Music was an integral part of a recent road trip to Montreal with my husband. We stayed just outside of the city in the South Shore. He brought his guitar, and on the drive, we listened to a curated playlist (approximately six hours each way).
Jimmy Page figured into the trip not because we played Led Zeppelin’s music all that much, but because he happens to be the favourite guitarist of someone we went to visit. She’s a huge fan and even has Page as the main image on her cell phone! I’ve featured Led Zeppelin’s music before but never this song. It’s a classic, so now’s as good a time as any to add it to my blog.
The last time I contacted Franco was less than two weeks ago, sent as a follow-up to a text delivered a week before that. He usually responded quickly, and I found it odd that I hadn’t heard from him. I knew him from the yoga studio I attended pre-pandemic days. We were not close, but we used to chat before and after classes. I looked forward to our talks even though they were no more than a few minutes each time. Still, since we attended the same yoga class two to three times a week, it was enough to get to know him over a three-year period.
Franco was a generous, kindhearted man. He brought food for the studio staff and people he liked (lucky me) — candies, cookies, coffee. As someone who worked in the food industry, he was a real foodie, so we talked food a lot! I knew he had a sweet tooth because I once gave him a box of Sugarfina candy, and he loved it!
Sometime after Covid hit, I learned he had cancer and was going through treatment. We exchanged personal information and stayed connected. He lived on his own after his mom died, so I offered help if he needed anything. His house was only a short walk from mine.
Franco’s front porch
I feel fortunate to have known Franco. He was a sweet, friendly man who always wore a smile and had time to chat. After his diagnosis, he set up a table on his front porch. When I dropped off food for him, we’d sit and talk and he’d offer espresso and cookies or pastries. If Franco’s set-up looks familiar, it’s because he modelled it after The Sopranos. The red-and-white checkered tablecloth in front of a fictional Satriale’s Pork Store graced many great scenes. In the show, the store had a coffee bar which also sold pastries and espresso.
This final music post of 2021 is dedicated to Franco. He enjoyed many forms of music, and this video was one he shared with me. I never knew he was a fan of Led Zeppelin
The performance by Michael Winslow is unique and shows his enormous talent as a beatboxer. Franco loved it, and I hope you will too. Rock on, dear man.
Enjoy these final days of 2021. I’m working on one more post before year end.
Known as the untouchable instrument because it does not require touch to give a sound, the theremin is named after Léon Theremin, a Russian physicist who invented the device in 1920.
I saw it played recently by Canada’s Clara Venice. At the time, she was performing in my favourite candy store, which is just a short walk from my house. It was amazing to hear the sounds that came from the instrument. I can only describe it as eerie and somewhat “trippy.”
In popular music, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin used a variation of the theremin (pitch antenna only) during performances of “Whole Lotta Love.”
Accomplished violinist, singer, and one of very few thereminists in the world, Katica Illényi takes a beautiful composition by Ennio Morricone and delivers a pitch perfect performance. I referenced the music from Morricone’s Once Upon a Time in the West in a previous post about a different instrument—the harmonica.
Enjoy the mysterious sounds of the theremin, and have a great week,
National Poetry Month is coming to a close this week, and I’ve been talking about “poetic license” in songs. It’s the last Monday to highlight some bad grammar.
I grew up being taught never to say “You and me.” It should always be “You and I.”
Hmm … a friend and I had a discussion on this last week, and we all know the English language is full of exceptions.
Take, for example, the incorrect use of “I” in Paula Cole’s song “I Don’t Wanna Wait.” Her song begins with:
So open up your morning light // And say a little prayer for I …
Really? That is just bad.
Or how about Bryan Adams’ “Run To You”?
She says her love for me could never die // But that’d change if she ever found out about you and I …
Again … incorrect. It should be you and me.
And the way to figure it out is easy. In Bryan Adams’ song, just remove the the “you and” in the phrase, isolating the “I” and see if it sounds correct.
In his case, it would be: “But that’d change if she ever found out about I.”
When you read it like this, it’s much easier to tell that it’s wrong.
Led Zeppelin got it right with their lyrics in “Thank You,” so I’m happy to highlight their song this week. Enjoy,
~eden
* * * *
If the sun refused to shine I would still be loving you When mountains crumble to the sea There would still be you and me …
Led Zeppelin every Monday this month, and the lyrics of this song are so sexy.
Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move,
Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove.
Ah, ah, child, way you shake that thing,
Gonna make you burn, gonna make you sting.
Hey, hey, baby, when you walk that way,
Watch your honey drip, can’t keep away …
Pick up any of my sexy current titles on Amazon, where FREE Kindle Apps allow you to read them on all devices.
I’m featuring Led Zeppelin every Monday this month, and I love this song. Though not written by them, it’s my favorite version of this song.
Englishmen, love, heartbreak … you’ll find them all in my books. Pick up any of my current titles on Amazon, where FREE Kindle Apps allow you to read them on all devices.
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