The next progression ....

What's in a song?  ... And what happens when the music stops?  Ends?

Starbucks & Raves ...

God Bless the young gentleman at the Starbucks drive-thru. Always nice to hear that you are beautiful in the eyes of someone other than your significant other, right?

Image Source

 

 

 

 

“Hello. You’re looking exceptionally beautiful today. Are you going anywhere special tonight?”

Totally caught me off guard. “Umm, grocery shopping?”

And I’m cool enough to discuss the next Rave party happening with while we wait on my order. It’s the little things, right? ; )

Slowly re-grounding myself after days of lamenting heavily … I’ll get there. Oddly enough, listening to my music (loving the new Spotify!) is helping enormously:   rhythm of Life …

Lacking Pretense ...

"Some lose all mind and become soul, insane.
Some lose all soul and become mind, intellectual.
Some lose both and become accepted.”

~Charles Bukowski

Listening to my favorite 70's era tunes on my Spotify playlist right now.  Think that's why I love this music so much:  it's completely lacking in pretense.  "Don't Fear the Reaper" ... Blue Oyster Cult.  Love this song!  Hmmm ... Death has no pretense.  He employs no guise or means of deceit ... Death is perhaps the one truth we all share?  I happened to write a poem about dealing with the loss of a loved one the other day.  It's titled "Empty Chair."  Perhaps I'll share it with you here one day ... Me, I'm perfectly at ease with Death.  As I've said before, Death and Isabelle are old friends.  There are many types of death to my way of thinking and I suppose that's fitting, seeing as there are conversely many types of love.  It's all about balance, is it not?

A dear friend of mine reminded me of the soothing, soulful writings of the poetic W. B. Yeats today.  Nobel Prize Winner, poet, playwright, painter and politician, but first and foremost an Irishman with fiery passion and heart. Here is one of my favorites by this talented artist.  Followed by a musical renditon of the same by the talented Lorenna McKennitt.  Enjoy ...

"Moonlight Reflections"

@Copyrighted Photograph.  All Rights Reserved: Isabelle Black Smith.

The Stolen Child
by W. B. Yeats
Where dips the rocky highland Of Sleuth Wood in the lake, There lies a leafy island Where flapping herons wake The drowsy water rats; There we've hid our faery vats, Full of berrys And of reddest stolen cherries. Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand. Where the wave of moonlight glosses The dim gray sands with light, Far off by furthest Rosses We foot it all the night, Weaving olden dances Mingling hands and mingling glances Till the moon has taken flight; To and fro we leap And chase the frothy bubbles, While the world is full of troubles And anxious in its sleep. Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand. Where the wandering water gushes From the hills above Glen-Car, In pools among the rushes That scarce could bathe a star, We seek for slumbering trout And whispering in their ears Give them unquiet dreams; Leaning softly out From ferns that drop their tears Over the young streams. Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand. Away with us he's going, The solemn-eyed: He'll hear no more the lowing Of the calves on the warm hillside Or the kettle on the hob Sing peace into his breast, Or see the brown mice bob Round and round the oatmeal chest. For he comes, the human child, To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than he can understand. (Poem courtesy of poets.org)

Song:  "Stolen Child", By Loreena McKennitt




God Bless and keep the man who picks me up when the little child in me falls completely apart once again.

Getting Lost in the Music ...

Image Source

“Feel The Music”


Falling, falling, free-falling: effortlessly lost in airborne, unwinding spiral.
Feel music’s intense energy pulse, penetrate and soothe: I’m going viral.
Getting lost in harmonious echoes of resonating ebb and endless flow.
Untethered release, begs repeat, I’m taking flight and finally letting go.



@Copyrighted Poem, August 2012. All Rights Reserved: Isabelle Black Smith.




♪♪♪Song:  You have to decide that one for yourself.  Find your own resonant frequency ...

