Married | Mother | Millennial
Happy Music Monday! This is one of my all time favorite instrumentals. I mean, how can you ever go wrong with the collaboration genius of, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane? There is something about the arrangement of this song that screams “cozy fall weather”in my mind. It’s probably becauseRead More
Today, I’m actually speechless. I’ve known since I found out this morning about Prince’s passing I was going to write a blog post, but about what? Who in the world doesn’t know how important he was to the music industry? Who doesn’t already know how he single handedly transformed music as we know it. Who doesn’t know how unbelievably talented he was? Who doesn’t know the musical GENIUS he was to so many generations? WHO DOESN’T ALREADY KNOW THESE THINGS?
Every comment thread I read today from Billboard to Fox News to CNN there was not one negative comment about Prince. All the comments consisted of were people meeting up in one place to mourn the loss of a legend, and tell personal stories of the first time they remember a Prince song changing their lives in some way shape or form. This in itself is a testament to how important Prince was to this world.
I watched Purple Rain this afternoon, I’ve been watching the Prince marathon on MTV since the movie ended, and I’ve been listening to my favorite Prince songs in between commercials of the video marathon and nothing will ever be enough. However, my daughter has been dancing her little heart out to Prince’s upbeat songs and it’s been putting the biggest smile on my face. She WILL grow up listening to and knowing the musical genius and importance of Prince Rogers Nelson.
My heart hasn’t hurt this badly for a celebrity/person I don’t personally know since Michael Jackson back in 2009. I’m still not over Michael’s death and here we are 7 years later mourning Prince. I was doing pretty okay not crying today until the actual performance of Purple Rain in the movie took place and the tears started flowing. Prince always talked about his belief in the Lord, he knew the Lord was real, and there’s no doubt in my mind he is putting on a great show for Him, tonight.
We lost a legend today and although we’ll never get over the passing of someone still so young, we can make peace with knowing he changed so many of our lives, and his music will live on forever.
R.I.P. Prince!
Brie <3
[04.21.16]
Today, Billie Holiday a.k.a. Lady Day, would have been 101 years old. I have always liked Jazz music, but my love for Jazz music really bloomed about 5 years ago. Naturally, Billie became one of my favorite jazz singers, ever. There is something about her music where you can feel the passion and/or pain in her voice, but she makes it sound like the most beautiful sultry voiced passion and/or pain you have ever heard. I am only 27 years young so Lady Day was well before “my time” as the older folks like to say lol, but quality music knows no age. I wish I could say I got to see a legendary musician such as Billie perform live, but I thankfully have her collection of beautiful music to listen to until the end of time. I will share my favorite Billie Holiday song with you called, Good Morning Heartache, below. I’m sure I’ve probably shared this song before at some point in time of my blogging history, but you can never have too much Billie in your life, especially this song. 😉
Happy birthday, Lady Day! I hope you’re resting easy.
Brie <3
[04.07.16]
Doing some late blogging tonight because I’ve had Nina Simone on my mind lately. I’ve been listening to her music a little more than usual the last few days and decided to look her up. This upcoming Sunday would have been her 83rd birthday. Maybe this is why she’s been on my mind a little more than usual? Whatever it may be, I’m more than okay with it, because how can you go wrong with more Nina Simone in your life?
One of my favorite songs by her is “Four Women” because it reminds me of the beauty in Black diversity and how strong Black women are and always have been since the beginning of time. I especially loved the remake of this particular song by: Jill Scott, Kelly Price, Marsha Ambrosius and Ledisi at the Black Girls Rock award show in 2011.
If you get a chance to listen to this song tonight really take in the words and vocal abilities of the late Ms. Simone. I hope it inspires you to go listen to more of her amazing work to reacquaint yourself or introduce you to her music. Either way, enjoy it, and have a great rest of your night.
Brie <3
[02.19.16]
Today, the world found out the co-founder and band member of the legendary Earth, Wind & Fire, Maurice White, passed away in his sleep yesterday. To say I feel sadness would probably be an understatement considering how much I adore the music EW&F shared with the world. If you haven’t been able to tell from my musical taste and blog posts I am a huge fan of old school music. I often tell people I was born in the wrong generation because my heart belongs to old school music. The hardest part about getting older is realizing everyone else around us is also growing older. This year has hit the music world pretty hard and it’s only February :-(.
I want to thank Maurice and his band mates for sharing their beautiful, classic, funky, legendary, soulful, and timeless music with the world. I may only be 27 years old but I know musical genius when I hear it. I also know how much you make me even more proud to be a September baby! 🙂
I will share some Earth, Wind & Fire songs with you all below. They have WAY too many hits to put them all on here so I will share my favorite ones.
Rest in peace,
Maurice White.
Brie <3
[02.04.16]
When I first heard “Blues Boy” a.k.a. B.B. King had been placed in a hospice a little over a week ago, I became sad and nostalgic. B.B. King was huge part of my childhood, especially in elementary school. I am sad, because we are in a time where so many great icons, legends, and heroes of their time (and ours), are passing away at a fairly steady rate. All of the original trailblazers and trendsetters are up in age, and becoming past tense. It honestly makes me want to cry considering these people are definion of Kings and Queens. On the other hand, I know it sounds strange for a 26 years young woman to tell you B.B. King reminds you of her childhood, so I will now explain to you why he does.
When I was little, one of my all time favorite books was called, “Rainy Day Blues” with the narrated cassette tape. I listened to it every single night before bed, sometimes multiple times. The book was narrated and the music was sung by, Mr. B.B. King, himself. I was fairly young when I first read/listened to the story and I continued to do so for some time. I have no clue where my book or cassette tape disappeared to, but there is no telling in all the moving I did when I was younger. Since last week reminded me of my love for this book I searched for a copy to order from Amazon for my own daughter. I was extremely happy to find one and it was delivered two days ago. I can’t wait to read it to her!
I remember one of the first times I actually learned what B.B. King looked like in real life. He was on an episode of “The Cosby Show” when my Grandma pointed out to me, “that is the man who sings on the ‘Rainy Day Blues’ tape we listen to.” He didn’t look anything like I had imagined he did, but I loved my book so much he was already a legend in my mind.
B.B. King is the face of blues music, even to those who don’t listen to the blues. There is such a poetic and heartfelt sound to his gritty voice that you can’t help but love. I will leave you with my top 3 favorite B.B. King songs. Although I have a top 3, the song “Sweet Sixteen” is my favorite by a long shot. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Rest easy Mr. King. I hope they bury Lucille with you. I will be praying for your family during this tough time.
I wonder if the blues sound better in Heaven?
Brie <3
[05.15.15]
Stevie Wonder is my favorite artist in the entire world. He is also currently on tour and because I live in Montana (the state nobody’s tour EVER stops in) I will miss him perform :-(. In honor of Stevie being in Chicago, tonight, I will share one of my favorite Stevie songs with all of you. Have a happy and safe Friday.
To everyone going to his concert in Chicago, have enough fun for the both of us, and be happy you get to witness GREATNESS!