Peg Kerr's Journal

Delia and I have been talking about the kind of lives we want to live (balanced, enough sleep, enough exercise, good mood management, engaged with others, ethical, etc.) We've both started reading Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project and we're talking about each starting our own Happiness Projects. We started talking about one thing we could do, creating a music playlist. I've done a Hope playlist before, but this is a little different. What would be a good playlist for the concept of living a well-lived life? A life full of love and decreasing world suck and art and carpe diem and so forth? Some of these may be advice songs.

To give you an idea, here's the song that started us out, which I discovered the week of my surprise 50th birthday spa getaway: How You Live (Turn up the Music) by Point of Grace:

Point Of Grace - How You Live (Turn Up The Music) from lovecoversall1 on GodTube.com.

( Lyrics )

The list so far:

Turn Up the Music - Gracepoint
Waiting Outside the Lines - Greyson Chance
Bitch - Meredith Brooks
Lovely Agnes - Sally Rogers
Myrta and Emory - Deb Smith
Hold On - Wilson Phillips
Elegy (Crystal Glass) - Zoe Munford
Affirmation - Savage Garden
Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
Firework - Katy Perry
John's Garden - Peter Mayer
True Colors - Cindy Lauper
Breathe - Ryan Star
Superman's Song - Crash Test Dummies
Don't Be Shy - Cat Stevens
We Are - Sweet Honey in the Rock
Twist and Shout - The Beatles
99 1/2 Won't Do - Sabathani Choir
Jama Day - Peter Mayer
Birches - Bill Morrissey
This is the New Year - Ian Axel

What are your suggestions?

( Here's the soul collage card that goes with this playlist: Resilience )

I've had a LOT of people asking lately, so . . . here's a quick intro to Wizard Rock.

General information can be found at these sites:

1. Wizrocklopedia.com (syndicated at wizrocklopedia)

Here's the list of Wizard Rock bands (all hyperlinked to their various webpages) at wizrocklopedia

Here's wizrocklopedia's Beginner's Guide to Wizard Rock.

2. wizardrock.org (syndicated at wizardrock_org)

I keep an eye on these two sites because they'll announce which bands have released new downloads or CDs and I can check them out.

There are several podcasts that follow the wizard rock scene, although I haven't checked them out myself: WRock Club (which is put out by Wizrocklopedia), WZRD (your Wizard Rock station), The Podcast of Awesome, and Alley Cast. You can subscribe at iTunes.

I certainly don't download everything--there are a lot of bands that are really REALLY bad. But there are enough that are good--even excellent--that I keep an eye out. If you were interested in checking out the Wizard Rock scene, and want to start a modest little Wizard Rock playlist without spending a lot of money, ( here's what I'd suggest to give you a sample of a number of bands and songs that I enjoy )

That's it! I'd say my favorites right now are Oliver Boyd & The Remembralls, Ministry of Magic, Harry and the Potters (particularly their later stuff), Draco and the Malfoys, the Remus Lupins and the Whomping Willows. Tell me if you find anything you like (esp. "End of an Era.")

As part of my very deliberate campaign to keep my seasonal affective disorder at bay, I have started assembling a play list of music to play for the darkest time of the year. These are songs picked because they celebrate this time of the year, reminding me of the season's coziest aspects, and reassuring me that this time of the year can be dark, but there is still warmth. I play it on my iPod when I got out on my walks, and it's working really, really well. I have included a few bits of Christmas-related music, but if so, they're tangential, sort of related to the whole winter season, or they're instrumental, and suggestive of a festive time of year as a whole. I want it to be a list I can listen to the whole winter long.

I love my play list and find it very comforting, and thought I'd display it here. Does anyone have ideas of songs to add, in the same vein? I'd particularly appreciate any good winter solstice songs you can name.

Christmas Time is Here (Instrumental) (A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Christmas at Hogwarts (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)
The Christmas Bells of Belfast (Heartland Holiday Concert - Peter Ostroushko)
In Praise of Christmas (To Drive the Cold Winter Away - Loreena McKennitt)
Let It Snow (Christmas with Dino - Dean Martin)
Medley: The Holly and the Ivy (Heartland Holiday Concert - Peter Ostroushko)
Green (Midwinter - Peter Mayer)
The Juniper Tree (Light - Sola)
Harry in Winter (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Angel in the Snow (Straw House Down - Peter Mayer)
Skating (A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Mid Winter's Night (Past Times with Good Company - Blackmore's Night)
Ring Out, Solstice Bells (Songs from the Woods - Jethro Tull)
Carolyn's Party [Solstice song] (Through the Window - Ann Reed)
The Longest Night (Midwinter - Peter Mayer)
The Houses of Winter (Midwinter - Peter Mayer)
January Stars (Winter Into Spring - George Winston)
Snow (To Drive the Cold Winter Away - Loreena McKennitt)
Winter Woods (Earth Town Square - Peter Mayer)
The Hounds of Winter (Mercury Falling - Sting)
Winter (Tales of a Librarian - Tori Amos)
Where is the Light (Midwinter - Peter Mayer)

Edited to add: I probably should add Joni Mitchell's River and the song Hot Buttered Rum by Tommy Thompson -- what's the best recording of that one, anybody? Red Clay Ramblers? Oh, and definitely John Gorka's "Winter Cows."