So, I got to see one of my all-time musical heroes give a talk last night… the one, the only, Ms. Linda Ronstadt.
Her songs were the soundtrack for my teen years and I bought every LP, learned every word to every song and would belt them out in my room, to the chagrin of my brother and two sisters.
Linda’s 70 now and suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, so sadly she can no longer sing. But she gave a wonderful talk — complete with photos and videos and rare audio clips — to a packed house at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall.
As soon as she walked out, a deep man’s voice yelled out, “WE LOVE YOU, LINDA!” He totally spoke for all of us there.
The reason I’m even sharing this is that so many of the things she talked about reminded me of… well, you know who.
The way she was born into a musical family and sang in both Spanish and English from an early age.
The way she talked about being “a huge fan” of other musicians and deliberately chose not to be jealous of them but to try and get to work with them.
The way she told the MC backstage, before coming out, “I can’t believe all these people are here to see me and I’m not even singing.”
The way she touches your heart with the way she sings each song.
The way she fought her record company and management to branch out and try different genres — from Gilbert & Sullivan operetta to the American Songbook standards to classic Mexican mariachi music to the harmonies she did with Dolly Parton and Emmy Lou Harris — all done brilliantly…I know, I bought them all. 🙂
She said something really interesting about how the record companies back then (and probably now, too), kept insisting that all their artists sing happy songs (based on focus groups they’d done)… ignoring the power of a sad song or a ballad to release those melancholy feelings and actually make you feel much better than a “happy” song.
Anyways, I listened to her music all the way home… music that stands the test of time… just like David’s.
Here’s one of my faves (well, they’re all my faves, tbh), Warren Zevon’s “Hasten Down the Wind.”
The sun rises. Still no new music news from D’Arch.
I practice the mindfulness exercises I learned in my “Breaking the Cycle of Pop-Star Attachment” class and focus on how cold my feet are.
Things get frosty here under the bridge and my cardboard box shelter is getting a little shabby. The 163 Forevermore Expanded Edition CDs I stacked around the bottom as a foundation are starting to lose stability. And so am I.
“Cold feet” reminds me of “one foot in front of the other, no no no nothin’s gonna break my stride” and my moment of mindfulness is broken.
“Broken”… noooooooooooo … I run out into the woods and howl to the white pines to try and restore my zen.
I force myself to stay in the present moment. Keep my hands busy. Fashion a helmet to fend off signals from those seven new planets NASA discovered from my collection of bottle caps.
Caps????
Stop the madness! I cry to myself, and the cluster of sparrows collecting in a nearby mulberry bush.
Focus on the birds. Breathe in. Breathe out. Admire the pattern of their feathers. The way they share the same branch so peacefully. The lovely tone of their birdsong.
Wait, is that the tune to Say Me??? Arghhhhhhh. IS THERE NO ESCAPE?!?
Maybe it’s time for drastic action. Time to move on. To stop feeling manipulated by a flurry of social media posts followed by the inevitable drought. To find more balance in my own life.
Yes, that’s it. I’ll take a social media break myself. Thank you, David, yes, that is the answer. Sure, I’d miss the actual album release in a few days, weeks, months… and wouldn’t be able to buy any music online or share links to videos and such. But the blessed peace I’d feel, wouldn’t that make it all worth it? Maybe we should all follow David’s lead and go on a social-media detox.
Not ideal timing, but hey. So many raccoons to wrestle and snakes to play tag with.
Time to close my eyes again. Stretch toward the sky. Feel the icy breeze on my cheeks. And check IG one more time before I go.
NO.
I resist the temptation. Keep my mind in the moment.
I inhale slowly as the sun warms the tops of my ears. As I exhale, the bridge rattles with a rush of traffic and I hear a tinny car radio from the highway above.
“Life is a cabaret my friend. Life is a cabaret.”
A cab-a-ret. A cab. “Been two hours in a taxi cab.”
DANG YOU, ARCHULETA!
p.s.
I kid, but this amazing song describes this whole process, just FYI. 🙂
Okay, further to the last “Confessions” post… here’s another one… Remember when David first told his story about how Numb came about and uttered those terrifying words, “I called my manager and said, ‘I don’t think I wanna do this anymore'”? ….
*sorry, I need a moment*
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…. Anywayyyys, ever since then, I’ve wondered when that was exactly… so I think it must have been just before these tweets happened, so in the summer of 2014.
Also, check out these tweets… Trent Dabbs was referencing a song that has “other things in sight in mind” in the lyrics… so some other amazing song besides Numb.
@DavidArchie “other things in sight in mind” …the world has to hear it!
WE NEED TO HEAR ALL OF THIS!!!!!!!
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p.s.
Here’s my playlist again for Numb (I just keep it going in one of my tabs with the sound turned off… because I have it going in 3 browsers, lol #freak)
This Tumblr page isn’t around anymore (I checked 🙂 )… but thought I’d repost a few blasts from the past from that site, and add a few confessions of my own:
I’m nervous about David being nervous about how his new music will be received.
I’m scared it won’t do well and he’ll get a job modelling caps.
I’m scared it’ll do so well I’ll never be able to get tickets to see him live again.
I hope he is off getting hitched because he deserves to be happy… but also because we’ll get some killer love songs.
I didn’t buy Nathan’s album. Or Gracie’s.
I did lose count of how many copies of Numb I bought.
I wish he’d have done more promo for Numb, it’s such a good song but how can people love it if they don’t know about it?
I can’t believe I’m still blogging about him and think maybe that’s nuts and I should take up needlepoint or something.
I still don’t understand the words to Something ‘Bout Love:
Every night it’s all the same (what’s “all the same”? she doesn’t call? what?)
You’re frozen by the phone (why frozen? couldn’t pay the heating bill?)
You wait, something’s changed (so she did call? the heat did come on? I’m confused)
You blame yourself every day (for what? not paying that heating bill??)
You do it again (do what again? freeze by the phone??)
Every night (DO YOU SEE MY CONFUSION???)
I’m more excited for this new music than I care to admit.
How about you guys??
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p.s.
oh, one more:
I still listen to this one 🙂
Happy Valentine’s Day, to all! A time to hug your loved ones, call those special people in your live, dive into a vat of chocolate, and cherish these special Valentine greetings from D’Arch.*
*not really
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What are your big plans for the 14th? PJs and pizza? Samesies.
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The sun rises. Still no new music news from D’Arch.
Our crack investigative team at SAz is at it again!
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SnowAngelz: Canadian fans of David Archuleta 