Bike Ride for Coffee and Happiness and Micheal Jackson

Saturday was probably my best day yet since I've lived here in North Carolina. I went with a new friend to participate in a bike ride around Durham. It was a fundraiser for sending bikes to Rwandan coffee growers. The bike ride included stops at local businesses - a community garden, a co-op bike space, a record store, a coffee shop. It was fun to be outside and fun to see some cool community spots. I enjoyed spending the day getting to know a new friend. Then we went to a Durham bar for beers and snacks. Then we went out to dance and enjoy the band, Who's Bad?, a Micheal Jackson cover band. I danced a lot, and really enjoyed the music.

It was a full day.

"Bitch, crazy." And How AC/DC Provided Me A Slice of Heaven

I used to work with teenagers for my job. One day, I told one of them, "The one thing I wished that someone would have told me in high school is that some people are just crazy." After I said it, I wasn't sure that my sentiment really translated to anyone else besides myself. But it took me awhile to learn that in the working world because I tend to internalize a good deal of problems or situations and try immediately to solve all kinds of problems that don't belong to me. Realizing that a lot of times that it wasn't about me and that I should just let go was a helpful lesson. So professors and parents and mentors out there, please tell your kids, "Kids - some bitches are crazy! And you can't really control that."

This past weekend I went to an AC/DC concert, put on by kids from Paul Green's School of Rock Music. It was the most fantastic show that I've seen in awhile. Little kids rocked guitar solos, banged on the drums, and screamed into the microphone. A little 11-year-old girl sang, "Highway to Hell" and it was absolutely precious and hilarious. The kids were having such a great time, and the moms were too as they slurped down Michelob lights at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon and "Whooo-" ed their kids. It was ferocious fun, and felt great to support a cool music program for kids. You can catch another fabulous show on May 19, when these little rockers will be performing Led Zepplin tunes. Don't miss it!

Latest Obsession Jams

Beyonce - "Listen"
Justin Timberlake - "Rock Your Body"
Jennifer Lopez - "Love Don't Cost A Thing"
Mary J. Blige - "Be Without You"

Shortbus Soundtrack

I picked up this soundtrack the other day and upon two listens it gets an "Amazing" rating. It's upbeat and lighthearted, but the songs are interesting and even somewhat unexpected. With iPods and iTunes these days, people complain that the art of ordering songs on an album is lost. In which case, this might be a relic. The order of the songs on this album adds to the enjoyability of the music as a whole, well, album. Not only is the movie excellent, but the soundtrack can definitely stand on its own.

More Jams That Light It Up

I recently got an iPod and it is really great. It's made me think about the music in my collection, and those albums that I absolutely "need" to have. I recently ordered a few of these albums and it has been interesting to review how they hold up over time. I went through a huge hip-hop phase when I was younger, and some of the albums I discovered then are still some of my favorite albums of all time. A few of these albums I recently added to my collection (formerly on a dubbed tape):

1. Outkast's Aquemini
2. Latryx's Album
3. Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite*

The first two were definitely on my old top five list in college. Upon a few iPod listens, I have found that Outkast's Aquemini still holds up as 98% excellent. I love the whole album (except I could live without "Skew it on the Bar-B.") When I first obsessed on this album, I was holed up in a trailer in Florida, studying plants of the Florida prairie. I related to the album then because I was in the South, I was lonely, and the thunderstorms were freakin' loud from inside the trailer. But, in the dead of a freezing winter in the Midwest, this album still warms my heart, and nods my head. The beats are great, heavy, but also fun, and it is interesting to revisit it after all of Andre 3000's recent projects. Aquemini still holds up as one of his best.

I have to listen to old Latryx a few more times. Although there are still some songs and beats that I still love, the test of time has made this album seem a bit more preachy over time. The jury's still out...

*Urban Hang Suite is actually a new addition to my collection, but oh!, I wish I had access to it for years.

I (heart) David Byrne

David Byrne updates this online playlist at the top of every month, and the music is always interesting and amazing! It often includes bands from his Luaka Bop label, but can also include some random stuff. Check it out - I guarantee it will bolster your day!

MdCL- what?

It's been awhile since I've gone out to hear music, but I went to an interesting show at the Hothouse last Friday night. Mark de Clive-Lowe, the New Zealand/Japanese mystery man. (He's a mystery man because he hides behind a hat.)

He was a wild performer (wild from the listening sense), and was paired with a neo-soul type singer who had a great set of pipes and a funky-fun outfit. MdCL's set-up involved three keyboards, a piano, and several mixer machines and sound boards.

I enjoyed this show a lot, but felt that it should have been promoted more! There is an audience for this type of music/performance in Chicago, but most of them weren't at the Hothouse on Friday night. Boo!

Jams I Get My Obsession On

Better late than never I succumbed to the iTunes temptation and downloaded some songs. Unfortunately for my coworkers, this means I can exercise my innate ability to obsess on certain jams, especially R&B/Neo-soul jams. (Past roommates can attest to this fatal flaw - that is probably why I now live by myself.) Obsessing on a jam is one of those things that seems normal, but becomes totally embarrassing as soon as anyone else is around. I kind of laugh to myself when one of my coworkers pass my office on the way to the printer and says to him/herself, "Shit, she's listening to Janet's 'That's the Way Love Goes', again?!?"

But of course, they are too polite to say anything to me directly. Too bad for them~!

So Janet's the jam of the day/week (7 times today).
Past obsessions include:

• TLC's "Creep" (53 times on iTunes - thank god for that counter)

• Thom Yorke's "Black Swan" (33 times)

• Jane's Addition's "Summertime Rolls" (a mere 13 times)