I found myself at the Charles Playhouse lounge on Friday night for some serious karaoke, accompanied by my roommate and darling clique of co-workers. I can describe this evening only as "out of control." Take from that what you will.

My performance of choice was La Isla Bonita by Madonna, and the song has been cycling through my head ever since (along with Because the Night by 10,000 Maniacs. Did someone sing that? I can't recall. Even though I only drank water, I was drunk).

Karaoke is a blessing for all involved. The worst singers boldly rock the free nation, and the best singers can get a few moments of glory (otherwise lost due to lack of fame). With this in mind, I trolled the interwebs for any and every amateur cover of La Isla Bonita I could find. Turns out all sorts of interesting characters love this tune:

• A one-person duet by a "part-time cowboy and full-time rockstar"
• Lanka-style by an old islander living in Arizona
• Asian dude with insane amounts of vibrato 
• Finnish melodic metal band Twilight Guardians

I put together a composite of some of my internet finds and, due to feeling angsty and tired at the time, re-purposed the tune to be a song of the underworld.

THE SUNDAY SOUND: July 31, La Isla Asustadiza.
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My Sherpa* Rachel Coon is in town from Seattle! She rules. We've been all over the place: shopping, eating, swimming, repeat. We're heading to Burlington, Vermont tonight to celebrate her birthday (where we will shop, eat, and swim).

We were taking a Sunday nap this afternoon (best pastime ever?), and I awoke with a start (internal dialogue: "CRAP! I HAVE TO DO A SUNDAY SOUND POST BEFORE I LEAVE!!!!"). So I sneaked out of bed, grabbed my trusty Tascam DR-100, and crawled back to our napping lair. Today's sixty seconds is what then ensued.

* We've called each other "Sherpa" for years now. Ask why. It is a great tale.

THE SUNDAY SOUND: July 24, Waking up Sherpa with a Field Recorder.
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... and she's back!

Folks, my vacation was the jam. My family was electric. My friends were electric. My pilgrimage to Mormon Mecca was electric. 

A bit about Mormon Mecca: Soooooo many of my people (my people! I have a "my people!") live in Utah as it was the place we all traveled to when it suddenly became legal to kill us off in the 1800's. Pretty much every Mormon person I know has lived there at some point. Tons go to the Church-owned school BYU. So I decided, after 27 years of being Mormon, I needed to make the pilgrimage (and a reunion with my best gal pals was the perfect motivation). 

One of the attractions on Temple Square is the Tabernacle. You may have heard of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir...? This is their home. It is a dome-shaped auditorium built for church meetings between 1864 and 1867. It is so acoustically sensitive that a pin dropped at the pulpit can be heard all the way at the back (roughly 170 feet away). Before the days of the gadgets I love most (microphones! electronics! amplifiers!), the construction of the building allowed for an audience of 5,000 to hear every last word. 

For those of you who can't make the pilgrimage, I bring you sixty seconds of the official acoustic demonstration. And for your visual entertainment, a slideshow of photos from my premiere Utah adventure.

THE SUNDAY SOUND: July 17, An Acoustic Demontration.
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