Ok. So I love Lady Gaga. I think she's pretty damn brilliant. She has some talent that one. I've just had my mind blown by her twice in the last 6 hours. First by this:
Yeah. Country. Fuck Yeah Gaga.
Then by this:
Whoa. That's her by the way. In case you didn't know. The dude, the one on top of the piano getting wasted? Yeah. And still country. I'm feeling so confused and thrilled all at the same time. (BTW: She's totally hot as a guy.)
Hold your body strong against these winds of life.
I had a rough morning. So the news is this: Tahoe called me back and said "Not this season...I don't think." The catch is that if someone drops out or doesn't come, or they need an extra hand around the place, there might be space for me. Fingers crossed, but conflict rages in my bones from not wanting my friend to have to stress about someone not showing up, and having my home back. Mostly, in truth, I want to go home. Neither of my parents think I should be here. I don't want to say goodbye, but I know I need to if I'm going to survive.
In the mean time I'm looking outward with my sights on other places. Point Reyes, Big Sur are both in my sights, a spot in Texas is on my radar, and two outdoor schools in Big Bear and Santa Barbara have programs I'm interested in, respectively. I've also put my name on the crew list for the Baja Ha Ha to get down to Mexico and stay mid peninsula January through March... There's piles of paper work to be filled and a severe lack of funds to make this happen, but I could call upon some magic.
Someone told me a while back that when I sing loudly in social situations it bothers other people. This was not a nice thing to say, especially since I had revealed to this person that I'd been having panic attacks this year, and he knew I'd been having trouble working with music this year. I ended up deciding that generally, I don't think it's true and that I trust people to tell me to shut up if I'm making them unhappy with my music.
The other thing is that I've decided to own my loudness. It's a part of who I am, and something that came as a direct result of that loudness is Bike Party, and that is far more powerful than one person telling me I'm annoying for being too loud. I'm wicked proud of Bike Party, it has it's faults, but the east bay has not seen anything it's equal and it's changing this town. Critical Mass in Berkeley only ever reached a couple hundred people, and we had over 500 riders the last few months. It's something special and I am not sure it would have the same vibe if I wasn't obnoxiously outgoing and loud about it.
Now, this part of the blog has nothing to do really about being loud, but I want to post it anyways. About two months ago I had listened to some music by an artist by the name of Ben Howard, a surfer from the UK gone to music, along the lines of Jack Johnson, but with that perpetual UK foggy feel to his work. I didn't give it much thought, I think I liked it but didn't really explore it much more than listening to the one song. Today there's a video going around of Danny Macaskill riding around an abandoned industrial complex:
He uses Ben Howard's song, The Wolves, which is just lovely. So I wandered around YouTube watching the best of his videos, and needless to say, I'm kind of in love. Here, you listen. It's reminding me of Big Sur.
Gah, it's been an incredible month. I was completely inspired in July and wrote several songs! Yay!
So, the first thing about this music blog, is that not all of this is going to be YouTubed this time around. I'm going to provide a couple of links that you should click on and make an effort to listen to if you have a chance.
Then you'll also get the YouTube playlist. One of the videos is actually worth watching, it's pretty amazing and really fun, and if you have google chrome, it's interactive. Interactive music video? Sweet.
So, on to the music.
1. Clay Nightingale: San Marcos, Texas. My Texan friends have a bus. They are in a band called Aquarena Springs. They went on Tour and let me hitch a ride down to San Diego with them. At some point these three songs played, and I fell in love. I've been obsessing over them ever since.
2. Adam Balbo is the sweetest man who writes funny songs in all of the Bay Area. Worth listening to. There was a backyard show that I played at by surprise and it was the second or third time I had played with him. I figure it's time to plug him. :)
3. The youtube list:
a) Trombone Shorty: Hurricane Season. This is something that Teddie Honey posted one morning that I just loved.
b) OK Go: All is not lost. This video is like whoa, and the song is really good. Use Google Chrome and check out the google chrome site. It's interactive!
c) A Lull: Some Love. I found this on a music blog, and it's just techno enough, just howly enough, and just damn good. Plus not too many people know of them. Plug!
d) Grimes: Heartbeats. I found this on the same blog that I found A Lull (DayTrotter) and was completely blown away by it. Completely. Like jaw dropped, hand on forehead blown away. Transformative, dreamy and just all around gorgeous, and she does it all herself. It would be worth your time to check out more of her stuff.
e) Rilo Kiley: With Arms Outstretched. I love Jenny Lewis. End of story. This is an oldie (if you consider 2009 old) but a goody.
f) Frightened Rabbit: Swim Until You Can't See Land. A last minute add, introduced to me by a dear friend from Tahoe in Salt Lake, I'm really digging this English band with a strong accent.
It's been a while for a music post. I've been searching for the good stuff, and some good stuff I have indeed.
1. Spoken Word, "I want to Hear a Poem." Thanks to Ben for the tip. 2. Chali 2na, some really interesting sounding dancy stuff that I'm kind of loving. Took me a couple listens, but I like it more every time I listen to it, and I've been listening to it alot. 3. K'Naan, because this song is always on my summer music list. 4. Coldplay- I really love the new direction on their latest album and I'm not sick of the sound of it yet. It's upbeat and the videos have been amazing. This one is worth watching and not just listening to. 5. More Head and Heart. They are killing me right now. I will call it my "The head and the heart" phase. This song caught my ear last night. 6. Sam Cooke. 'Nuff Said.
Music for the week! I dug a bit into the archives for some of these. After the last week it seemed appropriate.
Florence and the Machine-Cosmic Love Regina Spektor-No One Laughs at God Regina Spektor- On the Radio: I'm learning this song. Typhoon- The Honest Truth: Via Myspoonful.com. These guys are a bit fascinating to me. He sounds like Damien Rice, the music reminds me of Margot and the Nuclear So&So's and the Polyphonic Spree. Loving it. OK Go-This Too Shall Pass: Because it will. And the next thing will be better. Margot and the Nuclear So&So's-As Tall As Cliffs: For the past Toto-Africa: For Tahoe
For those of you who don't know, I lost my job. So I'm looking for the next opportunity. And not sobbing publicly. I'm working to meet the future with patience and anticipation for gifts of awesomeness. I'm going to have a vision board making party. Come on over.
First, a late night find from Ready Made Magazine's blog: Emily Arin. Lovely minimal summer rain kind of music.
Next, something that I've been playing almost constantly since it was mentioned on Liz Song's blog: Oh Daughter. Oh. My. God. This girl has talent. Beautiful voice, songs, lyrics, composition.
My favorite thing is to go on You Tube safaris. You know, where you click on the link that seems most promising on the right side of the screen after you've listened to the song you came to listen to? Pulled up a couple of gems lately:
1. Trampled by Turtles-Speedgrass awesomeness. 2. The Head and the Heart-Found on Other People's Poetry, though I've heard them before. 3. Jessie J-Her song Pricetag is all over the waves right now, but I think the one on this play list is good to listen to when you're feeling overwhelmed. 4. Mountain man-3 beautiful and very different voices combined in a traditional way to make lovely music. 5. Ma Rainey-The very first version of See See Rider recorded in 1925. Our generation knows this song via Old Crow Medicine Show. The original is fun to listen to, Louis Armstrong is playing with her.
