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Pop Rock Nation

Category: People

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  • Random downloading…

    Random downloading…

    I have found some great stuff via random downloading. I have also found some terrible stuff that way…

    If you are a regular reader of Pop Rock Nation, you know that I am a music lover and enjoy a broad spectrum of musical styles. I often discover music by stumbling across it. If I hear something I like in a bar, for instance, I’ll use Shazam to find out the name of the song and the artist. A lot of times, I’ll then purchase the song. Sometimes I’ll download free songs on Amazon or iTunes. I’ll even pay to download something if the mood strikes me and have quite a few albums in my iTunes library that I bought on a whim.

    Now that I think about it, I’ve actually bought a lot of music that way. Back in the days before the Internet, I used to buy albums without hearing them first. There was a time when there weren’t any “listening posts” in music stores. You basically took a risk whenever you forked over your hard earned money for a new album. Sure, you might have heard a song or two on the radio if the album had a hit or two. But the rest of the album might very well have been a mystery. I had a friend about twenty years ago who often refused to buy albums for that very reason. She only wanted the songs she knew and liked, so she’d buy singles or tape stuff off the radio.

    A couple of weeks ago, I downloaded a couple of albums off of Amazon.com that consisted of Spanish guitar music. I was inspired by our recent trip to Spain and Portugal and wanted something nice in my collection for times when I wanted to make a mental escape back abroad. I kind of knew what I liked and listened to a couple of samples, but otherwise knew nothing about the artists other than what I heard on the short clips Amazon provided. I bought one album by a fellow names Armik because he’s Armenian-Iranian and I used to live in Armenia. From what I heard on Amazon, he plays a hell of a good Spanish style guitar. I bought another by Johannes Linstead because his album got a lot of great reviews. So far, I’m pretty pleased with both purchases.


    “Andalucia” by Johannes Linstead.


    “Flames of Love” by Armik.

    The flip side of this is that sometimes I have ended up with some less impressive purchases. I bought an album by Argentine pianist Raul Di Blasio based on a beautiful acoustic piece I heard on a YouTube video. I could only get the piece by buying the whole album. I did, and it turned out I liked the rest of the album much less than that one beautiful piano piece I’d heard on YouTube. The rest of the album was very new age and kind of bored me.


    Raul Di Blasio’s “Solo”, piano version.

    As much as I love music and engage in random downloading, I also love books. I will even read self-published books if the subject matter interests me. Today’s post was actually inspired by a terrible book I downloaded last night. It was kind of my fault. I didn’t read the description or check up on the author. I thought I was getting a non-fiction book and it turned out I got a very shoddily written novel. I read the thing and was a little annoyed at the end. It wasn’t a total waste, since I was able to write a rather scathing review of the book on one of my other blogs. But it did remind me that I need to be more careful about random downloading.

    Here’s a little something I recently found while random downloading…

  • Why the Sochi Winter Olympics reminds me of Eurovision…

    Why the Sochi Winter Olympics reminds me of Eurovision…

    Today’s post is all about why the Sochi Winter Olympics reminds me of Eurovision…

    My friend Dave is now living in Ukraine’s capital city, Kiev. I met Dave in 1995, when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia and he was a newly returned Peace Corps Volunteer who had served in Russia. Dave had a job at a non-profit aid organization and, since there were few Americans in Armenia in the 90s, we ended up meeting. Years later, Facebook has brought us together again and I have been watching him post many disturbing articles, photos, and videos of the current political unrest going on in Ukraine. Much of what he’s posted has been scary and sobering, but Dave is not above showing off his generous sense of humor. Yesterday, he posted an article from The New Yorker that said people were being “grossed out” because they were being forced to look at half naked photos of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in their hotel rooms.

    Many people actually believed the article instead of recognizing it as satire. Vladimir Putin is not known for his humility and cuddly personality, after all. The author of the article, Andy Borowitz, cleverly noted in a “quote” supposedly by Putin, “These people who are complaining about what is on their walls should be grateful… At least they got one of the rooms with walls.” Not long after I read this article from The New Yorker, I found a very funny and telling gallery of photos that supposedly show what conditions are like in Sochi right now.

    Having once lived not too far from Sochi, I can attest that these photos are probably pretty accurate.

    Reading about Putin supposedly forcing hapless hotel guests to look at his topless photos in their rooms made me think of an incident that occurred just before the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. At the time, my husband Bill and I were living in Germany and we made a point of watching Eurovision when it came on television in May. Months before the 2009 contest, there was a controversy involving the song entered by the Republic of Georgia. At the time, the Republic of Georgia was reeling from a political incident that occurred in August 2008 known as the Russia-Georgia war. Georgia was also dealing with political pressure from Putin, who was concerned about Georgia’s desire to join the European Union and increase its dealings with the United States. Bill actually went to Georgia just after the brief war and told me stories of how the Georgians seemed to like Americans a lot more than Russians.

