Last week was the long-awaited Death Cab for Cutie concert at The Fox! It was a very good show. They’re currently touring with the Magik*Magik Orchestra.

We went with Adan (aka Flan) and my friend Laura. Good times, good times. The opening act, Youth Lagoon, was just ok. A little whine-y – plus, the guy was like 12 and it was weird as opposed to impressive.  Ha.

I was happy to note that Ben Gibbard sounds just as good live as he does on the albums, and though a mellow style of music, the show was fun. So happy when they played ‘A Movie Script Ending’, but bummed that ‘Brothers on a Hotel Bed’ didn’t make the set list.  Phooey!

In other news, my adorable son is growing up ridiculously fast. Look at this:

Also, I don’t know how I am going to make do without ‘House’. Crying ridiculous amounts the past few episodes. One episode left.  One word: Oreos.

I didn’t take a ton of photos on this trip – but here’s a few snaps for posterity.

A quick meal at the airport Gordon Biersch before our flight to Portland – He was so cute and cozy in his jammies! We arrived in Portland around 11 after an annoying delay at SFO, and when we got to Christopher’s house it was after midnight. We headed to bed to get some rest. Marco never sleeps in our room; from our first day home at the hospital he’s been in his own crib. Anyway, we were all sharing a guest room. Marco was in a pack’n'play, but he would wake up and see us as soon as dawn broke (the blinds weren’t so good at blocking early morning light). Ugh!

The first morning was spent having a delicious breakfast at Original Hotcake’s, which had excellent pancakes and french toast. Christopher and I fed quarters into the jukebox and picked a good mix of our favorites to serenade all of us while we ate.

Next up, a musical journey to Music Millenium! It was a beautiful day – sunny and not too chilly.

…aka the best record store I’ve ever been to!

Such a ham, he kept saying “Cheese!” so we’d take his picture!

The cool ceiling inside the record store

I bought a bunch of vinyls here, and was so impressed by how friendly and knowledgeable the staff was. No snobbery, just…I guess I’d call ‘em ‘music appreciators’, or something. Anyway, it was awesome.

Our next stop was Powell’s, or, as I like to call it, Mecca.

I grabbed a delicious cappuccino from the coffee shop inside the book store (I needed a MAP to get around this store! It was so flipping cool!), then walked around with a shopping basket, skipping, bouncing, and otherwise enjoying myself.

Marco was so excited…we spent 45 minutes in the children’s section, reading books (and replacing Marco’s discards, ha ha). Oh, and yes, he did wear his Curious George ‘Book Worm’ tee shirt! Most appropriate.

I was even a super Portland tourist and bought Colin Meloy’s book!

To close out our Portland day, we headed to Voodoo Donuts to enjoy a sugar rush.

OMG soo good!

Back at Christopher’s house, we enjoyed delicious homemade pesto and watched some old Steve Martin movies.

The next day, we got up early (thanks to Marco), and watched episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine. After a quick breakfast, we drove up to Multnomah Falls (in typical Oregon fashion, the weather was cold and rainy). Marco was impressed by the water.

I was impressed by the ginormous cookie purchased at the snack bar…

Well, Marco was interested in that too, lol

We drove all around the falls, and listened to The Decemberists (Christopher became a fan! I did right by you, Portland).

A quick stop to see the view at Vista House

To finish our day, we stopped at Blockbuster and picked up ‘Young Adult’ and ’50/50′ (review of those to come later). Christopher and Debbie made a hodgepodge of snacks for dinner, including homemade hummus and homemade vegetarian refried beans.

Our final morning, we tried to sleep in, but failed. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, but it was also nice to come home – and get sleep!

Keep Portland weird, people!

Who’s excited that The Pierces latest album will FINALLY be available stateside (march 26th)?! ME!

Am i right!? So sad, however, that they make it to the US to tour for the first time in 4 years, and it’s with Coldplay – meaning, Coldplay ticket prices, and in a gigantic arena. PHOOEY.

This is kind of a weird music rant. Stick around if you’ve got some thoughts to share. I have a tendency to ramble; try to overlook

A few weeks ago, I was shown the clip of Lana Del Rey’s truly terrible performance on SNL. What the heck was that!? I know that she supposedly has stage fright, but…wow. Pretty bad.

I’d heard from a few people whose musical opinions I respect, that I shouldn’t decide based on this poor performance. I gave Lana a fair shake, and tried the recorded version instead. I thought Hmmm…not so bad. Actually, I kind of like it. Okay – so I do like the song.

