No lie, this African-inspired version of Coldplay’s Paradise by the Piano Guys is hypnotically entrancing. I hope you delight in it as much as I did. It’s hard not to feel your spirit lift when taking in all that beauty! Sure hope a trip to Africa is somewhere in my future…
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Here’s an insanely catchy tune by Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas that’s garnered over 7 million hits on Youtube. Check it out for yourself, it’s sure to brighten your day! In fact, I’m so enamored with it that I’m thinking of making it my new personal theme song. :)
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FINALLY, a new cover from Sam. Hope you enjoy his version of Adele’s Rolling In the Deep! Happy Monday!
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Ummm, this may be the coolest thing I’ve seen in a month. Seriously, I dare you to watch this and not smile, giggle, or feel the need to jive a bit. Check out this brilliant Danish acapella doing showstopper’s from the 90′s that include:
Doesn’t get much better than that folks. Thanks to Allison for discovering it!
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I know I haven’t written much about my favorite up-and-coming-singer Sam Tsui lately and that’s mainly because he’s been busy finishing up his Senior Year at Yale (which doesn’t leave much time for YouTube video-making).
Had to share this with you as proof of Sam Tsui’s impending rise to stardom…
Tom Hanks was the Commencement speaker for Yale this year and he mentioned Sam Tsui not once, not twice, but 3 times in his speech! Talk about good publicity. The video is a bit long but you can see him mentioned at these 3 spots:
Mention #1 @ minute 2:10 – “Hey, you could be the next Sam Tsui.”
Mention #2 @ minute 8:15 – “That Sam Tsui, he rocks!”
Mention #3 @ minute 22:00 – “Move forward, move ever forward, and tweet out a picture of the results – it may make you as famous as Sam Tsui.”
A much deserved moment in the spotlight for Sam and one I’m sure he’ll never forget!
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I’m less than 3 weeks from returning to my beloved homeland and man oh man is . . . MINNESOTA ON MY MIND! Bring on the cabin and Caribou and changing temps and State Fair and lawn games and strawberries and sunset at 9 PM and breakfast boat rides and (I could go on forever, but I won’t).
And since I’ve got Minnesota on my mind non-stop, I see no reason why you shouldn’t either! Here’s a little ode to Minneapolis/St. Paul that City Pages did. I’ve highlighted my favorites. Feel free to let me know yours in the comments!
1. Craig Kilborn, Bob Dylan, Judy Garland, Winona Ryder, and the guy who started Pitchfork all left, so we have the place practically to ourselves.
2. You can hide your neglected, doughy body in comfy clothes for 75% of the year.
3. Comfort food. Comfort food. Comfort food.
4. The rest of America watches Vikings games every Sunday and it’s not their home team.
5. We’re the most literate people in the United States, making it a great place to be a geek.
6. We take advantage of summer like the last tipsy hot girl (or guy) at the bar … at closing time… at a singles meeting… on Valentine’s night.
7. We invented Sarah Palin’s accent.
8. We have sidewalks in the sky.
9. Scandinavian roommates (you can get away with murder).
10. A Prince sighting is still exciting enough to get everyone in the club pawing for their cell phones, and they happen more than you’d think.
11. Cheap rent + supportive community = never-ending supply of fresh arts.
12. The most theater seats per capita in the country.
13. Bona fide mom and pop record stores still exist here.
14. Neil Gaiman, The Coen Brothers and Josh Hartnett are sort-of local.
15. Most of us collectively hate Block E and want to ship Michele Bachmann to Guam immediately.
16. Winter makes us strong.
17. Two words: Scott Seekins.
18. Mall of America is NBD (but darn it if we don’t love that IKEA).
19. Vintage and thrift stores abound.
20. If you get pulled over in Wisconsin (which really isn’t an “if”), you drive away with the consolation that at least you live in the Twin Cities, thank god.
21. Minneapolis mayor RT Rybak can be seen riding a Nice Ride through the downtown city streets on a summer day.
22. However passive-aggressive Minnesota Nice may be, it remains, nonetheless, passive.
23. Every goddamn band on the planet stops here on their way to Chicago, and you can see them in tiny venues.
24. Recipes that call for Jell-O and mini-marshmallows are filed under “S” for salad.
25. Surly, named Beer Advocate’s “Best Brewery in America” makes beer just for us.
26. You’re never more than a block and a half away from coffee shops and a healthy array of cafes that don’t actually serve you your food–but still expect tips.
27. Not paying to ride the lightrail.
28. We celebrate May Day with a parade of giant puppets.
29. We have a thriving independent comic book community.
30. Target Field is the nation’s greenest stadium.
31. After 25 years of near extinction, river otters have returned to the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis.
32. There are more than a few people here who are crazy enough to bike all year round, something that will never cease to terrify and amaze us.
33. We might drive aimlessly like we have nowhere to go in our cars, but biking is another story. Screw that “on your left” business and watch the eff out.
34. Because of a rivarly with Wisconsin, all serial killers stay on their side of the border.
35. Dive bars are more hip than posh bars, and you can get drunk in the middle of the day and use the fact that it’s 30-below-zero as an excuse.
