the courage to scream at those who feign compassion

er, so i just found a Something for Kate (really mostly just Paul Dempsey) cover of Waltz#2 by Elliott Smith, and words cannot explain. it has a fanto little violin segment in the middle, too.

that song has always been my favourite by Elliott, followed closely by I Didn't Understand off the same album, XO, (which is just another that i live in the past with on a huge scale.) i think it was released in 98 or so, and has some v v powerful songs upon it, but its a bloody sad and haunting collection of music to treat your ears with. videos that were made with/of elliott prior to his 30-something-year-old suicide show how unhappy and uncomfortable he was within his short life - his eyes dart everywhere and even his hair looked sad.
it's terrible, the way some people just cannot understand and recognise their own incredible strengths and talents, and don't live longer to be able to share them with the world.

today in music i was about 2 metres away from a mouthful of epicly loud opera singing. a canadian lady was visiting as a singing partner with a famous guest composer or something, and our pushy teacher made her sing for us..one of the only times that i've actually been thankful for her insistent ways.
this woman..was amazing. she made me really want to go out there and learn about opera, to watch heaps of it live (cheap choice of word ?), and to find out the stories behind/english translations of a whole heap of the italian etc operas.
it was just so gorgeous - this crazy little lady with big hair, big eyelinered eyes and loud fashion sense was standing right in front of us, belting out all that she had inside of her - completez free of charge :D.
it was so incredible, i had goosebumps so so many times..i hadn't expected that at all.
she sang 2 songs with our teacher playing some simple piano stuff in the bg, then belted out Danny Boy, followed by a quick Aria section, with no piano. i had tears in my eyes during DB and had to fight back full-blown tears at stages. i'm not sure if that was due to her voice one hundy or that it had sparked a memory or two, but my god. for a lot of it i sat with my eyes closed and just soaked in her goodness..it was just so flipping good..SO good.
(hehe that last bit reminded me of Jackson 5's rendition of Ain't No Sunshine..
'and now i just feel cold..SO cold.' in michael's cute little 12year old voice yehe)

i dunno, today was just so..right.

and i'm loving the boy, haha :)

oh & i was going to include a sketch of Elliott's that i have saved, in this post, but its on my external, which is downstairs and..ahaha..quite out of reach.
i can't find it on the internet either ! crazy annoying.

my soundtrack for the last few months has included:
Good Old War, The Dodos' Visiter album, Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head (one day not so long ago i accidentally called it a blush of rudd to the head HAHA) aswell as Lost! & Fix You, Local Natives aaand something else that i've since forgotten since beginning this sentence. The Dodos i especially have been flogging to death, they just create this great, full sound. it's a fun/percussive affair for the whole family.


that's quacktastic.