.

Take Away Show: Lianne la Havas - No Room For Doubt
La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows are always pleasant (Beirut's are often fun, with their orchestration). However, this video was just something else entirely. I literally dropped everything I was doing, mesmerized by her honest smile and voice. She's finally getting some good press, with her performance on Jools Holland costarring with Bon Iver.

Gun Lake - Balfour
Mark Fain, Mark Fain, Mark Fain. Ahh, yes. My favorite lyricist of the year. Once you are drawn in by the the sweet melodic timbres and harmonies, you are taken for a ride of stories. Listening to Balfour from start to finish is like reading a good book. Fain caters tracks in a traditional singer/songwriter feel meets indie-folk Michigan sound.
Balfour by Gun Lake

The Smoots - demos
Very much under the radar, Alyse Schneider cuts personal tracks from her Brooklyn residence. A great treat for those who have stumbled across these mixes.
right around the corner by The Smoots

Home recording feel: Holly Mae & The Painted Room - I Am Dark Sided
Ex-patriate Holly Mae's Berlin debut with new team of players. A great soundtrack to a quiet night at home (think bottle of wine, and personal handy DIY or craft project).
I Am Dark Sided by Holly Mae and the Painted Room

Best Video: Adele - Rolling In The Deep
No end of the year list would be complete without Adele's 21. I tried vehemently to not let this song be spoiled by radio overkill. I faired well, with rationing my number of album listenings, sticking to her live recordings, and saving it all for her appearance at Royal Oak Music Theatre in May.

Nod to Aretha Franklin
After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2010, Aretha had canceled her U.S. tour, only to return shortly into 2011: I originally was devastated that I may never see the powerhouse of soul live, but to my luck she delivered a stellar performance in August (with wardrobe changes!). Not to mention, her orchestra was tight, laying down the Motown. Anita Baker was also in attendance, giving props to her singing colleague.

So many great independent artists. Exciting things going on in Michigan and surrounding states. I didn't even really touch electronic/dance music or other mainstream artists. With 2012, I look forward to more releases from friends and new faces. If anything, I would request some more soul/funk revival (thank you Mayer Hawthorne for trying to revive out great export).

If you are looking for new tunes, just browse bandcamp for independent artists. Check out the lineup for 2011's Mitten Fest for great local groups (e.g. Stepdad). I also recommend Sunday as a good radio day full of music: WDET's Modern Music right into New Soul Sunday, then Ann Arbor's 107.1 for Sonic Bliss 9pm-12am.

2011-12-04T16:28:00.002-05:00

I'm feeling in quite a Blossom Dearie mood today.

I'm currently working on this song, though the Ella Fitzgerald version is the most popular. I enjoyed stumbling across this claymation video of the piece.

Best new thing

2011-11-02T23:31:00.000-04:00

The Seven EP by Emily King

Mind explosion

2011-11-02T23:26:00.000-04:00

2011-11-02T23:23:00.000-04:00

"In America, there is New York, San Francisco and New Orleans and everywhere else is Cleveland."
- Mark Twain

2011-06-28T01:34:00.001-04:00

" It isn’t enough to talk about peace, one must believe it.
And it isn’t enough to to believe in it, one must work for it."
- Eleanor Roosevelt

2011-06-28T01:24:00.000-04:00

"There is a vast difference between what you can get from the mind and what you can get from the heart. The mind is limited; the heart is unlimited."
– Sri Chinmoy

2011-06-28T00:12:00.000-04:00

"Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go."
- Hermann Hesse

2011-05-23T15:12:00.000-04:00

"Here you go again, philosophizing about what personal expression, creation, and authenticity are all about. Have you noticed that you have some problems expressing issues that don't fall within the norm, Gemini? Your strong will and desire to be appreciated get in your way. It isn't easy to express yourself authentically when you're trying to make an impression on others."

2011-03-12T16:34:00.002-05:00

It's hard to not feel as though you control your own emotions. Like Eleanor, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." It is just difficult to trick yourself to feel that way. Horoscopes pounding it in:

"Take care that your self-esteem doesn't depend on what other people tell you, Gemini. One minute a bit of flattery may send you high as a kite, and the next minute some criticism may have you feeling down in the dumps. Do your best to not let others blow you up and then deflate you as if you're nothing but a balloon."

