list your 10 favorite artists in no order. do this before answering the questions below:

(i used a scrambler thingy)

1. three5human
2. brandi carlile
3. indigo girls
4. the coup
5. amy ray
6. girlyman
7. u2
8. snow machine
9. catherine feeny
10. 1945

What is your favorite song by 9:
"hurricane glass"

What was the first song you heard by 6:
"hey rose." before they ever opened for indigo girls, and right as remember who i am was coming out, they made a one-song guest appearance at an IG show in new jersey. that show was booted, and i got the bootleg, and "hey rose" was on it.

What is your favorite song by 7:
"stay (faraway so close)"

How did you get into 10:
they're on daemon records, and as a general rule, i give all daemon bands a chance.

What is your favorite song by 5:
since #5 is amy ray solo, and not amy ray as an indigo girl, i will NOT say "world falls." my favorite amy solo song changes all the time. for a long long long time it was "chiapas bound." then it was "on your honor." "put it out for good," "pennies on the track," "let it ring," and "johnny rottentail" have all held this honor as well. right now i want to say that it's probably "sugar tongue" because the lyrics are fucking amazing, and it raises so many important issues for activists.

How long have you been listening to 1:
since they've been "three5human" ;)

What is your favorite song by 4:
hmmm... probably "laugh/love/fuck." but that's a hard one.

Have you seen 3 live:
once or twice... ;) or umm, about 150 times.

What is your favorite song by 1:
again, so hard to choose just one. maybe "georgia." or perhaps "yesterday's girl." or "genocidal youth"?

Do you have any merchandise by 9:
just CDs... i didn't buy a tee shirt when she opened for IG in the UK because i knew i'd never wear it.

What is your favorite song by 2:
"happy." and "cannonball," for obvious reasons.

Which song makes you sad by 5:
"covered for you" and "lazyboy" make me cry. especially live.

What is your favorite song by 3:
haha... i already kind of answered that. "world falls." easy. (and i have so many other "second favorites," but "world falls" is... me.)

List all of the band members in 4:
boots riley and dj pam. e-roc used to be a part of the coup.

What is your favorite song by 8:
"old tin roof."

What do you NOT like about 7:
how big they are. i've seen them live once, and i'd like to see them live again, but i do not like stadium concerts.

What is your favorite song by 6:
again, hard question. can i name one from each album? good, 'cause that's what i'm going to do. "maori," "kittery tide," and "good enough."

Have you visited 1’s official website:
yeah, sadly it kind of sucks.

What is your favorite song by 10:
"aurora borealis"

Which of these bands have you added on your Myspace:
indigo girls, amy ray (she is my #1), girylman, the coup, three5human, catherine feeny, and brandi carlile. 1945 and snow machine (many of the same members) don't have a myspace. :( and U2 is so big that there are a lot of faux myspaces for them. i don't care to find or add their official one.

i know everyone's sick of my indigo girls setlist/photos posts. sorry about that, but i am on tour (with a nice week off! YAH!). ;)

i've completely neglected the fact that girlyman is playing like five bay area shows in a few weeks. i was in for berkeley for sure (of course), but tonight i decided that i'll make the trek down to santa cruz, with friends, to catch girlyman there. i won't be able to go to the san francisco show at cafe du nord because i'll be in southern california catching the indigo girls at another indian casino that evening (pecking order....).

honestly i haven't been listening to a lot of girlyman lately. while i'm excited to hear their new stuff, it's not a "I MUST HEAR IT NOW!" thing. in fact, i have decided NOT to listen to anything new by them so i can hear most of their new stuff live for the first time. i like girlyman (a lot), but i don't LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE them, so i can wait.

speaking of which, i made a top 10 list of my favorite musicians/bands in some kind of order.

