Category: music musings

hmm interesting, is it just me?, mixed media, music musings, near and dear, that is so gay, the catch-all-egory

mismanaged monday meandering

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Alliteration, bitch, WHAT!?

So yeah, lots in my head today. Here we go.

  • I am still sort of reeling from the news that my friend is positive. He hasn’t told me, but I want to talk to him. Not sure of how to do that without seeming totally conspicuous. Perhaps I will use another friend as a contact. We’ll have to see where this goes.
  • I am not attracted to Ray Lamontagne at all (way too shaggy), but I definitely love him. His music is awesome. I am seriously all, Damien Rice who(?) now. HA!
  • I can’t believe that this article was written recently. Seriously, a checklist to see if your husband is gay? So basically, if your husband hates gay people, or, if he likes them and surround himself with gay people, he must be gay. Well, that is pretty much everyone, the gay haters, and the gay supporters; we must all be gay! WTF? I would like to believe that times are becoming more progressive, but people still holding these antiquated views of homosexuality really show that we have a long uphill battle ahead. Now, while I am sure that it is very difficult for a woman to discover that she is married to a gay man, I don’t like that the gay men are painted as some sort of predatory manipulator that is trying to take advantage of the marriage situation, just to make himself feel better (without regard for his wife’s feelings). That is just BS, and we all know it (at least, we should). Being gay is hard, and admitting it and living it is even harder; but getting married because you aren’t okay with your homosexuality isn’t some sort of manipulation game you are playing with, it is obviously way more complex than that. I just can’t believe that there is a checklist that reinforces all of those stupid stereotypes. Ugh, I would like to think that we are normalizing homosexuality, but things like this are just creating more stigma. Bleck.
  • I really don’t know how I feel about this. I mean, it is good that Barbara Walters is bring attention to something that really goes unnoticed (that is, until someone is beaten to death because they are transgendered) and something that is utterly shunned, but I don’t know what the impact on these kids will be. First of all, a HUGE kudos to the parents who support their children; I hate those so-called Christians that throw their children out because they didn’t come out exactly like “God made them”, i.e. “normal”. At least there are parents who are supporting their children. I guess my concern, is that exposure as transsexual really does put them at risk for those nutsos that really would want to beat them to death for who they are. I just have hope that people can change, you know? I just want the world to be more tolerant; is that so much to ask? Until the answer to that question is a resounding ‘no’, I will be concerned for people that deal with situations like being transgendered, and even for those that have the unfortunate circumstance of being gay in a very homophobic area. Be careful!
  • I painted two paintings last night. I think that it is definitely one of the first times I have painted something, and was very pleased with the initial results. It came out exactly as I imagined, and I haven’t second guessed the project at all. I am kind of floored with my lack of criticism, to be quite honest. I will put some pictures up, hopefully this afternoon. I can’t wait to hang them up!! It also reminds me of my utter wish that I could do creative things for a living… but alas, I do live in the real world, not the dream world where I get to do things I enjoy for a living…
  • Finally, a HUGE WTF for this story. I mean seriously… not one spider, but TWO SPIDERS were living in this kid’s ear. That freaks me the fuck out. My grandma was just telling me the other day that she cleaned out her boyfriend’s ears, and got a pea-sized amount of wax out (EW!) because he NEVER cleans them. WTF?! I am very weird about stuff in my ear, and I am just shivering thinking about a spider being in there. Yikes!

Yeah, so um, yeah. That’s what’s going on with me right now. How about you?

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post concert post: Aqualung and Sara Bareilles

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Based on the two previous photo posts, I am sure you got the idea; I saw Sara Bareilles and Aqualung in concert Monday night. I took lots of pictures. I had a lot of fun.

They were both magnificent. I got to meet both of them, and had my picture taken with both Sara and Matt (from Aqualung). Needless to say, it was sort of surreal, because I got a little fan-struck later in the night, which was definitely due to those blue motorcycles. I didn’t say anything that stupid, but I did ask Sara to redo a photo because the one I took with her initially, I had fat face. She laughed and obliged. To Matt, I managed to look like an idiot, because the first thing I said to him was, “I’ve never heard of you before tonight”. Wow. Nice one, duane. I followed it up with, “but I am totally going to get your CD tomorrow!”. Good save, eh? I did manage to get his new one, and it is quite fabulous. I am glad to have discovered Aqualung! Rock!

