The Sound of Music is alive once more

July 15, 2023 by Ife Oshun

Desi Oakley (Maria Rainer) and the cast of “The Sound of Music” at North Shore Music Theatre thru July 23. Photo © Paul Lyden
Desi Oakley (Maria Rainer) and the cast of “The Sound of Music” at North Shore Music Theatre.

With the North Shore Music Theatre production of the classic Sound of Music, the poignancy and power of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s sonic legacy is alive once more. Under the musical direction of Milton Granger, Desi Oakley brings massive energy to the role of Maria, the guitar-toting governess who defies her recent-widower employer’s anti-music edict, and brings song-filled joy into the lives of his seven children.

Inspired by the true story of Maria Von Trapp, main character, Maria, a doe-eyed Nonnberg Abbey postulate, can’t seem to align her free-spirited  ideals with her aspiration for a life as an obedient nun. Wise Mother Abbess (Janinah Burnett) sends Maria to live in the world for a few months as a prerequisite to committing to life at the abbey. Maria’s assignment: serve as governess in the home of Naval Captain Georg von Trapp (Joseph Spieldenner) who is desperately in need of yet another childcare replacement. It is then, against the backdrop of a 1938 Nazi-occupied Austria on the verge of World War II, Maria’s inner song ignites hearts and opens minds, particularly apparent in a touching rendition of “Do-Re-Mi” with the cast of adorable kids.

And while the music and vocals are heartwarming, the cold stage direction makes one wonder whether the job was farmed out to AI. Kevin Hill’s decision to make almost each cast member (over 35 adults and kids) hop onto at least one of a number of short statuary prop columns on the perimeter of the circular stage felt forced and devoid of character inner motivation. Spieldenner’s brilliant performance of “Edelweiss” barely survived further questionable direction which forced the actor, guitar in hand, to spin in a hapless circle while simultaneously singing and playing (and probably fighting vertigo). Wooden staging choices paired with lackluster twirling from Briana Fallon (making her choreography debut, clearly) cemented the sub-theme of disconnected, human movement juxtaposed with the overflowing emotion from book, lyrics and music. 

Fortunately, Hill downplays the Nazi menace and creates space for soaring hope. Burnett’s ovation-worthy “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” along with other classics such as “My Favorite Things” and “So Long, Farewell,” deftly moves the crowd, while the children’s stirring chemistry with Oakley even elicits tears. The near sold-out production is a testament that this classic story remains relevant in its depiction of the power of music and love in the face of hatred and adversity.

More theater reviews

New Project: Hosting the ODDDIO Podcast

Odddio Podcast BannerI’m excited to announce that I’m now hosting the new Odddio podcast. It feels good to again embrace the roots of my professional writing career–music artist interviews. Wooohooo!!!

🎵 But this time, we not only spotlight the music, we also chat about weird, strange, and unusual topics–you name it–aliens, the paranormal, crop circles, mythic beings, all the fun stuff I love to explore.

Music + weird stuff. Sound familiar?

It’s the story of my life!

Some of the most amazing, and imaginative, conversations I’ve ever had are with music artists about topics that are nowhere near the beaten path. I’m grateful for this opportunity to chat with talented people in an environment that’s free of judgement.

The first episode sees me chatting with rock band Somerset about their debut album, and Area 51 whistle blower Bob Lazar. It was so much fun!

The full audio Odddio (get it, huh, get it?) podcast can be found on the Odddio website as well as a number of subscription platforms such as Google podcasts, and more. You can also check out video segments on the Odddio YouTube channel. Here’s a sample:

Please like and subscribe to the #Odddio channel on YouTube to see video segments, follow me on #Instagram or visit the ODDDIO website to download the full audio podcast, transcripts, and more.

I’m also grateful to connect with fantastic local artists for this show. There’s a lot of great talent out there. I hope you enjoy!

👍🏾😀🙏🏾🎶💖 Don’t forget to share!👍🏾😀🙏🏾🎶💖 This new podcast needs your support!

See you in the land of Odddio!!

Odddio Theme Song Credit: “Trans My Gray Shun” – T.Blackett, I. Oshun (TBlack Productions, Papa Grace)

Heart To Heart Top 10 Video Playlist

Heart To Heart Top 10 Video Playlist

Heart To Heart Top 10 Video Playlist

Heart To Heart Top 10 Video Playlist

Like the Top 10 Audio list, this video list offers the top songs from the Heart To Heart Official Playlist, the sixty songs I played religiously over the roughly year and a half that it took to write and edit (and edit, and edit) Heart To Heart. There are also a few other songs from the official list that are thrown in here, just for fun.

