After taking a couple weeks off recently from posting music and art here on carolkroll.com, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to take more time off from my self imposed deadlines right now to slow down, focus and take my time with the things that I’m currently working on and in the middle of. Haste makes waste, garbage in garbage out and so forth.

Like the internet, summer is loud, busy and distracting so back down inside the quiet dark rabbit hole I must go. I’m planning on resurfacing Wednesday, September 1, 2021 with more art, music and whimsy. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you all in the fall with new concoctions and nonsense. Until then, please keep well everyone. The world is still quite a mess.

This is a piece I did right after I decided to go freelance in 2006 and leave the corporate world. I hadn’t watercolored or properly “drawn” in years, and I remember it being foreign to me which was not a good feeling. It took a long time to readjust to civilian life and be in a place where I could really focus and center. I came across it last week when I found the Bluebird vs Blackbird piece and I'm happy to report, was not a flood casualty. It’s postcard size and there is a front and a back which I’ve posted here. This was the result of a gorgeous spring day on the patio drawing the flowers in the planter and finally, I was able to be “in the moment”. Please enjoy and thank you for stopping by today!

I’ve been listening to a lot of Cuban music on Pandora lately because trumpets. You cannot be in a bad mood when you listen to trumpets. I am a sucker for horn sections in songs so I chose Ring of Fire for today’s Carolaoke track. I added harmonies/backing vocals to this one and if you listen real closely (not that close), you’ll hear that Toby added his vocals (screams and shrieks) here and there. It’s Summer Solstice and if ever there is NEVER a time to record music in your house as a bird owner, this would be it. My birds have been off the hook crazed by the 24 hours of daylight lately. If there never was night, I’m convinced that birds would never sleep. Ever. Darkness is their Kryptonite and the only thing that makes them quiet. They are seriously like Gremlins and turn into monsters when the sun is involved. Like a child that was fed too much candy and caffeine all day. So today they had impromptu covered cage naps so that they would calm down the F down and I could finish recording. While listening to this ditty today, consider pretending that I’m singing live from a zoo festival.

Carolaoke Track: Ring of Fire

I’ve been immersed in watercolor these days and it took quite a bit to get back to that quiet place. While going through more of my artifacts upstairs, I came across this painting I did as a follow-up to the original “Bluebird of Happiness Verses Blackbird of Depression”. I forgot I added a second chapter to that painting and found it this week hiding upstairs in a portfolio I thought had been downstairs during flood times. This watercolor painting was done in 2008; my ongoing personal comment about the battle with happiness and depression. A busy airport with moods and thoughts coming from all directions and you’re the one directing it all into one place. Kind of like John de Lancie in Breaking Bad.

Today is a scratch track “sample” and not a full song. Why only a sample, Carol? Because some discoveries were made in the production of this ditty today. The “full album version” of this song is not available on iTunes as a karaoke track. Perhaps it’s a radio edit version, I don’t know, but it really threw a wrench in my Music Monday. After listening to other versions on iTunes, they are all the edited version and leave out the best part of this song which are these lyrics:

I’m gonna soak up the sun
While it's still free
I'm gonna soak up the sun
Before it goes out on me

Don't have no master suite
But I'm still the king of me
You have a fancy ride, but baby
I'm the one who has the key

-Sheryl Crow (Soak Up The Sun)

I am not in the headspace to Frankenstein the inside of this karaoke track today to match the music of the full album version (or even if I could for that matter) so I’m only offering a small Carolaoke sample today. As a lot of you know, I continue to try to make friends with summer this year; summer is making that difficult but I will still try. This song always makes me feel hopeful about summer.

Carolaoke Soak Up The Sun Sample