9.26.2009

some assistance, please.

i have decided that i am going to go all out for halloween this year. i am going to put more than one day of thought into my costume. i am actually going to wear a costume. i may even consider investing some money in a costume.

but the problem is...i'm super not creative. i can't think of anything. this is where you come in...i need ideas. any ideas. good ideas, bad ideas, crazy ideas...the more ideas, the better. just leave your ideas in the comments.

thank you very much for your assistance in this matter...and i will let you know what i decide and i might even post some pictures.

that's all.

9.19.2009

i know, i know...i've said this before.

i know you are probably over my "i heart/love music" posts, but i'm not. because, guess what, i love music. i do. and i'm not ashamed to admit it. and i know i have said that i love all kinds of music...cause i do...but to me, there is nothing better than a voice and a guitar. acoustic guitar makes me swoon. literally. my brother-in-law has a friend, matt harding (no, not that matt harding--a different one), that is a musician. i only had to hear him play once and was in love. well, if love equals obsessed. his voice melts me and his handling of a guitar is impressive, to say the least.

i knew that i always loved simpler music, but i hadn't ever figured out why...until i made these few observations about myself and my life. and so i am going to share.

first, i attribute my love of guitar and acoustic music to my dad and the fact that he introduced me to folk music at a very early age. my dad also played guitar and when i was a little older, he and his best friend got together (after they both retired) and started a little duo of sorts. they mostly play kingston trio tunes, but that was okay. it's what we came to expect from them.

second, in high school, when i was 16, i was introduced to simon & garfunkel. i have pinpointed this as the quintessential musical discovery of my life. (there is a really long, interesting story that accompanies this discovery, but i will spare you.) i am certain that this musical discovery changed my musical tastes and changed what i appreciate in music.

finally, throughout high school and my early twenties, i discovered the singer/songwriter. and i was in love. i fell in love with the singer/songwriters of the seventies. and i fell madly in love with james taylor. forever and always, he will be my favorite...and he has influenced so, so many extremely talented musicians.

it was during this same time, that i also discovered that not all mind-blowing musicians get played on the radio. not all superbly talented musicians have record deals. i also discovered that some of the most amazing musicians i'll ever know are probably my friends. and they will only ever play their songs for me or others in their basement. and they will play britney spears' songs like they were meant to be rocked out.

so my point. i know i have one. let me see if i can remember it...oh yeah...

when people ask me what kind of music i like i always say that i love everything, because that is true. but i mostly only answer that because i feel that if i answer with "folk-seventies-singer-songwriter-independent-acoustic," no one would get it and no one would appreciate. and then i would have to give examples of what i was talking about and most people would have no clue who i was talking about.

and this leads me to the real reason for this post...

a few years back, adriane introduced me to a musician named jay nash. she had seen him at a random show in slc and liked him so much that she kept going back. i think that maybe she introduced me to his tunes so i would possibly go to a show with her...it was a quick sell. i was super impressed and i really, really liked what i heard. he was the epitomy of singer-songwriter-folk-acoustic and i was an instant fan. and if i'm being honest, i became a little obsessed. but who isn't obsessed over a way hot dude who sings and plays guitar, right? right.


since first being introduced, i've been able to attend a couple of jay nash's shows in slc and just a few months ago i was able to see him at a very intimate venue in park city. i figured out a while back that jay nash usually comes to utah approximately a couple of times a year, so you will understand my excitement when i learned that he was coming to utah only a couple of months after the special park city show. and based on that excitement, you will then understand the total ecstatic freak-out i had when i learned that, not only was he coming to utah, but that he was coming to logan, utah. my quaint, small, very small hometown.

after a series of unfortunate events, i was able to make my way to the show (which was at the smallest music venue in logan, and quite possibly the smallest in the united states). i "conned" my friend, lindsey, into meeting me there and at the last minute, my friend jaime decided to accompany us. i was a little bit of a freak when we first pulled up...so stoked for the show. i know that jaime and lindsey didn't fully understand why i was so excited. i knew they would enjoy the show...because really, who doesn't enjoy live music...but i wanted them to love it. i was just hoping that they would love it.

jay nash was on this particular tour (the evening of the feeling song tour) with a dude named tony lucca and another dude named matt duke. when we first got to the venue, jay was standing outside and after a short convo (which included him recognizing me from somewhere...oh yeah, his other shows), he informed us that we were going to love the other two guys with him. i just thought to myself that maybe they would be okay, but they couldn't be nearly as good as jay. in short, i was wrong.

the best part about the show was that all three guys...tony, jay and matt...played together. wanna know what is better than one singer/songwriter and his guitar? i will tell you. three singer/songwriters and their guitars. it was fantastic. and i am now a fan of both tony and matt. stellar, stellar musicians. of the folk-singer-songwriter-independent-acoustic genre.


at this point, i will probably just start rambling...it was everything i could have asked for in a show. jaime, lindsey and amy (who joined us later) all loved jay and tony and matt. before the show, tony asked us if we could record parts of the show with his flip...super entertaining. here is the fruits of lindsey and amy's camera work. (fyi...tony has been making short videos of their tour. logan made video #4. the rest are highly entertaining, but be warned, there are bad words.)


the very, very best part of the whole show was after the show. my favorite jay nash song (prior to this show) was a ditty named saturday. i really wanted him to play it, but he didn't. after the show jaime, amy and i were just chatting with tony and jay and i told him he didn't play my favorite...so, he pulled out his guitar and serenaded us. and tony harmonized while he was putting his merchandise away. highlight of my musical life...for sure...well, that and one other incident.

for exactly six days after the show i had this jay nash song in my head (not the best video of this song...but the harmonies were part of what was in my head...you needed the full effect):


and for the next four days, i had this matt duke song in my head:



incredible music. an amazing experience to see them live. can't wait to see them all again. man, i love music. and now you know that i especially love folk-seventies-singer-songwriter-independent-acoustic music.

ps. tony lucca, although not familiar to me, is quite "famous." he happened to be a mousketeer on the new mickey mouse club circa early-90s. yes, the same mickey mouse club that produced britney, justin, jc and christina (plus many, many more). so, so glad tony took the route less traveled and didn't join a boy band. good on ya, tony. (he sings the lead in this video...and, if we would have had the disney channel at the time, he quite possibly could have been my "celebrity" crush.)

it talks like a pirate.

did you know today is talk like a pirate day? well, it is. i'm not sure how popular this holiday is in the rest of the world, but for a few years i have been quite aware of this grand day.

a few years back, some friends decided to celebrate this day with a stellar costume party which was strictly enforced. my friend, adriane, dressed as captain hook. her costume was fantastic. and the costume was completed with a bicycle, circa 1982...banana seat and all. the coat of the costume became a little tight when she held onto the handle bar. oh, geez...the visual...i can't stop laughing. (so, so wish i had some pictures.)

two other friends, dave and andy, dressed as peter pan. they found kid costumes at the store. yes, you read that right. two adult males bought little kid peter pan costumes. i can't even begin to tell you how hysterical yet amazing they looked. there is a picture, but i'm not the owner. i wish i could get my hands on that. it's a gem. (update: i've been thinking that i may be wrong...they weren't peter pan costumes, although i'm 100% certain there was green somewhere on the costumes. i do know for sure, for sure that they were little kid costumes, though. i guess what kind doesn't really matter after that.)

the whole party was amazing. at the time, i thought they were making this holiday up. but, alas, they were not. this morning i heard it announced on the national news. maybe it's turning into a real holiday. here's hoping to another state holiday...no school or work. how sweet would that be? very, very.

anyway, in the spirit of the day, i'd like to introduce my pirate name.



My pirate name is:


Bloody Ethel Rackham



Every pirate lives for something different. For some, it's the open sea. For others (the masochists), it's the food. For you, it's definitely the fighting. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.

update about updates.

so, i have been a horrible blogger as of late. i have so many things that i could blog about and that i want to blog about, but i have let them "pile up" and now i don't know where i should start. i'm just going to pick one and go from there. i just thought i would give you the heads up that there are a plethora of posts to come. hopefully. hahaha. that's all.