Campus Music Invasion

Favorite band on the Campus Music Invasion by far is Early States! I have a CD in my car of all the bands and I pretty much only play E.S. and repeat them over and over (since I only have 2 songs of theirs). Every time my friends ride with me in my car I make them listen and usually then end up loving it too…or I think they do.
I think the 2 songs on the CD are very different from each other which makes me really like them. They have a very different feel but yet you can tell it's the same band, Also, I just love the musical sound in the songs…I can’t even explain how much I love this band!! FAV for sure!

My favorite band regionally would be Pinstripe 45’s. They were also one of the favorite bands when we did the listening party. This is definitely a band that will stay around awhile and will continue to grow in popularity. I actually need to start listening to them more so I can know all their stuff when the blow up...

Where the Wild Things Are...

I just watched the trailer for "Where the Wild Things Are" and am super excited about one of my favorite childhood books being turned into a movie! I think most kids my age loved this book when they were younger and most likely could recite the whole thing. I think this movie is going to appeal to all ages. My parents and grandparents read me the book so they'll want to check it out, and I'll think of an excuse to see it as well, and it's a perfect movie for younger kids to go to as well. One problem I don't see this movie having is people saying it's not like the book. It is a few pages so they can't really go wrong.
I already have the release date (October 16th) written in my planner! I am super excited!...let me know if you want to go...

Some of my favorite songs is movies are as follows:
BEST car chase scene song ever...Season 4, final episode of The OC...Marissa Cooper and Ryan are getting chased by Volchek. The scene is so intense but is a must see, check it on youtube for sure (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKYuUzkPHLA)! Anyway, the song "Hallelujah" by Imogen Heap actually plays right after the crash but still the song evokes so emotion. I even made a friend watch the YouTube vid and she was crying while watching it and she never even watched The OC. I think this is the best "after car crash, I'm dying song" ever...I balled my eyes out when I watched this and actually I still do.
My favorite intimate love scene has to go to Kate Havnevik's song "Grace" in the season finale of Grey's Anatomy (which isn't a movie but whatever). It is an absolutely beautiful song and makes this intimate scene very passionate and desirous.
I loved Barry Louis Polisar's song "All I Want Is You" song for the opening credits for Juno. The whole movie had a different music feel and this song definitely set the tone of the movie. The song was a great promotional tool for all the indie bands out there. After this movie this song/band skyrocketed in sales as well as the rest of the songs in the movie.
Music makes a movie/show/everything!! I mean if 3OH!3's song wasn't the theme song for the show CandyGirls on E! there would be no way I would watch that...but now I am rearranging my schedule to watch this!! I love hearing my favorite songs on shows or movies and think it is a great way to promote new music too. Hello, that's what The OC, Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill blah blah do every time the air. People are figuring out what songs they played and downloading them immediately. I like that MTV now tells you what song they are playing when it is featured on their shows, so smart!
That's all I have for now, keep rockin the free world!
peace love and my new fav band is- Go Radio. I hope their song "Forever my Father" is played on some show. It definitely deserves to be! Oh and I love twitter too!! I am obsessed with it actually! Follow me...

Swim changed my life...

Andrew McMahon from Jack's Mannequin is a lyrical god. His inspiring songs and uplifting words is all it takes for me to go from a bad day to knowing it will all be better... I automatically became hooked on Jack's after his first release of Everything in Transit but it was his second album, The Glass Passenger, that features the song "Swim" that made this the strongest love of all.
Andrew writes his songs as a therapeutic release of his worries, conquests, and energy. The song "Swim" was written about his battle with Leukemia and through the song pulls from his experience. Never once did Andrew blame anyone for his disease he just knew that he was going to beat it, and he did. What amazes me is his extremely positive outlook on life even while being ill. The lyrics such as, "you got to swim for for the music that saves you, when you're not so sure you'll survive," or the chorus "I found a tidal wave begging to tear down the door, memories like bullets they fired at me from a gun, cracking me open...I swim for brighter days despite the absence of sun, I'm choking on salt water I'm not giving in..." all show the positive attitude Andrew posses. This song along with the entire record really allows me to think about my life. I haven't encountered anything half as hard as battling an illness and yet I sometimes just want to give up. But every time "Swim" comes on to my iPod I have to listen, to me, it's just that inspiring song that makes me feel better. Life's hard but it's people like Andrew who write songs like "Swim" that help people make it through. It's really hard to pick a song that changed my life but I know "Swim" is it. The message it gives is to keep going even when life feels like it's too much. To find a song that communicates that entire point, now that's a life changing song.

