Peg Kerr's Journal

In honor of this day, and in honor of the sunlight returning, here is one of my favorite songs, by the Minnesota songwriter Peter Mayer.




( Lyrics and chords )

Here's one of the songs ("House Song") on their new album which has just been released, Magic is Might. This one really made me laugh. Jason Munday of MoM and Alex Carpenter of the Remus Lupins are the Gryffs, Kristina Horner of The Parselmouths and John Noe of Potter cast are among the Slytherins, Luke Conard and Ryan Seiler (MoM) are the Ravenclaws, and Christian Caldera of Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls is the Hufflepuff. Order a hard copy of the album here or on iTunes here.



( Here's another song on the album, 'Don't Leave' )

Jason Munday did an interesting little informative video about the process of composing that song:

( How to write a MOM song )

as I know the entire Messiah by heart (Soprano section). And I mean the WHOLE thing, not just the Hallelujah Chorus.

Here's a lovely one, a collaboration between Jason Munday of Ministry of Magic (which is a good recommendation in and of itself, and Let's Lumos, a group I haven't encountered before. Listen to it here:




The sidebar says:

A new wrock song by my band, Let's Lumos!
The story of Lily and James Potter is one that gets a lot of attention throughout the books, but it's always in regards to Harry, and how horrible it must be for Harry to be without parents. But what about the two who actually died to save him? What would that horrible night have been like? This song is their last goodbye, sung to Harry in hopes that he'll meet them again someday.

DOWNLOAD THIS SONG FOR FREE:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BBWCNPK1

( Lyrics )

Again, you can download the song for free
here.

I recommend checking out Jed Marum's album Soul of a Wanderer. The first song, "Desolation Island," tells the haunting tale of the wreck of the Waakzaamheid from Patrick O'Brian's novel Desolation Island. It's a lovely work which you can buy by itself as an .mp3, or with the rest of the album. Heard about it on the Irish and Celtic Music podcast. Thanks to marcgunn for the heads up.



Edited to add: Found it on Youtube on Jed Marum's channel, so you listen. Words are below:




( Lyrics )

"[You Had a] Bad Day" by Daniel Powter. Yeah, I'm late to the party with this one. But the video, which I just saw for the first time today, is very sweet.




MyCharityWater Campaign Report:

$5,000 CAMPAIGN GOAL
$1,776 RAISED SO FAR
88 people served
41 donations
33 days left

The good news is that I really am proud of the amount we've raised before. The bad news is I'm obviously not on track to make my goal. I still have a some time left. Please consider donating, and please spread the word! Thanks.

Here's a performance which is being compared, inevitably, to Susan Boyle's. Lin Yu Chun sings, pitch perfect and deeply felt, Dolly Parton's classic "I Will Always Love You." Really splendid job. Yes, he really does sound like Whitney Houston.

The indefatiguable Marc Gunn (on LJ as marcgunn and on Twitter as @marcgunnmusic), host of The Irish and Celtic Music Podcast, as part of his mission to promote independent Irish and Celtic music, puts out a webzine called the Celtic MP3 Music Magazine. There, you will find music news, reviews of new albums and CDs, and just about every week, with the musicians' permission, he makes .mp3 music files available for free download. The point, of course, is to introduce the music lover to great bands, many of which he features on his podcast. Marc encourages his listeners, if they find music they like, to purchase the bands' CDs. It's a win-win for everybody.

Every year in March, Marc compiles a collection of music for St. Patrick's Day and offers it for free download. Go here to download this collection of 17 songs for St. Patrick's Day. Again, this music is available for free, with the musicians' permission. This particular collection will be available for about a month, but keep checking back with Celtic MP3 Music Magazine for more music, all year long.

I like Priscilla Renea.

She got her start with a video on YouTube, singing the dictionary:



Fascinating; you can hear that raw talent there. Singing the fricking dictionary. People noticed, and she eventually signed with Capitol Records.

This is her fun girl-power anthem 'DollHouse'
(you have to go to the link to watch it; embedding is disabled).

( Here's a video about making that video )

I may pick up her album, Jukebox.

She's on MySpace here and on Twitter at @PriscillaRenea.

Edited to add: ( Here's an MTV interview )

Oh, and hey! MTV has that song "Dollhouse" available for free download! Go here and click "Download."

It's just in the last couple years that I've become aware of the term "Imbolc," one of the four principal festivals of the Celtic calendar, and one of the eight sabbats of the Wheel of the Year. (First learned of the term through my lovely We'Moon desk calendar.) Most often celebrated around February 1, it's associated with the goddess Brigid, and in the Christian period with St Brigid - Imbolc being also known as St. Brigid's Day. The Day is also associated with the Christian feast of Candlemas (2 February), marking the end of the season of Epiphany.

It's the point midway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, which makes it a logical point for Groundhog's day. I've found myself particularly noticing the light, and giving thanks that it's increasing in the evenings. Last night after I got home from work, I got out the shovel and tackled the driveway. As I was finishing up, I glanced up at the sky. The sun had set, but a beautiful salmon color still lingered in the sky for quite a while. The sun was down, but the quality of light seemed special to this time of year.

To celebrate Imbolc I'll link again to a song of Luka Bloom's that I posted last year (thanks again to moony for introducing me to his music) that he created specially for Brigid's Day. See what he says about the song here. I make this entry in honor of light in dark places. Heaven knows I have need of it.