Halogen Moon - Nate Richert (cover)

"In summary, no other light source can create the ambiance, mood and effects offered by halogen bulbs. There is something subliminal about being bathed in halogen light that cannot be described or understood by raw mathematics. It reaches inside us to stir our feelings and emotions. It feels down right natural." -Joel Johnson

Nate Richert sings about a "halogen moon" which left me wondering, "why halogen"? I started with the element - a subgroup home to 5 different types of halogens: fluorine, bromine, chlorine, iodine, and tennesine; all volatile and in various states of liquid, gas, and solid.

In reading about the types of halogens, a brief mention of halogen as a type of lightbulb.

Halogen lights are often used for things like movie/TV sets, big flood light-types, movie projectors, and the more subtle of the home lights. Film projectors - those that play film reels. Projections of what was before - recorded - objective - subjected to repeat and repeat without ever changing a word, a gesture, an outfit, an intonation, a storyline. Like the drama of the human world being projected onto the Earth from a far-distant celestial projector.

Johnson describes the affect of halogen light as something akin to being "bathed", just like one might sensually and completely surrender to the diffuse of the white light of a full moon, illuminating an unnaturally bright landscape in the dark cover of night. Liminal. Volatile elements and reactions to new love; the drama of human life continuing for better or for worse.

Halloween in Ethiopia (Case of You - Joni Mitchell)

A little late on the post...

If you can't tell, this video was taken in Africa last year, sometime in October. It was rare that I filmed songs in Africa. For one, I like to be alone when I film them. Two, there is a lot of external noise - kids playing outside, the TV from the neighbors... a lot of ambient noise that you can still hear in these few recordings. And three, if it was rainy season, forget about it- I had several recordings get cut short by rain patter on the tin roof, which sounded less like patter more like someone dropping marbles on metal. But, I was able to film this one pretty successfully and just recovered it recently.

'Case of You' is one of my favorite Joni Mitchell songs. I heard this song originally in the film 'Practical Magic', still one of my all-time favorite Halloween movies. (Hence my filming this song last October.) And on that note, last year's Halloween was one of the most unique and best I've ever had. We spent a good part of the day assisting our site mate with her English class, teaching a Halloween lesson! We had the kids make masks, and we had a jack-o-lantern face-drawing contest. The winning sketch was carved into the 'duba' ('pumpkin' in Ethiopian Tigrinya) we purchased at the market. Later that night, our site-mate's family cooked us traditional Ethiopian 'duba wat' or 'pumpkin stew' out of our jack-o-lantern. Eaten during viewings of 'Beetlejuice' and random episodes of 'Twin Peaks'. It was absolutely phenomenal and I will never forget it.

Tell Me... (Counting Blue Cars- Dishwalla)

I've never known why they count only blue cars, but sometimes I catch myself doing it too...

The recording of this song is interesting because a few days before recording it, I visited an Ethiopian neo-natal unit in a nearby hospital. Walking in was strange and bizarre, I was underprepared, kind of smacked in the frontal lobe. I felt like an alien, a detached observer- but also kind of snapping back and forth towards myself and feelings, bounced back and forth like on of those rubber balls on a string. Some of the babies were so small that they looked like dolls, so much so that it still feels like it happened in a dream. I don't want to get into details, but happy things happened there, and sad things. I saw both and when I started playing this song, I thought about children and their shadows, 'hard noises', 'stained clothes' and 'thoughts on God'.

So welcome to another classic '90s hit from my childhood. Thanks for watching.

Will-o-the-Wisps (Say Something by A Great Big World - Cover)

Finally! I've tried submitting this blog post twice already now... the internet just isn't what it was. But here we go! Finally, my first blog post from Ethiopia! I guess the third time was the charm.

So I keep hearing the word "will-o'-the-wisps" and for a while I had no idea what it meant. I heard the word twice and asked John what they were, but he did not know. Then I read the word in 'Dr. Zhivago' and did not understand what it was talking about. Then I watched 'Brave' for the first time the other day, and apparently will-o'-the-wisps live in ancient Scotland and Ireland, because in the film it said that the will-o'-the-wisps lead you to your fate. Maybe I have one leading me to mine.  The dictionary definition of it is as follows: "Will-o'-the-wisp (Ignis Fattus): Also called friar's lantern, a will-o'-the-wisp is a flitting, phosphorescent lights seen at night, chiefly over marshy ground, and believed to be due to spontaneous combustion of gas from decomposed organic matter." Oooh. Magical. 

The reason I am combining this song with my little anecdote about will-o'-the-wisps (other than the word is fun to say), is because one of my favorite lines of this song is "anywhere I would have followed you." It just seems to fit. And also, I like this song. So, yeah... enjoy!

The World's Wolf (Riptide) (Happy Samhain)

This one is for my husband - we have been married for a whole year today and he likes this song. Here's to many, many more years with you, John- on the dark side or light, you're my left-hand man. I love you! (And happy Samhain!)

Come Back (Pearl Jam)

My first post covering a song by my favorite band, currently, the likes of which I can only describe as a long, sloppy music-kiss. I've been stuck on this song for weeks and it's about the only one that's graced my car radio for said duration as a result. I think this one wins the award for "most romantic song ever" in the list of Kala's Personal Favorite Songs Most Ever Spectacular. If you haven't listened to the original, please do. Eddie Vedder's voice will mesmerize you.

In my endless repeat playings of this song as of late, I've been experiencing what I can only describe as Stephen King's idea of "slippage". He refers to this phenomenon in his books several times to describe the feeling one gets when in the presence of a merging point of multiple worlds, accompanied by the foreboding feeling of a destiny in the throes of change, redirection, or ultimate obscurity. I've felt very out-of-body lately and for some reason this song has grounded me and has given my displacement and surreal mood a context. I don't know if this has anything to do with our approaching journey or not, but I feel that the world is at a powerful turning point hinging on humanity's ability to love and be compassionate towards one another. Aching, blind and persevering love paving the way to a better future.

Maben Blessings (Scarborough Fair - Simon & Garfunkel)

A gorgeous song made famous by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. I could speak (write) for days on this song, the emotion, the color, the deep stirrings that it can evoke in one's soul and the questions about which it can leave one wondering. I have always loved this song and when I hear it now I am always reminded of my time in Ireland "near the sea strand", the Gaelic word for 'beach". Listening to this, I reminisce of that beautiful land with its rich and mysterious ancient culture.

Haunting, simple and beautiful - an ode to the dark half of the year that begins with the ebb of tomorrow.

Maben blessings to you. Peace and love.