    The Eurovision Song Contest is supposed to be about fostering goodwill among nations in Europe. In that regard, it’s not unlike the Olympic Games. Song entries are not supposed to be political in nature. But I’m guessing that Georgia’s Stephane and 3G couldn’t resist the urge to write a song that really said something. They wrote and performed a song called “We Don’t Want To Put In”. Though the song was eventually deemed too political, Georgia elected to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest rather than change the lyrics or replace the song.


    The very catchy disco styled song, “We Don’t Want To Put In” by Stephane and 3G. I can’t help but think it sounds a lot like Disco Inferno by The Trampps.

    When Dave posted that hilarious satirical article about Putin’s shirtless photos, I was immediately reminded of this hilarious and very ballsy entry by the Georgians for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009. I’m sure as the Winter Olympic Games continue and more things come to light about the state of things in Sochi, the Winter Olympics may remind me even more of Eurovision. On another note, I’ve checked out more of Stephane and 3G’s music and I like it. I even went on iTunes and downloaded the many different versions of “We Don’t Want To Put In”. I guess in a way, the Sochi Winter Olympics is promoting something besides good sportsmanship and goodwill.

  • Kids’ music…

    Kids’ music…

    Should I be ashamed to admit that I like kids’ music?

    I’m 41 years old and I don’t have kids or even any nieces or nephews who are young enough to enjoy children’s author Sandra Boynton’s latest book, Frog Trouble. And yet, yesterday morning I bought the album that accompanies her book. Why? Because Alison Krauss sings a song on it and I noticed I liked a lot of the other artists on the book’s soundtrack.

    Alison Krauss – “End of a Summer Storm” from Sandra Boynton’s “Frog Trouble” [Official Music Video] from Crazy Lake Pictures on Vimeo.

    This video was posted on my Facebook feed yesterday. I listened to the song and loved it and went directly to Amazon.com, where I immediately downloaded a copy of the album. This is not the first time I’ve done this. Several years ago, Alison Krauss contributed a beautiful song called “Evermore” to Boynton’s book, Dog Trail. I downloaded that, too.


    This video is not based on the book, but someone on YouTube made a video for “Evermore”.

    I discovered “Evermore” in 2007, when my husband was deployed to Iraq and the song brought me consolation as I worried about his safety every day. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to kids’ music. It tends to be wholesome and comforting. It often touches the heart or is silly enough to provoke laughter. It lets an adult listener travel back to a time when maybe things weren’t so stressful or scary.

    While Bill was deployed, I also discovered a couple of songs by Raffi that were covered by favorite artists. One song was “Bananaphone”, which Rhonda Vincent and the Rage turned into a fun bluegrass jam.

    This song comes from the Country Goes Raffi album. I’ll admit I am a bit old for it, but it’s a cute song nonetheless.

    Alison Krauss also contributed to that particular compilation with her rendition of “Blessed Be”. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video for that song, but it brought me a lot of comfort when Bill was away.

    When I suffered from clinical depression in the late 90s, I found myself purchasing a Sesame Street album. I used to listen to it all the time. I’d put it on the CD player as I drove to work each day. My job at that time was very stressful; I worked at a fine restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia, where I was regularly berated by co-workers and customers alike. The 45 minute commute to and from work was a good opportunity for me to wind down with something silly. So I’d listen to songs like “Put Down the Duckie” to put myself in a lighthearted mood.


    I can’t tell you how many crappy shifts this song got me through.

    James Taylor’s “Jelly Man Kelly” is a favorite…


    Man, those kids have some lungs!

    And so is his brother Livingston’s song, “Pajamas”…


    This version of “Pajamas” is from In Harmony, which Liv did with his brother, James, Carly and Lucy Simon, Bette Midler, George Benson, Ernie and Cookie Monster, Dr. John, Linda Ronstadt, and Wendy Waldman, among others.

    Another favorite CD during that time was Kenny Loggins’ Return to Pooh Corner. I used to listen to that album all the time in an attempt to chill out and revert to a simpler time.


    I know a lot of people like the title track on that disc, but my favorite song was his rendition of “All The Pretty Little Ponies”. I love how he arranged it.

    Last month, I even bought the soundtrack for The Muppet Movie, a film that debuted when I was seven years old. I remember seeing it in the movie theatre and loving it, but I only just now came into possession of the soundtrack.


    This song always gives me a lump in my throat, even when it’s done by other artists besides Kermit the Frog.


    Even Karen Carpenter sang it!

    And now I think I better quit with the nostalgic kids’ music because I’m starting to get very verklempt.