In the interest of musical experiments and fairness, I gave the entire album a listen. Mehhhh.  ’Born to Die’ and ‘Diet Mountain Dew’ are ok tracks, along with the aforementioned ‘Video Games’.  She doesn’t sing well in the low, throaty, speak-sing voice she’s trying to use to appear sexy. When she’s actually singing in her natural voice, it’s not bad, but it isn’t exciting. Tim and I have agreed that if someone else were to sing these songs, they’d be really good; with Lizzie/Lana behind them, nothing really hits you hard enough to evoke a pure response. So…I guess I would say that there’s great song-writing and producing talent evident, but she might want to pass these off to someone else. I don’t need a perfect voice (I like a bit of grit sometimes), but here it’s like all the moaning is supposed to mean something…but it doesn’t.  It’s just not thrilling. I don’t hate it.

Live performances are a big part of the music experience, at least for me, so I know that I would never spend money a ticket to see her perform; it still says something when you can’t sing in front of your fans. The good news is, with time and practice, she’ll probably get the hang of it.

A friend and I got into a discussion about Ms Lana aka Lizzie Grant before I’d heard the music – and at the end of it, I felt like I’d mostly been a girl. By that I mean that maybe I was treating her like a bitchy girl would treat a ‘rival’; in a different way than I’d discuss a male musician. Look, it’s not to say that I would’ve been a huge David Bowie fan back in the 70s, and he did basically the same thing, performing as his alter ego Ziggy Stardust, in order to create a different sound. Don’t misunderstand me: I’m not compairing the two musically. I like David Bowie now, but back then, it might not have really worked for me. I guess I just feel like I might not have said the same thing if we were talking about him.

Does my inital dislike really all come down to how I feel about women in general? How much of a feminist can I be if I dismissed a female artist for doing what is, in actuality, the same thing I admire in a male musician? But then…I get to thinking even MORE about it. Why does all of it bother me? If I REALLY step back and take a look, isn’t EVERY very successful musician’s persona a part of their mystique? Bob Dylan has created himself as so many different characters in his career that they made a movie about it. It’s a fool’s game to try and decipher which musicians are ‘real’ and which aren’t. Every artist has started as one sound and ended as another – it’s part of the evolution of music, a critical step in the careers of every intelligent artist.

I might be over-thinking it (I usually do), but this seemingly simple subject turned my thoughts to something more serious. Weird how that happens.

What’s funny is, I am fully aware that by writing this post, and subsequently publishing it on my blog, I am adding to the hype I’m trying to avoid. I’ve somehow become a part of a mass-media objective to propel her into the stars, even with my very small readership; I’ve contributed to the words written about her. In the end, her album has done what it was seemingly meant to do, which is to get people talking. Mission accomplished.

I’ve got a book post coming up, but before I delve into my literary adventures, there have been goings-on in other media. I’ll make it snappy, since I have reached critical mass in the need for sleep. It’s kind of ridiculous how little sleep I’ve had in the past two weeks (hence the eerie silence on this here blog).

Last week ‘House’ creators announced that this is the final season – and I actually teared up. What will I do without Dr House??

I’ve decided this will give Hugh more free time to play the piano (for me), eat good food (with me) and read novels aloud in his natural English accent (to me). You know, ’cause obviously he’s coming straight to the Napa Valley after his show ends.

Sunday night (19th) the Season Finale of Downton Abbey airs. GAHH! Too short! This show needs to be moved from mini-series to regular series, so there are more episodes to devour!

OH MY GOD, ANNA AND BATES. I don’t want to ruin ‘Downton Abbey’ for anyone…but last week’s episode had many awesome moments. That’s all I’ll say.

Lord Grantham is officially ‘On Notice’, and hopefully I will not have to move him to the ‘Dead to Me’ board a la Stephen Colbert.

Also, can someone please make me look like this? Lady Mary is so lovely I bet she sleeps on a cloud and bathes in milk.

On the music front, tickets to the Death Cab for Cutie concert have been purchased! I am thrilled to see them perform. I started listening with the ‘forbidden love’ EP back in high school, and I’ve NEVER been able to catch them live before;  the tickets usually sell out before I can get to them – but this time I got onto Ticketmaster on a break at work as soon as they went onsale.

Marco and I have been having dance parties in the car on the way home from work and daycare; I’ll crank out a tune and he shakes his groove-thang in his carseat. Lately, he loves The Black Keys’ “Gold on the Ceiling”.

I’m excited to finally see ‘The Artist’! It finally arrives at the Cameo this weekend. Sour Patch Kids and Milk Duds will be consumed. What? It’s dinner.

I have three random things to post. I hope it’s okay?

First is this song that I’ve been listening to quite often the past week:

Gotye feat Kimbra ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’

Agenda item #2

I feel pretty in these pictures, so I wanted to share them with you.

