92 posts tagged “music”

NTT - 08.04.09

Apr 8, 2009
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It seems to me that maybe

pretty much always means no

game rules here.

NTT - 06.04.09

Apr 6, 2009
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It has been a ridiculous amount of time since I've done one of these. Yes, I'm still doing weekly themes.

I've been drivin' all night, my hands are wet on the wheel.
There's a voice in my head that drives my heel.
My baby call said I need you here.
It's half past four and I'm shifting gears.

game rules here.

Most Recent NTT answers:

18.08.08 - Happy Phantom - Tori Amos

19.08.08 - Hell - Squirrel Nut Zippers

20.08.08 - Runnin' with the Devil - Van Halen

21.08.08 - Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode

22.08.08 - Angel - Jimi Hendrix (also covered by Fiona Apple)

That's right. The theme was Religion

As a result of friends giving me a bunch of fantastic oil painting supplies for Christmas and a buy-one-get-one-for-a-penny canvas sale at Aaron Brothers, I was all ready this weekend to try painting again with higher quality paints and brushes. Tonight was far less of an experimental 'let's see how the paint spreads on canvas and what the colors look like' experience, though there is still a TON for me to learn still (like buy protective gloves to wear when washing brushes with turpentine). With no actual training or research, I'm figuring most of it out by trial. Don't like how a brush applied the paint? Scrape it off and try again with a different shaped brush. Or just grab the other brush and change it. I'm still doing incredibly abstract painting, so smooshing up something and blending it in doesn't really matter so much, its not like it has to look like anything particular when it is done.

So I spent a few hours tonight painting, and it was very different from the last time. Tonight's painting was cathartic. I don't know if it was therapeutic in a now-I-feel-better sense, but I do think it was a good way for me to creatively express how I feel right now. Even though I wasn't listening to the Hercules playlist I was still singing along with my Zune at top volume (my neighbors must hate me) and this time I had a clear idea of what I wanted to convey in my painting and what colors I wanted to use, without knowing quite what it was going to end up looking like. I just started applying color, then mixing colors, then adding depth or highlights here and there. At one point I tried doing something, didn't like it, scraped off most of the paint I had just applied with a palette knife and changed what remained with a fan brush. I only used the fan brush for six strokes all night, but I think they were the most important ones. When I stepped back to look and decide what to do next, I instantly knew it was finished. I didn't plan or envision the end result when I started, but clearly this was the place I was meant to go.

This one I'm actually proud of. When I look at it, I think it feels the way I felt when I painted it, if that makes sense. It doesn't feel forced or over thought. The last minute change with the fan brush made the painting _so_ much better. In a way part of my satisfaction with the painting is that the end result is a surprise to me, like opening a random oyster and finding a pearl. I had no idea what it would look like, I didn't TRY to paint this, but I did. It just feels very organic and natural.

After coming upstairs to wash my brushes (I paint in my garage) I went back downstairs to just look at it and try to take it all in. Twice. Like if I looked at it long and hard enough, I could absorb it permanently into my head and heart. Then after doing a little reading online about oil painting I decided to bring it into the house to dry versus being in the cold and dark garage. I am planning to hang it in my bedroom once it is dry, and I'll be heart broken if it doesn't cure well.

I would let people see this painting but it still feels too personal to try taking a picture with the D70 to put on the blog. Sorry.

Mood Boosting Playlist

Dec 1, 2008
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aka Hercules.

Listed here for your enjoyment as demanded by Sharkey. I add songs here and there, it started as just 18 tracks. I've created a Hercules playlist on Finetune you can listen to, but it lists the songs alphabetically and doesn't retain my song order. So I've also provided my lineup after the widget.

hercules playlist

Freedom! '90 - George Michael

Groove Is In The Heart - DeeLite

Ready To Go - Republica

Move Along - All-American Rejects

How Far We've Come - Matchbox 20

Fighter - Christina Aguilera

Friday Night - Lily Allen

Somebody Hates You - Snake River Conspiracy

Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson

Cassius Clay - Booda Velvets

Pain Lies On The Riverside - Live

Overblown - Mudhoney

Stand - Liquid Jesus, Pump Up The Volume soundtrack (not on finetune)

Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera

Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz

Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet

Drop Dead Gorgeous - Republica

Lovesong - Snake River Conspiracy

Afternoons and Coffeespoons - Crash Test Dummies

Yield - Indigo Girls

Kiss - Art of Noise featuring Tom Jones

Superman - REM

The Promise - When In Rome

Things Can Only Get Better - D:Ream

Windpower - Thomas Dolby

A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley (JXL Radio Edit Remix)

