The above playlist are all songs dedicated to my brother Jack.
How d'ya like them apples?
Music and Dancing!
I've always thought I'm a schizophrenic because I like a lot of opposite things- I consider myself a city girl and a country girl, I love to lay out in the sun and walk around at night, I like the moon when it's big and orange, or when it's a tiny little slice, my favorite weather is when it's sunny and bright, but windy and chilly at the same time, yet I also love a huge thunder and lightning storm- especially if I'm sleeping. I love to read but I still watch way too much TV, I like to wear glittery costumes with lots of make-up, but there's nothing like a faded pair of jeans and an old concert shirt. I'm usually barefoot, but I still love pretty shoes and cool boots. I love really loud music and the quiet of the woods or the sound of waves. I like some heavy metal and I like yodeling. I love to be around a bunch of friends and I love to have a whole day all by myself. I feel like a very happy person and a really sad one- especially lately. I laugh really loud, and cry too much-- sad song, sad movie, sad news report- forget it! Hell, for that matter, even sweet song, sweet movie, sweet news report gets me, I'm totally hopeless!
I'm attempting to learn to play some instruments- I know how to play finger cymbals (zills, sagat) pretty well, I know a few guitar chords but can't really play very well, I have harmonicas, a doumbek, a keyboard, & an autoharp (if you've never seen one it's what Janis Joplin is playing in the photo on this page) which I swear I'm going to really practice this time.
I also love to sing although my voice is not as good as I'd like, I jam with friends sometimes, either singing classic rock songs or old-timey mountain music songs. Occasionally I go to a bluegrass jam session and sing/listen/yodel.
“Gonna rise up, burning black holes in dark memories. Gonna rise up, find my direction magnetically” Eddie Vedder
Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy--Anne Frank
One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life
The words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels--Hazrat Inayat Khan
There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness- Nietzche
Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself--Henry Miller
If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid---Epictetus
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it--Keller
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved--Keller
Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives--William Dement
The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure--Mikhail Baryshnikov
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm--Winston Churchill
The point of living and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough to believe the best is yet to come
I have great faith in fools - my friends call it self-confidence--Poe
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.... You must do the thing which you think you cannot do." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one--Froude
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion--Sir Francis Bacon
Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane--H.P. Lovecraft
I would not know what the spirit of a philosopher might wish more to be than a good dancer--Nietzche
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance--George Bernard Shaw
If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise--Fritz
Speak when you are angry--and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret--Laurence Peter
I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music--George Eliot
I cannot think well of a man who sports with any woman's feelings; and there may often be a great deal more suffered than a stander-by can judge of--Austen
You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this--Thoreau
The deeper sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain--Kahlil Gibran
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars--Kahlil Gibran
Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother-Kahlil Gibran
Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms Without the aid of the seasons--Kahlil Gibran
Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation--Kahlil Gibran
The lights of stars that were extinguished ages ago still reaches us. So it is with great men who died centuries ago, but still reach us with the radiations of their personalities--Kahlil Gibran
A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle--Kahlil Gibran
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.--Kahlil Gibran
Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away-- Elvis Presley
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
- Albert Einstein
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new--Einstein
Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence---Mencken
When we remember that we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained...Mark Twain
The price one pays for pursuing any profession is an intimate knowledge of it's ugly side...James Baldwin
“Success is not to be measured by the position someone has reached in life, but the obstacles he has overcome while trying to succeed.”...
Booker T. Washington
"Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it, I am going to use all of my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all human beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can."...
The XIV Dalai Lama
"Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt. Sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth."...
Mark Twain
“Be Who You Are And Say What You Feel Because Those Who Mind Don't Matter And Those Who Matter Don't Mind.”...
Theodor Seuss Geisel
"One's true wealth is not measured by his financial assets nor by the quantity of his material possessions, but by the quality of his relationships."
"Music is mediator between spiritual and sensual life."...
Ludwig Van Beethoven
"Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What's a sun-dial in the shade?"...
