I'm With the Band

I don't know any girl who doesn't love a musician.  Even someone you'd barely give a glance to walking down the street turns into an object of fascination behind a guitar, or drums or rockin a mic.  There's a confidence that has to come from putting your talents on display and you have to assume that someone that can master the intricacies of music would be more attentive to things, you in particular.  Music is every part of my day, nay life.  The first tape I remember buying myself was INXS and listening over and over to Michael Hutchence croon that "they will never, ever tear us apart."  (what a loss to the music world).  My favorite job ever was working at a record store in college (we didn't even really sell records but every time I watch Empire Records I'm keenly nostalgic).  & it was there after opening up a promo CD with 4 or 5 songs no one had ever heard of that I first fell in love.  Song #3 might have been "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and I remember going back to it later but the last song was "Alive" by Pearl Jam and then I fell hard.  Eddie Vedder's scratchy yet smooth voice was weary and yet eager for me to understand the pain of this kid.  That changed everything for me.  Pop music would never be enough.  And musicians could influence a generation.  I spend almost every waking moment with a song in my head, on my computer, playing on my iPod while I cook or clean or run or eat.  I watch videos (when I can find them) and concerts (thank God for Palladia).  But I'm not a casual listener.  Music is not background for me so I can't listen and type or work.  Because when it's on, I listen.  
So when I ventured back into the world of dating again it's not surprising that I found actual love belting out some serious rock in a Ft. Lauderdale bar (Fat Cats shoutout!).  What was supposed to never work out (a girl you meet at your show doesn't usually lead to an 8 year relationship with a house and 6 animals, does it?) turned out to be the best thing to happen in my life.  And I got to be a part of music from a very different angle.  Musicians are cool and rocking out on stage is fun.  But there's so much more that goes into it.  They work hard and rehearse tirelessly to make sure they're gonna have a good show.  They have to spend hours visiting bars and venues to promote themselves and get gigs.  They suffer disappointments when a place doesn't call back or cancels a show.  They watch other bands, other musicians (sometimes much less talented) advance and get the shows they know they could rock.  They agonize over set lists and timing and harmonies and segues.  And then they get a show and they get up on stage and the place is empty.  Or the people are more interested in their pool game than listening.  Or worse, they're shouting to keep their conversation up over the music.  

But if the band is good enough, the people who are there are cool enough and the night is just right, live music can bring a whole place together.  I have danced with people I probably wouldn't meet in real life.  I have mouthed lyrics with big bouncers most people would side step.  And I have watched these musicians' reasons for doing what they love come to fruition.  Most of them may not get record deals or play to packed stadiums.  But they just might rock your Saturday night.  And they just might make you fall in love, even if it's just for a song.  So tonight I'll be rocking out at Mt. Lookout Tavern with The Touchables.  Which local band will you be supporting??? 

"Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything's right..."

Hi Delicious-


I've thought about trying to do a wrap-up of my 37 years on this planet but that's trite and been done.  I mean, I'm not done yet...so, yes Friday was my bday (the 13th...oooooh....spooky!) and I did nothing.  (Not, I didn't not do anything special for my birthday, I literally did NOTHING)  That was my present to myself.  I took off work, put my phone on mute and stayed away from the computer.  I read, I watched TV (in the middle of a weekday!), I layed in the hammock (thanks to the lovely 70's we're currently having), I ate doughnuts and French Fries & I went to bed at a resonable hour.  It sounds horribly boring, but it was actually kinda lovely!  The only thing I really did was talk to all my friends and family who called and that was really the best part of the day.  Maybe next year I'll be moved to do something a little more celebratory but after years of partying and drinking and making a fuss, a non-fuss was nice.

Today, felt more like my bday cuz I took my bday $ and went and got new running shoes. (Hence the title line from the Paolo Nutini song...my feel-good song of 2007!) My original pair that I bought before I knew what I was doing and that now have toe-holes are through.  Say hello to my new Saucony Omnis:

They're not pink...but they are super-comfortable and with my over-prognation need all the help I can get!!!  I am so ready for my 8 miles tomorrow!

P.S. I also watched SYTYCD and I don't really have anything to write about---what a BLAH show!!! No one really stood out...the cane dance was pretty interesting but that's kind of it. The only thing I'd really be moved to say is please, keep Lil C off this show! He's a horrible judge and he's a choreo who either stole the premise of his routine from 2 seasons ago or doesn't watch the show enough to know that someone already did that and did it better!

Gleeful Wednesdays

Hi Delicious-

After a little bit of an unforeseen break, I'm back!  Unfortunately I can't write about SYTYCD yet since J and I only had time to watch the first 8 couples perform before he had to go to his gig...so tomorrow on that one.

