Thursday, August 30, 2007

hearing things

I don't have many memories of listening to music at home as a family. I don't remember sitting in my trainers on the carpet, stacking blocks to any sensational tunes from my parents' generation, no Beatles, no Dylan, not even the Carpenters.

Curt asked me tonight if that's why I love it so much. I guess the easy answer is yes. I didn't know it then, but now I do, yay.

The long answer has something to do with how "discovering" music is like getting socked hard in the gut and trying to recover breath. I wasn't exactly deprived of music, but there's something to be said for an unsuspecting moment blindsided by awesomeness. This makes me grateful for people. Like many introverts, I need a large amount of solitude. It's just that people give music. We tell each other about it, we experience it together. That is cool.

Maybe it's because I live in Dallas, aka Materialism capital of the South, but I hear people scoff at the gift of a burned cd. It's such a cool gift, who cares if it's cheap? Music means something to everyone. Try and get that sort of value from a pair of Pumas.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Chocolate on My Tongue

Some days I feel like the most privileged person and that all other people are just a bunch of suckers. This is just because I experienced something deeply inspirational and now I hold it inside of me. This feels good.

What doesn't feel good is Dallas, where Heather and I just arrived from a weekend spent in Portland, Oregon. We went for Pickathon, a roots music festival and because we love that city. The bad news is I left my ipod nano on the plane and somewhere, probably in New Orleans, someone is enjoying my song collection. Due to carry-on restrictions in airports, which I forgot about, I also lost a pocketknife and several toiletries including a nearly full tube of toothpaste. The good news is that Heather and I did not get in a wreck this time nor did we hit any police officers. Whew.

In short we heard tons of great music and we danced hard. We even square-danced and let me tell you that we can rip and snort with the best of them. This trip could become an annual event.

Here's my MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS from the weekend:

The Wood Brothers --songs "Postcards from Hell" (if you find this, let me know), "Chocolate on My Tongue" and the entire Ways Not to Lose album. If these guys play in a city near you, don't miss out.

Langhorne Slim--"Restless" "In the Midnight" and "I Will"

Gregory and the Hawk
--"The People Who Raised Me"

Sassparilla Jugband--They are crazy fun live. "Sassy Pants"

Erin Mckeown--"Get Happy" and "Rhode Island is Famous for You"

The Avett Brothers--phenomenal live performances as always. They played a knock-the-breath-out-of-you-beautiful rendition of "If it's the Beaches," and "Famous Flower from Manhattan" sprouted in the middle of "Pretty Girl from Annapolis." They are coming to Dallas and to Austin in November. SAVE THE DATE.