2011-02-08T10:42:00.000-05:00

I'm grateful for snow! The reflection of light off the white in the dark of winter. I'm grateful for the cold making warm things feel warmer. No matter how painful it is, I am grateful to tear my academic muscles , so every time they heal I am stronger. 30 min presentation, done. Carrot juice, yum. Shoes with a very satisfying clop. Parkinson's group today. Donating blood. Full of love and anticipation.

Roseus, is my soul today.

2011-02-08T01:06:00.002-05:00

"First you adapt, then you adept."
-Robert W. Terry

"Adaptation is a process of self-discovery that can take many forms: it applies to our spiritual, cognitive, and physical self."
-Susan Holton

2011-02-04T22:22:00.000-05:00

Soft kisses, your warm cheek, your gentle, steady hand.

Photograph

2011-01-26T16:36:00.000-05:00

Christmas Horoscope

2010-12-25T02:00:00.001-05:00

"The celestial configuration may bring you closer together to a certain person with whom you have recently become romantically involved. Neither of you has exactly rushed into the relationship, yet you both have the intuition that you are meant for each other, and so time is not really an issue. You both feel secure in each other's company, and are very content to deepen the bond between you."

2010-11-08T21:14:00.002-05:00

oion to glukumalon ereuthetai akroi ep' usdoi,
akron ep' akrotatoi, lelathonto de malodropees.
ou man eklelathont', all' ouk edunant' epikesthai.

[the bride]
just like a sweet apple that ripens on the uppermost bough,
on the top of the topmost; but the apple-gatherers have forgotten it,
or rather, they haven't altogether forgotten it, but they could not reach it.

-SAPPHO, Fragment 105A V.

Campus Martius

2010-11-07T14:48:00.002-05:00

The talk of possibly ice skating in the future got me excited. Then I remembered this beautiful poem the mother of one of my past preschool students wrote:

I used to be afraid of dying.
a canopied nightmare wrapped in
rainbow sheets
soaked in fear of nothing and forever
Id jump out of my bed
and down the steps
into the arms of a mortal mommy
whose hugs would slow down my racing heart
It used to be the threat of nuclear attack
and that last chapter in the bible
that spun me faster than a top.
but death was a for-sure thing…
I knew life wasn’t all swings and slides
but
if old age meant rocking chairs and checkers
I could understand being tired of living/
still… death and its doneness were scary things
and infinity was a burning pyre of options.
There was nothing that I couldn’t imagine getting tired of…
until I saw your smile and your eyes bright and wild
as we ice skated in the middle of the city/
Facing Woodward and our future
u holding on to me
my hands sticking to the freezing rail
people passing in the streak that used to be my life/
I hold you up and let you fall
as my instincts tell me to
we leave only when our hands tremble from cold
my smile frozen/ begging for the warmth of yours in return
and the fear I felt now drips soggy and desperate
so vulnerable to you
so powerless to this force that entered my life
2 months early and right on time.
My winter baby
all cotton and down
You splash a cold breath on my life
as you release my hand
and wake me to renewal
I watch before you land
my young sprite
full of all things living and present
death so vacant and simple
an unworthy rival to the brown eyes peeking under your cap.

2010-11-03T15:06:00.005-04:00

This new blackberry tea reminds me of a nice frumpy sweater for typing work...and those wonderful candies that remind me of my grandparents and an earlier time.

You've got me checking horoscopes again.

"Emotions may cloud your thoughts as things start to heat up in a heavy way, Gemini."

Since they started falling, I've been picking up leaves here and there. Last year, I reserved the enormous ones for posting on my wall, but this weekend I will be putting up everything in a glorious hodge-podge of autumn.

When there's a defining moment each day, I search the earth floor for the perfect leaf. I then tuck it away in my notebook as a reminder. One for anticipation, one for when I had a challenging clinical, one for new friends, one for a reunion with old. I found the most beautiful, chocolate brown leaf, unlike any I've ever see--for an unexpectedly pleasant evening. The ones that bleed red have especially been imprinted on my brain. I tape it to the door.

