“God, how we get our fingers in each other's clay. That's friendship, each playing the potter to see what shapes we can make of each other.”
-Ray Bradbury
One of my favorite punk bands growing up was No Use For a Name. They were a part of the Fat Wreck Chords music label, which is a pretty close knit community. The front man, Tony Sly, was known within their circles as being one of the better songwriters and just about everyone's favorite song is International You Day, a song that he wrote for his wife.
Last July Tony died in his sleep, next to his wife. He also has two daughters. The outpouring of grief was touching and recently the Fat Wreck Chords community assembled to put together a tribute album of his band's songs. I bought it and I kind of love it.
I mean, I still prefer most of the originals, but it's cool to hear your favorite band cover a song from another band you love, or to hear what Bad Religion does with one of their songs. It's all pretty neat.
What really touched me, and very unexpectedly so, was that they included a version that Tony had done of International You Day. It's toned down from the original and very sentimental. But what really got me was the last few lines of the song. Following are the lyrics of the last verse:
I'm coming home today
to wipe the tears right from your eyes
I'm totally enamored by your life
nothing that I've done
has ever been for one
But without you
my life is incomplete
my days are absolutely gray
and so I'll try
let your heart know for sure
that I have so much more to tell you
every single day
My life is incomplete
my rights are absolutely gone
so wake me up
before you leave today
something I need to say
cause they'll be nothing when you're gone.
Take a listen for yourself. I'm pretty sure that the cheering at the end is dubbed in, but it's just how I'd expected a bunch of hardened 40 year old punk rockers to pay tribute to their lost friend. It really kind of got to me this morning. I just loved it.
Now that the semester is over, I'm going to try and be more regular with my blogposts on here. Hopefully that holds up. It also might turn more journal-ly, which has been kind of the direction it has gone anyway.
First order of business, road trip playlist. We ended up covering more than 1900 miles this first part of summer, meaning more than 29 hours in the car together. Wow, when you put it like that, I can't believe we weren't more tired of driving than we were.
I ended up assembling a pretty comprehensive playlist for the trip. If you're really interested, then you should jump on Spotify, find my profile, and then listen to the list there, but if you just want an idea of where to start, then take a gander below.
The playlist covers a wide range of songs, so it doesn't cater to everyone's taste, but it definitely skews classic rock. As it turns out a lot of music is about journeys, self-discovery, finding/reaching a destination, etc. Driving as a metaphor is a great vehicle (see!) for coming up with decent lyrics.
Without further ado, and in no particular order:
(Listed by Artist, Track, (Parenthetical remarks are mine))
Incubus - Drive, Wish you were here
Janis Joplin - Mercedez Benz
Coldplay - Speed of sound
Billy Ocean - Get out of my dreams/Get into my car
Rollings Stones - Start me up, Gimme shelter
Johnny Cash - I've been everywhere
Depeche Mode - Route 66 (or many other artists cover this one)
John Denver - Country roads (Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies do a punk cover of this that I grew up on and love), Rocky mountain high
Ram Jam - Black betty
Roy Orbison - I drove all night
Tom Cochrane - Life is a highway (or the more popular Rascall Flatts version)
Roxette - Joyride (Amy loves this one)
Golden Earring - Radar Love (I love this one. I think it's so cool, especially the intro.)
Eagles - Life in the fast lane, Hotel California, Take it easy, Peaceful easy feeling (definitely my fave road trip band.)
Canned Heat - On the road again
Wiz Khalifa - No Sleep
Middle Class Rut - Are you on your way
R Kelly - Ignition (because it's obviously about driving, right? And Hip Hop/R&B is short on this list)
Pantera - Walk (probably too hard for most people, but this was a favorite in 9th grade)
Willie Nelson - On the road again (different from above)
ELO - Mr. Blue Sky (Mayer Hawthorne has a great cover of this)
Don McClean - American Pie (just feels right for crossing the country)
U2 - Elevation, Still haven't found what I'm looking for, Where the streets have no name
Free - All right now
RHCP - Road trippin' (I love this one right now, cool, subtle jam)
Bruce Springsteen - Born to run
The Cars - Drive (one of my all time favorites), Let the good times roll
Stealers Wheel - Stuck in the middle (LOVE)
Beach boys - I get around, Good vibrations (I rediscovered how good these guys were as I put this together.)
