Music is My Boyfriend

Best of 2009, Part the Second

2010-01-03T14:37:00.020-05:00

Just like I promised...
The best of 2009.. continued...

Bad Romance/Speechless
2009 American Music Awards
Lady Gaga

Last year, Lady Gaga pooped out up out of nowhere. I remember I was at a deli in the Gayborhood and I hear Poker Face and I thought... holy shit! Now, I rarely go out dancing anymore (which is going to change now that I'm not wrapped up in stupid guys anymore) but they played her Let's Dance a bunch of times, the times I did go out... and that shit is FIERCE! She looks amazing, she can actually sing, play and write her own music... and she is like the female David Bowie! HOT!!!

Why is it so great?:

Did you watch the fucking AMA's? Her performance was SICK. She is a genius, she is ferosh, fab, she is everything and nothing all at the same time... she's the musical equivalent to Heidegger's Being in Time... she is... because she is.

Best Lyrics:
"I'll never talk again, boy you've left me speechless..."

I and Love and You
The Avett Brothers
Suggested by Chelsea

I saw these guys in the summer of 2008 at Allgood, I hated that festival and I hated the Avett Brother... ok, maybe it was the heat, dehydration, lack of sleep, lack of the Dead and my sunburn and anger that made me a little less open to new music, but whatever... I was in no mood... hearing that a music reviewer in San Fransisco losely and unwarrantably compared them to TOWNES VAN ZANDT made me less interested in what they had to say, let alone the noise that came out of them...

Why is it so great?:

I heard this song a few months ago on XPN on a particularly low afternoon and thought it was very beautiful. It's desperate, you know... when you're tired, hurt, cold, and all alone... all you want is someone with warm arms to turn to, even if they are bad for you... it's easy to identify with someone so broken down... well, for me it is anyway. This song is simple, clean, and unassuming... NOTHING LIKE THE GREAT TOWNES VAN ZANDT! This song was already on my list, but when avid Avett Borthers fan, Chelsea suggested it to me, I had to agree.

best Lyrics:

"dumbed down and numbed my time and age you dreams to catch this world the cage the highway sets the travelers stage all exits look the same three words that became hard to say i and love and you"

Say Hey (I Love You)

Michael Franti & Spearhead

Just click on the link, I don't need to tell you why this song is so fabulous!

Low Rising

The Swell Season

So, these were the guys who won an Oscar for the song Falling Slowly in the movie Once two years ago. They got married, formed the Swell Season... then got divorced; very Fleetwood Mac. They still play together, but it's kind of sad... maybe because they are European or maybe because they play folk music... but either way... it's sad.

Why is it so great?:

Have you ever fucked up really badly with someone you care a lot about? You know, said the wrong thing, acted the wrong way, did something really stupid or hurtful? Don't lie, jerk, of course you have, we all have. This song is a man's attempt to get someone he loves to sit down, on their terms, and listen to what he has to say. he wants to try and fix things and he misses this person. He may not be able to, but he has to try.

Their sound reminds me of 1970's Bob Dylan, but the writing is a little reminiscent of Leonard Cohen, if you ask me. Grab a beer, a cigarette, and a pen and paper... because after you listen to this, you will be reminded of your mistakes and the one that got away... and you should write about it...

Best Lyrics:

"I wanna turn this thing around, I wanna drink with you all night until we both fall down..."

Good Times
Susie Shu

Another fantastic find from One Tree Hill, Susie Shu is an amazing singer songwriter that has earned a comparison to the legendary Townes Van Zandt. She writes up-beat sad songs in a sad key and is not afraid to put her femininity and her anger down on paper. Vocally she is reminiscent of more recent folk singer, like Rachel Yamagatta or dare I say Kathleen Edwards but her lyrics and music are from an older generation. She touches on complicated phrasing like Joni Mitchell and croons like female Van Morrison. Call me crazy...

Why is it so Great?:

on a completely personal and selfish note, this sing basically tells my story with a person i like to call "the last one"... it makes me cry. Sometimes you need a good cry, and since Ryan Adams went off and got married, I need someone new to bum me out.

Best Lyrics:

"Well, he told me he didn't know me that well, if only he knew he was my lion and I was his gazelle. Circumstances draw the line, I was never his and he was never mine."