Classical Guitar: Filomena Moretti

Revisiting an old favorite ....  This piece is just mesmerizing to me.  It takes me away from this here and now.  What an amazing gift to have, to be able to play an instrument as if it were an extension of you, an outpouring of your very soul.  Truly beautiful!



J.S. Bach, Suite en sol mineur BWV 995, Performed By Filomena Moretti.








P.S. It is good that I often revist my blog and read again what I have written.  It helps me to see where I have been, where I am going and perhaps some progress I have made along the way.  Also affords me the opportunity to correct thoughts that are not properly transcribed onto the written page.  Sometimes the thoughts flowing through my mind are such an intense outpouring of reasoning and emotion that it is difficult to contain them within the confines of our written language.  Sometimes too, I think that my subconscious mind has an agneda all its own.  Reading here again often gives me some clue as to just what might be going on within my subconscious mind.

Sailing Away with Music ...

Here's an old photo I never got around to processing ... have many of those, it seems. Makes me want to go sailing again. Alas, today is dark, dreary and drizzly. Not complaining though: we had glorious sunshine yesterday and the day before. Sun will be back. Today's weather is just a welcome license to kick back and do some much needed relaxing. 

"Let's Go Sailing!"

@Copyrighted Photo, 2011.  All Rights Reserved:  Isabelle Black Smith.

Listening to the group "America" today.  Love this group.  One of the very first albums I purchased with my hard-earned babysitting money.  I was an odd kid, I guess?  Always listening to music of an older generation.  For some reason, the music in the late 60's and 70's just speaks to me on a spiritual level.  What can I say?  Found some live recording videos of the group on youtube.com. Very cool.  Now playing:  "Tin-man".  Neat to see the group performing, live.  They were so young for such talent.  Love their soulful, poetic ballads.  One of my favorite groups of all-time.  Listening to their music just takes me away ... Perfect for this quiet rainy day.


Hope you're having a good one too! =)



Peace & Love,

~M




P.S.  Not going to put a link to any of the America videos here.  Seems most of the time when I share a link WMG steps in and has the video removed for content violations?  So sad ... How does WMG suppose it's going to promote its artists if they keep systematically slamming everything on the internet?

Painting the Blues ...

Painting with my new graphics tablet while listening to some "Blues" music ... Writing to follow shortly.  Just have to get back into that groove again where the words and ideas are flowing.  Hoping "doodling" will help pave the way for the latter.  I just might print the larger version of this on canvas and hang it in my office?


Joyful day to you!



~M

"Tulip Blush"

@Copryrighted Image.  All Rights Reserved:  Isabelle Black Smith.

“A strange truth I have come of late to know of words: Words only breathe to life when the recipient is at last ready for what they have to 'say' to be heard.” ~Isabelle Black Smith

Song: "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", By Eva Cassidy 


... This was one of the very first songs I ever learned to play on my flute. Since then it has always been a favorite for me.  Love Eva Cassidy's voice; she really brings this song to LIFE.

Here's another of my favorites by Eva ... this song just touches me on a spiritual level for some reason.  I find myself swaying to the music and outright dancing by the end of the song : )



Song: "People Get Ready", By Eva Cassidy



6/12/11 ... Love Eva ... Discovered her just after my first daughter was born.  Lauren grew up listening up to Eva sing and by the age of two --she was very verbally advanced for one so little-- she began to sing along.  Lauren's favorite song quickly became "Wade in the Water".  By the time she was three, Lauren could hold her own against Eva with "Wade in the Water" ... Whenever that song came on, Lauren would drop everything, come running and climb up on the coffee table or stand smack in front of the TV --she wanted an audience for her song ; )  Then she would just belt out those Blues for 'her song'... and this at the tender age of three.  Today Lauren has the voice of an angel.  She sings in choirs and has even worked up the courage to do a number of solos.  I am so proud of Lauren.  She is my inspiriation to find my own voice to sing again.  ... Lauren had her final choir concert for the season this evening.  Guess, I was just reminiscing.  Remembering my little Lauren singing the Blues up on her coffee table stage not so very long ago.  Love you, Lauren ♥


.

One-eyed ME?

Not much writing these past few days :(  Injured my eye over the weekend.  Self-inflicted wound ... trying to improve my vision, perhaps?  Opened my eyes to a new way of seeing through pain pills, I guess.  Kind of knocks down all your protective barriers in a manner of speaking.  Truth is a booger sometimes ... But the drugs wear off and reality sets back in.  Life in the moment, right?  And when you look back, only the important ones shine through ... We tend to edit out the painful and mundane, don't we?

Life in this moment ... this here, this now.  No looking back ... Only forward.  After all, I believe that there is a ruling balance corrects over time.

I hadn't realized how much we do with our eyes on a given daily basis.  A bit frustrating to be one-eyed for a few days here.  Sensitivity to light and lots of pain ... Trying to give up the pain pills today.  They make me incredibly sleepy and loopy, never really cared much for drugs of any kind.  I have slept a lot these last few days though, so I guess that's something.  Lots of writing ideas buzzing around in my head.  Wish I had taken Ken up on his offer to buy me "Dragon" ; )  Still haven't played with my birthday presents either --among them a new high tech digital graphics tablet for photo editing and ART renders.  So this dang eye had best heal quickly!  Doctors say I should be good as new in 5-7 days, it's been 4 days now. I'm a terrible patient, I know.  I'll find something to do with myself --besides sleep, but I suppose a closed eye maybe heals quicker?-- between now and the magic number of 7 days and it better not take longer than that!

Since I can't see, I've no recent photo edits.  I could post a photo of me during one of my 3 a.m. --up all night-- photo editing sessions?  At least this photo has me without an injured eye?  Guess, I'll post and take it down in a day or two when these drugs wear off ; )  ... Pain is a funny thing, for me when I don't take the pain pills I can't tune out this eye pain, like I can with other pain.  The pain is so intense and IN MY HEAD, it just translates into intense irritation, bordering on aggravation.  Talk about short tempered?!? I have to wonder if maybe the drugs are the lesser of the evils in this instance?

3 a.m. photo editing ...

A tired, but not yet sleepy me?

Well, wish me a speedy recovery so that I can get back to writing, right?!  My ears are still working though.  I found a cool song by Lifehouse, titled "Broken" ... I would title it "Barely Breathing", but they are the artists.  Apparently, this group did a recent remake of this song ... newer more hip, instrumentally intensified version.  I prefer the original version, myself.  I didn't like the music video for this as it was not at all how I had envisioned or interpreted the song, but decide for yourself.   Oh well,  this song is about "pain" and "healing" and "broken" (my eye) so it fits with my current state of being.  Enjoy!

Song:  "Broken", Lifehouse



Healing vibes to all who pass this way!


Peace & Love,
~M




P.S. Have a friend who seems to be venturing into stand-up comedy these days.  Finding humor in this life of ours ... having a sense of humor ... is a form of higher evolvement on some level, I think.  Well, perhaps contemplating life from a one-eyed perspective will give him some funny material to work with?  Am I a rock star with my dark glasses 24/7 or would I go over better as a pirate with an eye-patch?  I've always had a thing for pirates ; )  Best to you, Paul.   XOXO

"10,000 Miles" ...

I happened to be doing some late-night browsing, last night, sorting through music on Youtube.com.  I was in search of songs that would speak to me in some way.  As I was looking, I stumbled across this song by Mary Chapin Carpenter: "10,000 Miles".  My parents used to love this artist's music in my younger days, but for whatever reason I have only a vague recollection of this particular song?  Still, this song is a truly beautiful and lyrical ballad.  This song almost seems to be a poem, temporarily taking on the form of song.  There is also some breathtaking photography accompanying this video, which surely makes it worth the time it takes to view and absorb it's hidden meanings.  If you're lucky, maybe this song/music video will speak to your soul as well?  Today is a special day for me.  Thus far it's been a day of quiet reflection, as I attempt to take a spiritual deep breath before I step forward to embrace what's left of my future in this life as we know it. With the latter in mind, this song seems to fit rather nicely with my mood this particular day.  

