Archive | December, 2012

Where Is The Love?

16 Dec

I write with a heavy, heavy heart today. An unimaginable tragedy occurred yesterday at an elementary school in Newtown, CT. 26 people killed in a matter of minutes and 20 of them were children. What happens now? How will the parents of these young kids wake up each day? How does this small community heal? How do we as a nation move forward in a way that brings about change, real change?

In these moments so soon after hearing the horrible news, we are raw and wounded. Our safe and secure world has been shattered and we find ourselves asking “why” and “what could have been done to prevent this nightmare that is now a reality?” Parents are giving their kids an extra hug or holding their babes for just a few seconds longer and a little bit tighter. I see the outpouring of emotion all over Facebook. A number of friends had posts about deciding to go pick their children up at school or anxiously waiting for their kids to step off the bus. People are sick about it and many enraged with the gun laws in our country. One friend wrote…

“I add my voice to those saying that this obscene tragedy should lead us the action we’ve delayed for far too long to put in place meaningful and effective restrictions on access to guns. Neither the Constitution nor common sense require us to treat the exercise of any right–including Second Amendment rights–as though it takes place in a vacuum without consideration of the impact it has on the rights of others. All gun owners and advocates who care about the lives of fellow citizens and the quality of our society should join this outcry.”

I’ve seen multiple posts with the statistics about how many people were killed with handguns in the US vs. other countries and the numbers are staggering. Again, I find myself asking “Why? What is wrong with our country?” And then there is the mental illness piece. Clearly, nobody in their right mind would do such a horrible thing. What can we do to help the people that so desperately need help? Lastly, there is the media and the role that they play. I was moved by Morgan Freeman’s response to the tragic events which you can read here. Although, I found it perplexing that examiner.com used the shooter’s name in the headline of the article.

I have no answers and am mostly writing as a cathartic way of beginning to process my feelings and emotions. At this point I feel mostly sad and shaken. Each time I think about the kids in the school, the families that lost a loved one, and the whole Newtown community, my eyes get teary and I find it hard to swallow. I had recently made a new playlist for the gym and it included the song “Where Is The Love” by the Black Eyed Peas. My girls have been loving it and last night Ilana must have played it 10 times in a row as she choreographed a dance to it. It took all the strength I had to keep the tears from flooding down my face as I cooked up potato latkes for the 7th night of Channukah. I wanted to share this song as well as a couple of links to words of hope and love that I’ve seen communicated through Facebook. Now, more than ever, we must come together and find the love, find the peace and figure out a way to heal and live in harmony.


“Where Is The Love” – Black Eyed Peas


25 Moments That Restored Our Faith In Humanity This Year.
Because sometimes you need a reminder that people can do wonderful things.



rogers-framed

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.” – Fred Rogers

Seek Out ‘Searching for Sugar Man’

9 Dec

For anybody who enjoys music, ‘Searching for Sugar Man’ is a must see. The story is unbelievable and quite moving. It is about Rodriguez, a musician/song writer from the early 70s, who never got any recognition here in the states. Unbeknownst to Rodriguez, he ultimately become a music legend and somewhat of a cult hero in South Africa. The movie is a look back on his life, as well as the two South African men who worked to uncover the mystery of this rock icon. I don’t want to give away too much and all I can really say is…go see this wonderful film! For a sneak peak, you can check out the trailer. You can also learn more about Rodriguez at this website. It is hard to believe that 40-something years have gone by since the release of his albums. All these years later most Americans are just learning about Rodriguez and getting to hear his music for the first time. Lucky for us that his story was told.

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Six Months Later

7 Dec

Not sure how it happened, but six months have gone by since my last post. The summers are always filled to the brim here on MV and this one was no different. But the fall, which is usually a time for reconnecting with year-round friends, returning to a regular schedule, and generally having more down time, has felt more like a marathon. I keep running and running and wondering…when will I get to the end? I won’t bore you with the details of my personal life, as I know that is not what you came to read. Instead, I’ll jump right into the music. Since it has been six months since I took the proverbial pen to the paper, I thought I’d attempt to do a high level recap of some of my musical musings. Just because I’m not writing about music, doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about music. The music is what gets me through the marathon, also known as, life.

In no particular order, here we go…

1. The Lumineers is one of my new favorite bands. I’m really hoping that they will be at the Newport Folk Festival next year as I’d love to see them live. Although, they were recently mentioned in the new television show Nashville, so perhaps they are already too big and/or mainstream?

2. Pandora Radio and 8tracks are my preferred ways to stream music. Pandora is much improved from its early days. There is more variety than there used to be and I can stream music directly through DirectTV, which is handy if my phone is not around or it is low on juice. 8tracks allows you to mark songs as “favorites” which is helpful when I hear a song that I like, but don’t know the artist. I can then go back and look at my list of liked songs when I am purchasing music.

3. Speaking of buying music, eMusic is still my go to site for music purchases. Songs range from .49 to .89, which is far less than iTunes. And unlike iTunes, files are not locked which makes it easier to incorporate the songs into iMovie videos, etc.

4. Have you heard of Freegal? It is a music site is allows participating library patrons to download 5 songs a week. Their collection is somewhat limited, but hey it’s free! My daughters and I enjoy perusing the site and I let them pick out songs that I would not typically buy for myself. Recently, we got some songs from one of the Glee soundtracks.

5. Alabama Shakes was most definitely the highlight of the Newport Folk Festival this past summer. Although, I must mention that I was pleasantly surprised by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band . They are not your typical folk act (hello, the word “jazz” is in the name of the band), but they put on quite an enjoyable show.

6. I never thought that I’d be a fan of any American Idol winner but I must say that I really like Phillip Phillips’ song “Home”. I tried to resist the hooks, but he got me and I have to admit that I love playing it loudly and singing along.

7. Milo Greene, who opened up for The Civil Wars last fall at the Berklee Performance Center (see my post from last October), released their debut album in July. Check out their song 1957 if you haven’t already.

8. Speaking of The Civil Wars, I was disappointed to hear that they have split up. You can read more about their ‘internal discord’ in this Rolling Stone article. Perhaps these challenging times will lead to a successful follow-up album. One can only hope.

9. The David Wax Museum, Brandi Carlile, Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers are just a few of the artists that we’ve been listening to these last few months. Check out my latest playlist, “25 songs we like” to hear more of what we’ve been enjoying. Ilana loves Brandi Carlile’s “That Wasn’t Me” and Sasha frequently requests “Big Parade” by The Lumineers.

10. For those of you not within WMVY’s broadcast signal, I am sad to report that their FM signal was sold to WBUR by Aritaur Communications. In early 2013 you will no longer be able to hear MVY programming over the airwaves. It is hard to imagine that 92.7 will stop playing the music that has become synonymous with “island” life. I will truly miss listening to Laurel, PJ, Barbara and the many other DJs that have entertained us with their eclectic music and their own musings. I can recall falling in love with the music of MVY during the summer of ’90 when I lived here with a college friend. And even though I am hopeful that they will raise the money necessary to stream over the internet, it will be truly sad to have to reprogram my radio pre-sets. If you’d like to learn more about the sale of the station or how to contribute to their fundraising efforts, you can go here.

As always, thanks for reading and I hope you’ve enjoyed the music and the musings!

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