wordtravelsfast

moving...

2009-10-12T14:50:00.002-05:00

I've been moving my blog to wordpress...

still have a lot to sort out with it, but new updates (well almost new, I have to catch up) will be at www.wordtravelsfast.net which links to my wordpress site.

thanks!

please stand by

2009-06-16T18:54:00.002-05:00

...I'm in the process of transferring my blog to a new and improved version and site, it's just taking a bit longer than I planned.

I should have it all new and pretty real soon!

xo

in the meantime, enjoy this oldie but goodie from The 3Ds!!

WLFR playlist April 13, 2009

2009-05-31T14:03:00.002-05:00

I've really been missing my time at WLFR lately and I was anxious to do another show. In a weird coincidence, it had been just a year since I did the last one.

I was going home to NJ for Easter, which also happened to be my nephew, Josh's birthday.
Originally, I was supposed to do the show Sunday afternoon, but just before I left my parent's house for the studio, I checked the stream online, and heard dance music. I knew that the DJ on at that time had a Grateful Dead show, so I knew something was awry.

I was leaving the macbook home so I could record the stream, since the college only allows students and faculty to log on to the wireless. I emailed Bill, one of the station managers my phone number and said I was thinking that no one was in the studio and it was on automation, but I was going off to campus to hope for the best.

Unfortunately, the campus was completely empty, and almost deserted. I was able to get into one building, but no where near the studio, plus even if I could get to where the studio is, I'd need an electronic card to swipe at the door to unlock it. Luckily, I spread the word as best I could to let everyone know there was a possibility I'd not be on...sigh.

The entire campus was locked up for the holiday, but the campus police never informed any of the WLFR managers.

Fortunately, I could go on to do a show the next afternoon, exactly a year to the date I did the last fill in show in 2008! too funny! Unfortunately, I set the computer to record the stream at the wrong time and didn't get any recording of the show. If anyone does have a recording, I'd love to get it from you!

Here's what I played, and I had an absolute blast playing it!

The Music Asylum April 13 2009 on WLFR:

The Feelies-Let's Go
Joe Strummer-Johnny Appleseed
Jenny Doveson-I Will Think of it All
Blind Pilot-Go On, Say It
The Swimmers-Heaven
Crocodile-August is Over
Surefire Broadcast-Hey Baby!
Make Model-The Was
Oppenheimer-Only Goal & Winner
Marah-Point Breeze
The Heavenly States-Lost in the Light
Glossary-Almsgiver
The Clean-Someone
Running with Horses-Over Before it Ended
The Love Language-Lalita
I'm from Barcelona-Oversleeping
Marching Band-For Your Love
Frank Turner-Reasons Not to be an Idiot
Attic Lights-Walkie Talkie
Dropkick-Breakdown
The Primary 5-What Am I Supposed to Do?
Uncle Tupelo-Give Back the Key to my Heart
Have Gun, Will Travel-Come All Ye Sinners
Lamont Skylark-Daisy
Two Cow Garage-Skinny Legged Girl
Ike Reilly Assassination-Garbage Day
The Minders-It's So Hard
The Underclass-Tomorrow is Now
Nushu-Spill
Camera Obscura-I Need All the Friends I Can Get
Mojave 3-Running with Your Eyes Closed
Teenage Fanclub-Ain't That Enough
The Jam-That's Entertainment
Swivel Chairs-And Smile

Two hours goes by real quick in radio, especially when you only get to do a show once a year. I hope to do more this year, but a lot depends on when I can get home to NJ. Community & college radio in Northern VA & DC is lacking, at least for community members. I out to a local college here in MD, as they had an open house for DJs. It was highly disorganized and I couldn't be bothered to wait in line. I left it for the kids to fight for air time.

WLFR turns 25 this October, and hopefully, I can play a role in helping that celebration. I'll have to dig up all my old "stuff" I have from my time at WLFR.

Stay tuned, I'm hoping to get back in the studio real soon!

SXSW 2009 (day 5)

2009-05-30T22:34:00.004-05:00

Sunday, March 22

The official parties and showcases are over and recovery begins for most. However, there's an annual Sunday gathering for brunch at Opal Devine's for many of us. I've only gone the last two years, back in 1995 (my first SXSW) I wasn't on the Postcard list yet. And SXSW was a completely different experience back then!

The 17th floor of the hotel had to evacuate at 4:30am. Climbing down 17 flights of stairs in PJs is not exactly what one wants to do at that hour, especially when you've only been asleep for a few:

-Um hotel evacuation not cool at 4:30 am #pcfh wish they would let us know whats going on 5:47 AM Mar 22nd from web
-All because some idiot was smoking in their room, we had to walk down 17 flights of stairs grr #pcfh 5:54 AM Mar 22nd from web (the twitter post times, are East Coast time)

I did find it curious that only the 17th floor had the alarm to evacuate. And it's not one you can sleep through, it's got a voice along with the bell and is constantly telling you to leave. But what if it had really been an emergency? the 16 floors below us would be ok? anyway....

We had a really great turnout for brunch, and it's nice to just sit and relax with no where to go, unless your flight is leaving that day! A few left to catch flights, drive home, etc some went to Waterloo a bit early, and a handful of us stayed behind to talk with the Two Cow Garage boys.

A quick visit to Waterloo Records, although I was just along for the fun. By this time in the week, funds are usually way low for me! I went over to Flatstock with Terry & Wendy and wandered around a bit. I tried in vain to find an early birthday or Christmas present for a friend, but just couldn't decide on something that would work.

took a few hours to relax in the room, pack up my stuff, and then met up at the Driscoll for a drink or two, off to dinner & drinks at ? a place I can't remember, but was good food & conversation. And one last drink back at the Driscoll. We all said our goodbyes.

Then instead of walking around the block, me, Dave, Donny & Joe went over the front gate on the porch of the Driscoll and I almost broke my ankle hopping down onto the steps, even with assistance from the boys. I walked it off back to the hotel, hoping it would be fine.

Back in the room, I could barely keep my eyes open & had thought about going out for more music, but decided to sleep instead.

the view from the 17th floor:

Another SXSW complete.
I wonder what next year will bring?!

SXSW 2009 (day 4)

2009-05-30T20:42:00.004-05:00

Saturday, March 21

Thankfully, I woke up feeling much better than the previous night. I decided to try and keep it relatively low key in the morning, during the first part of the day. I wanted to go to the Yorkshire party, but I decided to go to the Twangfest party. With such an incredible lineup this year, with many bands on my list in one venue, and the opportunity to spend the last official day with many friends, it wasn't a hard decision.
A whole bunch of us went over from the hotel, and got there just as Ha Ha Tonka was about to start.

I split time between them and Otis Gibbs, who was playing outside.

A couple of us sat down inside for a bite to eat, and we must have hit the sweet spot because it didn't take long for food to arrive. Unfortunately, I missed Romantica playing outside, but listened to The Waco Brothers as they started their set. It was strange to be at a table with my back to the stage, but I wouldn't have been able to see them anyway, plus I know what they look like! once I was finished eating, I did stand up on my chair and snap this photo:

I then went outside to catch Steve Dawson, who had Edward Burch join him for a couple songs. I was the only one who gave a "woo hoo!" at Edward Burch's mention of Bill Fox. If I recall correctly, they covered a song, but I don't remember which one.

Back inside for a couple Exene Cervenka songs. I wanted to make certain I didn't miss a second of Magnolia Summer outside so, I planted myself in a chair right at the front. It was a perfect soundtrack for yet another gorgeous day in sunny Austin.

Slaid Cleaves was starting his set inside just as Magnolia Summer ended theirs. I caught most it, and then hitched a lift with Mike, Meri & Mike to try and catch The Breakers. We missed them, but caught The Homosexuals who were interesting to watch over a quick beer.

From there we moved on to Home Slice Pizza, who's lineup was WAY behind schedule. seriously behind schedule. Since I didn't really have anything specific to see, I just hung out with the guys and waited at Home Slice. We were waiting for Jason Lytle to start his set, and I'm not a Granddaddy fanatic, but I dig them well enough. He sounded pretty good and was in relatively good spirits.

this was the best photo I could get:

Mike climbed up on the fence to take some from a better viewpoint, but I wasn't climbing anything!

After that, we headed back downtown and I took a break to rest at the hotel.

Went over to see Two Cow Garage for a really short set at Creekside, which was a mere block away. My camera battery started to die but not before I got a ton of the boys. My favorite of this set:

I've been taking photographs of the Two Cow boys for years, and I've learned that I can just shoot and I'll usually catch something good!

back to the hotel real quick to charge the camera battery for a few minutes, and a few of us were trying to decide the 9pm hour..so I listened to songs from our choices, and when I went to Craig & Brooke's room, I said as they opened the door: The Little Ones! Which was a good choice, because they said the same thing! A few of us ended up there and the bar was packed. They were A LOT of fun!

I moved on to One Hundred Dollars next and was on my own. I had them on my list, and they were playing just before Marching Band. Marching Band had played a number of times all week and this was my last chance! I LOVE their album from start to finish, and love it so much that I was afraid I might be disappointed at the live show. no matter, their set became a Saturday night MUST SEE!

I felt bad for One Hundred Dollars singer, as she was losing her voice rapidly. poor thing could hardly talk at the end of her set. I had gotten from texts from my friend, Eric, who was looking for my must see of the night. I told him where I was and he showed up with a friend (her name escapes me at the moment) in time to catch a bit of One Hundred Dollars too. Heather got there in time as well. Definitely weird sitting in hard wood chairs in a church, but it sounded really good!

Marching Band were reluctant at the beginning of their set. They were concerned they were too loud. It really wasn't too loud and it sounded amazing. from the first note, I knew I wasn't going away disappointed! Even better is that my tip paid off to Eric, who loved them just as much as I did. I think after "For Your Love" he whispered 'again, play it again!' Beautiful swirling pop sounds, recreated almost to the exact note live.

The one thing about SXSW is that there's usually little time for just hanging out and talking with a band. Granted, I jam pack my schedule with bands to maximize my time and get my money's worth. My paycheck doesn't really afford me many luxuries, but my love for music needs to be fed. A lot of times, there's only a few brief moments to say hello to a band, because they have to move on to their next gig, sometimes having to run up 6th St or wherever. And depending on the situation, I can easily lose my voice and not have the courage to say anything. Luckily, I didn't have anyone pressing to see for the 12am slot, so I waited around to say hello to at least one of the main pair of Marching Band. They left their albums & t-shirts at an unattended table, with a cup for money, kind of a free will payment for merch. Three of us were looking at the shirts, which most were in a backpack on the floor, so me being the organizer that I am, I starting taking them out and sorting them. Another girl helped too. At that point, Erik walked over.

I spoke with him for a few minutes telling him the sound was great, and not too loud as they had worried about it during the set. I gushed a bit about how I loved the album from start to finish and had been listening to it as soon as I could get it. When he asked me where I heard their music, I smiled and laughed a little. I replied The power of the internet! I first heard "For Your Love" on the Three from Leith podcast (Hi Grant!) based in Scotland. And we laughed a little at how an American girl got to hear & love a Swedish band while listening to a podcast from Scotland. My music world is truly Global!

Unfortunately, they haven't had as quick a success with the record yet in the US & he admitted that they could be better with promotion decisions around it. I'm doing my best to tell everyone about it, but these things take time and people who have open minds to new music.

I said my goodbye and hoped I'd see them again soon, and was off into the lovely breezy night.

I made my way back to 6th St. wondering where I'd go next. The 12am slot was well under way, nothing was shouting off the page at me (yes, I had a paper schedule printed out from sched.org) but I sent off a few texts to see what was up.

I'd heard great things all week about The Arkells, so I stopped in to see them. They lived up to the hype and sounded incredible despite crappy PA issues and were having a total blast on stage. I ran into Joe there, after a few songs, I couldn't get past the sound problems and it was about 100 degrees inside.

I tried to get in to Youth Group at Maggie Mae's knowing a few who were in there, but they were at capacity. at this point, I started trying to sort out who was going where for the 1am hour. I had already seen The Waco Brothers (and they usually make their way to IOTA) and Dressy Bessy was a bit of a hike from where I was. I was going to go in and see Bobby Bare, Jr. and should have, but I never made it inside. Most were off to see Monotonix, but I wasn't interested all that much in them.

In the end I walked up 6th St. got a fresh slice of pizza & a coke from the truck just outside the hotel. And it was the freshest. So fresh, I had to wait for it to come out of the oven! I went back to the room, calling it a night. I kind of had a feeling that after Marching Band, there wasn't anything else I needed to really see!

bands for day 4:
Ha Ha Tonka
Otis Gibbs
The Waco Brothers
Steve Dawson with Edward Burch joining on a couple songs
Exene Cervenka
Magnolia Summer
Slaid Cleaves
The Homosexuals
Jason Lytle
Two Cow Garage
The Little Ones
One Hundred Dollars
Marching Band
The Arkells

tally for Saturday: 14 (6 full sets)

SXSW 2009 (Day 3)

2009-04-30T01:15:00.004-05:00

Friday, March 20

Once again, I was up for breakfast relatively early. And out the door for a fully scheduled day, however....

Over the last couple of years, between car accidents and other health issues, I'm somewhat baffled at my ability to take on SXSW. The problem with me is that I never know what kind of day I'm going to have health wise. One day, I could be fine, feeling fabulous, the next barely feeling up to standing. In addition, the migraines I've suffered from since age 15 or so are like your worst hangover without the benefit of the drink. In addition, typically the effects of a hangover will go away with rest, water and a dose of some greasy food and you start feeling better and working the alcohol out of your system. My migraines eventually go away, but sometimes it might be quick, other times all the "tricks" won't work and I'm not sure when it will go away & they can last for days. I'm doing my best to sort it out all with doctor's visits, but it's not always easy.

At any rate, I try to rally through it all as best I can, unless, the universe decides otherwise.

I decided to start off the morning with The Lost Brothers! And it was a nice way to start off the morning. I went from there to the Sonic Bids party specifically to see Hot Lava.

I felt I should give them my support for a number of reasons: they're from Richmond, they're label mates with Oppenheimer (Bar None Records) & they played my friends' pool party last summer. I caught a little bit of Devil Makes Three downstairs before I went up to Maggie Mae's rooftop. I also caught the end of The Beat Poets set, although just barely.

It was a tough crowd so early in the day for Hot Lava. most were in the back of the roof top area, chowing down on free food & beer, and looking over the edge down to 6th St. Early people watching I'm sure. I was as close as I could be without being too close as the one person up front. After a few moments, I finally managed to meet Mark from Bar None in person. We've "spoken" to one another through myspace, email, etc mostly about Oppenheimer, but had yet to meet. It was a funny moment, but it was really great to finally meet!

The rest of the afternoon had many options. Some were just too far on the fringe (Home Slice Pizza and Fader Fort) for me to get back & forth to other stuff I wanted to see, so I stuck around the core of 6th St. I also needed to get some cash since I was running out. Remembering that my bank had a branch near the church where Camera Obscura played, I was pretty close to it from my current location. I'm forever trying to maximize my time with efficiency! (yes, a bit freaky, I know)

I was also trying to meet up with my friend, John. I ended up going over to the Aussie BBQ. the line for food was entirely too long, but the line for free beer was short, and I wasn't hungry yet. I opted for the Lemon Myrtle beer (camera phone photo):

While there, I did finally meet up with John & his friend. I got to see The Fumes & Gabriella (boy was she AWFUL) And after a 2nd beer, we decided to move on. We went separate ways and I moved on to Latitude 30 for the Scottish Music party. I must confess, last year's day party was way more exciting for me, personally, with this 2008 lineup: Our Lunar Activities, Jyrojets, Make Model, Dykeenies, Sons & Daughters, and Frightened Rabbit. Between the bands and the great crowd, 2008's party was tops!

But 2009 did all right, I saw Come On Gang!, FOUND, & My Latest Novel.

From there, I went to catch the end of Glossary's set at the Lucero Family picnic:

I saw Dave, Donny, Bruce, & Tom there (and probably others)...and by this point I was feeling mighty fine thanks to free beer. I was loving the new Glossary songs & heard them enough times I could sort of sing along. The Felice Brothers were up just after, so I stayed to catch them too. It was at this point I saw my friend, Tom, and started talking with him and another guy. I can't remember where in the UK he was from, but I managed to spill my beer on him, which I apologized profusely for doing. But we started talking about Dropkick and he was surprised to know I knew of their music! I had plans to go to the Yorkshire party at Latitude 30 the next day, so I sort of made plans to meet up with him there.

I moved along to catch Camera Obscura nearby at Flamingo Cantina:

I managed some decent photos despite the contrasting light and the packed crowd. It was pretty close quarters on stage too! I enjoyed the new songs and old favs, and was just soaking it all in at this point! Once they finished their short set, I moved on up 6th St. to see We Should Be Dead:

An adorable (there's that word again!) young band from Limerick, Ireland. While not my regular go to type band, I liked their song on the SXSW site and thought they were worthy of catching at least one short set.

At this point, it was time for a bit of a break. I went back to the hotel and find myself spinning on the bed. Luckily, I got some food and water and took a little snooze.

Then it was off to see The Love Language! "Lalita" is so damn catchy and repeat worthy!

Kiki went over to the Habana Backyard with me since she was looking to see Felice Bros, Jason Isbell, & Tim Easton. We both really liked The Love Language, but weren't sure it was necessary to have so many people on stage! I really like them a lot, but "Lalita" was definitely tops for me and the obvious "hit" single!

From there, it was a must to go see Frank Turner again. When I got to Friends, I wasn't feeling so great, and could feel the start of a migraine. Francesca was there, and soon a few other Postcarders would be too. John met up with me as well. I was sticking to water & soda for awhile, but opted for a Corona, hoping the headache would go away. They were severely behind schedule at Friends. Which sadly, meant very short sets for most performers. I saw Beans & Toast, Ed Harcourt, Otis Gibbs, and Frank Turner. most barely got to play all of say 4 songs each. Frank wanted to play just one more and got shut down, despite the crowd clearly wanting just one more!

And what does Frank Turner do when he's told no? He takes it to the street:

It has to be one of the greatest moments of SXSW 2009! He sung us two songs and it was brilliant! I'm sure there's video & better photos, but that's the best I could do and I didn't want to keep holding my arm up to take pics, and ruin the experience for those behind me. I didn't realize it would be my last photo of the night.

