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Pacific States

Gera11

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VOLUME I: PACIFIC BLUES
 
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RainyWoods

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV68 - Mikal Cronin - Weight

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Final 9th with 140 points
Semi - NA (pre-qualified)

Even though I wrote about this song and result in the show topic after the results, i'll do the whole spiel here again, as is traditional. I'm so delighted and surprised by this result, even though perhaps actually it does make sense as this song tied with Mikal's "I've Been Loved" in a previous NF. It's just hard to believe I got garage rock into the top 10 and that 27 people voted for it. It's so amazing! Absolutely super thrilled. Managed this result as well with an incredibly strong final for pot F and snubs from a particular crowd I thought I finally might have been able to get on board, oh and the loss of a Salmon 12 because of his breakxheat Still somehow made the top 10 and with such a delicious figure.

Thank you from my heart to all the people below. Every point meant a great deal. You all officially rock.

:12: :sobr:xheatxheart
:10: ::sthm:de::lond:::subcxrosexrosexrosexrose
:8: ::wscsxrose
:7: :ca::jp:xrosexrose
:6: :tr:xheart
:5: ::gl:eg::uk::susa::pl:xheartxheartxheartxheartxheart
:4: :nl::cz::svea::lv:xheartxheartxheart
:3: :md::it::en:xheartxheartxheart
:2: ::atti:sc::nrwe:::puglxheartxheartxheartxheart
:1: :vn::is:xheartxheart



It's a relief this edition is over. Now I can sit back, relax.......... and vote in the 27 NFs currently going on, joyxheart:lol: Also have to decide my next entry. It's gonna be my 20th sent to this contest so I want to make it something special. My cancelled Mid-Atlantic entry from last edition actually fits the bill well, but I have so many options and now my head is swirling again. Also it's very hard to leave behind Pacific States.

My options from Pacific States:


Shannon and the Clams - The band that got me into garage rock. Would be a super dooper risky choice but they fit well for a special 20th entry.

Todd Rundgren - Psych rocker but i'd go the short but achingly sweet and beautiful ballad route with him. He's from Pennsylvania but now resides in Hawaii.

John Cale - My hero. Founder of The Velvet Underground. Was almost my PQ last edition. Something tells me though he's an artist I need to make an NF for when I decide the time is right to brave him, as I want you to get to know him and why his music is so special to me.

Linda Perhacs - A gem of a psychedelic folk artist. Recently has made the mother of all comebacks after becoming a cult fave with many new artists on the folk scene. Was supposed to be releasing a new album this September (partly why i'm still on Pacific right now) but everything has gone quiet. I could just send my favourite Linda Perhacs song.

My favourite childhood pop artist - I'll keep this one under wraps. Shocked that they haven't yet been sent to the contest.


My options from Mid-Atlantic:

Mystery legend - Yes, that legend i've been threatening for a long time. So legendary I dare not reveal who he or she is.

The War On Drugs - Kurt Vile's old band who had my favourite song of 2014. Said song has always been my ultimate PQ dream, as I love this band, but only really have one chance with them to send something that's ultra special to me. It's the most gorgeously wistful piece. Would turn me into a wreck whilst it's competing, but nothing else would mark the milestone like this song which is why i'm considering it.

Kurt Vile - Because is Kurt Vile.

Eartha Kitt - Shame on me to be honest. WorldVision players continue to dare to send their most fabulous disco icons and I haven't sent one yet despite being a massive fan. This would be a very different way to celebrate 20 entries and a tonne of fun.

Marianne Faithfull - Can get away with her from here thanks to a song she recorded which features Rufus Wainwright. The song is dark, languid and long, but ever so haunting and spellbinding. I shared this song with Calvin and he said it made him feel seasick, but in a good way. Along with John Cale, Marianne is at the top of my favourite artists I haven't yet sent to the contest list but can. Can send her a few ways actually.. with Rufus, Antony Hegary (of Antony and the Johnsons), Metallica
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*cough* former pot F

My favourite "commercial" RnB singer - Not revealing who because I want the shock value intact for when it eventually happens. She's actually from an unfortunate area of the states where I don't have enough artists I love enough to consider the move just for her, but can send this lady from Mid-Atlantic thanks to a collaborator.





