Tag: music

…for the Labor Day Weekend Show

~ Lorayne Cupero ~ Leave a comment

Come Monday, it’ll be alright. Jimmy Buffet lyrics have long been the soundtrack for those ready for a pitcher of margaritas and a cheeseburger in Paradise! (It’s five o’clock, somewhere!) As a Florida native, there was no escape from Jimmy Buffet songs on the beach–played by those tourists covered in oil. (I am the one to blame for the fact that my dermatologist always wants a piece of me now as I eschewed sunscreen then so I wouldn’t smell like a tourist!)

Katrina hit New Orleans ten years after we’d moved away. So many stories, videos and songs followed but Jimmy Buffet’s Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On was one I gravitated towards and played often. (I keep meaning to find myself a watch “that always just says now!”)

I never made it to Margaritaville when it opened in New Orleans in Storyville. But I’d heard the stories of New Orleans giving Jimmy Buffet his start.You can always stumble across live music in New Orleans and once upon a time, Jimmy was one of those musicians playing on Bourbon Street. Recently, when you and I were not the only ones missing Mardi Gras in 2021, I enjoyed nola.com’s Mardi Gras for All Y’all! Particularly, this segment where they asked Jimmy what New Orleans meant to him.

I’ve not yet read one of his many books. It is simple to find a plethora of Jimmy Buffet quotes online but today, I’m going back to an old , simple favorite.

Don’t try to explain it, just bow your head
Breathe in, breathe out, move on.

You have to believe we are magic…

~ Lorayne Cupero ~ Leave a comment

I had her haircut(s). I had her albums. I bought Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, Just Seventeen and People magazines and kept a scrapbook of clippings featuring Olivia Newton-John posing with other celebrities, riding horses on her ranch or listing her favorite beauty tips. Posters of her face stared back from my walls. Having received an autographed photo in response to a fan letter I’d written, it was easy for my nine-year-old self to believe that I was, in fact, her biggest fan! (When I was 11, I met my Aunt’s future husband and recognized immediately that he was special when I learned that he not only owned a LaserDisc of one of her concerts, but had actually seen her in concert! He had the program to prove it and gave it to me, so it was easy to believe I was still the bigger fan else he’d have kept it, right?)

My favorite number has always been 8, so it was bittersweet that my childhood idol passed away on 8/8. I had to take that as a good sign–that this woman who tried to bring a little light to the world had certainly entered into a brighter one. My Facebook feed was flooded with tributes, memories and old video clips. I didn’t know that I had anything new or different to say that wasn’t being said. So I’m scheduling this to post on her birthday, to say in writing that this fan still hopes to meet her, one day! Meanwhile, perhaps I’ll be able to find a bottle of Koala Blue wine to raise a glass.

Today I’m revising a novel that deals with faith, love, music and magic. I’ve thrown in a bit of this and a pinch of that but if this book is a gumbo, the roux is music and magic. Olivia’s music pairs perfectly.