Saturday, June 16, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Paula Cole: Courage
After like 8 years, Paula Cole finally has a brand new studio album "Courage" out. Though I haven't heard many of the songs, I will wait till this album drops in HK and then snatch it up. I wonder if she has an international distributor for her deal... I love her voice. I think I bought her best hits album last year, but I've been with her since I was like 16 when I was a fan of Dawson's Creek. See how devoted I am to my idol worship. Haha. No, but she is really something. The voice is just purely amazing.
This is the Billboard review:
" It's my life/and I am free/ to live my life/the way I feel," Cole sings on her first album after a seven-year self-imposed exile. The words are trite on paper, but lifted by her straining, breathy voice over sparse acoustic guitar and strings they flower open and become uniquely poignant. The entire 11-song collection is delicate and simple, particularly for Cole, who has a penchant for overly developed historical metaphors and impromptu beatboxing. Here, she resembles Linda Ronstadt, interpreting melodies ranging from positively Gershwinian ("Lonelytown," a dead ringer for "Someone to Watch Over Me") to country-inflected (first single "14") to reggae-lite ("Safe on Your Arms"). "Courage" refocuses attention on what makes Cole superb—her voice—and courses with a genuineness sometimes lacking in her previous work. A welcome return. —Kerri Mason
Finding 'Courage'
After an early peak, singer-songwriter Paula Cole walked away from it all. Now she's back.
By Sam Sessa
Sun Reporter
Originally published June 12, 2007
LOUISVILLE, Ky. // By age 30, singer-songwriter Paula Cole had achieved heights she hadn't even dreamed of: a platinum album, two huge hit singles and a Grammy for best new artist.
But composing songs of love, struggle and loss didn't prepare her for what came next: The album her record company rejected. A decision to leave the music industry. A failed marriage. Her daughter's frightening asthma attacks.
"I've been through a lot," Cole says, leaning forward on a plush chair in a hotel room and looking back at her life.
Now, after a roughly eight-year hiatus from touring and recording, the chanteuse is ready for a public re-introduction. Her first album of new material in nearly a decade, the aptly named Courage, hits store shelves today.
"I was going through such a hard time when I made this album," Cole says. "What I'm proud of is, it's not bitter, it's not angry. It's tender. It's examining."
"She's always been a very thoughtful composer," says Dan Reed, music director of Philadelphia's WXPN 88.5-FM, a noncommercial station that has put the song "14" in rotation. "It's more of what you've come to expect from Paula Cole. I think it's incredibly consistent."
Courage showcases a stronger, more mature Cole, who is willing to give up some creative control and embrace input from outsiders.
That was not the case in the '90s, when the Massachusetts native wrote parts for nearly every instrument on her sophomore album, This Fire. She butted heads with record-label executives over her decision to self-produce the album. Cole eventually won.
"I felt like I needed to prove something," she says. Cole's tousled brown hair cascades onto a charcoal-colored lightweight cardigan, which covers a plain black shirt. She is at once proud, earthy and beautiful. "Well, I proved it. I did it."
Released in 1996, the CD contained both of Cole's biggest hits: "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" and "I Don't Want to Wait," which went on to cement its place in pop-culture history as the theme song for the television teen drama Dawson's Creek. This Fire went platinum and propelled Cole into the national spotlight.
The country latched onto Cole's lush pop melodies, emotional lyrics and breathy voice, which is much the same whether she sings or speaks.
"It was amazing," Cole says, remembering the peak times. "My ego was chuffed there for a minute."
But commercial success was fleeting and bittersweet. A self-professed introvert, Cole found the increasing public attention awkward. Even her hairy armpits (she's since shaved) were sources of debate among the media and public.
Today, Cole still seems uncomfortable sharing herself in conversation. She clenches her fingers from time to time and stutters at the start of some sentences.
Cole's third album, 1999's Amen, was critically praised but didn't sell many copies. More and more, she wanted to distance herself from her musical career. She yearned to settle down and start a family.
"I needed to be a hermit," Cole says. "It was like I was a plant in shock and I needed to go back down to the roots. I couldn't flower. I needed a long hibernating winter that turned into seven, eight years."