Oh well, no real harm done, I guess. If you want to see the MANY photos of the night, check out my flickr page. I had a lot of fun taking them, and not so much fun editing them. Thanks again to Barry and Rebekah for inviting me along, and a big thanks to Doug for hooking me up with photo creds! Now if I can only have future opportunities to take concert photos, get good enough at it to do it more, and get paid… Now, THAT would rock!

Also, just so you know, if you haven’t heard of Sara Bareilles before now, you need to catch up. She is amazing. Words can’t describe how awesome she is. Her CD is coming out soon, and I have been eagerly awaiting its release for nearly 2 years. And I will get it the day it comes out. To get a taste of her sound, make sure you go and buy her EP on iTunes… It is only $2, and it will be the best $2 you ever spent on music. She is flawless, and I hope that she becomes the big ass star she deserves to be. This woman is the true epitome of talent. I heart you Sara B!!

On a different note, is it me, or is there a big hush over the blogosphere? I mean, it doesn’t seem like there is much going on, and there certainly isn’t any conversation going on over in my neck of the woods. No biggie, just noticed it, that’s all. Hope everyone is well, and hope y’all come back soon…

hmm interesting, is it just me?, mixed media, music musings, photography, politics, venting

Rove vs. Crow and some music stuff to smooth out the stink

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Wow. I knew that Rove was an ass, but it is pretty interesting that he is such an ass in such a public way. Apparently, Sheryl Crow and Laurie David (the producer of An Inconvenient Truth) were at a dinner with Rove, and tried to talk with him about global warming. Rather than just have a talk with them, he got very defensive, and ended up telling them that he didn’t have to talk to them, because he didn’t work for them; he worked for the American people. To which Crow responded, “we ARE the American people”. Whoa. Harsh.

That just begs to question Rove’s, and frankly most of the top dogs of this administration, motives in what they do. If they don’t really think of some people as Americans because of the fact that they have popular positions in society, and have a voice to get out opinions that differ from the administration’s, then I wonder if they have anyones interest’s (other than their own, of course) in mind when they make decisions. I mean, if he gets this huffy over global warming (which apparently, he said that China isn’t doing anything, so neither should we), then one must speculate that he would act similarly to a current, more threatening, topic, right? That just bothers me to know that a representative of our government, especially one so high and influential, is unwilling to at least listen to what the American public has to say. Not only that, he gets belligerent and mean about the whole thing.

I think that it is a testament of his character that he is so nasty to people, especially in such a way that he is assured to get bad press from it; but yet, he does it anyway. Lots of people think that Rove is the devil, perhaps he is just more apt to show it to the rest of us, now. I can hope that he really isn’t this closed off to listening to the opinions and requests of the American people, but it appears to be another example of the “head in the sand” mentality that our government continues to portray. I just wish that the Bush administration would actually listen to what we think; this is supposed to be a democracy, right? Well, we have some say!! Don’t shoo us away!

Now, that story left a bad taste in my mouth, so I want to rinse it away with something sweet and refreshing. I have been listening to this magnificent group called Melee for the past several days, and with each listen, I love the CD even more. The lead’s voice does remind me a little of the lead singer of Snow Patrol, but they definitely have more of a Maroon 5 type of pop to their music. I really like every song on the CD, and look forward to enjoying it more and more.

Also, which is totally random, but totally awesome at the same time, I was asked to go see Aqualung by my good friends Barry and Rebekah tonight. I was all, “sure, that sounds fun”, mostly like “eh”, but only because I haven’t heard anything by Aqualung. But, once I found out that Sara Bareilles is opening, I got down right giddy. I LOVE her. I have seen her before, and I gushed about her then. She is amazing, and I can’t wait to see her tonight!!! Also (this is the random part… sorry for the delay), a very nice guy on flickr commented on one of my Mat Kearney photos, and a back and forth comment stream discovered that he is a concert photographer, and he is going to try and hook me up with a photo pass for the show tonight!(!!!!!!!!!!!) Um, wha? I really hope that it comes through, because that would be amazing. Keep your fingers crossed, and if I do get this amazing pass, I will have LOTS of pictures to boast about in the coming days. Stay tuned! Wish me luck!!!!

