This Sunday will be the mash up of two of my favorite things... and none of them will be the Oscars, so sorry about that. Nope, I'm talking about two of my oldest friends from opposite coasts and sides of my life gettin together to broadcast some new music. Dion Roy, one of my oldest friends in NYC (you might remember when I spoke at his and Aly's wedding in Aug 2012) has a new music project, Fire and the Romance. It's a pretty huge and ambitious departure from his previous (and super successful, I might add) efforts in the singer/songwriter genre. And I gotta say, I am loving the results! He and Pete (of subway friend fame and awesome photog skillz) made this baller video for the first single, "Way Down Below." And NOW, THIS SUNDAY, Dion will pair up with one of my oldest friends from the Vegas days and my current LA partner in mischief and mayhem, Kade, to premiere "Way Down Below" on Kade's New Music Discovery Show on ALT 98.7, LA's Alternative (aka the only radio station I listen to.) It's at 7PM Pacific time. So make sure you tune in during the boring speeches and endless awards. Tune in on Sunday, support Kade and Dion and check out all the offerings from the King Of Tacos, Dion Roy aka Fire and the Romance. Tweet the guys (@fireandthemusic @alt987fm @kadeshow) when you hear “Way Down Below” for a chance to win a ONE of a kind hand-pressed Vinyl of the song!
I didn't go to my high school reunion. It wasn't a deliberate snub. I had just moved to Scotland a few weeks beforehand, and it seemed like a pretty superfluous trip back. The pictures and stories were enough. (My favorite was Big Wang offering to kill Mike for Emily... and Wang's wife, nodding her support for the plan.) Plus, the age of social media pretty much mitigates that mixture of curiosity and velleity about peripheral classmates. The funny thing about that, and about my entire attitude about my childhood in Vegas, the people I grew up with, etc, is that as little credit as I gave them, as much distance as I've often tried to put between myself and them, they're still the people that require the least amount of explanation from me. The comfort level is intensely cosy. Last night was a kind of representative high school reunion for me in a more important way. Only a few of the key players were there actually. They were good ones though. And the build up was full of many more: from Emily, to a phone call from Brandon (on his way to state execution, natch!) to some digging in my high school boxes. More than that, I was reunited with the way I felt when I was seventeen or eighteen. Thanks to these friends, for sure. But also because we were at Jimmy Eat World. As Petie and I screamed lyrics at each other, I remembered how hopeful I felt then and I felt it again. Oh, our youthful loves. They die hard, don't they?
Since I've been away awhile, I feel it's only right to come at you with a whole truck load of musical tid bits. It's been a weird time, dear lovely readers. I encountered many opportunities (or what seemed like opportunities) that ended up being loaded with unprofessional folks, a few broken promises, and a failed television network. But hey, I ate, I paid my bills, and added a few new clients to my roster. Life goes on. And they keep putting out records. Thank god. - First of all, while the CHVRCHES album, The Bones of What You Believe (for the record, I don't like the title) isn't out until later this month, we can finally preview it thanks to the always good people at NPR. I heard most of this at their show at the Fonda. I like it as much as I remember. - While we're at it, here's the Blood Diamonds remix of "The Mother We Share."
- Vegas homeboys The Killers pair up with M83 producing for "Shot at the Night"-- a combo full of promise with lackluster results. - Kings of Leon covering Robyn for the BBC was a nice highlight of last week. - Speaking of which, stream their new album Mechanical Bull right now. - New Lorde. "Team." It's legit. - New(ish) Frighted Rabbit track, "Candlelit." - These isolated Beatles vocals are killer. I keep listening to them. Just over and over.
Me thinks it's time for a little Vegas, so I'll be in the car today, headed East into the desert for some Dad time and songwriting time with the Haviland. Being in Vegas is normally a pretty good motivator for me to do something with my life. Maybe I'll even stop tinkering with this pilot and cowgirl up to showing it someone. Giddy up.
(PS - I stole this picture from one of my friends. I don't remember which one. If it's you, thanks! And...hope that's okay.)
Happy third birthday to my favorite human, the one and only Miss Tigerlily. No one on Earth makes me as happy, as easily as this crazy girl. I was with her on her actual BIRTH day, and I'm wishing we could hang out an invite some fictional characters to a tea party on military time today. But alas, duty calls. Rain check, Tigs! Hope your costume for the day is extra wacky!
Hey there, burgeoning youth of the early aughts. This is the sound of your teenage years calling. And we have Jimmy Eat World on the line for you. Remember being 19? If you were having a hard time recalling, you won't for long. New album Damage is out 6/11. Bring me back, Jimmy. Steal me back to then. I'm ready.
When I was growing up and my grandmother would drive me all over the deep south in search of all Gone with the Wind related historical sites of interest, I was always deeply and adolescently moved by abandoned buildings. Perhaps it was just the feeling of connection to a physical manifestation of all my abandonment issues. (!) I'm still drawn by that mood. How many posts have I done on abandoned buildings like theatres?Or this in Scotland? But when I was an angst-y adolescent, it was too big to be contained. I wanted to do a book of photographs with that feeling. Too bad I didn't know at age 10 that Sally Mann was already doing it way better than I ever could have. But, listen, Nevada holds its own on the ghost town front. From derelict boom towns to discarded neon graveyards, Nevada knows how to love 'em and leave 'em better any pretty much anybody. Buzzfeed did this nice (if a little bright) photo aggregate and I just keep going back to this haunting pic (above) my friend and fellow Nevada writer turned New York writer Foster Kamer posted on a recent trip back home. I like to look and just get the sad out.
