mountaineer musings

because he's a Marine... and 'cause it's good

i bought Josh Gracin's new cd last night for two reasons.
1) he's a Marine. he could sound like Neckid Britney, but if he's a Marine, i am willing to pay for bad vocals.
2) i actually like his voice, though he finished American Idol last season exactly where i thought he should (4th place). not for lack of great vocals, but when i watch AI, i'm usually not in that country music mood.

i was in the mood for some country music for my drive home to my former home and was going to go for "Patriotic Country", but i figured, how much more patriotic can you get? he's a Marine! of course, the Patriotic Country cd benefits the USO, so i almost bought them both. i'll get the other one soon.

anyway, my point... hmm, what was it? ah, yes. i bought the cd because he's a Marine, but i like it because it's rockin' good. seriously, great country music, lots of tempo and style variations, great voice, it's just a really good cd. has good country fiddlin', some good steel git-tar, actually reminds me some of Tim McGraw's Everywhere cd (vocally speaking), with a little bit of Pat Green's Wave on Wave thrown in (instrumentally speaking).

so. i'm very pleased with my purchase. i skimmed a People magazine (as in, People of the People's Republic of California) and saw the review for this cd a couple of days ago; the reviewer, who obviously hasn't even listened to the cd, gave it 1 out of 4 stars and threw in there for good measure some rubbish about "Patriotism will only get you so far". he can bite my big white butt and get himself a millivanilli clue and see how far my patriotic foot across his backside gets him.

'tis good music, buy it if you like country. 1 gripe: Josh didn't write any of the songs.

alright, musees, i've gotta get. much love, talk to y'all tonight.

UPDATE: The Other Little Soldier made me cry. great song.

thank you, Armed Forces.

i haven't heard it, but i love it already

found this interview [warning: link is rated R for language, tho by today's sorry MPAA standards, it would be PG-13] by Brave Works & Bloody Knuckles via Jason of Avoca (via Andrew Sullivan), and i have come to the following conclusions:

1) i am seriously crushing on Jon Schaffer, ICED EARTH bandleader/songwriter, though i have no idea what he looks like or if he's married, etc. so if you're his wife and reading this, my apologies.

2) i will buy every ICED EARTH album, though i've never heard their music. i do like heavy metal, though, so rock on.

3) it's fun to watch an uninformed leftist Canadian get his gralls kicked by someone smarter than him (no offense to the smart Canadians out there). if only Condi could say what she wants to say, this is what it would have looked like when she shoved Bob Kerrey's moronic questions back in his face. and anyone who quotes Chomsky as truth deserves to have his head stuck in the toilet for swirly after swirly.

wow, there are too many great quotes to excerpt them all, read the whole article. i will give you my favorite parts, though...

BW&BK [Canadian interviewer]: Do you think 9/11 will be viewed as the first event in the US empire's decline and fall?
My new crush Jon Schaffer: No. This is not an empire, first of all. If the United States was an empire, your country would be our 51st state.

AND

BW&BK: So you don't see the Bush regime as being cultural imperialists? You don't see them as trying to force the American way of life on to a nation that maybe doesn't want it?
My new crush Jon Schaffer: "No. If you think that's true, then why are 70 or 80 percent of the people are thrilled to have us there. Have you not seen that? And it's not a regime, by the way. You keep up that kind of language I'm going to end the interview right now."

confession

i listen to a lot of "questionable" music.

2 of my favorite Jason Mraz (yum) songs are kinda bad.

i felt like a liar not tellin' y'all that.

ode to dirt

since i almost made one person snort milk and got several other compliments about it, i decided to post this here (i wrote it in the comments section)...

ode to dirt
if i had only one place to choose from,
and all the others were full,
i'd cry my pretty eyes out and feel bummed,
'cause lubbock would not be so cool...
i mean, sure they have coach bob knight
(don't you dare call him bobby...)
but how could life ever be right
when the cineplex is too small for a lobby?
oh, lubbock, lubbock, brown barren lubbock,
i'll go to you if i have to...
oh, lubbock, lubbock, traffic-free lubbock,
i'll go to you if i must do...

yummy.....

