Mailman thinks me dumb

Please check out this new Elliott Smith song that I've been listening to all morning long on repeat.

It reminds me of why we create art, music, children... it leaves echos of us behind after we are long gone from this place.

In that instance when you hear an unreleased Elliott Smith song, are standing in front of a Picasso, watching a movie starring River Phoenix, or see your daughter smile in a way that looks exactly like your grandma whose smiles you miss so much, those are the moments where we are immortal.

This is what drives us to create.

This is why we are artists.

It is not the only reason, and probably not a reason we would typically, openly consider. It is that quiet push that makes you pick up the guitar suddenly and strum a series of chords, and not stop until you have an entire song completed. It is what makes you fill a blank canvas, spilling all of your emotions of that very moment all over it in a series of colors and shapes.

We are recording pieces of us in a moment. Capturing who we are right now because we will never be that person again.

Love at First Listen

It is not as often as I like that I fall madly in love with a song.

Sure, just like boys, I get little baby crushes on songs all of the time. Some are pretty, some are fancy, some are complicated in a way that they keep me interested until I figure out what's behind the curtain. But every once in a great while I have an actual, honest to goodness, love affair with a song.
I hear it.
It knocks me off my feet.
The music, the sounds, what it has to say.
Not a phrase out of place, not a note out of tune.
Like the song reached inside of my head and pulled out my feelings and put them into words.

That doesn't happen very often, but when it does, even when the song and I go through rough patches where I think, "I have had enough of it." but I always, eventually, find myself being drawn to it again.

I am writing to say, it has been a long time, but I have fallen head over heals in love...
with a song.

Falling by The Comas 2004

When the sun thinks of the moon..
does the sky get jealous too?
Like I used to.
Is this true?
Why its always black and blue.

Sometimes when I lie..
I've the truth still in my eyes.
But you saw through.
And it was cool
if I kept lying to you.

Now you are falling..
through outer space.
Its okay
cuz you're coming back someday.
And I've been crawling through outer space.
It's ok
cuz you'll pick me up someday.
It's ok
cuz you'll pick me up someday.

Now the paint chips fall like rain.
On the pillow where you slept away your pain
And again, and again, and again
Now I'm stuck here in this room
While you're tethered to the moon.
But you will soon come around
an I'll be waiting on the ground.

Now you are falling..
through outer space.
And it's okay
cuz you're coming back someday.
And I've been crawling through outer space.
And it's okay
cuz you'll answer me someday.
It's okay
cuz you'll answer me someday.

I've listened to this CD on repeat all day...

...and I am sad that I have to go somewhere soon, because I have to stop listening to it. You should really check it out if you like the slow and pretty with really great lyrics.
Jon played a show with him last month, that is where I heard him the first time. Jon said he heard him on the radio and knew that I would love the CD, he was correct!
Here is a youtube of that show:

And here is his website:
http://www.jmorrisonmusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/joshuamorrison

"One day you'll leave this town and
no one will notice,
you are gone."

On The Radio

Last.FM anyone? Add me if you want to. You can find me under: Dreamingviola or
http://www.last.fm/user/dreamingviola/

What's new on the Pretty Red iPod?

This week's downloads:

Smile: Charles Chaplin

Between The Bars (Elliott Smith Cover): Madeleine Peyroux

Trust in Me: Siouxsie and The Banshees

Via Con Me: Paolo Conte

Back To Your Heart: Dinosaur Jr.

Fun little iPod Meme

I think everyone should do it. (I did actually follow the rules so there are some pretty weird songs on there, but that is what came up, so I'm not gonna justify it.)

RULES:
Get your iPod or mp3 player and put it on shuffle - press play and listen to the song. Name the song & Artist. Use ONE line from each song to answer the questions. No cheating, and try to keep the answers at least somewhat truthful!!


1. What is your life like right now?
When the Lights Go Up- Jon Auer:
"If you you think no one sincere appreciates then let me tell you before it gets too late."
 
2. What is your biggest fear?
Dear God- XTC
"Dear God, don't know if you noticed, but...
your name is on a lot of quotes in this book,
and us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look,
and all the people that you made in your image
still believing that junk is true."

3. What is one thing that would make you happy?
All Medicated Geniuses - Pretty Girls Make Graves.
"Just a smoke screen we're all liars, better to stew in discontent than to admit we’re wrong

4. What is your biggest secret?
Bottle Up & Explode- Elliott Smith
"The last time you cried who'd you think was inside?"
 
5. Who are you in love with?  
Circuit Breaker - Serverna Park
"But now I know I can't go back"
 
6. What will your future be like?
Van Morrison- Days Like This
"Mama Said there'd be days like this"
 
7. What is your family like?
The Blue Nun- Beastie Boys
" What's The Secret Peter
Naturally I'll Say Its The Wine
Mmm It Does Go Well With The Chicken
Delicious again Peter"
 
8. What is something that makes you feel sad?
Secret Squirrel- Robb Benson
"I can't wait for the day that I can see you without feeling guilty"

9. What was your childhood like?
Gone- Ben Folds
"I know that you went straight to someone else
While I worked through all this shit here by myself
And I think that you should spend some time alone
But if you won't
Then you won't
And I will consider you gone"

10. What is school like?
Union Station- Gavin Guss
"The shameless promotion just eats you away,
no one to sing for and nothing to say,
every other motive diseased or perverse."

11. How is your love life?
On and Off Again- Sondre Lerche
"I've come to fill you up
I've come to taste the price I'll pay
I've come to leave a note
I've come to see you on and off"

12. What is something that excites you?
Down to the Well- The Pixies
"Been thinking to myself
and if a life's not long
what matter does it make
if there'll be favorite songs playing in my head
when we go down to the well"

13. What is something you love?
Love Will Tear Us Apart- Joy Division
"Yet there's still this appeal that we've kept through our lives
Love, love will tear us apart again"

14. What is something you hate?
Bubble Pop Electric- Gwen Stefani
"I'm waiting patiently
Anticipating your arrival
And I'm hating
It takes so long to get to my house
To take me out"
 
15. What is something you find attractive in the opposite sex?
She's Electric- Oasis
"(S)he's in a family full of eccentrics
(S)he's done things I never expected
And I need more time"

16. What is your best memory?
Ba Ba Ba - Ivy
" I dream you are blind.
I stare into your eyes.
You see only white.
Or is it black, I can't decide?"

17. What is something that can make you laugh?
You're aging well- Dar Williams
" And all I could eat was the poisonous apple
And that's not a story I was meant to survive"

18. What is something you're guilty of?
Can't Keep It In- Cat Stevens
"You've got so much to say, say what you mean,
mean what you're thinking, and think anything."

19. What's the most fun you've ever had? (HAHAHAHAHA)
Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
"You stand in the front just a shakin' your ass
I'll take you backstage, you can drink from my glass"
 
20. What's something you want to do before you die?
Today- Joshua Radin
" you looked right through me and there was no one else
I sat beside you and became myself"

21. Something you want to say to your best friend:
A Question of Lust- Depeche Mode
" My weaknesses
You know each and every one (it frightens me)
But I need to drink
More than you seem to think
Before I'm anyone's
And you know"
 
22. Something you want to say to your crush:
Mr Brightside- The Killers
"I’m coming out of my cage
And I’ve been doing just fine
Gotta gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all"
 
23. Something you want to say to someone you hate:
Is She Weird- The Pixies
"your heart is ripshot
your mouth is everywhere
I'm lyin' in it"

24. Something you want to say to someone you admire:
Wake- Heatmiser
"you know one wound just wants to turn into another"

25. Some last words you would like to give:
Episode Of Blonde - Elvis Costello
"She was a cute little ruin that he pulled out of the rubble
Now they are both living in a soft soap bubble"

I was visited by the ghost of a stupid song...

This entire weekend was all about music. On Friday I went to the studio to play a clarinet solo on my friend Gavin’s new record. I love Gavin’s music so this was a huge honor to be invited to play. My favorite comment of the evening was ‘It is getting very Brian Wilson in here!”
Indeed!
It has been a while since I played but we managed to get a good little solo down. It also inspired me to start playing my clarinet more. I think I might have to start incorporating it into more of my own stuff.

Then Saturday eve Jon and I were going to start recording one of my songs. My plan was to have something up before the New Year but I got really sick and could barely talk, much less sing. Friday was the first day in a while where I thought I might be able to record, so we made a plan.

We started recording a song that I wrote just for home recording. It was super simple and didn’t take too much vocal control. (I am SO out of practice!) I wanted the first one to be fun and not a challenge just to shake the cobwebs out. (I'm also not 100% after having the worlds worst cold. Singing + phlegm = ungood)
I did the guitar track and then just as we finished the vocals Jon played the song back. It sounded really good but… it was just stupid. The song was stupid. I hated the lyrics. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote it. The lyrics were just silly and I was not about to show it to anyone until I did a major rewrite.
So after we had wasted an hour or three on that (sorry Jon) I told him to scrap it. By then I was getting tired. So we started messing around with a song idea that I had. As the night turned into morning, the song progressed into a very experimental sounding tidbit. Jon put some heavy effects on my jazz clarinet part making it sound like space talk. Jon played a teeny little keyboard for what was originally a guitar part. I played the guitar parts and I sang. Jon did some human beat box drum sound on it too. The end result sounded like we were sitting around in a cloud of smoke while writing this stuff. Twas not the case, but I am sure sleep deprivation and red wine had a lot to do with it.

How to spend a Saturday afternoon...

Draw about 100 stick figures and turn them into a music video!
Check it out:

The most wonderful time of the year...

Satsumas = Mouthgasm

I damn near did a little dance when I saw the boxes stacked in the store this weekend.

And other things that remind me of this time of year: This Red House Painters song just came up on my iTunes.
(This song tends to turn up on a lot of my Fall/Winter mixes)

Song: Have You Forgotten
-Red house Painters

I can't let you be, cause your beauty won't allow me
wrapped in white sheets,
like an angel from a bedtime story
and shut out what they say,
cause your friends are fucked up anyway
and when they come around,
somehow they feel up and you feel down.

When we were kids, we hated things our parents did
we listened low to Casey Kasem's radio show
that's when friends were nice,
to think of them just makes you feel nice
the smell of grass in spring
and October leaves cover everything.

Have you forgotten how to love yourself? [x2]

I can't believe all the good things that you do for me
sat back in a chair like a princess from a faraway place
nobody's nice, when you're older your heart turns to ice
and shut out what they say;
they're too dumb to mean it anyway

When we were kids, we hated things our sisters did
backyard summer pools and Christmases were beautiful
and the sentiment of coloured mirrored ornaments
and the open drapes
look out on frozen farmhouse landscapes

Have you forgotten how to love yourself?