From here, John & I started walking over to Pangea to try and catch Graham Coxon before Superdrag. On the way over, I was enjoying the fresh air and cool breeze. However, I also realized that I went past my migraine threshold. There's a certain point when I get a migraine that if I don't catch it in time, and the meds don't kick in properly, I have to give in to it. Let it run its course. But that means getting myself in bed with an ice pack and a room cool & dark. We made it all the way to the club when I had to say a quick good night and get myself up to Hilton Garden Inn ASAP. It was a really long walk (not really, but it felt that way) and I kept myself going as best I could. I *just* made it in time to crawl into bed with a cold wash cloth and the AC turned way down. I kept thinking in through my head, and trying to look at my schedule to see that I was missing Graham Coxon, Superdrag, Gary Louris & Mark Olson (consolation was knowing that I'd be seeing them in Scotland in May), Southeast Engine, Mike Badger, and Right or Happy (Reivers!!)...

It did me no good to fret over it. There's no way I could be in a hot sweaty, crowded club in my condition. Kiki got back and got me some ice. And it got worse before it got better. But I did feel better by about 1am, and I wish I had looked to see that Shearwater were playing the 18th Floor, literally just above our floor. But I decided to call it a night and stay in bed. I'd rather kick the migraine completely and have a great Saturday.

I've learned that because of weird health issues, I've become much more flexible in a lot of things. I can't always control how my body is going to react to the world. I just gotta roll with it, for lack of a better phrase.

bands for day 3:

The Lost Brothers
The Beat Poets (2 songs)
Devil Makes Three (3 songs)
Hot Lava
The Fumes
Gabriella
Come On Gang!
FOUND
My Latest Novel
Glossary (4 songs)
The Felice Brothers
Camera Obscura
We Should Be Dead
The Love Language
Beans & Toast
Ed Harcourt
Otis Gibbs
Frank Turner

tally for Friday: 18 (16 full sets, although the last four only got to play about 4-5 songs each)

SXSW 2009 (Day 2)

2009-04-26T23:47:00.003-05:00

Thursday March 19, 2009

I got up and had breakfast at the hotel. made to order omelets ROCK! and Francesca even more so for getting us the free breakfast coupons!

I made certain to be up and ready to go, because I had to get over to the first day of the Twangfest parties. I shared a cab with Dave and Rob to get over to Jovita's. the guys got a meal inside and I sat with them as Hot Club of Cowtown started their set. I didn't need food yet.

psa start:
pause for SXSW advice: always eat when you can, drink water when you can, use the toilet when you can, and sit down when you can....all of these things will help you survive long days and nights. also, partake of the free drink and food as much as possible, it will help cut costs.
:psa end

Shortly after the guys finished their meals, the This is American Music portion...once again, Grand Champeen, Glossary and Two Cow Garage rocked the patio of Jovita's. Plus, it was great to see young Calder Lewis & how much he's grown since last year! And, he's a big brother now too!

after the TiAM sets were done, I hitched a lift back downtown by literally squeezing into the backseat of a mustang convertible between Dave & Daryl. I think I might be married to them both now. I probably should have shared a cab with others, but it was too late by the time I thought of that.

I decided to skip the New West party this year. last year, I was more than happy to get there and move right up front for Old 97's and The Drams. this year, with confusion about the lineup, I decided not to go. My consolation was that I will be seeing Mark Olson & Gary Louris in Scotland at the Darvel Music Festival.

I got to the Northern Ireland party at Latitude 30 between sets, so I got in line for some food. General Fiasco were about to play and I was pleased because they were the band I didn't want to miss! they're just babies! ok, not really, but they're soooo young and so adorable! I can't tell you how many times I used the word adorable while in austin. granted, mostly speaking to myself, but there were a lot of young bands so young that you just wanted to pinch their cheeks (and no, I did not do that to anyone)

I really liked the mp3 from General Fiasco and their set was impressive. I didn't get to see them again, but they seem like a real fun band. It will be interesting to see where they go with their music.

This is about the time where my afternoon became full of missed connections. I tried to catch Elliott Brood at convention center, but missed them and caught some of Justin Townes Earle. Then I tried to catch An Horse, but where I thought they were playing, had 6 guys setting up on stage...clearly not An Horse!

at this point, it's about 5pm and I quickly went over to check out Henry Clay People. loads of energy from the stage and once again, adorable. But it's the energy that really pulls you in. they were having tons of fun, whether you were or not. Clearly they love to play and go full on every time. I hope to see them again.

after The Henry Clay People, I decided to take a break, head back to the hotel and get some dinner.

For the night, my first stop was Latitude 30 and Frank Turner at 8pm. A buzz in the air, great crowd, great venue (in my opinion) and proper air conditioning. Holy Moley! Frank Turner is amazing! A bunch of us were there, and I think we thought he'd play solo acoustic, but he had a full backing band. Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts who apparently had just met Frank Turner that morning (obviously, they were able to learn the songs beforehand) I can't wait to see him again (and I did)! I'm sorry I missed him at last year's SXSW...so many bands/musicians so little time.

this has got to be my favorite picture of SXSW: Frank Turner is a butterfly!

I confess, I almost had one by accident, and then I realized that from where I was standing, all 5'2 of me & how I was taking photographs, I could easily get a good one once the butterfly image came back around on the screen behind him. I don't know if anyone else captured a shot similar but this one happened to be when he was speaking between songs and I just had to...I hope he doesn't mind!

the 9pm slot was a toss up, but I opted for Eugene Francis Jr. & the Juniors since they were playing just before the Heavenly States. I'm glad I did, I had fun, the band had fun and we all got free records, along with a free "shaker" for an audience participation song. they were little wrapped matchboxes.

I missed The Heavenly States at last year's SXSW and while they played a bunch of times this year, I almost was going to miss them again. I made sure that didn't happen. I really love their entire album, and I seriously can not sit still when "Lost in the Light" is on...it's a repeat worthy song. Since I had yet to see them live, I was concerned I'd anticipate it too much. They totally proved me wrong and rocked through their set mixing old and new stuff. And of course, "Lost in the Light" I'm so glad I finally got to see them and I hope they make it to the East Coast soon.

after the Heavenly States' set, I decided to try the almost impossible task of seeing four, yes FOUR bands in one hour! I hustled over to The Rio to catch The Lost Brothers. I really liked them at the Belfast-Nashville party. I caught a couple songs...

then, I ran back up to 6th St. and stopped at the Velveeta Room to try and catch Elliott Brood (my 2nd attempt) only to be informed that they were at capacity and I could wait and be first in the badge line. I replied: 'sorry I don't have time for that' so it was on to Two Hours Traffic.

No line to get in El Sol y La Luna, but I had a police officer check my ID. I wonder if they randomly chose to be there or if the club asked them to be there. My friend, John, from The Successful Failures had been texting me earlier in the day, but we had yet to meet up. He was at this show, but I couldn't find him. and while my verizon text messages were going through, I don't think his iPhone was getting them in a timely manner. I stayed for 3-4 songs, and then went over to catch the end of Glossary's set at Habana Calle 6 patio. I chatted with Kelly for a bit, got a new t-shirt from her and also chatted with Chris from Magnolia Summer. I missed their set, but promised I would be seeing them at the Twangfest party.

I was going to stay for The Monahans, or go see Blind Pilot again, but opted for a beer with Brooke & Craig in the hotel, before heading out to see The Wrens at 1am. This is where Kiki, my other roommate for the week was planted all evening. I'm pretty sure she was in Austin specifically to see The Wrens. I've never been a fanatic but thought it would be fun to be with a group of people for the 1am slot. We walked over to the venue, The Prague, which didn't really seem like a rock or music venue. After 15 minutes, which included me sitting on a couch at the back of the room, and chatting with a really really drunk guy who practically sat on my lap, I gave up. I realized I could be seeing others who were already playing. I skipped through a few places on my way back up 6th St. since most of the bands on my list were playing well off 6th. I now wish I had gone to see 18th Dye, but what can you do? like I say, if I was meant to see a band, I will.

bands for day 2:

Hot Club of Cowtown
Grand Champeen
Glossary
Two Cow Garage
General Fiasco
Justin Townes Earle (3 songs)
The Henry Clay People
Frank Turner
Eugene Francis, Jr & The Juniors
The Heavenly States
The Lost Brothers (3 songs)
Two Hours Traffic (3 songs)
Glossary (3 songs)

tally for Thursday: 13 (9 full sets)

it was a slow day, I guess!

SXSW 2009 (Day 1, plus some)

2009-04-23T00:01:00.002-05:00

While I got started early in my preparation for SXSW this year, I still ran out of time. I found in the preparation I did, was that nothing was really jumping out at me as a must see. Since 2008 saw my first SXSW in 13 years, and the whole event had changed so dramatically since then, I kept with the Zen approach to SXSW: If I'm meant to see a band, I will see them. With all the preparation, it's really just a guide to help make game time decisions. Plus, it's all subject to change at the last minute and if you arrive at one venue to see a certain band and they're not there or another has taken that slot, you gotta learn to move on to another show, and let it go. For any given slot, I had about 10 bands, with some slots not really having anyone rise up and shout at me “See us!”

On my flight from DC, I had the 390 or so remaining mp3s to listen to one last time and narrow it down further. Between that and taking a realistic look at distance between venues and reasonably getting from one to the other, I started the balancing act of who might take the lead. I fell asleep in the “S” bands, about 20 minutes before prep for landing.

I arrived in Austin in the early afternoon. I was happy to leave the dreary weather of DC for the bright blue sunny skies of Austin. I have been going non-stop since the beginning of the year, so it was nice to get away. This time around, I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, pretty much right at Red River and 6th St. I was so exhausted, I just relaxed in the hotel until it was time for the annual Postcard from Hell meetup at Serrano's. Last year was my second SXSW, but the first meeting up with a bunch of Postcarders.

After dinner, drinks and the hellos, most of us were off to Beerland for 3 of the 4 bands from This is American Music: Glossary, Two Cow Garage and Grand Champeen. It's always great to see these bands. We missed The Drams of course, but still a great night. Instead of the rotating of band members on stage, all three bands just played their own sets straight on, with a few guests here and there.

Official Day 1:

Got up early for breakfast (free, thanks to roommate, Francesca)
I walked over to Fader Fort to get the wristband since I could see the location from our room on the 17th floor. While walking over there, I managed to meet two guys from DC, too funny. Even funnier is the fact that I would never use the Fader Fort wristband. To top it off, said wristband fell off my wrist not once but twice. The 2nd time, I couldn't get it back on, so I ditched it.

I went back over toward the convention center on my way to Latitude 30 for the Belfast-Nashville party. It was early, but I wanted to make sure I was in and could see Bap Kennedy for the very very short set he was going to play. I didn't know until I got there when he'd play. A slight detour to go inside the convention center to meet up with Francesca and get her sorted with my wristband option on my badge.

Stood outside the Belfast-Nashville party and chatted with a local, Tim, for a bit. A bunch of Postcarders started arriving and they let us in. The British Music Embassy parties were my favorites of last year. Free drink, free good food and great music. Oh and real toilets and great air conditioning help too! I saw Keegan Dewitt, The Lost Brothers, Ten from Tennessee, Bap Kennedy and Roman Candle.

moved on from there to the IODA party at Emo's Annex. This is where I saw Frightened Rabbit last year, on the first official afternoon and was taken away. This year, when a few of us got there, there was some horrific sound on stage that was supposed to be a band. definitely not my cuppa.

Soon, Blind Pilot took the stage and despite some sound issues, a bunch of us really were into it. I had them on my list a couple times, and made note to try and see them again. They seemed like a great bunch of people, with great songs, a great sound. I was loving the banjo. However, the thing about these day time parties outside is that it's rushed and hot.

Next up on same stage was We Were Promised Jetpacks. I confess to being a Frightened Rabbit fangirl and these guys were on my radar because of numerous mentions from the FR boys in interviews, etc. I've just been on a huge Scottish music kick anyway, so why not another? I keep saying, the music coming out of Scotland right now, is like it's 1992 all over again, except I'm not relying on the UK mags and 120 minutes and WLFR to keep me in the loop. Anyhow, I really liked We Were Promised Jetpacks, they have the bit of raw energy like FR, but don't quite hit me in the gut like FR. I also made a note of trying to see them again.

after that, I moved on to try and see the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. the outside stage where they played was packed and crowded with no way to get in to actually see them. I ditched the idea, thinking I'd catch them again. So I caught a song or two from Tallest Man on Earth who was playing inside. I like his stuff well enough on recordings, but I wasn't feeling it this day in the live setting. I also caught the end of Megafaun's set, which little did I know, I'd do this at least once more before the week was out.

I thought I RSVP'd for the British Music Embassy Launch party, but apparently, I hadn't. for some reason, it was the only party of the BME I didn't rsvp for. I took this as a cue to take advantage of the time to take a break. I headed back to the hotel to dump out my bag of things I'd collected, rest my feet and prepare for the night's festivities.

I started the 8pm hour with a young band from Oklahoma City, OK called Crocodile. As I walked into the Wave (one of the worst venues of SXSW), Slobberbone was on the downstairs PA. nice! Crocodile was upstairs on the rooftop. I really liked the mp3 on the sxsw site. and read some reviews about them. A keyboard driven pop trio with boy-girl vocals. I thought they were adorable. Adorable would eventually be a much used adjective this trip.

next up was Capsula. they were on my list last year. I don't think I saw them, will have to check my notes. a garagey rock trio from Spain. despite sound issues, they tore through their set and commanded the stage. I thought some of the Postcard boys might like the bass player, who was wearing basically a tee shirt as a dress. On my way out, I caught the end of Thee Headliners set.

from here, I kind of jumped around a bit. I went and caught Two Dollar Bash for a little while, and then split some time between The Ugly Beats and Trainwreck Riders, but ultimately headed over to the Central Presbyterian Church a bit early to make certain I'd catch Camera Obscura at 12 am. This was my first year with a badge and when I arrived at the church, the line was down the block and there was also some confusion. Two badge holders were in front of me were also confused about the line set up, there were two lines: one for non-wristband/badges and one for wristband/badges. I decided to walk up to the door and ask, and I became the first person in the badge line.

See? it never hurts to ask and you can be nice about it!

I got inside to catch the end of Department of Eagles, St. Vincent's set and of course, Camera Obscura! It was a bit odd to be sitting in a church pew watching bands. I was on my own, but started seeing friends arrive, which prompting tons of text messages from me, indicating things like "I just saw you walk past. I'm up front to the left, 4 pews back!" never would I imagine I'd be sending texts like that!

I wasn't supposed to take pictures in the church, since I didn't have an official photo tag on my camera, but I snapped one or two anyway:

the timing of Camera Obscura's set unfortunately ran a bit over, and resulted in people leaving a little early to go catch the 1am slot somewhere else. Traceyanne Campbell watched people leave regularly and kept lamenting about it. I felt as if we should've let her know not to take it personal! I stayed 'til the end of their set. Afterward, I met up with Tom, Mike, and Bill inside the church, and we walked back to 6th St. together. None of us bothered to try and catch that last time slot somewhere else, so I walked down 6th toward the hotel, got some snacks for the room, while Mike & Bill grabbed a slice of pizza.

bands seen so far:
Glossary
Grand Champeen
Two Cow Garage

Keegan DeWitt
The Lost Brothers
Ten from Tennessee
Bap Kennedy
Roman Candle
Blind Pilot
We Were Promised Jetpacks
Tallest Man on Earth (2 songs)
Megafaun (3 songs)
Crocodile
Capsula
Thee Headliners (2 songs)
Two Dollar Bash (half a set)
The Ugly Beats (half a set)
Train Wreck Riders (3 songs)
Department of Eagles (2 songs)
St. Vincent
Camera Obscura

tally for Tuesday: 3
tally for Wednesday: 18 (11 full sets)

The Twitchhiker (March 7 & 8, 2009)

2009-04-22T00:10:00.003-05:00

I started my twitter account ages ago, however, I never really updated it. I figured why would anyone care where I was or what I was doing at any given moment. Then I realized, I wouldn't have to tweet everything. Plus, SXSW '09 was coming up and those of us on Postcard from Hell would utilize it to keep connected in Austin.

I logged back on and started adding more connections and using apps like Tweetdeck, etc.

I've been addicted to google reader, and I believe on one of my RSS feeds, I found out about The Twitchhiker He planned an attempt to travel the world raising awareness and funds for Charity:Water all through the kindness of Twitter users. You can read all about the rules and guidelines for his travel on his blog

I found his idea intriguing, went to his twitter page and started following him. As his journey started, I had hoped he would make it to DC. As I started to realize this possibility, it was also going to be tricky for me to participate by offering to help while I was in the thick of a Board of Directors meeting for the Alliance for Community Media

Fortunately, he was due to arrive in DC Saturday afternoon, March 7th. Luck was on my side, and we finished our board meeting early that day.

There was a planned tweetup with The Twitchhiker and some other DC area users and I made the decision to make sure I went, but I was also going to help move him along the next day, by driving him to Frederick, MD to meet up with @Yenra

The thought of meeting up with 4 other people for drinks, whom I do not know, and have had brief exchanges on twitter somewhat terrified me. Many who've met me in my post college years, are surprised when i tell them I am terribly introverted. I was painfully shy and somewhat anti-social as a young child. I'll never completely overcome it. I continue to learn how to cope.

an extroverted introvert as my friend, Jeremy has described me.

So despite being exhausted, nervous and all sorts of emotions, I pulled myself together as best I could, took metro down to Capital Hill and met up with @Twitchhiker, @katyhaltertop, @ateedub, @wonderchook

It was long before we were all talking with one another almost as if we were long lost friends. I try to push myself into new and fun situations like this as much as I can handle. And every single time, I'm very pleased I've managed to do it.

I had an absolute blast spending a unseasonably warm, yet welcome Saturday evening with some great people, enjoying good food, good drink, and great company!

here and here are the Twitchhiker's blogs about his time in DC, along with Twitchcast #4
where we go around the table over pitchers of margaritas and say hello and who we are and what is happening.

