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New Single by Jay-Z and Kanye

On July 21, 2011

Some songs are just so fabulous that it seems almost a crime to mess with them. But then someone does revisit the song and, when done well, you get to rediscover the original tune and enjoy the new one. I’m thoroughly enjoying Otis by Kanye West and Jay-Z.

Otis feat. Otis Redding by watchthethrone

Bad Mood

By Kate

On July 14, 2011

In animals, family / friends, house, rock

Today started off as one of those days where as soon as my eyes opened, bad mood. Snarky, cussing at things (in my head!) and not going at all out of my way to be nice. So, to redirect my mood, some good things to focus on:

I took pictures of my sister and her beyonce this weekend and they turned out great. Even better was when she kept telling me I looked so arty, like I fit the role of the photographer.
On Monday my brother did some work at my house on the neverending bathroom project. When I called to see how he was handling the heat he also reported in on my cats and cracked me up. “Biggie is an a$$hole.” On a later call, “Biggie is a dick.” I’ve been calling him those things ever since because it’s funny and sort of true.
In my photography class on Tuesday the greatest thing happened. At the beginning of class we always show our favorite pictures from the prior week to the teacher and he critiques them in front of everyone. It’s super helpful. When he pulled up my pictures I got multiple wows from the class.
Yesterday I was doing some final sanding on never-ending bathroom project but also got to use that time to catch up on old podcasts of All Songs Considered. I listened to one about breaking up with bands you like or liked and when one of the hosts revealed his past love of the Lillith Fair contingent of singers, specifically Paula Cole, I laughed my ass off.
This morning my sister called me for no reason and it was nice to talk.
Over lunch today I went out for some retail therapy and left with a dress that look kapow on me. I also found a pair of flats that fit me and flats almost never fit my narrow feet.

These are all good things! Now bad mood – you must leave.

Free Music – Who Doesn’t Love That?

By Kate

On July 10, 2011

In rock

I recently joined a music club with a bunch of friends where you create a playlist that you share with friends. People go check out the songs and it’s a way to discover new music. (8Track allows you to do this and iTunes will also let you upload playlists.) We’re lucky that we have Delicious keeping our little group of people on task to make sure we pull together playlists each month. I’m even luckier because I’ve found two great resources for free music.

A while back Rage Against the Minivan featured a link to Downplayer and it’s been wonderful! I check it out Monday thru Friday for 10 free tracks. And, before you go jumping to conclusions, yes, it is totally legal. Downplayer just links out to other sites featuring free music. Often the sites they link to are the music artists’ sites.

Another site I’ve recently visiting is Radio Amp 97.1. They feature one free song to download each day.

Between these two sites I’ve expanded my music collection a ton but also gotten introduced to some great new artists and fabulous songs. Case in point: King of Diamonds by Motopony.

Discoveries

By Kate

On June 14, 2011

In family / friends, rock

Last Saturday I made a few important discoveries:

Over the last year I have drank less and less, which I view as a healthy change. I cannot, however, go from drinking very little to going for it with my friends. So alcohol may no longer be a part of my life at all. This is an even healthier change but I’m curious to see how it goes and what it means for social events. Especially social events with dancing.
Wonder Boy has made the disturbing calculation of how few years we have until we turn 50 which has thrown him into a third-life crisis that seems to parallel the crisis many of my friends are going through. Saturday we went to a wedding and we going to leave shortly into the reception to go to a concert btu were conflicted because we were having fun. Our friends advice, as I remember it – do what it is you want to do and don’t feel guilty about it. We skipped the Iron and Wine show for which we had already purchased tickets. It turned out to be a good move because all reviews of the show focused on how The Madison Theater oversold their venue, which made for a lousy viewing experience.
I’m always on the lookout for good music but the last place I ever expected to find it was during a wedding ceremony. I attended a friend’s outdoor wedding and during the ceremony Shadwick Wilde sang a song called Kentucky Tobacco. When I got home I immediately bought his album Unforgiveable Things and I love it. You should check it out – you will love it, too.

Last Sunday I also made a discovery. I faced serious ramifications from Saturday night which led to the decisions mentioned in point #1. Such a long, long day.

Spinning the Wheel for Elvis

By Kate

On May 17, 2011

In rock

Last night Wonder Boy and I checked out Elvis Costello. He’s not on my 100 List but he should have been. (I’m not adding him now because that would be cheating but I will be expanding the list by adding more artists I’d like to see.) I don’t know tons by Costello, but what I do know I like. And what I saw live in concert at the Taft Theater in Cincinnati, I also liked. The man is an entertainer!

For The Revolver Tour, the theme was “The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook” and Costello played it up perfectly. On stage there was a hug Wheel-of-Fortune-style wheel. On every triangle within the wheel was one song. Concert guests were selected to come up and spin the wheel. After they selected their song, they got to stay on stage while Costello performed. People could either sit at a bar set up on stage or dance in a go-go cage. Yep, there was a go-go cage on stage. Awesome.

Wonder Boy and I had pretty sweet seats for the show. We were in the second row of the balcony almost dead center. At one point, Costello went out into the crowd with a wireless mic and we lost site of him but were still impressed. I’ve seen a few artists go out into the crowd, most memorably Lenny Kravitz, and I always think it’s a cool move. Well, cooler than Kravitz going into the crowd (did I mention he wasn’t wearing a shirt?) was when Costello showed up in the balcony. He sang his way up a flight of stairs in the Taft Theater and walked all over the place. I was maybe six feet away from the man!

The show ended, I thought, with a lot of bravado and it was pretty perfect. But then there was another encore. And then another. Four of them all told. He was fabulous. And while I’ll always wish I could have gotten to see Elvis as in Elvis, seeing Elvis Costello was pretty much awesome.