Coming next: Honorable Mentions!

Best of 2009 Part the First

2009-12-30T19:01:00.010-05:00

oh yeah! It's that time of the year, when I tell you what music I liked best! Well, this year I am sure it is no surprise that what most appealed to me most was music about fucking things up with someone and then missing them when they leave... what you may be surprised about, is that that someone is not who you might think... it's actually a few someones.. none of whom are bald...

In no particular order:

Brooklyn (acoustic version)
Wakey! Wakey!

One of the the things, maybe the only thing, I like about the show One Tree Hill, is the fantastic music they feature on the program. One of the background characters in this bartender who knows everyone's drink order before they ask him. Well, at the end of the last episode of 2009 the bartender plays this song when no one is looking.

Why is it so great?:

Now, granted, his piano style is not anything to write home about. I think he needs to make friends with a pedal or two or at least back off a little. But, key banging aside, this song is sensitive. It is an admission that hey, I'm not perfect, but I like you and I hope I can see you again at some point, but until then.. I'll miss you. There is no "I want you back" statement and there is no "I'm sorry"... and he shouldn't be sorry... people fuck up when it comes to relationships... I know I do.. and someone once told me that I should never apologize for who I am... neither should this guy!

Best lyrics:
"I guess it's safe to say, we both can use this fire escape, cause I've been breathing ashes and waiting for something to carry you away..."

People Got A Lotta Nerve
Neko Case

Neko Case, makes alt country super sexy, if you ask me... I mean, shit... she's fucking hot, she's irreverent, and she's 39 years old! She doesn't have to explain herself to anyone. She seems to be that sort of love me or leave me woman, the kind I am always jealous of.

Why is it so great?:

It's catchy. It's happy. and it has to piss at least one guy off... one guy out there who thinks they are god's gift, only to get stomped on by a woman that is clearly out of their league. As if they can be the player but can't deal with being played. somebody call the waaaambulance!

Best lyrics:
"It will end again in bullets, friend"

Ras Trent
Andy Samberg

Andy Samberg is funny... Jewish... and has a good job. All he needs to do is gain a few pounds and grow a beard and he would be A-OK in my book.

Why is it so great?:

Ok, so I go to a a few shows here and there and I have to say, douche bags like this are all over the place. Trustafarians... it's about time someone paid them homage, huh, Dave Matthews?

Best Lyrics:
"Me toil part time at Ja Cold Stone Creamery"

Sweet Disposition
The Temper Trap

Like so many bands who find success through catchy songs that work so well in numerous soundtracks, The Temper Trap will most likely find that they are a mere, one... maybe two hit wonder. Well, in the US anyway...

Why is it so great?:

If you knew me a few years ago, you would remember me as an optimist... and I think that deep down I still am. This song brings that happy Renee out that is so rare these days. But all that aside, this song is an example of spectacular musicianship. Their drummer is amazing and the vocals are phenomenal. I am interested to hear more, but I am pretty sure this will be the last we will be hearing from these peeps...

Best Lyrics:
"songs of desperation...I played them for you"

... more soon... I promise!

Art Imitates Life Imitates Art

2009-12-17T20:36:00.004-05:00

A few years ago, in my second year of graduate school I met a boy. He was tall, built like a swimmer, with a beautiful smile, and perfect blue eyes. It's funny, because I didn't notice any of these features at first... in fact... I didn't really notice them for a long time. He and I connected quickly because we were, in my estimation, intellectual equals. We had classes together, and ended up spending a lot of time together. He had a girlfriend back home, but... well, you know how that goes. and as wrong as it was, I believe we were happy and in, what I like to call, "mad friend love", even if it wen way too far.

