Tuesday, March 27, 2012

2Cellos- Smooth Criminal

I've said it before...I love finding the extraordinary in unlikely places.
2Cellos are Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser.
They were both born in Yugoslavia and met in a Croatian master cello class.
They attended music class together in Croatia and Vienna, then traveled to the UK, where Sulic went to London's Royal Academy of Music and Hauser attended the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
Although they were very successful in the UK,  they created this particular video because of financial difficulties.
It worked.
The video became a hit, with over 3 million views within the first 2 weeks, and over 11 million total views.
Sir Elton John was one of those viewers.
He called Sulic up and asked them to open for him on his current 30 city tour.
Although the debut record contains covers of mainly rock songs, Šulić and Hauser say they still play with orchestras and will not abandon playing classical music.
The cellists say they would someday like to go on tour with both a classical and a contemporary orchestra.
If you like this one, check out their version of  GNR's "Welcome to the Jungle".


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Jennifer Hudson- Believe

My Granny Gregg was the sweetest lady that I've ever known.
The entire time I knew her, I never heard a negative comment out of her mouth.
My grandfather died before I was born, so the whole time I knew her, she lived alone.
I remember visiting as a child, she always made sure we had plenty to eat.
She took pride in her cooking, you see, because she grew most of it herself.
I remember picking a basket full of muscadines.
I remember climbing up the big tree in her front yard and reading for hours.
When it came time for us to leave, I remember her sad, lonely smile and wave.
As Jennifer sings in this song, if there ever was a soul that should just get a free pass though the pearly gates, it would have been my Granny Gregg.
But her pass through the gates wasn't a free pass...it came with a price.
And she valued that price.
She raised her hands.
She bowed her head.
She knew the truth of the words in red.
She believed.
If Granny Gregg were alive today, I would say, "Thank you< Granny, for the legacy of belief."