Swaying Elephants: It’s Complicated

Whether you are celebrating Valentine’s Day or Anti-Valentine’s Day, music will likely help set the mood. We will get back to Anti-Valentine’s later, but first, let us explore the relationship between music and love. It is such a powerful part of the human experience, choosing the perfect playlist to play when you are with your special someone can help make your Valentine’s Day magical.

First, a little history of this lovely day. The origins of Valentine’s Day are a little muddled, but we know that it started during Roman times approximately 500 A.D. Sadly, music, flowers, and chocolates were not involved. Poets Shakespeare and Chaucer romanticized this holiday into what we know it as today. Now, here comes the music part. Shakespeare, being the incredible artist that he was, recognized how music influenced people’s emotions well before scientific research proved it. In 1853, a scientific study was conducted on elephants to search for evidence connecting music to pleasure and love. Why elephants though? Elephants have intellectual and emotional similarities to humans (Bonus science lesson). Anyway, when the elephants heard the music, they began to experience pleasure and were observed touching and swaying with one another as if moving to the beat. Finally, in 1954, Oxford published a formal study in the journal Music and Letters. People, not animals, were tested and the study discovered how music directly stimulated the thalamus gland to produce excess endorphins that can either heighten or dampen one’s mood. Since 1953, many studies have been conducted that emphasize very similar findings, from elephants to endorphins and emotions.

Now for the not so loveliness of Anti-Valentine’s Day. Anti-Valentine’s Day or Singles Awareness Day (SAD) was started in 2001 by Dustin Barnes right here in Mississippi (Bonus history lesson). Dustin started it while in high school and carried the tradition on to Mississippi State University. It became official in 2005. And here comes the music part… in 2009, musician Joseph Vincent wrote a SAD song. It explains how many people actually feel about Valentine’s Day. Of course, many artists have written hundreds of anti-love songs so you can enjoy not being a victim of Cupid’s arrow.

So, whether you are dragging out your lutes and harps, 8 tracks, mixed tapes, or downloading songs from FreegalMusic to make the perfect playlist, music is the first thing you need for the perfect Valentine’s Day (or Anti-Valentine’s Day).

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Great Holiday Fun is Happening at the Brandon Library!

Come for our Christmas Puppet Show on Saturday, December 7 at 1 p.m. There will be a yummy donuts wreath treat and a refreshing walk to read the December story walk book while singing carols.  The drawing for the Duck Hunting prize will be announced during this show.  Thank you, Friends of the Brandon Library, for this fun activity!

For our Family Night on December 12 at 6 p.m. Santa will be at the library! 

Music will be provided by the Northwest Rankin Middle School Holiday Caroling group. We will make a Christmas craft and have cookies and hot chocolate! 

Teens bring your sweet tooth and your decorative skills to Teen Time on Monday, December 9 at 5:00 p.m.  where we will be doing Cupcake Wars!

Beading Class will be beading and partying at 4 p.m. on December 9.  Bring your jewelry tools and a snack to share. 

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What's New With Brandon

Hello Teens!

We have so many awesome things going on at the Brandon Library right now!

First, as you can see in the picture, we have just created another "Musical Message" guessing game. The way this works is that every season, a new piece of music that relates to that season (in some way, normally...depending on how you interpret my sarcastic sense of humor) appears above the Young Adult section in the library. Your mission is to determine which song the piece of music belongs to. I do have some mercy, so there are a few hints as to what it is. Whoever accomplishes this mission will receive a prize. Don't worry: the next piece will not appear until Summer Reading, so you have plenty of time to puzzle it out...if you can.

For Teen Tech Week, I was able to share some of my expertise with creating game shows with those lucky enough to attend. Since most of my game shows use PowerPoint, it was easier to break down to something that could also be used to give a presentation just a little spice. And you never know, maybe there will be a project that requires a game show one day. For the next program, we will be having our semi-regular game night. This will be mostly for middle graders, but high schoolers are still welcome. However, this program will be on a Thursday, March 14 at 5:00 pm instead of our usual Monday programs.

