It's hard to believe it came to this
You paralysed my body with a poisoned kiss
For 40 days and nights I was chained to your bed
You thought that was the end of the story
Something inside me called freedom came alive
Living in a world without you

You told me, my darling
Without me, you're nothing
You taught me to look in your eyes
And fed me your sweet lies

Suddenly someone was there in the window
Looking outside at the sky that had never been blue
Ah, there's a world without you
I see the light
Living in a world without you
Ah, there is hope to guide me
I will survive
Living in a world without you

It's hard to believe it came to this
You paralysed my body with a poisoned kiss
For 40 days and nights I was chained to your bed
You thought that was the end of the story
Something inside me called freedom came alive
Living in a world without you

You put me together
And trashed me for pleasure
You used me again and again
Abused me, confused me

Suddenly naked I run through your garden
Right through the gates of the past and I'm finally free
Ah, there's a world without you
I see the light
Living in a world without you
Ah, there is hope to guide me
I will survive
Living in a world without you

It's hard to believe it came to this
You paralysed my body with a poisoned kiss
For 40 days and nights I was chained to your bed
You thought that was the end of the story
Something inside me called freedom came alive
Living in a world without you

It's hard to believe it came to this
You paralysed my body with a poisoned kiss
For 40 days and nights I was chained to your bed
You thought that was the end of the story
Something inside me called freedom came alive
Living in a world without you

Ah, there's a world without you
I see the light
Living in a world without you
Ah, there is hope to guide me
I will survive
Living in a world without you
Living in a world without you
Living in a world without you
Living in a world without you
Living in a world without you

Tracklisting
1. Kane wo Narashite
2. Pump It Up!
3. A Perfect Sky (Bjorn Remix)
4. Kane wo Narashite (Instrumental)
5. Pump It Up! (Instrumental)

Kane wo Narashite is BONNIE PINK's 24th overall single. The title track is being used as the theme song for the upcoming Xbox 360 game, Tales of Vesperia. The remix of A Perfect Sky originally appeared on the Swedish release of Thinking Out Loud. The single has sold a total of 13,447 copies, and debuted at #8 on the Oricon daily charts, and #9 on the weekly charts. It was released on the 6th of August, 2008.

Kane wo Narashite is another rock song from BONNIE PINK. It has the usual drum and guitar arrangement, though this time it tends to be a bit heavier. It has a more straightforward sound to it, compared to some of her other songs from this genre, which can be seen as a good or bad thing depending on how you like it. Comparing its Japanese lyrics to the arrangement-wise twin song that is Ring A Bell, they don't seem to fit any better or worse in comparison. The lyrics sound great in both English and Japanese with the same arrangement, which I found interesting. it's a good song, but I sometimes get a bit bored with it after hearing what she can do with the more rock-oriented sound.

Now THIS is good! I expected Pump It Up! to be a extremely poppy, upbeat, childish sort of song by the title. How wrong I was. BONNIE's gone into 80's/90's territory with the arrangement, and it has a mature sound to it that doesn't instantly give away the mood of the song. It's definitely a song you can dance to, and focuses a lot more on synth compared to her usual tracks. BONNIE's vocals are beyond great here, I absolutely love them in this song. We also get some echo distortions on her voice later on, and BONNIE never really does vocal distortions in her music. If I remember correctly, only one track on Thinking Out Loud has distortions, possibly two. It fits the song well, and it doesn't kill her voice. However, I will point out that her voice tends to be a bit thin or shaky throughout the song, but I feel it still sounds alright. Despite that, it's my favorite song at the moment.

The A Perfect Sky Bjorn remix is odd. It has a completely different arrangement, focusing mainly on what I'm pretty sure is some form of percussion, and clapping synth. It cuts out the bridge of the song, and the choruses that both open the song and appear throughout the song are sung with a childrens choir of some sort or another. It sounds like a totally different song, but I actually don't mind it. It's interesting to say the least.

Single Score
A+

Favorite Song
Pump It Up!

I wasn't really looking forward to this single, seeing as I had already heard the English Version. However, the Japanese version of the title track is still good, and the B-Side was absolutely brilliant! The only question this single leaves me asking is why they didn't just make Pump It Up! an A-Side for a future single instead of putting it here.

