Happy

It had been a rough week. Not really for me per se, but because I was stressing out for friends and family. My friend, Allison, broke her tail bone, my friend, Sam, just had a miscarriage and is really depressed and then I just found out my Aunt Cathy has breast cancer and has surgery this Thursday.
Add those stresses to school work and job hunting and I’ve been a little depressed.
Well the other night, I was at a music banquet, and I was talking to the Dean of the department and I said some ideas I had for the fine arts program to improve student relations/communications. He was really impressed and said if I wrote out an executable marketing strategy for this, he would pay me for doing that. So it isn’t a full time job, just a gig,
but it made me really happy.

Then the radio station called today and said they would take care of me for the Killers, so that made me happy.

Also, one of my professors had said I should call her at her day job at one of the region’s largest pr firms. So I did
and she was like, I was going to talk about possibilities for you, but then I found out that we are looking to hire an account assistant. So I have an interview tomorrow!

Plus, I’m like a week away from being an aunt.
And caitlin said she felt bad none of my sibling were coming to my graduation, so she was going to come.

And the only reason she hadn’t said this for sure until today was she wanted to talk to Marie because Marie graduates the same day and she didn’t want to look like she was choosing between us, but Marie said it was a no brainer that Caitlin should come to mine. I just felt really happy because my friends were being so awesome.

I’m still worried about my Aunt,
and my friend who had the miscarriage,
especially I know she already struggles with depression as is,
but with all this other stuff that basically just happened today, I feel happy and now everything will be OK for me and all my loved ones.

I needed today and I hope my friends get a really happy day like me, too.

Future Looking Up

Today at a Fine Arts banquet, I was talking with the chair about some of my marketing/promotions ideas for the department. He liked my ideas so much that he actually asked me to write out a strategy plan for the department and he would pay me!

It is more like a gig than an actual job, but this freelance thing feels right. I could do my own PR work. I feel like I do have potential and a future and I am excited.

Now if I can just talk to my one professor about that twitter job, I’m set…

Return to Updates / Living the Rock and Roll Life

I”m back and ready to write about my life again. For awhile, I was down and out and thought nobody would care about my ramblings, but then I remembered this is for me. I want to remember this turning point in my life as I transition from college to career. So that said, my return to blogging:

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This weekend was like a scene out of Almost Famous.

Friday night, I found myself at a David Cook concert–you know, that guy who won “American Idol”? I might have lost some scene points by being at that, but I did bump into one of the guys from Saddle Creek who dropped some info on the DL about some of the label’s new signings that haven’t been announced. I won’t say names because this info is top secret for now, but one is an awesome group from Lincoln that I kind of figured SC would eventually sign. The other is from Canada and I had never heard of them, but considering the other Canadian imports have been some of the greatest additions to the SC roster, I’m sure this one will be no different.

Saturday was my first foray into the stereotypical Rock and Roll life: you know the whole sex, drugs and music image? Now I stayed a good girl, but my eyes were definitely opened. I hit up The Thermals concert @ The Slowdown. If you haven’t heard of these guys, check them out. Sure they sing a lot of songs about death and fascists and whatnot, which sounds depressing, but they are ridiculously upbeat. I also got to chill with these guys backstage and ask them a few questions. A full review and the interview will soon be up over at PopWreckoning.com. Now, while the show was good, there was some shit going down in the crowd that was quickly going bad. There were a few errant moshers and I turned around at one point to see this one guy shaking his finger at another. I turned around a second time and they were in a head lock. I turned around a third time and my friend Joel was breaking the fight up. Think this sounds crazy? Wait for the rest of my night, but first a pic of Kathy from the Thermals:

Like true rockstars, we went to the Orpheum apartments afte the show for a nap before further partying. Yes it was midnight and we were napping. We would need this energy for AFTERHOURS, aka crazy house party a Chris P.’s pad.

Now here is where my eyes were opened. I’ve been to house parties before, but nothing like this. In the backyard like thirty people were just chillaxin and drinking, despite it being freezing. So we went inside. A strobe light casting a tripy effect on the fan transformed the living room into a dance hall. Chris P. was over on some pro DJ equipment laying down some beats. People were already passed out on couches and others were already getting on each other right out in the open. I was a bit shocked, but chose to ignore some of that action and just dance with my friends. The dance floor was a blast. People were passing around candles (maybe not the brightest idea (no pun intended) around drunks, but they did look sweet in the lights. A little later, a total creepster was hitting on me, so my friend D. and I escaped upstairs to play with a cat. We were in a room with Panther, the cat, and a few guys came in and were disappointed that we didn’t have hard drugs. About then I decided, I should wrap up the evening (it was after 4:30 am, after all). I’m not naive and figured I’ve been in the vicinity of drugs before, but knowing that the guys in the basement had access to coke and shrooms made it just a little too real for me, so I bounced. This party was fun, but wild.