I remember, one morning, I walked with him to the train station by my house on what would be one of the last times I would see him. I decided not to walk all the way to the station, instead, I stopped on a tree lined block, covered in pink flowers and let him go the rest of his way on his own. I turned around to make my way home, and turned on my ipod. John Coltrane's In a Sentimental Mood came on in the shuffle and I smiled. I knew him so well, that I felt him leaving me forever and when I should have been crushed, the warm breeze shaking the pink petals from the trees, and the sun light breaking through the branches mixed so perfectly with the tenor sax and "scrambled eggs" brushes on the drums completely transformed that moment from one of my trademark overly-dramatic sadness to a warm sweet memory.

and maybe it's because of my tendency to associate the men in my life with music, but now, when I smell the same warmth in the air, or In a Sentimental Mood id playing, like a lite motif, he is brought back to me and I smile. His picture is still hanging on my wall and it doesn't make me sad like the thought of someone I once cared about that walked away normally would. Instead I feel good, better for the time with him, and confident in the fact I wouldn't change a moment of our time together.

Now, of course not every guy I encounter in my life will be as important as others, and of course not every guy will be as great as others, but I hope that I can have more sweet memories, more positive experiences... and I think I am on my way. I have too often tried to hold the men in my life up on a pedistool and when they turn out not to be the people I want them to be, I get upset. Now, I am focusing on how much I like talking to someone or how they make me laugh based on who they are... not who I want them to be. Maybe that's where I went wrong with the last one, the one I still miss, the one whose voice I havent heard in weeks... but I know that I don't want to go down that road again...

so, as much as I miss my friend from Grad School, and as much as I miss the last one, and as much as I am sure I am going to miss the next one... who ever they may be... I can look back and feel warm and feel good and remember them.

but what does this have to do with music you ask?

That's simple...

Push play, close your eyes, and think about a bittersweet memory of someone you miss... and see that it has everything to do with it.

I'm Sorry Neil, I Swear I Still Love You!

2009-10-07T19:54:00.003-04:00

I used to have this habit of "assigning" Pink Floyd songs to the important men in my life as a way of keeping them close and compartmentalized. Being an organized control freak, it was important to me that I had a place for each of them. The songs would either describe them or the way I felt about them, or my relationships with them. Us and Them for the guy with whom I would always try to make it work, but it never did. Wish You Were Here, for the friend who made a life choice that was very difficult for me to accept. Time, for the guy who was stuck in a rut, who wanted to escape but didn't think he could. And of course, Comfortably Numb... the sexiest Pink Floyd song. Period. This one was for the guy who didn't know how much I loved PF and tried (successfully) to seduce me with their music...

I have nice memories of those people when I hear any of those songs, and it's always lovely. However, associating music with a person in your life can backfire... and it is for that reason, and that reason alone, why I can no longer listen to Neil Young.

Neil Young, you ask? You may be thinking... "Renee, you love Neil Young, how could you forsake him in this cruel manner?" The truth is, I made the mistake of going way beyond investing myself in a guy... I invested my music.

I think too many people make that mistake. They say, "I'm in love with this person, I want to think of them every time I hear one of my favorite songs... I am going to make it "our song"." KISS OF DEATH!!! They say time heals all wounds, and I suppose that's true, but will time ever give you back your songs? Your music? Doubtful... like our sense of smell will instantly bring a memory back, music can take you back... but unlike smells, music is a cathartic outlet with emotional meaning.

When we tie someone to a piece of music, they become part of that piece for a long time. When you hear the first chord of that particular song, it all comes back. Unfortunately, it's not always a good thing. I used to look for guys who liked the same kind of music as i do, but I learned somethings about myself in the process: 1. I don't care fore hippies and Bluegrass guys tend to drink too much and 2. when you have music in common and things fall apart, your broken heart and anger stay within those notes, and lyrics for way too long.

We already give so much to the people with whom we become involved, that it's not necessary to give them your music, too. Keep that for yourself, because guess what! Your music will never dump you while your standing in a towel in your bedroom, or at the airport, or over a G-chat. it will never cheat on you or borrow your stuff without asking. Your music will love you and care for you until you're ready to move on, and it will always be there when you are ready to come back.

So, while I made that mistake and lost Neil Young for a while, I know I can come back to him whenever I want. Just as soon as the sound of his voice stops making me sick to my stomach.

DAMN YOU MANDY MOORE!

2009-02-11T16:55:00.001-05:00

NO! Ryan Adamns can't get married!!!

GOD DAMN IT!

Now he's going to write happy optimistic music and start covering the optimistic songs by Fleetwood Mac...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Bobby for you and Trey for for meee!!

