two jobs? son of a motherless goat!

so here i am graduated and finding myself with two job offers. neither thrill me, but it's nice to know i have options. i have to decide by tomorrow which job to go with... and almost everyone has an opinion on which to choose, except for me. wish me luck on the "making the right decision" front.

in my recent free time i've discovered how much awesome music i missed out on while being studious. my friend/roommate has gotten me stuck on her music faves (ingrid michaelson, rosie thomas, joshua radin etc), but as a lover of weezer and foo fighters it's hard to stick to soft acoustic all the time.

most recently i've found the thermals' album the body, the blood, the machine. it's got some great hooks and the theme of modern religion makes the album stick out. i enjoyed listening to it all the way through and that's my favorite kind of album, one that pieces songs together to make something more than just good songs. i think that's why i love musical soundtracks so much too... it's nice to get a story or bigger idea from a set of songs.

everyone's a little ocd

it's like that song from the musical Avenue Q, Everyone's a little bit Racist... i truly believe everyone's at least a little bit obsessive compulsive. take me for example, i tend to get a little obsessed about checking the course timetable or looking for apartments when i don't even need one for 12 months. i like to use a little obsessed action to procrastinate from what i should be doing. i in no way mean to underestimate how terribly horrible ocd is for those with extreme cases, but i just was thinking about it today and thought i'd throw the idea out into the universe.

last friday my roommate and i trekked down to chicago for an ingrid michaelson concert. it ended up being a great night, but started off dreadfully. we spent an awkwardly long time in the car stopped on the freeway, only to make it to the bar literally 20 seconds before ingrid started singing. we survived though and didn't kill each other in the process. my roommate suggests we get married because surviving a true traffic jam without hating each other afterwards is a true indicator of our compatibility. every engaged couple should have to go through that test together, maybe the rate of divorce would decline. :)

luckily her performance made up for any irritation caused by the drive. she is definitely one of those "even better live" musicians and i was thrilled to see her at such a tiny venue. schubas is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues, but maybe the fact that jonathan coulton plays there when he's in town is a strong factor swaying my opinion of the place. i'm a simple girl, so all the venue needs is a stage and someplace to stand and i'm golden.

moving?

i'm practically an adult and it's now time for some adult choices to be made. after i graduate this fall, i am definitely staying here in wisconsin through the lease that ends next august. but after that the ball is currently way high up in the air, so far up i can barely see it. one of my closest friends is trying to convince me to move somewhere out west and i think it may just happen. she suggested seattle, but i think i'm going to research several major cities on the west coast. if you don't know me well, i love to plan. i love to schedule things and i like knowing the answer to any question that may be asked, so any big move such as this will require tons of preparation. luckily i'm also a big nerd, so researching these cities will be a fun and educational past time. the trouble lies in the possibility of getting a good job here in the meantime and getting too comfortable with what's already in front of me. change is never easy, but sometimes necessary. i guess only time will tell.

Summerfest 2007!

woops i wrote this right after summerfest, but forgot to post it. ;)

Where to begin? Well, I guess i'll just go chronological. On July 3, we went to Summerfest only for Weird Al. So we began our Summerfest experience by just wandering around listening to random acts and eating delicious food. I sadly forgot my camera :(, but it didn't ruin the day. We enjoyed the quality rock cover band Johnny Wad thoroughly (quite impressive I must say) and were able to catch a couple songs of a Minnesotan singer/songwriter Ari Herstand.

This year at Summerfest the Marcus Amphitheater shows had all ticketed lawn seats (previously you could come early in the day and get lawn seat tickets free) and Ben Folds was opening, yeah I said opening, for John Mayer. Once you get passed the ridiculousness of Ben Folds opening for John Mayer, you than get angry that you would have to pay extra to see him. Ben Folds has played at Summerfest for the last maybe 5 years and always plays a free stage, so I was saddened and angry when I found out that the lawn seats would be 30 bucks. Granted admission to the park is included in the amphitheater ticket price, but fuck that. I would not risk my money going to John Mayer. So I passed up Ben Folds this year... but Weird Al rocked my world, as always.

