Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Hold the Cigarettes ....

but please give me a car and month vacation for a road trip.



I'm really burned out and I don't know that a few days in San Diego is going to fix that. I hit a wall of stress and anxiety about a week ago and have been trying to carve out some peace for myself since then. The moments of peace have brought me closer to recognizing that I've felt this way before.

I'm tired.
I'm not content.
I'm rootless.
I feel stuck where I am.

Also, if the Road Trip Fairy is reading this and takes requests: Can I please have this one?

Monday, April 12, 2010

Winner Takes It All

Sorry ABBA, you do not meet my criteria for rock 'n roll so none of you are even contenders for best jumpsuit. No, I can't list my criteria but I know it when I hear it.

Winner Takes it All but you guys just get the booby prize of occasionally making my running playlist.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

What Music Criticism Could Be

I just got around to listening to this NPR interview with Anthony DeCurtis about his book Blues and Chaos: : The Music Writing of Robert Palmer.

I've been thinking a lot (and writing and deleting a few posts about) my frustration with my own writing and my own (lack) of ideas and insights. I have a tendency to journal and recollect rather than add anything to my listening experience or understanding of music.

In the interview, Anthony DeCurtis, in talking about music criticism, says something like:

It doesn't have to be somebody's first draft, which is most of what I think I read online... a lot of it has passion, a lot of it has conviction, a lot of it is smart but none of it is particularly well written.

The Hair, the ears, the smoke, the lyrics..... ahhhhhhhhhhhh haaaaaa

A week or two ago I was talking to a friend who gave me the stink eye about 80s new wavy music and Depeche Mode in particular.

A day or two later I heard Somebody while eating gyoza lunch.



I don't care how creepy and crazy the lyrics are ... I still love Depeche Mode.
And I'm adding this to my list of the post punk use of piano songs and some day will write a fabulously insightful and intelligent article about that.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Too Busy


I've been too busy or too tired to write lately.
All I've got to offer for a week or more is :

1. I had a very fun dream last night that I was Kelly Garrett and I had either fallen in love with or I was pretending to have fallen in love with a man who was a helicopter pilot. I was in some sort of net under a helicopter and wearing skis, waiting to jump off and ski down a hill. It was very exciting and my dream had a 70s TV show, wocka-wocka, smooth-jazz soundtrack. I blame this dream on:

A. my recent searching for sorority girl infanticide movies
B. a New Yorker article I read about a crazy couple who tried to save elephants in Africa (and either let their son ride in a net under a helicopter or disposed of bodies by dumping them out of a net beneath the helicopter
C. the fact that I need a date


2. I'm disturbed that I've heard Isley Brothers Who's that Lady while out an about town lately and I am 100% certain it is because of those stupid mop commercials.

3.
I am fascinated with David Bowie's mime (say that in your mind as meem, please)fascination. Like absolutely everything involving Andy Warhol, that is about 5 times too long. I hope you just watched the first minute or so. Either way, you earned yourself a treat. Go listen to David Bowie's Andy Warhol.

4. finally, I've had several episodes of what I call "doggy ear" lately. Where I hear squeally noises and high pitched buzzes. I figure it is related to those sounds that younger people hear and old people can't. I'm crossing over to old lady ears and some sounds are dying.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Butter Lamb

I've been looking all morning for an online recording of the Agnus Dei the way I like it sung. We did a suburban Catholic Church version that was sung in the round:

Lamb of Gaaaahd, you take away, the
(lamb of Gaaaahd, you take away the)
((lamb of Gaaaahd, you take away the))


No luck though, so I will leave my Easter post at a butter lamb.