Smokey Robinson - Cruisin' (Huey Lewis and Gwynneth Paltrow have a good cover.)
Tracy Chapman - Fast car (Boyce Avenue has a really cool cover too.)
The Allman Brothers - Ramblin Man
Gary Numan - Cars (gotta love quirky 80s tracks)
Chuck Berry - No particular place to go
Ray Charles - Hit the road Jack
Supertramp - Take the long way home
Elton John - Goodbye yellow brick road, Tiny Dancer (this one probably because of an awesome scene from Almost Famous, and it's my favorite Elton John song)
Jimi Hendrix - Crosstown Traffic
Arcade Fire - Keep the car running (great)
Kavinsky - Nightcall (from the Drive soundtrack, has a great 80s electric feel)
Dire Straits - Sultans of swing
Eve 6 - Open road song
Heart - These dreams (not sure why)
Bill Withers - Lovely day
Daft Punk - Around the world
Curtis Mayfield - Move on up
Dave Matthews' - Where are you going
Blues Traveler - Run around
Steve Miller - Jet airliner (I know, it's not driving, but it's still traveling), The Joker (because, yes)
Temper Trap - Sweet disposition (felt right)
Neil Young - Long may you run
Edward Sharpe and...- Home
Christopher Cross - Ride like the wind
Beastie Boys - Slow ride
Beatles - Ticket to ride, Long and winding road
James Taylor - Country road
Boyz II Men - End of the road
Mason Jennings - Lonely road
AC/DC - Highway to hell
Pennywise - Unknown road (favorite punk song in my teenage angst filled days)
Black Keys - Have love/will travel
Phew. There you go. I threw in some others, but that should be at least 5 hours of driving. Here's a taste of one.
Mike and I had a date night last Saturday to go see Mason Jennings play at The State Room. I had never even noticed the place before even though I had been to Decades right across the street from it several times. Heck, I had never even heard of the place, but it was great.
The venue was different than what I'm used to. Church pews lined the back half of the event room, and metal chairs lined the front. His concerts are already pretty chill, but having everyone seated and just watching made it feel even more relaxed.
The thing I'm always impressed with is how all these people can show up and pay to watch one person perform for an entire evening. Sometimes I feel like I have a hard time just keeping one person engaged, let alone a big room full of complete strangers, but that's what Mason did on Saturday night. He played an all-acoustic set with just his guitar, harmonic, and occasional song on the keyboard.
I just love the guy. I love his song writing. They're thoughtful and artistic. Somehow they strike me as being more sophisticated than someone repeating "we found love in a hopeless place" over and over. Some of my favorite lines is from Sorry Signs On Cash Machines when he sings:
Oh, my heart is a thoroughbred I can't sleep in my bed Everything is burning up inside me I need something I can feel Cigarettes and a driving wheel and Oh, my god, when you cross your legs beside me I know true love don't love like anybody else I know your heart don't beat like anybody else
I was afraid he would play a lot of stuff from his newer albums, but he played a great mix of old and new, and I just loved one song that he debuted that night.
Man, I just love live music. It took me a long time to come around, but I really do love me some Mason Jennings too.
It was my first time entering into enemy territory, and happily, it was a very good visit. Forever ago I did a post about must see concerts. At the time, I was only partly sold on going to a U2 concert as being one of the must-see concert experiences, but when I heard that they were doing the 360 tour, I thought it would be worth checking out.
Amy and I started dating, she was down with the idea, and we just planned on showing up to the concert and trying to buy the tickets off of a scalper. Then Bono hurt his back, they postponed the tour, and we had to wait a year.
