In Case You Missed It

The best part of last week's Oscars:

Things I'm obsessed with this week

1. http://www.spinner.com
Seriously, why has it taken me so long to find this ? I randomly discovered this music blog after one of my U2 Google Alerts was linked to it. Then that same day, they had posted pictures from the Nada Surf show I had attended the week before. They have cool posts like "Meanest Love Songs of All Time" and "Best Opening Lyrics". My personal favorite : "What's with these homies dissin' my girl?"

2. Nuts - (no not that kind). Since the Chinese themed potluck dinner party that I hosted last weekend, I can't stop eating Pistachios and Cashews. (Cashews were used in my stir fry, and my friend Peggy brought some Pistachios for us to nosh.) Last night I was munching on cashews, and even forgot to eat dinner. (I didn't say it was a healthy obsession.)

3. The song "U-Boat" by Kasabian. I always think that this will be a great background song in a movie.
I've had this album for years, but have recently rediscovered this last album track. I love these guys - you may know them from their hits "L.S.F (Lost Souls Forever)", "Club Foot", or "Reason Is Treason".




4. IV by Chuck Klosterman. He's interviewed everyone from Britney Spears to Bono to Val Kilmer. Highly entertaining light reading (and perfect for a celebrity obsessed junkie like me!)

Bright Lights at MSG

Overheard from the guy behind me during the Matchbox Twenty show last Friday : "I just want to take off my clothes and run through the aisles!" and "I feel like I'm in tenth grade again!"
Yep, that pretty much sums up the Matchbox 20 concert experience last week. First of all I HATE seeing shows at Madison Square Garden. I'm sure it's a dream come true for most bands to play the garden, but it truly sucks for the fans. Most of the time you can't even see the band (I had to sit BEHIND the stage when I saw The Police). It's come to the point that it takes ALOT for me to see a band there, unless I have good seats (which is close to nearly impossible). I really need to befriend an MSG employee to score some of those close seats only available to press, employees and VIPs. But for the MB20 show, I was able to get seats on the FLOOR. Even my seat on the floor acquired from a presale purchased the first minute they went on sale was probably further away than the worst spot at Irving Plaza. But I realize how lucky I was to not have to squint to see them. I was right next to the sound guys, actually, and during the MB20 set, I saw the guys from Mute Math (the 1st opener) standing in the sound area.

Alanis Morrissette was the 2nd opening act, so it was like seeing two concerts in one. She's was pretty good - I'd forgotten how many hits she has had. Though it kinda bothered me that she would just kind of run up and down the stage like she had not idea what to do with herself during the instrumentals. She played harmonica for two songs and guitar for one or two, but then looked a little bored when she was just singing. One of the cool things about sitting in the 'fan club' section is you get to meet other fans crazier than you are. I'm not really a crazy MB20 fan anymore (ok, yes, I've managed to spend two blogs talking about them, but I'm not one of those people who would spend a summer following them around on tour or anything. And I only joined the fan club to get the good MSG Garden seats.) I befriended the guy sitting next to me who had flown all the way from Guatemala to see them in concert. He had gone to grad school in Tennessee a few years ago and that's when he started listening to them. (I was trying to figure out if MB20 markets themselves in Guatemala.) Since I have been to Guatemala, he was so excited to talk to someone who knew his country. By the end of the night, I agree to send him a copy of the Tabitha's Secret Live Album that I have (the local Orlando band that Rob Thomas and Paul Doucette were in before they formed MB20 - I think they only sold that CD in Florida) and he agreed to email me pictures from his camera. When the lights went down and MB20 was on stage, this calm soft spoken architect became like a crazed teenager seeing the Beatles for the first time. Some of the coolest parts of the show:
1. It was Valentine's Day, which happened to also be Rob Thomas' Birthday. Towards the end of the show, Paul Doucette and Rob's wife surprised him with a huge cake and the whole MSG crowd sang to him. They also shot confetti out of cannons (I'm still finding confetti in my purse!)

2. The band also surprised him by playing "Streetcorner Symphony", which is one of the hits Rob had with his solo career. After the song was over, Rob was like, "So is this the song you guys were secretly learning behind my back?"

3. They played "Hang", which is my favorite song. This wasn't a hit , so I didn't expect them to play it at all. It's a duet between Kyle Cook and Rob Thomas.

Here's some of my pics from the show - my camera is pretty unreliable, but it's the best I could do:

How Far We've Come: My week of rocking to the 90's

I just realized something:  from February 14th - February 23rd, I will been seeing 4 different 90's musicians perform shows in NYC: Matchbox 20, Alanis Morrisette, Brian Vander Ark from the Verve Pipe and Emerson Hart from Tonic.  I'm especially excited about seeing my boys MB20 at Madison Square Garden!  

   You cool indie people who listen to your Cat Power, Of Montreal, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are probably snickering right now at my love for such 90's pop rock music.  And I don't really care!  Matchbox 20 makes me happy and brings me back to a great time in my life when my days consisted of roadtrips to Atlanta during the summer to see a music festival, drinking in our dorm/apt whilst playing strip poker/twister, hanging out at Islands of Adventure, and the occasional studying.  Oh, and catching some live MB20 at the local Orlando venue. (Little known fact, before they were signed, MB20 was called "Tabitha's Secret".  Yep, I have that demo... I'm such a music nerd) I think MB20 was pretty huge at every college/high school in 1997, but they were especially popular in their hometown of Orlando.  It seemed like on any given day, while walking through the dorms, I'd hear someone blasting a song from "Yourself or Someone Like You".  It was either that or Sister Hazel's "All For You" (also a Florida band).  And to this day, so many of the songs remind me of my college friends.  For my first semester final project in my American Sign Language Class, I even signed the lyrics to "Hang", the last song on their first album.    To this day, if I hear that song, I HAVE to sign - it's a sickness really.  My friend Jen and I used to make fun of the video "Push".  It's the one when Rob Thomas is chained to a wall or something and he's wearing this shiny black shirt (unbuttoned)  and leather pants.  We would joke about the things we would do to him if he was chained to us...  

My ex-boyfriend once told me years after we broke up that the song "Bright Lights" reminds him of me (the lyrics are eerily similar to our relationship -it's about a girl who breaks up with her boyfriend and moves to NYC, and yes I did keep a picture of him in my apartment in the city)... To this day, I think of him when I hear that song.  Check it out, it's really a great song, and see, Rob Thomas CAN play an instrument!  He's not just a pretty face...

  My friends and I even spotted the MB20 guitarist Kyle in a local bar in Orlando once.  I was certain it was him, my boyfriend and half of my friends were convinced it wasn't.  I told my friends I was going to the bathroom, but instead I went up to Kyle (I told him that there was a $100 bet over his true identity.)  A few minutes later, Kyle went over to where my friends were sitting, greeted them with "Hello my friends" and put his arms around them.  He said yes in fact he was kyle and had a drink with us. (Hey, I actually never got my $100 from that night...)  

  So, my Valentine's Day/Birthday Eve is going to be spent with Rob, Kyle, Brian and Paul and I couldn't be happier.  I actually snagged a seat on the Floor (14th Row!)  Stay tuned for pictures and a review of the show.

  For your viewing entertainment, enjoy my favorite MB20 video (Our buddy Kyle is the guy towards the end playing the Banjo).  

Songs I'm obsessed with this week

1.  Shadow of the Day by Linkin Park.  I love their current album, Minutes to Midnight.  I didn't realize the similarity between this song and a certain song off of U2's The Joshua Tree until a U2 fan's blog pointed it out.  Now it all makes sense why I love this song so much. It's a pretty powerful video for a seemingly sweet little song.  See if you can figure out what U2 song I'm referring to:
Linkin Park - Shadow of the Day

2.  Something to Believe in by Aqualung.  I've had this song on my I-Pod for a little while and sort of forgotten about it until I heard it on last week's episode of Eli Stone.  Now I can't get enough of it.  I couldn't find the music video for it, but here's a performance in NYC:

3.  Hammer and Stone by Seven Mary Three.  Their new album Day and Nightdriving is officially released in a few weeks, but you can download it early on iTunes.  I gotta give props to my hometown boys 7M3.  Jason Ross is one of the best songwriters of this generation, and this song to me has that classic 7 Mary 3 sound.  Some of you may remember their 90's hit, Cumbersome.  The band has had 5 albums since then, but never really got much airplay outside of Orlando.  Also check out the song Last Kiss.  Hell, download the whole album.  The only video I could find of this song is a crappy recording of a live show, but check out their myspace page (or itunes) for a better audio version.  http://www.myspace.com/7m3

My 73-year-old hero

Do you ever have one of those days when you meet someone and they slap a little perspective into your life?  And totally inspire you to be a better person?

I met someone like that today.

My friend Jose and I volunteered at our first NY Cares Project. http://www.nycares.com  NYC Cares is awesome because they have many different types of projects throughout the city and you only sign up when you're available.  There's no monthly commitment at all.  If you don't live in NYC, I know they have chapters all over the country.  Anyway, our project this morning was to volunteer with The Achilles Club, which is a group for runners with disabilities.  Some of the runners were blind, so the volunteers would guide them with a rope or bandana, or in my case, with my voice.  I ran next to him and just guided him to bear right or left if we approached another runner.  My partner was a 73-year-old blind man who was a power walker.  And boy could this man walk.  His walk was about the pace of my light jog.  He power walks marathons!  Then at the last stretch of the 4 miles, he told me he was going to end it with a 'light jog'.  His light jog was a fast jog for me.  Eight years ago, at the age of 65, with no experience running, my partner today met the founder of the Achilles Club.  Nine months later, he completed his first marathon.  By the end of the 4 miles today, my knee was throbbing.  I'm completely humbled by the fact that a 73-year-old's 4-mile power walk completely kicked my ass.

Everyone I met today had completed a marathon.  I chatted with a man with a prosthetic leg who often completes 100 mile bike races.   Some of the athletes in the Achilles Club had prosthetic legs, some had suffered a stroke, and some were blind.  After my experience today, I decided to make running in Central Park with the Achilles Club part of my regular Saturday routine.