Artists You Need To Know – Passenger

Image courtesy of Passenger's Official Facebook Page

If you aren’t already aware of Mike Rosenberg, allow me to remedy the situation now.

Last night I had the distinct pleasure of attending a live performance by the “band” Passenger. I use the quotation marks because Passenger is actually only one man – Mike Rosenburg. However, he’s one of the most talented musicians I’ve come across in a very long time. Tickets had been purchased well in advance and rightly so – his original show sold out so quickly that a second one was organised by popular demand.

Thumbs Up Everybody – For Rock And Roll!

Happy Friday everyone!

Yesterday was the third annual R U OK? Day here in Australia, a national day of asking a simple question with lifesaving potential. If you don’t want to follow the link, R U OK? is a not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to provide national focus and leadership on suicide prevention by empowering Australians to have open and honest conversations and stay connected with people in their lives. The statistics for suicide and depression in Australia are astonishingly high (geographical isolation doesn’t help when people feel remote enough within a community) and personally, I have nothing but praise for the work that this organisation is doing to encourage us to simply ask a question and remind someone that we care about them. We may not even realise that we might just save a life.

I’m not here to preach though, not today! It’s a glorious Friday morning and the combination of sunshine and warm temperature is like a siren-call to this argonaut who is unfortunately bound tightly to his corporate desk and will not feel the delicious embrace of the Spring today. Nevertheless, it is Friday and there will be no mourning here!

A Song For Every Time We’ve Lost

We’ve all had times when life has been less than friendly. Whether it’s something we’ve seen coming or has been a complete suckerpunch, the result is the same – we find ourselves dazed by the result and sometimes, struggling to pick ourselves up and get on with business.

Of the many methods we use to recover, music is one of my favourite. When I find myself semi-conscious on the floor after one of life’s heavy right hooks, my recovery plan is a three stage process involving different types of music. There are many artists and songs that could easily inspire us; I’ve chosen only a couple the many, many songs that I turn up when pulling myself out of one of life’s little wrecks and getting ready for another ride on the rollercoaster.

Allow me to share my recovery-by-music approach with you now…

Memorable Musical (Mis)Adventures

It’s been a long time since I last picked up a microphone on karaoke night and I must admit, I’m feeling the twitch of withdrawal. As I browse YouTube and sing into my remote control, some of the more exciting hilarious memories of my amateur karaoke career come flooding back. I say amateur not because I can’t sing (that’s a given for most karaoke “stars”); I say it because everyone knows that you’re nothing in the karaoke game until you have a stage name and some form of sequined or bedazzled outfit. Currently, my stage name is still a work in progress…

My introduction to the dizzying world of karaoke was intense. From the first tune I was hooked. Admittedly, I still need a couple of drinks to limber up the vocal chords, but I can still get there. After a whirlwind tour of an entire library though, I hadn’t found my musical masterstroke – that one song that no matter where you go, you can wow the crowd with. They become a gaggle of swooning fans to your Tom Jones or Britney Spears or whoever it is that you become thanks to some simple music and a terribly tacky, copyright dodging video clip.

So began my own quest to identify “The Song”. The one song that I could request with complete confidence to impress the drunken hordes for approximately three and a half minutes that a superstar had graced them with his presence. Along the way I have stumbled and tasted glory in equal measures, but I have not yet found my Grail. Memories remain in my mind, encouraging me through success, failure and all the hilarity in between and reminding me that life is truly something to be taken with a focus on enjoyment. Here are just a few of those moments:

I Need Your (Musical) Help

I wrote a post yesterday and have decided that it will never be published. It was a very vague explanation of my absence from the blogoshpere with no real information; just a whole lot of confusing analogies that only served to make things worse. So I decided this morning to start afresh.

Long story short – my blogging is returning to its formerly glorious priority status. The whys and wherefores are not going to be discussed or even alluded to.

Musical Confusical

As a music fan I’m always happy to find new artists to enjoy. I try to listen to new music when I can and I can appreciate that musicians put a lot of effort into their craft.

As a karaoke lover I also like to sing along to the songs that I enjoy. With the exception of the karaoke room, my singing is usually confined to places where others will not have to face my auditory assault – for their (and my) own safety.

Bearing in mind the two facts above, I am today extending the hand of experience to my fellow music lovers. I would also like to raise a cautionary note to musicians everywhere. Over the years I have found numerous new sounds – both original and remixed or resampled and while I have enjoyed hearing these sounds, they have sometimes made a fool of me. This is a situation I hope to steer others clear of.

When I Think About It, It’s The Sax I Miss The Most

School is a terrifying and wonderous place. A place where we struggle to find ourselves amidst so many others just like us. As we grow steadily (and sometimes a little too quickly) into our bodies, we also grow into our minds; taking the ideas, morals and values that we have learned from our families and merging them with the malleable semi-formed spirit of ourselves. Some of us are blessed with a pre-existing direction by the time we get to school. Others aren’t so lucky. Still, we work together – and seperately, creating ourselves and beginning to experience life as a maturing adult.

Universal Language Bid 2011

This morning I passed a poster that got me thinking. It stated that music was a language that everyone can understand. Naturally, it prompted me to remember the age-old topic of universal language.

In the spirit of the current Commonwealth Games being held in India I present, for your consideration, the applications for Universal Language 2011. They have been required to address four aspects of viability and I ask you to judge them on their merits just as I have.

The candidates are:

Love

Maths

Music

Headphones Break Hearts

Cupid certainly has his work cut out for him these days. I’m sure he was managing reasonably well, but now he’s got bigger problems. And it’s starting to get some of us down.

The recession has been cited as a source of dismay for hopeful hearts across America and here in Australia there’s another antagonist working steadily to thwart friendly flirtation and potential passion – the humble headphone. They come in all shapes and sizes and some are easier to identify than others. All of them are daunting, but it’s the small and subtle ones that are the worst.

They may look and sound great, but they're destroying your love life...

Live Music – Enjoy At Your Own Peril?

I consider myself a music fan, although I’m not an avid musical enthusiast like some of my friends – whose collections of CDs, MP3s and even records are extremely impressive. I have a few favourite bands and am willing to give most genres a chance to potentially expand my musical horizons. I’ve been pleasantly surprised and utterly disappointed in my time, much like I presume we all have.

Everyone who likes music should logically enjoy a good live show, right? Whether it’s your favourite big time, multi-platinum selling band (or just that niche/reasonably successful band or artist) or the guy/group pumping out covers of some classic tunes in the beer garden of your local pub, live music is usually quite an enjoyable experience. I’ve only ever been to a few big music shows myself – I’ve been to a couple of festivals and have seen a few of my favourite bands play here in Brisbane and I’ve become immersed in the atmosphere every time.