Turn It Up!: Janina Gavankar - Waiting For Godot (Music Video)

I'm sure I'll just have to replace this video when she finally decides to add it to her Youtube page (because the embedding codes for these versions of video's never last that long), but I'm too excited to wait for that to happen because I'm madly in love with this song. Thank you Jordanna for letting me know it existed.

Janina Gavankar is an actress (The L Word and True Blood being among her credits) and has been slowly entering the realm of music for about a year now, first with her startlingly original cover of Kanye West's "Love Lockdown", and now with the release of the music video for her own single "Waiting For Godot".

The title of her first single comes from the Samuel Beckett play, in which two strangers are waiting for an acquaintance of theirs named Godot, whom neither of them has seen in person and the entire play is spent with these two characters doing and talking about everything to stave off the silence. Janina admits that in her musical interpretation, Godot equals love, and thusly, the two characters in her video (which are meant to portray dual personalities within herself) display their opposite reactions to this situation.

According to a recent Billboard Magazine interview, Janina has admitted that the entire video (produced by herself and directed by her friend Caitlin Pashalek) was shot in one day.

"We moved really quick. It was a very ambitious shoot, to say the least. We shot it like it was a scene."

"One stake we set in the ground from the get-go with this was this it wasn't going to be a 'regular music video.' I don't give a shit about following any sort of norms. I don't really care if people think I'm hot. I really set out to make something beautiful that had a strong narrative."

Mission Accomplished I'd say! Enjoy!

Turn It Up!: Lisa Lougheed - World Love (Music Video)

I'm slightly perturbed right now, because I had planned to add Lisa Lougheed's video for her single "Love Vibe", which was an Ah-Mah-Zing song released back in 1992, but the up loader of the video on youtube has made embedding disabled, so... shit out of luck.

The next best thing, is the first single and title track from her second album "World Love" (1992).

Born in Etobicoke, Ontario, Lisa was a Canadian dance pop artist back in the early 90's (during the time when Alanis Morissette was still our little bubble gum pop princess) who originally came to prevalence as a voice actor for a popular Canadian cartoon show called "The Raccoons". Lol, that's Canada for you! Lisa voiced the character of, go figure, Lisa Raccoon and performed many of the cartoon's musical numbers, including the shows theme song "Run With Us" which was later recorded in full and released as her first official single from her album "Evergreen Nights", which was essentially a Soundtrack for the show.

After the success of the Run With Us single (which was nominated for a Juno Award), Lisa focused her sights on a music career and released the album World Love. The first two singles from this album (World Love and Love Vibe) were each nominated for Juno Awards in the category of Best Dance Recording.

After her third album, 1993's "Peace + Harmony", Lisa pretty much bowed out of the spotlight. The last time I saw her was when she was a backing vocalist for Oprah Winfrey, when she sang her own theme song "Run On" for the 13th season of her talk show and recorded a music video in which Lisa was featured.

According to Wikipedia (reliable, I know), she's now married with a son and resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

I don't need to explain away the song above, she says it all, "World Love not World War!" However, I'm adding a link to the Love Vibe video...think they can stop me, do they? Click Here!

Enjoy each!

Liven It Up!: Dinah Washington - Send Me To The Electric Chair

"I don't want no sympathy, cuz I just cut my good man's throat!"

One of the greatest songs about killing your husband ever performed, brought to you by the one and only, Miss Dinah Washington.

I could give a whole bio about Dinah, but the song is simply too good for a lot of chatter.

Watch and Love!

Talk To Me: Geri: The Documentary (Geri Halliwell & Molly Dineen)

Oooh this is fun! I remember vividly watching this when it first aired. I was (and still am a bit) obsessed with the Spice Girls and was a tad gutted when Geri decided to leave the group in 1998 because it was only a couple of months before I was to see them in concert for the first time on the Spiceworld Tour. But I was also excited because it meant extra spice style music in the form of a solo career from her.

The first solo project that Geri worked on was the 90 minute Documentary seen above, simply called "Geri" with famed british documentarian, Molly Dineen, which chronicled her life immediately after her departure from the group and over the following months when she would make the transition into a solo artist and UN Goodwill Ambassador.

Really good viewing if you have 90 minutes to spare!

Turn It Up: Vanessa Williams - Save The Best For Last (Music Video)

It doesn't matter how many times I hear this song, I still think it's absolute perfection. This is definitely Vanessa's signature song and it has stood the test of time gracefully.

