Posts Tagged ‘bono’

Standing By The Light Of The World

April 27th, 2009

I added new songs to my home page under “Songs On Repeat.”  I’ve been really digging these songs lately, and continuously hitting back on my ipod or car or itunes (too bad you can’t hit repeat on Pandora).  I hope you enjoy them too.

u2_nolineonthehorizon3×5
Room For Squares
John Mayer
Its not a secret that I am not a huge fan of John Mayer.  However, I think they guy is unbelievably talented.  Not only is he an outstanding guitar player, but he has a great sense of humor.  If you haven’t seen them already, you should check out the videos I previously posted.  He jokingly says in one of those videos, “If I can’t get the girl, why don’t I just tell her I’m John Mayer?”  He is also often witty and clever.  

I have been a proponent of living with your eyes open.  What I mean by that, is that often whether it be vacationing, or in real every day life,  we live behind a camera.  We forget to realize that we are there, in the middle.  Whether it be birthday parties, concerts, or vacations, I am consciously trying to take “mental” pictures.  To take in and capture the moment, so that years from now, I might remember the scent in the air, the color in the sky, the hug of a friend–the many different moments of a moment that a photograph cannot capture.  Not that I am against pictures, as I think pictures are great tools to spark the memory.  But it is our mental image, our mental picture of the memory that will bring joy for many years.

John Mayer talks about that in this song.  And as I have been preparing to travel to Italy, it is a reminder to live through your minds lens, rather than your camera lens.


Today skies are painted colors of a cowboy cliche
And its strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky are next to mountains anyway
Didn’t have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world through both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I’m in the mood to lose my way
but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life

killers_dayandageA Dustland Fairytale
Day & Age
The Killers
This is the second time in a row, a song from this Killers album has made it into my Songs On Repeat section.  This is surprising to me.  Although I love the Killers, this album as too many weaker songs.  Though, as told from the last 2 S.O.R, it has some catchy tunes as well.  If you haven’t seen it on these pages already, you definitely have to check out my snide of their cool light show performance of “Human” at the MTV European Video Awards.  Every time I go to Vegas now, I always think of the time I saw the Killers live there at the Hard Rock, as well as the time the lead singer came on stage and sang with U2 “In a Little While.”  Bono called the Killers “the swankiest band in Las Vegas.”

Dustland Fairytale is a great story told through song.  There is speculation that the song was written by the Killers lead singer, Brandon Flowers, about his Mom and Dad and how they met at age 15 in a trailer park.  Either way, its a catchy tune that brings back childhood memories of fairytales.  I recently wrote a pensée snide with the following lyric:

And the decades disappear like sinking ships
But we persevere god gives us hope
But we still fear we don’t know
The mind is poison

thevioletburning_lipstickanddynamitewonderCrush
Lipstick and Dynamite Wonder
The Violet Burning
This one is probably the heaviest musically that I have put up here yet.  For a long time (and I’m not necessarily kicking it off yet), this album has been in my “fantasy five” (5 cds that you would want to have if you were stranded forever on a desert island).  Part of that might because I was once stranded with this cd only.  It was May of 1997 and when I reached the hotel in Greece, my case of cd’s was missing (I do not know to this day if I left them on the train, if someone stole them, or the running joke on the trip – if Ben Morookian had merely taken them.  All that was left was this one cd that I had had in my cd player at the time.  This cd kept me company through long bus and train rides, and it carried on for the other cds, the faithful departed.  Anyway, this has always been one of my all time favorite bands.  And this cd has been released twice, once as a self-titled and once as the above title.   However, both cds are identical.

