and a part of me still rocks the eff out to this stuff.
Rancid's Out Come the Wolves is absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt on my list of top 10 albums. i've had to buy this album 3 times now because i listened to it so much and carted it around so much during middle school and high school. so today, tired of listening to some way-too-mellow music that was pushing me closer and closer to the edge of a complete and utter fit of pure melancholia, i decided that i needed to do something to try and reverse my impending gloom.
i paused briefly on M.I.A. and that didn't help. then Pharoahe Monch, which only made me angry, and went through the ole pod until i saw Rancid.
and i am currently rocking the eff out. and am in a totally stellar mood.
and, in keeping with the grand tradition of me having a libido that is fueled largely in part by boys with guitars and bad attitudes, i have the most enormous crush on Tim Armstrong.
to those who know me...this man looks eerily similar to several boyfriends i've had. eerily, eerily similar, especially in that picture above, to my first "love"... oh lawdy... (btw, how's the wife and kid, D?)
seriously though, slutty urges aside, this album has successfully lifted me out of my funk and placed me atop an energetic and fiesty little pedestal. i'm going to listen to this album like 4 more times before the days over.
so, now that we've gotten that cleared up, i'd like to take this opportunity to fluff the shit out of the new Raconteurs album, Consolers of the Lonely. i really liked Broken Boy Soldiers, and was hoping the boys would release another album. and lo and behold, last Tuesday (or Sunday, as iTunes mistakenly thought...) they released their sophmore effort. i won't go on and on about the way they released it, because i'm tired of reading every music critics' summation of their "guerilla-style" release, but let's just all agree on something: it's pretty fucking cool that, in a time where nearly every album is, in some way or another, leaked early and thus removed from any former methods of anticipatory christmas-morning type of release dates, the Raconteurs managed to put an album out, whilst avoiding early leaks (except for the iTunes debacle) and getting people pretty stoked.
or at least i was. maybe it's just me.
so i waited until last Tuesday, got the album and have listened to it about 5 times all the way through at this point. and i love it. i love Jack White, for my libido's sake, and for his musicianship. i think he's original and talented and, from what my untrained ear can tell, he's quite good at what he does. i like that he's like, dark and brooding and seems quite intelligent. i like that he has a couple projects that he works on. i like that the White Stripes are sort of along the lines of the newer sound that rock music has been leaning towards and favoring lately. i refuse to call it "indie" because they're on a major label, so they can't be, but since the label "indie" is thrown around and used completely out of context these days to describe a "non-mainstream" (but totally mainstream) sound, i'll use it. but the White Stripes were, in my eyes at least, one of the first to really bridge between counter-culture music-philes and the mainstream, radio-listening, MTV-watching part of society.
anyhow, i also really like Brendan Benson too, especially his solo work.
okay, enough of my school-girl rock-star yearning, back to the album.
Consolers of the Lonely is a little more bluegrass, a little more country than Broken Boy Soldiers. and, i think that, as i'm listening to it again, i think i might actually like it more than Broken Boy Soldiers. i didn't initially think i did at first--in fact, my first synopsis of the album was that it wasn't nearly as good as BBS, but now i think i like it better. much better.
lyrically, it's so on point--intelligent, honest, heart-felt--and musically it's pretty varied. (again, i know nothing about music, technically speaking, so this is all just the way i see--err, HEAR--things...). i'm currently loving 2 songs the mostest: "Old Enough" and "Many Shades of Black." "Many Shades of Black" ties with the Postal Service's "Nothing Better" as the most perfectly accurate to me specifically break-up songs ever.
here, check out some of this genius:
Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead
And smash it on the floor
Take whatever's left
And take it with you out the door...
See if I cry, see if I shed a single sorry tear
I can't say that it's been that great
No, in fact it's been a wasted-free year
Everybody sees
And everyone agrees
That you and I are wrong
And it's been that way too long
Take it as it comes and be thankful when it's done
There's so many ways to act and there's many shades of black
There's so many shades of black
There's so many shades of black
this is a super album. you should get it and listen to it.
anyhow, it was at the Park West, which a pretty great venue, if i do say so myself and it's kind of a cool set-up: performers do a couple songs, then someone else comes on, then someone else, and they join each other on other songs throughout the night. basically, just mellow music. a decent way to spend a friday night. especially when one is taking delicious pulls off a flask of tequila for the duration of the night.
anyhow, that fella who sings "Blue Eyes" on the Garden State soundtrack was there and sang that song, and i don't care how lame it is of me--i simply adore that song. cuz i got blue eyes an' shit. and that Ingrid Michaelson chick was there as well and sang this song "Overboard" that i have been mildly obsessing over in the privacy of my own home as of late, and she sang that and i liked it.
and then this chick Meiko comes out and sings and i'm sorta in love with her now. one, i really liked her songs. two, she's hella cute, and three, she has an absolutely charming stage presence. like, slightly awkward and self-conscious and super endearing. and she curses and i like that in a woman.
here, look at how hot she is:
and for all you fellas out there: this hotel cafe tour thing? yeah. it's DEFINITELY the place to find a lady. the dude to chick ratio was like 1:50. and many of the girls were very cute. just fyi.
and then i heard "Life in Vain." it may be one of the sweetest songs i've ever heard. and nevermind that your voice usually doesn't sound very good. it sounds perfect in this song. and though it could be seen as kind of depressing--as much of your work sort of is--this song isn't depressing...it's just...it's just true and sweet and quite lovely:
I don't know where is up or down
And there ain't any love left around
Everybody wearin' a frown
Waiting for Santa to come to town
You're giving it up so plain
You're living your lives in vain
And where are you going to?
You've got to really try
Try so hard to get by
And where are you going to?
Flip on your TV
And try to make sense out of that
If we were all in the movies
Maybe we wouldn't be so bored
We're giving it up so plain
We're living our lives in vain
And where are we going to?
You gotta really try
Try so hard to get by
And where are you going to?
