unbreakable

Before we start with the TBT, the last one before christmas and the last one before the year ends.... I may tell you about another women who had this year her try to get a comeback. Remember Madonna started and other followed. Even touring around. 

One of the big Stars of the 90tis was Janet Jackson and she brought out this year her "Unbreakable" album.  Janet Jackson who had several major hits in the USA and some big all around the world. A singer who had it not easy within the Jackson family. But she made her way and then after her best of CD it all slowed down fast. Not many hits followed after that. Last she made a break and it was not sure if she would ever do an album again. The tragedy in her family, the divorce and second marriage and becoming a muslim, the fight for money and her brothers kids and so on. 

So, after all this, expectation are quite high for something new but we would also take an album in the same way she did last time. Thought after the - Velvet Rope- she struggled to keep the same level or even make it better. 

Her albums have always been concept workings and she had mostly god producers. So this new album got the same way to be born. 

She decided to take the old style again and make an album in the same and therefore safe way and not to try something new. 

Sadly she did a very safe way and I was surprised how much many songs sound like songs I know or she seemed to cover herself, like her ballade "Again". Only this time she did not even try to power up things. I mean, Janet Jackson never had the biggest voice or a high range or difference in the notes she sang, but she always did put power in it. 

Yes, the songs as always different and not sounding the same on the same cd, but it seems that life has blown out of her. 

Even when she had not the biggest voice she tried emotion, but such emotionless singing had I seldom heard. And that from a person, who has been through so much! She should know better. 

I have nothing against taking a safe way, but this album is not only safe, it is disappointing. I know Janet means a lot in the USA and had never meant that way in Europe, but this is far to weak to listen again or to buy. At least she should have tried with a bit more energy. 

Her best songs are those she made with others- so just three songs from the album are a bit better, but even those are very low in the quality and they get boring after second hearing. No wonder she made no singles, no hits and "No sleeep" was just a small hit on the internet. 

So you better listen to her old work and enjoy what she had done. For the upcoming tour I would not hesitate to buy a ticket as if the CD is not promising, I wonder how much she can give on a tour. She used to be strong and dancing wild and much and having a big powerful show. But this time?

No -Janet, this time I am not sure if I ever want to hear from you a song on stage from the album or if you are really able to power up, when you have non on your cd. I far to much miss songs like "together again" "someone to call my lover" or "pleasure princible".
You call your CD unbreakable, but you sound not broken, nor unbroken. You sound not stronger, softer or wiser. You sound like some beginners, missing all that is needed for a good listening enjoyment.

So that comeback is not to recommend. 

Love & Light

Common Sense

Today I would like to recommend a book I have read... took me a while to finish it, 'cos I simple had too less time to read... anyway this book is from a friend and no I'm not gonna say - oh it is sooooo gooooood you haaaave to buy it!!!! 
Well, true is, the book is good... 
Why is it that?
To start with the style of writing... it is easy to read and simple but in no way boring. He clarifies and has examples who are good to see... although sometimes you need a bit patience 'cos he does not always take the short way to tell you what you should know... This is not because he is writing without use, it's because sometimes this is simple needed. 
What I like it's a book for business and private life to learn how to deal and manage things.
He writes about which way you can go and why... Yes he declares and gives you reason to understand why things work out or mostly not and what you can do, although last thing comes quite late in the book because it takes a longer time to describe the background for the ways you can finally go. 
I think most of you will be grateful for this, 'cos mostly we don't think much about it. If you have already learned a bit about this you should read it too, 'cos it can make you remember and ask yourself.. Am I doing it right now? Have I learned from my mistakes... Am I taking it seriously? 
You know to manage sounds more easy but we trap and fall often, which is no shame but why are we sometimes doing it over and over again and here we are with this book... It helps you to see it. Remember it. And because it has capability for private life it is also very helpful to understand all that what you do or should do. 
Just now I hope he will remember his writing very well 'cos there is a child coming and he has some examples about that too... Good luck with the practice... have patience and remember! :-)

