tonight. tonight i am exhausted. 

first day back at school at what should have been my last semester of college. should have been. isn't.

it all comes down to a bad situation and a bad series of choices that has left me pretty overwhelmed for the last three months. but i made my bed, and now i must lie in it. and from this last october through december, that is literally all i did. i somehow managed to get mono--and no it wasn't from hooking up with anyone. i'm almost sure of that.

but now the bed i have to lie in is a figurative one. i have a lot of catching up and proving myself to do. the stress of the planning and the avoiding and the temptation to just drop it all and walk away is enough to give me a very premature heart attack. so for that, i need something that will never fail me. i need Spoon. now this is a severe case of unappreciated talent. this band has yet to receive nearly as much credit as it deserves. dear spoon, why are you so amazing? 

betchyou got it all planned, right....never fit to worry, never even feel a fright.

from their most recent album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, is today's song don't you evah.

also enjoying anything you want from Girls Can Tell.

 

oh and all these Spoon cravings just happen to be perfectly timed, because their newest album comes out on the 19th of this month. yessssssssss. pre-order it here.

I have four eyes.

I found out a little over a year ago that I needed glasses. No clue I was nearsighted my whole life. For about 21 years, I just assumed that the nearby mountains were a little bit fuzzy for everyone? In my defense, if I had seen them like that my whole life, how was I supposed to know what they really looked like?

Getting glasses was the best thing that ever happened to me. I stopped getting lost on the road at night, or passing my freeway exit. I could read subtitles in movies, or sit in the back of the classroom. And the mountains--zero fuzz.

but then I really screwed myself. I lost my glasses 4 months ago and since then have almost ran over a homeless woman that walked into the road in the middle of the night, and have doubled the chances of getting severe wrinkles on my face from squinting my way through life. 

Yesterday I finally got my new pair of glasses. They are spectacular, and a higher prescription, and I love them.

So although the term "four eyes" is not normally one of endearment, I like to think that looking like a librarian might not be so bad. Today's song is dedicated to all the partially-blind sexy bookworms out there. From the album "Evil Urges" (great title) by My Morning Jacket is a song that tells us just how sexy, and useful, glasses can be.

Take off those glasses and let down your hair.

Librarian - My Morning Jacket

Get the lyrics here.

Its a new year, and it's all anyone is talking about. 

"Happy New Year"

be prepared to be bombarded with this seemingly well-meaning phrase by everyone you pass for about the next 2 weeks. Waiters say it for a bigger tip. Businesses make an 8 foot poster of it to seem more personable. Strangers use it for casual conversation on buses, trains, and at crosswalks. And the mall uses it as an excuse to have a sale. 

Well, when I feel obligated to leave a bigger tip, or when I am distracted by the bright neon green sign on the side of the road, or when a gross older man touches my shoulder at a crosswalk, or when I can't find a single parking spot at the mall, it doesn't feel like a happy new year. bah humbug. 

BUT! I have something to cheer me, and you, up. Its one of Beck's finest songs from one of his finest albums, so turn it on, and just.....drive. (*but if you live where I live, take the back roads because the freeways and main intersections will be clogged with idiots who don't know how to drive in an inch of snow)

dear 2010, the superfluous use of the phrase "happy new year" has not ruined you yet. you will be my golden age. 

 

Get the lyrics here. 

 Tonight is the big night, and Jamie Foxx says that whatever you do, just blame it on the alcohol. Across the nation, drunk slutty girls and suave over-sexed men will be seeking each other out, for what is usually a 5 to 10 second kiss (or something else) scheduled at a very specific time, that then determines the quality of the 365 days that follow. 

Well. I had a new years kiss last year (it was even with someone I knew and actually gave a damn about!) and I ended up having my second worst year to date. But, if you are set on getting that kiss, put on the cologne with pheromones that trick women into being attracted to you, or if you're a girl, throw on a pound of glitter and glue on some fake eyelashes...THEN, just throw 13 bottles of champagne into the equation and you have a 99% chance of getting that romantic kiss on the floor of a sticky bar floor that you always dreamed of. 

But I say, screw the kiss. But since everyone else will be busy getting their mack on, I see an opportunity. For those of you not interested in a NYE kiss or for those of you that are not appealing enough to get one, I have generously thought up a list of 5 other things to do at a bar or house party to take advantage of everyone being distracted.

1. snatch a purse

2. spot the one or two people in the crowd that weren't kissed and keep in mind that those few girls or guys will probably be feeling pretty desperate later--and you can take advantage of that.

3. sneak a few of your host's closed topped beverages from into your jacket or purse. 

4. snatch a pair of shoes (if left by the door)

5. "accidentally" call your ex and leave a long enough voicemail to let them hear what a good time you are having.

well.......ok so basically my ideas are limited to stealing things or preying on other people's insecurities. These are probably not the best things to start a new year off with....but consider those 10 seconds your last chance to do something totally selfish, conniving, foolish, or illegal, and then go ahead and blame it on your reckless past of 2009. 