Goodbye, goodbye
anyhow, Pitchfork isn't all that expensive--$30 a day (Friday-Sunday) for some pretty great bands. the entire lineup has not been announced yet, but as of now, Public Enemy, Vampire Weekend, Dizzee Rascal, Animal Collective, !!!, Fleet Foxes (whom zach loves, but i'm kinda "mehhh" on), Jay Reatard, Dinosaur Jr., Apples in Stereo (yay yay yay!), Cut Copy, Fuck Buttons, and a handful of others are slated to play. that's july 18-20. just fyi.
and then the allusive beast of them all: Lollapalooza. there's been some speculation regarding a certain superawesome british band (*cough* Radiohead! *cough, cough*) headlining, along with Nine Inch Nails (i don't care what anyone says, this will be awesome), and yesterday someone brought my attention to some more bands that may or may not be playing, including Bloc Party (please say this is true, fortheloveofgod), Yeasayer, Wilco, Dierks Bentley, CSS, Rhymefest, Gnarls Barkely, MGMT (i hope so--their chicago shows sold out earlier this year), Black Lips, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (who i'd like to see, as nearly everyone put this album on their top albums list from '07), and a few others. now, this is all speculation, and certainly not even close to the amount of bands that will play, but i suppose in about a week (April 7th, to be exact) we will have the full lineup for the August 1-3 shows.
anyhow, Lolla tix are up to $190 i think now. and i've yet to buy mine. i know i'll be going, so i should just buy one now, but there's some rational part of me that refuses to spend a deuce (god, i love that term so much) on--right now, at least--a MYSTERY show. and i'm broke too, so there's that. 
there's a lot of great music coming through this spring and summer, and if my calculations are correct, i'm going to be spending approximately 1 million dollars on music between now and September. hmph. it may just be cheaper for me to swap out a crack addiction for my current live music addiction.
so, i found a link to a "leak" of the "new Girl Talk" album that's supposed to be released sometime in '08. i've also found some discussion as to the legitimacy of this "leak" as well as some acknowledgment of this "leak" from Gregg Gillis himself. he says its not legit. though, i must say, i take that with a grain of salt, because like, by telling the internet world that it's not legit, the hope is that people will be like, "Oh, okay" and like, the hype continues until the actual release of the album. regardless of the legitimacy, i decided to give it a listen and make my own decisions.
here they are:
it could be legit. it's his style--that is to say, there are a bunch of shitty pop songs mashed together with some classic rock (The Who, Beach Boys, Beatles) interspersed through, along with a bit of pretty good (in my opinion) hip-hop (Public Enemy, Biggie, old Outkast) and some music that i like to listen to on a daily basis (Cake, Postal Service) and some newer "indie music" (that song from the new Mac commercial by that french/israeli chick Yaell something or other). this is definitely Mr. Gillis' style.
that's sort of where my opinion of the legitimacy of this "leak" ends...it's not complex enough, it's slow in weird places, it's too fast in other places. though, i mean, if this just a rough, unmastered "first draft" if you will, then i can totally see this.
what really made me think it's not him is that the same clip from "Bittersweet Symphony" that he used on Night Ripper is used on this mix. i just don't think he'd do that.
above all, listening to this yet-to-be-determined mix of mashups has confirmed what i've been sort of leaning towards for the past several months since i saw a shitty Dan Deacon/Girl Talk show at some church in Bmore this summer: MASHUPS ARE SO LAST YEAR.
bring on the untz. that's what i want to dance to. or at least stop fronting like you are actually talented by mashing a "unique" blend of pop and classic songs together. just go back to what true DJs do--i want the breaks, the hip hop, the grimey shit.
R.I.P. Mashups and the "artists" who create them.
so, on sunday, i trekked downtown to do some stuff and put this "most recent" business on. it was probably the best thing i've done in a while. because, for some reason or another, they re-routed the northbound red-line up through the clark/lake and consequently, the stop i had to get off on was significantly farther off Mich Ave than the stop i usually get off on. but i had a great fucking playlist, so it was okay. even though it was windier than a muh'fucka.
anyhow, a handful of songs came on that were so.effing.wonderful. that i couldn't help but strut. you know...walk with a swagga'? awww yeah. ha. without further ado, here's a playlist that you might want to listen to if you need to put on haughty airs and strut down the street like nobody's business:
1. "Paper Planes," M.I.A.
2. "Rich Girls," The Virgins
3. "Get Close (King Honey Remix)," Plastic Little
4. "Loose," Spank Rock and Benny Blanco (mainly Miss Amanda Blank's verse--seriously, it makes me like, want to beat bitches up or something)
5. "Wolf Like Me," TV on the Radio
6."Disco Infiltrator," LCD Soundsystem
7. "Simon Says," Pharoahe Monche
8. "Bendable Poseable," Hot Chip
9. "One More Chance (Remix)," Notorious B.I.G.
10. "Time to Get Yummy," A-Trak (LCD/Gwen Stefani mash-up--sheer brilliance, fyi).
11. "Mikey Rocks," The Cool Kids
there you have it. if you want to strut, put these on and shake ya ass.
Hulu.com is an archive or something that has just gone public. it has loads of tv shows and movies that you can STREAM FOR FREE.
my workday has just gotten a whole lot cooler. and less productive, simultaneously.
FUCK.YES.
i know, i know. i hate you. and i still sort of do, but perhaps this is the first step in a meeting of the minds, of sorts...perhaps i can start to let go of some of my animosity. but you have to promise to stop trying so fucking hard. deal? anyhow, apparently your band did "Shakedown Street" at Langerado (excellent choice of venues if i do say so myself--all those wooks and hippies prolly ate that shit right up), and i read that you also did it solo acoustically at SXSW. way to go, brah. i'm totally down with this.