peace love and check this out...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tnxl7b0t6o and this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogPVW5hvH0o

SXSW

The SXSW Music and Media Conference in Austin, Texas features more than 1,800 musical acts. There are more than 80 stages in downtown Austin featuring acts of little different musical genres. SXSW is in its 23 year and remains essential to the music industry.
My absolute favorite artist performing this year is Meiko! I first heard Meiko last year on a radio station known for featuring new artists during an acoustic part of the show. Meiko is a folk rock/indie/pop musician that reminds me of a "softer" version of Katy Perry. Several of her songs were featured on TV shows such as Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill, The Hills, and Good Morning America. This added to her popularity, making her song "Boys With Girlfriends" move to spot 35 on the iTunes charts and her album the #1 Folk selling album for over a month.
Everyone must check her out because she is so sweet! And don't forget to check her MySpace for upcoming events and shows. You don't want to miss her!!

peace love and "I know better not to be friends with boys with girlfriends..."

Dream Show

Blog Assignment: Pick your dream show line up. 3 bands (opener, mid, headliner), 4 genres (Rock, Hip-Hop, Jazz, and a genre of your choice)... up first, the rock concert…

Rock:
I think having a Classic Rock concert to choose three bands for was quite difficult, I mean I think most of them are quite influential therefore they all should be headliners. Like one giant concert with all of them performing with each other and just rocking out and having a good time. But to go along with the project we’ll narrow it down…so here it is…
Our opener would be Aerosmith. I think I personally fell in love with Aerosmith’s lead singer Steven Tyler when he was featured on the Lizzy McGuire show on the Disney Chanel when I was younger. He can sure belt out those Christmas songs and this is kind of weird but I think he is quite the hottie!
The Rolling Stones is one of my personal favorites! I think you can see the impact these rockers have made just through the style of modern, hip kids today. I mean how many kids are sporting The Rolling Stones gear? The tongue is absolutely legendary (I just bought two Rolling Stone shirts)! Their fame came from changing from a blues group to reinventing itself as a rock band not afraid to experiment with different instruments.
Our headlining band would be none other then the legendary Beatles. We are talking the John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr Beatles, not anyone else! Even if you never went to a Beatles concert, even if you didn’t live at the time of the biggest Beatles craze, even if you think you don’t know who The Beatles are…you probably have hear one of at least one of their songs, if not more!

Hip-hop:
Opening hip-hop artist would be Missy Misdemeanor Elliot. A five-time Grammy winning artist really can’t get much better as an opening band. Missy has so many popular songs that people of a pretty wide age range know. She also has worked with some bomb rappers, like Timbaland...I think he would be making a guest appearance at this concert too.
The mid artist would be the late Tupac Shakur. I honestly don’t listen to Tupac music that often but how sweet would it be to bring him back for this huge hip-hop concert? I think we could have a lot of fans and non-fans across the U.S. showing up for this.
Headliner would be one of my favorite hip-hop rap artists is Snoop D-O-double-G! I saw him this summer at a concert and my excitement was beyond belief. He wore this ridiculous denim onesie. Like just disgusting…but no one cared because it was Snoop. You almost thought it was a cool outfit, I said ALMOST, just because he was reppin’ it. Snoop’s voice and style is very different from most artists in this genre. Never yelling but always carrying a smooth flow from line to line. And he has mixed beats with some of the greatest artists ever…I could talk about my boy Snoop forever…

Jazz
Creating a jazz concert was quite difficult for both Nicole and myself but I think we figure it out. We would have the opening band be Waterloo West Jazz, a band from Waterloo, Iowa. They are a group of jazz musicians that are local to our area. They even have a song called “Omaha,” check it out!
The mid we picked was Lalah Hathaway, a modern R&B Jazz singer. She was a featured artist for the Omaha Jazz festival. I personal prefer singing with jazz music and her soothing voice definitely adds to her sound.
The headliner would be Miles Davis. We picked Mr. Davis’s smooth beats because he is named one of the most influential artists of the 20 century. He is known for his less-is-more playing style. Much of this style is added to modern jazz and many artists credit him for their style. Waterloo West Jazz even credits him to their group’s influence.

