This Is Me--2024 A to Z Theme

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!

Monday, June 7, 2021

And So I Fly ( #BOTB Results )

 Hello and welcome to my blog.  This is just a short post to announce winners of my Battle of the Bands from last week.  Hope you are having a nice day...


Battle of the Bands Results


        My most recent Battle was between covers of the It's a Beautiful Day's song White Bird.  After all since I'm Arlee Bird and I'm white and I'm gonna fly--in a sense--for the summer, the song seemed like an ironic anthem for me at this point in the life of my blog.  Oh well, whatever.

        The Battle was a face off between The Scones and Vanessa-Mae.  I liked the hippy dippy Scones revue with their long groovy jam of the song, but the flute was just not the violin and the violin is what had attracted me so much to the original version of the song.  Vanessa-Mae had the violin and I liked her updated technopop version of the song.  I'm going with V as in Violin and Vanessa.

        The race ended up pretty well.


Final Vote Tally

The Scones              9 votes

Vanessa-Mae           7 votes


See you when I see you or maybe in my dreams...






Tuesday, June 1, 2021

White Bird ( #BOTB & #IWSG )

           Summer's here according to the post-Memorial Day tradition of thinking.  Time to get away.  I want to fly, literally, but not in a plane.  I just want to go.  I'm like a caged Bird faced with my opportunity to set out to somewhere.  So where do I go from here...


The Insecure Writer's Support Group


Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog


The co-hosts for the June 2 posting of the IWSG are J Lenni Dorner, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, Lee Lowery, and Rachna Chhabria.


      Nothing  I had to say about the question for this month.  But that's been the case for a lot of things.  Oh, don't let me mislead you--I've always got something to toss out for folks to mull and chew on. There are other things I'm thinking about lately, but nothing I want to blog about.  It's all blog worthy, but I need to clear my mind.

        So I plan to take a semi-hiatus for a few months.  I'd like to think I'll be writing.  Or doing something worth doing.  I'll likely pop in each upcoming month for the Insecure Writer's Support Group post.  And until sometime after August the following will be my final...

Battle of the Bands




        Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands.   This event happens each month on the 15th and on some there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month.  My blog is one of those with a second Battle excepting over these summer months.   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.


White Bird

        The song "White Bird" originally appeared on the first album by the San Francisco group It's a Beautiful Day.  When I first heard it in 1970 I was an immediate fan because it featured a violin which is an instrument that I play.  And it's a nice song as testified in the many covers one can find of artists performing the song.  Here are two for you to compare and vote for your favorite...



The Scones    "White Bird"   (2019)

         From Colorado we have The Scones presenting their version of "White Bird" in a dramatic video shot at the Colorado National Monument.










Vanessa-Mae   "White Bird"   (2001)

         Born in Singapore, Vanessa-Mae is a British citizen who has made a mark not only in a career of music but also as a skier.  Her cover of "White Bird" managed to make #66 on the British pop charts and she hasn't done too badly with her musical career.




Time to Vote!
        
         Gonna fly soon but first I want to see who wins this Battle.    Please join in and play along in this Battle of the Bands.  I hope you'll at least give the versions a listen to discern your favorite.   Which version do you prefer?   Hopefully you have an opinion of some kind.  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 favorite 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.


Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:

 StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands

  'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'

'Curious as a Cathy'

Sound of One Hand Typing

Jingle, Jangle, Jungle 




Winner of this Battle Announced on Monday June 7

        I'll do my usual post for those who look at it.  And so on...