Not quite Love, but not quite Hate,
Sarah
so today, i'm perusing You Ain't No Picasso (a pretty decent little site, i must say), and i find that at SXSW this year (which i am still REALLY bitter about not going to. next year, i say, next.year.) they covered Fugazi. how wonderful. apparently, Bishop Allen cites punk-rock as an influence, along with Jonathan Richman (whom i saw last week and l.o.v.e.d.), and Talking Heads.
and because a while back when i first got a listen to Bishop Allen, i didn't really do any further digging--i just located some mp3s, downloaded them and listen on a frequency that near obsessive--i've just recently found out about these "influences" and such, and i'm more in love than i was previously. i mean, everyone cites Talking Heads as an influence, as well they should, but whatever.
anyhow, i read about the Fugazi cover and then read that they've covered both Talking Heads and Jonathan Richman, and i immediately went to the hypemachine to try and locate said covers. (as i've mentioned in previous posts, i'm a cover fanatic). and i found the Heads one. "Psycho Killer" of course. and though it may be cliche or whatever, i reallyreallyreally love this song for some reason. and Bishop Allen did it total and complete justice.
anyhow, you need to check out Bishop Allen. really, seriously.
so last night was the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. zach told me about it, but i got confused and couldn't find it on tv, so i didn't get to watch it. (it's okay though, i watched back to back episodes of Anthony Bourdain, who, by the way, has just earned the distinction as my old-man crush.) anyhow, Madonna got inducted. i'm not a huge Madonna fan--don't get me wrong, i will belt out "like a virgin" any day of the week--but i AM a HUGE iggy pop fan. god, i love that man. anyhow, he did "Ray of Light" and hilariously enough, it's fucking awful. madonna thought so too. i love the look on her face when he's performing, and then the incredibly insincere and forced accolades that she offers backstage after the performance. truly hilarious.
ya know...part of me wonders if i should be offended. i mean, i don't consider myself to be a "hipster" at all. in fact, "hipsters" generally aren't keen a people like me...but i do like indie music. and i do adore spankrock. and i wear leggings. mainly because it's fucking cold in chicago and they're a nice thin layer to provide a little warmth. and i don't like walmart either, but that has way more to do with the fact that every walmart i've ever been in smells funny and is teeming with sad fat people. and i in turn, feel sad and fat by association when i go there. but anyways, this is still funny. check out this dude's myspace. his name is MC Lars. he's an english major (haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!) at Stanford and also raps about edgar allen poe. *sigh* a man after my own heart...
if i haven't had the opportunity to talk your ear off about Beck and how he is THE most perfect creation on earth, consider yourself one of the few. Beck is like, one of my absolute favorites. i love everything he puts out with a different sort of emotion. i feel like if i ever had kids and like, you know how parents say they love all their children the same, but in different ways...? that's exactly how i feel about everything that Beck has put out. i feel as though he is the most innovative artist of our time and consistently puts out interesting and relevant material. it almost always has a new sounds, while keeping with his general sort of amazing-ness, but alwaysalwaysalways ends up sounding so fresh.
simply put: i love Beck and he can do no wrong.
and now like, my favorite producer with my favorite musician? holy.fucking.shit.i.think.i'm.going.to.die.of.euphoria.
yesyesyesyesyes.yes.
here's the video for their single, "Run" from the new album!!!
and yes, that IS justin timberlake...
we should just bubble wrap up children and lock them indoors in sterilized padded cells.
but my other girl crush is quite the opposite. sort of. but not really, if i think about it. maybe just scratch the curvy thing. whatever. anyhow, Amanda Blank is a chick emcee from philly who has done work with so many incredible folks--Plastic Little, SpankRock, and M.I.A. (i can't believe i've finally got on board the M.I.A. train, btw). anyhow, she's raunchy as hell, says the craziest shit, and spits ridiculously fast. plus, she's a little hottie, and she wears the most out-there fabulous stuff on stage.
annnnd, she's super nice (and even cuter) in person! i say this because, despite my extreme intoxication on valentine's day, i saw her in the ladies' room and like, accosted her, and though most certainly made an ass of myself, i'm still rather pleased with my little chat. seriously, it's like i bumped into scarlett in the restroom--what with my level of adoration for ms. blank.
anyhow, she's coming out her debut album soon (cannot.fucking.wait.) and i'm seriously dying to see her perform.
and URB has a super interview with her. read it. and fall in love with her.
here she is with naeem from spank rock:
stop being so fucking weird. you will never be ziggy stardust.
with no respect at all,
sarah
ya know...i'm not really sure why i find those lolcats so hilarious, but i do. really, they make me laugh out loud. i get excited for new ones to be posted and i frequently send them to friends because they crack me up so much. i realize this makes me sound a bit like a cat enthusiast. or a crazy cat lady. be that as it may, i'm not really so sure it's the actual cats themselves, as it is the way the words are written.
so this project to get the bible translated into the "lol" language really makes me laugh.
here is an excerpt, from Genesis. apparently, that's the Old Testament...?. (btw, i know literally nothing about the bible, so this is perhaps all the more funny...).
"Oh hai. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat maded teh skiez An da Urfs, but he did not eated dem.
Da Urfs no had shapez An haded dark face, An Ceiling Cat rode invisible bike over teh waterz.
At start, no has lyte. An Ceiling Cat sayz, i can haz lite? An lite wuz.4 An Ceiling Cat sawed teh lite, to seez stuffs, An splitted teh lite from dark but taht wuz ok cuz kittehs can see in teh dark An not tripz over nethin. An Ceiling Cat sayed light Day An dark no Day. It were FURST!!!
An Ceiling Cat sayed, im in ur waterz makin a ceiling. But he no yet make a ur. An he maded a hole in teh Ceiling. An Ceiling Cat doed teh skiez with waterz down An waterz up. It happen. An Ceiling Cat sayed, i can has teh firmmint wich iz funny bibel naim 4 ceiling, so wuz teh twoth day."
and just for shits and giggles, here is the lolcat that is currently cracking me up so much that i am snorting. at work. very professional.
i'm not even really sure why i find it so hilarious.
anyhow, so, unable to resist the urge to snatch it up, i downloaded it and listened to it on my way to work this morning. i'm on my second listen right now.
i gotta admit, i hadn't really listened to Black Keys much before (always a little late to the party, i tell ya...). funny story actually. embarrassingly enough, i got confused as to what band i'm going to see on saturday (it's the Black Lips), and thought it was the Black Keys (coming in April, but i'll be back east when they're in town...)...anyhow, chaos ensues, marked by massive confusion on my part (fairly typical, i'd say) and i finish downloading this album only after realizing i'm seeing the Black Lips on saturday, not the Black Keys. (i have too many "Black" bands in my ipod and it's enormously confusing for a simple minded gal as myself)
so, a few things about this album:
1. It's really excellent. The sound is southern-rockish (at least to me), sort of haunting, sort of old-school (for lack of a better term). I wish I knew more about musical production and stuff because "Remember When (Side A)" has me sort of entranced at the moment. There's a weird echo-y sound going through the background and it's so beautiful. It's almost country in a way.
