Homegirl Quel (kel) in Austin

Eartha Kitt Sings "Angelitos Negros" in English

I ran across this online today. It's a popular Venezuelan song asking the painter why he only paints white angels. It is very powerful in English. Beautiful performance too. 

"Painter, if you paint with love, paint me..." This song was performed in 1953.

Friday. Quiet. And Bjork!

My house is so quiet right now. It's cold and wet outside and my son went down for his nap late, but like a rock. I just finished a major thing on my to-do list and am standing here (yes, standing...as depicted here, I work on my laptop on a high counter, mostly because if I sit, I'm knitting and if I'm knitting then I'm not working down my to-do list...which, technically I'm not doing now, since I'm blogging, but whatever...) looking around my quiet house and I thought about this song by Bjork. I didn't know who she was before this video came out years ago, but I found her so awkward and aswesome in this video and fell in love with her. Now that she has resurfaced in my life, her music will undoubtedly dominate my Spotify playlist for at least a week. At least. 

Happy long weekend! On Presidents' Day, try to find something nice to say about our president, no matter what side of the fence you're on. That's a hell of a post, and any way you look at it, it takes some cojones gigante to even apply for the job. Be grateful you're not them, think happy thoughts, and carry on. 

Whitney Houston Performing "One Moment In Time"

My local radio station is playing Whitney Houston's songs in heavy rotation today. I am happy that she shared her gift with us while she as here. My heart is heavy for her daughter and for everyone who knew and truly loved her. I am feeling a little sad. About as sad as I felt when Aaliyah died and when Michael Jackson died. They are people you always root for and want to see them do well, you know? Each of their stars were rising right at the moment they fell. How hard was I rooting for Whitney's comeback? I'm sad that we will not get to see her rock the red carpet when her next film, Sparkle, premieres in the fall. The past few years have been rough on her. I believe her soul is at peace now. She probably looking down on earth right now smiling at the mark she left that says, "I was here."

I would like to remember her when she was at her best. Her smile, charisma and voice are unmatched in the music industry, yesterday and today. I have heard this song twice today on my car radio. It is a reminder, not only of how beautiful Whitney's voice was, but also that life, for all of us, really is just one moment in time.

R.I.P. Whitney.

Beyoncé's New Video for Love On Top

I love how Beyoncé is doing what she wants right now. I could go on about how much I love her latest album, 4, but I did that already. Wrote about it. Missed it? Click >>Here.<<

This video for Love On Top is so 1990. Cute and simple. It's a New Edition/Boys2Men type rehearsal/performance video. I saw some New Edition moves in there too.  I'm sure the Beyoncé haters are already somewhere hollerin' about her "stealing from" New Edition because they don't know the difference between paying homage to a body of work and trying to pass it off as your own. SMH. 

Love On Top is one of my favorite songs on 4. It's a rare feel-good love song about a rare kind of love.

OMG, I ♥ Beyoncé , y'all. 

Diary of An Austin City Limits Music Festival Rookie

Thanks to The Austin Chronicle and  my uncanny luck with online contests (I don't enter many, but I win a lot of the ones I enter), I won two 3-day passes to Austin City Limits Music Festival 2011! I never have cash during early-bird pre-sales and had given up on going this year. I didn't even recall entering the contest. So when I saw the email that I had won, it truly was a pleasant surprise. The fact that the weekend kicked off on my birthday made it extra special. My husband came with me the first two days, our three year old son joined us on day 2 and was my date on the last day of the festival. Lots of planning and patience helped make this weekend awesome. Lots of pictures and videos make the memories that much sweeter. Here's what happened...

Beyonce 4: A Totally Biased Album Review

Beyoncé's latest album is for grown-ups. She is young, but growing up and has been in a relatioship for a long time (like 10 years) and the music on Beyoncé 4 reflects all if that.

