Amber Rubarth

I found this amazing woman while listening to a FREE podcast called Acoustic Long Island. I love her catchy tunes, sensible lyrics, and real voice.

I also like her recollection of how she got involved with guitar in the first place:
"okay so one day right before graduating high school i was riding my bike through tahoe and i saw a little flyer blowing from a nail on a tree that said "wood sculpture apprenticeship" and i thought "wow, i would much rather do that than college!" (the brilliance of a 17 year old) and so i dropped the idea of college and moved to carson city, nevada to learn to use a chainsaw and make things like leopards and sailors and benches and pretty signs

"then one late night in the studio i was talking with the head sculptor there and he was telling me one of the most significant things he ever learned in life was the importance of following your number one passion and not your second or third, because you will only be truly great if you're doing what you really love most. so i put down my chainsaw, quit, and told him i was going to learn to play guitar and be a musician.

"that was three years ago. soon after (a couple weeks after i learned c, d and g on the guitar and a few days after writing my first 3 songs) i walked into a little coffee shop by the river in reno with two of my friends and a guitar ~ after missing sign ups for an open mic. we didn't want to go home yet, so we walked down the street to another coffeeshop and set up in a corner and started singing; we were kind of dorky and this was how we made ourselves feel like cool hipster rebels. the next day we got a call from the manager asking how much we needed to come back every week and so we demanded high dollars (20 bones) and secured our first residency, which consisted of walking in with our radio shack mic and little wannabe guitar amp and setting up in the corner, one of us "being" the mic stand until his/her arm got tired at which point we would switch. uh, yeah... preeetttttty cool.

"since then i've been doing pretty much the same but now i have my own mic stand made of plastic and i'm writing more songs, learning a little more about the guitar and writing on piano too. i spend my time in my head and my honda with no cd player which i drive ridiculous hours in all over the country. and i can't imagine anything making me happier. i'm starting to discover new music too... i grew up listening to my dad's rotating collection of mariah carey, michael bolton, gloria estefan "1, 2, 3, 4, come on baby say you love me" and kenny g. oh yeah and the bodyguard soundtrack. and i thought maybe i don't like music... but now i'm discovering so many great artists and it's blowing my mind. wowzeroonies"

You can check out more of her music and stuff here

Henry Mancini

The Life of Mancini
Enrico Nicola Mancini was born in Cleveland, Ohio on the 16th of April in the year 1924 and died in Beverly Hills, California on June, 14 of 1994. (Spaceagepop) This film composer lived to be the ripe old age of 70 before the day he passed away after a struggle with cancer of the pancreas.

He grew up in West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania and there he started learning the flute and piccolo. Mancini attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology and then went to Julliard. (Spaceagepop) Mancini was drafted into the army for WWII, but managed to switch to the band. After he returned from service, Mancini joined Universal and stayed there for six years. (Imdb)
Mancini married Ginny O’Connor and fathered twin daughters, Monica and Felice, and a son named Chris. (Imdb)

Direct Quotes
*Mancini's knack with songwriting often overshadowed his talents as a composer. He wrote for a wide variety of genres, from western to slapstick comedy, from sensitive dramas to musicals. He often experimented with unusual instrumentation, such as a steam-driven calliope for "Baby Elephant Walk," the cymbalum in "Experiment in Terror," sitars and fuzz guitars in "Arabesque," and aboriginal percussion in his score for the television miniseries, "The Thorn Birds." – (Spaceagepop)

*Mancini--he of the gentle smile, the mellow demeanor, one of those not corrupted by Hollywood--was a unique crossover in what is normally a fairly secular profession. John Barry turned out terrific themes, Jerry Goldsmith created musical cues that were at once dramatic and melodramatic, and European emigres like Max Steiner and Erich Korngold reinvented classical symphonic music for the movies.

• Mancini, throughout his long career, did all of these things, and consistently one-upped the competition by churning out wonderful, stylized melodies. Mancini didn't only fit music to images. You could dance to it ("Something for Cat" from Breakfast at Tiffany's), march to it ("What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?"), make love to it ("Dreamsville," "Charade"), weep to it ("Soldier in the Rain," "Days of Wine and Roses"), and get scared out of your wits by it ("Wait Until Dark," "Experiment in Terror"). – (Members)
  
• He broke the mold set by the Europeans: Touch of Evil was subtile, flavored with jazz brass, and distinctly American. He always considered it among his best film scores (Members)
  
• He was nominated for 18 Oscars and won four; in addition, he won 20 Grammys and 2 Emmys, made over 50 albums and had 500 works published. (Imdb).
  
• Pictured on a 37¢ USA commemorative stamp issued in his honor, 13 April 2004. The titles of the following films and TV shows, for which Mancini wrote the score and/or songs, are listed on the stamp: Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961); Days of Wine and Roses (1962); Charade (1963); "Peter Gunn" (1958)'; The Pink Panther (1963); Two for the Road (1967); Touch of Evil (1958); Hatari! (1962); The Great Race (1965); Experiment in Terror (1962); Victor/Victoria (1982); Dear Heart (1964); and "The Thorn Birds" (1983) (mini). The Pink Panther cartoon character is in the lower left corner, pointing to Mancini. – (Imdb)
  
  
  
