My Year in Song (2022)

Remember when I didn’t do this back in December but there’s no time like the present to think about the past? January: “Bunny is a Rider,” Caroline Polachek February: “Oye Como Va,” Santana March: “Julien,” Carly Rae Jepsen April: “You’re Gonna Make It,” Dope Saint Jude May: “Company,” from Company June: “The Game of Love,”Continue reading “My Year in Song (2022)”

Inspirations have I none…

All I have is my love of love, and love is not loving. Today my beloved entrée to the land of concept albums, the record whose production quality still bears the standard, the galaxy’s greatest release by a metafictional band, turns 50. Similar to past honorary breakdowns (see here and here), I now break downContinue reading “Inspirations have I none…”

Phone rings, door chimes, in comes COMPANY

Or, we loooooooooooooooooooooove… (13 measures later) youuuuuuuu! Folks, you’ll be happy to hear your favorite lopsided Sondheim fan is branching out! Last weekend I got together with a group of strangers to sing through the (still unbelievably) now-late composer’s 1970 breakout hit Company. Let me tell you, spending seven hours tops on a difficult scoreContinue reading “Phone rings, door chimes, in comes COMPANY”

It’s gonna be May!

Or, a multi-purpose song Well, kids, it’s that time of year—the time when we whose formative understanding of music was indelibly shaped by *NSYNC (among other iconic boy bands) quote the central thesis of one of their hits to ring in first truly springlike month in the Northern Hemisphere. And I mean quote it exactly,Continue reading “It’s gonna be May!”

Hang onto your ego…

…but I know that you’re gonna lose the fight! So, remember when I started that podcast about Pet Sounds? Well, in the process of researching for it, I kept coming across articles that mentioned it or had something to do with it. Eventually I made a concerted effort to track down these and more pieces,Continue reading “Hang onto your ego…”

News of the Soul: February

I’ve become the in-house reporter for the Berlin arts collective Soul and the City. Check out our first monthly roundup of events, workshops, and things to look forward to here. I took the photos too! (Psst—a certain masterclass with yours truly is featured. 😉) Take care of yourselves this Winterspring, folks! Love—Cecilia

A POD SOUNDS special!

In which we interrupt our regularly scheduled programming This past week on the pod I got my act together (well, the timing was somewhat planned, as we just finished the album portion of season 2) and released an episode I’d recorded back in mid-December. With our first-ever guest. Who isn’t a blood relative! On thisContinue reading “A POD SOUNDS special!”

David Bowie at 75

In which I *am* the young American Happy what would be three-quarters of a century to the one and only Starman. Though the ‘man’ part of that portmanteau, I think, belies his enormous contributions to bringing gender weirdness to the fore of the music industry and mainstream media. Hunky Dory has been on heavy rotationContinue reading “David Bowie at 75”