A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

Well, actually it wasn't a long time ago. And it was still in the state of Virginia....Commonwealth? Anyways, a while ago I uploaded the first link to a song on my other blog to see if I could and it was the song below. Because the song title is incredibly appropriate! The test I'm running now is as follows. We're looking for a little blue play button to appear in front of the song title. If all goes to plan, you should be able to click it and stream the song. Other blogs have this (see section on the side called "Blogs That Are Better Than Mine" or something like that...) so it might not be new, but I think it's pretty cool.

Beastie Boys - Just a Test from Hello Nasty

For the Ladies...

Well, Hello There!

All of a sudden it's almost the middle of March. I think someone stole the lion and rushed us on to the lamb!! That's ok. Weather is so crazy these days. Why do I always default to talking about the weather? It's like I'm a character in a play by a novice playwright.

But that's not important right now.

HERE'S what's important!

It's Women's History Month this month. I guess the ladies had better start making the most of it before the month is over! I'll do my part with a special surprise....


ACTUAL MUSIC LINKS!!!!!!

Mostly, I'm writing this because in the interim that I didn't have a hard drive (furthermore known as the Silent Quarter) I got a bunch of CD's by female artists or bands with female singers. So, I'm going to post one song from each of those and then match that with old favorites of mine.

Here we go!

Recently acquired

Rilo Kiley - Breakin' Up from Under the Blacklight

Grace Potter - Big White Gate from This is Somewhere

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - Humble Me from 100 Days, 100 Nights (this would have been a good submission for the Envy Contrast Podcast this week...)

Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry on Their Own from Back to Black

Kimya Dawson - So Nice So Smart from Juno (Soundtrack)

Paramore - Born For This from Riot! (Warning: This might be a bit too pop-punky for some of you. It's a good song and they reference a really good Refused song, but I just wanted to warn you...)

Old Favorites

Carole King - I Feel the Earth Move from Tapestry

Dar Williams - Alleluia from The Honesty Room

No Doubt - Hateful from Burning London: The Clash Tribute

Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit from Pretty much any Billie Holiday CD you can get your hands on

The Supremes - Where Did Our Love Go? from Motown 1*s...and also probably any Supremes CD you could get your hands on...

Dance Hall Crashers - He Wants Me Back from The Old Record

So, I'll be able to post music again and that means that I'll hopefully be posting MORE! Woohoo! Bye guys!

The Beginning and the End

So here's the first four and last five tracks of the CD I sent to Australia for the Contrast Podcast CD swap. If this means absolutely nothing to you, then keep paying attention to the Contrast Podcast in the next couple of weeks...

1. Foo Fighters – Stranger Things Have Happened
2. Carbon Leaf – One Prairie Outpost
3. Pash – Cosmopolitan
4. Strike Anywhere – Chalk Line


17. The Living End – Second Solution
18. Frenzal Rhomb – My Pants Keep Falling Down
19. AC/DC – Let Me Put My Love Into You
20. Reggie and the Full Effect – Laura’s Australian Dance Party
21. Reggie and the Full Effect – Take Me Home, Please

(mp3's will go up as soon as I get time to do it...promise)

Doug Roberts

So a good friend of mine from high school turns out to have been writing songs for a bunch of years and now his debut album is coming out. His name is Doug Roberts and I just wanted to leave a quick note saying, "Hey, go to his myspace page and take a listen. It's really good stuff."

His CD Slightly Out of Tune is available by contacting him at dougrobertsmusic@gmail.com. He says it should be available on places like Amazon and iTunes soon, though.

He's an incredibly nice guy, so don't hesitate to leave him a message if you like what you hear!

That's it. Have a good day!

Why is it...

So, it seemed like everyone at work today was just having a REALLY rough day. Except me. I had a fairly laidback/stress-free day. That always seems to happen. Maybe it's just that my day didn't suck as much as the days of the people around me, so it seems like I had a good one. I dunno. Has anyone else experienced this?

Speaking of experience, I'd like to refer back to my post about eBay. Nat left me a comment and said that she had stopped using eBay because she kept having issues with not getting what she paid for. Something similar has happened to me. Only it's worse! I paid for something that was clearly advertised as not the thing I was looking for. Basically, it was this Smashing Pumpkins single, for Ava Adore. But instead of having the 2 B-sides (which, let's face it, is what I'm really looking for), it had two "Call Out Research Hooks". Now I haven't listened to these, but they're definitely not what I wanted to end up with. And the bad thing is that it's exactly what the seller posted. I just didn't pay enough attention. Sigh. Oh well. We pay for our mistakes. And, really, it's not that big a deal, in the long run.

I think I'm going to go to bed now. I had KIND OF planned on posting about the Oscars, but I think I might save that for the weekend. Or maybe you'll NEVER hear my personal opinions on that topic. Ok, ok. Stop crying. I can't promise to try. But I'll try to try. :)

Ebay: Making Dreams Come True

So, I think The Smashing Pumpkins (or just Smashing Pumpkins, if you prefer, which I do) are probably my favorite band. There are lots of bands that have made 2nd place, but I've liked SP longer than any non-Beatles band and I feel like they've made diverse enough music that I can listen to them in lots of moods. Also, I feel like saying "The Beatles" as your favorite band is kind of a cop-out. Maybe this is me being...something, but yeah. The Beatles are sort of not even in the running for the category. What do you think?

Anyways, I've been getting a bunch of Smashing Pumpkins stuff on eBay and that includes the The Aeroplane Flies High box set pictured above. This set has all the singles from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness with all the songs that any of the singles were released with. So, lots of songs from a really great era of the band. I'm very pleased to have it sitting right next to me here.

In other news, I'm not going to be contributing to the Contrast Podcast this week (Theme: Ice Cream) but I have been working on my mix to send for the Contrast Podcast CD Exchange. Very exciting. I don't think she reads this blog, but I hope the person who's getting my mix will enjoy it! I'll be sure to post about the CD I get when I get it.

Have a great week everyone!

My Mom: A Future in Picking AOY's? Plus: Blood-sucking parasites

So, first off, because Gmail's news ticker ruined it for me this afternoon:

SPOILER ALERT (albeit 48-hour old Award Show Spoiler): DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT WHO WON THE ALBUM OF THE YEAR GRAMMY AND YOU CARE ABOUT WATCHING THE SHOW BECAUSE YOU DVR'D IT AND YOU DON'T WANT MY PAGE TO BE LIKE GMAIL AND GIVE AWAY THE ENDING!! (this spoiler alert brought to you by "Things only James would bother worrying about/typing 4 lines in all Caps". A family company.)

So, I guess my mom's tastes in music jive more smoothly with what the Academy the picks the Grammy winners listens to. Herbie Hancock's Joni Mitchell Tribute (River: The Joni Letters) beat out Kanye, Amy Winehouse, AND Foo Fighters for Album of the Year (Vince Gill was also nominated, but, as far as I know, niether my mom nor I listen to Vince Gill. (Though he did strike quite the charming figure when he said that thing to Kanye: "I just got an award from a Beatle. Have you done that yet, Kanye?" It was cool because obviously there's no beef there and it can be a funny thing to have celebs talking trash.)) I read an article that figured that Winehouse and KWest split the "young, Pop-centric members of the Academy" in half and opened the door for Herbie.

I mean, good for him! And I did tell my wife back when the nominees were announced that I hoped Herbie would win, because then Kanye would have to find a new card to play, if you know what I mean. (PS, I love this guy, despite, or maybe BECAUSE OF his drama queen antics. He feels real.)

In other news, if there's anyone out there who listens to Brad Paisley AND reads this blog, can you comment and defend this guy for that song he played? Here are the lyrics. They were pretty good until the part that you're about to read and go "WHAT?!":

everytime you take a sip
in this smoky atmosphere
you press that bottle to your lips
and i wish i was your beer
and in the small there of your back
your jeans are playing peek a boo
id like to see the other half of your butterfly tattoo

hey that gives me an idea
lets get out of this bar
and drive out into the country

and find a place to park

CHORUS:
cause id like to see you out in the moonlight
id like to kiss you way back in the sticks
id like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
and id like to check you for ticks

i know the perfect little path
out in these woods i used to hunt
dont worry babe ive got your back
and ive also got your front
id hate to waste a night like this
ill keep you safe you wait and see
the only thing allowed to crawl all over you
when we get there is me

you know every guy in here tonight
would like to take you home
but ive got way more class than them
and that aint what i want

CHORUS

oooh you never know where one might be
and oooh theres lots of places that are hard to reach

CHORUS

oh id sure like to check you for ticks

Yeah. THOSE lyrics. I almost couldn't believe my ears. Is that sexy? Does it make all the women nostalgic and wistful for those times when they were romping through the high grass and then they had to have that special boy make sure there were no parasites on them, lest they possibly contract lyme disease?

Grammy's are fun :)