2009-02-02T15:38:00.009-05:00

Yikes!

Last week, I discovered that I "won" Phish Tickets for Star Lake (which I learned was what they call the Post Gazette Pavilion) through the Phish Lottery... which was an unexpected event, in that... well... It bounced my checking account. Which was bad news, but as I was told by my friends and even the bank manager that I went to for assistance in the matter:

"Well, at least you got the tickets".

everyone was damn right! Over the weekend thousands and thousands of Phans attempted to purchase tickets from Live Nation's website with horrible results. This is a big deal, as demonstrated by these happenings and goings on being featured as the top story on all the jamblogs...

So, yeah bitches! I'll see y'all at Starlake 6/18/2009!!!

I believe, in the second week of May, when my tickets arrive... I will make out with whichever fedex driver brings them to me, and then I will proceed to make sweet, sweet love them. (the tickets, not the driver... well.. maybe the driver.. we'll see)

It may seem like a million years away as we huddle though the coldest LONGEST winter EVER, but if you close your eyes you can almost feel the sunburn on your shoulders and if you listen carefully you can hear Bobby Weir playing a 25 minute slipknot... Summer is coming, and This show, along with the Dead at the Spectrum and my trip to Red Rocks, will make Summer 2009 pretty effin sweet!

Of course, it's no Bonnaroo... but you know what? There will ALWAYS be a Bonnaroo... I never in a million years thought that Phish would be back together... especially cause Trey's solo stuff is really good, and Mike Gordon is a tool. So, "CampKiz" will have to wait till Roo 2010, which is cool, cause by then maybe Joan Osborn will be back with the Phriends, and I will be able to afford the VIP passes.

30 Minutes of Pure Bliss

2009-01-16T15:29:00.004-05:00

So, I have this new job that has many fabulous perks, but one of the best is I am only 6 blocks away from WXPN and World Cafe Live. WXPN holds a weekly Free at Noon concert every Friday, which is beyond amazing because this week's concert was the incomparable Adele!

If you don't know Adele, here is the poop!

She is an AMAZING soul singer from the UK
Her voice is very rich, and she doesn't do all of that horrible curly singing to get her point across
She has been nominated for 4 Grammys
She writes most of her own stuff, but kills the Bob Dylan covers she does
She is a size 14
She is 20 years old

her show was amazing, she has this intense quality to her voice that has the rare ability to come through on a recording the same way it does live.

The only real problem I have with her is that she didn't get up off of her stool the whole time, and didn't say thank you at the end of her set... she just walked off of the stage after her last song... it was very strange.

however, you should check out her music, download this from ITunes:

Chasing Pavements
or
Right as Rain

it's worth the $.99

Best of 2008

2008-11-24T22:33:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I am dusting off the old music blog to write about my "Best of 2008" list.
I approach my year end best list by listing the tunes that I actually heard and tought were amazing in the year in question... no matter when it was actually released.

this is in no particular order...

Lucinda Williams: Real Love (of course!)
Kathleen Edwards: I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory
Kathleen Edwards: Cheepest Key
Black Kids: I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You
My Morning Jacket: Thank You Too (when I get married, this will be my wedding song... word!)
My Morning Jacket: I'm Amazed
My Morning Jacket: Highly Suspicious
Death Cab for Cutie: I Will Possess Your Heart (Not the radio edit)
Bell X1: Bad Skin Day
Duffy: Mercy
Adele: Chasing Pavements
Ray LaMontagne: Let it be me
Mudcrutch: Scare Easy
Kate Rusby: The Lark
Beth Waters: Blue and White
Sarah Fimm: December

Renee's Confused

2008-08-18T23:02:00.000-04:00

Will someone please explain Connor Oberst to me??

There's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate...

