Always in Motion

Alicia Keys singing “No One” on YouTube.com
Alicia Keys singing “Like You’ll Never See Me Again” on YouTube.com
Bono & Alicia Keys, “Don’t Give Up Africa” on YouTube.com (live version)
Alicia Keys’ Web Site: http://www.aliciakeys.com
CD: As I Am

When it comes to music, I’m a hopeless pop-culture junkie. If you play a song twenty times every day on the radio, it’s embedded in my subconscious and, yes, I have to own it. I guess I’m a music marketer’s dream.

So I bought Alicia Keys’ CD, “As I Am” because I’ve heard and like the big hit song “No One” so much.

I didn’t expect the pleasant surprise that this CD has a lot of depth to it. I find myself listening to it over and over again. I really like this CD because it’s soft and tough at the same time. There’s a lot of variety — in words, moods and music — on this one. It’s rich.

I’m still exploring Alicia Keys’ music and want to hear more of her work. I know now I have to buy her older CD “The Diary of Alicia Keys,” a top-seller, which I almost bought once before.

According to Wikipedia, Alicia Keys turned down Columbia University to pursue her music career after graduating from the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan. She grew up in Harlem and is now 27 or 28 years old.

Alicia Keys is very prolific. She’s acted on television and has recorded several CDs. She is a songwriter and author.

Alicia Keys is a spokesperson and co-founder of the non-profit organization Keep A Child Alive, which provides HIV/AIDS medicines to families in Africa. Hear Bono and Alicia Keys perform “Don’t Give Up Africa” on YouTube.com (live version).

Rihanna, “Don’t Stop the Music” on YouTube.com
Rihanna and Jay-Z, “Umbrella” on YouTube.com
CD: Good Girl Gone Bad
Rihanna’s Web Site: http://www.rihannanow.com

I like Rihanna’s dramatic hairstyle almost as much as her big hit “Don’t Stop the Music.” Happily my officemates were out the first day I listened to this CD so I played “Don’t Stop the Music” about a dozen times straight in a row. It just makes you want to L-E-A-P out of that office chair and dance amidst the desks. Maybe not great for productivity, but I was much more JOYFUL while working.

Finally I’m exploring the rest of the CD after getting over my obsession with that one infectious song. I also like “Umbrella” and “Shut Up and Drive.” The first day I was listening to this CD I was at my desk working, looked up all of a sudden and said to my officemate, “Is she saying ‘Rehab?’” Sure enough, that’s the name of another song.

Rihanna turned all of twenty years old on February 20, 2008, three days ago. According to Wikipedia, she is from Barbados. She got her big break when, at age fifteen, she met music producer Evan Rogers and soon afterward, on Jay-Z’s recommendation, signed with Def Jam Records.

Watch Carl Tanner’s interview at YouTube.com.   
View Carl Tanner’s website.
Hear Carl Tanner singing “O Holy Night” on the Today show. 
Newest CD:  “Hear the Angel Voices”

My friends Bruce and Kyoko invited me along to a New Year’s party at Carl Tanner’s house.

Carl Tanner has had an interesting life.  He grew up in our northern Virginia area.  Carl studied voice at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in Winchester, Virginia.

After obtaining his degree, Carl Tanner went to trucking school.  He then drove an eighteen-wheeler for about seven years.

Carl also moonlighted as a bounty hunter, tracking down people who jump bail. It’s not a very safe job since the fugitives eluding the courts often carry weapons. A bullet just missed Carl Tanner toward the end of that career and he knew his “number was coming.”

One of the stories I like the best about Carl Tanner is that he was singing opera while driving a big-rig truck on Interstate 95 one day and a woman in a nearby convertible told him that he had missed his calling.

The other story I really like about Carl is that his parents never got to see him perform as they both passed away before he really “made it.” So he always buys two seats for his parents at each performance.  Knowing that made me like Carl before I even met him.

My friend Bruce went to school with Carl. Quite a few of the people at the party were from Carl and Bruce’s high school days.  According to Wikipedia, Warren Beatty, Sandra Bullock, Shirley Maclaine, Gena Rowlands and Forrest Tucker also went to Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, VA.

It was a very nice party filled with very warm people.  The best part of the evening was when Carl and several of his stage friends sang opera and songs from musicals.  Hearing such rich voices is a pure joy.