Also, our monthly Whose Line Is It Anyway program will be Monday, March 25 at 5:00 pm. This program is made up of a collection of improv games allowing you to unleash your inner comedian. These games change from month to month and occasionally have a theme. Act out silly suggestions on the spot with your friends, even dare them to match your skills. Also, feel free to add to our suggestion containers throughout the month for any willing victims--volunteers, I mean, to act out on the day of the program. Come join the hilarious shenanigans!

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Music Monday: Imogen Heap

It’s Music Monday! What does that mean? The Central Mississippi Regional Library System has a ridiculous amount of FREE to you resources available for patrons. One of those is Freegal, a free and legal service that now allows patrons to download five songs each week for FREE (notice the emphasis on free). Every Monday we’ll be picking five songs that we love that are available on Freegal for you to download. Don’t forget, as of October, you also get three hours of streaming music every day for free, too!

I’ve been in love with Imogen Heap for years, before I even realized who she was. Many of you might have heard her voice even if you don’t recognize the name, because along with her solo albums, she’s part of the duo Frou Frou and the originator of the “Mmm Whatcha Say” meme.

…Yep. Before it got yanked and remixed into various songs and SNL skits, the infamous line came from Imogen’s song “Hide and Seek” on her album Speak For Yourself.

Here are some of my favorites from Imogen (no. 3 is from Frou Frou but it still counts!):

1. The Walk on Speak For Yourself

It's not meant to be like this, not what I planned at all / I don't want to feel like this, so that makes it all your fault

2. The Moment I Said It on Speak For Yourself

It's not even light out, but you've somewhere to be--no hesitation

3.  Let Go on The Garden State Soundtrack

Drink up baby doll / are you in or out?

4. Hide and Seek on Speak For Yourself

Hide and seek / Trains and sewing machines

Honestly, pretty much everything Imogen Heap does is awesome. If any of these catch your eye, head on over Freegal and download them, or check out some of her other music! All you need is your library card and pin number.

Have fun!

--Kayla

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Music Monday: Emerging Hip-Hop Artists

IT'S MUSIC MONDAY!

What does that mean? Central Mississippi Regional Library System has a ridiculous amount of FREE to you resources available for patrons. One of those resources is Freegal, a free and legal service that allows patrons to download five songs each week for FREE (notice the emphasis on free). Using your CMRLS library card, you can access over 7 million songs from over 28,000 labels including the Sony Music Catalog of your country. So, every Monday on the blog we'll be picking five songs that we love that are available on Freegal for you as a patron to download. 

In case you missed my announcement last week, here's the best new addition to Freegal: STREAMING! 

Yep, it's true. Beginning Sunday, October 25 patrons that log-in with their library card and pin number may stream up to three hours of music per day for free (via desktop or mobile)! You can also create and save numerous playlists for streaming, and this will not count against your usual 5 downloads! How awesome is that? 

So, in my opinion, it's been a pretty great year for hip-hop and R&B. With successful full-length releases from well-known artists like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Rae Sremmurd and A$AP Rocky;  honestly it'd be hard to claim otherwise. But what about the little guys in this industry? Lately I've been on a kick to hunt down the emerging artists trying to break into the game, and I've compiled a short list of some of my favorite songs (and videos) by some of these artists so far:


1] Your Love - Mick Jenkins

2] Antidote - Travis Scott

3] Are You... Can You... Were You? by Shabazz Palaces

4] I Shot You Down by Isaiah Rashad

5] Agoraphobia by Ethereal ft. Alexandria and Archibald Slim

Unsurprisingly, there are many up-and-coming artists' music out there that I've been listening to recently that Freegal unfortunately does not provide (like Namebrand, Kehlani, Appleby and Lyrica Anderson), but these select artists are indeed available! So if any of the aforementioned sounds like something you might like, head on over to Freegal to check them out! 

And that's all I've got for today kids. 
Happy Mondaze.

