Category: Music

#162 of 366: Turn the Tide, 2WEI, Edda Hayes, Kataem, (and informally An Ode to My Ava-Bean)

What. A. Weekend.

This weekend is going to be a core memory for me. It’s the closest I’ve ever felt to being a father.

As many and most of you have come to know, my Ava-Bean is the light of my life. I’ve always wanted a daughter, and she’s one of the best surrogate ones I could’ve ever been blessed with.

She surpassed my wildest expectations this weekend not only in her performance, but in her resiliency. In the growth I’ve seen her show mentally. Her ability to deal with adversity. Exhaustion. Anxiety.

In scanning for a song for tomorrow’s post, I randomly clicked on this one, and felt a resonance in it’s relation to this weekends events, and specifically today’s!

The song serves as a wish for her future and honestly those of her teammates over the years that I’ve come to know and love because of their proximity to my world (ha, literally my life, and figuratively, Ava). I’ve become invested in so many young athletes over her career in soccer and track that I feel like I’ve coached 100s of kids in a small way. I’ve felt honored to see some of my photography featured on their socials.

My hope for my Ava-Bean though? I hope she forever remains the formidable, adorable, confident, loving, hilarious, and authentic person she is.

The lyrics, in their entirety. May they be a foreshadowing of her, and those kids’, futures.

“Born to be rising, woken by the crack of dawn, sworn to survival, even with your shackles on, time for the showdown, lighting that fire never goes out, climbing so high let ’em know now, know your name, are you ready for the call?, feel the urge in side you wanting to win, it’s pulling you in, ready for it all?, if there’s any moment, now is the one, are you ready for the call?, making history won’t settle for less, the best of the best, heroes never fall, when the challengers align, let ’em come, we belong with the fearless, we belong with the brave, when the world hears us, let ’em know our name, this our legacy, this is our destiny, there is no stopping the champions, we will rise, we will rise, we will rise, today we turn the tide, break the gates, break the door down, whatever’s in the way is getting torn down, best not pick the other side beyond your surest doubts, if you ain’t know it then you should know it now, one tap, one tap, one tap, one dub, my team do enough, ain’t a fear that’s covered, guess you gotta study, all the pressure we applied, come take a dive in the tides I’m under, come check the rise that refined my hunger, here’s a little wave on yo way down, everything we tried to undermine was applied to my brother, our time’s coming any day now, no winner if it ain’t us, better pay up, made the battle our own, I don’t ever show ’em any fear, better steer clear, I don’t test the water where the winners all dove, naw, I couldn’t relate to that with my faith, even if the height’s too tall, all those who ain’t with me is in the way, but tell me, are you ready for the call?, feel the urge inside you wanting to win, it’s pulling you in, ready for it all?, if there’s any moment, now is the one, are you ready for the call?, making history won’t settle for less, the best of the best, heroes never fall, when the challengers align, let ’em come, we belong with the fearless, we belong with the brave, when the whole world hears us, let them know our name, this is our legacy, this is our destiny, there is no stopping the champions, we will rise, we will rise, we will rise, today we turn the tide.

Ava-Bean Rae McAuliffe

2024 NYSPHSAA Track and Field Championships

4th place Girls Division 2 400 meter dash

5th place Girls Division 2 200 meter dash

6th place Girls Federation (entire state) 400 meter dash

Be good, do good.

#152 of 366: I Think I Like When It Rains, WILLIS

I skipped through so many song tonight trying to find “THE VIBE” that I wanted to share for the next post, and this is what I landed on.

I hope this song inspires in you the superchill quietude that it did in me.

That’s the energy I want to impart after my hectic afternoon at school. Let’s slow things down in our mind as much as we can today. I’m setting a goal of doing a Headspace in the AM, midday, and before bed. What are you gonna do for you today?

Be good, do good.

#151 of 366: Paint My Bedroom Black, Holly Humberstone

“And now I’m pulling out of your driveway, finally, I’m living, not surviving, and it’s funny you said I’d never have the guts, well, suck it up, I’m gonna bottle up this feeling, now, with the windows down, I am reborn, in the ever-fading light, you know you once were a someone I adored, well never mind”

No witty commentary on this one, just a cool song from Holly Humberstone, whom I like even more the more I listen to her. Great ditty about moving on from a bad relationship. She’s got a great voice, and it shows in this song. Enjoy!

BGDG.

#150 of 366: All We Are, TiRon & Ayomari

I love that the beginning of this song uses a viral YouTube video in it’s intro.

That message really goes hand in hand with the message shared by the song.

“All of us (all of us), grow up (grow up), trying to find our space (our space), trying to find out piece (our piece), of a pie, of a friend, of a love, on-the-go, some days you can feel out of place, like you can’t keep pace, don’t it feel like we in a race, like it’s me vs. you, or, it’s us vs. them, acting like, if you win I lose, like, we both can’t win, so one of us might as well just give up, cause around here we don’t give out helping hands, you can’t believe that though, cause it’s just not true, cause I know by myself I can go 85 or maybe do 150 with some help from you”

Food for thought today. BGDG.