Guilie Castillo-Oriard's Blog, page 6

#BoTB: Thunderstruck

Music can be so versatile... as versatile, in fact, as the musician. And only as versatile as the musician. And these two take AC/DC's Thunderstruck to a whole new level.




Which of these two versions of Thurderstruck do you like most (or dislike the least)? Which of the two—guitar maverick Luca Stricagnoli or the rebels of 2Cellos—do you feel accomplishes the better musicianship? Are you a fan of classical crossovers? What do you think of that rumor making the rounds about Axel Rose replacing Brian Johnson as AC/DC's lead vocals? Cast your vote and share your thoughts in the comments, and come back next Friday to check which way the voting went.

And when you're done voting here, take a hop over to visit these other Battle of the Bands participants for more awesome musical face-offs. As always, a gratitude shout-out to hosts Stephen T. McCarthy and Far Away Eyes for keeping the BoTB going!

STMcC Presents 'Battle of The Bands'Far Away SeriesDebbie D. ("Doglady")Your Daily DoseTossing It OutMike's RamblingsJingle Jangle JungleCurious as a CathyCherdo on the FlipsideThe Sound of One Hand TypingJanie Junebug Righting & Editing (Back in May)J. A. ScottAngels Barkdcrelief ~ Battle of The BandsReInVintaged Goods
P.S. — I apologize upfront; due to the A-to-Z Challenge (which I'm participating in with the dog blog) I may be a bit late replying and visiting you back. But I will get there :) And if you're doing the A-to-Z this April, please let me know!

Rhythms del Mundo: #BoTB Results

Well, well. I'd like to say I'm surprised by the winner here, but... the Latin version of Clocks really does swing...


Clocks: 11LeeMicheleSusanCathyDixieHilaryRobinStephenBirgit
FAE
Cherdo

Hotel California: 2JeffreyElliptical Man

Purple Haze: 4DebbieJacquesJohnMike

What I am surprised at is the loser: Hotel California got all of two votes.

Wow.

I'm so glad you all enjoyed this quirky Battle. Thanks so much for coming by to play and vote and comment and dissect your opinions. Next Battle is on April 1st, and although this blog isn't joining the A-to-Z April Challenge, I am participating with The Dog Blog... which means April BoTB posts will probably be short and sweet (and result posts might be a tad late)... Apologies upfront for that, and thanks for understanding :)

Speaking of the Challenge and The Dog Blog, today is the Theme Reveal hop. If you're so inclined, I'd love to see you over there... That blog needs all the help it can get, and the theme I've chosen isn't exactly going to earn me any popularity awards, so a friendly comment or two to drown out the crickets would be much, much appreciated :)

Love you all to bits! And, to prove it, I leave you with another awesome Latin crossover cover. Bet you never imagined Led Zeppelin's mega classic could sound this good ;) (Give it time, though... it takes near 2 min from the start to get fully Latinized.)

#BoTB: the Rhythms del Mundo edition

I'm back! The flu did me in for a couple of weeks, then life just... went a little wild. All's good though, and I'm happy to be back in the Battle of The Bands swing.

Got something a little different for you today. These aren't different versions of the same song, but rather different songs in similar covers. Perhaps you're familiar with the Rhythms del Mundo albums? As fundraising for Artists Project Earth, they create covers of pop songs in latin rhythms, very often with the original artists on vocals and some instruments. The first album, Rhythms del Mundo: Cuba, for instance, had none other than Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo (of Buena Vista Social Club fame) as main collaborators. The results were... well, pretty amazing, I thought. And now I'm curious to see what you think.

Instead of pairing the cover version with the original, I decided to showcase three of my favorite songs in their Latino incarnations and let you be the judge of which works best (or least worse) as an adaptation.

Ready?

First up is Coldplay, Clocks. (Rhythms del Mundo: Cuba, 2006)



The Killers with Hotel California... (Rhythms del Mundo: Classics, 2009)



And, finally, the weirdest (but good weird) cover I've ever heard of Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze. The fact that they kept Jimi's guitar (if not the vocals) just adds to the whole sense of unreality here. (Rhythms del Mundo: Classics, 2009)




So. What do you think? Which of these three sounds most like it was born to be Latino? Or, maybe, which one sounds least ridiculous doing the cha-cha? Let me know in the comments, and come back next Tuesday to find out how the votes played out. Also, take a hop over and visit the excellent battles being fought at these blogs, too:

STMcC Presents 'Battle of The Bands'Far Away SeriesDebbie D. ("Doglady")Holli's Hoots and HollersYour Daily DoseTossing It OutMike's RamblingsJingle Jangle JungleCurious as a CathyCherdo on the FlipsideThe Sound of One Hand TypingJanie Junebug Righting & EditingJ. A. ScottAngels Barkdcrelief ~ Battle of The BandsNovelBrewsReInVintaged Goods
Thanks for coming by, and for playing along with my weird battle today. Really looking forward to your thoughts on this one.

#ImProudToBeMexican

Down with the flu...

So sorry, #BOTB gang... I'm skipping this one due to the flu. Will do my best to visit you all & vote in the next few days when I'm feeling better.

#BoTB Results: Wish You Were Here

And thus ends the decades-long Gilmour-Waters dispute. Take a knee, Roger, and bow your head.

David Gilmour: 17.5LeeDeniseMike (0.5)ElsieAlexVidyaFAECathyJohnMicheleElliptical ManRolandBirgitHankJeffreyRobinDonnaMadilyn
Roger Waters: 3.5Mike (0.5)YolandaDixieSusan
I almost feel sorry for Roger. Almost. Because I'm in the majority here... As much as I admire the eerie quality of his voice, the way emotion translates unedited into it, and his talent on the bass, it's Gilmour who wins this for me. Sorry, Roger.

For your further enjoyment, the Pulse version of Wish You Were Here (Division Bell tour, 1994)


Thank you so much, everyone, for being a part of this story, of this epic battle, and of the roaring success that was the Lost & Found hop. Special thanks to mastermind Arlee Bird and co-hosts Denise Covey, Yolanda Renee, Elizabeth Seckman, and the Ninja Captain Alex Cavanaugh, without whose dedication and effort and enthusiasm—and, in Alex's case, extraordinary tech support—this hop might not have been half as successful, and certainly not nearly as much fun. It was an honor to be your co-host.

The Love Song That Wasn't — Lost & Found hop + #BoTB

"Every new beginning comesfrom some other beginning's end."~ Seneca
(Seneca, yes. Not Semisonic.)
Note to BoTB-ers: To skip the preamble and go straight to the Battle, scroll down to where the long Lost & Found banner is :)


When people of my generation think of love songs, they might think of Bryan Adams or Bangles or Peter Cetera or Air Supply or Richard Marx (if they're mainstream). The "pseudo-rocker" crowd might list Journey, Bon Jovi, Bonnie Tyler, Meatloaf, or Heart, while the "real" rockers might go for Def Leppard, INXS, U2, The Cure, Scorpions, Cheap Trick, REM. The really alternative ones might go for The Smiths or Billy Idol or Leonard Cohen or Fiction Factory or Cutting Crew or David Bowie or Echo & The Bunnyman or ... let's face it, we wouldn't have known them anyway.

A walk down memory lane...

Not sure I'd agree with "Best" as the right adjective here,but... Still. Good memories.
The first love song I knew as such—the first song that carried meaning, that encompassed an actual relationship—doesn't even come close to any of the above listings. I doubt anyone might include it in the love-song category. (Unless you're a twisted, dark-minded oddity—in which case please let's be friends.)

On a quiet afternoon in December 1988—I was two months shy of turning 16—my first boyfriend brought me a teddy bear. It was an early (or belated, can't remember the exact date) Christmas gift. We'd been dating a couple of months. I remember what I was wearing: a pink denim overall. I remember what he was wearing: white pants with a near-invisible blue pinstripe. And he was carrying a sweater—it was December, and Cuernavaca can get chilly—of a multi-colored knit. We sat out in the terrace for a while, and when he left and I walked him to the gate, he said something along the lines of,

"You know Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here ?"

I didn't even know what Pink Floyd was.

"You should listen to it," he said. "I dedicate it to you."

(I'm paraphrasing; translation and a quarter-century-old memory don't make for good verbatim recollection. Let me explain, just in case, that in Spanish, when you "dedicate" a song to someone, it means you want them to think of you when they listen to it. It means the song is saying something that you'd like to say to that person. Not sure if this is the way the word is used in English, too.)

This boy was, I believed at the deepest core of myself then, the love of my life. His presence lit up my world in ways previously unimagined, even impossible. The fact that he wanted to be with me filled me with a joy at boiling point that continuously threatened to spill and launch me into cartwheels or somersaults or, maybe, an aria.


If I only had the voice...
And so finding and listening to the message of this song—unknown, but with a highly promising title; I envisioned a lovely ballad of longing and chaste desire—became my obsession.

This is in the time before YouTube and Spotify and Google search. Before—gasp!—the internet. And, no, my parents didn't own a single Pink Floyd album. I doubt they even knew the band existed. (Well, my dad might've.)

Eventually, a friend found a tape of her brother's that had Wish You Were Here (just the song, mind you; it would be a few years before I got to listen to the whole album), and proceeded to "borrow" it for me. 

