Countdown to K’naan’s Troubadour

It’s only one more week until the new album from Somalian hip hop artist K’naan is available to purchase. I’ve been catching the previews and videos over the last few months and I have to say I’m pretty hyped about “Troubadour“. And to share my excitement, here are a couple of videos for songs from the new album. Enjoy!

Somalia (This video has a snippet of Rachel Maddow)

Dreamer

If you would like to see a little more of this artist, tune in to watch Jimmy Kimmel Wednesday night. K’naan will be making his first National TV appearance in the U.S.

Countdown to Gogol Bordello (Again)

Yay! It’s time for another Countdown to Gogol Bordello!

Earlier this week I followed through with a verbal commitment to my brother and bought my ticket to Gogol Bordello! So on June 19th, I’ll be meeting my brother, my brother’s girlfriend and my brother-in-law’s cousin’s ex-boyfriend for the Richmond, Virginia show at Toad’s Place (anyone else out there going???  Aaron?  You know you want to!).

I’m psyched!

To share my excitement, here is a quick video I took with my camera at the 10/18/2008 show in Blacksburg, Virginia. Yeah, so what if the resolution and the sound aren’t that great? You get to see the energy of the band and how eclectic they are! In this video, you’ll see drums, an accordion, cymbals, a guitar, a violin and the lead singer playing a plastic bucket. Yup, a plastic bucket. How is that for diversity?

GOGOL BORDELLO!!!!

If you want better pictures of the band, once again I recommend Aaron Evan’s set from the October 16, 2007 show in Baltimore, Maryland.

As long as my brother doesn’t lose his shoe and his car keys like he did at the New York City show, I think a good time will be had by all!

Billy Joel Exposes Me

Recently I heard Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” again.  It had been quite some time since I had listened to it.  I struggled singing along, but I hit my stride around Sally Ride (for real– I didn’t pick that because it rhymed).

Anyway, when I heard “Childen of Thalidomide”, I realized I wouldn’t have known what that was in 1989 when Billy Joel first released this song.  In fact, I don’t think I had any conscious knowledge of thalidomide until 11 years later when I read a Discover magazine article on the drug.

So I thought it would be neat to look at the full lyrics of the song and color-code all the items I learned about in the two decades after its release.  So I got me the lyrics, started reading, and my activity backfired something awful!  Instead of revealing how much I have learned since Billy Joel released the song, I uncovered that I’m still pretty clueless. 

It’s humbling, but below is my color-coded lyrics list (verses only).  Blue indicates stuff I think I learned about after the song was popular.  Red indicates stuff that I just learned today via Wikipedia’s list of the historical references in the song.

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, “The King and I”, and “The Catcher in the Rye”

Eisenhower, vaccine, England’s got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

Josef Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn’s got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River Kwai

Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California Baseball,
Starkwether, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide

Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger in a Strange Land,
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock

Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah’s in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz

Hypodermics on the shores, China’s under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can’t take it anymore

Some Notes:
With “Malcolm X”, I may have heard of him in 1989, but I really did not have a full understanding of the man until I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which by the way– everyone should read. 

“Begin”— Ha!  This whole time I though Joel meant that Ronald Reagan’s term was beginning. 

Rock Star Party

Last week while I was at my parent’s house, I received a text message from my sister.

wanna go to a rock star party on saturday?

In other words, a party where we were supposed to dress up as rock stars. Sounded fun, but I barely had an ample supply of underwear on hand, let alone “rock star garb.”

So what do you do if you are out of town, have limited items in your suitcase and you suddenly get invited to a Rock Star Party?

Raid your parents’ closet, of course!

I have a father who goes to goth clubs and a mother with much better footwear taste than I. The two of them supplied some key components to my outfit. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of the full assemble, but I do have a pen and a scanner, so here is a drawing:

Vicky is only hip because of her parents

Sadly, I have to admit that even if I were home with full access to my own closet, my concoction would have been lame. I rode the coattails of coolness… of… my… parents!!!

