The 14th is upon us

Happy Valentine's Day, my blogsters!
...Or if you're completely opposed to this holiday, then forget I said anything. :)

So do you like V-Day or is it just an annoying Hallmark holiday? Are you better off if you're in a relationship or single on February 14th?

Want to know the seven things to never tell a single person? Head on over to Linda Lou's post about it. She's actually pretty really 110% spot on.

Cheesy love songs that you secretly love? This one's pretty bad. Not to mention it's a stalker's checklist. But it's still somehow cute.





Fallin', fallin', fallin'...

Hi, remember me?

I'm that girl that neglected her blog because her classes have been neglecting her.
My bad, guys. My bad.

I'm back. Now that all the Grammy nonsense (and that really awk Taylor Swift/Stevie Nicks duet) is over with, let's talk about some news that dropped today... Crossroads Fest 2010!!!!
You guys have to check out that link. This is Eric Clapton's massive gathering of the best guitarists for a huge one day festival. This year it's June 26th (my brother's birthday!) and the lineup is out of this world. Seriously, all of you guys that live in Chicago/are going to go, I'm so jealous.

Extra noteworthy:
-Allman Brothers (!!!!!!!!!!!!)
-BB King
-Jeff Beck
-Clapton himself
-Steve Winwood
-ZZ Top

(I'll just close my eyes when John Mayer approaches the mic because I cannot stand that guy.)

This concert benefits Clapton's addiction treatment center in Antigua-- Crossroads Centre. If you haven't read Clapton's autobio, go pick it up. It's seriously fantastic and he talks about the Crossroads Centre.
Want to relive the power of Clapton & Winwood? Go here to watch some vids and get a recap.

What other guitarist(s) would you like to see at the festival?
For me: DAVID GILMOUR!!!!!! Jimmy Page? Santana?

Call me crazy

Okay guys, call me temporarily crazy... but there were two performances I actually liked last night on the Grammys.

Good things:
1. Lady GaGa & Elton John's medley of "Speechless" and "Your Song" - I thought this was really cool. And I'm the first to profess my hatred of Lady Gagme. But for whatever reason, this performance got me.
2. Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" and "You Oughta Know" (Alanis cover) - I gotta rep my hometown girl. But really, this performance just rules:





Now onto the bad:
1. The autotune was crampin' my style.
2. The winners. I mean, really?
3. Taylor Swift & Stevie Nicks. I had known about that for a few days (Stevie was supposed to be a "surprise") and Stevie is my girl crush, but ohemgee. That was bad. I think the general consensus was that Taylor was off key for "Rhiannon" and couldn't really get into it, but yeah. I don't know. I don't think those two voices are meant to sing together. Just really awkward for me. But Waddy was holdin' it down alright! :)

Thoughts?

To Grammy or not to Grammy

Do you watch the Grammys / Are you planning on watching Sunday night?
I usually can't stomach it.

I mean really, how did we go from this...




To this?




Ah, music. It ain't like it used to be.
I digress.

Thoughts?
P.S. Thanks for the sweet comments-- I'm glad you guys like the new look! :)

New look & 100+ posts!

Well guys, what do you think about the new look here? :)

I've passed up my 100th post without realizing it! This is my 104th post. Woot woo!

With that, I'm pleased to announce that I'll be teaming up with some great people to help contribute to Layla's blog. She's got lots going on right now, so we're going to keep the fun up over there for her! Be sure to keep checkin' it out. I'm excited to be a part of it all, and honored that she asked me. Thanks, Layla!

For today, I'd like to show some "Hallelujah" love. This is from the Hope for Haiti Now telethon:



What was your favorite song of the night? I thought Christina Aguilera's "Life Me Up" was really beautiful.

It's been a sweet love

Hai, friends!
Hope everyone has been having a good weekend. Is it just me or has January gone by extreeeemely slow?

Did anyone watch Conan's last show? Watch this:



Teary eyed? Me too. Let's pause for a moment of silence.

On a music-related note, here's "Free Bird" from his last show -- good song choice, right?
"I must be traveling on now..."



Will Ferrell makes a good Ronnie/Johnny Van Zant, no? ;)
Kind of an odd mish mash of musicians: Billy Gibbons, Beck, Ben Harper... pretty cool. More cowbell though, right?

What are some of your favorite "Conanisms"? I will miss the Walker, Texas Ranger lever.

Random: Can Aerosmith make it without Steven Tyler?

Off to go work on some homework and watch some football!

It's just a kiss away, kiss away, kiss away

Happy Birthday, Mick Taylor!

He turns 61 today.

Here he is with the Rolling Stones in 1972 -- "Gimme Shelter":



Also, I encourage you to check out this interesting article that talks more about the above solo.


Questions:
1. Rolling Stones with Mick Taylor or without him?
2. Team Coco or Team Leno?
3. Team Brown or Team Coakley?

I'd like to send a shout-out thank you to Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr!! :)
Have a great rest of your weekend, guys! And remember to keep those in Haiti in your prayers. If you can't donate your time or money, prayers are always welcome and effective.

Runnin' on Empty

I'm exhausted. Drove about eight hours (that includes SIX stops-- no, we usually don't stop that much and no, we weren't having bathroom issues. We just kept getting hungry & thirsty!) back up to school today with my bff.
Loud tunes, snacks, creepy highway friends = fun ways to make eight hours go by fast!

I'm getting to all of your blogs, I promise! I just need a few days to get back into routine, etc. Classes start on Wednesday for me with next week also being a short week (thanks, MLK!).

Leaving you with a tune to sum up how I feel right about now:



<3 Jackson Browne.

Have a great week!

Cold comfort for change

Happy Birthday, Syd. He would have been 64 today.

I don't think we'll ever really know the whole story on him. What haunted him, what sparked his mental illness (besides the drugs), what drove him away from help.

Who could forget his bizarre (yet great) contributions like "See Emily Play," "Bike," or "Arnold Layne" on Pink Floyd's earliest albums.

Perhaps the saddest of his songs is "Jugband Blues" -- his last published contribution to the band. It's Syd slipping away... "It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here. And I'm most obliged to you for making it clear that I'm not here." Very eerie and disturbing when you know the band's personal history.

Before I started this post, I looked around at all of your blogs- Seems like the majority of you have "SOYCD" as your video choice. So to mix things up a bit, here's "Wish You Were Here," also a fitting dedication to Syd:

2005- before Syd died - Waters, Gilmour, Wright, & Mason:


December 2006- after Syd died - Gilmour & Wright


If you don't know the backstory of the Wish You Were Here album, please click here and read it. It's very interesting.

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

2010 Preview

Happy 2010 to all of you guys!
I just got back from an exciting day & night in San Antonio. Wreck 'em Tech!! :)

I mentioned last time that I'm pumped for concerts this year.
Mosey on over to this article to check out some other cool rock concerts & album releases that are happenin' soon:

http://www.realrocknews.com/classic-rock-preview-for-2010/

Stones, Faces and Heart, oh my!
What's one dream concert (whether it's happening or not) that you'd like to see this year? Me? Fleetwood Mac & the Eagles. The official announcement is coming within the next two weeks. :)

Have a good Sunday, guys.

Thanks for all the albums-to-listen-to-through-headphones suggestions!

And a couple new readers... yay! Thanks for stopping by.

Well guys, 2009 (and a decade) is coming to a close.

I'm sooooo ready for 2010!!! :)

I'm really excited for concerts in the new year.

I hope to be able to see Carole King & James Taylor, and not gonna lie... these Eagles with Fleetwood Mac tour rumours make me really happy. I will definitely spare a leg to catch that show.

New Year's resolutions? I don't make 'em. Not because I won't keep 'em, but mainly because I'll forget what they were and I would never keep up with the sheet I wrote 'em on.

What about you?

Listen to the Music

I hope all of you guys had a great Christmas with your family and friends!

I had lots of fun and got to see lots of family, so it was great.

I got some really great Sennheiser headphones for Christmas-- I'm one of those people who has never had a decent pair of headphones. I listen to music on my iPod or computer via Apple earbuds. Sad story, right?

My dad came to the rescue though and got me really nice headphones.

I've been listening to some albums with them and haven't realized how many instruments/vocals I hadn't heard before. It's outrageous all the "little" stuff you can hear with a good pair of headphones!

So my question for you: What albums sound particularly awesome through headphones?

An obvious one is The Dark Side of the Moon. My dad also told me to listen to some Robin Trower and Jeff Beck. What else?

Tender Texas Christmas

I'm back, y'all!

I've been listening to this...


(you know you had your awk '80s hair & wardrobe moments, too!)


And drinking some of this...



Bonus: a sweet Christmas card from Linda Lou! She's one of the funniest people ever-- if you're looking for any last minute gift ideas for people, seriously consider Bastard Husband. It's funny, sad and sentimental! You'll love it. Heck, I'm single and know next to nothin' about love, much less marriage and divorce. So if I liked it, you will too!

Lots of family stuff these next few days, so if you don't hear from me...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I'll be back soon though!)

I wanna be home again & feelin' right

Thanks for all of your well wishes on my finals! I think I did just fine and I can't believe I have another semester of college under my belt. Eek!

