Day 5 and we’re on to a slightly less angsty track – Huzzah!!
This track was my gateway in to the technicolour world of Synthwave and my introduction to the brilliant music of Gunship. Straight after my first listen, I was onto YouTube and Spotify and down not just rabbit holes, but entire warrens!
Gunship crafts musical masterpieces, loaded with dark beats and infectious melodies., full of beautiful lyrics and dripping with nostalgia.
If you’ve ever managed to listen to one of my shows, you’ll know a little about my obsession with all things Gunship. I love them, pure and simple, and we all know that true love lasts a life time! Plus, they’re Brits. Which immediately gives them a million extra cool points. They are currently working on a new album, and you know what that means … TOUR!! so I am praying to all the Gods that they make it up to Glasgow and I get tickets!
The first time I heard this song I was sitting at the back of the bus on the way home from work. The lyrics are so raw and so honest and I was so overwhelmed, that I burst into tears.
For me, this is a song about fighting your demons, whatever form they take. It’s about that internal battle vs the external face that we all hide behind. It’s a song that wears its pain like a badge of honour, literally screaming “I don’t know how I got this way, I’ll never be alright” and ultimately, its a song that made me fell less alone in the struggle as I sung myself hoarse to it.
It’s still a song that hits me in the feels, and thats why it’s on my mixtape.
My Father was very keen that each of us kids develop a keen love of all sorts of music. He would play records to us in the dark, and we would lay on the floor with our eyes closed, listening to the music all around us and watching coloured lights dance behind our eyelids. Sometimes he would burn incense and the thick, heavy smoke would almost add another layer to the listening.
One Album that always used simultaneously terrify and thrill me, was the musty, old copy of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds. Based on the classic HD Wells novel, this prog rock album weaves narration and music and takes us through the iconic story of the Martian invasion of Earth, through the eyes of an ordinary man, beautifully narrated by Richard Burton, with the sung thoughts of the narrator bought to life by the incomparable Justin Hayward.
This is my favourite track on the whole album. I love autumn, and this song brings it to mind as the narrator sings about how his life will now be forever autumn without the love of his life.
It’s a bittersweet song in the midst of chaos and my favourite song on the whole album and so, another piece of my mixtape.
xo
Forever Autumn, From JeffWayne’s War of the Worlds, Featuring Richard Burton as The Narrator and Justin Hayward as the sung thoughts of The Narrator
I’m feeling nostalgic, so here’s a blast from my past.
DIVE IN – ALISHA’S ATTIC
This is from the album Illumina. I got the CD super cheap from Woolworths and listened to it on repeat the summer I was 16. It’s actually a pretty decent album, filled with gems like ‘The Incidentals’, ‘Karmically Close’ and ‘Lay Low’. But this is the track that I carry with me. Being a bit of a hippy, trippy girl, I love the way this verse slaps … everyone has demons, and at the end of the day, I think we’re all just looking for someone who’s demons will play nicely with yours.
Music is who I am. It’s in my heartbeats and my DNA. It’s how I best express myself and communicate with the people in my world.
So in honour of this years Valentine’s Day, I’m going to open up and share with you 14 pieces of me. Each piece is a lyric that has resonated with me – some are new, some are old, some are probably a little unexpected, but I hope you enjoy them all and that they inspire you.
IF I DIDN’T KNOW BETTER – THE CIVIL WARS
This was the song that led me to The Civil Wars. I was watching TV and this song came on and I fell in love with everything about it. I was heartbroken when I found out that the band had split up, but thankfully they have a rich back catalogue full of gorgeous songs that we can still enjoy.
And this is one that I always go back to, time and time again, and so this is the first piece of me that I share with yous all. If you’ve never listened to The Civil Wars, dive in and enjoy!
Last week saw the birthday of the Boss and Founder of Beaten Path, KissKing and celebrated in true pixie fashion, with giggles and music!
I’ve been part of the Beaten Path Family for almost 3 years now, and during this time, KissKing has become more then a Boss. He’s a fellow music junkie and film fanatic, one of my biggest cheerleaders and my friend.