In 2000, Cole moved from New York to Los Angeles. In 2001, she gave birth to her daughter, Sky. She married Sky's father the next year. When Sky was an infant, Cole went back into the studio and recorded about 20 songs for a new album. But Warner, her record label, refused to release them. Angry over Warner's decision, Cole parted ways with the company.
"I was unhappy after awhile in the music business - the business part of the music," she says. "I needed to stop. I needed to heal myself from that."
So she focused on being a mother, which was more demanding than she expected. As a toddler, Sky had severe asthma, with attacks that sent her to the emergency room.
Recording and releasing albums suddenly seemed insignificant compared with raising a child, Cole says.
"Suddenly, you look at a music career and you think how self-involved you were," she says. "You increasingly become this caged animal, poked and prodded and alone. It's very, very unhealthy."
It would be years before Cole felt comfortable enough to return to a recording studio. The spark came when she connected with Bobby Colomby, a renowned producer and the drummer from Blood, Sweat and Tears. The two teamed up and went into Capitol Studios to work on Courage.
For the first time, Cole was able to let go creatively. She felt as though she had nothing to prove. She co-wrote songs and let Colomby and the musicians criticize her.
"It had this spirit of unattachment to it," Cole says. "I was in the moment, and it was fun. ... I wasn't thinking about my past. I wasn't thinking about my future. I was just enjoying the process."
Noncommercial stations such as WXPN have warmly received Courage. But Reed doubts mainstream radio stations will give Courage much air time.
"It's a completely new world out there now, radio-wise," he says. "Stranger things have happened, but it's a tough sell these days to try to break through to mainstream radio with anything that doesn't sound like whatever's big these days."
Regardless of the commercial performance of Courage, the 39-year-old Cole says she can no longer keep from writing and performing. She recently moved back to New York, signed with Decca Records, which released Courage, and has a handful of concerts scheduled sporadically through midsummer.
"I miss music terribly," Cole says. "I have a life purpose through music, and I need to get back to work, because this divorce is killing me. Practically speaking and emotionally, spiritually, I need music."
On stage, Cole's uneasiness slips away to reveal a confident, captivating woman with a versatile voice. At a performance in Louisville, Cole receives several standing ovations.
Still, Cole keeps her distance from the mechanics of the record business. She is more cautious now - more careful not to micromanage as she once did.
"I felt a little battered by the first round, and here I am in the second," she says. "I probably have some post-traumatic stress disorder."
In the Louisville hotel room, she picks up a booklet Decca published to promote the new album and looks at the pictures of herself inside.
"It's beautiful," she says.
For a moment, Cole is lost in herself. Then, she snaps out of it.
"Good for Decca," she says, and sets down the booklet. For Cole, it's enough to love the music - and then let go.
This is the Billboard review:
" It's my life/and I am free/ to live my life/the way I feel," Cole sings on her first album after a seven-year self-imposed exile. The words are trite on paper, but lifted by her straining, breathy voice over sparse acoustic guitar and strings they flower open and become uniquely poignant. The entire 11-song collection is delicate and simple, particularly for Cole, who has a penchant for overly developed historical metaphors and impromptu beatboxing. Here, she resembles Linda Ronstadt, interpreting melodies ranging from positively Gershwinian ("Lonelytown," a dead ringer for "Someone to Watch Over Me") to country-inflected (first single "14") to reggae-lite ("Safe on Your Arms"). "Courage" refocuses attention on what makes Cole superb—her voice—and courses with a genuineness sometimes lacking in her previous work. A welcome return. —Kerri Mason
Finding 'Courage'
After an early peak, singer-songwriter Paula Cole walked away from it all. Now she's back.
By Sam Sessa
Sun Reporter
Originally published June 12, 2007
LOUISVILLE, Ky. // By age 30, singer-songwriter Paula Cole had achieved heights she hadn't even dreamed of: a platinum album, two huge hit singles and a Grammy for best new artist.
But composing songs of love, struggle and loss didn't prepare her for what came next: The album her record company rejected. A decision to leave the music industry. A failed marriage. Her daughter's frightening asthma attacks.
