Great Wide Open - Tom Petty

I've been on a huge Tom Petty kick lately! We used to listen to his music a lot on family car trips when I was a kid, and it's always felt so comforting. So recently I've been turning it up, again and playing it often!

My boyfriend recently showed me this Tom Petty Video, which I'd never seen before. It's really great, so I wanted to share it with you!

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - Into The Great Wide Open (1991).


It's a little rock and roll, and little Alice in Wonderland! Check out the video and see if you can spot Johnny Depp, Gabrielle Anwar, Faye Dunaway, and Matt LeBlanc! They make this a truly special music video!

I think it's fantastic! What do you think?

And they all lived happily ever after...

Weezer - Viva La Vida

This song has been in my head for about a week now, So I decided to share it with you all! It's called 'Viva La Vida' and it's originally a Coldplay song, but I do like the Weezer version better, which you can watch below!



Enjoy!

What songs are stuck in your head this week?

The Learning Station/ The Book About Tony Chestnut Review

If you are one of the few who have not heard about the cute as a button, fun loving red-head, Tony Chestnut, please allow me to introduce you..

$19.95

Not only is Tony adorable as can be, he has won numerous Awards for his hit song and this amazing, colorful book about himself and his little sister, Eileen.

His song invites active participation with it's clever lyrics, creating lots of movement and energy throughout. It starts off slow and then rapidly gets faster, making it more of a challenge to keep up. For some reason my kids do way better at it than me.

Lyrics to the song Tony Chestnut:

To (toe)

ny (knee)

Chest (chest)

nut (head)

Knows (nose)

I (eye)

Love (heart)

You (point to friend)

Tony knows. (Tony knows)

Tony Chestnut knows I love you.

Thats what Tony knows.

Tony, Tony and his sister Eileen (touch your eye and lean to one side)

And Eileen loves Neil (kneel on the floor) and Neil loves Pat (pat your head)

but Pat still loves Bob (Bob your head).

And there's Russel (shake your knees) and Skip (skip in place).

This song is silly, but it's hip (shake your hips).

How it ends, just one man knows.

And guess what, it's Tony Chestnut.

It's the chatchiest song, let me tell ya. I guarentee that you will be singing it for days once you hear it. My kids and I (and even my husband) have been singing it non-stop for days. Any songs with actions are great for kids. It ecourages them to get up and move around and actually think about the words they are singing. It's fun for children of all ages. My girls, ages 2 and 5 absolutley adore little Tony Chestnut. I love that it's not only a fun song, but it also teaches my littlest one the parts of the body in a fun musical way. It also encourages my Kindergartener to read along with Tony and get excited about reading.

This wonderful song that my family has grown to love comes to life in The Book About Tony Chestnut (shown above). It's a brightly colored 48 page picture book with a CD included.

The story is about Tony and his little sister Eileen moving to a new town and beginning school for the first time at their new school. They find themselves on the playground together watching all the other children laughing, playing and enjoying themselves. Feeling alone and much like the new kid, Eileen starts to cry. You'll have to read the book to find out how Tony Chestnut, overcomes his shyness and helps his little sister make some new friends.

Being school just recently started, lots of children will be able to relate to some of the feelings Tony and Eileen had on their first day.

The CD features the song Tony Chestnut, reading by the talented British storyteller, Jeanne Bowyer as well as an added bonus that includes thought provoking questions to help engage your children in discussion of the story as well as their own life experiences. Going through the questions with my Kindergartener, it opened her up to telling me more about her first day of school. It also helped me ask questions to her in different ways. It made her think about her feelings, why she was feeling them as well as thinking about how some of her classmates might be feeling and why some of them cried, misbehaved or were shy on their first few days. It helped me teach her lessons on how to treat her friends (and her little sister).

As I've mentioned before, one of the ways I find easiest to keep my kids from driving my husband and I crazy with questions like "are we there yet" in the car is to bring along CD's or cassettes that they can listen to and follow along in the book in the back seat. Granted, it's kind of difficult to do some of the actions while strapped in a carseat, my girls still love singing along to their favorite song, Tony Chestnut, listening to his story and following along with the bright and colorful illistrations in the book.

