A to Z Blog Challenge -- 5 on Friday -- Set 219 -- P is for P!nk

Welcome to Day 16 of this year's A to Z Blog Challenge.

Fridays at A Piece of My Mind are all about music.

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.

For today's challenge -- 
   

P is for P!nk

This is a shot of me opening a pink birthday present, fourteen years ago. There were beautiful ballerina Christmas ornaments in there, which makes me smile just thinking about them.

I'm not an overly girly girl. In fact, I generally nudge people to refer to grown women as women and not girls. I don't get excitable about hair and make-up, and the domestic goddess thing escapes me entirely.

However, I do have a strange love of pink-and-gold combinations, especially when they come in the form of Victorian-era decorative arts (like china, wallpaper, fabric.)

This is me from Christmas 2013 with a vintage dinner plate -- pink roses and gold edging. Bliss!

This shot from Phantom of the Opera makes my heart sigh with happiness every time I see it, even though I write about Dark Ages vampires and cruel, Borgia-style nobles.

So my love of P!nk is me in a nutshell. I love her persona, I love the fact that someone so non-girly-girl has named herself P!nk and I love her no-holds-barred songs about relationships, as well as the gutsy exuberance of her dance sound.

1 - Trouble

2 - So What

3 - Please Don't Leave Me

4 - Funhouse

5 - Are We All We Are

5 on Friday - Set 158

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 week's set features songstresses who are also dancers.  

1 - Try - P!nk

This pas de deux is amazing. Truly.

Slight caution: it does include dance vocabulary that is very aggressive.

2 - Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush

3 - Hung Up - Madonna



4 -Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani

5 - Candyman - Christina Aguilera

5 on Friday - Set 146

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 week's set is inspired by the love interest character for Scorpius from my work-in-progress, which is also my NaNoWriMo project. She is a major figure for Books 2 and 3 of my Dragonsfyre series.

1 - Slut Like You - P!nk

 

2 - Human Nature - Madonna



 

3 -Danger Zone - Gwen Stafani

 

4 - Vow - Garbage



5 - These Boots Were Made For Walkin' - Nancy Sinatra

 

I'm being interviewed at the Romance Bandits - Scroll down for 5 on Friday - Set 101

Please join me for a rollicking good time over at the Romance Bandits, where I'm being interviewed by Anna Campbell, regency noir romance author extraordinaire.









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.

For my first set of the new year, I'd like to dedicate these tunes to my kick-ass main character, Tanwen, the Dark Ages Welsh chieftain's daughter who not only discovers her betrothed perished on the battlefield, but that her father expects her to marry another.

Let's just say Tanwen isn't the kind of daughter to take this news well...

1 - These Boots Are Made For Walkin' - Nancy Sinatra



2 - One Way or Another - Blondie



3 - Weapons - Carole Pope and Rough Trade



4 - Supervixen - Garbage



5 - God is a DJ - Pink



You can read about Tanwen in my debut novel, SAINT SANGUINUS.

5 on Friday - Set 91/Resistance is Futile Blog Tour of the Universe Base Camp Celebration

Welcome, everyone, to a very special edition of 5 on Friday.

On 11 - 11 - 11, I'm celebrating both my birthday and the upcoming release of my debut novel, SAINT SANGUINUS, due to hit e-retailer virtual shelves in a matter of days.

My hoped-for release to coincide with my birthday is only slightly delayed - stay tuned to my website or here on my blog for the go-live announcement.

In the meantime, let's PARTY.

To join the stops on the Resistance is Futile Blog Tour of the Universe, click on the links below:

A Chat With Jennie Marsland

Adventure into Romance

Apprentice Writer

Cathryn Fox

Janet's Journal

The Redneck Romance Writer

Tara MacQueen

Trav's Thoughts

Sans Pantaloons - Andy is the designer of my kickass book cover

West of Mars



And now...



Let the good times begin!

1 - Gone Wild medley - University of Wisconsin Marching Band



2 - Get the Party Started - Pink



3 - Dance to the Music - Sly and The Family Stone



4 - Cup of Life - Ricky Martin



5 - Various samba tunes - Performers from Imperatriz, Brazil during Carnival in Rio





SAINT SANGUINUS

Coming soon

5 on Friday - 34

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.

