Crazy Virgo

For serious

Now, this Virgo doesn't sit down and get serious very often. Today I am. I'm sitting with good posture in my grown up chair, with my grown up clothes on, and writing a real grown up blog post. 'Cause I have something very grown up to talk about.

MUSIC.

Unbelievably gorgeous, ethereal, mind-blowing, music that will make you shiver. My lovely and talented friend, Amanda, has been writing and singing for a looooong time. She's finally at a place where her music is recorded and ready for the world to celebrate. And, I want everyone to know and listen and share her ridiculously gorgeous songs.

How would I describe her?

If Tori Amos digressed and became less obsessed with fairies, and Fiona Apple was less wacked out, less affected, and had a killer body and the soul of a human angel, then they would be Amanda Skylar.

(This is her very clever songstress name.)

Here is her stunning video for her breathtakin song, "Handfed" (Seriously, can I use any more adjectives?)

 

Handfed - Above the Sea from Dan on Vimeo.

Watch it. Then, watch it again. She's unreal. And talented. And beautiful. I think that's what you call a triple threat. If you're a music producer and reading this blog, please email me and I'll put you in touch with Amanda so you can listen to her music, become entranced by it and immediately  ink a million dollar recording deal with her, put her on the cover of Vanity Fair or Interview or W and allow her to live her dream. Or, if you're reading this blog and know someone in the biz.... or if you know someone who might know someone. You get the point.

It's hard out there for a pimp. So help a lady out.

Snow in Spring - Friday Playlist

Stuck at home today, working, thanks to Spring Snowstorm 2: Frozen Electric Boogaloo. Apparently if it stays cold enough, Boulder is supposed to get 30 inches of snow....but I'm not putting all my faith in the local meteorologists. Much like Ron Burgundy, they take their celebrity and importance quite seriously and a bit too far. Plus, nobody will ever do weather better than my man in Seattle, Steve Pool.

In any case, inspired by the frozen white fluff covering the green sprouts of grass, here's the Friday playlist.

Snow in Spring

Friday Playlist - A Cross the Universe

Nothing, and I mean nothing, gets me going on a Friday like this live Justice CD. 

A Cross the Universe

Turn it up in the headphones.

If there's one thing I love, it's gay, brooding, electronic Brit Pop

Imagine my excitement when I learned via Trendspotter that The Pet Shop Boys have a new CD dropping soon. Compounded with Depeche Mode's new album, I'm as giddy as a school girl. There's nothing this Virgo loves more than British blokes, gay or not. Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Erasure, New Order, The Stone Roses. But, seems I have a special place in my heart for the gay ones.

Let me rewind for a minute. "West End Girls" is one of the first Brit pop songs I remember being in love with. It could be the song that started my career as an anglophile. I was but a naive Midwestern girl of 13 listening to the radio in my older sister's room and heard this gem. "A West End town of dead end walls, East End boys and West End girls." There was something about the synthetic, electronic, dancey melody and lyrics full of British vocabulary and sound that hypnotized me. THe first :10 seconds of "You were always on my mind" are enough to turn you gay. However, as a naive, young midwestern lovesick girl, I had no idea about sexuality. The Pet Shop Boys were just different and sounded so good to my virgin ears. Imagine my surprise in my early 20's when I realized they were singing "It's a sin" to each other and not me. 

Seriously, I just thought these two were crazy stylish. 

Same thing happened when the "Violater" album came out - still one of the greatest albums ever. I fell head over heels for Dave Gahan. Poster in my bedroom in love with Gahan. I mean, look at this guy. laid on my twin bed dreaming that he would come steal me away from my dull. non-British life and take me on tour with him, and I'd develop a British accent.

 Tattoes, rough exterior, long hair. Dave Gahan = 100% bonafide hunkster. Rrrrrar. My full-on love affair with all British bands had really hit its peak in high school. And, what's not to like about Depeche Mode?Their music was full of the same brooding, painful, evocative angst I was feeling in my [protected] Missouri life. I stayed up every weekend to catch the "Enjoy the Silence" video on 120 minutes. I listened to "Violater" over and over, memorizing every word, forcing my Catholic mother to pray for my decaying soul. 

Though there's no report of Gahan being gay, I think his sexuality is questionable at best. He's no Morrissey, but..... you know what I'm saying. "Strangelove"....cmon.

Skip to present day, I may be the only 31 year-old female still harbouring crushes on these blokes and actually dying to see them in concert. I'll be the one in the front row throwing my bra at the stage. Suffice it to say, both DM and TPSB have new CDs out. I haven't heard them yet, but if they keep up their synthetic brooding melodies, I'm on their Love Boat.

My current girl crush

I have had a lot of girl crushes. Tori Amos from about age 16 to 20. She inspired a 10 year run of red hair. Gwyneth Paltrow in "Sliding Doors" was exactly what I wanted my life to be life - sans the tragic ending of course (This crush continues even still). Amelie, aka Audrey Tatou, is possibly the most adorable French woman ever. How could one not crush her? Madonna is obviously the most sensuous woman in the world.I lust her. Elaine Bennes is the funniest character television has ever created. With a life full of witty men friends, she couldn't be bothered to have to many women friends that weren't at her level of wit and sarcasm. Probably like all 20-something ladies I tried smoking a cigar when I saw Elaine do it at Peterman's desk. Rachel Maddow appeared on "Countdown with Keith Olberman" as the most attractive, intelligent, funny power lesbian I'd seen in a while and I kind-of wanted to be her for a minute. Tina Fey - sigh. I want to go into her head, suck up all of her intelligence and humor and comedic timing, and then have cocktails with her. I love her.

But there's one special woman who lately has been taped to the inside of my locker. Neko Case.

Oh Neko. There's so much to crush on. That name, first of all. I don't know too many Nekos hanging around. And, it's not a stage name or short for anything. She's Canadienne. Swoon. Born in Vancouver - one of my favorite cities. She has a voice that just wrecks me. Totally destroyed. It's piercing and haunting. Reminscent of Patsy Cline, but at the same time in a class all it's own. It chills me every time I hear it. She has a classic beauty that's a dash Boticelli, a dash country, a dash modern, a dash gospel and a dash Seattle all stirred up together, baked and sitting beautifully on a kitchen window calling to you like a siren. Her voice is syrupy, pouring out of a perfect instrument. And her lyrics. Oh, her lyrics. I wish I wrote half as well as she does. "My true love drowned in a dirty old pan of oil that did run from the block of a Falcon sedan 1969." She's bewitching. Oh Neko, since we met in Seattle I have all but single-white-femaled you. What? Oh, I didn't mention that I met her? Well, let me tell you a story. My cousin happens to be an ex-member of The Screaming Trees, and was the drummer for Neko for a while. She was playing a show in Seattle and needed something to wear. This happened to be the 8 months I was doing time at Urban Outfitters in Seattle, circa 2002. My cousin, knowing that I liked Neko's music, brought her in to Urban to say hello. I was speechless. Me. CrazyVirgo. Speechless. She's stunning. And short, but that's beside the point. Her red hair flowing, she introduced herself and promptly invited me to her show. I stumbled over my response, mentioning that I really liked her music, would love to see a show, really liked her music, really liked her music, really liked her music.

(side note: This is the second celebrity encounter that I had working at Urban Outfitters where I said the wrong thing. I once saved Dave Matthews from a pack of over-zealous teens by asking him if he wanted to look at housewares. Upon thanking me for rescuing him, he asked me if I would be interested in tickets to an upcoming show. I, being a first-class idiot, said, "No, but maybe my friends would." Quite puzzled he thanked me and went about his shopping.)

Luckily, Neko was an angel and floated on into the sweater section of the store while I quietly followed her around, gawking and falling in love. 

I recently re-ignited my girl crush because she has a new album out. It's heaven. Check out Middle Cyclone when you get a chance. These days I'm listening to her at my desk for a solid 6 hours, wondering what she's doing. When she'll come see me? Will she remember me (100% chance of that answering being, no)? I take her on drives with me, in a White 2009 VW Rabbit, not a '72 Ford Pick-up as I'm sure she'd like. But nevertheless, I let her know how I feel about her. I scribble her name when no one's looking. I imagine us sitting on a dirt road drinking PBR tall boys at sunset on a summer night. Sigh.

Enjoy this playlist of my favorite Neko songs.

Until my next girl crush....

Girl Crush

Friday Playlist - Spring Fever

A week of 70º weather, and this is what you get.

spring fever

Friday playlist

Im getting loud with you

Don't disrespect the Bjork

I just recently found out that I have a friend who does not like Bjork. When he told me, I felt like someone simultaneously punched me in the gut, stabbed me in the foot and slapped me. How can this be? 

Look at her. She's a living, breathing, piece of human art.

Bjork is one of the greatest musical artists of my generation. 

Bjork makes music like no one else makes music. 

Bjork sings like no one else sings. 

Bjork gives a shit what anyone thinks of her. 

Bjork is fearless.

Bjork is a small child who is allowed to dress however she wants, every day. 

Bjork throws every bit of herself into her music.

Bjork had a kid with Tricky. 

Bjork is crazy.

Then, it hit me. Maybe I'm so crazy and out of touch with normal human beings that I forget Bjork is too. Maybe the both of us, Me and Bjork, are too crazy for this world. We walk to the beat of our own drum. Skip to our own rhythm. Dress like we don't own a mirror. Then I realized I don't own one piece of clothing similar to Bjork, can't sing, don't live in Iceland, and have a standard 9-5 job. Right... we're not sisters. But still, I contest that there's no way to dislike Bjork. If you've ever seen her in concert, or in the movie "Dancer in the Dark" and still didn't like her, then, well, I have nothing left to say to you. If you can listen to her song "Bachelorette" and not feel anything, then you're dead inside. If you don't look at her and wonder if she's human or  musical goddess, you're probably an android. Alright, so you may not die for her music like I do, but you have to at least respect what she's doing. Am I right here?

Please, friends, doubters of Bjork,(especially one who has recently confessed his dislike of Bjork to me) watch the following videos, and think about what you're doing. Don't hurt my feelings.

Now, I dare you to tell me that you don't respect Bjork.