"From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines, going where I list, my own master total and absolute, Listening to others, considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me."
Walt Whitman (1819-92)
"When I look back now over my life and call to mind what I might have had simply for taking and did not take, my heart is like to break."
Akhenaton (d. c.1354 BC)
And now, the current weather, from some random person we pulled off the street:
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Wow. Just Wow.
spell-bind Function: transitive verb
Etymology: back-formation from spellbound
1 : to bind or hold by or as if by a spell
2 : what she is doing to me
OK, I confess.
I've fallen in love.
Deep, breathless, trembling, excited love.
And no, my wife doesn't have to worry. And absolutely we aren't into one of those lifestyles where...oh, let me explain before this gets out of hand.
I'm in love with an album I got today.
To me, music has the potential to convey raw emotion like no other medium. Perhaps I feel that way because I was a musician for so long. And every so often, I come across an artist and an album that literally takes me into another spiritual plane.
That's what I got today. The album is "On Your Shore" by Charlotte Martin. You can hear samples from it on her website by clicking the picture of the album above.
Her sound is piano based, slightly like Fiona Apple, slightly like Carole King, slightly like Tori Amos, but mostly like Charlotte Martin. One moment it is sweet and melodic, the next she jars you with a forceful refrain, then she lulls you into that bittersweet place that only a chanteuse like her can take you to.
If you aren't addicted to top 40, I suggest you at least check her out.
I think one of the things that really draws me to her music is the depth of it, both lyrically and musically. In her songs I hear and feel emotions and times I have also felt, questions I have asked, tears I have shed, resolve I have felt. I hear that, and I know in my heart that at least one other person knows.
Over and over I'm feeling the same old loneliness
And under me, under me, feeding the madman
Over and over it's chilling, the things I've let you miss
And if you're a miracle, I am the madman
And I'm sorry I didn't build your walls and
I'm sorry I had to go and fall and
I'm sorry I had the whole thing wrong and
Well, I guess I'm the sorriest of all...
--Charlotte Martin, excerpt from "Madman", from On Your Shore