The tracks "1 + 1" and "Love on Top" both sound like classics. The lyrics are simple (and love is simple isn't it?) and sure to resonate with anyone who is or has been in love for more than a minute. The music on both tracks is timeless--not trendy. I can see folks like "Girl, that is my jam!" from the 1970's right up to today. "Schoolin' Life" is on the bonus CD in the Target Delux Edition. It is a dance song and the lyrics are like a cautionary tale and celebration of living and learning (sometimes the hard way). This song is Beyoncé in all her Southern, country glory and it is (singing in my Oprah voice) aaaaaawsoooome! 

Grey's Anatomy Musical Episode

One word. Awesomesauce. Anybody who watched it and thought it was crap, can suck it. When Callie Torres (played by Sara Ramirez) sang They Story at the end, my world was basically rocked. It literally gave me chills. I totally forgave Grey's for totally ripping off Scrubs The Musical the moment Torres grabbed her frikkin' ankles! I'm downloaing the audio on iTunes. 

Guayaki Yerba Mate-Brett Dennen Show-SXSW 2011

I was ready to call SXSW 2011 a total bust for me this year. My son was home from school for spring break so daytime shows and screenings were already a no-go. Going out at night is almost always never an option for me, so I didn't even try. But I got an email last-minute that changed all that...for one day, at least.

The PR folks for the Guayaki Organic Yerba Mate- Brett Dennen show sent me a VIP invitation to attend the show, bring a guest and collect swag. There was also a documentary screening scheduled after the show. After working much logistical magic between the family of my plus one and mine, it was settled: the men watched the kiddos and me and my plus one were out to do it VIP style in the ATX! Which was awesome and also totally not what you think...

The show was on the rooftop at Whole Foods Headquarters. It's located on my favorite corner in Austin right across from Book People (where I have spent many hours drooling over the awesomest collection of stationary, handmade jewelry, scarves and oh yeah--books)  and Anthropologie (where I usually wear blinders as I make  a beeline for the clearance room in the back of the store) and Waterloo Records (which I've never been into because I'm not hip and am not into music THAT much, but is great for people watching from the street-level cafe seating outside Whole Foods. Anyway, so the show was on top of Whole Foods HQ. Brett Dennen performed a great acoustic set as children played on the playscape behind him. Oh yeah, there's a playscape on the rooftop at Whole Foods, mostly because Austin absolutely ROCKS when it comes to keeping whole families in mind and the best businesses always keep that in mind. Austin luh da kids. 

Diana Ross on Oprah

I'm writing another blog post right now and watching Oprah on DVR. I tried to post this all on a Facebook status, but it was too long, so I'm posting it over here...

This episode with Diana Ross has had me happy since I pressed play. The footage of her 1983 concert in the rain in Central Park in NYC gave me chills. She's so joyful and beautiful. She is one of my favorite people and starred in one of my favorite films, Mahogany, which I have blogged about several times. Billy D. Williams just walked out on stage and OMG! They both still look amazing! The interview with her kids had me emotional. Tracee talked about how her mom woke them up so sweetly every day. My mom is the same way! I think I have blogged about how she use to walk pass the door and sing our name SO sweetly. She would sing my name...like sing it... like, "Kay-uuuuuuul!"  Right now I wake my son up in sweet ways and let him wake up slowly, because of how awesome it felt for me to wake up feeling loved everyday, and I want him to know that feeling too.  Diana reminds me of my mommy in SO many ways. What a beautiful, happy lady. End mushy love fest. 

If you're like me and this post has you feeling all emo about Mothers Day, window shop for nice Mothers Day Gifts at the perfect place to find perfect gifts...Red Envelope. If that sounded like a commercial, it totally was. Sponsored post with promo codes for HomeGirl readers coming up soon...just in time for Mothers Day. Thanks, Red Envelope! 

The Hey Lollies @ Cherrywood Coffeehouse Austin, TX

When I saw this concert posted on the Parent Wise Facebook page about a week ago, my first impulse was to skip it. Mainly because it was to take place on a Sunday morning at 10:30, when I'm usually in bed, at the gym or at church. Then I considered my son who is a ball of energy, just turned three and who loves music. I fought through my selfish bone and accessed my selfless mommy bone and put The Hey Lollies kid's music and puppet show  on my calendar. I also shared it with my Mocha Moms group. 