I can't believe that I haven't yet even touched on my frenzies of delight over Glee!  It's been a long time since I've gotten so giddy over a new show!  Maybe the last time was Pushing Daisies but I think Glee is even better.  The show is not serious about itself and doesn't want you to be either.  It's campy good fun that takes every stereotype of a high school student and exaggerates it a little bit more.  Then throws in some amazing singing of songs you love in routines that make you laugh as much as they make you want to join them (a football team warming up to Single Ladies=brilliant). It has characters that you hate but can't help loving (who doesn't want to spar just a little with Sue Sylvester?) and characters you love but kinda have to wonder about (why exactly is Will so blind to his evil wife?) and gives them the kind of dialogue that you quote the next day ("Are you questioning my badassness?  Have you seen my guns?"  In fact there are so many to chose from, I could blog about nothing but that and it seems that the blogosphere already has!) 

But the essence of what I love about Glee is that it never really is the same show twice, it always has heart and it is always fun!  One week it's a little telenovela with the wife going after Quinn for her baby and the next it's running a gay coming out storyline.  One week it's the showdown between Sue and Will and the next it's the kids hyped up on cold medicine. 

My only two wishes are that it doesn't go the way of cult-ish, ridiculously good shows I've loved and lost too soon:  the aforementioned Pushing Daisies and the I-still-miss Arrested Development.  Given that the folks at Fox have found a cash cow with all the marketing and iTunes this show generates, I hope this one is around for the long haul.  My other wish is that a new episode was on this week!!!  But since I've saved every epidsode, I guess I'll just have to go watch the unexpected fun mash up of Halo/Walking on Sunshine again.

Boys Named Falcon, One Missed Judge and Fourth Meal

Hi Delicious!

Has anything this week been as prevalent as a scaredy cat 6 year old boy with a dumb name?  The hubub that he caused by NOT being in the balloon was probably worse than if he'd been in it...as @robhuebel tweeted: "FALCON I AM GOING TO SPANK YOU SO HARD!"

But on a (possibly) more tragic note...Mia Michaels is leaving SYTYCD?!?! Say it ain't so!  She has been consistently my favorite choreographer and while always dramatic (and sometimes bullying) on the panel, my favorite judge.  I can't imagine SYTYCD without pieces like Addiction and The Door Dance!  I'm still keeping my fingers crossed! (btw, if you don't know what SYTYCD is...just hit the little x at the top, right hand corner of your screen!)

Last night was my boyfriend Jay's bday and he had a gig up at Win, Place or Show in West Chester.  As a long-time band girlfriend sometime it gets old going out to bar after bar (3 nights a week!).  But not at WPorS...that bar has such a great, welcoming feeling and the bartender remembered me after not being there for almost a year!  It reminds me of the Ft. Lauderdale bars I went to all my adult life where you can go in by yourself and talk to people, hang out and have a great time.  Plus, it's amazing to see him behind the drums after years of being a front man...he's just so happy up there.  Fun night where some trucker dude with a long beard and a t-shirt that said, "I Do My Own Stunts" asked me to take his picture with some girls so he could update his facebook profile, I had just the right amount of cherry slushies (oh how I love Three Olives Cherry!) and there was a dancing crowd all night (Don't Stop Believing continues to be the sing-along favorite). 

As previously mentioned, no evening of drinking and dancing would be complete without a little Taco Bell fourth meal on the way home...I heart cheesy bean burritos!  Truthfully, it's the only time I ever stop for fast food and it never disappoints.  Although the late night and filling burrito made me wake up at 8am (that is sleeping in for me!) and miss the 9 am Ashtanga class this am.  BOO!  I'm still sore from Wednesday's Ashtanga and yesterday's Anusara class helped but maybe today's massages (our 7 year anniversary present from back in September) and a day's yoga hiatus will put me right!

Hungry, Active, Literate Couch Potatoes Apply Here!

Hi Delicious-

Sitting down (at the request of @caboomer) to put these random, harried thoughts to the screen I realized I did this by first putting pen to paper.  Old School!  Maybe I'm the last person on the planet that has to see the written (versus typed) word to know it's real.  IThere's something to be said for seeing your words and crossing them out and ripping them up and then putting it up on the screen as the finished product.  So when you think of me doing this blog each week, imagine a pink notebook being filled with all kinds of scribble from a fuschia marker for days before I actually sit at the laptop to present to you.

Also trying to decide WHO would read this blog???  Someone as obsessed with pop culture and all things tv, music and movie related.  But not just any couch potato...no, an ACTIVE couch potato!  Because I'm equally (ok, almost) obsessed with running (altho I'm on a forced hiatus right now), yoga (I just started a 30 day yoga challenge 3 days ago) and healthy eating (@Hungrygirl is my favorite thing right now! plus I've been a vegetarian for the last 15 years) and pretty much just eating in general (last night at 2am I had Fourth Meal!) I also really enjoy travelling (everywhere) and exploring (my new hometown Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and it's surroundings) I love animals and have 7 of them...I am very sure you'll hear lots about them here!  Lastly, I guess, a LITERATE couch potato.  I am a voracious reader and always have a book (or two) going on (so far this year I've read 43 books) most of them on the English monarchy (random) but I love everything from Stephen King and Nick Hornby to Candice Bushnell and Anne Rice.

Still with me?