Then last night finally came. We had the same plan as last year: just show up to the concert and see if we can find tickets cheaply off someone outside the venue. I had been looking at ticket prices on KSL and Craig's List and was pleased to see that so many had been put up for sale. I felt like we could get something for pretty cheap.
We put $100 limit on what we would spend for the both of our tickets. We found a free parking spot a couple of blocks away, and we made our way towards the stadium. I was actually a little surprised that we couldn't find more available. The Fray was playing and the music was pouring out of the stadium, and we were anxious to get inside. At first I thought we'd have to pay at least $50 for decent seats, but then I revised downward based on how many ads I saw online, but with the paucity of scalpers, I revised back upward.
The first pair were going for $100 each for general admission tickets that had $58 printed on them. The next guy was asking $90 for the same ones, and I told him we had $100 total, at which point he screamed at some other guy, and he sold us seats that were straight out from the main stage, just about halfway up - $95 for the pair. At first I was a little disappointed that we couldn't get cheaper, that is, until we ran into a friend of mine (Anna, yup, that one) who paid $100 each for her tickets. Phew! And we were lower and had a better angle on the stage than they did.
They opened with Even Better Than the Real Thing. The stage really was a 360 stage, and they had huge screens above them that went all the way. We later learned those screens expanded downward to fill the huge gap of space from the structure above the stage almost to the stage itself. They had some really impressive visuals, and lights and smoke really made it something spectacular to see.
I was impressed with the range of audience from young to old. I guess I shouldn't have been, but there were lots of kids and lots of adults, and everyone seemed to enjoy it equally. I guess that's the thing about U2 - they have managed to stay relevant for decades, and not just in the picture, but on top of the world for all of that time. They literally have dozens of songs that anyone would recognize, and as you'd expect, they just put on a really good show. They gained popularity in the 80s as a live act, and it shows. They're great.
Another thing that surprised me: I was a lot more emotionally affected than I thought I would be. They played Beautiful Day, a song which I don't even really love, but it really got to me. I was just so excited to hear them live, and they really are just so good musically, and great performers.
My favorites:
Sunday Bloody Sunday - there was a guy next to us that was obviously a HUGE U2 fan. He went crazy when this song came. I think the song kind of surprised everyone once it started playing. It's just a really cool song.
All I Want Is You - I've always just really, really loved this song. Great ballad.
Elevation - really got everyone going.
Pride (In the Name of Love) - classic!
Where the Streets Have No Name - this was the second to last song. I thought they would end with it, but some other random song followed.
One - it followed a really moving tribute to the Burmese leader who was released in this last year.
It's just crazy to think how much time that band has spanned, and how many memories everyone has associated with their songs. My earliest U2 memory is of my brother coming home with the CD single for Desire and him playing that over and over again. I grew up listening to Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum.
You know what else is impressive about them? Not only are they not pretentious as could very easily be the case with them, but you really, really, really, really get the sense that they really do try and use their celebrity to further good causes. They are very socially aware, and not about things that are really touchy issues. They support freedom and democracy, and they are wonderful strong advocates for those causes. Going to their concert and hearing them perform and hearing Bono advocate their causes, it's just really inspiring. It was all done in a really tasteful way, and it really felt like a lesson on some important world causes.
It was just a really cool experience. One of the best concerts I've ever been to, and one of those bands that I think everybody should see in their lifetimes. I know not everyone feels this way, but there are artists that you just really need to see do their thing live. It would have been cool to see Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. Everyone should have seen Michael Jordan play basketball. I got see U2 sing With or Without you, and it's an experience I won't soon forget.
So I've been listening to this 80s playlist on Grooveshark and decided that I would try and improve on it. Am I the only idiot who removes certain songs because they were actually early 90s, but not 80s? That I would even bother to look up some of these songs to make sure they were 80s indicates that I'm a moron. Some of them I just threw in because I liked them enough. I know the difference between 80s and 90s Madonna, thankyouverymuch, but I felt like Cherish just had to get thrown in there. So sue me. I can distinguish the 80s-90s border pretty well, but the 70s-80s one is pretty darn tricky.