Another reason to read this book is, it shows you how different we are and how easy we condemn others without really knowing them and in fact we are more and more having connections worldwide, so we should remember this... and he also makes you being aware of it with examples to try by yourself. He gives you question to answer... and you will laugh about yourself... how stupid we can act, although we though we never did it that much.. right... And he knows very much about it as a traveler and a man who speaks several languages...
The book is in english and that's why I think this is another good reason to take the lesson with it. It's a language which is common to most of us but let him explain this by himself.... search for the page... !
Third thing.. the book is in chapters, not too much -so you can deal easy... He catch you in the beginning and holds you and let you go with a final though... Which is always very good for you feel save with this..
And now... why not you read it... 
It's easy to read, helps you to understand and gives you something to work with in business and life. 
It's not too big and not boring you... gives you a lot of information and examples which are easy to find and understand... It connect practice and theory... so it is useful... 

Here are the facts you need:
Common Sense- in Business & Life
Hans M. Hirschi
TU Förlag AB
www.tuk.se
ISBN: 978-91-86419-08-0


Have fun and

LOVE & LIGHT

Theodor..

Ach ich liebe Kinderbücher und neulich habe ich wieder ein wunderbares Exemplar geholt...
"Der kleine Drache Theodor"... Ein Drache der nicht ganz so ist wie alle anderen... ein dichtender Drache, ein süsser Drache, einer der das Fliegen lernen will und doch nicht schafft, was alle anderen können.... Zu gross und zu klein zugleich.... So wunderbar erzählt und vor allem so wundervoll illustriert, das es eine wahre Freude ist hindurch zu blättern für jung und alt. Vor allem aber, das grosse Buchformat passt ausgezeichnet zu der ganzen Geschichte und den gemalten Bildern die so viel erzählen... Eine Geschichte, in die man sich wahrlich schnell verlieben kann....
Anbei ein paar Bilder aus dem Buch.... es lohnt den Kauf..... :-)

LOVE & LIGHT

Romeos

How times flies.... fly fly fly away...
Well, you know it like I do, the workin' live makes you sometimes feeling like, well - let's do noting at all after work, just lay down and watch a DVD.... like Romeos.. a german film I took because the critics where good and yes... this movie is well made, never boring, has a good story and the actors play good and what is it about? 
Köln a town in Germany two guys meet and fell in love..two guys? Well one is still a woman but also a man... he is going to change his sex.... One boy is coming from a village, new in town and wants to live  it out loud and proud... So he has trouble if someone seems to bee too gay or not the way people use to be, like the other guy he gets to know.... 
The movie shows in that way, a live of young people, how they ry to make it work in their live, then it shows, how to love and then how to love, if you're different or the part you fallin' in love with, but then the movie also shows very good how transexual people try to deal, how they act sometimes... how they speak, see the world and what problems they have... how they try to be the person they want to be and so the movie also shows the friends, the way they live and deal with it and this is... made very well... It's not cliche we see, it's reality... how it use to be.. very often... And so it makes you think about what love means.... what are you able to give or let lose... What if you fall in love who was a man and is now a women or was a woman and is now a man... what if you just fall in love...? How do you think you would react? Is love stronger then the pictures we have in mind..?

LOVE & LIGHT

Der Stand der Dinge

..und heute 
mal wieder 
eine 
Buchempfehlung..
Originaltitel ist "Tingenes Tilstand" 
von Odd Klippenvåg, aus Norwegen.
Deutscher Titel- Der Stand der Dinge-

