Category Archives: Music

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Mirah Mirah in my head

So I have a tendency to fall in love with music other people introduce me to and usually years after an album has been released. When Jay played Mirah for me, I melted. It had been so long since I had a love affair with an artist (since Ani DiFranco) and I hadn’t even realized I was aching for a new one. If you followed my blog last summer and fall, you probably remember me drooling over, I mean paying much respect to Mirah.

She has at least 7 albums, all of which I love.

But truth be told, I love her earlier stuff even more. She has a mixture of sounds, a lot of texture, and the earlier albums highlight her talent far more than her newest.

Favorite Songs on Advisory Committee:
“Garden” and “Light the Match”

Favorite Songs on “You Think It’s Like This, But It’s Really Like This”:
“Of Pressure” and “This Dance”

Favorite Songs on “Cold Cold Water”:
“Cold Cold Water”

Favorite Songs on “Songs from the Black Mountain Music Project”:

Favorite Songs on “To All We Stretch With Open Arm”:
“Dear Landlord” and “What Keeps Mankind Alive”

I could go on and on. I can’t wait to hear more of her work.

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Tag. I’m it.

Kris tagged me a couple of times this week and I thought I’d actually do one of them.

Total Volume of music files on my computer: 2.41GB (but my hard drive crashed not too long ago and if you look at my Ipod you’ll see that at one point I had 4,000 songs on my computer).


The Last CD I Bought Was:
“La Maison de Mon Reve”by CocoRosie


Song playing right now: “The Book of Right-On” by Joanna Newsom (but it’s on shuffle so I just listened to Missy Elliot as well).

Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me:

Three people to whom I’m passing the baton:

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Lay your women at my feet…

I wanted to make sure I didn’t go an entire month without blogging again. A few things that have worked out in my favor and a few cosmically balancing things that have worked against me:

1) I took my personal laptop to Olympia and realized that even though the hotel has a high speed ethernet connection, my laptop is old enough that my ethernet port was a card I removed when I went wireless. Argh.
2) By the end of the week I decided to turn on my laptop anyway and see if I had any music in my ITunes to listen to. Ding ding ding: “Wireless Network Detected.” The hotel turned out to ALSO have unadvertised wireless and I was surfing within seconds. If only I’d tried earlier in the week.
3) I came home Thursday night for XGym and Book Club only to discover my desktop computer won’t work. HELP! Last thing I remember my windows update was telling me I needed to install something that they encouraged I back up my hard drive for and I said, “No, thank you. I’ll consider installing you later, but I do not have time for silly back ups.” Now my computer comes to a screen that tells me I am missing a file in my system folder is missing or something and that I need the XP install disk (which is in the boat barn in Oak Harbor). Man, I sound computer illiterate, but I swear everything I’ve researched online does not make this sound like an easy process. Anyone else getting crap out there? Did anyone else get that Windows XP update that said to backup your files? Did you do the install? Now I’m nervous to install it or not install it on my laptop. Argh.

I guess there is not much else working for or against me. EXCEPT…

As a follow-up to my previous entry, I had another opportunity to listen to music out and about in Olympia. Do you remember my new love for Mirah, an adorable musician who was crouched at my feet picking through the vegan treats outside the Homo-a-GoGo concert she was playing? Jay noticed she was playing another show in the basement of the ABC house, which is essentially a big house that some musicians live in and use the basement to host shows.

We ventured out on Monday in search of the house and ran into some familiar faces from the last show there. One face belonging to Alex, who plays the accordion with Mirah. He was with a friend of his and it felt nice to already recognize people and be recognized (KB, you know our normal plight where people don’t remember us but we remember them). The four of us squatted in the back yard of the house while we waited for the show to start at the standard show starting time, two hours after the posted start time.

The back yard was so impressive it could have held two more houses on it. I sat mesmerized by the tree that reached over to cover the entire area, which in turn sparked a conversation about roots and such. I learned from Alex’s friend that if you need to cut the root of a tree or move a tree, there is a specific ratio or percentage of root that needs to be preserved in order for the tree to survive. I don’t know if what he said was true and I don’t remember what the percentage was, but it did cause me to ponder if this were similar to the quality of life a person could maintain based on the number of toes/fingers/limbs one loses.

