Sweet Blog o' Mine

And Now, for Today's Soundtrack

Todd Rundgren's Pretending to Care. Stuck in my head.  For all you Amalgamates out there.  Enjoy!

In My Head Today

And for the sake of clarity
They are "Faith", "Hope", and "Charity"
In the particle of me that cares for this
I betrayed those little atoms with a kiss

Ah, Elvis.

Children by the Millions Scream for Alex Chilton

All I knew about Alex Chilton was that lyric by the Replacements until about 2001, when my friend Christopher introduced me to Big Star.  We were dating at the time -- he living in DC and I in NYC -- so I listened to Big Star a lot during the time we weren't in the same city, mostly their first two albums.  We also went to see them in New Orleans when we were down there together for New Years.  Christopher now lives in London, but I texted him from the Big Star show last night letting him know I was there.  He responded back immediately -- not sure what he was doing up at that hour . . .

Thanks to Christopher for being in my life and introducing me to Big Star, and thanks to @livethelushlife, @mysteryaction, @winenshine and Ethan & co for being such good company.

Rock & Roll

Last week, my friend Mayer came to town to see the concerts for the 25th Anniversary of the Rock & Roll Hall of fame.  He took me along for the first night where I got to see the likes of Crosby Stills & Nash, Bonnie Raitt, John Fogerty, Jackson Brown, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Simon & Garfunkel, Bruce Springsteen & Billy Joel.  It was an epic-length show, starting at 7:30 and ending at 1:30 a.m.  Mayer does a much better recap (part 1 & part 2), but I wanted to share a bit of Bruce & Billy singing New York State of Mind.  PS -- I need to learn how to use the video on my digi-cam.  Thanks, Mayer!!!!

Homecoming

I'm heading up to Tufts this weekend for the Amalgamates 25th anniversary celebration.  The Mates are a coed a cappella group that I was in for three of my four years at Tufts and whose alumni and members have been a part of my life ever since.  People are coming in from all over the world to celebrate and sing, and I'd be shocked if I have much of a voice left after the weekend.  Can't wait to see everyone!!!  Oh, and apparently there's a football game?

Glee

I watched the first episode of Glee and absolutely adored it.  It was like some sort of mash-up flashback to my years of MTM (Musical Theatre Machine), college and law school a cappella groups, stage band, musicals, the Law Revue show, and ACMAP (a.k.a. band camp) all rolled into one, except with a much healthier dose of angst than anything I ever experienced in reality.  Or at least if there was angst, or if we were being called losers behind our backs in high school, I was too blissfully oblivious to notice.   I spent so much time in my high school auditorium that when they remodeled it, I took a piece of the stage home (I wasn't the only one, for the record).  It still sitting in a closet up in Maine to this day (I hope).  I look back at all of those experiences with sheer, well, glee, and find that singing and theatre is the one thing that I don't have time for anymore that I truly, truly miss with all of my heart.  Yes, I'm a dork, but proud of it as all hell.

Mix Tapes

Last night I was at a bar on 10th Street called Black and White.  It's nothing special -- a dark, loud, dive-y bar between 3rd and 4th Aves, a little too loud for my taste.  When I walked in, I thought that I had probably raised the average age of the place quite a bit, but at least they were playing the Clash -- Police and Thieves.  Turns out there was a DJ, playing some fantastic 80's music.  It literally sounded to me like she had taken my personal box of mix tapes -- the ones that I had taped off of the radio on WLIR back in the day -- and put them on her iPod: New Order, Joy Division, Tones on Tail, the Cure, Depeche Mode, and more.  If she had played it at a volume that had actually allowed me to hear my friends, I would have stayed all night.

Love Child

As I said yesterday on my Facebook status update, I want to be the love child of Julia Child and Chrissie Hynde when I grow up.  You can read about my love for Julia below.  I got to see Chrissie and the Pretenders rocking out on Monday night at Summerstage.  If I can rock that hard, sing that well, and look that good at age 57, I'll be thrilled.

Ah, Elvis

Elvis Costello's voice still makes me swoon every time.  Last night's show was fantastic.  His new album definitely has a country feel to it, but some of my favorite moments last night were when he modified old favorites with a touch of the country style.  Indoor Fireworks was a natural, as was Brilliant Mistake, but I never would have predicted Every Day I Write the Book, lush with brilliant harmonies throughout the chorus.  Sigh.  And I still can't believe I didn't bring my camera.  I literally thought not to bring it, thinking I couldn't bring it in to the Beacon, somehow forgetting all the pictures I took of PJ Harvey.  Argh.  This cell phone picture is god-awful.

Elvis!

Elvis!