When you need a good photo of yourself for Christmas cards and it’s too windy for the tripod, the only thing to do is set your camera to the correct f-stop, figure out the spot your husband needs to stand in (and the amount of squat to get the right angle), and tell him exactly when to click the shutter and hope that he doesn’t screw up the focus.  It works pretty well, as long as your hubby takes direction and won’t mess with the white balance.

Thanks, darling!

And the third item…

I recently purchased this book for Marco:

It’s a counting board book with characters and themes from Romeo & Juliet! LOVE.

And there, folks, is a random post for Thursday.

Here’s my playlist for the week…it’s been a really crappy one, and I’ve been hitting the music hard (might need a DD, lol).

Forewarned is forearmed – my list is a little schizo? I’m all over the place.

Weeks with this song on repeat, and I still can’t turn it off.

The Head and the Heart – Lost in my Mind

Evidently I’m the last person in the world, but I just found this song last month:

The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow

I can’t decide if I actually like this song, or if I like it because it reminds me so much of the Kinks (‘Lola’, anyone?). Maybe both?

Noah and the Whale – L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N

This one reminds me of early Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys (thanks to Adrian for the rec!)

The Naked and the Famous – Young Blood

And this song always makes me want to dance.  Why can’t he stick to singing!?

Timbaland feat Justin Timberlake – Carry Out

Heard this on Stephen Colbert last week and almost peed my pants. It’s THAT good.

Yo-Yo Ma/Stuart Duncan/Edgar Meyer/Chris Thile – Attaboy

What are you listening to?

BTW, music recommendations are always welcome

I love concerts (if you couldn’t tell already). I love sharing music with other people, friends, loved ones, people Ive never met…not to get super hippie-dippy but I love the communal feeling that a concert gives. Theres something about it that makes me happy, and last weekends Bridge School Benefit concert lived up to my hopes. The event is held every year at Shoreline Amphitheatre, and benefits a The Bridge School, an organization that educates children with severe disabilities. They’ve helped so many over the years, and several of their students have even graduated college! This year marked the 25th anniversary of this concert series.

The theatre was packed!! I have never seen Shoreline so full, and Ive been to a lot of concerts at that ole place.

The lineup for this year included:

Neil Young
Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds
Arcade Fire
Foo Fighters (Sunday only)
Eddie Vedder
Los Invisibles, featuring Carlos Santana, Cindy Blackman Santana Guests
Beck
Mumford Sons
Tony Bennett (Sunday only)
Devendra Banhart
Norah Jones with The Little Willies
Jimmy Fallon (MC Saturday only)

Well, Jimmy Fallon did not show up (jerkface!) and because we went on Saturday we missed out on the Foo Fighters – but thats okay. It was such an exciting and amazing concert! Tim, Justin, and Adan were my concert buddies this round, and I couldn’t have asked for better companions.

Really, how much better can it get: great friends, great music, and the stars above you? Were already planning for next years concert.
Mumford Sons were my favorite performers; I felt happy chills while they were on stage. Marcus voice is powerful. I really enjoyed Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds acoustic set. Dave was a true performer, giving the audience the interaction we crave (and cracking us up!). Eddie Vedder was enjoyable too, and surprisingly so – Im not a Pearl Jam fan.

I did manage a video from Mumford performing with Neil Young – Dance, Dance, Dance

Amazing sound, considering its my iPhone camera!

Stay tuned this week for a fantastic present to my readers… Can’t wait to share it with you!

I was super excited to hear this song on the radio the other day, and I just had to share my love for R&B ‘slow dance’ songs:

Love it!!

Ohhhhhh Al Green. Yep.

Tim thinks my Boyz II Men obsession is a little weird, but that’s okay.

…AND YET!!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!? I was so close to Hugh! Probably the closest I’ll ever get…for now. Just kidding, Timmy!!

I did have to throw an elbow to get this close. I wish I’d brought my DSLR and the zoom lens, so I could get even CLOSER photographs! Phooey.

Saturday’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was 5 kinds of fun.

Marco’s first music festival! It was awesome! He was the cutest boy there.

Dude! Fried pickles with Sriracha sauce! Sooo good.

Marco just loves banjos.

Gillian Welch was great; some of you may know her voice from The Decemberist’s latest ‘The King is Dead’, or from the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack. Anyway, her voice carried over the park, and even from our position we could enjoy.

Next festival: I’m wearing makeup. I LOOK LIKE A GHOST.

The evening kind of ended badly, with Tim, Marco, and I walking across the entire city to get to our car (towed). No lie. Golden Gate Park to Mission Street next to the Bay Bridge. But…even that couldn’t exactly bring me down. LOL