All that aside, the two good original tracks, plus the surprisingly good remix, help make an overall good single that blows any from her previous era out of the water. Let's hope it stays this way for the rest of the era, because at this rate, the album could surpass Thinking Out Loud easily.

-----

Tracklisting
1. Ring A Bell

Ring A Bell is the English version of the single Kane wo Narashite, and was released on the 16th of April, 2008, which is BONNIE PINK's birthday. It will be used in the English version of Tales of Vesperia.

As Ring A Bell is referred to as the English version of Kane wo Narashite, it makes sense that it's entirely in English. It also came before Kane wo Narashite, and many would have heard this version before the Japanese one. I find it tends to sound better in this version at times due to having less extended choruses that try to fit as many lyrics in as is required, but that may be because of the shorter words the English language tends to commonly use. It's extremely similar to Kane wo Narashite, and as such, it can't really get a different score, because her vocal performance is still brilliant, and the lyrics fit perfectly.

Song Score
A+

Instead of wasting a review on a single track, I decided to place Ring A Bell here due to its relation to the actual single, as a way to end my BONNIE PINK spree. One more artist is now up-to-date! So I hope you all enjoy the reviews I've given below and here, and hopefully at least one person will now discover how awesome BONNIE PINK can be. Overall, when it comes to this song, however, it is equal to its Japanese counterpart in every way, so more than one listen of one version or the other may not be necessary. They're both good songs anyway.

Tracklisting
1. Gimme A Beat
2. Broken hearts, citylights and me just thinking out loud
3. Burning Inside
4. Nagusami Blue (慰みブルー; lit. Comforting Blue)
5. Imagination
6. A Perfect Sky (Philharmonic Flava)
7. Lullaby
8. Sakamichi (坂道; lit. Hill Road)
9. Water Me
10. Catch The Sun
11. Chances Are
12. Anything For You

Thinking Out Loud is the 9th original album from BONNIE PINK. It debuted at #4 on the Oricon daily charts, and #5 on the weekly charts. It has sold approximately 97,918 copies, and was released on the 25th of July, 2007.

And we start with Gimme A Beat. It was an odd decision to place a B-Side as an opening track for an album, but it was also a good decision, as it tends to set some sort of mood to the album, despite a number of mood swings throughout.

The next track wins my favorite song spot, no doubt about it. Broken hearts, citylights and me just thinking out loud, which happens to be the album's title track, opens fittingly enough, with the sounds of a bustling city, with obvious people and cars being heard, among other sounds. It's one of her songs that carries the older rock sound with them, and focuses heavily on drums and guitar with a seemingly minimal amount of synth. It's rare that such a natural song can carry itself in such a manner with popular music lately, and despite this song getting a bit less natural about halfway through, it carries itself well with the small amount of extra sound that it initially has.

Burning Inside surprised me. I'm sure I'm not the only one who expected this to be a depressing, possible aggressive song, right? instead, it's another of her trademark rock songs, and it's strangely upbeat. It utilizes large amounts of synth along with her usual sounds, and because of the synth, I can't be really sure if she's using a brass section, or if it's just part of the synth. Despite this conglomeration, it tends to fit, and it never really overpowers BONNIE's vocals, which is always a good thing when it comes to these kinds of songs.

Nagusami Blue gives us the first ballad, or at least depressing song, on this album. It carries another odd opening, this time mainly because of the amount of breaks that you hear between the instrument bursts. BONNIE's voice has an echo added to it as well, which helps set the mood for this song even more. She reaches a high note as soon as the chorus opens, while she's singing the title of the song, and while it sometimes comes off as somewhat strained, it won't really detract from the song unless you have OCD when it comes to those things.

Imagination REALLY reminds me of her earlier single, Surprise!, in that BONNIE has a somewhat more aggressive, possibly even grungier arrangement this time around, along with muffling distortions you hear on her voice. It's a real flashback if you've been a fan of BONNIE since the beginning, and it fits surprisingly well on this album despite sounding quite different to the previous tracks on the album. I love how it sounds, and it's definitely another of my favorites on this album because of its different overall sound. From what I can tell, it's mainly in English too, though I may be wrong.

