5 on Friday -- Set 287

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.

This year I've been taking a once-a-month look at specific instruments and showcasing five songs or tunes which place that instrument front and center.

This year's feature is called Spotlight On...

...and for our tenth installment, let's move into an element of deeper tonal complexity by the addition of a string section. Strings immediately bring a sense of emotion along with them, whether it's joyfulness or melancholy.

We began the year listening to the primal body instruments of hand-clapping, whistling and vocal harmonies.

Moving on, we explored percussion with April's look at drums, May's look at the vibraphone or vibes, June's look at piano, and wrapping things up with cowbell in July.

In August I trained the spotlight on a favorite of mine, the bass guitar. In September we gave the stage over to that diva of instruments -- the lead guitar.

For October, I'm moving from stringed guitars to orchestral strings. Here are five songs where the string arrangements are the prominent feature.

1 - Tonight, Tonight - Smashing Pumpkins - 1996

And what about the awesome music video by Little Miss Sunshine directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris? 

2 - Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles -1955

3 - The World I Know - Collective Soul - 1995

4 - Cloudbusting - Kate Bush - 1987

5 - Exogenesis Part 1 - Muse - 2010

 

5 on Friday -- Set 286

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.

Yesterday, October 1st was the second annual World Ballet Day, bringing ballet lovers from all over the world together online as we were invited to take part in the daily class and rehearsal periods of five major companies.

For a ballet freak like me, World Ballet Day is like being a kid and waking up on Christmas morning, with all of your presents waiting for you, all of your family gathering around, and an endless feast going on for hours and hours and hours, with none of it ever ending.

It was like heaven.

For this week's 5 on Friday, may I introduce the five companies who shared their lives with us yesterday.

1 - Suite en Blanc - composed by Edouard Lalo

Australian Ballet

2 - Spartacus - composed by Aram Khachaturian

Bolshoi Ballet

3 - Manon - composed by Jules Massenet

Royal Ballet

4 - Sleeping Beauty - composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

National Ballet of Canada

5 - Romeo and Juliet - composed by Sergei Prokofiev

San Francisco Ballet

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 282

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.

This year I've been taking a once-a-month look at specific instruments and showcasing five songs or tunes which place that instrument front and center.

This year's feature is called Spotlight On...

...and for our ninth installment, I'm transitioning from percussion and rhythm to the leading melodic instrumental voice.

We began the year listening to the primal body instruments of hand-clapping, whistling and vocal harmonies. Moving on, we explored percussion with April's look at drums, May's look at the vibraphone or vibes, June's look at piano, and wrapping things up with cowbell in July. In August I trained the spotlight on a favorite of mine, the bass guitar.

For September let's listen to that diva of instruments -- the lead guitar.

1 - Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles - 1969

A typically bittersweet joy radiates from George Harrison's guitar in this song he wrote after a long English winter. 

2 - Milkcow Blues Boogie - Elvis Presley -1954

Elvis' guitar player Scotty Moore was an essential part of the 'Elvis sound' that took the world by storm in the mid-50s. He was ranked at 29 in the Top 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine, a list heavy with electric guitar gods.

3 - Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits - 1979

Mark Knopfler's undeniably unique sound burst out from pop music's late-70s/early-80s move into synth and a highly-produced sound. Knopfler instead brought us his throwback to a more traditional sound with his '61 Fender Stratocaster. 

4 - Black Dog - Led Zeppelin - 1971

Jimmy Page's playing on this classic Zeppelin tune helped propel it into legend:

Top Fifty Classic Rock Songs of All Time -- Classic Rock magazine

20 Greatest Guitar Tracks -- Q magazine (UK)

500 Greatest Songs of All Time -- Rolling Stone magazine

To mention merely a few.

5 - Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) - Jimi Hendrix - 1969

This footage of Jimi Hendrix playing at Woodstock is riveting, and then somewhat hilarious when the camera moves to gaze out at the appreciative if bedraggled audience and the half-empty hillside strewn with the remnants of festival goers. He was the headliner and closed the festival, which meant that he went onstage beginning at 9:00 in the morning. Over half of the attendees had gone by Hendrix's close to two-hour set.

He was ranked posthumously as the greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone, but had also  been named during his lifetime as Artist of the Year (1968) by Billboard magazine, and Rock Guitarist of the Year (1970) by Guitar Player magazine, among a great bounty of lifetime achievement awards.

Considering his early death at 27, and how far he pushed the boundaries of the electric guitar at the time, it's surprising that he was so passionately embraced during his lifetime, as true trailblazers are so often misunderstood by their contemporaries, and only valued much later when the public catches up with them.    