To finish off this self-indulgent post, here is a glittery Mikal Cronin with a cronut gif that Daniel left on my visitor wall during my birthdayxheat

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lavieenrose

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV68 - Mikal Cronin - Weight

These potatoes when you look at them they almost shine in the glistening sun and in a way when you have these your customers enjoy these potatoes it's not gonna be just a potato it's gonna be an experience.


 

RainyWoods

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV68 - Mikal Cronin - Weight

These potatoes when you look at them they almost shine in the glistening sun and in a way when you have these your customers enjoy these potatoes it's not gonna be just a potato it's gonna be an experience.

Potato power. Thank you for these potatoes fine salesman. One can never have enough potatoes.


I want much more on a night like this. I want much more... I WANT... PO-TA-TOOOE.

(O M G that Amanda Lear video even has a dog growling the backgroundxheat)


 

lavieenrose

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV68 - Mikal Cronin - Weight

Potato power. Thank you for these potatoes fine salesman. One can never have enough potatoes.

Why, you're oh so welcome.

 

lavieenrose

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV67 - Super Song Selection on page 33

We're gonna kid ourselves to re-stumble

Kill ourselves to restart? xthink

Confession: originally thought it was "kill ourselves to exterminate"

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Lupus

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV68 - Mikal Cronin - Weight

Iconic daleks taking over the now dormant Pacific thread; what could be better? :lol:
 

RainyWoods

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV68 - Mikal Cronin - Weight

Hello friends. It is good to be back with sweet Pacific States again. Oh how i've missed your dark blue body and golden freckles :paci: Lets go for dinner during WorldVision 72.


MIKAL CROOOOOOOOOONIN

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RainyWoods

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV68 - Mikal Cronin - Weight

Honey i'm home.


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What could this image before us be trying to tell us.....
 

RainyWoods

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV72 - ???? ????

Since my cryptic clue above is proving too.... well, cryptic, I will present to you some written clues.

- My artist has an incredibly deep connection to a previous entry of mine
- Has worked with my number 1 icon
- Isn't originally from America
- Didn't start learning English until around the age of 7
- Shares a slight connection with a previous entry from London
- Can play piano, guitar and bass guitar, but perhaps is best known for being a pioneering viola player (humongous clue)
- Drone
- :cool:


Can't really give you song clues because i'm in trouble if you guess it, but this is actually my first cover i'm sending. The vast majority of you won't recognize the artist, but i'm betting a good chunk of you will have heard this particular version of the song once I reveal just why. I'm actually shocked no one has sent this song to WorldVision yet, and sooner or later I think it would have happened, so it was a case of getting in there quick with what I think is a very special rendition of the song, and is the one also that helped it to become the beloved standard it is today. Super excited about this but also super nervous.
 

Lupus

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV72 - ???? ????

- Shares a slight connection with a previous entry from London

One of my London entries xthink

It must be...

 

lavieenrose

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV72 - ???? ????

I found a good photo for any occasion - that's right; it's a majestic Komondor! :D

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RainyWoods

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV72 - John Cale - Hallelujah

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Yup, i'm sending one of my favourite artists ever to WorldVision this edition. The Velvet Underground co-founder and my personal music hero, Mr. John Cale. This is something I at first could have never envisioned myself doing when I joined this game, at least without a PQ in my hands, but it was being reintroduced last month to Cale's version of "Hallelujah" that suddenly gave me the courage, in fact determination that I was going to do this.

John recently released a remastered version of his 1992 live tour album, "Fragments Of A Rainy Season". I was surprised to discover that in the run up to it's launch, Cale had put out a music video for the song "Hallelujah". It's quite surreal to create a music video for a live rendition of a song recorded 25 years ago. You can even hear people in the audience coughing, but I think the whole thing is awesome, and from the moment I watched the video for the first time, I knew i'd finally found my entry for this special time of year. I got goosebumps. And now please excuse me a bit as I write a little (or lot) about how much John Cale means to me, and also about the composer of the song who recently passed away, the legendary Leonard Cohen.