So everyone pour a drink and raise a glass to KissKing — Happy Solar Return and lets hope the next one is a smasher!
I’m writing without filter so strap in, this may get a little bumpy … I’m just going to type until I’m done and then I’m going to hit publish.
‘Every person in this world has a mixtape of sorts, a collection of tracks that defines their lives. Each memory is a song, and they all come together to create a masterpiece. So, tell me about your story. What lyrics, what melodies, live on your mixtape?’
‘The Mixtape’ by Brittainy Cherry
For as long as I can remember music has been my heartbeat. It helps me express a thousand emotions, it takes me to a million different places, it’s a time capsule to everything I want to remember and some things I wish I could forget. Music is imprinted on my soul and in the essence of what makes me who I am.
I used to love making mixtapes and discs. Finding and arranging the perfect songs to capture a vibe, a mood, a feeling … I made CDs and tapes for parties and road trips. Mini discs for high days and Holidays. Playlists to help me study and focus. Music to fall into and vanish. Music to expand your mind and your heart. Music to nourish, to soothe and heal. As I’ve gotten older it’s evolved into long and rambling soundscapes; meandering and looping through different genres and voices. It’s the snippet I send to a friend to let them know that I’m thinking of them. It’s the Spotify Playlist that I share with my Sister at the other end of the island. It’s the tracks I put on when I want to play.
Contrary to popular belief, I’m really not so great with the words. I often have a tendency to get a little too much inside my own head, so music has always been the way I communicate best – and this is why I do what I do. Each playlist is a window into who I am, a snapshot of who I was in that moment – How I think, what I feel, what I want to say to the world. It’s a tiny piece of me that I send out into the world, hoping that it will spark something in someone else.
One of life’s little pleasures is a cup of tea and a biscuit (or cookie amd a coffee if you prefer!).
Whether you dunk, dip, spread, nibble or munch, everyone has their favourites and their own way to enjoy it.
If you absolutely had to pick just one biscuit as your favourite (and yes, I know it’s like asking which child/pet/plant/pair of shoes is your favourite), what would you pick and why?
For me, I think it would be a Milk Chocolate Malted Milk. Now a plain Malted Milk is pretty solid and dependable biscuit, but it can be just a touch, well boring. However, give it a milk chocolate coat and all of a sudden it’s elevated to sublime levels of optimum lushness. Plus it’s a biscuit with integrity, holding it’s shape pretty well and not dissolving into a handful of mush at the sight of a steaming cup. Now if I had to expel one biscuit from the utterly delicious Kingdom of Crumb, I would go with a Jammie Dodger – a brave and controversial choice; I even had a Beau tell me that if they had known of my dislike, the relationship would have been over before it began, but this is a choice I will completely stand by!!! For me, this is a disappointment – It looks so lush, all bright and colourful with its ruby red and jammie centre and it’s whimsical wonderlandesque heart design, and I want to love it, but the biscuit is always kinda blah – the jam to biscuit ratio is poor and there’s never enough jam to combat the dry edges. The Jam and cream version improves vastly upon the Jammie Dodger with the creamy addition rescuing it from blah status!!
So what would you pick as Queen of the Kingdom of Crumb, what would you banish or demote to Court Jester Status and why … fill in the form below and let me know!!
As promised, here is the cocktail I shall be trying for Monday’s show — feel free to share yours with me, and remember to tag me on Instagram with your own cocktail snaps!!
Strawberry Mint Sangria
Fruity cocktails make me almost as happy as shimmery ones, so this seemed like an excellent one to kick off with!!
To make 8 drinks, you will need:
2 1/2 cups of Strawberries, quartered
2/3 cup of Mint Leaves
3 tablespoons of Sugar
1 Lemon, juiced
2 Bottles Rose
1/2 Cup of Club Soda or Lemonade
Combine the strawberries, mint, sugar and lemon juice in a large jug. Add the wine and mix until the sugar is dissolved.
