This Sunday sublime song is classic. I got into it the first time I heard the MC Hammer version (yes, MC Hammer) years ago. A local radio station played the original by the Chi-lites and I was blown away - and still am. I love the arrangement, the production and the vocals. My kids love it too.
Close your eyes and listen:
Have you downloaded the Sublime Goodness Mixtape yet? P.S. - Happy Mothers Day to you and yours! I think you'll love this recent story about how an 85 year-old woman's children made her birthday special with flowers.
This is amazing, heartbreaking and inspiring. On another level, it's a powerful testament to modern science. Here is the background:
A shotgun blast shattered Connie Culp's face in September 2004, smashing her nose, cheek and jaw. It robbed her of the ability to see, smell, even to smile. The shot came from the gun of Thomas Culp, her husband. His failed attempt at a murder-suicide sent him to prison for seven years -- and left his wife struggling to survive.
Culp did survive, but while the damage to her face occurred in an instant, her unlikely journey to recovery would take far longer. Over the next four years, she endured dozens of surgeries. These procedures repaired some of the damage, but Culp remained disfigured and unable to eat or breathe on her own.
So when Culp, who became the first patient in the United States to undergo a face transplant operation last December, appeared publicly to thank the doctors who performed the surgery, the occasion was an emotional one.
"I just want to say when somebody has a disfigurement and don't look as pretty as you do, don't judge them, because you never know what happened to them. I was shot," Culp said.
Dr. Kathy Coffman, the psychiatrist who worked with Culp, said she was a resilient patient, having been through 27 other procedures before the face transplant, and she believes Culp will be a good ambassador to other potential patients.
I'm so happy for her. I read in another piece how people called her a "monster" before the surgery - like Culp said, don't judge.
I'm also thankful that there are people good enough to give to others...even after death - as Culp said in her appearance:
"While I know you all want to focus on me, I think it's more important you focus on the donor family that made it so I could have this Christmas present, I guess I should say."
Watch her first public appearance and more picture of the stunning transplant:
I'll never get tired of stories like this. When you watch the video, it's touching to see the owner's emotion for his dog (I would be grateful too!). Here is the deal:
They say dogs are man's best friend and one west coast pup certainly lived up to that title. An Orange County [Georgia] couple said they were hiking when a mountain lion came at them. The couple's beloved pet jumped into action.
William Morse said he and his wife, Candy, were hiking in Falcon Campground about 1:00 p.m. when he spotted a mountain lion approach.
That's when the couple's 5-year-old Labrador-chow mix, Hoagie, attacked the mountain lion and protected the couple.
The Morses said the attack lasted about 30 seconds. The mountain lion took off and William and Candy Morse were unharmed. Hoagie was severely injured. (from Fox Atlanta)
And here is the sublime end to this story (which isn't touched on in the CNN video below):
Candy Morse said they got Hoagie three years ago. Hoagie had been abused and the previous owner was going to have him put to sleep. The Morse family saved Hoagie and now Hoagie has returned the favor.
Yes, I know it's not Sunday, the day where Sublime Goodness posts sublime songs, but this is an exception because it's a truly unique video and song experience.
This is unbelievably awesome on so many levels. First, because it's a song that frankly I've been tired of since I was in fifth grade (although John Lennon's is pretty OK) - but this version breathes a whole new life into it. Second, I love how technology brought so many musicians together around the world to create this beautiful mash-up.
It was posted on Gizmodo with the following background:
This cover of Stand By Me was recorded by completely unknown artists in a street virtual studio all around the world. It all started with a base track—vocals and guitar—recorded on the streets of Santa Monica, California, by a street musician called Roger Ridley. The base track was then taken to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Grandpa Elliott—a blind singer from the French Quarter—added vocals and harmonica while listening to Ridley's base track on headphones. In the same city, Washboard Chaz's added some metal percussion to it.
