30 Days of Music. Day 22: A Song You Listen To When You're Sad

One day I was sad. This song came shuffling onto my iPod. I had never really listened to it before. It fit my mood perfectly. Now I can only listen to it when I'm sad as that is the feeling it brings out in me.

30 Days of Music. Day 21: A Song You Listen To When You're Happy

We're on the home stretch, people. Unfortunately, the "days" are getting more mundane. It's basically "pick a random song" time.

So, this song - and the album it came from - have been in my car for sunny day driving. I love to take a long drive when it's a beautiful day out and sing loudly to my favorite songs that, well, that make me happy.



This song started out probably at the bottom of the heap as far as which songs I like best on this album. But one day, driving along, I found myself singing to it very loudly and suddenly I loved it.

Hangover Sunday

I know better than to drink tap beer. I definitely know better than to drink tap beer from a bar like Palmer's, but I did so anyway. Stupid me. Lesson learned. I am hungover.

Tap beer just does not sit well with me. I heard somewhere that tap beer is more likely to cause a hangover due to the uncleanliness of the pipes it comes out of.

I should really know better.

The weekend was supposed to be full of sunshine, but as with the rest of the days lately, it was filled with rain - and I'm not being metaphorical. It rains all the time lately. The sun was out for a good hour today, but, looking outside right now, it looks like this:

Cloudy and grey with just slight teases of blue sky.

The sun also came out briefly on Saturday night. I was inside watching Mexico vs. USA at The Nomad. But I still felt it. Even if brief.

I caught some band at Acadia that was heavily inspired by the likes of the Jeff Healy Band and Michael McDonald. You don't see that much these days. They had a saxophone player. And they were youngish dudes. Very odd.

Then it was off to the aforementioned Palmer's where I drank heavily and enjoyed a set by the Rank Strangers.

I also played a show this weekend. I did a solo set at The Coffee Grounds. It had been a while since I played alone, so I broke out a bunch of songs that I don't get to play when I play with someone else. New songs, an old song, covers, songs from the album that I tend to neglect. I played a lot of songs. And I played them quickly. I had a running list of songs for my setlist that I was just picking and choosing from and, after only 30 minutes of playing, I had played through 10 of them.

The lovely Sarah Morris also played a set. Her voice is incredible. Make sure to catch her playing live sometime if she's in your area.

I picked up some albums today from Electric Fetus to keep up with my promise to myself that I am going to buy physical albums again instead of digital downloads. I got:

Bon Iver: Bon Iver

The Elected: Bury Me in Rings

Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs: No Help Coming

Lissie: Catching a Tiger

After a super quick scan through all of them, Holly Golightly is the only one to really grab my attention. But, that is bound to change, I'm sure.

And, finally, I finished The Hunger Games trilogy today. Wow. Is that a crazy series. I don't even know where to begin with it. All I can ever say when I talk about it is that it's brutal. Very brutal. Graphic, violent, sad, lonely. Not for the squeamish. I'm really intrigued by the prospect of the film version. How are they going to put such a violent movie to the screen? Kids are killed in terrible, terrible ways.

Setlist for the The Coffee Grounds 6/24/11

-Good

-Can't Even Tell

-Minnesota

-Flavor

-No Words

-Blue Whale (my friend who's poem inspired this song was there so I has so happy to play it for her)

-Thursday

-Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry cover)

-The Party

-Easy to Blame

-In the Company of Elvis

-Evaporated (Ben Folds Five cover)

-Ramble Song

-The Woods

-Cast A Spell

-Rayner Park (Rank Strangers cover)

30 Days of Music. Day 20: A Song You Listen To When You're Angry

I'm only on day 20? I should really step it up. The problem is these "days" are getting a bit tired. I'm not someone who gets angry and frantically throws a "go-to" song on the stereo to air punch to. When I'm angry, I tend to pout in silence. That's just how I roll.

But, I'm sure back in 1994 when I was 15 and thought I was an oh-so-angry girl, I put this song on and stomped my feet around the apartment I lived in.

Heartbreaker Of The Day

I love animals. My heart just swells when I see a happy dog walking down the road. I always say hello to animals I pass along the way. I'm kind of crazy that way.

So imagine the indistinguishable sounds that came out of me when I saw this video of a dog running around on 4 prosthetic paws.



I guess he was left out in the cold and abandoned and his feet became stuck to some ice. They had to be amputated.

My mind cannot comprehend how people can be so cruel.

30 DAys of Music. Day 19: A Song From Your Favorite Album

My favorite album? That is impossible. It changes all the time.

I guess right now, I've been listening to London Calling pretty consistently lately - even declaring it my summer album. So, that being the case, here's my favorite song from that album:

Festive

I’ve said it before; there are few things I like better than being outside, listening to bands play, and drinking beer at the same time. What was great about this past weekend is that I got to be one of the bands playing. I played my first outdoor summer festival (Stone Arch Bridge Festival) on Sunday and it was ridiculously fun. I want to play all the festivals. I want to play outside all the time. I really think it was one of our best sets, even though I completely forgot the second verse to “Cohabitate”, it all worked out.

Thanks to Lindsay and Matt for the photos!

I briefly attended Rock the Garden on Saturday. I worked a 90 minute shift and then stepped outside into the dismal rain and just was not feeling it. The place was packed, though, so people seemed to be able to stick it out better than me. And I guess My Morning Jacket played an awesome set, so my loss, I guess.

The weekend was capped off with a fantastic show by Erin McKeown at The Aster Café. Really, you need to be listening to her if you aren’t already. She is delightful. Yes, I think that is the best word to describe her.




Setlist for the Stone Arch Festival of the Arts 6/19/11
-The Paul Simon Song
-Cast a Spell
-Minnesota
-Can’t Even Tell
-The Party
-Good
-Cohabitate
-Thursday
-Here
-Adore