Unfortunately, not every song has an official video, some are simply fan-made such as the Dark Shadows tune, “Go All The Way,” which was never officially released.

Artists on this video list include Lorde, Ellie Goulding, Santigold, Icona Pop, Florence + the Machine, and more.

Also check out the Official Blood To Blood Playlist so see what I listened to while writing the first book in the Angelica Brown Series, Blood To Blood.

Heart To Heart Top Ten Audio Playlist

Heart To Heart Top Ten Audio Playlist

If you read my last post, you’ll know I had sixty songs on constant rotation while writing Heart To Heart. Like Blood To Blood‘s playlist, the compilation of songs reflect my obsession with always playing music while writing or doing anything in general.

Some of the songs were played more than others, and I always like to check out the “Number of Plays” column in iTunes to get a glance at which tunes I played more than others. Most of this list features female artists that I pretty much wrote to non-stop. The wildcard in the bunch is a song from the Johnny Depp starrer Dark Shadows that was never even released (don’t ask me how it got it in my playlist, I’ll plead the fifth if you do). The only other soundtrack song comes from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire; Santigold’s goose pimple-inducing “Shooting Arrows At The Sky.”

This audio playlist features the Top 10 of the list in order of plays, starting with the most played. For the entire official list check here. Enjoy the tunes!

Heart To Heart Top Ten Audio Playlist

Heart To Heart Official Playlist

Blood To Blood Official Playlist

Heart To Heart: Book Two in the Angelica Brown Series

Heart To Heart: Book Two in the Angelica Brown Series

Heart To Heart: Book Two in the Angelica Brown Series

Heart To Heart: Book Two in the Angelica Brown Series

Heart To Heart: Book Two in the Angelica Brown Series is available for pre-order on Amazon. The novel will be released in both ebook and paperback formats on November 3, 2014. Grab your copy now.

Heart To Heart: Book Two in the Angelica Brown Series is a young adult paranormal romance. It continues the story of the coming of age of Boston teen, Angelica Brown as she makes hard choices about the type of life she wants to live and what kind of person she will be.

Summary:

When her immortal mom falls into a death-like sleep, 16-year-old up-and-coming pop star Angelica Brown is forced to come of age on her own without the support and protection of her powerful parents.

In this sequel to Blood To Blood, Angel has mastered her epic singing voice—a virtual weapon with the power to literally kill every living thing and destroy any object within earshot. Still, as a newly matured Shimshana, she suffers an all-consuming blood lust and wrestles daily with urges to attack the mortals around her. She breaks up with her boyfriend—18-year-old music producer Sawyer Creed—and loses the nurturing friendship of her BFFs. But after an unexpected reunion with her immortal blood donor Justin McCarthy, their previously shelved passion is re-ignited—and in the wake of its scorching intensity Angel breaks the love triangle and finally discovers the depths of true love.

Heart To Heart: Book Two in the Angelica Brown Series is the sequel to Blood To Blood, the recipient of 4 and-a-half-star reviews from the likes of the San Francisco Book Review, Portland Book Review, and more.

Pre-order Heart To Heart: Book Two in the Angelica Brown Series now.

Heart To Heart – ISBN – 9780985923556

In Loving Memory

In loving memory of my dad…

My father passed away a few days ago. His health had been declining for a long time, so it was not an unexpected event. Nonetheless, the melancholy felt while viewing old family photos runs deep.

Some of my happiest memories of my dad are from when I was a small child. There is a particular soundtrack to these memories: music that evokes the golden glow that covered the world as seen by my young eyes and processed by my yet-to-be-jaded mind. My dad had very interesting tastes in music; he was old school and conservative, a lover of classic country, 70s soul, vintage reggae and classical music. When I was little, the radio played almost 24-7, and my adult need for having constant music playing is due, in part, to the fact that my dad *always* had the radio on in the house and in the car.

As my father lay in an irreversible coma during the last days of his life, his body was unable to do much, but the nurse informed me the hearing is the last thing to go. I immediately went out and purchased a little cd player/boombox and a few CDs on my way to the hospital. Unable to find any Charlie Pride, or Tom Jones (two of his favorite artists) I grabbed Mozart, Puccini and Chopin compilations. As the family surrounded dad in love, prayer, laughs and memories, the music played in the background.

That is until the daft thing thing stopped working. “Daft,” as well as “what the sam hill,” is the type of polite expletive my father, a consummate gentleman, would use during stressful times, usually behind the wheel while driving through Assachusetts traffic. Unlike me, his artsy, outspoken daughter, he never swore.

