Music Monday

I have been remiss in keeping up with my postings, and for that I sincerely apologize. Because I slept all of an hour last night and can foresee another bout of insomnia looming on the horizon, my brain is not functioning at it's highest capacity. So I will leave you with this playlist in an attempt to reinstate my Music Monday posts.

Goodbye Shadows...Lay Your Head On My Shoulder

1. Swim(Music Box)- Jack's Mannequin .... Thanks, R, for sending this to me. I have listened to it non stop and really did tear up when I first heard it. I'm glad we're best friends.
2. Little Lion Man- Mumford and Sons .... I only recently stumbled upon M&S while scouring iTunes for new music to add to my writing playlist. I love them and I really love this song.
3. For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti- Sufjan Stevens .... I was listening to this song as the moon grew brighter while I walked my dog. It was quiet and had just rained so the air smelled new. I was overcome by the most beautiful feeling of melancholia and had to breathe deep to remind myself to enjoy it.
4. Jar of Hearts- Christina Perry .... So sad but so pretty.
5. If You Can't Sleep- She and Him .... Thank you again, R, for giving me this gift. It has become my lullaby.
6. Re:Stacks- Bon Iver .... Simply perfect.
7. Collide (Acoustic)- Howie Day .... Love.

Sweet Dreams.
11:12pm

Well hello there.

Nice to see you all, it's been awhile.

In the time that has elapsed since my last post, I have graduated college and travelled through eleven European countries.

I have had honest to goodness Italian food, stood beneath the Eiffel Tower as it sparkled, seen the very place that Anne Boleyn lost her head, sailed around a Greek island, and trekked through the Black Forest. And that's only half of it.

I sit now, in a very strange place. Not physically of course, as I am currently in my room. But metaphorically, my life is the very definition of 'in between'. I am no longer a student but have yet to fully embrace the 'real' world. My job search has been less than ideal and more than a little disheartening. In the grand scheme of things, not so much time has passed since graduation that I should be gravely concerned for my professional career and yet, I have become closely acquainted with stress. In fact, I have come to equate my stressful bouts of anxious concern with the feeling one gets when donning a much worn coat. The sensation slips over me and settles all to comfortably on my shoulders in a way that both heightens and soothes the fickle feeling.

In lieu of these unfortunate affectations, I feel compelled to improve myself in the areas I have always wanted to improve. Things such as singing, dancing, and writing. Of course, this means I have to consider how much I may lack in said artistic expressions, which is not a consideration I particularly enjoy making.

Regardless, I feel inclined to make myself commit to something right now. Some sort of positive motion that will help me feel as if I'm moving forward and not stuck in this dreadful limbo.

I suppose we shall see how it all goes.

I apologize for the rather dreary nature of this post. To make up for it, I intend to post a joyful exclamation regarding my recent viewing of Wicked! To preface, I will say that it was all I had hoped and more. I loved it.

11:56pm

Favorite

Not to sound like Julie Andrews, or rather Maria Rainer, but here are a few of my favorite things.

Favorite Book(s): Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Pride and Prejudice by Austen, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Favorite Author(s): Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, Dorothy Parker
Favorite Song(s): Skinny Love by Bon Iver, Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin, Heartbeats by Jose Gonzales, and Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy (Honorable mention: A Comet Appears by the Shins and Mixed Tape by Jack's Mannequin)
Favorite Band: Jack's Mannequin (i love Bon Iver so much though.)
Favorite Singer(s): Gavin Degraw
Favorite Artist: van Goh
Favorite food: Queso ( and Green Bean Casserole on Holidays)
Favorite type of food: anything Mediterranean (I love Mexican too)
Favorite TV Show(s)(still on the air): Glee, House, Bones, Chuck
Favorite TV Show(s)(no longer on the air *sigh*): Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, Pushing Daisies, and Friends
Favorite Movies: Funny Girl, A League of Their Own, The Sandlot, Love Actually (And a whole host of others, if I'm being honest)
Favorite Musicals: Wicked, Spring Awakening, Rent (those are the Big 3 but there are so many more I could add to this list)
Favorite Sport: Baseball (Go 'Stros)
Favorite Team: Dallas Cowboys (Favorite Player: Jason Witten!)
Favorite place to be: the lake!
Favorite thing to do there: cook out with friends and family and wakeboard!

Ok so that was mostly pointless. I'm not entirely sure where the sudden urge to blog my favorite things came from, but there you go.

6:38pm

Perfect.

This morning I awoke to the sound of my alarm. Bon Iver's "Beach Baby" serenaded me into wakefulness and I opened my eyes to thin strips of sunshine glittering through my Venetian blinds. It made me smile and I took my sweet time getting out of bed. Seriously, there is no better way to set the tone of your day than to wake up smiling.