  

5 on Friday -- Set 281

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.

Well...

I'm trying to process the results of a Cognitive Function Evaluation which I just received today when I went to the clinic for my weekly sauna detox treatment. I don't know why I was a little more hopeful about those results, when my Physical Function Evaluation in June turned out to be equally as jarring.

To put it plainly, I'm a wreck.

I have multiple chemical sensitivities and chronic 24/7 pain issues, and although quite obviously they have been taking their toll on me, it's a weird feeling to see black-and-white results staring me in the face.

Luckily, I'm currently in treatment for both of these conditions. It helps that my physiotherapist and my nurse both experienced similar situations and have made successful returns to stronger health.

This week, I need to cheer myself up. Ballet to the rescue! 

1 - Compilation of scenes from Spartacus - Bolshoi Ballet Orchestra - composed by Aram Khachaturian

Featuring the crazy jumping of Ivan Vasiliev.

Here's a little reason why I love Ivan so much: "Ballets without a story are always a little bit difficult," he says in an interview with The Telegraph's Mark Monahan. "When I don't understand what I must say to the audience, it's a problem, because I must just dance -- but for what? I can dance 'just to dance' when I'm drunk."

2 - A section of the Raymonda Grand Pas Classique - Paris Opera Ballet Orchestra - composed by Alexander Glazunov

The section I'm featuring here in particular is the female variation that begins at the 3:40 mark, featuring Marie-Agnes Gillot. This piece of music has really captured me lately, and her version of this variation is truly the best I've seen.

3 - Romeo Learns of Juliet's 'Death' from Romeo and Juliet - Mariinsky Ballet Orchestra - composed by Sergei Prokofiev

The section I'm featuring here begins at the 35:45 mark and ends at the 40:00 mark. My very favorite male dancer, Vladimir Shklyarov. As always with Vladimir, I just wish he would put some effort into it. 

4 - Dulcinea dream sequence from Don Quixote - La Scala Ballet Orchestra - composed by Ludwig Minkus

Featuring the deceptive strength and balance of Natalia Osipova. Male dancers always showcase their strength moves, while this choreography is typical of the female dancer disguising her strength as delicacy. This is an aspect of dance of which all fans are well aware, almost like a secret language between performer and audience. We know that the more fragile and ethereal the movements appear, the harder it was to pull it off.

5 - Final pas de deux from Onegin - Bolshoi Ballet Orchestra - composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, arranged from various sources by Kurt-Heinz Stolze

Nothing makes the hair rise all over my body or my gut wrench with emotion quite like this pas de deux from Onegin. Not only for the exquisitely tragic music -- my favorite kind -- but for the typically challenging partnering choreographed by John Cranko.

The roles of Onegin and Tatiana are danced here by the hunky and talented principal Vladislav Lantratov, whose dancing I've really enjoyed during last year's ballet series through Cineplex Front Row Centre Events, and leading soloist Olga Smirnova who debuted in this role in the opening premiere rather than the reigning principal.

5 on Friday -- Set 280

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.

280 music sets! That's only 20 more sets before A Piece of My Mind celebrates its 300th 5 on Friday post. A little mindboggling, really.

So many musical roads I've meandered during these 5 on Friday sets, both by listening to the sets put together by the other bloggers, and by putting together my own.

When 5 on Friday began, there were about ten of us spinning the Friday tunes. I encountered so many wonderful new-to-me tunes, as well as being reacquainted with songs whose title I would never have remembered or even who played them.

Travis, the originator of the Friday blog event, decided to call it a wrap after his 200th set, but Mike Golch and I kept going, and now we're the only two still doing it.

This week's set is a nod to the gypsy caravan nature of 5 on Friday.

You never know where the muse will take you. I just go along for the ride. It's good for my creative well -- in fact, I know my creativity thrives on musical journeys like these.

1 - Spanish Caravan - The Doors 

2 - Caravan - Van Morrison 

3 - Minor Swing - Russian retro jazz manouche or gypsy jazz band 

4 - Amari Szi Amari - Csokolom 

5 - Super Taranta! - Gogol Bordello 

5 on Friday -- Set 279

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.

The Canadian federal election is in full swing.

This week's set is dedicated to the sitting prime minister.

1 - Viva la Vida - Coldplay 

2 - How Low - Jose Gonzalez 

3 - Take a Bow - Muse 

4 - I'll Be Good - Jaymes Young 

5 - In the End - Linkin Park