And here comes Monday.
05 Nov 2007 1 Comment
in Groovin' to Tunes, Off the Needles, Weekend Update
This weekend provided a much needed respite after the long week last week (and in anticipation of this upcoming week). Saturday was a relaxing day at home with the family, working on the wedding Save the Date cards (thanks to Frogpod Letterpress for the printing!), and discussing wedding plans. I now have a whole new to-do list.
Saturday evening Mom, Dad and I went over to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner. Then Dad and I headed up to UCLA’s Royce Hall to see The Tiger Lillies. I’d never heard of them before, but they have a huge cult following. The Tiger Lillies is a group of 3 musicians who are crude, absurd and inflammatory. The director of Royce Hall introduced the group as “the performance garnering the fastest complaints in Royce’s 77 year history.” And they did not disappoint! There were a few moments that were intensely uncomfortable (there’s nothing like lust and hag, prostitute songs when you’re sitting next to your father….) but it was an utterly enjoyable evening. My Scrine post sums it up perfectly:
One should not attend The Tiger Lillies concert if one is offended by crude comical opuses (opi?) on religion, bully boys and quite possibly kicking babies, and old ladies, down the stairs.
I actually did get quite a bit of knitting done this weekend, but most of it was on gifts for the holidays so I have very few pictures to share. I have included up top however, my contributions for week two of the San Diego 8″ Fire Squares project. Now it’s back to knitting and tv and praying to whomever can help me end this week as soon as possible.
From my playlist to yours.
11 Oct 2007 Leave a Comment
So in the past few weeks I’ve gotten really into music. Part of it is that Blenda from Oz keeps taking me to some great concerts. Part of it is that my whole group of friends are trading and borrowing cd’s as we hear great stuff and want to share. (Don’t even start with me about sharing music – we’re all attending more concerts, and buying more cd’s so clearly the artists and those darn music companies are coming out ahead here!)
The byproduct of all this fun is that I now have a great music stash at work and can groove all day long, never listening to the same song twice (of course sometimes I just listen to a song on repeat cause that’s how I roll!)
On my playlist right now:
A Fine Frenzy, One Cell in the Sea
Across the Universe Soundtrack
Lee Coulter – check out Voodoo Booty, it’s my favorite track!
Anna Nalick, Wreck of the Day
Brandi Carlile, Brandi Carlile and The Story
Ingrid Michaelson, Girls and Boys
Missy Higgins, The Sound of White
Feist, The Reminder
Things that make me happy.
09 Oct 2007 Leave a Comment
in Groovin' to Tunes, Knitting Content Ahead, Odd News
1. All the bosses being out today. Lots of reading and catching up to do in peace and quiet.
2. A Fine Frenzy’s One Cell in the Sea. Beautiful songs that keep me chair dancing all day long.
3. Guess what I gave in and got? Showing off my monkies in my crocs as we speak.
A taste of OZ
28 Sep 2007 Leave a Comment
in Fabulous Friends, Groovin' to Tunes
Tonight my friend Blenda from Oz took a group of us to see Oz City Song Circle perform at The Mint. Basically it’s a night where Australian artists living in Southern California perform. Tonight it was 4 talented artists up on the stage, and they sang in turn. There were two in particular that were amazing: Lee Coulter and Chantelle Barry. Lee Coulter displayed such an amazing variety of music tonight – of the three songs he sang all were different genres.
As a side note, I love that B and I have become such good friends and that she’s been taking me all these places! All these years I lived here largely ignorant of the music scene and now it’s like a whole world opening up. I’ll keep ya posted on my new tunes.
Hugh Laurie Trivia
22 Sep 2007 Leave a Comment
in Groovin' to Tunes, The Boob Tube
“When Hugh Laurie, Jamie Denton, Greg Grunberg, Bob Guiney, and Bonnie Somerville performed at the TV Guide Emmy Party, they asked for, and received, $200,000 that was split equally and donated to charity. The band, called Band From TV, will now be making special appearances. Hugh will donate most of his share to the Save The Children organization.”
Heard on the Tonight Show, found here.
And the music wars escalate…
18 Sep 2007 Leave a Comment
From Slashdot:
A few months ago, Trent Reznor (frontman of the band Nine Inch Nails), was in Australia doing an interview when he commented on the outrageous prices of CDs there. Apparently now his label, Universal Media Group is angry at him for having said that. During a concert last night, he told fans, ‘…Has anyone seen the price come down? Okay, well, you know what that means — STEAL IT. Steal away. Steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin’. Because one way or another these mother****ers will get it through their head that they’re ripping people off and that’s not right.’”