I was a little out of it, the next morning, when I had to get up and get myself downtown to pick @Twitchhiker up and drive him to Frederick. I was slightly hungover, and exhausted and it showed. I don't drive in DC all that often and my gps was not being completely accurate. I'm relatively new to the whole gps phenomenon, so I must remind myself that I have a really good sense of direction without computers and satellite. You wouldn't know it that Sunday morning!
I got him to @yenra and wished him well on his journey.

I did my best to keep up on where he was and tried to help rally other twitter users in other towns to help him move along in his goal. As it got closer to the start of SXSW, I had hoped that he wouldn't get to Austin until a bit later than he did. How cool would it have been if I could have helped a second time in a different part of the country? Alas, it was not meant to be. I missed him by 3 days.

In the end, not only did he reach & surpass his goal of raising funds for charity:water but he made it to the South Island of NZ to Stewart Island. Not all the way to Campbell Island, as hoped, but extremely impressive in my book!!

It wasn't until a while after I sent him on his way that I realized a tiny bit of personal significance in my donations to Charity:Water. I did not grow up in a 3rd world country. I grew up in rural Southern NJ, close to Atlantic City. We had well water, and a cess pool for waste. As the youngest of 4 children, in a family of 6, I knew how to use water wisely. If you took too long in the shower, you'd get a yell up the stairs from Mom, or someone would flicker the lights (the switches are on the outside of the door!) or pound the door to 'finish up' I'd also learn to turn off the water while lathering up. You get the idea....around the time I was in high school, we learned that some neighborhood wells were tainted.

Our house was about a mile from the nearby landfill (now long closed, and currently a golf course) and it was determined that the landfill could be tainting the local well water. For a few months, while we waited for "city water", large blue plastic containers of water were dropped off for us to use for cooking and drinking. Unfortunately, this water made us sick. We went back to drinking from the tap.

Eventually, the house was connected to the city/county water lines and eventually sewer lines and we don't really know if our well was tainted or not. I also never had the supposed benefit of fluoridated water. I use that excuse at the dentist ALL the time, although I do know there's lots of controversy of whether or not fluoridated water is good or bad for you.

No matter, clean water for drinking and cooking and bathing is not something to be taken for granted. Mind you, my situation in my childhood pales to what those in underdeveloped countries must endure. For me personally, it gave me a whole new meaning of significance of not only contributing my time, and assistance to @Twitchhiker, but also an added significance to the monetary donations to charity:water.

time for some catching up posts...

2009-04-22T00:09:00.001-05:00

I have a ton of stuff to write about, including my WAY long overdue SXSW recaps.
must get better at updating here!

wow, it's been ages...

2009-03-24T20:00:00.001-05:00

I've been neglecting this for quite some time...
have tons to update, but I'm still recovering from my time in Austin for SXSW this past week.

stay tuned.

Top Albums of 2008

2009-01-30T15:29:00.002-05:00

I've been having a bit of a busy January and now it's almost over! I have a lot of catching up to do!

I realize I never got around to posting my top records of 2008. I got a bit overwhelmed with it and instead of just not contributing one to the various music lists I'm on, I put together a top 10 and then just listed alphabetically the rest of the records I listened to a lot in 2008. Forgive me, I had quite a rough December!

I'm pretty conflicted about everything, except my top two. There's so much I never got around to buying in 2008, with a lot still in my list to buy from various places. I will have to say that while I've always loved music and it is truly my drug, I really think 2008 is when I've gone back to the true "kid in a candy store, oh, you really must listen to this....lots of exclamation points, etc" sort of feeling of music.

I know a lot of people feel it wasn't a great year for music, but I've been diggin' lots and lots of new stuff, and revisiting old stuff too (Feelies anyone?). The internet, myspace, facebook, bebo, google reader, and internet radio has really now more than ever made it a global experience for me. If I even tried to name all the great new bands I've found out about this past year, I'd truly explode!
here it is:

1. Frightened Rabbit-Midnight Organ Fight/Liver! Lung! FR!
I'm combining the electric and live acoustic albums since no matter how, where or when the songs are played, this album definitely rocked my world this year. They were on my radar before I started prepping for SXSW, but I must tell you, some times a live gig just punches you in the gut. It was that Wednesday afternoon day show, where I was feeling a bit glum, uncertain at how my experience of my first SXSW in 13 years would go...a bit bummed to be on my own so-to-speak, but then I realized I'm not sure if anyone would want to follow me all the places I wanted to go. the amazing raw energy and emotion in these songs and the performances that go into them is a lot like the raw energy and emotion that's swirling in my head at any given moment. I realize and recognize it daily. and while it's not necessarily the same things Scott Hutchinson is writing and singing about, I can completely identify with it.

2.Two Cow Garage-Speaking in Cursive
While I didn't have an advance of this as some are so lucky to have had, I have been "friends" with a bunch of these songs for quite some time. It's their best yet and as I always say, Micah and Shane are like the younger brothers I've never had.

3. Dropkick-Dot the I
must be Scotland's most prolific band, with the first of two releases for 2008. While I've never met or spoken with any of them, it's become sort of an inside joke that I'm their biggest fan! ok, maybe not really, but when I finally get to Scotland, the trip would not be complete without seeing them live! This record continues their lush Scottish pop sound

4. R.E.M.- Accelerate
I've been a fan since I was about 15 or 16 years old. I can appreciate and even love everything they've ever done, but I took on this record with reckless abandon, and it proves you can have fun with a rock n roll record and be socially/politically conscious while doing so.

5. Attic Lights-Friday Night Lights
I have had a couple tracks from blogs and the one on emusic for a couple months, but it wasn't until I was seriously sorting out my top 10 that I just HAD to have this. And one night in the last week of December, I wasn't going to sleep until I did. I listened to nothing more the last week of 2008 than this album. It definitely helped me out of the doldrums of December 2008.

6. Marching Band-Spark Large
As if my obsession with Scottish music isn't enough, I've developed one for Swedish pop again. Thanks to listening to the "Three from Leith" podcast, I immediately downloaded this from emusic as soon as I could.

7. Oppenheimer-Take the Whole Midrange and Boost It
my Belfast friends, sophomore album is lovely. another band that is basically the younger brothers I've never had. I "adopted" them a few years back,
and might have frightened them initially. They are the first band I
didn't personally know or had friends who knew them, crash at my place
when they're in town. "Look Up" is a great pop song and the kids dance
to it (I have video proof!) no song is over 4 minutes and I love that
there's a song called "Fireworks are illegal in the state of NJ"
because it reminds me of the night I was there with them in Atlantic City, on the beach setting off fireworks, knowing full well as the only American amongst 6 Belfast residents, that the AC police would show up almost immediately. In fact, of the times they've had brushes with the law in the US, I've been present for two of them!

8. Dropkick-Patchwork
the 2nd release of 2008. I joked that they aren't working hard enough and 2009 should see 3 records, not just two. This is the more "alt-country" album of the two. more pedal steel and banjo. I didn't have as much time with this one, but a couple of the songs are ones I go to regularly and any time the songs come up on shuffle, I turn it up and sing along.

9. Neil Halstead-Oh! Mighty Engine
another late edition...riding the train home to NJ for Christmas, I hadn't put together a playlist of my potential top 2008 records, but I did have a video podcast on my laptop that I watched of Neil Halstead perform most of the songs off this record, and realized I needed to get the album asap. I heart Neil and my favorite show I've ever seen of his was solo acoustic matinee at IOTA one year. you could hear a pin drop it was so quiet and the crowd so attentive.

10. Elliott Brood-Mountain Meadows
Postcarder (www.postcardfromhell.com), Tualla gets credit for turning me on to them. I tend to hit repeat on "Miss You Now" a lot. this was a tough spot to fill, because there's
so many records that could have been here too.

here's the rest, in alphabetical order that were in consideration...as I said, there's a ton I never got around to buying, and my head's a swirl in sorting it out. these records just didn't get as much spin or didn't stand out, but are still favs. I really do think that my listening habits have been affected by the shuffling on ipod:

Beach House-Devotion
British Sea Power-Do You Like Rock Music?
Broadfield Marchers-The Inevitable Continuing
The Broken West-Now or Heaven
Roger Bryan & The Orphans-Recovery
Pelle Carlberg-The Lilac Time
The Decks-Becoming Nightblind
Dr. Dog-Fate
The Duke Spirit-Neptune
Electric Touch-Electric Touch
Escape Act-Loosely Based on Fiction
The Explorers Club-Freedom Wind
The Fratellis-Here We Stand
The General Store-Mountain Rescue
Green Peppers-Adventures in the Slipstream
Mic Harrison & The High Score-On the Right Side of the Grass
Juliana Hatfield-How to Walk Away
Have Gun, Will Travel-Casting Shadows as Tall Giants
The Heavenly States-Delayer
Cliff Hillis-The Long Now
Hollow Horse-Escaping from a Submarine
Japanese Motors-Japanese Motors
Julie Ocean-Long Gone and Nearly There
The Lodger-Life is Sweet
The Meadows-First Nervous Breakdown
The Mural and the Mint-Private Pockets
Old 97's-Blame it on Gravity
Popup-A Time and A Place
The Quarter After-Changes Near
Will Quinlan & The Diviners-Navasota
Ryebender-Hollow and Drifting
She & Him-Volume One

Top songs of 2008:
1. Frightened Rabbit-The Modern Leper
2. Two Cow Garage-Skinny Legged Girl
3. The Heavenly States-Lost in the Light
4. Dropkick-Breakdown
5. Marching Band-For Your Love
6. Attic Lights-Bring You Down
7. Elliott Brood-Miss You Now
8. R.E.M.- Man-Sized Wreath
9. The Fratellis-Acid Jazz Singer
10. The Lodger-The Good Old Days

I'm sure there's tons I've forgotten, but most of what's missing from my list compiled here, isn't here because I haven't bought it to add to my collection yet.

ps. I want to give The Swimmers and IKE records an honorable mention.
I had both in 2007 at official cd release parties, so I included them
in my 2007 list.

not a very good December....

2008-12-18T19:14:00.005-05:00

just when I think everything's going great again...
so far December 2008 has not been good to me.

I've really been in good spirits up until recent events.
December 8th, car accident...literally *JUST* after I've finally gotten over the one from February 6, 2005.
then, I end up with an upper respiratory and ear infection, which started December 13th and I'm still trying to recover from at this very moment.

It's a bit frustrating, since I had all this momentum both professionally and personally to tackle a bunch of projects that have been on my to do list.

I don't know how many more years I can spend NYE/New Year's day hoping for a better year, because every single time things start to get better, the universe slaps me in the face and tells me otherwise.

no matter, I'm doing best to keep things in perspective and while I believe I've deservedly sat dwelling on my latest misfortunes, I also know that I have to let go of things I can't control and things in the past.

Time to focus on the future.

I'm am extremely grateful for my family, friends, and coworkers who've been very supportive and who've sometimes had to tolerate my wave of emotions not only the past few weeks, but years.

I'm very much looking forward to 2009.

(oh, and it will be nice to have my car back again...it's still being repaired)

The See See

2008-11-20T16:21:00.004-05:00

In the time since I posted about The Waxwings, I discovered that Kevin (used to play bass and sing backing vocals in The Waxwings) is now in London based band, The See See!

check them out here:
The See See on myspace

They appeal to the psychedelic pop sound I love. definitely fits in with Paisley Pop, Rainbow Quartz.

I could see them touring with The High Dials. oh, and don't get me started about the time I saw The Sea Beggars in Montreal. Trevor from The High Dials used to be in the Sea Beggars...it involves a 10 year gap of time and me being silly and sending messages to people I've only spent one night hanging out with and thus having to discuss my uncanny ability to remember entirely TOO much. my memory is a bit insane, only in that I have such a good memory, sometimes TOO good.

have I mentioned that my earliest memory is getting a bath in the kitchen sink? I was about 6-8 months old....perhaps that's another post for a later time.

revisiting The Waxwings....

2008-11-20T15:01:00.002-05:00

Recent events have me going back to The Waxwings...there's a lot to say in the few years I got to see and know them. One way to describe my love affair with their music is the whole "kid in a candy store" effect. music is my drug. and The Waxwings are a high for me.

It's hard for me to pick just one song that I like most. Right now, I'm listening to Firewood and I remember when they played in live in the studio at WJSE (a job I hated for the most part, except for the time The Waxwings played at the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlantic City, with other friends, The John Faye Power Trip aka IKE....an idea *I* suggested) and I got to take them all to McGuire's afterward. And the only reason I couldn't take The Waxwings home to my house for a rock n roll slumber party, was that my parent's house only had room for one band not two!

At any rate, I often wonder what the boys are up to. I know Dean has been touring with Brendan Benson's band, then The Ranconteurs, and as far as I know, he's still with Queens of the Stone Age.

The Waxwings' music is timeless despite how many memories I have associated with it. I know not everyone can hear every band from everywhere, but it's always fun to discover and rediscover music no matter where or when it's from. when I was younger, I remember having to send for stuff overseas and really having to dig for music across the miles. The power of the internet has changed that dramatically. If you give me the chance, I will indeed tell you how amazing it is that I can connect with bands from all over the world, simply through myspace or facebook or bebo or podcasts or whatever. None of this stuff really existed when The Waxwings were really getting out there and releasing records. Hell, I wrote them a hand written letter telling them how much I loved their album. I used to do that all the time. I still do to some degree. It sounds corny but anyone who's working their ass off creating something or doing something, no matter who they are can appreciate a quick acknowledgment of what it is they're doing. I don't do it because I want something, or to be recognized, or for my own acknowledgment. I do it because it's genuinely how I feel.

you can find more about The Waxwings in the following places:
the waxwings website
last.fm
The Waxwings wiki

here they are at the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlantic City, NJ

and at the Velvet Lounge in DC

I just found these videos on youtube:

Marching Band is great for a rainy Saturday...

2008-11-15T12:11:00.002-05:00

It's raining...I'm sleepy...I'm at work...
I've having trouble focusing, but Marching Band is helping to keep me awake.

more people need to listen to this band...

marching band on myspace
marching band website
marching band on last.fm

I'm hoping to keep updating this blog more often, but I'm about to start working 7 days a week with a second job part time. I'm passionate about what I do, but I didn't get in to it to become rich...famous, maybe, but definitely not rich.

in playback for our live election night coverage

2008-11-04T19:13:00.001-05:00

in playback for our live election night coverage
Originally uploaded by Lauree

Me in our playback room making sure our live election night coverage goes smoothly

The Very Most

2008-10-08T12:49:00.003-05:00

To this day, I still defend myspace to my friends and colleagues who feel it's not worth the time. The interface can get a bit annoying but I've never had trouble with it.

I am constantly adding new bands and many times, the bands who contact me to add them understand my music tastes. I'm pretty open to all genres and I do listen to every single band's music that sends a request, but some just don't always make the cut.

I'm sure I would have found out about them eventually, but the other day, I had a friend request from The Very Most. A band from Boise, Idaho that almost screams "we should be in your music library Lauree" They definitely made the cut!! Hell, I only needed to hear 20 seconds of the first song playing on their page to add 'em.

The Very Most on myspace
The Very Most website

they just released their second album on Coming in Second Records
Coming in Second Records

here's a video for Spilt, Spilt Milk

At the very least (pun totally not intended...but amuses me...), myspace allows me to reach out and connect to bands I may never get to see live.

I can't even begin to list all the UK (especially Scottish) bands I've connected to via myspace who probably think I'm a nut. Some of those bands have since broken up and gone on to other projects, so without myspace, I probably would have never heard the music!!

I may no longer sit for hours and hours a week at WLFR like I did back in college, but that doesn't mean I've lost my "kid in the candy store" approach to getting to hear new (or new to me) music! Myspace helps with the addiction.

Waiting for October

2008-10-04T11:57:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love the Nickelodeon show, The Adventures of Pete N Pete!

In fact, back in the Fall of 1994, I did an internship at Nickelodeon. I decided to do it in an effort to try and be an intern on the show specifically, since it filmed in NJ. That didn't work, but I did get an internship for the On-air promotions department. When I went for my interview at MTV Networks, they looked at my resume and really thought I should be at VH1 or MTV with my music background. I, however, was insistent that I intern at Nickelodeon or not at all. It was pretty bold move on my part, especially for someone who was rather timid and somewhat naive in regards to big city life in NYC.

At any rate, Polaris (aka, most of Miracle Legion) were the band behind most of the music for the show and this song always creeps up in my head every October.

Waiting for October - polaris

not enough hours in the day....

2008-10-02T16:20:00.001-05:00

I promise, major updates soon, blogging to return...

good news will be announced...

in the meantime, I'm trying to not get sick, while working almost constantly!

where the hell have I been?

2008-08-15T10:47:00.001-05:00

lots to catch up on...will hopefully post about it tonight after work, after a nap.

I definitely need a nap. I wish I could take one right now, but I can't.

busy busy busy....

file in the feeling old category...

2008-07-22T00:38:00.001-05:00

21 years ago, my best friend, Brenda, gave birth to her oldest daughter, Ashley....July 22, 1987

I'd been 15 for 22 days.

I love Ashley as my own and am so proud of her.

I have a few classic photos up on my flickr:

here she is on skates with Brenda, I'm guessing she's about a year old here, so 1988. I took this with a Kodak disc camera:

here she is in my sister's wedding, with my nephew Andrew...I'm actually at the back of the church since I was Maid of Honor:

here we are at her high school graduation, Both Brenda and I were crying as soon as the ceremony started.....June 20, 2005

I have some more from her younger years that I'll have to scan in...but I need to get myself to sleep. first night back in my own bed, since I was pet sitting since last Thursday. I took a 4 hour nap this afternoon and it was absolutely amazing!!

oh and here's a picture of Me and Brenda at our 8th grade graduation, June 1986:

oh and one more:

here she is, not quite yet 13, July 1, 2000 when I had her selling merch for my friends, The John Faye Power Trip at the Ocean City Music Pier in NJ. I taught her so well that without my being by her side, she sold them over $200 in merch, kept record of each sale and had all the money in order and facing the same way!! I was so proud!

Robin Tymm

2008-07-17T21:56:00.002-05:00

I've been listening quite a bit to Robin Tymm's album "Whole Lies & Half Truths" lately. I've got a few of his albums on a "to buy" list.