The mere length of his set and number of costume changes is amazing, but also caused some problems since it rained for about an hour and half before his set. So we were soaking wet and getting colder by the minute during his performance. It was slightly uncomfortable, but entirely worth it. Especially considering that Ben Folds came on stage and played a song with Weird Al! It was awesome and Weird Al even did part of his Trapped in the Closet, Trapped in the Drive-Thru.

On July 5, the first act we watched , while enjoying some john hawk's pub fish and chips, was Hayward Williams. A local boy that I first heard in the band Exit. He is normally a solo act when he plays in Madison, acoustic guitar and harmonica, but the band Cabin and a friend guitarist joined him for his set at Summerfest. They fit well together and adding a fiddle to any music act is always a plus.

The day was filled with brilliant acts and great sets. Scissors for Lefty proved their worthiness as a live act. The lead singer had great audience banter and also had some extremely entertaining dance moves happening. They sounded fantastic and made the best of the mid-afternoon time slot. The Cat Empire was also fantastic. They played a two hour set, longer than most at Summerfest and had the audience going wild. It may have helped that the audience members were mostly Deadheads waiting for Bob Weir later that night, but it was a great atmosphere and they didn't disappoint my expectations.

This post by no means gives the experience the justice it deserves, but it's never easy to describe happiness. Can't wait for next year!

being an adult...

or at least thinking about being an adult, sucks so hard. i have literally looked over every job site that lists jobs in wisconsin eight thousand times and i can't even apply for jobs yet. i don't even know if i want to stay here, but i figure i should at least pay off some student loans before i venture out into the big world outside my beloved state of cheese. i am just scared about life and getting stuck in a terrible office job. oh dear me, fall semester will be my last as an undergrad and i feel ill equipped to be an adult.

thankfully i have many a distraction this summer and one of my favorites is coming up this week... and no it is not the many fireworks displays that happen around the fourth of july. it is summerfest! yay! on tuesday and thursday this week i will be lucky enough to spend many hours in what i hope to be beautiful weather, enjoying fantastic music and eating delicious food. i'm super excited to see the cat empire and scissors for lefty,they are two of the 10 bands i will purposefully watch during the two days at the festival grounds. i also love to wander around and listen to the many bands i haven't heard of. it will be a smashing time and i will report back on the festivities later this week. summerfest is like a safe haven for me and i'm glad it has arrived.

Flight of the Conchords! on TV!!

Do you know Flight of the Conchords? They are a folk comedy duo from New Zealand and ever since the first time I heard "Business Time" I've been hooked. They make me laugh out loud and for that reason I will be forever indebted. Here is a wonderful opportunity for all of you who don't know them and for everyone who loves them already. I was thrilled to hear that they will be starring in a television show starting June 17th on HBO. Check out the pilot episode of Flight of the Conchords below!
Flight of the Conchords - Pilot

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school's fuckin out for summer

yay! the semester has ended and i can breathe again. one more semester and i graduate, eek let's just pretend that's not happening. once again, i have not posted in ages and have returned to tell an amazing concert tale.

last night i had the pleasure of taking in a jonathan coulton concert right here in madison! it was amazing. i was sitting in the audience literally smiling the entire time, so that when i left my cheeks hurt from overuse of the smiling muscles. he is a comedy singer songwriter based in brooklyn and the live show was more than i ever could have hoped for. the purely fantastic witty banter between songs, the choice set list and the three part harmony (with the other act paul and storm) blew my mind. both acts were totally chill and interacted with a great audience.

if you ever get the chance, see jonathan coulton live because it will make you happy. his songs are irresistible. if you are in the chicago area, he has a show at schubas tomorrow that i will be attending as well, don't miss your chance to see him!

please don't go girl

i just returned from the joey mcintyre concert here in madison, wi. it was at a small venue connected to the orpheum theater called the stage door. it was not full, but the audience was excited and ridiculous. my roommate and i should never feel as if we are the coolest people in the room. the audience was mostly 30somethings who had pined after a much younger joey of yester year. they had terrible hair, terrible clothes (spandex leopard print pants) and had no shame in walking up to the stage to take about one trillion pictures of the man who once adorned their bedroom walls. i wouldn't be surprised if his posters are still up on some of their walls. so many ruffians.

