So when Say Hi was announced as one of the bands playing for Seattle’s “concerts on the green” free concerts in the park nights, I was so happy!  The kids were thrilled to be attending with us, the boys clarified with me at least 10 times that they were actually coming with us.  What a great opportunity for them.   Emma even brought a friend, we had a fantastic time.

The weather was perfect, like it usually is here in the summer.   Warmish, sunny, cool ocean breeze, and then as the sun went down it was time for jackets.   Right behind the stage was the Space Needle, and my sons had a good time watching that as well.

Say Hi  mildly yet unreservedly delivered some excellent music.   I was so taken in with the way Eric Elbogen sang his songs in the park.   He played and sang like he was on a stage, in an empty theatre, just singing because he likes it and because the words in his songs actually mean something.   I think I would have been nervous to sing like that; so open and exposed in such a big spacious, somewhat loud place, yet he appeared to be assured and confident.

My kids thought he was witty when he would say “this is a song” and then start playing it with out any further introduction.  They thought they were witty when they would cheer after the songs and yell “hi” (since the name of the band is “Say Hi”)

Say Hi was fun to watch, played a little something from their next album, told some jokes, reassured us that their awesome vampire songs were written before Twilight, and in general were such a pleasure to spend a Friday night with.

Plus, they list Joss Whedon as one of their influences; you know, the man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer,  so you know they are cool.  Also they are funny and when you visit their myspace page and listen to the tunes, read the “bio” section too.

Also, I almost forgot to mention the super cool opening band “The Tea Cozies.”  They were seriously fun to see, and I am hopeful that I will see them again some time.

Actually the real situation is that I am kind of a slacker and haven’t blogged in a wee bit, partly because we moved to the Seattle area this month.  Issaquah to be exact.  The whole moving thing is never fun, but we are starting to get back in our normal life groove and I actually had time to blog.

I am happy to be writing again. 

Our new house

I wrote about Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears 2 years ago, or so (if you followed that link I just made I hope you are listening to “The Zero Light” right now, what a fabulous song!).  Since then they have made another album called “The Flight of the Knife.”  I never wrote anything about it because I had just blogged about them, but we have been listening to that album at least once every day for weeks now.

Our house essentially turns into the stage for a musical when they are playing; singing, dancing and overall cheerfulness.  I don’t think I want to try and describe the music, you can figure it out yourself, and I hope you do because it has several of the best characteristics of different types and ages of music all in one, however it DEMANDS and DESERVES a second listen.

The kids favorite song is “Purple Rocket” because 1) its so awesome 2) we are reading a book called “Georges Cosmic Treasure Hunt” by Stephen Hawkings and his daughter Lucy, that is all about space and rockets n’ stuff.  This book has “blasted” Bryan Scary into our daily music fun.  I very much recommend this book and the one before it to any parent looking for something to read their kids this summer.

I somewhat obsessively check Bryan Scary’s concert dates hoping so very badly to see them live someday, so far they seem to stick to the east coast, but I’m comforted by the fact that Seattle offers me a much better chance than Boise ever did.

Our 4 yr old Seth is a lover of the music. He is constantly amusing us with his requests for certain bands when we are driving or at home. He really likes Muse and Seve Vs Evan, so you can see how most of the time its not hard to fill his wants. One of the only things he likes possibly more than music is his Grandpa. They are totally best friends.

My dad is a big fan of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys (so am I actually, which is hard to comprehend if you know me and how much I dislike all country music… except for Bob Wills). So naturally when I finally got some of my Dad’s Bob Wills on my ipod and played it for Seth last month it started some kind of explosion in Seth’s brain causing him to beg for it constantly when he and I are alone in the car (which is a lot since the other kids are in school and he and I run lots of errands and go places together).

(a little clip you might like, even though the quality isn’t perfect)

Seth is actually going to spend over a week next month with my parents while I go to Puerto Rico, and he is most excited about jamming with my Dad every day. My Dad is very musical and he has an area in the loft with a drum set, keyboard, guitars, microphones, and harmonica. They play together often. Seth likes to bring his blue ukulele.

So that is my big music scoop for last month, perhaps not so “gen x” as usual, but I like Bob Wills because it is incredibly entertaining, and I love the quaint undiluted sound of the guitar, violin, piano and who knows what else. Mr Wills talks while they are playing, to the band itself and commentary on the song in general and it is so funny. He also makes crazy noises. They went through several band members, and I like some better than others, but one of our favorites is the piano player Kelso. We are naming our next dog Kelso, and that is the name Seth uses now when he pretends to be a dog.

My Dad has a huge box set, but for the average listener I think the best album to start with is Bob Wills the Country Music Hall of Fame. (check out the listening samples there on the album, you might surprise yourself and like it too)

Our 7 yr old son created some new additions for our 10 yr old daughters Christmas village. I love it, she didn’t so much. click on the picture to make it larger if you want.

I am still deciding whether it was more cute or disturbing.

Then…Cherry by The Smashing Pumpkins started playing on our stereo and it was like magic. I just tuned out everything around me and floated away to Billy’s voice and the oh so poignant guitar notes.

Ahhhh. All better. For a quick defraz of your own, listen here.

since my mom is always blogging about her favorite songs I wanted to do it too. My absolute favorite songs are:

1. Jungle book, Bear Necessities
2. Marry Poppins, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
3. Mary Poppins, Chim Chim a nee
4. Charlie Brown theme song on the piano
5. Nacho Libre, Move Move Move
6. Jack Johnson Curious Geoge soundtrack, Upside Down
7. Spirit soundtrack Bryan Adams, Get off my back
8. The Smashing Pumpkins, Doomsday Clock from Transformers movie
9. Aristocats soundtrack, Everybody wants to be a cat
10. Hellogoodbye, Touchdown Turnaround
11. Postal Service, Sleeping In
12. Muse, Starlight
13. Muse, Knights of Cydonia

I hope you enjoyed this blog, I listen to music everyday especially at night while I’m reading in bed and to help me get to sleep. Oh and by the way Mrs. Duerksen please leave me a comment.

What’s your favorite Silly Song? Mine is “His Cheeseburger” sung by Mr Lunt; that is one rockin gourd. Following closely behind in second place is
“The Yodeling Veterinarian of the Alps.”

Here’s some great You Tube fun: A delightful clip from tv show “The Office” (love that show) to the song “His Cheeseburger.” It’s really quite an insightful interpretation.

I explained to him that mommy didn’t have any of those cd’s in the car, and that Christmas music was not on my ipod, so we couldn’t listen to it at that moment. However, next time we went somewhere I was ready.

Sure enough: “I want to listen to Christmas music.” So I took Zeitgeist out of the cd player and put in my homemade holiday mix which of course features The Smashing Pumpkins “Christmas Time” as the first song. I was so enjoying the skepticism on all three of their faces (watch the road!!) as Billy Corgan started to sing.

Them: “isn’t this Billy Corgan?”
me: “yep” pause
Billy: (singing) “Christmas time is here”
Them: “it is Christmas music, YEAH!!”

Then my three year old asked me (he’s totally my favorite now ) “are we having a Billy Christmas?”

I don’t know exactly what that is, but I sure hope so. Anyways, I figure if Hipsters United can declare Thanksgiving Day 2007 as “Gish day” then I can probably have a Billy Christmas.