If you haven’t heard of Chat Roulette, it’s a site that lets you video-chat with random strangers. There’s no filters at all so I’ve heard like one in ten people you come across are naked men masturbating.
This guy did the coolest thing. He played his piano, improv, about each person he encountered.
What’s funny is everyone thought he was Ben Folds (he does look like him). So Ben Folds the other coolest thing. He did it too, during a concert!
Elijah after coming out of the local Rite Aid:
“There was a lady in there with an eye patch. But I checked, and she had two real feet.”
No pirates here! Move along!
Elijah complaining about how I want the house to be clean before my parents and brother arrive for a week’s visit:
“When I have kids I’m not going to make them clean the house because you’re coming over. I’m going to make things dirty so that you’ll leave.”
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Yesterday Daniel, Nathaniel, Dillon and I went to the local skate park. I used the fisheye for some shots. Here’s Daniel skating:
Nathaniel (standing, right, holding my bag) and Dillon (left, sitting on a skateboard):
Then Nathaniel, Dillon and I went to see a free instore performance by Brant Bjork:
It was pretty awesome. Here’s one of the songs he did:
Someone I know via blogging sent this to me quite awhile ago. I finally remembered to take a picture of it.
She and her friend did an interview of U2 for a fanzine on their Boy tour at a Ramada Inn restaurant. This is a drawing Edge made on a paper placemat during the meal (breakfast). You can also see stains from their coffee or tea on the paper. That’s the fanzine in the top left, and a photo of Bono on the right. The note in the top right is her note to me.
Daniel thinks this is worth something, but I don’t. His exact words: “You finally have something that’s worth something in all your junk!” But honestly, I really don’t think it is worth anything.
Except to me!
I’ve been searching for this my whole life and never knew it. This kids chorus singing the Church—so awesome!
Check out the choir’s blog for more videos and info, including a Phoenix song.
Or visit their youtube channel for more videos.
One for Tawnya!
Holy cow! I keep editing and adding on to this post as I discover more stuff they’ve done. Here they are performing WITH Crowded House!
More on their youtube channel.
I do that sometimes. Mostly, it’s true, when I’m listening to Jeff Buckley’s “The Last Goodbye” and wondering how any woman in her right mind could ever turn him down.
(And don’t even get me started on “Lover, You Should Have Come Over…”)
But I don’t usually wonder about it with a sense of “I wish that was written about me.” Mostly I think about it in terms of, “I would not be happy to have a song that says that about me all over the airwaves.”
Of course a lot of songwriters don’t write about actual people, it’s all made up stuff. But a lot of songwriters—including a lot of my favorites—do write about actual people. I mean, how does Darryl Hannah feel about Jackson Browne’s “I’m Alive” album, which (I’m assuming) is pretty much all about her?
The girl that “Sister Christian” is about nearly changed her name, she was so mortified when people figured out it was about her.
How’d you like to be the woman this was written for?
Actually, she probably just rolled her eyes when she heard that song. Glen can be a bit melodramatic at times.
It’s why we love him.
So what are some songs you wish were written about you? Or songs you’d want to die if they were?
Are you surprised?
I’m not either. I forget everything!
I posted a video blog the other day about some old music magazines I’d saved from my teen years. Included in all the stuff my parents sent was a fanzine that my penpal, Laura, put together.
She actually did multiple issues, but I only saved a copy of one, not sure why. Maybe because it was the only one I submitted anything for. I don’t remember. But I’d completely forgotten I’d written some album reviews for it until I started to scan it for Laura, who I recently reconnected with on Facebook. She lost all of her own copies of the ‘Zine, which is really too bad, because she did some cool interviews for it, including the Alarm. She interviewed them in San Fran, then flew to Seattle to stay with me for a few days and we went to see them play. When we met them after the show, they remembered her from the interview. It was cool.
Anyway, here is the page that features my reviews. I think it’s funny that I still basically write about music the same way I did when I was 15.
Back when I was Susie M.
I was too lazy to take pictures or scan stuff and write everything out about this. Instead I rambled on in front of a webcam.
Isn’t that a great name for a band?
For Christmas just about all Nathaniel wanted was cash so he could go to shows, so that’s what he got. Problem is I don’t want to be spending money for me to go to shows now that Daniel’s unemployed, and he doesn’t have a driver’s license. Since Dillon wouldn’t go with him to see this band he wanted to see, Animals As Leaders, Nathaniel sprang for my ticket and I took him.
The show was at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. Famous venue (the Doors played there!) but totally lame. Any venue on the Sunset Strip is lame…but the Whiskey packs like 8 bands on a bill and lets them all play about 4 songs. And some of the bands actually pay the venue to be able to play there.
Some thoughts during the opening bands.
First band (that we saw): Will someone just stick a fork in my eyeball already?
Second band: Bubblegum metal…How much more cookie cutter can you get?…Can I stick a fork in his eyeball?
Third band: Closed my eyes and almost went to sleep.
Animals As Leaders were awesome. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I didn’t know anything about them, but they’re doing stuff I’ve never seen anyone else do. Two guitarists on 8-string guitars, with a drummer, and no vocals. Their songs are proggy/mathy. They have heavy moments and they have soft moments. There were a couple laptops in use too, for samples I think. Or drum loops or something.
It’s always awesome to see a black guy in a metal band. And he rips on guitar.
The crowd loved them, which I was a little surprised by, since they’d also loved some of the previous bands that were like torture to me. There was even a big pit going, which was interesting—I don’t really see their music as something to mosh to.
Sad part—one of the guitarists had intrument/equipment problems, and it took awhile for him to get it fixed. They only played five songs!
Here’s what they sound like:
Do you know who this song is about?
His father was a drinker
And his mother cried in bed
Folding John Wayne’s t-shirts
When the swingset hit his head
The neighbors they adored him
For his humor and his conversation
Look underneath the house there
Find the few living things, rotting fast, in their sleep
Oh, the dead
Twenty-seven people
Even more, they were boys
With their cars, summer jobs
Oh my God
Are you one of them?
He dressed up like a clown for them
With his face paint white and red
And on his best behavior
In a dark room on the bed
He kissed them all
He’d kill ten thousand people
With a sleight of his hand
Running far, running fast to the dead
He took off all their clothes for them
He put a cloth on their lips
Quiet hands, quiet kiss on the mouth
And in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floor boards
For the secrets I have hid
It’s about the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Jr. I tend to embrace the grisly, so I love this song. Another good song about a killer is “Diane” by Husker Du. It’s creepy because it’s told from the point of view of the killer. But Sufjan takes it a step further—he asks what we have in common with a killer. It’s disturbing.
And brilliant.