2. Interestingly enough, after "Remember When (Side A)" comes "Remember When (Side B)" which is the exact opposite in terms of sound and energy. It's rock'n'roll. That's all I can really say.
3. Perhaps most importantly (to me), is the fact that this album was produced by Danger Mouse. And like, I've sort of noticed a recurring theme with Danger Mouse. Everything he does is super. Seriously. The Grey Album, which isn't great in terms of the sound and listen-ability so much, but the fact that it was really one of the first (in my world, anyways) mainstream mash-ups that really got recognized. The juxtaposition of classic Beatles with a rapper who will probably end up being considered quite relevant as time progresses, Jay-Z, is interesting and kind of cleared the way for some other versions of this. Most recent, that I've heard is a Jay-Z/Led Zepplin mash-up by Dj Doc Rok, called American Zepplin. (not great, but i gave it a listen for kitsch's sake). So back to Danger Mouse. So there was The Grey Album, and then he did Gnarls Barkley with Cee-Lo. And I don't really care if it's not cool, I really liked that album a lot, and still give it a listen every now and again. Another album is in the works, I believe, so it'll be interesting to see if the energy and sound remain constant, or if Gnarls Barkley was a one-time fluke thing. Then there's the Gorillaz, Demon Days, which I really loved. And the creativity behind that is just ridiculous, you must admit. The whole concept is so fun. And new. And then he did work with Damon Albarn's project, The Good, The Bad, and The Queen. Another excellent work, in my opinion. (Side note: seeing them live was sort of surreal...I mean, it's Damon Albarn. and (sigh) Paul Simonon. and Tony Allen. and Simon Tong. truly a great show. Albarn and Simonon are rock stars in the purest sense of the word. Showmen...performers...totally swoon-worthy.) And something else I just found out was that he also did work on The Rapture's album as well. Again, I don't care how un-cool it may be to like The Rapture, I do. Even if they did fucking suck a big fat dick when they opened for Daft Punk this summer in Brooklyn. (Seriously guys? Like, you're musicians. Who cares if one of your keyboards isn't working the way it should. The show must go on.) And lets not forget about his work with MF Doom. God, I fucking love that album.
I guess what I'm slowly coming to realize is that everything Danger Mouse touches is gold in my book, no matter the "genre," and no matter who he actually works with. And really. Like, the man loves costumes. What's not to love?
with Cee-Lo as Pedro and Napoleon Dynamite.
with MF Doom as Freddie and Jason.
and by himself as the Tin Man (my personal fave.)
And this Black Keys album is really no different. It's rock 'n' roll with definite roots in southern rock and old style country. The whole album is easy to listen to. And the haunting sadness sorta thing has got me hooked. Especially the last track on the album, "Things Ain't Like They Used To Be." It's so fucking good...the slow twangy guitar, the lyrics. Everything is perfect. I'm obsessed with it right now.
Get this album.
Like, you kinda irked me a little with the whole friends-with-Kanye business, but I got it: you're both from Chicago. Hometown roots go a long-ass way. I'm alright with that. And, I mean, I was sorta willing to look past the whole "Gap" thing, because, you know, ya gotta make money, but...
I'm just not sure I'm ever going to be able to get on board with this new "Light" business. Serious. It's really FUCKING AWFUL. And like, it's all for a promotion for Smirnoff or something...?
Yo, dude..."The Light" was one of the bestest love songs and you have put out some of the best albums! Seriously, Resurrection? Like Water for Chocolate? Excellent. My collection would not be the same without those. Be wasn't even all that bad. I admit, I listen to it every now and again...
But, seriously. WHY THE EFF DID YOU DICK WITH "THE LIGHT"?! I sorta gotta put it out there like this: I sorta hate you a little bit now.
Which I'm sure is straight with you because of the whole, like, me being white thing. But...
Really? REALLY? Regretfully Yours,
Sarah
PS, I still liked you in Smokin Aces.
umm, there are splices of Little John saying, "Yeah!" "Okay!" in between...
this.is.the.greatest.day.of.my.life.
i'm about to jump up and make my booty bounce like it wrote a bad check. (heh, i had to use this line. i just heard it in my new anthem, "Jello," by The Pack.)
today i was trying to find something new to listen to, so i went to one of my favorite music blogs and ended up clicking around and stumbled upon the HypeMachine, which may or may not be the most wonderfullest thing to happen to my workday since OhMyRockness Radio. seriously, get a minute and go on the HypeMachine. it's pretty sweet.
anyhow, i was just kinda of perusing around the site, which, if i understand correctly, is like a humongous search engine for a whole bunch of music blogs all over the world. and it picks up all the MP3s that are posted or whatever and brings 'em to one spot and you can look through 'em. and like, for those of you who probably are dismissing this as some sort of dumb "hipster" "indie" thing that only looks at Brooklyn Vegan to find the next!best!thing!, you can rest easy: I just listened to a piece of college nostalgia in a certain Bruce Springsteen song...
anywho, whilst perusing, i noticed a blurb about MGMT, who, as you may or may not know, i adore a lot a lot, i looked through the tracks that are posted all over the internets.
and i found the greatest thing ever.
embarrassingly enough, i found that one of the hottest songs ever recorded, "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails (yes, i know, i've just skyrocketed downward in any semblance of coolness...) was covered by MGMT in '02. so i listened to it and it was wonderful.
and then i moved onto a song called "I'm Not in Love" by The Teenagers (who, again, i don't care what anyone says, they are fucking hilarious and a funfunfun dance party. stop taking music so seriously.) that was covered by some chick named SuKo...(?) or something like that. and that was great too!!!
and then i found The Hold Steady (super awesome live. see them if you can. i cannot wait to see them again. especially if it's at a tiny little venue like the Ottobar...). and they covered a song that always puts me in a happy mood, "American Music," originally by the Violent Femmes.
and then, to test this thing's search function, i typed in one of my all-time favorite covers EVER. in the whole entire world. "It's Okay" performed by Pearl Jam, originally recorded by Dead Moon. this song reminds me of perhaps, the ex-boyfriend who was most perfect for me...the college boyfriend...the one i look back on the most fondly... anyhow, this song, for some reason or another really stirs something in me. and i haven't listened to it in years. and now i'm on my 3rd listen.
ahhhh, sweet cover bliss...
okay, so i don't really watch late night television. but i do seem to remember hearing something a little while back about sarah silverman making a video for jimmy kimmel in which she declares that she's fucking matt damon. funny girl, that sarah silverman. anyhow, i was reading a music blog today and found this hilarity that jimmy kimmel created in response to the matt damon fucking. seriously, this may be one of the funniest things i've seen in a while. if only for all the random cameos. chkchkchk it out.
so last night i read some more of another book i'd been reading called The Namesake. it's not that good, so i'll spare the book report, but the part i read last night really resonated with me.
Gogol/Nikhil, the main character, has been shacking up with a wealthy Manhattanite, Maxine, and they end up going to spend 2 weeks with her parents at their lake house in New Hampshire one summer. i have a soft spot for lakes, as nearly every summer vacation my family ever went on when i was young was to a lake. Deep Creek (before it got really built up), in Western Maryland, Lake Saranac in the Adirondacks, and (closest to my heart) Keuka Lake, in the Finger Lakes region in Upstate New York.
Gogol has never vacationed like his girlfriend's family does--they own a lake house in a secluded spot in which one must drive down a long, gravel road, way off the beaten path to get to. the house has no driveway; Gogol observes the car in just parked on the grass. the main house is unremarkable--mismatched furniture, exposed pipes, rustic, etc. Gogol and Maxine sleep in a guest house, down a path from the main house, that is, in actuality, a shack that Maxine used to use as a play house when she was younger.
anyhow...Gogol keeps talking about the lake house, the lake itself--the blueness of the water, the enormous amount of stars in the sky, the way the temperature dips at night, the fullness and brightness of the moon... he talks about the lack of television, playing board games at night, going to bed sometimes by 10, the musty smell of the lake, the heat of the his shoulders in the afternoon sun, wading into the water and swimming out to the dock when it gets unbearable...
like i said, the book isn't all that great--i just found it on my book shelf and realized someone had let me borrow it after my last hospital stint and i never read it (you'd be surprised at how difficult it is to read anything when one is on a morphine drip and epidural...). i've been reading a few pages before bed every night, to sort of lull my eyes to close, but then i got the Happiness book, and shelved the other one.
i digress. this description last night just hit really close to home. the house sounded exactly like the house we used to go to at Saranac--a house that belonged to my mother's cousin's husband's family... everything sounded the same. and the way the experience is described--the delicious isolation--evoked every memory i have of Keuka. Keuka has been in my family for years and years and years; my great-grandparents spent their honeymoon there, and my grandmother and her three sisters spent every summer there growing up, and my mother and her three brothers spent every summer there growing up. and in my life, we don't go every summer--that's nearly impossible, but we went quite a bit with other members of the family--specifically, my uncle and his 3 boys--and most recently, that same uncle has actually bought a house of his own on the lake and my mom and i have managed to go for a few days for the past two summers.
i cannot begin to describe the lake to you; i cannot begin to describe the way it makes me feel. all i can say is that being there recharges me and brings me to a peaceful place within myself and carries this sort of romanticism that i cannot find anywhere else. perhaps it's the history of my family there; perhaps it's way the lake has not been ruined by tourism or the 21st century. perhaps it's the fact that no one else really knows about Keuka, so i feel like it's my secret or something... i don't know. whatever it is, i crave it constantly, and it saddens me tremendously to know that i probably will not be able to make it there this summer. (the drive from bmore to keuka is quite a bit shorter than the drive from chicago to keuka...)
and since things are a little mixed up right now, and the weather's a little less than desirable in the midwest right now, the only thing that i can think about is the lake. and how badly i want to go back...
this is more than likely a worthless blurb of information to anyone but myself, but the lake makes me want to write, and i've spent a large chunk of my free time today at work google imaging keuka. and sighing. and feeling near tears. and feeling like my heart is going to burst.
this is my Zen:
i cannot wait for summer. i need to find my Zen.
In my defense, I will say this--I've found out that I like a lot of music that I didn't know about this way. And since I'm sort of an audiophile, especially when it comes to live music, I usually end up putting money in the pockets of these artists at shows and such.
Really, I am so sorry, but I felt like I just had to get it off my chest. I felt guilty. Especially after a particularly active morning of illegally downloading...
Love and Respectful Admiration,
Sarah
i don't care what anyone says, i love that damn rihanna "umbrella" song. and i love the klaxons. and they performed "umbrella" together at the Brit awards. it's super. great lights, if i do say so myself.
no one's naked, and apparently Iggy even kept his shirt on. whywhywhy?
also, a bunch of people have designed shirts with the bunny and whatnot. look at the Daft Punk shirt!!!
obviously, the bunny robot heads are Daft Punk's work; the other one is done by Hot Chip.
i remember when i was like 13 or 14 and worked with my brother at my dad's driving range and he'd drive me to work and he must've just gotten this album or something, because he played it constantly. and i remember thinking how bizarre all the spoken word intros to the songs were...and being mildly scared by the one that was on "Liquid Swords." it took a few more years for me to really appreciate the perfection of the album.
what i wouldn't do to have been able to see one of those shows where the entire album was performed.
siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
wu-tang foreva, yo.
bee.tea.dubs., this is a still from my most favoritest vignette in Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes. it's really great. youtube it. you'll be thankful.
