Ever look back and have a song stuck in your head from the previous year? Maybe you are in the car and feel you need to hit your fists against the ceiling in a specific way to go with the beat of a particular song of 2012? Take a look at these two videos posted online to reflect back on the music that formed 2012. Take a listen and don’t forget, to listen to music LOUD! 

2012 Music Mashup – performing the songs, one word, IMPRESSIVE

2012 Music Mashup – mixing the videos. Great bonus, names the song being played in the foreground and as a background track. 

Enjoy, any bring back any memories to your personal timeline of 2012?

News just came out that Etta James passed away from complications from leukemia, age 73. Etta, later in life became known for her addictions but she can never be forgotten for her classic, At Last. Etta released At Last in 1961. Etta resided fairly close to where I lived in California. Reflecting on how many weddings, engagements, etc that this was played at…

For pictures and more information Visit - CNN – Etta James Passes Away – Age 73

In looking on Youtube, here is a clip from 2009 where she was still able to belt it out. This song will always mean a lot to Papa and Marsha as it was their wedding song. For her being 68 / 69 during this appearance, damn still good!

Rest in Peace Etta and thanks for singing a song that so many created memories to for decades. 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPBGIBc3YV4

While preparing dinner last night, Slacker popped up the album 31 Minutes to Take Off by Mike Posner. The song of the cover is only 53 seconds but what grabbed me was the album cover. Sitting on a plane at sunset, no one next to you, seat in front of you, and bound for wherever the jet is going to touch down.

Whenever it is close to take off, I still get the feeling of excitement. The plane pushing back from the gate, being cleared to taxi, and finally rolling down the runway. Looking out the small oval window at the wing flexing as we lift off, hearing the engines rev up more, and finally the sinking feeling as we gain altitude. Looking back and seeing the runway behind us, the world passing by so quickly. Sitting down yet going so fast, how life often passes you by if you rest, while the world we live in just keeps moving faster and feeling smaller. Sitting alone on the flight, feeling the solitude knowing that an adventure can start with a plane ride and also draw to a close.

More than anything else the sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination.  ~Wilbur Wright

Many times I’ve gone flying and people mention they forget that the cloud layer is only so high, and above it, sun is shining. Passing through those clouds, a bump or two, and soaring above them, the shadow of the plane on the clouds growing smaller as we ascend. Closing your eyes, and you can wake up half way around the world 15 hours later. Granted, I could never sleep for 15 solid hours on a plane.

How strange is this combination of proximity and separation.  That ground – seconds away – thousands of miles away.  ~Charles A. Lindbergh

The quiet time on a flight allows my mind to wander, I think of friends, the path of my future, challenges in life, and oddly, I associate flying with evoking emotion. Whether it is the excitement to get to the place, or the sadness of the conclusion or a farewell, or the stress knowing the heavy tasks at hand upon arrival.

More time of reflection this Tuesday evening. Cleaning out a few more drawers left behind after the move out. Two things made me think about the past all too much, I found a DVD in the camera I was giving away, which had videos from Disney Paris and touring Paris in 2008. The other was some clothes I had purchased for the first cold Chicago in 2006. The ending of the video clips is my return to ORD for the last time, when I had to connect down to Atlanta for a work meeting. The camera recorded until I could not be seen anymore passing into security, on Mama United. That was the last time I flew in and out of Chicago as a residence of the state of Illinois. Seeing the video, laughter at Disney Paris, walking the streets of Paris, the Eiffel Tower, a flood of more memories. Everything happens for a reason, but sometimes the sting still comes back. A few of the shirts will remain in the dresser for now.

Many video clips are out there for Adele’s “Someone Like You” but this particular one has her singing at home and explaining her frame of mind when she wrote the song. The song was the last written for her latest CD. While most reference her other songs on 21 because popularity but this one is beautiful. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

One of the most powerful stanza in the song I identified to is below. No worries no cares, bittersweet in the end and wish you best.

Nothing compares
No worries or cares
Regrets and mistakes
They are memories made.
Who would have known
How bittersweet this would taste?

“Someone Like You”

I heard
That you’re settled down
That you Found a girl
And you’re
Married now

I heard
That your dreams came true.
Guess she gave you things
I didn’t give to you

Old friend
Why are you so shy?
Ain’t like you to hold back
Or hide from the light

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn’t stay away, I couldn’t fight it.
I had hoped you’d see my face and that you’d be reminded
That for me it isn’t over

Never mind
I’ll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too
“Don’t forget me,” I begged
“I’ll remember,” you said
“Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead.”
Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead,
Yeah.

You know how the time flies
Only yesterday
It was the time of our lives
We were born and raised
In a summer haze
Bound by the surprise
Of our glory days

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn’t stay away, I couldn’t fight it.
I had hoped you’d see my face and that you’d be reminded
That for me it isn’t over.

Never mind
I’ll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too
“Don’t forget me,” I begged
“I’ll remember,” you said
“Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead.”

Nothing compares
No worries or cares
Regrets and mistakes
They are memories made.
Who would have known
How bittersweet this would taste?

Never mind
I’ll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too
“Don’t forget me,” I begged
“I’ll remember,” you said
“Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead”

Never mind
I’ll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too
“Don’t forget me,” I begged
“I’ll remember,” you said
“Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead”

Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead

A friend I met only a few times in person recently lost someone that was the prince in his fairy tale. Since mid- June, many of his friends shared videos that they felt were beautiful and may provide some solace. I have had each video open in Firefox, awaiting to review and think about.

The video below has no lyrics, but marvelous piano chords throughout. How does one view rain? Rain can be viewed as sadness, tears, a cleansing of the Earth and many times tears ease tenderness of our softest spots in our heart.

Remember as a child, standing out in the rain and looking up, to see the drops falling all around you. Puddles being formed, ripples from each drop that collide with others, similar to people and their paths of lives intertwining briefly.

Rain can bring new life, allows things to grow, a fresh start to what inevitably will be sun behind the cloud. I hope you enjoy the beauty of the art accompanied by moving musical notes.

“Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you.” – Langston Hughes

Unfortunately the video that was amazing was removed due to EMI – Here is another but nearly as amazing – The pictures of the rain drops in the previous video, cleansing the body were amazing, sad to see it gone.