I will be away from blogging these next few weeks.  I have a lot of writing to do.  Hope to finish my novel #2 by summer's end.  Take care and God Bless!


Peace & Love,
~M


P.S. Parting thought: I'm wondering, when the Fat Lady finally sings:  What will she sing?????  Some food for thought while I'm away, perhaps? ; )  ... And remember, judge not lest you should be judged --see the Sirach quote from the Bible in my quotes section.  The universe wanted me to remind you of this.  Maybe when I finish this novel, I will finally pick up that infernal thing they call a phone and call you on it?  Would you actually answer, with spoken word, I wonder?

Song: "10,000 Miles", By Mary Chapin Carpenter


5/15/2015   Was tending to my patio garden this afternoon when three blackbirds flew across the backyard in hard left-bank, F-16 like fighter formation fly-over.  Then seconds later another blackbird flew slowly across the yard in the opposite direction (heading off toward the right-hand side of the yard) and I swear he was squawking something that sounded an awful lot like "Happy Birthday to You", over and over again.  It's the little things right? ; )

Time in a Bottle & A Box for Wishes ...

@Copyrighted Photo, 2012.  All Rights Reserved:  Isabelle Black Smith.

The Daisy ... A simple flower, one that brings joy, spreads smiles and symbolizes Hope.

The words to this song, "Time in a Bottle", have been playing in my head today for some reason?  I've always loved this song.  I hear it from time to time on the radio, but I could never remember who the artist was.  So tonight, I took some time and found this song on-line.  To me, this is a simple song about the simple blessings in life ... May your blessings come often and be many.  May you never get so caught up in the ways of the world that you forget to stop and count the blessings in your own life.




Peace & Love,
~M





Song:  "Time in a Bottle", By Jim Croce







P.S. Anyone trying to send me a message ... My psychic wires seem to be down these past several days.  Lots of stress and little to no sleep.  If you need me to hear, you'll have to speak loudly ... if not, shout.  ; )

Reminiscing ...

Change of pace.  No deep thoughts or soul searching tonight.  Reminiscing with an old album tonight ... Yes, I should be sleeping, I know.  Did some Admin stuff for my group.  Wrote for awhile and finally caught the tale-end of a movie that I keep missing.  Stinks not to know how a movie ends, right?  Anyhow, I'm too tired to read ... so I thought I'd try getting lost in music to see if that winds me down for sleep.  Don't feel like taking sleeping pills tonight ....

Here's the album I'm getting in lost in:  Toad the Wet Sprocket, album "Fear".  Great group! I love their lyrical ballads.  This was a favorite of mine in my college days.  Only one song I don't like on the whole album.  Bet you can guess which one?  Maybe, if I would let myself listen to it objectively, I might see this song in a different light?  Nope ... don't think I can be objective in this case ...

Well, here is one of my favorites songs off of this album, "Something to Say" ...


Love this song.  Says to me: you can talk ... we can talk, dancing in circles all night, but when you're ready to cut the 'crap' and show me the real you:  then we've finally got something to say.


http://youtu.be/70IPjPf3nnY




Well enjoy ... Nite, and hopefully some sweet dreams will follow.  But I guess, if you never had any bad dreams how would you have a reference to be able to appreciate the good dreams when, and if, they come your way? ... Just wish I wasn't still so afraid of the power of my bad dreams to hurt me ...

Song: "Pray your gods", "All I Want", "Walk on the Ocean"

...

http://youtu.be/Ice7NydF7RM


"I am nameless, faceless, Hope and Faith they are my kin ..."   ~Poetry of Life

Frosted ... A State of Mind?

