una volta

JUNE 17, 2007 entry taken from my previous blog

Last night, I went to watch "Once" at the Arbor. This movie stars Glen Hansard of The Frames, and follows a musician (The Guy) just trying to make his dream a reality while picking up the pieces of a failed relationship. He unexpectedly develops a friendship w/ a Czech immigrant (The Girl) who is trying to support her family in Dublin.

The two share a passion for music and collaborate on several pieces written by "the Guy". Weaving in piano and female vocals breathes new life to these songs and the duo decides to record the songs for a demo. After all, it's "the Guy's" plan to move to London and pursue love and his dream.

The friendship develops into something more, but it seems undefinable. You sense the love that they have built for each other and find it to be an unconditional love. A true love w/o expectations of one another.

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I admit, the movie sounds cheesy, but it exceeded my expectations. I would recommend people get out and watch this movie. The music and the story are magical and you seem to lose yourself. So, if you're in the mood for a good love story, check out Once.

http://www.oncethemovie.com
http://www.myspace.com/oncethemovie
http://www.myspace.com/oncesoundtrack
http://www.myspace.com/theswellseason

innamorata di LOVE e 4 uomini

DECEMBER 12, 2006 entry taken from my previous blog

“Listen…ooh ah ooh…Do you want to know a secret?” is what he played strumming his sunburst hummingbird acoustic. I would just sit back and listen to dad’s slower doo-wop version of the Beatles song as a young child. In fact it’s one of my earlier memories as a child and my first memory of music. Dad would sing this to me while practicing guitar or just goofing around. And as I got older, I discovered my true passion was in music and one of my first loves of this international/intergalactic language was the Beatles.

In a www.beatles.com interview with George and Giles Martin, they described the album as trying to summarize the history of the Beatles music within one album. As most people know this feat is damn near impossible, but these men sure did do their best.

The album opens with an acappella version of Because with the sound of birds chirping in the background. It then moves on to Get Back where you can automatically recognize A Hard Day’s Night intro note and A Day in the Life’s orchestral movement. You can tell that most of the songs on LOVE have bits and pieces pulled in from different songs of different times. For example, Glass Onion has the Penny Lane piccolo trumpet and on Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! you hear the killer vocals from Helter Skelter mixed in which makes the song a little edgier and darker.

One of my favorite songs on the album is the snippet of Gnik Nus which is Sun King backwards. I wish they would have left the Italian lyrics in the song, but as the song fades it makes for a wonderful transition into Something.

Another set of great transitions between songs includes the Blackbird intro that mellows into Yesterday and the mix of Eleanor Rigby which fades beautifully into Julia. And who could forget about A Day in the Life? This is definitely a treat with Lennon counting off the song to “sugarplum fairy, sugarplum fairy.”

Although I may have picked some different pieces, the Martins’ compilation and remixes of Beatles trax make LOVE a special album. I can honestly say that in listening to the trax of LOVE that I’m taken on a little trip from start to finish of the Beatles career.