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mat kearney @ the roxy 4/20/07

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Last night, we had the distinct pleasure of catching the sold out show for Mat Kearney at the Atlanta Coca-cola Roxy theater. It was awesome. Mat totally delivered, and amazingly enough, sounded just as good as he does on his record. He has really perfected his craft. I love seeing an artist in concert who blows you away with their talent, and Mat is definitely in that category of artist.

He played a few new songs, which were delightful, but I really loved listening to his current music, because his is a CD that I truly adore. It was really neat being there with the people that were at this concert too, because you definitely tell that most of the people (if not all) were definitely fans of his; as almost everyone knew the words to every song.

It was definitely a good vibe and a good crowd, which I didn’t expect in the uber-hetero environment usually displayed in Buckhead. While the main floor is standing room only, when we arrived, we scouted out the upstairs to see what the deal with the balcony was, and much to our surprise, there were lots of seats, many of which were available. The balcony provides a great view of the stage, and you can definitely get the whole experience from there. And, if you were like us and didn’t want to stand the entire time, you should definitely scope it out to see if you can snag seats like we did.

Every once and a while, I would get up and go downstairs to snap a few photos, and much to my surprise, again, I was able to literally walk right up to the left side of the stage and get in prime position for some great shots. I have to say though, that Mat really does enjoy being in the dark, which made getting good photos of him difficult, but I did manage to snag a few that I was happy with.

I posted two of them on flickr already (one here), but have several more that I will try and get up on Monday. Mat is definitely a handsome guy, and with that voice to back it up, I can see why the theater was filled with women (there were lots of guys too, but I suspect many of them were boyfriends brought along for the ride). All in all, I was glad that we trekked our way out to the Buckhead scene in order to catch this show, because it definitely exceeded my expectations. I was also extremely happy that I was able to take my camera, because that is a definite highlight for me at concerts; I like being able to have a token to remind me of the show. I wasn’t able to find out much on the internets about being able to take in a camera, so I hope that this post can provide that information for someone in the future.

My only complaint about the show, was not really about the show at all; the Roxy was fucking hot as hell inside. By the time the concert was over, my entire head was soaking wet with sweat, but it wasn’t that big of a deal since we went straight home afterwards. I have no idea how Mat was able to play with that long sleeved shirt on, but alas, he didn’t seem to care.

If you haven’t gotten a chance to check him out yet, I highly recommend you get his CD, so that you can fall in love with him like I have, and catch him next time he is in town; you will definitely be glad you did. It was definitely a great night.

"pointless", all about me, music musings, the catch-all-egory

OCD gets the best of me…

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Kinda like Sophie Ellis Bextor, but with less panache. Basically, I have spent most of the afternoon organizing my iTunes library, so the damn album art will show up when you are playing the song on my ipod. You would be surprised at how many you have to manually put in there. At least I figured out how to do multiple items at the same time… that was uber frustrating at first.

Today has been pretty productive, I guess, because there is nothing like a little order to make things all better. We babysat for a good friend this morning, and ever since, the relaxation and organization have been a good team.

The only way it could be any better, is if I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow… but I guess you can’t have everything, right?

Since I have been spending so much time in front of iTunes today, I picked up several new CDs to check out. Here’s the list:
Mark Ronson – Version
James Morrison – Undiscovered
Ray Lamontagne – Trouble
Fall Out Boy – Infinity On High
Linkin Park – Minutes To Midnight
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
Melee – Angels and Demons

So far, on initial listens, I am liking a lot of what I am hearing. As always, let me know what you are checking out! Share and share alike, right?

listen up!, mixed media, movie musings, music musings, near and dear, show the love

get these now!

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Seriously, you must do yourself a favor and go get Mika and the new Kaiser Chiefs‘, CD, Your’s Truly, Angry Mob!!! Both of these new CDs are only $8 at Best Buy!! Go pick them up!! You will not be sorry, both are fantastic. I love this continued British invasion! Let’s keep it up, by showing our support!!