The same guy said he had planned on donning a dog suit and diving into the Indigo Girls concert we had attended, but he had chickened out. We said he would only have to fear the wrath of the crowd if he dressed as a Frat boy and did a stage dive. Both Jay and I were extremely disappointed that he hadn’t followed through on the dog costume idea and encouraged him to follow through next time.

As the show finally started and we headed into the basement, I noticed a pair of sandals at the edge of the grass. Now, I’m not a shoe or clothes horse by any means and don’t usually notice things like this, so I giggled to myself when I gazed a bit too long at them thinking, “Wow, I really like these shoes.” It was everything in my power not to slip my toes inside. I was seriously surprised at my desire to wear these sandals.

Bored yet? Jay and I leaned up against a wall close to the front and proceeded to listen to the following:
-one less than adequate band named “Touchdown Eagle”
-a cute duo with potential named “Chubby Bunny”
-an old bandmate/friend of Jay’s with the wonderful name of Katy who was later accompanied by Cynthia Nelson
-Cynthia then followed Katy solo style

Katy was entertaining because she can’t help but be funny to listen to, not to mention she is a talented guitarist. Cynthia was obviously more polished than some of the others that came before, so I’m still not sure why I didn’t buy her cd.

During “Touchdown Eagle” though, I saw a hand reach out and set a pair of shoes down and then the girl attached to the hand crouched down at my feet. The shoes were the very same sandals I had admired before. And the girl? Mirah. I froze. Jay poked my back. I titled my head up and grinned giddily. For the rest of the show, until she came on, I couldn’t stop staring at the side of her tilted head resting in her hand as she held one finger in her ear to soften the sound.

She eventually got up, I presume to gather herself before she performed. Before she went on, Jay and I went outside to get fresh air only to be greeted by the biggest Dog costume I’ve ever seen outside of Disneyland. Alex’s friend had apparently brought it with him and after hearing our disappointment over the lack of dog diving at the Indigo Girls show, he decided to put it on. I couldn’t stop playing with his ears and hugging him. Made me think of Furries, those people that like to have sex while wearing animal costumes, so I tried to tone down my affection. Then I grabbed the cat that had been hanging with us and handed it to the giant Fido. The cat didn’t even seem to mind and I wish I could have taken a picture.

We could hear the next act setting up, so we headed back down and settled into a couch close to the front. When Mirah finally went on, all I could think was how fortunate I felt to have what felt like a private Mirah show in the coziness of the basement.

Saturday night Jay and I are going to see Mirah play at Yeah! Fest! and I am sure now that she is drawn to me, unbeknownst to her. Perhaps next week I’ll tell one more story of how she crouched at my feet, only this time she’ll look up and see me and the rest will be told in my autobiography. You just wait and see.

Unless my true destiny is to fall for the guy in the dog costume, in which case instead of buying my book you’ll just see me on HBO.

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And this isn’t even all of it

Olympia, WA

Turns out Olympia is not too shabby. The downtown is reminiscent of San Luis Obispo or parts of Portland. There is a lot going on and great food (which is always key to me liking a town) and I’ve already done more in the last two weeks here than I sometimes do at home in Seattle.

The first week I was here I immediately nestled into my hotel room like an old familiar bathrobe. The only difference is that this time I took advantage of the pool and hot tub. When I was on the road before, there were always too many kids or I was alone and didn’t like hanging out with a bunch of strange businessmen by myself. After some “martinis” (in quotes since it was really just expensive vodka shaken over ice and given a twist of lemon) a few of my co-workers and I enjoyed a dip in the hot tub, followed by an improv game of pool baseball.

Later in the week Jay took me out on the town to listen to some bands. When walking around Oly at night waiting for his friend’s band to play, I was amazed at how many people were out and about and how welcoming everyone was. We wandered into the basement of a house and listened to an off-the-wall group (possibly former drama kids) play a few songs and no one looked at us like, “who the hell are you and what are you doing here.” Especially since I’m starting to feel more and more like an old yuppy. I hate that.

If that wasn’t enough after work activity, the next night we went to Homo A GoGo. We had tickets to see the Indigo Girls (who were amazing as always) but the highlight of the night for me was hearing Mirah play. Jay and Matina introduced me to her music and I can’t get enough of her. I have quite the crush. She is the cutest little thing with a voice that sounds almost like the lead singer of Frente! and she writes and plays with a unique and mesmerizing style. I was hooked instantly and tickled later when I caught sight of her up on the side of the stage during the Indigo Girls just in time to watch her throw her bra at them. She was so discreet about taking it off, you could hardly think of it as scandalous. It was more adorable, if anything.

Later when we wandered out of the concert over to Jay’s friend Josh who was selling Vegan treats to post-concert appetites, I noticed Mirah crouched down in front of the bin of Zucchini wraps and Marionberry Tarts. While Jay talked to Josh about his new vegan cookbook called, “Something Delicious This Way Comes,” I fidgeted excitedly trying to get Jay’s attention so I could point out that the most amazing woman in the world was practically sitting on his feet. But being that he’s 6’6″ with shoes on, he never noticed her. As she grabbed her food and stood up to walk away, I mustered up a wimpy “Great show” and she replied in the sweetest voice, with a dimpled smile, “Thank you.” It was heaven. I’ll have to tell Matina all about it.

The Indigo Girls had a raffle for someone to sing on stage with them. I bought five tickets and didn’t win, but the entire build up to it had me wavering back and forth between hope and fear that I might win. The girl who won did a great job singing “Closer to Fine” with them because you could tell she was just happy to be up there. I have to say though, I was wearing an almost identical outfit to both Amy and Emily, so I think I would have looked great up there with my jeans and T-shirt that had Elmo on the front and “Tickles Wanted” on the back. I even imagined that if I won, they would read my t-shirt and tickle me and I could say I was tickled by Amy and Emily, so bow before me, if you must.

Homo A GoGo is sponsored by the Gender Variant Health Project (GVHP). Check out the site for more info. It was an amazing event and I wish I could have participated in more activities. So that was just my first week in Oly. This is the start of week three of eight. But don’t think I’m done yet. On to a recap of Week Two.

Last week I headed home on Tuesday night in order to go to my XGym on Wednesday. I got to see RAR and Jenna over dinner at Bizarro which is a great Italian restaurant near Greenlake. I highly recommend it. RAR and I looked through our Europe journal and reminisced then I wandered off around midnight to wake up Aaron, who had rolled into Seattle earlier that day. We stayed up talking until 2am, so needless to say, XGym hurt at 6:45am and driving to Oly after that was near dangerous. Still worth it though.

Back in Oly, we went bowling after work and then Jay and I went on a search for some quick Vegan food, which is terribly hard to do when you’re tired and you want something fast. We ended up at Japanese, which was delicious. Thank god this isn’t Iowa.

Can you believe I didn’t blog all this time? I’m only halfway through what I’ve been up to! I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics with another co-worker, Burnsey, and proceeded to be made fun of for being a fabric buying virgin. When Burnsey realized I’d never purchased fabric before, she immediately called Jay (who single-handedly supports most fabric stores) and they laughed together when I walked up sheepishly holding a ream of cloth asking if I was allowed to touch it or if I was supposed to leave it on the shelf and get help. We made a box for Maria’s wedding so people could put donations to Act of Giving in it, but my only real role in the process was to refill Burnsey and Jay’s cups with Whiskey while they glued and ironed the fabric on. Okay, maybe I painted the box, but you hardly see that part anyway.

In the end, I felt more useful with the glue and ribbon once I realized Jay was no longer able to keep a straight line of glue going. I’m quite the bartender.

On Friday, the night before the wedding, I went to dinner with Aaron and Chris, then met up with Leah. I was hyper and talkative in the beginning, but quickly crashed after a long week. Went home around 11:30 and slept hard.