I was tuned in to Robin's music via the Three from Leith podcast that I listen to weekly. You should check it out, as Grant puts together a great podcast on a weekly basis.

back to Robin Tymm....
there's various places to listen to his music. He's just released his 5th album, "Fatal Flaw"

look for him on:
Myspace
Last.fm
garageband
facebook

I've only been able to purchase "Whole Lies & Half Truths" so far, and this song is getting repeat spins from me.

I hope to have all his music soon. Which shouldn't be too long, now that I've completed my Dropkick collection!

busy busy busy

2008-07-17T21:44:00.003-05:00

I've been in a whirlwind of being on the go the last week or two....I'm exhausted and haven't really caught up on anything, but all the fury that is my life at the moment is very good, except the fact that I'm in pain every single waking moment. My health is still a struggle, but I'm working on it.

We had the Alliance for Community Media conference here in DC last week. It's a great annual conference that helps renew our passion and purpose for the work we do in community access centers around the country and ultimately around the world. It's great to see familiar faces I've become friends with over the years, and meet new people too. Having the conference in my "hometown" provides some challenges as you don't quite get to participate in the after parties that go well into the night.

We've got a lot of great things happening at Arlington Independent Media as well and as a result, I will continue to be busy throughout the rest of the summer well into September.

will try to get back to regular posting...

in the meantime, I also managed a last minute visit home to NJ to visit my family since we were ALL going to be there (with the exception of my niece, Chelsey) at my brother's house.

I took a video of Daisy, my brother's English retriever swimming in the pool:

Daisy at the Pool from bluflower on Vimeo.

Happy 4th to my US friends!!

2008-07-03T17:19:00.000-05:00

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!!

The Underclass

2008-07-03T01:17:00.005-05:00

I'll switch topics quickly...

These kids from Manchester have a catchy tune here:

I'm not certain what age they are, but by the looks of them, they make me feel old.

theunderclassmusic

I just found this video of them in the studio recording....a song called "Lost & Found"
they're adorable!

I'm not sure what their complete story is, but I like what I'm hearing and I can't wait to hear more!!

The Feelies have now played THREE shows at Maxwell's this week....

2008-07-03T01:07:00.002-05:00

...leading up to their opening slot for Sonic Youth on Friday.

I totally dropped the ball on getting to any of these shows. My slight consolation is that I got to see Wake Ooloo numerous times when Noise Museum opened for them. I got to hear Glenn and Dave play Feelies' songs then. I got to make veggie burgers on the grill for Glenn at the Lakeside center at Stockton when they played there. I even had the privilege to attend a party at Glenn's house in Haledon, NJ where I believe most of The Feelies members were there, but did not play instruments all at the same time. It was definitely one of my most surreal moments in my life. And that was before I discovered I loved the taste of beer. I didn't start consuming, really, until after college.

Maybe that eased the pain of not getting to see any of the shows this week.

um, NO it doesn't!!!!

blog maintenance/redesign....

2008-07-02T14:11:00.001-05:00

I'm desperately overdue for a tune up on my blog...
hope to tackle it real soon, perhaps on Friday's holiday, since I'll be off work...

I have lots of links to add to blogs, podcasts and many other fun things I've been attaching myself to lately.

stay tuned...

xo,
lauree

contemplating the significance of my existence...

2008-07-01T10:42:00.005-05:00

or post birthday thoughts....

I tend to be a very introspective, reflective person generally, but the time leading up to my birthday especially ramps up the thought process.

you think about another year passing, what you've accomplished and what you haven't. I tend to focus on the latter.

I had issues in the womb. my mother was in the hospital for 62 days before I was born. I was supposed to be born in late July. Instead, I was born June 30 via c-section, one month early, and all the doctors were there at 10:24am.

this is the hospital anklet that was on me. I'm thinking my mom slipped it off of me when I got home. Apparently, once I was born, it was just two more days and the both of us went home. She said she could hold my head in her palm, and my feet touched her elbow.

hard to believe we start out that small, eh?

for the last week leading up to my birthday yesterday, I was mostly fighting illness, so my mind was mostly focused on doing my best to get healthy again. I did pretty well at doing it in time to salvage any sort of birthday celebration. I still woke up yesterday feeling pretty blah, and not the blue kind of blah. It was the "I'm not past a week of being sick and am still coughing and running through tissues faster than I can find them"

but it didn't take long for me to ignore the "illness blah" and for the mopey-blue blah to creep in.

there's a certain expectation for birthdays.
they are significant.
being born is significant.
but then you have to wonder who else understands YOUR specific significance in this world. Obviously, your family gets it. they kind of have to...
Moms especially do, even more so when their babies put them through what I put my Mom through.

I took myself shopping during the day. I'm not the stereotypical female shopper. Don't get me wrong, I can spend money (music anyone? concerts?), but I don't usually have any to spend. I'll go out for specific things and will even consider items I wasn't originally going after, but if what I need or wanted isn't there, I end up buying nothing. The only thing I bought myself yesterday was the lunch I ate at the mall.

As I was walking through the mall, in a weird way, I felt as though I was keeping a secret from anyone I passed. As if I should have worn a badge saying "today's my birthday!!" wouldn't have mattered much, because random strangers don't necessarily care.

after a couple pints of beer and a half pint of whiskey last night, I, in a drunken haze, decided to proclaim such a statement in the middle of Frightened Rabbit's set. To be honest, it was less about attention and more to make sure I was still alive. I didn't think I wasn't alive, but I spend so much time in the company of strangers that sometimes I feel invisible. here I was in a crowded room, with perhaps, my most favorite band at the moment on stage feeling much better than I had at the start of the night. when I feel like that I like to share. the trouble is, I was under the influence of beer and whiskey (thanks to Brian) at that point.

oddly enough, as I get older, I realize that I can't expect anyone to acknowledge the significance of my existence in this world. But I am glad that even when I'm near tears (and holding them back, if I'm going to be completely honest), I can rally and I have friends and coworkers who've become friends who help me rally. Jackie, Michael, Jennifer and Brian all were at the hut. And Me, Michael and Brian headed to Black Cat for the show. I got to talk with Laverne Sunday night and catch up with her, so that was helpful too.

I managed a few pictures, which are up on my flickr:

Now I can go back to being my usual emotional wreck of a self. instead of the heightened wreck that tends to happen around my birthday.

I'll get to celebrate with my family at the end of July, which is when I was supposed to be born. I will, hopefully, get a homemade chocolate chocolate cake and my silly little universe should be back in balance.

if not, well, I guess I've somehow learned to cope,
because I've been quite overwhelmed since birth:

sometimes, the trouble is I go back to feeling that small and fragile again. despite this, I manage time and time again to sort it out and keep on going. no one is going to do it for me, and if I waited for an invitation, I'd probably never leave my apartment.

halted by summer sickness...

2008-06-25T17:11:00.003-05:00

I had a good number of things I wanted to post about to catch up on, but alas, it will have to wait.
Since Sunday, when I was home in NJ for Abbie's 13th birthday (hard to believe it's been that long), I've been trying my hardest to fight off whatever was taking hold of me.

well, I've failed.
the doctor told me yesterday that she didn't think I had bronchitis, yet. I suffered from chronic bronchitis as a kid and I know when it's moving on to that. And since willing myself to not be sick combined with massive amounts of emergen-c wasn't working, I am now on antibiotic, decongestant, cold medicine and moved on to tissues with the lotion. I think I've gone through a box of tissues, plus and 2 packets of cough drops.

I hate being sick in summer.

The Salteens!!!

2008-06-21T12:08:00.004-05:00

I'm still catching up on things, but I have to tell you about FREE music.
all you have to do is add your email and just download lovely songs from The Salteens!

go here: http://salteens.com/
there's link on the right side of the page for the downloads...

here's the latest two:

plus a video:

throw it on the fire, throw it in the air....

2008-06-20T22:48:00.002-05:00

I realized that the horror of horrors, I had not shared my R.E.M. review with everyone yet. life has been a whirlwind since then...

at any rate here ya go, written just after I got home:
I wasn't planning on drinking tonight ($8 cups of beer! ugh), but it was such a beautiful day/night, I was giddy like a school girl upon seeing r.e.m. I always revert back to my teens when I see them.

at any rate, we got there early and the guy parked next to us shared some beer with me and chatter. he was a real cool guy, and helped pass the time before the show. then once we got in to our seats (6th row center, fanclub seats), brian was so happy about our seats, he bought me a beer, which I drank down during the first half of Modest Mouse.

The National were incredible!!! I had yet to see them and now I love them. I can't really get a feel for a band and their music until I see a live show....live they just rock! I never saw MM before either and I was drunk enough to not know if I had any of their stuff on my ipod. didn't matter that I didn't know any of the songs, really, except for like one or two, probably the two that are somehow on my ipod....they were also incredible.

incredible set by R.E.M. as well. I am an idiot and forgot to charge my camera battery, I lost my voice from screaming and singing. and I ache all over from dancing my ass off. we expected the political edge to the set with Drive, Ignoreland, Man-Sized Wreath and Mr. Richards (which dedicated to Dick Cheney, whom Stipe despises)

photos up on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluflower/
photos via my brian's phone: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rev_bri/

setlist:
Finest Worksong
Living Well's the Best Revenge
Bad Day
What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
Drive
Ignoreland
Man-Sized Wreath
Little America
Hollow Man
Walk Unafraid
Houston
Electrolite
(Don't Go Back to) Rockville
Pop Song 89
Horse To Water
The One I Love
Driver 8
Until The Day Is Done
Let Me In
These Days
Orange Crush
I'm Gonna DJ

Supernatural Superserious
Losing My Religion
Mr. Richards
Fall On Me (with Johnny Marr)
Man On The Moon (with Johnny Marr)

The Cannanes and Lorelei at Galaxy Hut 6/16!!

2008-06-14T15:27:00.002-05:00

Don't miss it!!

Monday June 16, 2008 9pm $5
21+
G A L A X Y H U T
2 7 1 1 W I L S O N B L V D
A R L I N G T O N, V A
( 7 0 3 ) 5 2 5 - 8 6 4 6
http://www.galaxyhut.com/
http://www.myspace.com/galaxyhut

THE CANNANES!!!!!!!
http://www.myspace.com/cannanes
http://www.cannanes.com/

and

LORELEI!!!
http://www.myspace.com/loreleidc
http://www.textilesounds.com/

file in the wish I could be there category

2008-06-13T21:23:00.001-05:00

I"d give anything to be in Glasgow this weekend...even if I had an extremely wealthy boyfriend, access to a private jet and tickets to these shows, I wouldn't be able to go unless I quit my job....of course, if I had the above mentioned, perhaps I wouldn't necessarily need to work...
sigh....

http://www.westendfestival.co.uk

TEENAGE FANCLUB - "Electric Chestnuts"

Sat 14 June – 8pm. Doors 7pm
From their pre-grunge debut 'A Catholic Education' and the punkadelic
1991 classic 'Bandwagonesque' to the sparser, folkier feel of their
most recent work, Teenage Fanclub have sustained both their core
identity and a devoted fanbase thanks to the central songwriting
triumvirate of Norman Blake, Raymond McGinley, and Gerard Love.
Inspired by such classic outfits like the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Big
Star and Badfinger, the band have honed their skills at crafting
sharply of-the-moment songs awash with vintage chiming guitars,
soaring tunes and lush vocal harmonies, earning the accolade from a
certain Liam Gallagher of being 'the second best band in the world.'
The band has latterly seen them likened to a contemporary Scottish
Crosby, Stills and Nash, with their latest album, 2005's 'Man-Made',
aligning radiant songcraft with the subtly quirky production of
Tortoise's John McEntire.
Sorry, sold out!

TEENAGE FANCLUB - "Acoustic Chestnuts"

Sun 15 June 8pm, doors 7pm
A second night of excellent music-making from one of the finest bands
Glasgow ever produced playing a special three-night residency to kick
off the 2008 West End Festival. Last night - "Electric Chestnuts".
Tonight - "Acoustic Chestnuts"; tomorrow "Live Obscurities".
Different support act each night.
Sorry - sold out!

TEENAGE FANCLUB - "Live Obscurities"

Mon 16 June Doors 7pm
Third and final night from the Fanclub in this special festival
three-nighter. Tonight: "Live Obscurities". See Sat 14 June for
full write up. Different support each night.
Sorry - sold out!

The Decks-Becoming Nightblind

2008-06-10T18:43:00.004-05:00

Hey there,

check out the debut album from my great friends The Decks!

add 'em!
www.myspace.com/thedecksmusic

complete album streaming on their website:
www.thedecksmusic.com

my favs so far are "Wicked Summer" (and hasn't it been here with this crazy heat!?), "Rusted Hinges" and "What It Is, Really"

album available on Amazon and iTunes....

my review:

The debut album from The Decks, "Becoming Nightblind" could easily be
a soundtrack to your life. a welcome cool breeze on a hot Summer's
night...the quiet whiteness of freshly fallen snow in the dead of
Winter...a conversation that goes well into the night until sunrise...
As the album flows, its sonic twisting and turning creates a cinematic
feel as you make your way through. Multiple listens are required and
in various settings....in the car, at home, on the laptop, and you
will want to grab the headphones to hear the lushness, intricacies and
instrumentation of the recording. It's hard to imagine that only two
people created all this sound. The album explores different sounds and
styles, displaying the band's many influences. More importantly, it
reveals their love of sound. Instrumentals are mixed in seemingly as
interludes of individual musical acts or scenes. "What It Is, Really"
gives a nod to the indie rockers who like to dance, with it's hopeful
slightly upbeat tempo. It's hard not to tap your toes and move to the
music! "Rusted Hinges" is the cool breeze taking over you, while
"Wicked Summer" begs desperately for an escape from oppressive heat
and humidity. Other highlights include, "Myrmidon Blues" (love the
banjo!!) and "Whiteout" The album plays best from beginning to end,
but the songs hold up well on their own like individual colors of a
wide spectrum palette waiting to burst onto the canvas of your choice.

Bill Moyers addresses the National Conference on Media Reform

2008-06-07T16:07:00.001-05:00

(or how I wish I was in Minneapolis *this* weekend!)

additional links:
http://www.freepress.net/

oh how I wish I had been in Minneapolis this past Saturday!!!

2008-06-02T21:32:00.003-05:00

I got turned onto The Magnolias by my great friend, Jeremy. It wasn't really until 1992, and they were pretty much finished up at that point. As a result, I've never seen them live.

They played a show in Minneapolis Saturday May 31st, as a warm-up for their June tour of Europe. here's a video:

you can find out more about The Magnolias here:
http://www.myspace.com/themagnoliasband
http://home.earthlink.net/~johnfre/themagnolias/

They're playing Minneapolis again June 27th, but there's really no way I can go. It would make for a great pre-birthday concert, but Minneapolis is so far away it seems.

maybe I'll win the lottery...

(guess I should play it then, eh?!)

Jenny Doveson

2008-05-31T18:53:00.002-05:00

While I know there's a number of issues with myspace, and some see it more of a hassle than anything else, I've found it to be a wonderful tool for discovering a lot of great music.

I've been a bit busy of late, and the friend requests have piled up quite a bit. Usually, you can spot the obvious spam requests, but I don't really get too many of those. I finally got around to checking through a bunch of them. Most are bands/musicians trying to make a connection. Some might be friends of friends' bands or friends with a new band, but many are just seemingly random. Some are entirely way off base of what I like, but my profile doesn't really reveal much in music style other than I love music, so I can't really complain about the requests from bands who's music just doesn't quite do it for me. The thing is that I do actually listen to the music of every single band/musician that sends me a friend request, which is why they can pile up if I don't keep on top of them. If I'm not totally paying attention to the songs playing, then I will hold off adding or denying the request.

I was very pleasantly surprised to listen to Jenny Doveson's songs.

http://www.myspace.com/jennydoveson

She's from Sweden, her page doesn't reveal much more about her except a performance video on youtube:

I'm looking forward to hearing more....

Katie Reider- 500kin365

2008-05-27T23:00:00.000-05:00

http://www.myspace.com/500kin365

http://www.500Kin365.org

For over 10 years singer songwriter Katie Reider has inspired the
hearts of thousands with her music and genuine personality. Just as
she was reaching the peak of her career in January of 2006, a tumor
developed in her upper left jaw that progressed into her sinus, skull
base and left eye orbit. Over the course of one year (2007-2008), this
rare tumor has taken away her sight in one eye, her voice and most
importantly, her ability to perform.

500Kin365.org was created with the help of Katie Reider's loyal fans
to reconnect Katie to her audience while she undergoes treatment.

Start listening to her songs by downloading katie's Voice (9 original
songs written and performed by katie over the last 10 years) for $1.00
donation to her cause. Help us continue to spread Katie Reider's music
over the next year by linking ONE more to 500Kin365.org.

The Refuge Box-BBC Radio and Lindisfarne

2008-05-17T15:48:00.001-05:00

a few weeks back, I was able to switch my schedule at work and go
downtown to the Goethe Institute for their "Hear Now" program
http://www.hearnowradio.org/ featuring Simon Elmes, Creative Director,
Features and Documentaries, BBC

it was a bit strange sitting in a small theater with a screen ahead,
without watching anything. the event was showcasing some radio
programs from BBC radio but also served as an exercise to focus on
listening to sound samples to see how it creates an environment
visually on our own as opposed to images, still or moving, provided
for us.

I was really glad I got to go and it's been something that's triggered
a new excitement in regards to radio and sound. He didn't get to play
all the clips he wanted to, but he did provide the outline of the
program he was presenting to us that night. all the clips he played
for us were great, but a few stood out for me, but I really liked this
one:

The Refuge Box- part of the Between the Ears series
it aired on Radio 3 in 2007 and sadly isn't available for online
listening anymore.
the synopsis:
Half way between Holy Island and the mainland of Northumbria, a flight
of steps leads to a wooden cabin on stilts.
It is the Refuge Box, built to save people cut off by the tide from
being swept away and drowned.

This is the focus of a new radio poem by Katrina Porteous, whose
poetry, recorded all over Holy Island and in the Refuge Box itself,
is interspersed with other voices, including island fishermen who
remember rescues and tragedies, the coastguard and lifeboat crew,
the bird warden, the Franciscan vicar of Holy Island, and a refugee
who fled her West African homeland to seek sanctuary in Britain.

