Joe Cocker, R.I.P.

5/20/44 - 12/22/14

My earliest memories of Joe Cocker would be his covers of the Beatles, "With A Little Help From My Friends", and Leonard Cohen's "Bird On A Wire".  Here's the former:



Cited by Rolling Stone as one of the all-time greatest rock vocalists, I bought -- and still possess -- this 1969 eponymous vinyl album as soon as it hit the store shelves:

Pierce Brown's Playlist

Something to give you a break from incessant holiday music.

Piece Brown, author of the sci-fi trilogy, Red Rising, says that music has always stimulated his writing, and he has put together a playlist of mood-inducing and scene-inspiring songs:

Lili Haydn

First, to get a flavor of Lili Haydn -- who played classical violin with the Los Angeles Philharmonic when she was fifteen, and has achieved much, much more since then -- consider her cover of the Led Zeppelin classic, Kashmir:



Then her remarkable story of recovery in this TEDTalk:



And another TEDTalk appearance:



Need more?



Visit Lili's website, too.

Thanks to brother Dennis for reminding me of this remarkable woman.

(This stuff reminds me that sometime I need to talk about that Funkadelic classic, Maggot Brain!)