Category: music

In 12 Hours

In less than 12 hours N and I will be touching down in Las Vegas. We had wanted to go to this music festival (The line-up is amazing: Belle and Sebastian! Pavement! Superchunk! etc…) but the tickets sold out in under 2 minutes when they went on sale. But on Monday the festival released a few more tickets and N snagged two of them. So we booked a flight, hotel, and car and now we’re on our way.

I’m looking forward to seeing the bands but being the unhip pregnant lady I am I might be looking forward to 1) sleeping in and 2) eating delicious food just as much.

This weekend is also my church’s general conference. In Utah it’s broadcast on tv so we’ll tape it on the DVR and will probably catch the sessions on Sunday online at the hotel. I’m looking forward to sleeping in and then watching conference from the comfort of a kid-free hotel room.

I’ll have pictures and a report next week. I hope you have a great weekend!

The Mountain Goats in Concert

Last week one of my favorite groups, The Mountain Goats, came through Salt Lake on the last leg of their tour. While singer/songwriter John Darnielle is the core of the group this tour included Peter Hughes on bass (who also threw in some of the sexiest slow dancing I’ve ever seen) and Jon Wurster on drums.

The show was great. John’s voice can take a bit of getting used to but his lyrics are fantastic. If you’re interested N posted a review of the show and one of their songs.



New Music

Two bands I really like, The National and The New Pornographers, recently released new albums. They’ve pretty much been on continuous repeat in my car for the last week or so whenever I can pry them out of N’s hands. N reviewed the albums here and here if you want to read more about them and listen to a sample.

I know that the band name The New Pornographers might offend some people off but their music is great and in my opinion not vulgar at all. It’s said that the name came about from the Jimmy Swaggart quote that “rock music is the new pornography” but I’m not sure if that’s true.

I’m just excited to see them play at this year’s Twilight Concert Series in Salt Lake this summer.

Super Psyched

Today should be a fantastic day. We’re staying at my brother-in-law and sister-in-law‘s house which is always fun, I’m going to see N for the first time in over a week, and tonight we’re going to see The Magnetic Fields, one of very favorite bands, perform. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited to see a show.

This song of theirs is a favorite of mine:

I like their new album, Realism, but if you’re interested in listening to their music I would recommend starting with their 1999 release 69 Love Songs. It’s on the pricey side because it’s a 3-disc set but it’s great. (My favorite disc is volume 2.) If your local library’s pretty good I bet they have a copy. Check it out if you get the chance!

Love Songs

I thought I’d post a couple of my favorite love songs in honor of Valentine’s Day. I’m posting YouTube videos of them because Google/Blogger has gone all DMCA-enforcer on a bunch of people’s music blogs and has started pulling them down if they host mp3s. (Lame!)

“It’s Only Time” by The Magnetic Fields
I’ve been a fan of Stephin Merrit’s music since I borrowed a mix tape of songs from 69 Love Songs from N back in college. Merrit’s brilliant lyrics and catchy melodies played almost constantly in my car the summer after my sophomore year of college as I drove around wondering where this thing with this boy N was going. This song hadn’t yet come out when we got married and we weren’t really wedding-dance type people, per say, but I can’t think of a better wedding song.
(I have no idea about the picture (?) but this video had the best sound quality I could find.)

“In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” by Neutral Milk Hotel
This is the song that N and I tend to think of as “our song.” During the ambiguous friendship stage of our relationship that lasted months and months we sent each other long, long emails almost everyday. N would sometimes include song lyrics in the signature of his emails and one day when I was home for the summer he included these lines:

What a beautiful face
I have found in this place
That is circling all around the sun
What a beautiful dream
That could flash on the screen
In a blink of an eye and be gone from me

When I read those lines I squealed and proceeded to spend entirely too much time trying to analyze N’s meaning. I hadn’t heard the song before but I checked the cd out from the library and listened to it and promptly had my mind blown.

“My, You Look Ravishing Tonight” by Kleenex Girl Wonder
This song is by another artist linked to our courtship days. In college N had this beat-up orange ’74 Volkswagen bug that he drove around. The thing was pretty creaky but N had installed a cd player so he could listen to music as he puttered around. One day (during our ambiguous-friendship days) N offered to give his roommate a ride to the airport to catch a very early flight home and I volunteered to come along and keep him company. We had to leave at some ridiculously hour (I think it was around 5 am) but all I knew was that I would rather tag along so I could spend the hour-ride back to campus chatting in the car with N than sleep in. (And I really like sleeping in so I think I was starting to get the idea that this may serious).

