jingle jingle

I’ll admit it: not only do I kind of like Christmas music, but I have an entire Christmas music playlist on my iPod. And entire Christmas albums by some artists, namely Mariah Carey and Destiny’s Child. I have just come to the realization that it is now mid-December (ish) and it is at least somewhat acceptable to be listening to Christmas music.

This is where Christian music doesn’t suck, I think. Because, having done a variety of music in choir over the past two and a half years, I can tell you that a lot of Protestant music, when it’s not of the Southern Baptist persuasion, is just not very pretty. Sorry. But it all sounds the same, and it gets boring and ugly to sing. I’m all about Catholic masses or a good spiritual, but wishy washy gospel is pretty uninteresting.

Christmas music, too, when sung by common people, reminds me of “The Star-Spangled Banner”–meaning that it can suck. A lot. Without even trying. And there’s plenty of crappy Christmas music, just as there is plenty of crappy music in just about every genre. I just finished a paper on Sephardic ballads from medieval Spain, and some of them are pretty unattractive, too. So I’m not being biased. There is always good music out there, and there is always ugly music out there as well. But people who are trained to be singers, especially those who also have some extra talent in writing and arranging, can do pretty fabulous version of good Christmas carols. And, because I am a desert girl who never gets to experience white Christmases for herself, it’s all I can do to secretly listen to carols on my earbuds.

American Christmas is a secular holiday anyway. Consumerism, pretending that Hanukkah is an important holiday, drinking eggnog AND eating potato latkes, and buying presents for everyone just because it’s fun. Finals are almost here, but at least classes are done, so I’m not going to stress. Hello, December.

nice things

I just got a letter from my roommate’s friend who I’ve met just once. He moved to Seattle and wrote a letter to each girl in our house. What a guy. What a nice thing. I like letters. I used to have many penpals.

I also just wrote/edited three songs. I recently entered a song lyric contest in American Songwriter just for the hell of it, because the entry fee was included in the price to renew my subscription. It may not be my novel, and that’s going to hurt me if I want to get into this writing program this summer, but it’s a good thing because writing anything helps you work on your writing.

Jason Segel wrote a song and performed with the Swell Season.

And I have a hundred books (actually more, but close to that number in my room that I haven’t read) that I desperately want to read, but I have so much homework for the rest of the semester it’s ridiculous. And really I just want to go to sleep right now.

meh. and songs.

I keep starting entries and not finishing them, because I don’t really know what to say. The problem with having something to say is that I live my job, and then I go to school, and I don’t really do a lot of other things. I don’t remember the last time I went to a movie theatre, I haven’t seen my parents or my sister in a couple weeks,

Thank G-d for this day off tomorrow. Not that I really have the day off, since one of my jobs decided that every time I have a day off, I have a meeting at Hillel, and that made me schedule work at Safe Ride as well, since I’d already be on campus. But just the fact that I got to take a nap this afternoon and not worry about when I had to wake up was absolutely brilliant. Now for a little piano practice, and then off to an excellent party. Tonight will be a good night.

I read a compilation of interviews in a book called Song, by editors of American Songwriter. I skipped quite a few, because the book is nearly 400 pages long, and after awhile I’m not too interested in country music, but there were many of them that were just fabulous. I’ve scarcely been writing lately, but songs are something that are coming a bit easier to me now. When I look at them again, I think that they’re probably not that good, but I probably shouldn’t second guess myself. A lot of songs look like they suck if you just look at the lyrics, but somehow they work. And I may as well try them out. Next step, writing music. That’s the really hard part for me. And does anyone want to give me Garage Band lessons?

just swell

I’ve started mostly paying for music again, and it’s wonderful, because now I don’t listen to crap, and I support indie music aside from just when I go to shows, AND I get to find out that the Swell Season released a new deluxe album, and I just downloaded it a few hours ago.