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. it should be a crime to be this beautiful.

what a lovely thing to have in your inbox. thank you, jasonmraz.com

monday mayhem...

i'm the new what??? despite my shameless kissing up to the judges of Frank J's IMAO T-Shirt Babe Contest, i still managed to win the contest, which makes me the new and first-ever IMAO T-Shirt Babe! i was sure that i was going to be the Jim Carrey of Frank's World, getting a lot of the fan vote but snubbed by the academy, but whaddaya know? after a long long weekend of waiting (man, it seemed like forever!), the judges made me the babe by a very slim margin (1 pt - how much slimmer can it be?). runners up were Willow, Serenity and the Berkeley hotties Reva and Carissa. all of Frank J's babes are hot stuff, so what an honor! i'll have a speech up soon...

responsibility, bah! so i leave this evening for the Panhandle; i interview tomorrow in one town and Wednesday in another... it's funny how having a job directly affects one's ability to pay the rent. so i'm putting in my notice at my complex today, which is a little scary, since 1) i have no idea where i'm moving to, 2) i have so much to do by way of packing (any volunteers?), 3) i don't know where my job will be, though it's apparently not going to be in Arizona (choice #1), because i can't wait around forever... oh well, the Panhandle gets me closer to mountains, farther from psychos and only 12 hours from the north rim of the Grand Canyon (woohoo!).

aaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!

so i've ordered my DMB tickets for 2 shows in august (and received confirmation that i've got seats -- woohoo!). and today i jump on the warehouse page to see my ticketing status, and wouldn't ya know it? a warehouse announcement says that my boyfriend jason is the support act for DMB for shows august 31 - september 8. are my tickets for any of those days? NO! OF COURSE NOT! because my year HASN'T BEEN BAD ENOUGH. i'm so sad. i might cry. on the upside... hmm. can't think of one right now. oh yeah. i'm seeing DMB twice in august. and it will be hot in august. which means boyd will probably be at the very least sleeveless. he has nice arms.

somebody should procure me some tickets to see a jason show. that will make me not so sad. maybe jason should coordinate this kind of stuff with me, his girlfriend.

more from the WOOHOO!! department

just got an email from the graham colton band, or graham colton (the emails have one name, and their website has another). new cd coming out may 25, 2004!! eeeeeeeeeeeeeexcellent! i hope this one has more than 9 songs.

nepotism

so my big bro and my cuz and the 2 other members of from chaos have been recording their cd. my sis is going to be peddling it about the metroplex (soon to be my former home) to radio stations and whatnot once the demo's done. when they're making money (and they will, because they are awesome), there's talk of me doing the bookkeeping, which is fine & cool.

but the bestest part of all (well, for me anyway) is what's going down tomorrow. i'm recording with them!! i'll be in a real live recording studio recording some girly vocals for this really awesome untitled song. i'm super-duper excited about it. i've recorded in a studio before, but that was in a handbell choir w/ 31 other people. and really. this song is radical, dude.

good times. good music. nepotism rocks.

UPDATE: nepotism will have to wait. my head is killing me. i can't drive like this.

jason, will you marry me?

i'd not heard this song until tonite. i'm on disc 3 of 8 right now. beautiful song.

Sleeping to Dream
words by jason mraz, music by jason mraz & peter stuart

I'm dreaming of sleeping next to you I'm feeling like a lost little boy in a brand new town
I'm counting my sheep and each one that passes is another dream to ashes
and they all fall down.
As I lay me down tonight,
I close my eyes and what a beautiful sight
I'm sleeping to dream about you
I'm so tired of having to live without you
So I'm sleeping to dream about you and I'm so tired
I found myself in the riches (Your eyes, your lips, your hair.) Well you were everywhere
But I woke up in the ditches. I hit the light and I thought you might be here
but you were nowhere. You were nowhere at home.
As I lay me back to sleep
Lord I pray that I can keep
Sleeping to dream about you
I'm so tired of having to live without you
So I'm sleeping to dream about you and I'm so tired

(It's just a little a lullaby to keep myself from crying myself to sleep at night.)

Sleeping to dream about you
I'm so tired of having to live without you
So I'm sleeping to dream about you and I'm so tired