I'm obsessed with The Velvet Underground and of course also Nico, and John's connection with these two are unrivalled. Along with Lou Reed, John Cale founded the pioneering experimental rock band The Velvet Underground and produced for Nico four of her six studio albums, which are probably my favourite records ever recorded. John Cale was born in Garnant, a mining village in Wales, and didn't start learning English until the age of seven. Cale discovered he had a talent for the viola and went to London to study, eventually moving on to New York where his career would begin. He stayed with The Velvet Underground for their first two albums, the iconic "The Velvet Underground & Nico" and it's follow up "White Light/White Heat". Cale was forced out of the band by Reed, and the bands music would change quite drastically as a result. Cale was the avant-garde, crazy and experimental glue that was keeping things so bold and forward. After leaving the group, John went on to release around thirty albums, and produced or collaborated on an absolute tonne of records for artists such as Patti Smith, The Stooges, Nick Drake, Brian Eno, Marc Almond, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Animal Collective to name but a few.


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The Velvet Underground icons, Nico and John Cale



"Hallelujah" is the magnum opus belonging to the late, great Canadian poet and musician, Leonard Cohen. He sadly only very recently left us, passing away this November, very shortly after John released the video for his reading of the song. A song that has now become a modern day hymn, I will be shocked if this is actually the first time any of you are hearing this. It's been covered many times. John Cale was the first to cover the song, and it was his version that laid down the foundations for many future versions that would follow. Over three darn hundred covers in fact! The original by Leonard Cohen was a strange, dark and plodding, almost unsettling but ultimately uplifting piece, done mostly in spoken word. During the creation of the song, Cohen wrote over 80 verses, involving one writing session where (and I quote) he was reduced to sitting on the floor in his underwear, banging his head on the floor. That's some deep stuff.


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The late, great and legendary Canadian singer-songwriter and poet, Leonard Cohen


What's the song about? Well, it's become somewhat of a seasonal mainstay now, and whilst I guess it fits somewhat, and music is always open to our own interpretation of it, the song transforms depending on who's performing it. In it's original context the song was coming from a place that was "cold and broken". There are layers of metaphysical meaning here. Cohen said of the song that "It explains that many kinds of hallelujahs do exist, and all the perfect and broken hallelujahs have equal value."

It's quite a strange phenomenon how an obscure song, one that Cohen's record label rubbished when they first heard it, has now become such a beloved piece, a modern day hymn. There's a great chance that you've heard Cale's version of the song, even if you don't know him as an artist, as it was his version that was used in a film with a certain green ogre. Perhaps the best known version is by the late singer songwriter Jeff Buckley. His haunting recording, inspired by Cale's, helped popularise the song slowly over time after his album "Grace" released in 1994. A spellbinding cover and one held in very high regard by critics. K.D. Lang released the version of the song Leonard Cohen himself held highest though. "Well, I think we can lay that song to rest now! It's really been done to its ultimate blissful state of perfection" he said to his partner after watching Lang perform the song at the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame back in 2006.

There have been a tonne of other covers. Notable artists who have taken this song on include Rufus Wainwright, Imogen Heap, Kathryn Williams, Bob Dylan and Alexandra Burke who took her gospel version of the song to Christmas number 1 after her X Factor win in 2009.

There have been many great versions of this song, but John Cale's rendition was the one that always touched my heart deepest. There was a while I had fallen out of love with this song, from it being one of my favourite songs ever. I thought it was over covered and over played, and I think I still stand by that opinion. I understand why though now, and the song has had it's time to breathe in the last few years. "Hallelujah" has become something much more now than an obscure gem, or even a cult favourite flirting with the mainstream world. It's become a song for everyone, and it's open to so many interpretations, different versions able to touch different people. It took a long while to get the stick out of my backside, and Mr. Cale to remind me of the ridiculous beauty of this song the teen me lived by. I can't think of a more beautiful song that has reached so many people.