In any case, give it a try here. Let me know if I've missed any, or what your favorites are.
And if you just don't like 80s music, well, I don't think I want to know you then.
This morning I was doing some reading and marveling to myself how amazing language is. The thought came up as I was reading about stress and how it affects our physiology blah blah blah, but I noticed a missing quotation mark, and it just blew my mind - not only can someone whom I've never met communicate to me really complex ideas, but if that person happens to be a good writer, I can also understand the nuances, subtleties, tones, and the like with every well-placed punctuation mark or correctly chosen word. It's amazing, isn't it?
You know what else is nice? I could not be one iota/unit/quantity/bit/other-vague-term-of-measurement more content with my situation in life. I have an amazing fiancee, single friends, couple friends, married friends, family, prospective family and I just can't believe how fortunate I am to have the people I know in my life. I have awesome work/school/professional opportunities. There is just a lot to be grateful for and excited about.
Yup, I'm coming out of blog-hiding to blog about them.
Last night Amy and I caught Muse at the E Center in West Valley. First of all, I can't believe how crazy the weather was yesterday. At times it was blizzard conditions, and that only added to the chaos that was trying to get into and out of the parking lot last night, but pay no mind to that, because as can be expected, they were amazing.
Before you heard anything at the show, you saw these three giant square pillars that had a corner pointing out towards the center of the audience. The angles allowed everyone to get a unique, but I think consistent view of similar graphic images that were visible whenever the pillars were set up. One of the best parts of a Muse concert is just how much they invest in creating a musical as well as a visual experience. The graphics on display were amazing because they featured things like scrolling words and pictures of people or random things, but in the images displayed they also had live footage of the band as they played the songs. My favorite was the green laser show that they had going during Unnatural Selection (I think it was that song).
Words just can't express just how good they are live. I haven't seen a lot of big, big concerts like this one, but I really can't imagine many bands/singers being able to put together a better show than these guys do. They pay attention to every part of the show. Musically they're awesome, but they also create such an amazing experience overall. As good as they were the first time I saw them, it really seems like they took what they've learned over the years and keep on adding to their product, and what they turn out is pure gold. It's unreal.
They played nearly everything off of the The Resistance, but my favorite part of the show had to be when Matt Bellamy played The Star Spangled Banner, and then the whole band broke into Hysteria, and then they finished it off with the guitar riff from Back in Black. You can't get a sense for how awesome it was unless you saw/heard it for yourself.
There are a couple of tours that I'd like to catch this summer - U2, DMB - but I just wonder if anyone else can hold a candle to what these guys are able to do year after year. And, like 3 years ago when they last toured, I still want to have Matt Bellamy's babies. The guy is just so cool.
I've gotta kill some time while I wait for one of my professors to fill out his evaluation of my performance last semester so I thought I may as well do something productive...like blog...
The last two weeks have been really interesting. I've been able to make some good headway on my thesis, I've had several midterms, and I had two presentations to give. Yesterday I had a 45 minute presentation for the other students and the faculty in my department and I winged the whole thing. Granted, I was only talking about how I got to where I'm at now in the graduate school and then some of the research I've done and what my current interests are, but I guess what's really weird to me is thinking that I've become a person that is so at ease now in front of large groups, even ones that should be intimidating like a bunch of people with PhDs or who are pursuing graduate degrees. I have to give thanks to the church for that one, however, because I've had so many experiences now in front of people giving talks or teaching classes that it's now something that doesn't even faze me. I wish you would have known me when I was a kid because I was deathly afraid of public speaking, but now it's something that I really kind of relish. It's weird to think about the ways you grow through the years. Thank heavens for that.
Saw The Princess and the Frog last night, which was a pretty cute movie, but what I really enjoyed was the real cartoon animation. There's something much more Disney and inviting about that, isn't there?