Benjamin Franklin
Music
Now the interesting stuff...you probably figured this out from the who I'd like to meet category- same list! First and foremost, my pre-namesake, ELVIS! Even better than he gets credit for, and that's saying a lot. Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, the Beatles, Black Sabbath, ZZ Top, the Allman Brothers, Frank Zappa, the Ramones, Grateful Dead, Nirvana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Hank Williams, Memphis Minnie, Willie Nelson, the Carter Family, Stevie Nicks, Ravi Shankar, Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Jerry Lee Lewis, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, the Beach Boys, the Bee Gees, The Band, Aerosmith, Gram Parsons, Sam Cooke, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Dick Dale, Smoky Robinson and the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Jimmie Rodgers, Bill Monroe, George Jones, the Band, early Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Beastie Boys, Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, any old blues, Django Reinhardt, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, Townes Van Zandt, etc.
Ey Boy, yew got purty lips...
When it comes to Arabic music the 'Sultan of Swing' is Hossam Ramzy, of course- most awesome, and his albums with Phil Thornton have some of my very favorite songs, and I love George Abdo and the Jalilah's Raks Sharqi series (especially Journey of the Gypsy Dancer), Solace, Light Rain, Claude Chalhoub, David Macejka, Galactic Caravan, Raquy and the Cavemen, and GYPSY CARAVAN- the music of my dreams! Basically anything from the old classics to some of the modern pop and club style stuff, but I'm perfectly happy with some straight-from-the-desert whiny ney music...
..
My theme song...;o)
Movies
Don't recall how good the old Sinbad movie was but this gorgeous thing was in it...
Okay- let's see...Fast Times at Ridgemont High- (everyone called me Spicoli in Junior High- I don't know why ;o)
The Shining & Carrie- the originals, of course!,
Castaway (I'm so stupid I still cry when Wilson floats away, and I've seen it at least 10 times!! Geez!),
Rainman- also cry every time,
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,
Titanic (with Kate Winslet- she's so purty),
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest,
Braveheart, The Highlander,
Thelma & Louise,
The Color Purple,
The Wizard of Oz,
Raging Bull,
GoodFellas,
The Notebook,
Bad Boys (1983),
The Outsiders, Freeway, Shogun Assassin, Mad Hot Ballroom, Rabbit-proof Fence, Bridges of Madison County- here I go, crying again- who the hell wouldn't run away with Clint Eastwood, stupid!? (and most Clint movies are great).
Scarface--there's no place like home ;o) )
And then there is the Travolta Trilogy- Grease, Saturday Night Fever, and Urban Cowboy
Documentary- Emmanuel's Gift, about Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, SEE IT!
Documentary 'Born into Brothels' about a woman teaching photography to a groups of children that live in Indian slums- it was really fantastic!! Some of the kids were so talented and smart!
Nightmare Before Christmas
And then for laughs (so I can NOT cry for a change, hallelujah!)- Dumb & Dumber, Cable Guy, Cheech & Chong series, the Big Lebowski, I'm sure there's others my brain is not thinking of right now-- oh my God, I almost forgot one of my favorites- The Full Monty, love watching that skinny little thing dance- too cute!
But the best of course is music on film...
Led Zeppelin Song Remains the Same, Pink Floyd The Wall, Jimi Hendrix Wild Blue Angel, Stevie Ray Vaughan Live at the El Mocambo, and the other one in Austin, Frank Zappa Baby Snakes, Elvis '68 Comeback Special, Elvis Aloha From Hawaii, anything with Elvis!
Television
Most Shocking, Scarred (I know- it's bad, I cringe every time), Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, stuff on Court TV, Overhaulin' & Pimp My Ride, Dirty Jobs, Orange County Choppers, Wild Boys, Punk'd, Rob & Big, house decorating shows, travel shows, cooking shows, Family Plots, documentaries about lots of things- especially music, history and storms, City Confidential, No Reservations, Link TV channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic channel AND the new Ovation channel on Directv- WOW- full of shows about art, music and dance...