Yesterday morning we got off to a late start, but arrived at Cherrywood Coffeehouse just in time to see the second half of the show., and for breakfast! Y'all know I love coffee, I love to sing and I love to get silly-- so to sit with my son and enjoy all of the above was a treat. The performance was awesome and the women were, as expected, so warm and welcoming letting some kids sit on stage and engaging them with hugs and hellos after the show was over. I am an instant fan of The Hey Lollies. 

Here is a video of my son enjoying the show, complete with photos and slow-mo toddler footwork action. Enjoy!

They have more shows scheduled for March. If you're in Austin, get ye there to see them. It's great weekend fun. Show times and locations listed after the jump.

Help DJ Lance's awesomest little fan meet him in person, won't you?

*Update-- He totally WON! Thanks to everyone who voted. We're going to party with the Yo Gabba Gabba Crew LIVE, all thanks to your votes. This RAWKS! What to wear?!*

I couldn't resist entering him into this video contest. DJ Lance and Crew are coming to our town and the video that gets the most votes (per town) will be played at the show! And my almost-three-year-old will get to meet DJ Lance! And he LOVES DJ Lance. Please watch the video (he's not just fooling around, he really plays a tight beat) and PLEASE VOTE! 

He's a few months away from turning 3, and loves music, which is why I think he's so into DJ Lance and Yo Gabba Gabba. One time, a firefighter asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up...his answer...DJ Lance. He was also DJ Lance for Halloween... 

Wow @ The Chicken Song...

This boy can sing. I was not ready for his his rap verse...which was not that bad. "I love my chicken, cluck, cluck, cluck..." Hilarious. And I can't even front, I do love fried chicken. The second or third time I watched this video, I was jammin'. lol He is so silly.

Happy Friday, y'all!

Corinne Bailey Rae Concert: Austin, TX

I hooked up with some of my lady friends and took in CBR's show at La Zona Rosa last weekend. I was surprised at how much she actually kinda rocked out. I had expected a low-key show, but it was live! Her band was amazing. Fortunately, her show was at a small venue, so we got to see her up close. How beautiful is this woman?! A friend of mine called her mesmerizing and that's exactly what she is. Pure talent is when an artist can stand on a stage, sans pyrotechnics and background dancers, barely move around and still command your attention. I didn't want to look away. Everything about her up there singing was awesome. I was kinda forced to look away for a quick hot minute when I passed out...yes...went blind and deaf and ended up on my hind parts on the floor during her first or second set. No I wasn't drinking--I was actually the designated driver, and No I'm not pregnant again--yet--I think. It was standing only and hot and crowded and I'm sure I wasn't moving around enough. Plus the air was stagnant and it all just added up to me falling out. It went down something like this:

After feeling like I had to puke and getting dizzy, I reached out and touched one of my friends on the shoulder...

Me: "Leesha, something is wrong. I feel like I'm 'bout to pass out."
Leesha: "You okay, Quel?!"
Me: "No."

Blind. Deaf. Floor.

 

Corinne Bailey Rae's Video For "Closer"

I just read that Corinne Bailey Rae and Essence.com released this video a few days ago. I love this song. Glad she chose to do a video for it. This girl has the cutest smile. Although she doesn't smile much in the vid. I am lovin' the 70's disco Diana she's giving us here. Yes and ma'am. Love this.

Randomest Song Lyrics: "Down Under" by Men At Work

I listen to a lot of soft rock and music from the 70's on the radio in my car and I'm in my car a LOT. As you guys know, I love to sing along to music. I'm tickled when I run across lyrics that are random, or silly, or don't make sense, and there is no shortage of those in soft rock and music from the seventies. Down Under by Men At Work is a random song in general. I have been singing along to it for years upon years and this morning, I found myself going, "what?" This song is FULL of random lyrics, but this verse is my favorite:

"Buying bread from a man in Brussels/He was six foot four and full of muscles/I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"/He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich"

What? lol

The video is pretty random too. Still, it's a very hard song not to sing along to.

