yo

Its sixth period lab bio, and at the moment I am much more interested in my beat than chromosomes.

I'm having a difficult time narrowing my beat, though. I had Bob Dylan singing to me last night, and right now, as I wait for this period to end, I hunger to download some Lil Wayne. I couldn't name one of his songs because I don't think I have ever heard one, but after reading about him in the New York Times, I'm curious.

Lil Wayne played Newark Symphony Hall Sunday night, the morning before his court appearance in New York. He was charged on weapon possesion on July. But no, thats not why I want to hear his music, the article also described his performance as "a peculiar, riveting hourlong performance that felt positively historic. "

That is a pretty unique description in my opinion, and unique performances are just my cup of tea.

Bob Dylan

Someone once described his voice as "an old man trying to carry a couch up a flight of stairs."
That made my stomach turn, for hearing his music is simply music to my ears.

I really must get around to reading one of the books written on him, since every TV special I've seen has just amazed me. Also, as soon as I find out where I can view it, I'm going to watch the Oscar nominated "I'm Not There."

Right now he is in Mexico, begining his twelve-gig Latin American tour. This is the first time in ten years that he has played down there, and his audience on Wednessday night welcomed him back warmly, according to Rolling Stone. The reason for such a long wait could be described best in his own words "Being noticed can be a burden. Jesus got himself crucified because he got himself noticed. So I disappear a lot." Oh Bobby Dylan, you slay me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtkVGClqrT4 < I strongly encourage you.

"At times in my life the only place I have been happy is when I am on stage. " -Bob Dylan

Academy Awards, sigh

Aye carumba, a blog assignment on the Academy Awards. First of all, I wasn't even sure what was on TV last night, the Oscars or the Academy Awards. I came to find out they were the same show, but the Oscar itself is the little gold man, and the Academy Awards is the ceremony.

It seems as though most celebs, the moment they step onto the red carpet, become works of art. Women clad in elaborate gowns, wardrobes that make statements; complete with jewels and shoes to match. Versace is our modern day Degas.

Those who struck me as most beautious included Kristin Chenoweth in Armani Prive, Hilary Swank in Versace, Renée Zellweger in Carolina Herrera, and Keri Russell in Nina Ricci .

But mind you, I said MOST celebrities. (ehem, nominee Johnny Depp looked like a slob as always)

So as the fashion trends continue to change, the Academy Awards continue to offer a showcase of living art forms of our day.

Stop Whining About Winehouse

While fashioning my beehive with bobby pins and hair spray, I was interrupted by "E News" reporting that people were questioning whether Amy Winehouse is deserving of her five Grammys, considering her reckless lifestyle and questionable decisions. My opinion on the matter is simply, if her music deserves a Grammy, then she is deserving of the award.

"Trouble Woman" by Josh Tyrangiel in Time Magazine put it this way...
"Winehouse not only knows who she is but is able to express it in a way that often is beautiful and meaningful to others. Traditionally, we call that art." The article compared Winehouse to Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.
"The last time pop music was dealt this card, it went by the name Kurt Cobain, another lower-middle-class kid for whom being messed up was a source of creativity."
This article put my feelings into perfect diction.

Let us remember, the music industry, (rock, blues, jazz, and funk, Winehouse's style) has never been a platform of morale. Yet we swoon at the sounds of Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger, and countless others. All whom have had their "troubles." Plus, if Amy Winehouse isn't deserving of an award for her art, maybe we should direct our attention to those professional athletes with mug shots.
Think about this: do parents encourage their children to look to rock musicians or athletes as role models? I suppose that really depends on the child’s interest, but some of the greatest musicians have used and abused drugs and alcohol, nevertheless, their worthiness of fame lies in their performance. Many recent cases brought on by athletes, ironically enough, have dealt with illegal drugs that enhance their performance. Hmm, interesting.

The bottom line is, the history of the pop music industry is a cocktail of drugs and crime, stirred with genius. That is no justification, but the fact remains that if their art touches enough people to win a Grammy, why question the system so late in the game. Amy Winehouse is making a big name... fast, and based on the past, what do you expect?

Atonement

Either something is wrong with me, or very right with me, beucase everywhere I go, I think of something to blog about. The music and art is everywhere!

I just got home from seeing the movie "Atonement," which is up for seven Academy Awards, including best picture. It's been a while since I've seen a really good movie, and I swear, Saoirse Ronan's stare is haunting my dreams that i haven't even dreampt yet. What I really want to 'blog' about though, is the backround music.

For those of you who haven't seen it, (please do) a symbol of the plot is a typewriter, since a typed note is pretty much what brought on all the trouble. To delve deeper into that symbol, both sight and sound are stimulated along with the high tension music and that eerie typewriter sound.

