11 posts tagged “music”
Yesterday night, after being in Dallas for two long days and spending Thursday night swing dancing, I decided to spend Friday night at home. I talked to Patrick on the phone. He was drunk, which always promises amusing conversation. I dug out the alcohol I keep in my apartment but rarely drink, but after a couple decided that I did not really feel like getting drunk.
I forget what we were discussing, but at one point Patrick said, "Well yeah, but I bought the Metallica tickets!" as if this was the winning point to our argument. "Um, what?" I replied. "I bought those tickets. Back in April. I gave you the card number when you ordered the tickets, remember?" "NOOOOO," he cried, and I had to look up my American Express statement to prove to him that yes, indeed, I had bought the tickets. This led to a thirty-minute rant on how uncool it was that his sister bought his Metallica ticket, of all horrors. "What, are you implying that I'm not cool enough to go with you?" I retorted. "Even if you are the bigger fan, I didn't just buy the tickets to be nice. I want to go too." That made him feel a little better but he still spent an inordinate time saying how he'd pay me back. I told him that he can pay me back by shutting the fuck up about it, but he decided on buying me a Foo Fighters shirt instead. I will not object to that, I suppose.
Yesterday I bought There Is Nothing Left to Lose and Wish You Were Here. I have almost all the Foo Fighters albums except One By One. It's sad that Pink Floyd is one of my favorite bands, and I have only two albums of theirs. I am really excited about Them Crooked Vultures, the side project that Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones, and Josh Homme are putting together. I saw clips of their recent show - Josh Homme is nowhere near the frontman Dave Grohl is (still the best concert I've been to), but I think the album should be good.
I am giving up caffeine again for good after my relapse yesterday. I was wired until 3:30, and I woke up at some point in the middle of the night with my heart racing and gasping for air. Fuck caffeine. Now I remember why I gave it up.
Emotions do not make life easier, I think. I've always been a person who ruled with my head than my heart, but emotions are too inexplicable for me to stick with that rule sometimes, no matter how hard I try to do the right thing. Even though I have a reputation with my friends for being objective and am completely too analytical for my own good, I don't call myself a bundle of contradictions for nothing. I can't explain why I feel the way that I do, when my head tells me it doesn't make sense...but sometimes you just have to take what you have, run with it, and hold your breath.
Well, I've procrastinated from my chores long enough. Let's see. Moon tonight with amigos. Tomorrow I want to meet my baby cousin Eliana. And there's a new episode of True Blood tomorrow that promises to be Eric-centric. It should be a good weekend.
Today I had to go downtown for my (now weekly) real estate meeting. My project manager wants the team to put in more face time at the downtown offices, so I stayed there this afternoon to cover one of my other coworker's shifts. I'd been hoping to start heading back to my place around 4, since traffic on the interstate is usually just a little miserable on Friday afternoons. But I got stuck on the phone trying to book a rental car through my company's required online booking agent (I will spare you all from that rant), so I didn't get out of the office until 5.
Not wanting to put myself through the agony of rush hour traffic, I decided to step outside of my normal schedule and explore the area a little. The downtown office is close to a very popular section of the city, known for being eclectic and weird. I haven't really explored the area, despite only being a short walk away from it, and my ignorance of the section always elicits gasps from people. Even though I'll be there on Sunday to meet a friend for coffee, I decided to explore the area a little. I went back to my truck, slipped my heels for tennis shoes, and decided to explore.
I checked out the different shops and enjoyed my surroundings. I saw Leslie again. A homeless guy angrily called me a bitch when I refused to take some piece of paper from him, which was a little startling...but what can you expect? A man played music on the street. I bought a $5 necklace from one shop, and stepped into a candy store next. It is the best candy store ever. So many chocolates, and every flavor of salt water taffy you could dream of. I greedily scooped up taffies and chocolates, and paid $6 for the sugary treats.