We are finding where we want to go
We are trying to regain control
Let the streams of light pour down on me
Let the love that heals me set me free
Come on, crush me

Cause Edge Is On A Completely Different Timing As Usual

March 30th, 2009

Mycenae

Music touches my soul.  I love how lyrics, or melodies will shed light on life for me.  A simple song can resonate with my heart and make me feel in union with emotions.  You may have noticed throughout these snides lyrical references.  It is plain to see, that music accompanies my life.  If you haven’t read it yet, you should read the guest snide by Andrew.  He quotes Hans Christian Anderson who says “Where words fail, music speaks.”  I have not been much of a talker in my life.  My introversion doesn’t mean I am much of a thinker either, so don’t be too confused.  I am a feeler.  The trouble comes in trying to express those emotions.  Music potentially then, is something I find release in.  A heavy lyric opens a well of emotion inside me.  As Andrew writes, music is “something your soul needs to hear at that moment… something that resonates with the tonality and rhythm of the song.”

Chris Brahmer walking amongst the columns

Chris Brahmer walking amongst the columns

Anyway, all this is brought up cause I was looking through art journals and personal journals from my trip to Europe in May of 1997.  On one particular day in my art journal, we were travelling through the biblical city of Corinth, as well as some old Macedonian cities.  We were looking at architecture and tombs that dated back to 1250 B.C.  Up to this point I had been having a fascinating, eye opening trip.  I was learning from the time, from the art, and from the crazy collection of people I was travelling with.  Despite the constant community, my emotions were feeling mostly isolated at the time.  I felt, not really at a crossroads, but I could feel the winds of change (yes, 2 cliches, on purpose!) approaching off the Greek waters.  I was about to enter my senior year of college.  “The greatest time of life” was soon to end.  What was my legacy?  What had I accomplished?  What did I want to suck out of the remaining year?  What would be my final memories of friends and places?  And I held with me a fear of the future.  I had never planned past college.  All of my dreams post college were of wives and kids (OK, one of those was in a singular sense).  I was soon to be venturing into the deep unknown.  What did I want to do in life?  What sort of job did I want to find?  I had no direction.  All I had known in life was one grade to the next, one school year the next.  I don’t plan ahead very well.

Dori, Karen, Courtney, Karen, and Autumn under the Lions Gate

Dori, Holly, Courtney, Karen, and Autumn under the Lions Gate

As I was walking through the lions gate, and viewing the beehive tombs, I wrote at the top of this particular art journal entry, a poignant lyric that was resonating with me that day.

I am standing at the entrance
To a new world I can see
The ruins to the right of me
Will soon have lost sight of me
Love rescue me

-U2
Love Rescue Me
Listen Now

This is a beautiful song.  Even the “sha la la la” touches my tear ducts, as cheesy as that sounds.

I wonder if I am the same person as the person that was writing these things back then.  Life is full of lessons and experiences.  I have learned that I am spoken to, and speak out of lyric and song.  In the journey, I must seek occurrences in my every day life that challenge my reflections.  Finding the little lessons is sometimes the joy of life.  Whether I am the same person mentally and emotionally as I was back then, is tough to know.  Maybe a lot of that me remains.  Maybe a lot of that me has washed away.

On that same days art journal I wrote, “Also, while on this bus tour, it wasn’t a scheduled stop, but I saw something I felt was remarkable and worth noting.  [There] was a pier from 200 B.C built at the Port of Corinth or also known as Sinclair.  This port led to big steps in exploring and travelling to Asia Minor.  All that remains is a few stones.  I found it beautiful.”

 My life is like that pier.  Sometimes my life is full of travel and exploration.  Sometimes my life is a vital part of existence.  And other times, I may feel incomplete.  Life, in some seasons, may be down to just a few stones.  But I find it beautiful.



Ok, this is not the same U2 song as the one I quoted.  I used the term “heavy lyrics” which is a term I always think of because of this clip below.  In it B.B King says to Bono, “Those are some heavy lyrics, young man. You mighty young to be writin’ lyrics that heavy.”

Two other tidbits on this video clip. 
– I love when they are backstage and Bono starts talking about “not the first verse, first chorus, not the second verse…” and then Larry is being a drill sargent about the song.  And then he says the title to this snide:  “Cause Edge Is On A Completely Different Timing As Usual”

– B.B says “I’m no good with chords…I’m horrrrible with chords.”

– “A lot of emotion right there, that’s alright young man, that’s alright”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH81Klu1FAw

This Week I'm Thinking About: Josh Stichter