December 3, 2009
Indie Music is Like Post-Modern Art
It’s been forever since I posted a blog, undoubtedly because I was extraordinarily busy with the clothing drive and school. Well, I have 2 weeks until finals and frankly…. I can kind of understand why some students commit suicide. I know that’s really morbid, and I’m not having suicidal thoughts. All I’m saying is that I can understand how someone who’s not psychologically stable should really collapse under this pressure…. Might I conclude this empathetic thought by making it clear that the pressure I’m under is not nearly as much as, say, a 4th year engineering student. I’m one of the lucky ones.
Wow, I didn’t realize until this moment that I really missed my blog. Eva went away for a few days so I’m sleeping with my door open just for the hell of it. I’m usually a closed-door, total darkness kind of sleeper. I guess since the moon has been beaming directly through my window into my face for the past week, I’m willing to make other changes in my sleeping condition. At least there are no more cats.
It’s not looking like a romantic winter for me, at least music wise. Love life is good though. But my music is dark this winter, which says nothing about my mind state except for that I’m not nostalgic (yet) about Christmas time. I almost had a moment at Trader Joes, though, when I stuck my face in the display of Christmas wreathes.
But as for my music, it’s mostly indie lately. Indie, with the exception of classical violin sonatas in the mornings, and the occasional Taylor Swift song…… okay, the oft-occurring Taylor Swift song. I just can’t resist her naiveté. Her lyrics make me feel like I should’ve felt in middle school. It’s not quite nostalgia since rather than feeling cheery and hopeful for love in middle school, I felt empty and anxious. I think a lot of people felt that way. Middle school was rough, and high school was pretty rough too. Indie music takes me right back to high school, because it was all I listened to. I just talked to a bunch of friends from high school and we all concluded that we were all a bit depressed back then and didn’t even realize it. These were the happy kids in the quad, mind you… we chanted the fight song and smiled a lot. you would have never known it. But it’s true.
Anyway, I need Taylor Swift in my life with all of this indie music. She’s like a kitschy shot in the arm among often over-calibrated, obscure indie music. Every song is like a piece in a modern art museum… some of it ugly, some of it rude, some over-simplified, and all of it trying to make some kind of heroic statement and observation about the world. I like it. I like it in the same way I like post-modern art: alone and instead of a cigarette.
I’m going to bed, without my retainers, because I just don’t give a fuck. Indie music has that effect on me.
Has anyone seen Fantastic Mr. Fox? I’m just dying to go. If you have, let me know what you thought.
xoxo
November 2, 2009
Pic Post: Halloween Weekend
These are pictures from Friday and Saturday night. We were gypsies on Friday, which was a fun night of dancing and zombies. Saturday I was a biker, Eva was an aerobics instructor and Molly was a hula dancer. I’m actually still in costume because my tattoos aren’t off and after applying my fake eyelashes i realized that they’re not meant to come off for 4-5 weeks. I’m going to have to find a way, but for now I look like a bad ass and it’s actually pretty fun.
Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween weekend!
October 21, 2009
Warm A Cold Shoulder
I’m going to be straight forward with you, this isn’t the only blog that’s receiving my attention any more. Eva and I have begin planning a winter clothing drive in San Luis Obispo that we’re calling Warm A Cold Shoulder (“don’t turn a cold shoulder to homelessness this winter.”)
Check out my ‘other’ blog that might be getting more attention than this one for a while, as I’m trying to lift this event off the ground:
Warm A Cold Shoulder
I’ll be stretched pretty thin for the next few weeks. If anyone wants to help me make this a success, please let me know. I guess I’ve finally begun to learn that I can’t try to save the world by myself. I’m not going to ‘ask’ for help yet though… I’m not TOTALLY entirely convinced of the power of asking for help, despite all of my mothers efforts. I don’t, however, object to requesting good company 
This trait of mine also means I’m taken much more seriously when I say, “I need help.” I think I can count the times I’ve said that on one hand…. ouch that’s not good.
I had the idea for this winter clothing drive about a month and a half ago, we began planning yesterday, and I already have a phone interview with the SLO Tribune on Friday. WEE! Eva’s got the PR and the graphic design, and I’ve got the donation collecting and coordinating. We’re feeling very inspired. It’s exciting!
Gotta go to bed. Love,
Erika
October 16, 2009
Battle Studies, LONG AWAITED
(ALMOST HERE!!!)
These are the songs I thought were going to be on the album:
heartbreak warefare
perfectly lonely
half of my heart
assassin
war of my life
heartbreak warfare
borrowing
stitched up
I think she knows
And this is the actual track list:
Heartbreak Warfare
All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye
Half of My Heart
Who Says
Perfectly Lonely
Assassin
Crossroads
War of My Life
Edge of Desire
Do You Know Me
Friends, Lovers or Nothing
(I did pretty good huh)
omg. omg. omg.
October 14, 2009
Accept Mystery
“A poem needs understanding through the senses. The point of diving in a lake is not immediately to swim to the shore; it’s to be in the lake, to luxuriate in the sensation of water. You do not work the lake out. It is an experience beyond thought. Poetry soothes and emboldens the soul to accept mystery.”
October 13, 2009
Pepperminto
In the past week, without realizing it, I bought 5 peppermint items:
Peppermint body wash, a 3 pack of peppermint Trident, peppermint Crest toothpaste, peppermint herbal tea, and peppermint lip gloss. So I decided to look in to the qualities of peppermint.
- Menthol is antibacterial and even anti-parasitic.
- It soothes muscles and the digestive system.
- It can improve concentration.
- It’s a stimulant and quickens functional activity of the tissues and cells giving them more energy.
- It helps fight stress and…
- Here’s the kicker: It is an aphrodisiac in large doses for both men and women.
WOO! I’ll cheers to that.
October 13, 2009
Who Says
At first listen, John Mayer’s new single is calming. At second listen I found it humorous, and the third time I heard it I thought it subversive. The minimalism he uses is somewhat confusing; since we already know his tremendous talent, the soft strumming and simple lyrics must aim to send some kind of message. But what? Is he arrogantly justifying his rock and roll life style? Is he making a statement by using his usually romantic coos and guitar strums to sing about getting stoned? Probably all of the above, but he’s also been quoted as explaining that the song is about taking pleasure in taking pleasure. I’m feelin’ that, but I can’t say that I love the song… something is holding me back from saying that I love it. I’ll be honest, it’s catchy. & I would definitely enjoy playing it if I were, say, bored on a stormy Monday night and smoked a joint by myself… but it seems like it’d be number 7 on the track list (in other words, not an appropriate 1st single). I find it anticlimactic, and I’m disappointed that it lacks bass and a strong guitar–not quite what I expected about this album but since it remains yet to be released I still have hope.
