Take a music bath one or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water-bath is to the body......
Oliver Wendell Holmes
I was able to see Diana Krall several, several months ago when she appeared at Atlanta’s Chastain Park.
My husband had won the tickets from a radio station. While I had heard her and recognized her voice the concert was my first true exposure to her musical style.
The song I’m bathing in today is “Cabbagetown” by Shawn Mullins. Why? For starters Shawn Mullins is from my state, and Cabbagetown has historical significance for someone like me…an Atlantan.
Cabbagetown is a particular section of Atlanta….you can read about it here…the neighborhood website has everything you would want to know about it.
Quick facts regarding Shawn Mullins:
*best known for his 1998 hit Lullaby. It was number one on the Adult Top 40 and nominated for a Grammy Award.
*Graduated from Clarkston High School in Clarkston, Georgia.
*Friends with Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls.
*Attended North Georgia College and State University where he was bandmaster of the military marching band.
*You might recognize another famous song of his titled “All Im My Head,” featured on the hit tv show “Scrubs.” The song was written after an email was sent out by the producers indicating they were searching for a new theme song. It wasn’t selected, but was used in the first episode.
*The television show “Dawson’s Creek” used his song “Shimmer.”
*His official website is here, his Myspace page is here
I usually refer to Averil Lavigne as “that angy young girl” when discussing her music with my teenage daughter because her songs are all a little “mad”. However, it would appear that she’s far from being angry, is not the teenybopper you would imagine, and is even happily married as of this writing.
While her style of music is far, far from the country band Alabama, Averil Lavigne found a style and has stuck with it to the point that most all of her library of music sounds similar.
I particularly like her song “Girlfriend”…..
Don’t pretend I think you know I’m damn precious And how, yeah, I’m the motherfucking princess I can tell you like me too And you know I’m right.
Back in 2007, Lavigne was sued along with co-writer Lukasz Gottwald and her record title. The complaint contended the song was plagiarized from the song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” performed by The Rubinoos. You can read more about the “p” issue over at this Wikipedia page.
Averil Lavigne’s Myspace page can be found here. Her website can be accessed here, and as of today the video clip is Averil performing “Girlfriend”.
The band Midnight Oil got their name by drawing lyrics out of a hat.
Beds Are Burning was the first track from the album Diesels and Dust. Wikipedia advises “Beds Are Burning” is a political song about giving native Australian lands back to the Pintupi, who were among the very last people to come in from the desert. These “last contact” people began moving from the Gibson Desert to settlements and missions in the late 1930s. More were forcibly moved during the 1950s and 1960s to the Papunya settlement. In 1981, they left to return to their own country and established the Kintoire community which is nestled in the picturesque Kintore Ranges, surrounded by Mulga and Spinfex country. It is now a thriving little community with a population of about 400.
Midnight Oil performed the song in front of a world audience of billions (including Prime M inister John Howard who has claimed this is his favorite Midnight Oil song) at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The whole band was dressed in black, with the words “sorry” printed conspicuously on their clothes. This was a reference to the Prime Minister’s refusal to apologize, on behalf of Australia, to the Aboriginal Australians for the way they have been treated over the previous 200 years, particularly in relation to native title and the government-sanctioned removal of Aboriginal children of the Stolen Generations from their families. The official website for Midnight Oil can be found here.
I was able to see Diana Krall several, several months ago when she appeared at Atlanta’s Chastain Park.