joey mcintyre as you may know is a former member of new kids on the block. my roommate was a fan when she was 6, but i missed out on the craze due to the short time my family spent living in england. my grandma brought my eldest sister a cassette tape of them while we were in england, but we were like "what the hell is this grandma, you're crazy".

back to the show, minus the creepy crowd, i thought he did a great job. he's promoting his latest cd of crooner standards, i love all the songs on the cd. i just can't resist a good performance of all the way or makin' whoopee. he performed practically all the tracks from the cd and threw in a couple surprises for the audience. please don't go girl, a new kids' song was performed, a great broadway medley including some wicked and elvis presley's hound dog. my favorite part of the night was the audience request for ain't no sunshine. the band threw together an arrangement on the spot and improvised behind him. it was a fun show and he worked the banter between songs very well considering how intimate the venue was.

it's too bad only a few new listeners are being drawn in to his shows, it seemed to be mostly new kids on the block fans. i just love the standards and knew that he had the vocals to pull off a good show. hopefully a bigger audience will discover him. it makes me angry when people yell during songs, i think i might be getting old, but then again that always bothered me even during nsync concerts or other girl infested arenas. if you yell you can't hear the singing or the playing and isn't that why we're all here? gah, apparently not.

oh those effigies

I never thought this day would come, but it has arrived. Richard Gere has been burned in effigy (i assume that statement is not grammatically correct, but you get my drift).

It's almost too good to be true (not that I hate Gere in any way), but I always love to hear about a little angry mob action. According to Imdb.com, "angry crowds burned effigies of Gere during demonstrations yesterday morning after photographs of him embracing and kissing Shetty". It was only a kiss on the hand and then one on each cheek, but that is not acceptable in the strict conservative culture of India. I hope no harm comes to the real Gere, but burning effigies is so awesome. If I were him, I wouldn't feel ashamed, but pleased that I caused such a stir.

And in conclusion... "Edward Norton as The Hulk?!? Wha? Wha?" That's some crazy talk if I ever heard it.

Too Gone for Too Long

i wanted to remark about how i haven't posted in a while and that immediately came to my head. they are lyrics from one of my favorite songs by randy travis. i love randy travis. surprised? i believe it stems from the five-year-old version of me prancing around on our living room furniture singing along to his album always & forever (thank you miles and miles of family video tape). i know every song by heart and i love it. i have my parents' strange, eclectic taste in music to thank. when you have lps of randy travis, weird al yankovic, queen, ladysmith balck mambazo, the beach boys and so many more at your finger tips you start to realize how wonderful different genres of music are.

we are about to leave for a st. patty's day celebration that will include a visit to a townie bar where angie's pop's band Johnny Alibi and the Excuse will play some classic tunes. yes, that is their name and yes, it is very hilarious. i love bar bands almost as much as i love karaoke bars. they are a quality act and it should be tons of fun with all the st. patrick's day hooligans about. i never realized how excited people get around here for st. patty's, we love our irish ancestry and we love to wear lots of green (my roommate is currently waiting for some green eyeshadow to compliment her green earrings, green shirt and green headband). i'm not sure if i am allowed to wear my "i'm hungary for turkey" shirt, but it's green and will have to do. i'm sure the bar goers won't mind, i mean, today is really just another reason to enjoy one of wisconsin's favorite foods. beer.

that was frickin sweet

last night my roomie and i went to see the cold war kids, tokyo police club and delta spirit at a small venue here in madison, wi. it was frickin awesome.

first of all, i love the venue. the annex is dirty and small and just love it. and when i say small, i mean it's definitely one of those venues where the band members come out and watch the other bands play which is always entertaining to say the least. i love that the stage is so close to any place you stand and that the bar is located close enough to hear the music. it also has pretty nice bathrooms near the stage which is always a plus.

my roomie and i left a little late due to preshow drinking and a slow gettin' ready time, so we only caught the last one and half songs of delta spirit. they sounded great though, i hadn't listened to them before, so maybe i'll check out their myspace or something.


tokyo police club was full of energy. the participatory crowd hand clapping and use of tambourines, yes tambourines plural (which at one point the keyboardist and guitarist threw back and forth to each other, it was amazing) made the set even more upbeat and awesome. there songs are filled with adrenaline and that definitely came through in the live performance. thankfully this did not lead to crazy dancing, as one might expect. everyone just danced politely within their own space which was nice considering the fact that i could have been knocked over easily (due to the alcohol i had consumed).

it was at this point that my roomie and i decided it is unfair that boys look ever so hot when all sweaty and dirty and girls look gross. how can this be? construction workers and rock stars are always dirty and dripping sweat, but they are the hottest categories of men in the world. it was extremely hot with all the body heat being produced near the stage, so we decided to watch cold war kids from the side by the bar.

the cold war kids were great as expected. like tokyo police club their music is filled with adrenaline, but it is of a much more chill vibe. i love the singer's voice and their live performance was sweet. we watched from the side so we were able to see other audience members' faces as we watched the show and i think that may have been the most entertaining part of the evening. i am a fan of people watching in general and concerts reveal many peoples' little ticks and such. we also saw a couple older audience members (old men? why are you here?) and one looked like rev. camden from 7th Heaven, totally in a freaky way.

it was a great concert and a great night, i'm hoping more fab bands come to the annex. it's a good time.

Be a Pepper

Wow this week is like a whirlwind. I need to take some time to sleep at some point. American Idol last night was a total downer. It was bad bad bad. Gah, I hope we don’t see the likes of season 3 happening. Gross. It makes me wanna go back and watch the old ones to see if everyone was so terrible then too. Maybe I was blinded by the shiny package of idol. All I know for sure is that last night’s performances were terrible.

I’ve been drowning in a sea of historical readings about female moral authority in the 1870s, so if you need to know anything about that I’m your lady or female moral authority. Haha, those crazy temperance union members.

Do you remember the band Maroon5 that released an album in 2002 called Songs About Jane that was pretty awesome and unique? Have you notice that they haven’t released an album since then? Yeah, that’s five years and that’s weird, but apparently they’re droppin one on May 22 and I’m pretty pumped. I can’t say it will be great, but I’m in need of some more Adam Levine vocal goodness and the news sources say that the album, overall, will be more danceable. Nice.

sweet mamajama

it's been a while, the podcasts have taken over my life. oh and that whole school thing too. kim and i are in for a busy, busy weekend. we are traveling all over the state of WI to see three different theatrical performances, should be fun times. yesterday there was a monsoon, so the snow is now covered with a layer of ice. walking is like a dangerous sport.

i'm really excited for the cold war kids concert next week. i love that madison has small venues, it's gonna be great. well, i'm actually sitting in lecture right now, so i should probably go. oh us history.

blizzard warning

THIS WILL BE A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION. IF YOU LEAVE THE SAFETY OF INDOORS...YOU ARE PUTTING YOUR LIFE AT RISK. TRAVEL IS NOT RECOMMENDED TONIGHT AND SUNDAY.

we're trapped indoors, but i'm actually quite content lounging around half studying today. i almost don't mind the fact that another 7 to 14 inches of snow will be accumulating on my car and that i will have to dig it out of the snow bank formed by the plow tomorrow afternoon. well, maybe i mind just a little bit. i love the fact that the blizzard warning (which was much longer, but the ending sentences packed the punch) was in all capital letters just in case you didn't understand that it was a warning.

i hate it when professors allow notes for exams, that just means they expect so much more from your essay than you could ever muster just using your memory for a factual base. i like to bs and when you are allowed an outline, bs doesn't go so far. if they could only take my word that i have learned the information, instead of requiring me to display it in writing.

but i do love my classes this semester and although my reading load is monstrous, it's almost all fascinating material. i feel like i've suddenly become an actual student although i've been here for almost four years, slightly depressing, but also very refreshing and i'm loving it.

i should continue studying, so that i can thoroughly enjoy the oscars tomorrow night. catch ya on the flipside.

or maybe i'll just watch boondock saints.

i'm a terrible citizen

i forgot to vote today. it would be so much easier if the majority of the population would just agree with me... if only.

at least the onion makes a good point, only uglies are at the polling places.

chad vader reigns

blame society films has released the sixth episode of the chad vader series and i just can't get enough. this episode features a special cameo appearance by madison mayor dave cieslewicz. to make access more convenient i'm gonna just post the video here, but for all you chad vader virgins i highly suggest watching all six in order to get the full effect. chad vader is the less successful brother of darth and the series starts out with him as the night shift manager of a local grocery store. the series is filmed in madison, wi and stars many local actors. chad vader has become a youtube sensation and i hope you can see why, it's hilarious.

