This is the best song of the entire year. I know it’s a little soon to call it… but it’s that amazing. I fell in love seconds in, and only became more trapped when the saxophone comes in (the sax really does make the song). I can’t believe I once fell asleep at an M83 show, in my defense it was late, I was drinking, sitting with my head resting on a table and it was a very quiet ambient sound moment. This was before an entire band of musicians graced the stage and it was just Anthony Gonzalez by himself with a laptop and other assorted machines. I doubt anything like that could happen with this song playing, I just dance and get all intoxicated with joy when it’s on. It’s that good.
They don’t have an official video yet so I quickly browsed youtube for a decent user made one, I hate to just put up a still image video with the song on in the background… they bore me.
I came home from work the day before my birthday, Terrence was cleaning in the back of the apartment and I walked towards the front to stay out of his way. As I entered the living room I noticed my plant was moved, I turned around to where it usually sits and in its place was this cello (with a little red bow on it). I cried, and Terrence crept into the room to gauge my reaction. I hugged him super tight. Sometimes I wonder if Terrence reads through my life list to know what to do for me on special occasions… but its probably just his natural awesomeness and attention to detail.
Before you ask, no, I don’t know how to play it yet. I’m just good at looking like I do. We’re currently still trying to figure out how to tune the cello. I’m not sure if it’s the beast itself or the tuner. But every time either of us tries to tune the instrument, once one string is good and we move onto the next, the last string goes out of tune again. Hugely frustrating.
Maybe for Christmas Terrence will surprise me with an feeble old white man, equipped with a ruler to strike me when I make mistakes, and he’ll teach me to be great like Jacqueline du Pré. He’ll also have a little red bow, I hope.
Here is January’s pick for song of the month, Smith Westerns’ Weekend:
We were lucky enough to have a whole day with Riley this month and once school let out we were joined by her siblings, Mya and Jakob. They ran around our apartment, played the piano together, learned about fine Nickelodeon programming from my youth (way better than theirs). We had snacks, Mya and I played Pretty Pretty Princess while Terrence and Jakob played Mouse Trap… well… played isn’t the right term. Who actually plays Mouse Trap anyway? Riley just ran back and forth trying to join in with everything. It was a nice day, I look forward to more of these kinds of days with my nieces and nephew, they’re good times.
As you can see I’m a little behind on these, December was tough. I didn’t like any of the albums I had or any of the singles I had heard. A few days ago I had decided to just skip December because it was holding me back. But just as I began to sift through January’s finds I decided to one more look online for albums released in December and stumbled upon a song I didn’t hate. Yipee. So here is December’s very belated song of the month…
I have two choices for November. Since these are ultimately songs I’m picking out for a 1-year-old, my first pick may not necessarily be appropriate for her… for now. But it’s so amazing I can’t discount it based on the N-word F-ing my S*** up.
So here it goes, pick number 1, Kanye West’s All Of The Lights.
and the cuss-free number 2 pick, Robyn’s Indestructible.
(I promise I won’t show her the video though. I don’t know what the deal is with all the f***ing… jeebus.)
In case you missed what we’re doing you can find out here and here.
Here is our Charlie Brown Christmas Card, I knew we’d find a use for those old Halloween costumes eventually. Here we are, starring in no particular order…
Terrence as Linus Van Pelt:
Ana as Sally Brown:
Dutch as Snoopy:
and Penny as Woodstock:
I hope you all enjoy your holiday! Please keep in mind that theirs twelve days of Christmas… so if I see any trees out on the curb before January 6th I’m gonna cry. You don’t want to make me cry do you?
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year & A Happy 3 Kings Day to you all!!!!
(ED Note: Click on our Christmas card to see outtakes from the entire photo shoot)
A few weeks ago I had a pretty jam packed weekend, Terrence, his sister Beth and I embarked on an adventure to Washington DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, and I desperately tried to find a venue to exploit my amazing hollween costume (made by my mommy).
