Jingle Jangle Phylly

Roger McGuinn of The Byrds

I've always loved the sound of The Byrds.  Something about their sound has always really appealed to me.  Of course I loved their harmony, but it wasn't only that.  I wasn't sure what it was until I really thought about it, and when I heard a song similar to theirs I realized it was the guitar music with that jangly sound that I liked so much.

I have been hearing this type of music almost my entire life, but I never really thought about what made it different than any other type of music. I knew plenty of songs I loved, but I never really made the connection to what they had in common.

Mr. Tambourine Man / The Byrds  

In the early '80s my husband and I saw a movie where we enjoyed the soundtrack so much we tried to purchase it but it was always sold out.  The movie was Valley Girl with Nicolas Cage.  Here is one of my favourite songs that was played on that soundtrack.  You can hear that jangly sound in it.

I Melt With You / Modern English

This next song was also made famous by the Valley Girl movie.

A Million Miles Away / The Plimsouls

So for years I was loving that jangly guitar sound without even realizing it was anything but a certain style of playing guitar.  (I didn't even know for sure it was a guitar sound until I asked my husband about it once).  Then one day, as I was listening once again to Free Falling by Tom Petty, I realized he had that same sound and I just had to know what it was that made me like it so much.  I decided to do a Google search for "jangle music" and what a surprise I had!  I learned that Jangle Pop is an actual genre of music!

Here is the definition (according to Wikipedia):

Jangle pop is a genre of alternative rock from the mid-1980s that "marked a return to the chiming or jangly guitars and pop melodies of the '60s", as exemplified by The Byrds, with electric twelve-string guitars and power pop song structures. Mid-1980s jangle pop was a non-mainstream "pop-based format" with "some folk-rock overtones". Between 1983 and 1987, the description "jangle pop" was, in the US, used to describe bands like R.E.M., Let's Active and Tom Petty, and a subgenre called "Paisley Underground", which incorporated psychedelic influences.^[1] In the UK the term was applied to the new wave of raw and immediate sounding melodic guitar-bands collected on the NME's C86 (and laterCD86) compilations.

Here's a great blog post on the history of the Rickenbacker 12 string electric guitar (which is what gives Jangle pop its jangly sound): 
Jingle-Jangle Revolution: How Rickenbacker Guitars Changed Music 

So to celebrate this fave genre of mine, I would like to showcase a couple of Richard Armitage fanvids which feature jangle pop tunes!

Richard Armitage - The Golden Hour / by maraiad72

Losing My Religion / R.E.M.

And here is a fanvid I was originally going to use in a winter-themed post.  I realize the season has moved on but actually the song still works anyway, as it does refer to the seasons changing.  Besides, I shouldn't be so northern hemispheric, eh?  For you folks Down Under, this fits in quite nicely!

But, of course the real reason I have chosen it today is for the sound.  This song, "A Hazy Shade of Winter", was originally written by Paul Simon and performed by Simon and Garfunkle.  The cover is by The Bangles, who are listed in that Wikipedia article as a Jangle pop band!  Who knew?  Certainly not me (until just a little while ago).

Spooks/MI5 - Lucas North by KatSw3
Hazy Shade of Winter / The Bangles

Had you ever heard of the term "Jangle Pop" before?  How do you feel about that sound?

Coldplay fanvids continued...

This is part 2 of an earlier post where I discovered that there were quite a few Richard Amitage fans who were also fans of the music of Coldplay.

If you haven't seen the original post (which was recently updated with a new fanvid for Spies) please click here.



The first fanvid up for your enjoyment is to the song Violet Hill.  The lyrics start with:

Was a long and dark December,
From the rooftops I remember
There was snow
White snow

which seems very appropriate for the current month.  It also fits well for the opening scenes of Thornton's mill in North and South with all the cotton flying around like snow.

Violet Hill by crazyfilmcat

The next video is from the short-lived television series The Golden Hour. I made reference to this video in my comments in part 1 of this post.  This is a private video on Vimeo but you will be able to watch it if you enter the password (which is supplied for you) into the box.

