Great Sporting Moments 6 – 2023 World Cup Colombia vs Germany (2-1)

Posted on July 30, 2023 by observationblogger — 24 Comments

It’s 6:39 am here in Bogota, Colombia and I just got to witness the most historic Colombian football feat I have ever seen since living in Colombia. To me, this superseded the moment James Rodriguez fired in the goal of the tournament at the World Cup against Uruguay in Brazil. Even blogger friend Bernie conceded leading up to this anticipated match that Colombia was facing the Goliath of World Football in Germany at the Women’s World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and the quality of football was outstanding. Colombia and Germany were intense in pressure, not so much in offensive play, but in the mark they exerted on the rival to avoid progression and danger in each of their areas.

I saw one of the premier Colombian women’s – domestic football team in ‘Millionarios‘ train a few months ago alongside my son’s team. I took some videos of the ladies because, to put it frankly, I was staggered by their footballing prowess. I even caught a stupefying header – goal from about 25 meters distance by one of the participants, which I still have somewhere.

Today, the Colombian national team, with goals from Linda Caicedo and Manuela Vanegas, defeated the favorite Germany in the Women’s World Cup. This sporting moment is one for the ages and signifies a ‘huge’ turning point in Colombian football (masculine and feminine alike). Colombia is a very ‘macho’ society and even in the Colombian matriarchy few tolerate football played by Women. For instance, the mother of my kids won’t let my daughter Katherine play football.

I just found here on my computer desk, a stealthy ‘Spanglish’ message by Kath this last weekend at my place; directed at me I presume.
‘Ser futbolista’ (to be a footballer):

Let’s go with the ‘silver lining’ and see in real time people’s attitudes changing towards the acceptance and even adoration of Women’s football. This is why I hold ‘Sports’ in such high regard.

I couldn’t find it more befitting than adding this match to my ‘Great Sporting Moments‘. Colombia is without doubt, the ‘surprise team’ so far in this World Cup and I couldn’t be more elated for my Colombia – Australian children. Good luck finding two goals better in one game of football masculine than those two by Linda Caicedo and Manuela Vanegas in Colombia’s victory.

Now for the icing on the cake in added time, and against all odds:

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Elastic (2023) – Chief Springs

Posted on July 29, 2023 by observationblogger — 16 Comments

‘The Time to Take Time, to Take Time’

Elastic by Chief Springs was recently released on Jeff’s Eclectic Music Lover blog. What stood out for me first-listen was the singer’s striking voice and I asked Jeff who it was. He told me it was the band’s vocalist Josh Coyne, and he agreed his voice is spectacular. Soon after I presented Elastic to my son, and unfortunately, we were in a bit of a hurry to do something else, and he told me: ‘Papa, this is a great song‘, and his instant reaction left an indelible mark on my memory.

I’ve heard Elastic many times since and realised – You just don’t hear this kind of song / sound in today’s mainstream – music anymore. Elastic has got 30 – something views since the time of its release on YT. What is going on? Music – art like this was once considered ‘Gold‘.

Over to Jeff at Eclectic Music Lover:

Opening track “Elastic” touches on all the conflicting and sometimes incorrect news we’re fed, leaving us confused, disoriented, and not knowing what’s truth or fiction: “All of the things you ought to know, are no longer showing / Because the posters in the window, they serve as proof of how far they can stretch this elastic truth. All of the stories rearrange you / How far can they stretch this elastic truth? A time to take time to take time.” The instrumentation is impeccable and honest, with gorgeous jangly guitars bathed in shimmer, accompanied by a deep bass groove and real drums that lend rich textures to the track.

There is a lot more you can find out about the band Chief Springs at Jeff’s article:

Chief Springs have really outdone themselves with the creation of this exquisite little EP. Time to Take Time is not only a beautiful feast for the ears, it’s meaningful lyrics give us lots to think about. Great work guys!

I feel fortunate to have read the article and subsequently added this song Elastic to my Music Library Project.