Beyond the human voices is the poetry of the place itself, the seals singing,
the wheeze of swans flying over Holy Island, sudden jet fighters
protecting this sanctuary yet violating its peace and, always, the
wind and the sea.

listening to the program made me want to visit there:
http://www.lindisfarne.org.uk/

looks like an interesting place, and they make their own Mead!

here's some photos I found online:

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

Black Cat-June 30-My birthday-Frightened Rabbit

2008-05-13T15:59:00.000-05:00

At the Black Cat backstage, on June 30 (it's a Monday night)....
it's my birthday and I get to see Frightened Rabbit!

Mon June 30- OXFORD COLLAPSE, FRIGHTENED RABBIT $10 Backstage 8:30 (on sale May 16)

perhaps seeing them will take the sting away from getting another year older?!

anyone care to join me?

not sure what else I'm going to do, but I am definitely going to the show!

lovely breezy night

2008-05-07T20:59:00.002-05:00

tonight it's absolutely lovely outside. it's about 78 degrees with an amazing breeze blowing.
it's nights like tonight that really make me miss home, and the ocean.

on a day like today back home, I'd get myself to the beach to soak up some sun (with sunscreen of course, my fair skin burns so quickly), maybe wade in the surf, and go for a walk....

if I try hard enough I can smell the salt air, and almost imagine as if I'm home.

sigh.

Frightened Rabbit-The Midnight Organ Fight

2008-04-22T15:16:00.002-05:00

Frightened Rabbit's new album, The Midnight Organ Fight was released last week...

I haven't been able to stop listening to it. They're coming back to the US in June, but so far, no East Coast dates....I am really hoping that changes!

you can check out more at the following links:
http://www.myspace.com/frightenedrabbit
http://www.frightenedrabbit.com/
http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/

also, here's the first single off the album: "Head Rolls Off"

The Music Asylum 4/13/08 playlist

2008-04-14T22:02:00.001-05:00

While Sunday's show didn't quite go as smoothly as I had hoped, it has been 8 years since I last did a show so I had to shake the rust off a bit and get used to the changes in the studio.

at any rate, Bob Portella gave me a cd copy of my show so I was able to listen in to see how bad it sounded!! I listened to it on my drive back to VA today, which was helpful to keep me alert. I ended up going back out to the studio to hang out with Paul Glaser and Bob during their radio shows and got back to my parents' house AFTER 2am this morning!!!

I hope to do another fill in show soon and wish I could do a show on a regular basis, but will have to settle for fill ins here and there for now. I didn't get to play nearly everything I wanted to, but here's the list:

archers of loaf-web in front
glossary-nothing can hurt you now
the magnolias-east coast, west coast girl
reigning sound-time bomb high school
sleepyhead-what's gonna set you free
aerialist-spoken for
dead beat club-sometimes
bap kennedy-mostly water
bill fox-when I blow
wilco-forget the flowers
ac cotton-all right audrey
endrick brothers-so last night
two cow garage-no shame
ass ponys-dried up
the love scene-a stone to call my own
television-prove it
craig marshall-desperately
the minders-it's so hard
the tyde-go ask yer dad
dropkick-rings of the tree
cordalene-kissed awake
frightened rabbit-be less rude
cub country-missed the train
the saving graces-giving up the ghost
jason collett-tiny ocean of tears
the belles-liquid breakfast
dropkick-dot the i
the everybodyfields-baby please
Mr. D-island girl
the sneetches-everybody's talkin'
redlands palomino company-goodbye love

big thanks to Bill Grohs for offering me the open slot and thanks to all who "tuned" in to listen!!!

back on the radio Sunday April 13, 2008!

2008-04-08T19:43:00.002-05:00

It's been at least 8 years since I last stepped foot into the studios
of WLFR at Stockton College in NJ, probably much longer. It seems strange to say that, since I spent almost every day there when I was in college.

I was already planning on heading home to NJ to visit my family and help celebrate one of my nephew's birthdays, and now I get to do a radio show!

I've always kept in touch with my friends still there.
there's a slot open this Sunday from 4-6pm and it's all mine!
the local signal, 91.7FM isn't quite the 30 mile radius it used to be, but they've got a web stream:
http://www.wlfr.fm/

it says real player or windows media only, but I opened it up in
itunes just fine.

details:
Lauree on the radio
4-6pm EDT Sunday April 13, 2008
http://www.wlfr.fm/
91.7FM WLFR

2 hours of me playing some of my favorite songs of now and then. I was on air from about 1992-1999/2000 or so. I graduated in 1995, but kept spinning regularly and filling in for a while after that. My show for most of that time was called The Music Asylum, so I'm going with that for Sunday!

The web stream supports up to 130 listeners, the record amount at one time so far is 108, and I want to try and at least match that, if not surpass it!

tune in on Sunday to hear what incredible tunes I'll spin for you!

R.E.M. accelerate

2008-04-01T16:31:00.002-05:00

Today is the release day of Accelerate and I've been enjoying the promotional push. Got myself out of bed early enough to watch the Today show (although I Tivo'd it *just* in case)...which wasn't that hard to do since I needed to get up in time for the fan club pre-sale of the first round of North American dates.

I was going to try and go to more than one show and I still might, but right now, I just got two tickets to the local DC show (technically it's Columbia, MD). Not sure who's going with me yet, but I got center 6th row.

I've been listening to the album quite a bit today and lately and I also finally listened to the NPR stream of the SXSW show at Stubb's. Great stuff and it sounds like the guys are having a blast.

So far, I think "Man-sized Wreath" is the song that is getting the most spins. Of course, "Supernatural Superserious" has had the most since I've had that song the longest!

Friday round-up of music!

2008-03-28T11:33:00.002-05:00

I'm doing my best to keep the blog up-to-date. There's obviously been a lot to discuss since SXSW....

since getting back from Austin, I've been on a whirlwind schedule with work, an outpatient surgery that was minor (but still involved anesthesia) and Easter.

at any rate, I'm thrilled at the Spring weather that's finally making its way to the East Coast (although I wish I could be closer to the ocean here in Arlington...). I got a taste in Austin. The cherry blossoms are blooming, and I might go down to the tidal basin to snap a few photos.

In the last week or so, I've been spinning regularly:

Frightened Rabbit http://www.myspace.com/frightenedrabbit
Dropkick http://www.myspace.com/dropkickmusic
God-Fearing Atheists http://www.myspace.com/httpwwwmyspacecomgodfearingatheists

(if you clicked above...you'll notice the Scottish theme!)

and I was just clued into Fram http://www.myspace.com/ukfram

I've re-established my love affair for the Archers of Loaf, The Jayhawks, and Bill Fox.
and always check to see who's playing when my ipod is on random....it's been The Small Change http://www.myspace.com/thesmallchange

lastly, today I've been listening to over and over again....
Aerialist

they've got FREE downloads on their myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/theaerialist

of the four, I tend to play "Spoken For" and "At the Surface"
none of the songs are over 3 minutes.

I'm planning on seeing them Sunday evening here in Arlington at Galaxy Hut!

sxsw 2008 photos are up!

2008-03-28T11:10:00.003-05:00

They've been up for a few days now...took me ages to get them up, but I've finally done it.

Here's a few samples of my favs:
Old 97's

young Calder Lewis, next to his Dad, Channing during Grand Champeen's set:

Frightened Rabbit
(even though the photo is shadowy and fuzzy...I like this one!)

Two Cow Garage (my great friends and pretty much America's hardest working band)

All of them can be found on my flickr page:
http://flickr.com/photos/bluflower/

A very long SXSW 2008 review

2008-03-21T22:32:00.003-05:00

I probably caught a few bands here and there that didn't make this list, but I estimate I caught about 50 bands' sets, not including those I saw more than once!

A big thanks to Joe and his friend, Jamie, who allowed me to crash in their room, which was in close proximity to all the action. You'll notice a few names in here, which mostly reference people on the Postcard from Hell list, which can best be described as a music fraternity that allows girls. We're one big dysfunctional family and it's absolutely lovely!

Tuesday
I got into Austin just after 3pm and got my luggage right away. had to
wait a bit for the bus, but at $0.50 you can't beat it. Met one of the
NPR reps since he sat next to me on the plane, talked with some random
guy on the bus. met up with my friends at Residence Inn since they
were already in the room and gotten their badges. got myself together,
got my own room key and headed to dinner at Serrano's.
it's always great to meet the faces of postcard, but it's also
overwhelming for me. I did my best to hold off on the alcohol right
away (which helps all my nervous social situations) since I needed
food. I got there a bit early so I had a few moments before it was too
crazy.
There's not much more I can say about This is American Music than I've
already experienced. seeing all four bands again was incredible and it
didn't take long for me to be in complete drunken glory!
I took a quick video clip:

Wednesday
made sure to get up and check out breakfast in the hotel lobby, I was
a bit hungover but doing fine and planned to do my best to pace myself
for this first official day of sxsw. was baffled by the insanity of
the dream I had the night before. I had a dream that I
woke up and the room was bigger and more guys were staying there and
there were all these weird stuffed animals all over the room. not cute
ones, but odd sea creatures and whatnot. Still in the dream, I asked
the guys what happened and they said 'oh, Robert Rodriquez was here
and he stopped by and threw all these stuffed animals around the room,
had a few drinks and then left.' I have no idea where that dream came
from as I couldn't really tell you what RR looks like. I did get up
early enough for a casual breakfast and since they guys were still
sleeping, I took the macbook with me

around 11:30am the music starts for me:
Brazos, The Bleedin Bleedins, Chris Bathgate, Frightened Rabbit, AA
Bondy, Joseph Arthur
*short break to get wristband taken care of, thanks to Mike (it's key
to sort out the wristband asap so as not to interrupt your friendly
badge holder's schedule of music)...rightly on my way to drunken
mayhem. Stop back at hotel as I had to check in on some work things.
Day parties: consumed free beer, free food and water. was totally
taken with Frightened Rabbit.
I did make it to the Guitartown party, I walked down there to Mother
Egan's and I can't remember who was on stage when I got there.
but I got there just as the set was ending. I took this time to talk
with Jason, Pemberton, Donna, Chris and a few others. in the 30
minutes I was there, no more music happened so I went back closer to
downtown.

Back out to the venue I'd spend lots of time at: Latitude 30 it helped
that it was within 1.5 blocks of my hotel.
Barker Band, Carlis Star at a different venue (left early, got dinner at hotel restaurant
in less than 20 minutes), Kitty, daisy, & Lewis, Hey Negrita
stuck around the neighborhood to go over to Friends for Centromatic.
left a bit early mainly because I needed to get away for a number of reasons.

thought against trying to see R.E.M. (the horror!!) as I didn't think I'd get in,
probably could have caught another band before Centro, but decided to stay with the pack.
no troubles all day by just having a wristband.

Thursday
up again for breakfast. I'm amazed at how easily I wake up on time for
a sizable breakfast. I tend to run into Robert and his brother
regularly at breakfast!
get myself together and out the door. went to search for a cab to Jovita's. turns out one of the valet/door guys at the hotel is willing to drive me. score! I gave him a decent tip since
he was excited about seeing Man Man later and hoping he could see a
bunch of bands without a wristband, etc.

Twangfest day one, I only stayed for TiAM which as you might have seen
my videos was too adorable with the future generation of Champeen,
Calder Lewis. you can see the videos here:

It was odd having this lineup in the daytime, but it was a lovely day
and other than the shortened sets, was great. I think my word of the
day when asked how I was doing: 'Fabulous!' I also think I said on
more than one occasion, "Does a day get any better than this?!"
a bunch of us were heading over to the New West party. Bill gave me
his pass for it since he wasn't going. Originally, we were all getting
cabs over there, but somehow a bunch of us ended up in the back of
Ned's pickup.
New West party might have had food but it sure had beer. me, Dewey and
John Boston were up front, there were tons of other postcarders there.
It's all a blur. Old 97's and The Drams
was going to try and catch Felice Brothers at 6pm, but ran back to
hotel as I had some work to do again. but only a few minutes of it.

still drunk, but went out to catch Popup at Habana Annex, met up with
a few PCers there.
I had a bunch of bands on my list who were all playing in the area of
Habana Calle 6 including Glossary so I stuck around there for the
evening. Caleb Engstrom, who was ok. Magnolia Summer were great!
Glossary was incredible and as evidenced from pictures, was also
drunken mayhem. I distinctly remember attempting to go buy Dewey a
beer only to be denied by Donny who had a 6 pack of lone star in his
hands along with a few other drinks. I remember the bartender outside
foolishly trying to tell Donny he can only hold 2 drinks at a time.
cleverly avoiding her point, I think Donny said something to the
affect that well he can hold more and in a few seconds the drinks will
be distributed. with a beer in each hand, I stopped and looked at
Micah and showed him my two Lone Stars telling him they were trouble.
I knew it was going to be close to the end for me. I'd been drinking
12 hours at this point. went to see Pink Nasty afterword and the rest
is the biggest blur of the week. I think my plan was to go back to
hotel, lie down for 15 minutes, catch a bit of the 97s set and head
over to The Drams. none of that happened.
clearly, Friday would have to have a better attack plan.

Friday
In some ways, I took it easy on Friday during the day time. I woke up
feeling grand despite Thursday night's drunken black out. I was up for
breakfast again on the early side and out the door at Noon. ran into my Oppenheimer pals
while crossing the street toward Latitude 30. I had no trouble getting
into the N. Ireland showcase. FREE open bar, FREE food. can't beat it.
I saw Driving by Night's set, Oppenheimers, and then In
Case of Fire.
I left there to go over to check out Headhunter's and see Limbeck. ran into
John Boston which was becoming a regular thing. I really enjoyed the
Limbeck set and will have to give them a second chance. I left to go
back to the Scottish Showcase which I knew would be insanely popular.
there was a line to get in but only because the turnover from the N.
Ireland showcase hadn't happened yet.

All the Scottish bands on the showcase were on my list. and I liked
them all! Sons & daughters, Frightened Rabbit, Dykeenies, Jyrojets,
Make Model, Our Lunar Activities. once again it was open bar, free
food and good free food. make your own fajitas. I drank up like it was my
job and made sure to grab food as well. made a complete drunken, and
potentially charming fool of myself with the boys. completely
didn't notice the fact that the guitar player from Popup, was the one
passing out their advance cds. He told me after I told him how the
show was the night before and gave me a hug after revealing who he was.
he said I gave him the most genuine review of them ever. we were drunk
and happy.

even if the Scottish showcase wasn't running 35 minutes late, I still
would've missed Two Cow. I, reluctantly, left Frightened Rabbit (who played last) after a few songs in their set at 6:35pm and rushed over to Headhunters to find Micah and Shane outside.
I wasn't the only one who missed them, but they went on two bands too
early. apparently, Micah almost missed it too.
was pretty drunk happy by this point, but I hung out and chatted with
everyone for a bit.
left to empty out my purse of what I collected.
back out to catch Chris Mills, then Bobby Bare, Jr.
a quick stop at hotel which was on the way to The Rio, where I caught
Sleepercar, which is Jim Ward's new band (he was in Sparta)
I decided to indulge in some UK pop for the end of the night. I went
to see Scouting for Girls. Maggie Mae's rooftop was packed and I had
to wait a few moments to get upstairs, mostly for safety purposes. The
Whip had the Midnight slot and while not quite my cuppa, it was fun to
see the crowd really into it. and even if the sound isn't your thing,
you can't help but move to the music. if you don't, you don't have an
ounce of music/rhythm in your blood. I moved up for Scouting for
Girls, who I really liked a lot. they were adorable. almost too
precious, I wanted to go pinch the lead singer's cheeks, but they
put on a great show and were genuinely happy to be playing their first
gig in the US.

Saturday
I decided that this day might be the easiest of them all. started off
with my breakfast again. was out the door first and off to Jovita's
for Twangfest day two. I didn't get so lucky with a lift from hotel
staff, so I took a cab. I got there right at Noon-ish and saw every
band on the showcase both inside and out. I was wandering between the
two, made certain to get some food while there even though it took an
hour. Kevin Gordon, The Redwalls, Chuck Prophet, Waco Brothers, Blue
Mountain, Wussy, Tim Easton & The Whipsaws, Tommy Womack, Christian
Kiefer, Jon Hardy and the Public, and Sarah Borges.
after all was said and done, try as I might, I still don't like Wussy.
I sat and had a beer with Wendy and Terry, then tried to see if I
could find anyone who was heading back downtown. I didn't and also
didn't feel like waiting for a cab, so I took the walk from Jovita's
to East 4th to my hotel as a time to enjoy the weather and go for a
walk. didn't take too long either.
got myself together and back out the door to catch Oppeheimer at
Emo's. didn't get there early enough to chat, but Gerry, their
soundman bought me a beer. left there to head over to Okkervil River.
I happened upon Dewey taking pics of Carver on the street. since my
schedule was lightest on Saturday night and it was the last night of
official SXSW, I decided to try and stay with the pack. well worth it.
I determined that other than being with everyone, it was outside and I
could look at the stars, and Alex was bartending, I don't really like
Stubb's as a venue. at this point, a few of us went with Shane to the
Wave to check out One Mississippi. this is why being fluid in your
schedule of things is helpful, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the
rock! it was incredible despite the venue. got to sit and chat with
Shane and Carver for a bit. then we all left to head over to other
shows. this is where I could have easily gone either to British Sea
Power or Tim Easton. and really, all it had to do with is that I lost
Shane and Carver and managed to stay with Dewey and Donny. I really
need to see BSP again when I am slightly sober and where I can
actually see.

At one point, earlier in the evening, Dewey offered me $100 to get in
a fight. To which I replied that I only fight boys. I almost made good
on that at Maggie Mae's as I had some assholes trying to get in front
of me when there clearly was no where to go. the one guy made his way
ahead of me and as he was doing so I decided to pour some of my beer
down his back. he didn't notice. then his friend pushed passed me and I
proceeded to stomp on his foot to the beat of whatever BSP song they
were playing at the time. that guy went back behind me. I left with
three songs left on BSP set only because I had to pee and figured
there was no way I could get up on the stage to the toilets (poor set
up), so I went downstairs and had little to do to convince the doorman
to let me go in to use the toilet. it was past closing time. I met up
with Caleb outside and waited for everyone to get let out of BSP.
In a drunken haze, I talked with Bmike and Heather for a bit, and felt
it was bittersweet that it was over.