Leave for at least 30 minutes – apparently this will allow the flavours to better develop. If you leave it for longer then 4-ish hours the strawberries may loose their colour, which sounds a little exciting!
Either add the fizzy pop to the jug just before serving, or add it to individual glasses to taste.
I hope you’re all safe, well rested and content, and that 2021 is treating you kindly so far.
For those of you who missed it, Chief Mistress of Mischief KittyKitty & I spent a large chunk of last year working on our first Radio Play. We were inspired by the legendary pantos that Hairy Trev came up with year after year, and decided that we would come up with a Christmas Play to spoil the Beaten Path listeners over the Festive Season. We settled on Dickens and drew up an outline and then Darling Kitty started the hard task of actually crafting the script — nine months, one Apocalypse, several drunken Skype dates and a few revisions later, the script was finally ready. There were parts for everyone — large parts, small parts, funny parts and in the case of our Tiny Tim, really sweet wee parts. There were parts to spare, and so we charmed, beguiled, cajoled and persuaded everyone who had ever listened to the show to take one and record it. Then came the building and breathing life into it. Which was my job. And so my Freaky Darlings, I present you with the finished product, containing blood, sweat, tears and a few other bodily fluids. I hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it!
A Twisted Christmas Carol
I also want to say a massive Thank You to everyone who took part — everyone who lent their voice to the cause, everyone behind the scenes who helped prop me up when I momentarily thought I had bitten off way more then I could chew, everyone who put up with my terrible direction and requests for ‘just once more please!’ — you were all brilliant and I Love You All to bits for it!!
For anyone who is interested in helping out with this years play, we’re hoping to go for something a little more spooky with a Halloween Play — get involved by joining The Booty Club and getting updates on all things Pixie!
And to shake things up, I’ve made the decision to move the show to a Monday Night for a wee spell. So from 1st February 2021, the show will be every other Monday, 5pm EST, 10pm UK
Since this is a late night show for me, I am planning on maybe indulging in a wee drink, and thought it would be fun to start each show with a Cocktail. And since you know I love it when you all join in, feel free to bring your favourite tipple – share the recipe and tag me on Instagram — just look for pixiethesparklypirate. I’ll be posting up the cocktail I’m drinking, here on the blog on a Friday Night, just in case you want to join me in a glass during the show!
My obsession with catching up on content is still running rampant, and thankfully Milord is still happy to indulge with me. Here are a few of the things we’ve got through so far this year …
A Discovery of Witches was my first choice of the month. I introduced Milord to it during lockdown last year and the two of us have been waiting with bated breath for the follow up. This Season follows star crossed lovers Diana and Matthew, as they time walk back to Elizabethan London to hide from the covenant and find Diana a teacher to help instruct and guide her with her blossoming witch powers. It takes inspiration from the first part of the second book in Deborah Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy, on which the show is based. There’s not too much more I can say without spoilers. but as always, I was spellbound and enthralled. And Milord said that he enjoyed it too, so I happily give it 4 Pixie Points!
Cobra Kai was the revelation of the month for me, and I can’t believe I waited so long to watch it. Milord and I binged the heck out of it and managed to complete all 3 seasons in a matter of days. You don’t need to be a fan of the original Karate Kid movies – you don’t even need to be massively familiar with them, which was lucky for me, as it’s been about a million years since I’ve seen the first one. The story picks up 30 years after the events of the first film — Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso are all grown up with children of their own. The episodes are relatively short (between around 30-40 minutes each), the fight scenes are well choreographed and the story packs a lot of action in. It’s wholesome, very entertaining and a little nostalgic and I’d happily give it a top score of 5 Pixie Points!!
I’m starting to think ahead for Valentine’s Day, and am curious to find out what everyone’s Fantasy Date would be, and what the Ultimate Date Movie would be — don’t forget to send your suggestions for both to pixiethesparklypirate@gmail.com
And on that note I shall leave yous all to enjoy the rest of your day! Stay Safe and don’t forget to tune in to beatenpath.caster.fm
