Medley of Music Notes - Griffin House, Scars On 45, and Whitney Houston.

A few days after seeing Aimee Mann, I returned to Rams Head to see Griffin House with my friend Sheila, who is always turning me on to great new musicians. In December, Sheila and I had a little musical swap and she sent me a TON of music. So much, that I did not get around to the Griffin House disc that she made for me. Without knowing even a single note of Griffin's music, I enjoyed the show very much. He was a great storyteller, with catchy tunes, thoughtful and sometimes playful lyrics, and an endearing smile whenever he spoke of his wife and newborn daughter. Here is the title track to his most recent album, Flying Upside Down. Since that show, this CD has been in heavy rotation every day on my way home from work.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of seeing Scars on 45. They are a wonderful new band from the UK with such a great sound. I have to say, I kind of swoon over the fact that their Brit accents can still be detected in song. As much as I love their music, I would probably pay money just to hear them tell stories with those gorgeous accents, but they used their chatter time well as they expressed their gratitude for being able to tour the US and share their music with so many people. Their appreciation and enthusiasm made me love them so much more. So far, the band has released two EP's, Heart On Fire, and Give Me Something. Both EP's are perfectly produced, but watching this group of six perform on a tiny stage in Annapolis at noon, they proved that their sound was not merely tweaked in some magical mixing room. They filled the tiny venue with their energy and chemistry and they are meant to be seen live. I doubt that anyone left that show not loving this band. Their first full length album will be released sometime this spring, and I cannot wait to hear more. Since I'm digging them so very much, here are a couple of videos from Scars On 45.

After spending an incredibly fun day in Annapolis with friends, I returned home to the terrible news that Whitney Houston passed away. Isn't it strange when something is shocking, but not surprising?  With plenty of money, beauty, and extraordinary talent, Whitney Houston still felt an emptiness that she tried to fill with self-destructive behavior. Celebrities, with all of their inherent and fortuitous gifts, are so often struggling with life-threatening addictions and indulgences. Rather than wagging our judgmental fingers at E!, we should realize that life is hard for everyone. Fucking everyone! We're all going to die, but luckily, most of us will not have millions of people speculating how we could have done things differently, how we should have made better decisions, etc.

Whitney Houston once said, "When I decided to be a singer, my mother warned me that I'd be alone a lot. Basically, we all are. Loneliness comes with life." Still, she chose to share her incredible talent with the world so that we could feel less alone while we listened to songs about love, loss, and dancing.

Her breathtaking and powerful voice made ordinary love songs, epically powerful and meaningful. In high school, my friends and I would drive around singing songs from The Bodyguard, pining for a dramatic romance like that which Rachael and Frank shared. We butchered these songs, but as I listen to them now, I know that nobody could have performed the songs on this soundtrack better than Whitney.

On a summer day in 1987, I was a nine year old girl, living on an Army base in Maryland. With a blank cassette tape in my pink boom box, my finger rested on the pause button as I waited for commercials to end and for the beginning notes of Whitney's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" to begin. It was always easier to make the beginning of the recording sound okay, but the ending always sucked with some DJ interrupting the song's end with some Captain Obvious remark like, "you're listening to Whitney Houston on DC's WAVA FM!" Still, I had most of the song captured and played it over and over again in my bedroom, singing into a hairbrush, dancing for an audience of stuffed animals.

The Whitney Houston of the 80's and early 90's is the Whitney that I will always remember. Bright, beautiful, and bursting with talent. RIP, Whitney Houston. I hope your broken heart finds peace in the hereafter.

If somebody loves you, won't they always love you?