That staticky radio-station intro. The haunting twang of the first guitar. The smoothness of the second, answering one. The gorgeousness of the rhythm, the cadence. The first sound of Gilmour's voice:

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from hell
Blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold, steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?




I have... no words. Going on three decades later, I still don't. I cannot explain what this song — these words — did to me. It was like a veil lifting. The lights dimming in the theater, the velvety rustle of the curtain gliding open, a spotlight illuminating a new world. A new universe. A new me, transformed (revealed?) by the music, the lyrics—and by the person who'd thought of me with it.

Perhaps I should've been offended. I know my friend was, on my behalf. This is not a song of I'll love you forever, or You're so wonderful, or Can't live without you. This is no song of tender gazes, of soft feelings. This is a dark song, of madness and absence and the power (and tragedy) of both. The lyrics are intensely personal—no facile applicable-to-anyone universality. They're not mellow or soothing; they're sharp, honed to cut to the marrow.

They're poetry.

But not of the Thou my belovedst rose of beauty sonnet variety. Perhaps I should've been disappointed. Instead, I felt honored: I'd been given a wormhole to a depth of awareness I might not have known I needed. Listening to Wish You Were Here felt like taking a drink of water when you're not thirsty and discovering, as the water touches your lips, that in fact you're parched.

Wish You Were Here might not be a love song—but its gift was much, much purer, and lasting, than any Love of my life, Tra La La song could have given. What it meant was this: we, this boy and I, were special. As individuals, and together. We shared something that went far beyond skin-deep: we shared a love for the search of the profound. We weren't ordinary. And it was the promise that, throughout our time together, we would forever hold each other, and ourselves, to that higher standard. That, more than anything else then or since, is what seals the love deal for me.

We stayed together, this boy and I, on and off for some seven years (mostly on the last five), and then—like Pink Floyd and Roger Waters—we discovered we had different paths to explore. But that first relationship shaped us. For me, it translated into this: good music—the kind that connects with the core essence of being human—became the cornerstone that seals the love deal.

Today I'm in a beautiful relationship with a man worth his weight in solid diamonds. A man whose love song list includes Metallica's Nothing Else Matters, David Bowie's Heroes, and Ravel's Bolero. And our story began over a conversation about—yep, Pink Floyd. (And Maná, but... well, he's since made amends.)

If good music is what seals the love deal, then laughter is what keeps it alive. This my dushi has taught me.
(We happen to have a lot of it. We even manage to laugh about the Maná thing.)

Wish You Were Here has been covered much less than you'd expect for such a landmark classic. Perhaps it's precisely because the original is so powerful, so... inimitable. Like first love, one might argue. (Perhaps that's a good thing.)

And, also like first love, it's unrepeatable: it was performed live in 1975 and never again until the water-parting reunion at Live 8 in 2005. Ten years after WYWH came out, Waters left the band. For two decades the original, with Waters' unique style on the bass guitar, lived only in the memory of vinyl and acetate.

For today's Battle of the Bands, I give you the ultimate Floyd fan battle: Gilmour vs. Waters.






Who does WYWH better, Gilmour or Waters? And what do you think of WYWH as a love song? Care to share the top five (or three, or ten) songs that speak to you of love? What do you think makes a really great love song? Do you agree with Cat Stevens that the first cut is the deepest? How did your own first love shape you?

Thanks so much for coming by, for taking part in the Battle and/or in the Lost & Found hop. You can find other epic Battles being fought at these blogs:

STMcC Presents 'Battle of The Bands'Far Away SeriesDebbie D. ("Doglady")Holli's Hoots and HollersYour Daily DoseAlex CavanaughTossing It OutMike's RamblingsJingle Jangle JungleCurious as a CathyCherdo on the FlipsideThe Sound of One Hand TypingJanie Junebug Righting & EditingJ. A. ScottAngels Barkdcrelief ~ Battle of The BandsNovelBrewsReInVintaged Goods
Several, like me, have paired their BoTB post with Lost & Found posts; here's the full list of the hop participants. Some extraordinary—inspiring, funny, sad, eloquent—posts of love lost (or found), and well worth the read. Have fun exploring, y'all!

Murder & Obsession: @yolandarenee Cover Reveal!

Flames burn between a hardboiled cop and a gifted artist, but soon extinguish as another man's obsession ignites into an inferno of desire, driving him to destroy the object of his madness.