Sunday
up and raring to go. I cheated and still got a small free breakfast at
the hotel before brunch. I decided since it was nice out, I'd take the
walk to Opal Devine's. Tom Herman caught up with me walking. the food
was ok, but it didn't take long for the alcohol consumption to kick
back in and the margaritas hit the spot. nothing better than having a
buzz on a breezy sunday afternoon amongst friends.
hit waterloo records but for me it was just for browsing.
got my postcards out of the way as a few of us hit the shops.
I went back to the hotel to chill out a bit.
ended up at Texas Chili Parlour for the goodbye dinner.
Ged drove us all back to our hotel areas. I'm not quite sure what went
on in the back of the pickup truck, but I helped to navigate (or not)
in the cab. luckily, traffic was nonexistent on sunday evening as we
were going the wrong way down a one way street.
We dropped off the boys at Hilton Garden Inn but I was ready for another
night out. Not sure I could've handled the Continental Club and
probably wouldn't have been able to get in, but Joe C. and I walked
around Red River and up 6th street. it seems all sunday night is
metal, hip hop or cover bands. we ended up at Latitude 30, I grabbed a
last beer and we watched Our Lunar Activities who were clearly
bittersweet about leaving Austin and full of drink and happy memories
of the week.

and Monday wasn't so successful at finding something to do that didn't
involve long lines for st. patrick's day. that's ok, I don't need a
holiday to tell me when to drink or that my family once came from
Ireland. I got an extra night in Austin since I gave up my seat on my original flight. Not sure if I was supposed to go back downtown, but the airline gave me a voucher for a room at Marriott Courtyard. How was I supposed to know there's like 5 of them in Austin?!
No matter, the downtown staff were great and gave me a primo room. I was exhausted.
I took the afternoon to do laundry (the coin machines were cheaper than the ones in my apartment) and sit in the hot tub at the hotel. I wandered around downtown a bit, but didn't really bother with the pubs.

all in all, it was a fantastic week. the sched.org print out was most helpful. I missed a
few bands I wanted to see, but try as I might, I can't see everything.
chasing boys with guitars is hard work. I'm definitely planning on going next year, and I've a free round trip plane ticket to use if need be.

to make this longer, here's a quick rundown of bands I saw (relatively
in order, some twice or more):
Two Cow Garage
Glossary
Grand Champeen
The Drams
Brazo's
Bleedin Bleedins
Chris Bathgate
Frightened Rabbit
AA Bondy
Joseph Arthur
Barker Band
Carlis Star
Kitty, Daisy, & Lewis
Hey Negrita
Centromatic

Two Cow Garage
The Drams
Glossary
Grand Champeen
Old 97's
The Drams
Popup
Caleb Engstrom
Magnolia Summer
Glossary
Pink Nasty

Driving By Night
Oppenheimer
In Case of Fire
Limbeck
Our Lunar Activities
Jyrojets
Make Model
Dykeenies
Sons & Daughters
Frightened Rabbit
Chris Mills
Bobby Bare, Jr.
Sleepercar
The Whip (just a few songs)
Scouting for Girls

The Whipsaws
Kevin Gordon
The Redwalls
Chuck Prophet
Waco Brothers
Blue Mountain
Wussy
Tim Easton & The Whipsaws
Tommy Womack
Christian Kiefer
Jon Hardy and the Public
Sarah Borges
Oppenheimer
Okkervil River
One Mississippi
British Sea Power

Our Lunar Activities

new R.E.M.!!!

2008-02-07T12:42:00.000-05:00

this makes me very happy:

old family photos

2008-01-03T16:23:00.001-05:00

Dorothy, Leona, and Hannah
Originally uploaded by Lauree

Dorothy, Leona, and Hannah

From my Grandmother's photo collection

that's her on the left, Leona in the middle, and my Great Aunt Bobbie (aka Hannah) on the right. I think Leona is/was my grandmother's cousin!

and there really is NO denying my family heritage...those two girls in front could easily be me and my sister!!

My Grandmother was born in 1915, and she looks pretty young here, so I'm guessing approximately 1920 or so.

hard to believe it's been a year...

2007-12-14T22:22:00.000-05:00

a year ago, my grandmother passed away...

last december was probably the hardest december in my life. even though it's been a year, every time I see a tv show or film showing someone in a hospital dying, it hits me. I'm glad I was there and got to spend that time with her. I don't even know if she really knew I was there. I miss her.

this is one of the favorite photos I found in her stash of photos:

that's her on the left, I love her expression. this was well before I was born. she's with her sister, Hannah (aka my great Aunt Bobbie), and my Dad, in 1964

then there's this Christmas photo:

I'm the baby, and I'm thinking it was Christmas 1973

anyway, even though I know she lived a long long life, it makes holidays a little bit hard, but I'll get to go home next weekend and spend time with my parents and my siblings and their families.

austin flight confirmed!!

2007-12-12T23:56:00.000-05:00

just spreading the word....
my first sxsw since 1995.

I arrive tues 3/11 around lunch time and leave Mon 3/17 in the morning.
I haven't a clue as to where I'm going to stay, but I'll figure that out in due time.

sxsw 2008

2007-12-09T14:45:00.001-05:00

ok, once again I'm going to try and get to sxsw.

I haven't been to Austin/SXSW since 1995!! I know it's changed a ton. I haven't booked a flight...yet....but I'm *this* close to doing so....

I think I'm just going to go, and do it on the low budget version, no badge, no wristband and see what I see if I can see it. y'know, let the journey decide what's going to happen. unless, I win the lottery...then forget the budget!

it does make me wish I still had more record label connections. I miss the old days!

I used to remember these things or a night at 9:30 club

2007-11-24T02:55:00.000-05:00

I got to see the second to last night of Oppenheimer's tour with They Might Be Giants tonight at 9:30 Club. I kept waffling about whether or not to metro or drive, as it can be a pain to find parking and I'm usually alone walking. Since it's decided to act like it's November weather wise and there's some asshole attacking women walking alone at night from Arlington metro stations, I decided to drive.
Although, somehow I think I'd find the energy and power to kick this guy's ass if he even thought about touching me as I was walking home from the metro.

miraculously, I found a spot to park on V Street within the block of the 9:30 club. a huge line was outside to get in, but it moved rather quickly. I managed to meet up with Mike, his sister and her posse of friends. I also managed to chat with Shaun briefly before he had to go on stage.

It's always fun for me to see others hearing friends' bands for the first time. even more enjoyable when those people are really into it. a great set per usual. and I find it completely fascinating to see them on the stage of the 9:30 Club, after seeing them at DC9, IOTA, Galaxy Hut and various other small clubs and even Lisa and Rodney's house for the pool party!!

I was trying to remember the last show I saw at 9:30 and I can't....I usually remember these things and even have them written down, but for the life of me I can't remember. I could do some digging maybe... I can remember seeing The Pogues, Teenage Fanclub, Son Volt, and I can even remember seeing Old 97's opening for Wilco (before I even lived here).....(a little spider just crawled on my desk....) but I can't remember the very last show I went to at the 9:30 Club. and I'm completely baffled by that.

no matter, Oppenheimer had a great set, sold a bunch of merch and I made it through the entire 2 hour set of TMBG. when I went to the first night of the tour back in baltimore in september, I didn't stay because I was tired, and really didn't have anyone to talk to since the boys were busy with tour stuff.

I should be sleeping...work comes early. but I somehow managed to score a parking spot close to my building which is unheard of at 1:45 in the morning!! It really is the little things in life that make me happy...like driving home with the ipod on shuffle (through my car stereo) singing along at the top of my lungs!!

Yo La Tengo-Upside Down

2007-10-12T16:29:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe this song is 15 years old now!

I started listening to some Beat Happening, which lead to Yo La Tengo and now I'm sitting here at the computer playing all my old favorite "hits" from '92...

it's a little crazy to think back then a bunch of us would drive the 2.5 hours or so from AC to Hoboken to see them. I can remember making that round trip more than once within the same week (not always to see the Yo La's, mind you)

or the much shorter drive to Philly.

I can't even recall how many times we went. there are quite a few memorable shows and some, thanks to my discovery that I like beer a lot (around age 24..yes I'm serious about that!) that are a bit foggy....

Tramp's with Superdrag, Perfect and Big Star...I think I had my eyes closed the entire Yo La's set just soaking in the music. and if Jeremy and Matt hadn't walked on either side of me when we left, I might have just slept on a Manhattan sidewalk.

Maxwell's where I bought tees from Ira for my nephews. another show there when me, Amy, Jeremy and Adam drove back in the middle of the night and missed the exit off the turnpike to get on the parkway southbound. Adam was on crutches and Amy did an illegal u-turn...shhhhh

the Guinness Fleadh in NYC where me, barely able to speak and stand up (pints of harp and cider), stood, barefoot in the middle of the muddy center of the smaller tents reassuring Ira that the schedule was indeed changed and their set didn't conflict with Patti Smith's and they would definitely have time to get off stage and over to the main stage. how i managed to maintain coherency is beyond me

sadly, it's been ages since I've seen a Yo La Tengo show and even sadder is that they're in town at The Birchmere October 23rd and that is the same exact night that Arlington Independent Media's 25th Anniversary Gala is happening. which means, there's no way in hell I can go see Yo La Tengo.

sigh.

I think what I miss most was that those shows always included going with at least a car full of friends, sometimes, like the Troc or TLA in Philly, there could potentially be 2 dozen of us or so smack dab in the middle of the room....my how times have changed.

then there's the driving the back roads of port republic, nj in the middle of the night heading home from the port house with a trillion stars in the sky listening to songs from fakebook and may I sing with me...windows down waiting for the drums to kick in on "detouring america with horns"

or the time at the watermusic party...

I could go on
and on
and on...

AIDS walk Washington

2007-10-06T21:17:00.000-05:00

I walked in my first 5K this morning. I ended up walking alone. my group from church consisted of two couples, one couple was running in the 5K race, and it turns out the other couple has the flu and couldn't make it this morning.

I think it worked out better that I walked alone, I could walk as slow or fast as I wanted. plus I could listen to my ipod. mostly Sarah Borges, Kelly Willis, some Bill Fox for the mellow morning metro ride to the walk festivities and two cow garage on the way home. next time I need to create a specific playlist for this sort of stuff. I did a lot of repeating of some Sarah Borges and Kelly Willis songs. I needed the sassy country twang guitars to keep me going.

I ended up walking it in roughly 45-50 minutes which is pretty quick for me. On the treadmill, I'm lucky if I can do a 20 minute mile. maybe walking outside is much better!

at any rate, I'm exhausted as I didn't sleep very well mainly because I was afraid I wouldn't wake up in time. I was supposed to meet up with the running couple after the walk but I couldn't find them so I just came home. I've been lounging ever since, sometimes fading in and out of sleep. I have to stop doing this, wasting the hours of my days off sleeping all day. it's hard to get on a schedule when work schedule changes though.

Glossary-The Better Angels of Our Nature

2007-10-02T18:08:00.000-05:00

if you don't already know about this band, you should! Now is a great time to introduce yourself to them with their new album! It's just as incredible as their others. And this one is FREE!!!!!!!!!!

you MUST check this out, download it, listen to it, LOVE it!!!

from the Glossary myspace bulletin:

Finally, Our New Album, "The Better Angels Of Our Nature" will be available for FREE download from our website.

www.glossary.us

Go get it beginning at noon today. Don't fret If you are not technically savvy like that or you just like to hold stuff. We will be making CD's that will be available beginning Oct. 23rd. Each run of 200 will be designed by a regional artist or graphic designer. We also plan to make the the new album available on vinyl early 2008. OK thanks, now go download our new record. One last thing, unlike some bands out there, we highly encourage you to make and distribute copies to your friends and family. Spread the good word.

http://www.glossary.us/the-better-angels-of-our-nature-free-download

Two Cow Garage

2007-09-28T14:27:00.000-05:00

love this band like they're my little brothers!!

check out more cool videos at:
http://www.youtube.com/gloriousnoisevideo

and a great article featuring these videos:
http://www.gloriousnoise.com/features/2007/two_cow_garage_doubt_determina.php

Dropkick

2007-09-25T19:33:00.000-05:00

I'm really loving this band at the moment!!

http://www.myspace.com/dropkickmusic
http://www.dropkickmusic.co.uk/

Handsome Family and other stuff

2007-09-20T18:43:00.000-05:00

got to see most of the Handsome Family's set tuesday night at IOTA. It was a last minute opportunity thanks to the kindness of a friend!

I've never seen them live before and they had a great set and were absolutely hilarious with their between song banter.

been real busy with work and whatnot. so much to do so little time.

trying to get on the health kick again but it's not easy when I seemingly at random feel like complete crap!

I'm walking in my first 5K on October 6th!

Oppenheimer on tour!!

2007-09-14T11:57:00.001-05:00

I caught Oppenheimer's set in Baltimore wednesday night. It was the first night of the tour with They Might Be Giants. This is a really cool gig for them and it will be interesting to see how they settle in on the tour. I'll get to see them again when they come back around to the East Coast in November!

http://www.myspace.com/oppenheimer
http://www.oppenheimermusic.co.uk/

some catch up posts...

2007-09-14T11:51:00.000-05:00

I'm really strapped for cash, but I've been fortunate enough to catch some shows by way of guestlist spots, either through the kindness of labels, friends, or the hard working "street team" type stuff.

at any rate, Tres Chicas were fun august 30th but I was really tired. Then I saw the incredible Mark Olson on september 6th. Last Town Chorus opened. only missed the first few songs of Last Town Chorus. I really like Megan's voice and playing. I want to see her with a full band though, LTC will be back on tour through DC opening for Camera Obscura and The Weakerthans at 9:30.

great set by mark and band. mostly Salvation Blues stuff, but from the jayhawks realm we got "Blue" "over my shoulder" "pray for me" and I think that's all. I didn't keep a setlist really, just kind of soaked it all in. all in all there was about 40-50 people in attendance.

I love LOVE Ingunn Ringvold's voice (she performed in Mark's band)! she played one of her songs, her page is here:
http://www.myspace.com/sailorine

and in case you need these:
http://www.myspace.com/markolsonmusic
http://www.myspace.com/thelasttownchorus

Oppenheimer & They Might Be Giants!!!

2007-09-05T19:45:00.000-05:00

How cool is this?! I know some of y'all are Oppenheimer fans, some of y'all are They Might Be Giants fans.
guess what?

you can see both bands on the same stage beginning *NEXT* week throughout the US!! just thought I'd share the news and excitement....

www.myspace.com/oppenheimer

Sep 12 2007 8:00P Rams Head Live w/They Might Be Giants Baltimore, MD
Sep 13 2007 8:00P State Theatre w/ TMBG State College, PA
Sep 15 2007 8:00P The Pageant w/ TMBG Saint Louis, MO
Sep 17 2007 8:00P First Avenue w/TMBG Minneapolis, MN
Sep 18 2007 8:00P Union Memorial Ballroom w/ TMBG Iowa City, IA
Sep 20 2007 8:00P Boulder Theatre w/TMBG Boulder, CO
Sep 21 2007 8:00P The Depot w/TMBG Salt Lake City, UT
Sep 22 2007 8:00PEgyptian Theatre w/ TMBG Boise, ID
Sep 23 2007 8:00P U.C. Ballroom w/ TMBG Missoula, MT
Sep 25 2007 8:00P Commodore Ballroom w/ TMBG Vancouver, BC
Sep 27 2007 8:00P Roseland Theatre w/ TMBG Portland, OR
Sep 28 2007 8:00P Empire Events Center w/TMBG Sacramento, CA
Sep 29 2007 8:00P Rio Theatre w/ TMBG Santa Cruz, CA
Sep 30 2007 8:00P The Fillmore w/ TMBG San Francisco, CA
Oct 2 2007 8:00P Ventura Theatre w/ TMBG Ventura, CA
Oct 3 2007 8:00P The Avalon w/TMBG Los Angeles, CA
Oct 4 2007 8:00P House Of Blues w/ TMBG San Diego, CA
Oct 5 2007 8:00P House Of Blues w/ TMBG Anaheim, CA
Oct 6 2007 8:00P Rialto Theatre w/ TMBG Tucson, AZ
Oct 7 2007 8:00P Santa Fe Brewing Company w/ TMBG Santa Fe, NM
Oct 8 2007 9:00P Silverlake Lounge Los Angeles, CA
Oct 18 2007 8:00P Toad’s Place w/ TMBG New Haven, CT
Oct 20 2007 8:00P Calvin Theatre w/TMBG Northampton, MA
Oct 24 2007 8:00P Toad’s Place w/ TMBG Richmond, VA
Oct 25 2007 8:00P Norva Center w/ TMBG Norfolk, VA
Oct 26 2007 8:00P Carolina Theatre w/TMBG Durham, NC
Oct 27 2007 8:00P Orange Peel w/TMBG Ashville, NC
Oct 28 2007 7:00P Neighborhood Theatre w/ TMBG Charlotte, NC
Oct 30 2007 8:00P The Handlebar w/TMBG Greenville, NC
Oct 31 2007 8:00P Music Farm w/TMBG Charleston, SC
Nov 1 2007 8:00P Georgia Theatre w/ TMBG Athens, GA
Nov 2 2007 8:00P Variety Playhouse w/TMBG Atlanta, GA
Nov 3 2007 8:00P Exit In Nashville, TN
Nov 4 2007 8:00P Newby’s w/ TMBG Memphis, TN
Nov 6 2007 4:00A LIVE ON WOXY 4.pm WOXY.COM
Nov 6 2007 8:00P Southgate House w/TMBG Newport, KY
Nov 7 2007 8:00P Newport Music Hall w/TMBG Columbus, OH
Nov 8 2007 8:00P The Vogue w/TMBG Idianapolis, IN
Nov 9 2007 8:00P Turner Hall w/TMBG Milwaukee, WN
Nov 10 2007 8:00P Vic Theatre w/TMBG Chicago, IL
Nov 13 2007 8:00P Intersection w/ TMBG Grand Rapids, MI
Nov 14 2007 8:00P Michigan Theatre w/TMBG Ann Arbor, MI
Nov 15 2007 8:00P Mr. Smalls w/TMBG Pittsburgh, PA
Nov 16 2007 8:00P Town Ballroom w/TMBG Buffalo, NY
Nov 17 2007 8:00P Case Western Reserve U w/ TMBG Cleveland, OH
Nov 23 2007 8:00P 9.30 Club w/TMBG Washington DC
Nov 24 2007 8:00P Theatre of Living Arts w/TMBG Philadelphia, PA

this is a really cool deal for these guys! I'm really happy for them.

and I still hope to try and keep this blog more up-to-date...I keep saying it I know, but we'll see!!

lack of blogging

2007-03-27T17:03:00.000-05:00

I promise I'm going to try and update this regularly, but I just haven't had much to blog about or nothing to blog that I feel I should share with the universe at the moment.

more to come soon, really, I mean it....I will do my best to post at least once a week.

finally getting back

2007-01-10T18:32:00.000-05:00

finally getting back to this here blog....things will be a bit different. sadly, I'm having issues in upgrading to the new version, but hopefully that will be sorted out soon.