Books
I try to read as much as possible! Lot's of biographies (mostly about musicians- who would have guessed?!), true crime, The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama, Al Franken, Dr. Suess, James Herriott (I've read everything of his- more than once), Laura Ingalls Wilder- also read everything, Ashley Brilliant, Shel Silverstein, Mark Twain, Anthony Bourdain, house decorating books, cookbooks, some history books- especially about American settlement, plus magazines about bellydancing (and other dance), computers, fashion, fitness, music, audio equipment, real estate, old houses, travel, etc.
A few months ago I read Elie Weisel's book 'Night' about the Holocaust, then two books on Titanic. Then Ann Rule's latest. Then 'Isaac's Storm' about the hurricane in Galveston at the turn of the century, then two books about the Johnstown Flood (yes, it was a very pleasant stint of reading lovely little stories (insert sarcastic face here!). Then I re-read all of James Herriott's books. Now I'm reading 'To Kill a Mockingbird'
Heroes
Cool people like these...
ALSO KNOWN AS
damn, that's a nice photo-- next one's cute, too...
That's my pretty little stringy-haired, crooked teeth, broken nose, sweaty-ass Texas boy
Literary Genius- a.k.a. Best Songwriter Ever
and he can play me that harmonica all day long!
Check out the killer Elvis shirt he's wearing!
Look at those skinny little legs...
Bruce Lee- this little boy coulda kicked your sorry butt any day of the week!
Georgie Porgie pudding and pie- kissed the girls and made them cry...
I'm Elviza, I bellydance professionally, teaching & performing at special events- plus I've been at UVA Restaurant in Coral Gables every weekend for over 4 years. I direct a dance troupe, was 'Magic Band of Gypsies' now I'm changing the name (but not telling yet), which includes my daughter Symphony. Since I never learned how to play an instrument besides finger cymbals it has been so much fun to get to do this as a career because I can finally be involved in performing with music- my favorite thing in the whole world. My web site is www dot elviza dot com.
I've also been a real estate agent since 1992. I love looking at houses, especially old ones- my husband thinks I'm crazy because I'll print out a list of houses built before 1950 and spend the whole day driving around just to pass by and admire them from the outside.
Whooohooooooo! Went to Roger Waters Friday- May 18th, 2007! As expected it totally kicked ass, even though I missed the beginning, for which I will never forgive myself... actually it's one of the best shows I've ever seen and I've seen my share...
I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)
Who I'd like to meet:
Everyone I'd like to meet is dead, pretty much---
ELVIS, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, George Harrison, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia, Patsy Cline, Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, John Lennon, John Bonham, Bon Scott, Brian Jones, Rick Danko, Patsy Cline, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bruce Lee, Kurt Cobain, Steve Irwin, Joey Ramone (you hear that cover he did of 'What a Wonderful World'? Such a little sweetie-pie), etc...
Okay, here's some live ones I'd like to meet,...
Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Ray Manzarek, Roger Waters, Stevie Nicks, Hossam Ramzy, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Rob Zombie-- and lest you think I'm only interested in musicians I'll have to add Al Franken! He probably plays an instrument, too- super-smart guy, great books, and loves the Grateful Dead- love him! Bob Costas, Bob Saget, George Carlin. Clint Eastwood- he's actually a musician also!
I just met Dick Dale after his mindblowing concert at Churchill's- really cool guy and incredibly talented!! I am now officially a Dick Head ;o)
Here's a toast to all my cool friends who I really appreciate!
JA! I cant remember?? pero cuando la vi me recorde de ti y lo guarde hace como 5 meses para tu B-day but you know con mi cabeza loca todo se me olvida!Sorry... Love, Monica
Happy belated B-day :( sorry sorry I am still wondering around in Argentina!!!!! LOL You are some hot stuff!! 38 years old and still looks fierce!!!!!!!!!:) you go girl!!