Michael Jackson, "Butterflies"

Everybody's talking about Michael Jackson today. I've always been a fan. Not a die hard, know all the lyrics to every song, own every album, tears at a concert fan--but definitely a fan. I don't own a single MJ album. I have a few songs on my iPod though. Last weekend, I was the singer in a game of Rock Band (the PlayStation Guitar Hero game thingy?) and the "band" picked "ABC" by Jackson 5. I was cool, 'cause I just knew that I knew the words to "ABC", because who doesn't know that song. Came to find out that I only know the chorus. I was like, "Where did all those lyrics come from?!" It was a very educational moment for me. I digress. You get the picture. That's the kind of Michael fan I am.

I never really thought twice about his actual singing voice. If you asked me a few months ago to name the top 5 male vocalists, Michael Jackson is not one of the names that would appear on that list. I ran across this version of Butterflies a few months ago on Youtube. I was actually going through a few live performance videos of Floetry. I like to browse Youtube for neo-soul performance videos every once in a while. I didn't even realize this was Michael Jackson's song until I saw all the videos that day.  Anyway, I listened to it a few times and noticed for the first time that Michael Jackson actually had a really nice singing voice. I even picked up the phone and called a friend to share my new discovery. She is a huge fan and was like, "Um, yeah? Where you been?" I was very late to the game, but I get it now. I truly hope he is at peace now.

Video Fun! My Musical Toddler

I have tried to resist posting videos of my son here, but the older he gets, the cooler the things I'm getting to catch on tape! Since he was born, I have chronicled all his awesome moments (singing Itsy Bitsy Spider at 12 months, his ABC's at 18 months, even his first steps) on his youtube page. I think I've done a really good job of not posting every single one of them over here. My son loves to sing and dance...probably no more than the average 2 year old. But with a mom who sings probably way more than the average stay at home mom and a dad who plays instruments, he really had no choice.

This weekend, I caught him singing one of his favorite songs by the Black Eyed Peas and never doubted for one second that I would share this with you guys. If you know "Boom Boom Boom", you'll recognize that he's singing the first and second verse of the song. If you don't know "Boom Boom Boom",  I posted the original B.E.P. video after the jump.

First, here is a video of him at 2 years, 2 months old playing his guitar (right out of the box) and singing "Yes, Jesus Loves Me", which my mom sang to him nightly the last time she was here to visit. I had no idea he knew the song until he just sat in my lap and sang it one day.

And here he is this past weekend (2 years, 3 months old) singing "Boom Boom Boom" acapella by B.E.P.

New Alicia Keys "Unthinkable (I'm Ready)"

I saw the debut of the official video for this new single the other day online. It was also my first time hearing the song. I am feeling the song. I prefer this live performance video, however, to the official one. I love how Alicia Keys always does "sexy" without the raunchy.

I dig where music takes me sometimes

I ran across this song on my playlist today. It's from the soundtrack to Closer. I remember when the film and the song came out. Both are amazing. But every time I hear this song, I am compelled to close my eyes. If you know me, you know that's not strange. I love songs with lyrics and real musical instruments in them. All I need is a guitar and piano and a storyteller and I'm good. I'd go into my thing for James Taylor, but I will spare you guys (but I LOVE him!). Anyway, this song, The Blowers Daughter, really does it for me. It's a combination of the strings in the music and the lyrics and the voices on these guys! The chorus is so intense: "I can't take my eyes off you" repeated like a million times. Then later, "I can't take my mind off you." I never listen to it once...always on repeat like 10 times or more (not exaggerating--I'm listening to it right now...for the past 20-25 minutes). I own the Closer DVD and the official music video for this song is a bonus on there. The first time I watched it, I played that video over and over again for like an hour. Is that strange? I can be sometimes, I think. It's just a really beautiful and really sad song. What musicians--real musicians--do, is such a gift. If you haven't heard this song before, listen to it and (hopefully you will) see what I mean.

Usher, "Hey Daddy"

Maybe it's me. Most likely, it's Usher. Normally I'm put off by the whole "daddy" in the bedroom thing, but um...Usher and these lyrics and this super cute video got me like..."Hey, daddy!" *giggles*