Life, Love, and Classic Rock

(#41) It's true that we love one another...

2010-11-25T22:50:00.001-05:00

This just about sums up my relationship with my brother.

(#40) [A Few (More) of] My Favorite Things

2010-11-22T16:54:00.007-05:00

Puppies.

Nicki Minaj. Don't judge me.

The Band.

Bangles.

The Who.

My Slanket. Yes, I am Liz Lemon.

White cheddar popcorn.

Cute boys/JGL.

Meteor showers.

Books.

Kate Nash and her ability to write songs about my life.

Smmertime (which means beaches).

Kelly Kapoor.

Disney World.

Best franns.

Boys with dark curly hair (no thanks on the cigarette, though).

Gerber daisies.

Bill Hader.

T-Fey/Liz Lemon.

Red lipstick and other fun makeup.

What makes you happy?

(#39) Things We Said Today

2010-11-19T01:18:00.005-05:00

"Send me dead flowers to my wedding,

and I won't forget to put roses on your grave"

-The Rolling Stones

"Your debutante just knows what you need,

but I know what you want"

- Bob Dylan

"Somewhere around the fifth or seventh grade I figured out that I could ingratiate myself to people by making them laugh. Essentially, I was just trying to make them like me. But after a while it became part of my identity."

-Tina Fey

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

- Ferris Bueller's Day Off

"The sunshine bores the daylights out of me"

-The Rolling Stones

"Good times don't last long sometimes. "
- Levon Helm

"And in the end,
the love you take is equal to the love you make"
-The Beatles

"You don't really care about the trials of tomorrow,
rather lay awake in your bed full of sorrows."
-Kid Cudi

"When I look at my room, I see a girl who loves books."

-Alaska Young via Looking For Alaska by John Green

"My justification is that most people my age spend a lot of time thinking about what they’re going to do for the next five or ten years. The time they spend thinking about their life, I just spend drinking."

-Amy Winehouse

(#38) All I want for Christmas...

2010-11-16T17:53:00.002-05:00

www.wanelo.com

One of my new favorite websites. You can basically add anything from anywhere online to a nice, condensed, in-one-place wishlist.

This is mine:

http://www.wanelo.com/index.action?contentaction=listcollectiondetails&id=12524&userId=1907

Check it out, I promise you'll love it. Or at least like it.

(#37) Climb the fence, books and pens...

2010-11-16T16:17:00.005-05:00

So I'm obviously not posting once a day...or week, even.

I love books. Love love love love love them. I literally cannot remember a time in my life before I could read, and I feel like books have really shaped who I am, especially these -

(#36) Feeding time with TV

2010-10-30T22:14:00.006-04:00

I love television a bit too much. I tried to narrow my favorite shows down to three and couldn't quite make that.

1. Arrested Development

By far and away the cleverest show ever shown on television. Such a travesty that the wonderfully dysfunctional Bluth family only lasted three seasons. If you've never seen this show, do yourself a favor and rent it. I promise you will fall in love after three episodes.

2. 30 Rock

I love love love this show. Written from a backstage perspective of a weekly sketch comedy show a la SNL, it's magnificently fast-paced and hilarious. A worthy successor to AD's title of Funniest Show on Television.

3. Mad Men

Y'all know I love me some Mad Men.

4. Parks and Recreation

As The Office started declining in quality, Parks and Rec did the opposite. Such a funny mockumentary about the travails of life in small government - I realize that sentence sounds a bit ridiculous, but trust me.

(#35) Act Naturally

2010-10-29T10:55:00.006-04:00

I have two favorite movies, and they're a bit disparate.

1) Jaws (1975)

I can't say anything about this film that hasn't been said by thousands of people for over thirty years, but I will say that I love that this movie is so much more than a big shark. There's so much human emotion - love and hate and humor - at the heart of it. My two favorite scenes are the one with Brody and his son at the dinner table and of course Quint's famous Indianapolis speech.

Masterful.

2) Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

So funny. So well-written. So quintessentially '80s. SO GOOD.

(#34) Three Marlenas

2010-10-28T15:12:00.009-04:00

Day 1 of my blogging challenge is to discuss my favorite song. Picking a favorite song, singular, is kind of impossible for me, so I'll narrow it down to three, which is still pretty darn difficult.

I've done this before but here I'll add some to the list...

1. "Baba O'Riley" by The Who

This song is the end all be all for me. The synthesizer at the beginning, followed by the piano, then Moon on the drums then Entwistle with the bass and Daltrey coming in on the vocals...such a beautiful build-up. Even from the first twenty seconds of the swirling synth line, you can tell that something big is about to happen. And happen it does - my favorite five minutes of music on this planet. This song is so sweeping and epic to me and I feel like it says something when almost forty years after its creation, it still holds that power.

Don't forget the violin at the ending. Never forget the violin at the ending.

This is probably the most amazing cover I've ever heard of this song.

2. "Rocks Off" by The Rolling Stones

"Aw, yeah!"

