that's brilliant!

Isaac likes to tease me because he thinks I don't like anything if there are accents involved. Like I've never been able to watch "Snatch" without falling asleep because I can't understand it. Literally. And I never wanted to watch the British version of "The Office" because I couldn't decipher what they were saying.

But I do like some British exports. Namely their music. This past Saturday, we saw Bloc Party play at the United Palace Theater all the way up at 175th Street. They were awesome - they had a ton of energy AND they sound awesome live. I love their music, but I couldn't understand a word that frontman Kele Okereke said between songs. I wasn't alone though - I could hear the people around us asking each other what he was saying too.

The opening act was also very good. We missed most of Sebastian Grainger so I can't comment on that, but we caught all of Albert Hammond Jr.'s opening set. He's a lead guitarist for the Strokes, but he's touring with Bloc Party for a solo album that he produced. I just picked up his cd last week, and it's Strokes-esque, but slightly happier. I like!

In general, I've been listening to a lot more music since I've moved out to New York. Well, actually, ever since I left school. Pittsburgh was like a desert for new music. Every single station out there played Hoobastank's "The Reason" as every 4th song for at least 6 months. Whenever it played, it felt like someone was hammering an ice pick into my brain. Because of that and the general quality of radio play in this area, I no longer listen to radio. Weird - "The Reason" is the reason I don't listen to the radio anymore. Instead, I just focus on finding music for myself.

I've found that it's nice to have some music to energize me as I walk the long blocks to the subway or to distract me from being in such close quarters on the crowded train. It definitely helped the one time the back of my head was being used as a newspaper rest while my forehead was in someone's armpit and the bottom half of my face was practically in someone's huge furry hood. I just focused on the soothing beats of "Close Your Eyes" by the Chemical Brothers and it felt like I was alone on the train. Well, not quite, but the music helped.

By the way, I eventually did watch the British Office (good job, closed caption!) and it was pretty good. I can see why it was received so well by critics, but I have to say that I actually enjoy the American version of The Office better. Perhaps because I can relate better since our working environments are different within our countries. By the way, if you're home tonight, check out NBC at 8pm tonight - there's a supersized episode of the Office, followed by my new fave 30 Rock at 8:44pm.

Go Bears!

If you live in the Baltimore-DC area, you must, must, must go line up to see SUFJAN STEVENS for FREE at the Kennedy Center on Feb. 5. The ticket giveaway is this Saturday the 27th at 9am, but I suspect you'll have to line up a lot earlier than that. I've been seriously considering coming down to VA this weekend and the weekend after to be able to see this show, but I doubt I'll be able to make it since I'd have to do it alone (Feb. 5 is a Monday).

J and I were lucky enough to see him in NY back in November, and ... sublime.

The horns at 1:54 of this Majesty Snowbird clip (sadly not the whole song)...


Edit: I really want to say more about this song, because it overflows the room, making it much bigger than it is. It's the kind of thing that makes you wish you had more ears to be able to hear in threereo; these videos do no justice.


I really hate to be a video linker, but I have to end with one more:


That song is Chicago. Apt.

music memories

For a lot of people, songs bring up feelings or sometimes memories. For me, they do this, but often I'll recall a very specific person or situation.

A few examples:

"Motorcycle Drive By" by Third Eye Blind - This song came up on my iPod the other day and I was transported back to senior year of high school around graduation. Specifically, I remember leaving Anike's graduation party to go to Suzanne's graduation party and listening to this song as I drove away in my old light blue Nissan Maxima with the song playing in the tapedeck from a tape that Sarah made for me.

"Clumsy" by Our Lady Peace - This song always reminds me of heading to the beach after prom and sitting in Elvina's Civic as we listened to this song on repeat.

"Barbie Girl" by Aqua - This always reminds me of sitting on the bus with the field hockey team as we came back from a game.

Now that I'm looking at this list and thinking about all these songs, I'm starting to realize that my strongest associations with music have to do with high school. It's probably because I listened to music a lot more regularly back then than I have since and also because I have fond and untarnished memories from that time period.

But I do have a few from college..

"Hot in Here" by Nelly - I always think of Tim C. and Lan singing the chorus in falsetto as we walked from the parking lot behind Boston Market to Rita's (or was it Rose Tea?) for a summer night snack.

"Drops of Jupiter" by Train - I always think of sitting in Neil's? car, as we were crawling the streets of Oakland, looking for parking so we could eat at India Garden. This song came on, and Isaac protested by jumping out of the car and walking to meet us at the restaurant instead. One of the many times he's surprised me with his random, vehement reactions to silly things.

And from childhood..
"Hold On", "Release Me", "Impulsive", "You're in Love" by Wilson Phillips - We acagirls loooved their music. It reminds me of leaving Joy's house to go somewhere whenever we had sleepovers there.

"Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice - Another one from Joy's sleepovers. We had dance moves for this one..maybe the first time I realized that I can't dance!