Precious Memories - 4 Golden Couples share their song and story

This morning I happened upon a beautifully touching video created by CDZA Music, a company that creates musical video experiments. CDZA actually stands for Collective Cadenza and was formed in New York City in 2012 and features over 150 talented musicians who together create and launch a new YouTube music video every other week.

The first video that brought them to my attention featured 4 Golden Couples and having them dance to their wedding songs from long ago (in most cases long ago, please read on). 3 of the couples have been married/together for over 50 years including Mike and Frances who were married in 1942 and first danced to "I'm Glad There Was You" by Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Mertz and first published in 1941. Another couple celebrating are in their 80's and both widowed - they were looking for someone to share the rest of their golden years together and found each other on Jdate.com . One very special couple had been together for 57 years but were only able to be officially married recently when the Gay marriage bans began to be overturned. I absolutely urge you to listen and watch these 4 couples as they dance to their special song and talk about how they met and what there lives were like together. I honestly got chills several times while watching as there stories and songs really touched me.

I have a feeling we'll be talking a lot more about CDZA Music in the future. I've only begun to scratch the surface for all the fun, entertaining and touching musical videos they have created. Some of the titles that have caught my eye include "Fresh Prince: Google Translation", "History of Wooing Men (and Woman)", "The Human Jukebox" and "History of Misheard Lyrics" - Many of these videos have already received 2-3 million views so there is definitely something happening here at the CDZA YouTube Channel

I hope everyone in the USA had a safe, fun and entertaining 4th of July - for our British friends across the pond we're hoping that after almost two and a half centuries there are no hard feelings :)

Music, Love & Laughter,

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

p.s. KEEP MUSIC ALIVE Day #5 – Visit our first post from Tuesday July 1st for more information about our mission

Musical Freedom on Independence Day???

Since paid music downloads first came on the scene with ITunes in 2003, the sales of these downloads has increased every year helping to offset the decline in physical CD sales. Last year in 2013, marked the first year that paid download sales decreased and by a full six percent. Fast forward to this year 2014 and already paid downloads have decreased another 15 percent from January to June from last years first half. Its clear to see this trend is beginning to rapidly accelerate.

The decline in CD sales and paid MP3 downloads has begun to be somewhat replaced by the multitude of music streaming services now available, with everything from YouTube, Pandora, Spotify and of course Beats the recent Apple acquisition. Studies have been done analyzing the income that artists and songwriters receive from these streaming services and it certainly appears they don't make up for what is being lost. While this downward trend in revenue for artists and songwriters may be temporary, when you combine it with the fact that music and arts programs continue to be cut from schools it is a troubling trend.

We're on a new music at LoveSongs.com to raise the awareness of just how important music is to all of us. For more information please click on "Keep Music Alive" at www.LoveSongs.com and check out this New York Times Article that tells the story in detail:

NY Times: Sharp Rise in Music Streaming while CD and Download Sales Plummet

MAGIC! seeks freedom from oppressive Dad :

Four lads from Toronto Canada recently hit #2 on the USA Billboard chart with a fun reggae-beat song entitled "Rude". This little pop-ditty tells the story of a young man who wants to marry this mans daughter, but apparently his musician-persona isn't good enough. Instead he has his sights set on his daughter marrying someone who on the surface appears to be more educated and refined (ouch, I'm a musician too :)). Great great pop hook and love the verse melodies and story too - One of the best songs on the radio right now and a cute video too:

"Why you gotta be so rudeeee...
Don't you know I'm human too
Why you gotta be so rude....
I'm gonna marry her anyway

Check out the video, I swear that the guy the Dad wants his daughter to marry is actually the bass player in the band - What's he got against singers anyway haaa

Music, Love & Laughter,

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

p.s. KEEP MUSIC ALIVE Day #4 - Visit our first post from Tuesday July 1st for more information about our mission

What happens when 350 Musicians meet for the very first time?

Even better: What happens when 350 Musicians meet for the first time and play a new song that's just been written? That's exactly what happened last month as part of Make Music New York.

Held every year on the Summer Solstice June 21st, The Make Music New York event was held this year for the 8th time and National Public Radio (NPR) has a really cool twist to it. This year and two years ago they commissioned a new musical piece to be written and invited any musician brave enough to learn the piece and try it out in public together with hundreds of musicians for the first time together to come and join in. Come and join in they did, over 350 strong. Marching bands, student musicians, Brazilian and African ensembles and even drum lines from professional sports teams. There were even a few violin players in the crowd who after hearing this majestic piece may have struggled to hear their instrument.

Here's the preview video of "100+ BPM" posted right after the event:

To get the full effect and learn more about the composer and volunteers you need to visit the NPR page here AND also see and hear the complete song & video of all the different participants. Its just amazing how strong, triumphant and crisp the performance is considering these guys and gals have never all performed together and its a NEW song - Simply amazing - Please check it out here: "100+ BPM - Full song & video by Field Recordings @ NPR.com"

Make Music History

The Make Music yearly events in America are based on France’s “Fête de la Musique”, a national musical holiday inaugurated in 1982. Ever since, the festival has become an international phenomenon, celebrated on the same day in more than 726 cities in 108 countries, including Germany, Italy, Greece, Russia, Lebanon, Ivory Coast, Australia, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Canada, and Japan.

In North America, June 21st celebrations now include Make Music Chicago, Make Music Denver, Make Music Los Angeles, Make Music Madison (WI), Make Music New York, Make Music Philly, Make Music Portland (ME), and Make Music Vancouver.

Music, Love & Laughter,

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
p.s. KEEP MUSIC ALIVE Day #2 - Visit our first post from Tuesday July 1st for more information about our mission

Creating a Children's Musical Paradise out of Trash

You may already be familiar with this story but I just heard about it last week. It was discovered in 2010 that there was a very poor community in Paraguay that has its own childrens orchestra. That's not even the most amazing part. ALL of the instruments being used in the Orchestra are being made out of recycled materials: TRASH, GARBAGE as in all the stuff you and I throw away. Apparently this little town in Paraguay mostly exists because it has been chosen as the landfill location for all the surrounding areas. So trucks and trucks of trash come in every week and many residents and children earn there poverty level wages by walking through the huge mounds and picking through the trash. Along the way someone got the beautiful idea of creating musical instruments out of these materials AND then to start teaching the children of the community how to play them. Trust me when I tell you that you will not believe the sound of this orchestra when you see and hear them.

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Originally dubbed "The Recycled Orchestra", this amazing band of musicians plays violins, violas, cellos, basses, percussion, clarinets, flutes, almost every instrument imaginable in an orchestra (I'm looking for the brass instruments now, I'm sure they are there). I just can't believe how good this children's orchestra sounds and to think they are making this beautiful music with what was once someone else's trash is just incredible. The very best part of this is how learning and playing music has made these children so much happier, more relaxed and more self-confident in their lives. They will be forever changed because of what music has given to them.

A documentary entitled "Landfill Harmonic" is currently being filmed and the story has been featured on many major news outlet including CNN, CBS, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, New York Magazine, Oprah Magazine and NPR. The children and their instruments have also begun to take trips to other countries where they perform and are very well received. Here is the news story by CBS that first brought this amazing phenomenon to my attention: CBS News: The-Recyclers-From-Trash-Triumph There was also a Kickstarter campaign that ended about a year ago that helped raise funds for finishing the documentary. This page has a lot of very useful and interesting information about the orchestra and the people that originally and continue to make it possible: Landfill Harmonic Kickstarter - Campaign has ended but excellent info on the project And here is a link to their documentary which hopefully we'll be coming out soon: Landfill Harmonic The Movie

Lastly here's a YouTube clip showing the orchestra and a little more background information:

So lets ask ourselves: If children from one of the poorest area's of the world can create beautiful music out of nothing more than other people's trash, then we all can do incredibly amazing things using nothing more than the power of music.

Please share your comments and feedback below - Would love to know your thoughts on this wonderful story.

Music, Love & Laughter,

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

p.s. KEEP MUSIC ALIVE Day #2 - Visit our first post from Tuesday July 1st for more information about our mission

Our MISSION- Lets "Keep MUSIC Alive!"

Well music's not exactly dead or on its last legs, but I am very concerned about the current state of music in our society. Year after year we see more and more school systems cutting Music and Arts programs for our kids. Adding to that, the general public (that's you and me) are no longer buying CDs or even MP3 downloads. CD sales have been declining for years and last year for the first time the number of paid MP3 downloads declined from the previous year (yes ITunes was getting nervous which explains the Beats acquisition).

I know there are certainly reasons behind these trends. The recent recession hit states and school systems very hard and tough choices have to be made. However, I don't think the decision makers realize just how important the music and arts programs are AND how much they contribute to the success of their students in their traditional subjects including Math, Science, English and History. As for CD and MP3 download sales, that fate was sealed when kids discovered they could play any song they wanted over and over (and over and over) again on YouTube. I mean I love Katy Perry's hit songs but I don't really need to hear the same Katy Perry song 30x in a row (I'm thinking of my daughters as I type this :)). Add to this the multitude of music streaming services now available Pandora, Spotify and Beats to name a few), and it pretty much assures the sales of prerecorded music has been forever changed. Although artists and writers are compensated for these streaming plays, the rate at which they are paid is not anywhere near what they used to be able to earn with actual sales.