1. (and far ahead of everything else) indigo girls/amy ray solo (thank god my favorite musician solo is 1/2 of my favorite band. i'll NEVER be forced to decide between going to an IG show and an amy ray show. ha ha ha.)
2. three5human
3. nineteen forty-five/snow machine (they can share #3 because they're basically made up of the same people)
4. the coup
5. too $hort
6. girlyman
7. michelle malone
8. danielle howle
9. e-40
10. uhhh... i can't decide between a few, so it will have to be a top nine. ;)

so that's what's been on my ipod lately.

i didn't realize i listened to so much hip hop last week. enough to get too $hort in my list of top artists for the week (e40 and chamillionaire aren't far behind). hee hee hee



also funny how indigo girls, amy ray, emily saliers, nanci griffin (with amy ray and emily saliers), and the new mongrels comprise of the same people, more or less. oh and the vidalias - i have ONE song by them, and that one song features.... amy ray. ;)

i think people are often surprised to hear that i don't really like folk music. nope. not at all. the indigo girls (though their music is so varied and much of it is far from folk) and girlyman are really the only big exceptions. i'm not too crazy about the girl with the guitar thing. that's so tired and so old at this point. i can name at least 20 "girls with guitars" off the top of my head who all sound the same. although friends (both online and in person) rave about people like catie curtis, chris pureka, shawn colvin, patty griffin, and dar williams, i just can't get into them. not to say i hate their music - that's not the case. in fact there are songs by them that i even like. i just can't get into most of their music. i find that kind of music quite boring 99% of the time. once in a while, an artist in that genre who i do like comes along. but it's rare.

for the most part i don't like spoken word either (with the big, and possibly only, exception being katz and rocket (when rocket's around) from the athens boys choir). i always thought that most spoken word artists have something to say, i just don't really like how they say it. spoken word tends to bore me for the most part.

the other thing (and something that annoys me so often) is, just because i am queer it doesn't mean that i like "lesbian music." i can not stand melissa etheridge, kd lang, and tegan and sarah. i just can't. the butchies are ok, but they're not my favorite rock/punk group (see below). same goes with slater kinney. i realize that people like cris williamson, ferron, and disappear fear have done a lot for women in music today, but i still don't like the way they sound. i like a lot of ani difranco's stuff, but i can't say i'm a huge fan. and even though she's not a lesbian, she often gets classified as a "lesbian artist," and i'm not a huge sarah mclachlan fan. for the most part, i'd be bored to death (and wanting to jump overboard) on an olivia cruise given their usual entertainment options. same goes for women's festival in michigan.

so what do i like? aside from the indigo girls and amy ray, which togeether, according to last.fm, occupy about 90% of my music listening habits, of course. first and foremost, rock and punk. i like edge. give me edge. give me noise. give me something i can listen to loud. give me something i can move around to. i like the energy. i like the schlang. ;) i also like alternative that can't really be classified. weird sounds. indie bands that no one else has heard of. i am a sucker for good lyrics. no stings of cliches. no recycled garbage. no poppy crappy top 40-type lyrics. i like concrete. i like poetry. i like good storytelling. i like political and socially charged stuff. there is this one artist (who will remain nameless because a lot of my friends like her and are even friends with her) who has a style that i'm down with. however her lyrics are very basic and sound juvenille. she's just getting recognized, so maybe her songwriting will improve. i hope so. perhaps the biggest idosyncrcy with me is that i love love love a lot of rap and hip hop. especially stuff out of my city of oakland. much of that stuff sounds to be about nothing but sex, drugs, and violence on the surface, but if you listen closely, i think a lot of rap and hip hop artists have a lot to say - often times some very interesting political/social observations. and writing those types of lyrics and performing them like many artists do takes a shitload of talent. don't underestimate those kids on the street who try to sell you their self produced, zero budget, hip hop CDs. that's the local music scene in my hometown, and some of it is amazing. finally i like some political atl.country. i don't actually have much of that on my itunes, but what i do have, i tend to enjoy (for the most part, but not enough to buy whole albums).

so in a nutshell, that 10% of the time i'm not listening to either the indigo girls or amy ray solo, i'm probably listening to, girlyman, some rock/punk (three5human, 8" betsy, nineteen forty-five, team dresch, family outing), some weird/indie/unclassifiable stuff (snow machine, the ackleys, sunny so brite, 13ghosts), some hip hop (e40, too $hort, tupac, mary j. blige), or some alt. country (mary chapin carpenter, nanci griffith, emmylou harris, old and indie sugarland). ocassionally you'll see shawn mullins and girls with guitars who are more than folk (michelle malone, danielle howle, melissa ferrick) on my playlist as well.

but yes, that's what i like. and i am very picky. so don't be insulted if i can't get into people like chris pureka, wishing chair, catie curtis, and sarah bettens (solo). i'm just not so down with that for the most part.

i'm not flame baiting here. that's my intention. i'm just wanting to explain this one, because i think a lot of people are shocked to hear that i just don't like certain types of music since i like the indigo girls so much. and i think IG unfairly gets lumped into catagories (like folk or even lesbian music) all too easily. their music is diverse and everchanging. and it spans every modern genre from folk to rock to punk to country to alternative and even at times to reggae, jazz, and some hip hop like sounds. that's why i love them. nothing ever sounds the same. think about it: the same women who perform "compromise" perform "ghost." now isn't that fucking awesome?

list 10 artists/bands you love/like/listen to. then procede.

(in the interest of mixing it up, i totally mixed up the order. actually, i had my friend scramble them for me, so they're really in no order. so random. indigo girls and amy ray (solo) are always my #1, but i'm mixing it up).

1. snow machine
2. dar williams
3. 1945
4. amy ray (solo stuff)
5. girlyman
6. family outing
7. three5human
8. three finger cowboy
9. indigo girls
10. shawn mullins

( now read my answers )

i'm going to bed as soon as the night-time pain relief drugs kick in. but for now...

gacked from thunderemerald:

List your top 5 favorite artists of all time, then write what made you discover each one and become a fan.
(1 and 2 are a tie, per-say, though they include/center around the same person)

1. ( indigo girls )

2. ( amy ray )

3. ( nineteen forty-five )

4. ( girlyman )

5. ( snow machine )

i'm about to leave for dinner with friends (and to give a friend her birthday present), but i just wanted to make a blanket statement:

snow machine makes me happy.

really. they do. in some ways, listening to their album reminds me of how i felt about the indigo girls' self titled album when it first came out in 1989. and if you know me, you know that is a HUGE thing for me to say.

it's been one of those kind of gloomy, really introspective, post-big party days for me. while i was getting ready to leave, i set my itunes to snow machine, and it was like i instantly felt a lot better. yeah, there's some retarded shit going on in my life right now, and yeah, and i have to say i am holding together quite well, but i really think it's all going to be ok.

so yeah, snow machine makes me happy. and you should give them a listen too. they might just make you happy.

first off, daemon records is having an amazing holiday sale. go here for more information.

secondly, hunter and katharine of nineteen forty-five, snow machine, and three finger cowboy had their baby and it's a girl! yah for rockrgrrls! from the daemon newsletter:

***New Daemon Family Member!***
Congratulations to Katharine McElroy-Manasco and Hunter Manasco
of Nineteen Forty-Five on the arrival of their new baby! Brownley
Hunter Manasco is a beautiful 6 lbs 14oz little rocker girl who arrived
just a few days ago. Mom and Dad report a considerable lack of sleep
but doing well. How exciting!!

y'all (at least those of you who claim live snow machine sucks) are smoking crack.

i'm listening to a LIVE snow machine boot that i just acquired right now. i think it's awesome. i'm sitting here jamming to it.

i can see why the aray/snow machine pairing was bad, but i am LOVING this live show.

