Philip At 25 - From the Vault 2011

I knew I'd written a lot about Philip Lynott but I didn't realise quite how much until I was going through Ye Olde Blog to find anything worth keeping.

I'm not sure that this post will say much I hadn't already said, or have said since, but it felt wrong to ditch it entirely.

So here goes...

~~~2011~~~

It is twenty past eleven on the night of 4^th January 2011. I am sitting in my cold living room, curled up in a duvet and I am watching a DVD called Thin Lizzy – Greatest Hits. At the O2 Arena (the Point last time I was there) in Dublin, a band calling themselves Thin Lizzy are on stage. At Vicar Street in Dublin, my favourite live music venue ever, the 25^th Vibe for Philo is in full swing. According to the line-up on the website, the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils & Glen Hansard are playing as I type.

Although his name isn't splashed all over the place, Philip Lynott has not been forgotten today.

100 Awesome Things - Post 23 - From the Vault 2013

Like the last couple of entries in this series, this post was time-sensitive. It was originally posted on 5 Jan 2013, which was a little later than intended...

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I started on this challenge in Spring and wanted to get a final post in before the Year of Suck ends. And then I didn't.

This has been a fascinating experience so far. So often I sit down with a specific video or theme in nind and almost always end up going in a different direction, sometimes even choosing a different video.

This time may be the same. I don't know yet. I've had this particular post in mind for awhile but the chosen video has changed each time I considered it.

100 Awesome Musical Things - Part 18 - From The Vault 2012

Part Eighteen already!

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I have a new (to me) computer for which I bought some speakers which came with a subwoofer. I did the obvious: hopped over to YouTube for some funk music to appreciate said subwoofer. It's not big but it does what I want it to.

I've always been fond of a stonking bassline. I love how they can move me from stillness in a way that few other things can. A nifty drumline might get my fingers or feet tapping, great guitar riffs stick in mysoul forever, but fab basslines move my entire being like nothing else.

So I suppose it's not much surprise that one of my favourite bands was led by the bass guitarist.

100 Awesome Musical Things - Part 7 - From the Vault 2012

More from 2012, more from the 100 Awesome Musical Things series...

Today I decided that I was going to post something I really love. Not sure what, I headed to my iTunes to check out my 'Top 25 Most Played' list.

100 Awesome Things - Part 36 - Brand New And Hot Off the Press

OK, I know that as far as the New Blog is concerned, the next part of 100 Awesome Things should be numbered Six, not Thirty-Six.

Except, of course, parts Six-Thirty-Five already exist and they're scheduled to post over the next couple of months.

This couldn't wait. Why?

Today, there's a new soul in the world to whom a part of my heart belongs. Today, one of my dearest friends was delivered of a healthy baby girl. Anyway, I'll get back to that...

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In the 1970s, when rock music, private golf clubs and the Church had similar admissions criteria for membership (must be a dude, even if you're a total arsehole), there were a few women who made a place for themselves in the world of rock music.

Most of those women made it by getting up on stage, and you know them already. There weren't many women who were able to take positions of power or influence behind the scenes.

One woman who did was Rosalie Trombley, of whom I do not know a great deal, but I do know that her work as music director for one of Canada's most important radio stations influenced the content of radio across Canada and the US, and from there the charts and music itself.

Power and influence? She's the reason "Bennie and the Jets" became a hit, and so she's the reason for that bit in 27 Dresses.

Bob Seger wrote a song about her, which a little band from Ireland then covered live...

When I started writing the story that would become Walking in the Shadowlands, the main female character was immediately named Rosalie Cochran. Rosalie, for the song; Cochran for Eddie.

In time, I discovered that I had named a fictional rock music pioneer after a real one, which was the kind of awesome universe glue that I enjoy.

The lyrics wot Seger wrote can be taken super-literally - Rosalie Trombley did have 'the tower', hence the stations' broadcast power. On the other hand, it's a story about a girl who loves music.

The Rosalie I wrote was devoted to the power of music, for better or worse. She was a bit imperious and bossy, but she had a heart the size of Jupiter. She was smart and empathetic. She was defiantly independent, unapologetic for who she was and endlessly, but not unquestioningly loyal.

The Rosalie I wrote lived an extraordinary life.

So, I hope you'll forgive me hijacking the 100 Awesome Things, because today, there's a new soul in the world. Shiny, new and full of potential...

Every so often, something so marvellous happens that the scars upon one's heart are eased a little. Today is such a day.

There is a new Rosalie in the world today, and I hope her life will be as extraordinary as that fictional Rosalie's... and then far surpass it. I will do what's in my power to help make that happen.

Priceless Moments in Music - From the Vault - 2006

Another piece from the DefunctoBlog... this from 2006. If nothing else, it's a pretty good display of my fixation on two particular musical groups at that time...

WARNING: THIS POST INCLUDES A RIDICULOUS NUMBER OF SPOTIFY LINKS!

Philip Lynott at Ni-ni-nineteen - From the Vaults 2005

I wrote this in 2005, on the nineteenth anniversary of Philip Lynott's death. At the time, I was hugely, almost entirely consumed by the music of his band, Thin Lizzy, and of the work he had given us. This is what I felt and thought then.

Re-reading now, I miss the apparent simplicity of my feelings then. I've edited a little for clarity and length, but otherwise, this is as it appeared on my LJ (aw, bless) in January 2005.

We have now been thirty years without our Philo, but that's a post for another day.

~wavy timey-wimey lines~