Tonight was…
13 Sep 2007 Leave a Comment
in a word AMAZING. (And I’m pretty hard to please!)
The evening began when A Fine Frenzy opened. Though I hadn’t heard them before, they were quite good. The lead singer, Alison Sudol, has a really great voice and the instrumentation with drums and various synthesizers was really cool.
But Brandi Carlile was AMAZING. I can’t even remember all of her set but it was really well put together. I’ve been listening to her albums for the past few days, and I have to say that not too much jumped out at me. Live, however, I was riveted. Her music style is pretty unique; she mixes bluegrass, country, and rock.
She performed her older stuff (even admitting she got her start as the opening act for Hanson – MMMBOP!), and peppered the set with new material. She switched back and forth among her acoustic guitar, a second amped acoustic, and her electric guitar. AND she opened playing the piano. She rocked the house, along with her two fellow guitarists (“the twins”), her cellist, her keyboardist and her drummer. After over an hour and a half of playing, she closed her concert with “The Story,” which is my favorite song. Let me tell you – if you enjoy the recording, the live version is 200% more emotional and charged.
THEN she came back for a curtain call. She did what I’ve not seen any other band do – she played Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues. The sound isn’t great on that clip, but she and the band were just incredible. They took a big instrumental break in the middle and brought the house down. She followed up with one more older song, then a new one – an incredibly amazing heart-wrenching ballad which she performed by herself with her un-mic’d acoustic. I HOPE HOPE HOPE it’s going to make her next album. Finally she closed with “Hallelujah”.
Tonight was a definite don’t miss – I’m glad we didn’t!
I’d love to stay and chat BUT…
12 Sep 2007 1 Comment
in Fabulous Friends, Groovin' to Tunes
I have tickets to the Brandi Carlile concert at House of Blues tonight. We’re leaving work at 5:30 and heading up there for a good southern/cajun dinner and then a night of entertainment. I’ll be hanging with Knitmeister S and Bel and hopefully it will go better than that last concert I tried to attend there.
If you don’t know who I’m talking about give this a listen. Hope y’all have a good night!
What I’m Listening To.
30 Aug 2007 Leave a Comment
Just in case any of y’all are curious, this is what I’ve been listening to at work today. No rhyme or reason to why these songs were selected other than that they’re my favorites to groove to right now. And oh I need to go (pole) dancing again soon!
The Concert
20 Jul 2007 Leave a Comment
O’RIORDAN’S DRUMMER ‘COLLAPSES ON STAGE’
Former THE CRANBERRIES singer DOLORES O’RIORDAN’s U.S. solo tour is in doubt after her drummer reportedly collapsed on stage on Thursday (19Jul07). Sticksman Graham Hopkins suffered a seizure on stage at the gig at Los Angeles’ House of Blues, according to audience members, who discussed the horrific incident on a Cranberries fansite. ZombieGuide.com user ‘New Zombie’ reports, “The drummer had a seizure right on stage during the third song. They killed the lights and lowered a screen. He had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital after what seemed like 20 minutes of medical treatment while he was laying on stage.” The website claims O’Riordan’s tour has been cancelled because the band do not have a replacement drummer.
As I mentioned a few posts down, I was in the audience for this last night. It was terribly sad and a little scary, but the band and the House of Blues staff handled it well. Except for a few bad apples in the audience, everyone was sympathetic and behaved appropriately. My best to the band and a speedy recovery for the drummer.
UPDATE: From Hotpress
Graham Hopkins was admitted to hospital after suffering an on stage collapse at a Dolores O’Riordan gig in Los Angeles’ House Of Blues.
Posting on the Zombieguide.com fan site, a member of the crowd reports: “They killed the lights and lowered a screen. He had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital after what seemed like 20 minutes of medical treatment while he was laying on stage.”
Having been hospitalised in the initial aftermath, we’re very pleased to report that Graham has now been discharged.
It’s not the first time that the Kilkenny drummer has suffered an onstage incident, with his former band Halite having to be put on ‘hold’ while he underwent medical tests that proved to be inconclusive.
An official statement on the continuation of the tour is to be released shortly, as Dolores & her team assess the situation.
