Some People Are . . .

very annoying and it is due to no fault of their own.

Dallas Green - Day Old Hate

I go to the coffeehouse a lot. I am sure that most of you know this. Because I tend to go so regularly I tend to see some of the same people over and over again. I realized something today, and that is that there are other people who come into the coffeehouse as often as I do or even more often. So I see faces that look familiar to me even if I have never actually talked to them. But I have seen them here enough times that I feel like I know them. But the problem that I am wrestling with is not something that I like wrestling with. I like to think that I am a nice guy and that most people like being around me and I am easy to get along with. That being said I am sure that there are people that I rub the wrong way whether or not intend to.

Trampled By Turtles - Keys to Paradise

I was doing my thing today and I looked up when this guy walked in and had I been a cat you would have seen all of my hair stand on end. Now this fellow has never said a word to me in the three years that I have been coming here. In fact I have never said a word to him and we have never even interacted in any way. So there is literally no rational reason for me to be bothered or upset by him. Yet every time, every time that I see him I get angry. I don't like to hear his voice. I do not like how he interacts with the baristas and I do not like how he dresses or the drinks that he orders. I must reiterate, there is no reason for me to feel like this. None at all.

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros - Black Water

Yet every time that I see him, my response is the same and I literally find it hard for me to focus on what I am doing until he is gone. I do not like feeling like this. But at the same time when I think about it I feel like I shouldn't care because obviously there is something off about this guy and I should trust my instincts. I mean, when have my instincts steered me wrong before? I am 100% on making good life choices. So I think I will continue to irrationally hate this fellow until evidence comes up to prove me right.

Iron and Wine - Swans and the Swimming.

But in all seriousness I think that I am going to try to work on controlling my first response to people. It isn't that I expect that I should like everyone that I meet. I do not think that is even possible. But I can at least not have a default setting of "that guys is a jerk" based on no reason other then the way that his voice sounds or his hair cut or his clothing. It makes no sense for me to default to that and I think that I will be a better person and that my life will just be better if I work on that a little bit.

The Decemberists - I4 U & U 4 Me

Trampled by Turtles - Widowers Heart

I am sure that I have said this before and I will say it again. But Trampled by Turtles is a really good band and you should do yourselves a favor and give them a listen. You won't regret it. That is unless you hate good music and then you might not like it. It is hard to say. But if you like good music and are not a total jerk then give this band a try. They are great.

Catch you later, losers!!

Creativity...

What happens when the creative well goes dry? Do you search for inspiration or does it have to happen on its own? What does inspiration even mean? If you have taken the time to search it out does it stop being inspiration at that point and is it just you using your own built in creativity? I suppose that their is no real answer to these questions and I am just kind of killing some time in the hopes that all of this writing causes something to pop into my head that lets me feel like I am being creative. But so far nothing is happening at all.

The Engine Driver - The Decemberists

There is a line from a Decemberists song - "I am a writer, a writer of fictions." I feel like that sometimes but I don't think that I do it very well and I honestly would rather write about honest things. That isn't always the easiest thing to do though because for me the honest things usually come from an emotional spot and I do not always have access to that emotional spot. I wonder sometimes if the emotional well that I draw from has a certain limit to its capacity and I am only able to draw from it when it is full. Perhaps that is what keeps me sane or should I say a level of sane? I just don't know. I do know that I enjoy writing and when it is going well there is often nothing else that I would rather be doing even if in the process I feel like my heart is being wrenched out of me or my tears are making it hard for me to see.

16 Military Wives - The Decemberists

There is just something that I truly love when as I write the words flow out of me and I see them appear in front of me on the computer screen. It energizes me as it continues and as my fingers move faster and faster and the words appear. It isn't like everything that I write down are genius words of wisdom but in the midst of the process it certainly feels like that is the case and when I am writing from an honest place it certainly feels like there is some added weight to what I am doing. I know that for me, when I write it does tend to be stream of consciousness stuff and so there usually has to be something that has triggered the thought or the effort.

Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect - The Decemberists

Sometimes it is as simple as the perfume someone is wearing or the clothes they have on. It could be some perceived slight that only I have picked up on and is not even real. But at whatever emotional level I am writing from it is real to me. In today's case it is a man wearing a plaid long sleeve shirt that he has buttoned up to his neck and black horn rimmed glasses. This bugs me and I am honestly not sure why. I know that he smacks of hipster from his full beard all the way down his skinny jeaned clad legs to his black Vibram 5-finger shoes or whatever it is they are called. It shouldn't bug me but oh it does. It does!

White Tooth Man - Iron and Wine

I shouldn't rail against the Hipster as I am one of them. I wonder if that is what frustrates me. I know that the way that I dress and the glasses I wear and the music I listen to are choices I have made at an honest level and I do so without any level of irony or detached amusement. I guess I wonder at the authenticity of others who look like I do. Is it jealousy? Perhaps it is. I honestly do not know. I do know that seeing the Hipster causes a visceral reaction in me that I am not always able to control as well as I would like to. This is all despite my attempts at being zen and detached. Perhaps that is my sin. Do I care to much? I wonder sometimes.

Your Fake Name Is Good Enough For Me - Iron and Wine

Wednesday Random Music Madness

I hope you enjoyed our look at Macklemore yesterday. Let's dig back into the random music library today and see what we come up with.

1: Mr President (Have Pity On the Working Man) - Randy Newman - This song comes from the Forrest Gump soundtrack and while it isn't a horrible song. I am just not a fan of Randy Newman. He really does nothing for me at all and if it wasn't against the rules I set for myself I would totally have skipped past this one. blah

2: Evening On The Ground (Lilith) - Iron and Wine - So far I think that this band has been the one that has popped up the most on the random. That is kind of interesting. Because there are other bands that I own far more of their music. This song is okay I suppose but it isn't my favorite by any means. It just kind of exists and is a little bit to electric for me.

3: Battery - Metallica - I am always up for the live version of this song. It is hard for me to type right now because my head is banging so hard. This was such a good band and there were awesome mosh pits to this song the several times I saw them in concert. This recording is from the show I was at in Seattle that they played with Guns and Roses. It was so good.

4: Sahara - Nightwish - Ah yes a little Nightwish to continue the headbanging. I love this band so much. I wish there were more American bands that rocked this hard and looked as cool doing it. So good.

5: Die With Your Boots On - Iron Maiden - I love it. The sweet nature of random finishes up strong with some awesome metal. Iron Maiden for the win.

Keep on Rocking Folks!!

Monday Random Music Madness

Welcome back folks, I hope you all had a great weekend. Lets get the random started.

1: Lady Stardust - David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust - This song always brings a smile and good feelings. There is no song on Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars that I do not like. It is easily one of my favorite albums. Top 5 probably in my all time collection and number 2 in my list of favorite concept or rock operas. 

2: You & I - Lady Gaga - This is an artist that I was not on board with initially at all. I just felt like she was ripping off Madonna and not at all in a clever way. Well I am man enough to say, that after I actually sat down and listened to her whole albums and didn't read the press about her, but just let the music speak to me. I was wrong. I enjoy her music. I like the variety of it and I like the craftsmanship of her music. It works for me and I can understand why she has such a big following. I like this song as well. I like the chorus a lot. 

3: Peace Beneath The City - Iron & Wine - So good, I love to just close my eyes and let this music and the words wash over me. Not much else I can say. 

4: 3rd Planet - Modest Mouse - I suppose this is another band that I should be more familiar with. But I am not. I don't dislike them though this is not a song of theirs that I like all that much. It just doesn't connect with me. The music that I like the best hits me at a gut level an emotional center that can just fill me up.

5: Bubble Pop Electric - Gwen Stefani - I love this song. I like this whole album. I love her work with No Doubt but I really do enjoy her solo work and I hope that she does more of it. I am not a huge fan of techno dance music but there is something about what she is doing here that totally works for me.

There you go folks. I hope you enjoyed the little window into my music tastes and I will see you later. 

Friday Random Music

Friday is here and I don't know about you guys but I am excited to keep this little musical experience going.

1: The Go Getter - The Black Keys: Yet another sweet tune from the Black Keys. There is a crunchiness to the guitar and bass in this one that just is awesome. This is a song that I can just close my eyes and bob my head to. It's got a sweet beat and you can really groove to it.

2: No Quarter - Led Zeppelin: This one is an interesting song for me. There is just an almost ambient nature to it, which I love. It just isn't what I think of when I think of Led Zeppelin and often when I choose to listen to them this isn't a song that I usually pick. But the cool thing is that it also kind of fits with the previous song. Which makes the randomness of it even better.

3: Muleskinner Blues : Old & In The Way - This was a side project of Jerry Garcie and is pretty much just toe tappin blugrass. I love this kind of music so much. It never fails to bring a smile to my face.