I am completely on a Scottish music kick at the moment. Lots of incredible music coming out of Glasgow and the like...

The Fratellis will be hitting the US big time as the new iPod commercials start airing using their song, "Flathead" which will be released in the US later this month I believe. Hard to imagine it's been a few months since I jumped up and paid extra to have a UK version of their album shipped to me. these things do take time I suppose.

in a different direction from The Fratellis, Reeds has also been rocking my world in their own special way:
http://www.myspace.com/reeds
I could listen to the song "Sea Beds" over and over again and just simply be happy in the moment.

more to come soon I promise!!

changes, redesign, and more...

2006-10-07T13:57:00.000-05:00

stayed tuned, in my efforts to change my "web presence" the blogger blog will be getting a facelift....

hopefully it won't take too long.....

in the meantime, go listen to this band:

http://www.myspace.com/oppenheimer
they rock!!!

nyc kids...(photo project)

2006-10-06T22:52:00.000-05:00

a bit slow going

2006-07-26T19:10:00.000-05:00

I haven't been updating my blog too much lately. I've actually gone through and deleted a bunch of entries.

I've been thinking about keeping my web presence to a more limited basis. I have been blogging a bit more on my myspace page, but even that has been a bit limited.

we'll see what happens...

perhaps more to come soon?!

jack white was in my dreams last night

2006-06-21T19:14:00.000-05:00

now before anyone gets all weird on me it wasn't a romantic dream. I'm not even a White Stripes fan really, although I am a fan of The Raconteurs!

here's what happened:

I'm not exactly sure where we were, but I was with some guy and girl, fairly non descript so I don't know who they were or how to describe them. No matter, I was with a girl and guy who in the dream were close friends of Jack's. We were going to try and catch a film of some sort (not sure which film), but Jack couldn't walk in the front door because there was a crowd gathered and no one wanted a mob scene. I haven't ever been in the vicinity of Jack White so I'm not sure if screaming fans are an issue. In my dream they were.

We picked up Jack from an apartment, a hotel room or something and went to the theatre. We arrived at the back of the theatre and went into a back door and through a warehouse type room and through a kitchen etc. we got into the theatre area and it was empty except for the four of us. the film started and then I woke up.

all morning I was completely baffled as to why the hell I would have a dream about Jack White. I don't necessarily find him attractive, except maybe in his role in Cold Mountain, which was a pretty crappy movie (that I saw for free!).

as I write this, the back room area we entered the theatre reminded me a bit of the band entrance at Black Cat which I have been in a few times with friends. One of those times was with The Waxwings, who are from Detroit, and Dean Fertita from The Waxwings plays in Brendan Benson's band and also has been touring with The Raconteurs (from what I've seen so far, on tv, etc). Perhaps that is my connection to Jack White? I did see my Raconteurs' cd on my coffe table before I went to bed, so maybe that was the instigator of my dream? Maybe I'm just curious as to what Dean has been up to musically. It's been about a year or so since I saw him on tour with Brendan Benson.

Thus ends how Jack White was in my dreams last night.

last.fm survey

2006-04-29T15:43:00.000-05:00

List your top 10 artists as played on Last.fm:
my last.fm page

1 Son Volt
2 Guided by Voices
3 Wilco
4 The Waxwings
5 Yo La Tengo
6 Teenage Fanclub
7 The Pogues
8 Elliott Smith
9 IKE
10 Big Star

Now answer the questions according to the numbers (I've added the names of the artists:

-What was the first song you ever heard by 6 (teenage fanclub)?
either Alcoholiday or The Concept through working at WLFR and 120 minutes on MTV

-What is your favourite album of 2 (GBV)?
Bee Thousand, but there's so many songs in the GBV catalogue that are so good

-What is your favourite lyric that 5 (yo la tengo) has sung?
there's probably a bunch...
georgia singing "you remind me where I don't want to be"
ira singing "my brain's impatient, my heart's still willing to wait"
james singing "And I know, you know, It makes me sigh; I do believe in love"
oh there's so many more.....

-How many times have you seen 4 (The Waxwings) live?

5 or 6, I would've seen them more if I could've but 2 of those times they crashed at my place so I did my part to support them as much as possible! I think of them as family.

-What is your favourite song by 7 (The Pogues)?
Streams of Whiskey or The Body of an American

-What is a good memory you have involving the music of 10 (Big Star)?
being so drunk at the Big Star, Yo La Tengo, Perfect, SUperdrag show @ Tramp's in NYC with Jer and Matt, and having to ask what side of the stage Alex Chilton was on again. for the record, I'm short and we were in the back at the time of their set and I had my eyes closed for most of the Yo La's set, so I was THAT drunk.

-Is there a song by 3 (Wilco) that makes you sad?
yep, some of the songs on Being There like Misunderstood and What's the World Got in store are songs I listen to when I'm feeling pretty depressed.

-What is your favourite lyric that 2 (GBV) has sung?
"try to be nice and look what it gets you" I always ALWAYS quote this on a regular basis even to people who have never heard a GBV song, but it so rings true in every day life.

-What is your favourite song by 9 (IKE)?
hard to pick just one, and many of my favorites aren't on cds or have made it into a regular rotation live. but Dandelion, Better Off Alone, Memory, Deathbed

-How did you get into 3 (Wilco)?
between being a casual Uncle Tupelo fan and falling in love with AM. I was involved in college radio so between that and spending all my free time with Jer, Paul & Adam in college, music was and is my life.

-What was the first song you heard by 1 (Son Volt)?
Windfall, Drown

-What is your favourite song by 4 (The Waxwings)?
10 O'Clock your Time, Sleepy Head, Almost All Day, Fractured, Answer to Me....
seriously, three albums, and my ever increasing love for my beloved band The Waxwings....I could go on forever.

-How many times have you seen 9 (IKE) live?
never enough, but I stopped counting. I've seen them in so many places, since JFPT and the transformation to IKE, I've managed to pop up in the strangest of places to get my fix! I'll guess I've seen them at least 30 times!

-What is a good memory you have involving 2 (GBV)?
seeing them in Austin at SXSW 1995. seeing them a few times in philly, every damn show I've seen has been incredible!

-Is there a song of 8 (Elliott Smith) that makes you sad?
almost all of Elliott Smith's songs make me sad, and even more so
XO is my favorite album from him and Waltz ..2 and ..1 always works for me.

-What is your favourite album of 5 (Yo La Tengo)?
hard to pick just one, but overall perhaps Electr-o-Pura or Painful

-What is your favourite lyric that 4 (The Waxwings) has sung?
"staring at a sunken sun"
I'm sure I could come up with more...that was the first that popped in my head

-What is your favourite song of 10 (Big Star)?
When My Baby's Beside Me, Feel, Watch the Sunrise (um, yeah ..1 Record is probably my fav of theirs)

-How many times have you seen 8 (Elliott Smith) live?
sadly, never and won't ever get to which is even more sad.

-What is your favourite album of 1 (Son Volt)?
Trace, Okemah & the Melody of Riot

-What is a great memory you have considering 9 (IKE)?
so many memories, recently the coolest was seeing them at center ice at the Spectrum after a Phantoms game

-What was the first song you heard by 8 (Elliott Smith)?
I can't remember!!

-What is your favourite cover by 2 (GBV)?
I haven't any idea, I think Bob Pollard has enough songs on his own.

these new VW commercials

2006-04-19T23:10:00.000-05:00

are really S C A R Y!!!

I'm not sure if any of y'all have seen them yet. the ones where the people are all going about their car conversations all non-chalant and whatnot, and then...

BOOOOOOOM! another car slams into them.

let me tell you now. I can't watch them, last night I saw one of them again and I actually felt the impact.

I guess the accident I was in last year has had more of an impact on me mentally than I thought.

as a result, here's a friendly reminder:

drive safely, don't run stop signs and red lights, pay attention to pedestrians and cyclists on the road, and for Fuck's sake, put the damn phone down!!! use a headset, because the kid who hit me was on his phone dammit. and now both me and my nephew, Shawn still are freaked out about the whole ordeal.

a boy's first guitar!

2006-04-04T00:46:00.000-05:00

I've shared the news with some already but I'm still very excited and jealous of my 13 year old nephew, Shawn's, first electric guitar.

My nephew, Shawn and I are pretty close. I love all my nephews (there *are* 7 of 'em, two nieces also!) It is similar to the closeness I had with his older brother, Andrew, who was born when I was in high school and for the first 4 years of his life, was more of a little brother to me than nephew since he lived with us at my parents' house. That same situation is also the environment that Shawn and I had from 1999 or so until I moved to Arlington in 2002. I remember the night he found out I was moving, I hadn't had a chance to break it to him and my Mom accidentally spilled the news over dinner one night. Shawn was devastated and it took a good year or so after I moved for him to understand that even though I wasn't going to be around every night and especially for "family game night" that he tried many times to start up, I would still visit and hang out and do cool things with him, his brother, and his cousins. In a sort of strange way, he and I have grown a little closer in the last year, because Shawn is the nephew who was with me in my car last year when we were in the car accident. Definitely not an event I ever care to share with any of the kids in my life ever again, and I hoped something like it would never happen. I think the accident was more traumatic since he was in the car with me. Fortunately, we've mostly put the whole debacle behind us, but it ain't easy!

We're a musical family to start with, having the benefit of a piano, drums and whatever else we had in our living room growing up. Somehow, it's been me who's passed along this passion for music to some of the next generation. Andrew was 4.5 years old, Shawn, 4 months and their cousin, Josh, 2 months old when I first exposed them to live bands, with my 21st birthday party in the backyard of the house, when Noise Museum performed. I've since taken them to see some of my friends' bands perform at all ages shows, throughout the years, but not nearly as many as I'd like to take them since I'm not exactly nearby.

When I called home this evening to check in and say hello, Shawn answered the phone. Usually, he and I exchange the typical banter of hellos and how are you doings, and I'll ask about school, bowling (he kicks ass at bowling), and what's new, etc. Normally, I get the "not much" "nothing really" "just playing a video game" sorta stuff, but little did I know that I'd be in for a treat! He asks if I heard his news, which I hadn't. My sister tends to fill me in, but neither of us are on IM much anymore with our crazy schedules.

He proceeds to tell me that he got an electric guitar. Already I think this is way cool. Who knew that the next thing he would tell me was, that not only did he get an electric guitar but it was a Fender Stratocaster!?! And that he has an amp too! When I asked what kind of amp, he replied, "Fender Princeton 650." He went on about how there was a deal at the music shop buy one item, get one FREE (the guitar was basically FREE) and how he tried out a few guitars but that this one felt the best (he's never really played a whole lot) and that he'll be taking lessons in a few weeks once he finishes up his bowling league.

I think it's probably the longest conversation I've had on the phone with him since I moved to VA and probably one of the coolest. I can't wait for him to show it to me. I can show him some chords, but he's a lefty and wants to learn how to play left-handed, and I can't play guitar right now anyhow, but perhaps I'm going to have to work a bit harder to get back into some rehabilitation for my neck, left arm and hand, because I've got some kids to rock out with back home in Jersey!!

My Grandmother

2006-03-22T17:27:00.000-05:00

she just celebrated her 91st birthday. this is a photo I snuck in while she was opening her presents.

I get my stubborness from her and I only hope I live as long as her!

first week in the new apartment!

2006-03-05T13:49:00.000-05:00

ok, the apartment is only new to me, because this building is a bit old.

I've been in the new place a whole week now and while I still have much to do...It is indeed nice to be in a warm, clean place. I never thought I'd enjoy living alone, but now I'm trying to sort out why it's taken me so long!

If I can help it, I will live alone until I get married!

initially, I've managed to get tv, internet and phone working. the first few days, my computer was on the living room floor. Now it's a little more settled and I've actually been sleeping in my bed in the bedroom. I've managed to get A-S of my cd collection unpacked, and now will have to set up my stereo gear. It's slow going because I must take my time and not do too much or I'll pay for it in pain and exhaustion.

I had so many great people help me move. IT was a stressful time (when isn't moving NOT stressful?!) and I hadn't completed all my packing when moving day came. I just physically couldn't get it finished. I'm hoping to get back into physical therapy in regards to my car accident injuries soon. On top of that, it's been discovered I have some auto immune disease related issues. I do hope in the coming months that I will be able to sort all of this health related bullshit out.

in the meantime, I think I'll read the newspaper and take a break from the unpacking.

if you need a good laugh...this might do it!!

2006-01-25T22:20:00.000-05:00

which R.E.M. album are you?

2006-01-19T20:36:00.000-05:00

Which REM album are you?

Life's Rich Pageant

You're often overlooked, but appreciated by those in the know. The truly cool kids like you.

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

the power of letting go....

2006-01-18T21:24:00.000-05:00

oh wow, where do I begin?

those of you who've known me for awhile, and even some of you who've only known me for a year or two, are aware of my insane capacity for shit to happen to me. getting fired, a few car accidents, smashed windows and windshields, being forced to pay back unemployment checks that should not have been contested, etc etc. I know a lot of it is just your standard life BULLSHIT and we all go through it, but sometimes I think I really do have a slightly higher capacity for the crap to hit me in the face. I've been waiting for the next punch. I've gotten used to it.

as a result, my state of mind has not been the best, to say the least. in fact, it's made me even more cynical than before, more bitter, more depressed, more pissed off, more upset, forcing me to withdraw even more into this shell of mine. I certainly don't take astrology as the end all be all, but boy do I fit my Cancer qualities to a tee! and to think I was supposed to be Leo.... I digress....(I've been so spacey today)

I'm not even sure if it even shows half the time. I mask it as best I can, internalizing all of it. As with most of us, I'm sure, I've also taken to the new year as a new beginning and working toward more positive thoughts and simply letting go.

Considering I started the new year, by finding my missing Claddagh ring. I used my slightly superstitious tendencies and saw it as a sign that 2006 might just work out to be a decent year.

Here we are 18 days into it, and so far so good. I've been taking charge of many things I've been wanting to do. Despite my injuries and ailments, and some health issues, I'm taking it in stride. I've worked on moving out of my current living situation to one that will help with my health related issues and will allow me to focus all my energies on restoring my health 100%. I applied for and was accepted for the apartment I wanted. I successfully found someone to take over my portion of my current lease (with my house mate's help, since it's her friend) and I'm getting better at ditching things I don't need and only taking on what I can. I'm feeling well enough to take on the projects I've been wanting to do at work. And I really really really LOVE MY JOB! 3 years ago I wouldn't have even thought of uttering that. three years ago I was crying myself to and from the commute to my fucking horrific retail job at Borders.

while I love absolutely LOVE my current job, the good comes with the slightly annoying things, like not getting paid on a regular schedule. It's sort of around the 1st and the 15th of each month, but one never knows when exactly. My company is a little old school like that. As a result of not getting paid on a regular schedule, I tend to find myself crossing my fingers and hoping my checking account doesn't get overdrawn. I get a little creative with my finances, eat cereal for a few meals a day, until the paycheck finally arrives.

When I left work this evening, I felt defeated and concerned about whether or not my checking account would hold up through tomorrow, when HOPEFULLY our paychecks will be waiting for me when I go in at 2pm. I've already borrowed $400 from my parents for a deposit on the apartment. At least, I had a few slices of pizza from the class graduation party we were having at work. I also just generally woke up wrong today. I woke up late, couldn't get out of bed, didn't want to either, was "late" for work (I use the term loosely...if you know my workplace, you'll laugh), and went to the doctor today simply as a means of legality because I'm not sure at the moment how we're going to continue my rehabilitation of the car accident injuries. To top it off, I've been working off a migraine since Sunday. for fuck's sake I'm sooooooo damn tired of the pain, y'know?!?!?!?!?!?!

I walked into my house, which is freezing because we can't afford to keep the heat too high, just like everyone else.... and only had two pieces of mail. I thought both were what I call "wanted" junk mail: random mailings from companies I do like to hear from now and then. As I settle into my bedroom, turn on the space heater, and start the electric blanket so it's nice and warm all night, I lie down and open the one envelope from Bank of America. Turns out it's a check, a legitimate CHECK for $77!!!! My Bank of America credit card is a money return card, and apparently the $77 is my money return for 2005. I suppose it sometimes pays to add to your debt.

This will help make sure I'm in the black by $15 until I can get and deposit my check. I immediately went back out to the ATM and deposited it.

It is hard for me to let go and not stress about this stuff. I'm getting better at letting go. It's not easy, but so far in the last three weeks, it's fuckin' worked like a charm! I think I'm going to keep trying this out.

now I'll need to go listen to Swivel Chairs, because there's a song on "A Late Day for Regrets" called "Here's to Letting Go." I'm sure Jeremy's thoughts when he wrote it had to do with entirely different things in his life than what I'm going through, but that's OK, because since it's out there for the world to hear, it can be my song too. It's my song that I sing in my head to myself when I make myself aware that I just have to LET SOMETHING GO!!!

of course, on my drive back home from the bank....I didn't have the swivel chairs CD in my car, but I did have Earth Wind and Fire and fuck yeah I was dancing behind the wheel...all because of being $15 ahead of the game.

All 9 Grandchildren (my nieces & nephews)

2006-01-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

All 9 Grandchildren (my nieces & nephews)
Originally uploaded by Lauree.

trying to get everyone to focus and stay still was impossible!

especially since they were about to open presents! Since Christmas fell on Sunday this year, present opening didn't begin until 1pm.

I'm 78% Jersey!