Maria’s wedding was beautiful. The drive up to Vancouver on Saturday was hot and muggy and the day continued that way. The wait at the border was insane and neither Jay nor I had really planned for that. But we showed up in time for some Tofu dogs and then the baby dedication started. Baby Brennan is a doll and the wedding ceremony that followed was equally touching. With Maria and Sharon dancing into the room and sharing their love with everyone, there was hardly a dry eye. At least, mine weren’t dry. I felt fortunate to be a part of it and as Michelle said at the wedding, we look with love and awe at Maria and Sharon and the family they have created wondering how can anyone say that could be wrong. That is a family I want to be a part of and you could tell everyone in the room felt the same way.

After the wedding, Jay and I stayed with some friends of his, Jen and Andy, who had the most adorable 3-year-old named Sam (Second of course to Maria and Sharon’s son Aidan). It was so relaxing to sit with them and listen to their new CD they are about to release and watch Jen paint. Just the way I would want to spend all my weekends. I learned that 3-year-olds say the darndest things and now that Sam has learned about his privates he loves to giggle and say, “I’m going to throw my balls to Makela!” Makela is his best friend, and one day I imagine she will set Sam straight about what he should do with his balls. Until then, he might just be the brightest 3-year-old I know.

As his dad was leaving for work, he ran over to him, gave him a hug and whispered, “I love you Dad. You’re the best Dad ever.” Now how freaking precious is that. Almost makes my clock start ticking.

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Pop Whore

Most of you know that I have a guilty obsession with pop music, R&B, and Hip Hop. I usually can be caught listening to KUBE with the occasional station surfing for a terrible pop song to sing along with. I am the first to admit making mixes of Britney, Christina, and Justin, with a little J-LO, Missy, and Eminem to funk it up.

Part of how I get my fix is listening to Launch and letting songs just come on and sometime become inspired to investigate the cheesy sounding new artists. When something sounds like it might be trying to be the next big pop star, I’ll watch their videos on Launch and then decide if I think they are going to make it or not. Really, it’s like a car crash for me. I just can’t help but watch the videos. I admit I am like everyone else and like looking at the girls/women, but I am also fascinated by the idea behind these paper doll cut out creations of pop stars.

So…I came home tonight after work and XGym and wanted to treat myself to some computer time. I opened Launch up to play in the background and there was a “HOT NEW ARTIST” picture and video. So I played the video. Oh…my…god. Pure crap. What the hell? So at least the songs for some of the aforementioned pop artists are catchy and the dancing was good…or adequate…and sometimes the singing is okay. But this one was just plain unexplainable. I just kept wondering what made someone decide this teenager would be the next teen idol? There is nothing outstanding about her and she can’t even fake being hip hop, even though she tries with her gestures and pronunciation.

I’m talking about Jo-Jo. Apparently she’s done an ‘amazing’ remake of the ‘power ballad’ “Weak.” Now if you remember this was a song that came out in 1993 by a flash in the pan group called SWV. Gimme a break.

Then as soon as that video ended, lo and behold, Jessica Simpson’s little sister came on with her new video. Pop music never ceases to amaze me with it’s randomness in who they decide to promote and what crap makes it to the charts. But then again, if you check back with me in a year, I’ll probably have all of Jo-Jo’s and Ashlee Simpson’s music in my ITunes.

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It’s Ms. DiFranco To You

Long music related entry to be ignored. In no way should anyone think I’m getting defensive. I just want to share.

It’s clear to me that not too many people like Tori or Ani, which is precisely why I don’t make many of you sit through their music. A few of you may dispute that fact, but the only reason I ever make anyone listen to Ani DiFranco is if we are on a road trip and it’s my turn and I just have to hear her, or if we are discussing songs that affect us and I want to share as well. But usually I am terrified of which song to pick and what mood the person is in and what they might say to forever ruin the song for me. For example, after playing one song that wasn’t necessarily her best, someone actually had the gall to compare her to Alanis Morrisette. I was appalled. But I also could never listen to that song again without hearing what they heard.

With Tori, it’s more about the piano for me and about a time in my life when I first discovered an artist on my own. In high school I was home sick from school and saw the “Silent All These Years” video. Just months before, Metallica’s black album had moved over to make way for the release of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” and Pearl Jam’s “Ten,” so there weren’t a lot of good women artists hitting the charts and the music was being pulled in one specific direction. This enhanced my experience that day because I became entranced with the crisp, clear sound of her piano playing. It was not a background effect, it WAS the music. Just Tori and her piano. At the time, I still considered myself a pianist (although I would never feign to say so now) and I was in awe of what she could do with just a piano and her voice.