This song just sums up the dirty blues of the Stones for me. The imperfections are what makes it great; the way individual bits of the music -even Jagger's lead vocals - fade in and out add to the dazed, spinning feeling of the piece as a whole and the rollicking piano and horns complete this song that is equal parts raw, confused, and quite honestly, just plain fun. To me, this is a summer driving song, to be played loud with the windows down.

3. "House by the Sea" by Iron & Wine

If you've never heard The Shepherd's Dog in its entirety, download/buy it right now and listen to it. I'll wait.

Back? Okay. Now, if your favorite track wasn't "House by the Sea," I...really don't mind, because there are so many great songs on this album I could see how it would be difficult to pick one. But still.

This is one of the strangest pieces of music I've heard and many adjectives could be used to describe it - wistful, haunting, beautiful, complex, mysterious, etc. The way the various sounds and strings flow together paint this gorgeous blurry sepia-toned picture in my head. I know I won't do justice to describe it so if I link to it here will you promise to listen to it? Thanks.

Whew. One down, twenty-nine to go.

(#33) Thinkin' Out Loud

2010-10-28T14:59:00.005-04:00

File this under things I say way too often - I need to be a better blogger.

I got this list from Jessica's nifty blog and think it would be a good way to achieve this goal.

Day 1 - your favorite song

Day 2 - your favorite movie

Day 3 - your favorite television program

Day 4 - your favorite book

Day 5 - your favorite quote

Day 6 - 20 of your favorite things

Day 7 - a photo that makes you happy

Day 8 - a photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 9 - a photo you took

Day 10 - a photo taken over 10 years ago of you

Day 11 - a photo of you recently

Day 12 - something you are OCD about

Day 13 - a fictional book

Day 14 - a non-fictional book

Day 15 - your dream house

Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Day 17 - an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)

Day 18 - my wedding/future wedding/past wedding

Day 19 - a talent of yours

Day 20 - a hobby of yours

Day 21 - a recipe

Day 22 - a website

Day 23 - a youtube video

Day 24 - where you live

Day 25 - your day, in great detail

Day 26 - your week, in great detail

Day 27 - your worst habit

Day 28 - what's in your handbag/purse

Day 29 - hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days

Day 30 - a dream for the future

So watch this space, kids.

(#32) Rock of Ages

2010-10-26T00:16:00.002-04:00

30 Rock is definitely one of my top 3 favorite shows, probably because sometimes I am Liz Lemon. I own a Slanket, I find the prospect of Night Cheese to be a wonderful thing, and one time a Whale cracker fell out of my jacket.

Obviously I need to be her for Halloween.

(#31) Mad as Rabbits

2010-10-18T00:53:00.005-04:00

Mad Men season finale tonight! Well, technically, it's already happened, but I'm going to catch the re-airing at 1. There's been so much speculation that Roger's going to commit suicide, and I really hope the internet gods are wrong.

This is the first season I've watched as it's aired, and I have not been disappointed. My favorite episode by far was "The Suitcase," with all that Don-and-Peggy bonding. How about you?

(#30) Oh, you think I'm in control

2010-10-11T21:42:00.006-04:00

On the search to discover good music made in the last two decades, I came across and have been subsequently obsessed with Ida Maria.

I love a girl who can write a funny song about cute boys.

The video for "Oh My God" isn't very interesting, but the song...sigh.

And...school is happening again. I should be studying for a statistics exam, but the way I see it, I'm going to do poorly anyway, so why waste my time being miserable and studying when nothing will come of it?

Awesome life philosophy, I know.

I finished The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy recently. It was a beautiful story about a set of twins from Kerala, India and how seemingly unrelated details in our lives add up to create something much more significant. I'm pretty sure I'm going to read it again soon, and I would recommend you to do the same thing!

Rambling over.

(#29) Hello Good Morning

2010-10-03T18:41:00.008-04:00

I really really really really really really need to get back into blogging. I started a Tumblr, but I'm not so much of a fan. The system confuses me and I'm not hip enough to try to figure it out.

I think my problem with this blog was that I felt I always had to write witty interesting posts and I'm just not witty or interesting all the time.

I don't want to quit, though, and what better way to say hi again than with a big ol' picture of Jon Hamm?

It's good to be back.

(#28) Miss You

2010-05-04T00:08:00.012-04:00

So it turns out I am still the worst at blogging. It's partially because I read all of the great ones out there and then realize that I have nothing nearly as interesting or witty to say, and partially because I am one lazy girl.

Things I Have Been Doing Lately:
- Finishing my freshman year of college!

I'm happy that the work part is over, not so happy that the living-away-from-home/friend part is over. For now, anyway.

I will miss my fabulous rock 'n' roll poster arrangement the most.

- Getting into the Rolling Stones.