And so, I will close this post humming along to NOFX’s “What’s the Matter With with Parents Today?” from their Pump Up The Valuum album (not Heavy Petting Zoo like some lameos think):

Mom and dad
How’d you get so rad?
When exactly did you get so hip?
…

They Might Be Giants at 9:30 Club

Whoops– after 2+ months, I still never published this post about a They Might Be Giants concert in *November* My sister wants to read it, so here we go:

My sister did a very detailed recap of the concert on her blog. How detailed? Why, very detailed. She even covered our visit to the bar before the band went on:

Vicky looked at a menu, but didn’t want anything. We talked about tampons and yeast infections and all sorts of stuff like that. Kipp talked about his upcoming trip with Casey to Spain, and his past trip to Iceland with Julie.

Yup, every They Might Be Giants fan scouring the Internet wondering whether or not I ordered food can rest easy.

Anyway, because Carolyn was so thorough, I just have a few addendums.

Project Runway!!!!
The band made a Project Runway reference! When they first came out, they did the typical interaction with the audience.

TMBG: We are so excited to be here in Washington, D.C….
(Crowd cheers)
TMBG: Performing here at the 9:30 Club…
(Crowd cheers)
TMBG: …And we are really excited about the new season of Project Runway
(Vicky cheers)

Energy Level
Carolyn’s blog covered the energy level of the audience:

Speaking of annoying, I was also annoying because I was singing along and dancing, and it didn’t seem like the people around me were dancing all that much. Vicky also mentioned that the energy level was really low in the audience. Oh well.

When I first mentioned the energy level to Carolyn, it was really an observation. But the more I think about it, the more disappointed I am. I go to concerts for the crowd energy. I expect to jump around. I expect to dance and I expect to get terribly sweaty and nasty. But that didn’t happen. Very few people moved at all. At times I would look up at the balconies and see a bunch of stone-faced fans watching as still as they could be.

And I think it is the band to attribute this to. At the beginning of the show, they gave the crowd a lecture– saying if they saw people pushing or shoving they were going to stop the show altogether. Between that announcement, a lot of the talking comedy bits, and the extended erratic jamming, they really didn’t command the audience to move.

Now their performance was solid and interesting enough. But compare them to Gogol Bordello. Both bands sports eight+ performers. Both bands have very eccletic instrumentation– heck both bands feature an accordion! But the energy levels of both shows were complete opposites.

As fond as I am of They Might Be Giants, in the years to come, it will be the Gogol Bordello show that will stand the most firm in my memory.

Favorite Love Songs

In 1996, NOFX released the album, Heavy Petting Zoo, and I came across a love song I fancied.  It was called “Whatever Didi Wants” and I was fond of it not only for its catchy harmonies but because it portrayed a realistic love.  The guy was promising to do almost everything for the girl… but not everything.  Some things are just ridiculous…. like contracting dysentery.

I wouldn’t walk 500 miles
When I could fly coach
But almost anything
I wouldn’t swim across the Nile
Cause I could get
An amoebic dysentery

I would do almost anything for you…

In 2006, a new song, also by NOFX, emerged and ousted “Whatever Didi Wants” as my favorite love song.  It’s 34 seconds long, very catchy and uses bodily functions and scenarios you might find in Zobmondo to portray a young lover’s longing.  It’s “Instant Crassic” from Wolves in Wolves Clothing:

I’m swimming in a sea of pee
I’m hiking up a big mountain of poo
I feel like rolling in glass when I’m without you

I’m diving in a pool of puke
I’m fly fishing a stream of puss
That’s how I feel when something separates us

Well now, it appears NOFX’s 11 year reign is in jeopardy.  I’ve become quite smitten with this Jon Lajoie song which was inspired by 2 Girls 1 Cup (don’t worry– the video below is safe to watch).  This song is hilarious and probably too catchy for its own good.  I’ve already found myself singing it around the house.  Is that a good thing when I’m going on-site next week?  Probably not!

Amy Winehouse Links

I decided to do these links manually as I have too much commentary for del.icio.us to handle. Earlier this week, Mike E told me about a flowchart called “Are you Amy Winehouse?”