2005-12-30T18:45:00.000-05:00

I scored a 78% on the "how JERSEY are you?" Quizie! What about you?

songs of endearment....

2005-12-18T23:28:00.000-05:00

I heard "Feliz Navidad" on the radio the other day, since it is that time of year. and it made me think of my friend, Chuck Walton, who used to sing it to me.

my birth name is Laurice and he used to sing: "Laurice Navidad....Laurice Navidad..." etc. to this day he is the one and only person who's ever done that to me.

the only other occurrence of this is when I was hanging out at McGuire's in AC and the one and only Michael Dixon (from Bangor, Ireland) used to sing along when the jukebox would play The Clash's "Death or Glory" and sang instead: "Death or Lauree"

what does my birthday mean?

2005-12-15T12:28:00.000-05:00

Your Birthdate: June 30

You have the type of personality that people either love or hate.
You're opinionated, dramatic, intense, and very outspoken.
And some people can't get enough of you - they're totally addicted.
Others, well, they wish you were a little more reserved.

Your strength: Your flair

Your weakness: If you think it, you say it

Your power color: Scarlet red

Your power symbol: Inverted triangle

Your power month: March

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

christmas survey

2005-12-14T07:41:00.000-05:00

1. Hot Chocolate or apple cider? hot chocolate, I love Chocolate!

2. Turkey or Ham? either, but usually for Christmas it's Ham

3. Do you get a Fake or Real Christmas tree? at my parent's house it's a fake tree, although we planted trees years ago and would pick fresh ones off our property since it was a tree nursery before they built the house on the land.

4. Decorations on the outside of your house? no, I usually have lights up in my room here in VA, and my Dad has put up lights outside on the house in NJ.

5. Snowball fights or sledding? snowball fights but sledding is cool too, used to sled down the hills off the garden state parkway between north and south bound lanes.

6. Do you like hanging around the fireplace because it's warm? yes, and I wish we could use the fireplace in the house I live in now.

7. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping? I don't really like shopping in crowds.

8. Favorite Christmas song? Fairytale of New York and Everybody's Waiting for the Man with The Bag (even though Macy's is using it for their holiday marketing campaign now....)

9. How do you feel about Christmas movies? Christmas Story is by far the best.

10. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music? Before thanksgiving....anymore it gets started on HALLOWEEN!!! that's too early

11. Stockings before or after presents? as a young kid we did those first, parents' orders, as we got older they stopped the stockings.

12. Carolers, do you or do you not watch and listen to them? if any were to stop by and sing I would.

13. Go to someone elses house or they come to you? both

14. Do you read the Christmas Story? many variations of it.

15. What do you do after presents and dinner? after presents, usually play with the all the kids and their toys. after dinner, I used to hit McGuire's in AC for a few pints, but now I either meet up with friends or just hang with the family.

16. What is your favorite holiday smell? evergreen trees, apple pie if mom is cooking

17. Ice skating or walking around the mall? ice skating as I tend to avoid malls anymore.

19. Favorite Part about winter? the cold gets to me after awhile
but I like that you have an excuse to stay in and wrap blankets around you and watch tv.

20.Favorite Christmas decor? lights. I love the lights!

21.Lights...colored or clear? all kinds, all colors, and clear too!

22. What is the best Christmas gift you ever received? the year my brother and his wife told me I didn't have to pay them the rest of what I owed them for the used pickup truck they were selling to me

23. What is your favorite Christmas tradition in your family? we don't do it anymore, because we all can't fit in one house, but as a kid, we weren't allowed downstairs until we sung a christmas carol at the top of the stairs!!

24. What is your least favorite thing about the holidays? getting sick and trying to see everyone.

25. What is the one thing that you would like to see under the tree this year? as an adult we don't give many presents anymore, but what I'd really want is to know that all my debt is gone and I don't have to deal with this stupid car accident bullshit anymore.

26. What is your favorite thing to do/build in the snow? snow forts (if the snow is deep) and snow people

27. What is your favorite holiday drink? don't really have one.

28. Who is your favorite reindeer? rudolph (I identify with him)

29. What is your Christmas Eve ritual? church with the family to hear my Mom and Dad sing, but for many years, it was driving over to the Grites' household to hang with Jer, his family, exchange our gifts, and listen to music!! usually the latest thing Jeremy recorded with whomever:Swivel Chairs, Marlin Spikes, solo stuff, and anything else he had on tap.

30. Are you a Friday after Thanksgiving shopper? after 8 years in retail HELL....absolutely NOT. I take great pride in no longer having to work on that day.

31. What is your favorite holiday food? apple pie

32. How did you find out that Santa wasn't real? see earlier post or my other blog: wordtravelsfast.blogspot.com

33. Who do you want to be under the mistletoe with? I could name names but I'd get in trouble, plus, I'd rather it be completely random, like it should be.

34. Have you bought all your presents yet? I don't buy a whole lot because there's not much to buy with, but I have picked up a few items that I happened to think of while I had the opportunity.

35. Do you spend Christmas with a lot of family? immediate family, and that means a good number. immediate family, including Grandmother and Great Aunt is now at the robust figure of 16!!

36. Do you still make snowmen and snow angels? If there's enough snow to do so and I have someone to help me, it's not that fun playing in the snow alone!

38. What do you plan to do for New Year's Eve? I've been invited to a party in philly and it's easy for me, because I don't have to worry about being on the road with the other crazy people.

39. What's the most expensive thing you've gotten for Christmas?
when I was 15 I got a Flyers jersey, my brother's old pickup was worth a few thousand at least....nothing major really.

40. How early do you wake up on Christmas morning? at the last possible moment, even as a kid I slept in mostly. now since the little kids will be at the house this year, I have a feeling it's going to be a real early morning!!! but it will be fun to have the excitement again!

41. What do you usually get in your stocking? we don't have them anymore, but it used to be candy, pistachios, fruit, socks, toothbrush, nail polish, you get the idea...

42. Who would you like to see this Christmas? I am hoping that I don't get sick and can spend time with my family, Brenda, Joe and their three girls, and see some friends too.

I lost my Claddagh ring!!!!

2005-12-13T19:14:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe but it appears as though I've lost my Claddagh ring that I got in Galway when Laverne and I went to Ireland back in March.

I've *almost* lost it a few times, as I am definitely my father's daughter and play the role of 'absent minded professor' ALL too well. But all those times I've left it on my dresser or my desk at work or at home and it's been right where I left it.

However, every so often the ring wouldn't stay on my finger. It literally would slide off my hand. I figure it probably has something to do with the fact that I take Celebrex daily and it's an anti-inflammatory which would probably make my hands less swollen.

A few times while searching through my bag or purse it would fall off and I would just leave it there, thinking it was probably better off being there at that time than on my hand where it might fall off anywhere.

Recently, I couldn't find it until I put my gloves back on (which I don't wear every day, despite the cold.) and hadn't realized it caught on the inside of the glove's ring finger.

sigh...I hope I find it. I can always get another, but the fact that I bought it IN Galway on our trip holds that memory with it.

love is all we need...

2005-12-06T01:51:00.000-05:00

I hung out (babysat) with Rebekka tonight. She's the 3year old daughter of my friends, Brian and Annette. I've had a lot going on in my head lately, including tonight.

but as Rebekka and I were playing with her toys and watching tv, she was sitting with me, leaning her head on my arm, and snuggling up next to me when she stated:

'I love you lauree' then she hugged me and said 'big hugs'

at the end of the day and in the grand scheme of things, isn't that all we need?!

from the minds and mouths and arms of three year old children can sometimes come the most simplified and profound needs of every single human being....

40 questions about 2005

2005-12-04T20:22:00.000-05:00

40 questions about 2005. (I left out 11-14 since didn't fall in love with anyone)

1) Was 2005 a good year for you?
not really

2) What was your favorite moment of the year?
-riding in the backseat of a convertible at night, top down, looking up at a million stars in the Big Sur, CA sky on the way back to Monterey.
-standing on top of our production van and watching Ted Leo perform at Operation Ceasefire.

3) What was your least favorite moment of the year?
February 6, 2005 4:12pm
car accident with my 12 year old nephew in the car

4) Where were you when 2005 began?
philadelphia

5) Who were you with?
friends

6) Where will you be when 2005 ends?
philadelphia

7) Who will you be with when 2005 ends?
not sure yet

8) Did you keep your new years resolution of 2005?
I started off really well with going to the gym and eating healthy, but the car accident fucked it up royally.

9) Do you have a new years resolution for 2006?
I resolve to do what I want to do and what is best for me.

10) Did you fall in love in 2005?
no, I'm still waiting

15) Did you breakup with anyone in 2005?
no

16) Did you make any new friends in 2005?
yes, a few.

17) Who are your favorite new friends?
I don't have favorites.

18) What was your favorite month of 2005?
January

19) Did you travel outside of the US in 2005?
yes, my first visit to Ireland with Laverne (who helped me get there)

20) How many different states did you travel to in 2005?
8 (but anytime I go home, I hit 4 of them. sometimes, five)

21) Did you lose anybody close to you in 2005?
no, thankfully

22) Did you miss anybody in the past year?
yes, lots of people

23) What was your favorite movie that you saw in 2005?
so far, it would have to be The Boys & Girl From County Clare which I saw at Filmfest DC this past Spring. A great Irish music film.

24) What was your favorite song from 2005?
oh wow, I couldn't pick just one.

25) What was your favorite record from 2005?
I don't participate in choosing these each year. It makes my head spin.

26) How many concerts did you see in 2005?
not as many as I wanted to...

27) Did you have a favorite concert in 2005?
it's been a slow year, but The Bigger Lovers final show was BITTERSWEET good for sure

28) did you drink a lot of alchohol in 2005?
oh wow, I really have cut back a lot.

29) did you do a lot of drugs in 2005?
I take four prescriptions a day right now, does that count? otherwise, I usually just have alcohol as my "drug" of choice.

30) How many people did you sleep with in 2005?
none, well I did sleep in a bed one night with a Scotsman, but it was mostly sleeping....
I am literally blushing right now.

31) Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
a few things...but nothing major really.

33) What was the worst lie someone told you in 2005?
I haven't been told much of anything

34) Did you treat somebody badly in 2005?
I try to treat people the way I want to be treated, although it doesn't always work out.

35) Did somebody treat you badly in 2005?
insurance companies, doctors who don't care, people who forget I exist (or at least it feels that way)

36) How much money did you spend in 2005?
more than I should have.

37) What was your proudest moment of 2005?
having my annual review at work and being complimented instead of being stabbed in the back, and finally realizing my work is worth something.

38) What was your most embarrassing moment of 2005?
being examined in the emergency room after my car accident and realizing I had an old beat up bra on.

39) If you could go back in time to any moment of 2005 and change something, what would it be?
to not get hit by the car that ran the stop sign that has practically fucked up my entire year.

40) What are your plans for 2006?
oh so many, but mainly I'd just like to be happy, healthy and see if I can find someone to share it with....

What do you mean there's no Santa Claus?!!!

2005-12-04T14:36:00.000-05:00

I've been debating about posting this question for a week or two. Who am I to squash the myth of the holiday season upon us?!

For some silly reason, just before Thanksgiving, I had a memory pop into my head of Christmas seasons past. I have an almost unbelievable memory which losing it is probably one of the top few biggest fears I have. I can remember things from when I was a toddler and even some as early as infancy.

Around the holidays, I was ALWAYS sick. It seemed that almost every Christmas I either was so sick I couldn't breathe properly or I was constantly having my face in a bucket or running to the bathroom to throw up. (these early skills have definitely been useful in my adult years of overindulgence of massive amounts of alcohol)

(Santa Claus believers can STOP reading NOW!!!!)

The memory that popped into my head a few weeks ago was the Christmas where I discovered there wasn't really a Santa Claus. I am the youngest of four, and there's a four, six and seven year difference between me and the three of them. I was about 7 or 8 and of course had a stomach virus of some sort. My parent's were singing in the choir at both services on Christmas Eve at our church, so my three older siblings were looking after me. Apparently, they were also instructed to assist my parents with the Christmas presents.

In one of my many trips to the bathroom to get sick, I saw them downstairs carrying presents and putting them under the tree. I also caught my sister putting together a fischer-price dollhouse that was to be a present for me. And that's when I knew it was Mom and Dad, and siblings who got the presents there, despite many presents that clearly were marked "from Santa."

I remember that it wasn't so much of shock, but more of a disappointment. I just went back to my room to my glass of 7-up and went to sleep.

It seems like it was yesterday.

I still pretend to believe though.

Timothy Ian McArdle

2005-11-26T23:53:00.000-05:00

timhands.jpg
Originally uploaded by Lauree.

This is my nephew Timothy.

He is the main reason that I changed my mind, at the last minute, and drove home in the pre-Thanksgiving traffic this year.

He's only 6.5 months old now, and still a wee 11.5 lbs or so, hopefully more since I tried to help feed him as much as possible these last few days!

I figured an extra hour or two in traffic is a small sacrifice to see my youngest nephew, who's been in and out of the hospital a lot in his short life. And between snow and his ongoing medical troubles, we can never tell when they'll all be able to travel from Farmington, NY to Southern NJ next this holiday season.

Even though I probably picked up this cold I now have from him, I had the absolute best time, simply holding him, making him laugh, feeding him his bottle, and putting him to sleep.

My thoughts and prayers are with him every day for him to grow and learn. I'm sure he'll have tons to teach me, just as all his older siblings and cousins have too!

eye see you

2005-11-20T00:58:00.000-05:00

eye see you
Originally uploaded by Lauree.

my new favorite tee

2005-11-19T20:55:00.000-05:00

my new favorite tee
Originally uploaded by Lauree.

just got in from work awhile ago and realized that more than likely I will wear this same tee tomorrow, my day off... (and yes I am still wearing it right now and was wearing it while I shot the picture)

because sometimes you need to have favorite clothes.

I ordered this online from The Garage in Winston-Salem, NC after I heard the sad news that more than likely they'll be closing their doors.

I have only been there once, but I enjoyed myself immensely.

fullmoontwo

2005-11-15T23:44:00.000-05:00

fullmoontwo
Originally uploaded by Lauree.

just thought the sky looked really cool.

it's november 15th, in arlington, va and it's like 70 degrees out.

I am so going to hate winter this year.

MRIs are like experimental music

2005-11-15T13:09:00.000-05:00

I had my MRI this morning. while it's never fun being enclosed in that magnetic tube, I usually just try to take a little nap.

It's been about 17 years since I've last had an MRI. They gave me earplugs this time. I noticed there was a sort of experimental music vibe. A distinct rhythm to the noises made me feel like I was hearing a tribal drum circle or something like that.

despite this, I'm still glad it only last abut 15 minutes.

I'm addicted to scanning!

2005-11-13T23:25:00.000-05:00

Since I've been spending most of my free time at home, working through new medications for my injuries, I've now become addicted to scanning in old photos onto my computer. I can't stop!!!

I have a huge pile to scan in, and I've gone through a first run of most of my print photographs. I'm being a bit choosy as to what I scan. Back in the day, when all you used were regular ol' cameras with negatives and prints. You could potentially end up with crap photos. I love digital that way. You can shoot more and hope for the best more often than not, because you have instant access to what you've got!

I really should be getting myself into bed now, but I'll scan a few more pics. plus, I figure I've done a lot of sleeping in the last 24 hours.

dancing

2005-11-09T22:19:00.000-05:00

dancing
Originally uploaded by Lauree.

I so very much miss nights like this!!!

I miss my old pals in Atlantic City and I miss McGuire's and the living room it provided for us. To some it was a bar, a pub, but for us it was definitely our home and we always left the door open to strangers!!!

sigh.....

great tracks

2005-11-09T19:57:00.000-05:00

great tracks
Originally uploaded by Lauree.

It's quite fitting that currently, these three songs are my last three listened to on last.fm as display on myspace.

I decided to capture the image before I listen to more songs and these three get pushed out of the recent songs.

all three really do fit some of my recent moods.

Lauree and Janice

2005-11-06T12:06:00.000-05:00

Lauree and Janice
Originally uploaded by jsgphoto.

I made it up to Philly for a few hours last night to see the final Bigger Lovers show. Chris was kind enough to drive us up and back there. Tom and Janice also made the trip, and he took this pic for us.

Even though Janice and I no longer live together we STILL have this strange tendency to wear similar outfits. I originally was going to wear a brown cardigan too, but I opted for the classic black!

I was really tired and still in a bunch of pain, but The Bigger Lovers energized me and I was so thankful to be there!

ouch

2005-11-03T23:41:00.000-05:00

what's a girl got to do to NOT be in pain...

seriously, I have a fairly high pain threshold but this is ridiculous. I've now somehow managed to hurt my back, and this only adds to the annoying pain I've already got going on in my neck/shoulder/arm/hand/collar bone....and of course, it's all on the LEFT SIDE...

I officially hate the left side of my body... other than my heart, I think the right side will secede from the left side.

and other than the secession itself, this is NOT politically related!!!

anxiously awaiting for the muscle relaxer to KICK IN....dammmitttttt

I wish I could feel my left hand

2005-10-26T22:13:00.000-05:00

I've been going through physical therapy for the last few weeks. It's a second round of it as I'm still in pain especially from where the seatbelt restrained me. but since we've started working on those exercises and some soft tissue massage, this week I'm not feeling so great.

my left arm and hand are hurting really bad and shift between shooting pain and numbing pain....

this sucks.

it doesn't help that my house is freezing cold.

to make matters worse, it hurts my back to sit so I've resigned myself to muscle relaxers and my electric blanket for the night.

car accidents really really suck

2005-10-24T22:09:00.000-05:00

I can't believe all the bullshit I am going through to make sure I get the medical treatment I need.

I have lost faith in car insurance companies completely and have to enter the strange world of lawyers now.

a completely and totally messed up emotional day, which ended up wasted to some degree as a result of all this crap.

I've been falling in and out of sleep since 9pm, but have forced myself to stay awake so I can do stupid mundane things like my laundry. and also so I'm not awake in the middle of the night.

I had hoped to be so productive today....

ugh

me and Rebekka at work!

2005-10-24T22:08:00.000-05:00

DSC_1959.jpg
Originally uploaded by rev_bri.

Brian shot a few pictures of me, and his daughter, Rebekka in my office at the studio.

We were just surfing around my computer, not really doing anything!