A gorgeous song about an unrequited love that soon finds it's day, Save The Best For Last was the 3rd single from Vanessa's second studio album "The Comfort Zone" (1991) and was number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 5 straight weeks. Not bad for a song that was a last minute addition. During the recording of the album, one of the songs had to be replaced for the final cut. Save The Best For Last had been passed around to several artists, none of whom had snatched it up, but as soon as Williams heard it, she was reportedly enamoured with it, stating "I can't believe nobody wants this song. I have to have this song."

On top of the Charting accolades, this song was also nominated for several awards at the 1993 Grammy's, including "Song Of The Year" and "Record Of The Year", but lost out to Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven".

Evidently, there are two videos for this song, but this is the only version I have ever seen, with Vanessa looking gorgeous on many winter themed soundstages. Miss America Supermodel Realness! Eat it!

Turn It Up: Toni Braxton - Breathe Again (Music Video)

I'm in the mood for a little 90's R&B at the moment, so I'm adding a classic from the sultry Toni Braxton. Some people might expect me to add Unbreak My Heart or something equally as popular, but I've always loved this song from her self titled debut album (1993), and I had never seen the music video (directed by Randee St. Nicholas) until I looked it up just now, and of course she looks ravishing in it.

Breathe Again was the second single from her first album and peaked on the billboard charts at #3. It was also this song that earned Toni her second consecutive Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

A beautiful lament about a love that's run it's course. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Liven It Up: Madonna - Rain/Just My Imagination (The Girlie Show 1993)

I'm quickly adding this live video from Madonna's 1993 Girlie Show Tour before I go to bed, because today was the 20th anniversary of the release of Madonna's Erotica album, which is one of my favorite albums of hers (if not my favorite).

Rain was the 4th single from Erotica and holds a place in my top 10 list of favorite Madonna songs! The version she did for the Girlie Show had such simplistic staging that it stood out from the rest of the show, and the vocal trinity of Madonna and her two back up singers Niki Haris and Donna De Lory has never sounded better in a live situation than this. Also, I love the addition of the The Temptation's "Just My Imagination" in the bridge of the song, and the Singing in the Rain inspired choreography displayed by her dancers (one of whom is dressed as a Pierrot) that rounds out the piece.

Just Heavenly!

Picture This: Alanis Morissette @ Sound Academy (Concert Review)

It's taken me almost a week to write this review because on the very day of the concert I was beginning to come down with a cold and the day after I was in full on gross mode, but the concert (in some respects) was worth going to rather than resting instead.

So, here we go. Alanis Morissette performed at Sound Academy this past Monday October 15th and the first thing that came to me was... what an odd place for such a big name to perform. Alanis is undoubtedly one of Canada's biggest names and one of it's most popular exports in the world of music and yet she was playing at a standing room only club that can fit 2,000 people, for an all ages audience (meaning kids as young as 10 were there), most of whom, if they weren't in the first few rows of people like I was, probably couldn't see a thing. I thought a theatre like Massey Hall or The Sony Centre would have been a better choice of venue to accommodate her fans, but...whatever. Needless to say, if you didn't show up to freeze your ass off waiting in line to get into the venue 2 hours before the doors opened (again, like I did), you were pretty much screwed in the view department.

So, the doors opened at 6:30 and we stood around waiting for the show to begin for an hour and a half while the club owners played a mix of ambient electronica music and classic 80's pop hits like "Kiss" by Prince. Then, at 8:00, the show began with the arrival on stage of Alanis' husband, white Rapper and freestyle artist, Mario "MC Souleye" Treadway". Now, I have to admit, I knew nothing about the man prior to this performance. I had seen pictures of him in magazines and only heard his skill set on the two Alanis songs he appears on for her new album "Guru" and "Jekyll & Hyde", but with that said, I was intrigued as to how he would present himself. When he walked out in a blue track star jacket, a pair of light grey jeans and white sneakers...I gotta say, I was a little worried. He did come off a bit like a cute version of Vanilla Ice, except with a lot more talent. He was very impressive with his freestyle abilities and his spritely footwork, but when he spoke (which wasn't often) I caught a faint trace of a wigga accent. Oh no, Alanis why???? When he finally removed the track suit jacket, I was able to focus on him a bit more and saw that, he was in fact, as cute as a bugs ear. The one thing I found strange about his overall set was, his first song was a song that featured Alanis' voice on the chorus, but rather than having her come out and share the stage with him, he instead had her voice on the backing track that his MC friend was playing. Weird, huh?!?!

After playing for a half hour, Souleye left the stage and we waited another hour for Alanis to hit the stage, which kinda perturbed me, because you never usually wait more than 30 minutes after the opening act to see the main attraction (I blame attachment parenting for the delay).

