Stardust
In a recent PBS special awarding Joni Mitchell with The Gershwin Prize for popular song — the nation’s highest award for influence, impact and achievement, Annie Lennox sings “Both Sides Now” from the perspective of the back half of life as opposed to having it all in front of us. I had to press pause intermittently to catch my breath. To grab my heart. Nobody sings like Annie. And nobody writes like Joni. She’s otherworldly. She is…Stardust.
Takin’ It To The Streets
My colleague (and “wifey”) Suzan Koc and I were enjoying our weekly float-in-my-pool catch-ups — talking about how musicians are dealing with venues being shut down. She said she was tired of livestreams and that the Italians had the right idea when they just went out onto their balconies and played. She said, “Shelly…you should go out on your front steps with a guitar and an Amp and just sing. Don’t even promote it. Don’t do it for likes. Give back to the people who’ve been watching you through a screen all these months. They deserve live music. Real live music.”
