Looking through some boxes the other day I found some old cassette tapes.  I put them in my son’s room because he actually has a tape player, and tonight I finally got a chance to listen.   XTC’s album “Skylarking” was a favorite for me, it was so weird and mello and they had that cool slight accent thing going.  Ooh, it brings back wonderful California memories of hanging out in my room and listening to music.

While I loved “Summer’s Cauldron” and most of the other songs, “Grass” was the song that I remember the most and I had to do a lot of fast forwarding to get to it tonight.   It turns out Tac never did like them, and my kids were not all that impressed, but I dooon’t care.   I’m thinking I might need to get it on disc for future listening though.

This is a very nice video I found with good sound.  I did see one that someone must have originally taped off of MTV, but the picture and sound were not worthy.   So watch and enjoy a little trip back to 1986.

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I have been really impressed with my son’s Kindergarten teacher.   She is infinitely patient, wears incredibly stylish shoes, and most important; my son loves going to school.   He is happy and learning, and when I go into her classroom as a volunteer I feel like I learn ( about patience and being kind to all; that kind of stuff).

So I already thought she was awesome, and then she went and commented on a Smashing Pumpkins shirt I was wearing and said that she was a fan too.   It was fun to talk with her about music, and ponder about what in the heck is Billy Corgan doing, and she even asked me what my favorite SP album is (Siamese Dream), hers is Gish.

As we talked about bands, she suggested I check out the band Phoenix.  I suggested Mew to her and I am curious to see what she thinks.   BUT ANYWAYS, this post is about the band Phoenix, who happen to be on tour right now btw.  Their Seattle show is already sold out, but if you live elsewhere you may be able to see them (Larry- Feb. 1).

I am really liking these dancy, poppy, happy, French musicians.

*to my sister Jennette- I think of you every time I listen to “If I Ever Feel Better” because I imagine you and Bosco dancing around the living room to it….try it and let me know how that goes

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Every time I go to a concert I leave with questions.    I want to know about the rules of encores.  Have they evolved?  Have bands always been expected to do an encore performance like they do now?   Is it just part of the show, is that part of what we the ticket holder have purchased?   Does the band plan what they will play, and more specifically do they hold out certain songs for the encore, and if so are we the audience under the obligation to “earn” the encore presentation by cheering and clapping until they come back out?  How long should we do that?   Do bands like to use the encore as an opportunity to play some of their more obscure songs because they are just there on their own time, so people can’t really be crabby if they hear things they they are not familiar with?   Are bands sick of it, yet feel like they have to perform one or the audience will be cheesed off?

Is there a science, so to say, about the encore?

Seriously, this is what I am thinking about after a concert?   Well yes actually, amid the whoo-hooing, happy clapping and the general debate with oneself about do I want to spend $ 20-30.00 on concert t-shirts n’stuff.   (At the Mew concert the other night I actually bought a hoodie sweatshirt, which is a first for me because I am pretty cheap.  Its way cute and I basically love it.)   But I want to know if anyone else thinks about this as much as I do.

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Mew played in Seattle a couple days ago and we finally got to see them!  No car crashes this time  (Last month we wanted to see Say Hi and Tac got hit on the freeway that day so we didn’t go).   We totally owe it to Scary Larry who gave us the heads up that Mew would be here.

The show was at Nuemos, which is a medium sized club.  It was so wonderful to be in a venue like that, and not at some huge place with lots of annoying people everywhere.  The audience was great, it was a bunch of Mew fans.   We got there about 15 minutes before they came out, and then the lights dimmed and the band came out and started the night with Into to Palace Players.  Everyone was just dancing and swaying and really happy to be there.

After Palace Players they played a longer cool intro to Special.  I love when bands start songs off different than normal, and everyone is listening and waiting to figure what song it is, and then when they play a recognizable beat everyone starts cheering.   After that I lose track of the order of things.  I’m not good at remembering things like that when I’m so busy having a great time.

New Terrain really stands out in my mind as so awesome!  They amazed me with the amount of work they did on stage to make that song happen.  Several of them were singing different things at the same time, cupping the microphones differently in their hands to change the sounds.  They were intense in the layers they created, and I loved it.

Louise Louisa was phenomenal.   Towards the end of the song Jonas Bjerre’s voice was all that could be heard (or its all I heard) as he sang out soft and at the same time loud in perfect pitch the words:

“I’m in a car, I don’t know where we are headed for. Stay with me, don’t want to be alone.”

It was beautiful.  The light shone on his face as he was singing, and I was pretty much entranced with it all.  It will definitely be a sweet moment to remember in my life.

You know when you hear a band live for the first time, and you get that wonderful fuzzy feeling because you know for a fact that they are as good as they sound from the studio?  I got it.   The show was awesome.  When it ended and then they came out a little later for an encore, I was thrilled and figured we would be lucky to get 1 or 2 more songs.   They came out and started playing Circuitry of the Wolf really loud and hard.  Seriously, WOW!

Then, they went straight into Chinaberry Tree and so on for around 45 minutes.   Tac and I made a list of the songs we are pretty sure they played- just for you Larry.

• Intro to Palace Players
• Special
• Reprise
• Apocalypso
• Sometimes Life Isn’t Easy
• Zookeepers Boy
• Repeater Beater
• Envoy to the Open Fields
• New Terrain
• Beach
• White Lips Kissed
• Louise Louisa
• Am I Wry, No
• 156
• Silas the Magic Car
• Circuitry of the Wolf
• Chinaberry Tree
• Fox cub
• Saviours of Jazz Ballet
• Snow Brigade
• She Spider
• Hawaii

and probably more.

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I am reading a book called “X Saves the World; How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking,” by Jeff Gordinier.    I’m only a couple chapters into it, but I’m already pretty sure that it is right on, and I get it on so many fun levels.

I have a 5 year old literally hanging on my arm and begging me to play with him, so this needs to be short, but I have to share one of my favorite parts so far.  He writes about Nirvana and the explosion that Curt Cobain caused in bringing “alternative” music to the spotlight.  Because before that, it was still alternative.

He says: “ By 1993 a bulletin had gone out, which is exactly why anyone with a sense of history knew it couldn’t last.  Scientists had located and identified the X pathogen, and they were doing everything  they could to keep the alternative epidemic under control.  From what I could tell, the experts were employing the same ingenious approach that they’d used on the California fruit flies.”

He goes on to describe this process, and then comes what could be my favorite line of the book so far: “This was the most sensible way to explain the existence of Stone Temple Pilots.”   There have been some much more obviously humorous and witty statements than that in this book, but THIS one speaks clearly to my burning irritation of how mediocre, boring bands continuously make it to the mainstream and the radio (ooh ick).  Seriously people, who is picking this stuff, and why are so many thinking persons allowing it to penetrate their ears?  How did it happen?

I think I offended a really wonderful chiropractor when we lived in Phoenix, because he was a huge fan of Rob Thomas and I just couldn’t leave it alone.   I really liked and respected our chiropractor and I just couldn’t be satisfied that Rob Thomas would be the pinnacle of his music listening experience.

Hopefully I will share more with you as I read more, but if you are a member of Gen X; usually born between the years of 1960-1977, or if you can pass Gordinier’s GXAT (Generation X Aptitude Test) which is only one question long, you will most likely appreciate this book.    By the way, the one question he asks is: “Do you want to change the world?”

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Guess who’s getting excited for the new Twilight movie?

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Dear Billy,

I think we need to take some time apart for a little while.  I definitely do not want to break up or anything like that, it’s just I don’t feel the same spark that I used to.  Some time apart would do us good, you know, I just need to see some other bands, listen to other music.

You will always be my first love, yeah I had some serious flings with Rush, Pennywise, and Oingo Boingo, but they could never compare to you.  You’ll always have a piece of my heart.

So lets just take a little break, you do your thing and I’ll do mine, and we’ll see what happens.  It will be kind of hard, but I’m not even going to play you on my iPod for a couple weeks.  I look forward to hearing your new material when its released, and I’m not taking your pictures down.  When this is over, I really hope that we are both moving in the same direction and that the spark and connection is there like it always has been.

from, Jen.

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For days now I have been spending as much time as possible in my room.  No, I wasn’t sent there for sassing off to Tac (I wish), it is just where the best speakers are connected to the computer.  Muse was so kind and has been streaming their new album “The Resistance” from their site before it was released today.

“The Resistance” is brilliant and gorgeous and hard and symphonic and I am so happy to love Muse as much as I do right now.  The first day that I realized I could stream the entire album, I “finished my chores” and went straight to my room.  This was a wonderful day.  I had an art project to work on, and I sat up there and was totally carried away in the music.

Matthew Bellamy’s voice is so driven and beautiful, he hits amazing notes and he amazes me.   The music, the instruments, piano, is always phenomenal coming from Muse.  The last 3 songs on this album are breathtaking symphonies.  This is not to say that the rest of the album isn’t spectacular also, because it is.

If I have to claim a favorite, it would most likely be “I Belong To You (+Mon Coeur S’ouvre A Ta Voix).”

I was reading the book “Catching Fire” last week, and as I was listening to this album with the book still fresh in my mind I realized that the songs “Resistance” and “United States of Eurasia” are perfect “soundtrack” songs.   The person most likely that I know to have read the book and heard the songs is Amber K, so Amber let me know what you think about that.

I’m a reeeaallly happy kid right now

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I’m essentially wonder-struck with Mew’s newest album “No More Stories...”  Neither Tac or I have listened to much else since it arrived at our house.  Our five year old has been singing the words “sometimes life isn’t easy” because that is his favorite song from the album.

I have spent a lot of time talking about Mew lately, so we will leave them now with the final comment that this album rocks and moves exquisitely.

I also bought Imogen Heap’s new album “Ellipse.”  I really enjoy her music, she makes me feel a little more dancy than usual.  This album is full of real emotions that I feel when I listen to it.  I love that her music comes straight from her and you can tell that she makes it how she wants, and that her musical integrity is very strong.  This album is just the right amount of her older style with something new too.  Watch a music video for “First Train Home” or listen to her myspace

And finally (since I have to hurry up and go because we have soccer) I wanted to mention what my son said to me while we were walking home from taking Zave to school: “Mom, can we listen to Silversun Pickups when we get home?”  I can’t tell you how much I love this child

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Tee hee hee, I’m so happy! I just found out yesterday (after I had already posted about them) that Muse has created another album. It is called “The Resistance” and I will be purchasing it on Sep. 14th when it is released.

This is HUGE to me, I wish I could properly convey the excitement that I’m feeling. Perhaps the only way is for you to check out their site and listen to “Uprising” and “United States of Eurasia” then maybe you and I will be feeling it together.

Lately I have been wishfully thinking that maybe Muse would be coming out with something soon, but they are so intense and astonishingly completely wonderful  that I feel it is only right to be patient while waiting and give them sufficient time to create.   So “The Resistance” is like the best present that I didn’t even have to suffer and wait for!

Listen and comment, please.

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