@parisjackson singing "Let Down" on Jimmy Kimmel

 Here's the video I'm commenting on

She got all the right genes

• She got MJ's face (Prince got his mother's wider face, which I find less attractive)
• MJ's tendency to be thin (the mother was not)
• the nose that MJ wanted from his white wife (which he famously pursued with plastic surgery)
• her mother's height (MJ being only average height)
• MJ's charismatic performance ability
• MJ's precise sense of rhythm
• MJ's precise musical blending ability (which we saw in particular on the SoundFlowers EP)
• recessive blue eye genes (which shouldn't matter, but definitely attracted a lot of attention to her over the years -- most people apparently not having realized that the average African American is 18% white, due to the unfortunate tendency of slave holders to rape their slaves.  It has been said that in the Entertainment industry there is no such thing as bad publicity -- something that enhanced her father's career, even though he didn't like it -- so having people gossip about her blue eyes just made her more famous.  BTW they only look fluorescent because her skin is darker than that of most blue eyed people)
• MJ's ability to reinvent himself 

Remains to be seen:

• dancing? (There's a hint of it here, but we can't be sure.  We see her start to let go and move with the music connecting with her gut.  I saw that happening with her dad, but this was just a hint)
• extraordinary vocal range? We're not seeing this yet, but I don't know that it isn't there.  

Not sure if good or bad

• some of MJ's shyness (demonstrated by her posting videos of her singing, showing only her fingers on the guitar -- and essentially singing background on most of the SoundFlowers EP)

Reminder that basically she looks like his twin, from a previous blog post

How can they say she doesn't look like him?

I am really enjoying "Wilted" though it is malfunctioning in the Amazon music app -- and when I click on it I get other performers.  It's hypnotic and beautiful.

I am struck at the musical differences between the Soundflowers EP and "Wilted."  She's not a one trick pony.

It doesn't hurt that she's beautiful.  

In a way, I kind of feel sorry for her former boyfriend, Gabriel Glen.  He's a competent musician, but I don't think he's quite good enough to be a star.  He probably should have realized that neither Paris nor her fans were going to tolerate her being his descant long term.  It was a great first album experience for her, though.  

I think of the irony of his having been amazed at how well she blended with him. Yeah. MJ's daughter.  He was a fabulous background vocalist, as well as lead singer, as demonstrated by the multiple tracks of him singing background on his own albums.

Poor Gabe  He should have realized that the important thing was not how well she blended with him, but how well he blended with her.  He demonstrated that on one track, but not overall.  Still, he is to be congratulated on helping her get out of her shell.  I am grateful to him for that.

I kind of doubt that he's going to be famous in the future, but I could be wrong. I love his hair.  He looked great next to her in pictures.  Maybe he'll pull it off, or become a producer.

I notice that the second guy she worked with, Andy Hull, got it.  He's there making the album magical, but featuring her.  He's got his head on straight.

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman

@parisjackson "Wilted"

 Ok, let's be honest here.  Why am I following this woman on twitter and buying her albums?  It's because at one time I was obsessed with her father, who she looks so much like that they could almost be twins.

There's this breathless anticipation: is she going to make me as excited as he did?  Has he left something significant on this earth that will go on creating the path he started?

I've been waiting for this.  From the moment I first set eyes on her, I thought there was something special about her, something riveting, something her father had, but I don't know that her siblings do, except maybe Omar in Norway (or was it Sweden).  

What is that?  David Foster said that you can tell a star, because when they're on the stage you only see them, not anyone else who is on the stage with them. Yes, I feel that way about her.  She draws my eyes.  I want to stare. 

An emotional darkness, a physical beauty, a sense of mystery.    He was big into creating mystery -- and, tantalizingly, she puts up videos of herself playing the guitar, but not showing her face -- just the very sort of thing that MJ would have done -- hide his face.

The last album/EP merely whetted my appetite.  She sang descant.  She did that uncanny blending that her father did, when he recorded backing tracks for his albums out of his house.  I wonder whether she may have heard any of that.  Of course, the genre was totally different; Indie/folk/rock -- not pop, r&b, soul or dance music.  Yet, I heard enough of him to stay hooked.

And now the second album, a different sound again more alternative/perhaps almost modern classical.  That's good.  She isn't limited to a single genre.  MJ was known for creativity, for breaking molds.  Yes!

Her music video "Let Down" is gory.  The illustrations on the album are eerie, dark, dismal.  Actually the drawings on the EP were a disjointed, giving an impression of madness. One can see a connection in the type of mind that would do "Wilted" with the type that would do "Thriller."

Sometimes I think that only insane people have enough innate drama to be able to reach international prominence.  Her father had that -- some madness that led him to various peculiar behaviors. 

Yes, she has that as well: madness.  There's something fascinating about that.

I had had fond hopes that she might be the celeb who would take up my #QuixoticQuest for the world anthem.  After all, the idea came from her father -- and his "Cry" music video. There doesn't seem to be anything like that here. 

That's an issue I've been noticing.  A lot of the Jackson family continues to perform.  None of them seems to have the idealism that MJ sometimes displayed.  

Yet, this album is very beautiful. I love this type of sound. I love modern classical, weird stuff.  It's too bad that I only had the option mp3 download, rather than a cd, because CD's say who the collaborators are and what instruments are being played don each track.  I wonder to what extent the sound on this album came from her and to what extent it might have come from collaborators.  

Is she the source of her sound, as her father was, or are people coming in and doing arranging and editing for her?  Is she a the football in the game, where industry professionals are looking out to see who is a social media influence?  Once they decide that a performer has potential in terms of gathering large audiences,  they'll create all kinds of things to showcase her.

Warning: this is hypnotic.  Be prepared to be lulled to sleep.  I'm not saying that as an insult.  It's just very somniferous -- not boring, but rather mesmerizing.

She has a very complex, expressive voice. She definitely holds up as a solo artist.  The unusual thing is that she also blends so well.  That was a characteristic of her father as well.

@parisjackson EP, The Soundflowers

I’ve mostly been following Paris Jackson, because I was fascinated with her father. It wasn’t just his music and his dancing. He was a fascinating person—almost like a Howard Hughes: a mysterious genius.

At first I bought into those people who said that his children were adopted. Then, when I saw them at the funeral, and saw that their skin was darker then most white people’s skin and that Prince had vitiligo, I realized that those rumors were just lies. They were clearly his children. I wrote a blog about this before. 

http://straightarrow372.blogspot.com/2017/11/how-can-they-say-she-doesnt-look-like.html

After a while, I saw that, whatever that X Factor thing is, Paris has it. She wasn’t as graceful in her walk as the other models at the Victoria’s Secret show, but when you sit down and listen to her speaking, you can’t take your eyes off of her. David Foster said you can tell a star because, when they’re in the room, everybody else disappears. You only see them. She has that. Whatever that is she has it. She must’ve gotten it from her father.

I’ve been wanting to hear her perform. There’ve been some tantalizing clips on YouTube. Frankly, she didn’t sound that great. I was surprised. She sounded hesitant in her singing. She didn’t sound like she had good breath control. I thought it was too bad that her father was so anxious to avoid putting the kind of pressure on her that he had a child that he would completely avoid giving her voice lessons.

Now she came out with an EP. Surprisingly to me, it’s a folk indie style performance. Even more surprising to me, was that Paris mostly sings descant. She has one song that she wrote. She has some solos in the other songs.  Still, I hear the guy (Gabriel Glen)  more than I hear her.

Glen stated that she blends with him much better than anyone he’s ever sung with. I feel like she’s too quiet, but that’s appropriate when you’re singing descant. 

In thinking back on Michael Jackson—the father she looks so much like— and what he was known for, I think of him as a charismatic performer, with a solo voice, and extraordinary dancing skills. That’s my first impression.

Yet there was something else that he did. In his recorded music, particularly later in his career, he created many complex layers of rhythms and harmonies. He sang choirs of harmonies with his own solo tracks. A lot of the distinctive sound of his music comes from the work he did making layers of tracks. If you listen to the recordings, the blending of the different tracks is seamless. You can’t hear separate voices or instruments very much. It’s all just an extraordinarily precise and coherent whole.

When I think of that context, I realize she does sound like him. She doesn’t sound like his solo tracks. She sounds like his harmony tracks.  She's very precise and, when she adds her voice, she adds a layer of excitement that wouldn't be there without her.

