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Drum Roll Please

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you. It is also New Years day, so I thought this start of this new decade, which follows a very shitty year for many of us, needed a big number to ring it in. Still, I am ambivalent. because I love the tune I have selected but its history is complicated and it has been exploited in rather inappropriate and insensitive ways. At least in my opinion. I could write an essay about it but I won’t go into the details. Perhaps I’m overthinking this.

My choice to ring in the 2021 new year is Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s adaptation of Aaron Copeland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. It seems appropriate that it is performed in an empty stadium. I dedicate my choice to all those who endured 2020 and survived and to all those who weren’t so lucky. I guess that’s everyone.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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The Spirit Of The Dance

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you. It also happens to be Christmas Day today and if you celebrate Christmas, or even if you don’t, I wish you peace and good health on this day and every day. I would also like to share with you a photo that represents my Christmas in Australia.

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Tea Tune

Today we’ve been invited to join the lovely Su (aka Zimmerbitch) for a Christmas afternoon tea get-together and chat in the blogosphere. Pull up a chair wherever you are and join in some socially distant camaraderie. I’m often too disorganised and my kitchen too messy to join in with my own post, but today I am bursting with excitement and ready for show and tell. Last week, I went actual shopping and bought an outdoor lounge setting! I know. Very un-me. Couch shopping seems to be a Covid thing here in Australia.

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Passions Run Deep

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.

In Australia, we had our warmest November on record and now we’ve drifted into summer. It’s a weird time. The entire Australian populace is on holiday, moving en masse around the countryside come hell or high water. Our biggest trading partner and (former?) comrade doesn’t want to talk to us anymore. Our ally and trading competitor is fighting an internal war while its citizens die in their thousands each day as its national leader abrogates any duty of care.

I’ve picked this song for its mournful and wistful tone. I wish it didn’t have to be like this. It doesn’t have to be like this. Let’s all be friends and leave love enough alone. Cue Doug Ashdown’s Winter in America.

Take care, everyone. Be kind to others and to yourself.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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Crazy Woman On A Boat In A Gale

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.

I cannot conceive why anyone would deliberately sail/motor into a gale force wind. To be perfectly clear, my admiration is great. Some women are braver than others I guess. I know I’m rambling but someone somewhere will understand what I’m talking about. This would probably be my last thought faced with rough weather. Enjoy.

Stay safe, everyone. Leave the boating until finer weather.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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Songs of Hope

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.

Several years ago I was a member of an Aussie secular gospel choir. That must sound really weird to some, secular and gospel being quite the opposite of one another. I suppose what motivated me to join was an interest in history and social justice issues. For my Friday song pick, I have chosen one of the gospel songs that I learnt in that choir. I particularly like this rendition by the Detroit Mass Choir. Enjoy.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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Acknowledgement and Justice Overdue

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.

A report on an investigation into alleged war crimes carried out by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan was released yesterday (19 November 2020). The investigation found credible evidence that war crimes had been committed. The Chief of the Australian Defence Force noted the report’s findings that a warrior culture and toxic competitiveness contributed to the breakdown in military discipline (a transcript of his remarks was published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

In other words, the people involved and the people that enabled the crimes, were bullies (or complicit, or rendered powerless). Bullying has become entrenched in Australian society so we shouldn’t be surprised. The national infatuation with the ANZAC myth and our war legacy, has become a form of national narcissism which diminishes us all and fails our servicemen and women. Justice must be served for the victims of these alleged war crimes.

It seems trite to finish these comments with a music selection, but that’s why I’m here, so let’s get on with it.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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Will A Little More Love Make It Right?

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.

Some men can’t take no for an answer, can they? It’s very boring. It’s not like they are god’s gift to women, nationhood, civilisation or the like. Such men need a parody of a song and we are just the people to sing it.

Sing it with me, ladies and gentlemen.

Stay safe, stay sane and stay out of trouble.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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Three Hundred And Sixty-Five Degrees – That’s Hot!

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.

I’m a bit stuck for words, so let’s get straight to the song. Such a versatile one. Perhaps I’ve already had this song? I can’t remember. Anyway, stay calm – although admittedly that’s a bit difficult when Rome burns.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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The Changing Seasons – October 2020

October in Canberra (Australia) – We scent a change. Spring is so poetic.

It has been six days since Canberra recorded an infection of Covid-19. Canberrans send their best wishes for the gentleman’s recovery. With only one active case in my small city, my attention has turned to living.

It has been a relatively wet and stormy month in the national capital – the wettest October in 44 years. On those days when the sun shone, I focused on my garden and on my mosaic projects. For these reasons, and due to magpie hazards, I have had little time for exploration, but it being spring, there are always flowers, and wouldn’t you know, not one rainy day photo in sight. Here’s October.

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