Coming out of retirement to bring you this late breaking news...

The Pixies in concert are completely... underwhelming. I literally just left their show at D.A.R. Constitution Hall. They played Doolittle in its entirety and the show sounded exactly like the album... almost note for note. Kim Deal told us all exactly where we were in the album ("The first half is over!") like she couldn't wait to be done. I've seen introverted software developers in my office show more feeling than the Pixies did during that entire show.

Bottom line: If I had played the album really loud in my apartment, I could have saved myself 50 bucks. That said, the Pixies must be really hard up for cash to get up onstage and go through the motions of playing a good show. I hope that my contribution helps them to survive this recession. After all, they have written some amazing songs, including the one that I named this very blog after. It's just a shame that they have taken something that I loved so much and made it absolutely forgettable.

Jeff Buckley's number 1 on iTunes!

Today when I turned on iTunes, I noticed that Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah* is the most downloaded song. What?!?! The song is 14 years old so why on earth is it number 1? I did some sleuthing and figured it out. Jason Castro sang it on American Idol this week. Click here if you would like to see Jeff Buckley sing Hallelujah. He starts singing at 1:20.

*Hallelujah is originally by Leonard Cohen. There is also a cover by Rufus Wainwright that is well liked.

I am obsessed with this song!

I have listened to this acoustic version of Paramore's "Misery Business" at least 20 times today. I love it!


P.S. Happy birthday, Mom!

Singing on the subway

I love this! The band is called Naturally 7.

Am I alone in here?

It's time to wake up
And celebrate feelings
That I keep falling into...
Am I alone in here?

~My version of Chevelle's lyrics to "One Lonely Visitor"

How fitting

Since people always seem to think I look like Alanis Morissette, I figured I should post about her.Today's Funny Quote of the Day* is from Alanis:

"We'll love you just the way you are if you're perfect."

It's also fitting that I would title a post about a musician "How fitting." There are two other posts on this blog with the same title. "How fitting" number 1 is about Brandy. "How fitting" number 2 is about The Fray.

More fun facts about "How fitting" posts: This one is being written on November 14. The previous ones were written on October 19 and October 11. Things just seem to fit in the fall. Hmmm.


*See bottom of right navigation bar for the Funny Quote of the Day.

Finally feeling a little better

The best word to describe my first month and a half at school: blah. Thankfully, the last few weeks have been going pretty well. Now when people ask me how I'm doing in the halls, I say I'm doing well and I mean it. I wonder how long this is going to last.

One moment of blah did creep in yesterday. I was at the gym without my iPod* when a John Mayer song came on. I've been avoiding John Mayer since 2002 when his "Room for Squares" album was the soundtrack to one of the most painful experiences of my life. While five years has dulled that pain, hearing the song still made me want to scream. Perhaps it would be a good idea to bring my iPod to the gym from now on, just in case of emergency.


*This year my iPod has been replaced by schoolwork when I'm at the gym. This means that I end up listening to whatever radio station is playing over the loud speakers. For a while there, "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's came on every single time I was at the gym.

Don't let the bastards grind you down

Don't believe what you hear
Don't believe what you see
If you just close your eyes
You can feel the enemy
When I first met you girl
You had fire in your soul
What happened your face
Of melting in snow
Now it looks like this

And you can swallow
Or you can spit
You can throw it up
Or choke on it
And you can dream
So dream out loud
You know that your time is coming 'round
So don't let the bastards grind you down

No, nothing makes sense
Nothing seems to fit
I know you'd hit out
If you only knew who to hit
And I'd join the movement
If there was one I could believe in
Yeah I'd break bread and wine
If there was a church I could receive in
'cause I need it now

To take a cup
To fill it up
To drink it slow
I can't let you go
I must be an acrobat
To talk like this
And act like that
And you can dream
So dream out loud
And don't let the bastards grind you down

~From U2's "Acrobat"

All I need is a bitter song

to make me better... Much better.
All I need to write is a bitter song to make me better... Much better.
~From "A Bitter Song" by Butterfly Boucher

And for those who like Grey's Anatomy, here's the song mixed with scenes from the show.

This is so touching that it made me cry

Phone salesman singing opera on Britain's Got Talent

About a week ago I saw this man, Paul Potts, on the news while I was at the gym. Unfortunately, I didn't see enough of the story to find any additional information online. Thanks to Lynn's mom for passing this on to Lynn who then passed it on to me.

P.S. In case you were wondering, Britain's Got Talent is Simon Cowell's latest money maker. Does the man really need any more money?

