I spent the morning spinning tunes and catching up on work. I know that sounds awful but it was actually a pretty good time.
Who's Lovin' You? - Jackson 5 Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours - Stevie Wonder Billy Jean - Michael Jackson Respect - Aretha Franklin I'll Be There - Jackson 5 Blame It On The Boogie - Michael Jackson Got To Give It Up - Marvin Gaye Want You Back - Jackson 5 Rockin Robin - Jackson 5 Can't Hurry Love - The Supremes Let's Stay Together - Al Green Chain of Fools - Aretha Franklin I Got A Woman - Ray Charles
I had tickets to see James at the Showbox tonight. But the Husky football game got in the way. Can I go back in time, leave halfway through the game, catch a bus downtown and spend the rest of the evening soaking up their live performance? No? Fine. Then I'll just spin Laid on repeat indefinately. Damn, I forgot how much I love that album.
I stumbled on this Ben Folds and Regina Spektor song a couple days ago and I can't get it out of my head. I don't want to get it out of my head. I just want to keep listening to it on repeat. All day long. Okay, so that might have something to do with the fact that I've gone over my limit this month on Pandora and don't have a single mp3 saved on my work box.
I can't just sit at work and listen to the phones ring or the sales guy who mumbles to himself all day grumble and sigh. Oh, and he sighs A LOT. LOUDLY. Not that I notice or anything. Which is why headphones are my friend. Also, that song is catchy, bouncy and fun. While also sad, depressing and with a minor case of the swears. And also, Ben's right. The repetition is good. So good.
I also can't sit at work and listen to it without tapping my toes. I know. Cringe. Which reminds me this would be good on a new running playlist. I mean not that I'll actually get around to running. But maybe I'll get around to finishing that playlist I started called Treadmill Fuel. I mean, I could call it a mixed tape, but let's get real, it's not on tape and mixed tape is now officially too hipster. Thanks DeTore! [shakes fist]
P.S. The rehearsal version from the Conan O'Brien Show back in 2008 is way better than this sterilized studio recording. I will accept no substitute. Neither should you.
Last week I found out Tyler Stenson is moving to Nashville, Tennessee. What? No! I had always planned on seeing him live in Portland, Oregon. I mean he plays a show at least once a week. But the last time I was down there in April I missed his set because other plans got in the way. Plus, it was easy to rationalize I could just catch another show on another trip. But now he's leaving, soon. I'd go to his final PDX show in a few weeks, but I'll be in Chicago (to see U2). Luckily there's also a few other sets between then and now.
Which means, there's a road trip in a my future. Who drives 3 hours one way just to catch a live show? I mean, I like lots of bands but won't go out of my way to see them live. I had a ticket to Interpol once that I just gave away to another friend because I couldn't be bothered to drive 3 miles. And I really like Interpol! But it probably has more do with the type of crowd and the venue. I don't enjoy having to fight my way to the front, avoid having beer spilled on me and my toes stepped on. I know. Strange.
There's a small list of bands I'd go out of my way to see: Blind Pilot, David Gray, OK GO, and obviously, Tyler Stenson. Notice how U2 didn't make the list? Yeah, that's because standing in line all day just to get pushed out of a good spot right before the concert starts isn't exactly my idea of a fun. For some bands I'll go out of my way. Mostly mellow, wistful bands. But not all the way to Nashville.
Anyways, my point is I can't wait to dine at the Waffle Windown! (And catch a live Tyler Stenson set.)
I'm not technically rich, but I do have a lot of shit that I don't need, and I refuse to share with others, and that feels pretty solid. - Maria Bamford
Do yourself a favor. Go buy Maria Bamford's How To Win. It is hilarious. I downloaded it and brought it with me to New Orleans and it made time fly by. Literally. (Actually the plane made time fly by literally.) That's just a figure of speech. Gosh!
Actually now that I think about it the first place I saw Maria was in The Comedians of Comedy documentary. Maybe go rent that too while you're at it. Sure Patton Oswalt can be a trainwreck of a radio guest and has poor taste in sitcoms but he's also a great standup comic. I attended a comedy show once where David Cross was dying a slow painful death right there on stage and the only thing that saved it was Patton taking the grenade out of Cross' hands, telling a joke and then handing it back. Actually Cross never came back from that. It was awful.
Note to self: Avoid future David Cross shows at all costs.
P.S. The Shins are playing the Showbox in Seattle next month. THE SHOWBOX! That's tiny crazy for a band as popular as The Shins. Tickets go on sale this Friday. Just say'n.
I'm pretty okay being me, but if I had to be someone else I'd definately want to be her. I've mostly based this conclusion on Dream A Little Dream Of Me. Sound reasoning, right? But honestly, what's not to love? Sappy dedications to syrup & cheddar melt topping? Funny. The glasses? Cute. The pigtails? Adorable. I'm sold. My best guess is you probably want to be her/date her too. Well, you're welcome.
Originally found via Twitter. See? There is a good reason to just sign up already.
So the new Keane album is selling for $2.99 as a download on Amazon until October 20th. But, as I may have mentioned before, based on the first single...not a fan, and apparently I'm not the only one.
So instead of downloading that, I suggest you check out Miniature Tigers. Why? Because Cannibal Queen is catchy, and fun, and perhaps, most importantly, not Keane. Sure I thought about downloading the new album. I mean, c'mon. It's only $3. But I simply can not reward that sort of behavior. It would set a bad precedent. (If you need another reason to check out Minature Tiger's Cannibal Queen, the video was shot in the same firehouse as Ghostbusters. Enough said.)
Buy Shopgirl and then memorize this sentence. "He doesn't yet understand the subtleties of slights and pains, that it is not the big events that hurt the most but rather the smallest questionable shift in tone at the end of a spoken word that can plow most deeply into the heart." Also, that part about being her watch wouldn't hurt either.
Listen to the soundtrack to Amelie while bumbling through another day at the office. But make plans to go to the park after work and swing on the swings.
Fall in love with the violin especially when Joshua Bell is involved. Do you know about that time he set up shop in the Metro as a busker? Do you know he's probably coming to your town soon? Vancouver, BC on April 17th and Seattle on April 19th.
*Just got out of an interview where one of my coworkers actually asked this to the prospective employee. Hello random, confusing and bizarre! So yeah, I totally wrote it down and then mocked my coworker mercilessly. Next time please be more obscure with the questions, yes?
Yesterday I purchased Rufus Wainwright's Want One. I've adored two Rufus songs for as long as I can remember. A Beatles cover of Across the Universe off the I Am Sam soundtrack and Complainte De La Butte off the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. But for whatever reason I never bothered to look around for more songs to spin. You know, my third grader teacher's name was Mrs. Wainwright. Of course I'm almost positive she is not related to Rufus, so I'm not sure why I brought that up. Other than the fact that that's how my brain works.
Want One sounds a little bit like Radiohead's Pablo Honey and a lot like bittersweet chocolate. It's complex, and wistful, and moody. And at one point he even uses a riff of Bolero in one song, Oh What a World. Uh huh! Which, of course, reminds me of Torvil and Dean, and ice dying and how back in the day Misty and I couldn't get enough of either one of those things. Which is now reminding me of that Bryan Boitano Ice Skating Special I had saved on VHS and watched over and over and over again. Wow, that's not something that should be admitted it public. Anyways, to bring it back full circle Bryan Boitano is Canadian and so is Rufus Wainwright. Ta da.
It does make me wonder though. What other great bands, songs, albums am I missing out on?
Go or go ahead And surprise me Go or go ahead And just try me