"I've been through a lot," Cole says, leaning forward on a plush chair in a hotel room and looking back at her life.
Now, after a roughly eight-year hiatus from touring and recording, the chanteuse is ready for a public re-introduction. Her first album of new material in nearly a decade, the aptly named Courage, hits store shelves today.
"I was going through such a hard time when I made this album," Cole says. "What I'm proud of is, it's not bitter, it's not angry. It's tender. It's examining."
"She's always been a very thoughtful composer," says Dan Reed, music director of Philadelphia's WXPN 88.5-FM, a noncommercial station that has put the song "14" in rotation. "It's more of what you've come to expect from Paula Cole. I think it's incredibly consistent."
Courage showcases a stronger, more mature Cole, who is willing to give up some creative control and embrace input from outsiders.
That was not the case in the '90s, when the Massachusetts native wrote parts for nearly every instrument on her sophomore album, This Fire. She butted heads with record-label executives over her decision to self-produce the album. Cole eventually won.
"I felt like I needed to prove something," she says. Cole's tousled brown hair cascades onto a charcoal-colored lightweight cardigan, which covers a plain black shirt. She is at once proud, earthy and beautiful. "Well, I proved it. I did it."
Released in 1996, the CD contained both of Cole's biggest hits: "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" and "I Don't Want to Wait," which went on to cement its place in pop-culture history as the theme song for the television teen drama Dawson's Creek. This Fire went platinum and propelled Cole into the national spotlight.
The country latched onto Cole's lush pop melodies, emotional lyrics and breathy voice, which is much the same whether she sings or speaks.
"It was amazing," Cole says, remembering the peak times. "My ego was chuffed there for a minute."
But commercial success was fleeting and bittersweet. A self-professed introvert, Cole found the increasing public attention awkward. Even her hairy armpits (she's since shaved) were sources of debate among the media and public.
Today, Cole still seems uncomfortable sharing herself in conversation. She clenches her fingers from time to time and stutters at the start of some sentences.
Cole's third album, 1999's Amen, was critically praised but didn't sell many copies. More and more, she wanted to distance herself from her musical career. She yearned to settle down and start a family.
"I needed to be a hermit," Cole says. "It was like I was a plant in shock and I needed to go back down to the roots. I couldn't flower. I needed a long hibernating winter that turned into seven, eight years."
In 2000, Cole moved from New York to Los Angeles. In 2001, she gave birth to her daughter, Sky. She married Sky's father the next year. When Sky was an infant, Cole went back into the studio and recorded about 20 songs for a new album. But Warner, her record label, refused to release them. Angry over Warner's decision, Cole parted ways with the company.
"I was unhappy after awhile in the music business - the business part of the music," she says. "I needed to stop. I needed to heal myself from that."
So she focused on being a mother, which was more demanding than she expected. As a toddler, Sky had severe asthma, with attacks that sent her to the emergency room.
Recording and releasing albums suddenly seemed insignificant compared with raising a child, Cole says.
"Suddenly, you look at a music career and you think how self-involved you were," she says. "You increasingly become this caged animal, poked and prodded and alone. It's very, very unhealthy."
It would be years before Cole felt comfortable enough to return to a recording studio. The spark came when she connected with Bobby Colomby, a renowned producer and the drummer from Blood, Sweat and Tears. The two teamed up and went into Capitol Studios to work on Courage.
For the first time, Cole was able to let go creatively. She felt as though she had nothing to prove. She co-wrote songs and let Colomby and the musicians criticize her.
"It had this spirit of unattachment to it," Cole says. "I was in the moment, and it was fun. ... I wasn't thinking about my past. I wasn't thinking about my future. I was just enjoying the process."
Noncommercial stations such as WXPN have warmly received Courage. But Reed doubts mainstream radio stations will give Courage much air time.
"It's a completely new world out there now, radio-wise," he says. "Stranger things have happened, but it's a tough sell these days to try to break through to mainstream radio with anything that doesn't sound like whatever's big these days."