Turns out it wasn’t the only crazy party in Omaha last night. Today I went to visit my friend at the iconic Hotel Frank. This place is where a lot of Saddle Creekers got their start and is one of the few house venues in Omaha. It has gone under several names in the past and known for being a center of the arts…and of parties. So I guess Saturday night, some guys got a little crazy with red paint and turned the place into a war zone. They threw bottles and furniture down the stairs and despite broken glass being everywhere, they wrestled in the paint in the dark. Eventually my friend tried to kick these people out and put a stop to the vandalism, but a fight broke out. The paint was all contained in the West Wing of the House. Apparently, Middle House had no idea this action was happening and just continued their separate dance parties. The place is a little cleaned up now, but it still looks like a war zone. Just look at this cellphone picture. With red on the couch and red hand prints on the wall, it looks like somebody died…maybe they did? Who knows? This place is crazy:

And to think that people think Omaha is boring…

The Recyclable End of the Year List

Because it is that time of year and I like lists, I have been making more of an effort to search out various end of the year lists. Mostly I do this because I love letting it go to my head when I see other critics validate the bands I thought of for my top ten list (i.e. Fleet Foxes).

During my browsing, I found a “list” that claims to be the end all of lists for the best bands/albums of the year. I found this over at Vice Magazine, and they try to prove that end of the year lists are predictable and pointless. That maybe true to a degree, but as I read through their “list”, I had a hard time deciding if I thought they were hilarious or offensive.

Here’s what Gavin Haynes at Vice thought was the end all of lists:

Slice through the crap: this is The Only Top 35 Albums Of The Year Countdown You’ll Ever Need.

 

Number 35: Bonkers novelty rap collective. Shows staff have sense of humour.
Number 34: Reserved for Britpop ’survivors’ who’ve made ‘their best album in years’.
Number 33: Wacky side-project of big-name band singer, which is a wacky electro-pop concept album about magic animals.
Number 32: Something from Iceland.
Number 31:  The name that keeps turning up on every electro/house compilation CD released that year. eg. Simian Mobile Disco in 07.
Number 30: Real authentic alt.country dude who made the album in a cave in the Appalachians/once dated Joanna Newsom.
Number 29: Return of once-derided old-timer who used to symboise naffness, but has subverted expectations by making an album of honest, brooding ballads with a hip young producer.
Number 28: This space is reserved for Bruce Springsteen if he makes an album in the year of the list. If not, The Gaslight Anthem or Hold Steady should sub-in.
Number 27: Nick Cave.
Number 26: Disappointing third album from previously much-touted act, so bad editorial embarrassment means its been crowbarred in here as a Pravda-style exercise in shrinking them slowly rather than dropping them like a hot brick as would be most appropriate.
Number 25: The band that everyone was tipping as the year’s biggest act in January.
Number 24: You’ve never even heard of this one. You never will. Even as your read the blurb, you find your mind simultaneously erasing the entry.
Number 23: Glitchy & worthy & difficult record you’ve listened to once. Squarepusher, basically.
Number 21: British Sea Power.
Number 20: Token world muso.
Number 19:  The band who’ve got a reputation for being ‘influential’, and have a geographically specific ’scene’ organised around them that they put on semi-mythical ‘parties’ for at a semi-mythical ‘venue’. eg: No Age & The Smell, Chairlift & Concert Hall Of Williamsburg.
Number 18: Band who wrote album of songs inspired by the tragic accidental/drug death of their bass player last year. Somewhere, the blurb says ‘courageous’.
Number 17: Laura Marling.
Number 16: Cheesy pop band masquerading as ‘wonky-pop’/'nu-pop’/'underground pop’, which only barely disguises the fact that they’re Roxette with alt. dress sense.
Number 16: Put in a ’stunning’ performance on Jools Holland.
Number 15: DJ who made “the year’s party-starting mash-up compilation” that you’ve never actually heard at a party that wasn’t put on by media-insiders. And never made any of those partygoers do more than pout extra aggressively. 
Number 14: Elbow.
Number 13: Hyper-obscure album everyone was bamboozled into voting for cos Pitchfork gave it a 9.9, despite sounding like every other folk album ever.
Number 12: Rapper facing child sex charges.
Number 11: Dizzee/Bizzle (pop grime slot shared on a rotational basis)
Number 10: Album described as a ‘groundbreaking fusion of dance and rock’.
Number 9: Tape of Bob Dylan coughing up some phlegm in June 1972, found in someone’s attic, dusted off, reissued, and hagiographised in the Sunday papers as a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.
Numbers  8 – 2: Records that were OK: no one was mad about them, but no one disliked them much either, so they swum through the middle course, whereas intense records that some people were truly passionate about but others really hated all ultimately failed to make the cut.
Number 1: Coldplay (Q), Arctic Monkeys (NME), Sven Vath (Mixmag), Neil Young (Uncut), Neil Young (Mojo), Neil Young (Classic Rock), Neil Young (Home & Garden), people humming transcendentally over distorted tape loops of concrete being laid (The Wire).

