Crazy on You

It was this song that inspired me to learn how to play guitar. Does guitar get any better? I am well aware of the wonderful Stevie Ray Vaughn and Erik Clapton, but in my opinion Heart deserves to get just as much respect and credit as the previously mentioned greats.

I remember listening to Dreamboat Annie for the first time, freshman year. I was never well acquainted with 1970's music, but this album blew me away. Chicks that could rock that hard was completely unheard of at that time, but soon after that they were followed by the Runaways and many other female rock bands.

Female artists from my generation sometimes complain about how hard it is for women in the music industry, so I can't imagine how hard it was for them to breakthrough.

Luckily, they did and proved to dudes and chicks alike that they could rock just like the best of them.

My live music experience

I've had a couple of musical experiences this semester, but none of them compared to a performance that I saw in November. At the Korean Undergraduate Student Association assembly I was pleasantly introduced to the Chulhyun gum, which is similar to a steel guitar. The woman that was playing was dressed much like the woman in the picture. Watching her play was more interesting than listening to the instrument (because to be honest, it sounded more like a Kleenex box guitar). It seemed as if it took a lot of precision and a delicate touch to be able to produce a reasonable sound from the very large instrument. I think I really enjoyed watching her play because she seemed to be so invested in her music. I'm assuming that when someone plays that instrument, that it' pretty much a solo performance, with very little accompaniment. Overall, although I wasn't blown away by the sound of the music, I was in awe of the musician's ability to command the audience with her incredible talent and ability to control such a large instrument.

Bad news bears

Nooo!!!!!!!

I was just listening to the RHCP in the car yesterday and thinking that their music was so insane and brilliant that it's utterly indescribable.

We'll miss you, John.

One of my favorite RHCP songs.

Why are concert tickets so expensive?

I recently purchased tickets to one of my favorites, John Mayer. This is my third time seeing him with my best friends. Being on the sappy senior year bandwagon, this will probably be one of our last times together before we graduate, considering that we all go to different schools. The whopping total of our mecca to Mayer-dom?

$105.

Is this the price of an intimate concert amongst some of John's most devoted fans? I think not. It's going to be in St. Pete Times Forum. So I will be sharing him with thousands of other fans.

Let's consider who is taking a piece of the concert ticket pie. The artist, the record company, cost of renting the venue, the crew, and all of the travel expenses. All in all, it seems quite expensive. Yet- $105? I don't think so. There is also the online ticket purchase medium. How much money goes to them seems too difficult to think about.

This article explains some of the reasoning behind the merger between Ticketmaster and Livenation (a.k.a. companies that charge WAY too much for tickets.)

Bar music is bar music for a reason

Being seven months and two weeks into my 21st year of life, I have taken "moderate" advantage of my new-found legal status. Over the past few months, I have become fully aware that at a bar and a club, the combination of music and the people can create an environment that either makes it hard to socialize, even though the whole point of going out is to socialize with new people! Last night, some friends of mine went out to celebrate Christmas break by going out to Ladies Night at a hometown bar. The crowd was quite diverse, including young and old people.

On a scale of one to ten on the bar band scale, I give them an eight. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the band. The Willie Nelson look-alikes (my friend disagreed and argued they were the type to channel more Guns and Roses) had a playlist that varied from classic rock to modern tunes.

The thing about bar bands is that regardless if the music is good or bad, it's loud. So regardless of who you are talking to, it's pretty hard to get a word in. I guess in a way, you are competing with four guys with instruments for one guy at the bar. (Did I just say competing for a guy at the bar? Eeks!) Which leads me to my story of bar music not helping my situation.

It's a simple tale of guy meets girl, they start talking, guy is interested in girl, girl thinks that guy is nice but is in no way interested.

Where is the music to help this situation? Conveniently enough, the bar is suddenly not as loud because the band has taken a break. If we had our conversation in the midst of the bar band, maybe things wouldn't have been as blatantly obviously bad. But, you never know. For now, I am thankful that I was saved by the lack of music.

Jock Jams

This fall, I have really tried to savor every moment of my senior year college football experience. From the walks to the stadium with my roommates, to waiting in anticipation for the Gators to burst onto the field, it has been a wonderful string of Saturdays in The Swamp. Paying more attention to details than other season, my ears began to notice that the music in the stadium, kinda sorta sucks. I know that music is supposed to get the fans and athletes pumped up, but for some reason I don't understand why certain repetitive beats are supposed to get one ready to prepare for battle. In my opinion, this song is pretty much the unofficial stadium song in The Swamp. Catchy it is, but I consider it pretty annoying. My roommate is a big baseball fan and sometimes the Marlins games are on in my living room. Having some of the games in the background, Pit Bull was always playing at the games. As someone passing in and out of my living I was even annoyed, so I can't even imagine what it's like for someone at the game.

