My A to Z Themes in the past have covered a range of topics and for 2024 the theme is a personal retrospective that I call "I Coulda Been" which is in reference to my job and career arc over my lifetime. I'll be looking at all sorts of occupations that I have done or could have done. Maybe you've done some of these too!
If you've been wondering about this year's A to Z Challenge then I suggest you hop on over to the A to Z Blogand see what's happening. We're looking for your input and have a nifty survey that we'd like for you to fill out. Those who help us out will be eligible for a prize drawing. Survey closes on March 3rd and sign-ups open on March 5th.
Keep posted with updates on the official Challenge Blog. Hope you'll join us for the 9th annual Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.
Battle of the Bands
My recent Battle was between two covers of the Cafe Tacuba song "Eres" as performed by Colombian artist Elafrojack and Mexican artist Nath Campos.
To me both recordings are quite good. No losers in this match and I think that was reflected in the results: It was a tie! That's before my vote.
As much as I enjoyed the version by Nath Campos, there was something I liked more about Elafrojack. Unlike a few of you, I did like vocals by Jack Vargas. However as some of you agreed, the guitar really rocked. My vote goes to Elafrojack giving them the win.
Final Vote Tally
Elafrojack 10 votes Nath Campos 9 votes
Next Battle on Thursday March 1st
Please tell me it ain't so! Almost March with April right around the bend? I better get cranking on my A to Z posts! But first I'll have my next Battle which will feature a motivational song from a Broadway musical.
Do you plan on doing the A to Z Challenge in April? Have you filled out the survey yet? Can you think of a motivational song that comes from a Broadway musical?
I hate hate, but sometimes love gets overly hyped and I don't like that. Love is not a box of chocolates.
A swedish box of chocolates called "Paradis" (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Oh, by the way--have you found any good post-Valentine's candy on sale? I love those mark-downs...
Post-Valentine Blues
This week I've been seeing a lot of posts about love songs. I'd already made my mind up not to use a love song for this Battle. I had a completely different theme in mind, but then I thought it better to postpone that post until next time and succumb to the love bug. After all, love is everywhere these days. At least in the stores until the leftovers are put on clearance to make way for Easter. I guess love wins again.
There are love songs in every language. Love is universal and so is music. And love makes you want to sing--or at least hear the music all around. I've been in the lowlands of late so nothing like a couple of doses of love to pick me up. Anyone in the mood for Mexican?
Battle of the Bands
Battle of the Bandsisthe blogging event started byFar Away Seriesand now hosted byStMcC Presents Battle of the Bands. This event happens each month on the 15th and on some blogs there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month. My blog is one of those with a second Battle on the 1st of the month. The premise is simple: Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it. Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.
Eres (You Are)
The love song for this Battle was originally done by the group Café Tacuba, an immensely talented eclectic band from Mexico. Among my favorite bands, I saw them in concert in 2000 at a theater in Anaheim. "Eres" comes from their album Cuatro Caminos which won the 2003 Grammy for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album. If you don't mind the Spanish, this group is well worth checking out. Please don't vote on their version, but if you want to listen as a matter of reference their version can be heard here. And now let the contest begin!
Elafrojack "Eres" (2013)
Jack Vargas aka "Elafrojack" hails from Columbia. I didn't find much about him other than he has a fairly wide social media presence and several YouTube music videos. I know right off that some of you might not like his heavy metal approach in his cover, but for others this might be just the thing that makes you vote for his version.
Nath Campos is from Mexico City. Her father is a song writer and music producer. She gives "Eres" a smoother more romantic touch.
Time to Vote! Hope you'll give these two song versions a chance. What's your style preference between these two choices? Which song version do you like best? You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.
Please vote on your favorites by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours.
Be watching the Blogging from A to Z Challenge site for announcements about April. A sign up list will be appearing soon as well as information about the upcoming event. Don't miss the Battle results post on Tossing It Out next Wednesday.
The best thing about being sick is staying in bed and sleeping all day. And that best thing is not really a good thing. I'd rather just sleep at night like I normally do...
I'm going to keep this as brief as I can since I've been very sick over the past few days and still not up to staying in front of the computer for very long. Picked up this nasty bug somewhere--maybe from the pneumonia shot I got last Wednesday or maybe from just being at the doctor's office. Whatever the case might be, I feel lousy right now and I'm ready to crawl back into bed. Tomorrow will be another--and hopefully a healthier day.
The results from my Battle of the Bands post are on down the page, but first my post for The Insecure Writer's Support Group...
