Category: Music

  • Ellipses…

    Ellipses…

    On this blog, I tend to write the way I think. Sometimes straightforward, sometimes in a slightly jumbled way that zigzags cross-country as it were, traipsing into the occasional dead-end or cul-de-sac… ending abruptly or circling back on myself. I try to tidy it up as best I can before…

  • What “Era” are you in?

    What “Era” are you in?

    Taylor Swift, love her or not, is pretty cool.  When I was growing up, Madonna might have been an equivalent performer; an incredibly famous singer-songwriter and image-chameleon.  Each time you think you have them “pegged” to a particular song-style, or appearance, they change.  They bring out one album that becomes…

  • 15 minute “workout” (for pain days)

    15 minute “workout” (for pain days)

    One of the messages that my internet seems to be filled with these days, is various forms of “use AI to do your work for you”. I’ve written before (here) about how I’m a bit hesitant to imagine a world where AI writes all my blogposts for me. Whilst I…

  • Wash that pain right out of your head

    Wash that pain right out of your head

    When I was younger, I used to be a complete sucker for a musical on TV.  “The Sound of Music”, “West Side Story”, and “Greece” all come to mind, as well as “The King and I”.  As a teenager, I then went through a stage (pun intended) where I loved…

  • Rise (and rise again)

    Rise (and rise again)

    Music makes a huge difference to my ability to deal with pain… and life’s ups and downs in general. I have a channel over on Spotify where I collect relaxing music to listen to when I have a migraine so that I feel less lonely lying around in the dark.…

  • Background noise for healing

    Background noise for healing

    “Background noise” is a phrase that has been familiar to me since my work-in-a-big-office days. Once you got used to working in a busy space, you could sit at your cubicle and type away, and all the talking, phone ringing, book dropping noises merged into a single blur of sounds.…

  • When I was tied to the mast…

    When I was tied to the mast…

    Much to the amusement (or perhaps bemusement) of the last mechanic who serviced my vehicle, my car has a CD player in it.  On the good days (when noise doesn’t annoy me), I usually listen to music apps via my phone, but I also enjoy the continuity that comes from…

  • Remix your life like a DJ in 1 hour!

    Remix your life like a DJ in 1 hour!

    Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.  My Instagram feed seems to be full of advice on how to triple your followers by baiting big hooks and reeling people in.  I don’t know what I opened to trigger the avalanche of advice, but using titles that include small numbers and big promises…

  • Pessimism: is it realistic or wrong?

    Pessimism: is it realistic or wrong?

    My daughters listen to a musician named Alec Benjamin.  He suited my mood last year as he tends to sing angsty woe-is-me songs.  This year, however, I’m trying to ‘lean into’ a more sunshine-and-happiness version of myself in order to heal.  There is, nonetheless, one song of his that sometimes…