really rosy

I moved....

2009-08-13T00:09:00.003-04:00

on to something new.

happy honey and lark

bad. just awful.

2009-06-25T15:11:00.003-04:00

I'm back from Asia! It was the most amazing trip. I will at some point put up some pictures.
In other news, this song by 3oh3 is retarded. The first time I heard it I thought it was a joke. Like the "I'm the Boss" or "I'm on a Boat" videos that I love so much. No. This song is NOT a joke. People think this is worth listening to apparently because its on all the top 100 stations.
Unfortunately I can't get the Helen Keller line out of my head! I wonder what she would finger-write on Annie Sullivan's arm in response to them saying that she talked with her hips?

philippines

2009-06-02T18:59:00.004-04:00

I swear, I will let you in on all the new music I've been listening to at some point. I'm in Manila visiting family and we are going to Thailand today for a little trip.

comics

2009-05-11T09:28:00.005-04:00

garfield minus garfield

Back to regularly scheduled blogging once I graduate. I've been busy with all that finishing college/graduation/partying stuff.

live vs recorded

2009-04-30T12:27:00.003-04:00

There are some bands you see live, and you think, "This is the best music ever." Then you listen to their CD while driving your car or sitting in your room and you think, "What the hell was I thinking?" A perfect example: Against Me!
I have seen them live something like 5 times (usually about once a year), every time I go I have more fun than the time before. But when I listen to their albums I want to rip my ears off. It's abrasive, every song sounds similar, and its downright whiny.
If they come to town though, you can bet I'll shell out up to $30 to see them live because they are one of the most fun bands ever. That $30 doesn't even include train fare and beer...just the ticket.

From what I've heard of Ponytail (I'm trying to review them) and Matt & Kim I get the vibe that unless I see them in person they will always annoy me a little bit after one or two songs.

Alas, I need to clean out my ears with She & Him and Jenny Owen Youngs. Who I'd like to see live, and listen to in the computer lab while I procrastinate.

RIP iPod

2009-04-14T08:19:00.002-04:00

After almost 5 years my pink iPod mini has gone off to the farm in upstate new york...
I'm sad. No more mobile music since my last portable CD player died years ago. How much does an iPod even go for these days? The last one I had I won in a raffle, and the pink one that just died came with my iBook for free. Whats even a good iPod to get? I want the one where I can play videos!!!! (Um...those are real, right? I didn't just make that up?)
UGH. iPod's.

Matt & Kim

2009-04-10T08:16:00.003-04:00

Matt & Kim, have returned from a three year recording hiatus with their second album, Grand, in January of this year. They have fully embraced a pop-punk sound keeping it up-to-date with electronic influences.
The Brooklyn based duo gained a loyal local following when they began to play warehouse shows in 2004, and their self-titled album in 2006. Like Mates of State gone punk, their sound has evolved to create the fun, danceable tracks.
Unfortunately the voice of Matt actually does remind me of the days of Sugarcult and Blink-182. It’s less harsh on Grand than on their self-titled, but no less annoying after listening to three songs in a row. This might lend some appeal though; it doesn’t sound tweaked or perfected by computer but more like a live recording of an actual person singing (because not everyone can have the perfect-velvety-never-miss-a-note voice of Ben Gibbard).
1.Daylight
2.Cutdown
3.Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare
4.Spare Change
5.I Wanna
6.Lessons Learned
7.Don't Slow Down
8.Turn This Boat Around
9.Cinders
10.I'll Take Us Home
11.Daylight Outro

Official website

Myspace

spoof

2009-04-09T09:23:00.002-04:00

http://www.privatehighmusical.com/

What? Its music related.
ps-i watched this 10 minutes ago and I'm still snickering.

pokemon red

2009-03-30T09:05:00.002-04:00

I'm supposed to be memorizing buildings locations/architechts/dates, but I'm freaking stuck here in Pokemon Red and its driving me nuts.

Amiina

2009-03-29T09:04:00.008-04:00

Similar to falling rain, twinkling and pitter-pattering with otherworldly synthesizers and classical elements mingling throughout, Amiina, brings a gentle simplicity to their music.
The four Icelandic women that make up Amiina, packed a tiny car with every instrument they could find, and then filled spaces with food. Hildur Ársælsdóttir, Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir, Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, and Sólrún Sumarliadóttir, consider this vital to their formation as a group. The car was too heavy to make it up a hill to the recording studio, and so an obliging farmer towed their car, teeming with food and musical-instruments, to the top.
The lesson of using what was available stuck with the group, and they will use virtually anything that makes sound to enhance their music. Originally, a string quartet of 3 violinists and a cellist, they are not bound by a specific instrument; each playing whatever strikes their fancy. Using, though not limited to, harps, violins, cellos, synthesizers, the glockenspiel, baroque guitars, harmonium, and mandolin they finished Kurr, their first full-length album in 2007.
Another project was a song for Nightmare Revisited, a compilation of covers from The Nightmare Before Christmas in September 2008. Their cover of “Dr. Finkelstein/In the Forest” convinced me that if I ever write a movie, these are the girls I will ask to write the soundtrack.

Sounds like: if Bond and Sigur Ros had babies.

Myspace

Official Site

do you hate math?

2009-03-26T11:53:00.004-04:00

more new math

word-swords>words

2009-03-25T16:47:00.005-04:00

Niotillfem

loud whining

2009-03-25T13:30:00.003-04:00

I'm swamped. Between finding a subletter, a job, and trying to keep up my grades I have no motivation to do anything but stare at my ceiling. My brain is fried.
And reading the showlist at Oh my rockness is torture because I'm so desperate to get the hell out of small town america.

What I'm trying to say here is there may not be a ton of reviewing going on, but I'll keep you entertained.
And soon I'll be starting a new project...so keep checking back, kittens.

learn something new every day

2009-03-05T11:25:00.002-05:00

Did you know that Tilly and the Wall uses the sound of tap dancing as an instrument? Its the male singer/guitar player's wife tap-tap-tapping. I just thought it was a clapping sound effect from a machine.

How do you feel about unconventional "instruments"? Do they translate well to live shows? Seriously, I want to know what you've seen or heard about. Lemme know. krfeigenbaum@gmail.com or leave a comment.

I like...

2009-03-03T11:30:00.009-05:00

Dntel-Dumb Luck. I started listening to Dntel this summer when someone I met once suggested that I listen to "Breakfast in Bed" featuring Conor Oberst. This song reminds me of early summer, and lazy late-nights around a fire. Musically the distortion takes on a sound like Spiritualized with more of a story in the lyrics.