My most exciting find, however, was a little hole-in-the-wall record shop. I almost missed it when I walked by, but when I saw the sign, I eagerly went inside. My brother collects vinyl records and has a small but respectable collection going - when he visited me back in June, he found The Wall at Half Price. Half Price's record selection is always hit or miss (usually miss), so I wanted to see if this store would have anything better. I was not disappointed. It had two full rooms of records from nearly every genre imaginable. I headed towards the sections I thought my brother would like. There wasn't anything excited in the metal section, so I went to the rock section. My eye caught a Beatles tab, and I thumbed through the selections. You will never guess what I found:
Magical Mystery Tour! I eagerly snatched the album and headed to the register. It was only $15! It wasn't until I got home and looked up the record that I realized...this is an original 1967 edition. IS THAT INSANE OR WHAT? Unfortunately it isn't the mono version, which appears to be the most valuable, but I'm 99% sure that it's a 1967 stereo first pressing. So, second best. It is in really good condition, considering it's, you know, almost 43 years old. The booklet has been separated from the folding, but it appears all the pages are there. The record itself seems to be in good shape. I'm just in awe of the find.
I almost want to keep it (even though I don't collect records), but I got it for my brother. Patrick sounded really excited when I told him. And, it's one of his favorite Beatles records, so this scored me some sisterly cool points, I think.
I also bought a used XBox since my other one sucks and is broken, but this was in no way as exciting as my record find. Next time Pat is in town, I have to take him there.
Oh yeah, I just quoted Madonna. I'm getting all 2000 on you.
Lately I've been going through a phase where I want to buy CDs. After illegally downloading purchasing music online for years, I've gotten to a point lately where I want to have my music tangible - where I can rip the music off the CDs for my ipod, or bring the CDs in the car with me. You know what I mean?
CDs are obviously expensive, so, with a few exceptions, I chose to make my purchases at Half Price. I'll likely use Amazon too in the future. I don't want to buy just any CDs, because that'll get excessive, so I'm saving my purchases for my favorite bands. A month ago, I found a 3-CD set of David Bowie, so I was pretty excited by that find. On Saturday, we went to Half Price; my brother bought me the Led Zeppelin IV and Red Hot Chili Pepper's By the Way albums (to pay me back for buying him a record). I bought Houses of the Holy and American Idiot for myself. I bought The Essential Michael Jackson today because, hey, apparently I have to be like the rest of America. Plus it was for a good price. My little collection is expanding slowly - so far, the only artists I have are David Bowie (Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs, which I highly recommend), The Eagles, Pink Floyd (only one album, though...I should be ashamed), Amy Winehouse, AC/DC, Green Day, The Cars, Michael Jackson, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Stone Temple Pilots (it's their greatest hits collection, but it's good).
What I want to ask you all is...what are your essential albums? I'm trying to get outside of my mainstream interests and find new music. I warn you that I'm not really a fan of a lot of indie or emo bands, but I'm willing to give anything a listen. Any other must-have albums I should consider adding to my collection?
Man! I never have real updates anymore. So here goes.
Saturday was a lot of fun. I met up with friends at 40 Acre Fest, which is a student-run festival with a live concert at the end. I hung out with one friend from work for the festival, and then caught up with Tap and Conrad for dinner and the concert. There were a lot of funny/random events from that day, so I'll just list them:
- Walking by a guy playing accordion on The Drag
- People from a socialist student organization demanding if I was upset at AIG. Um, yeah, but not enough to become a socialist, thanks.
- A little girl in the restroom singing "Hot N' Cold" as she washed her hands
- Being able to crush a car with a sledgehammer and spray-paint it. Don't worry, I didn't go all thug, it was at a booth. It was very cathartic. That sledgehammer was fucking heavy, and I was made fun of for being weak. :p
- Seeing the turtle pond, and watching the turtles play and fall in the water
- Conrad asking the waiter at Pluckers if he could have fried salad
- "There needs to be more pelvic thrust in ballet" and "PLAY THE HIIIIIIITS!"