Road trips are the best. Am I right?!

I freaking love 'em.

T- 15 hours until my best friend/roomie and I hit the road for HOME! Can.not.wait. It's gonna be a nice break.

It takes nine hours to get home. How do we keep ourselves entertained? Jam out, record videos of us singing and dancing (as much as you can while still safely driving, of course!) and take pictures. We're goofballs to the extreme.

Oh, and of course we eat tons of snacks. It's our specialty.

The above-mentioned BFF is a food science major. So I actually eat better at school than I do at home. Which is kinda funny. But I follow her lead (sometimes... most of the time?) on healthy snacks/drinks.

So, with her blessing, here's what will be consumed on that long drive tomorrow:








For me, the driver-- not that I will need any of this because I'll be so happy anyway-- oh yeah, and she didn't give me her blessing on this, but I think that's obvi haha I kinda got addicted to these while studying for finals. Oops?!



And now that I'm nearing the end of typing out this post, I just realized that I'm not on my Wordpress blog! Yikes. I promise this wasn't meant to be a shamless plug! Agh. Sorry, guys.


To try to add some rock and roll in here, here's a song about being home again and feelin' right. :)



Have a great rest of the week, yall!

Happy Birthday to Ted Nugent!

Uncle Ted celebrates his 61st birthday today!

Whether you agree with his politics or not, he's a pretty badass rocker.
Check out this crazy performance of "Cat Scratch Fever" at Cal Jam II (which apparently was THE place to be on March 18, 1978):




And for those of you who like his "tell it like it is" political views... this interview clip is pretty great. Warning: skip if you do not like the 2nd amendment.



"I don't like repeat offenders. I like dead offenders." -- Right on, Ted!

-------------------------

I hope everyone is having a great December so far! Sorry I haven't been around much lately, but I'm workin' on going around to all of yall's blogs and I promise to be back to normal later this week! I've got three finals down, one to go.
Almost there! :o)

Love in Vain

Hope everyone is staying warm with this cold weather (and snow for some of us)!

Just wanted to post this video because I was listening to this song earlier.



Kind of a depressing song to sing at a concert, granted it was only two days after Brian Jones' death.

Go Hyde Park! :)

Back to studying I go... can't wait until these next nine days are over and done with! Until next time...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow :)

This seems very appropriate...





It is chchchillay here! And it's been lightly snowing for the past four hours.

Does the snow know it's in Texas? I think it's as confused as the poor geese were that I heard this morning. They only thought they had flown south for the winter!

Is it snowing where you're at?!

Other random notes:
1. I am really sick of Tiger Woods. He may be the world's "best" golfer, but he's a horrible husband. Hate to tell his wife, but she should've seen all this affair nonsense coming from a mile away. That's what you get when you let your heart win...

2. Why, Ronnie Wood, why? He's looking real bad these days, btw.

My thoughts you can't decode

Thank you all for the postive thoughts! I appreciate it. :)


I'm taking a little break from classic rock-- shame, I know.

Latest obsession? Paramore.

Why?

I honestly have no idea. I've had the very popular Riot! sitting unlistened in my iTunes since January. The other day, I decided to listen to it and after one go through, I promptly downloaded their first album, All We Know Is Falling, and their newest, Brand New Eyes. I've been listening to all three albums on repeat ever since.


Now I usually don't like these types of bands. Anything where the heavy instruments tend to shadow the voices. You might know this as "emo" or "punk"-- y'know what I'm sayin'! But for some reason I really like this band and I'm glad I gave them a chance.

And the lead singer, Hayley Williams, has an amazing voice.


They do a great job with acoustic sets. I highly encourage you to watch this performance of an acoustic version of "Decode"-- if you know anything about Twilight (shame on you if you don't! No, just kidding.), you probably already know about this song.

But for those of you who don't know the song and haven't heard the album version, what do you think after just watching this??

Tis the Season!

Well, it's around midnight here on my last night home. :(
Except I'll be back here in two and a half weeks. :)

However... those two and a half weeks are going to be no fun at all. Studying for finals, taking finals, and trying to finish the semester on a positive & strong note. Boo.

Why is it that time flies when you're having fun and it doesn't fly when you're not having fun?
Lame, right?

Anywho, I hope each of you had a fun and safe Thanksgiving with loved ones.
Holiday season is upon us and I couldn't be happier! I absolutely love this time of year. :)

If I'm not too consistent in the next couple of weeks (heck, have I ever been consistent?), don't think I'm dead and gone. I'm just studying. ;)

I'll try my best to keep up with you guys!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you have a wonderful day with loved ones.

I've got a lotta lot to be thankful for-- I'm blessed beyond belief. :)