Raquel Aurilia – Holding on to Love

Raquel Aurilia’s second album, Holding on to Love, is a passionate testament to the search for love and finding a deeper meaning in life.  The songs are all about the things that you love, and how you deal with the situations that come about because of the depth of your emotions.  From the more upbeat “How Can I” to the emotional title track “Holding on to Love,” (which was inspired by the strength of her family through the loss of a loved one) Raquel, with her intoxicating voice, completely opens up her heart to her fans.

Lyrics such as “Letting go of all the fears I hid deep inside of me / Finally I’m free to live the life that was meant for me”  and “Broken promises leave scars that never heal / Is it wrong to love you?  Is it wrong to care?  / Is it wrong to need you when you’re never there? / I can’t give what I’m not getting…” show Raquel’s ability to address emotions and questions everyone can relate to.

The most powerful thing about the CD is Raquel’s beautiful voice, which carries each song to its full potential.  Listen to some of Holding on to Love on Raquel Aurilia’s MySpace page here: Raquel Aurilia

Click here to buy the album: Holding on to Love

Get more info on Raquel at her personal site: Raquel Aurilia

Murders in the Swampland by Patricia Lieb

After her years working as crime reporter for Florida’s The Daily Sun-Journal, Patricia Lieb has complied some of the stories from her career into a true crime book.  Murders in the Swampland is a fascinating look at the horrifying things that happen in a small town through the eyes of someone who was behind the scenes.  In the introduction to the book, Lieb writes of her boss at the newspaper saying that he had been told Brooksville, Florida was “a place where nothing ever happened.”  This book proves otherwise.

Serial killers, crimes of passion, and hate crimes are just a few of the cases that Lieb writes about.  She witnessed it all during her time as a reporter, and conveys it to her readers with a fierce honesty.  She doesn’t step around uncomfortable stories or avoid the details, but puts it all out there for everyone to see the reality of what crime does to people.  Although she originally wrote these stories as a reporter, she stylizes them in the book, developing the characters and giving us a vivid interpretation of the crimes.

Giving a book about true accounts of murders a personal touch is a difficult task, but Patricia Lieb succeeds, adding in accounts from her own notes during the trials, and speaking at some points about the personal effects the cases had on her and others.  It adds another dimension to the book, reminding you that they aren’t just stories, but that these things happened to real people.  Each story also has a picture of the people convicted in the case, along with details about their sentence and where they are currently serving time.

Muders in the Swampland can be purchased on the Asylett website: Asylett

You can also find out more about Patricia Lieb and the inspirations for her work by going to her online magazine: Writers Write On

And if you enjoy Murders in the Swampland, Lieb also has a fiction novel, Blue Eyes, which you can buy by clicking here: Blue Eyes

Butterfly Boucher

Australian singer/songwriter Butterfly Boucher (who now lives in Nashville) will release her new album Scary Fragile sometime this year, and I’m already in love with her music.  I’ve spent most of the day on her MySpace page, listening to “Gun for a Tongue,” “Bitter Song,” and “For the Love of Love,” which are all quickly becoming favorites.  Upbeat music and strong, clear vocals work perfectly with the thoughtful lyrics, giving you songs that you will find yourself listening to over and over.

“Bitter Song” was featured on Grey’s Anatomy, and she did a collaboration with David Bowie for Shrek 2 of his song “Changes.” Both songs can be downloaded on Amazon or iTunes.

Her album Flutterby was released in 2004 and can be listened to in its entirety on Butterfly’s MySpace page: Butterfly Boucher

Click Read More to see the video for another of her great tracks, “I Can’t Make Me Love You.”
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Blackbird

Blackbird, a play by David Harrower, is the story of a 27-year-old woman named Una who goes back after 15 years to confront Ray, the man she had an affair with when she was 12 and he was 40.  The entire play takes place in the break room of Ray’s workplace, which is very symbolically littered with dirty dishes, empty food containers, and overflowing trash cans.  The show runs about 90 minutes, and consists of a discussion between the two characters about what happened and how it affected each of their lives.  They alternate between anger, fear, sadness, and even happiness in their emotional exchange, and you find yourself completely immersed in their pain and confusion.

The way the script is written leads you through the minds of the characters and you find yourself relating to both of them.  I realized at the end that really most of the performance took place in my head, as you visualize the moments the characters are referring to, but the stage action is very minimal.  I thought this was a very interesting way to present theatre, and it takes a very talented writer and actors to pull it off.

Although the subject matter is serious, the play’s author says it is about looking more deeply into these issues and seeing how they can happen. “I don’t believe it is [a play about pedophilia],” Harrower said.  “Yes, it discusses an illegal, underage relationship and, in most people’s minds, the man would be termed a pedophile.  But I wanted to look at the gray areas in between.  I don’t condone their relationship, but in their past, it happened — and it has happened in real life.  What interested me is how people then go on to deal with the consequences of their actions and desires, how they justify or explain to themselves the reasons for what they did.”
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Oscar Highlights

This year’s Oscar ceremony was a mix of excellent and horrible.  In an attempt to draw in more viewers (as their ratings dropped heavily last year) they changed up a lot of the formulas for the show.  The first major obvious change was the host.  Usually they choose someone funny who makes a lot of jokes about the films and the celebrities in attendance.  This year Hugh Jackman stepped in as a singing/dancing/trying-to-be-funny-and-not-succeeding host.  He couldn’t deliver comedic lines at all and got a lot of courtesy laughs.  I guess that’s the bonus to performing in front of an audience of actors: they can all act like you’re a great host.
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The Visitor

In The Visitor, Professor Walter Vale has been living and teaching in Connecticut for months, and when he comes back to New York he finds a young couple living in his apartment.  At first he makes them leave, but then worries that they have nowhere to go and invites them to stay.  He finds out that the couple are illegal immigrants, and learns of their struggles and will to stay in America.  Through their spirit for life, and their acceptance of him, Walter begins to discover things that make him a happier person, and realizes that he hasn’t been truly living for a long time.

The Visitor was probably the most underrated film of the year.  It had a very limited theatrical release and was overlooked in the Oscar nominations, aside from the Best Actor nomination for Richard Jenkins, which was well deserved.  I’m glad that this nomination drew some attention to the film, because it merits some recognition.  I think it will be a film that will grow in popularity as more people are able to see it.
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Ali Spagnola’s Power Hour

For those of you who don’t know what “Power Hour” is, it’s a drinking game where you get together with a bunch of friends (or by yourself if you really have the urge) and take a shot of beer every minute for an hour.  It always sounds like a good idea until about 30-40 minutes or so in when the minutes start feeling more like seconds and you find yourself cheating with half shots or the line “oh yeah, I already took mine, you just didn’t see it.”

To assist you on your drinking venture, Ali Spagnola came up with the idea to make a Power Hour CD.  It has 60 tracks about drinking, and each one is a minute long.  She also has a DVD as a visual aid in case her smiling face might help you through your Power Hour pain.

You can buy the album through Amazon by clicking here: The Power Hour Album

And check out Ali’s art, music, and blog at her official site: Ali Spagnola

Click Read More to see the full track listings.
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Spree Wilson

As an 8 year old, Spree Wilson had his first taste of performing – he wrote a song called “Pray” and performed it at church.  His preacher shunned him, saying that even though the song was about prayer, it was hip-hop, which made it evil.  But Wilson didn’t give up, and eventually was able to enroll in an art school at age 12 to encourage his musical creativity.  He continued writing songs and learning to play the guitar, and has never stopped loving music.  “I want my name to be mentioned with the idols I adored when I was a child,” Wilson says. “Who knows? Maybe in ten years we’ll be talking about how ‘Wilson Mania’ swept the world, and touched the heart of everyone.”

Spree Wilson’s music stands out with an electro feel, rap beats, and playful lyrics.  “Word” is reminiscent of Andre 3000 and Outkast, while “Dreamworld” has a touch of Jamiroquai’s sound.  Keep an eye out for Wilson, because he’s quickly heading to the top of the music scene.  See the video for “I Am”  and listen to “Dreamworld” by clicking Read More below, then go to Wilson’s MySpace page to hear more: Spree Wilson
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Oscar Picks

The 81st Annual Academy Awards are this Sunday, February 22nd at 8pm EST.  This is like a holiday to me, and I look forward to it all year.  I love everything about it: the celebrities on the red carpet, the performances, and of course the awards.  This year I made a real effort to see as many of the films as possible that were nominated, including those nominated for things like Cinematography, Costume Design, etc.  I’ve reviewed all of the main pictures on the site, so click on the Movie category on the right column of the site to read those.  Then, if you’re in a poll this year, get out a pen and write down a cheat sheet, because I’m about to give you my picks for this year’s winners.  And if you just want to know my pick for Best Picture, just skip all the way to the bottom (since I know that’s the only category some people care about).  Click Read More for the picks:
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Revolutionary Road

Directed by Sam Mendes and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, and Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road is one of the best films of the year.  I was shocked that it wasn’t nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, because I think it deserved the recognition (especially over that Benjamin Button worthlessness).

The film follows Frank and April Wheeler (DiCaprio and Winslet), a young couple with two children in the 1950’s.  They are trying to remember what it’s like to be exciting and happy together, and they feel that they are falling apart.  The desperation and need for each other that they have, yet wanting completely opposite things in their lives is heart wrenching to watch, and the incredible acting by DiCaprio and Winslet make it even more so.
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