2008-07-15T16:08:00.003-04:00

Ok, So I'm back from Allgood and I have to say... it's wan't all that great. aside from the painful lack of running water and 15 vendors all selling bullshit that nobody wants, there was one big problem that I had with the festival: most of the music was between 10:00pm and 4:00am... which in theory is a great idea, because it's not hot and the music didn't start until 3pm so... you could sleep the day away...

but they forgot one thing.

we were situated at the top of a mountain in mid July with no shade... so your gal Renee was brunt out by 12:00am each night and missed the following:

Widespread Panic
Dark Star
Govm't Mule
Bassnector

BOOOO

I promise (Brian) that I will write performance reviews soon, but for now let's check and see if my predictions for the festival came true:

1. I will find the coffee vendor on site and make BFF's with them the moment we park the car.
it took me about an hour to find them, but I had ZERO coffee this weekend... It was only 2.50 for an iced coffeee, but I took a sip of Ben's and learned why it was so cheap! :(

2. Someone, I don't know who, will cover "The Weight"
haHA!! Susan Tedeschi and Derke Trucks closed their set with it! I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT!!

3. Phil Lesh will tell us about his liver and how you should give away part of yours, or a kidney, or whatever.
Of course he did!

4. Between Phil Lesh and the DSO we will hear: Good Lovin, Uncle John's Band, and Good Lovin again.

Sad to say, I will never know (well, at least not until I check out setlist.com) but I did hear Keller do Eyes of the World, Phil do Jack Straw, and some random cover band start up a 7:00am set in the camping area with a sad and warbily rendition of "Shakedown Street". That moment was a bit bitter-sweet for me, because I have always wante dto hear someone cover that tune.. just someone good.

5. I will get that weird patch of sunburn across my tramp stamp that I can never figure out how it got there.

nope... not this time, instead I have a horrible burn on both of my legs...

6. Someone will get poked in the eye with a glow stick thus ending the awesomeness that is glow stick wars during the first late night set.

you know what... even if someone did get poked in the eye, no one would have stopped anything... there were no cops and the security was so lazy... you could have brought in a thousand guns and some live Bangal tigers and no one would have cared.

7. Kisner and I will get into an argument about trying to cook with a cast iron skillet on a tiny personal grill

well, more like everytime we cooked, or talked about cooking he would bring up the fact that I didn't want to bring it... which really was annoying.

8. Keller Williams will crawl further up Phil Lesh's ass and try to jam with the Friends... uggghh
I was wrong, but he did do a bad-ass cover of "Pepper"

9. John Bell and Dave Schools will compete for the title of 2008's best looking hair blowing in the stage wind machine... Will Dave take it again this year, or with John finally win it for the wavy haired wonders out there?

there was no contest, as teher was no stage wind machine... I missed the set, but I say when it comes to the better hair with no wind, it has to be John... maybe he would let me boing his curls one day!

10. I will take photos of my feet to chronologically display the dirtiness
oh I did, and it's gross!

In addition I would like to offer up two long-shot predictions:

1. Daniela Cotton and Susan Tedeschi will play sing "Piece of My Heart" and my face will melt off
I wish, but they weren't on the same day.. however, Daniela Cotton did a SICK cover of Purple Rain! SICK!!!

2. Mike Gordon will make up for years of sucking by saying these words "Welcome special guest Trey Anastasio to the stage" or better yet "Trey Anastasio, Jon Fishman, and Page McConnell" after which my head will explode and I will die... a happy... happy woman!

What do you think?

I'm Gonna Tell You How It's Gonna Be...

2008-07-08T13:36:00.002-04:00

OK SEXY PEOPLE: I am headed off to Good Ol' Marvin's Mountaintop to check out ALLGOOD 2008!! WHOO HOOO!!
I'm pretty excited, no cell phones, no overlapping sets, no Metallica... it's going to be a big muddy, dirty slice of heaven. Four days of music and no running water... I can grantee it's going to be hot, muddy, and smelly... but because I have not taken any mind altering substances yet, I can't se the future; thus... I have a few predictions:

Almost sure things:

1. I will find the coffee vendor on site and make BFF's with them the moment we park the car.

2. Someone, I don't know who, will cover "The Weight"

3. Phil Lesh will tell us about his liver and how you should give away part of yours, or a kidney, or whatever.

4. Between Phil Lesh and the DSO we will hear: Good Lovin, Uncle John's Band, and Good Lovin again.

5. I will get that weird patch of sunburn across my tramp stamp that I can never figure out how it got there.

6. Someone will get poked in the eye with a glow stick thus ending the awesomeness that is glow stick wars during the first late night set.

