Wednesday, May 7, 2008

this is sick

I just watched Planet B-Boy last night (I got a little teary; what of it?) and I am thoroughly impressed. These boys are my fave. Ichigeki
And you know I'm pretending I can do these moves on my perfectly-fit-for-a-dance-room-living-room.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

and finally....numero uno!




So Chris' list is finally complete. Yea! Guess what got number one? One I would happen to agree with. check 'er out.



That's right. Smashing Pumpkins. Many a love affair I have had with thee. 1979 epitomizes 90's riff-raff, a.k.a., cool kids..a.k.a the kids me and my friends believed ourselves to be on any given weekend. Man, was my childhood a Springsteen song or what? How about yeah, with a little 1979 thrown in the mix. Cool kids never have the time. And I was never cool.

So let's talk about the remain ding 2-5. just to let you in on the jazz.

#5 "Lightning Crashes" by Live. Pretty sure I have given adequate summary about them in a previous post but I will say this is forever etched in memory for several reasons besides it just being a terribly moving song. 1 - remember this anyone. fifth grade. in the middle of Willard's lip sync or talent show. I think lip sync. the song became the anthem. also, it seemed to be in a lot of funerals. igh.

#4 the cranberries kill it with "zombie" yeah. i voted for this. I love it. I also love "dreams" --which was the only song mandee and I could agree on whilst driving about back in the day. My most memorable encounter with the song ('zombie now) came with carl, casey mcswain, and cindy in an event that should have taken our lives but just goes to prove that beefalo (not buffalo) exist right outside ada and country roads aren't meant for camaros.


#3 the wallflowers "one headlight" i like it...didn't love it. know all the words. like his dad better. although he is a LOT cuter. I said it. and word has it his latest stuff sells his magic much like the old man did...word?

#2 the verve "bittersweet symphony" here's the deal. i think richard ashcroft is a bloody genius. i truly do. i think they did a wonderful version of the song and the glimmer twins should have just dealt with it. although, i guess if i wrote a song..but still, couldn't they say you did a damn fine job...keep the money kids? i don't know. maybe i really don't know. but i love them verb. cue it. i want to see them on tour.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Tears and Frustration, Still..and I'm not really political. I am, however, human.




This is taken directly from Slate.com --it just needed to be put out there twice: "In his recent speech on race, Barack Obama spoke about the legacy of racial hatred and resentment in America. One of the events he probably had in mind was the controversy over busing that erupted in Boston in the mid-1970s. A single photograph epitomized for Americans the meaning and horror of the crisis. On April 5, 1976, at an anti-busing rally at City Hall Plaza, Stanley Forman, a photographer for the Boston Herald-American, captured a teenager as he transformed the American flag into a weapon directed at the body of a black man. It is the ultimate act of desecration, performed in the year of the bicentennial and in the shadows of Boston's Old State House. Titled The Soiling of Old Glory, the photograph appeared in newspapers around the country and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1977. The image shattered the illusion that racial segregation and hatred were strictly a Southern phenomenon. For many, Boston now seemed little different than Birmingham.

In 2006, when Deval Patrick became the first black governor of Massachusetts, the Boston Globe expressed hope that his inauguration would "finally wash away the shameful stain of that day in 1976." Last June, however, a Supreme Court ruling forbade school districts from assigning students based on their race, and Patrick's administration has been forced to find ways to avoid dismantling desegregation programs throughout Massachusetts. The issue, and the photograph, continue to haunt Boston, and the nation."

Thursday, April 10, 2008

The list : #6-10



Let me just start out by saying I went home to a-town last night for a little friendly visit among friends --doing it when I can, as it is --and a very lively, fun-filled night at Club Giorgio's was most definitely in full effect. Many readers of silenceinarchitecture's blog sphere were present. many danced. many whistled whilst working. on drinks that is. (i believe tyler may recall the evenings theme--$#%@ tyler? love ya kid. but six a.m. came super early). So, back to the task/list at hand. My fave and of course explanation.



I'm going with Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit" mainly because it reeks of nineties nostalgia. It's also pretty freaking awesome to sing along with --even for those who fail to learn proper Cobain-phraseology, right-o. And, I mean, like now they have that totally awesome VH1 commercial. I'm facetious but i really do dig it. Those creative little bastards.

Further explanations:

NIN "closer" made the list at seven. can enough be said about Trent Reznor? Talk about a kid beyond his time--now and then. Brilliant work. My pick for the list included nine inch nails but centered around "the perfect drug." i also watched the lost highway entirely too many times.

#8 R.E.M. "Losing My Religion" I remember my mom loved this song and this video. I remember not getting it at the time and feeling threatened by someone losing their religion. isn't it funny the way our minds interpret in the greener days of childhood. I never felt a love for R.E.M. until ACL festival. I unintentionally set front row--couldn't move after waiting all day to see Ween in the front row. So I got to hug Michael Stipe and appreciate a band I have finally acquired the taste for (cue grammar issues).

Most Brilliant Song Title obviously goes to #9 on Chris' compiled list --Blur "Song 2" --right? Everyone loves this song. "I got my head shaved." yeah yeah If not, they should pretend to. Cindy and I tried our hardest to remake this video every chance we got--even if we didn't know it. If you've met her and really know me this shouldn't surprise you. If you, reader, pondered what the hell the first picture could possibly be on this here blog it's--you got it--me, cindy, and mandee actually, who didn't participate when we felt heavy metal but liked to watch. No, that comment's not going any further...

#10 -"jeremy" by Pearl Jam. Does everyone have a love/hate relationship with eddie vedder? Looks a bit like it. PJ stands as my favorite bro's fave band in high school so believe when I say I heard every freaking song on loop until 1998. Then, sweet relief, I could enjoy Vedder in all of his glory on my own good time. Swell. All jokes aside, I do not diss the talent or passion. I just cock my head to the side when he talks sometimes. Or writes on his arms. Or throws some Neil Young lyric into every single live show since 1995? Did I mention I love Neil Young? And I really do appreciate Vedder? I do. "Jeremy" is a brilliant song--and also another attempt to channel Young. I just think this is a better song--and I am such a dork that I literally got goosebumps watching/listening/engulfing in this version.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

The list #11 -15

Oh shit.. now it's really getting good. I do believe I got excited and left off some of the finest nineties tunes I really love. Thank goodness Chris is on top of things. Here we go:

My fave (this is actually quite hard, each of these except Black Hole Sun-which i did mull over--were in the top half of the list I originally sent sir chris) I'm going to have to go with Creep because it brought a whole new light over the popularity of the band; and i do recall Arsenio Hall taking credit for their new found success post song/band appearance on his show. ugh



And now, the Oh why's.

Creep is by far not even close to my favorite Radiohead song. Is it, however, the only one I would call mainstream, hence it's favorable place here on the list. Radiohead belong somewhere far away from mainstream. I don't understand them really. I do, obviously, love them. I want to protect their sound from assholes who don't get it. Yep, I'm one of those fans. I'm okay with that. Fave radiohead song: I honestly don't have one, I have like four. fave video is Paranoid Android for it's cleverness

Soundgarden...I like this band. I don't love them. I like this song quite a bit. It always makes the 90's mix that accompanies my husband and I on music mix date night. It's pretty. Not to mention, Chris Cornell is pretty. I liked a song he sang when he went solo..something along the lines of "she's going to change the world, but she can't change me." I kind of think of the group the way I think of Audioslave. hmm. really? (Soundgarden is better me thinks). but Chris and Morello did do a pretty kick ass version of Seven Nation Army at Lollapalooza in, hmmm, i think 2002. Fave Soundgarden song: Spoonman or Fell on Black Days

Candleboxe "Far Behind," Bush "Glycerine," and Third Eye Blind "Jumper" all made my list. Visit Chris' site for the videos. Awesome songs, awesome bands, totally underrated in my opinion. all of them. Gavin I'm in love with. Stephen Jenkins seems like an asshole-but he can sing no doubt. and I even loved Kevin Martin in the Hiwatts. Shout out to all who went with me to see them at the Zoo Amphitheater. Oh. That's right. No one went with me. It's okay. I thoroughly enjoyed them all to myself.

The List #16-20

My personal fave: No doubt Local H "Bound for the Floor"



I don't necessarily remember my initial encounter with said song but I remember being very keen on the way they, well, kept it copacetic. Remember The Edge? What was it...94.7 FM or something? Nineties lake/summer music, thriving youth, flesh and all that. Yea for nineties tunes. Soundtrack of my life thus far.

Side note: Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge" " I didn't vote for this one, mainly because I forgot about it. I remember seeing the video and thinking Anthony Kiedis looked like one of my dad's friends - and still does- which is only slightly strange. Cindy, if you ever read this, remember Michaela's dad? Riiiiiggght. This is also the song you can expect a million people to sing along with until you get to the end...for those of you whom this describes : Under the bridge DOWNTOWN...for some reason, I get annoyed when people sing the wrong words. I am guilty as well, however. Favorite RHCP song, personally? Soul to Squeeze.

Blind Melon: Kick ass band that I can safely assume the majority of the people taking pleasure in Chris' listing would only naturally be piqued that mainstream radio failed to play out the rest of their work half as much or that the band was established by the cutest ever bumblebee girl ever. God bless her. Fave BM song: Change makes me wanna scream "shaaaannnnoooonn" all rocky style.

The Flaming Lips: "She don't use jelly" is the most excellent illustration of mainstream. Why? Because essentially most of what the band engaged with in terms of sound and progression was definitely not radio friendly in terms of the popularity of the music we are defining with this list (Really, not until Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots with "Do you realize" --which I don't know if you realize, but this song was featured in a Mandy Moore movie, How to Deal, which I of course watched. My fave FL tune: "feeling yourself disintegrate" or "thank you". How cool are the Lips? My friends know. We all saw this...um. Meg, first concert ever pretty much blew it out of the water I would say.

Beck: Beck is beck. enough said really. "Loser" brilliantly manifests the 90's, me thinks. I cannot believe I left this off my list. Yikes. Fave Beck song: devil's haircut (for the 90's) lost cause live no less(for his astute negotiation with new sound)