In 2015, The Museum of Modern Art staged a retrospective of Bjork’s work. The exhibition included costumes, props, instruments, and images from Bjork’s music video, along with playing the some of the videos to make it a multimedia tribute to her work. One of the video’s featured was this 10 minute epic for her song Black Lake, off her 2015 album Vulnicura.
I’m a sucker for classical covers of pop music. This one by Chad Lawson of Billie Eilish’s When the Party’s Over is understated and gorgeous.
Like many, I spent much of 2020 and 2021 listening to Taylor Swift’s back to back albums Folklore and Evermore. My hands done favorite song from the two releases is The Lakes, Swift’s ode to melodrama, poets, and escapism. It’s the bonus track for Evermore. One of the commenters on the lyric video below noted, “Sis, this is not the album of the year. This is the album of my life.” I could not agree more.
Sarah McLachlan may be best remembered for founding the all female summer festival tour Lilith Fair, but when I hear her song building a mystery, I always think of fall. Building a Mystery started to gain massive popularity and relentless radio play in the beginning of September when it debuted 1997. it’s video has a very shadowy, chilly feel to it as well, featuring lots of smokey mist and curtains blowing in breezes. The song also has the distinction of being the first song ever to be played by an iPod. Steve Jobs selected the track during a keynote address introducing the new technology on October 23, 2001.
When Billy Joe Armstrong made his debut in the leading role for a movie in 2016’s Ordinary World, the film was less then well received. The accompanying soundtrack however, included a poignant song by Armstrong that had many convinced that he could have a second career as a folk singer. Sharing the same title as the film, Ordinary World was also included as the closing track on Greenday’s Revolution Radio. In 2017 they re-recorded the song with Miranda Lambert for the band’s greatest hits album.
When Jessica Vaugn realized her new song The End had been featured in a pivotal scene in Netflix’s Bridgerton, she was thrilled. Ironically, although it is featured in a sweeping romance, it’s not a love song. Recorded under her alias JPOLND, the song is actually about a toxic relationship. According to Vaugh, “The ideal is that if I’m going down, so are you… There is something intoxicating about love and lust being doomed.”
Housed in New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the world’s oldest piano dates back to 1720. Invented by Bartolomeo Chrisofori, the instrument revolutionized how music was written with it’s ability to play both loud and soft notes.
When I started hunting around for a good Britney Spears cover to feature this week, I didn’t expect the most covered song on YouTube would be her 2003 hit Toxic. Yet there they were, video after video of the song nominated for Best Dance Recording being reworked in genre’s ranging from heavy metal to vintage torch ballad (some racking up millions of views). Credit songwriter Cathy Dennis for writing something that works in so many different musical styles.
The cello playing duo 2cello’s have become rock stars in the classical music world by covering a wide range of popular music, putting on engaging live shows and filming energetic music videos. Here they are performing with actual rock star Stephen Tyler of Aerosmith.
I discovered the Pisgah covered bridge during a drive home from Asheboro, NC in 2017. It wound up being the silver lining of an accidental decision to take country roads home instead of the highway. This may have resulted in spending an extra hour in the car, but it was scenic, and when I spotted the sign for the bridge, I had to pull over and investigate. Pisgah covered bridge was built in 1911 to allow horses and carriages to cross the Little River. Eventually surpassed by more modern roadways, the bridge was designated a historical landmark in 1998. It later became the focus of a major preservation project in 2003 when a flood washed the bridge away. Fortunately, it was reconstructed with 90 percent of the original wood rescued from the river. Today the bridge is still accessible from the road and visitor friendly. There are picnic tables, and a short trail that loops from one side of the bridge to the other.
Everyday Strange 