Stars-The Night Starts Here. This duo is one of my all time favorites, and I'm a girl so its perfectly acceptable. A mature pretty pop sound with beautiful vocals and instrumentation. Its much bolder than their older stuff, even though it has a similar sound you can hear a musical evolution from previous singles and albums.

Maybe I just have a soft spot for the Canadians.

life update

2009-02-22T22:21:00.006-05:00

I spent a good portion of Friday night hanging out in the radio station broadcasting live for Penn State's the Lion 90.7fm. This is part of our set-up.

I'm pretty sick still but I'm picking up some CD's tomorrow to review so keep an eye out for some new music.
Also, I am really excited that one of my FAVORITE bloggers Julia Allison might wear a dress I suggested!
Congrats to THON for raising over $7 million dollars!

Despite being stuck inside I've had quite a happy weekend, and now back to the Oscars :)

WTF

2009-02-21T16:22:00.008-05:00

(photo from style.com Isaac Mizrahi nyfw feb. 2009)
Isaac Mizrahi, WHAT IS ON THAT POOR GIRLS HEAD!? I mean, I guess it could be convenient in a bar or something.
P.S. check out her shoes. Perfect for shuffleboard!!

NYLON: I think you dropped something

2009-02-20T15:22:00.004-05:00

NYLON magazine has been one of my favorite reads for the past few years. Since the days when I had to take a special trip to Borders Books to get it, and now that I can pick it up at CVS. This past issue (February 2009, with Camilla Belle on the cover) left me annoyed with the name-dropping at nearly every turn of the page.
Example 1: “Out of Bounds” about Jeremy Scott ObyO and his line of gilded, winged sneakers for adidas (cough* i want them for my birthday *COUGH). It goes on about his upbringing in Kansas and how being out of touch has allowed him to stretch his creativity beyond the norm. Understandably in the middle it mentions some of the celebrities that he has designed clothes for like Bjork, Britney Spears, and Madonna. In the last paragraph Scott Peterson talks about “all his friends” and then drops "M.I.A., Santi, Kanye, and Agyness."
It was excessive, but didn’t bug me yet.
Example 2: On the very next page the article “Prints Charming” about Sue Stemp, the writer drops Kate Moss and Daisy Lowe into the last paragraph, mirroring the previous article’s use of celebrity as promotion. The article is supposed to be about the artist and her prints and textiles!
Example 3: ON THE PAGE AFTER EXAMPLE 3!!! In News, Rags to Riches, is about a designer who stumbled into the business as a shop-girl wearing her own creations. Smack in the middle we get Alicia Silverstone and Mary-Kate Olsen coming to her trunk show.

Here’s the gist of what I’m trying to say here: NYLON isn’t a tabloid. If all I wanted to read about were celebrities and “it-girls” I would read US Weekly (which I already read while I wait on line in the supermarket). While I understand that it is important to have an example of someone who wears an item, the name-dropping this much is just obnoxious because it was three pages in a row. Doesn't someone read over the magazine as a whole before it goes to print? If not, I'll take that job!

Ps-I have bronchitis and I feel really crummy so that might have influenced my level of annoyance. I doubt it though….

upcoming festivities

2009-02-19T09:42:00.008-05:00

I have a birthday coming up in a few weeks. I don't know what to do for a party. Party ideas welcome! I plan to have this one surpass my 21st a thousand times.

22nd birthday - by littlepixietrix on Polyvore.com
A girl can dream, right? ;) I don't expect any of these gifts (except that cake, I'm pretty serious about cake).

Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion

2009-02-19T09:26:00.010-05:00

One experimental rock band- a guitarist + a sampler=Animal Collective’s best album to date. Merriweather Post Pavilion is their 8th studio album veering off their usually disconnected and disjointed course and steering toward something listener friendly.
With the departure of the band member and guitarist known as Deakin (Josh Dibb), the remaining members (who go by the names Avey Tare, Geologist, and Panda Bear) started writing songs without guitar parts. Taking inspiration from Panda Bear’s side solo project they used a sampler in place of the guitar as the leading instrument.
The ambient, trippy, and danceable beats give me flashbacks of MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular, particularly on the opening track “In the Flowers.” Collective has been culminating this sound for a decade, though, now bringing in the electronic instruments and mixing that other bands have employed where as rookies MGMT have only been at it for a short time.
“Lion in a Coma” combines electronics and simple mouth harp creating psychedelic electronica beats with a cross-generational flair.
The only issue with this album is that if you listen to it straight through you might think that the songs all start to blend together. This is the symptom of samples, because it is less dynamic throughout.
Contradictory to what I just said, if you listen to each song alone, in a mix or by itself each one can stand out on its own, it is merely the album as a whole that blurs by.

1.In the Flowers
2.My Girls
3.Also Frightened
4.Summertime Clothes
5.Daily Routine
6.Bluish
7.Guys Eyes
8.Taste
9.Lion in a Coma
10.No More Runnin
11.Brother Sport

This is the realMerriweather Post Pavilion in Symphony Woods, located in Columbia, Maryland, where the band has listened to music from the lawn and used as inspiration for their music to be deserving of an outdoor venue like this one.

triumphant return

2009-02-09T21:23:00.012-05:00

As you can see by the timing of my hiatuses, the beginning of the semester is pretty hectic. I assure you this is the last time I can use that excuse since I am officially graduating in May.
Also, I've been navigating a Nikon D-80 for my photojournalism class.
Here is what my life has been looking like:
snowday

home

working hard, with cooking mama 2

party

unicycles welcome

cupcakes

ink

2009-01-06T16:57:00.004-05:00

I got a tattoo. This was taken about 20 seconds after it was finished. Better to have writers block on my body than in my head, no?

what not to wear to a show

2008-12-30T16:27:00.008-05:00

1) I am not really concerned with your comfort. Everyone knows what they will and will not be comfortable in. You should not wear shoes like this for everyone else's comfort. For example, last night at Gogol Bordello, the crowd was jumping up and down to gypsy-punk beats and swinging and dancing, when *STOMP*!! I got the heel of a girls shoe in my foot. I was wearing Converse, pretty generic, but comfortable shoes that if I stepped on someone wouldn't cause much harm.
High heels are NOT cool if you are going to be jumping up and down and getting into it. So, do a good deed; wear flats. The people around you will appreciate it.
NO

YES

2)Anything that is your "favorite." Don't wear your favorite dress to a sweaty jumpy crazy show. Chances are, because it is your favorite the universe will want to poop on your head and something will happen to it. Your favorite coat (I almost wore my favorite white jacket last night, which could have quickly turned disastrous), a favorite piece of jewelry, a pair of shoes, just keep in mind what kind of show you will be attending and when in doubt just don't wear it. This applies to anything brand new as well. Brand new shoes, a brand new outfit, something will spill, you will get sweaty, it won't look new anymore and you will be sad.
3)This one is for the gentlemen. Please leave your shirt on. No one wants to be pushed into your sweaty, nasty body. You might think you're sexy, but no one else does.