Along with The Book About Tony Chestnut, my girls were able to pick a CD to review.

They chose Tony Chestnut and Fun Time Action Songs.

$15.00

This CD includes many of their favorites from Five Little Monkeys to the Swimming Song.

Each song encourages them to get up and dance, use their imaginations and shake their tail feathers. Naturally children love performing and moving around and this CD filled with fun action songs allows them to do so (and release some of their built up energy).

My girls love dancing around their dance stage and singing along to these fun silly songs.

Tony Chestnut is brought to us by The Learning Station, a multi-award winning children's recording and performing company. Don and Laurie Monopoli and Jan Krkach have combined backgrounds and degrees in early childhood education, child development and music. Through their music they have dedicated their lives to making this world a better place for children and they have achieved international stature as leaders in the educational music industry.

Laurie is the sweetest woman, who I have enjoyed working with so much (via email). I can feel her passion for music and educating our children through her bright and cheery words.

This amazing woman is also the genius author of The Book About Tony Chestnut. Her cleverness, creativity and choice of words are so inspiring.

It's so nice to be able to be in contact with her direct when contacting The Learning Station.

The Learning Station has a wide variety of Children's CD's to choose from, musical videos and get this.....they even do LIVE Concerts. Laurie, Don and Jan are the incredibley talented voices behind all the music and singing.

The Learning Station also offers a wonderful educational curriculum based on KINDNESS.

I have passed this along to my child's Montessori school and other Mom's who take the initiative to be active in their child's education. It's offered for free on their website. I cannot wait to incorporate this into my girls' daily activities at home. It's such a fantastic, fun learning tool that is nice for Mom's and Dad's, Sunday School, Homeschool, or Preschool settings.

HEALTHY MUSIC FOR A

CHILD'S HEART, BODY AND MIND.

Visit The Learning Station online at http://www.learningstationmusic.com/

http://www.tonychestnut.com/

download instant digital CD's

FREE printable activities

preview ALL Learning Station songs

easy, safe and secure online ordering

To be honest, there are so many aspects to The Learning Station, you will have the stop by their website to learn more!!

A huge THANKS to Laurie and the gang at The Learning Station for giving me this amazing oppertunity to review these amazing products.

Unseen Rajasthan-Music Of Rajasthan

Today i am sharing some Musical Instruments of Rajasthan.

Pungi (Deer Thorns )

This is made up of Deer Thorn.Curly and Curve.The Narrow End is used to Play It.It Was used in old times to Kill Deer's in Forest as it makes sound like Deer.The one i am having is of Female.

Sarangi

It is like Indian Guitar.It has got 5 Strings and was used to play with traditional songs.

Tabla

Both are drums are used to play the beautiful music.

Ghungroo

They are kept in hand and are shacked and they give beautiful sound.

Manjira

Both the ends are of the thread are Tied up and then it is played.

Thali

This is a Brass plater and the stick.The stick is blown on it and it makes amazing sound.This is used especially when a baby is born.

Dholak

Both the poles are flat and are fingers are used to play it.

Chang.

Mostly used on "HOLY" the Color Festival Of India.

Tambura

Generally used by the Saints to play mythological songs.

Damru.

Used by the Aghori's generally.

Bansuri(Flute)

Flute is one of the famous music instrument of India.Lord Krishna used to play this.

Tanpura

It has around 7 strings and the stick that is used to play is made of wood and Filly tail Hair.

These can easily be seen In Rajasthan.You might find some one near forts,Palaces and lakes playing them.

"ABOUT ME"

Background: Vincent Bueno's photos from vincentbueno.com,

digitalpinoy.org and his MySpace.com page

Social networking on the Internet has gained wide spread popularity not only among the younger set but the senior citizens as well.

I, myself, signed up for membership in a couple of social networking sites and really found it quite fun.

There is a portion in the My Profile’s page of a member’s account that tells about some important information and characteristics of the member. That is the About Me portion. And the information are entered by the member himself.

