Favorite New Song...OR...His name is Rio and he dances blah blah blah

photo by Erick Duque

First a little disclaimer...this is a really good song. Really good. You have to give it a listen. Please.

Yes it is my name. But that's NOT why it is my new favorite song. Really. Just give it a listen. You'll see...

Rio by Hey Marseilles


Now...was I telling the truth? That has to be one of the most infectious jams I have gotten a hold of in quite a while. Hey Marseilles is quite the band, a 7 piece group to be exact. You can check them out at their website or you can watch the video on YouTube...here!

This is a recent video they shot on tour...its an acoustic version of the song...DON"T watch this without listening to the studio version also!!


Since this post has started off rather decidedly self-obsessed, I figure why quit now?! Here is the original Rio in song; sung to me repeatedly throughout my life upon introducing myself to someone. I never even knew what people were talking about...somehow I missed ever hearing this Duran Duran hit. I blame my mom for not letting me near MTV when we visited my cousins. So I was a freshman in college before I ever heard this song "played". If you really want some '80s hilarity, go find the music video for this song!
Rio by Duran Duran


From here on I just did some digging and found a little of this and some of that. Lots of Latin and Spanish music/influence goes with this name, as you would expect. Also a good bit of electronic, and of course, a Brazilian funk/jazz/something band from the late 70s...Banda Black Rio. Check out their video.

Rio by The Salvadors

Southern Australian band...from Adelaide to be exact. Their single Atacama Disco was what was getting all the attention so check it out too.

Rio Mescalito by Thunderball

These guys popped up during the "rio" search. I am just going to give you the link to the RCRD LBL blog, where you can read a short write-up, and also get the link to the remix by Mexicans With Guns. Click Here


picture by gabriellasouza

Vidigal by Banda Black Rio


They are still a group, of course not the same as in the 70s...they have a websitetoo!

Bom Dia Rio (Posto 6) by Bossacucanova


I really dig the blog that I found this on...hErE.

Heartless by Rio En Medio


A women. A voice. Listen and see what you think.

Lastly, go to Rio Blanco's MySpace page and have a listen to his song Wild Doves. I would share the song directly but I deleted my MySpace account earlier this year, so you're on your own.

photo byErick Duque

That's all the Rio music for today....BUT WAIT! My actual name isn't (technically) even Rio...sooooooooo I looked up my real name, and found what I was looking for...

Delores O'Riordan--lead singer of the Cranberries--her last name is my first name! I thought I would leave you with a song by her, than I realized that we all know those songs, so I will leave you with a link, to a blog where you can play a song by Passion Pit COVERING her band and their hit 'Dreams'.

My Newest Music

It's been a while eh? Right now I want to write, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it...or a lot of other things either. I am excited about sharing some of the music I have been discovering...not so much new music but just new to me.

Ashley and I have been living in a home since late August, and one of our roommates was named Tyrie. His sister had already described him to me as "obsessed with his music" and I was all like "Oh yeah I like music a lot too." She just shook her head and let me know that he really took his music seriously. Anyhow, the first time I spent a little time with him was in the car heading down the mountain. I didn't know anything that he was listening to. Then I drove his truck one day and the mix CD he had in the stereo blew me away. I ripped it, and harassed him for more of his music. Some nights I would get home and he would still be awake late into the morning, reading music blogs and downloading new stuff.

A clarification here...music blogs and downloading songs in the manner I am going to offer isn't the same as massive file sharing or piracy. Many artists have accepted and embraced the internet as a means for getting their work out there. I am not going to put entire albums up, but just songs that I like. If you do too, support the artists. If an artist wants any of these removed I will do so immediately upon them contacting me.

Anyways, I finally jumped into the music blogging world a couple weeks ago. In two days I had over 300 new songs and artists to listen to. When Tyrie left for Florida, he gave me a bunch more stuff that has broadened my mind even more. It reminds me that once upon a time I wasn't so in to the mainstream/pop/radio listen to what everybody else is stuff. I've vacillated back and forth with my musical tastes, and a lot of this stuff is new and exciting to me. I hope it will be for you too.

(I won't assume everyone knows this...listen to it on the player, right click on the link and select 'save link as')

Older Brother by Pepper Rabbit


This was the first truly new artist I came across. Everything prior to this was searching for stuff about bands I already knew or music others had given us. I haven't done much reading/research on any of these groups, so I am only going to tell you a little about each one. I liked this instantly.

Sunrise by Yeasayer


Yeasayer was the first band that I really loved the sound of on Tyrie's mix cd. This is a song from their album 'All Hour Cymbals'...awesome. A note here--credit is also due to a great friend of Ashley's Jaden McTaggart, who works with her at Earth Fare. Right around the same time I got my hands on the mix cd, Jaden ripped the new Yeasayer album, 'Madder Red', for Ashley. He has since made her an amazing mix cd as well, which gave me lots more material to search for. Jaden has confessed to also being afflicted with late-night music blog reader syndrome...hopefully he will get the recovery he so desperately needs!

The Vowels Pt. 2 by Why?


This song came right after the Yeasayer song on the mix cd, and for a while, I thought THIS was Yeasayer. It's not. But its Awesome. Cheerio.

Looking For Alien Love by YelaWolf


I hadn't heard of him until I got Big Boi's newest album where he guests on a track. At first listen I thought "He reminds me of Eminem" and then I got a hold of another song...there may be a lot of his stuff that I want nothing to do with, I dunno cuz I just downloaded his mixtape from this year...but this one I like.