I’m not sure that most people would like them, given that a lot of what makes them awesome is the movie “Once,” so if you haven’t seen it, you may be confused. Also, though their concerts are cool, they play with the Frames, so even in a place as small as the Rialto, say, it’s still a loud cacophony of noise compared to their studio recordings, in which you can actually hear the musical part of the music. However, while they’re not my favorite people in the entire world, I really like them a lot and respect their way of doing the whole music thing. The Swell Season is really a band for musicians, I think, especially for musicians who love the Irish musical tradition. Which is awesome.

The first problem with understanding the Swell Season is that there is no real way to categorize them. Not that “genre” is ever really helpful, but where do they go? Indie music, yes, but are they folky? Bluegrassy? Irish? Something else? Their albums are collections of songs, but the songs don’t always have much to do with each other. You have Glen Hansard writing himself songs to sing, and they’re interesting lyrically, because if you just read the lyrics, they look like bad poems, but somehow they work. Then sometimes he likes to get loud with his Frames buddies. And then, out of the blue, everything will stop, and here comes Marketa Irglova with the most depressing, heartwrenchingly sad, sad song that makes you want to die, but it’s so pretty and so universally personal that you can’t help but think she’s amazing. And then, if you listen really closely to the other songs, you hear her harmonies behind Glen, and you wish that they would have evened out the levels a bit.

What I love about them is that they make music that tells you how much they love making music. It’s not really trying to be this perfectly produced gem with songs that music supervisors are clamoring for. They are not going to end up on “Grey’s Anatomy”–at least, probably not. But, just like I’m at my happiest when I am belting any song while driving in my car, you can tell that they just love what they’re doing. And they each have this unique background that they’re coming from, and they just sound like people experimenting and having fun and sharing–”We do this in Ireland.” “Oh, really? In the Czech Republic, we do this”–and just being musical. The Swell Season is like music in progress.

Definitely this album is easier to like if you’re not really music-y or if you’re not me than their previous one, which was a bit too hard to discern what the harmonies and melodies were. I’m liking it so far. Yay music! It makes me want to get writing again. G-d, I miss writing so much.

crowd theory

I’ve realized that the reason I don’t enjoy large, loud concerts is because I am less capable than most at succumbing to a collective. Last night was the huge stadium concert, which actually looked fairly unimpressive, because the stadium seats 56,000, and about 12,000 people actually showed up to the concert, though close to none actually went to the entire six-hour event.

Anyway. Not my point. (But they should have had it in McKale so it would look more impressive.) I really, really enjoy good concerts. I do. I adore music, and there is something really special about witnessing its creation and performance live. But I am really not a very flamboyant spectator. This is how I know I would not be a good famous singer, much as I’d like to be famous. I can’t really free myself to move around a lot or scream or anything. I sing along, yes. That I feel almost compelled to do, and it’s hard to keep my mouth shut. But moving around and waving my arms and showing “my diamonds,” as Jay-Z asked us all to do, is hard to do.

Waving my arms is the worst. I feel supremely uncomfortable and self-conscious when I am doing that. I’m sure it’s actually gotten harder since leaving high school, since I don’t dance anymore. But it’s never been something I’ve been able to do naturally. It’s a strange feeling, but even though I feel stupid not doing it, I feel like I have a physical aversion to doing it if I actually try to be one of the crowd.

There’s this thing called crowd psychology, and you can google it or look it up on Wikipedia if you like. I think the best example of this is English soccer fans, if only because I’ve already had a long conversation with my friends about that particular theory and how it’s manifested in that group. But basically, it’s the idea that people do things they would never do otherwise when they’re in groups, and it’s also very easy to be caught up in a sort of collective conscious and feel the same, act the same, and react the same. This is how people can end up rioting after they win a soccer game, or how they can feel an amazing rush of adrenaline when they and their friends go after a rival team’s fans and start beating them to a pulp. Ahh, the rush of physical fighting! Such a guy thing. I really don’t get it.