I had a nice little chat this morning with a friend from the place I worked at back home and I had forgotten how much I had missed her. Reminded me of that Lincoln quote, "The better part of one's life consists of his friendships." The people in my life comprise everything that makes me happy. I'm lucky to know the people I know, including all of you.
I love the 80s. You should know that by now, but it's really true. We have an 80s roller skating activity with my ward tonight and I couldn't be more excited. I even made a compilation of songs to get myself in the mood.
I'm surprised at how lazy I've gotten with this lately. It's not at all substantive, and for that, I apologize. I'll come back with a vengeance next week. Promise. Until then, have yourselves a merry little weekend, and enjoy this ditty by Sublime:
Surely you saw earlier this week that director Kevin Smith was kicked off, or whatever it was, on a flight because he was too fat to sit in one seat. I didn't realize until reading elsewhere that the phrase for this predicament is 'customer of size.'
Jay Nordlinger mentioned the story this morning in today's Impromptus column. In it, he mentions web surfing the term, and links to this story by the same name - Customer of Size by Mary Jones. If you have 10 or so minutes to kill, please read the story. It's from an online short story magazine.
The story itself is really good, poignant, and worth your time. I promise you'll enjoy it. It's a great example of great writing done simply. So many people have the tendency to complicate their writing, but wordsmithing is really just about putting the pieces together in a simple way that creates a beautiful mosaic of words and phrases.
I'm about to bid you adieu, but wanted to leave you with this little ditty by The Dirty Heads. I've seen these guys open up for other bands a couple of times, and they are total dirtbags, but I kind of dig their music. This latest song comes from their new album that just released this week, and features Rome of Sublime fame.
So a fond adieu to you. Have a great weekend, dearhearts.
I caught Strung Out up in Layton on Friday and they were awesome. What's cool about coming out of their shows is always hearing these types of comments - are they not the best band you've ever seen live? Jason Cruz is a god, etc. Their fans just love them. They have a new album, and admittedly, I didn't think it was their best effort at first, but it's such a different thing hearing songs played live. Certain songs were just never meant to be played only on a CD, they just have to be heard in person with the bass thumping and smoke in the air, and people moving to the music. They have been doing more harmonies lately and they actually sound really good doing it live as well, which is kind of cool. Jason's voice is strained in that video, but it's still pretty decent. I've never seen him play the guitar before. They also played that one at the show, and of course, it was awesome.
I ended up going by myself, which for a lot of people is crazy, but I was thinking about it earlier in the week when I was deciding if I would actually go or not. There are certain things that I won't be able to do forever, and there are certain things that I would drop anything for just to experience for myself. I would always try to make it to any major life events for any of my friends or family if I can help it. I would never turn down an opportunity to see an Angels playoff game. And I would always take any and every opportunity to hear and see Strung Out play Matchbook at the end of a show.
The bulk of their songs came off the Twisted By Design album, with several songs off the newest one, and select songs from all of the other ones.
If I were to ever get a tatoo, it would be the astrolux symbol that is their insignia. I know it's juvenile, but I just love them.
I meant to post this before the concert, but better late than never. This past Sunday, U2 finished up their most recent tour in Pasadena, CA at the Rose Bowl. To include more people, they decided to stream live the entire concert on YouTube. You can catch it on their YouTube channel, that you can access by clicking here. It's extremely high quality.
Last weekend I went with some friends to a little house party and someone had a karaoke machine present. Only one of us knew the host, so the rest of us were a little bit at a loss for getting time on the mic, except that the people there were all really inclusive when it came to letting us sing. Luckily, me and a friend kind of really love karaoke, so we jumped right on it. And then again...and again...and again. We kept offering up the microphone to other people, but everyone was too shy to really give it ago so they started suggesting songs for us to sing and they would do backups. I may have loved it, so much so that I was hoarse by the end of the night, stayed up way too late, and had to push off my long Saturday run for another day because I wasn't going to be able to get any rest.
Well, last night a friend of mine had a house warming party and a friend of hers brought Rock Band 2, and the new Beatles Rock Band as well. I quite possibly played for five hours straight. You couldn't kick me off the vocals or the drums.