36. We’ve definitely become a foodie town, but that doesn’t mean we won’t find some fancy way to serve you tater tots.
37. You know at least ten people who work at Target or Best Buy, which means job security ain’t no thang.
38. There is no cozier feeling than sipping a hot drink safely inside during a snowstorm.
39. Birthplace of the Juicy Lucy.
40. The Mighty Ducks 1 and maybe parts of 2.
41. We’re home of the original zombie pub crawl.
42. Mark Wheat, Mary Lucia and 89.3 The Current.
43. Our state fair is one of the highest attended fairs in the nation.
44. We’ve been to the set of Purple Rain countless times and totally get the Lake Minnetonka reference.
45. 10,000 lakes and at least four are in Minneapolis proper, making urban lake swimming a fundamental human right.
46. St. Paul is the only 9-to-5 metropolis in the nation while Minneapolis stays open late, meaning the Twin Cities is like an awesome giant mullet: Business in the front, party in the back.
47. The Walker Art Center is considered a heavy-hitter nationally on the modern art scene.
48. National music mags recognize that there is/was such a thing as “the Minneapolis sound”.
49. The Grainbelt Beer sign.
50. Our Senator used to be on Saturday Night Live.
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Me and heart-touching stories go together like peanut butter and jelly. Suffice to say, this is one of the most remarkable I’ve come across in some time…
Please allow me to introduce Chooka Parker, a 16 year old Farmhand from rural Australia. In this clip Chooka is showing up to audition for Australia’s Got Talent. As the camera pans the audience before he plays, you can tell that they’re expecting a trainwreck based on the things he’s shared in his opening intro, including that fact that:
Little did they know what’s in store for them…
What struck me most about Chooka was the fact that neither FEAR nor his GREMLIN (ego) had any hold on him. He was simply there to play, which was what he loved to do more than anything in the world. And play he did!
I couldn’t help but wonder how he had escaped the vices that so many of us fall victim to. Was it the lack of TV? The encouragement from his parents? The fact that he had no formal training and never learned to compare himself to others? Why do so many of us bury our talents for fear of having them judged? We’d rather shelve them completely than have someone rob us of the joy of honing our gift. In case you didn’t notice, that’s a lose-lose proposition!
I truly believe that we are all prodigies in our own rights. Sadly, we rarely give ourselves permission to OWN our brilliance. We all have an inkling of where our brilliance lies, it just scares us so much that we bury it and use all our emotional energy keeping it away from us. You see, when we’re busy channeling all our energy into fear, there’s no room for it to be invested in developing our gift. It’s a very convenient gremlin ruse and one that I’ve only recently become aware of in my life.
So my question for you today is, “How would your life be different today if you could wave a magic wand and permanently erase all the negative criticism and limiting thoughts that have stifled your ‘inner prodigy’?” Let’s hear some inklings of where you think your ‘inner prodigy’ lies…
Since this is vulnerable stuff, I’ll go first with the hope that you’ll be brave enough to follow (don’t leave me hanging here people, okay)?
The easy thing to say here would be that my ‘inner prodigy’ lies in coaching. And while that would be true, I think it’s even bigger than that. I’ve never said this before (other than to my own coach), but I sense that my real genius lies as a HEALER. Just writing that makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit because it feels so grandiose to put out there. I mean, who besides Jesus and the Prophets claim that they’re a healer (why, hello Ms. Gremlin, nice to see you!) I digress…
Yes, I sense that I’m meant to heal. I’m not sure what type of healing it is yet, only that it produces radical transformation for the individual. I get the feeling that it may be along the emotional/energetic/spiritual plane instead of the physical, but again that remains to be seen. At times I feel like I’ve been anointed for this work (feels like more than a calling, like it’s not my choice), which scares the bejeezus out of me and makes me want to run as fast as I can in the opposite direction. I am actively working with my coach to get unstuck though, so I may have the courage to do the work that is being asked of me, even though most days I feel completely inadequate for the task.
So there you have it folks. What say you on this topic?
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Happy Easter to all my friends and family around the world!! Please enjoy one of my favorite Easter songs of all time: Glad’s The Easter Song.
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This is a nice combo: Favorite Song of the Moment + Favorite Up-And-Coming-Singer. Sam Tsui hasn’t been releasing much lately, so I was glad to see this one come through. Pretty sure you’re gonna love it!
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Good morning all! I have a DELICIOUS treat in store for you today. . . The 25th Anniversary of the musical Les Miserables was celebrated in London this past December. Not only did this magnificent tribute feature the current London cast (including Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers), but it also brought back the original cast from 25 years ago (who you’re probably familiar with if you’ve listened to the recording).
I found it simply enchanting to watch the original cast take the stage again alongside the current cast. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. A fun fact from my life, this was the VERY FIRST show I ever saw in 10th grade with my dear mentor Karen. It was the beginning of a life-long love for live performance that has led me to the Theatre to see 50+ different musicals (Top 5 favorite shows of all time include: 1. Ragtime 2. Rent 3. Les Mis 4. Jekyll and Hyde 5. Lion King)
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