Regardless of the commercial performance of Courage, the 39-year-old Cole says she can no longer keep from writing and performing. She recently moved back to New York, signed with Decca Records, which released Courage, and has a handful of concerts scheduled sporadically through midsummer.
"I miss music terribly," Cole says. "I have a life purpose through music, and I need to get back to work, because this divorce is killing me. Practically speaking and emotionally, spiritually, I need music."
On stage, Cole's uneasiness slips away to reveal a confident, captivating woman with a versatile voice. At a performance in Louisville, Cole receives several standing ovations.
Still, Cole keeps her distance from the mechanics of the record business. She is more cautious now - more careful not to micromanage as she once did.
"I felt a little battered by the first round, and here I am in the second," she says. "I probably have some post-traumatic stress disorder."
In the Louisville hotel room, she picks up a booklet Decca published to promote the new album and looks at the pictures of herself inside.
"It's beautiful," she says.
For a moment, Cole is lost in herself. Then, she snaps out of it.
"Good for Decca," she says, and sets down the booklet. For Cole, it's enough to love the music - and then let go.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Surfing Hot Cake
Though I have never watched Fantastic Four Part I, but Part II was pretty awesome. I call it Rise of the Surfing Hot Cake. Haha. There are plenty of eye candies throughout the movie. Chris Evans was hot. I like histrionic bad boys. Nothing erotic. But the plot was pretty good and predictable. Haha. Jessica Alba was hot even though her really fake blonde hair was bothering me throughout the movie. Mind you, I sat in the FRONT row... I HATE the front row!!! But the movie was still pretty hot so I guess if I sat in one of my usual seats, well, I would have said it was marvelous. But seriously, you guys should go watch it. Its similar to the thrill you'd get out of the X-men movies but less serious I suppose.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Evangelicals have sexual desires too?
A new survey shows that five of ten Christian men in the U.S. -- and two of ten Christian women -- are addicted to pornography. The survey was conducted by an online Christian Internet community found that 50 percent of men who regularly attend church are addicted to pornography, and 20 percent of female churchgoers are also addicted.
A woman on the internet quoated:
"If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the Father but is of the world." 1 John 1:15-16.
Just out of curiosity, did God create the genitals just for the purpose of reproduction? If so, then why do you get all this pleasure out of it. I mean, we could have been factories that plug our key into the right slot to produce a baby... sorry if this comment offends anyone, but I just had to ask...
And another woman mentioned that 1 in 4 women in the United States has been sexually abused/molested. How can this be true? I mean, if the mere glimpse of a man's eyes has created the delusion that the guy was sexually abusing a woman then I guess its possible to have 25% been molested... but other than that... its quite difficult to imagine. And to turn off your TV to prevent your kids from being 'contaminated' by the evil (sex, violence) of society is not by any means a preventive measure, I'd say it is pure ignorance. Its not like your kids are subjected to constant humping on the tube... even educational channels like national geographic show animals 'reproducing' once in a while... I'm afraid that kids would be brain washed in their nice little sanctuary that they would think that any guy looking at them for more than 5 second is stripping them in their minds... gee.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/06/survey_finds_evangelicals_addi.php
A woman on the internet quoated:
"If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the Father but is of the world." 1 John 1:15-16.
Just out of curiosity, did God create the genitals just for the purpose of reproduction? If so, then why do you get all this pleasure out of it. I mean, we could have been factories that plug our key into the right slot to produce a baby... sorry if this comment offends anyone, but I just had to ask...
And another woman mentioned that 1 in 4 women in the United States has been sexually abused/molested. How can this be true? I mean, if the mere glimpse of a man's eyes has created the delusion that the guy was sexually abusing a woman then I guess its possible to have 25% been molested... but other than that... its quite difficult to imagine. And to turn off your TV to prevent your kids from being 'contaminated' by the evil (sex, violence) of society is not by any means a preventive measure, I'd say it is pure ignorance. Its not like your kids are subjected to constant humping on the tube... even educational channels like national geographic show animals 'reproducing' once in a while... I'm afraid that kids would be brain washed in their nice little sanctuary that they would think that any guy looking at them for more than 5 second is stripping them in their minds... gee.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/06/survey_finds_evangelicals_addi.php
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