The Ten Album Challenge

If you’re on Facebook. (Which I am. Too Much) you’ve probably seen the following coming out of your friends and family lately.

I’ve been nominated by *Insert Name Here* to post 10 albums, 1 per day for the next 10 days which MOST influence my musical taste, without any caption or explanation. I’m gonna tag a friend each day to share the same.

Well, 10 days ago, my sister Mary tagged me to do it, and since what I do, like all the time is talk about the media and art that has influenced me and hit me and made me happy throughout my life, the “no explanation” part was hard for me. So I journaled the explanation and I will now be sharing those quick paragraphs with you.

Day 1: Green Day Dookie

This is the album that taught me the glory of basic, 3 chords and some angst rock and roll. So much came to be because of this love and I still, to this day, will turn up the volume when a song from this comes on. (Hell, “Basketcase” came on the radio on Sunday and I cranked it and rolled down the windows.) This isn’t even getting into the “hidden track,” which is stoner humor perfection. “And did I mention…I was all by myself,” still makes me giggle.

Day 2 – Backstreet Boys Millenium

This is the album that made me fall in love with pop music. It also happens to have the three best songs ever recorded by a boy band, “I want it that Way,” “The One,” and “Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely.” I will defend the music of this time forever, I will not however, defend the haircuts.

Day 3: Sara McLachlan “Mirrorball”

I like people singing sad songs with pianos. I don’t know why, but I do. I think a big part of it was being 11 when this album hit. But I also love live albums, especially from eras I missed. I was too young to really experience the whole Lillith Faire thing, but I’ve always loved the soft acoustic energy of that festival.

Day 4: Zac Brown Band Uncaged

I have a deep appreciation of musical artists who think genre is bullshit, and the person who I think does this the best is Zac Brown. He’s a country artist who refuses to discount his rock and roll roots for the poppier Nashville sounds, and Uncaged is the album that made me fall wildly in love with his ability to use romantic imagery to tell classic country stories. (“She’s a natural disaster, she’ll tear the land in two. She’s running to be running but that’s all that’s left for you.”)

Day 5: Original London Cast Recording Les Miserables

Look, choosing what Showtune to put on this list was practically impossible, so I went with my earliest memory, and Patti Lupone. Also, “One Day More.”

Day 6: Bruce Springsteen The River

This is the Springsteen that I love the most, the party song mixed in with the heartfelt ballad storyteller. I love Springsteen infinitely, but this album is my favorite, the one that clicked for me as a kid, understanding why exactly it is that my family worships this man.

Day 7 Coheed And Cambria Second Stage Of The Turbine Blade

There’s a piece of wisdom out there, which is, “you will always think the music you loved when you were 14 is the best.” And for the most part, this list isn’t that (it actually skews a bit younger) but I was 14 when Second Stage Of The Turbine Blade imprinted on me, and Coheed And Cambria came to be everything to me. It was like nothing I’d ever heard before and I’m still chasing that high by seeing them play live every year. (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let Manhattan be having concerts in September!)

Day 8: Billy Joel Songs In The Attic

My father gave us all the incredible gift of loving the B side. Movies that weren’t quite hits, songs that didn’t make it on the radio, restaurants that you have to walk a little bit from the main tourist drag to get to. Songs In The Attic is that impulse contained in an album, a collection of songs that Billy loved, but hated the album cuts of, and that the record company wouldn’t promote. So he made an album of the live versions, and they’re perfection. “Miami 2017” and my favorite song ever “Summer, Highland Falls” make appearances too, so I can’t complain.

Day 9: The Postal Service Give Up

Deciding whether to go with Give Up or Ben Gibbard’s other band, Death Cab For Cutie’s Plans, I realized quickly that in addition to the fact that I still listen to Give Up, in it’s entirety regularly. It also opened a whole world for me, as a teenager, to that whole synth based, indie rock world. (Basically the other thing up for this entry was the Garden State soundtrack. That whole scene)

Day 10: Carole King Tapestry

I am a white woman who loves rock and roll, to not include Carole king would be beyond strange. (Much like she isn’t in the hall of fame! WHY NOT? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?) Anyway, this album is the best, and everyone should listen to it all the time.

Anyway, those are my 10 albums and some little entries explaining why I chose them! Hope everyone is staying safe, still. Love you all so much.

 

Ms. Americana: Pop Songs & Finding Your Power

I love Taylor Swift.

I love her music, I love the way she snuck into the void Madonna left behind while none of us were looking because ten other pop stars were vying for the spot (She is not as good as Madonna, I haven’t completely lost my mind), I love that she’s in control of her image as much as she possibly can be. I love that I grew up with her (Taylor is two years younger than I am, but I’ve always been a late bloomer and she’s kind of a old soul.)

All that said, I don’t know if Miss Americana is a good documentary. Taylor is an vulnerable as she can be, I think, but she’s had walls up for so long, and she seems to be doing the hard slow work of taking them down rather than letting them crash, figuring out which ones are useful and which ones are limiting. That’s probably healthier but not nearly as much fun.

The movie builds a complicated picture of a woman is who is just starting to realize who she is, she notes that she’d been frozen at the age she got famous (16) and had a lot of catching up to do. Which is why her devastation that her political stand in 2018 wasn’t enough reads as sincere rather than ego. She was 27, but closer to 18 in maturity and you think your voice can really change the world then, and to be fair, Taylor Swift actually might be able to move the needle. (Apparently after she started insisting on voting young registration in Tennessee went up like 16% or something).

The film really shines when they show Taylor writing music, and working on music. Chowing down on burritos with her producer, giggling with Brandon Urie in dorky icon perfection, shouting to Jack Antonoff that she forgot the words to “Endgame.” She’s herself in that work, and it’s stunning to see.

I really enjoyed this documentary, but as I mentioned up top, I love Taylor Swift. I’d be curious what someone who either actively dislikes her or is indifferent to her and what they’d think. I think it’s just partly having tracked her life for so long that nothing really blew me away. The eating disorder confession is probably the only new information, but even that I got, “Oh yeah, that tracks.” Also her 2016 sit out was mental health related, apparently. After her final dust up with Kim and Kanye she realized her relationship with the media and the public was toxic and she needed to reset, which is marginally interesting.

Also, you remember the curls and the cat eye makeup? That was a whole thing for a while and I’m really glad she moved on style wise because OOF. (I spent HOURS trying to get my hair to do those curls though.) I also totally spent the rest of the weekend listening to Taylor Swift and watched The Reputation concert again.

Sexiest Man Alive? Eh? Fine…

So Blake Shelton was named People‘s Sexiest Man Alive this year.

This is only on my radar because The AV Club wrote this fun article about it. Which makes me a little sad, because this used to be the kind of thing I paid attention to. Not sad in like, “OMG I miss being that person,” way, I like who I’ve grown into and the interests I’ve cultivated beyond main line celebrity gossip pipelines, more in a “huh, the world has moved on and so have I and change is weird,” way.

Anyway, on to Mr. Shelton.

This means nothing, really, but on a planet where all four Chrises exist, I have trouble clocking this, and I like Blake Shelton. Actually I think I just like Blake Shelton’s taste in women…both Miranda Lambert and Gwen Stefani are awesome. But he’s fine.

He is not, in my estimation, the sexiest man alive. (All opinions below take this as a granted fact)

He is not even the sexiest male country star over 40. (Tim McGraw exists.)

Hello Tim

He is not even the sexiest guy who’s show is on NBC on Tuesday nights. (This Is Us airs after The Voice, so Milo Ventimiglia, Justin Hartley and Sterling K. Brown are there. Depending on what you’re into into, dude wise, your bases are pretty well covered) (I think there’s also a Chicago on…which, while I can’t name any of them, all those shows are pretty full of sexy dudes, I know from watching said shows with my mom)

THIS IS US — “A Father’s Advice” Episode 201 — Pictured: Milo Ventimiglia as Jack — (Photo by: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – AUGUST 2: Sterling K. Brown from NBCUniversal’s ‘This Is Us’ poses for a portrait at the 2016 Summer TCAs Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 27th, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California (Photo by Maarten de Boer/Getty Images)

The Pearson Men, are well, I mean come on!

He may not even be the sexiest male judge on The Voice. (I’m kinda into Adam Levine, y’all, he’s exactly my brand of scum bag. Also, Usher.)

I mean, even if you didn’t want to give it to a Chris, specifically (Though, why not, People? THERE ARE FOUR OF THEM! And I think you’ve only given it to Hemsworth…) there are also two lesser but still quite sexy Hemsworth brothers.

Hell, there’s a whole universe of Non-Chris sexy dudes in Marvel movies, not to mention John Boyega and Oscar Isaac, who should be gearing up the publicity machine any moment now.

I know, I know, my choices tend to skew nerdy, but since nerd culture is now pop culture, (I know this because my nerdy websites told me so!) they’re basically the mainstream hotties nowadays. That or like youtube stars or whatever the kids are into. (Teens still like the YouTubes, yes? I’m 30 now, so I’m old and do not know the things)

Trust me, this is better than when I was sixteen and consistently whined that Adam Pascal was overlooked. (Although he was. And is. Just in general. He’s very sexy.) At least now most people have heard of my choices and are familiar with their work.

Anyway, I know everyone’s been making these jokes for the past twenty four hours, but seriously its weird.

But hey, Blake Shelton really does have AWESOME taste in women .

Things I’m Obsessed With Right Now: New Year Edition!

Hi Everyone! Low on inspiration again, 22 days into it, I think it’s time to say what the new year is going to look like, obsession wise.

So here we go!

• Empire. Just, Empire. Particularly, Taraji P. Henson on Empire. And the character of Cookie Lyons on Empire. And also #TeamJamal, and not #TeamHakeem. Hakeem is the worst. THE WORST.
• Star Wars #1. HOLY F***CKING CRAP, you guys, it was so good. SO GOOD! SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO good. Read it, it feels like a part of the movie. GAH. I’ve always resisted the lure of the extended universe. I’ve crossed into the dark side
• Reading discussions of Serial in comment sections. I KNOW I’m late to the game, but seeing people actually type in ALL CAPS, “BUT THE NISHA CALL!” It’s pretty fun.
• Agent Carter. This show is good, right? It’s really good. Although, I got frustrated at my SHIELD podcast, Welcome To Level 7, as they tried to make it fit into the AOS mold, because, it’s you know, a different song.
• Mr. Kiss And Tell, the latest Veronica Mars book. I started it yesterday. I’m forgoing reading Lumberjanes and Batman & Robin right away to finish it. It’s that good. Without spoiling, Meg’s little sister Grace is involved. Remember Grace? Veronica and Duncan saved her from the closet that time, which is when we learned that The Mannings were monsters. And that Lamb’s father probably beat him.
• It’s starting to be light-ish when I go to work in the morning and when I leave at night. I mean, it’s still you know, the end.
• The bombastic pop-showtunes of the mid 2000s, that completely occupied my high school psyche. I’ve been listening to The Last 5 Years, and Wicked, and Legally Blonde, and Thoroughly Modern Millie, mostly because I saw Wicked and remembered what I loved so much about theatre, and this music.
• Cabaret! Which I’m going to see tonight! WAHHHHHH!!!!!
• Rewatching The Office, I mean when I fall asleep. But it’s been fun to revisit it.
• Did you know that people ship YouTubers? Like real people? I didn’t know this was a thing that went on. I am fascinated by this practice…I mean, I’m pretty serious about shipping, but only with fictional characters.
• The music of Zac Brown, Kenny Chesney and Darius Rucker. Work has been very stressful and country music mellows me out and puts me in a good mood.

So that’s what I’m obsessed with these days.

A Heart Don’t Forget Something Like That

I’ve been listening to country music for about seven years. Longer than that if you count Shania Twain (I don’t count Shania Twain). It all started when my brother came home from college in Washington DC, talking about Tim McGraw.

“Who?”

“Tim McGraw. You know him, Reen, he’s married to Faith Hill.” I stared at him dumbfounded. But then, when he would drive me places, we would listen to Tim McGraw. And wow did I like this music.

He also looks like this. And that is appealing to 16 year old girls, for some reason.

It didn’t take long after that for some of my other friends to come out of the woodwork, talking about how much they loved country music. It was like this weird secret that none of us ever talked about, but we all had in common. It’s hard when you live in the suburbs of New York, where there’s no country music radio station (and this is pre Pandora, Spotify and even I-Pods were new and only a few of my friends had them…), and where every teenager is trying to more of a sophisticated New Yorker than anything else, to embrace this kind of music, and to find new stuff was even harder.

My friends and I used to trade mix CD’s (remember Mix CDs?) of country music with our favorite stuff on them. Mine were always loaded down with Tim and Faith, had some Toby Keith (my friend Cha and I started drinking whisky because of Toby Keith…though we hate admitting that) and the occasional Dolly Parton or Kenny Rogers track.

Then one day a friend handed me a CD that started with a song called, “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.” I looked at the listing, Kenny Chesney? How had I not heard of this guy? So I went home, went on Limewire (remember Limewire?) and downloaded a whole bunch of Kenny Chesney. I loved how clear it was that yes, he was straight country, but he also seemed to be the clear successor to Jimmy Buffet

“No shoes, no shirt, no problem!”

I’ve been hooked ever since. I was lucky enough to go to college in a place that did have a country station, and met other people who were in to this music.

Last night I went to The Brothers of The Sun tour concert. It’s a dual tour headlined by Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney. I had an incredible time. I was with my immediate family and my cousin Billy, as well as Juli and Kate.

Also, I owe Juli and Kate and apology for not introducing them earlier. Because seriously, they should have been friends for years!