I realize that this is not a groundbreaking thing, but let me explain. My dad is legitimately a Stones fanatic. Classic rock in general, he loves and he's a veritable encyclopedia of good music (a trait he's encouraged in me for my entire life), but the Stones come above all. Like, I'm fairly sure I thought the tongue logo was a family crest of sorts due to its presence in our house growing up. I've never done the whole rebellious teenager phase (except for a brief flirtation with Hot Topic and an awful boyfriend, but we won't discuss that...), but I felt like I had to resist something the old man liked. Dylan, I'd take. The Band? Yes please. Beatles and Zeppelin? Don't mind if I do. But I felt like not being a Stones fan was the biggest rebellion I could muster, until I realized that was idiotic. So here I am at eighteen, really paying attention to this forty-year-old music for the first time.

And it's awesome. Which, duh. It'd be kind of hard to be touring into your sixties if your music wasn't flat-out phenomenal. But eh, I'm a teenager, I get to be dumb, right?

More on them later for sure, but let me just say that Exile on Main St. = very yes. I want to refrain from saying even more trite things until I've done my homework, so to speak.

-This isn't something I've been doing lately, but have you ever noticed that the hits from forty years ago are still good today? It's like they were popular because they were quality music, not because a producer wanted to sell records (okay, I've read enough biographies to know that isn't the case, but still)...it seems as though there was soul to the pop music business then, and now it's just business. "Baba O'Riley" is my favorite song of all time, and also one of the most widely recognized songs in rock music. It was popular for a reason, and that reason is because it's great. There's this scope and power you just can't find in "Boom Boom Pow."

I'm not trying to say that music from after 1978 automatically sucks. Not at all. There is still a lot of great stuff out there. It just seems harder to find because it's not marketed like the latest Autotuned rapper's heartwarming saga about gettin' they money.

A little R-Dalts takes the burn out of any rant

- Just existing in a state of happiness for summer!

85+ degree weather? Beach/river/lake/pool? Cookouts? The return of tan lines? Green grass and flowers everywhere? Watermelon???

Can I just get a big amen to all of the above, please?

- Getting stung by a BEE on my FOOT.

I stepped on a bee today, which was my fault - I mean, it wasn't intentional or anything, but it's not like it was seeking me out - but I am still angry at the bee. Yes, I realize it's pretty dead now and won't live to pollinate another day, but...the bottom of my foot? Come on, man.

Side note: I was once stung 13 times (though these might have been wasps) within the same five to ten minute period. It was terrible. Moral of the story: don't have a get-together on a porch with an old rolled-up carpet infested by stinging bugs behind a porch swing. It will get bumped, and insects will get angry. Also don't have long hair because they will get stuck in that, and you will have just attended the worst birthday party of your life.

Kind of like this, but way less adorable.

(#27) I Want To Tell You...

2010-04-04T22:08:00.003-04:00

...how awful I am at blogging. I have neglected this for so long, and I apologize to anyone who actually reads this. It's so easy to get out of a habit, and so hard to get into one. Ugh.

Some happy things:

- It's (almost) summer again! Florida was not going well these past few months, but today it was like 85 and perfect. Here comes the sun, indeed.

- I actually like a new-ish band! The album Wild Young Hearts by Noisettes is absolutely fabulous. I can't really explain it besides retro-flavored pop with soul and songwriting talent. So, yeah, not at all. Anyway, they're great and you should go listen to "Never Forget You" or "Wild Young Hearts." Or "Atticus." Or all of it. Also, Shingai Shoniwa's hair is always incredibly cool.

- Bill Bryson is one of my favorite writers. He's so good at being simultaneously hilarious and informative. Oh, and making me want to travel all over the place.

- "Rocks Off" by The Rolling Stones has been constantly on repeat for the past two weeks. To me, it kind of sums up everything about the Stones - the rough singing, dirty blues feel, and just plain good music. More please.

- It's Easter! Thank You, God.

- I want to go to there:

(#26) Words of Love

2010-02-04T01:31:00.006-05:00

So I'm an hour and a half late, but yesterday was the day the music died. Sad times.

(#25) The Song is Over

2010-01-27T20:44:00.012-05:00

I haven't done a music post in forever, (although I am working on one about The Band's second album, which is proving to be much more difficult than it should be) and this doesn't really count, but here are my top 20 most played songs as of June 2009:

1. Love Ain't For Keeping - The Who

2. Don't Do It - The Band

3. Long Tall Sally - The Beatles

4. Jumping Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones

5. The Weight - The Band

6. Ain't No More Cane - The Band

7. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere - Bob Dylan & The Band

8. Badge - Cream

9. Can You Tell - Ra Ra Riot

10. You Know I'm No Good - Amy Winehouse

11. Across the Great Divide - The Band

12. King Harvest (Has Surely Come) - The Band

13. Crooked Teeth - Death Cab For Cutie

14. American Pie - Don McLean

15. Faded From the Winter - Iron & Wine

16. Guilty Cocker Spaniels - Modest Mouse

17. Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones

18. Baba O'Riley - The Who

19. The Real Me - The Who

20. Smash the Mirror - The Who

Notice that only five of these songs were written after the 1970s. You should probably fill me in on any nowadays-bands/artists you like. I'd be a big fan of you if you did.

(#24) Lady in Red

2010-01-18T20:25:00.002-05:00

Dear Tina Fey and Amy Poehler,

Please be my awesome aunts. We'll go shopping together and talk about cute boys.

Love,

Rachel

(#23) Boys

2010-01-10T14:29:00.016-05:00

This post was inspired by Allison and her celebrity boyfriends.

Now, let me make this clear - even if R-Dalts himself in all his 1965-1974 glory somehow appeared in front of me and pledged his undying love, I would be all "no thanks, my boyfriend is the best boyfriend in the history of significant others, and I don't need your sexy '60s and '70s lovin'" and choose the man I've got, because he is in fact the best boyfriend in the history of significant others and I don't need Roger Daltrey's sexy '60s and '70s lovin'. But I'm pretty sure everyone has famous crushes and here are some of mine.

Joaquin Phoenix.

I know, you're all like, "Rachel, what are you talking about? He's so crazy now! Have you seen him lately? He looks like a homeless hipster!"

A statement with which I must sadly agree. I counter with this, though: have you seen him sans beard?

Um, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah...

Um, yeah.

Clearly, Mr. Phoenix has the capacity to be a babe to the first degree. I admit that my opinion of him might be slightly colored by my intense love of The Village (it's a good movie, okay?), but still.

I've already confessed my crush on Mike Rowe, host of Dirty Jobs.

Duh.

Now, for those of you familiar with Scrubs, you might be aware that lots of girls - for some inexplicable reason - find themselves attracted to Zach Braff. No. He is a good actor and very funny, but this is just wrong. His chin is weird. I submit to you the wiser choice for a crush:

Dr. Perry Cox.

Now, you'll notice I'm not putting up multiple pictures illustrating multifaceted hotness and I didn't refer to him as John McGinley, the actor. Nope, I've only got eyes (and ears) for the character of Dr. Cox because he's so darn hilarious. Anyone who can deliver two minutes plus of a scathing diatribe without pausing for breath has got my heart.

Baby Keith Moon.

I love love love Keith Moon through all stages of life, so this is less of a crush and more of a oh-my-goodness-look-at-those-big-brown-eyes-awwww puppy dog reaction.

His cutie-pie exterior masked his utter looniness, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

R.I.P, Moony.

Jim Halpert.

Do we really need multiple pictures of ol' Jim Bag?

Uh, duh.

Paul McCartney.

Not only does he have one of the best voices in rock 'n' roll, but...

All together now: Got to get you into my life!

Also, first picture: Ferris Bueller much?

Levon Helm.

Richard Manuel.

(Right in the middle of the "Next of Kin" picture)

Heck, can I just say everyone in The Band but Robbie?

Although, to be honest, in this cover they all kind of look like mean Civil War-era drifters, but it's one of the only clear ones I can find without a big watermark over it. Although if I could take pictures as beautiful as Elliott Landy does, I'd mark them up too.

Bill Hader.

This man is funny.

And surprisingly cute, too, when he's not playing some crazy character.

Also: I want.

Except for Kenan's stupid sunglasses.

Rog, darling, care to play us out?

Thanks, dear. I can always count on you.

(#22) Tommy doesn't know what day it is!!!

2009-12-24T18:16:00.002-05:00

I am completely unashamed to admit that Tommy is one of my top five favorite movies ever. I don't care if it's ridiculous and even The Who thought it was dumb, it's one of my faves.

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is a giant poster of Roger Daltrey from the "Acid Queen" scene.

(#21) Zoot Suit

2009-12-02T00:44:00.005-05:00

So this website is pretty nifty: http://www.styleshake.com/default.aspx

You can pretty much design your own clothes and order them, and it doesn't run super expensive. I mean, I wouldn't buy seven pieces all at once, but for a special occasion it would definitely be a good idea especially if you're like me and dislike the current trend of every single dress in every single store being ovary-length. I mean, I like my upper thighs just fine, but I don't feel inclined to show them to everyone (or anyone, really) I come in contact with.

Anyway. It's a cool site.

(#20) LAYLA!!

2009-12-01T12:41:00.014-05:00

I'm pretty sure Pattie Boyd has one of the most interesting life stories in the world.

Let's see...

Childhood spent in KENYA

Modeled in London in the 1960s...sigh.

Yeah, that's her and Twiggy.

Was not only in A Hard Day's Night...

...but married ol' George Harrison...

...inspired one of the most romantic Beatles songs (and there are a lot of those) ever...

[that'd be "Something," by the way.]

...AND inspired one of the most desperately longing songs in rock history along with the album that came with it...

AND married Eric Clapton, God of the Guitar himself.
and probably lots of cool other stuff along the way.

Geez Louise, what have I been doing with my life?