  Some works by Mancini include:
  Touch of Evil (1958) (starring Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, and Orson Welles)
  Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) (starring Audrey Hepburn)
  "Moon River" (lyrics by Johnny Mercer)
  Charade (1963) (starring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn)
  "Charade"
  Soldier in the Rain (1963)
  The Pink Panther (1964) (starring Peter Sellers)
  "It Had Better Be Tonight" (lyrics by Johnny Mercer)
  Hatari!
  "Baby Elephant Walk"
  Experiment in Terror
  Days of Wine and Roses
  "Days of Wine and Roses"
  High Time
  Bachelor in Paradise
  The Great Impostor
  Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation
  Peanuts theme - often ascribed to Mancini, but actually composed by Vince Guaraldi.
  Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992)
  The Great Mouse Detective (1986) ... aka Basil-The Great Mouse Detective ... aka The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective (reissue title)
  Santa Claus (1985) ... aka Santa Claus: The Movie (USA: promotional title)
  The Lion King 1½ (2004) (V) (from "Peter Gunn Theme") ... aka Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata! (Europe: English title)

Works Cited

• Henry Mancini. Copyright spaceagepop.com 2006. Retrieved 05/23/06 http://www.spaceagepop.com/mancini.htm
• Henry Mancini. Retrieved 05/23/06
  http://members.home.nl/mancini/Movie1.html
• Biography for Henry Mancini. Retrieved 05/23/06
  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000049/
• Henry Mancini. Updated 22 May 2006 Retrieved 05/23/06 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Mancini
• Techniques used in Film Music Updated Oct 11 1998. Retrieved 05/23/06
  Judy Robertson http://www.ltg.ed.ac.uk/~judyr/ghostwriter/music/paper/node7.html
  [1] A melodic passage or phrase, especially in Wagnerian opera, associated with a specific character, situation, or element or a dominant and recurring theme, as in a novel.
  

Music is said to be the speech of angels;

in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed

to man is felt to be so divine.

It brings us near to the infinite.

— Thomas Carlyle

Firstline

Once upon a time (right after I worked at Chick-fil-a) I worked in the customer service department for a homesecurity system called Firstline. You guessed it, I wrote a song about it.

Firstline Song
To the tune of Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows

So I said there’s a problem Clancey
There’s a problem because there’s 29 in queue (queue)
23 confirmation calls
and 6 shells for us to do

How much longer will it take to pass this?
It’s just one call but we’ve done it at least 13 times
Makes me wanna skip the bill-prorated
But that won’t do no good

Come on, come on
Transfer to billing
They deal with cash,
Money like a shilling
Come on come on
Everybody’s prorated bill

So I said, “Now listen Kevin”
This customer’s no-shows are up to 7 and that’s bad (bad)
Cuz she was an ’05 install and it’s charge-back ADT
Well, Kevin I surrender to the floor manager who says that I can’t go on break
Well I’m getting kinda hungry
But I guess I havta wait

These lies the reps all told are makin’ em mad, making ‘em mad
Oh no

Come on, come on
Transfer to retention
Come on come on
Where’s my workers pension
Come on come on
Everybody’s dropped a call

Come on come on
Schedule for a service
Come on come on
There’s no need to be nervous
Come on come on
Just transfer to level 2

We accidentally drop calls (x12)

The New Zealand Song

Exactly a year ago today I got on a plane to go to New Zealand for a study abroad. Without a doubt this is the best thing I have done in my life. You can read about my adventures in New Zealand from start to finish on my blog wheretoiletsflushtheotherway.blogspot.com.

I got back from New Zealand near the end of April. I had decided I was going to take the same adventure skills I had learned in NZ and apply them to life in Orem. That mindset only lasted for so long. Getting back to reality was a harsh transition. You can read about it here. (I must say, it is probably one of my most heartfelt posts.) I had no money and my job didn't start until the end of May. That left an awkward month to do nothing. What did I do? I got a temporary job and worked at a factory. Have you seen those tables churches store under the stage? Yeah, well I made those folding legs. I rivited z-bars to channels and channels to butterflies for two agonizing weeks of my life, working from 3pm to 1am. I had gone from the best time of my life to working the graveyard in a factory. Read about my table-leg experiences here.

To pass the time I wrote this song.

It is the first song I have ever made the tune and lyrics in my head and then found the chords (usually I have some guitar tune and then come up with the words) and it is the first song I've written with a capo. I call it The New Zealand Song. You can view/listen to me singing it in this facebook link.

CAPO 3 Chords G C D

G................................. G...................................C........................................ D............. G
In the Splash Palace we drink from the chalice of kayaks and spray skirts and hands of God
G....................... G
Oreti, Mataura, Jacabo's guitar-a
C............................ D............ G
Tuis, Tim Tams and swimming togs

CHORUS:
G............................ G
And in Aotearoa we all are explorers
C.................................. D.............. G
Mapping adventure and conquering fear.
G...........................................G
Tramp all the mountains. Let's meet at the fountains.
C................................... D................G
Looking for heaven? We found it right here.

Red bikes, green helmets. Becky tries to film it when we go to Taupo, Queenstown and Greymouth.
Climb up the hedges, rock faces like Everst.
Whipped cream, butter, ice cream from Deep South.
Chorus

Invercargill. “Past the shoe is our goal.” Can you believe surfing counts for school?
Load up the white vans, 28 girls, 6 mans
Mark says, “no dating is the number one rule.”
Chorus

Dark night, Southern Cross, red sunrise, green moss, white clouds so close you can look up and lick.
Headwind to church, apricot yogurt.
Don’t know the distance cuz k’s are metric
Chorus

CHORUS’
And we’re 34 explorers who learned from the chorus
To map out adventure and conquer all fear
Now we’re back home with cars and cell phones
But that don’t stop us; adventure is here.