That is all the room for this post...I have some more coming. Love YA'LL!

Flowing River Massage

Go HERE to get directions to my office.

I Know, I Know!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Current mood: good
Category: Blogging

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance-that principle is contempt prior to investigation." --Herbert Spencer
Reprinted in the Second Appendix of Alcoholics Anonymous

How often have I said
"I know!"
usually interrupting another who is trying to pass on some sort of learning to me.

When I look at this statement,
I realize that what I am really saying varies
but it could be
"I don't care"
"You bore me"
"You (and your opinions) are not important to me"
"You go to hell! You go to hell and you DIE!"
okay not that last one so much
[btw you have to do that last one in Eric Cartman's voice]
when i say "i know"
i cease to listen to the experience
coming from outside of myself
since we are most definitely our smartest somewhere
between ages 15 and 18
we are likely to use this statement quite a bit
and deprive ourselves of all types of useful knowledge
but if you are like me,
and you carried this "i know"
from a much earlier age,
and then matured at about the same rate
as a sea tortoise,
you may still be dealing with the "i know"
phenomenon in your late 20s
what to do?
just stop it.
catch it when it's coming out.
it sounds like this at first
"i kno..."
followed by
"i kn..."
or something like that, you get the picture
eliminate it from your vocabulary
just some thoughts

The greatest block to learning new things
are the things we already know.

don’t go to bed...

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Current mood: ashamed
Category: Life

with unresolved anger
and relationship frustrations
and listen to the little voice
that says
"this is NOT a good idea"
because it will save a lot
of unnecessary heart ache
down the road

ummm

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

laughing geckos
speak in the silence of the night
calling from room to room in this darkened house

air moves slowly
with just a hint of a breeze
that does little to cool the overheated skin
which has begun to peel from it's first sunburn
of this year

ants march in file
all around the house
as they scale all obstacles
in search of their prey

the night is calm
for the moment
the dogs are quiet
and all the cats are resting

but my mind cannot rest.
its unending questioning
accomplishes naught except for sleeplessness
but no answer presents itself
no solution appears

what is my problem?
maybe i should ask that first
so that i recognize the response when it is uttered

there is a plane leaving this island
thursdaay afternoon
the question--simply put--
is will i be on it?

Uncertainty

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

yes i want some validation.
someone to tell me that i am making the right choice.
expectations surround me stealthily,
infiltrating my camp like a bunch of damn ninja.
can i stay here and make a difference?
of course. the question is more like
where can't i make difference.
how do i help-
how do i teach-
making a difference is all i ever wanted.
but my dream is so much bigger than one person at a time,
one person CAN make a difference
i know that;
and yet, i am so unsure and
uncertain
that my next step might send me plummeting
to an early end.
how did i get to this point again?
asking-what do i want to do with my life
for the seventeenth million time
how can some people know?
do you know?
what you want to do with your life.
are you certain?

A Mixed-Breed Apple

Monday, April 14, 2008

a poem by Rumi
Current mood: enthralled

A little mixed-breed apple,
half red, half yellow,
tells this story.

A lover and beloved get seperated.
Their being apart was one thing,
but they have opposite responses.

The lover feels pain and grows pale.
The beloved flushes and feels proud.

I am a thorn next to my master's rose.
We seem to be two, but we are not.

i do

Monday, October 29, 2007

all of my being is made up of my life
my experiences
things learned through my own actions
and more recently, things learned from others
and my experience gives me a small bit of insight
a little understanding
into the thoughts and actions of you
but only if I have been through the same struggle
of course
although our individual experiences can differ
our lives ARE the same struggle
as we search for meaning
for happiness
and especially for love
sometimes I think that I know exactly where you are
but I am NOT you
and I cannot read minds
and my main responsibility
first and foremost

is to take care of myself
so that I can be of use to you
and others

because there was a time when I was useless
and I don't ever want to go back to that

Hamstring Blog

Monday, October 29, 2007

hamstring

I had forgotten what it feels like when your insides explode with an unbelievable pain
with a sharp, wrenching of muscle and sinew that blots out all your senses
so that nothing matters except that feeling, at that moment
i was reminded of this yesterday, when
despite my best attempts to remain limber
I stepped onto the pitch
and felt my entire thigh seize up when I took my first running step
and I faltered, but I knew that I could shake it off
and I tried to move quickly again
and I was shocked by my bodies refusal to do so
and I grimaced, and reached back and put my hand on my hamstring
and asked "why"
to no one in particular
but the third time that I tried to force my legs into a run made it clear
that no matter how much I wanted it
it was not going to happen my way at that moment

and how often is that the story of my life
no matter HOW bad I try to force things to go along with my wishes
there are times when that is
just
not
possible
it was a brutal reminder of an unbelievable pain that I have felt before
it's good to never forget my pains

lest i forget their lessons

Comment from a friend:
also, it means you're getting older and starting to fall apart ;)

Not new, but...

I am closing an old account, and wanted to preserve the writing I did there.

So I am posting it here...

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

you’re not given to much introspection...are you?

i haven't gotten an answer from you
lately
emotions well up at the base of my throat
totally
blocking my breath and stopping my words
completely
letting go and giving up and surrendering
unconditionally
although the fight has gone on so long i can't remember when i wasn't fighting these feelings and this hurt that i have created for myself out of imagined shadows of words and gestures
from the past
from someone else's mind
unbelievably
you told me yourself
it's over