Also, I just listened to the new Joss Stone, and it is HOT. More great Brit music. YES! Also, it comes out next week, so you will have to wait until then to get it; but it must be said that the new Hilary Duff is off the hook. There is a clear influence from Kylie on this one, and Hilary has really taken the “bubble gum” sap out of her music. It is a very good listen, and what I am always looking for… great pop!!

There are a few other things I am checking out right now (most of them came from seeing them at my visit to the Times Square Virgin Megastore *drool*):
New LCD Soundsystem
Muse
The first Kaiser Chiefs album, Employment (“I predict a riot!”)
The Bird and the Bee (from an initial listen, I believe I may be in love –> A little bit Imogen Heap, a little bit Jem)
Elliot Yamin (he covered my favorite Carpenter’s song… I had to at least check it out) side note: I can’t believe I just linked myspace. Barf.
Young Love (haven’t heard much yet… vote’s still out)
and the new Tracey Thorn (from EBTG) record, which is slowly growing on me (I was hoping for love at first listen). I think that she put too many sound effects in there, but I am slowly warming up to them.
I also snagged the live Portishead album, and eh. I don’t really like live stuff, but I have been in a Portishead mood lately, so I will give it a shot.

What’s everyone else spinning right now? I love finding new good music!! Also, I will gush even more about the albums that I am still completely and utterly in love with: the new CDs by Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Kaiser Chiefs, Kellie Pickler, and Dashboard Confessional. They are all FANTASTIC, and have been getting HEAVY rotation. Good music is like gold, but for my ears!

Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday, and I am working on getting my NYC photos on flickr (the uploader is being douche), and so I will post about my trip later. Just know, I had a great time!!! And I am jazzed about my new music choices! YAY! Now, share the love, alright!?

Also, be sure to get Children of Men… it’s on DVD, and it is great. Love that movie!

all about me, blog on blog, concerts, flickr, listen up!, mixed media, music musings, photography

Lily Allen @ the Loft 3/19/07

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First of all, before I get to the frivolity of gushing over the pure pop deliciousness that is Lily Allen, and go on and on about how wonderful her concert last night was, I feel the need to address the petty drivel that continues to go on about the expressing of opinions, both by me, of me, and of others. AGAIN, for like the billionth time I have said this, I am going to say whatever I want, and if you want to disagree with me, cool! I welcome your opinions! If you want to blog about it on your blog, awesome!! I say go for it! But, if you are going to be sneaky, and blog about it on your blog, especially if you are going to do so by taking my words out of context and developing an opinion of me without addressing me, then you are going the coward’s route by talking about me behind my back. Just because the internet is a “public forum” doesn’t mean that talking shit about someone on your blog without their knowledge isn’t talking about them behind their back. If you want to do that, AGAIN, I am 100% fine with whatever you want to say or think about me, I have tough skin, and trust me, there is little you can do to hurt me. But just know that you are a ball-less coward, because if you really had the stones, you would just address me on here, where we could probably actually discuss it. But again, that’s your choice; just don’t accuse me of “preventing you from saying what you want”, because AGAIN, that is completely inaccurate. Jesus I am sick of talking about this shit, it is really frustrating talking to people who don’t listen.

Lily Allen 3/19/07 AtlantaAlright… Now on to Lily Allen!!! Last night, we went to the Loft (which I don’t know if they have changed the name to Center Stage again or not, it was actually a bit confusing) to see Lily Allen, and I have to say, she was bloody marvelous. I was a little nervous, mainly because I have never seen her live before, and I usually like to get an idea of what someone sings like live before I head out to a show, but Lily was fantastic. I absolutely loved her stage presence; she swears, she takes shots, she smokes, and she tells it like it is. I went into the show really liking her, and left loving her.