"Frosted Sound"

@Copyrighted Photograph, 2012.  All Rights Reserved.

The Simon and Garfunkel song "Sound of Silence" is going through my head as I edit this photo.  This photo is the frosted Puget Sound, near Seattle, Washington.  For some reason this image speaks to me of a cold void of silence ... isolation ... maybe loneliness? ....  Well here's the song if you, by chance, want to have a listen Song: "Sound of Silence", By Simon & Garfunkel.




Here's another photo from this day that I "painted" to add a bit of color ... watercolor finish ... photo ART render. Let's call this one "Painted Sound" and end on an upbeat note, shall we?

"Painted Sound"

@Copyrighted Photograph, 2012.  All Rights Reserved. 

As a friend of mine says, "God's wisdom flows more clearly in silence." ~Emmi

Joys of Music ...

Let the music carry you away on angel's wings, to a place of peaceful repose ...

"Joyful Repose, The Music knows"

@Copyrighted Image, 2011.  All Rights Reserved:  Isabelle Black Smith. 

 

 

  (All of My Photographs (enlarged canvas sizes) are available to license via my Flickr website:  isas_fallingstar .

Hope to have an artist website set-up soon to sell individual prints and cards.)

Awaken Mystery and Magic ...

Loreanna McKennitt, performing "Stolen Child" (live performance)



Awaken Mystery and Magic  ... dancing upon the voice of an angel ...

Believe in Magic ...

Remember when we used to believe in magic?


Loreenna McKennitt, Vocals for "The Last Unicorn" ...







Do you still believe?

When the Angels Fall ....

Back on February 2nd, I wrote a piece about the protests for an end to the Mubarak oppressive regime in Egypt.  I posted a song at that time, by the artist Sting:  "When the Angels Fall".  I had said that I would later write what that song meant to me ... So I guess, it's now "later" and here is what this song means to me ... Maybe why it seemed a good fit for the protests in Egypt and what the people of that country, and now other parts of the middle east, are trying to express.


Song: "When the Angels Fall", By Sting  (music video from youtube.com at the end of this post)

"The Guardian", By Baron Arild Rozenkrantz

(Image Courtesy of ArtMagick.com)

"When the Angels Fall" ... A soul stirring and intriguing song. What first drew me to this song was the title. Angels aren't supposed to fall, are they? This notion intrigued me. Angels are supposed to be glowing white guardians of truth and righteousness, right? The notion that any angel, other than Lucifer, had ever fallen flew in the face of all of the Catholic doctrine ... dogma ... that I had crammed down my throat throughout my childhood.


At first, I just listened to this song, "When the Angels Fall", as a song .... but then I found myself drawn further into the song, captivated by the soulfulness of its lyrics.  As I listened to this song, I began to ponder what Sting's powerfully moving, lyrical ballad truly meant.  I discovered that the song could have many different meanings depending upon your perspective. Over the years, as I've listened to this song again and again, this song has taken on many different meanings for me depending on where I was at in my life. But standing here today, I see this song as song of liberation; it's about embracing one's freedom to control one's own destiny.

The Angels are the established Truths of our world, Guardians of Right and Wrong (though, in truth, 'right' and 'wrong' depend upon your perspective), watching over all who labor (and sleep) in this land.

What are these established Truths? ... Well the truths differ from country to country, culture to culture, society to society, family to family, individual to individual ... They can be as profound as the assumption and belief that "the color of one's skin or one's gender decides how successful one will be in life" ... or as simple as the belief that "if I protest or speak out against my government, I will lose my life and endanger the lives of my family and those that I love." ... They can be as complex and distorted as "All Catholics are going to hell" ... "The only way to heaven is through Jesus." ... "Believe the way our religious system dictates or die...."  I, personally, hold NONE of the latter to be truths, but so many in this world, perhaps even you, do hold the latter as truths.  Sadly, until we cast these "Angels" ... established Truths ... from our sight, we as a common people on this rapidly spinning blue planet will never be free ...

