Tommi Tikka
What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? – Echo And The Bunnymen
20 February 2018
“What am I going to do with my life” is a question I’ve asked myself multiple times over the years. The reason for this might be the fact that my life, up until now, has been a bunch of restarts: moving from one country to another, changing jobs, changing careers, getting divorced, getting remarried, having kids, etc. It looks easy enough when you put it in writing but in reality, of course, it’s been anything but. There have been times when I’ve felt that my life is spinning out of control so fast that it would be useless to even try to grab it. Yet, so far, I’ve always managed to bring it all into focus, although sometimes in the nick of time.
Fall In Love – Carmen Gray
13 February 2018
Depending on your time zone, Valentine’s Day is either today or tomorrow. And on days such as Valentine’s Day, you tend to do something special for the people you love. In fact, I am jumping on that bandwagon with this week’s post and will write about a tune that has a special place in my heart, ”Fall In Love” by Carmen Gray, a song that is important to me for two reasons.
Down The Line – True Adventures
7 February 2018
Once a female MP attacked Winston Churchill with a comment, “Sir, if I was your wife, I’d poison your tea.” Winston smiled and immediately shot back, “Madam, if you were my wife, I’d drink it.”…
Bill Randle And The Radio DJs Of The Fifties: Music Bloggers Of A Bygone Era
3 February 2018
Randle is an interesting character from the perspective of this article because his way of working was reminiscent of a modern music blogger. He was the antithesis of the 1950’s screaming radio jock and his style was very down-to-earth and straightforward, focusing on the artists and their music, not on himself…
Waiting On The World To Change – John Mayer
30 January 2018
John Mayer’s “Continuum” album was incredibly popular, won a Grammy and got named the 11th best album of 2006 by the Rolling Stone magazine – and for a good reason. It’s a fantastic album that mixes all its main ingredients well and uses exactly the right measurements:…
Mysteries Of The Heart (Single Mix) – Robb Murphy
23 January 2018
My eldest son sent me a meme the other day. He found it hilarious. It read:
The good news about middle age is that the glass is still half-full… of course, the bad news is that it won’t be long before your teeth are floating in it.
For some strange reason…I didn’t find it equally funny. And to get back to the world in general, I forwarded the meme over to my dad, who sent me a meme back that said, “My kids are annoying, so I drink.”
Shooting Questions At The Messenger – An Interview With Apostle
16 January 2018
Apostle is a new rising talent from London, England, whose debut single “Dakota Thunder Rising” came out right before Christmas. It’s a brilliant pop song with a very thought-provoking and poetic lyric – one of those songs that stay with you even after you’ve taken your headphones off and gone to bed.
Impressed by the songwriting talent of this young man, I asked for an interview and was granted one. I was excited. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn more about Apostle and more importantly, spread the word about him and his music. And no, the irony of becoming a messenger of the messenger (the definition of the word “apostle”) did not escape me.
Dakota Thunder Rising – Apostle
16 January 2018
Sometimes a truly great song can save your Saturday. The following is based on a true story.
Imagine this. It’s been snowing for days on end. Every morning before work you shovel snow for an hour and every day after work, you do the same. But it snows all the time, so this becomes labor that has very little effect on how your yard looks or how easy it is to back out of your driveway. This is Finland for you this time of the year – pretty harsh, right?…
Strangers When We Meet – The Smithereens
9 January 2018
A few weeks ago, right before Christmas, I received a text from my uncle telling me that the lead singer and songwriter of the Smithereens, Pat DiNizio, had died. He was only 62. I felt empty. I had just come to accept that Tom Petty was no longer with us. Now, all of a sudden, another hero of mine was gone. Such is life. Nobody lives forever. It’s just that the Smithereens have always been one of my favorite bands. And as you probably already guessed, they are also one of my uncle’s favorite bands. As a matter of fact, it was he who turned me onto them years ago in the late eighties – a day I remember very well….
Where the Dandelions Roar – The People The Poet
2 January 2018
I have six kids (all boys) and even on a good day, going to bed is slightly chaotic. You see here’s the thing, before the kids, I never really understood military. To be more specific, I never understood why drill sergeants yell and threaten the new recruits at boot camp. Why can’t they just speak normally and act normally? Well, the thing is (and if you have more than three kids, you already know this), you will not get anything done like that. I swear this is the God’s honest truth!..
Rain – Uriah Heep
18 December 2017
Those of you who have lived in different parts of the world know that rain is different wherever you are. I remember what it was like in the Ohio Valley: when it rained, it really poured. In Finland, you don’t get rain like that, not even close. Over here, it’s mostly drizzle – at least in comparison. However, the thing that doesn’t change, as per your location, is what happens in our minds when we look out the window on a rainy day…
Waiting For The Sun – The Doors
14 December 2017
The opening lines of this classic Doors track deal with what is perhaps the greatest weakness of man. We are constantly looking for optimal life, something better – our Garden of Eden.
At first flash of Eden
We race down to the sea