7. Kisner and I will get into an argument about trying to cook with a cast iron skillet on a tiny personal grill

8. Keller Williams will crawl further up Phil Lesh's ass and try to jam with the Friends... uggghh

9. John Bell and Dave Schools will compete for the title of 2008's best looking hair blowing in the stage wind machine... Will Dave take it again this year, or with John finally win it for the wavy haired wonders out there?

10. I will take photos of my feet to chronologically display the dirtiness

In addition I would like to offer up two long-shot predictions:

1. Daniela Cotton and Susan Tedeschi will play sing "Piece of My Heart" and my face will melt off

2. Mike Gordon will make up for years of sucking by saying these words "Welcome special guest Trey Anastasio to the stage" or better yet "Trey Anastasio, Jon Fishman, and Page McConnell" after which my head will explode and I will die... a happy... happy woman!

Maybe I'm Too Young to Keep Good Love From Going Wrong...

2008-07-06T21:56:00.011-04:00

Clearly I enjoy my music to be little on the sad side, full of self doubt, heart break, men crying, the whole thing...
but there are times when I fancy myself a bit of an optimist, when the universe seems almost like it's not out to get me and that maybe, just maybe... life is fabulous.

In times like these, I cannot subject myself to the horrifying song stylings of someone like... I don't know... someone perky... "bubbly blond teenager". So what's a girl to do, when all she wants to hear is misery and teardrops in the vocals but finds herself in a good mood for a change?

Oh Oh Oh! I Know!! I Know!!!

....MASON JENNINGS....

For all of those who wondered when we would see another Paul Simon, or maybe Cat Stevens, or maybe dare I say it... Jeff Buckley, look no further than my newest pal M J.
His deceptively haphazard melodies create what seems like, on the surface, one warbally-yet-annoyingly-catchy cutsie love song after another. However, if you look closely what you will find is a series of skillfully crafted folk songs that offer multiple layers of sweetly simple phrasing supporting engaging lyrics that are just hopeful enough that you almost believe that it won't end in tears... almost.

Check out these two tunes to brighten up your day without giving you an ice cream headache:

Be Here Now
from the album Boneclouds.

Adorable lyrics:

"Be here now no other place to be this whole world keeps changing come change with me. Everything that’s happened, all that’s yet to come, is here inside this moment it’s the only one. You are the love of my life. You are the love of my life. Yeah you know you are."

And

Fighter Girl
From the album If You Need a Reason

Adorable lyrics:

Hey little fighter girl
Its you and me up against this whole wide world
Sleeping together in the lions den
Got your earrings in my pocket till I see you again
Yeah yeah yeah yeah...Come on kissing me

So sweet... but of course... so fleeting...

An Open Letter to my BFF Ryan Adams

2008-05-07T15:53:00.002-04:00

Dear Ryan,

I know what you're thinking; "Renee, you're a "fair-weather" friend." and I understand why you might feel that way. You and I have been pals since I first heard your ingenious cover of Wonderwall back in 2003. You know I loved your version of that song, because it did, in fact, make my "covers that are better than the original" list. But then something happened... you lost your identity and tried to channel Jerry Garcia and honestly, I was hurt.

So, I thought that it was over between you and I because I felt as though I couldn't trust you... until you released Easy Tiger... You, David Ryan Adams, are a GOD DAMN GENIUS! It took me finally sitting down and really listening to that album, in full to truly appreciate what you were trying to do. Your variation a theme is perfection, yet imperfection at the same time. your attention to detail is staggering, especially in The Sun Also Sets where you gently introduce a banjo riff (can banjos have riffs?) into the chorus. I know your heart was being ripped out when you wrote all of these tunes, but they are truly sublime and I thank you for them.

I am, however, worried that you will never be able to again achieve this level of artistic expression of anger and bitter misery, because you have been to rehab and you lost a lot of your hearing. So, Ryan, I ask one favor... please go back on the sauce and date inappropriate and emotionally unavailable women so you can make another amazing album ohhh and maybe go on tour! We can totally hang out and get burritos!!

love, forever... I swear,

Your BFF Renee

I'm Worried About Meatloaf.

2008-04-10T19:25:00.005-04:00

Are gas prices so high that poor Meatloaf has to do Go Phone commercials?