The horror of "Atonement," lurks in the mystery of Briony's mind, the historical setting, the difference between real and fantasy, and nothing making sense until the end. It was creepy-scary.

I felt "Atonement" was a fair mix of "The Sixth Sense" and "Gone with the Wind."
On the drive home I couldn't stop saying how incredible it was, and how genious the writer of the screenplay is, just raving about it all together.

I'm going to attempt to go to sleep now, hopefully I won't have nightmares.

Nicole Atkins

Last night I went to the Algonquin Arts Theater in Manasqaun to see Nicole Atkins & The Sea, a physicadelic/alternative/folk rock group. Nicole Atkins is a up-and-coming singer, guitarist, and song writter as well as a Jersey Shore native. She is also advertised as one of Rolling Stone's top 10 artists to watch, and has been recently seen on Conan O'Brian and David Letterman shows.

I first saw Nicole Atkins perform in 2005 as opening act for Vannessa Carlton. (my friend had free tickets) At the time she was just a girl with a guitar and a voice, singing original songs and strumming away. What i remember most about her then was what a cool dress she had on, and the folk-y sound of her music. So I bought her CD "Party's Over," and listened so much that it became the backround music of my seventh grade life. Super cool.

So I added her on Myspace, and checked out her new music frequently, which over time changed from just one acoustic guitar to a full band, and so she became Nicole Atkins and The Sea.


As a self proclaimed "Squan-a-bee," (credit to Megan Pearce for the name) as well as a big fan, I got front row seats at Algonquin too see Atkins again, plus a band and a more polished sound. Her music was great and her vibe was so genuine. Between songs she would make casual small talk into the micorphone, and a few audience members responded. Nicole was so friendly and fun on stage that me and my two friends waited outside the band door in the cold to meet her. But she was taking too long and we were very very cold. :(

Also, Nicole Atkins wasn't one of those lame female singers trying to be cool with a band of guys. Her voice and style is different and refreshing from the norm. In her short biography in the program, it says she shaped her own sound with influences from blues artists like Jimmy Reed, and other bands like Cream.

It was especially cool to listen to songs that i knew from "Party's Over" that had grown from pretty guitar melodys into big beautiful songs with a full, rich sound.

Honestly, her attitude on stage felt more like she was at a small dinner party than playing infront of a large audience. I would have rather seen her at a place where every one stands up rather than sits down, and I could have easily spent the night groovin' to her psychedelic tunes rather than sitting back and relaxing. By the way don't take me completely seriously with my word choice. Haha, but I actually did just subconsciously stop typing mid-sentance to belt out the chorus to "Maybe Tonight." It's good music.

radiohead

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/18064095/the_future_according_to_radiohead


As a Radiohead and Thom York fan myself, i would absolutely LOVE to see them live. But other Radiohead faithfuls who I've spoken too feel very differently. I talked to a friend of mine who said they were "sell outs" and he was less than pleased at their new methods of getting their music out to the fans. He said he saw a commercial promoting "In Rainbows" as the best reveiwed album of the year, and angrily insisted that they "don't understand" Radiohead.

He began to explain to me that he was not disapointed with "In Rainbow" individual songs, but the album as a whole. Each of Radioheads past albums have all shared a certain sound or unique genre. For example "The Bends" is almost alternative rockish, sounding entirely different than "Amnesiac," which sounds quite different from "Kid A." But each album had a style, and all the songs followed that style, he insisted. With "In Rainbows," each song could belong on a different album from the past.

As I listened to his testimony, I felt like i had a strange loyalty to Radiohead, and as if he was badmouthing one of my friends, I stood up for them. I said that maybe this will be their last album and they wanted a colaboration of the past, like a final paragraph in an essay. It served as a good album to sum up their accomplishments.

But we were basing our judgement on loose facts, and after reading "The Future According to Radiohead," by Mark Binelli, my mind was put as ease. Radiohead was still the same Radiohead, Thom York was still an oddball who takes his music so seriously that he went through a deep depression after the release of Kid A. According to the story, In Rainbows was a different kind of album from the start. So i put Jigsaw Falling Into Place (the one song that i never ever get sick of, even after listening to on repeat for hours) on my iTunes, sighed a breath of releif, and sent the feature to all the disapointed-fans I knew.

Superbowl half time show

As the million dollar ads rolled on toward the end of the Super Bowl this year, I found my self wondering who picked Tom Petty to play the time show. I enjoyed it, and i felt it was a good choice, but who and how did they come up with him? So I did a bit of research, and unfortuneatly I havn't found the answer yet. Maybe someday I'll call the NFL and ask. Until then I'm forced to wonder.

hello world

This is my first blog for my arts & music beat. I hope to someday write a column in a paper, or for a magazine like Vanity Fair, or Vogue, so journalism class has been my first step, and this blog is my second. Interesting first post, eh?