5 on Friday -- Set 285

Spinning Friday tunes since 2010...

For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other 5 on Friday blogger -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.

Sending out birthday wishes to Mark Hamill today!

A proud member of Team Luke Skywalker since 1977. In fact, I'm quite certain that I had this very photo -- carefully cut from the back page of 16 Magazine -- taped to my bedroom wall when I was in junior high.

Mark Hamill turns 64 today and is in the midst of filming the new Star Wars final trilogy. Oh the joy! The rapture!

Let's settle back and listen to some of the themes associated with his ultimate heroic-archetype Star Wars character.

1 - Star Wars Main Title - London Symphony Orchestra - composed by John Williams

2 - Empire Strikes Back - The Magic Tree - London Symphony Orchestra - composed by John Williams

3 - Empire Strikes Back - The Duel - London Symphony Orchestra - composed by John Williams

4 - Return of the Jedi - The Dark Side Beckons/The Emperor's Death - London Symphony Orchestra - composed by John Williams

The Luke-associated theme begins at the 7:23 mark and plays to the end of the piece at 9:58

5 - Star Wars - Throne Room and End Titles - London Symphony Orchestra - composed by John Williams

5 on Friday -- Set 236

Spinning Friday tunes since 2010...

For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other 5 on Friday blogger -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.

Brad and I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy last week, which we both loved and which has an awesome soundtrack.

Here are five of my favorite music tracks from the film.

1 - Fooled Around and Fell in Love -- Elvin Bishop 

2 - Come and Get Your Love -- Redbone 

3 - Moonage Daydream -- David Bowie 

4 - Ain't No Mountain High Enough -- Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell 

5 - Hooked on a Feeling -- Blue Swede 

5 on Friday - Set 131

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

In two short weeks, I'll be sitting at my booth

A 49

at the Indie Artist Alley, Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario signing copies of SAINT SANGUINUS and BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE. I'll also have prints of my mom's watercolor ink piece, Stare of the Dragon available. 

If you're in the Toronto area from Aug 23-26, hope you can join me at Fan Expo!

In the meantime, there's one more chance to vote for A Piece of My Mind for the Fascination Award. Click on this link for instructions on how to vote. Contest closes Fri the 10th at midnight EST.

In the spirit of Fan Expo and superheroes like Peredur, my Dark Ages vampire, here's a set of my favorite superhero themes.

1 -  Batman theme - composed by Danny Elfman

2 - Robocop theme - composed by Basil Poledouris  

3 - Animated X-Men theme - composed by Shuki Levy and Ron Wasserman

4 - Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior theme - composed by Brian May

5 - Iron Man theme - composed by Ramin Djawadi

5 on Friday - Set 111

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.





As I work hard on the pre-production for my Scorpius book cover / book trailer shoot coming up next month, my thoughts went to Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms. Which led me to this week's set.

1 - Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits



2 - Wild Theme / Local Hero soundtrack - Mark Knopfler



3 - The Road / Cal soundtrack - Mark Knopfler



4 - Storybook Love / The Princess Bride soundtrack - Mark Knopfler featuring Willy DeVille



5 - Money for Nothing - Dire Straits featuring Sting

5 on Friday - Set 78

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

These songs and musical pieces all come from the Everything is Illuminated soundtrack. Released in 2005, it's one of my favorite indie films, directed by Liev Schreiber.

CLICK HERE to watch video clip from the film, featuring the wonderful use of music throughout the film.

1 - Prologue Babushka - soundtrack composer Paul Cantelon

CLICK HERE to listen to the track










2 - Odessa Medley - soundtrack composer Paul Cantelon

CLICK HERE to listen to the track

















3 - Fear of the South - Mishkalé

On the soundtrack, this piece is done by Tin Hat Trio, but their version is sadly not available (as it is gorgeous.) But I'm very happy to find this live version - thanks, Mishkalé!



4 - Amari Szi Amari - Csókolom



5 - Zvezda Rock N Rolla - Leningrad

5 on Friday - Set 51

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

This is the wrap-up to Elvis Month, so this week I'm looking at his wealth of movie soundtrack songs.

The King of Rock and Roll also had 31 film credits under his belt, all of which contained music with the one exception of Charro! I am an unabashed lover of Elvis movies, and it has always impressed me that he delivered the same intensity of performance to every song he recorded, whether it was a true gem like Are You Lonesome Tonight or one of the less noted of the 260 songs he featured in his films.

He hit his marks in literally hundreds of choreographed sequences, and delivered both in-studio recorded versions and then lip-synched soundstage filmed versions of these songs. Another reason why Elvis is truly The King.

1 - Guitar Man - From the Clambake soundtrack, 1967

So I slept in the hobo jungles
Roamed a thousand miles of track
Till I found myself in Mobile, Alabama
At a club they call Big Jack's

A little four-piece band was jammin
So I took my guitar and sat in
I showed them what a band would sound like
With a swinging little guitar man

Show 'em, son

- Jerry Reed Hubbard



2 - Got a Lot of Living to Do - From the Loving You soundtrack, 1957

Oh yes, I've got a lot of living to do
A whole lot of loving to do
Come on, baby
To make a party takes two

Oh yes, I've got a lot of living to do
A whole lot of loving to do
And there's no one who I'd rather do it with
Than you

- Schroeder / Weisman



3 - King of the Whole Wide World - From the Kid Galahad soundtrack, 1962

The rich man wants the princess
The poor man just wants a girl
But the man who can sing
When he hasn't got a thing
He's the king
Of the whole wide world

- Bachelor / Roberts



4 - Wooden Heart - From the G.I. Blues soundtrack, 1960

Can't you see I love you
Please don't break my heart in two
That's not hard to do
Cause I don't have a wooden heart

There's no strings upon
This love of mine
It was always you from the start

Treat me nice
Treat me good
Treat me like you really should
Cause I'm not made of wood
And I don't have a wooden heart

- Kaempfert / Twomey / Weisman / Wise, after Friedrich Silcher



5 - Jailhouse Rock - From the Jailhouse Rock soundtrack, 1957

The sad sack was sitting on a block of stone
Way over in the corner, weeping all alone
The warden said, hey buddy
Don't you be no square
If you can't find a partner
Use a wooden chair

Let's rock
Everybody, let's rock
Everybody in the whole cell block
Was dancing to the jailhouse rock

- Leiber / Stoller