Cheers,
Anna

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Music Monday: Fall weather picks

It’s Music Monday! What does that mean? The Central Mississippi Regional Library System has a ridiculous amount of FREE to you resources available for patrons. One of those is Freegal, a free and legal service that now allows patrons to download five songs each week for FREE (notice the emphasis on free). Every Monday we’ll be picking five songs that we love that are available on Freegal for you to download.

Source

I drove to work today with the windows rolled down and my music blaring. It was a GORGEOUS 70 degrees on the trip. That is beautiful weather, which calls for beautiful music. (Yes, I know it’s only going to last for like three days. I’m going to appreciate it while it’s here). There is a distinctive change in the type of music I listen to when fall comes. Unfortunately, most of that music in not on Freegal, but here are five songs I love to listen to in the fall that are:

SWEATER WEATHER by The Neighbourhood (I listen to them year round)

COAL WAR by Joshua James (ALL of the Joshua James in the fall)

NO MILK TODAY by Joshua James & the Forest Rangers (from the Sons of Anarchy soundtrack)

BARTON HOLLOW by The Civil Wars

LOVER OF THE LIGHT by Mumford & Sons

If any of these catch your eye, head on over to Freegal and download them all for FREE and start your fall playlist!

-- Stefani

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Music Monday: A$AP Rocky

It’s Music Monday! What does that mean? The Central Mississippi Regional Library System has a ridiculous amount of FREE to you resources available for patrons. One of those is Freegal, a free and legal service that now allows patrons to download five songs each week for FREE (notice the emphasis on free). Every Monday we’ll be picking five songs that we love that are available on Freegal for you to download.

Last night was the MTV Video Music Awards, which honestly, I don't care for overall, but they had one performance that I HAD to watch - a twenty one pilots (purposefully NOT capitalized) and A$AP Rocky mashup. You can check out the full performance on the MTV website HERE, but I thought I'd share the songs that were in the performance. Unfortunately, Freegal does not feature songs from twenty one pilots, but here are some A$AP Rocky songs you might like.

The A$AP songs in the performance last night were:

1. M'$
2. LSD

Here are a few more songs by A$AP Rocky I like:

3. Wild for the Night featuring Skrillex and Birdy Nam Nam
4. Everyday featuring Rod Stewart, Miguel, and Mark Ronson
5. Fine Whine featuring M.I.A., Future, Joe Fox

If any of these catch your eye, head on over to Freegal and download them all for FREE! Yeah, our choices are eclectic, but at least you get a good mix here!

- Stefani

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Collaborative Music Monday: RANDOM SONGS!

It’s Music Monday! What does that mean? The Central Mississippi Regional Library System has a ridiculous amount of FREE to you resources available for patrons. One of those is Freegal, a free and legal service that now allows patrons to download five songs each week for FREE (notice the emphasis on free). Every Monday we’ll be picking five songs that we love that are available on Freegal for you to download.

Stefani's choice:

1. "RIP 2 My Youth" by The Neighbourhood

"Put me in the dirt, let me dream with the stars."

2. "Disasterology" by Pierce the Veil

"Can we create something beautiful and destroy it?Nobody knows I dream about it, this is my imagination.If every living thing dies alone, what am I doing here?"

Anna's choice:

3. "Midnight City" by M83

"The city is my church, 

It wraps me in the sparkling twilight."

4. "The Weight of Lies" by The Avett Brothers

"I once heard the worst thing a man can do is draw a hungry crowd.
Tell everyone his name, pride, and confidence,
But leaving out his doubts."

Our choice:

5. "Sweatpants" by Childish Gambino

"Yeah, you got some silverware, but really are you eating though?"

If any of these catch your eye, head on over to Freegal and download them all for FREE! Yeah, our choices are eclectic, but at least you get a good mix here!