A Perfect Sky was definitely my least favorite single this era, and the A Perfect Sky (Philharmonic Flava) version doesn't help it much. I'm not even sure WHY they left the original version off of the album. I guess they thought this would fit a lot better, and I guess it does with its sound, but they basically tried turning the summery pop song into an orchestrated ballad that originally regains all of its old elements and becomes an orchestrated pop ballads, of sorts. It's a huge mess sometimes, but I must admit, the orchestra and synth arrangement do mix extremely well the rest of the time.

Lullaby is hard to describe, really. It sounds extremely simplistic with its childish opening synth, and it really only gains drums and guitar as the vocals come in, which should be expected. It gets louder and more interesting when the chorus comes, which was a real song saver for me, as the verses never really cut it. It sounds like filler to me, but it has its moments.

The third song in my top three for this album. Sakamichi is another song in classic BONNIE style, as it sounds more like proper rock instead of pop that's been synthed to hell. It's a bit borderline when it comes to what mood it wishes to portray, and comes into the exact middle position between upbeat and downcast. It's a song like this that really makes you hate talk singing, as BONNIE's vocals are really good here too. You can never really call ones voice perfect, and there are tiems that it comes off as a bit shakey, but it's a solid performance.

Another of the few ballads on this album, and also the last single for the era. Water Me has never really impressed me that much, as much as I enjoy the ethereal sounds that you hear in the opening. It just comes off as somewhat stereotypical when it comes to ballads, in my opinion. It's something a ballad fan would love, but if not, you might be better off steering clear.

This song is closer to A Perfect Sky than anything else. Catch The Sun actually tries to take that sound and mix it with the rockier sound that BONNIE usually gives us, and it works extremely well. It's an upbeat song, which is a welcome addition after the previous two downcast songs, and they don't just let the verses fall flat as many of these kinds of songs usually do. Again, I do think BONNIE's given us better, especially on Golden Tears, her previous album. Despite that, I still love it.

Chances Are is the only ENTIRELY English song on this album. It's a slow song that focuses more on the acoustic guitar, piano and drums instead of plaguing it with synth, and it's also orchestrated towards the end. It's a great song in that it isn't bogged down artificially, and despite it being 2:55 in length, which is pretty short, it's one of the album's best songs. Again, not top 3, but it's an honourable mention, for sure.

And we close with BONNIE's second single. Anything For You was definitely this era's best single, despite it unfortunately being very forgettable for me. Just because I've said that doesn't mean it's bad, as it's a great upbeat rock song, and it closes this album perfectly. I can't think of a better song to close it, so it was a great decision to put it here.

Album Score
A+

Favorite Songs
Broken hearts, citylights and me just thinking out loud; Imagination; Sakamichi

Despite not every track being top notch, this is definitely my favorite BONNIE PINK album because of its more back to basics sound when it comes to her style, and how it also tries to keep a mixed theme when it comes to its songs. When it comes to fans of BONNIE's previous two albums, it might be a bit different compared to what you're used to. Then again, it might be very similar, I haven't heard them in ages. If you're a fan of BONNIE, or the rockier kind of pop, then you'll definitely like at least one song on this album, if not a collection. Many of you know how much I love BONNIE, and this album is great for proof of why.

Tracklisting
1. Water Me
2. Gimme A Beat
3. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
4. Water Me (Instrumental)
5. Gimmie A Beat (Instrumental)

Water Me is BONNIE PINK's 23rd overall single, and the final single before the release of her album, Thinking Out Loud. Every track has a promotional purpose, with Water Me being the theme for the Fuji TV drama Watashi-tachi no Kyoukasho, Gimme A Beat being used as the Nissan Moco CM song and MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR being used as the NHK TV show Eigo de Shabera Night. It debuted at #6 on the Daily Oricon charts, and #8 on the weekly charts. It was released on the 6th of June, 2007.

Water Me is the only ballad single you'll hear in BONNIE PINK's Thinking Out Loud era, and it starts off somewhat sply, with just a piano and some ethereal synth accompanying BONNIE's vocals, before introducing some piano and drums to enter into the chorus, which seems to be a lot quieter than the more grandiose ballads you'll hear, for the most part, which I think helps this song even more than you'd think it would. Of course, the second chorus is opened with some electric guitar being accompanied by an orchestra that's actually there for most of the song, so at this part, it tends to get a bit louder, but either way, it keeps the same general theme. I have to admit, this song just doesn't really impress me that much, but I tend to hate ballads lately, so it's pretty good for what it is. If you really like ballads, you'll definitely get something out of it.

Gimme A Beat opens with some very odd sounds that may or may not be synth, but it sounds sort of strained before leading into an arrangement that reminds me more of a guitar than anything. I'm pretty sure there's some in there, but the song overall sticks to the usual drum theme that BONNIE loves. It's a nice upbeat song, and it has some interesting sounds throughout that hold your interest a bit more. Definitely nothing more than B-side material, but B-Sides can be good.

I must admit, I'm not a fan of The Beatles. I was upset when I saw BONNIE had covered them, and I was even more upset by it when I saw she was covering MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR. I didn't like it in the first place personally, and the synth has so much going on that, when mixed with BONNIE's somewhat (and oddly) monotonous and bored vocals, it actually comes off sounding horrible. A different Beatles song might've been a better idea for her, but I would have steered clear completely if I was her, as none of their songs would really suit her style much at all anyway. At least it was just a minor B-Side.

Single Score
B

Favorite Song
Gimme A Beat

Overall, I wasn't exceedingly blown away by this single, and the inclusion of the Beatles cover really killed it for me. It's an alright single, and you'll most likely enjoy it a lot more than I did if you're someone that can really stand ballads. She's a lot better at her classic rock style, and I'm hoping she sticks with that. She certainly does in this era, but in the future, we can only hope, right?

Tracklisting
1. Anything For You
2. Love Song (UC a.k.a DJ UPPERCUT REMIX) (m-flo loves BONNIE PINK)
3. Anything For You (Instrumental)

Anything For You is the 22nd single from BONNIE PINK, and the second in the Thinking Out Loud era. It debuted at #5 on the Oricon Daily charts, and #9 on the Weekly charts. It has sold approximately 19,900 copies, and was released on the 28th of March, 2007.

Despite being a huge fan of BONNIE, she has a few songs that I can never remember. Anything For You is one of these songs, but as I listen to it again for this review, I can't for the life of me pinpoint WHY it's one of these songs. After a large session of listening to the techno-pop music that everyone's into these days, it's a song like this that helps you get out of that mode, as it's a happy, upbeat, rockish song that utilises an odd synth sound throughout, that happens to perfectly compliment the drum and guitar arrangements throughout the song. It sounds like a real summer song, despite when it was released (Well, knowing the seasons of the world, it could very well have been released in Summer, I'm not sure), and it has the feeling of older styles of rock that make BONNIE's music so original in this time, as a lot of artists go for the synthetic style now, whether it be techno or otherwise. It's certainly not her best song, but it's a great one. It has an awesomely unusual outro to it as well.

To be totally honest, I don't have an MP3 of the remix for this single, so if anyone could provide it, I'd be much obliged. I don't expect much from it, but I'd like it for a complete review. I won't take it into account for the overall single score though.

Single Score
B+

Favorite Song
Anything For You

I'm sorry, I know this isn't a complete song, but if you ignore the remix and just claim it doesn't exist, then this is a great single. I love the title track, though it's admittedly not her best work ever. It's actually a great indicator of how the rest of the album is gonna turn out, as a lot of the songs have this old rock sound to them. So, if you like this single, then you're sure to like the album it comes from. Anyway, discarding all that, it's a good song.

* hikari wa kage no kage wa hikari no
hate made tsui te iku no darou
boku ga waratte iki te ita no nara
kane o narashite kimi ni shiraseyou

yurushita mono to yurusareta mono wa
onaji kizu wakeatte
omote to ura no kanashimiwa itsuka
rakuen de iyasareru

asamoya ni kodama suru kane tooku nai sou tooku wa nai
kimi ga kimi rashiku aru koto sore ha mata kodoku to mo iu

hikari wa kage no kage wa hikari no
hate made tsui te iku no daro u
kumo ga kagette sora ga nai tara
kane o narashi te kimi o sagasu yo

sekai wa shiro ka kuro heiwa ka arasoi
heads or tails you and I light and dark ups and downs
sono mannaka de bokutachi wa itsuka deai de o tsunagu darou ka

Repeat *

Seemed like everything was falling in place
Now I'm only falling apart,
There's nothing I can do, a total eclipse of the heart.