i mean it this time. yes, we've had some good times, but after a night with you, i generally wake up feeling dirty. and borderline suicidal.
it's not you, it's me. i just can't do this to myself anymore.
maybe someday, we can be friends again, but for now...i think it's best if we see other people.
respectfully yours,
sarah
i mean, my tommy hamilton obsesh aside (so over it. sort of.), i still really like the music. and listen to This Feelings Called Goodbye and a live show that i stole from marksparks of the illadelph a little while back. i'd really like to see them again, too, but that whole American Babies/BioDiesel (yay!!) situations seem to be what's what for now. and i don't even know if they stray from the east coast.
oh well. i suppose for now i'll just have to think about all the times i saw them at the 8x10...starting years and years ago. and starscape this year. and a bajillion other times, too...
but seriously, am i super lame?
anyhow, you're the shit. your writing is fucking stellar, your actors are the most amazing on any show, and despite the fact that you are set in perhaps one of the most downtrodden American cities, you somehow manage to portray her with some sort of grace...some respect. your stories may involve scandal and murder and drugs and such, but somehow Baltimore is never shat upon. in fact, watching you makes me miss my city.
you are the only television show that makes me cry. i still remember sobbing at the end of the first season, when Poot and Bodie killed Wallace. and when Stringer got got--jesus christ...i loved him. and i can't tell you how many times i found myself teary eyed during the fourth season either. and seriously...this season...?
i don't really know quite what to do once you're gone. shall i start all over from season 1 (which, btw, i've already watched 3 times)? shall i watch with a closer eye, and knowing how the story ends, will i notice details, characters, and themes that i didn't notice before?
i'm sort of in awe about how amazing you are. i think perhaps what it comes down to (besides the enthralling story, the amazing writing, and the characters that evoke emotion) is that despite the fact that you are specific in regards to setting and storyline, you really traverse the bounds of what modern storytelling is. especially that told through television. you somehow manage to hold every single literary theory, theme, and method in each episode and character, and have somehow managed to make Shakespeare relevant in the Baltimore drug game. you have translated the Byronic hero (my absolute favorite character in all of literature, fyi) to the modern streets, with Omar (my absolute favorite character ever. barack and i are so on the same wavelength). and you are perhaps the most tangible representation of Chekhov's Gun (umm, Bubbles' bad junk...? Sherrod's death...?) it really is quite amazing.
anyhow, i just wanted to let you know how much i love you.
love, always and foreva',
sarah
ps, i don't know if you're aware or not, but there's a really stellar column on the New York Times online about you every week. it's really quite good.
love always,
sarah
anyhow, i've been even shoe hungrier lately, but i've been logical and thrifty with my purchases. i've been going for the shoes that will bring me happiness--long term--as opposed to springing for the sexy shoes that make me drool but with inevitably just hurt me in the end...
annnnnnyhow, i finally got rain boots this weekend. because it rains, snows, or otherwise precipitates almost on the constant out here in the city of wind. and i'm tired of showing up to work with my pant cuffs sopping wet and covered in snow, slush, or salt stains. the galoshes were also on sale, so that was even better. practical in every way. and then i ducked into this store called Untitled that carries stuff that i can not afford, nor can necessarily pull off, but it's fun to dream. and i've been searching for new sneakers because i'm pretty unhappy with my boring tan and brown dunks that i got last year. i need some color. i need some spice.
so i got some Nike Blazer mid-tops. i'm looking for a picture of them to show you, but i can't find them anywhere. let's just say they're pretty fucking tacky. but in a fun way. maybe.
anyhow, looking at ridiculous sneakers yesterday got my blood pumping for Nikes all over again (though, what i really, truly want are the regular old black and white checked Vans slip ons. seriously. why doesn't anywhere carry them anymore?). so i'm all revved up over sporty shoes again and spent some time today looking at sneaker blogs (seriously, there is a blog for everything these days...). and i found shoes i want even more than the ones i currently own. look how fabulous they are:
ahhh! like the composition books of yore...god i fucking want these so badly.
and then these, just because i bomb atomically:
my cute-as-a-button coworker sent me this link the other day and i've been laughing ever since. laughing because it's funny, and because well...it's oh-so very true.
go here if you want the truth.
i went into my Yahoo email and there was a story on the front page of Yahoo about what flowers mean. so i clicked on it, for shits and giggles and found that my very favoritest flower ever, the Tiger Lily, is a symbol of wealth and pride.
i find this insanely apropos. except for that whole wealth thing.
just thought i'd share.
so this guy is a Lit professor at Wake and has written a book called Against Happiness, which, from what i ascertain, basically argues against everybody being happy all the goddamn time. like i said, i haven't read it--i'm going to--but apparently this guy makes the argument that all of these artists [Virginia Woolf, Dylan Thomas (who, i've ironically been re-reading a lot of lately), Hemingway, Van Gogh] were all quite depressed in every clinical sense of the word--most of which also, relatedly, were severe addicts of some sort or another--but the pain of their lives brings joy and beauty to the lives of some since. i for one, as awful as this sounds, couldn't be happier that Dylan Thomas was a manic-depressive alcoholic. without that, i wouldn't have "Clown in the Moon." (my 3rd favorite poem of all time. they just don't write 'em like they used to...).
the author also points out our society's eagerness to over-prescribe meds for even "mild" sadness. one wonders if this over prescription of psychotrophic drugs may carry any of the types of consequences that the medical community is now seeing as a result of the over-prescription of antibiotics (drug-resistent viruses, etc.)...
anyhow, this looks interesting. i'll let you know how it is.
when i first started watching this, i was sneering at the assholes in the crowd throwing up the DP pyramid. and as much as i hate Kanye West and wanted to turn this off, something told me not to. that outline of the pyramid was calling to me. i'm glad i didn't turn it off, because the ROBOTS WERE ON THE GRAMMY'S!!!! in their flashy new suits from the ALIVE tour and everything! i also was intrigued by the over-the-shoulder shots of their set-up...
