This was a very long week. Not necessarily a bad week (aside from the fact that apparently insomnia is all the rage with the under 40 inch crowd in my house), but it did seem to go on forever.
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I'm not really into music shows that are really just concerts on TV, although I really like documentaries about musical groups or individual artists, even the schlocky ones like Behind the Music, and I've always liked countdowns. Otherwise, if I can't listen to someone performing a set live, I'd rather just listen to them on the radio or pop in a CD or something. There used to be this show on VH-1 years ago, called Crossroads, though, that I enjoyed despite my lack of enthusiasm for watching someone perform on TV; I think the show was sort of the VH-1 equivalent of MTV's Unplugged, but was less--how do I put this--egotistical in nature, even though it did focus on the popular-right-then set. There was also another show, called VH-1 Duets, I think, which was pretty much the same concept of live performances, hooking up the guest artist with various other ones to perform duets of the guest's better known songs. At any rate, there were some really good shows, and I came away with new appreciation for artists I already liked, or a better one for those whom I'd felt oversaturated with their popularity. (Looking back the list of artists on the CD that was released for Crossroads, it reads like a program listing of 'Where Are They Now?', hah!)
Personally, this week, I wanted someone to bring me something stronger than water, though. But the sentiment applies.
Bring Me Some Water - Melissa Ethridge with Joan Osborne
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We've been talking a lot about San Francisco this week, because that is where L. went on his work trip ('work' trip....suuuuure...). So, in the spirit of solidarity, I dug out a few tunes dealing with the place, starting off with Chris Isaak's song. (We're just such a self-sacrificing family, what with our work trips to SF and self enforced viewings of cute singers.)
San Francisco Days - Chris Isaak
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Lisa Loeb's 'To Catch the Moon' album (which she did with her friend, singer and songwriter Elizabeth Mitchell) was the first baby-specific album I bought on a whim, at the annual holiday concert hosted by the local orchestra we subscribed to, and where she appeared as a guest singer two years in a row, back when her brother Benjamin was the assistant conductor. (As an aside, Benjamin Loeb is a highly accomplished pianist himself, and a very sweet and charmingly modest man. Lisa was also very gracious in person, a tad bit earnest, but she seemed to have a nice sense of humor.)As it turned out, the kid did love the album to pieces and it still gets played at least a couple of nights a week (it has both cover songs and originals, so it's like it was made for our family!). He also completely recognized her by her voice, having never seen her or a picture of her, when she appeared on an episode of a children's show called Jack's Big Music Show to sing the song below; as it turns out he is just as entranced by her looks as her voice. Not that I blame him.
(By the way, if it seems that the programs/shows we let the kid watch are all heavily musically inclined, you'd be right. He's not going to sit down for the whole thing, and I can't stand a program preaching (excuse me, teaching) to a kid and doing not much else, so if it is a show about music or one that relies heavily on music, then at least it has something going for it that makes everyone happy--music for him to bop to and for me to...well, bop to.)
Jenny Jenkins - Lisa Loeb (as sung on Jack's Big Music Show)