It all began a few months ago when Terrence showed me this…
I fell out, it was one of the best things I’d seen since the Bed Intruder Song… which in retrospect wasn’t all that far apart… but still. Up until then I was trying to figure out a way to dress as iamamiwhoami for Halloween without having to be all naked and such. It began as a joke that quickly turned to reality when my mother and I made a dash for the fabric store after a friends wedding ceremony and right before we packed the car up and moved mom to Queens. It was like a last chance rush to greatness. It was a perfect idea, I thought. While all the girls were shivering in their blank as a whore costumes I’d be all cozy in my fleece Panda costume, ingenious. I learned how to flawlessly say “Never say no” in Arabic, I got the Buddy Holly and the Picks version of True Love Ways set and ready to loop on my phone. Now I just needed to squeeze in time to wear the suit.
We’d been planning to follow John Stewart and Stephan Colbert to DC, but sadly the rally was strategically planned for the weekend before Election Day, which also happened to be Halloween weekend. Since we had to leave at 4am to make it to DC in time that meant no partying on Friday night. We were optimistic about returning to Staten Island in time to party after the rally but a last minute change of plans got us home just after midnight… I’m too old to have pulled that one off, I needed bed. I tried to squeeze in a nap on the 4 hour drive home but Terrence, who was running on 2 hours (if that) of sleep was relying on me to keep the music upbeat and sing-a-long-able. We did an excellent Tiny Dancer, one that would have made Cameron Crowe jealous.
The rally was pretty awesome, I am glad that we went. We were somewhere in the middle of the nearly 200k person crowd. My favorite part was being apart of a MythBusters experiment, mostly because I’m a giant nerd. The experience would have been made better only by some miracle that my genetics didn’t suck, it sure would have been nice to see most of the things I heard.
It was an experience I’ll tell my children about, I only wish I were more articulate so I could express just how awesome it was.
When I woke up on Sunday aka Halloween day the only thing I could think to do to show off all of my mothers hard work was to go trick or treating with my nieces and nephews. Only by the time I actually woke up and got all ready, all of them were done. Whatever happened to trick or treating at night? When I was a kid we didn’t start until the sun went down, this year all the kids were done by 3pm and all the houses barely had candy anymore… not to mention they all looked pretty annoyed that we were bothering them at dinner time. Thankfully my oldest niece is thirteen and was completely willing to stick it out with us and ring all the bells.
We had fun. My mom really enjoyed taking us trick or treating. I had reservations that I might still try to party that night, but when me and Julija got home and began to dig into our haul I lost my appetite for showing off. Maybe one year I’ll throw myself a Bronx Zoo themed birthday party and be able to show off my Panda suit.
Don’t worry John, it was worth it. No matter what the media had to say about your moment of sincerity, I dug it.
Currently Listening: Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
As I’ve mentioned before I’ve been working on a music mix for my goddaughter/niece, Riley. It’s a song from each month of her first year. I take my duties as godparent quite seriously, it’s my job to guide her in the absence of her parents. And since my brother and his wife don’t listen to anything outside of radio Disney, I feel it’s my job to show Riley the way. Today is her 1st birthday, I’ve decided to put a copy of her year one mix on this adorable memory stick I found on Think Geek. Since I always have to over do everything I also decided to continue the tradition and make her a mix every year until her 16th birthday, at which point I’ll present her with all the mixes in this, very plain and classic music box. I decided on giving it to her then because I think she’ll be old enough to appreciate it. Not that I won’t let her hear and enjoy all the tunes in the meantime… I do have to (co)raise her up right you know.
In case you’re curious here’s the finished line up for her mix:
Perhaps not all of these songs are child appropriate, however, I was sure to not use any with curses; but man is she missing out because those were some quality tunes. I am going to try to be more conscious of posting updates of Riley’s monthly songs, with the loss of imeem I feel like I’ve been slacking on the music content of this blog. Thank goodness for my brothers complete lack on interest in rubbers or I might not ever right about music again. Hooray!