References:
1. Chief Springs – EP Review: “Time to Take Time”

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Munjana (1990) – Archie Roach

Posted on July 28, 2023 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Australian Aboriginal singer Archie Roach has appeared here before with his song about the homeless called Down City Streets. I have written about him also in conjunction with other Australian music – artists David Bridie and Paul Kelly. If there was any song by their lyrics alone which grab you ‘hook, line and sinker‘ then today’s featured track Munjana is it.
It all started for Archie when Paul Kelly invited him to open his concert early in 1989, where he performed Took the Children Away; a song telling the story of the Stolen Generations and his own experience of being forcibly removed from his family. His performance was met with stunned silence, followed by shattering applause.

Munjana is the story of Beverley Whyman, and her son Russell Thomas Moore, a Wema-Wema and Yorta-Yorta man from Matakupaat (Swan Hill, Victoria). Munjana means ‘trouble’ and was a nickname Beverly Whyman obtained while a child.

Times were hard in old Swan Hill
And her circumstances got harder still
The only thing this woman ever knew was pain
It seemed she’d never know sweet happiness again
Kicked around, treated bad
It’s not right for one so young to be so sad
A koori child should not have had this cross to bear
It makes me wonder if anybody really cares
Troubled woman is your name
Through no fault of yours it seems you always got the blame
And an old man’s voice calls from afar

Who will shed a tear for Munjana?

Fond memories of Moulamein
The only happy times her family had seen
Wishing that those happy times would never end
With Uncle John who at the time was their best friend
But this young girl just couldn’t win
She got in to trouble in Deniliquin
Had a lovely child way down in old Fitzroy
Then the Welfare came and took her baby boy
Baby Russell was his name
They took him from her arms and made her feel ashamed
Took him away to America

Just like Archie’s previous entry Down City Streets, Munjana is storytelling at its finest. If you want to get a sense of how it was like to be part of the Stolen Generation families, then this is the go-to-song at least based on what I’ve heard. The Stolen Generations are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families and communities by the government. This was a race-based policy that lasted from 1910 to the 1970s and aimed to assimilate Indigenous children into the dominant culture.

I have presented two videos below. The first is the studio track recording and the second is Archie Roach explaining how the song Munjana came to being. When I learned that Archie had passed away 30 July 2022, I was a wreck. He was one of my biggest musical influencers in my young adulthood. His album Charcoal Lane is one of my favourite Australian albums.

I highly recommend this video when Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on the 13th of February 2008 in the Australian House of Representatives, apologized for the government programs which took children from Aboriginal families, the “stolen generations”.

Archie Roach said about today’s song Munjana:

One of the places in Fitzroy, Alexandra Parade..they took babies away from all sorts of mothers: black, white, it didn’t matter. If you were unmarried and a young woman sometimes you were sent to these places; these so called ‘sisters’ would take the babies away from their mothers. And their mothers never even saw them. And so that’s what happened to this young man. Ended up in America. Unfortunately ended up in prison in Florida for a pretty terrible crime. But that’s not so much what the song is about. It’s about Beverly (his mother)….
So she’s telling me this story and I couldn’t believe it….Beverly’s nickname was Manjana which means ‘trouble‘. So I thought about that…I sat down and these words kept coming to me..It’s a horrific story really about this young fella. I can’t condone what he ended up going to prison for. And I don’t try in this song. And I don’t condone what happened to him as a little fella. And that’s what this song is about: His mother Beverly Munjana ‘trouble’, so that’s how the song came to be. ‘Troubled Woman’.

You can see the ‘trouble’ and pain in Archie’s face as he’s recalling this. The impact such immoral and abhorrent policies / practices have had on a whole communities and races of people (even those seemingly unaffected by the policies directly) is so apparent in this story. It deserves repeating:

It makes me wonder if anybody really cares
Troubled woman is your name
Through no fault of yours it seems you always got the blame
And an old man’s voice calls from afar

Who will shed a tear for Munjana?

References:
1. Archie Roach – Wikipedia

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Mujer Amante (1990) – Rata Blanca

Posted on July 27, 2023 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Mujer Amante (Lover Woman) is by Argentinian hard rock and heavy metal group – Rata Blanca (White Rat). It is one of the most famous songs by the group. The song was composed by Adrián Barilari (see image inset) in his bathroom, which is a better place than any. Just ask James Blunt. He wrote Goodbye my Lover in Princess Leia’s bathroom. I imagine when James walked out, there appeared a goldmine.
This song Mujer Amante along with several from the album Magos, Espadas y Rosas (Wizards, Swords and Roses) was going to launch them to massive fame in Argentina and took them to tour America and parts of Europe.