When did this happen? When did I develop such an intense love for singing popular songs at get-togethers? When did I become the obnoxious person who never tired of singing for his friends? I'm NEVER one to like being the center of attention in these kinds of settings, but the music just calls to me, I guess. It's a little bit ridiculous. Surprisingly, I'm not terrible at it either, but then again, I have participated in a ward choir or two in my time so I guess it's to be expected.
Anyhow, now I've been left seriously contemplating buying a game system and one of the versions of Rock Band. I'm such a sucker for that stuff. And you know what song is right in my wheelhouse? This one..it's available for download on Rock Band. I could sing this one a thousand times and not get tired of it.
Am I slightly ashamed of the fact that I have a secret love for Papa Roach? Yes, but it's at about the same level of embarrassment that I have for loving karaoke-type games.
I loved Phil Collins as a kid, I just always have. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I feel like he looks kind of like my dad, but I always liked the intensity of his music. Maybe it was foreboding for this week, but the song Against All Odds kept coming up recently and I've always appreciated the song. Now that I'm feeling pretty down, I'm going to wallow a little bit in its sadness.
I can't remember when it was, but I posted in the lasted few months about this episode of This American Life wherein a girl going through a break-up decides that she has to write a break-up song to deal with her grief, and decides that she should talk to Phil Collins about how to go about writing the song, given that she has no real musical background. If you haven't ever listened to the episode, pay the dollar and download it because it's the best episode I've ever heard of the show.
Anyway, in the broadcast Phil explains to the girl some of what went into the writing of the song. It came to him after his first divorce, and is basically him channeling all of his heartache into the lyrics and music. There have been several covers of the song, most notably Mariah Carey (which I'm not posting) and Death Cab for Cutie (which I am posting).
I think that version is pretty cool, but it's so different hearing Phil sing it himself. It's his story, born of his own pain, and you can feel the difference in the way he sings it. I like this live version because it feels so authentic, especially when he messes up on the piano. I think my favorite is how there are parts of the song that he sings, but then there are those moments where he's yelling and you get such a clear sense for the emotion that he's going through.
Wanna know something kinda funny about me? I know about 98% of all music that came out of the 80s and 90s. The only person who I think might know more would be Mike Lowe, who not only knows the songs, but the words to all of them too. But I'm a pretty close second.
I attribute it to my steady diet of watching MTV all day long growing up, back when it was mostly music videos. I was pretty much a latchkey child growing up, so I'm quite amazed that I have turned out as well as I have. Anyhow, with that upbringing comes a very broad knowledge of popular music. I'm well versed in all of pop music, including anything easy listening, but I also have good depth in glam rock, rap (including gangsta rap), hip hop, and all rock and alternative.
Last week a friend of mine came across a Brandy song, which she shared with me, which in turn prompted a meander down my own musical memory lane of 90s female hip hop. Walk with me, won't you?
I kind of loved TLC - What About Your Friends, Creep, etc. I think I liked the older stuff more than Scrubs and Waterfalls, although Scrubs was a BYU freshman year anthem.
I'm in a concert going mood these days. I guess I haven't seen anything since Christmas time, so I'm starting to ache a little bit for some live music. I was going through my normal list of bands that I like to see and saw that Unwritten Law and Strung Out are doing shows in Vegas in June and July. Those were some of the best weekends ever when we'd do those back in the day. Anyone interested in a 24 hour trip to Sin City for one of them?
I got an email for some reason for presale tickets for the Warped Tour. I think my days of large militant punk rock gatherings are behind me now. I was tempted for a second, and then I remembered that I tend to feel like a dope when the average age of the person standing next to me is 17, and I'm creeping up on 30.
I ordered the Incubus album that's coming out in June just so I could be eligible for the presale concert tickets which starts on Monday. Anybody interested in catching them at the Hollywood Bowl on Monday, July 13th? I'm getting at least two, and I can get some more if anyone is interested.
