I’m listening to Stereogum’s Tribute to “Automatic for the People”, a set of amazing covers…. (found via Largehearted Boy),
Category Archives: Tunes
À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…
Making: Fucking nothing. That’s right, NOTHING.
Reading: So my dad and I had this conversation about how we both just lovelovelove Slightly Foxed but we were both falling behind in reading it because every time you read it, you spend half the time you’re reading it running around looking for books in your “library” you’ve forgotten about and figuring out if you have that book by that author or some other book and going and buying more books because now it’s reminded you of a book…. Yeah and our ultimate conclusion to this long conversation was that sometimes you just have to read them to enjoy reading what they’re saying about things and NOT let yourself get into a frenzy of adding more and more things to your to-be-read pile. So last week I read the last four issues. And then I was at loose ends. OH NO. What to do. Then the Miracle Man came to visit from Hong Kong yesterday and we wandered by a bookstore and Holy Shit, Haven Kimmel has a new book out! Why didn’t anyone tell me??? So yeah. Now I’m reading “The Used World” by Haven Kimmel.
Watching: Fucking boatloads of fresh fall TV. Boatfuckingloads, I tell you.
Listening: New albums from bands I have loved awhile now: Athlete, The Thrills, Rogue Wave. The awesomely atmospheric Eddie Vedder soundtrack. New albums from James Blunt and Kanye (I like this one more and more the more I listen to, although I still agree with my initial thoughts that it’s not as joyful)… Of course, Ben Harper hasn’t left the rotation. New boys like Jeremy Fisher. New (to me) girls like Meiko, and Maria Taylor, and Sara Bareille…
Best of September.
It’s a two-fer month, a study in contrast. One high energy, intense and dramatic; versus one calm, deliberate, determined and yet still as dramatic in its own way.
The best two movies I saw in September were “In the Valley of Elah” and “The Bourne Ultimatum” (I’m a little late on that one, I know). Both were excellent in very different ways.
The best two books I read in September were “Under the Banner of Heaven” and “A Three Dog Life”. As with flicks, high contrast between the two, yet equally satisfying.
The best two gigs I went to in August were Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals and The National.
I’ll [add to this] post later my favorite tunes in September…[I’ll talk about September tunes. Later. In another post. Hopefully. We’ll see.]
Random personal highlights: Buying lots of new Fall clothes, although hardly getting to wear them this month; Jen in town for drinks!!!; and FINALLY it’s time for FALL TV!!! [Kinda a slow month, eh?]
Lowlights? Can the summer heat go away now please? I’ve had enough.
Old Favorites Revisited…Lonely Boy Fall 05
Sometimes I get in a bad habit of only listening to the new tunes fighting for space on the iPod and conveniently forget that there are loads of playlists full of old stuff that I love and if I’m not going to listen to it then maybe it wouldn’t need to be there taking up its own space… So this morning I started going through old mixes. When I listen to this now, it seems a bit more straight-out rock than I remember… I haven’t listened to some of these songs probably since shortly after I first made this mix… Glad to find I still dig it.
Lonely Boy Fall 05
- “Homesick” Kings of Convenience
- “You’re So True” Joseph Arthur
- “Sending a Note” Graham Colton Band
- “The Drifter” David Poe
- “Cold Day in the Sun” Foo Fighters
- “Strangerman” Ringside (lots of love for this song)
- “How to Dream” Sam Phillips
- “Eve, the Apple of My Eye” Bell X1 (…SOUNDS LIKE…Annie Lennox!)
- “All for You” Sister Hazel
- “Faded Beauty Queens” The Thrills
- “Home to Me” Josh Kelley
- “Across 110th Street” Bobby Womack & Peace (long-time fave)
- “New York, New York” Ryan Adams
- “Be Be Your Love” Rachael Yamagata
- “New York” Richard Ashcroft
- “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” Everlast (cover)
- “Real Love / It’s Only Life” Mike Doughty (cover)
- “Life on a Chain” Pete Yorn
- “Let It Be” Beatles (can’t go wrong…)
Try it. You might like it.