While being an accepting person in general is a good thing, there are some actions that are inexcusable. Wishing a character flaw or tough situation will just disappear is setting onesself up for heartbreak; it can lead one to believe that the flaw isn't actually there, that everything is working out. This disappointment really hurts, when you build someone up so high then figure out that you've been deceiving yourself. Hoping unrealistically, expecting someone to become something they're not, is not the way to love. Sure that blind faith is good in other areas of life, but in matters of the heart it just leads to hurt. The fact that I am still in love with him after all this is a testament to that - pining for him is doing me no good, yet I can't stop. I'm truly convinced that we are still meant to be, and though my head tells me to move on, my heart says I need him, and it speaks a lot louder. I'm choosing to hear the world through my deaf ear, essentially. I'm choosing the be naïve because it feels right. Sometimes intuition can overcome logic. Hopefully this will be one of those times.

href="http://joshsroka.wordpress.com/files/2008/08/img_1262-2005-11-24-at-12-39-34.jpg">
Just some of the ways and reasons we love our Gigi. Happy birthday Mom!
Love,
Josh, Mandy, Emma & Brooke

Now, everyone knows that nothing is begotten without labor pains. What could be painful about this new collection? For me, it is comes down to one word: Memoirs. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry has written one, and if we put them all into the Biographies section, we would have one giant, unwieldy baby on our hands. But how can we differentiate the memoirs from the autobiographies?

Here I quote Nigel Hamilton from his 2008 book How to Do Biography: A Primer: “Memoirs may be manipulated and selective…Amusing, informative, possibly deceitful, often self-deceiving, memoirs are extended self-portraits that whether pompous or humble, reflect the time in which they are composed—even if they do not shed much light on the author’s character” (p. 281).

Using St. Augustine, Frederick Douglass, and Anne Frank as examples, Hamilton defines autobiography as “the relentless record and examination of one’s own life: a quest for mental freedom through truthfulness” (p. 293).

However, my confusion multiplied when I consulted the Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (4th Edition), edited by J. A. Cuddon. Autobiography is described in these terms: “Everyone recalls what he or she wants to remember. Disagreeable facts are sometimes glossed over or repressed, truth may be distorted for the sake of convenience or harmony and the occlusions of time may obscure as much as they reveal.” It doesn’t seem that anyone can agree on a definition or a concrete way to differentiate the two. To make matters worse, many of the review tools that we use when deciding on our purchases label items “biography” indiscriminately.

So, as a rule, I generally use these guidelines:
• The subject of the autobiography is the person, rather than a time, place, or experience (or other aspects of a person’s life).
• The subject of the autobiography is famous, outside of the book itself.
• The autobiography covers (most of) the person’s entire life. The memoir may only cover a certain segment.
• If other libraries label a book a biography, so will I. Sometimes.

Here are a few pop cultural books sitting on our Biographies shelf:

Redneck Boy in the Promised Land: The Confessions of “Crazy Cooter” by Ben Jones
You Can Run But You Can’t Hide by Duane “Dog” Chapman
Don’t Hassel the Hoff: The Autobiography by David Hasselhoff
Dr. Dre: The Biography by Ronin Ro

So come down and check out the Hoff's autobiography. It has drama, photos, and everything you ever wanted to know about Baywatch, and it's been sitting lonely for too long. Have you read any good memoirs (or autobiographies) lately?

--Bonnie

A moment will appear
In this very moment you'll find a chest
And there's a piece of a map showing you the first steps
It's up to you whether you walk that path or not

There's just no ending in your story
It will continue nomatter what
Look in my eyes and you know it's the truth

Why does this always happen to me

It doesn't hurt my feelings
But I do feel a sting inside
I just didn't expected it
This feeling nor the happening

Have I just lost it..?
or was that just an illusion??
I'm lost, too lost inside myself

Chances were just lies
Everything is just build with lies
Never a possibility
Never after all this time
It seemed so
But it never was

Tell me!!!
Just Tell Me
Where is my happy ending??