And from there, it just gets rock 'n' rolling bananas: The producers took the resulting mix all through Europe, Africa, and South America, adding new tracks with multiple instruments and vocals that were assembled in the final version you are seeing in this video. All done with a simple laptop and some microphones.
I love it. Five minutes of sublime goodness music and film. Also, read some of the comments at the video's page at Vimeo. My favorite:
I was Dx with Breast Cancer 2-9-09 and this Work of Art touches my heart and gives me strength reminding me that all my online friends are Standing By Me. Thank you! Just beautiful guys!!!!!
This is another great story for me that really hits home (literally!) - it's from Saturday's local paper (Monona is Madison's neighbor). I love reading about people like Margaret who spend their hours helping the needy in creative and unique ways.
Monona's Margaret Jankowski met a woman on a recent trip to New Orleans who lost her sewing machine to Hurricane Katrina. It was a loss that went beyond material matters.
The woman, whose first name was Marilyn, told Jankowski how as a young black girl she was barred from trying on clothes in stores in New Orleans. So she and her sister would sketch the clothes from afar and take the sketches to their grandmother who would use them to make patterns. Her grandmother, in fact, sewed clothes for all of the family's 12 children. It was a kind of self-sufficiency that Marilyn continued for decades until the hurricane washed away her possessions, including her sewing machine.
She went without a sewing machine until Jankoski brought approximately 500 refurbished machines she helped collect to New Orleans.
Jankowski, who has organized similar missions to Sri Lanka, New Orleans and Kosovo, founded the Sewing Machine Project in 2005. The project sends used sewing machines to communities in need. Some replace those that individuals used to make clothes for themselves or their families. Others replace those lost by businesses, schools or community groups. Community centers and hospitals have also been recipients.
Contributors all across the United States have responded to Jankowski's project. Her call for sewing machines has brought used ones to drop-off sites all around the United States and sometimes, via UPS, to her front porch.
It's a kind of giving that people really respond to these days for many reasons, said Joan Gillman, director of special industry programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Business School and co-host of "In Business with Jody and Joan" on WTDY radio. "In this day and age, we're trying to be green, responsible and help people. This is a way to do it."
It's also the kind of charitable work that has gained favor because it provides the means for families and would-be entrepreneurs to help themselves.
Today's Sunday Sublime Song comes to us from the great UK band Blur. It will make you feel good all over and the chorus will stick in your head for days ("I'm waiting for that feeling, I'm waiting for that feeling to coooome.") Personally, this song conjures up wonderful memories of my wife and I dating in 2000 - it was our soundtrack. So much so that at our wedding we made a CD for all our friends and family and this was the first song on it.
This falls in the "things of beauty" category. I look at this and think of my wife and daughters who scream and yell bloody murder at the sight of the most eensy, weensy spider - but this arachnid makes you smile instead. How cool is that?
Also, as you'll see the spider is also a reminder to the plight of native species who have been crowded out by many non-native ones causing the happy face spider to face extinction:
The spider, which measures just a few millimeters across, has developed strange markings similar to the appearance of a smiling face. Scientists think that theridion grallator, which is harmless to humans, has evolved the patterns to confuse predators.
It is under-threat of extinction in the rainforests of the Hawaiian island chain in the Pacific...from the introduction of animals not native to the islands.
Dr Geoff Oxford, a spider expert from the University of York, said: "I must admit when I turned over the first leaf and saw one it certainly brought a smile to my face.
Dr Oxford, who has been studying the spiders since 1993, said that the unusual markings of the arachnid had made them a symbol of all of Hawaii's threatened wildlife.
"They are ambassadors for all the threatened invertebrates, insects and spiders on Hawaii," he said. (from London's Daily Telegraph)
This Sunday sublime song is classic. I got into it the first time I heard the MC Hammer version (yes, MC Hammer) years ago. A local radio station played the original by the Chi-lites and I was blown away - and still am. I love the arrangement, the production and the vocals. My kids love it too.
This is amazing, heartbreaking and inspiring. On another level, it's a powerful testament to modern science. Here is the background:
