Squirrels run away On a beautiful fall day Scared of mighty Thor Continue reading

My blanket is clean Lazy cloudy day on couch Squirrels watch out tomorrow Continue reading

My expectations were really non-existent when I downloaded the first book in The Day Eight series by Ray Mazza. A tweet from a friend, @HerrohGrant, let me know the first book in the series, The Reborn, was a $.99 download on Amazon. I wanted to support the author, who not... Continue reading

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I haven't done a top ten bands list in a couple years, but it's back. Sick of Sarah completely dominated as I listened to their latest album 2205 on repeat throughout the year. I highly recommend all the bands listed. Sick of Sarah Kitten Brandi Carlile Michelle Branch Katie Herzig Tokyo Police Club Tegan and Sara The Wreckers Uh Huh Her The Jealous Girlfriends Compiled from my Last.fm profile which is not all inclusive but pretty close. Continue reading

Two more days! Another thing(s) I miss about San Francisco is not unique to this city and is really a combination of urban features. The culture! Public transportation! Maybe you understand why I miss the culture - the museums, the history, the art. But you may wonder about my selection of public transportation. Everyone has a public transit horror story - see Muni Diaries and BART Musings. Regardless of the negatives, I love not needing a car. I just turned in my Prius last week as the lease was up, and I couldn't be happier. Between BART and Muni, you can get anywhere in the Bay Area without the need to worry about parking or gas prices. It's so convenient.... Continue reading

Monday marks 3 days until I'm in San Francisco. And a third thing about the Bay Area I've been missing is the music! San Francisco is a must stop for nearly every band, and there are so many great venues - Great American Music Hall, Cafe du Nord, Bottom of the Hill. And with all the small and mid-size venues, it's fun to walk into a show not really knowing much about the band playing and discovering my new favorite band. Tickets to The Velvet Teen show at GAMH on Friday have already been purchased. I hope my second attempt to see Sick of Sarah live on September 6th won't be another missed connection. And I have a dozen other... Continue reading

I'm continuing my countdown of the things I am looking forward to most when I get back to San Francisco on Thursday. At the top of my to do list when I arrive is to check out the food! at some of my favorite restaurants. The Mission neighborhood in San Francisco has the best Mexican food. There's typically at least one restaurant or burrito place per block along Valencia and Mission streets. Papalote on Valencia and 24th is by far my favorite, and it will likely be my first stop on Thursday. Being landlocked in the Midwest, you know every time you order fish it has been frozen for some time. Plus sushi restaurants are few and far between around... Continue reading

On Thursday, I'm flying to San Francisco. After three years of bopping around the world, I'm moving back to the place I enjoyed the most. Distance makes the heart grow fonder and I've been thinking about all the things I'm excited to do in the Bay Area. With five days until my departure, I thought I would countdown the five things I'm most looking forward to in no particular order. The first thing I expect to notice when I get off the plane is the weather! After a couple weeks of 100+ degree weather in Kansas, I'm really looking forward to the pretty constant Spring like conditions of the Bay Area and being able to wear long sleeves. Continue reading

Brandi Carlile debuted a new song during her performance last night at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. Country music was a topic of conversation by both the opening acts. The Secret Sisters mixed a few original songs amongst country favorites from Patsy Cline and others. Brandi Carlile followed a similar format, including a spectacular cover of Folsom Prison Blues. From 6th row center, I took the chance and recorded the new song, and it doesn't sound too bad: Raise Hell (right-click, save as) Brandi said that she planed to record it in Kansas City. We'll see if it ends up on an album. Continue reading

Typically seated at a piano, Sarah Slean was standing at the mic singing Metric's "Combat Baby" at Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. Wish I was there. Oh Canada. Continue reading

By Jen, Guest Blogger Hopefully Sick of Sarah's tour in support of their new album 2205 has gotten back on track. After an illness led to a few canceled shows, a plumbing problem at their venue in Kansas City resulted in the show I was going to attend being canceled. To say I was disappointed in not getting to attend a live show is an understatement. read full post at www.whatstheruckus.com Continue reading

Uh Huh Her has been busy recording, scheduling a tour, and sending out merch. Camila Grey has been playing keyboard on Adam Lambert's tour playing but is now back working with Leisha Hailey on Uh Huh Her's second album. I love the ethereal sound of Uh Huh Her and highly recommend both Common Reaction their first album and their EP I See Red . I was fortunate to see them live a couple years ago, and regardless of the Kansas tornado warning and the poor sound in the venue, the band put on a good show. (Video from an unknown source of the show.) Today you can get two free tracks from their upcoming release by signing up for the... Continue reading

Typically I don't enjoy covers especially of songs I love, but Winter Gloves version of Smells Like Teen Spirit originally by Nirvana is surprisingly good. More techno than the original but it still holds up. The track was a surprise from the covers compilation released by Paper Bag Records. Continue reading

Thanks to my local radio station KHOL 89.1 I was introduced to Eagle and Talon. KHOL plays like a college radio station without any ads, only free community announcements. Most of the djs play indie music either I already love or music likely to get my attention. Eagle and Talon fall into the latter category. When I heard the Tight Score while driving around Jackson, I was hooked on the female duo and their catchy riffs, Casio keyboards, and overall fun sound. I spent the next day or two trying to remember the name of the band (Talon something?) and promised myself I would look them up. It took me a couple days, but I was pleasantly surprised that Tight... Continue reading

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After a couple days of snow, the sun was breaking through the clouds revealing a beautiful blue sky. Thor and I took a nice long walk and watched the people tubing, snowboarding, and skiing at Snow King. More photos in my Flickr stream. Continue reading

Thanks to the release of Sainthood this year and the special place Tegan and Sara's second album - If It Was You - holds on my top 5 albums, Tegan and Sara are the number one listened to band by me this year. “When she stopped, [Tegan] was like, ‘That was really amazing, Sara. Did you write that today?’ And she was like, ‘Ah, that was Leonard Cohen.’ I was like, ‘Oh… Okay, so we still aren’t that good.’ ” But they were good enough to write some pretty sweet indie-pop ditties of their own, including “Don’t Rush”, an insanely catchy and urgent synth-pop warning to slow down. via www.straight.com The top ten most listened to bands/artists by me in... Continue reading