This is also how people feel when they go to a school football game and find themselves with a passion for their team that they never knew they had, or they notice that they’ve never had such a potty mouth before, or they realize that they and everyone around them is saying the same things, “oh!”ing at the exact same time, stamping their feet together, clapping the same rhythmic pattern, or what have you. Crowd psychology. Try and say you’ve never experienced this.

But I swear I don’t have that. I feel detached from other people almost all the time. I have definitely felt some moments of belonging, so I guess I’m not a complete alien, but those moments are things like bonding with the party room crew while we were sitting by the haunted house at Bennington College, or snapping a photo with my Kenya group soon after we’d returned, just before we went inside to graduate from high school. Group pride, certainly, and a sort of collective understanding and a feeling like in that moment, I loved those people more than anyone else, but never have I really lost myself in a moment that became a collective moment.

Even when Obama won the presidency, ecstatic as I was, I felt like I was faking it. I cheered because, yes, it was a wonderful thing, and because everyone else was doing it, but it was conscious. That’s not crowd psychology. It didn’t take me over; I just observed it and blended as well as I could. And even then, in a moment that I was truly happy and hopeful, I was not part of a collective conscious.

So last night, though I loosened up as the night went on, and I shouted the lyrics to “99 Problems” like nobody’s business, I felt completely aware of how out of my comfort zone I felt. And shouting the lyrics and dancing a bit was the only thing I did. My arms feel too heavy to wave them like everyone else; I don’t understand that whole diamonds thing because I’m definitely not as cool as I like to pretend I am; I did not shout out to Kelly Clarkson, “Kelly, I love you!”** repeatedly, and even if it had happened to be a Mariah Carey concert and I was thinking that same thing, I wouldn’t say it. I was lost in the musical conscious, but that’s not tangible, and it’s not even human. I am incapable of being part of a crowd.

I take back my earlier statement. I probably am an alien.

**This same girl at one point turned back to me and asked me something; I think the question was, “Aren’t you so happy right now?” which, looking back, is a really nice feeling to have, and I just smiled, because I wasn’t yet ready to buy the whole Kelly Clarkson deal (though after her entire set, I am sold–hers may not be my favorite style of music, but the girl is well-trained. She can belt, she can sing, she can scream–all in one song). Later, Kelly played a song from her new album, and this girl immediately grabbed her BlackBerry and googled the lyrics so she could sing along. Best. Concert. Moment. Ever.

***Also, check out Cindy Pon’s blog, book, and contest. She’s giving away a beautiful brush painting/bookstore gift certificate, plus a signed copy of her book, which looks awesome. You should click on the book cover now. Do it.

so this is the new year

Sipping licorice tea, listening to the soundtrack to “Cadillac Records,” revising my “resolutions.” New playlist up.

mr. a-z, oh sweet anna, and me

So I went to the Jason Mraz Trio concert on Monday. As far as I can understand it, it was a pretty last minute thing added to the tour, and it was more stripped than his big Phoenix show the night before. He opened with “Unfold,” which made me really happy, and he also started playing around with his guitar, saying he was going to do a surprise, and just as I was going to yell out “1000 Things” as a guess, that’s what it turned into. So, it was pretty fabulous.

I went with Anna, Maria, and Maria’s boyfriend. It took forever for Jason to come out, and there was no opening act, so we spent lots of time standing near the front of the stage, acting silly and drinking beer. The concert was great, though the set was really short, and the encore was “Butterfly” and another song that I’m almost positive I have on one of his EPs, but now I can’t find it.

After the show, we stood outside the Rialto forever waiting for him to come out. We actually passed the open backstage door, and we were so dumb that we walked past and then realized what it was, but when we went back, it was shut. Jason’s backup singer/drummer came out and spoke with a lot of us, and he was pretty cool. Jason finally came out for like five minutes, didn’t really talk to anyone, and was completely blazed.