Vice is a British publication so don’t beat yourself up if you don’t understand all the lingo. I think that explains why the humour is so dry and why many of the points are directed at UK bands. However, as I said before, I’m not entirely convinced this list is humourous and some mocked items are actually bands deserving of  praise like Laura Marling.

So what do you think? Funny? True? Let me know.

How to Write a College Paper

Perhaps you remember that I recently wrote about “How to love the Killers” just a few entries ago. I think “How to” stories are starting to rule my life. They are cropping up in so many places: interests, work, etc.

As I found myself writing a “How to” college paper, I made the discovery of this hilariously true “How to write a college paper.”

1. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a well lit place in front of your computer.

2. Log onto MSN and ICQ (be sure to go on away!). Check your email.

3. Read over the assignment carefully, to make certain you understand it.

4. Walk down to the vending machines and buy some chocolate to help you concentrate.

5. Check your email.

6. Call up a friend and ask if he/she wants to go to grab a coffee.  Just to get settled down and ready to work.

7. When you get back to your room, sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well lit place.

8. Read over the assignment again to make absolutely certain you understand it.

9. Check your email.

10. You know, you haven’t written to that kid you met at camp since fourth grade. You’d better write that letter now and get it out of the way so you can concentrate.

11. Look at your teeth in the bathroom mirror.

12. Grab some mp3z off of kazaa.

13. Check your email. ANY OF THIS SOUND FAMILIAR YET?!

14. MSN chat with one of your friends about the future. (ie summer plans).

15. Check your email.

16. Listen to your new mp3z and download some more.

17. Phone your friend on the other floor and ask if she’s started writing yet. Exchange derogatory emarks about your prof, the
course, the college, the world at large.

18. Walk to the store and buy a pack of gum. You’ve probably run out.

19. While you’ve got the gum you may as well buy a magazine and read it.

20. Check your email.

21. Check the newspaper listings to make sure you aren’t missing something truly worthwhile on TV.

22. Play some solitare (or age of legends!).

23. Check out bored.com.

24. Wash your hands.

25. Call up a friend to see how much they have done, probably haven’t started either.

26. Look through your housemate’s book of pictures from home. Ask who everyone is.

27. Sit down and do some serious thinking about your plans for the future.

28. Check to see if bored.com has been updated yet.

29. Check your email and listen to your new mp3z.

30. You should be rebooting by now, assuming that windows is crashing on schedule.

31. Read over the assignment one more time, just for heck of it.

32. Scoot your chair across the room to the window and watch the sunrise.

33. Lie face down on the floor and moan.

34. Punch the wall and break something.

35. Check your email.

36. Mumble obscenities.

37. 5am – start hacking on the paper without stopping. 6am -paper is finished.

38. Complain to everyone that you didn’t get any sleep because you had to write that stupid paper.

39. Go to class, hand in paper, and leave right away so you can take a nap.

Haha, it does sound a little familiar. Although the list maker might need to get a with the 21st century a little more. I’m pretty sure nobody uses kazaa anymore. Also on #2: MSN or ICQ? Perhaps, that’s a Canadian thing, but those of in States seem to prefer IM or Gchat.

Credit goes to Logical Insanity.

2009 – Acts You Should Know

Since I’m a sucker for lists, so the end of a year is always a great time for me. All the bloggers are posting their “best of” and “worst of” 2008 lists. I’ve, of course, given my own top ten albums of the year a lot of thought (no, while I love the Killers, they aren’t number one.) I think my personal favorite album of the year might have to go the soothing harmonies of the charismatic Fleet Foxes.

Now as much as I like looking at the past year, I’m also really excited to hear about what is going to happen in music for 2009. To help give everyone some early tips on who to watch out for, BBC has posted their longlist. I think of the artists on this list, I’m really excited to see that they are pushing Empire of the Sun. I’ve checked out a few other artists on this list, but many are new to me, so I look forward to giving this some further investigation.

How to love the Killers…

In my feature writing class, we’ve been writing a lot of how to articles. I don’t know if I’m really a fan of writing these, but I am a fan of this photo how to story featuring my beloved Brandon Flowers, lead singer of the Killers.

The story is called, “How to Buy a Tux” and it was featured in GQ. Check it out here.

I’m a big fan of this story and of Flowers in the casual tux: Absolutely adorable. Although, the T-shirt alone is $295, so I don’t know what average guy is going to be replicating this look.

I’m also a fan of the photography for the story. Like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m really getting into photography. I just like the clean looks of these photos and I like the idea of telling a “how to” more through photos than through the print. I could get into doing stories like that, especially if Flowers was involved.