You're Such A Nasty Little Girl...

2008-03-30T13:36:00.011-04:00

As summer approaches, us music junkies are bombarded by a variable deluge of live performances from which we must select the few that on which we are willing to spend our limited concert dollars. That's pretty f'in hard to do if you're like me and obsessively crave live music like it was high-grade street drugs that you are desperate inject in between your toes five times fortnightly.
To that end, I have begun my show selection process, and was fairly content with my modest set of about 15 concerts and two festivals until I heard a rumor that Ms Lucinda Williams is coming to town.. with one drawback... she's playing a double bill with John Horrible Meloncamp!

WHAT THE SHIT?!?! They don't even sound alike...

but let me not lie... Lucinda Williams could open for a poo catapult machine and I would pay to see it.

The tricky part is convincing someone to go with me... because no one wants to see John Meloncamp. I have no issue with paying 50 or 60 bones to go to this show, because I know that it will be well worth it once Lucinda saunters on to the stage, beer in hand, rocking her signature cowboy hat. Just like I knew it would be well worth it when I spent, en toto, about $1200.00 to attend Bonnaroo just so I could see Gillian Welch perform a 50 minute set.. but I also watched that set alone, because my friend didn't want to see her...

If anyone out there in blog-land wants know.. here is the sweet and dirty lowdown on Lucinda:

Sounds like: A lower voiced happy Emmilou Harris who just got dumped and is drinking and smoking while singing with a band in the back of a bar below the mason Dixon.

Why you should listen: Lucinda Williams does not hold back, whatever she is feeling she puts it on the table. Throughout her career she has evolved from paying homage to her folky roots in twangy spare blue-grass to creating rich to warbling compelling songs fueled by two fisted anger and bitterness with just a touch of gun blazing sweltering humid whisky soaked sexuality. She is a sick-amazing song writer and has some bad-ass tattoos!

Best Lyrics: from Come On

You think you're in hot demand

But you don't know where to put your hand

Let me tell you where you stand

You didn't even make me, come on!

You weren't even worth it

I'm sorry I ever flirted

The effort wasn't even concerted

You didn't even make me, come on!

All you do is talk the talk

You can't back it up with your walk

You can't light my fire, so fuck off

You didn't even make me, come on!

What's not so great: everyone thinks that Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote Passionate Kisses... but Lucinda Williams did... BUMMER!

Lights, Camera, Elitist Cultural Enjoyment...

2008-03-29T20:26:00.008-04:00

The Philadelphia Film Festival is upon us once agian, not that Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, mind you, but a good time none the less. I am not a big movie person, but I have a good friend who knows movies who went to SXSW and checked a few out.

Taking his recomendations I am going to partake in the following...

Medicine for Melancholy

USA 2008, 90 min

The day after a one-night-stand, a young man and woman wander the streets of San Francisco attempting to fill in the blanks of the past evening while reflecting on what it means to be black in a city whose cherished ideals of progressive thought and inclusion coexist uneasily with marginalized minority groups and ruthless gentrification in this unsentimental love letter to the City by the Bay.

Mister Foe
aka: Hallam Foe
Great Britain 2007, 95 min

A troubled Scottish teen still traumatized by the suicide of his mother runs away to Glasgow and falls into an Oedipal love affair in this intoxicating coming-of-age story with the dark passion and desperate romanticism of Trainspotting.

Then I picked out this one...

Beloved
aka: Saawariya
India 2007, 137 min

Ablaze with music and luscious imagery, this big-budget Bollywood adaptation of Dostoyevsky's "White Nights" tells the story of an idealistic young wayfarer who becomes entranced by the smoldering beauty of a young woman waiting for her true love's return.

Stay tuned for reviews!

She fell in Love with the Drummer, Another and Another....

2008-02-29T21:21:00.001-05:00

My friend and pea-in-my-pod Autumn and I went out last night and we were talking about being music-obsessed islands in the archipelago of contemporary society and how when you find someone that loves music as much as we do, it makes them much more attractive to you, than they might be otherwise. It's sad but it's true, those music-lovin' boys are dangerous, I have been wounded by more than my share...

But lord as my witness, there is nothing hotter than someone who loves good music.