Rata Blanca formed in 1985 in the Bajo Flores area, a neighborhood located south of the city of Buenos Aires. It is considered one of the most important and influential of hard rock and heavy metal in Spanish, although during their career they also incorporated heavy riffs with melodic and harmonic structures of classical music. Over the years they have been classified into different subgenres, however the group is considered simply “metal rock“.

A loose English translation follows:

I feel the warmth of all your skin
in my body again
Shooting star,
ignite my thirst
Mysterious woman

With your sensual love, how much do you give me
make my dream come true
Give me your soul today, do the ritual
Take me to the world where I can dream
Whoa! I have to know if it’s true
somewhere you are
I will look for a sign, a song
Whoa! I have to know if it’s true
somewhere you are
Only the love that you give me will help me

At dawn your image leaves
Mysterious woman
You left in me total lust
beautiful and sexy

Adrián Barilari had only been in the group for a few months, and he asked Walter Giardino the possibility of composing. They reached an agreement, and the guitarist offered him a double pedal speed metal song that had neither lyrics nor a name, so Barilari wrote about the piece of music and named it Shooting Star. However, when Giardino saw the result, he decided the lyrics would be more suitable for another melody that was hanging around in rehearsals.

Originally, they only played it in rehearsals, and it was not going to be part of Magos, Espadas y Rosas as it contrasted with the characteristic sound of the band, but they decided to include it as filler when they saw that the album lasted less than 40 minutes and, as it was released on vinyl, and they needed a minimum of 45′.

According to Barilari account: “It was a ballad that clearly didn’t have much to do with the record, and for that reason it generated a lot of reluctance to include a part-tempo song on a work that had a rather hard-sounding sound.” Walter Giardino said: “It didn’t identify us too much. We thought it was a nice song… Period. We never imagined that it could have as much crossover as the one it had and reach unexpected places. The truth is that at one point it bothered us that they identified us all the time with that song, because it doesn’t coincide at all with the rest of Rata’s work, but not even close“.

According to the words of Adrián Barilari in a radio interview with Rock & Pop in 2005, after including the ballad to complete the album’s minutes, the band initially refused to perform it live and whether it be a broadcast cut or a single. Despite this resistance, the song also ended up being a massive success on the radio, transcending all social strata and inserting Rata Blanca into the Spanish-American market and part of the European market, thus achieving popularity that was unimaginable until then for an Argentine metal group.

References:
1. Mujer Amante – Rata Blanca
2. Rata Blanca – Wikipedia

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Mrs. Potters Lullaby (1999) – Counting Crows

Posted on July 26, 2023 by observationblogger — 29 Comments

Mrs. Potters Lullaby has a distinct Bob Seger sound and that can only be a good thing. It is steeped in music ‘Americana’ and to me is commensurate with the experience of watching a road trip movie in the cinema – breezy air and terrain – The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces (Field of Dreams).
Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, Counting Crows gained popularity following the release of its first album, August and Everything After (1993) and the breakthrough hit single Mr. Jones (1993).

In my last article – Prelude, Op. 28, No. 15 Raindrop (1838) – Frédéric Chopin, I quoted in the comments section Dylan’s lyric: ‘Fortune or fame, you must pick one or the other, though neither of them are to be what they claim.’ What do we have here in this song? See in the lyrics below: ‘Walking a tightrope of fortune and fame‘. That’s uncanny.

Well, I woke up in mid-afternoon ’cause that’s when it all hurts the most
I dream I never know anyone at the party and I’m always the host
If dreams are like movies
Then memories are films about ghosts
You can never escape
You can only move south down the coast

Well, I am an idiot
Walking a tightrope of fortune and fame
I am an acrobat swinging trapezes through circles of flame
If you’ve never stared off into the distance
Then your life is a shame
And though I’ll never forget your face
Sometimes I can’t remember my name

Hey, Mrs. Potter, don’t cry
Hey, Mrs. Potter, I know why
But, hey, Mrs. Potter, won’t you talk to me?