I AM SO SORRY I MISSED THE APRIL (EAST COAST) AMY RAY TOUR!!! i am now dying, even more, to see snow machine live!

here's some very important news about some of my favorite bands. today is katharine mcelroy's (of snow machine, nineteen forty-five, and three finger cowboy) actual due date! the baby rockstar is on its way! in honor of this, y'all should order some nineteen forty-five or snow machine albums. in fact, the snow machine album is on sale at daemon for $9.99! (*wink*) if i hear anything more, i will update y'all.

well, i decided to listen to zekejojo and give three finger cowboy another chance. so when i got home tonight, i located my copy of kissed (the poor disc has been collecting dust for all these years!), popped it in my CD player, and jammed to it.

i do have a new found appreciation for three finger cowboy. it's still a *bit* too poppy for me, and i like katharine mcelroy's work in snow machine MUCH better (and nineteen forty-five, but that goes without saying). but "kissed" is a fun song, and the rest of the album is fairly good.

i'm going to keep it in rotation. it very well could really grow on me. i thought i had hooray for love, but i can't find it. hence it's on my amazon.com wishlish, but with a note next to it instructing anyone to buy it from daemon. (i hope my dad can figure it out!)

anyway, random post-drunk musings on a late saturday night.

i'm posting a lot of articles today. some are backdated, so be sure to check that tag (i posted a few more aray ones from the east coast tour in april) if you want to read them. here are a few more fun ones i found about snow machine. i heart keeping an archive in my LJ!

( knoxville news snow machine fun behind the cut )

and
( cute snow machine review here )

why can't i see/listen to this?

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i'm planning on writing some for nineteen forty-five tomorrow.

but for now...

for some reason, i never reviewd prom (ok, i know why, and i explained it in the review). ( prom review behind the cut )

and i decided that snow machine needed a bit more exposure. ( snow machine* review behind the cut )

yeah, it was late. and my grammar was far from perfect. but you know, gotta get the spike opinion out there.

nineteen forty-five reviews coming soon! (another underrated band that deserves more exposure!)

* no, this was not a lame attempt to show off my new snow machine icon!

ganked from thunderemerald

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your Livejournal along with your seven songs.

1. "world falls ~ indigo girls: i will *always* be into this song. it is really *my* song. i was 13 years old when nomads*indians*saints was released, and i somehow thought that amy 'knew' me when she wrote this one (when i was 13, i did not know aray at all. the only correspondance we had at that point was a letter that she wrote to me (personalized and handwritten!) in response to a letter i sent her for a school assignment ('write to your favorite famous person...') ). anyway, this continues to be my song. the fears of death, the traveling, the taking in the beauty everywhere. *sigh* i LOVE it!

2. "mountains of glory" ~ amy ray: describes my current situation oh-so-well. it's almost scary. but this is one excellent, high energy, almost angry song. it's really how i feel.

3. "birmingham" ~ snow machine: again, some of the lines here really mirror my life at the moment. katherine mcelroy is one fiiiiine songwriter. i also like the mellowness of snow machine in general. so different from nineteen forty-five (who i also adore).

4. "language or the kiss ~ indigo girls: mirrors how i felt on my recent trip to greece. it became my theme song for that trip (not to mention the oh-so-convienent line of "trying to read the greek upon the stars, the alphabet of feeling.")

5. "superior" ~ girlyman: to me, this is a strong anti-war song. and the imagery is almost haunting. i went to school with a lot of people from the lake superior and lake erie region. this one really hits home.

6. "pennies on the track" ~ amy ray: "find my own humanity and just let it breathe..." enough said.

7. "put it out for good" ~ amy ray: no, i don't feel guilty for over 1/2 my songs being aray or IG. sorry. i love love love this one. i think it's just assembled so well. amy and the pep rally kids from birmingham really did an excellent job with it. besides, this one will *always* remind me of the good times in atlanta and birmingham (right cornfusion?). and really, "those aren't your friends talking shit about you!"

finally, some of you know my current situation. no comments here. this entry is so wide-open and public! ;)

this is kind of interesting.

( snow machine interview behind the cut )

note: this is a PUBLIC entry. ;)