Gogol Bordello live

2008-12-30T16:09:00.008-05:00

I saw Gogol Bordello live last night. Apollo Sunshine opened. They played at Webster Hall, in Manhattan. The crowd was much too rambunctious to snap any pictures. It was fantastic though. The crowd really makes it more fun (whereas sometimes a crowd can ruin seeing a good band by not getting into it). The music was good, but from where I was standing most of the words being sung were undecipherable. The village voice calls their shows "theatrical, international dance parties."
At one point Eugene came out dressed like Alex from Everything Is Illuminated (he plays this character in the movie) and started rambling about being a premium person and getting carnal. It was really awesome. Too bad he didn't break-dance.
This is a clip from the movie where Eugene explains his character Alex's life in Odessa.

Here is a picture of the band since there was no way I was getting one last night.

This is the edit, post nap (aka a few days)
So, Apollo Sunshine brought out grumbles from the crowd around the bar at Webster Hall a few nights ago. The complaints were mostly that they were untalented. Now, I wouldn't say that they were untalented, just maybe lacking direction peppered with stage jitters. They had A LOT going on with their music and it seemed like the timing was off. They were the kind of band that plays in a bar on friday nights that the local crowd adores but doesn't translate well to a crowd waiting to hear gypsy-punk and get rowdy. They need to work on their stage act for a bigger audience, but I don't think they were bad, in fact I thought they were kind of fun. I mean, they were the only opening act...so cut the men some slack. I would go see them again just to figure out what their deal is.
As for Gogol Bordello, the energy flooding off of the stage was nothing short of what rolls off Niagara Falls. Anytime I felt like I needed to go sit down and catch my breath, they started up again and I couldn't help wanting to stay put. And the band in the picture is missing some people from the show, if only I could have taken a picture, but I think very few people could keep a camera surviving. Just go see them next time they are around, even if it isn't your scene, you'll have a great time.

vacation

2008-12-22T20:30:00.006-05:00

I finished finals and got home for winter break a few days ago. It has been very nice to be home and spending time with my family so I haven't had a lot of time to do bloggy things (aka anything besides study/travel/christmas shopping).
It did, however, snow on Long Island which is rare but pretty. My house looks even more like a gingerbread house when it has snow covering it.

I still need to figure out how to post music that isn't just a simple youtube video. That is why people have New Year's resolutions/goals. Until then, here is my Christmas playlist in the soundless form.

ps-what do you think of my new layout?

Margot & the Nuclear So and So's Live at Penn State

2008-12-13T12:43:00.008-05:00

Margot played a free concert here last Wednesday night in the HUB. I'd say more but finals have consumed my life. Also, the layout is under construction and I apologize for my blog being hideous.

Top albums of 2008 (or not)

2008-12-10T17:51:00.003-05:00

1. TV on the Radio: Dear Science--um...NO! THE TOP ALBUM!? Why?

4. My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges--I can see it

7. Coldplay: Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends--Ok, this album is really good. I travel a lot, and this is my number one favorite for new york-pennsylvania trips.

10. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend--Obviously, yes. This album is amazing, but will they be able to pull it off again?

11. Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes--Yes, but I've still never actually listened to it all the way through. Greg says its good, so I trust his musical judgment.

24. Girl Talk: Feed the Animals--This should be higher on the list.

25. The Magnetic Fields: Distortion--I love them, they are a guilty pleasure. Not something I would admit listening to in a social setting or people might think I am a 12 year old boy masquerading as a DJ.

Thank you Rolling Stone for making a really poorly thought out list.
OK, I will now return to my writers block on the next band I'm reviewing and trying to re-do the layout of the blog so it doesn't look so "amateur."

Australia

2008-12-08T13:38:00.008-05:00

I pretty much keep my opinions to myself when it doesn't come to music or fashion, but I can make an exception in this case. I just saw Australia on Saturday night and was blown away. Anyone who gave this movie a terrible review is probably not a 21 year old girl in love with adventure stories.
Nicole Kidman looks the most beautiful of any movie she has ever been in. Her legs are 60 miles long and her face glows rather than has a pasty doll quality like in Moulin Rouge.
Her character, Lady Sarah Ashley goes on her own personal "walkabout" throughout the story set in this rugged territory romanticized by the film.

The directing was perfect. There's one scene of a kiss, and there's this electrical pause where their lips are about to meet. The camera is super zoomed in to see the sunburn on Hugh Jackman and the freckles on Kidman. Another scene is a glowing, sparkling thing where she is visited by a small boy who sings to her, that is literally a re-realization of that Chanel commerical Kidman did with Baz Luhrmann a few years ago. The way he uses light for effect is mesmerizing.

Just promise me you'll go see it!

cookies

2008-12-07T18:43:00.003-05:00

We baked Christmas and Hanukkah cookies this weekend while watching The Grinch and listening to the Hotel Cafe "Winter Songs" album. I can't wait until winter break so I can embrace the holidays to the fullest extent.

Jules and I dressed alike on purpose, and I borrowed Mike's hat to hide my rat-nest hairstyle. Nothing like getting drunk on boxed wine and decorating cookies to give you the Christmas spirit.