Most of the following was sourced from the Wikipedia articles below:

Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby is the second track on their third album, This Desert Life. The song reached number three on the US Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart. In April 2022, American Songwriter ranked the song at number three on their list of “The Top 10 Counting Crows Songs“. The band’s frontman, Adam Duritz stated that the song was written about actress Monica Potter.

Duritz, who has based other songs on real people, explained that this song was influenced by an imaginary version of the actress, based on seeing her onscreen in Con Air (1997) and Patch Adams (1998). They ended up meeting for the first time at dinner with entertainment industry friends on the day the band was recording the song, and Potter returned to the studio with Duritz to watch them work. At the end of the session, a production assistant gave Potter a recording of one of the takes. Afterwards, Duritz told Potter the song was being dropped because over production after the recording session had ruined it. She gave him her copy, which was the fourth of eight takes that had been recorded while she was in the studio. This version was subsequently added to the album.

References:
1. Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby – Wikipedia
2. Counting Crows – Wikipedia

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Physics Teacher Dr Brian Keating explains Oppenheimer – Special Edition Post

Posted on July 25, 2023 by observationblogger — 12 Comments

Save yourself a movie ticket and watch this.
I’m kidding of course since Dr Brian Keating even described Nolen’s movie ‘Oppenheimer‘ as spectacular. This video and the movie probably go hand in hand. I would also point readers to Reely Bernie’s movie review: Oppenheimer (2023).

Dr Brian Keating just responded to my comment on his fantastic video:

‘Lol. You owe me…’

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Posted in Movies and TV, Science

Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) – Bob Dylan

Posted on July 25, 2023 by observationblogger — 42 Comments

Watch the video below Mr Tambourine Man when you consider Allen Ginsberg’s comments:

Dylan had become a column of air, so to speak, at certain moments, where his total physical and mental focus was this single breath coming out of his body. He had found a way in public to be almost like a shaman, with all of his intelligence and consciousness focused on his breath.

Mr Tambourine Man would be my first song selection to introduce someone unfamiliar with the music of Bob Dylan. What would yours be? I was daunted to write this article since Mr Tambourine Man is renowned as one of the greatest songs in contemporary music and arguably the greatest ever folk song. You only have to see Pete Seeger sitting there after having introduced Bob that he knew he was witnessing something transformational occurring in music. The song’s popularity led to Dylan recording it live many times, and it has been included in multiple compilation albums. It has been translated into other languages and has been used or referenced in television shows, films, and books.

[Verse 4]
And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow

[Chorus]
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy, and there is no place I’m going to
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle mornin’ I’ll come followin’ you

The song has been performed and recorded by many artists, including the Byrds, Judy Collins, Melanie, Odetta, and Stevie Wonder among others. My favourite cover is by the Byrds who popularised the song – comparable to what Peter, Paul and Mary did with Dylan’s Blowing in the Wind. The single by the Byrds was the “first folk-rock smash hit“. The single reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the first recording of a Dylan song to reach number 1 on any pop music chart.

Sophie Loves Sunsets wrote in the YT comments section of The Byrds cover:

The Byrds covering Mr Tambourine Man not only firmly put Dylan on the map as one the most prolific songwriters of the 20th century, but it also signified the birth of folk rock.

A lot of the following information is sourced from the Wikipedia reference below:

Dylan’s and the Byrds’ versions have appeared on various lists ranking the greatest songs of all time. Mr Tambourine Man was released as the first track of the acoustic side of his March 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. It became famous for its surrealistic imagery, influenced by artists as diverse as French poet Arthur Rimbaud and Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. Mr. Tambourine Man was written and composed in early 1964, at the same approximate time as Chimes of Freedom, which Dylan recorded later that spring for his album Another Side of Bob Dylan.

Dylan began writing and composing Mr. Tambourine Man in February 1964, after attending Mardi Gras in New Orleans during a cross-country road trip with several friends, and completed it sometime between the middle of March and late April of that year after he had returned to New York. Nigel Williamson has suggested in The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan that the influence of Mardi Gras can be heard in the swirling and fanciful imagery of the song’s lyrics. Unusually, rather than beginning with the first verse, the song begins with an iteration of the chorus.

