Hanging Up My Lovers Of Sounds Cleats…
31DaysOfMusic is over… I’m taking my online identity back over to
http://missfitzpdx.com (also on tumblr)…
See you there or see you in another life, brotha…!
31DaysOfMusic, Day 31: All Time Favorite Artist
I’ve already covered this about 7 times in this meme so far, so not much more to say. I’ve been with her for twenty years and hope I’m with her for twenty more.
31DaysOfMusic, Day 30: Song/Album that brings up a certain time in your life
Doesn’t everyone have a million of these?
I remember I got this album on the same day that I bought Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour, which I bought because in my junior year English class in high school we had to do a fucking BOOK REPORT. All the jocks in my class chose The Bridges of Madison County, which if you don’t know, is less than 200 pages long. The Witching Hour is almost 1000 pages. So there’s one thing to say here— either the jocks were fucking idiots who couldn’t read more than 200 pages, or I was a fucking idiot for not choosing a 200 page book that I could read on my lunch break.
I listened to Siamese Dream on repeat while reading it. They are tied to one another forever in my mind (for better or worse), and they take me right back into 1993.
31DaysOf♫, Day 29: an artist everyone hates but you like
Heh heh, kidding. I hate them, too.
31DaysOfMusic, Day 28: Song that is the Anthem of My Life
I can’t even come to grips with all the songs I’d need to sMASH-UP to make the anthem of my life, but it probably is primarily a mixture of Madonna’s “Music” (terrible grammar and all!) and Auf der Maur’s “I Need I Want I Will.” And though I could conceive of actually trying to mash those two songs up (I neeeeeed [music!]) - I won’t put you through it.
Here’s a semi-anthemic song by Goldfrapp that really pulls together my love of metal, disco, glam, pop, and aerobics:
Guess I’m a little spent at the end of these 31Days…!
PROOF OF CONCEPT BONUS POST!
Erik Blood’s To Leave America from The Way We Live
31DaysOfMusic, Day 27: Artist You’ve Seen Live the Most
Playing in a promising local band means that I’ve seen a couple regional bands an uncountable number of times. I can’t think of one national act that I’ve seen more than about 4 times (Madonna, Placebo, Josh Homme)— guess that’s cause I grew up in Reno and no one played there, so my concert-going life didn’t start til about 2001. Anyway, I’ve seen the Turn-Ons and their subsequent bands more times than I can count, and I’d go see them a million times more.
The Turn Ons, It’s Over
*this song, It’s Over, was written about the demise of the band and if I’m not mistaken this was one of the Turn-Ons last performances… additionally, this video in NO WAY justifies how awesome this band is… all the guys have gone on to other projects which I heartily recommend checking out…
Erik Blood: solo with help from drummer Will and guitarist Corey
DeVries: lead singer Travis moved to NYC and started his own band
Little Penguins: drummer Will steps out front on vox, w/ help from Corey & Erik
31DaysOfMusic, Day 26:
A song/album that changed your opinion about an artist
Well, I don’t really know how to choose between Lady Gaga and Kanye West for this one. With Lady Gaga, I hated her with a passion at the start— mostly because I don’t like anyone stupid/ballsy enough to go around talking about wanting to be the next Madonna. With Kanye, I knew he was good, but I don’t listen to much hip/hop, though if you looked in my iTunes stats you would see that I have played the FUCK out of “Jesus Walks.” I guess I ought to pick Lady Gaga, since it has a happier ending than my opinion about Kanye West.
My original thoughts about Gaga? A One-trick pony who goes out of her way to be weird with no substance underneath it. Turns out that honor kind of goes more to Ke$ha. It’s easy to slag off pop stars, they’re just such easy targets— they are products before they are people, they are the public face of a fucked up machine… And it was really easy for me to blow off Gaga until I saw this. Here’s what changed my mind:
1. Her complete COMMITMENT to that ridiculous dress. In the words of Kelly, “whaaaat waaaaaas thaaaaat?”
2. She plays piano - ie, she is actually a musician. I’ve seen her play stand up bass and rock a midi controller (ie, you’re not the only one who can press buttons onstage, Kanye!)
3. She does have pipes.. not like some other pop stars who have thin little voices that need to be doubled or tripled or octupled to make them listenable.
I saw her live this year and she blew me away. So, color me converted… I just hope she continues to earn it…
31DaysOfMusic, Day 25: An Album That Disappointed You.
Every INTERPOL album that came after Turn On the Bright Lights.
I know that CitadelOfMusic was referring to the album cover on my 31DaysOfMusic post for today, but I laughed my ass off seeing the notification of her comment show up on top of the photo posted by Mister Bernocco!
Oh fate, you are cruel and awesome.
A Song/Album You Wish More People Would Have Liked More… I’m torn between ‘not giving a shit what other people like’ and ‘wanting more success for the artists that i love {success as defined by the artists themselves}.’ Do I need to get so esoteric? Probably not. Just pick a fucking record, FitzGerald….
Okay, I can’t just pick a record, but I can highlight an artist who I think deserves more than what he’s got…While I’m not the indie-snob who goes out of her way to find music that no one else likes, I definitely see a tendency in myself to be drawn to music that isn’t always easily accessible (see my complete and utter obsession with Melissa Auf der Maur) or even if it IS accessible, seems destined to never quite catch on, getting lost in the shuffle…
Anyway, Jilly already dropped Joe Henry’s name— so I’m gonna drop the first song of his that I ever heard, from 1997’s Trampoline…
↓
Here’s a little bonus for anyone who wants to connect a dotted line to something else I love… Joe recorded a cover of Vic Chesnutt’s “Guilty by Association” for the Sweet Relief II album, which was a fundraiser to help Vic pay some medical bills. This is one of my favorite recorded songs of all time, and brings together 3 amazing artists… Vic, Joe, and Joe’s sister-in-law, who does the background vox. According to legend, Joe’s sister-in-law came to dinner one night for some of Melanie (Mrs. Joe) Henry’s infamous {Italian dish here}… after dinner, and a couple bottles of wine, Joe asked her if she wanted to do the song… I think they recorded it right there on the spot, wine-smiles and all…
31DaysOfMusic, Day 23: Favorite Lyric from a Favorite Song
Oh don piano..! These are all people whose lyrics I LOVE:
Neko Case * Missy Elliot * Ben Gibbard * Leslie Hall * PJ Harvey * Joe Henry * Josh Homme * Aimee Mann * Rhett Miller * Morrissey * Karen O * Nina Persson * Pamela Rooney * Kanye West * Thom Yorke
I can’t really pick one. How bout 31DaysOfFavoriteLyrics?
Last Friday, Nanno and I were having drinks before our set, and this Death Cab for Cutie song came on in the club, I hadn’t heard it in years… we agreed that it has some kickass language in it…
Postscript: I don’t like the video a quarter as much as I like the song, but would just like to point out that Justin Bieber owes much of his hair swoop to Chris Walla.
31DaysOfMusic, Day 22: 1st Album Owned
You know that I had 45s by the Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, Kenny Rogers, and Charlie Daniels Band… but I didn’t buy any of those for myself… I just kind of inherited them. Here’s a run-down of the FIRSTS of things I bought for myself:
CASSETTES:
Bought these on the same day, the first tapes I ever bought using my own money and free will:
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Not too long after this, I bought my first LP, and I really have no idea why I got it on vinyl instead of cassette, but it IS what it IS:
Note: Googling ‘Slippery When Wet’ without ‘Bon Jovi’ is highly NSFW.
Once I finally got a CD player for Christmas one year, I went right out and bought these two discs:
+ 
Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t tell you the first mp3 album I bought. Guess that says something about modern life (=rubbish).
31DaysOfMusic, Day 21:Fave Song From Childhood
WHY I had a Bee Gee’s 45, I cannot tell you— but I CAN tell you I played the fuck out of it.
For what it’s worth, I also played Kenny Rogers’ Gambler and Charlie Daniels’ Band’s Devil Went Down to Georgia and Michael Jackson’s Thriller - all played on a Fisher Price Phonograph.