Young Widows

2008-12-05T10:13:00.001-05:00

Heavy, intense, and oddly catchy, like a raw, darker, Dungen. Old Wounds is the Louisville, Kentucky band, Young Widows' second album. It caught me completely off guard, floating in the huge pile of indie-folk-rock albums that have dominated the scene this year. Finally, someone (or rather 3 someones) is kicking folk-rock into a corner with their heavy reverb and post-punk beats.
The vocals, in typical hardcore fashion, are difficult to decipher on the first spin. Short three- and four-word sentences a la punk rock bands of old, and repetitive lyrics keep it simple. On "Lucky and Hardheaded," I fell in a hole. A deep, deep hole. At the bottom I found god. I fell in a spell. I remember it well. Apparently these lyrics are not that complex. Luckily, you can barely understand them half the time anyway.
I like this, I think, because its something a little different. Its just the right tone to head into finals.
Sounds like, Fugazi, Dungen, Jesus Lizard

1)Took A Turn
2)Old Skin
3)Mr. No Harm
4)The Guitar
5)Lucky and Hardheaded
6)21st Century Invention
7)The Heat is Here
8)Delay Your Pressure
9)Let Him Be
10)Feelers
11)Swamped and Agitated
Here's an absolutely terrible video:

Chad VanGaalen

2008-12-05T08:01:00.001-05:00

Chad VanGaalen sounds wistful yet full of desire in this acoustic ballad that starts the album, singing in soft falsetto, "When I'm dead is when I'll be free." On his third LP, Soft Airplane, "Willow Tree" is the first of many layers.
"Cries of the Dead," has catchy hooks and obscure sounds that feels as good as a sunny day. Blithely swaying through the mixture, though, are morbid lines,"Maybe its your neighbor beating his dog in the basement, I can hear the cries of the dead."
The Calgary native switches gears to a more rock driven sound on "Molten Light" and later "Bones of Man."
His voice echoes through "Inside Molecules," another rock driven song that displays his talent for multi-faceted music. The underlying sound of old school Tetris through bridges, and then flows into a hollow sounding bongo with chimes, bells and a tinkling assortment of sounds.
He confidently mixes sound into the world of electronic-indie, sounding like a much-matured MGMT, on "Tmnt Mask" and "Phantom Anthills." In these tunes I can almost swear I hear someone playing spoons, then putting it through the magic-electronica-machine.
If I had to compare him to other artists, I would say Modest Mouse, MGMT, and sometimes Mogwai.
There is no confusion that he has something people have been looking for in a sea of sound-alikes. This is one of the best albums that I have come across in a long time and I suggest that everyone actually buy it rather than download. The world needs more artists like this.

Not just a talented musician... VanGaalen is also an animator and artist, he made this to go with his song "Molten Light."

1)Willow Tree
2)Bones of Man
3)Cries of the Dead
4)Inside the Molecules
5)Bare feet on Wet Griptape
6)Phantom Anthills
7)Poisonous Heads
8)TMNT Mask
9)Molten Light
10)Old Man + The Sea
11)City of Electric Light
12)Rabid Bits of Time
13)Frozen Energon

He also makes his own cover art.

i have a cool mom

2008-12-03T16:52:00.000-05:00

godtoldmetotellu: you're mom is one small power pop

thats where i get it from.

Frosty the Snowman

2008-12-03T07:55:00.001-05:00

The Fiona Apple cover of Frosty the Snowman. Very pretty. I got it off of the Hotel Cafe presents Winter Songs.

I'm excited for winter, snow, Christmas, twinkle-lights, wrapping paper, holly, mistletoe, and cookies. What do you like about December?

photo:henri bonell

thanksgiving break

2008-12-03T07:17:00.002-05:00

Instead of reviewing CD's, I did absolutely nothing but this:

I read every single one. I would be ashamed of my pre-teen book obsession but unfortunately I love them too much to care.

adjective

2008-11-21T22:57:00.001-05:00

I never really thought about how seriously I take adjectives until today when I was reading an article in Paste magazine about a band called Wild Beasts where I stopped and questioned the adjectives used by the author. When I’m writing a description I will settle for nothing less than the perfect word to convey what I mean. When I say, “I love a good thesaurus,” it’s because I really do depend on it to help me get my point across.
The article uses the words “shimmering,” and, “soaring.” In the same sentence! This to me is music-writing blasphemy. These two adjectives need to be used sparingly because they are so powerful. It is only acceptable if it is ABSOLUTELY true. Honestly I question whether or not that’s the case.
“Shimmering,” and, “soaring,” are words that should be reserved for songs and artists that truly have those qualities. I said once that MGMT has a shimmering quality, because literally when I listen to “Kids,” it feels like the music is lighting up, gently and softly the way light plays across water.
Sigur Ros, has music that soars. Even people who don’t like Sigur Ros can see that quality in their music. The Glosoli music video follows children through the Icelandic wilderness set to the tune, building upon it, until they quite literally are soaring through the air.
In the writer’s defense, her article peaked my interest. I’ll absolutely be getting my hands on a Wild Beasts album even if just to prove her wrong.

photo:criminalintent

frolicking in the snow

2008-11-21T22:54:00.001-05:00

my walk home from the bar before leaving for new york

Angels and Airwaves and stereotyping

2008-11-20T12:19:00.001-05:00

I originally meant to make this post a homage to bands that I secretly listen to and L-O-V-E (ahem, Ashlee Simpson reference). I then realized WHY I only listen to them when no one else is in the apartment, or I'm alone in my car.
Because I don't want to be judged. I am sure the few readers I have who I was starting to build some so-called "cred" with are rolling their eyes and clicking along to the next blog.
This goes hand-in-hand with my hesitations about letting people know that I am in a sorority. I fear that people will automatically throw out everything they already know about me and put me in the sorostitute/sorority girl/drunkslut category. Similar to how anyone who knows and respects my musical taste might throw out all of the great new albums and bands I've turned them on to because I know every word of "The Adventure" by Angels and Airwaves.
That is completely ridiculous!
I never really got into the whole Blink-182 phenomenon. One of my roommates my second year of college had loved them since he was a kid. He got the Angels and Airwaves CD because of Tom DeLonge, and played it for me one night over 40's and hot-dogs.
One night a few weeks later I put the song on at a party and someone who loved it asked me what it was. When I told them they replied "I didn't know you liked Blink-182. I thought you had better taste than that," before laughing at me. BEFORE THEY KNEW WHO IT WAS THEY SAID THEY LIKED IT! They also automatically assumed that I like Blink-182.
I'm sure Blink was/is a great band but they just were never really on my radar.
Again to compare it to my sorority, you can imagine similar reactions and phrases like, "I thought you were cool!"
Well, I am cool and I like music that I used to keep a secret. NO MORE!
Ashlee Simpson, Hilary Duff, Angels and Airwaves, All American Rejects, Saves the Day, Dixie Chicks (only that cowboy take me away song...they're just too twangy for me), Eddie Money, N'Sync, Justin Timberlake...whatever...now you know and that is only a few of them.
Visualization. I'm still cool, and I'm in a sorority. Gamma Phi Beta yay!

snowday

2008-11-18T16:54:00.003-05:00

I have never been this stressed, busy, overworked in my entire life. On that note, I will leave you with a picture from lazier days at home. It snowed here this weekend and now its winter with no hint of fall except the yellow leaves with snow-frosting on them. When it gets cold like this, I think of days like that one in 11th grade when we all slipped down the hill to our busses getting soaked with snow and excited to go home early. I can't wait to go home for Thanksgiving.

please?

