Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Generally I don’t have anything against Mondays. I view Monday as the beginning of the week and I tend to like beginnings, as opposed to endings. The start of things, days, events, have an optimism and hope that aren’t as certain to be carried through to the ending.
This morning the boy struggled to wake and was grumpy. Granted, I’m not keen on our 5:30 wake-up time either and I find as he matures into his teens, it’s harder and harder for him. Don’t get me wrong he’ll never be the sleep until noon kind of teen, sleeping in to him is more like 6:30am or, gasp, 7:00am! I think he’s just a point where his preference is not be awakened, but to wake naturally, even it were to be at 5:30am, which is what happens often on weekends, when he can actually sleep in! Then, he wakes happily, wanting nothing more than to lounge in bed, watching something mindless, or snuggling.
This morning though, he was a bit of a bear. My solution? Loud music and crazy dancing. First laying next to him, helping to move his arms and waving my hands and legs in the air like an upturned beetle, then me dancing around the room while he shook off his morning blues and eventually laughed, and laughed. On occasion, I can be hilarious! It worked though and to my mind, a quick bit of dancing is a nice way to get the day started.
With that in mind, I haven’t shared the songs that make up my post titles for quite a while because I’ve been so terrible about posting so I thought I’d use this post to do so. Since the last time I shared, here are the songs and artists of recent blog titles:
Manic Monday (The Bangles)
Don’t Stop Believing (Journey)
Swimming Lesson (The Eels)
Sixteen Forever (The Dictators)
Just Like Starting Over (John Lennon)
Changes (David Bowie)
Lean on Me (Bill Withers)
Sharp Dressed Man (ZZ Top)
Summeritme Blues (Eddie Cochran)
Sound of Your Voice (Bare Naked Ladies)
Speechless (Michael Jackson)
Making Plans for Nigel (XTC)
Looking forward to a cheerier Tuesday…
Posted in cerebral palsy, Family Life, Gratitude, High School, Music, Special needs parenting, Teenagers | Tagged: CP Boy, Dance, Gratitude, High School, life, music, parenting | Leave a Comment »
Lucky 13!
It’s been quite a while since I created a new playlist for Cole. I rely on Spotify searches for bands he might like and did create a failed summer play list, a 70’s themed walk through my early teens, for our road trip up to Oregon to visit my mom. It seemed appropriate to road tripping in northern California and southern Oregon but he hated it. Because he rides the bus to and from school now, car music is now primarily weekend fodder. Thankfully he’s open to new stuff and not as tuned into the little kids music of yore, unless he’s particularly cranky or tired, when the comfort factor kicks in.
My husband gave me a record player for my birthday earlier this month and we’re starting to drag some of my hundreds of records in from the garage where they’ve been resting for the better part of two decades. It’s an eclectic representation of my life, pre-marriage, pre-motherhood. Some treasures that never made it to the digital world. I’m excited to listen to some of my favorites on vinyl and to introduce Cole to more of my youth!
Here’s the playlist he’ll be sampling this weekend whilst running around town with me:
Tighten Up – Black Keys
Wish I Knew You – The Revivalists
River – Bishop Briggs
Airwalker – Jeremy Jay
Parallel Horizontal – Marine Research
The Glow, Pt. 2 – The Microphones
Jessica – Lime Spiders
Spirits – Strumbellas
Righteously – Lucinda Williams
Veni Vidi Vici – Black Lips
Going the Distance – Zipper Club
Girls – Beastie Boys
It’s Alright For You – The Police
Roll to Me – Del Amitri
Juicebox – The Strokes
Crash – The Primitives
Think I’m In Love – Beck
Giant – Banks & Steelz
I Know – Shovels & Rope
The Ledge – The Replacements
I’m In Love – Teenage Fanclub
Posted in cerebral palsy, Family Life, Life, Music, Special needs parenting | Tagged: differently abled child, family life, music, parenting, playlist | Leave a Comment »
I’m still feeling blue about the death of David Bowie. It’s amazing how much influence he had on nearly everyone I know. His music was a constant of the playlist of my life. My dad had his late ‘60s folk album, David Bowie, and I loved There Is A Happy Land and Uncle Arthur. They still occasionally appear in current playlists. As my dad transitioned a bit out of Bowie, I fell deeper as I approached my teens and Bowie delved into glam and rock. There was no one like him. I remember watching him on SNL, and the show that followed SNL in Los Angeles, Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert whilst babysitting. I had the great fortune to see him live a few times and he never failed to thrill. He was innovative, unique, passionate, and fabulous. By all accounts, he was kind, generous and caring too. A man among men, and a brightly shining star in whatever universe he chose to illuminate.
The search for music Cole will enjoy during car rides and downtime continues. I’m getting better at honing into more likes than dislikes. Here’s the January list we’ll try this weekend:
Young Americans – David Bowie
If the Stars Were Mine – Melody Gardot
Song For Someone – U2
Give Me A Try – Wombats
Way Down We Go – Kaleo
Talk To Me – Kopecky
Rebel Light – Strangers
Gone – JR JR
My Type – Saint Motel
Get Off This – Cracker
Could Have Been Me – Struts
Ready to Start – Arcade Fire
Money Maker – Black Keys
Nobody Really Cares – Courtney Barnett
Rebel Rebel – David Bowie
Posted in cerebral palsy, Family Life, Life, Music, Special needs parenting | Tagged: cerebral palsy, differently abled child, family life, life, music, special needs | 2 Comments »
I realized today that I haven’t provided the songs and artists that title my blog entries for quite a long while. I thought I’d use this rainy gloomy day as my chance to get you caught up with the songs and tomorrow with a new playlist for Cole for January.
Music plays a huge part in our lives. It was always in my house growing up and my dad used to take me to see live music, heavy on the jazz. I discovered punk rock in the late ‘70’s, which influenced my youth in a big way. While I like all kinds of music and as a teen, young adult, went through phases where in addition to the punk rock, I’d listen to Patsy Cline or the ‘60’s girl groups incessantly.
My husband too grew up around a lot of music. He played in bands, sang with a somewhat tongue in cheek quartet and spent much of his formative years seeing bands in clubs in the Baltimore/DC area.
Music has been in Cole’s life from the start. We sang to my growing belly, and broke out every Beatles and Elvis Costello song we could remember once he was born, singing to him in the NICU while he was healing and recovering those first tenuous frightful weeks after his birth. He’s been exposed to everything we love, and shot down most of it, opting for discovering his own favorites. Our influence doesn’t really interest him but he does love music and is interested in exploring which is why I started creating monthly playlists for him.
When I started blogging last year, I decided to try to title each blog with a song title that somehow, in my mind, related to the blog topic. Following are the titles with the song artists for the past couple of months, including today’s:
If Music Could Talk – The Clash
Girl, Afraid – The Smiths
Innocent – Taylor Swift
Christmas Present – Andy Williams
Smile – Lily Allen
Thank you – Sly & The Family Stone
Magical Mystery Tour – The Beatles
I Am The DJ (Series 11) – David Bowie
Say It Isn’t So – Hall & Oates
Ball of Confusion – Love & Rockets
Frustration – Soft Cell
That Old Feeling – Frank Sinatra
All Together Now – The Beatles
Run The World – Beyonce
Love & Happiness – Al Green
Sweet Dreams – Eurythmics
Baby Elephant Walk – Henry Mancini
Reinvention – Superchick
I Hate My School – Redd Kross
Phenomenal Cat – The Kinks
Restless – The Bangles
Posted in cerebral palsy, Family Life, Life, Motivation, Music, Special needs parenting | Tagged: cerebral palsy, differently abled child, family life, life, music, parenting | 2 Comments »
The whole high school search has me in knots these past couple of weeks so I really want to try to go into the weekend and Thanksgiving holiday week feeling a little lighter in spirit. Music does it for me. It always helps my mood and truly has the ability to lift my heart and to get my body revved. Cole shares this synchronicity with music. He loves it and it can make or break a drive. He’s very ready for holiday music, which if you recall, I desperately try to enforce the “not until after Thanksgiving policy” upon him We’ve had a couple of outings already where nothing would satisfy but holiday music, and I’m thankful that the Bad Religion holiday album exists because to him it’s holiday music, and to me, well, it’s Bad Religion…(who by the way I grew up with…same junior and senior high school..).
I haven’t posted a playlist in a while but I’ve got one ready to play for the boy tomorrow when we are out and about doing some pre-Thanksgiving shopping and prep:
- CAGE THE ELEPHANT – Mess Around
- TONES ON TAIL – Go!
- ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO – I Wanna Be Your Dog (Cover)
- BELLE & SEBASTIAN – I Want the World
- MARCHING CHURCH – Hungry for Love
- ALESSIA CARA – Here
- The FRAY – Heartbeat
- BRICK & MORTAR – Train
- ECHOSMITH – Cool Kids
- KING CURTIS – Soul Serenade
- KAYA STEWART – In Love With A Boy
- ADELE – Lovesong
- JEAN-MICHEL BERNARD – Generique Stephane
- DEVO – The Girl U Want
- THE PRETENDERS – Kid
Posted in cerebral palsy, Family Life, Joy, Life, Music, Special needs parenting | Tagged: cerebral palsy, differently abled child, family life, life, music | Leave a Comment »
Below are the songs for April and May. I lost my balance in terms of my writing these past couple of months. I’m working on getting it back so I can be more consistent with my writing moving forward. Discipline, discipline, discipline…
April 2015
The April songs and artists are below:
- WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE – Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers
- SUNDOWN – Gordon Lightfoot
- LOST IN THE SUPERMARKET – The Clash
- SUNNY AFTERNOON – The Kinks
- SHE BLINDED ME WITH SCIENCE – Thomas Dolby
- WHERE IS MY MIND – The Pixies
- I AM THE DJ – David Bowie
- VOICES CARRY – ‘Til Tuesday
- ME, MYSELF & I – De La Soul
- LET’S GET PHYISICAL – Olivia Newton-John
- ANNIVERSARY SONG – Cowboy Junkies
The May songs and artists are as follows:
- TALK TALK – Talk Talk
- MOTHER’S TALK – Tears for Fears
- SHOUT – Tears for Fears
- WHERE IS MY MIND – The Pixies
- WHEN I GET HOME – The Beatles
- LOST IN THE SUPERMARKET – The Clash
- TUESDAY MORNING – The Pogues
Posted in cerebral palsy, Family Life, Life, Music, Special needs parenting | Tagged: cerebral palsy, differently abled child, family life, life, music, parenting | 1 Comment »
I’m looking forward to a few days of “Mom & Cole” time. Dan’s doing a conference this week through Saturday and has benefit to attend Saturday evening so we won’t see him until Sunday. Cole’s is continuing with Spring Break camp this week, which he seems to enjoy. A couple of his pals are there this week who were not last week so they’ve helped to make the week a bit more fun. I try to leave work a little early when Dan’s away so I can be home at a reasonable hour to have dinner with Cole. We fall into an easy routine of dinner, bath, a little TV. We have The Voice recorded so we’ll most likely watch the lives together.
Saturday we have some important errands to run. He’s attending a birthday celebration for one of his favorite friends and has decided on a gift so Saturday is shopping day! I’m guessing we’ll rope Grandma into joining us for a little shopping and lunch. Cole loves his weekend outings with her (so do I). I’m working a playlist for our driving. It’s kind of an esoteric mix but there are definitely a few songs that I know he’s going to love, and few that may surprise me. I just keep trying to keep us listening to different kinds of songs, old and new…just not the familiar kiddy music…anything but that!
So here’s the start of the April Playlist…
- ELEPHANT STONE – Stone Roses
- NO MYTH – Michael Penn
- STRANGE CONDITION – Pete Yorn
- GET CLOSER – Life in Film
- MAN WITHOUT A DREAM – The City
- GIMME SOME LOVE – G. Love & Special Sauce
- PINK MOON – Nick Drake
- I WANT YOU TO WANT ME – Cheap Trick
- EX’S & OH’S – Elle King
- CASTINADES EN EL GRANERO – Hinds
- CRAZY FOR YOU – Scars on 45
- DARK SUNGLASSES – Chrissie Hynde
- COMMON PEOPLE – Pulp
- PEDESTRIAN AT BEST– Courtney Barnett
- PICTURE THIS – Kero Kero Bonito
- WORLD SHUT YOUR MOUTH – Julian Cope
Posted in cerebral palsy, Family Life, Life, Music, Special needs parenting | Tagged: cerebral palsy, differently abled child, family life, life, music, parenting | Leave a Comment »
March has been a weird month. I didn’t manage to write as consistently as I had intended to. Work has been oddly busy and life in general has been wearing. We managed to plant a lovely garden filled with herbs, veggies and salad accessories like two kinds of radishes, spring onions, fennel and a pinky hued heirloom onion. The seedlings are already sprouting and everything is taking advantage of the abundance of sunshine we’ve had of late.