I’m thinking too of David Foster who chooses to create complex music, but puts a singer upfront to entertain the audience. The audience doesn’t necessarily even notice, consciously, the sounds of the orchestra behind the singer; but that is the domain of the genius of David Foster.

Michael Jackson had that kind of genius as well, but also the solo voice that David Foster doesn’t have and the dancing that David Foster probably never even considered.

Sometimes genius can be recognized, not in standing out, but in laboring to create a more accomplished product in conjunction with others. It seems that Paris has decided to go this route. I don't know if she is a genius.  Time will tell.  Still, there are definitely times when her harmonization is quite extraordinary.

When I've seen them performing, it's just the 2 of them, and usually only one is playing the guitar at a time. Yet, on the EP, there is at least one other instrument: a drum.  My ear is not good enough to discern if there are more, but there certainly could be. It remains to be seen how many instruments would be in the band if they go to tour.

Josh Groban Livestream 6/27/20

As usual, I am going to edit this later.

I don't understand why he says it's his first livestream concert.  I have a DVD of a live stream concert he did at Walmart years ago

Set list for 6/27/20 livestream

Remember When It Rained
My Confession
Higher Window
Granted
April: Come She Will (Paul Simon)
Broken Vow
February Song
Mark solo
I Can't Make You Love Me (Bonnie Rait)
Vincent
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Tariqh Solo
Allejate
Wandering Kind
Harvest Moon
Your Face
To Where You Are
Awake
You Raise Me Up

He asked if we were ok, because we asked for sad songs. Um,  no, actually.  In my conversations with Grobies, I've felt that most had lives that were marked by tragedy.  Also there have been A LOT of early deaths from cancer.  I feel depression is a symptom of cancer.

Josh himself has often been depressed. Maybe he isn't now, but he often has been before. The album "Illuminations" sometimes sounded like a suicide note.

I also feel that he does depressed singing especially well and doesn't do happy singing as well.

In any case, I think the does attract people who are facing hugely tragic lives.

answering youtube video nHEl2pvtAso

I normally blog about OA under another pseudonym, but I was on YouTube and found a video with a woman complaining about OA. I listened to the video and identified a number of points that indicated to me that she had never understood the program -- and, moreover, had unfortunately been surrounded by people who never understood the program.  I used this pseudonym to respond

Now, unfortunately, this video critical of OA has been associated by YouTube with a video by my intergroup explaining OA to newcomers.  Here is my intergroup's video

And here is the video complaining about OA

I'm a pretty fast typist, so, as I was listening to her comments, I wrote down responses, which I edited and put as a comment under her video.  I want to memorialize these comments here, to wit:


I listened to your video. I’ve been in OA and abstinent for 15 years maintaining about a 45 lb weight loss.  I love OA.

I do appreciate that you presented this in a thoughtful manner, but there are some things that I wanted to point out.  I took notes as I was listening.  I have never tried to put such a long comment into youtube before.  Perhaps there is a word limit.  We’ll see.

This is going to be sort of choppy, because I was writing it as you spoke.

Weekly attendance doesn’t sound like an adequate commitment

Now there are phone meetings, online meetings, and podcasts, so geographical isolation is not a reason any more not to go to meetings.

Losing weight is not necessarily a helpful attitude.  I don’t think that’s what most recovered people would recommend.  The point is sanity around eating and sanity in general. We have a saying “I came for the vanity, but I stayed for the sanity.”

People who think religion is an obstacle don’t understand.  It’s not necessary to believe in a God necessarily.  It’s a meditation technique that calms cravings.  You don’t have to believe it’s an external God. 

Yes, addicts often have personality issues.  If we didn’t, we probably wouldn’t be addicts. My experience is, though, that if people get recovery their personality starts improving.

Part of the program is learning to detach from those personalities.

Not everyone does 3 meals a day.  You’re supposed to follow the recommendations  of medical professionals. 

I am in OA. I don’t feel that it’s safe to eliminate all carbs.  Just eating meat and green vegetables forever is not healthy. I know two people in program who got dangerously ill from doing that.  I certainly don’t recommend it, and the people I work with don’t do that.