2008-11-13T23:36:00.000-05:00

I have done nothing but study. There has been a lot of music playing in the background.
In the meantime, can someone buy these for me and I will love you forever. thanks.

daytripper

2008-11-09T19:32:00.002-05:00

we're free-spirited travelers on weekends. we go where the wind blows us. the whole week of school and stress just melts away.
we don't lead the boys on, no no. and we don't experiment with LSD a la McCartney and Lennon. but we have fun.

My roommate and I drove through the mountains of western and central Pennsylvania this weekend.

When we got to Johnstown we were directed to Bigdogz. Good food, football (even though Penn State blew it), and local flavor. Perfect saturday afternoon filled with music and conversation.
Death Cab For Cutie, Angels and Airwaves, Ryan Adams, among other things.
My next post will be dedicated to music I'm secretly mortified that I love i.e. Angels and Airwaves. Stay tuned.

teaching Word, words

2008-11-09T14:08:00.001-05:00

Barack Obama. This is not a misspelling. I taught my Microsoft Word "Barack Obama" is a name I will be using quite a lot for the next few years and beyond. 44th president, Microsoft. GET IT TOGETHER.

fall mix

2008-11-07T15:40:00.003-05:00

Hello Lovers

2008-11-05T18:03:00.001-05:00

Oh yes, hello all my lovers, unfortunately the entry title does not refer to you. I'm a taken woman.
Hello Lovers is an Austin, TX based group that plays intense, jarring, gritty and unmelodious music. There are inflections of American blues played on cello, violin, accordion, euphonium, and the sea harp. Of course the sax, guitar and trombone add traditional jazz elements to the experimental sound. The vocals are reminisce of Devendra Banhart, sometimes inflections of Conor Oberst but with something extra that can only be described as crowing, with a haunting quality that adds depth. At times, J.C. King, the singer sings off alone, beyond the instruments, a chilling sound lent to the lyrics.
I can't say that they immediately grabbed me as a band I would come to enjoy listening to. It took me probably about 6 listens which most people are not willing to give to a band they've barely heard of. This is a band that makes it worthwhile. I would love to see them perform live because sitting in front of my computer and listening while I do work or write in this blog I feel takes away the essence of what this band has to offer.
Their EP, Vanity Fair, was followed by their first full-length album Gone With The Wind. I've only listened to Vanity Fair but I look forward to getting the full album, and of course seeing them live, even if I have to go to Texas to do it.
(edit) Apparently they are playing in Manhattan tonight. Thanksgiving break, I plan to see a show for every night I'm home because I've missed so many this fall.

Vanity Fair EP
1) My Girlfriend Is A Gay Pirate
2) The RIbbon Moves
3) Birthday Suit
4) A)Fall b)Fell Flora
5) Good News For People With Tiny Black Hearts
6) Mine. I've Always Liked the Sound of That Word
7) The Low Arms of Light
One of the only videos I could find of them playing live, though not of the highest quality.

MGMT

2008-11-05T12:48:00.000-05:00

I feel like I've been writing a lot, probably because I'm doing a great job of avoiding my schoolwork that I see looming out the corner of my eye.
Anyway, last year I wrote about MGMT and about how they are going to be huge etc... I put it on an online magazine for a project I did in class which is one of the factors that inspired the blog. Anyway, seeing them on the cover of Spin Magazine is pretty exciting! MGMT article from early last spring; issue one of Charm If you are too lazy to click the link, here's what I wrote:
What is so attractive about the CD, aside from the scruffy good looks of Goldwasser and VanWyngarden, is that each song can stand on its own. Tragic and euphoric “Kids,” has been compared by fans to Shel Silverstein’s book The Giving Tree. Nonsensical lyrics set to shimmering synthesized instruments, complete with kids playing in the background, stands out capturing conflicting emotions flawlessly. “Electric Feel,” shines with confidence and gives the feeling of swaggering through the disco looking for a good time.

I'd love to interview them someday, until then here is what was published in Spin

President Obama

2008-11-05T06:30:00.000-05:00

I had chills and I cried during his acceptance speech. Words cannot describe the excitement that I felt yesterday.
Today I am so proud to be an American in a way that is unprecedented in my young life.
I know it isn't an American newspaper, but foreign papers give thoughtful insight American papers often overlook. This article in The Guardian and this article in Le Monde were both particularly moving. As my friend said when I translated the French paper, "That really says it all." When other countries respect our choice in a leader, we as a people gain the respect we have missed in other nations.

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer...It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America. " President-elect Barack Obama

halloween, masquerade, degas

2008-11-03T21:46:00.000-05:00

A work in progress, but mostly just hanging out. Tutu tutorial

laughing because our tutu's are enormous!

out at the Den with a Mad Hatter

spinning spinning spinning

a comparison that was made post-halloween that rings pretty true

Annuals

2008-11-03T19:36:00.001-05:00

The Annuals have been compared to Broken Social Scene, The Arcade Fire, and Animal Collective. These three bands on one album? SOLD.
Their second full-length album Such Fun on Canvasback Music was released October 7, 2008. Today it made its way to my ears.
This morning I woke up sick from a long Halloween weekend of partying, trick-or-treating, and dancing around to bad music. On my overloaded desk there's this simple, paper CD jacket with beautiful snow covered peaks, an idyllic blue lake on it. In my post-NyQuil state I put in the CD that let me know who the band was because it wasn't on the case and jumped in the shower. (Music in the bathroom while water is running can't be beat.)

The first song, "Confessor," caught me off guard because when I see landscapes on the cover of an album I (wrongly) assume its going to be folksy, twangy, maybe a little bluegrass.
Electric guitars, harmonious lyrics play out until the drums start and the song plays out.
The lyrics themselves are poetic, "For every wick, in every candle, just let in the morning light," the lithe sounds, wrapping around the instrumentals.
Shower acoustics aside, it was still lovely when I listened in my room.
Each song is different from the one before, the comparisons to my favorite bands ringing true. At the same time they have their own sound and style that doesn't come from another group.
Two years ago their CD Be He Me came out and created a buzz in the music world. Stereogum said their songs,"demand to be repeated."
Adam Baker, Kenny Florence, Zack Oden, Nick Radford, Mike Robinson, and Anna Spence formed in 2003 in North Carolina.