i still hate Kanye though, especially after he broke into the god-fucking-awful song about his mom. i cannot begin to even express how much i hate him. and i'm not even really sure why. prolly because he jocks his own dick harder than anyone else ever would and he's a bitchy little cry-baby when he doesn't get his way. and i'm over the arrogance.
anyhow, the robots were on TV (their first appearance...?) and i love them still.
even though Keyspan Park was way fucking cooler...
i want to go back.
you may notice that miss johansson pops up on this page a lot. it's mainly because i'm in love with her. and i would totally switch teams for her. there's just something about that husky voice of hers.
that would be like, the awesomest thing ever. in the whole entire world. and i'm really good at it.
fuck. i gotta get on that lottery thing. or that rich old man thing. one or the other.
you know, i don't know all that much about 'em [besides the fact the album cover for Oracular Spectaular (seriously? how fucking brilliant and wonderful is that title? i.love.it.) is sort of like, one of the hottest things i've laid my eyes upon...] 
and i'm not going to pretend that i do. you just really really really REALLY need to check them out.
mild electronic shit...instruments...i can't really put my finger directly on their sound (a good thing, i suppose), but i'm currently blown away by their lyrics. (what can i say? words get me.) thematically it seems as though MGMT is going through a quarter-life crisis/coming of age type situation. or maybe i feel that way because i think i am doing just that, and have magically and self-obsessively equated every utterance to myself and my life. i mean, like, it IS all about me, right? (btw, i stand firm in my belief that with music all that really does matter is what it means to the listener--trust me, zach and i have gotten into heated debates about this, mainly in regards to LCD's "All My Friends" versus "Someone Great." and, again, i don't care what anyone says, what critics say, or how trite and cliche "All My Friends" is; it is like, one of my defining songs of '07. it sort of epitomizes exactly the thoughts traveling through my head during this past year.)
alas. i digress.
MGMT makes songs that sound good, that i would dance to (well, some anyways...), and songs that, for some reason or another, have this incredibly apropos and profound way of affecting me right now. simply put: i'm so emo for MGMT. (we're talkin like, Smiths style emo here...it's real bad...).
i cannot name a favorite tune--all i know is that "Electric Feel" is kinda sexy and that "Destrokk" has me inexplicably entranced. do ya'self a favor: buy, borrow, or steal some MGMT soon. and then lock yourself in your room and write in journal.
let me preface what i'm about to write with the fact that as a female, i should not find Tucker Max even remotely hilarious, but i do. i can't help it. we'll just say that i appreciate his candid writing style, and his unabashed asshole-ness--something we can all relate to. (or, maybe that's just me. whatever.) and though as of late, it seems as though every "memoir" published has been countered with someone's declarations of the levels of "truthiness" (to borrow from Steven Colbert) of the contents of said memoir, i must say, i don't even care if Max's stories are true or false. they are disgustingly hilarious.
if you think you can stomach it, read this. WARNING: feces, vomit, and sex are involved. and grotesquely intertwined.
currently, the discussion is about working out, valentine's days with their "men" (barf. i hatehatehate when chicks call their significant others their "man"), and the baked goods they whipped up last night!!! oooh!!
is their something wrong with me that i find this sort of domestic, Donna Reed chit chat completely vapid and slightly obnoxious...?
all that said, i'm in a cunty ass mood today. fyi.
it's so raunchy, that i had to switch to something a little more mild...i like, got paranoid that my earphones were too loud and my co-workers could hear what i was listening to...
regardless, this EP makes me want to get hot and sweaty. you should check it out. plus, the cover art for the vinyls are fucking amazing, not to mention the publicity shots on the spank's myspace...hilarious.
this has been a highly anticipated release in my world; Ange brought Hot Chip into my life sometime last year and Tom, Leigh, Ange and I danced are asses off at the 930 Club show last spring. (Ange later got up close and personal with "Big" Al...and has photographic proof...but that's neither here nor there). I obsessively listen to Dj Kicks and The Warning and was so super duper stoked when I found out they were working on a new album. especially when i read a post on their myspace blog a while back that mentioned that wrestling was the main theme. (March 23, 2007 blog...).
so, i've been impatiently waiting...tapping my foot, drumming my fingers, scanning the web for accidentally leaked tracks, etc. bought my tickets to the show at the Vic in April, was pleased to see them on the Coachella lineup...and finally, finally, I have gotten my hands on the album.
i'd read contradicting reviews--some saying it was the ultimate dance party, others saying it was a more rock infused record than The Warning. and then i heard the "Made in the Dark" single and was slightly put off by its lullaby-ish sound...needless to say, i was chomping at the bit for its US release.
i got it last night and put it on for my trek to work. standing on the platform, listening to the first track, "Out At the Pictures" i was fighting every urge in my body to not just bust out and shake my ass. "Ready for the Floor" also brought this reaction. and i discovered that ALL of the reviews i'd read were correct. it is ultra dance-y (thank christ), and does has more rock elements. and there are a coupla slowish songs. (slow, not boring).
i'm currently on my second full listen of the album and i'm loving every second of it. so amped on the Vic show in April... gotta find good dancing shoes because lord knows it will be the dance party of the century. (besides, perhaps, the Week of Awesome, Part Deux in March: Simian Mobile Disco, Digitalism, Diplo AND Justice...all within 7 days of eachother. are you effing kidding me?!)
i'm also loving the clever lyrics on this album. i must say, i'm smitten over "Wrestlers", with lyrics like:
i've also found my new motto. maybe. whatever, i love this line from "Hold On":
anyway, long story short: this album is fucking awesome. you really should get it and listen to it and dance to it. and buy tickets to see them when they tour. it's gonna be the sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. best believe.
anyhow, if i decide to be cheap (like i usually am), this will be me walking home:
about 16 inches of snow last week, rain yesterday that turned into sleet and freezing rain overnight and this morning (pelting me in the face during my 6 block walk to my office from the train), and apparently we're supposed to get a foot of actual snow this afternoon and night.
i know people in the south had some shit happen yesterday, what with tornadoes and whatnot, but i am going insane with this weather.