2010-10-26T15:07:00.001-04:00

Mandy posted her zen tarot on her blog, which I found very applicable to my life right now.

"1) Letting Go: let go of that finished thing that defined you; letting go represents liberation

2) Receptivity: welcome a time of no expectations, no rewards; dissolving all of the obstacles that keep separate from the whole, from each other

3) Control: “there’s more to life than ‘being on top of things’”

Very glad to read today! I’m trying to take risks, and not worry as much, and be assertive, and manifest, and actually feel like I DESERVE things and then GET THEM. Yeah?! It’s a crazy, powerful shift in mindset.

Ugly readings at the Mug

2010-09-15T14:52:00.002-04:00

"As a grandfather I'm entitled to a few words of advice to the young, based upon my long and unvarying experience as a transgressor. I can sum them up with these answers to the oft-repeated question, "What would you do or not do if you had it all to do over again?"

I would spend more time with my children.
I would make my money before spending it.
I would learn the joys of wine instead of hard liquor.
I would not smoke cigarettes when I had pneumonia.
I would not marry the fifth time."

-An Open Book by John Huston

2010-09-06T01:22:00.000-04:00

‎"I am selfish, impatient, and a little insecure, I make mistakes, I am out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst than you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."
-Marilyn Monroe

I still like you, Arcade Fire

2010-08-21T00:29:00.001-04:00

This week I listened to Sound Check on NPR, where everyone was bashing Arcade Fire for being trendy, theatrical, various reasons. However, I really don't mind the new album, The Suburbs. Aside from the song Rococo, I've been obsessed with the song "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains." It's like everything I've ever wanted of Blondie and Labyrinth together + flying dream sequences of mine.

2010-08-18T01:32:00.001-04:00

‎"Fashion is meant to become unfashionable."
- Coco Chanel

Rest in peace, Abbey Lincoln

2010-08-14T18:12:00.000-04:00

Abbey Lincoln (1930-2010)

Brand New Key, pair of roller skates

2010-08-13T16:50:00.000-04:00

"A 8mm film done by my sister while
in high school for a class project
in the 70's with music by Melanie
that finally got edited to tape"

2010-08-04T00:36:00.003-04:00

She was the fine peaches of summer in the snow of winter, and she was cool milk for cereal on a hot early-June morning.
-Ray Bradbury, "A Story of Love"

Read the full short story here.

Birthday show

2010-06-14T22:16:00.002-04:00

The World Around Me

2010-05-03T14:31:00.000-04:00

Fay Kleinman and self-portrait, "The World Around Me," mixed-media.

2010-03-19T00:10:00.002-04:00

"Dear Mother: I have written to tell you my worrying secret. Now don’t cry when you read it because it is neither yours nor my fault. I suppose I will have to tell it now, without any nonsense. To begin with I was not meant to be an athlete. I was meant to be a composer, and will be I’m sure. I’ll ask you one more thing.—Don’t ask me to try to forget this unpleasant thing and go play football.—Please—Sometimes I’ve been worrying about this so much that it makes me mad (not very)."
-Samuel Barber, age 9

2010-02-24T22:48:00.000-05:00

“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.”
-Frank Clark

2010-02-02T13:09:00.001-05:00

On the ballet dancer and choreographer, Vaslav Nijinsky (1890-1950):

Nijinsky's Diary was written during the six weeks he spent in Switzerland before being committed to the asylum. Obscure and confused, it is obviously the work of a schizophrenic, but in many ways reflects a loving nature, combining elements of autobiography with appeals for compassion toward the less fortunate, and for vegetarianism and animal rights. Nijinsky writes of the importance of feeling as opposed to reliance on reason and logic alone, and he denounces the practice of art criticism as being nothing more than a way for those who practice it to indulge their own egos rather than focusing on what the artist was trying to say. The diary also contains bitter and conflicted thoughts regarding his relationship with Diaghilev.