Was macht dieses kleine, gerade mal 180 Seiten dicke Buch so empfehlenswert?
Es ist die Geschichte eines Paares, aus der Sicht des älteren erzählt. Eine Geschichte, die im Hier und Jetzt spielt, aber auch in Rückblenden und die zeigt, wie diese Beiden zusammenkommen und die Frage aufwirft, ob sie nach so langer Zeit noch zusammen bleiben, denn der erzählende Protagonist erlebt einen Schlaganfall. Das besondere hieran ist, dass das Buch den Werdegang zu diesem Ereignis wunderbar wiedergibt und dem Leser ein Gefühl dafür vermittelt, was das für die Betroffenen bedeutet, als auch für ihr weiteres Erleben und Leben. Zeitgleich ist dieses Buch auch eine Schilderung der Jahre von ca. um 1950 bis heute... so wie sie in Norwegen war und wohl auch ist. Man liest mit Neugier, Freude, aber auch Wehmut und dabei hat man nie das Gefühl das es Kitschig ist. Das Buch ist mit leichter Hand geschrieben und hat einen angenehm ruhigen Rhythmus, verwendet nicht zuviel der Worte, dabei ist es jedoch immer unterhaltsam und bildlich. 
Ein Buch, was das Leben respektiert und versöhnliche Sichtweisen hergibt, weshalb es sich wunderbar als Reiselektüre oder für den sonnigen Nachmittag, wie Abend eignet.


LOVE & LIGHT

LOVE LETTERS

Love letters of great man and women...

...is a book I found not long ago, but heard of a year or two ago...

A book with letters from different people of different times...

Starin' with great man some lived around 1980 and finished in the year 1918... and then goes on with great women of time from 1399 till 1917...

All letters have an introduction of the man or the women, who wrote a letter or two we are aloud to read. We have great names like King Henry the eight... or Richard Steele, Laurence Sterne or W, Amadeus Mozart, Napoleon and Gustave Flaubert, but also Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn or Queen Victoria and Emily Dickinson and many more names. Names you maybe never heard before or just have somewhere in the back of your mind. But it's not so much about the names, it' s the letter you get...

No matter if Oscar Wilde is writing, you read it too- not only the one who was mentioned.

Reading all those letters is reading something special, but also something we never really got an idea of... these letters are neither full of drama or only with painful worths in our eyes... No, these letters have passion inside, drama as well, but also description of love feelings, of how love gets them feeling and how they come through a day without the beloved once... you feel kind of warmth.. Many wrote to the love affair and others to a friend they fell in love with. Some got an answer, others never got the love replied. But all letters are a little peace of hope and kind of joy...

Reading them gives you a touch of feeling a warm breeze and then I think these letters are god to read at an open fire place or next to candlelight, but as I do... also god to read in the underground.. well god for fall and wintertimes... the letters are like short stories.. simple pleasure of reading and yes you might ask yourself, why is this not something we do today.. Above all internet, above all computers, mobiles and things like this.. why not just write your loved one a letter like this... some romance is never to late and it's not about to get a thank you or even an answer... it's just the joy of sitting and enjoying someone with lovely worths... afraid of stereotype? Why not.. those man and woman didn't choose them often but had sometimes big self-confidence... but never where afraid of using words....

Yes a smile can say more than words, but when you're not at home... why not writing.. it's never to late to start... don't tell me about no having no time, or nobody will read it.. no excuses...no more...

LOVE & LIGHT

..you don't want to read..so listen then..

...Hej folks,

so today.. some music you should or can listen to when you think reading is to much for you but listening is enjoying your way...

well then, you'll now see my first recommend...

Joseph Calleja with his album "Tenor Arias"-he's a young tenor with a very nice timbre, very deep and passionate.. he has a high quality, though he has not such a success he should have but otherwise he has time to get better and better. I saw him playing and heard him singing in Berlin and can say he's really someone to enjoy. So if you like Opera and will try a new and warm voice and have some italy in the air... he's yours..:-)

The next artist is not know outside scandinavia- I think so, but really worth listening... Timo Räisänen and his album "The Anatomy of... " well, I think this is his best album, it's not only some kind of Rock like 60's or 70's, it's more than that.. he uses Electro and mixed it up with classic Rock and Pop so called Glam Rock... each song is different and I can say you'll enjoy this if you like it danceable too... his other albums are more like classic Rock/Pop but this is more like Maaroon 5 etc.

try to listen to: Cocaine, Numbers and Outcast or Bleeding and Hollow Heart.... so this is something for a sunny day or a rainy day... some slowly and some uptempo numbers...

....
and here's the Soundtrack of "De-Lovely" with a lot classics sang by a different lot of singers and actors and it's smoothy... warm, like chocolate, easy listening and bit swinging... and if you have friends home, it's the perfect music in the background without being to much like put to sleep...