Anyway, at 9:30 the lights turned off, the band entered the stage and then proceeded to perform an angelic and extended intro to the song I Remain from The Prince Of Persia Soundtrack with Alanis' voice ringing over the speakers, softly and sweetly singing the opening verse and chorus of the song from off stage. The band then did a complete 180, abandoning the zen like chords of I Remain for the electro pop funkiness of Woman Down from the new album Havoc and Bright Lights to which Alanis sauntered on stage to in an embroidered black tank top, deep grey form fitting leggings, black patent leather motorcycle ankle boots and a string of thin gold chains around her neck that were often covered by her most famous asset, her free flowing mid section length brunette locks, which she would toss about, whip and thrash around throughout the next hour and 30 minutes (much to the crowds, and my, delight).

After Woman Down, she picked up her now infamous tuneless harmonica and wailed away to the alternative sounds of Jagged Little Pills opening track "All I Really Want", followed by the soaring frivolity of You Learn, the first of many songs she would perform from this iconic album which has thus far sold 33 million copies worldwide. The rest of the night would pretty much go on in this manner, often times picking up numerous bedazzled guitars, and playing songs exclusively from Jagged and Havoc, with very little attention payed to her other 5 albums.

Which leads me to the aspect of the show that didn't thrill me as much, an aspect which has bothered me the past 3 times I have seen this amazing woman in concert, her decision to focus 90% of the show to the songs from Jagged Little Pill. Don't get me wrong, I love the songs from JLP, I love them angry and rockin and soft and acoustic, but the purpose of a concert tour is to promote the new album you have out and give the audience a bit of a taste of your past recordings to keep the die hards happy.  By the end of this particular show the running tally of songs from each album was as follows,

Jagged Little Pill (9 songs, may I remind you, that album only has 12 tracks. 13 if you count the hidden track Your House)

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (2 Songs)

Under Rug Swept (1 Song)
Feast On Scraps (0 Songs)
So-Called Chaos (0 Songs)

Flavors of Entanglement (0 Songs)

Havoc & Bright Lights (6 Songs)

Soundtracks Etc. (2 Songs)

Now, I don't want to complain or act like I didn't have a good time, because believe me, I was rockin out to every song, singing along and snapping pictures like I was Mario Testino. She was in amazing voice and she even did an acoustic set for her first encore that had me gagging it was so good. However, each time she opened her mouth and started performing a song from Jagged, I secretly wished it was a song from another album. Keep in mind, I've seen her 8 times in concert, so I've heard every song from JLP in every possible way she could perform them and thusly, I just wanted a change of pace. When she announced she had a special surprise for the audience during the encore acoustic set "A song we haven't performed yet on this tour" I was expecting a b-side with Souleye or one of the many usually ignored tracks from one of her other albums.... and then she played "Not The Doctor". I mean, really!

Anyway, as I said, despite this fact, the show was amazing in every way. The performances of Havoc (in which she began to tear up while singing) and Uninvited in particular were simply breathtaking, and though I was nearly crushed to death during the surge of people trying to get a copy of the set list, a guitar pick or a drum stick that her band mates were tossing out to people after the final song (Thank U), I would naturally go see her for a 9th time.

The set list, that I didn't get a copy of, but recorded on my phone for blog purposes, went as so,

I Remain Part 1 (intro)
Woman Down
All I Really Want
You Learn
Guardian
Perfect
Celebrity
Right Through You
So Pure

Ironic

Havoc

Head Over Feet

Lens

I Remain Part 2
Uninvited
You Oughta Know
Numb

Encore: Acoustic Set
Not The Doctor
So Unsexy
Hand In My Pocket

Encore 2
Thank U

In summation, if you get the chance to see Alanis live in your city and you happen to be sick on show day.... go anyway! You'll forget about your ailments for a few hours and be a more enlightened individual at the end of the day (okay, I can't really promise that last part). I'm off to listen to the new album. Byeeee!

Liven It Up!: Melissa Etheridge - Scarecrow (Live @ Equality Rocks)

"Rising Above, All In The Name Of Love!"

Yesterday was the 14th anniversary of the tragic death of Matthew Shepard and this song and his story still give me chills.

I can't even imagine people not being aware of Matthew's story, but for those of you who are maybe too young to have heard about it or are simply outside of North America, Matthew was a 22 year old University of Wyoming student who was brutally beaten, tied to a fence and left for dead in the outskirts of Laramie Wyoming in 1998. Matthew died 6 days after the attack succumbing to injuries sustained. The two young men who robbed and beat Matthew to death pleaded "Gay Panic" during the murder trial against them, claiming that Matthew had made passes at them that evening and they decided to teach him a lesson. Justice was found for Matthew, when the two perpetrators were found guilty of their crimes, and born out of the tragedy was a new kind of education about Hate Crimes Legislation that had not been part of federal law in the US before this. With the help of Matthew's Mother, Judy Shepard and her organisation "The Matthew Shepard Foundation", an amendment was finally made to US Hate Crimes Laws to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

If you want to learn more about Matthew Shepard or the work his Mother Judy has done on behalf of the LGBTQIA Community in the wake of her Son's death, I recommend you read the book "The Meaning Of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed" By Judy Shepard (an amazingly gut wrenching read) or watch the HBO film version of Moises Kaufman's incredible play "The Laramie Project".

