So the other day I was tooling around the internet (what else is new), when I came across this great blog: The Odd Notes. Not only did they feature one of my favorite bloggers: Naomi from Rockstar Diaries whose style I just want to kidnap, they share bands and artists that they discover. It's pretty cool what they do.
While looking through their website, I found this band called Empires. Man, they are awesome! I listened to their album all day yesterday. I don't know what to compare them to so I'll just let their music do that talking. You can download their whole album for free. FREE! Just go to their website: http://weareempires.com/ to download or listen to the album before you decide here.
The song that got me hooked was the one that THE ODDNOTES linked to. Because we all know I'm a biter, I'll embed it here for your listening pleasure. Spread the love, people!
The night of The Killers concert, Yani and I were definately dancers. Our husband's went but this was the Yani and Elaine show--fo' sho'. I was excited for this concert. More excited, I have to admit, than I was for the Metallica concert. I can't quite compare my excitement to that of my sister's, however, given that she had a running countdown and will be naming her future first born Brandon (I think even if the baby is a girl), in honor of her "Boo" Brandon Flowers--the front man with the excellent vocals and adorable face.
Here were are pre-show. I look like I have horse teeth in this picture, but that is neither here nor there.
Though I was psyched to see this band and knew how great they were, I was not prepared to be as floored by their performance as I was. To say that they sound better live is an understatement. Also, I'm a sucker for crowds; they can either make or break a show. The sold out crowd at the Triple A did not disappoint.
I can't talk about the crowd, though, without mentioning the ridiculous difference between the Metallica concert goers and those there to see The Killers. Apparently, our little group of four didn't get the memo that we had to dress like skanks. I've never see so many non-practical stilettos in my life. Seriously? How are you supposed to jump around and dance in those? Case in point:
I don't know how someone didn't twist an ankle or completely fall on their face.
The opening act was a random band call Chairlift. I'm not going to bash their music, because I listen to some pretty random stuff and so shouldn't talk. I'm only going to note the positives like how the lead singer was really into playing her keyboard. You could just tell that she rocked the Casio as a kid. She did this sick windmill move before hitting the keys that had mimicking it the whole night. She also wore mom jeans and played a wicked cowbell. We had Cowbell Interpretive Dancing!
I will say this about Chairlift, Brandon called them up on stage to perform "Under the Milky Way" by The Church. It was a great cover that prompted me to download the original the next day. I only hope that I can somehow find the version they did somewhere and get that sucker onto my ipod. In the meantime, here is the live version for your listening pleasure (note the mom jeans):
Besides this song, they played a wonderful combination of new and old tracks that had everyone jumping out of their seat. My sister's face was priceless the whole night:
When they played "Bling (Confessions of a King)", the song the makes me feel like FloJo, I about lost it. I almost fell over in my seat. It's that every songs elicited the same response because they were all equally stupendous. They played three songs for the encore...three! When they played "Mr. Brightside" and "All These Things that I've Done," the crowd went completely insane. It was great to be in the middle of all that. Check it out:
I'm still on a such a high from this concert and have been listening to their new album Day and Age on loop since Sunday. Great stuff. I even made a t-shirt to commemorate this event that I'm going to surprise my sister with. Surprise, sister! They are already ordered!
I feel so fortunate to have been able to experience two excellent concerts with two amazing fans. Music is such a part of my life. I'm so happy to have been so surrounded by it this weekend.
Here's a parting shot, because life ain't worth living without an awesome husband, great music and some cotton candy. Forgive the face, it's the only one I've got.
Up next: Pictures from my photo sessions this weekend and my thoughts on National Public Radio.
This weekend has been too-legit-to-quit. I partied like a rockstar. Not really, I just went to two awesome concerts in three days, had two photoshoots and somehow managed to clean my apartment, read half a book, see my parents and write lesson plans. My feet were swollen today. I'm officially 80 years old.
Before I get into my concert recap, I need to preface by saying that Metallica is Mike's all-time-desert-island favorite band. Needless to say, it was a happy day for my LOML (love of my life). I won't lie I was pretty excited myself. Oh, and pardon the quality of my pictures, I was only able to use my ipopple to capture the evening.
Above was the view from our seats right when the band came out in the midst of all these cool lasers. Don't let the distance fool you, were we actually pretty close.
Before we get to the part where the band actually played, I'm going to take you on a bit of a journey:
After braving the horrible Miami/Hialeah/Broward traffic, we finally got to the happiest place on earth: Chick-Fil-A. I stood in some bushes to take that picture. See those blue skies? That's God's way of saying he loves Chick-Fil-A, too. We met up with my rockin' cousin Josh and his buddy then began to house some chicken sandwiches.
Here are my feet as we walked to the venue. I have to note that the last time I was at the Bank Atlantic Center was when Yani and I went to see the New Kids on the Block a few months ago. It doesn't take a genius to guess that the crowds were slightly different--awesome in their own right, but different nontheless.
During our walk, a nice lady in a pair of strawberry boxers handed me sample sized packets of the new Trident Strawberry gum. Verdict: Great for the first 30 seconds, but then a belly ache.
We waited in line forever to get inside where we got to see a few gems. Apparently, a prerequisite for going to a Metallica concert is that you have to dress in black, have some kind of skull paraphernalia, and look as bad ass as possible. I wore a black shirt (check), Mike’s shirt had a skull on it (check), but it was little and the shirt was white, and my cousin wore orange. We were able to pick him out of the crowd. We waved and everything. He totally had better seats than we did.
Ok, now to the music:
I have to say that this was one of the best concerts I have ever been to. Leaving it, I said it was the best, but now it's tied with The Killers concert we went to Saturday.
Up to that point, I had never seen a crowd as amped as that one. Mike was in heaven. I already spoke of his concert soulmate, Steven. They played hard, fast (that's what she said) and had a good mixture of new and old classics. There was fire! Moshpits! All around Badassery (new word!). I lost my voice yelling.
My highlight of the night besides seeing the joy in Mike's face, was when they played my favorite song of theirs,"No Leaf Clover". But I really dug "Master of Puppets," especially with the crowd going as nuts as it did. See for yourself:
It was well worth the price of admission and the late night. I didn't even mind it how, when we were going home, they completely shut down I-95 and we had to take the long route. I was in such as good mood that I didn't even notice I tired I was the next day.
Here is a parting shot of the encore. They turned on the house lights, "I want to see your eyes!" and released all these balloons:
Tomorrow: my recap of The Killers extravaganza and the difference between a metal concert in Ft. Lauderdale and a rock concert in Miami, at least as far as attire is concerned.
What was your favorite concert? Ever seen Metallica live? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
Folks, I'm a bad American. The only time that I have ever written or called a congressman was not to ask for money for schools (and I'm a teacher) or to lobby for a cellphone law. No, it was to save free internet radio, namely Pandora. It might be lame, yes, but you need to understand something: Pandora is awesome. It is the reason why I've got close to 5,000 songs on my ipod. It's also the reason why I've spent way more money on itunes than Mike would like, but that is a whole other beast I don't want to tackle. Ever.
There was a moment there, close to three years ago, when free internet radio was in serious jeopardy. Something having to do with royalty fees, I don't know. All I know is that I was working at a job where I sat in the middle of four women who were on the phone 90% of the work day and gossiping the rest of the time. One of the few reasons why I survived working there was because of Pandora. I turned that bad boy on in the morning, put on my trusty headphones and got to work.
For those not in the know, this is how Pandora works. When you first go to the website, you create a station by adding some of your favorite artists and/or songs. Then, the Music Genome Project takes over. To keep it simple,the MGP (I renamed it) analyzes your music, then suggests new songs based on "400 different types of criteria." It's all very scientific. I don't bother with that stuff so long as I keep getting cool, new music.
I find that I never listen to terrestrial radio (as Howard Stern likes to call it). There's no point in listening to the same crap over and over again. I also hate listening to commericals. This monster is commercial free!
Ok, other great features:
- You are entitled to about five or so skips for an alloted amount of time. It might be more but I don't remember. If you skip that many in a row, you'll just have to wait for about a half hour before you can start skipping again.
- The thumbs up/thumbs down feature works like a charm. If you like a song, give it a thumbs up and vice versa for songs you hate. Once you thumbs down a song, it'll never play it again. The thumbs up also brings up similar songs.
- If you're sick of a song, just click "I'm tired of this song" and it won't play it for a month.
- You can make up to 100 different types of stations. 100.
- You want new music, just add some of the artists or songs that you've given the thumbs up, otherwise, you'll get stuck listening to the same songs.
People, I'm not lying when I say Pandora is one of the loves of my life. I should by stock in the company. Heck, I've already bothered Congress. Bottom line: Check it out and see what you think.
Have you guys experienced the awesomeness that is Pandora? Do you love it as much as I do? Do you hate it? Thoughts in the comments!
Today's picture of the day is a request from my awesome friend Quinn who wants to see more from my session with one of the cutest girls ever. This is Sammie in one of my favorites:
