2.28.2010

"Well, I saw straightaway that the lay was steep, but I fell for you honey, easy as falling asleep."

An audio and written review of Have One on Me from All Things Considered...

I've been listening to the record pretty much non-stop aside from interludes of Dave Chappelle and Aziz Ansari stand up. I've been feeling a bit odd about it and couldn't quite place it. Is it the arrangements? Is it the new singing style? I was listening to it on the way home from Chicago tonight, and it occurred to me that that was the first time I was listening to it with full attention; all the other times, I was doing something else while listening to it or it was on in the background. I was surprised when I looked at my iTunes and saw I had listened to it 10 times...it didn't feel like it. HOoM is indeed a long album, and I tend to need some time with my music so this isn't abnormal.

Newsom will be on Jimmy Fallon this Friday...super excited! I think it might be her first American TV performance. I know that she's been on Later with Jools Holland, a UK show (Holland is former Squeeze!). I'm curious as to what she'll be playing on Fallon. My guess is "Easy." I think it would be cool if she did "Good Intentions Paving Company," but my guess is that they'll want something featuring the harp (whoops...so does "Easy!"). And there aren't very many short songs on the album...short in Joanna Newsom terms.

Well, I managed to get some words out of my fingers for the night.

2.27.2010

Mute.

I wish there was a device that could turn the thoughts in one's brain into words on a screen.
I just can't write about what I'm thinking, for some reason.

2.23.2010

I want a fox...

I forgot to post my new favorite photograph:

via crappytaxidermy.com

I highly recommend looking at the site. It's part amusing, weird, and downright scary.

"There's a big black spider hanging over my door. Can't go anywhere, anymore."

-- Joanna Newsom, "Have One on Me."

I've had so much on my mind that I've wanted to write about, but for some reason I couldn't make my fingers type the words. After writing a couple letters to people, though, I think I'm past the block.

I'm really enjoying Joanna Newsom's new album, though it's different than her other releases, confirming a pattern. I th
ink that's wonderful, actually. People can only make the same record so many times. I'm getting used to it; I'm only on my 3rd listen, and it's two hours long. My favorite song so far is "Good Intentions Paving Company." It seems to be the most poppy of the album. Some songs have a somewhat medieval feel to them, while some have a '70s prog rock sound. Newsom had surgery to remove vocal chord nodules a year ago; the result is a voice that's a bit smoother, sometimes sounding like Kate Bush.

I'm glad that this record came out when it did. I actually received it yesterday, a day before its release, because I pre-ordered it from her record label, Drag City. So I've had a head start. I'v
e been feeling depressed the last couple weeks which seems to deepen with each day. It's nice to have something new to distract myself. Newsom's songs are so rich in their lyrics and musical arrangement that it's easy to get sucked into it.

I've been using good old-fashioned sleep, Dave Chappelle stand up performances, and movies to distract myself. I've also been volunteering at the stable I ride at, feeding the horses. There's around 60 horses there, so feeding takes a LONG time. It's hard but rewarding work. Thus I was disappointed when I slept
through all my alarms and missed going, waking up at 3:45 pm. I've been on Facebook most of the afternoon and listening to Have One on Me. I've been feeling a bit ill from my medication. I'd like to watch a movie, but nothing seems appealing. I might put on Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility. I should go to bed soon so I can hopefully get up tomorrow.


Can I have her legs, please?

2.05.2010

Pbbbt. (raspberry)

I am envious of a lot of these cool street fashion bloggers. My favorite is liebemarlene vintage; through her I've also discovered Delightfully Tacky, left hand endeavor, Leproust Vintage, Sally Jane Vintage, Selective Potential, and the snail and the cyclops. To be fair, though, most, if not all, of these girls operate vintage/resale shops of some sort, so keeping blogs like these is part of their jobs.

I often get compliments on my clothes and I like to think that I have good taste, but unless I'm at a party and someone else snaps a picture and posts it on Facebook, my outfits just don't get recorded. I like the idea of being able to take pictures of what I wear, but I usually don't have the time (or I feel like I don't, anyway). I also don't ask anyone to deliberately take photos out of nervousness and fear of being perceived as vain.

I had to drive home from Chicago unexpectedly and very unhappily during rush hour whilst feeling sick. Hunched over my steering wheel with the window cracked hoping I wouldn't puke, I thought about how I enjoy the days when I don't shower and sometimes just wear the same clothes I did the day before. It's a habit that I formed from constantly running late for my dearly departed job. There's something comforting about being dirty, as well as the long hot shower which follows. I have oily hair, so my new haircut lends itself to messiness. I made it home deciding to do a photo series of my grungy days. Though I didn't quite end up doing that...Ms. Sally Jane Vintage had posted a series of photos from Jackson, Johnston and Roe's Spring collection, and I really liked the one girl's hair; even though hers is actually long and pinned up, it's something that I can sort of recreate.


I put on an outfit I'd wear if I'd been able to go to the birthday party I had planned on attending tonight. I did keep to the grungy thing a little, not showering, keeping on the top I wore last night and on the drive home, and taking the photos in my very messy bedroom. I did take one photo pre-outfit, though, due to my friend's desire to see my haircut. I used my MacBook's web camera.


I took a series of photos with my digital camera using the flash and weird angles because I wouldn't be able to capture my complete outfit otherwise...I could probably rig up something in the stairwell of my building and use the timer sans flash, but surprisingly for a Friday night, my neighbors are home and I would be really embarrassed if I were caught. But then my camera, which is suddenly starting to break down (as soon as I no longer have a steady income, of course), decided not to communicate with my computer when I hooked it up. Thus, I had to redo the shoot using my cell phone. A happy accident; it's more à propos.

Ta da:







Embarrassingly, half of the outfit is from Anthropologie: tank top (by Ric Rac; a gift from my aunt), shorts (by hei hei), and stockings (by Ruffian). Cardigan is Mossimo from Target, heels are Dolce Vita from Urban Outfitters, necklace is vintage from Fred and Ethel's, and the purse came from a lawn sale at the Logan Square farmer's market.

Phew. Got that out of my brain...though now I'll have to wash my face before going to sleep. Resume feeling sick in bed with
Buckminster and decide what movie to watch.

2.03.2010

NEW JOANNA NEWSOM!!!


February 23rd, Triple LP/CD, Have One on Me. If I had money, I'd pre-order it, but looks like I'll have to make sure I have $25 in my saving's account for the big day (hell yeah I'm getting the vinyl).
There's a free streaming track on Drag City's site, "Good Intentions Paving Company." I'm digging it.
And she's playing at the Vic on April 3rd!!!






2.01.2010

D'accord.

Today was my last day at work, and thus I've been in my own head all day thinking about how glad I am yet how I wish things could have turned out differently. I decided that a playlist on my iPod of France Gall and Françoise Hardy songs would be the perfect soundtrack for the drive there, and hit shuffle. After France Gall's "Nous ne sommes pas des onges" played, a Mos Def song came on. Huh? I'd recently made a new playlist of him, De La Soul, Dr. Octagon, and a Dave Chappelle stand up concert...apparently I'd accidentally dragged some of the songs into the France/Françoise playlist.
What a happy accident.