I will no longer apologize for having neglected this baby -- it is what it is... Having posted over 80 articles in the past year on the SEC women's basketball website, along with working full time and assisting my Mom, I get to this one when time allows and the mood strikes. Guess what? I'm in the mood to write and I'm making the time because I love to share stuff I care about, which brings me to tonight's ramblings...

In case you don't know, I love music. Along with good books and well-written movies, music ranks right up there as a necessary essential in my life. I cannot imagine a single day going by that I don't listen to some type of music. My tastes are varied and far-flung. I have a special affinity for independent artists who refuse to sell their souls to the devil to get a record deal. Some of the most phenomenal music out there is being created by folks who will never be heard by much more than their families, friends and a few but loyal followers. But I have stumbled upon an artist who is starting to get some well-deserved recognition and I sincerely hope it continues. She is an immensely talented voice -- both lyrically and musically.

Discovering good new music always gives me a buzz, and the sources can be as varied as catching a snippet on the radio (although, for me, this happens rather infrequently since most of what I listen to rarely - if ever - receives airplay) or something one of my friends recommends. Because of my screenwriting aspirations, more than a few of my discoveries have come from movie scores. I am a firm believer that, in order for a movie to work, it must have the complete package -- and a fitting score is an oft overlooked essential. Just recently, I was watching "Blue Crush." Don't laugh -- although marketed to appeal to teenage boys with it's sexy young cast of toned and tanned females, it was a surprisingly passable film, due mainly to the stunning cinematography shot on location in Hawaii with a few additional surfing scenes shot in Fiji. The story, although simplistic and somewhat predictable, was refreshing in it's approach of showing an empowered young female who didn't need rescuing, nor was she relegated to the sidelines to cheer on her hero. SHE was the surfer facing her fears and the blue crush of the North Shore's Banzai Pipeline.

OK... about the music. In a particularly cute love scene between our heroine and her hunky guy, one of the most stunning songs is playing in the background. Being the pit bull I am when it comes to finding something I'm after, I impatiently scrolled through the soundtrack credits in search of the song that caught my ear. After a few swings and misses, I finally struck paydirt: the song in question is called "Destiny" and it was performed by a group I'd never heard of -- Zero 7. Further research led me to find out that Zero 7 is actually just two guys -- top session players/engineers/producers from London who bring in other top studio musicians to play with them, and they have a rotating lineup of some of the best European vocalists to front the band. After downloading enough songs to know I was hooked, I immediately went and purchased 3 Zero 7 cds. I was at once smitten with the vocals of both Tina Dico and Sia Furler, a striking 6-foot Danish blonde and a quirky Aussie/transplanted Londoner. The next cds added to my ever burgeoning collection were several by Dico, whose solo work is more acoustically geared than the synth-pop sound of Zero 7 - think Joni Mitchell and Dusty Springfield had a lovechild.

But the most utterly satisfying discovery in all of this is the quirky Furler. To visit her website is to step into a pantheon of child's play -- crude crayon drawings of stick figures, rainbows and sunshine. To see her perform live through the wonders of YouTube have prompted several to snidely remark she must be mentally challenged or on drugs. Or both. But make no mistake: when Furler opens her mouth to sing, nothing but pure genius pours out. She is an audiophiles's dream -- better live than on cd. (Which leads me to two conclusions: the next time I have the chance to see her live I must go, and secondly, her record producers should be shot on sight.) Sia Furler should be recorded live in concert for each and every cd she puts out, otherwise she's being over-engineered and way over-produced. (See the entire set-list on YouTube of her early morning live/in studio performance on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" in 2007 for compelling evidence.) Furler is a goofball -- an overgrown kid who takes nothing seriously and cuts up incessantly between songs. She makes funny faces and dances around in her seat like a kindergartner in need of a restroom. Her live performance of "Buttons" on Jimmy Kimmel in January 2008 is the best use of glow-in-the-dark paint I've ever seen. For an immediate pick-me-up that never fails to put a smile on my face, I always watch this video.

But the most stunning performance of a song I've ever witnessed is her KCRW rendering of the semi-famous "Breathe Me." If anyone by now is beginning to scratch their heads and mumble to themselves "I think I've heard that before" it's because an extended mix of the song was playing over the final scene of the critically acclaimed Alan Ball-written"Six Feet Under." Many folks went clamoring to find the song after that stunning finale, but her KCRW live rendering is the best version she's ever performed. Furler goes from goofball to genius in 2.3 seconds as soon as the opening chords are played. In this extended version, there is a complete passage of her matching a cello note for note before launching into the most stunning vocals that are a window into her soul. It is a wail that is grief-filled and yet cathartic. No matter how many times I've seen this performance, it gives me goosebumps and makes me cry. The woman is sheer genius.

To truly appreciate the depth of emotion that Furler gives this performance, it helps to know a little about her background. This free-spirited Aussie set out to see the world with her boyfriend, and while he traveled ahead, she took a different path with plans to meet him in London in time for his birthday. Furler got sidetracked and called him, asking if it would be ok if she detoured through Thailand, even though that would push her arrival a week late and she would miss his birthday. He insisted it was fine, and on the night of his birthday celebration, Furler's first true love was tragically run over and killed by a cab he was hailing. With nowhere else to go and a heart full of grief, anger, guilt and a full gamut of emotions, Furler traveled on to London and moved in with his flatmates, where they tried to drown their grief in a haze of booze and drugs. Furler admits to the abuses and the ensuing breakdown she suffered, and it was only through years of therapy that followed that Furler was able to emerge as the singer you see and hear today.

Do yourself a favor: go to YouTube and watch this breathtaking performance, but if music speaks to your soul the way it does to mine, be prepared to cry. And then be prepared to smile that you've enjoyed a glimpse of the genius that is Sia Furler.