music :: shovels and rope

Recently I had the pleasure to see Shovels & Rope play the Bowery Ballroom. Love these guys and on stage their energy is infectious. You just want to be a part of their magic and happiness. Just the two of them, singing and playing along with each other. A couple guitars and a bandana tied up drum kit. Awesome. 

Bowery Ballroom is one of my favorite venues in the city. It is small but in a really amazing intimate way. And there's this great bar downstairs for drinks if you get there early. Barstools, couches and the like. The merch table is downstairs too and most of the shows that play the Bowery have pretty awesome stuff to check out. So anyway if you haven't heard of these guys yet and missed them on Letterman recently, you are missing out and you should listen to them asap. Side Note :: their solo albums {Michael Trent & Carrie Ann Hearst} are pretty awesome and worth a listen as well. Especially this song… I cannot stop listening. 

:: Birmingham Lyrics ::

"Made a little money playing in the bars, 

With two beat up drums and two old guitars,

 From the Crescent City to the Great Salt Lake,

 It ain't what you got, it's what you make"

{shovels & rope}

good morning america no doubt

July 2012, NYC

GMA Summer Concert Series, Central Park

Yesterday I woke up at 5am to go see Good Morning America's free show of No Doubt playing for the summer concert series. It was sticky, warm and crowded but so fun. Worth the early wake up call for me! They played their new hit Settle Down from their upcoming album Push and Shove. Followed by It's My Life, Underneath It All and Spiderwebs. The highlight for me was when Gwen yelled out to the crowd at about 7:15am, "you're deliciously delicious." Cheers ensued. She is just too adorable and still rocks it like she's 20. Awesome to see these guys together again. Can't wait to hear more from them.

Anyone watch the morning show yesterday?

::settle down::

I'm a rough and tough

I'm a rough and tough

And nothing's gonna knock this girl down

you are my weekend

NYC

Terminal 5, Friday Night

Wandering around the City with my Dad, Saturday

My homemade vegan mac ‘n cheese with spices and wine, Sunday

Simple, happy little weekend. I’ve been too busy to think of much more. Also last night I watched Little Monsters. Didn’t remember it being so taboo when I was 9 but it kinda is when watching it now. Kids pulling pranks, saying dirty words and sneaking out at night! Anyone else remember that movie?

the city is at war {cobra style}

Thursday thoughts :: Funny thing, I thought I posted about going to see Cobra Starship {again, huge fan} and Gym Class Heroes {who are more awesome than I ever knew} in September, yet I cannot find a post where I mentioned it :: brain cloud :: That feeling just goes along with what this week has encompassed. Oh and last night, someone accidentally rang my doorbell at 4:15am. Living in a studio in NYC, those buzzers can be so loud and so not cool when I’m in a deep sleep from the week that it has been. I’m saying it was an accident because they didn’t buzz again and of course I didn’t open the door to check either. I live 4 floors up from the ground so at least drunken passerby’s noise doesn’t bother me most of the time. Ready for Friday and I am in need of a Friday Night. ASAP. One more day. One more day. But until then I’m looking back and remembering how awesome these guys are.
 Gabe Saporta :: you rock and kinda make my day more swell {along with all of your musical-crew}.

Terminal 5, NYC

“I will never sing perfectly, but I will always be awesome.

Even when I f**k up. I’m awesome because

I am not afraid to fall nor ashamed to stumble.

 Because I never wanted to be beautiful, and I never pretended to be.”

{gabe saporta}

five hour energy weekend

As the post title leads, I definitely could’ve used some of that this past week/weekend. It was a whirlwind of birthday fun, wine touring, brunching, dancing and of course, drinking. Let me start with Monday night at Bowery Ballroom. I went to see The Lemonheads and totally {almost} felt like I was in high school all over again. Great show and The Shining Twins opened for them; who I kinda adore. It was a great night with delish NY Pizza to end the night! More on the weekend fun as this week moves on – can’t wait to share all the amusing details – maybe just talking about them will make me think I’m still at play and not sitting at my desk. Happy Hump Day!

The first shot is The Shining Twins then waiting on The Lemonheads to play {which it did feel like forever in between sets} and Evan Dando did some solo stuff and the girls came up to join them for a couple songs and they pulled a girl up onto the stage to sing along for their cover of Mrs. Robinson - just all so great together. So many musings that I could go on and on about...

"My high-school dream was to be in a band,

pay my rent and eat - and I've been able to do that for 20 years.

So I'm completely content.

{evan dando}

{three} levels of fun

Friday night. Matt Nathanson and Vanessa Carlton. Terminal 5, NYC.

Terminal 5 is one of my favorite venues in the City, in case you haven’t already read that a time or two. It’s the old Club Exit as Vanessa Carlton talked about during her set, as in back in the day when she ran around with glo-sticks and did drugs. She opened for Matt Nathanson on Friday, it was fun listening to her new music {didn’t really prefer the crowd at this show though, very weird energy}. As for Matt, he was just great. I saw him a couple years back for Central Park Summer Stage and totally forgot that he is such a great story-teller on stage. Those are my favorite types of musicians, the ones that like to make a connection, make you laugh. And also he is the most hip-swaying, booty-shaking white boy I’ve ever seen on stage with a guitar. He jams with that guitar of his. Maybe I’d say he was like Elvis if it were the 50’s. You’ll get it if you ever see him live and that I do recommend. Check out a favorite of mine from his new album. Faster.

paraphrasing Mr. Nathanson talking about love~dating~etc:

“you know that person you’re dating that none of your friends like

and know he’s not good for you and you say but
'you don’t know him like I do'

– it’s like them saying, see that burning building, don’t go in there
and you say, but I’m cold – this song is about that”

you, me {and two guitars}

This week I finally got to see Bryan Greenberg play a little of his music and a few fun {some of my favs} covers. He’s played in NYC multiple times but for some reason or another, I was never able to make a show. Also with him, was Julia Sinclair. She was awesome, def a new fan. Wednesday night they played at the Canal Room, which also happened to be my first show there. It was a great little venue and I discovered this hole-in-the-wall place next door, Nancy Whiskey. That place smelled of a drunken night waiting to happen and I mean that in the most hot mess kinda way possible.

“He loved her more than anything,

even his own life. I think that's what love is.

Anything else is just, a distraction.”

{daniel seaver}

aka Bryan Greenberg in The Good Guy

no amount of whiskey, no wine {nothing else will do}

“when you look at a cupcake, you've got to smile.”

{anne byrn}

a couple weeks of a little live music love and a cupcake for good measure

New York City, August-and-September, 2011

 

LMFAO :: Ke$ha :: Mallary Hope :: Darius Rucker :: The Weepies

“she's got that little red rose on her big toe / tattooed in Myrtle Beach /

went to Mardi Gras with her mother-in-law / got a suitcase full of beads //

she's walked on fire, and jumped out of planes for fun /

but lovin me is the craziest thing that she's ever done”

{darius rucker}

the craziest thing