1) Confessor
2) Hot Night Hounds
3) Springtime
4) Down the Mountain
5) Always Do
6) Talking
7) Hardwood Floor
8) Hair Don't Grow
9) The Tape
10) Blue Ridge
11) Wake

election

2008-10-30T09:30:00.000-04:00

I have been so busy I don't even know where to begin. I have a pile of CD's thats blocking my view of my tv right now that I will hopefully get around to at some point this weekend. I'm not so sure though since my best friend, the lovely miss LK, is coming to visit me all the way from NY. Reasons for not reviewing CD's:

I went to see Sarah Palin speak (for amusement, not to support her) with one of my friends
This was my favorite sign

there she is

at first steph and i were like, "ok we're curious, this could be interesting." by the end we were like "get me out of here."

I should have hung with this crowd

autumn

2008-10-22T09:00:00.001-04:00

view from my kitchen window.
Fall is for: making soup, piles of leaves, whispered vocals, quiet drums, and CMJ Music Festival (which will have all kinds of music, not just the kind I like in the fall).
I can't wait to see Broken Social Scene, The Teenagers, and Minus the Bear this weekend. Hopefully I will get to go to all these shows, if not there is always next year; I will be living in New York again.

Foals

2008-10-20T17:15:00.001-04:00

Antidotes, the first full length album by Foals is college indie-rock at its best combining danceable electronic basement-beats, marching band brass, and post-punk guitars.
The Oxford, England based lads have nerdy roots steming from Yannis Philippakis (vocals/guitar) and Jack Bevan's (drums) former math-rock band The Edmund Fitzgerald. Jimmy Smith (guitar), Walter Gervers (bass), and Edwin Congreave (keyboard) have been playing together under their baby-horse moniker since 2005.

Their cd opens with "The French Open" using lyrics from a Lacoste commercial and supposedly during an interview they revealed that it is about Andy Roddick not being able to win. French lyrics sung with a british accent set to guitars-- be still my heart.
I would compare their sound to their fellow Englishmen, Bloc Party (who they are rumored to have gotten into a brawl for after someone made racist remarks to Kele at a show), but they do not rely so heavily upon electronic sounds and don't have jarring music breaks.

1)The French Open – 3:46
2)Cassius – 3:50
3)Red Socks Pugie – 5:09
4)Olympic Airways – 4:19
5)Electric Bloom – 4:55
6)Balloons – 3:01
7)Heavy Water – 4:32
8)Two Steps, Twice – 4:39
9)Big Big Love (Fig. 2) – 5:47
10)Like Swimming – 1:58
11)Tron – 4:48

Sounds like: Pinback, Bloc Party, TV on the Radio
Labels: Transgressive Records-UK& Sub-pop-US
The album art doesn't do justice to this CD at all. I understand the mouth with the abstract bits, but its...boring and more than a little creepy.

ps- what is "math rock"?? thats what their bio called it.

he's reading twilight

2008-10-16T12:30:00.000-04:00

Ben is reading Twilight.
I like your Taproot tee-shirt, Ben. I think you look better in a cheerleading uniform though.
If you want a man who reads Twilight let me know, I'll get you his number.

of Montreal: Skeletal Lamping

2008-10-15T21:50:00.001-04:00

"Skeletal Lamping may be bizarre, complicated, and dense, but it's also extremely catchy and packed with slinky grooves that demand a physical response." Or so says the press release that came with of Montreal's new CD set to be released by Polyvinyl Record Co. on October 21, 2008.

Let me break this down. It is so weird that I had to listen to it numerous times to begin to grasp the odd sexuality and transexuality of the album. There are elements of disco, pop music in the 1990's sense of the word, and a dash of glitter and cross-dressing as to the likes of Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust days. There are no inhibitions to lead-singer Kevin Barnes' musical exploration of his own cross-dressing alter-ego Georgie Fruit (you like that little play on words in the Georgia peach reference to his home in Athens, Georgia, dontcha?).
There is no one single identity of Georgie Fruit or Kevin Barnes on this album. He sings a mashed campy-electronic song to a lover about "calling your ass up at like three in the morning," in "Nonpareil of Favor" to kick off the album. There are several forces at work in his complex lyrics, signing himself into being a "black she-male," slithering through perhaps several different personas in one track ("Wicked Wisdom"), and on to being a prostitute who has forgotten what it's like to be with a woman (St. Exquisite's Confessions").

I really need to figure out a better way of getting music in here. I'm sorry for the crap quality of this, but I am working on fixing the problem.
Let me also point out that the cover art is perfect for the album. The flower creatures eating the naked figures in the highly stylized and colorful country-meets-city scene as they pose in various states of motion and levels of interaction with each other and their surroundings. Some figures seem exuberant, another shy, another curious and caring, and the one in the front nearly touching the tooth of the flower-creature. Stereogum nailed it calling it a post-Eden.

I just don't feel like putting track listings. Sorry, its late, and I'm sleepy. Toodles.

the philippines

2008-10-14T08:37:00.000-04:00

I have family in Manilla. They sent me this picture.

Black Kids

2008-10-13T13:47:00.001-04:00

Yep, this came awhile ago and everyone probably already hates it already, since it came out in late July of 2008, but i can't stop listening to it! In the car, when I'm doing homework, putting it on mixes for my girlfriends, ALL THE TIME. It's just so damn catchy. It's the kind of music I vacuum my room to in my underwear, blast when I'm shampooing my hair, and if it were socially acceptable I'd probably shake my butt to it in a bar (not that any bars would play it). The fact that it did better in the charts in the UK-- Mercury Records (5th) as opposed to the US--Columbia Records (127th), may also make me like them more because I have an infatuation with the UK.
My boyfriend said it perfectly, "It's just too much."
Over the summer I interned at Sirius Out-Q 109 with Frank DeCaro, who also loved their album Partie Traumatic. Originally he was the one who informed me of their goodness and I resisted. That was a short-lived. When I got back to school and went through the CDS in the radio station office I found Partie Traumatic and it could no longer be avoided.

