In praise of vinyl: Girl, put your records onnnn

Posted on 01/06/2013 by TOfan

IMG_1562You can learn a lot about a person by browsing through their book collection… or box of old LPs. I came across the gem up top this weekend at a relative’s place. They also had a beautiful old-style stereo system, and while I didn’t play this album (sorry, Dweezil), I had a blast playing everything from early Frank Sinatra to George Benson to a live recording of La Traviata.

Billboard stats courtesy of Jonerz (click 4 more).

Billboard stats courtesy of Jonerz (click 4 more).

It reminded me how rich and full music sounds on a record player. It’s no wonder a lot of audiophiles are buying them again (and not just for DJing at clubs). And why artists like The Civil Wars, Adele and Mumford and Sons are releasing vinyl versions of their albums.

To me it’s like the difference between watching a movie on your computer and watching it in a theatre. CDs and digital files are cheaper and more convenient but we do lose out on the luscious sound you can get on record.

I actually googled it and apparently it’s because a digital recording doesn’t capture the complete sound wave, “the waveforms from a vinyl recording can be much more accurate, and that can be heard in the richness of the sound.” Bingo. Even if you don’t know the science behind it, you sure can hear it.

As I listened to Louis Armstrong and Luciano Pavarotti and others this weekend (scratches and all), it made me hope that David releases a vinyl record someday. Maybe that’s the only way to capture the magic of his voice live … of course I’d have to do something I never thought I would ever again… buy a turntable.

How about you guys, what music have you been listening to lately?

Posted in Fan experience | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Dear David….

Posted on 01/04/2013 by TOfan

DearDavidDear David,
Thank you so much for your New Year’s message and that note about fan mail. Exactly what I needed to hear.

You’ll be happy to know I have cancelled the cupcake-o-gram and the flashmob and will try my dangdest to put a stop to the daily skywriter. Drats, might be too late to stop the mani-pedi house call.

Thanks also for your recommendation to focus on some of my own commitments for a while. Just the push I needed, David. Not that I don’t have a rewarding life beyond Archiedom. Haha, quite the contrary. I’m quite happy living here in my cardboard box under the bridge. Especially now I can pick up WiFi from the nuclear reactor next door.

There’s such a never-ending list of tasks for me each day … from duct-taping my cellophane windows to taking in orphaned hedgehogs, and making a quilt out of all my lost opportunities … I barely notice you’re even gone.

Over the holidays I may have played your music more than usual but I only received six noise complaints about the loudspeaker system I set up beside the bridge. Not even half as many as last year. Score!!!

Now, with your encouragement I can finally pursue other dreams I’d been putting on hold since Idol. Finishing that crossword I started in 2008, putting all my tofu recipes in alphabetical order and continuing my research on a cure for shingles.

You always know just what to say, David, I’ll miss you but look forward to sharing this person I’ll become in 2014.

Happy New Year!

Posted in Utter nonsense | Tagged , | 62 Comments

Matt Clayton for President!!!!

Posted on 01/02/2013 by TOfan

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Seriously though, if Matt Clayton were President, there’d be no squabbles on my Twitter timeline when election time rolled around, David would undoubtedly sing at the inauguration, and lots of other international events instantly guaranteeing world peace… Archies are proven voting machines, so let’s make it happen, people!!!!!

P.S. … hard to believe the pic above was taken almost a year before the pic below …. as @rhiminee points out here, how is it that David (aka Benjamin Button) is looking ever younger not older? lol

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Posted in Utter nonsense | Tagged , | 22 Comments

Hallelujah, David Archuleta style

Posted on 12/31/2012 by TOfan

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When I first came across the cool vid below that strings together two full minutes of David’s “hallelujahs,” I almost did cry out “Hallelujah!” Love that someone took the time to do that.

And right after I saw it, I heard a very interesting documentary on CBC radio about the history of the word. So when it was replayed on the radio this weekend, I couldn’t resist sharing it with you all.

I’ve always loved how David sings The First Noël (especially this one), and would love to hear the story someday of how he came to add “Hallelujah” to the lyrics … so powerful.