"Superstition" live on Sesame Street

2009-11-14T15:10:00.001-05:00

Lucille, Arrested Development

2009-10-27T13:33:00.005-04:00

Obama Reads Where The Wild Things Are

2009-10-23T14:02:00.000-04:00

Purely good, Karen O and the Kids

2009-10-22T00:20:00.012-04:00

Where the Wild Things Are is among one of my favorite children books (along with Harold and the Purple Crayon, and some other gems). The soundtrack to the film is reeeally good. Everyone should run out and get it! (or download it, what have you, you shameless thieves)

From the mind of Karen (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), here's one of the tracks I really like to rock out to in the car. It just conveys so much of the honest emotion that children possess. Unapologetic. Entitled "Animal" -Karen O and the Kids

They wanted (O and Spike Jonze) to capture the innocence of children in the soundtrack. Here's a great behind the scenes of them composing.

Robert Flack’s “Gone Away” at Soul to Soul, Ghana.

2009-10-08T16:43:00.000-04:00

Cyrano, Act III of Cyrano de Bergerac

2009-09-23T17:37:00.000-04:00

Your name is like a golden bell
Hung in my heart; and when I think of you,
I tremble, and the bell swings and rings--
"Roxane!" . . .
"Roxane!" . . . along my veins, "Roxane!" . . .

2009-09-14T19:14:00.000-04:00

"'I was also afraid of committing a mistake...'
I like the idea of a mistake being thought of as a crime."

-Ghandi quote, from Emma's blog

2009-09-13T01:02:00.000-04:00

"History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes."
-Mark Twain

Monarch Butterflies

2009-09-08T19:37:00.000-04:00

Just like birds, monarchs migrate south for the winter, traveling between 1,200 and 2,800 miles (at a rate of about 50 miles a day) to their wintering spot in central Mexico. It's thought that they use an internal sun compass to find the way.

The Amazing Lyre Bird

2009-09-08T19:08:00.000-04:00

2009-09-06T01:13:00.000-04:00

"The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer."
-Edward R. Murrow

2009-09-02T03:22:00.000-04:00

Vernors is a flavored golden ginger ale aged for four years in oak barrels before bottling. It was the first U.S. soft drink, originating in 1866, although it was modelled on imported Irish ginger beers. In Detroit, Michigan, a drink made with vanilla ice cream and Vernors ginger ale is called a Boston cooler. The name is not taken from Boston, Massachusetts, where this combination is unknown, but from an establishment on Boston Boulevard in Detroit where it is said to have been invented.

a kiss on yellow wallpaper - ghada amer

2009-09-02T03:21:00.000-04:00

e.e. cummings, Poem 92 (of 95)

2009-08-28T03:57:00.000-04:00

i carry your heart with me ( i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
you go, my dear, and whatever is done
by only me, is your doing, my darling)

i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has meant
and whatever a son will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret, nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide),
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

2009-08-27T01:48:00.000-04:00

"You do not come
On this moonless night.
I wake wanting you.
My breasts heave and blaze.
My heart burns up."

-Ono No Komachi

The Love Poems of Marichiko

2009-08-27T01:39:00.000-04:00

The Love Poems of Marichiko were originally published as if they had been written by a young Japanese woman and Rexroth had merely translated them. In reality there was no such person as Marichiko — the poems were all written by Rexroth himself, projecting himself into a feminine persona, during the same period that he was translating several volumes of Chinese and Japanese women poets.

2009-08-27T01:33:00.000-04:00

"Making love with you
Is like drinking sea water.
The more I drink
The thirstier I become,
Until nothing can slake my thirst
But to drink the entire sea. "
-Marichiko

Eating on the shore in Staten Island.

2009-08-26T02:46:00.000-04:00

Peaches- farmers market in University Park.

View from Clare's roof-patio, Spanish Harlem, NYC.

2009-08-26T02:16:00.000-04:00

"Summer" -Thomas Dewing, 1890

2009-08-23T07:11:00.000-04:00

2009-08-20T03:07:00.000-04:00

"Just when the caterpillar thought the world over, it became a butterfly."
-Anonymous

2009-08-06T17:12:00.001-04:00

"I've been trying so hard to become an idea."
-Matthew Sadler, (Glen Arbor) Michigan poet

St. Rachel's Mission

2009-06-21T18:49:00.000-04:00