Finally, as for this song, Melissa wrote the song "Scarecrow" (so named because the young man who discovered Matthew's body unconscious against the fence mistook him for a scarecrow upon first notice) for her 1999 album "Breakthrough" and it is, to me, one of the most beautiful musical tribute's to Matthew ever written. She performed it soon after the albums release at the above benefit for gay rights and was visibly and vocally moved to tears during the performance. The song is perfect, one of the few songs that can make me cry every time I hear it. I'm adding the lyrics to the song as well, so you can all truly feel it's message.

Showers of your crimson blood
Seep into a nation calling up a flood
Of narrow minds who legislate
Thinly veiled intolerance
Bigotry and hate

But they tortured and burned you
They beat you and they tied you
They left you cold and breathing
For love they crucified you

I can't forget hard as I try
This silhouette against the sky

Scarecrow crying
Waiting to die wondering why
Scarecrow trying
Angels will hold carry your soul away

This was our brother
This was our son
This shepard young and mild
This unassuming one

We all gasp this can't happen here
We're all much too civilized
Where can these monsters hide

But they are knocking on our front door
They're rocking in our cradles
They're preaching in our churches
And eating at our tables

I can't forget hard as I try
This silhouette against the sky

Scarecrow crying
Waiting to die wondering why
Scarecrow trying
Angels will hold carry your soul away

I search my soul
My heart and in my mind
To try and find forgiveness
This is someone child
With pain unreconciled
Filled up with father's hate
Mother's neglect

I can forgive
But I will not forget

Scarecrow crying
Waiting to die wondering why
Scarecrow trying
Rising above all in the name of love

Longest post ever!!!!!!

Turn It Up!: Kyla La Grange - Walk Through Walls (Music Video)

Kyla La Grange is one of my newest infatuations. I've listened to her debut album "Ashes" about 4 times this week and this music video (as well as her others) contains such delicious imagery.

There's not a whole lot of info I can give you on Kyla other than the fact that she is originally from Watford, London and has South African and Zimbabwean ancestry. Do you really need any more info about her? I don't! I think her music speaks for itself. It's a bit of a blend of electronic, acoustic, tribal, and folk music rolled into one ridiculously great concoction.

Give her a try!

Rest In Peace Sahara Davenport!

Had to add this video as a loving tribute to the multi-talented (and fierce) drag performer Sahara Davenport (born Antoine Ashley) who tragically passed away on October 1st from heart failure at the very young age of 27.

Sahara was one of the queens featured on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race, and one that I fell in love with, not necessarily for her style (although there were a few outfits that were incredibly cute) but more for her kind hearted attitude and sickening performance skills.

She seemed to be a shy sort of person until it came time to perform a lip-sync number (like the one above) or imitate Whitney Houston in The Snatch Game. Then the bitch would just TURN IT OUT!!!! Rivalled only with Jujubee's lip-sync of Black Velvet by Alana Myles (which coincidentally sent Sahara home) the performance above was the greatest lip-sync for your life during that season. Look at the girl go, En Pointe no less!

The speech that RuPaul gives before the song starts seems to have taken on new meaning since Monday. I only hope her family and loved ones (including her partner fellow drag entertainer, and RuPauls Drag Race contestant, Manila Luzon) can take comfort in knowing that their angel is now ki-ki-ing it up in heaven!

In the immortal words of Miss Davenport, Live, Love and Believe!

Turn It Up!: A Fine Frenzy - Almost Lover (Music Video)

I sort of don't even want to write anything about this song, because it's just so beautiful I think it can stand on it's own. I've been listening to A Fine Frenzy's album "One Cell In The Sea" (2007) on and off today, and the images in this song, if you've ever had your heart broken, will bring you right back to that moment. The feeling of failure and (sometimes) stupidity that follows the end of a relationship that you believed was destined for success. It's torturous nature! We've all been there, or will be unless you're very lucky.

That's all I'll say. I know the blog is usually happy go lucky, but I think a somber note every once in awhile never hurt anyone.

For the record, my heart is not broken at the moment and my boyfriend and I are doing well. I just love music that expresses emotional peaks and valleys so flawlessly.