Many OAs do, on the recommendation of their nutritionists, eat snacks.  It’s not the case that 3 meals a day is required.

I do personally find that 3 meals a day works for me.  I don’t feel hungry between meals, if my meals are big enough.  OAs typically strongly advise against feeling hungry.  We have this concept of “HALT” — don’t get too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired.  If someone told you you were supposed to feel hungry, they didn’t understand program.

I personally strongly disapprove of restrictive dieting — and the HOW program; and, this business of yo-yo dieting is certainly very dangerous.  I personally advocate a maintenance level food plan — not a restrictive diet. 

I don’t consider myself “skinny.”  I consider myself average weight. 

This business of being triggered by others, which you speak of several times, is part of what we are supposed to deal with using the steps.  I wonder if you had a chance to work the steps with someone who really understands program.

Being in relapse is not being a “bad” person.  This is a disease.  We are not bad people trying to become good.  We are sick people trying to become well.  Yes, I do think it’s a sickness. But I don’t see anyone shaming anyone else for relapse in program. I do see people imagining criticism that isn’t necessarily there, because of emotional issues that could be dealt with using the steps.

No one should tell you who should be your friends.  Anyone who did that does not understand program.  It’s up to you to decide who is good for you and who is bad for you.  A big part of program is not trying to control others.  I’ve never heard anyone say that you have to leave your friends and make new friends.  Program is supposed to help you deal with your life — not run away from it.

OA is not a program for making friends, tho. It’s a program of recovery.  Some people do make friends, but that’s just not the goal.

You say that it’s never bad to eat food, but some “food” though are not really foods.  They’re really drugs.  They’re designed for mood alteration — especially highly processed junk food.  They’re not designed for health or nutrition.   To me, eating for mood alteration is a kind of drug use.

You say that compulsive overeaters don’t have personality problems from their food use — and yet a big reason that you left was the personality problems of the people around you.  That doesn’t sound consistent.

It really sounds like you missed the point of what HP does in terms of removing the cravings and in terms of learning to cope with life.  It sounds to me like you have the wrong idea about this concept in program. 

 For me, it’s not about not being fat, per se.  It’s about being healthier.  It’s about my blood pressure going down — about my knees hurting less.  I do find that people who merely have a desire to improve their appearance don’t do as well as people who are trying to address the emotional aspects of this disease.

It also sounds like you have an issue of interpreting suggestions as orders.  That probably comes from something out of your childhood.  One thing about relying on HP, rather than other people, is that I don't have to be so craven. If someone suggests something I don't agree with, I can say "I'll think about it," and decide not to do it.  Before program, I was like a quaking aspen in Colorado, blowing in the wind of other people's whims. Now I have a new boss, and it's not them. I don't have to take their suggestions, or even their orders. 

dithering about the faces of @adamlambert

So, I find myself becoming a Glambert, perhaps predictable. I've always been drawn to gay men like a moth to flame.

It's odd that I should be drawn to him, though. I've never liked makeup.  I've had 4 objections to it
1. I feel that God made my face and I shouldn't second guess what it should look like
2. I feel that makeup on women is like the black veils the women wear in Saudi Arabia -- the belief that the female face is not acceptable
3. I have very sensitive skin and putting stuff on it tends to make me break out.
4. I just don't like the way it looks -- so fake, and slightly horrifying, like I'm looking at a zombie or a mask rather than a person.

But, wrt to #2, here's Adam, a man, choosing to wear makeup.  I don't think it's because he thinks that there's something wrong with the male face. I think it's because he thinks makeup is titillating.  That somehow seems to make makeup seem somewhat less evil to me.

And makeup *is* very central to Adam, for sure. He adores it. I look at these photos and I like the one on the left better (bottom on cell phone, left on desktop). I suspect he likes the one on the right better.

It's all very well and good for me to say "It's only about the music, and his beautiful voice," but that's not true. He's gorgeous, sexy, charismatic, dynamic on stage.  Once hooked, I would likely listen to anything he sang.

Well, maybe not. I would once have said that about Josh Groban and I don't feel that way now at all.

So here I am, a person constitutionally opposed to makeup, spending a whole lot of time online listening to and watching someone who loves makeup.

I once heard a saying "consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds."

#glambert