Are you Amy Winehouse?

I’ve had mixed results exposing others to Amy Winehouse. She never really caught on with Mike E and Mark Duncan , but Larry bought the Back to Black CD and we spent the majority of our Montana trip listening to her. On the Larry front, an Amy Winehouse phrase is in our every day language. It’s part of our corporate culture, proving to be just a tad more resilient than Pep-see Ya.

What kind of fuckery is this?!?

Amy uses a variation of the phrase in “Me and Mr. Jones” three seperate times in regards to a relationship. Larry and I use it when discussing daily duties:

Vicky: I think we are going to need to go ahead and purchase the reporting component.
Larry: What kind of fuckery is this?!?!

or

Larry: The meeting is going to be at 8:30 AM [Author's note: I don't like waking up early when a lunar eclipse or a hike or Chuck E. Cheese is not involved].
Vicky: What kind of fuckery is this?

My brother easily adopted to me and Larry’s catch phrase. On the way to Assateague, Jay and I got stuck in Beltway traffic and I received a phone call.

Vicky (answering): Hello? Oh, Hi Larry!
Jay: What kind of fuckery is this?!?! Heh Heh Heh

I think one of the items about Amy Winehouse that has made me think the most is her drinking. My very first link added to my del.icio.us account (well before the WordPress synchronization) was a Washington Post article on Winehouse call 100-Proof Voice. What stuck out the most to me was a quote from ?uestlove:

“I caught myself saying, ‘I’m going to rue the day when Amy gets it together,’ ” says Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, whose hip-hop band, the Roots, has performed with Winehouse in Europe.

“Once I heard [her music], part of me felt like: ‘Don’t rock the boat. Let this take its course ’cause that way you’ll get great music.’ And part of me wanted to reach out to her.

This struck home to me. There are those whose drinking I look down upon, those who I do not hesitate to judge harshly. And then are those who have established problems that I overlook and don’t even give a second thought to. Why the discrepancy? Why is it not an even playing field in the arena of who Vicky condemns? I think it is a bit of the Amy Winehouse Syndrome. Here’s the key– If you can tell great stories and make me laugh in the wee hours of the night, suddenly your drinking is no longer a factor. I let it take its course cause that way, I get to hear great stories.

It’s easy to overlook alcoholism when there is such great art. What kind of fuckery is *that*?

In Amy Winehouse’s case, I’m not quite sure, “great art” is always the most accurate phrase. On the contrary, her live performances have some displays that are decidedly ungreat.

Charlotte Church and Amy Winehouse perform “Beat It”

This one gets pretty horrid after about two minutes. I like how the background singers forge ahead.

Perhaps that is why her relatives can now surface with plans to help. Though I’m not sure boycott is the going to be the most effective route.

The Simpsons and NOFX

There is a room in our house which goes by the name “The Simpsons Room”.  It’s main purpose is to house my husband’s collection of Simpsons figurines.  Even though all the figurines are sequestered in the closet at the moment (they were moved when the room was painted), that is still how we refer to that room.  For example:

“Have you seen the plyers?”

“Yes, it’s in the Simpsons room.”

 
Unopened Simpsons figurines, Simpsons games, Simpsons posters, and then two large bins full of opened figurines and their accessories.  See notes on Flickr for details.

Across the hall is my home office.  It dons hunter green walls, pictures of Kurt Vonnegut, an elevation cross section of the Appalachian Trail (sections I’ve finished have been highlighted), a picture of my grandfather from WWII, a number of dog hiking pictures and…. about 20 CDs from my favorite band, NOFX.

Often Sean and my interests are pretty different, but here a video (not by me) manages to fuse two of our loves together– the Simpsons and NOFX.

P.S.  The NOFX song is called “The Man I Killed” and can be found on the Wolves in Wolves Clothing album.

The Beauty of Imperfection

Here are two pictures of a sunset two weeks ago from my deck.