Anyway, the title of this post comes from this song that is on the Unwritten Law MySpace page playlist. It's kind of catchy, but I like the last part of the video because...who can name that beach where Scott is singing from? And...go!
Not so much in the actual sense of the phrase, but in the mood of the music of the band. I have this one friend and she would say things like, it's a 311 day, Def Leppard, day, etc. I never really thought about days in those terms before until the last couple when I started listening to music more appropriate for my mood. Here are some other days off the top of my head:
James Taylor- nostalgic, sentimental, folksy
Ben Harper/Jack Johnson - chill...so chill
'N Sync/Backstreet Boys/Kelly Clarkson - sappy, sassy
Blink 182/Newfound Glory/MxPx/The Ataris - playful, bummed that the girl you like is going to the jock party instead of the skater party you were going to after the football game
Bon Jovi/Poison/Guns N Roses - feeling youthful (if you're over the age of 25), ready for a party/night-out/karaoke
Sublime - for porch monkeys, having a barbeque, sippin' on brews
So what does a Strung Out day feel like? Filled with a nervous kind of energy, ready to burst at the seams. Maybe you're upset about something that went wrong, pissed about work, or you're frustrated about your personal life. Perhaps you just finished up your finals and you need something with guitars loud enough to match the release you feel from being done. Maybe even feeling a little militant. It's not necessarily a negative kind of energy; it can go in either direction, negative or positive, so long as the underlying feeling is just looking for some kind of loud, sometimes physical expression. That's what a Strung Out day is for me.
What's really awesome is how not only the tone of music can perfectly capture what you're feeling, but the lyrics of the song also feel like they were written just for what you're currently experiencing. That's what so cool about music. It's poetry, although not quite as precise as the literary form (although sometimes it's one in the same), it also has an accompanying tonal quality that expresses emotion through vibrations reverberating through the air: sound.
The song I never get sick of and that I'm always in the mood for is in the 'video' posted below, Matchbook. These days this song is the perfect marriage of both my feelings and music. Most of the time I just really dig on the song. Strung Out has closed every show that I've ever been to with this same song. And I've been to at least a dozen of their shows. The music is slightly juvenile, but then again, so am I so I guess it's fitting.
Here are the lyrics:
I can see it in your eyes I can hear it in your voice the signs are obvious that all we had has run its course and I don't mind giving up the upper hand in this little charade cuz I've spent too many nights here on the floor waiting for something inside you to change don't look back in anger now is all that you can say cuz angers all I got to keep me warm when you're away and I know that this is nothing new but tonight is all I know disconnect myself from your memory and never feel anything at all and all your words and all your actions don't mean anything to me cuz I've cut you off so here we stand and face each other we've got nothing to say a flashback to another time when silence was a welcomed friend now I'm sorry I can never really say all the things goin on inside my head silence is a justified expression of my war now nothings like it was before chorus
Don't look back in anger its just a memory its easy to forget your face and it's easy to survive in this place without you without you I just comb my hair and wash my face keep straight ahead and keep my pace just think about nothing, and it will be alright well I got my friends I got my pen I got a million distractions to keep me warm and I all I know is that it will be alright.
My favorite part of the song is right around the 2:42 mark, when the drums usher in this rhythmic guitar cadence and in the live show, the whole audience starts bouncing up and down in tune to the beat. Love it. Live for it.
It's a Strung Out day. What kind of days do you have?
I finished up this morning and I had totally forgotten the sweet release of being done with finals and the semester. It is seriously one of the best feelings in the world. I have snowboarding on my plate tonight, I get to go home to warm(ish) weather tomorrow, Christmas shopping, hanging out with Dave and Caitlin all day and night. I can go running whenever I feel like. I can read leisure-only books.
This is the part about school that's really great. With work there's a consistent feeling of dread. The Sunday night lows of having to go another five days until the weekend. No extended breaks in sight. With school, it never goes away, until very specific moments. And when it does, it's like the walls have come tumbling down and there's no holding back the jubilation.