4: Innocent Bones - Iron & Wine: There are songs that I just enjoy and songs that are so lovely that they just almost make you hurt because you know that you can never play or create something that beautiful. This is one of those songs for me. I love the guitar in it. So much.

5: Beyond the Fire - Dark Moor - Oh ya, finishing the randomness up strong with some epic metal from Spain. If you like epic, majestic metal then do yourself a favor and check these guys out. They are awesome.

One of the things that I really like about this process for me is that it really reminds me of how diverse my music collection is. I like that. Because I really do like almost all kinds of music. 

More Music (Iron & Wine)

I've written in length about this band/artist before Iron & Wine (Samuel Beam).

I am a fan of both his epic beard and his music. So I am going to throw up some of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them.

"The Devil Never Sleeps" (Live)



"Such Great Heights" (Live)



Now onto some studio work.

"Boy With A Coin"



"Walking Far From Home"

Music Monday (July 17, 2011)

I had a great morning yesterday. For a couple of reasons. It was raining when I woke up and I had some coffee and I had some sweet modern folk or Nu-Acoustic tunes on my playslist. I love waking up to rain. I love opening my window and hearing and smelling the rain and I love doing those while drinking some good coffee and listening to some sweet tunes. So today you get a little taste of how lance spent the morning yesterday.

I do not care if it July. I love a nice summer rain and I love living in Oregon. If you do not like living here, then kindly GTFO. You are not wanted anyway.

The morning got started with this little number by the Avett Brothers. I have really been enjoying these guys lately. The song is called "Tear Down The House".



I know lots of people feel like Bon Iver is, for want of a better word, SUICIDE music but I really like it. I think it is lovely and sets a unique tone. "Wisconsin" is a great song.



Pretty much everyone knows about Mumford & Sons by now. But the song "Timshel" is one that I just love. It goes so well with coffee and rain.



This is a band that I have just kind of stumbled on. They are Fleet Foxes I really enjoy the tone and I love that to me the vocals sound a little like XTC one of my favorite bands. This song is called "Anyone who's anyone".



As happens sometimes when you have your music on shuffle you might get songs from the same band and in this case I do not mind at all. This song is called "Icicle Tusk" and is again by Fleet Foxes.



Oooh I really love this guy, his name is Dallas Green and he plays under the name City and Colour. This is another band that was introduced to me by my friend Jenna and I am really glad she did. The song is called "Day Old Hate".



I seriously do not know what I can say that is even going to do justice to what Iron & Wine do. I love it so much. This song is called "Cinder and Smoke".



Aaaaaah some more Iron and Wine with "Love and Some Verses". So good. If you end up weeping from how lovely this is it is not my fault. I warned you.



This is another one by City and Colour and is called "...off by heart". It is another nice mellow one. It isn't my favorite of the playlist but it popped into the first ten so here it is.



This amazingly lovely and sad song is a cover of a Bonnie Rait song called "I Can't Make You Love Me". This is Bon Iver and his version is absolutely heart breaking. As one of the YouTube commentators said "Excuse me while I cry all over everything."



Well that is it for today folks. The first 10 songs on my Rainy Sunday Morning playlist. I just had a great, great Sunday. I hope that my Monday is just as good and I hoped that my music today helped some of you have a great day as well. As a little bonus for those of you who followed this all the way through here is an XTC song in case you were not aware of who they were. The song is called "Dear God"

Music Monday (Thrice and Iron & Wine)

So over the course of the week I was introduced to a couple of new bands. They were new to me at least. One of these bands is named Thrice and my friend Jenna introduced me to them. I wasn't sure at first if I was going to like them but after hearing the album "The Alchemy Index" which just really blew my mind.

The album is a basically a series of 4 EP where each EP represented an element of nature with the order of the elements being Fire, Water, Air, Earth. The final song of each disc is presented like a sonnet and tells the story of a man and his relationship with each of the elements. An interesting aspect is that each of the final songs is written in iambic pentameter and has a concluding rhyming couplet.




This song is from the Air EP called "Daedalus". It is hard for me to explain how the rest of the songs sound or the whole album actually but take a look around Youtube and give them a listen. They are pretty cool.

The other group or artist that I recently found myself enjoying is "Iron & Wine" which is basically Samuel Beam a singer-songwriter who uses Iron & Wine as his recording name. He does sometimes tour with a full band but often his stuff is just him. His music really ranges from acoustic to some electric and all points around it.



I could listen to "Boy with a coin for hours". Over and over again.



This song was in the film "Garden State". I love it as well.

There you go that is today's look at music I hope you have a good 4th.