Blogs are so passe and pretentious. Oh well, here's my blog about music that's stuck in my head when I wake up in the mornings along with adventures of the Cash family and wacky wacky crazy wacky shenanigans.
Hey y'alls. Im back with more exciting songs and stories and excitement!!
Buckle up cuz this ones neat. And I'm blogging from my phone in honor of how neat it is.
Today's song comes from Kara's Flowers. You've heard them before! I promise you have because they've now evolved into this lil band you may have heard about: maroon 5!!!!
That's right, Maroon 5 used to be a delightful little indie band called kara's flowers They released 2 albums in the late 90s and after having minimal success they switched things up, added a 5th member and started singing about sex. Voila! Hugely successful band!
Well, I prefer their old sound, both musically and lyrically. MAN! This song is fantastic, here's "Captain Splendid"
Ok neato heads sleep tight and have a neat neat week
Today's song comes again from Regina Spektor. I love her music, but my subconscious loves it even more. I dub her "The Queen of Earworms" as this is now the 9th time I've written about her on this here blog.
This song is particularly good. It's from her 2003 album (my personal favorite R.S. album) "Soviet Kitsch" The song is about the deadly gas Carbon Monoxide. I really like this song so listen mkay?
What I'm about to do will likely be boring to most but this is my blog and neener neener.
(Side note, it would be REALLY hard to write a successful column or blog. Like really hard and a lot of work, and it would especially be difficult if you WORKED for someone else who expected you to be an amazing writer/entertainer. I'm really glad this is just a hobby for me and I'm grateful to the people who indulge me by coming here to read my thoughts about music and life and stuff. AND SCENE.)
I'm in the mood to talk about albums, in general. Popular music comes from albums and there are loads of them out there. Some are mediocre, some are great and some are bloomin' fantastic. I LOVE ALBUMS!
So this is a glowing endorsement of ALBUMS! When is the last time you listened to one? Why did they pick the opening track they way they did? What is the follow up track? Why did they pick the order of tracks the way they did? What kind of message are the artists try to say with their music? Have you ever thought of a record as a work of art? ALBUMS YOU GUYS!
The reason I'm talking about ALBUMS (in capital letters) is that I'm afraid that ALBUMS might become a thing of the past. The reason I'm afraid of this is because nobody buys albums any more! The album used to be the medium for which the artist and record distribution made money. But now, between streaming and illegal downloading, albums are rarely being purchased.
On top of that, shuffling music has become a trend- one that I enjoy as much as the next guy- yet I'm afraid that those who stream and shuffle music are inadvertently changing the music industry.
I could be wrong, and correct me if I am, but don't you see artists releasing songs individually, rather than as an album- since nobody buys albums? Does that make sense?
I'm not great at arguing a point, but I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I would be really sad if artists stopped making albums.
So go buy an ALBUM! Go listen to an ALBUM! Do it start to finish. Listen to it quietly and enjoy all the work the artist put forth as an expression of art.
Thanks for being my buds and always reading my blog.
This weekend was neat for me, let me tell you why!
Saturday night I headed up to southern Idaho with my family- not my wife and kids, but my family- mom, dad, sister and two brothers. I can honestly say, I don't think the six of us have been on the road together like this in 20 years, no in-laws, just our nifty old nuclear family:
I'll bet you're wondering why we did this! I'll tell you!
Well, my great grand-father, Guy Wesley Cash, Sr. was inducted to the Idaho rodeo hall of fame. Did you know that he was a world champion wild bronco rider in 1928? I'll bet you didn't!
My grandpa died in 1985 so he wasn't there to
accept the honor, but Guy Wesley Cash, Jr. sure was and he's my grandpa. It was so cool being there. I feel like it's a sort of way that this great cowboy's rodeo legacy can be etched into history's books. I'm proud of what he accomplished.
Since we were in Twin Falls for this ceremony, we decided to skip over to Pocatello and visit the place we all called home for the formative years of our life. My parents met in High School in Pocatello and I lived there until I was 6 years old. We took a trip or two down memory lane and visited our old houses, ate at our favorite places and drove around town, reminiscing about the memories we have living there. I will always love Pocatello because it feels like home to me, and it takes me back to a time when life was more simple- am I the only one who aches for my youth?
Above is a picture we've reenacted as adults. We even went to the same duplex on Creighton in Pocatello to replicate a picture from Easter in 1984. I love my sister and brothers. I have the happiest memories of them as a kid and having a day for just the four of us with Mom and Dad was special.
Lastly, I'm going to share another picture from yesterday, that is kind of special and ties into the song stuck in my head this morning.
There is a great little band called Built To Spill that originated in Twin Falls, Idaho. To date they've released 8 studio albums, Their 1994 album has a song called "Twin Falls" and in the song they make reference to Harrison Elementary.
"Cafeteria, Harrison Elementary- beneath a parachute, I saw her without shoes"
It's a lovely and somber song and I've always loved it. Me and my brothers had a little time to kill and we thought we'd take the occasion to visit this elementary school and snap a photo:
We did an auto photo in the grass, some blades made it into the picture and turning it black and white made me feel arty. This was probably a strange and random thing for us to do, but I'm glad my brothers wanted to once I suggested we do it, since all 3 of us are fans of the song.
(Side note, if I ever form a band with my brothers this will be the cover of our first album and it will be called "Harrison Elementary")
We're not the only ones who love the song "Twin Falls," Ben Folds Five covered the song as well. As fate would have it, a great song by Ben Folds Five was in my head this morning. It's called "Do It Anyway" here's the great song and video which features The Fraggles from Fraggle Rock. Enjoy a fun song and a trip down memory lane to my "80's kids" friends:
I hope you liked that. If you're bored you can stop reading now.
If you want to here something interesting, here's a great interview with my man Ben Folds. I don't expect you to listen to the whole thing- but if you're curious you can hear a little about how this song came about.
You see... Ben Folds has a tradition where he improvises a song at each show. It started when a fan yelled "Rock This B**ch" at a show and Mr Folds created a song on the spot with that title. If you've seen him live, it's a lot of fun when he makes up a song on the spot, especially if he's playing with a band or orchestra. The song always sounds amazing!
Well, "Do It Anyway" originated as a "Rock this B****" improvised song at a show. In this interview, right at about 14:45 you can hear this actual made up song on the spot. This whole interview is great, but if you'd indulge me by listening to this small section in the middle (again, starting at 14:45) I think that you'll be slightly amused, and come on, since you're reading my blog you have nothing else to do anyway right? (no "Do It Anyway" jokes, please)