It’s an ancient word, one that Jesus of Nazareth himself would’ve sung way back in the day. It transcends the ages and dialects around the world.

According to the documentary, Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus repeats the word over 200 times … “you just want to salute the eternal source of love because this is such a stirring moment” … a word that transforms “imperfect humans as instruments of grace.”

Here’s the beginning of the radio doc:

Everybody’s talking Hallelujah. Yes, the book and music worlds are all atwitter about The Holy or The Broken, Alan Light’s new history of the Leonard Cohen song, Hallelujah.

The word, of course, has a much bigger story.

Next time you holler “Hallelujah!” because you lost weight or nabbed the last cab in a snowstorm, you’ll be shouting out a word that echoed in the hills of ancient Israel. After almost 3,000 years, “Hallelujah” is still a great way to express joy and exuberance. And at Christmas, the word is enthroned in all its glory in Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.

“Hallelujah” first made its appearance in the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament – a combination of two Hebrew words: “hallel”, meaning praise, and “yah” meaning God.

But it’s in Christianity that “hallelujah” – or the Latinized “alleluia” – became best known as a word of great emotional energy.

This morning, a look at the strength and mystery of this wonderful word … equally powerful at times of happiness and pain. “Hallelujah” links us to generations past who faced hard times, but had faith that light would eventually conquer darkness. Knowing this, what else can we shout?

Listen to the full podcast HERE.

And here’s a video of a house in northeast France with an LED Snowman that sings David’s First Noël! 😆 😆 😆

P.S.
This tweet made my New Year’s very Happy! 🙂 🙂 🙂

P.P.S.
And this one even happier!!!!! Happy Happy New Year, everyone!!!

Posted in Fan experience | Tagged | 19 Comments

@DavidArchie’s New Year’s resolutions (not really)

Posted on 12/28/2012 by TOfan

Screen shot 2012-12-27 at 5.26.41 PMDavid Archuleta sure went that extra mile for his fans before he left on his mission, recording music, greetings, even behind-the-scenes videos!

In fact, SAz has just learned that David even pre-wrote his New Year’s resolutions for tour plans when he gets back (well, I’m sure he would’ve if he’d had more time) ….

Aaaaaand, here they are:

#1 Make a final decision between the mango and raspberry chapstick

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#2 Break the Guinness World Record for “longest shirt worn at VIPs”

Longshirt

#3 Have bow surgically removed from Mom’s back

FloppedBowRemoval

#4 Find this guy and thank him

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#5 Do more stuff … with @Archugeezer

 

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#6 Do more travelling

#7 Perfect the eye-sparkle….

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#8 … and the nose-crinkle

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#9 Plan an AI7 reunion….

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#10 Plan a Concierto Navidad reunion

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#11 Grow hair out again

 

#12 Shoot an album cover EVERYONE can agree on

#13 Come back with an accent

#14 Tour Canada  … um, nvm

igloo%20at%20night

P.S.

Happy 22nd Birthday, David!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.P.S.
Love these birthday tweets to David!

Posted in Utter nonsense | Tagged | 27 Comments

I nominate @Nareejo as official @DavidArchie tour photographer

Posted on 12/27/2012 by TOfan

Nareetumblr_mfo60q6O991qhfziko1_500Oh man, I must’ve been away on vacation when the lovely Doc Naree posted her MKOCT recap and amazing photos… if this is old news and you’ve seen them all, I apologize, but just in case you haven’t, please read on!

*******************

collage-3I never did get to write about my 2nd US tour last Christmas. After the announcement, it was difficult for me to even look at my pics or my videos for a while. It wasn’t until we knew he was coming to Manila that I could edit some pics.  (To this day, tho, I do not watch the announcement video). But we got so busy during David’s stay here that the MKOC tour was pushed to the back.  Now that it is Christmas once again, and we are all missing David, I was browsing thru my files and saw that I have not released my pics from the Deseret signing.   I think now is a good time to post them and to tell about an unexpected adventure….. ( I just watched The Hobbit, so references to it may abound, lol).  I have read of so many stories of Archies about their adventures during a David concert.  Little did I know that I would have one, too.   Although I watched shows from Santa Rosa to Salt Lake City, let me be like Tolkien and write about….

Read rest here….

Naree’s book signing photos:

Part 1 here
Part 2 here

collage4

Posted in Fan experience | Tagged | 12 Comments

‘Mary, did you know?’ inspiration

Posted on 12/23/2012 by TOfan
Source: Tumblr/oceanofdr3ams

Source: Tumblr/oceanofdr3ams

maryc

Wanted to wish you all Happy Holidays with a little David-ish Christmas story….

One of the local charities I support insists on sending me stuff as a thank you for contributing… they do amazing work (providing food, shelter and services to homeless youth in the city) so I’d support them anyways, but it’s nice to get updates on the young lives they’ve helped turn around, along with the Christmas cards they print.

The Madonna and child picture above was used on some of this year’s cards, including the one I sent to David. I love the picture and it just seemed right, I guess, so I sent it off to the P.O. Box last month.

Then on Twitter, I noticed @GwenPo on my timeline was using this picture as her avi. She told me the artist had been inspired by a Christmas carol … you guessed it …  Mary Did You Know 🙂 … here’s the rest of the story:

Divine inspiration

The painting was inspired 11 years ago when Morgan Weistling, now a 47-year-old father in California, heard Steve Amerson’s song “Mary, Did You Know?” on the radio. It was the Dolly Parton version.

One phrase stood out to him: “When you kiss your little baby you’ve kissed the face of God.”

“Immediately I felt I was supposed to paint this,” Weistling said. “I had been praying and asking God, ‘Give me an idea here.’”

Amerson’s phrasing appealed to him. “This little child she bore was God in the flesh, and yet, she cuddled and kissed him just as all mothers do.”

The painting poured out of Weist­ling in three days. He didn’t feel the need to sketch in charcoal on his canvas to begin, as he usually does; it was oil paint right away. He didn’t go back to make any alterations. The first draft was the final.

Weistling’s paintings are so realistic they look like photographs, and he uses people as models. His Mary was 16, a brunette named Katie who had a “sweet humbleness to her,” Weist­ling said. “It wouldn’t have worked with a blonde.”

The baby was of Jewish descent, born to a woman with a crack addiction and recently placed in a foster home.

Weistling knew he needed to master Mary’s kiss, rendering it tender, not “hokey.” Her left hand, pressing the swaddled baby to her heart, also was crucial. He had long admired the way Mary’s marble hand grips Jesus’ side in Michelangelo’s Pietà.

‘Gift from God’

Weistling’s published image, titled “Kissing The Face Of God,” sold out in two weeks. It remains his most popular painting — “my big gift from God,” he said — and the only original he’s kept, despite a standing offer of $100,000.

Source.

I’m glad I sent David that particular card. 🙂

MDYK … then…

and now…ish

Have a blessed holiday season, everyone!!!

[2013 update: Maria Sabias Que]

Posted in Fan experience | Tagged , , , , | 34 Comments

Message in a bottle: Jonerz’ @DavidArchie story

Posted on 12/21/2012 by JONERZ
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Credit (both pics): Tumblr/oceanofdr3ams

I have a lovely business associate who has become a dear friend of mine. She remembers David from Idol and knows that I’m a fan.  She has marveled at all of the new friends I’ve made because of him and has listened with envy (her word, not mine) about all the escapades we’ve shared while traveling around the country to see him in concert.

tumblr_mfd02krSGJ1s0l3bjo1_400I know she’s a very busy lady. She’s a single Mom who helps run a family business and just sent her first son off to college. I sensed that her interest possibly had more to do with the concept of “getting away with the girls” than the music itself.

I’m not one to push David’s music on anyone. I will enthusiastically let people know when he has a new album available and will encourage them to check it out but I don’t press his CD into their hands. I guess I’m more of a “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink” kind of gal.

Recently my friend mentioned that she was looking for David’s latest CDs at the store but couldn’t find them. 🙂  I took this as a “sign” and decided to take a chance and give her “Forevermore” and “BEGIN.” for Christmas. 🙂 She gave me a GINOURMOUS hug when I presented her with the gift (which isn’t surprising…she’s ITALIAN!  LOL).

After taking a day off of work I returned to the office to a voicemail message from her. I could try and explain what she said but it wouldn’t do it justice. She has graciously given me permission to share this with you guys. I dare any fan of David’s not to smile while listening to it. 🙂 It’s not a long message but it says soooo much! [Click the play button below to hear it.]

The only thing that could make me happier is if David himself could listen to this message and realize how his voice captivates people and speaks to their heart … how he has such an amazing gift and such a connection to music that when he sings with such heartfelt emotion it leaves the listener wondering, “Who is he singing about and what happened to make him feel this way?”

I want him to know that all of his hard work and effort to leave these “gifts” behind for his fans is also creating new ones even though he is miles away.  *sniff*

I archived the voicemail message on my phone. I wanna tie it up with a big bright red ribbon and tuck it under my tree. It’s one of the best Christmas presents I could ever get … another fan who sees what we see.

— Jonerz

Posted in Fan experience | Tagged , | 25 Comments

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même David….

Posted on 12/21/2012 by TOfan

TwoPhotos

Source: Kindergarten photo.

Posted in Utter nonsense | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Happy Anniversary (not really)

Posted on 12/19/2012 by TOfan
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gif: ohnopurple/Tumblr

I came across these SLC VIP vids* and realized I’d never seen them. Then I remembered why. They were posted a year ago today, Dec. 19, 2011 … aka the day David cancelled Christmas (just kidding… sort of). I didn’t watch ANY of his videos for a very long time after that.

But no worries, that was then, this is now, I’ve gotten over the shock and the 203498347 stages of Announcement grief and come out the other side… of down. (You knew that was coming, right? 🙂 ) In fact, I couldn’t be happier for him now.

But I do find watching this particular VIP Q&A now really interesting. Because now I know what will be coming at the end of that show, as does David, but not the VIPers there that day. So it’s curious to watch David answer questions, sing songs, imagine him taking VIP pics with every single person there all the while knowing he’d be making a lot of people sob in a few hours.

I’m sure he didn’t think of it that way. Or did he think about that? I honestly don’t know.

Of course, he knew that he wasn’t leaving right away, that he’d be filming Nandito Ako and trying to record songs for us before he left, but WE didn’t know that then.

In fact, we didn’t know that until weeks after the Announcement, which (sorry David) certainly put a crimp in my Christmas holidays, as much as I tried not to let it.

I do know that when I first saw an anonymous comment somewhere (can’t remember where) back in Sept./Oct. 2011 that David would make a mission announcement at the last show of the tour, my first reaction was, “No way! David would never be that cruel!” Well, guess what? I was wrong … and right. He did make the announcement that way (give a day or two) but I still don’t believe he would ever knowingly be cruel.

He clearly had his reasons that we don’t need to know about as to why he thought that was the best way to do things. I’m okay with that now but it took me a while to get here.

I also find it strangely comforting to watch interviews from last December where he was asked point-blank about what he’d be focusing on next and he didn’t flinch but talked about writing, recording and the tour. And who said he wasn’t a good actor? 🙂

The reason I find it comforting is that it’s so … human? David may not lie but he’s just as capable of “compartmentalizing” the truth as the rest of us. It’s also a good reminder for me that we fans are part of his business life alone. I’ve always been clear about that but in the frenzy of all that we do as fans, there can be a danger of that line getting blurred.

Anywayyyyyy, I must say a year really has zoomed by, which is good David-wise but not otherwise because I need more time for stuff not less, lol.

So with these amazing recent Christmas song gifts from David … the kind of “surprise” I’m all for 🙂 … the holidays certainly do look merry and bright… let’s listen again shall we?

*SLC VIP vids

Posted in Fan experience | Tagged | 19 Comments