Lyric of the Day.
Let my heart be the part by which you judge me.
Like the sun in everyone, it is pure.
–Jeremy Fisher “Lay Down (Ballad of Rigoberto Alpizar)” Goodbye Blue Monday
Last Night on iTunes.
New albums by two of my favorite bands of recent years:
- Athlete “Beyond the Neighborhood”
- The Thrills “Teenager
And trying out two new boys:
- Jeremy Fisher “Goodbye Blue Monday”
- Fionn Regan “The End of History”
Album: Eddie Vedder “Into the Wild”
I really hadn’t listened to Pearl Jam much in recent history, but then I started reading I Am Fuel, You Are Friends, and Heather is an unabashed PJ fan…and then they played Lollapalooza…
This album is the soundtrack to the movie. And I swear when I listen to it..this is going to sound crazy!… I can FEEL Alaska. I can feel wide open horizons… I can feel solitude, and silent (echoing?) forests… Expansive. Lonely. Calm. I don’t know what it is — Vedder’s voice, the background music, the lyrics — but it is creating very vivid pictures in my mind…
It’s a mystery to me…
You think you have to want more than you need
Until you have it all, you won’t be free.
À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…
Making: Same as last week, although I do have something on the blocking board I may get to sometime this week. Maybe…Quilting friendship star blocks. Knitting socks.
Reading: “Love Walked In” by Marisa de los Santos. I’m just about done though. I would be done if I hadn’t had to stand on the train this morning, and then things got all herky jerky and I fell into someone’s lap (no joke!) and was too embarrassed to pull out a book after that because what if it happened again and my book went flying and hit someone in the head or something….
Watching: Premieres! Yay! So far this week watched Heroes, Bones, Reaper (LOVED!), Chuck, 1/2 of Journeyman (hopefully I’ll finish that tonight), and the second episode of K-Ville. Still have House premiere and current episode of Damages on the DVR menu. More premieres to come tonight. Yay!
Listening: Nothing I haven’t mentioned here already…. my 1, 2, 3 albums so far this year The National, Okkervil River, Earlimart, new stuff from Kanye and Josh Ritter and James Blunt, and lots of French rap…. and Hard Fi “Once Upon a Time in the World” which I bought on a total whim the other night and really like! Rock/punk/FUN!
In Concert: The National
Totally awesome show. The lead singer has a voice so deep, it feels like it reaches down to the very bottom of your soul. Their new album is probably my top listen of the year and this show just made me like them that much more. Ranks right up there with Gomez as the top two gigs of the year thus far.
Consummate musicians, tunes sounded great, stage banter was minimal but fine, lead’s antics were perplexing and sometimes humorous. Lovely lovely sounds. Beautiful show.
In Concert: Common
I really enjoy Common’s style; a mix of hip hop, R&B, rap. The rapper bragadocio (sp?) combined with a socially concious mind. I really enjoyed this concert…until the point where he referred to Michael Vick as “Misunderstood”*. Actually, I’d say Michael Vick has been understood for exactly what he is, a criminal who belongs in jail. There is no excuse for cruelty to dogs.
*Misunderstood is a song where he name checks in the chorus. “Malcolm X = Misunderstood.” Certainly. “Tupac Shakur = Misunderstood.” In a different way than Malcolm, but OK I can see how you could make the argument there. He slowly moves into the living. “Erykah Badu = Misunderstood.” I know nothing about her, but OK. “Lauryn Hill = Misunderstood.” I’ve heard she’s a little crazy, so OK. but “Michael Vick = Misunderstood”? No, no, and no. Not misunderstood at all. Criminal.
Opener: Joss Stone. She certainly has impressive range, but it’s not really my kind of music. (Pretty much pure R&B).