Like Satan himself holding the apple…

I’ll still take it, bite it, love every moment, and knowing that it will lead to nothing but trouble…

do it all over again.

Bert and Ernie

2008-02-25T00:46:00.005-05:00

So last night I had this dream that I arrived in Armenia to serve in the Peace Corps and my counter-part was none other than Trey Anastatsio who was serving in the PC to do community Service. It was a pretty crazy dream, but I did wake up with one very cool idea:

If Bobby Weir and Trey got together and played Frank Zappa tunes they would create a force that would rock so hard that all of the world's problems would be solved and everyone would become best friends!

That would be the jam heard 'round the world!

EQUALS.... AWESOME!!

I would argue that Frank Zappa set for gold standard to which all guitarists now strive to achieve and cultivated a generation of musical connoisseurs that have a thirst for awesomeness that lesser artists' musical ramblings could never satiate.

Bitches Were Robbed!!

2008-02-25T00:16:00.006-05:00

Poor sexy Viggo Mortensen... DENIED!

I always have mixed feelings when it comes to watching award shows, because I feel like a major loser for not making anything of myself. Mostly I am reminded that it is impossible and will never happen because, seriously...

but there are the awards given to artists who make a small film or writing a catchy tune... people like the duo that wrote Falling Slowly from the film Once who give me a tiny seed of hope that one day, maybe one day I could come up with a smart ditty or something like that and I could be on that stage winning an Oscar. That is, if I were not so damn lazy... oh well, there is always next year.

I was disappointed that Kate Bush wasn't nominated for her song from the Golden Compass. It wasn't exactly the greatest song she has written, in fact... it's kind of bad, but it's Kate Bush! BUMMER!

Cate's GQBess can't cut it ten years later!

...I am Trying to Break Your Heart...

2008-02-24T00:19:00.006-05:00

I just got back from the Wilco show at the Tower Theatre. I have seen Wilco a few times in the past few years and it has become clear to me that I will never be a super-delegate for Wilco. I really like their sound, but I am not sure that what they are doing is all that innovative, rather, it seems as though they are trying to create a non-cohesive wall of sound full of pits, peaks, and valleys. Slutty, dirty, dirty pits, peaks, and valleys!

I started to get excited because Jeff and the Wilcos were surprisingly honky tonk at the beginning of their set, but the... he changed guitars, and they became the Beatles (well, more like the Beatles falling down the stairs.) They soon stopped being the Beatles for a minute and started being Wilco, but that only lasted a few songs. I like them in the studio, but their songs, when performed independently from an album, do not go together well.

With that said... let me not lie... their songs are amazing. Not every tune has a hook and there are many different musical elements in one song. If you don't know their material very well, it's almost like you don't know what to expect and you are unsure where you are going to end up. Wilco is exciting because they present clean and well packaged pieces of music that are driven by these bursts of hot sexy nasty riffs which end quickly and make you desperate for just a little bit more. Sadly, they move on, and you're left to ponder what was.

Final Thought:

Good show

Jeff Likes his brown jacket

John Bonham aside, Glenn Kotche is quite possibly the hardest working drummer ever... EVER

Go see them! It's a great time and they have good merch!

2008-02-22T23:35:00.000-05:00

I don't know if anyone is really ever going to read this,and I suppose that's fine... I only started this because I thought it was pretty awesome that Autumn's blog was linked up to her Pandora and I wanted a blog to which I can link up my Pandora.

If someone were inclined to read this, here is what I have been listening too lately:

Sarah Fimm.

Sounds like: a non-irritating 1996 Sarah McLaughlin, only much smarter and with way better boobs.

Why should you listen: her music makes even the most mundane moment sexy and sophisticated, seriously... I was shopping for a new toothbrush this afternoon in a soggy coat and I felt like I was drinking a Manhattan on the upper east side wearing heels and slutty cocktail dress.

Best Lyric:

from Be Like Water

"Don’t chase ghosts, don’t get too close, Don’t get caught, don’t get spent Don’t get bought Don’t sell out, don’t get bent Don’t fuck your best friend If everything is just the way it should be Why am I why am I still hungry"

What is not so good? Her albums are hard to get, not in stores, used on amazon and ebay which are like... 30 bucks each!