References:
1. Mr. Tambourine Man – Wikipedia

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Prelude, Op. 28, No. 15 Raindrop (1838) – Frédéric Chopin

Posted on July 19, 2023 by observationblogger — 23 Comments

Prelude, Op. 28, No. 15 Raindrop is the second entry from Chopin here after Etud Op 10 No. 3. When hearing this you realize how small you are in the world and wonder in confoundment at the pure beauty of music. To sum it up ladies and gents, music at its most rudimentary doesn’t get much better than this. Chopin wrote this at his stay at a monastery in Mallorca in 1838.

Most of the following was sourced from the Wikipedia article below:

Prelude, Op. 28, No. 15 is one of the 24 Chopin preludes and also one of his famous works. What you would give to see Chopin composing this piece; well we have the next best thing. George Sand who also stayed at the Monastery with Chopin remarked that one evening she and her son Maurice, returning from Palma in a terrible rainstorm, found a distraught Chopin who exclaimed, “Ah! I knew well that you were dead.” While playing his piano he had a dream:

He saw himself drowned in a lake. Heavy drops of icy water fell in a regular rhythm on his breast, and when I made him listen to the sound of the drops of water indeed falling in rhythm on the roof, he denied having heard it. He was even angry that I should interpret this in terms of imitative sounds. He protested with all his might – and he was right to – against the childishness of such aural imitations. His genius was filled with the mysterious sounds of nature, but transformed into sublime equivalents in musical thought, and not through slavish imitation of the actual external sounds.

Sand did not say which prelude Chopin played for her on that occasion, but most music critics assume it to be no. 15, because of the repeating A♭, with its suggestion of the “gentle patter” of rain.

References:
1. Prelude, Op. 28, No. 15 – Wikipedia

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Writer/Actor Strikes: Why They Matter – Chris Stuckmann

Posted on July 18, 2023 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

“I think the biggest reason I wanted to make this video which is extremely alarming is about what Hollywood was proposing to SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and SAG said no f%&king way to. Was this idea of owning a background actor’s likeness digitally…According to SAG what studios were saying is they would like to hire a background actor for one day, meaning a day rate. Whatever it might be..scan their likeness and then excuse them from work and not need them ever again…. But this is the scary part…They would own that actor’s ‘likeness’ forever and they could keep using that digital likeness of somebody in background scenes of all of their movies whenever they want it.”

“I think it’s really easy to look at these strikes at a surface level and think well SAG is just mega famous people, like Angelina Jolie or whoever, and no it’s not. It’s everyday working people who love their art and craft and just can’t get ahead in this industry. It’s the same with writers. Not everyone is Aaron Sorkin. There are tonnes of people struggling to get anything made and who can barely afford to make a living. This is why the cast of Oppenheimer left the premier in solidarity with SAG because all of them were starting actors once too. They all know what it feels like to be a struggling actor.”

Chris Stuckmann discusses the ongoing WGA and SAG strikes, and why they’re important for the future of all creators in the film industry.

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Moving to the Left (2014) – Woods

Posted on July 17, 2023 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

I find the first half of Moving To The Left some of the best modern Americana music I’ve heard; up there with War on Drugs. But it’s hard to maintain that quality for 5 minutes without ruining it. After 2:30 min, a petulant Hindustani guitar sound discomposes the vibe of the proceeding music. ‘Hey just end it at 2:30 fellas if you haven’t got anything better to add‘. Others here might beg to differ and that’s cool.

Woods is an American folk-rock band from Brooklyn, formed in 2005. They have released 11 albums and Moving to the Left is the fourth song from their eighth studio album With Light and Love released in 2014. With Light and with Love received largely positive reviews from contemporary music critics with an average score of 79, based on 19 reviews.

All of my life, is this happenin’ again
Are we floating by and by
Are we moving to the left?
All of my days we’re spending in the sun
We’re moving on and on
Are we moving with the rest!
It feels strange
It feels the same

We’re speaking tongues
To hold the shame
You can cover up,
You can hide –
You feel again
What passes by won’t stay with them

References:
1. Woods (band) – Wikipedia
2. With Light and with Love – Wikipedia

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