Gender bending lyrics, catchy pop hooks, danceable beats, and a pervasive sound that is just--annoying as all hell, which isn't a bad thing. Black Kids is, Reggie Youngblood on guitar and vocals, Ali Youngblood and Dawn Watley both on the keyboard and backing vocals, Owen Holmes playing bass, and Kevin Snow adding drums and percussion. They formed in 2006 in Jacksonville, Florida.
On one of my favorite tracks, "Love Me Already," the singer thinks his girlfriend is cheating on him, when in fact she is planning a surprise party for him with his best friend. The jumping to conclusions, calling her a whore behind her back, the whining for her to "love me already," is a pretty accurate portrayal of what people sound like when they think their girl is cheating. The backup vocals of his girlfriend is that high pitched sweet-girl that we all loved back in the day in "Teenage Dirtbag," and who doesn't love to hate that song?
Probably the best known single on the album is "I'm not gonna teach your boyfriend how to dance with you." Youngblood has dreamed about this girl, since he was a little girl. He can't decide if he is male or female, but sings about wanting someone who is already taken without getting too serious.
Sounds like: Magnetic Fields, VHS or Beta, they want to be The Smiths but its not gonna happen obviously.

Oh, and their video was "disabled by request." Another aspect of how one can love and hate them in the same breath.
While trying to find a decent video for your viewing and listening pleasure (or displeasure), I found out that they opened for Kate Nash, who is the bees knees.
Here, you can go look at it on their site in the media section, I told you they were annoying!

1.Hit the Heartbrakes
2.Partie Traumatic
3.Listen to Your Body Tonight
4.Hurricane Jane
5.I'm Making Eyes at You
6.I've Underestimated My Charm (Again)
7.I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You
8.Love Me Already
9.I Wanna Be Your Limousine
10.Look at Me (When I Rock Wichoo)

Buffalo Eskimo

2008-10-13T13:13:00.002-04:00

This band is interesting because part of me hates their music, and another part is intrigued.
My first issue with Buffalo Eskimo's first full length album Elephant in the Room is that it is 20 songs long and comes just short of an hour. This is quite a lot to take in all on one album. When searching for other reviews, I noticed other DJ's were wary of reviewing it just based on the amount of songs!
The bands that it reminds me of is another problem, because they seem to be going in too many directions at once. "Song for Summertime/Separation", the first one on the album, begins with Patrick Wolf-like sweet sounds, then the singers voice is reminisce of Zach Condon (Beirut), and then the music completely changes into something strange and un-musical. The end of the first song put me off the rest of the album entirely. That awful song about the "Black Parade" comes to mind when a ringleader announcer starts yelling about an elephant in the room. This song is just one of 20 that are strange mash-ups that to me, try too hard to be original.
On a good note, they have an eclectic sound that people might get into, and the cover art is absolutely beautiful.
I won't lie, I couldn't listen to every song all the way through though because I got bored. That probably isn't a good sign.

Unfortunately, I like them less upon seeing this video.
I wish they would have just taken the 10 best songs, put them on an album, and maybe tried a different format for radio promotion.

feel free to disagree with me, I want to like them, I'm just having a hard time.

high school flashback

2008-10-10T14:45:00.000-04:00

I'm at home this weekend, using my mom's absurdly ancient computer, and lacking any new music AND missing my own radio show Sunday night.
Aside from all this, I have been going through the iTunes on this computer and found my music from high school! I got my iBookG4 for high school graduation and immediately abandoned the computer in the hallway I shared with my mom for 3 years (only because my blueberry iBook had a meltdown).
Awhile back this guy "fixed" her computer and and lost thousands of songs I had stored in the massive desktop, I think this was my freshman year of college. Of course I was nonplussed because I have my own computer. Miraculously it was recently fixed for real, and half of the music mysteriously came back and IM SO HAPPY!
Now I can dance around my house all weekend to Catch22, Damone, Saves the Day, Coheed and Cambria, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Alkaline Trio, The Libertines, and other bands I would now be embarrassed to admit I missed listening to.
This all reminds me of driving my car to school, listening to music, hanging out with my friends.

this one should win a prize for being insanely embarassing. (7 years ago, dont judge)

A little gem I found on youtube, one of my favorite songs from back in the day with a cute video.

I've got 2 new cds reviewed back at school,I'll put them up Monday.

Noah and The Whale

2008-10-08T13:51:00.001-04:00

Noah and the Whale's first album takes folk-rock from an American genre and makes it distinctly British. Vocalist, Charlie Fink's voice lends a Decemberists-like appeal to the American-sounding guitar and fiddle melodies on Peaceful the World Lays Me Down.
For people who are bored by the childish overload of Boy Least Likely To, this album strikes a balance between silly and melancholy. It incorporates bells, whistling, flutes and vocals, making the band sound like traveling minstrels. My new favorite Brit band is made up of Charlie (vocals/guitar) and Doug Fink (drums), Matt Urby (bass), and Tom Hobden (fiddle). A "sometimes" member of the band Laura Marling, sings backup vocals on the album.
Their first single back in 2007, "In 5 Years Time" debuted on the UK charts at #5, and is a great showcase of what you can expect on their album. Random fact about this song; it was in a Saturn commerical (I should watch tv more). Also on October 20, 2008, the "Shape of My Heart" single is being re-released.

(I actually recall seeing this video somewhere last year and thinking it looked like something Wes Anderson would direct. )

I highly recommend Peaceful the World Lays Me Down for walking to class, going for a long drive on a weekend afternoon, and for hanging out with friends.

1.2 Atoms In A Molecule (this song was featured on NPR...mmm)
2.Jocasta
3.Shape of My Heart (newest single)
4.Do What You Do
5.Give A Little Love
6.Second Lover
7.5 Years Time
8.Rocks and Daggers
9.Peaceful the World Lays Me Down
10.Mary
11.Hold My Hand As I'm Lowered

Margot & the Nuclear So and So's

2008-10-06T16:47:00.001-04:00

Walking in the fading sun on a chilly fall day, the leaves have turned gold, red, orange, and brown, there's a hint in the air of wood-burning stoves, and ghosts walk along on the sidewalks haunting your every step. The Daytrotter Sessions EP by Margot & the Nuclear So and So's may have come out in late July, but it is perfect for autumn afternoons. Their eerie, unfitting lyrics set to a beautiful lull meet creating a perfect sound track for the Halloween season.

