Damn that Paige!
Damn her and her interesting, soul-searching topics that keep a girl out past midnight and make her groggy eyed the next day! No, I’m just kidding. I loved being out after midnight sitting in a mosquito-filled field gabbing with her. It was pretty great. And she can cook! Someone ought to marry that girl! (Oh wait, someone did — lucky dog.) I would sit in a mosquito-infested field with Paige any old time she asked. And play Bey Blades with her son. THAT, my friends, is how much I like her!
In Mix Tape news, we start out with Mr. Feinstein himself first thing. Last night I decided he was “spectrum-y” (someone on the autism spectrum) and Paige said could be. (She knows about these things but wants everyone — including Mr. Feinstein’s legal reps — to know that she of course has not met Mr. Feinstein and was mostly just agreeing with me so I would shut up and let her listen to the music.) But think about it: Musical genius, very single-minded in his pursuits, and sometimes has something of a wooden delivery even when he’s belting out Alexander’s Rag-time Band. I’m just sayin’.
#13 Grateful by the aforementioned Michael Feinstein
I cannot for the life of me remember how I found this album but I must have been looking for a singer (maybe Kristin Chenoweth?) and came home with this new CD. Not all of these songs ended up in shows but they’re all showtunes and the lyrics are pretty darn heartfelt (bordering on maudlin but truth is, I really like that in a song). If you’re not religious and/or spiritual (no higher power worshipping for you) then this song may not be your thing. But if you are, it might.
#14 Blue Rose by Lizz Wright
How to get from showtunes to the next part of a mix tape? It’s an age-old dilemma and I will tell you how: jazz. Or jazz-ish. Why? Because most of those standards sung by the swinging Leading Ladies of Jazz are in fact showtunes. Many of us know this but alas, far too many of us don’t. (Mr. Feinstein related this story last night: Someone in his friend’s singing class stood up and said, “I will now sing Summertime by Porgy & Bess!” Oh the illiteracy of today’s youth!) Lizz Wright not only has a full-throated, smooth and gracious delivery she’s also right pretty. And even if she isn’t singing a showtune, her jazz-infused song-writing makes this an easy segue to the next part of our mix tape.
#15 Unpretty — TLC
This is the kind of song I needed when I was 15 but it’s not bad 21 years later either. (Aren’t we all still inner 15-year olds on our less than stellar days?) Anyway, it’s got a good beat and you can dance — or at least sway — to it.
I was supposed to taste her cooking. But then she moved.
But I’m not bitter.