and my hair is doing some really fucked up shit right now. apparently you can't cut crazy curls/weird waves out of your hair. ugh.
looking very forward to my weekend vacay in the mid-atlantic. to see my peoples, but mainly to get out of this shitstorm.
except of course, their color pallet. see?
i especially love that acid green/yellow and purple combo. and the navy blue and red one. and purple and orange. and the shoes are great. all of them.
ps, i'm very excited to see that colored tights aren't going anywhere. also, just because--here is my favorite part of Proenza Schuler: 
in case you can't tell, that strapless red dress? the print is guns!!! how gangsta, but not at all. and i know that denim jumpsuits are usually not a good idea, but there is something so 70's chic and charming about that one there on the right. i can't help but like it. of course, this look should never be attempted unless one is at least 5'10" and 100 pounds.
last but not least, i'm ob.sess.ed. with this dress:
in conclusion, i love you betsey. i wish we could be friends. i think you'd make a great friend. lots of fun. the kind of friend that would want to dress up in wacky clothes and have photo shoots on a saturday night instead of going out a getting drunk and not remembering anything the next day.
love,
sarah
on friday, after two straight days of snow, tommy and i ventured up to lakeview to go to one of the best venues i've been to in this city thus far.
anyhow, a while back, i happened upon the virgins myspace page and instantly loved them. when we went to brooklyn this summer for the Daft Punk show, i was bound and determind to find a Virgins show whilst there. and a Vampire Weekend show, for that matter. neither worked out. the Virgins were quite allusive during that period and Vampire Weekend was playing a free show at the same time we had other things scheduled (either the jazz show or the ted leo/thermals show @ McCarren...i can't remember), and they were also opening for Tokyo Polic Club in hoboken, but that show was sold the eff out. dang. anyhow, we managed to slip into the Bowery one night for TPC and the band that opened for them was Ra Ra Riot. we both really loved them immediately: 1) the name fucking rocks and 2) they have strings! glorious strings! not to mention they were just super great all around.
cut to a few weeks ago when both tom and i were feverishly attempting to locate tix to Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow, but had ZERO luck. (people on craiglist were offering $100 per ticket and still, no one was giving theirs up. dang. let's cross our fingers for a second date here, which is the rumor i read somewhere a few days ago.)
to appease the heart-broken tom, i asked him if he'd be interested in Ra Ra and the Virgins at Schubas. mehhhh...he wasn't feelin it, still holdin out for Cut Chemist (who IS super great...i saw him for free a few years back at Artscape in bmore). as the days grew nearer, tom came to terms with the fact that there was NO WAY IN HELL that we'd be able to get into that show, so finally he succumbed to my offering on Monday. and, because we've gotten BURNED several times before by not buying tix in advance for good shows that we think no one else will go to (seriously, chicago kids like good music way more than Bmore/DC kids--a sad fact, but oh so true), i dished out $10 per ticket on Tuesday to assure entry. (the cool things about Schubas is that even if you can't get into the music room, you can hear it from the bar. but really, that's sometimes worse...hearing the awesomeness but not getting to see it? plus dancing in the bar area can be a bit awkward...)
so we went and i'm amped i thought ahead to get tix because it was, as predicted, sold the eff out. sweet.
the Essex Channel, a local act, was playing the end of their set when we got there. didn't hear the whole thing, but what i did hear, i sorta got down with. (btw, i really want to provide you with a link to a web page or myspace page or something for them, but i can't find one. allusive little fellas.) they all were wearing fun suits and ties, which i like.
then the Virgins came on. i srsly love them. the lead singer reminds me of a young Ramone...joey, maybe...? anyway, they were super great. fun and total rock 'n roll, which i dig. and of course, they finished with "Rich Girls" which i swear, too many people know from its appearance on Gossip Girl. not hating, just a little weirded out by it. chalk it up to a music producer with awesome taste on the show...? whatevs. also, the bassist/guitar player on one sing, Nick...? he's my new faux boyfriend. look how cute he is:
anyhow, next up was Ra Ra Riot. as i mentioned previously they have a strings section. Arcade Fire-ish, but so not. i read recently on someone else's blog that they are Arcade Fire without the pretension. and i absolutely agree. not a speck of pretension here. just two hot chicks playing cello and violin, rocking the eff out. and four guys rocking out. seriously, tom and i were wondering how they'd all fit on the tiny stage at Schubas. they did, but as i'd predicted, Rebecca (violinist) definitely came close to poking out some eyes a coupla times with the frantic bow of hers. which only made it more super awesome.
i can't say enough good things about Ra Ra Riot. really, i can't. they are the band that seems like they geniuinely fucking LOVE what they're doing. they smile and dance and really, truly look they honestly are having a blast. and that's always a treat. because seriously, touring bands have the best jobs on the planet and i really get annoyed when a band gets onstage all sullen-like and doesn't look like they're enjoying themselves.
the other super cool thing was that they came back for TWO encores. and the lead singer (who also jams on the keys a bit!) made the comment that that was the first time they'd ever come back twice. i don't know if that's the truth, but either way, it's rare that a smallish "indie" band at a tiny venue does that. so that was even cooler, ya know? and despite the fact that it was ridiculously hot in there by the time they were done (rocking out under hothot lights is tuff, guys), they got right back onstage and just jammed.
this was one of the best shows i've been to in a while. even though i've been seeing some pretty kickass music lately.
the greatest thing is that Ra Ra is playing the Double Door (just one L stop away from me!!!) in march and i'm definitely getting tix. yay! hi, Ra Ra Riot, you're my band of the week (maybe month!) i love you.
oh yeah, and i have the most major girl crush on Rebecca (the violinist). she's super talented, super cute, and rocks out with that violin of hers. plus i like how she sings every song even though she doesn't have a mic. it's cute. look, she's super awesome:
PS, as you may or may not know, Vampire Weekend's full length was release this past tuesday. you should get it. also, do yourself a major favor and listen to Ra Ra Riot. trust me, you'll be amped. (and for those of you in the DC/Bmore area, they're playing the Black Cat soon. check.them.out.)