When these Angels fall, the established Truths of our societies fall ...the unthinkable happens and the whole world (relative to the given truth) is shaken to its core.  When the world is shaken by such profound, life changing events some individuals are awakened from their slumber ... they finally realize that they were lost in a world of slumber and that the dream of the established Truths was dreaming them, using them, limiting them.

Eyes now wide open, arisen from their slumber, these awakened individuals now step forth with their own feet and hands, their own ambitions ("my children"), they are ready to assume ownership and responsibility for shaping their own lives, controlling their own destinies. Free at last from the dream of established Truths, they are ready to dream their own dreams. The "Angels" can't control them anymore..."You can't control us ... You can't control us anymore."

"These are my feet ... These are my hands ... These are my children. This is my demand: bring down the angels. Cast them from my sight! Never want to see a million sons at midnight. Your hands are empty. Your Streets are empty ... You can't control us ... You can't control us, anymore."


"When the angels fall ... Peace on Earth ... When the angels fall. Joy to all mankind.... When the angels fall.... When the angels fall... When the angels fall."


And standing here today, Sting's soulful ballad is still captivatingly beautfiul song to me, regardless of the angle one happens to be gazing upon it from. "Peace on Earth and Joy to all mankind" ... Wow, what a world that would be to live in.

I wonder:  Are you still lost in slumber, dreaming the dream of  established Truths?



Here is a music video with Sting singing, "When the Angels Fall"  in concert ...




A word of caution:  be careful that you do not free yourself from one established Truth only to become the pawn of yet another.  There will always be those living in this world who are consumed with power, worldliness, materialism ... They are blind, insecure and they have not the vision see beyond the here and now.  They would use you as a means to their ends and sadly, you are expendable to them.

But fear of becoming used by yet another established Truth should not stop you from seeking liberation.  Change often comes at a price and the balance of power will shift ... Let us pray then, and act to ensure that it is a shift for the better.

Happy Birthday, Old Blue Eyes ...

Happy Birthday, Frank Sinatra!  You would be 95 this day and though you're no longer here with us in body: your spirit lives in on your wonderful music. 

Whenever spirits are down in our house, and we are in need of pick-up, my girls all sing in chorus, "Let's put Frank on!"  We turn on your CD and soon everyone is singing, dancing and laughing again.  We love you, Frank!

New biography: "Frank the Voice", By James Kaplan


Playlist: Happy Birthday, Old Blue Eyes ...

I LOVE Jimi Hendrix!

Song:  "Power to Love", By Jimi Hendrix


I found yet another reason to LOVE Jimi Hendrix ...

He was an artist ... not just a phenomenal musician, but he painted as well.  I happened upon this website late last night ... via ArtMagick.com (love this site!) ...

 AtlasGalleries, Jimi Hendrix

The Atlas Galleries site had a short biography of Jimi Hendrix's life, as well as some of his artwork for sale. Here are my favorites ...

'Blue Woman', By Jimi Hendrix

'Seattle Waterfront', By Jimi Hendrix

'Oblivion', By Jimi Hendrix

'By the Mountain', By Jimi Hendrix

'Valley of Neptune', By Jimi Hendrix

I also did some research into the details surrounding Jimi's death, at a very young age ... 27 years ... this website has lots of interesting facts ... judge for yourself:   The Death of Jimi Hendrix  ... Site also some neat site seeing info too.

God Bless you, Jimi ... wherever you may happen to be right now ... and know that when I listen to your music, you bring a smile to face ... you warm my soul and often inspire me ... you are truly a muse ... and a beautiful soul.


"When I die, I want people to play my music, go wild, and freak out an' do anything they wanna do." ~Jimi Hendrix

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will know peace." ~Jimi Hendrix

Song:  "Power to Love", By Jimi Hendrix


Peace to all who come this way ...


M