 

SO, boys and girls.....have fun tonight. Drive (or walk) safe, and try not to get any diseases. And for your listening pleasure, and with the help of my favorite radio station, I've provided 12 songs that you need in your life tonight.

1. Blame it on the Alcohol - Jamie Foxx and T-Pain

2. Ice Cream Paint Job - Dorrough Music

3. TiK ToK - Ke$ha

4. Run This Town - Jay-Z

5. BedRock - Young Money  

6. Throw it in the Bag - Fabolous

7. Make a Toast - Dolla

8. Forever - Drake

9. Imma Star - Jeremih 

10. Whatever You Like - T.I.  

11. Baby I'm Back - Baby Bash 

12. Wasted - Gucci Mane 

 

2009 is almost over. finally.

to be honest, this year has not impressed me. I have been getting anything but sleep. celebrities are dropping dead left and right. death has been running rampant, and has even made an appearance in my local coming and goings often enough to make me sick of him. needless to say, I'm excited for the new year.

2009 has been about dying.

2010 is about living.

Today's song comes from a band thats been around since 1998, but that I had no knowledge of until a friend urged me to attend their small show at Kilby Court in Salt Lake City, Utah about a year ago. Although Kilby has been a great starter venue for bands that would later become extremely successful (MGMT comes to mind) the approx 30 sq ft shack can be somewhat limiting to a band's sound. However, Jonathan "Yoni" Wolf's piercing voice and lyrics were something to behold in this venue, and I without knowing a single song, I fell in love. The band is called Why? At that time, Yoni and his bandmates were promoting their most recent album (at the time) "Alopecia" which could be why it remains as my favorite album. Today's song, from that album, is Fatalist Palmistry. 

So alright alright, if you already know and love the song: listen to it again, and this time listen to the words. If you don't know it, just buy the whole album and thank me later. Besides being a very talented instrumentalist, Yoni is a poet. So when you listen to this song, especially this album, I hope you can at least try to appreciate the captivating style and word choice of a man whose got a sound unlike most others.

This year has been more unsettling and depressing than Revolutionary Road. To that, Yoni says, "but I am still alive in love and wide eyed in my time." 

So, thank your lucky stars that we only have one more day of a poisoned year, and go out, and make 2010 about making up for lost time. We are all still alive in love and wide eyed--I hope. 

 

Get the lyrics here. 

Music is good. we like it. and you can find whatever you want about it online. you can search blog after blog for the next great underground band, or read reviews about those that are up and coming. but what about the music thats already been around a while? what about the songs in your itunes that you have always had and never paid attention to? this is for them--the forgotten.

We love music. we don't claim to know everything about it. we just know that we want to know as much as we can. we want to know the perfect song for the perfect drive. we want to know the best lyrics, the best album art, the best videos, best mix cd. we want to remember those that we've already appreciated and already forgotten.

Maybe you have 80 GB of music on your ipod. or computer. now tell me you listen to all of that equally, and i will say, "liar!!!" so because you've spent the last week straight listening to whatever hip indie underground rising star that you read about on Pitchfork (not that there's anything wrong with that....) we are here to remind you to not forget about the early Eels albums, or those first really dark and depressing Radiohead songs that you used to (or continue to) smoke weed to.

This blog is about either discovering stuff you never knew you were missing, or reigniting the spark between you and the mix cd you gave to your ex-lover 3 years ago.

So the goal is: a song for every day. But to be honest, I'm lazy. and forgetful. a winning combination. So some days it might be 3 songs, and then nothing for a week. The songs will be whatever I feel like, and whatever comes to mind. Suggestions for re-listens.

Also, a list of mixes--made by yours truly--will be featured (suggestions welcome and encouraged). Examples of such mixes are, the perfect mix to listen to while: hooking up, driving through a canyon, driving to a lake, sitting by a lake, hooking up by a lake, fighting with someone, falling in love with someone (or something), running away, driving in the middle of the night, and having a one-night-stand. There will be many more to come.

This blog is mostly about music, but I might post anything else cool I see: a particularly funny youtube video, an inspiring piece of art or design, or something especially creative and awesome. Please email suggestions for music, a song that has an experience tied to it, or any bit of creative nonsense you find. I will be happy to post it.

Oh and I should make it clear, no music elitists allowed here. Maybe you're the kind of person that rules out anything thats not alt-folk, or you wouldn't be caught dead listening to t-pain or lil wayne. Get over yourself. I don't care if you heard it first, if you liked a band--before they got popular--or if you don't listen to anything but your ipod your indie podcasts. The worth of a piece of music, just like any other work of art, is determined in terms of the purpose it serves. This means that any genre of music can have some worth. Except country. Ha ha just kidding. But seriously. Anyways, my point is that I am an avid U92 fan and listener (U92--where hip hop lives), I love Dolla and I would do anything for T.I., but I am more than willing to listen to almost any genre or song, and I will come away with some kind of appreciation for it, either for the artistic beauty of the piece, or for its pop-sensation-goodness. So go forth, and do the same.