The concert itself was okay. It was Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. The actual band itself was decent, but the singer sucked. Here's one of the songs they sang. The beginning reminds me of that Friends episode where Ross is into his "music." None of my friends took my offer to start a mosh pit seriously. Can't say that the concert made me want to become a CYHSY fan, but I enjoyed being there with my friends, at least.
On Sunday, I went back out to the park and explored more trails. Again, there were a lot of people out, so I felt comfortable. I found more out-of-the-way trails that I'll explore with Pat when he comes visit next month. I walked for about 2.5 hours. It was awesome. Between all the walking I did for 40 Acres fest and the trail exploring, I got a lot of exercise during the weekend.
Man, I did some calisthenics tonight. I think I'm out of shape. Blah! I have a month or so to get into summer shape.
So, Patrick and I are seeing Metallica in September. YEAH! We got the nosebleed balcony seats, but at least we'll be there, right? AND Patrick bought us tickets to see The Offspring next month. I'm really excited. Of course, Pat was a bigger Offspring fan than I was growing up, but I like a lot of their songs. Pat will probably stay that whole week, because the concert is on a random work day, and I can't be driving back and forth. I'm really excited that he'll be able to visit next month. Going to concerts with Pat is kickass. I'm going to round up some of my peeps here in town to attend as well. It's general admission, so we plan on going early to get a good seat!
Well I need to clean up the apartment a bit. I am going on a mini-vacation starting tomorrow afternoon :)
My friend and I were getting nostalgic today when we were reminiscing about the late 90's trends, back when we were still in high school. We touched on the "Latin Explosion." It started when Ricky Martin burst out on the scene, and died out a couple of years later once people like Whitney Houston thought they were entitled to cash in on the craze by creating songs with dubious Latin-beats with maybe a word or two of Spanglish sprinkled in.
It made me think: what were the best and worst?
The best:
Summer of 1999, this song was my JAM. What's not to like? I mean, first of all, it's Ricky Martin (I had a crush on him back in high school). And say what you will about him, but that song is great. It has a catchy beat, and the vide showcased it (and Ricky) perfectly.
The worst:
You know that record executives were getting desperate to continue a slowly dying trend when they had a bunch of white boys trying to be Latin. This song is so bad. I remember my brother and I making fun of the video because, apparently, all you need to do to have a credible "Latin" song is include two words of Spanish in it. I lose count how many times these boys warble "una noche."
Before I make my completely vapid confession, may I say this: to the Americans cheering the Iraqi journalist for throwing his shoes at the President, shame on you. No one says that you have to agree with his policies or even like the guy, but he's our President, elected to office by the people (well, in 2004, at least). Show some respect.
Ok, back to the OTHER topic all Americans are talking about 24/7: Britney Spears!
Britney Spears' first single was released when I was fourteen (has it been that long already?!), and I have been making fun of her ever since. I always thought I, the classic rock fan, was too good for the carefully crafted pop perfection she churned out over and over. She seems like a very sweet girl, and I'm glad that she's coming out of that depressing downward spiral she had going there for awhile. But let's face it- she's not, um, book-smart. I gleefully took delight in her many misstatements, like when she talked about traveling overseas to Canada, or discussing Indian religious themes in her music but not knowing what Hinduism is.
However, I had a realization of sorts a couple of weeks ago. It occurred to me that I had "Womanizer" stuck in my head, a song that I had previously dismissed as ridiculous. I hated "Piece of Me" when it first came out too, but then I broke down and listened to it over and over. Then I thought about all of her singles, and how I had blown them off on first listen, only to be downloading them later. I have her greatest hits album on my MP3 player "for the lols," but I find myself thinking that it's a good collection when I listen to it (except "Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman," that still is shit.)
So my confession: I AM A BRITNEY SPEARS FAN. There, I said it. I will not be ashamed of my guilty pleasure anymore.
To close this entry, I want to post a really funny video from Mad TV. Mad TV always has the funniest song parodies ("Mrs. Jackson," "I Have Got a Black Friend," etc). Does anyone remember that "Me Against the Music" video featuring Madonna? It was kind of ridiculous. Anyway, Mad TV made fun of it, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching it. I'm posting both for you to compare, if you are so inclined.