 

I think it is funny that when people describe a perfect day they say, “Great!  Not a cloud in the sky!”  It’s the imperfections that really add beauty to the sky, particularly with the sunset.  You need dust particles in the air and clouds to amplify the colors and make the sunset truely spectacular.  You need the “flaws” for it to be stunning. 

The same things go for musicians.  My favorite part of the Nirvana Unplugged album is the third verse of Pennyroyal Tea when Kurt Cobain starts a bit off pitch and corrects it.  It adds character to that version of the song.  Singers like Louis Armstrong, Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen (when he was old) have far from “perfect” voices, but belt out beautiful performances nonetheless.

Sometimes, I guess, it is the flaws that really make something beautiful.

Caldwell Fields: If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?

Kurt Vonnegut talks about his Uncle Alex in numerous writings and speeches.  In particular, Vonnegut applauds his uncle’s habit of noticing and vocalizing the simple pleasures of life.  I know it’s mentioned in Timequake; God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian; Vonnegut’s Commencement Address to Syracuse; and a PBS Interview.  Here’s an excerpt from God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian:

My late Uncle Alex Vonnegut, my father’s kid brother, a Harvard-educated life insurance agent in Indianapolis who was well read and wise, was a humanist like all the rest of the family. What Uncle Alex found particularly objectionable about human beings in general was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy.

He himself did his best to acknowledge it when times were sweet. We could be drinking lemonade in the shade of an apple tree in the summertime, and Uncle Alex would interrupt the conversation to say, “If this isn’t nice, what is?”

I myself say that out loud at times of easy, natural bliss: “If this isn’t nice, what is?” Perhaps others can also make use of that heirloom from Uncle Alex. I find it really cheers me up to keep score out loud that way.

Yesterday, I worked on-site at Roanoke.  I left the city at 5:30, drove 50 minutes home and I still had enough daylight to take the dogs out on an adventure.  I got home, changed clothes, made a quick peanut butter and jelly sandwich and headed out to Caldwell Fields.

Driving down Craig Creek Road, reaping the benefits of Daylight Savings Time, surrounded by lush green mountains (Sinking Creek Mountain to the left, Brush Mountain on the right), enjoying fresh spring air with my windows rolled down, and listening to Gwen Stefani’s Sweet Escape on XM Radio,  I was happy.

“If this isn’t nice, what is?” I said to the dogs. 

They didn’t reply (maybe they couldn’t hear me over Akon and Stefani), but I suspect they agreed.

And it only got better!  Caldwell Fields was gorgeous.  Though, admittedly, we spent more time exploring the nearby creek and admiring the rock faces. 

History

Caldwell Fields are named for three brothers who lived in the area in the 1800’s.  The most notable is Addison Caldwell.  In 1872, he was the very first student to enroll in the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.  That college later became Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, which is more commonly known as Virginia Tech (or as annoying ESPN announcers insist on saying, “Vah-Tech”).  So Addison Caldwell was my alma mater’s first student.

From Caldwell Fields you can see remains of the largest known landslide in eastern North America which occurred 10,000 – 25,000 years ago.  Even though one of the slides is 3 miles long, they are difficult to identify with all vegetation that resides on Sinking Creek Mountain.  I couldn’t see it yesterday, but I didn’t look too hard.  This article by the U.S. Geologic Survey explains more.

Our Adventure

We spent about an hour there until it got too dark.  Here are some pictures of our outing:

Craig Creek has some interesting rock faces

Some leaves at dusk

View from the parking lot 

Wildflowers at Caldwell Fields

Dried vegetation at Caldwell Fields

Jimmie enjoys the fields (that fit canine is 10 years old!)

Rock face and layered creek bed

As you can see, there were a lot of moments that would have made Alex Vonnegut (and perhaps his nephew) proud!  It was a nice evening and all the simple pleasures did not go unnoticed.

Additional Links
My Caldwell Fields Pictures on Flickr
The Mountain That Moved article by USGS
Virginia Tech History: Addison Caldwell, Virginia Tech’s First Student
Caldwell Geocacheb