Today's DailyOM Offerings...
December 2, 2008
What a Beautiful Place
Catherine Howe
1971
An established British TV actress who wrote songs on the side, Catherine Howe's debut album, What a Beautiful Place, was shelved before it could be released in 1971 due to the failure of her label (rare copies of the original LP sell for thousands of dollars). A sad casualty of the record business, the album finally got a release in 2007 and it was surely worth the 36-year wait. Howe's style is in the vein of the British jazz-folk so popular at the time, a style that has aged particularly well. Full of bittersweet melodies and adorned with stunning but restrained orchestration, What a Beautiful Place is a stirringly sad, witheringly beautiful visit to a perfectly preserved time gone by. Watched over every minute by the assured piano and production of songwriter Bobby Scott, Howe's sweet voice feels free and easy, flowing and floating through the album with impeccable world-weary grace, whether accompanied by thundering orchestral passages or just a restrained f! lourish of piano.
Taking a page from the British soul singers of the day, there's some bluesy Memphis-infused Northern soul vibes running through the “post-breakfast staring out the window while the kids go to school” vibe of "My Child" and the piano-driven title song, wherein Howe sounds like Carly Simon following her fleet-footed lover through the crowds of a Hyde Park sit-in, looking for the perfect picnic spot: "If you find a place that you don't want to leave / Look around at the people / All the old ones love me/ And you think what a beautiful place." Running concurrently with the folk and soul is a shuffling, flute-sweetened lounge-style vibe, as on the lovely, lilting shuffle of "It Comes With the Breezes."
Fans of Howe's later work and record collectors in general have been dreaming of seeing What a Beautiful Place finally make it to CD. Now that it has, people who've never even heard of Howe can also reap the rewards. This elegant time capsule is the perfect mid-afternoon coffee-break relaxant; put it on and remember a time when young moms wore bell-bottoms and floppy hats and a sense of warm camaraderie and possibility hung in the air. With her sweet, dusky vocal tones flowing over Jimmy Scott's piano like maple syrup over warm buckwheat pancakes, is it any wonder they fell in love?
December 2, 2008
Mentally Stimulated
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
New ideas may arouse your curiosity today, stirring your interest and causing you to seek more information. This mental stimulation could give you the sense that you are broadening your horizons and gaining greater understanding about the workings of the world. You may be excited to think about all the implications of these new concepts, and how they can benefit humanity. New ways of looking at life can be discussed with friends and family, deepening our understanding of those around us. We may be so interested in this new topic that we seek ways to be involved with its dissemination, either by joining an organization or just telling everyone you know. When you choose to share the ideas that excite you today, you are helping to raise the consciousness of all those with whom you share your life.
There is so much to know and understand about our world that we as individuals can hardly hope to really comprehend it all. Instead we all have our own areas of specialty and interest which defines our place in the world. New ideas enrich our lives, and when we find ourselves really excited, they may be pointing the way for us to do work that enlivens us. Whether volunteering in an organization, taking on a hobby or making a shift in our professional lives, we can embrace the thrill of new ideas and follow them to a deeper experience of life. Today, you are a pioneer, sharing exciting ideas with the world.
December 2, 2008
Universal Feelings
Everything is Relative
Every day we hear stories of personal suffering and loss that far exceed our own. When we compare our situations to those of people living in war-torn countries or those who have lost their homes and livelihoods to natural disasters, it is tempting to minimize our own experiences of suffering. We may feel that we don’t have a right to be upset about the breakup of a relationship, for example, because at least we have food to eat and a roof over our heads.
While awareness of the pain of others in the world can be a valuable way to keep our own struggles in perspective, it is not a legitimate reason to disregard our own pain. Disparaging your feelings as being less important than other people's emotions leads to denial and repression. Over time, an unwillingness to experience your own feelings leads to numbness. It is as if our internal systems become clogged with our unexpressed emotions. This in no way helps other people who are suffering in the world. In fact, it may do just the opposite because when we devalue our own sorrow, we become impervious to the sorrow in others.
Fully experiencing our own hurt is the gateway to compassion toward other human beings. Feelings of loss, abandonment, loneliness, and fear are universal, and, in that sense, all feelings are created equal. Regardless of what leads us to feel the way we do, our comprehension of what it means to be human is deepened by our own experiences. Our personal lives provide us with the material we need to become fully conscious. If we reject our emotions because we think our experiences are not dramatic or important enough, we are missing out on our own humanity. We honor and value the human condition when we fully inhabit our bodies so we can experience and feel life fully. Accepting our emotions and allowing ourselves to feel them connects us to all human beings. Then, when we hear the stories of other people’s suffering, our hearts can resonate with understanding and compassion-for all of us.