The reason for my concern is that I believe these trends will ultimately lead to less and less kids taking up music and reaping the multitude of benefits that playing an instrument brings, especially when doing it as part of a group, band or ensemble. Less kids playing music will lead to less adults playing music and eventually lead to the decline of quality new music being available for everyone's benefit.

Beginning today, we at LoveSongs.com are making it our mission to get at least 10 Million More Kids AND Adults playing Music. Why adults too you may ask? Because adults also receive many benefits when playing music and every adult that plays music will help inspire children around them to play music as well. Music is the gift that absolutely keeps on giving. How are we going to COUNT how many new adults and kids start playing music because of us - Don't worry I've got our expert statistician working on an equation to help us figure it out :) Seriously though, according to the US Census about 8% of US adults play a musical instrument . This adds up to about 18 Million adults out of 230 Million adults in the US. Our goal is to make certain we don't lose any ground on this as less kids potentially start playing music.

To start us off, I'd like to share with you the "Legends of Liverpool"and their own "Help Keep Music Alive" cause they are helping with. Hand picked by the late George Harrison's sister Louise, these 4 lads are one of the finest tributes to a band that will forever live in our musical memories. Please listen and enjoy and I'll be back again tomorrow with a new post!

Music, Love & Laughter,

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

p.s. I invite you to stop back daily as I began to share stories of music empowerment and inspiration from all over the world.

Happy Fathers Day + the Last Fathers Day

First I would like to wish a very Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there (and to the many single moms who are going it alone raising their kids). Fathers Day has always been a pretty low key holiday for me even being a Dad. My idea of a great Fathers day is trying to get all 4 of my kids together along with my wife and spend some good quality family time. I'm happy to say that to date we've always succeeded in that quest and we've had many happy Fathers Day Memories.

Fathers Day 2013 ended up being just a little different for me. I started out the weekend on Saturday performing just my 2nd show in ages at the Yachtstock River Jam. It was a short set but it felt great to be up on a real stage again, and the crowd was very receptive despite me being just a little rusty :) Then on Fathers Day morning I was playing a brunch show at a local venue where I had performed previously many times in the past. At this point I hadn't yet called my Dad in Florida to wish him a happy Fathers Day. I figured it would be best to call him sometime in the afternoon when he was sure to be home. It would be even better because my kids would all be with me and we could wish him a Happy Fathers Day together on the phone.

My parents had moved 20 years earlier retiring to Florida and we rarely got to spend special holidays together. I knew my Dad would be watching his "newly" adopted Tampa Bay Rays baseball team battle it out that afternoon on TV (unless of course my parents had tickets for that particular game and then I'd have to wait until early evening to reach him)

For the 15 years prior to moving to Florida, my parents were devoted Philadelphia Phillies fans, going to many games, following the team relentlessly on TV and radio and rejoicing when the Phillies finally won their World Series in 1980. So it was a fun rivalry when in 2008 both the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays made it to the World Series. I told my parents they couldn't lose because either way one of their teams was going to win. My Dad wouldn't have any of it as he had completely converted to a Tampa Bay fan. So of course he was a little miffed when the Phillies took the World Series that year for just the second time in Phillies history. I did get him a Tampa Bay World Series hat and he proudly wore it whenever he was out doing yard work in the hot Florida sun.

I'm sad to say that I never got to wish my Dad a happy Fathers Day last year. It turned out my sister had been urgently trying to reach me that morning when I was in the middle of playing music for the brunch crowd. When I finally got to the parking lot I saw that I had some missed calls. I called her back and the first words that came out of her mouth left me stunned and unable to speak. "Daddy died this morning" was what she said. I yelled out something unintelligible and shoved the phone into my wife's hand who was sitting next to me. Needless to say, after that it was a Fathers Day that I would never forget.

As I'm sitting here thinking about it now, I'm remembering that since my parents had retired to Florida in 1992 we had never spent Fathers Day or Mothers Day with them. We had visited them probably 25-30 times over that 20 year span including Easters, Christmases and many different birthdays. A few of my most special visits include my Mom making me a birthday cake when we visited for my birthday one year long after she had stopped making cakes, visiting for a few Easters and having the Easter Bunny visit us in Florida and visiting for a few Christmases with Santa Claus also having to figure out where we were. I also really enjoyed watching my Mom sing in the Choir for those Easter and Christmases that we visited.

Probably my two most favorite visits with my Mom and Dad together happened in the last few years. When my Dad turned 80 all of my siblings and I made it down together to help him celebrate. We wanted to surprise him and just show up, but in the end we had my Mom break the news to him prior as we didn't want to set his heart off that morning. The most memorable visit to my Mom and Dad in Florida was the last one before he passed. My wife, two daughters and I went down the day after Christmas 2012 and we took my parents to see the Holiday Lights Celebration in St. Augustine, Florida. This was something my Mom had always wanted to see but by this time my parents no longer took car trips that were more than an hour away.

Christmas time in St. Augustine was a bit chilly especially for my parents who had long become Floridians and would starting feeling cold when the temperature dropped below 70. My Dad was such a trooper that night as we went around on an open window bus so he and my Mom could see all the beautiful holiday light displays throughout St. Augustine's downtown. I could tell the cold was really bothering him, but he wanted to press on and see everything we could see before we turned back to the warmth of our own car.

My Dad had longstanding heart issues and several years ago had decided not to do another bypass surgery (and by this time there was no reversing that decision). So for the last several years his symptoms had verrry slowly worsened. But despite a few scares along the way he had lived a very happy existence with my Mom those last several years and had enjoyed most everything that was important to him. Still though I was shocked back to reality when I spoke to my sister last Fathers Day morning. My Dad never wanted to go out in a sickly manner in a hospital room (too many long hospital visits as a sick teen). When a doctor would suggest more tests or a hospital stay during his last few years, my Dad would have nothing of it. He wanted to live life his way for the last years however many they would be. When my Dad passed he was doing one of his favorite morning past-times, playing solitaire on his back porch before the June temperature got too hot.

While I greatly miss my Dad and was extremely sad at his passing, I was comforted to know that he went out the way he wanted to..no muss, no fuss and he made sure it was on a day that our family would never forget.

To help remember all of our Dads today, I'll leave you with two of my favorite songs about Dads. Eric Clapton wrote "My Fathers Eyes" as a tribute to his Dad who he never got to meet.

And lastly, Luther Vandross co-wrote and released "Dance With My Father" remembering his Dad who passed away when he was just 7.

Wishing you all a very Happy Fathers Day this weekend - Go out and enjoy this time with your Dads and Family and make some fun memories today!

Peace, Love and Laughter

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

Alex B hits 1 Million YouTube views w/"Will You Be My Girl"

Philadelphia's very own up and coming pop star Alex B recently hit 1 Million YouTube views for his song and video "Will You Be My Girl". We recently featured Alex as our Indie Love Songs artist of the month with his groovin' uptempo Pop tune "Rollercoaster". We're so happy to see Alex cross the 1 Million mark for "Will You Be My Girl" that we're giving him an extra month of fame here at LoveSongs.com.

Currently only 14 years old, Alex performs like he has been performing on stage for years and years. He is so amazingly comfortable entertaining the crowd young and old and its obvious he's having the time of his life enjoying the experience. Add to that Alex's growing collection of great original pop songs, you now have a recipe for a big star in the making. Alex has already performed at some of the top venues in the Philadelphia area including the TLA downtown, World Café Live in Wilmington and multiple Xfinity Live events. It's only a matter of time before this young pop star bubbles up onto the national scene.

Check out Alex's "Rollercoaster" now playing on the front page of www.LoveSongs.com till the end of June.

If you haven't already heard "Will You Be My Girl" here's the Official video that crossed the one million mark:

Yet another great pop tune by Alex is "This Thing Called Love" and here's the video:

We will definitely be keeping an eye on Alex's progress towards the national stage and wish him the very best on his journey.

Apple/Beats Music jumping into the Music Streaming World

Apple computers recent acquisition of Beats means that it will be jumping headfirst into the music streaming business competing with Pandora, Spotify and the legions of others. Amazon will also be jumping into the bigger music streaming pool soon as they announced they'll be offering a new Music Streaming service to their millions of Amazon Prime members. All these developments definitely make an interesting story-line for what options we as music lovers have to hear our music (anyone still missing our vinyl records??). Here's a recent article on how the Apple Beats combination might fit into the streaming scene: How Does Apple Beats Shake Up Music Streaming?

Do you currently use Pandora, Spotify or Beats music streaming and if you do how do you like it so far? How would you like to see these services change to better enhance our musical listening experience? Leave a comment here and let us know.

That's all for today folks - be back later this weekend with another post - until then have mucho fun tooooday!

Peace, Love & Laughter,

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com