Drumming to Reba McEntire

Another recent library CD selected by DJ B was Reba McEntire's "Greatest Hits Volume 3 - I'm a Survivor." The first time we put the CD on Miss B was wearing a Cinderella costume and was obsessively combing her hair. When I asked what she thought of the music, she said, "I like it" and resumed her hair combing routine. She stopped to admire the Sleeping Beauty temporary tattoo on her arm and then directed her attention to her pile of instruments. After getting up on her tip toes she grabbed a drum stick and started pounding on a decorated coffee can.

I then mentioned to her that there was a CD booklet, so she opened up the CD case and pulled it out. She asked me, "Why is she wearing pants?" and then said, "Look at these musics" while pointing at words in the liner notes. She stopped to dance while tapping the booklet on her coffee can drum. She then began dancing quite dramatically with a scowl on her face while waving a drum stick, as if she was performing martial arts along the lines of tai chi. After throwing the stick across the room she slowed down into some more ballet-like poses. She then ran out of the room, returned with a Dora soccer ball, threw the ball into the air, got in trouble, asked me to drum, and finally sang into a Hello Kitty maraca like it was a microphone. When we got to track 5 ("If You See Him, If You See Her") DJ B was done, and ordered, "I want to take the CD off...I want a snack now."

I'm sure Miss B was simply channeling Reba's inner diva. You go girl!

Cantopop Mesmerizes DJ B and Me

Miss B selected yet another mysterious Cantopop album from the public library. As far as I can gather, the 2003 album (perhaps "Loving Knot") is by Hong Kong artist Priscilla Chan. It features two CDs, one of which (pictured above) contains a video of the song "Tomorrow is Another Day." As soon as DJ B realized there was a video on this CD, she became obsessed. We've watched it repeatedly and now I can't get it out of my head. It's actually quite beautiful, with a French flavor to it, portions in English, and a very nostalgic video featuring Priscilla wandering through a dusty, cobwebby room full of vintage furniture and an old phonograph. Her voice is captivating.

While watching the video, Miss B was very intrigued, asking, "What is she?" Later she said, "I love this video!" and asked, "Does she have a fancy dress?" It took a lot of coaxing to listen to the CD sans video, but when she did she was quite pleased. During one song featuring piano, she said, "I wanna dance to this one" and then started to dance on her tip toes. She gathered up her ballet slippers, saying, "These are my special shoes." She continued to dance, quickening the pace, before inviting me to join her and giddily requesting the video again, saying, "I wanna dance with the video and start a move." After watching the video a number of times, she actually started to re-enact scenes from it.

This was a gorgeous album that DJ B and I could both enjoy. Yet again I'm amazed at the obscurities available at the public library, as this release was impossible for me to find online. So, our enjoyment of it will be short, but sweet.