My particular self-description entered on that aforementioned portion is as follows:

“I believe I belong to the creative arts. I love music, I compose verses, and I sketch a little. Too, I have a penchant for writing. I am maverick, outspoken, and too good to be true. I cannot sing and dance the way others do, but I love to listen to their songs and to watch them dance. I have not outgrown my love for music.

“I consider VINCENT BUENO my rescuer… my hero! My extraordinary fondness for him and love for his passionate singing and graceful dancing as well as the pride in myself that I automatically gained (being a Filipino) upon the world's recognition of his great talents, liberated me from the fears and anxieties that had possessed and enslaved me for decades. Vincent Bueno is God’s instrument in setting me free!

“Excerpts from my neuro-psychiatric test result: ‘Possessing an above-normal I.Q., combined with a talent to communicate and express his sentiments, subject can possibly adopt to almost any situation. Patience, optimism, sociability—these are his tools to his success in life…’”

I am posting this simple article purposely to emphasize the very important role Vincent Bueno has played in my life. For I owe him a debt of gratitude.

I know even Vincent Bueno himself would be puzzled by this declaration. Hopefully, in some future blog entries, I’ll be able to further expound on this topic. And they are coming.

VINCENT BUENO - MORE THAN A MUSICAL SUPERSTAR

Photo from Vincent Bueno Support page on MySpace.com

I first came to know about Vincent Bueno on January 12, 2008 when I watched ABS-CBN's TV Patrol and he was in the news. He just won then the grand prize in Musical! Die Show, a prestigious reality talent competition, probably the counterpart in Austria of American Idol, although with a twist.

I was so interested in the news that the following day, when our office's copy of a daily broadsheet was delivered by the newsboy and I saw Vincent on the front page, I immediately read the news item about him.

It is natural for a Filipino to rejoice when news about a fellow Filipino, even if he is not a full-blooded one, who gained international recognition, reaches the Philippine shore. How much more when he is a full-blooded Filipino as in the case of Vincent Bueno!

The next thing I found myself doing was surfing the Internet for more news about Vincent. My effort did not fail me. So many bloggers have already written much about Vincent. Some of them even witnessed the actual competition and have accurately transformed their jubilant feelings into words and put them in print.

My interest to know more about Vincent Bueno's extraordinary talents and sudden rise to fame was further aroused by some bloggers' accounts of Vincent's stage performances as seen in video clips especially those uploaded on www.youtube.com. Even if I had not visited that web site before and had no intention to visit it, my overwhelming desire to see Vincent doing his thing in videos brought me there. I was so impressed and delighted to see his superb performances that I even clapped my hands after each performance. They were so great they gave me goose bumps!

One blogger was justified in saying and sharing her experiences with her readers that, after watching Vincent in videos, she suddenly had a wild craving to see more of him, especially his stage performances. I share the same experience and feeling.

As more and more people had seen Vincent in videos, more and more people started to show fondness for him sending congratulatory messages directly to his web page or anywhere on the Net where their fondness for him could be expressed and, hopefully, read by him. Finding him on MySpace.com, I signed up just for the purpose of sending him a message of praise. To my surprise, he replied to my message—and quite intimately at that—addressing me "Tito Goddy", after which, I found myself exultant.

Since then, I've been frequenting internet cafes watching him on YouTube.

All of the above speak well of Vincent's inherent singing, dancing, and acting talents and skills as well as his superb performances that led him to becoming a musical contest champion. To me, however, Vincent is more than just that for he even possesses qualities that can be attributed to a modern-day hero.

Having won his prize at a time when news on political turmoil and other negative issues dominated the Philippine print media and the airwaves, Vincent's win provided a respite from such alarming and discouraging news.

Vincent was able to lift the Filipino spirit and has become a sort of a unifying figure to what seems like a divided people.

Yes, Vincent is more than a musical superstar and has, in fact, achieved what a mere musical superstar may not, for in a land where the citizens are notoriously known for their colonial mentality and preference for things not their own, VINCENT BUENO has proven his power and capacity to make that nation's people proud—so very proud—of their race!