Baseball season also started this month. They’ve played two games, and had a haphazard picture day event already. Cole’s having fun this season and one of his close friends joined his team as well, which will make the season even better.
And Spring Break started this week. Cole’s going to camp both weeks so we can save vacation days for summer when he is scheduled to have hip surgery with a couple of months of recovery. He’s happy at camp because it’s held at his school so it doesn’t change his routine tremendously, which for Routine Boy, makes for great transition from school days to break. We’re trying to work a few fun things in during the break so he can see friends and not be entirely solo.
I can’t believe tomorrow is April!
My March song list and artists are below:
- THE LAST SONG – The Foo Fighters
- BEAUTIFUL DAY – U2
- CATCH A WAVE – The Beach Boys
- LAY YOUR HANDS ON ME – The Thompson Twins
- LOST IN THE SUPERMARKET – The Clash
- SMARTER THAN YOU – The Undertones
- I AM THE DJ – David Bowie
- EVER CHANGING MOODS – Style Council
- SCIENCE IS REAL – They Might Be Giants
- SNOW (HEY OH) – Red Hot Chili Peppers
- HE AIN’T HEAVY, HE’S MY BROTHER – The Hollies
- BEAUTIFUL BOY – John Lennon
- LOST IN THE SUPERMARKET – The Clash
- THE LAST SONG – Foo Fighters
Posted in cerebral palsy, Family Life, Life, Music | Tagged: cerebral palsy, differently abled child, family life, life, music | Leave a Comment »
We’re getting prepared for a short road trip to Mammoth Mountain this week, which means we need some good playlists. It’s about five and half hours of driving time each way. It’s our annual pilgrimage to Mammoth…This year there are six families converging on the mountain for some skiing, hiking, and lots of fun! We’re all really excited, but no one as much as Cole. He loves skiing. Mammoth has an amazing adaptive program. He uses a bucket ski and loves to take black diamond runs with moguls and lots of speed. I can only imagine how exhilarating it must feel for him to be racing down a mountain on a sunny, clear day.
His excitement is infectious.
We’ve started watching the new season of The Voice and there have been some songs that Cole has been exposed to during the tryouts that he really liked. James Brown’s “I Feel Good” for one, which made me think it would be fun to create a playlist that has lots of Motown and 50’s and 60’s music. It’s fun car music because Cole and I both love to dance in our seats…
- I FEEL GOOD – James Brown
- WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO – The Supremes
- MY GIRL – The Temptations
- YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE – Stevie Wonder
- GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY – Little Richard
- ALL SHOOK UP – Elvis Presley
- IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR – Wilson Pickett
- BE MY BABY – The Ronettes
- SUGAR, SUGAR – The Archies
- I’M A BELIEVER – The Monkees
Posted in cerebral palsy, Family Life, Life, Music, Special needs parenting | Tagged: cerebral palsy, Dance, differently abled child, family life, life, music, parenting | Leave a Comment »
February seemed to fly by. It started out with Cole and I having the flu for a full week, most of which my husband missed due to travel, which was probably a good thing since he didn’t catch it too. I felt so poorly that even looking at the computer made me tired and worn. Not a lot of writing this month. I feel it when I don’t have the outlet, but sometimes life just give me the luxury of time. He missed our big school fundraiser too. CHIMEapalooza. It’s a variety show of sort themed around inclusion. This years proper theme was “this is how we do it”. I shared Dan’s piece earlier this month. Tom Morello was the big hit. He came and sang a couple of folk songs, including This Land is My Land backed by lots of our kids, Cole included (he’s a big fan of Mr. Morello!). It was a great night celebrating our school and the amazing CHIME community.
February’s song list and artists are below:
1. THE LAST SONG – The Foo Fighters
2. DON’T WORRY BABY – The Beach Boys
3. SICK AS A DOG – Areosmith
4. I AM THE DJ – David Bowie
5. LOST IN THE SUPERMARKET – The Clash
6. CIRCLES – Soul Coughing
7. I STILL REMEMBER – Gary Numan
8. I WANT ANSWERS – House of Freaks
9. RAININ’ IN MY HEART – Slim Harpo
10. SEE ME, FEEL ME – The Who
Posted in Family Life, Life, Music, Special needs parenting | Tagged: cerebral palsy, differently abled child, family life, life, music, special needs | Leave a Comment »
I love your brain 