These days I listen to Tori once in a blue moon just to reminisce. To remember that 16 year old girl who learned to drive with Tori in the speakers, who drove to Asilomar with friends and played them a few songs while watching a meteor shower, who met her first love due to their shared respect for Ms. Amos. But I have never pulled Tori out in my adult life and made someone listen to her. To me it is like an old shirt I love to wear once in a while and it doesn’t matter if no one likes it.

As I said though, Ani DiFranco is a different story. A few friends introduced me to Ani with her 6th and 7th albums, “Out of Range” and “Not a Pretty Girl.” I was hooked. What Tori had done with the piano, Ani was doing with her guitar. The difference is that Tori’s lyrics were easily ignored. I liked some of her sound but was never totally sure what she was talking about. The girl was crazy and by “Boys for Pele” she wasn’t just swimming in metaphors, she had drowned. Ani on the other hand had a way with words and phrases that pulled images and thoughts to my mind. Things I had felt or experiences I had were suddenly described by her in the most chillingly accurate way. Then on top of identifying with the lyrics, the sound of her music would match the feeling. The exact guitar riff or echoing word managed to pull at my gut and release me. It’s cheesy I know, but how many of you have found yourselves listening to a song and getting to that part where the lyrics and the sound make you shiver. For those who really can’t identify with female artists, maybe an example from Tool would help: in the song, “Prison Sex” when he sings “I have found some kind of temporary sanity in this” and then follows it up with the perfect excessive stuttering power of the music, you feel it.

Ani did this every time for me. She has been the most consistently successful at pleasing me with each album release. When she lost all her fans because she got married, it didn’t matter to me. I was a fan of her music, not just loyal because she was an “out”spoken woman. When she began to collaborate with Maceo Parker and got a little bit funkier, I ate it up. Every time she plays with her sound, I appreciate her evolution and respect her for exploring new sounds. She’s gone from a young angry lesbian to a politically aware activist of sorts. I like to see her grow and change. That’s what is supposed to happen.

Because of the respect I have for her and because I believe part of appreciating her music is following this evolution, I never like to force her upon people because I am sensitive to criticism. I don’t think everyone should like her, but I don’t think she should be lumped in with all women artists or flash in the pan crap. She is truly talented and hard working.

I bring all this up because of the two cd’s I just received. Tori’s fits with my nostalgia idea and I was a little disappointed that the accompanying DVD didn’t even come close to being worth watching. No big performance energy from her because it was a sound check clip and I think my friend Jennie in high school did a better video for “Precious Things” than Tori’s done for herself most of the time. Still, I was excited to listen.

Ani’s cd is yet another turn for her. Lately her public performances have been solo, much to my dismay because I truly love the horns and the gang. But I do like the want to get back to some more intimate settings. We all know what a bad idea it is for her to be up on stage with just her guitar at the outdoor stadium during Bumbershoot. Not a good match. This album takes the solo intimate idea to the studio.

Ani takes to her 8-track in a little room alone and plays each instrument, lays each track, mixes it all herself, and as always produces it as well. What you get is a very raw honest sound that makes you feel as if she sent you a personal look at something she’s been playing with. With ambient noise left in and a less than perfect sound quality, it feels like she’s harkening back to the days of creating something real in the studio instead of the plastic coating records usually sound like. As for the music itself, I am eager to spend a little time with it to see how it makes me feel. This could very well be the first album I don’t eat up, and there are a few songs that sound like remixes and rewrites of former songs, but it is still an amazing piece of work that she did single-handedly. Unfortunately, her fans have long ago stopped comparing her to other performers and only hold her up against herself. She is her own competition.

So there it is. My first big long music entry. For those who don’t know me, don’t assume you will find my CaseLogic filled with similar artists. I have eclectic tastes and I like a little of everything. Except New Country. You’ll NEVER find that in my player.

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Making Dewey Proud

I like music, but I have never been the type of person to know every little detail of an artist’s history. I also never pay too much attention to new albums unless something turns me on to it. Except of course Ani DiFranco whose new albums I always anticipate. This used to be true of Tori Amos as well. Alas, my college years and those following, I found myself rooming with adamant anti-Tori and anti-Ani people, so I kept my passions private. Thusly, I also fell out of touch with Tori and to my suprise, while browsing my Amazon account, I discovered that both ladies have come out with new albums in the last few months.

I immediately ordered both cd’s and thought how fun it would be to feel like a kid again opening up a surprise when they come. Well, Tori’s has arrived and I was tickled to find what is essentially her greatest hits entitled, “Tales of a Librarian.” Furthermore if you open the cd, you find each song has been assigned an appropriate Dewey Decimal number and section title.

For example:
230 Christianity and Christian Theology
234 Salvation and Grave (Forgiveness)
Crucify

I’ve only listened to a bit of it so far, but I’ve noticed that she has added some subtle nuances to some old favorites. Not enough to alter the song completely, but just enough to make it a slightly new recording. If you are a Tori fan, it’s enjoyable to break her out again with this cd, but if you listen to her regularly anyway, you may find it to be just a strange assortment of maybe not your favorite selections. Still, it felt like christmas opening the cd and I’m enjoying it since I had such a break from her for awhile there.

I can’t wait to get home today to see if Ani’s cd has arrived, but in the meantime, Tori’s album comes with a Bonus DVD, which I haven’t watched yet. Stayed tuned for a review on that as well perhaps.

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Jane’s Depiction

Aaron recently wrote about the new Jane’s Addiction album. Read his review and then read the following opinion I have concerning revivals.

I used to hold Perry Farrel in such high regard and watched “Gift” so many times the ribbon snapped on my video tape. (Video tape? eegads, we are old.) So I was excited to hear Aaron’s review and utterly disappointed that the album let us down. All I have to say is that I have always had a hard time with bands who put themselves on the cover in a cheesed out, “hey this us standing here looking sullen” kind of way. If you are going to be on the cover, follow the suit of Jane’s Addiction in the past and make it an artistic representation of yourself (i.e. sculpture, painting). Or just do what Depeche Mode/NIN/Tool did for years and don’t put yourself on there at all. Once some of my favorite bands put themselves on the cover, I knew they were going to start letting me down. Example:

This rule does not really apply to solo artists. Ani Difranco/Tori Amos/Ben Harper/Jimi Hendrix/Tracy Chapman/Neil Diamond are all cases in point. 🙂 You like my examples? I do. (If you bothered to browse to Ani’s page you’ll notice that her albums no longer have her on the cover and I think that her music has coincidentally gotten better.)

Now to add to this sad turn for the band, I WILL say that they’re website has a much better style. If you visit it, wait for the cheesy images of them to float away. What is left SHOULD have been their cover. While you’re at it, check out the album covers from their past that are must better.

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Jazz in Da Park

Milwaukee, WI

Last night David (from London), Steve, Jim, and I went to Jazz in the Park in Milwaukee. It was amazing. We had some wine, some beer, some sushi. Well, I had sushi and they had sandwiches. Then David and I walked around Milwaukee a bit while Steve and Jim went running. The fools. Apparently running after a few beers is the proper and only way to do it. If I had known this sooner I would have been running all along.

Here are some pics from my days here in Wisconsin so far.

David and I forgot glasses�no need Clark Kent was always cuter than Superman Milwaukee at night What could be better than drinking in the park?

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Pink drops her pants

Hotel bed in hotel room in Sidney, NE

So here I am watching trash tv and trying to learn a bit about div’s and the like so that I can ditch tables and start using KB’s smooth ass process.

But don’t worry, I’m not getting on here to discuss that.

I was just wondering if anyone knows why Pink always wears her pants so freaking low? I mean, it looks really strange. Britney’s low pants are sexy, but Pink lowered them to the point of seeming like we are giving her a physical exam. Just wondering. Is there anyone of you out there that thinks it looks good? If so, let me know. Curiousity is starting to preoccupy my mind.

But then again, I was watching MTV to take a break from my constant Disney channel obsession, which Johnny and Gary had to hear all about the other day. Maybe soon I’ll go into it more on this.