I learned all this from this book, which I read a few months ago. It definitely could have been better, but it was still endlessly fascinating.

(#19) Saturday Night's Alright (For Blogging)

2009-11-28T16:36:00.005-05:00

I am watching the football game. The football game is boring. Here's a lovely picture I took at the one I went to a while ago...

You know, that picture is exactly how I feel about the game in general: there's a bunch of little people running around, everything's kind of blurry to me because I have no idea what they're doing, and there are a million people in the stands. That's about it. That said, though, we're totally going to win.

So the other day my dad gave me two books to read (but to be returned in "perfect condition"):

Um, yes! I love The Beatles so much (I'm pretty sure every English-speaking person has to, but whatever). My favorite era of theirs was the clean-cut media darling phase - they were just so bright and witty in interviews and whatnot. I mean, I love their music from any year (Let It Be is not my fave, but we'll ignore that), but I love looking at pictures from the early(-ish) days.

I would have been one of these girls:

I think the White album is my favorite.

(#18) When [He's] Sixty-[Seven]

2009-11-28T00:29:00.002-05:00

Attention:

Paul McCartney was the cutest. That is all.

(#17) Mad World

2009-11-15T19:10:00.009-05:00

This is very 2007 of me, but I've fallen in love with Mad Men this week. I've watched the whole first season since Monday and man-oh-man is it great. I really don't want to write a whole long post about it since it'll just be stuff people have been saying for two years, but at the same time I NEED everyone to know how fabulous it is!

I mean, Jon Hamm/Don Draper, come on! At the point in every episode where he inevitably cheats on his wife, I always wonder what the big deal about him is and why everyone loves him so much even though he's so awful and then this happens:

and I'm like "Oh yeah. Never mind." This man is handsome. Liz Lemon was right; he looks like a cartoon pilot. Sigh.

Also, I want Joan Holloway's body. Not like in the lovin' way, more like the I-want-a-perfect-hourglass-figure-so-darn-badly way. This is Christina Hendricks (who plays her) at the Emmys this year, looking gorgeous.

Also, Peggy and Harry are my favorites.

I feel like I should talk about the show and how well-written and -acted it is (and also how I should catch up two seasons) and not just about how cute the characters are but I kind of feel sick and not like writing a lot although I do have two more things:

Today at church Dale was saying that if you're a Christian, no matter where you are in life, you have the opportunity to help someone out. Like, God put you where you are for a reason, whether you're at work or home or school, etc. You always have the opportunity to talk to someone or show them kindness. Well, right after that I went to lunch with a friend I hadn't seen in a while and right after we sat down she started asking me about church and how it was and I was able to talk to her about all the different things that go on there and what we believe and she's going to be visiting with me next-next Sunday! It's awesome how things work out that way.

Lastly, here are pictures of me as a mod/go-go dancer (and my boyfriend as a mildly amused David Bowie):

Getting mod-ified.

The color (not to mention my face) is somewhat wonky in the last one, but it was super-dark so I had to brighten it up the best I could. None of these turned out too well, but it was fun.

(#16) This is (almost) Halloween

2009-10-29T19:05:00.008-04:00

Halloween is one-and-a-half days away! As you can tell, I'm excited. I already told you I was planning on going as a mod, but here's all the stuff it'll take to 60s-fy me.

All of this is going on my face.

These are the lovely cheap-o accessories I got at Forever 21 and Claire's (why yes, I am a classy lady, how did you know?).

And this is my four-dollar dress that decided my costume for me back in July.

Cute mods (and Sienna Miller dressed as one):

Okay, so that kind of devolved into a showcase of how adorable The Who was back in the early '60s. Sorry.

(#15) Whip it good!

2009-10-15T23:57:00.005-04:00

So I saw Whip It with a couple of my friends tonight, and fell in love with it, for several reasons. (I'm pretty much spoiling this all over the place, so if you haven't seen it and plan to, beware.)

1. It made me want to move to Texas.

2. It also made me want to strap on some skates and beat the heck out of someone (by this I mean participate in roller derby, not just roll out there and start punching random passerby).

3. It had the always lovely Alia Shawkat (Maeby from Arrested Development) in a great supporting role.

4. Come to think of it, all roles, both supporting and main, were amazing.
Kristen Wiig in particular shocked me. I'm so used to watching her act ridiculous (albeit hilarious) on Saturday Night Live every week that her performance as a mom/derby doll/real-life-woman impressed me to no end.

5. Bliss didn't end up with the guy.
This was actually my favorite part about the whole movie. Yeah, there was a cute boyfriend-girlfriend part to the movie, but the boyfriend turned out to be a jerk (as all 19-year-old boys are capable of from time to time). And instead of going the teary forgiveness route and throwing herself upon him, Bliss kissed him, then slapped him a good one and that was that. I have so much respect for the screenwriter's decision to represent the part of the teenage girl population that doesn't feel the need to have a boyfriend to validate their self-worth. (Not that there is anything wrong with having a boyfriend; it's just nice to see a girl onscreen who's able to detect the worthy from the worthless. Also, he had gross hair.)

6. Girl power, baby. A hundred and eleven minutes of it.

7. The whole darn movie was great.
I liked the pageant-princess-turned-derby-darling twist on the coming-of-age tradition. Bliss and Pash were super-close best friends, and Ellen Page and Alia Shawkat really nailed that kind of relationship. The whole mother-daughter element to the story felt real and honest. Marcia Gay Harden can act, y'all. She's always compelling to watch, and just felt so believable in this frustrated but loving mother role. Daniel Stern was great too, as the slightly confused but supporting father Also, I will make sure to pay attention to any more Barrymore-directed films, because she's got a great style. The setting was perfect, the soundtrack was spot-on, and you know, I could go through every name involved in this production and talk about how much I loved them, but how about you get on down to the movie theater and support them yourselves?

7. I almost forgot -- it was truly hilarious. This is a must in my entertainment choices. If there's no humor and joy in something, what's the point of wasting my time? This film was funny, but intelligently so - the best kind.

This has nothing to do with the movie, but we were talking about rockabilly in my rock 'n' roll class on Monday, and the professor put up this picture of Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks and asked if anyone had ever heard of The Band.

Can you believe that I was the only person out of an auditorium at least 250 that raised their hand? He said, "well, then you know about The Hawks, right?" and I agreed and that was that. But that just made me sad for the kids I go to school with. Their loss.

ALSO:
I am going as a mod for Halloween and am in the process of perfecting that ridiculous amount of makeup that goes along with it. It's actually a lot of fun. What are you going to be this 31st?

I don't own any of these pictures, obviously.

(#14) La-La-La Lies

2009-10-09T13:22:00.007-04:00

These are actually truths, but I couldn't think of a song title or lyric with "truth" in it off the top of my head. Here we go:

I will never be able to finish a milkshake/Arctic Rush float/McFlurry/Frosty/etc. Not even small sizes. And I definitely will never be able to sit through that song. (Now it's in your head, isn't it?)

I have a huge crush on Mike Rowe, host of Dirty Jobs. I mean, how can you not? He's hilarious and manly and smart and...yes please!

I tend to define myself (and others) by my and their taste in entertainment. Not entirely; I don't refuse to be friends with someone because they like Nickelback or Family Guy (although quite honestly, that's two strikes), but it's a lot easier to get to know someone when they share my love of Stephen King and The Who.

My dream job is to be an animal behaviorist and train dogs. I would love that so much.

I would so rather listen to music from forty years ago than anything made today.

(How cute is that picture of The Hawks? Robbie Robertson looks about 15.)

I cried at Pam and Jim's wedding.

More of these later, I'm sure.

(#13) I Need You

2009-10-05T14:03:00.006-04:00

I'm going to have to get this for Christmas. I love Elliott Landy.

(#12) Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell...

2009-10-02T13:36:00.006-04:00

It's October! I am not a big fan of cold, but I do love the few in-between days where it's still summer-warm and fall-crisp.

I wish the leaves turned different colors here...

On the less-seasonal side, I made two mix CDs yesterday. One was mostly comprised of Basement Tapes/Last Waltz songs, but the second's theme was less clear.

1. Annie - Ronnie Lane & Pete Townshend

2. Black Dog - Led Zeppelin

3. Blackbird - The Beatles

4. Catmelody - Ronnie Lane & Pete Townshend

5. Don't Stop Belivin' - Glee cast

6. Goldigger - Kanye West

7. Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin

8. Hold Me Tight - The Beatles

9. The Lemon Song - Led Zeppelin

10. Martha My Dear - The Beatles

11. Michelle - The Beatles

12. Poker Face - Lady Gaga

13. Push It - Glee cast

14. Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin

In my defense, "Poker Face" and "Goldigger" are the kind of virulently catchy songs that once you hear you can't help but put on a CD so as to rid your brain of their choruses. And Glee is a darn good show. Ridiculous, but good.

This isn't in my defense, because they're awesome, but the Ronnie Lane/Pete Townshend collaborations come from Rough Mix, which is a fabulous album. I favor the Lane parts for the most part, but all of it is great, which kind of goes without saying. Duh. It's Ronnie Lane and Pete Townshend! Together!

Anyway, Happy October! Allison has some cute pictures of fall over at One Glad Morning, if you're interested (and you should be).

(#11) Deuce and A Quarter

2009-10-01T20:26:00.005-04:00

If you haven't heard this song covered by Levon Helm and Keith Richards, I suggest you do so right now.

(#10) The Song(s) Remain the Same

2009-09-29T13:40:00.010-04:00

Five of my favorite songs, in no particular order. In interest of fairness, I'm only using one song per artist.

1. "Ain't No More Cane" by The Band
I don't think I can even pick a favorite Band song, but this is as good a place as any to start. It captures the spirit of the band perfectly, with its weird timelessness and the feeling of a ragged communion between all the members. The verses are divided between everyone but Garth, but the shared choruses are all-for-one. Besides the stellar vocals (Rick's "ooohs" are particularly great, with his soaring, quavery voice), my favorite part of the song has to be Richard's drumming. I don't know if all piano players have some kind of innate sense of funk or what, but I love songs where Richard drums ("Rag Mama Rag," "Jemima Surrender," "Don't Ya Tell Henry," "Evangeline," etc.). You can't separate The Band into individual parts, though. When one is missing, it's just not The Band. When they're all working together, it's pure magic.

2. "My Generation" by The Who
The Who, to me, means a lot of exclamation points. Explosive! Loud! Brilliant! Raw! The Who! Townshend's written a million great songs, and I don't even know if this one's my favorite Who song, but it's definitely up there. It sums the band up rather well to me. There's Moon beating the hell out of the drums, Roger singing his heart out, Pete doing his thing, and John's amazing bass solo (those are always a high point of Who songs for me). I feel like this mixture of defiance and talent is what's made the band so loved over three generations. If you haven't seen their performance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, shown in The Kids Are Alright, you should do so as soon as possible.

3. "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin
I dig a lot of Zeppelin, but this one stands out to me particularly. You've got the strings and horns, not to mention the four members at the center of it. Middle Eastern music always fascinates me, and "Kashmir"'s got this exotic vibe to it. Robert Plant is not always my favorite vocalist, but he nails it here (as he does on pretty much everything; just because he's not my fave doesn't mean boy can't sing).
"Like Shangri-La beneath the summer moon, I will return again." Sigh.

4. "He Can Only Hold Her" by Amy Winehouse
I love me some Amy. If you've heard Back to Black in its entirety, you can never again judge her solely on her (undeniably unwise) life choices. Her jazzy blues-soaked vocals are such a welcome relief from today's auto-tuned "singers" who are more parts plastic than actual flesh. All of the songs on this album convey genuine emotion, and her voice on this song in particular, about a girl unable to get over her former lover even though she's with another man (yes, it sounds soap opera-y written out like that, but trust me on this) is so beautiful to me.

5. "Blackbird" by The Beatles
The quiet simplicity of this is just so beautiful. Paul had the civil rights movement in mind when he wrote it, which makes it all the more meaningful. The intricacy of the guitar part and the birdsong at the end, and Paul's fabulous singing...ah. It's just perfect.

Obviously, I am no music writer. But I kind of like doing this and probably will include more posts along this line, as there is in no way this is a good representation of all the fantastic music out there, and really isn't even a good representation of my top hundred.

(#9) Daddy Rolling Stone

2009-09-28T01:22:00.002-04:00

This is my favorite picture of me and my dad. As you can see, from an early age I got my love of music from him.

(#8) See Me, Feel Me

2009-09-27T21:14:00.001-04:00

Dear Roger Daltrey from the years of 1965-1974,
We should probably get married.
Love,
Rachel

Really, I adore all four of these guys.

(#7) Who Do You Love?

2009-09-25T13:53:00.002-04:00

There are not enough words to describe how much I love The Band. So I'll let these pictures do the talking.

R.I.P. Rick Danko and Richard Manuel.

(#6) (A Few of) My Favorite Things

2009-09-21T22:51:00.001-04:00

Upon a few reviews of other folks' (very superior) blogs, I've decided that mine needs more pictures.

We've got another list on our hands, people.

Here are some things that I love:

Summertime. Most Floridians I know are not fans of this season. Not me, baby.

Uh, duh.

Tennessee.

This crazy painting of The Band in Civil War-era clothes I found while searching for actual photos of them. I kind of want this in my house.

Sunflowers.

Stephen King's books. Well, most of them. Especially when he's not being super weird or gross. I need this bookshelf and its contents. Seriously, if you haven't read The Stand, I recommend doing so as soon as possible. I love that book so much that I'll probably do a separate post on it one day.

Puppies. Is it lame that sometimes I just type that into the Bing image search and let the cuteness roll in?

Danville, IL.

Great white sharks, and more specifically, awesome pictures of them leaping out of the water. Wait, can something without legs leap? Probably not. Dang.

Oh, kitsch of any kind. How you make my heart smile.

Good night.

(#5) Summer Skin

2009-09-17T02:26:00.000-04:00

I am unfortunately having to make peace with the fact that summer is ending, which is sad. I know a lot of people in Florida loathe the period from April to September that bestows such sweet gifts as 100+ degree weather and oppressing humidity to us, but I'll take that over frigid air and runny noses any day. And yes, I realize that Florida is not exactly the Yukon, but cold is cold is cold to me, okay? 40 degrees or -5 degrees, it's all awful. (And before you tell me that I don't know cold, let me just say that I hail from above the Mason-Dixon line from the great white north that is Illinois, so I've at least, you know, seen snow.)