Fix You / by Yorkshirewench

(The password is butterfly)

The Golden Hour - Fix You from yorkshirewench on Vimeo.

The next three videos are by the same vidder and all are from the Robin Hood series. Liisakee is definitely a Coldplay fan as I had a couple of her videos in the Coldplay part 1 post.

 Lost by Liisakee

Strawberry Swing by Liisakee

Liisakee's last one is only for real Robin Hood fans.  There's not enough Guy in it to satisfy most RA fans, but if you enjoy the song and keep your eyes peeled you will be rewarded. As she states in her note headed by *please read* the song was picked for its faster beat and doesn't really follow the lyrics. But as she also says: "Coldplay + Robin Hood = Epic Win"

 Speed of Sound (Robin Hood Season 3) / by Liisakee

Here's a Coldplay song I wasn't familiar with. That's what I love so much about fanvids.  I have learned so many more new songs this way!

What If? / by Ganamona

This next video is based on a plot by Rosfan (I am guessing a fanfic?).  It imagines a deeper relationship between Ros and Lucas from Spooks in which they have both been deeply affected by the bomb in the series 7 season ender.  The song used in the video is Life in Technicolor (which is rather ironic since the video is all in black & white).  I also enjoyed the camaraderie of these two and every scene they shared very much.

"Fallout" (Lucas/Ros) / by JulietD001

The Scientist is the music for the next video by the same vidder.  It is from series 7 Spooks about the way Lucas North is yearning for some sign of love from his ex-wife Elizaveta.  It is really heartbreaking to watch Richard Armitage's portrayal of Lucas North's desperate attempt to connect with her as he is so coldly rebuffed.

Tell Me You Love Me? / by JulietD001

This vidder uses the sadness of the song 42 to help portray 

Lucas North's character for series 7.

42 / by salazarlp

The song Trouble seems perfect for the character of Lucas North in Spooks.

Trouble by misshale78

I am always interested to see more RAfanvids to Coldplay songs.  Let me know if you find some that aren't in my Part 1 or Part 2 posts.

Warm fuzzies

So many people have had bad things happen to them, and when I hear these things I feel the need to comfort them in some way, but it is difficult to know what to say.  I know for myself, if I am having a bad day, it helps to talk about it, so venting on a blog is another useful tool when there is no one else around to talk to.  If one of my blogger friends has had something rather traumatic happen to them, and I haven't commented, it isn't that I haven't been thinking about them, but somehow what I want to say just doesn't seem ... profound or useful in any way.  What I would really like to do is give them a big, warm hug!  But when far away, or when words are not enough, in my family we have developed a code word that says it all.  Before I tell you that word, let me precede that with the background story.

I may have said this somewhere before, but I am known for being very emotional -- I just can't keep it in, whatever the emotion I am feeling.  Usually it is laughter (I am very lucky!), but sometimes it is sadness, and believe me I can cry at the drop of a hat.  Well, not literally of course, what's so sad about dropping a hat, after all?... but I digress.  Even a commercial can make me sappy!  So when I watch a sad movie, there had better be a lot of kleenex handy! (I know I should say tissues ... oh, nevermind!)

So... when we were newlyweds, my husband, not being used to my waterworks, would get very upset when I started bawling during a movie.  He would get up and start pacing and start asking me silly questions or something.  I can't remember exactly what it was he would do, but it would usually end up with him being upset with me and me crying harder!   Finally, after this happened a few times, I explained to him that actually I was enjoying the movie, and the fact that I was crying didn't mean there was anything wrong with me.  If he wanted to help, he could put his arm around me or just hand me the kleenex box!  Well, after a while it got so he thought I was pretty funny, and he would end up tossing the kleenex box at me with a smirk on his face!  Well, at least we understood each other! :)

by ~the-jc-monster

A few years later, when we had children, I would read them a bedtime story and since we were very fond of Dr. Seuss, often it was his ABC book.  At the end of that book was a very strange creature called The Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz.  I guess this imaginary critter can be very scary to young children especially just before going to sleep, so there was a lot of discussion about this drawing.  I remember trying to make it seem more friendly, so I said something like, it would scare away bad dreams with a magic word which was "Zah-Zuzz!"  This explanation seemed to satisfy them.  Then the word became useful to show sympathy to someone. "Aww! Does your boo-boo hurt? Zah-Zuzz!", said in a comforting voice.

Fast forward a few years and there's me with my husband again.  I was telling him my problems, after a bad day at work (or something).  There he goes getting all upset again, and giving me all kinds of unnecessary advice, that just ended up making me feel annoyed and then pretty soon we'd be arguing!  So I figured out I should tell him, it was okay really, that I just needed to vent, and he didn't have to feel like he had to solve my problems.  Perhaps I just needed a "Zah-Zuzz"? So he filed that piece of information away.  Then the next time I started ranting about my work issues, when I was finally done and took a breath, my husband looked at me with a very sad and forlorn look and said, "Awww! Zah-Zuzz".  Well, it just broke me up and I started laughing so hard, and so did he and suddenly it was the best day ever!

So here's to everyone out there who is going through some bad times... I can't really help you, but I hear you and I do care, so here you go....
Zah-Zuzz!

This song isn't exactly what I was talking about, but the silly lyrics themselves and the upbeat rhythm might cheer up someone with the blues.
 Zaz Zuh Zaz / Cab Calloway

This is one of my favourite songs that never fails to make me feel better.  The Kinks are always a lot of fun and even when serious they are still very upbeat.

Dr. Seuss has a lot a good sayings that could possibly make someone feel better.  They don't call him "Dr." for nothing!  Here are a few I like:

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”

“I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!”

Well, nothing makes a Richard Armitage fan feel better than ogling another picture of the wonderful man himself.  A little "Armitage Therapy" anyone? 

Here is Dr. Alec Track from The Golden Hour to the rescue.

What's that?  A phone call for me?

You're hurt? I'll be right there!

I'm on my way!

Now let's have a look here!

Well, it's just what I thought.... the worst case of Armitagemania I've ever seen!

Trapped Miners Rescued!

CBC News - World - All 33 Chilean miners rescued

The world is rejoicing for the family and friends of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for 69 days. The dramatic rescue took 22 hours to extract each man individually from a capsule lowered down 600 meters after having taken many more days to drill a new shaft to get to the men.
This really seems like incredible good luck that so many were found in fairly good health after such an extended ordeal.
My neighbours and friends were following this story very closely as I live in an area that developed because of the mining industry. My husband has participated on a Mine Rescue Team and knows the effort and training that goes into that endeavour. 

Congratulations to everyone involved in this rescue mission!

This rescue was a very difficult one with many people involved. There were many heroic efforts made to keep these people alive. I am sure we will be hearing more stories as time goes by. Believe it or not I have actually had a tour of an underground mine, and I know how so many people have a fear of dark enclosed spaces. I certainly wasn't underground long enough to have to worry, but it is definitely an unnatural experience to be so far away from the open air.

***UPDATE***(Oct. 15, 2010)

I just found this website: World News Mining Disasters. There are lots of videos and pictures here about various mining disasters around the world. 

 Well.... if I was ever trapped underground I am sure I would have plenty of time to fantasize. I would probably be thinking about when and how I would be rescued. It would be quite likely that this image might come to mind:

Thanks to Mulubinba for suggesting this episode of The Golden Hour, 
 and to Maria Grazia for providing the film clip!

In Episode 2 of The Golden Hour, Dr. Alec Track is trying to rescue a man who is trapped in a collapsed building  after an explosion. It is a very tense and graphic scene involving an amputation.

More Screencaps below:

This screencap is courtesy of Richard Armitage Central Gallery

This one is from the screencap gallery of Richard Armitage Net

Those pictures are much better than the Face in Hole one I originally did. Thanks again Ladies!