One of the things I love about concerts, is when the artist gives little quips about the songs that he/she/they are about to perform. Giving some story or some little anecdotal bits about the songs make them more meaningful, and sometimes, even clarify what the song actually means for me. Lily did that wonderfully, talking about the boyfriend who had a little penis and who didn’t know how to use it (“it’s the motion in the ocean, right ladies?” she asked, “not!” she quickly replied), and getting even with the girl that gave her shit in school (“this song’s about a girl that was like that bitch from Mean Girls.” she said, “I wonder what she is doing now… I’m playing to thousands of people in the ATL! HA!”). Overall, I loved Lily’s voice, and her singing is spot on. Add in the comedic quips, and you have a very entertaining show. I highly recommend that you pick up her CD if you are still living under a rock and haven’t heard of her. I also recommend that you kick yourself for not going last night, and try to catch her next time she is in town. This broad is great!

Something funny and weird happened at the show that was too interesting not to blog about. Basically, the Loft is standing room only, save for chairs that stadium up the back and sides of the main floor. Most of the people opted to stand, because being a small venue, you actually can get quite close. We were standing towards to side, and were by no means crowded or uncomfortable, but we still managed to get pushed enough to be annoyed. Finally, one girl aggressively pushes my friend Stu, and I was like, “Geez, why not just push him down! You could at least say, Excuse me.”, to her, loud enough that I knew she heard it. She immediately turns around, taps me on the shoulder, and seriously said, “Look, my father has cancer. We are going out tonight drinking because I am upset about it. I’m sorry, but I am being a bitch tonight.”, and then stormed off. Seriously. Her dad has cancer, so she gets to push her way around a concert like a bitch. Um, whatever sister. Dad + cancer does not = a free ride without manners in life. Think of some other excuse, or just be more polite in the future. Even her friend said, “Did you really just say that?”. Um, yeah. Other than miss prissy pants, the night went off without a hitch. The concert volume wasn’t too loud (which I HATE when it is), we met some friends at the show, and the concert ended early enough for me to get home and be in bed at a reasonable time. What a great night, eh!? I have put some pictures I took at the show up on my flickr page; be sure to check them out!

blog on blog, music musings, show the love, the catch-all-egory

beware the ides of march!

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Today is the day that Julius Caesar was famously murdered by his friends and fellow senate members way back in 44BC. Lesson? Pay attention when someone disagrees with you, they may stab you in the back to get their way. (But they got theirs in the end) Either way, I remember when I was in high school, our Latin teacher had us wear togas to school on this day; I never did, but always wanted to. Maybe I will wear one tonight in remembrance of Caesar…

Last night was the monthly APWBWGTTD meet up, and there were two new faces at the table: Richard (not Robert!), and Leah, both of which were nice to meet in person. Among other things, it the potential of moving the event to another night was discussed, perhaps Thursdays; mostly because there are SEVERAL groups that meet at Manuel’s on Wednesdays. Any other suggestions? I really like meeting at Manuel’s, so I think that one day later (Thursday’s) would be fine with me. Also, let it be known that the person that wanted the meetings on Wednesday has not been to a single one since we started having them on Wednesdays (where oh where are you?!). I’m just saying. Either way, last night was a lot of fun, and I managed to break a bottle of hot sauce on my way out of the restaurant. Classy. Thanks to Barry for making the napkin happen, and even more for posting it online. I am curious now though… I want to at least see what this cone is all about in person; without needing to “interact” with it. Also, it is agreed that Firefox is much better than IE, so stop using it if you are still holding out. I will send out an evite for next months meet up when I get your thoughts about the day, okay? (UPDATE: Leah provided me with a picture of the saucetastrophy (above), so I had to include it. Such sauce carnage… sigh)

Also, I turned on my ipod today, and put it on shuffle, only to hear a song that totally takes me back. I love when there are songs that can do that, put you right back where you were when you first heard it, or when you discovered it and started listening to it over and over. There aren’t many albums that do that to me anymore, but Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins will always be one of those albums. Just in case you wanted to know, the song was Hummer. God I love that record. Anyways…

I’m just doing too much thinking today, and will save you from it, but just know that my brain is full. Difficult to concentrate pretty much sums it up. Hope that everyone else is having a great day; I’m also plagued with a crick in my neck because I apparently fell asleep (according to James) with my head hanging off of the couch. Sweet. I mean, OW!