Other:
Our last concert would be bands of famous pop females. We think this concert would really be all about the girl power (maybe the Spice Girls can drop by) and the love of the music.
First at our kick butt concert would be Christina Aguilera. When we were old enough to start realizing we didn’t necessarily like all the bands our parents did one of our first favorites was Christina Aguilera. She has definitely transformed as an artist and we have loved every step of the way. But for this concert we pick Christina after the “dirty” album but not completely nixing it.
Our next artist would be the ever popular Cher (there’s no Sunny here)! Her very different sound (a little like a man’s voice) and style (sometimes you just wonder where she gets these outfits) just makes you want to like her. I mean, I totally “Believe there’s life after love…”
And our finale would conclude with one of the most popular singers for not just the past few years but decades, introducing…Madonna. We want Madonna to perform songs from every stage in her career; she was amazing no matter when it was. I don’t even know if we need to explain this further other than this concert would be unbelievable!

So that’s our concert picks. We hope you all would want to rock our at our bomb concerts!!

Peace love and Girl Power!!

BIRTHDAY!

YEAAAA!! A long awaited birthday...I'm finally 21!!! WHOO WHOO! Yesterday (Feb. 3rd) was my 21st birthday which equals the greatest day ever. I went out at midnight on Tuesday morning to Homy Inn. It was fun to go out with a few friends and just act like an adult. On my birthday my 8 am class was canceled...how sweet is that? Later that night I went to a concert...again so sweet. I wouldn't want a birthday party any other place in the entire world. I went with a few friends to the Automatic Loveletter (obsessed with them for sure), Friday Night Boys, and A Cursive Memory concert. It was a blast! I met Juliet, the lead singer for Automatic, and she sang Happy Birthday to me. I then proceeded to get on stage and hug EVERY member of her band. It rocked. I meet all the bands after and it was a seriously the best birthday ever. I made so many new friends and honestly wouldn't want to celebrate any other way. If you want some more details of the night let me know...I have some real funny stories! Like about the guy that wanted to put me in his pocket!

Peace love and birthdays are the best...especially your 21st!!

A Rocket To The Moon

My new favorite album in the past couple months would definitely be Greetings from... by A Rocket To The Moon. The album hit my iPod and hasn't stopped blasting out of my iHome and iTrip (which by the way might be the best invention EVER!). Their sound is classified as American Pop/Alternative Pop but each person has their own exact definition of how they would classify this music. I first heard of A Rocket when they went on tour this fall with Cute Is What We Aim For. My first impression was hearing them live at the concert and they have had my heart ever since.

The album isn't crazy dance music you hear in the club or the kind that makes you want to try a new dance move you saw in some hip hop video but is the kind of music that makes you reminisce about the past. They just seem to totally captivate how every boy or girl feels growing up. Like when we all feel unsure about life especially when we are crushing on some hottie. The vocals by Nick Santino are calming and give you a sense of reassurance. It makes you feel like someone out there knows how you feel and might be feeling the same way. What's even better about the vocals is that they are in a range most of us non-singers can actually sing too.

Caution: When driving please BE CAREFUL! The beats make you tap your fingers on the steering wheel and it's highly possible to get lost in the guitar parts throughout the songs. I have to remind myself to open my eyes, stop swaying my head around and actually focus on the road. The lyrics are super catchy and lines get stuck in your head but not to the point of annoyance. It's like they pop in your head when it pertains to a situation your in...it's kind of crazy how it works actually.

Like I said the songs relate to this pivotal point in life when you are trying to figure out who you are and what you want to do in life. Life is actually getting hard, I'm growing up and I have responsibilities, I actually have to act like an adult but A Rocket lets me think of how my life use to be "take me back to the person I use to be...OMG how ridiculous were we." The album definitely makes me drum along and sing like...well, like I'm actually a good singer. The lyrics make you think about your life and past experiences, stories of people you had crushes on, or just crazy times you had with your friends that summer when you had nothing to worry about yet. If I didn't sell you already check them out for yourself... http://www.purevolume.com/arockettothemoon

And if you're in the Omaha area they are coming with 3OH!3, The Maine, Family Force 5, and Hit The Lights on April 9 so you should come!! Even if you're not in the area you should come, it's worth it. Hit me up if you want to go.

peace love and download Fear of Flying!!