What a Beautiful Place
Catherine Howe
1971
An established British TV actress who wrote songs on the side, Catherine Howe's debut album, What a Beautiful Place, was shelved before it could be released in 1971 due to the failure of her label (rare copies of the original LP sell for thousands of dollars). A sad casualty of the record business, the album finally got a release in 2007 and it was surely worth the 36-year wait. Howe's style is in the vein of the British jazz-folk so popular at the time, a style that has aged particularly well. Full of bittersweet melodies and adorned with stunning but restrained orchestration, What a Beautiful Place is a stirringly sad, witheringly beautiful visit to a perfectly preserved time gone by. Watched over every minute by the assured piano and production of songwriter Bobby Scott, Howe's sweet voice feels free and easy, flowing and floating through the album with impeccable world-weary grace, whether accompanied by thundering orchestral passages or just a restrained f! lourish of piano.
Taking a page from the British soul singers of the day, there's some bluesy Memphis-infused Northern soul vibes running through the “post-breakfast staring out the window while the kids go to school” vibe of "My Child" and the piano-driven title song, wherein Howe sounds like Carly Simon following her fleet-footed lover through the crowds of a Hyde Park sit-in, looking for the perfect picnic spot: "If you find a place that you don't want to leave / Look around at the people / All the old ones love me/ And you think what a beautiful place." Running concurrently with the folk and soul is a shuffling, flute-sweetened lounge-style vibe, as on the lovely, lilting shuffle of "It Comes With the Breezes."
Fans of Howe's later work and record collectors in general have been dreaming of seeing What a Beautiful Place finally make it to CD. Now that it has, people who've never even heard of Howe can also reap the rewards. This elegant time capsule is the perfect mid-afternoon coffee-break relaxant; put it on and remember a time when young moms wore bell-bottoms and floppy hats and a sense of warm camaraderie and possibility hung in the air. With her sweet, dusky vocal tones flowing over Jimmy Scott's piano like maple syrup over warm buckwheat pancakes, is it any wonder they fell in love?
December 2, 2008
Mentally Stimulated
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
New ideas may arouse your curiosity today, stirring your interest and causing you to seek more information. This mental stimulation could give you the sense that you are broadening your horizons and gaining greater understanding about the workings of the world. You may be excited to think about all the implications of these new concepts, and how they can benefit humanity. New ways of looking at life can be discussed with friends and family, deepening our understanding of those around us. We may be so interested in this new topic that we seek ways to be involved with its dissemination, either by joining an organization or just telling everyone you know. When you choose to share the ideas that excite you today, you are helping to raise the consciousness of all those with whom you share your life.
There is so much to know and understand about our world that we as individuals can hardly hope to really comprehend it all. Instead we all have our own areas of specialty and interest which defines our place in the world. New ideas enrich our lives, and when we find ourselves really excited, they may be pointing the way for us to do work that enlivens us. Whether volunteering in an organization, taking on a hobby or making a shift in our professional lives, we can embrace the thrill of new ideas and follow them to a deeper experience of life. Today, you are a pioneer, sharing exciting ideas with the world.
December 2, 2008
Universal Feelings
Everything is Relative
Every day we hear stories of personal suffering and loss that far exceed our own. When we compare our situations to those of people living in war-torn countries or those who have lost their homes and livelihoods to natural disasters, it is tempting to minimize our own experiences of suffering. We may feel that we don’t have a right to be upset about the breakup of a relationship, for example, because at least we have food to eat and a roof over our heads.
While awareness of the pain of others in the world can be a valuable way to keep our own struggles in perspective, it is not a legitimate reason to disregard our own pain. Disparaging your feelings as being less important than other people's emotions leads to denial and repression. Over time, an unwillingness to experience your own feelings leads to numbness. It is as if our internal systems become clogged with our unexpressed emotions. This in no way helps other people who are suffering in the world. In fact, it may do just the opposite because when we devalue our own sorrow, we become impervious to the sorrow in others.
Fully experiencing our own hurt is the gateway to compassion toward other human beings. Feelings of loss, abandonment, loneliness, and fear are universal, and, in that sense, all feelings are created equal. Regardless of what leads us to feel the way we do, our comprehension of what it means to be human is deepened by our own experiences. Our personal lives provide us with the material we need to become fully conscious. If we reject our emotions because we think our experiences are not dramatic or important enough, we are missing out on our own humanity. We honor and value the human condition when we fully inhabit our bodies so we can experience and feel life fully. Accepting our emotions and allowing ourselves to feel them connects us to all human beings. Then, when we hear the stories of other people’s suffering, our hearts can resonate with understanding and compassion-for all of us.