In honor of my near perfect morning and the beautiful art that Bon Iver creates when they make music, I thought I would post a video of them performing one of my favorites, "Skinny Love". Then, I stumbled on to something wonderful... Ingrid Michaelson singing a cover of "Skinny Love" and suddenly my day is actually perfect. Seriously, its gorgeous and she's another favorite of mine (introduced to me by my best friend! Thanks, R!) so I was delirious with joy for a few seconds.

It's different, and her voice almost feels more like a plea than Justin Vernon's when they sing it, but maybe that's why I love both versions so much. Two wonderful things, together and apart at the same time. Plus it makes me happy that she says it's one of her favorite songs. I was inspired to post this after reading a similar post at my friend Sarah Elizabeth's blog, which I loved; Regina Spektor + John Lennon. (http://sarahelizabethgriffin.blogspot.com/2010/04/real-love.html).

So here it is...


and Ingrid's cover...


12:54pm

Music Monday

So it's Monday morning. Very early Monday morning. And in honor of everyone's least favorite day of the week, I am going to give it some little bit of goodness to make it better. Starting now, every Monday will be Music Monday. Well, every Monday that I remember to post something music related at the very least. So here are a few of the songs that have been playing on repeat on my iPod recently...
1. A Comet Appears- The Shins. (This song is pure poetry. Favorite line... "Every post you can hitch your faith on is a pie in the sky, chock full of lies, a tool we devised to make sinking stones fly".)
2. Heartbeats- Jose Gonzoles (Love.Seriously.So good.)
3. Swan Song- A Fine Frenzy (I really love this song. And Alison Sudol's musical talent)
4. Spring Awakening album- Original Broadway Cast (Literally the entire thing.)
5. Dark Blue- Jack's Mannequin (because it is in my top five from my very favorite band)
6. Hey, Soul Sister- Train (This song just makes me happy.)
7. Skinny Love- Bon Iver (A go to song of mine. Along with almost every other song
that comes out of Justin Vernon's mouth)
8. Revelry- Kings of Leon (I'm just in love with KOL right now)
9. Notion- Kings Of Leon (Case in point.)
10.Hammers and Strings (A Lullaby)- Jack's Mannequin (Because I really think Andrew
McMahon wrote it for me.)

Okay, I could go on forever because music is totally my Anti-Drug but I won't because that might border on excessive.

2:25 am

Spring time in Dallas, an Awakening.

It's two for one Sunday.

This post is going to be a hodge podge of things I love about this weekend.

Yesterday, I was in Dallas at the brand spanking new Winspear Opera House watching the matinee of Spring Awakening. It was incredible. I fell in love with the show months ago, despite never having seen the OBC on Broadway, simply from watching poorly recorded clips and listening to the soundtrack. On repeat. Every day. Regardless, my roommates and I loved every single minute of it! The cast was really great. The two standouts for me were Steffi D and Taylor Trensch who played Ilse and Moritz, respectively. The whole cast really was awesome, but those two just stole the show for me. In the second number of the second act, they perform a duet, "Don't Do Sadness/Blue Wind", that literally gave me chills. I know I'm gushing, so I'll stop myself before it gets too bad.

The show is definitely not your grandma's musical, but it is fresh and stunning and relevant even though the time period is sometime in the late nineteenth century. Beyond just the content, the talent, and the songs, the whole aspect of the show was new and different. I really loved how they used the stage and the members of the cast who weren't performing. The actors who were designated as u/s or part of the ensemble were sitting in the risers on the stage, dressed in street clothes. During group numbers, they would stand up and join in the number. I kind of loved that!

The music will keep you singing long after you've left the theater and I find myself already wishing I could go back. I don't know how long the tour will last, as of now I think it is set to end sometime this summer in Orlando. I really hope that it makes another go around because I would see it again in a heartbeat.

In short, it was incredible. Okay, I'm done with the gushing, I promise.

In other news, to feed the member's of our house insatiable appetites for all things Broadway, Liz has decided we are going to read one excerpt from her book about the great Theaters of Broadway. Tonight was the Ford Center.

In short, I love my roommates.

Here's a little montage from the Tour's YouTube channel. The song is "Totally F**ked" and it doesn't just consist of the words blah blah blah, I promise.



10:13pm

Shake the Dust.

So a friend of mine sent me the link to this video. I may be really behind the curve on this because this guy is simply too brilliant for people not to know him. The man in the video is Anis Mojgani, a spoken word poet out of Portland, Oregon. He has won all kinds of Poetry Slam titles and is kind of a rock star in the world of the written word. I'll just let his work speak for him, so without further ado... Mr. Anis Mojgani.
Enjoy!