Sending this is a celebration of two artists. John Cale and Leonard Cohen. All year long it was in my head "how am I going to follow on from Judee Sill?". Would I send Judee Sill again? Another celestial ballad? I started to worry but then was reminded of the beauty of "Hallelujah". Being able to send such a legendary song, performed by my Velvet Underground hero, proved just irresistible. When Cale sings it's poetry. His strong Welsh accent and the pure intensity of this version.





I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord.
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this:
The fourth, the fifth.
The minor fall, the major lift.
The baffled king composing Hallelujah.
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof.
You saw her bathing on the roof.
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you.
She tied you to a kitchen chair.
She broke your throne, she cut your hair.
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah.
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah.
Maybe I've been here before.
I know this room, I've walked this floor.
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch.
Love is not a victory march,
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah.
There was a time you'd let me know
What's real and going on below.
But now you never show it to me, do you?
Remember when I moved in you?
The Holy Dove was moving too.
And every breath we drew was hallelujah.
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah.
Maybe there's a God above.
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you.
It's not a cry you can hear at night.
It's not somebody who's seen the light.
It's a cold and its a broken hallelujah.
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelu...
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah.



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☂​




I'd like to share another live version of the song that John performed back in 2003. If the sound quality wasn't so potato I think I perhaps unsurprisingly would have opted for this recording at WorldVision. It's achingly beautiful with those strings and there is a slight dissonance to it all that pains me even more. It gives off a totally different vibe to his earlier recordings of the song.



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Anyway, a small novel later and I just want to end saying that I hope you enjoy this rendition of "Hallelujah". I can't believe it's been well over a year since i've been playing this game now. Time is flying by so fast. Have a nice holiday season x
 

Lupus

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV72 - John Cale - Hallelujah

What an iconic and beautiful song Kai xrose Am so overjoyed you're sending it. Best of luck and I'm sure it'll reward you hugely! :D
 

Stargazer

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV72 - John Cale - Hallelujah

Such a touching, special rendition of this fantastic song. Probably the best version I've ever heard! xlove And it's so wonderful that you're sending an artist that means so much to you. xrose
 

ShoeFlo

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV72 - John Cale - Hallelujah

I KNEW you would send this song! :D It was so obvious (okay it's not that difficult if you are a passionate last.fm stalker).
Best of luck, this song is a beautiful classic that never gets boring. I did listen to this song very often recently (not to Cale's version though, I'm excited to hear it xheat )
 

RainyWoods

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV72 - John Cale - Hallelujah

What an iconic and beautiful song Kai xrose Am so overjoyed you're sending it. Best of luck and I'm sure it'll reward you hugely! :D

Thank you very much Robertxrose Glad you feel that way about the songxheart

Such a touching, special rendition of this fantastic song. Probably the best version I've ever heard! xlove And it's so wonderful that you're sending an artist that means so much to you. xrose

Thank you for the lovely words Annaxrose It's kind of scary sending him, and looking back, I don't know how I managed to send The Velvet Underground that first time. I wouldn't have the guts probably to send them again today. I think Cale's version of this is the purest and most poetic. Another beautiful version is the one by Canadian singer K.D. Lang. That's probably my second favourite.


I KNEW you would send this song! :D It was so obvious (okay it's not that difficult if you are a passionate last.fm stalker).
Best of luck, this song is a beautiful classic that never gets boring. I did listen to this song very often recently (not to Cale's version though, I'm excited to hear it xheat )

Stalking my lastfm page eh? That won't do. I'll have to start throwing in red herrings when it's the submission period now. I hope you enjoy John Cale's version of this wonderful songxheat
 

RainyWoods

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Re: Pacific States ☂ WV72 - John Cale - Hallelujah

From my heart the biggest thank you to those who supported John Cale and helped see him through to the final. I was a wreck during the results just as I was expecting. Wreck levels not felt since I last sent Mikal Cronin without a PQ. It's weird how much you end up caring when you send an artist that means so much to you. I thought I would miss when there was just one name left to be called, but Mr. Cale made it, and it means a great deal. Thank youxheart

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