P.P.S. Paul Potts was the winner of this year's show. Doesn't it just warm your heart?

Help save Pandora and Internet radio

Hi, it's Tim from Pandora,

I'm writing today to ask for your help. The survival of Pandora and all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora. The new royalty rates are irrationally high, more than four times what satellite radio pays and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all. Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site, including Pandora.

In response to these new and unfair fees, we have formed the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group that includes listeners, artists, labels and webcasters. I hope that you will consider joining us.

Please sign our petition urging your Congressional representative to act to save Internet radio: http://capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541

Please feel free to forward this link/email to your friends - the more petitioners we can get, the better.

Understand that we are fully supportive of paying royalties to the artists whose music we play, and have done so since our inception. As a former touring musician myself, I'm no stranger to the challenges facing working musicians. The issue we have with the recent ruling is that it puts the cost of streaming far out of the range of ANY webcaster's business potential.

I hope you'll take just a few minutes to sign our petition - it WILL make a difference. As a young industry, we do not have the lobbying power of the RIAA. You, our listeners, are by far our biggest and most influential allies.

As always, and now more than ever, thank you for your support.


-Tim Westergren
(Pandora founder)

OK GO get physical

Another YouTube winner. Even cooler than synchronized swimming.

OK GO's "Here It Goes Again"

How cool is it

that music videos like this are winning awards on YouTube.
Beautiful and simple and real. I love it!

Terra Naomi's "Say It's Possible"

Madonna loves H&M

Today when I checked my Myspace account, I came across this: Designed by Madonna

Huh? What? Madonna has designed clothes for H&M?!?! I have to admit I'm intrigued. There's no H&M in Charlottesville, so I'll have to satisfy my curiosity on the web. Luckily, H&M's site is pretty amazing so that shouldn't be hard. :)

Is the music industry finally wising up?

"EMI may sell songs online without piracy protection"

It's about time! I've been saying for years that the music industry has to stop making its customers angry (high CD prices, lawsuits, early refusal to adopt digital music) and start listening to them. I would love to say to all the music industry executives, "If people felt like you were in it for the music and not for the money, they would happily pay you. If you were a music consumer, what would you want? Now, make that happen."

EMI, if you do this right, I will applaud you.

Just what I needed

A strange and brilliant mind created Little Miss Sunshine. The plot would be sick and twisted on paper but on screen it's hilarious and uplifting. Now that's impressive.

Someone stop me

Call on the fates, this'll take a second
While I fall on my face, like everyone else
And we can talk all we want, but all I can say
is that "I'm sorry. Yeah I'm sorry,
but I'm never gonna do it again"

Counting on my relevant friends
Well this keeps coming up again and again
If everybody knows how it's gonna end
Why doesn't someone stop me?
Because I'm sick of waking up on your floor
For the sixth or seventh night in a row
I'm lying next to you in all of my clothes
Someone stop me

~From Inaction by We Are Scientists

I can't fight it. It's undeniable.

In my search for Ryan Adams' cover of Wonderwall, I came across the following video on YouTube.



This thing kills me. I am such a sap.

Music is my first name

Back in my "I wanna work for a record company" days, I was fortunate enough to meet Cam'ron. He was nice. He breezed into Epic's video production department with his posse, hit on the other intern (who I'd just like to mention was totally not as cute as me), talked to one of the executives, and left.

Why am I writing this? Because there is a great article in, you guessed it, The NY times today. Here are some choice paragraphs from Kelefa Sanneh's The Reesey-Piecey Man Cometh (and Rhymeith):

In 1998, years before it became obvious that he was one of hip-hop's most appealing surrealists, Cam'ron was just another aspiring star, content to hold down the world's most glamorous job: New York rapper....

The process was simple: a couple of hit records, a couple of memorable videos, and suddenly you were richer than God and nearly as omnipresent. It was a time when even the most extravagant hip-hop boasts could pass for predictions: O.K., maybe you didn't actually own an island, but you were so close.

This gilded age didn't deliver on its promises. New York rappers discovered that music-industry success was nearly as demeaning as failure: it's hard to look cool when you're working overtime to satisfy radio stations and club D.J.'s, and it's hard to maintain your king-of-the-world image when you're being outsold by boy bands.

Ahhh, the joy of show business.

Musical madness!!!

What on Earth is going on here?


First I find out that Vanilla Ice performed last night at Gallaudet, a school for the hearing impaired, and then I learn that Modest Mouse is on this year's HFStival line up. Huh?