Can you look in my eyes
And dare to say there's no happy ending
I know there's a world somewhere out there
A place with my happy ending
Can't you tell me where it is?

Shortly after the New Jersey ska punk group Face First disbanded in 2002, singer/guitarist Tom "Chitty" Keiger, bassist Jarrett Selzer, trumpeter "Okie" Okamoto and drummer Tommie Clayton decided to reunite to play a poppier, more synthesized form of modern punk rock. Therefore, Okamoto switched from trumpet to keyboard, and Kenny Ryan, formerly of Hidden in Plain View, joined as a second guitarist. The name "Houston Calls", according to the band, is a combination of chapter titles from the Apollo 13 DVD. Other choices included "Zoltar Madness" (from Big), "Giant Green Insanity" (from The Toxic Avenger), and "Deeds in NY" (from Mr. Deeds).

They released a 2 song demo CD in 2003 at the Skate and Surf festival (Asbury Park), even though they did not play at the event. It included the tracks "One More Won't Hurt" and "A Line in the Sand." "One More Won't Hurt" and "A Line in the Sand" were both Face First's final songs, and were re released without the horn parts for the demo CD. While they began performing live in June 2003, they soon released their 4 Song Sampler, produced by Hidden in Plain View's Rob Freeman, to help spread the word. After only one national tour Clayton and the band parted ways and he later joined the band Spoiler NYC. Through mutual friends, Josh Grigsby was introduced to the band and became their drummer on May 15, 2004. Due to various national tours with bands such as Hidden in Plain View and Hellogoodbye, Houston Calls' fanbase grew steadily. The newly manned five-piece went into the studio with producer Jesse Cannon, to record their Sampler Volume 2 (2004). A few months after its release in August 2004 and a national tour sponsored by PureVolume and Absolutepunk.net, Houston Calls became the second band to sign with Rushmore Records, a subsidiary record label of Drive-Thru Records, who the band had been friends with ever since their formation.

On August 2, 2005, the band's official debut album, A Collection of Short Stories, was released. Produced by Ed Rose, the CD contained eleven songs, three of which had previously been released on their two samplers.

On November 25, 2006, Ryan announced he was leaving the band due to personal financial problems. No hard feelings were felt by the band members and Ryan is still a close friend with the band. His last show was played at the Hamilton St. Cafe in New Jersey on December 15, 2006. Jose Lopez temporarily filled in on guitar duties while the band finished up the writing for their second full length album. Lopez was announced a permanent member in February 2007. 2007 touring plans consist of a U.K. trip with hellogoodbye and Plain White T's and an Australian trip with MxPx and Hit the Lights.

On August 10, 2007, Houston Calls posted the demo for the song "Modest Manifesto" on their MySpace page.

As of April 1, 2008, the band entered the studio with producer Mark Weinberg - and has now finished their follow up to "A Collection of Short Stories" which has been titled "The End of an Error" and was originally slated for release in August 2008. However, according to Houston Call's myspace, it now seems that the heavily anticipated album will be coming in October.

Well, we didn't make it up to Yellowstone this summer, but we met Alanna halfway--sort of.  She decided to come down to Loveland with three of her Yellowstone co-workers who wanted to visit Denver, so Bonnie, Suzie and I decided to drive up and spend a few days visiting.  Bonnie and Suzie also got to see Grandma Joann, who they haven't seen in almost five years.  Grandma is living in Loveland now, so we'll get to see her a lot more often.

Going to Colorado usually means visiting one of my very favorite places in the whole world:  Rocky Mountain National Park.  this trip was even better than usual.  I got to go twice.  The first time I took Alanna and her friends up Trail Ridge. 

Here they are near the entrance to the park, and then here are Alanna and me at one of our many stops.

 Of course, we had to stop at the Alpine Visitors' Center, where the girls were really happy to find out that their employee discount--and employee appreciation days with an even bigger discount--worked at RMNP, too.

After some shopping, we hiked up to the very top of Trail Ridge, something I've always wanted to do but have either not had time, not been in good enough shape for any hiking at that elevation, or it's been closed for weather reasons.  My lungs weren't very happy (it's almost 13,000 feet at the top), but I made it.  Here's Alanna, enjoying the view at the top of the world, as we call it.

