i can have way too much fun with this...

1. 7 day mile, the frames. (good grief, this is a good version)
2. growin up, bruce springsteen.
3. sleeping in , the postal service.
4. nightswimming, rem
5. a sort of homecoming , u2
6. present tense, pearl jam

styrofoam garbage for the ozone layer

speaking of bono.. here's something i hadn't seen before. i love how he just kind of seems to come out of nowhere. that sneaky little fellow.

my favorite albums part 1...

there is a radio station in seattle that has this thing called "desert island discs," where you pick three cd's that you would want if you were stranded on a desert island. so, here are my 3 picks. i decided to make one from each of my favorite bands. the first 2 are definate, the 3rd kind of goes back and forth...

pearl jam i think i'd have to pick no code. this album got me through some tough times. it came out in 96, when i had just turned 16 - a crappy age to begin with. that was also the year my grandfather died and my best friend moved to california and back again but decided not to be my friend anymore. so i guess, in a way (as strange as it may sound), this cd became my new best friend.

i'm not sure i would recommend this album to anyone who has not heard pearl jam before - a lot of people say that no code is the record that they made to distance themselves from all the hype that surrounded them in the mid-nineties. it's kind of an experimental album, with some songs that stretch the boundaries of the idea of a "rock song." in a good way, i think. no code also contains one of my favorite songs, in my tree (which is where the title of my blog comes from). another of my favorites is present tense. the song is basically just eddie and mike mccready playing together. i just listened to it again now, and there is a part at the end when mike's guitar playing makes me cry. it's beautiful.

and the lyrics! oh man, the lyrics are one of my favorite parts of pearl jam - just like my other favorite singer, glen hansard, eddie vedder can amazingly beautiful words. and then when he sings them.. that's just the end. i'm totally hooked forever.

1996 was also the year i went to my first real rock concert. this was during the whole time pearl jam was taking on ticketmaster (where are they now, when fees make a 37 dollar ticket 52 dollars?), and so they were playing smaller venues. they played at the civic center in augusta, maine that year. i actually really hardly remember anythng from that show, i think i was just so in awe to be finally seeing this band i had loved for four years. i do remember that there was a lunar eclipse that night, however, and during black, eddie pointed that out. (god, i'd love to find a tape of this show)

the frames this is really hard, because the frames are such a good live band (like pearl jam) and their albums don't always live up to that. but with that said, i think i'd probably say my favorite record by them is dance the devil. i really do love every song here - especially seven day mile. like eddie vedder, glen hansard is an amazing writer and storyteller. i've heard glen say before that seven day mile is about having an obstacle in your path and deciding to walk all the way around it. i think a lot of frames songs are about one of two things - finding a relationship with god (sometimes i need a revelation) or coming to peace with your own place in the world. i can definately relate to both of those quests.

while i'm talking about the frames, i also just have to say how much i love the violin playing. the violinist, colm, is incredible. it really adds a lot to the songs. plus a rock band that has a violin is just cool. right? right.

u2definately achtung baby. gosh, i don't even remember what year this came out.. i can remember listening to this album over and over during my first year of college. i don't really have much to say about it, except that i guess i like it because it's so different from their other stuff. i don't consider myself a huge u2 fan, but i do like them a lot, although their newest albums don't do much for me.

the other album that i could swap out for this place would be new adventures in hi fi by rem. i know this isn't the record most people think of when they think rem (automatic for the people), but this is where it is for me. my favorite song here is new test leper : "you are lost and disillusioned" what an an awful thing to say. if you're not familiar with
mid 90s era rem (monster and new adventures), you really should check them out.

i want my life to make more sense to me....

sometimes i feel like i don't know what i'm doing..

i looked at the ticket prices for that festival and you have to buy a 4 day pass - it's like 250 dollars. so i think i've calmed down about going. i just haven't seen pearl jam in so long and i get a little excited whenever i think about seeing them. and the swell season - although i can say without a doubt that they are the best non-pearl jam concert i've ever seen (pearl jam live is just on a whole other plane to me), i have faith that they will play somewhere closer to seattle. (please, god!) and so better pearl jam! they haven't played in seattle since the 2005 show at the paramount, i think.

so here is a list of my top 5 favorite concerts. well, the ones that popped into my mind at this moment. that's probably obvious because they're all fairly recent.. and i had to make the rule that i could only put one pearl jam show, otherwise that'd be all that was there.
1) pearl jam, the gorge 2006
2) swell season, the moore theatre 2007
3) u2, key arena, 2005
4) death cab for cutie, the paramount, 2006 (i think that was the year..)
5) a 3-way tie: bruce springsteen & the e-street band/the john butler trio/the frames

oh man, i suck at making lists. anyway...
now my two favorite tv shows are on tonight - wife swap and project runway!

ugh, my cold will not go away. now i have something weird going on with my ear. i'm going to the doctor - again - this morning. it is better first thing in the morning though, but yesterday i was practically crying at work because it hurt so much. i think part of the problem is that my mind always goes to the worst possible thing - i have cancer, i'm going deaf, i'm never going to feel better.. i know that's stupid.

that u2 movie on saturday was really good. there were a couple parts when i had to move my knee because it looked like bono was going to reach out and touch it. i want to see u2 again!

i went to easy street on saturday afternoon, but only bought two cd's: a live ep by john butler, because it has a 15 minute version of "ocean," an awesome song. usually i'm not for long songs, but everytime i've seen him play that one, it's completely mesmerizing. he's an awesome guitar player. i also bought one by songs:ohia, which i have not listened to yet. i know nothing about them.. i just bought it because, in an interview, glen hansard talks about being friends with them. a lot of my favorite bands i've found because another band has talked about them. like death cab for cutie - they opened the vote for change (was that 03?) tour for pearl jam. kings of leon opened a tour for them too. so did sleater kinney, although i liked them before.