I'm kicking off October with a set of videos I've always liked for the eerie mood they bring off.

1 - Porcelain - Moby

In my dreams I'm dying all the time
Then I wake, it's kaleidoscopic mind

I never meant to hurt you
I never meant to lie
So this is goodbye
This is goodbye

- Moby



2 - Hysteria - Muse

It's holding me
Morphing me
And forcing me to strive

To be endlessly
Cold within
And dreaming I'm alive

Because I want it now
I want it now
Give me your heart and your soul
I'm not breaking down
I'm breaking out
Last chance to lose control

- Matthew Bellamy

CLICK HERE to watch the clip














3 - Funhouse - Pink

This used to be a Funhouse
But now it's full of evil clowns
It's time to start the countdown
I'm gonna burn it down, down, down
I'm gonna burn it down

9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
Fun

- Harry / Kanal / Moore



4 - Secret - The Pierces

Why do you smile
Like you've been told a secret
Now you're telling lies
Cause you're the one to keep it

But no one keeps a secret
No one keeps a secret
Why, when we do our darkest deeds, do we tell?
They burn in our brains
Become a living hell
Cause everybody tells
Everybody tells

If I show you
Then I know you
Won't tell what I said
Cause two can keep a secret
If one of them is dead

- Allison Pierce / Catherine Pierce



5 - Sat in Your Lap - Kate Bush

Some say that
Knowledge is something that you'll never have
Some say that
Knowledge is something sat in your lap

Some say that
Heaven is hell
Some say that
Hell is heaven

I must admit
Just when I think I'm king
I just begin

- Kate Bush

5 on Friday - Set 7

For today's 5 on Friday, I've got another character sketch, this time for the main female character in my Dark Ages vampire tale.

Tanwen is the beloved of Peredur, whom I featured in last week's set. But things do not go smoothly for this couple, who become part of a love triangle.

For more tunes, visit Travis at Trav's Thoughts.

1 - Crossing the Stone (Tros Y Garreg) - Traditional Welsh song performed by harpist Catrin Finch

There are no lyrics in this version, but these words form the story of Crossing the Stone when sung.

NOTE: There's a little tribute to a departed someone at the very end of this clip.

Standing here, thou silent stone
What a world thou must have known
Deeds of glory, lost to story
Hast thou witness'd ancient stone
Here beneath the grass, 'tis said
Many warriors bones are laid
Fighting for their land they fell
None but thou can truly tell
Secrets keeping, ever sleeping
Dream'st thou of the past, old stone?

- English lyrics by John Oxenford



2 - Houdini - Kate Bush

With a kiss
I'd pass the key
And feel your tongue
Teasing and receiving
With your spit
Still on my lip
You hit the water

Through the glass
I'd watch you breathe
("Not even eternity-")
Bound and drowned
And paler than you've ever been
("-will hold Houdini!")

- Kate Bush



3 - U + Ur Hand - Pink

I'm not here for your entertainment
You don't really want to mess with me tonight
Just stop and take a second
I was fine before you walked into my life

- Gottwald / Martin / Moore / Yacoub



4 - You and I from the musical Chess - Elaine Paige and Michael Ball

Knowing I want you
Knowing I love you
How can I love you this much, yet make no move?

I pray the days and nights
In their endless weary procession
Soon overwhelm my sad obsession

You and I
We've seen it all
Chasing our hearts desire
But we go on pretending
Stories like ours
Have happy endings

- Andersson / Rice / Ulvaeus

CLICK HERE to hear the song














5 - I Saved the World Today - Eurythmics

NOTE: There's a few minutes of network blah-blah following the song on this clip.

There's a hurting thing inside
But I've got everything to hide
I'm grieving

Hey, hey, I saved the world today
And everybody's happy now
The bad thing's gone away
And everybody's happy now
The good thing's here to say
Please let it stay

- Lennox / Stewart



Janet says Favorite - the first one! All together, makes me wanat to read more of you Dark Ages Vampire Tale - and a love triangle, hell yes!!

Mags says First time visitor-can't wait to check out your site!! I love Kate Bush and haven't listened to her in a while-thanks for the reminder! I also have a Pink song posted today.

Jamie says The music lovers rule on this Travis created meme.