Share a song that gets you psyched to exercise.
I like to save this song for the end of a run, when I need any bit of motivation I can muster. The song's cadence even makes me run faster. It's so kick-ass that it's impossible not to feel motivated while listening to it.
Share a song you loved way back in the day.
I will share TWO.
What's your musical horoscope? (Put your player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.)
I think this has been asked before. No matter, it's fun.
1. Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes"
2. Journey, "Who's Crying Now" (shut up, I like Journey)
3. Elton John, "I Want Love"
4. The Doors, "Five To One"
5. Outkast, "Hey Ya" (I will love this song forever, even if I've heard it 2,325 times since 2003)
6. The Beatles, "Eleanor Rigby"
7. Def Leppard, "Pour Some Sugar On Me"
8. Santana and Rob Thomas, "Smooth"
9. Pooh, "Piccola Katy" (They're an Italian band)
10. Kenny Loggins, "Footloose"
So what is up? Things have been a little busy, but not really. I spent Saturday and Sunday at a ranch for an oil spill drill. It was, hmm, interesting. Let's leave it at that. It was definitely an adventure. I should write it up sometimes. All I will say is three-year-old Parmesan cheese. But like I mentioned in a previous entry, I got to feed cows. That was a lot of fun, and I'm not even joking. And I wish I had a picture for the 5-legged calf. I bet no one believes me. But it's true.
I have 2.5 weeks until graduation. 2.5 weeks. 2.5 weeks. 2.5 weeks. It has not even sunk in yet. It won't be a leisurely 2.5 weeks until I get all my work done. I heard that for the professional report, it's okay to turn in old term papers. Since my current professional report has stalled at 15 pages (and is terrible), I think I will take that route if my advisor okays it. I have 2 good papers from previous classes that would work (and I got A's on them, so I know they are decent). I also have a take-home final in my Oil Spill class that involves 30 lengthy questions, and the work that no one turned in for the class. Blah blah blah.
I'm so excited that classes are almost done. I won't say that this will be my last time EVER as a college student...that's a little severe. Who knows where life takes you? My dad is going back to school to get an associate's and possibly a bachelor's degree in math, because he likes the challenge (and he already has 2 master's degrees and a full-time job). I'm like my dad. If I'm not challeged with something interesting, then I get in this arrested state of boredom. So maybe one day down the road, I'll be back in the classroom. But for right now, hellz to the no.
I got a new ID card. Yes, even though I'm leaving (I won't tell you when...I think I established that already). The one I had was so shabby that I couldn't get in the building. And then the stupid card reader beeps, and people would start clapping when I finally gave up to try another door. Since I've had this card for over a year, getting a replacement is free. Plus, I lost my ID card 3 times since I've been here, and each new card costs $12. I figured the University owed me a free ID card for as much money I've shelled out for one. AND, the atrocious picture on my ID card has been replaced with a better one.
I have the name of a realtor and I'm going house/townhouse/apartment hunting. That sounds like a terribly grown-up activity.
Ok, time for me to get to work. Bye bye.
Do you tend to like music in particular genres, or are your tastes all over the place? What are your most and least favorite musical genres?
For the first question: both. I love lots of music. I really like music that reminds me of my childhood, so I really like 80's and 90's music. I love the Italian music that I grew up listening to. I love classical music and jazz, and the old standards, especially Frank Sinatra. I also like really good contemporary rock. I really like the Foo Fighters, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are a favorite. I like rap too. It has to be good rap, like Eminem or Ludacris. (I am guilty of liking that "Soulja Boy" song.) However, classic rock is a favorite. I first got into it when I was seventeen or so, and I was like every other seventeen-year-old who thinks she discovered it first.
Music genres I do not like: COUNTRY (unless it's older country like Johnny Cash), screamo, stupid pop that isn't catchy enough for me to like secretly and guiltily, Contemporary Christian, techno, the really shitty contemporary rock that seems to be on the radio all the time nowadays, rap where the same phrases or words are repeated over and over.
