Worth a good listen: My spring music playlist

It's springtime, and with the new season -- and, hopefully, warmer weather -- comes new music worth a good listen.

Whether you're looking to create a mood or, simply, be in the mood, here's a playlist of some of my favorite new music I've been in tune with via KCRW.com, as well as exploring through my iPod, that's worth adding to your playlist, too:

• Beck / Heart Is a Drum / from Morning Phase

In "Heart Is a Drum," from 'Morning Phase,' American musician Beck Hansen "harkens back to the stunning harmonies, song craft and staggering emotional impact" of his 2002 album 'Sea Change,' "while surging forward with infectious optimism." 

• tUnE-yArDs / Water Fountain / from Nikki Nack
Tune-Yards is the genre-bending music project of New England native Merrill Garbus. Her songs embrace lo-fi, indie pop, R&B, folk, experimental pop and Afrobeat. "Water Fountain" is from her forthcoming album 'Nikki Nack' that is due next month.

• Cibo Matto / Hotel Valentine / from Hotel Valentine
Miho Hatori and Yuka C. Honda, both creative, artistic and talented types, comprise Cibo Matto, a "kicky, playfully weird New York art-pop duo," according to NPR Music. Their music will grow on you. Thanks KCRW.com!

• Joseph Arthur / Take a Walk on the Wild Side / from Lou
In 'Lou,' Joseph Arthur's tribute featuring his interpretation of 12 Lou Reed tracks, the American singer/songwriter offers a beautiful and heartfelt rendition of "Take a Walk on the Wild Side," by turning it into a heaving piano ballad.

• First Aid Kit / My Silver Lining / from Stay Gold
Although the Swedish folk duo's new album isn't due until June, "My Silver Lining" was released last week and it's already generating lots of buzz. The Söderberg sisters, Johanna and Klara, draw their songwriting influence from the likes of Fleet Foxes and their vocal harmonies are reminiscent of the Everly Brothers. Their music is oh so enjoyable.

Hopefully, these songs not only will appeal to your inner ear and hungry mind. They'll make you smile, too. After all, these days everyone want something to smile about. 

Enjoy listening!

Turntable image courtesy of Google images.

Clouds: Appreciating the theater of the sky

"I've looked at clouds from both sides now / 
From up and down, and still somehow"

Bows and flows of angel hair,
And ice cream castles in the air,
And feather canyons everywhere,
I've looked at clouds that way.

But now they only block the sun,
They rain and snow on everyone.
So many things I would have done,
But clouds got in my way.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now.
From up and down, and still somehow,
It's clouds illusions I recall.
I really don't know clouds at all.
~ From "Both Sides, Now" by Joni Mitchell, Clouds (1969).

Clouds / thinking Joni Mitchell

March has been a rainy month throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Good news for the trees, plants and flowers, of course. Not so great for getting outside to work in the garden. But, it doesn't come as any great surprise since the winter months are when it rains most in northern California.  When it hasn't been wet, often, the skies above me have been filled with clouds.  Even a partly-sunny day is bound to have clouds.  When I think of clouds suspended in the Earth's atmosphere above me, I am reminded of the classic 1969 Joni Mitchell album, Clouds.

Clouds and their formations are fascinating to observe. They are grouped into three physical categories: cirri form, cumuli form or convective, and strati form.  However, I'm not here to give a science lecture.  Instead, to me, clouds are democratic ~ they come in all shapes and sizes ~ and while some appear puffy like huge expansive cotton balls, others look pretty darn threatening and ready to burst at any moment.

Clouds / puffy, democratic

During daylight hours, I can stand on our deck, face east and, simply, look up in the sky.  Oh, and be rewarded, too, with a theater in the sky. Sometimes, I can see an airplane in the distant flying into the clouds, wondering what its destination might be.

Like an artist applying a paintbrush to a canvas, the clouds overhead create an atmospheric illusion, a chimera in the sky. Never content with staying in one place too long, they glide effortlessly across the Bay Area sky, usually from my left to right ~ north to south ~ as I look up at them while facing eastward.  Of course, it's best when the clouds overhead don't appear too threatening.

There's a simple reward in observing clouds.  For me, it's found in making the time ~ and having the patience ~ to appreciate their beauty.  And, if I have my camera at the ready, all the better.

"It's clouds illusions I recall / I really don't know clouds at all."

Photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Video of Joni Mitchell singing "Both Sides, Now" courtesy of YouTube.

The pleasure of our gardens, part 13

Less than a week after wearing shorts and enjoying a string of unusually nice, mid-autumn Bay Area days  ~ full of sunshine and temperatures in the middle seventies ~ the start of another rainy season arrived.  Cue up the irritation and annoyance.

On Sunday, we received about 1.2 inches of precipitation, beneficial to the well-being of our flowers and plants as well as to our area reservoirs.  Unfortunately, the weekend's rain wasn't so good for getting out to do any constructive gardening. It did allow us to catch up on some comedies and dramas idly waiting for us in our television's DVR.  So, I guess the day wasn't a total wash.  Still ...

First Prize roses / enjoying mid-autumn sunshine

Although our Bay Area rain isn't nearly as enduring (although maybe it's endearing) as it is for our friends in Seattle, the weather has started turning cold and dreary as winter approaches.  Lately, the mercury has dipped into the low forties overnight ~ prompting us to fire up our space heater in the evening and overnight ~ and our daytime highs have settled down into the low-to-middle sixties since last week's warmer fortunes.  A month from now, as the days continue getting shorter, I'm sure our lowest lows will drop into the thirties and our highest highs will only reach the fifties.

Fuchsia / purplish-red and thriving, rain or shine

Thanks to the recent rain and occasional afternoon sunshine, our camellias and rhododendrons are still nicely blooming as well as the purplish-red fuchsia plant in our front yard.  Rain or shine, our fuchsia reacts equally well.  Plus, our little azalea bush, which blooms periodically throughout the year, is once again active.  Meanwhile, some of the rose bushes in our backyard ~ our First Prize and Mr. Lincoln roses come to mind ~ continue thriving.

Mr. Lincoln rose / bright and open-minded

Our weather be damned.

All photos by Michael Dickens, copyright 2010.