Congratulations, Yolanda! A-ma-zing cover for Book #3 in the Detective Quaid Mysteries series!
Not wanting to be left behind, Books #1 and #2 also got a primping up:
Murder, Madness & Love, Book #1
Available at Amazon Memories of Murder, Book #2
Available at Amazon
MURDER & OBSESSION, #3 of the Detective Quaid Mysteries, is set for release on March 10th — and I've no idea how or where to get the patience necessary to make it. Listen to this:

As wedding bells echo like the ring of toasting champagne glasses in the ice carved mountains of Anchorage Alaska, detective Steven Quaid rehabs his grandfather's cabin into a honeymoon cottage for his new bride.
When he returns from a hunting trip, Steven's faced with five police officers, who "Want to talk." Plagued by two unsolved murders, the Department is searching for answers.
The conversation comes to a deafening halt as the team finds a bloody crime scene in the bridal suite. "Where's her body?" is a question Steven cannot fathom.
Steven's jaw clenches and his heart races. Images of Sarah streak through his mind.
The silence breaks as an explosion of accusations vibrate through every fiber of his being. Steven bolts...
Although running is never the smart thing to do, Steven's not thinking clearly and his escape into the wilderness of the Brooks Range proves almost fatal.
This Steven Quaid mystery is both personal and heartbreaking.

About Yolanda:
At one time, Alaska called to me and I answered. I learned to sleep under the midnight sun, survive in below-zero temperatures, and hike the Mountain Ranges. I've traveled from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, and the memories are some of my most valued. The wonders, mysteries, and incredible beauty that is Alaska has never left me, and thus now influence my writing.
Despite my adventurous spirit, I achieved my education goals, married, and I have two wonderful sons. Writing is now my focus, my newest adventure!
~ * ~
Find Yolanda at her blog, Defending the Pen, on social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest), and at Amazon. (Would be super cool if you stopped by to congratulate her ;) )

Much success to you, Yolanda! And thank you for including Quiet Laughter in your cover reveal stops... It's an honor :)

P.S. — After the release, Yolanda will be coming by for a visit as part of her book tour... And we've planned an exciting conversation. Stay tuned; more details coming soon.

#BoTB Results: Tribute to David Bowie

This was as close to a shut-out (or is it blow-out? I can never keep them straight) as my Battles have come... Nirvana won 15 to 2.


Nirvana (15)LeeDebbieDixieMikeMaryMicheleStephenKimDonnaJeffreyJohnJanieRobinMadilynCherdo

Midge Ure (2)BirgitFAE
Not that my vote would matter at this point, but... Yeah, I vote for Nirvana, too. I love Midge's version, but — like so many pointed out in the comments — Nirvana's has an emotional significance (and content) that's hard to match.

Thanks, everyone, for coming by to vote and comment, and my apologies for the late post with the results. I'm finally back in Dushi Kòrsou, happy to be home (and in good-wifi land :D ). I've missed you all.

#BoTB : Goodbye, David Bowie

Can you hear me, Major Tom? 
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?

A legend has left us behind. This is my mediocre way of paying tribute to a genius that changed the face of music with a career that spanned half a century.



In Bowie's own words (1997):

"That song for me always exemplified kind of how you feel when you're young, when you know that there's a piece of yourself that you haven't really put together yet. You have this great searching, this great need to find out who you really are."

Great, great song.

No, we're not pitting Bowie against anyone today. Instead, two contenders will be doing battle in his honor. First up is a band who turned The Man Who Sold The World as an anthem for an entire new generation.

I give you

NIRVANA



The second contender, of Thin Lizzy and Ultravox fame, released his cover of Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World in 1985, fifteen years after the original was released. Give it up for

MIDGE URE


Your turn. Who does this song better? Who would you rather listen to? Who carried more (or less) of Bowie's original intent and feel into the modern version? Which one touches you deepest—or not at all? Tell us in the comments. I'll be back on the 21st to tally the votes and (dread, dread) add my own.
P.S. — I'll be traveling today, so I'll probably be late with responding and with visits to other Battles and blogs... But I'll get there. I promise :)
Check out the other awesome Battles playing out today! And HUGE gratitude to hosts Stephen and FAE for keeping the spirit alive :)
STMcC Presents 'Battle of The Bands'Far Away SeriesDebbie D. ("Doglady")Holli's Hoots and HollersYour Daily DoseAlex CavanaughTossing It OutMike's RamblingsJingle Jangle JungleCurious as a CathyCherdo on the FlipsideThe Sound of One Hand TypingJanie Junebug Righting & EditingJ. A. ScottBook LoverAngels Barkdcrelief ~ Battle of The BandsNovelBrews
And if you're in the mood for a full Bowie retrospective, Rolling Stone put together a 30-song playlist that is totally worth setting aside a whole afternoon for.
Goodbye, Major Tom.