Following the release of Daytrotter Sessions, they will release two albums tomorrow, October 7, 2008, on multiple formats. Animal should be listened to first (a request by the band on their Myspace page), will be available on vinyl and online download. Not Animal will be available on cd, vinyl, and by online download available on iTunes.

Another reason to love this band is the artwork that Stacy Novak (girlfriend of the drummer) creates for the albums. Her artwork can be found here. Her "kite flying diptych" is my favorite...if only I could afford art. Perhaps I will tear apart the album booklet for her pictures.

1.Bookworm (this one is my favorite!)
2.My Baby (Shoots Her Mouth Off) -- video!
3.Broadripple Is Burning
4.Love Song For A Shuba's Bartender
5.I Am A Lightning Rod

weekend

2008-09-26T16:14:00.001-04:00

I love dumping out my backpack on a friday afternoon.

tattoos, obama, etc

2008-09-25T10:18:00.000-04:00

"Defining what the courts in the Cloutier case called a “neat, clean and professional” workplace image becomes more challenging when you consider that in 2006, a Pew Research Center survey found that 36 percent of people age 18 to 25, and 40 percent of those age 26 to 40, have at least one tattoo.

“Popular culture has had a huge effect” on acceptance of tattoos in the workplace, said Alexis Handelman, the owner of Alexis Baking Company, a cafe in Napa, Calif., whose clientele ranges from “banker people to hipster people to gazillionaire people.” " -Guy Trebay, New York Times, September 24, 2008

This fits my theory that if I get a small "ashoka chakra" tattooed on my inner-forearm no one is going to be on my case about it. I don't think I would really want a job where the workplace wasn't "cool" with tattoos. Also, by the time my generation is in the workforce (especially when we are the ones giving the jobs instead of begging for them) we will be more open minded about body modification in general and then it will become less and less of an issue.
Here's what I plan to get a tattoo of:

Also, while perusing the NYTimes online (possibly the most wonderful online innovation since email) I came across this picture, and i love it. It was taken by Doug Mills for the New York Times.

commercial irony

2008-09-24T19:28:00.000-04:00

It is pretty ironic that the iPhoneG3 commercial uses a song called "You, Me & The Bourgeoisie." Which is about how people don't need material things, because "when our hearts are full we need much less." To me the song is about how because we are so spoiled in the first world, we can't complain about things, we can't breakdown.
Bourgeoisie, is not exactly a nice term for an affluent upper-middle class, so it doesn't surprise me that the creators of this commercials edited the lyrics out of it.

Here is a definition: in Marxist theory, the class that, in contrast to the proletariat or wage-earning class, is primarily concerned with property values.

The iPhone doesn't seem like something that the working class would have. It denounces the bourgeois, which the phone is primarily sold to and "wage-earners" typically couldn't afford such a luxury.

gingerbreadhouses

2008-09-24T15:35:00.001-04:00

this is where im from. its a very nice house. im told it smells like a summer home.
i think it smells like pine trees. for now, im still at school in pennsylvania.

picnics

2008-09-22T00:03:00.001-04:00

I was homesick, but we had a picnic and it made me laugh all afternoon

Oh, well hello there

2008-09-19T08:27:00.001-04:00

I am probably the laziest blogger ever. This will change now that I officially have my camera back and I have renewed motivation.

I met two of the guys from Bloc Party while working at my internship. This is Kele Okereke and Matt Tong the guitarist/singer and drummer, respectively. This is a product of going to a show (Bloc Party at Webster Hall) until the wee hours of the morning and then remembering to go to work, but barely. Not only do I look like I'm half-witted, but I'm sure they think I am too because I was so excited to meet them.

Kele engaged with the audience on so many levels at that show. Not only was he chatting with the crowd via microphone, but during one song he joined the crowd to sing. In person he was humble and modest. He thanked ME for supporting them (I corrected him by saying I was the one who was lucky to see them perform, and thanking them for playing Pioneers).

The drummer, Matt, was all kinds of alive on stage. He doesn't let being behind the drums stop him from being as much a front-man as the front-man. That's a good quality in a drummer, in my opinion.

Well, meeting them was the high point I had thought, until Kele invited me to take a picture with them. Oh, I went all 15-year old girl on them but I tried to hide it. That is until they were putting their arms around me and I realized I was un-showered, in dirty clothes, and the smile on my face nearly broke my cheeks.

summer stage, attempt one

2008-06-17T18:51:00.002-04:00

This weekend was Central Park's 1st Summer Stage of 2008, presented by the City Parks Foundation. Free concerts in the middle of Central Park with bands that people have actually heard of seems ideal. Unfortunately for my friends and I on Saturday, it was far from that.

Vampire Weekend (the indie-darlings of the past year) were scheduled to play with Born Ruffians (Canadian-indie-pop), and Kid Sister (ironically the older sister of DJ J2K of Flosstradamus) were scheduled to play to the crowd that was filled with hipsters, hippies, and everything in between.

What started out as a typically muggy Saturday afternoon in New York turned the Summer Stage into a swimming pool. At first the light drips of rain were a relief from the oppressive heat that we assumed would come to nothing more than a quick rain shower.

The line pressed onward, people packing in and cutting from all sides made quick friends of all those we stood near. Human chains were forged between my best friend and I, and two girls we had just become acquainted with. As the rain fell harder and harder, the crowd followed suit (as if it were going to be any dryer inside an outdoor venue).

Once we got "inside" the rain just fell harder and instead of a band playing, there was a lone DJ holding down the stage and playing some songs to keep those who were brave enough to stay entertained. After dancing in the rain for a few minutes and seeing the lightning it was unanimously agreed that it would be best to leave.

This brought us to 5th Avenue, with Lindsay asking to go into Bergdorf's, Tiffany's, and Louis Vuitton while we are soaked through and purposefully jumping into the eerily warm puddles. Once on the subway our joyful dancing and screaming about how much fun the rain was ended with the freezing cold air conditioning and many dirty looks from clean, dry passengers.

I am going to assume that the bands cancelled due to the rain, but this will not deter me from going again to Summer Stage to try to see some free performances in the park.

roses for rosie

2008-05-31T16:38:00.000-04:00

Really Rosie, combines the imagination of Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are), and the voice of Carole King. Rosie, along with the Nutshell Library gang are portrayed not only in Sendak's books but also a Broadway musical following the events of a summer day in Brooklyn.

I'm not the leader of a neighborhood group of kids, but I'm a girl from New York and I'm going to be heard, just like Rosie.

Keep an eye out, this is going to be one interesting summer.