.....and what is this? The movie has never been shown in Europe, but the music is a real summer day, a beach and a sunny day, a happy time and not at all kitschy... if you want to make a holiday last longer or want to get a feeling of a holiday with breezy warm wind and soft dancing and sexy hips and blue water in sight....

...then get the groove back with Stella and have fun...

...make love and dance.. drink a Tequila or a Pina Colada...

... now- my dear Cyndi with an album full of old songs, songs of her childhood... and guess what.. never heard the song "Stay" so well or the song "At Last"... she can really sing and tell you about "Unchained Melody"...

This is something to hear in a late afternoon or nearby the dark midnight... No pop at all, it's very- what is it.. ? Some kind of swing, Jazz and blues..? Kind of...

Can german pop be good if the singer comes from schlager music? Well it can be.. we know that from the last years and if you listen to this album you maybe will be remind of "Rosenstolz".. well one of the songwriter is Peter Plate from the Band Rosenstolz and Kim Fisher has a very nice, light and smoky soul and has a mix of Pop, Latino and Jazz to show us... just listen to "Follow me" the cover from Amander Lear, or listen to "Vergib mir", "Ich fessle dich" or "Rote Rosen".

But also "Soviel geb' ich nicht". The themes are a mix of Sex, Love and Heartache...

... and this women comes from New York and lives since about 15- 20 years in Berlin. This is maybe her best album ever... just Jazz with a little blues inside and her interpretations of classics like "Summertime", "It ain't necessarily so" or "My Ship" and "The man I love" are just amazing. Her warm, deep soul, her kind of interpretation which is very free and clear, makes every song worth listening... the songs are all from Weill and Gershwin, which are known as very good ones... so, take your cup of tea and listen.. you won't regret it...

Carole Kings "Tapestry", old but still good.. easy, but the lines of each song are so true and her soul very simple but somehow deep in the way she sings... very good in the background or to listen to directly... She was on Woodstock, she still is alive and still enjoys in the song/ writer tradition... This album is history...

Ever heard of Jewel..? She maybe is to find at stores under Country or if you're a lucky kid under Pop... but most under Flolk music, but the truth is, she's somewhere between... with a very clear soul, very near like an angel, but bit darker... "This way" starts with slow motion and gets higher with every song, but also has some breaks to breath and like you drink a glass of wine, here music has a taste which holds a little after you've heard her song... good music to start the day or when you come home from work...

Try: "Standing still" or "Jesus loves you"

....and YES we need Bette...!!!!!!

Miss Midler is no more so successful in Europe but still brings out in America her albums, but this one was comin' out here too.. it's now a few years ago, and this contains songs she has sang a lot and in the beginning of her career. She started in little clubs and so she wanted to make an album which has songs for little clubs or bath houses... that's why she called the album "Bathhouse Betty"... This music is dreamy, except the song "I'm beautiful"... this song may be a bit to strong and doesn't really fit the album but the rest, songs of love, a lost child, beaches... and friends... it's a feel good album- if I may say so...

DIANA KRALL... she often gets the criticism to be to commercial... is there something wrong with this? Well she seems to make easy listening Jazz but the truth is, it sound easy and sounds like commercial but is not... she is really one of the best interprets of classic Jazz music and her way is classic but not too classic. She plays the piano self and sings with a light and smoky soul... soft and clear and deep... you really feel the songs and you can close your eyes and enjoy them... or sit on the sofa and drink whatever you want... this music is bit like.. mmmmh :-)

...and my last is: Scott Matthew.. he is not known so well and if, more about singing sad and deep blue songs... First time you maybe heard him in the movie "Short bus".

His new album is different... it's more easy, more sunny.. more fun and positive...

His soul is smoothy, warm and bit dreamy and his music is kind of song /writer and independent... hearing this album can get you a warm feeling and if you think you need to read a book now, this is good in the background but also to end a day in bed... because you begin to realize that the music is finished, long after the music is finished...

Hope you'll enjoy it again with me...

LOVE & LIGHT