-- Stefani & Anna

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Music Monday: The Neighbourhood

It’s Music Monday! What does that mean? The Central Mississippi Regional Library System has a ridiculous amount of FREE to you resources available for patrons. One of those is Freegal, a free and legal service that now allows patrons to download five songs each week for FREE (notice the emphasis on free). Every Monday we’ll be picking five songs that we love that are available on Freegal for you to download.

I have seen The Neighbourhood live four times and have already purchased a ticket to see them for the fifth time next month. It’s safe to say they are one of my favorite bands and definitely in the top three bands I love seeing live. It’s hard to put into words why and how much I love them, because they are a hard band to categorize – I suppose that’s probably the main reason I love them so much. I first heard the band on YouTube while living in Scotland in 2012. A music venue was doing a giveaway for tickets to their show and I entered on a whim and won. This was just a few months after they released their first two singles – Sweater Weather and Female Robbery – and hardly anyone knew who they were. They weren’t even on the radio at this point. It was one of the best live performances I have ever seen and the band members were SO nice and humble. Anyway, I love this band and you should all listen to them. :)

Here are five of the songs I’d recommend listening to by The Neighbourhood (unfortunately, my favorite song, “Afraid”, is not on Freegal – though the video is!). I’m going to do it a little differently this time and give you the song title and my favorite lyric from the song.

1. West Coast on The Love Collection

They say it's happy here, happiness is figurative,I'm happy 'cause I’m me, doesn't matter where I'm livingWhen it's said and done,Let it go.In weakness or in strength,Change can be amazing.I've been learning since, but it doesn't mean I'll float

2. Let It Go on I Love You.

Remember what the people said,

3. Honest on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 soundtrack

I hope you find a way to be yourself someday,

4. Alleyways on I Love You.

I knew myself before I knew anyone

5. Float on I Love You.

They show you how to swim, then they throw you in the deep end

I could seriously go on and on, because, really, I think you should listen to all of their songs. BUT if any of these catch your eye, head on over Freegal and download them, or check out some of The Neighbourhood’s other music! All you need is your library card and pin number, and you’re good to go!

-- Stefani

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Music Monday: Florence + The Machine

It’s Music Monday! What does that mean? The Central Mississippi Regional Library System has a ridiculous amount of FREE to you resources available for patrons. One of those is Freegal, a free and legal service that allows patrons to download three songs each week for FREE (notice the emphasis on free). Every Monday we’ll be picking three songs that we love that are available on Freegal for you to download.

Anna was lovely enough to mention Florence Welch in last week’s Music Monday post, and I realized that my obsession with Florence + The Machine could not be bottled up any longer.

It had been a while since I’d loved an album in its entirety like I loved their first album, Lungs, so I was nervous when Ceremonials came out. Sophomore slump is a real thing, y’all—but apparently not for Florence, because Ceremonials took what I loved about Lungs and flew with it. Lungs is beautifully haunting, and while many tracks on Ceremonials certainly have that vibe (Seven Devils and Leave My Body being the two most prominent examples), the rest is like coming up for air from the bottom of the ocean. I have yet to hear the entirety of their newest album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, but I’m so excited (especially if What Kind of Man and Ship to Wreck are any indication of its quality)! They just keep growing and evolving for the better, and I love it.

I’m about as terrible as Stefani is at picking just three, but I’m going to try to narrow my selections down as best I can:

1. Howl – This one starts relatively quietly but builds into something epic. It’s dark and it’s creepy and intimate and basically, if there was a movie about The Wolf Man that wasn’t terrible, this song would be its theme.
2. Between Two Lungs – This one is weird, but, like, in a really good way? Unconventional music style plus strange pauses keep you on your toes, but it’s beautiful, and if you’re not smiling at the end then I’ve got nothing for you.
3. All This and Heaven Too – This may be the single most adorable song in the world about why love is both bizarre and awesomely indescribable.

Other favorites include: Strangeness and Charm, Blinding, and No Light, No Light. And, you know, all the rest.

If any of these catch your eye, head on over Freegal and download them, or check out some of Florence + The Machine’s other music! All you need is your library card and pin number, and you’re good to go!

-Kayla

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