I am slightly excited to wear my sweet semi-bomber jacket I got from T.J. Maxx for like, $30, though. Not to mention the ton of scarves that I have to hide in the summer to avoid wearing them with my tank tops, à la hipster chic. I do love me a good cold-weather scarf, you know.

(#4) Sister, Do You Know My Name?

2009-09-16T01:28:00.000-04:00

I do not plan on having a child for, like, at least ten years. But I am going to be ready when that day does come, because I am thinking about cool names now. It's all about being proactive. Also, I like names in general.

Boy names I like (yes, they are mostly after '60s musicians):

Levon (this is a must. Levon Helm is the coolest man alive.)

Paul

David

Richard (I like The Band, okay?)

George

Roger

John (more after Entwistle than Lennon)

Keith

Girl names I like (yes, they are mostly from songs by '60s musicians):

Annalee, Anna Lee (but mostly the first one. I'm not that into two first names. ALSO: Annie for short, but only because there is a beautiful Ronnie Lane song with that title. Speaking of Ronnie, I kind of like Lane, but it is kind of weird for a girl/gay for a boy. But who knows.)

Sharon (I looove my grandma.)

Julia

Lucy

Katie (Yep, both of those are my dogs' names. But they're cute, no? And from Beatles/Band songs, respectively.)

Speaking of The Beatles, I like Jude, but some people at my church already named their baby that. She is cute.

(#3) Dogs

2009-09-08T23:13:00.000-04:00

I've decided that I am going to own a Newfoundland dog that looks like this:

and name it either Garth or Hudson (or both) after this man:

This is a good plan, I think.

I'm also not doing the three-parter this time (or maybe ever) because

a) I don't feel like it all the time

and

b) no one reads this anyway, so I can do whatever I please.

(#2) Love and Some Verses

2009-09-02T22:07:00.001-04:00

I am a terrible blogger. I am neither interesting nor determined enough to get up the motivation to write/type every day. I don't like feeling like I have to do something on a regular basis and clearly this falls under the category of "something."

You know what I do like, though? Iron & Wine. It's not classic rock, but I'll take it! I don't know if you've ever listened to him (until proven otherwise, I'm pretty sure Iron & Wine is just Sam Beam's stage name, so from here on out, I will refer to this artist by the male pronoun. Cool? Cool.), but if you haven't, you should. I like his early stuff. I like his in-between stuff. And man, oh man, do I love his most recent studio album (yeah, it came out in 2007, but whatever). The Shepherd's Dog is absolutely beautiful. And you should check it out. Specifically "Lovesong of the Buzzard," "House By the Sea," "The Shepherd's Dog," and "Resurrection Fern." The whole album kind of flows together, though, so I recommend the whole experience. You will not be sorry.

That is, unless you only listen to the last track, which was featured in the Twilight soundtrack, ack, and really isn't that great anyway.

Life: is still pretty good. I am apparently going to two college football games this weekend. Football is not my favorite thing, but we'll see how they go. I'm pretty sure I'm actually going to get to go to church this Sunday. School is meh and no one wants to read about it anyway. I bought a necklace last week. Accessorizing and I do not mix well. I'm counting down the days until the fall seasons of The Office and Parks and Recreation start (15!!). I am deeply boring.

Love: Iron & Wine. And my boyfriend for coming to visit me last weekend.

Classic Rock: is still my fave. One of the guys on my floor has a ton of old records with a player and everything and I spent thirty minutes discussing how everyone else's music sucks. You know, the usual.

P.S. I don't really think everyone else's music sucks.

(#1) Blast-off

2009-08-24T19:36:00.000-04:00

I am starting this after a conversation from my father, who usually has good advice. Now that I've set this whole thing up, however, I have nothing to write about. Well, that's not true. I have tons to write about. I just don't know where to begin or anything blog etiquette. For example, I was going to name this blog "Your Music Sucks" but that would be neither polite nor (necessarily) true. What kind of person with an idea of what is proper in the internet world would consider that name?

Me, that's who.

Anyway, the case remains that I don't have any particular subject to write about at the moment, but if I don't start this now, I will forget to and then another empty blog will be sitting in cyberspace, using up obscure Band lyrics for no good reason (I'm looking at you, treewithroots.blogspot.com). In the interest of being somewhat related to my title, I'll do my best to do a three-point deal every time I post. We will see how this goes.

As of August 24, 2009:

Life: is going okay. College is happening, and as far as I know it seems like it'll be okay. More on this later, surely.

Love: is alliterative and sounded okay next to "life." Also, I like it.

Classic rock: is undoubtedly my favorite music and should be yours, too. I'm not talking about the label that radio stations give music made before 1990 and, God forbid, Journey. I mean genuine classics that still have their appeal and meaning after forty years. Anyway, at the moment I am listening to "Tears of Rage" by The Band. This is the kind of classic I'm talking about. Also, my dad is trying to get me into Ronnie Lane. It is going well so far.