I obviously do not have a real problem with marijuana, within reason. For example, I prefer it to cigarettes and harder drugs. Whatever you want to do to have fun or relax is fine, as long as you don’t always resort to it. But Jason Mraz is 31. At 31, even if you do have a successful career and you’re obviously not a fuckup, it’s a little unattractive to be that stoned. I managed to get him to sign my shirt, but he didn’t sign any of my friends’ stuff, and he wouldn’t pose for pictures.

I’m sure it must get really annoying after awhile to go from place to place and have silly teenage girls screaming and telling you they love you. I’m sure I didn’t quite help by offering to show my boobs to anyone who worked at the Rialto who would let me backstage. Ha. But it’s ungracious to be that disrespectful to your fans. Maybe he would have rather not come out, and he just felt he had to since there were lots of people there. But damnit, you signed up for this, and part of your job as a famous musician is not only to be a musician but to be famous as well, within reason. I have lost a lot of respect for Mr. A-Z, which is sad, because he is one of my favorite musicians. So clever, so funny, such a good voice, but with ungracious and with kind of crappy stage presence.

Anyway. It’s still always nice to go to a concert and remember that I, too, am a musician, and I should be working on stuff. And not just my theory homework.

Last night was Open Mic Night at Espresso Art, and dear Anna played, along with some of her friends, and some other people. Anna did fabulously, as did everyone. It was, I was told, the best Open Mic Night people had ever seen there. There was only one person who was even remotely uninteresting, and even he was very talented at his instrument, even if his voice wasn’t the best. So I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and so did the boyfriend, and we hung out with some work friends, some other friends, etc. Smoked some hookah, drank some chai, enjoyed some music.

I really need to get on writing. Maybe by next semester, I’ll have some songs and some confidence to perform at Open Mic myself.

añoro

New playlist up for October.

in the middle of broadway

I love to download random things that I even sort of like, vaguely. So awhile ago I downloaded the special edition soundtrack to “Pocahontas.” I definitely have a thing for movie soundtracks and showtunes, and besides, I only had the tape, so it’s nice to have music I can listen to on my iPod. I’ll just admit that I love a lot of Disney music. Alan Menken is great. Deal with it.

So there’s this one song on the soundtrack that was taken out of the movie. It’s called “In the Middle of the River.” It’s so Broadway, it’s fantastic. I love love love showtune duets. They have such a distinct sound, with particular harmonies and counterpoint. There’s a particular way that singers enter and exit phrases and when they sing together. A duet between Pocahontas and John Smith, it does sound a little different than the other songs in the movie. But mark my words, if Disney does a Broadway version, which is not all that unlikely, they will put the song back in. I’m just saying.

the musiclife

Maroon 5 is going to release their third studio album in December and then they’re breaking up. It’ll be called “The Lovelife.” I’m not sure where they announced this, but it’s on Wikipedia, so it must be true. I get that all good things must come to an end, and it must get old doing the same old, same old for a long period of time, even if you make a bunch of money, but it’s still very sad. I hope they go on tour for the final album, since I missed the show that was just on in September, and the Super Bowl show was madly disappointing.

What they didn’t mention is that one of the reasons they are breaking up is that Adam Levine and I are going to record an album together. Our voices do mesh well, after all. :-p

I actually think they do. My choirs have a concert tomorrow, so our new conductors were listening to our voices to decide on placement on the risers. I, of course, am always on the end, because my voice does not mix well with anyone else’s. I think I should be near the boys, because I have such a low alto range that I’m pretty much a tenor anyway. I sound better with a guy than a girl pretty much any time. Strangely, now that I have a cold, I have a pretty good head voice, and I’m hitting high Fs in one of our songs better than I did before. It’s the low notes I can’t do. I’m sure we learned about this in linguistics last year and I’m just forgetting what the reason is, but it seems strange to lose your lower notes but not your top notes when you have a cold. I guess it makes sense that since a cold is in your chest, your chest voice goes first? I dunno.

Mr. Levine, whenever you’re bored, you can just come down to Tucson and give me a few songwriting lessons. Just drop me a line or give me a call.