Knock 'Em Out - Lily Allen

Police On My Back - The Clash

Fly Away - Lenny Kravitz

Closer To Fine - Indigo Girls

Bitch - Meredith Brooks

Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple

Hazy Shade of Winter - The Bangles

Candy - Iggy Pop & Kate Pierson

Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode

I Think I Love You - Voice of the Beehive, Honey Lingers (not on finetune)

School of Rock - Jack Black, School of Rock soundtrack (not on finetune)

I Love You Always Forever - Donna Lewis

Veronica - Elvis Costello

Breakfast At Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something

Least Complicated - Indigo Girls

Beautiful - Christina Aguilera

Praise You - Fatboy Slim

Out of My Head - Sun 60 (not on finetune)

Everlong - Foo Fighters

I Believe (When I Fall In Love) - Stevie Wonder

Ironic - Alanis Morissette

All The Small Things - Blink182

Waiting For You - Seal

Personal Experiment - painting

Nov 30, 2008
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I'm very linear and tend to be very symmetric and ordered about things. Sometimes this makes me a little nervous and worry I'm borderline OCD or something. Serious. So a few months ago when I bought some picture frames, I bought a couple 24x36" blank canvases too (buy 1 get 1 for a penny sale). The reason I bought them is that I am having a pretty change filled, stressful year, and I thought it would be good for me to find a way to express my emotions and try to be less controlled and cerebral. I would also like to stretch myself to be more creative and random, less bound by order. Also, I'm an AWFUL artist. So this is going to be an exercise for me to learn to enjoy something I'm not very good at.

The canvases have been sitting in my garage for months now, untouched. Every time I went looking at paints I got kind of overwhelmed with options (and expense), and a semi-hopeless sense of 'I don't even know what to paint, and the end result will probably turn out disappointing compared to what I feel or see in my head and wanted to paint anyway'. Say it with me now: Excuses. Finally last week on impulse I bought a little oil paint set and package of assorted brushes that were super cheap and in an aisle display at the local craft store.

Today I got all my framed art hung on the walls. (I procrastinate sometimes.) But today I finally:

decided where to hang my large framed catwoman poster

cut the mat and framed my augographed Thomas Dolby poster

knuckled down and did the math to ensure the five Blue Sun travel posters were

centered on the wall

evenly spaced

And for some reason, having the framed art on the walls (and not just lurking in the corner making be feel like a slacker) gave me the motivation I needed to go out on an emotional limb and try painting. So tonight after putting the kids to bed I put on some old sweats, fired up my Zune and popped in the tiny earbuds I had to go buy separately (standard ears are apparently way bigger than mine), grabbed a diet coke, and made my way to the garage to put paint to canvas.

things in my head post-painting experiment:

Cheap brushes suck. Within the first 3 minutes they were shedding bristles in the paint on the canvas. So I didn't bother trying to clean the brushes, just threw them out when done.

This is my first time working with oil paints or canvas; all my prior painting has been with acrylics on wood or plaster. Now I know that *for painting on canvas*, I like oil paints more than acrylic. They take longer to dry so the colors blend for a long time and you can get a lot of depth through layering. Less important with crafts, where acrylics are ideal.

Sometimes, I would catch myself just painting and not thinking about anything. When that would happen I would be surprised by how happy I was - it was borderline endorphin rush happy. Contributing factor: I was listening to my Hercules playlist (mood boosting songs) and I'm pretty sure by 5 songs in I was singing along. Loudly. Singing + busy hands = 100% proc utilization.

I had no idea what I was going to paint, just a general idea of an idea I wanted to convey. What I ended up with was NOT what I initally thought I'd paint. But within 2 seconds of putting brush to canvas, I realized I needed to get a feel for how the different brushes would apply paint, how the paint would spread on the canvas, and what the colors would look like before I tried to purposely paint anything particular.

I need to do some reading on oil painting and learn what the standard supplies are and what they are used for. Seriously. I did ZERO research and only bought a very cheap set of 12 small paint tubes ($4.97) and a very cheap set of assorted brushes (also $4.97). Not doing research and acquiring every possible supply I might need is not like me at all. Which in a way, is part of what this whole painting experiment is about. Trying to be creative, non-linear, not obsessed with symmetry, relaxed and not overthinking everything, just expressing. But I definitely need to see if there is someething that thins the paint a bit, there is no way I would be able to paint anything of detail with paint as thick as what I was working with tonight (though that could be a function of my using cheap paint also).