I went back again, Thursday morning to view the sunrise from Trail Ridge--I'm still working on all the photos I took, so those will have to wait for later.  All the wildflowers are in bloom right now, so I was in seventh heaven and added quite a few to my wildflower  collection.  You'll be able to see more of them soon on our business blog at blog.marielesliephoto.com and probably also in our fine art gallery as well.I can't wait to go back again; I'm anxious to do more hiking up there. 

Friday, it was time to head home, so the girls and I headed south, stopping at Garden of the Gods,

another place that needs several return visits, and Fort Union.  Garden of the Gods was great.  We saw a young buck and two does as we were entering the park.  There were also quite a few rock climbers out the day we were there.  It was exciting and a little scary to watch them scaling the steep cliffs.  Bonnie & Suzie decided they would like to give it try when they're a little bigger--but not on something quite that steep.

Fort Union was a really cool stop.  We've been driving by it on our way to Colorado for nearly 8 years and so it was time to check it out.  It's all adobe ruins, but very cool.  We didn't have enough time to really see everything, so we're going to have to go back again with Chris and Brendan.  It's only about a 2-hour drive, so it's definitely do-able as a day trip. 

Delaney & Bonnie and Friends - Motel Shot - 1971

Delaney e Bonnie Bramlett formavam um casal que produzia um rock cheio de soul. Depois de alguns discos que não tiveram reconhecimento mundial, mas que são compostos de uma qualidade musical peculiar e criativa, além de serem artistas com grande influência entre os músicos. Depois de alguns álbuns, e várias turnês sold out - incluindo uma com Eric Clapton na guitarra - resolveram convidar alguns amigos para participar de uma gravação em que os instrumentos acústicos seriam predominantes nas músicas. Escolhendo algumas canções tradicionais e outras tantas inéditas, eles fizeram uma pequena festa com esse círculo de amizades misturando gospel, country, blues, folk, and o antigo R&B e lançaram isso em 1971. Alguma lembrança aos acústicos que apareceram no início dos anos 90 e viraram marca e febre comercial na indústria fonográfica?

Muito antes da explosão dos acústicos, via MTV ou outras, o álbum Motel Shot de Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, é um marco para a criação de acústicos, onde a experimentação musical ganha novas cores, gente famosa comparece, não para ser mais um atrativo de vendagem, mas para contribuir com amizade verdadeira e se divertir fazendo música, garantindo entusiasmadas jam's em que o sentimento metafísico se faz presente.

Os amigos em Motel Shot são figuras clássicas do rock sixties, e colocaram suas especialidades em favor da música produzida neste álbum. Leon Russel trouxe sua infame personalidade musical na guitarra e piano, mas também trouxe a força e a rouquidão da voz de Joe Cocker, que se destaca em Talkin' About Jesus. Enquanto Gram Parsons e Clarence White contribuíram com a energia country dos Flying Burrito Brothers e Byrds. O saxofone de Bob Keys que é marca de sopros nos Stones, já fazia a festa pelas turnês dos Bramletts. Jim Keltner é responsável pelas batidas orgânicas e detalhistas, enquanto Dave Manson explorou os arranjos de Delaney junto do slide sulista de Duane Allman. O piano de Bobby Whitlock, e o baixo pulsante de Carl Radle sempre foram créditos desde o primeiro álbum do casal Delaney & Bonnie.

O clima de festa e louvação musical é do início ao fim. Lonesome And A Long Way From Home fecha esse ‘acústico' numa versão mais intimista que a executada pela banda de Bramlett, além de ser arranjada e produzida pelo próprio, para o primeiro solo do amigo Clapton. Will The Circle Be Unbroken celebra a amizade musical desta reunião, com uma excelente interpretação vocal de Bonnie. A versão de Come On In My Kitchen, do lendário bluseiro Robert Johnson, ganha o piano e percussão como condutores, enquanto na seqüência, Don't Deceive Me trabalha a vocalização da canção como uma reverência as raízes do blues.

Motel Shot é uma amostra de que singelas idéias, mas originais, podem ser mais significantes do que se esperaria. Pois, quem diria que, este mesmo esquema de gravação ganharia as paradas de sucesso, mais de vinte anos depois?!?!