Another award, courtesy of Whim

It's been the better part of a week since Whim chose me as one of the five people to be awarded "The Spreader of Love" Award from her site. I am supposed to pass it along, in turn, to five other bloggers. And...well...I'm stuck.

One blogger who comes to mind immediately whenever I think of such a thing is Ashley at Ink On Paper. Ashley is one of the most selfless people I know, willing to put the happiness and well-being of family, friends, and even total strangers ahead of her own. If that doesn't result in love being spread - well, it's certainly not for lack of trying.

Lauren (whose current blog as of this posting is Things I Carry, a.k.a. Memoir) is all about the love. People, dogs, fish, customers, love flies everywhere over at her blog!

Debra Pasquella's Let Me Go On And On! looks at love, and life, and relationships, and spirituality from a more serious, almost professional point of view.

An odd site to cite for spreading love is Josh's The Comics Curmudgeon. This is a site whose core consits of snarky comments about the day's comic strips. But somewhere along the way The Comics Curmudgeon rekindled a love for the comics in a lot of readers and commentors, as best seen in the post announcing the passing of They'll Do It Every Time artist and writer Al Scaduto.

The fifth blog...well, this is the toughest. In the end, considering what I'm going to post next, I thought I might just cite YouTube, for helping to connect people with the songs that mean so much to them, in a manner that benefits both the viewer and, indirectly, the artist - far more than a music download site would. So instead, I'll award it to the blog that first got me interested in YouTube: Michael Plank's Content.

Now, let's make with the love:

Some artists and labels are more restrictive about posting (or more active about removing) videos on YouTube. Looks like Barenaked Ladies is one of those, because I can't find a posting of their video of their cover of Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers In a Dangerous Time" anywhere. Here's a live version, from their Barelaked Nadies DVD:



Here is Bruce Cockburn's original. The lip synch is awful, and Bruce looks verrrry yuppie-ish - this was 1984, after all. But it's all in stark contrast to the story of the song.
This song is brilliant, and pure poetry, but I - forgive me - prefer the BNL version. In Bruce Cockburn's voice, I prefer "If I Had A Rocket Launcher", from the same album, inspired by the same situations.

UPDATE, 10/28/08: Here is the BNL Version.



I heard this song while getting an oil change today. Lee Ann Womack, "I Hope You Dance":

I had to turn my head so the other people in the waiting room couldn't see me mouthing the words...

Time
is a wheel in constant motion, always
rolling us along

Tell me
who
wants to look back on their years
and wonder
where those years have gone?

...and to keep them from seeing how shiny my eyes had gotten all of a sudden.

That's it for now. I hope you dance. And kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight.