Random Song. Cake: Rock ‘n Roll Lifestyle.

 

At one time I was very into music and it was a big part of my life. With that came the worst archetype of the music world: the asshole who knows everything about music and thinks your taste sucks.

Not surprisingly, this archetype was always a man.

Which is why I greatly enjoy this song, as it seems to skewer a particular brand of music asshole.  I was all about music, but, given the constraints of the time, I could only listen to the music that played on the radio, MTV and stuff that I could buy myself or tape off of stuff that my friends bought.  My music tastes were as broad as it could be, but there were huge gaps, which asshole blowhard music guy was always happy to remind me about.

A good detail from Heavier Than Heaven, Charles Cross’s extensive biography of Kurt Cobain, was the large music gaps Cobain had.  Which, of course he did, he was a poor kid with a Walmart for a music store.  I remember a scene in the book where a now-famous Cobain was blissing out to something like Peter Frampton’s “Baby I Love Your Way” and the other musicians in the room–for which this was a completely cheesy song–were unsure if he was serious or not.

I afforded my rock & roll lifestyle as much as I could, but there were many people who could outspend me.

I also greatly love Cake, whose music is sort of a 90s-era cool oasis for me. Plus they have horns.  I’m a sucker for a good horn part.  When we saw them several years ago, the horn player was a hard working man, covering not just the horn parts, but also backup vocals and extraneous rhythm things.

As a side note, I was interested to note that the guitar riff in this  song reminds me of one in one of my favorite Cake ditties, “Stick Shifts and Safety Belts”

Also, the above video is weird.

Random Song: I’ve got you under my skin. (Sinatra & Bono)

This song (Frank only) came on in my tap class tonight and I was reminded of this version, which came out when I was in high school and got me listening to Sinatra.  

In general, I’m not a huge fan of Mr. Sinatra.  I adore a couple of songs (this, “That’s Life”, “Something Stupid”) but overall I find I’m usually snapping my fingers and yelling at him to, “Speed it up, Frank!”  But this is pretty speedy and I love the way their voices work together.

My favorite pictures of Jilt

You can read more about the benefit fundraiser here.  But I thought I would share some of my favorite photos.

This would be the establishing shot, not a favorite photo.  You can read more about Jilt by clicking here.

“The keyboardist looks like he could have actually been on tour with Journey” my friend Kelly quipped.  She was not wrong.  Not only did he have the look, he was also incredibly talented.

Were I to have a stage style, I might emulate the look of the vest/fedora that the bassist is sporting.

Keyboardist and the “fir” that give the Doug Fir its name.

An homage to Jimi during “Let me stand next to your fire.”

A blurry shot (we’ll just pretend it was smoke) of the drummer/backing vocalist.

A solitary watcher.

Sunglasses in the sound booth.

Chilled out photographer.

Hand stretching across the frame.

Good camaraderie and nice harmonies.

Self portrait.

Band and light show.

Random Song: I Wanna Get Better

So catchy.  Good positive message.  Fun places for the melody to go.  Really good lines*, addictive back-up singer parts, excellent shredding-type guitar solo.  This video isn’t the greatest, but it does give you the words.  There’s another video with a plot and stuff, should you want that.

*See:
“Lost control when I panicked at the acid test.”
“Because the love, the love, the love, the love, the love, the love that I gave, wasted on a nice face.”
“Chase that feeling, of an eighteen year old ,who didn’t know what loss was, now I’m a stranger.”
“And I miss the days of a life still permanent, mourn the years before I got carried away”

Random song. fun. without Autotune

I love fun.  Despite the fact they have a stupid name that constantly causes confusion.
Example:
 “I’m going to the fun. concert tomorrow.”
“Oh good.  Who’s playing?”
“fun.”
“Is that a band?”
“Yes, they are called fun.  But with no capital ‘f’ and a period at the end after the ‘n’.”
“Huh.  Never heard of them.”

But they have, of course.  That “We Are Young” song was everywhere for an entire summer and “Some Nights” took over the following autumn.  People have heard them, they just don’t know it.

Their first album, “Aim and Ignite” was full of quirky and well, fun songs with non-standard pop music instruments (trombones anyone?).  I loved it a lot. They reminded me of Queen in their playfulness.  So I wasn’t really that excited when their second album “Some Nights” seemed to have been taken over by the Autotune.  It was out of control, espeically on later tracks.(What would be “side two” if we were still listening to albums)  At one point while I was listening to “Some Nights” the boyfriend yelled from the back of the house, “Are you listening to Autotune the News?”  Not the greatest thing to be confused with.

Where was all the great singing I heard on the first album?

So I was happy to find the above video taken by a cell phone wielding college student at the University of Rochester on October 2, 2011. It’s the same song from the album, but minus the Autotune.   I’m hoping their next album will be more of what came first and less of what came second.

Also, here’s my favorite song from “Aim and Ignite”  It’s chock full of lyrics (unlike the catchy-but-overly-repetitive “We Are Young”) it seems to be about the lead singer’s parents, and is very sweet.

Random songs from Guardians of the Galaxy

Aside from being a charming and funny film full of misfits, Guardians of the Galaxy has an outstanding soundtrack, as my postcrossing blogging friend pointed out in her post.

My favorites:
Escape
I can’t not like this song, even as cheesy and stupid as it is.  Plus it takes place in Boston!  Or thereabouts.  Heather introduced me to this song back in high school.

Hooked on a feeling
Much like Kathleen (the aforementioned postcrossing blogging friend) I love this song.  It was used very effectivly in the trailer for the movie and in the movie itself, it is playing when we see our heroes being disinfected while in jail.  (read: the beefcake Chris Pratt scene).  I love the horns (the #1 way to get me to like a song) and how many different parts you can choose to sing.