Thursday Ten: Where I Put My Foot Down and Refuse to Play “Dust In The Wind” Ever Again.

1. I understand the logic in teaching me “Dust In The Wind” – but I got so sick of it that I refused to practice it all week. Today, I rolled into guitar lesson and my teacher asked about my week and how guitar went for me. “It was lovely,” I said, “but I didn’t play ‘Dust In the Wind’ because I’ve decided I hate it and I don’t want to play it.” ALLLLLLRIGHTY then. Instead, we played “Fast Car” for most of the lesson, and then at the end, I started learning….

2. …the chorus of “The Rain King” by Counting Crows. LOVE. Of course, it involves bar chords, but it’s generally easy to learn to play with songs you love versus songs you want to run screaming from forever. Soooo, YAY.

3. Continuing on my music kick… One2One Network sent me a copy of Brandi Carlile’s new album Give Up the Ghost, which is available on Amazon and iTunes and all the usual places (Cool note: Looks like it’s available in VINYL on Amazon. Wow. Really?). Brandi’s style is kind of folky-guitar-rock, but is a little more country-tinged than I prefer. I really like the songs “Looking Out” and “Pride and Joy” – but the album is hit or miss with me.

4. In the interest of disclosure and a bit of griping – the album was sent to me free for my review. I wasn’t paid for my opinion (I happily give my opinion for free). I’ll always give you MY opinion when I review things – good, bad, indifferent. I mostly review music and books – and those things are subjective — and so you can still form your own opinion – or say to yourself, “Well, she likes this band, and I do too — so if she says so-and-so put out a good album, I might like it too.” I do use affiliate links to Amazon when applicable (who doesn’t?). Short story long – in interest of maintaining ftc transparency guidelines, I’ll always tell you all that stuff. I think it’s somewhat silly that it’s required – but I’ll do it.

5. I won that awesome scarf last week, but I’ve never really worn a scarf aside from “trying to keep my neck warm” puposes – so I asked Jenny for some tips on how to wear a scarf without looking stupid. The result is this cool VLOG Jenny posted for me this morning.

6. I am the POETRY BOOK MOM in The Princess’s class room this year. Last year, I decided in-class volunteering wasn’t really “my thing”. This way, I get to help out (by gluing the kids’ poems into cool hardbound books) on my time schedule without having to explain math to someone else’s kid.

7. Tomorrow, me and the fam will be taking in a showing of “Where The Wild Things Are” – it’s one of the few things I definitely wanted to do for my birthday, so we’ll be doing that.

8. Oh? I didn’t mention it was my birthday tomorrow? My bad.

9. Today, I was grumbling because my purse felt VERY heavy. When I got home from guitar lesson, I completely upended that sucker dumping everything on the floor. What did I find? Um, about seven bucks in coin change. Gosh, I have NO IDEA why my purse was so heavy. {roll eyes} Whoops?

10. I went for a run this morning. It was so cold that I felt the wind whipping through my pants – by the time I was done, my whole lower half felt numb. BUT… My pace quickened by about forty seconds per mile. Well, there’s an obvious observation: I run faster when it’s cold, AKA: Let’s get this thing done so we can get back inside and drink cocoa.

A “Slice” of Five For Fighting

I fell in love with John Ondrasik’s voice when the song Superman (It’s Not Easy) , inspired by the events of 9/11, hit the radio years ago. Today, John Ondrasik – performing under the stage name Five for Fighting – releases the new album Slice.

With his distinctive voice and radio friendly piano melodies, Five for Fighting has released a solid album that has been in rotation on my iPod for the past few days. Stand out songs include “Chances” , the first release from the album, as well as “This Dance” and “Transfer”.

fiveforfightingreview

To give you a taste of my process for reviewing albums – I’ve included the above screen capture of my iTunes library. When I listen to an album, I give each song at least one star. From there, I’ll add stars based on my impression of it.As I listen a second (third and fourth, etc) times, I’ll add or remove stars from my original assessment. VERY scientific, yo.  As you can see there were several songs I really enjoyed (including “Chances” – the first radio single from the album), and a couple that I didn’t like (The song “Hope” for example, seems really out of place on this album – and I have hit the “Next” button every time the opening chords are played).

If I were giving letter grades, I’d give this one a B. It’s enjoyable, the melodies will stick with you – it’s what you would expect from Five for Fighting.

 

 

I received this review copy of this album from One2One Network. I was not compensated for writing this post and the opinions given are my own. I use affiliate links within this post.

Heart & Soul… For Valentines Day

A few months ago, I reviewed the Seal cd over on Blissfully Domestic. At that time, I also mentioned here that I was very much in crazy love with this disc. Really. Seal has such a smooth voice that you can’t help but feel a little jealous that Heidi Klum gets to hear that voice singing in her shower.

Ahem. Where was I?

On February 12 at 9 CST, Seal will be featured on PBS Soundstage. I’m not a PBS-watcher, usually, but I may have to make an exception. And in the spirit of Looooooove, you can customize and send a SEAL e-card for the love of your life. I recommend sending it a day early… a nice gentle reminder about the special day approaching. Just click on the widget below to get started. Also, be sure to check out the widget in my sidebar on the right for some awesome tunes.

AND, one last thing? One2One Network has given me the chance to giveaway a signed copy of Seal’s SOUL album to one of you. Please leave me a comment telling me your DREAM Valentine’s gift (Mine? Getting to sleep in til the sun comes up, getting breakfast in bed, and automatically having good hair for the day without any effort). Tweet the contest and get an extra entry. (Giveaway limited to US residents). A WINNER WILL BE PICKED AT RANDOM ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17.

Good luck (and share your love!).