What happened to the radio?

Every time I turn on the radio, I usually cringe, or because I am so used to the same song being played over and over again, I usually accept defeat. I will say that sometimes I do enjoy some radio tunes. But, when it comes to listening to the talking heads on the radio talk about the most random and stupid topics, I get deterred (and somewhat scared), to turn on the radio. However, I do enjoy online radio. Web sites, such as Pandora and Grooveshark give people a chance to listen to music that reflect their music taste. I have yet to use Grooveshark, yet I have a friend that swears by it, and after seeing him use it, I really like the ability that it gives you to choose exactly what songs you listen to. The topic of online radio connects with the article we read earlier in the semester about the iPod nation. A nation comprised of people that are dependent on control and individualism. I believe that online radio is one step above the iPod because at least, there is a way to share the music experience with others and explore new music, yet it is controlled by the individual's choice, which can create alienation. Although music is what keeps most people going through the monotonous motions of life, there are times when we can't let the outside world stay outside. For now, I will keep my online radio, car radio and iPod. But, I'll try to take out the earbuds to keep in tune with the my surroundings. Girl on the bus that is talking way too loud on her cell phone, fears about the impending test, the sounds of krishna music on the Plaza- I welcome you into my life.

From the steeple, to the wall

Immediately when I read this headline, I thought of the iconic Church Lady. I'm sure she would respond to this by saying, "Well isn't that special?" This article was uplifting because it was an example of people really focusing in on a message of a song. Rather than the church looking down on Tupac and hip-hop music, they are trying to reduce the prejudice by telling people to focus on the message of the song. Kudos to you, Vatican.

From music to mood swings

What is it about rainy days that make me think of Radiohead?

As I sit in my kitchen, the combination of rain and cold make me more than thankful that I am inside. My cup of tea and tunes will help me de-thaw.



Yet, as I prepare to go back into the rain, I will try to savor this cozy moment to help me get
through those chilly moments.



(My icky backyard)

Kidz Bop

Watching the Thanksgiving parade today made me realize how much kids crap there is out there. I'm a child of the 80's, which I think was the beginning of the abundance of kids products, generation. My older brothers were children of the 70's and I know that they were not inundated with as much consumer crap as I was. And I know that in the 60's and 50's it was just tinker toys and dolls, generations before that, there were sticks and stones. What I think sucks the most is the lack of good music!
For example, Yo Gabba Gabba, which is variety show on Nickelodeon. While they try to introduce children to beats and catchy songs, I think for the most part they fail. Take Yummy in my Tummy. This songs just sucks. I get and appreciate the concept of teaching kids to eat nutritious things, yet why does it have to be produced in such a way that trains kids to sound like annoying high pitched robots? And then, there's Kids Bop. Oh, Kids Bop. Suddenly hip hop is safe for kids as long as they're signing. The scary day that I end up with spawn, I'm determined that they will listen to Motown, The Beatles, and The Beach Boys.

Songs that literally will make your ears bleed

I literally stumbled upon this story a few weeks ago and it really made me re-think American torture methods. While I think that torture can be a barbaric act, I am not 100% against using torture methods to retrieve information from sources that are associated with terrorist acts. Although water-boarding might be too extreme, something along the lines of music as a form of torture, I'm okay with.
This article addresses certain musicians that were used a a means of torture for detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. One thing they mentioned was not so much the content of the music, but the non-stop noise, as the means of torture. I understand that because I can't imagine not having a few moments of silence to be able to gather your thoughts. I thought it was funny that the musicians were banning against it, because I think it's a blow to the ego to know that your music sucks so bad that it is used to literally make people go crazy.
And then, there's getting a taste of your own medicine. I saw this story last year and I think that it is a pretty clever idea to solve noise ordinance problems. My favorite part of the story was that you could literally see the agony in the offenders faces. It made me think about what music would drive me crazy. Number one for sure would be Nickelback. Oh dear God. And then I think a close second would be Hoobastank. What would be on your list? Would it also be the great Manilow?

Oh the weather outside is frightful

It's the end of Thanksgiving Day and as I recovering from a tryptophan coma, the weather is getting quite chilly. I hope that this song can keep me warm.

Cruisin with the windows down

I'm a major fan of fresh air. Probably one of its biggest fans. Nothing beats Florida fall weather, when it's a perfect seventy something degrees, not a cloud in the sky, and the humidity is almost non-existent. Rolling down your windows and blasting some good tunes is what I look forward to most when I take my car (also known as Remington Steele) for a ride. I have been really interested in a new commercial for the new Verizon phone, Droid. One of the reasons why I like it so much is because the song is very catchy. I looked up the song on the beloved Youtube and stumbled upon this music video. My first thought: all of that fresh air and such a cute song to go with the beautiful day, I'm so jealous! Ever since watching that music video, I have been on beautiful driving weather watch.My beautiful driving day came last Sunday.
My current state of mind has been pretty mixed up, considering I am months away from graduation and feeling pretty excited and anxious about the real world that awaits for me. Originally, my thoughts came to this. I'm not sure if it was my heavy thoughts, or that I was preparing to make the trek to Super Wal Mart on a weekend. But, I had to snap out of it! Why was I worrying about something that was out of my control? How could I waste this wonderful opportunity to take a cruise with my windows down, hair flying everywhere, driving underneath shady canopies. Why would I listen to something that could taint my experience. I decided that it was not the time or place. So I listened to this instead. Much better. Today is the day. With my windows down, a beautiful day, and inspiring tunes- I can do it.

Hey Good Lookin', Whatcha got Cookin'?

I enjoy cooking a good meal just as much as I like eating a good meal. My roommates know that it's a sign that I'm about to conduct some major business in the kitchen when I plop down my ipod and speakers onto the kitchen counter. Last month, my friends and I started SNDC (Sunday Night Dinner Club). It's very hush-hush among us because we do not want any moochers to infiltrate our new Sunday ritual. The rules are very similar to Fight Club, the first one being, we do not speak of SNDC outside the confines of our apartment walls. Every Sunday has a theme and the first SNDC had a Southern Comfort theme. My contribution was mac-n-cheese, courtesy of Southern cutie, Paula Deen.
Richard Simmons enjoys sweating to the oldies, but I prefer to cook to the oldies and the classics. I normally blast The Big Chill Soundtrack, because I like to envision myself in the movie dancing with my friends in the kitchen (sans the whole reuniting because of a friend's suicide thing). Other people that frequent my culinary soundtrack are Aretha and Nat King Cole. Listening to Respect with a knife in your hand creates a whole new meaning to the song.
As I was making my mac-n-cheese my roommate's peach cobbler was baking (and yes, it was a 12 on the yummy scale). Unbeknownst to us, the peach juice goodness was too much for the poor cobbler to take and it began to overflow in the oven, causing an icky ooze to burn on the bottom of the oven. We immediately took it out and contemplated taking a break from cooking to deal with the near catastrophe, but there was no way that I was going to have a spill stop my mac n cheese from baking.
The goo began to cool and we stuck the cobbler back into the oven, so it turn a golden brown, so beautiful it would make you tear up. Until- bad news bears-a small burst of flame began popped up. In short, the flame was contained, oven cleaned, and mac-n-cheese and cobbler were safe and sound.

I guess in the beginning of my story, I demanded Respect, but in turn I almost Burned One Down.

Does Rolling Stone have any modern influence?

A cup of coffee+ a magazine= my idea of an incredible morning

I love, love, love reading a good magazine. There's something about flipping pages of a crisp, new magazine that makes me stupidly happy. People, US Weekly, Time and Glamour make my heart flutter. I don't purchase the often, but they are on my list of life's little pleasures. Over the summer, my roommate had a plethora of magazine subscriptions, which he won in a contest. Mixed in amidst the pile of Popular Mechanics, Golf and Hunting Illustrated, there was Rolling Stone.
Rolling Stone was never a reading staple for me. I would classify my reading preferences as "classy, celebrity smut." Most of the magazines that my roommate received, unfortunately did not meet this criteria, but I was happily introduced to Rolling Stone.
What I liked most about Rolling Stone, was their commitment to as many facets of music as possible. The first one that I picked up was July edition with Lady Gaga on the cover. I read that article, which was well-written, minus the fact that it was all about Lady Gaga. But, I was pleasantly surprised that many other articles focused on either up and coming artists, or artists that continue to make contributions to music, but are not "popular."
Although, I think that most people pick up the magazine for the cover, do people really want to read about articles about musicians that are not on the hit charts?

I hope so.

Although what grabs people's attention are scandalous pictures of Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Green Day, I think Rolling Stone tries to stay true to music, the foundations of music, and the progression of the industry.