so pick your risk and take it...

i know that i'm a terrible blogger. i really do.

this is actually the second or third time i've tried to write for you...so i haven't forgotten you completely...i have high hopes for this one actually emerging completed since i've got two songs to share (if i had even one drink in me, i'm pretty sure this would be the spot for a tangent about what happens to a blog deferred...alas: soberness.)





Katie Dill. The Body's Only Rental.

Oh God. i love little girls w/ukeleles more than anything...even cinnamon rolls...and i will continue to feel that way until the song ends.
it's karmic and lovely and wiser than it lets on.
two of the last four weddings i have attended have been luau themed. i think the IZ version of somewhere over the rainbow has played at three of the four. as a result, hawaiin music sounds like love to me at this point.
how could this song possibly come from newark?
more importantly, how are you going to use your gentle today?





Elliott Smith. Place Pigalle. Lyrics.

i straight up ripped off this idea for a post from one of the most successful indie music blogs on the net, and one of my favorites: I Guess I'm Floating. go there and read what he has to say about everything. i played the song and decided that you all needed it in your lives.

elliott likely needs no introduction. he shouldn't.

he is famous for tragedy and for beauty...unfortunately not in equal parts.

if john lennon had died ten years earlier, i would have insisted that he and smith shared a soul, and that we should watch for another genius coming our way in 13 or so years. alas, a tired comparison is all we get.

for those of you who are already smith fans, this song was intended for figure 8. in fact, the album was originally to be called "Place Pigalle" [for further trivia...it should be noted that the title track, "Figure 8", a school-house rock song, didn't make the album either, but was included on a single instead.] at least we can eternally be thankful that elliott never seemed to have gone a day w/o recording a wonderful b-side for us to find years later. it must be disheartening to some that smith might be the best act out there, posthumously. this must be how rappers feel about tupac.

if anyone is interested in more of his b-sides, let me know...i'd be happy to post links.



thanks for stopping by folks. i'll try to update more often, but no promises.

"It's just that a lot of songs that are popular right now, they don't have any meaning." (6-21-07)

i'm sleepy, but i wanted to share this link before it dies.




Elliott Smith.   XO.

Sweet Adaline
Tomorrow Tomorrow
Waltz #2 (XO)
Baby Britain
Pitseleh
Independence Day
Bled White
Waltz #1
Amity
Oh Well, Okay
Bottle up and Explode!
A Question Mark
Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands
I Didn't Understand

At the very least get Waltz #2 (XO), Pitseleh, and I Didn't Understand. for your own sake, do it.


this is my favorite album from one of my favorite artists. why do i need to say more?
how 'bout a tiny bit more: a gifted melodist, an unreal lyricist, and musician proficient in many instruments, elliott smith was one of the saddest people on the western seaboard. the tid-bit that many people know about him is that he committed suicide by stabbing himself in the heart. another popular bit of knowledge is that he owes some of his commercial fame to multiple soundtracks, including "good will hunting" for which he was nominated for an academy award.





in my eyes, he is the next best thing to john lennon. in fact, he often covered beatles songs. i believe i included one such cover, that of 'beacause', in an earlier post.





luckily, he was prolific during his too short life, and left us piles of beautiful, gut-wrenching rock. seriously, if you are easily depressed, steer clear of smith. he does sad and lonely like nobody's business.




as for me, i'm playing soccer, exercising (i can actually run w/o stopping for quite some time!!) and hating the unemployment i was so looking forward to. video games and single friends make days off fly by...without either, they crawl.
i took the cbest, meaning i am one step closer to teaching. i am far from worried, but i don't get to see my results until the ninth of next month, which is a crazy-long time.
i have been listening to almost 100% rap and hip-hop. i'll try to post some of that for you. when i'm this bored, you should really get more posts out of me.
if you write me more, i  promise to post more. it is just hard to get stoked about myspace when i only really get messages from a couple people anymore. yes, i'm aware that messages are a reciprocal thing.