Getting Back to the Get Up Kids

Don’t be mad at me dear reader. I didn’t mean to leave you hanging for so long, but my life has been filled with tons of exciting music events (and also tons of not-so-exciting-homework days. ugh).

When I last left you, I wrote I had gone to the Kansas City Get Up Kids reunion show. There was a weird way they were handing out tickets, but I was fortunate enough to get a good number that put me in the front row!

The opening set was forgettable, so I won’t bother writing about it. I mostly just wanted to hear from the Get Up Kids and they did not disappoint. They played Something to Write Home About in its entirety and a killer six song encore.

I managed to snag a few videos from the show on my camera. Here’s “My Apologies”:

Now as epic as the show was, there were a few things that made me happier than the music: 1. The band was so happy and getting along. They were excited to be there, which is refreshing because their last year together had a lot of tension.

2. The band posted my videos on their MySpace! I feel pretty VIP about that, so be sure to check out their page here: Get Up Kids on MySpace.

3. I met this pro photographer who I will further explain later in this entry.

Now, just when I thought the Get Up Kids excitement was over, I found myself in Omaha checking out one of my favorite Kansas City bands, The Republic Tigers, and as a last minute addition, The Roman Numeralsopened. Now the Roman Numerals feature none other than the very same drummer as the Get Up Kids. Exciting, I know. Even more exciting was when the band was stumped as to what to play for an encore and I was able to provide the suggestion. Their guitarist was really shocked I could name so many of their other songs and talked to me about it after the show. I love being so knowledgeable, haha.

As I mentioned, the photographer I met would come into play later. He was also at this show and since he remembered me, we got to talking. This was a great opportunity for me because he gave me lots of tips, which as an aspiring photographer, were invaluable. It was cool to get to question somebody about how they got a gig following a band around on tour and shooting for a newspaper.

I’ve gone to a few other shows since these, but since I built up the Get Up Kids show so much, I felt it important to not leave my readers waiting with baited breath for my update.

But, Ah Surprise….The Get Up Kids Reunion!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, the title of this post deserves that many exclamation marks. The Get Up Kids of emo legend are playing a reunion show this Sunday in none other than Kansas City! The Midwest never gets this type of stuff. It usually happens in New York or Los Angeles, but we finally get our special show. Sure, it helps that Matt Pryor and the gang are from here, but still, I couldn’t be more excited about the exclusivity of the show. So as you are reading this, I’m probably sitting in line waiting for this show to happen. I hope I’m not too cold, haha.

The venue, The Record Bar, is a very small venue with capacity a little over 200 and tickets are only available day of show, so I’m being a little crazy and camping outside the venue starting Saturday. I’m not the only one doing this and if you check on-line forums, I might be waiting too long to start my camping.

To give a little background, The Get Up Kids formed in 1995, but it wasn’t until they released Something To Write Home About, that they started getting national attention. In 2005, the band played a farewell show and the members pursued their other projects. Matt Pryor had The Terrible Twos, The New Amsterdams and his solo project Matt Pryor. Jim Suptic had several other groups as well and I caught one of his shows in Blackpool Lights. The Pope brothers, Ryan and Rob, had Koufax. Keyboardist James Dewees was especially busy with his project Reggie and the Full Effect and helping on really big name tours with the likes of My Chemical Romance. This reunion marks the 10 year anniversary of Something To Write Home About. Plans are a few more reunion shows in the spring, but they are not officially back together.

The Get Up Kids: website | myspace

Killers just having fun.

Continuing my trend of obsessing over the awesomeness that is The Killers, not only do I love their original material, but I love when they cover songs.

Recently, they covered Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” for the Yellow Bird Project at the Little Noise Sessions at Union Chapel.

Looks like too much fun. I can’t wait to see them in January.

I also want to note that Brandon Flowers is not wearing his hideous feathered jacket. This one in the video is more to my taste, but I still personally prefer his Hot Fuss days in the hot pink leather jacket:

And because I’m in the sharing mood, some of my other favorite Killers covers:

“Romeo and Juliet” by the Dire Straits, recorded for the live acoustic Abbey Road Sessions. Flowers was recovering from bronchitis that day, but I think he still sounds great. In fact, I think it adds an extra flair to the cover.

This cover of Joy Division’s “Shadowplay” was used in the soundtrack to Control, the documentary about Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis‘ tragic life.

One of their first covers was of one of the band’s influences, Morrissey and his song “Why Don’t You Find Out For Yourself,” and while this is not an official music video, it uses pics of the band and their audio.

I have a few other Killers covers like The Beatles‘ “Helter Skelter,” David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream,” Kenny Rogers‘ “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” etc. They love to do covers and I love to hear them, so just because I didn’t post more videos, make sure you don’t stop here and I encourage you to search out more of their covers.