Marbles by Marillion

Hey guys!

So for class this week we learned about Johnny Cupcakes and his blog and what makes his brand and his products popular. After reading about him and watching an interview, something that I really like about his brand is that he is original and when he prints T-shirts, he makes sure he limits his designs so they are “limited additions”. People enjoy feeling like they are one in a million. 

After this I got thinking about my tattoo. April 20, 2012, my father and I got matching marble tattoos. The reason behind the tattoo comes from an album by Marillion called Marbles. On the cover there is a boy holding up two marbles that cover his eyes. On this CD, there is also a song called Marbles IV and the song is very innocent and it goes from talking about when he was little and he physically lost his marble but when he grows up, he is “losing his marbles” or losing his mind so with the marble on our arm, it’s reminding us that even when life is crazy, we can’t lose our marble, because it’s tattooed on our arm! We can never go crazy right?! Haha. (That is now debatable).  

This might sound silly to get a marble, by my father and I have really bonded over this CD. My tattoo is on my right forearm so everyone can see it when I have a T-shirt or tank top on. When people ask me what it is, I explain to them that it’s from a band that my dad and I love by Marillion. Most people I talk to do not know who Marillion is (I mean they only have 203,284 fans on Facebook).Since the 80’s Marillion has sold over 15 million albums so they have gotten their name out there and thats impressive so it’s crazy to me that some people don’t know about them! Let me tell you, you are missing out! 

They are a neo-progressive band from Aylesbury, England and they have been around since the 80‘s. So here I am. After Johnny Cupcakes, I am trying to get Marillion's music out there to people who might not know them. I’m not trying to pressure you to listen to their music, or appreciate it for that matter, but if you take anything from this blog, just remember their name. I know for some that listening to a 16 min long song sounds like eternity but a 16 min song tells a story and that’s something I think music today is missing. On top of that, I believe their is a lot of emotion in their lyrics. One of my all time favorite songs is called Ocean Cloud (I’m planning another tattoo based off of that song as well) and I believe the only way to listen to that song is loudly. There are so many elements to the song and it’s beautiful and tragic. In the song Marillion uses ocean sounds like birds, radio talk, and waves. When I think of this song, it reminds me of Life of Pi because the story is about a man and his boat traveling around the world. To me, it sounds like he is trying to get away from some very hurtful memories so he makes the ocean his new wife. He ends up going to all of these beautiful places and seeing beautiful people but there is still something that saddens him. All of a sudden, a storm comes (there is a really cool progression in this part of the song about 12 min into the song, and if you have made it 12 min into the song, you are awesome!) After storm ends and they leave the listener wondering what happened to the man, is he alive, is he dead, is he hurt, what happened? I think it’s very powerful and has to be on my top 5 favorite songs of all time. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLLMmjXgbrU (Here's a link to Ocean Cloud.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByH09K2jvWI (Marbles IV.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZh17m2IBbk (Neverland.)

Marillion has taught me to make a change in the world and preeminently put my foot print on the world. If you are physically capable, go travel the world. Don’t have enough money? That’s ok. Think of ways to find it. Don’t waist life, time, and money on physical things, spend it on experiences. So Marillion may just be a neo-progressive 80’s band, but to me, they have really inspired me to be a better person. 

With this I leave you with one last Marillion quote. 

“ I want to be someone someone would want to be”

~Chloe 

How Music Speaks to Me

Hey Internet Friends, 

So I only think its appropriate to welcome you guys into my life today. Today has been rough for me. My parents got divorced in September of 2013. They were married for 23 years, or my entire life. I am an only child and my parents are the most important people in my life. My dad is the one who got me into music and my mom has always been my support. 

When I was in high school I was hanging out with a really bad girl. She got me into a lot of sticky situations and it wasn’t healthy. When I was a senior in High School I made a sleep playlist. I was super anxious all the time and music was the one thing that helped me calm down and it would help me sleep. On this cd was Sleep by Azure Ray ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=106R-hvHlIc). I believe it was 4th on my sleep playlist. I watched the Devil Wears Prada yesterday and this song was in the movie. I haven’t listened to that soundtrack or that song in about 5 years. It’s a really great song. Anyways, today has been emotional for me and I can’t stop thinking about that song. I remember putting on my iPod and listening to it for about a song and going into my parents room telling them that I couldn’t sleep. This is going to sound silly, but I would sleep on their floor, and this happened for about a month. It was right before I graduated High School. Sleeping close to someone helped me calm down. I would lay my sleeping bag down on the left side of the bed on the floor next to the air vent. The air would kick on about 10:00 and I would put my iPod in. I would also eat stress mints and right around 10:00 this song would come on. I can remember this like it was last night. I would have Annie and Oscar (my cats) at my feet. I would be sweating because I was anxious. I felt like I was going to throw up. It smelled like wood shavings and smoked meat. It was very relaxing to me and in those quick but long minuets it took for me to fall asleep, I felt 110% safe. I knew I was going to be ok and nothing bad was going to happen to me. I had my family right next to me. It’s amazing that one song can make me feel this way again. I think it’s awesome and I think it’s a gift and I feel very fortunate. 

My meditation teacher a few semesters ago told me that to help me let go of emotions I would have to listen to songs that made me feel. I decided to do this tonight. Im trying to work through those emotions of losing my family. I miss having my mom and dad together and it makes me feel lost. It makes me feel like my safety net isn’t there any more and I am free falling. I don’t think I’ve every cried so much while listening to a song. It’s been an hour and I still can’t stop crying. Music is so powerful and I never want to take that for granted. I am so grateful that my father introduced me to music at an early age and that this is a part of me. I also know that if I went through those emotions in High School, I am going to be able to recover from my parents divorce, but for now it’s really hard. 

<3 C 

Assignment 1 : Week 1

Hello internet friends! 

I believe that blogs are valuable because it’s a free way to get information around, it’s like a ripple effect. For example, in 2005 I saw Paramore live. I went to school the next day and was going on and on about them and telling people to check them out. I might have told 5 of my close friends about them. I got 4 out of the 5 friends to love them, those 4 friends went on to tell their 5 friends about Paramore and the cycle continued. Word of mouth is great marketing if you ask me. It’s free for companies to get their product out there. 

For class this month I am in an intro to marketing class and we are talking about blogs.My target audience for this blog are people in my class, people who are interested in the same music I am, people who read blogs, people on my facebook, and potential employers. 

 I am a fan of blogs because they help me write down my feelings and they introduce me to some cool artwork. The blog that I mostly use is on Tumblr and that account is mostly for posting random thoughts and pictures. I do have a link for that blog posted on the right under my links section if you want to check it out. For this blog I want to use it for music. Music has and will always play a huge part in my life. I want to have reviews on new music that comes out, I want to share play lists that I have created, and I want to share my experiences and feelings that happen when I listen to certain things. Music is something that I am extremely passionate about and I want to share that with you! 

Enjoy! 

Chloe :D