Kleenex Girl Wonder’s album Ponyoak was playing on the drive back and I remember being sleepy but almost giddy with happiness and feeling like the songs fit the occasion perfectly. I love Graham Smith’s music and Ponyoak is still one of my top ten favorite albums ever. While this song isn’t on Ponyoak, it’s my favorite song by Smith.

After having a disappointing dining experience last year on Valentine’s day at one of my favorite steak places (the service was really poor and the food sub par) I vowed not to waste money by going to a fancy place on Valentine’s day again. So instead we’re going to hit up one of our favorite ethnic dives and maybe catch a movie tonight.

Whatever your plans include I hope you have a lovely weekend!

“The Things You’ve Made”

As you may know, N’s really into music. When we were dating he used to make me mix CDs from time to time which I always loved. He hadn’t made me a mix CD in quite a while so I was thrilled to unwrap one on Christmas morning. (To be honest, I was so touched that I started to get a little teary.)

The CD N gave me is a mix of some of my favorite love songs and ends with a surprise. As a gift N arranged with Ezra Furman to have him write a song for me! When we saw Ezra in concert back in October N chatted with him after the show and asked him when his next CD would be out. Ezra said that he had a CD available on his website and that it came with a personalized song so N went ahead and ordered it. (This isn’t the first time he’s done something like this, but it was still a lovely surprise.)

The song’s just a little ditty, but I love it. Every time I listen to it I can’t help grinning from ear-to-ear.

“The Things You’ve Made” by Ezra Furman

Your ex-lover is dead

One of my favorite routines on So you think you can dance? last night was set to one of my favorite songs by Stars, a Canadian indie pop band. I was excited to see a song I really like get good exposure.

About the song, I like the lushness of the music, the he said/she said structure, and how the lyrics capture the awkwardness and heartache of running into an ex. (Yeah, it sounds corny, but it’s a great song! I’m not really that good at writing about music, that’s N’s department.)

But check out Stars, they’re great. On the show they had to trim the song down for the dance number so here’s the whole thing.

“Your Ex-Lover is Dead” by Stars

Concert Photos

I’m feeling worse today than I was last week. This cold has settled into my chest and I have a lovely hacking cough that makes sleeping difficult. But other than being sick this weekend was quite fun.

On Friday night N and I went and saw BrakesBrakesBrakes and Ezra Furman and the Harpoons play at the Kilby Court in Salt Lake. Both bands were really great which makes it even sadder that there were only 14 people there (unfortunately, not an exaggeration).

On the upside, I was free to move around however I liked to take photos because I wasn’t getting in anyone’s way. So there’s that.

BrakesBrakesBrakes

BrakesBrakesBrakes

Ezra Furman

Ezra Furman and the Harpoons

You can kind of see how the Kilby Court is basically a glorified shack. It’s one of my favorite venues in Salt Lake though. It’s too bad no one was there for this show. I hadn’t listened to either band before we went to the show but I liked both groups. If you’re interested N has a review of the show up on his blog.

Rock and Roll?

Thanks for all the lovely support regarding The Whole Foods Incident. E doesn’t have much of an appetite yet but is otherwise back to normal. This morning he was bopping around to kids’ shows as he normally does. E loves dancing around to music and playing his little guitar. Both are pretty cute.


This picture cracked me up. Our fondness for The Beatles and the Wiggles’ influence may have destined E to be a Beatles fan. But then again he might rebel and become a Stones man just to spite us.

Despite E feeling better I’m really dragging this morning. A few weeks ago we had bought tickets for a concert last night and when E went to bed okay we decided to go as planned. We saw three Scottish bands: We Were Promised Jetpacks, The Twilight Sad, and Frightened Rabbit.

The show was supposed to start at 9pm but the first band didn’t start until 10pm. We had snagged some seats at a table but I was kind of struggling because I hadn’t slept well the night before. I didn’t fall completely asleep but I came close a couple of times to nodding off. I felt bad because it was disrespectful to the bands playing and also because falling asleep at a rock concert is really, REALLY lame. But I perked up once Frightened Rabbit came on. They were great.

By the time we got home and to bed it was 2am. Right now I’m basically counting down the hours until E takes his nap so I can take one myself. Poor N has to work all day. But he has an office so maybe he can close his door and catch some zzzs too.

Camera Obscura Concert


N and I went and saw Camera Obscura in concert on Tuesday night. Camera Obscura is a Scottish group and it was the first time they’ve played in Salt Lake City in ten years. So even though it was tough to find a sitter on a Tuesday night (Thanks, Jan and Mom!) we felt strongly about going.

I really like their music and the concert was a lot of fun. N posted a summary of the concert and one of their songs here–wander over and take a listen.