You've seen The Family Man, right? I love that one too. There are a couple of parts in that movie that melt my heart. I can't believe I'm a guy sometimes. I swear I don't have woman parts, and I don't want to use the ones I have for things that they weren't intended for.
I've been trying to find a song that captures the level of excitement that I've been feeling, and I can't settle on one. It's interesting, but I'm really drawn to heavy beats, synthetic, guitars, whatever. Just anything that's up tempo and that tends towards higher keys.
Like I said, I couldn't settle on one, so here's one that I've been enjoying recently. See you later Utah, and see you soon home and people that I love!
So I'm back in California after just a four day absence. I can't believe just how pleasant this place is. I probably appreciate it more now because I'm in Utah, but it really does just put me in the best mood to be in a place that is just so...comfortable. Know what I mean?
Anyway, I was telling Dave this morning about how any time something even remotely interesting crosses my path I first ask myself, is that blogworthy? Is this worth posting? Can I make it interesting/insightful/funny? And then when I do come up with a post that I know is good and also gets a good response, I'm so proud. I know not everything I put in here is 5-star material, but hopefully it's intriguing enough to keep you coming around. Or maybe you're just that bored that you keep on poking around.
I just wanted to mention a couple of quick things:
This morning I woke up with Blame It On The Rain in my head. Seriously. And I loved it. Seriously.
I'm really upset that the five of you who read this blog didn't start watching Pushing Daisies right away and then started convincing all of your friends that they need to watch it too. It got cancelled a couple weeks ago, and it's mostly attributed to the writer's strike last winter because it occurred right as the show was starting to build a fan-base. I love Kristen Chenoweth's character Olive, and I love even more that they feature her singing every so often to showcase her voice. She was the original Glinda in Wicked. Hers is the voice on the album. This is from the last episode: Gotta love The Bangles...and Olive.
I was having a conversation recently and telling my friend that it was only about a month ago that I realized what the song Pony by Ginuwine was about. That song was released more than a decade ago and I seriously had no idea what it was referring to until a few weeks ago. I guess I never really listened to the song that often anyway, but mostly I'm glad that my thoughts don't drift often enough in that direction to pick up on those messages all the time. I bring this up because I heard a rock version of the song on KROQ this morning and it was too catchy to ignore. I would post a video, but I'm realizing just how raunchy the song really is so I'd rather not put that content directly on my blog, but here's a link to the band's MySpace page where you can listen to it. It's really catchy. The band is called Far.
I was on Rufio's MySpace page this morning and was listening to the acoustic version they have on there of Above Me. I love it. This is for Dave, Greg, and Mike. Check it out. I hadn't heard this one before.
Still following politics. I just haven't been that excited about any of it. I did hear an interesting story the other day about what was going on inside of the LA temple while the Anti-Prop 8 protestors were outside and the temple had just received the envelope with the white powder. The girl who was telling me about it had a cousin that was a veil worker there that day. I guess this has already started to make the rounds via email so maybe you've already heard this, but they had to close the temple down immediately. Luckily (?) there was a biochemist attending that day who actually specializes in hazardous substances and he was able to immediately identify the sub...and that was where I stopped when the mirror fell over and mercifully dodged hurting anything of real value. Right there. As I was saying...identify the substance as talc powder so all of the people knew right away that they weren't in danger, but they still had to close the temple until the FBI and hazmat people could come and clear them. The people were stuck in there for about eight hours, with everyone stuck in their exact locations when the word spread about the white powder. So what did they do? That's right...ordinances. All day long. As it turns out, they had performed only two less ordinances than they had the day before when three local stakes had temple days at the temple. You can't stop the Mormons. No unhallowed hand...
Guy from my mission is moving out to Connecticut for grad school in the winter. I guess they're having a hard time trying to find someone to rent their place, so if you're in Utah or looking to move into Utah, they have a place in American Fork that you should check out. They're offering December free and rent for $150 below market value for their place because he doesn't want to have to start a semester late. Check it out here.