February 7 question - What do you love about the genre you write in most often? Well, sad to say, aside from blogging I haven't been writing anything for quite a while. Nada! Zilch! I've been thinking a lot about writing, but I think about a lot of things and thinking doesn't amount to doing. Oh, I've been doing lots of other things so all of that might add up to life experience which in turn makes for good fodder for future writing. But I've been in a sort of a slump--a burn out phase so to speak. And I've been doing other things that take away from writing time. However, when I am writing non-blog stuff then I tend to like to write memoir. What I love about memoir is that it is real and something that I can readily connect with. It's something that I enjoy sharing. It's like when my mother used to tell me stories about her younger days or I used to tell my own kids stories about when I was a lad. To me, history is important. I didn't always understand that when I was a high school student plodding through what I thought was useless information. Now I'd rather learn about history to see how events and people in the past brought us to where we are now and to recognize the mistakes that are being repeated repeatedly. I hope my own personal history doesn't include a me who didn't record enough of my own life and got too busy to write. But then on the larger scale it probably doesn't matter that much. Still it should matter to me now. That's why I need to write. Again. More than blog posts. Battle of the Bands
My most recent Battle of the Bands (found here) featured three different band "theme songs." I had a difficult time coming up with three actual bands so I did have to resort to using two themes from cartoon shows where the characters played in bands. This battle did not turn out in any way as I expected. In fact I was somewhat shocked! As some of you might have guessed my pick was for the theme of the one real band The Good Rats. After all I did say they were "one of my favorite rock bands of all time." And the Rats made a decent showing with voters. I figured The Archies would win this Battle and the Pussycats wouldn't capture a single vote. Boy, was I wrong! Final Vote Tally Archies 2 Josie and the Pussycats 8 The Good Rats 7 Next Battle on Thursday February 15th I will surely be better by then. Might or might not post anything before that time. Or I might go back to doing some actual writing. Have you evaded sickness this year? What is your biggest distraction from doing things you want (or need) to do? Do you enjoy reading memoir?
You might have seen this question on other blogs or elsewhere and perhaps you've come up with an answer already. But why not ask it again? If everyone had to have their own theme song, what would your theme song be?
Perhaps you'd pick an already existing song that you felt described you well or maybe a song that had some special meaning for you. If you had a talent for writing songs you might write your own with lyrics specifically dealing with yourself. You might be so fortunate to know someone who could write a song for you or if you could afford it, you could commission a songwriter to compose your personal theme. There are a number of options here.
Would you want a song with lyrics? Or how about a melody that would serve as your theme song? Like Prokofiev did for his musical compositionPeter and the Wolfyou could use specific instruments that fit your profile--a haunting oboe, a harmonica, or even a human whistle perhaps. Lyrics could actually paint a word picture of who you are while a melody might set a mood or evoke an aspect of your personality.
I think I'd like to write my own theme song. Otherwise I'd have to think long and hard about my own theme song based on an existing recording.
What might you choose for your own theme song?
Battle of the Bands
Battle of the Bandsisthe blogging event started byFar Away Seriesand now hosted byStMcC Presents Battle of the Bands. This event happens each month on the 15th and on some blogs there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month. My blog is one of those with a second Battle on the 1st of the month. The premise is simple: Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it. Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.
Band Theme Songs
There have probably been many band theme songs before The Monkees hit the scene, but I'm still not coming up with many. The theme from The Monkees television show is the most exemplary of the kind of song I'm thinking of. If you don't remember this theme then you can find it here, but please don't vote on it for my Battle today as I'm sure it would likely win since it is so iconic.
The premise of this Battle is three band themes--songs that introduce the group and tell a little something about that group. The themes are all short which is why I'm going with three choices. Take a listen and vote on your song preference. Hope you have fun with this...
For a group that was not exactly "real" The Archies managed to put out a few albums that actually had songs that hit the charts. "Sugar Sugar" was their biggest charting hit, but they cranked out a number of other songs that received a fair amount of radio play. The theme song is not much on the lyrical content, but it's a silly opening theme so what else does anyone need. There's a big Beach Boy influence in this that I detect. What do you think? Take a listen and tell us...
Josie and the Pussycats "Josie and the Pussycats" (1970)
The Pussycats' theme does a good job of laying out who the characters of this Archies spin-off from the early seventies are and what the show is about. The band was originally a prefabbed group like the Monkees with a lot of help from studio musicians. Over the years Josie and crew has reappeared in various incarnations on television as well as a feature film in 2001. Take a listen to their theme to see how it grabs you...
The Good Rats were a real band and not a television fabrication though it might have been interesting to do a show based on these guys. I first came upon this group in 1970 when I was in college and became enthralled with their sound--this is one of my favorite rock bands of all time. The Rats never quite made it to gain wide exposure despite fifteen albums and a hard rocking tour schedule of mostly bars in New York and New Jersey. They maintain a hard core fan base to this day, continuing under the leadership of Stefan Marchello, the son of the late band founder Peppi Marchello. For your consideration, here is the Good Rats theme song from their first album...
Time to Vote! Hope you'll find a preference of what you like best among these three choices.Which song version do you like best? You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste. Please vote on your favorites by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours.