I need to buy a palatte. just a cheap plastic thing will do. And a plastic tarp to hang behind the working canvas since I don't have an easel and am just propping the canvas against the wall on top of boxes. Investing in an easel seems premature and excessive at this point since I don't really know that I'll take up painting regularly enough to warrant it.

Yes I took a picture of the finished painting with my iPhone, but no, I am not posting it publicly. The photo doesn't do the painting justice, the painting is prettier. But it is still lame hotel lobby art that could have been done by a 6 year old. I am proud of it and find it immensely boring at the same time. I haven't decided if i'll paint over it or add to it another night (once I've got brushes again).

Even if I never create anything better than boring hotel lobby art, the experience was worth the investment. Happy is good.

Heartless Bastards

Nov 12, 2008
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About a month ago a friend asked if I wanted dto go see the Heartless Bastards when they played in Seattle. I've heard them on WOXY and have one of their CD's, plus I said earlier this year that I wanted to get out and see more live music (which aside from Sasquatch Festival, I haven't done) so all around sounded like a fun evening with friends.

A few days ago I learned the show is at a place called the Tractor. I'm not sure what defines a Tavern from a Bar, but I think this might be a Tavern. Regardless, the show was scheduled to start at 9pm, but we got there at 8:15 or so, thinking we'd get in and find seats. Well the doors were locked until 8:30 so we kinda just waited. Anyway, at the onset of the evening when there were only about 15 people in the entire tavern, the place is, well, a dive. Brick walls, concrete floor, light 'fixtures' that are heavy duty extension cords attached to the ceiling with caged lightbulbs hanging from it every 10-15 feet, a few barstools with torn vinyl seats, and a very prominent cooler of PBRs. By 10 or 10:30 though when it was full of people it wasn't bad at all.

Ah yes, the people. Let me just say I don't fit in here. I am not a hipster. I've never seen so much facial hair outside of a lumberjack competition. And what is with all the comfortable shoes?!?! I swear to god all the women were in ballet flats, prepster sneakers, or low heeled boots (like a 1" heel). Everyone who knows me knows that 90% of the time I wear 3-4" heels. Out of sheer happenstance I was wearing silver knock-off converse low top sneakers. whew. BUT I wore my contact lenses instead of my glasses!!!!1!1! Total fashion faux pas. So much for blending into the crowd as one of the locals. LOL. Though honestly that was pretty unlikely anyway - I don't dress right either. Everyone looked like they had spent a tremendous amount of time and money to look sloppy-casual or quirky. There was a girl in a giraffe print skirt with textured tights that had a star pattern. And when I say giraffe print I don't mean spotted like a giraffe, I mean the material was like tapestry weight beige with full giraffes woven into it here and there.

ANYWAY, enough about the setting, on to the music. The first opening act (there were two) was a local Seattle band, Battle Hymns. They weren't very good but I clapped politely because they clearly rehearse and had the guts to get up on stage and try to entertain the crowd, and I can respect that at least. However, in the snark department I will say that the vocalist was awful, they don't seem to have any idea how to end a song cleanly, and they need to learn how to dress.

The second opening act, The Broken West, was significantly better than the first. I still wouldn't buy their album, but I enjoyed their set. They were certainly better than the Fleet Foxes who seem to be getting hyped all over the place and I saw at Sasquatch (they were painfully awful, like you wanted to die so you didn't have to listen to them anymore). Of course I've got an obligatory snark for the Broken West too: the lead singer (who also played guitar) is so obviously one of those guys who tries picking up girls with the line 'so, you know, i'm, like, in a band...' while brushing his hair out of his eyes... Trust me on this, both the people I was with agreed 100% on my assessment.

Finally the Heartless Bastards took the stage sometime after 11pm. And despite our concerns that they might not be as good as their most recent album from 2006 due to changes in 2/3 of the 3 person band, they were still really great. Not really dancable (they never were really), but good rock vibe and energy, and a super powerful voice. The vocalist has a very distinctive sound and she hasn't changed, and she is also the primary songwriter, so changing the rhythm section - while noticable - didn't totally change the band's sound. All in all it was a good show and a fun evening.

Oh yeah, one other thing. Turns out the only woman in the entire tavern wearing heels over 1" was the singer for Heartless Bastards. What was funny was she was out in the audience area early in the evening (I had no idea it was her) and I noticed her boots because they were so different (heels!!) from everyone elses footwear. Later, halfway through their first song, I recognized her boots and realized she wasn't the one audience member who wore heels to the show, she WAS the show. hahaha.