home sweet home

i'm at the family homestead to celebrate my mum's bday and i'm currently in the process of washing 3 tons of laundry. there is a washing machine in my apartment's basement, but i can't make myself walk outside in the freezing cold to wash my clothes in madison.

do you have netflix? i do and i'm not sure if i'm just completely oblivious to my surroundings or if netflix has stealthily added a new feature. either way, i have just realized that netflix now has a "watch now" section in which you can watch movies online! granted it is only a select few, but i was very impressed. i apparently get 18 hours of watch now time per month and although the selection is limited, i saw several titles that i haven't/want to see. so if you have netflix and like me did not yet discover this feature, rock out. you do have to download some kind of player, but it was really fast and started working right away. the only downfall i have discovered so far is that i have to use internet explorer to use the player. i have become a firefox user, so that is kind of inconvenient.

i also discovered a new podcast, well new to me, called A Way with Words. it is an NPR show. it discusses word meanings and other such grammar nerd topics. i have only listened to the latest episode, but i'm very fond of it. if you are one others call the grammar police or just like learning new nerdy things, i highly suggest it. i especially enjoy the word trio section of the show. i guess my sister called in to the show and i got the name of the podcast from my mom. it is a great cast and like i said, so nerdy and fabulous.

i have to profess my love of one more item, but i think i'll make it a new post.

bummer

i have a lot to be excited about, but i'm totally bummed out. last night was a completely failed attempt at going out in which my roommate and i were ditched by literally all of our friends and i have hundreds of pages to read about Jewish politics in the 19th century today.

well, at least angie was there to save the night from being completely lost. she has been working on completing the site for our new podcast and was really excited, so her happiness rubbed off i think.

i shouldn't take any more time to delay my studying, so wish me luck. if i finish or give up entirely later, i'll prob post a funner/more exciting post. remember that the grammys are tonight, i'm not sure if they will be good and i have actually missed them the past few years, but the police should tempt you to turn them on for at least the first 5 minutes.

heat wave!

We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave! It is 11 degrees! I had to take off my scarf while walking home because I was just too darn hot. Dear 8 pounds 6 ounces baby Jesus, new born, not even spoken a word yet, thank you for the double digit temperature.

Yikes I was just listening to a clip of our podcast and I cannot stand listening to my voice. Speaking, singing whatever, I'd rather not hear it and that makes me worried that other people feel the same way. It's not that I have a particularly high or irritating voice, I just don't like it. I'd rather just hear it in my own head and pretend like everyone else hears it exactly the way I hear it. ugh. I guess if that's the worst problem I can think of at this moment, life's not that bad. It's just that are so many other moments in the day to think of.

Last night's Campus Ladies was hiiilarious and if you haven't caught it, please do... it was the season finale which is terribly upsetting, but it airs again on Sunday.

Dude, did you guys hear that Ozzfest 2007 is free? Cuz it is and that's ridonkulous. Regardless of your level of fan, everyone has a little place in their heart for Ozzy and I feel like I can't go through life without partaking in one all out rock fest. It would be interesting to say the least.

everybody loves live music

i went to a concert last night at a small local venue called cafe montmartre. the local opening act was mike droho formerly of a madison band called the profits. he was enjoyable and while i liked the profits, i always wanted him to be a solo act, so i was very pleased to hear him perform solo. the other front man of the profits, john paul roney, always rubbed me the wrong way. i saw matt in the audience before the show started and was extremely pleased to find that he was the opening act. i love that madison has so many talented local artists.

the headliner of the show was joshua radin, but i bought tickets to the show to see his tour mate schuyler fisk. she is lovely and has a beautiful voice. he has music featured on grey's anatomy and the last kiss soundtrack, so as you may guess they are chill, acoustic acts. and when they sing together it's quite wonderful. i gladly purchased schuyler's ep and a tour poster. the temperature outside was -7 feels like -22, and it didn't feel much warmer inside, but that didn't stop them from playing a great show.

hopefully i will be able to upload a video and you can hear how great they sounded. here there are: