I like Tori Amos’ covers of well-known rock songs. She gives them more depth and female angst. Here is my simplified version of her Nirvana cover, Smells Like Teen Spirit. I couldn’t match Tori’s piano playing because I’m lazy and I want the easier way 🤣
Smells Like Teen Spirit
On the perky side of life, here is my version of Sweet Child of Mine by Guns N’ Roses. A staple during my high school days.
I kept playing the piano to cool down after my 7+ km walk tonight. Yep I just rested for two days and back again on the saddle.
It took me a little bit longer today because I didn’t pressure myself. But I think I didn’t change my pace that much since I still average 15 mins per km.
When the girls were much younger, this path was their playground. They pretended to go on a journey, like in Pokemon, climbed trees and explored the winding paths. Photo by CallMeCreation.comI wanted to catch the sunset again. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
The PHP 129 I spend every month for Spotify is well worth it compared to the subscription I pay for iFlix (the person who used to watch it is gone) and Viu (haven’t had time) since I use Spotify everyday. Every single day.
Especially now.
It gives me the ability to create a playlist instead of burning cd compilations of all the heartbreak songs I can get my hands on. Or mixed tapes, to be really so ’90s about it.
Here’s the playlist I am creating for this extraordinary time. A mix of really old school songs with new ones.
A photo to go with the songs in my Spotify playlist. Eastridge, Binangonan, Rizal. Photo by callmecreation.com
Then a friend sent me this podcast of an advice column published by the The Boston Globe, which I had been listening to the entire night. Really educational and healing as well.
Here’s a show for you… S1E1: Getting Under to Get Over episode of Love Letters https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ho8z2KnlCjS3nbvpcLQIk?si=e2BQyQzFTOKsJnul2eA4lA
Among the artists who have recently departed this dimension, it’s Dolores O’Riordon who has affected me the most. I’m not ashamed to confess that her death personally affected me since I wasn’t able to see them live in 1996 (I was a poor college freshman) and 2012 (I just gave birth to twins) here in Manila. On the day she died, I played non-stop Cranberries songs, whatever I could find on Youtube. Then in my car, I continued my mourning as I played their songs in my Sony Walkman on a loop on my way to a coverage.
Cranberries was part of my high school life. Dolores and Alanis Morisette were the female artists who had influenced me as a vocalist at that time.
The first time I heard “Zombie” back in 1994, I couldn’t shake it out of my head. I waited for it to be played on air so I could tape record it (yes, yes, the old-school recording to make the soundtrack of my life; it was an art form, mind you). Then I played it on my sister’s Walkman while in a van on the way to Manila from Los Banos with my classmates. We were competing in a science fair to showcase our study-sorta-thesis then. So the entire duration of that science fair, I was listening to Cranberries, Guns n Roses (Spaghetti Incident), Mr. Big (Bump Ahead [I fell in love with “Promise Her the Moon“]), Collective Soul (“Shine”), and a couple of locals like Color It Red, Rivermaya, and E-heads. Guys were borrowing the Walkman and my tapes to beat the boredom while we tended to our booths. (Girls had a different playlist back then, I was the odd one).
I followed Cranberries. I borrowed tapes or swapped with classmates. In my senior year, some guys and I formed an amateur band and we played Cranberries. Twenty-plus years on, a classmate told me that whenever she hears Cranberries, she remembers me. That’s how closely tied I was to the band.
When I read that the Cranberries was reuniting, I thought to myself I will finally have the chance to see them live. But it was never meant to be.
I was sad when Chris Cornell died. When Dolores passed, I was heartbroken.