Frustrated, I took the malfunctioning boombox back to the store. Fortunately, it was discovered that my son’s little boom box/radio actually did the trick, after having been written off last year as a lost cause when his scratched Sesame Street CDs refused to play. Rejoicing, I grabbed it on my way back to the hospital. The last thing dad heard in this existence was Mozart’s “Serenade in G” and “Piano Sonata No. 15 in C” playing on continual loop in the background, right by his pillow.

After dad’s soul left this plane of existence, the lyrics of a song started to play in my mind. The song’s melody was clear, but the words, heard when I couldn’t have been older than 4, were a mystery; I could only recall a few:

Baby I know. I know I could be so in love with you.

The melody evoked warm feelings of childhood joy, innocence and head-to-toe happiness, the emotions I basked in at the time of my life when those emotions ruled all.

But what the sam hill was that song?

Immediately I typed the remembered words into Google search and found the song: “Oh, Babe What Would You Say” by Hurricane Smith. Listening caused me to relive those ebullient feelings of a simpler time when a smiling, kind man with a big heart would play hide and seek with me in the living room and reward me with a Hershey bar, when he would smile at me with loving eyes and my world felt safe and warm. I wept with tears of wonder while downloading the song from iTunes. It’s been playing on continuous loop ever since.

In Loving Memory

In Loving Memory

Thank you daddy for sharing your love of music. Thank you for the wonderful memories. Thank you for being my father. It is my prayer that you enjoy the music of the One Soul forever.

In loving memory

“Oh, Babe What Would You Say” – Hurricane Smith

“Oh, Babe What Would You Say” – Hurricane Smith

This song started playing in my head almost immediately after my dad passed away a few days ago. I have been constantly playing it on continuous loop ever since.

The version I downloaded from iTunes is just as my subconscious remembered it; featuring a lush background of big band strings and horns with a glorious saxophone solo.

I love this song. Joy ensues every time I hear it. Memories of my loving dad as the center of my world flood my senses with every note. Reading the comments from others around the ‘net shows that I’m not alone. There is an intrinsically nostalgic vibe to this song which has withstood the test of time.

I also uncovered a performance from the Johnny Carson show.

Hurricane Smith, a studio engineer, worked extensively with the Beatles which may or may not explain the upbeat quirkiness. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Rest in glorious peace, daddy. Thanks for the memories.

Hurricane Smith on YouTube

“Oh, Babe What Would You Say” – Hurricane Smith

Current Playlist

My current playlist

To answer the question of what’s on my current playlist, I’m listing the most prominent artists on my daily rotation. This list changes as my mood changes and I think you might be surprised at what’s on it today.

These tunes are getting ridiculous play regardless of whether they’re connected to a scene, or character, or not. Many of these songs have a direct relationship to what I’m writing, some of them have no connection whatsoever–at least none that I can see right now. Sometimes, I’ll have music on rotation for no apparent reason until one day it either hits me as to why it’s on the list, or it just starts making sense. Sometimes the characters choose the song(s) and I have little to do with it.

For the record I’m currently writing two pieces: a short story and the follow-up to Blood To Blood.

Current playlist: Santigold

Current playlist: Santigold

Current playlist: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Current playlist: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Current playlist: Green Day

Current playlist: Green Day

Artists in current rotation

Santigold
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Green Day

Adele
Andy Gibb
Muse (of course)

Cee-lo Green
Kylie Minogue
Arcade Fire

Blondie
Alabama Shakes
Class Actress

My Muses – Van Hunt

One of my favorite all-time muses is Van Hunt. I interviewed him back in the mid 2000s, but had fallen in love with his eclectic style of music way before then.

Van Hunt

Van Hunt

When it comes to categorizing his style, it’s impossible to squeeze his discography into one genre; he covers everything from soul, to rock, to funk, to pop.

While his music is unpredictable he’s always superior when it comes to creating a specific atmosphere and evoking a mood. “At the End of a Slow Dance” is one of my favorite Van Hunt songs, and continually haunts me years after first hearing it.

 

 

Van Hunt – “At the End of a Slow Dance”

 

 

Van Hunt’s recent album is more rock oriented and has one or two tunes that’s found their way onto my current playlist for the Blood To Blood sequel.

Blood To Blood

Blood To Blood Summary from the upcoming book’s back cover

Here’s a quick preview of Blood To Blood:

Angelika Brown has a killer voice. Too bad her über-conservative parents aren’t happy when she decides to quit high school to be a pop singer. What’s worse, she’s morphing into a blood-drinking immortal and her soaring vocals can now decimate everything, and everyone, within earshot. Will she learn how to control her new powers? Or will her bloodlust cause her to kill her girl group before they reach the Top 10?