My Pic with Frank Turner!!!

Sweet!  Got it!  Please excuse the fat nerd on the left, and focus your attention on the hottie on the right.

The Frank Turner Experience

Finally!  A chance to post about the Frank Turner show!  Where do I begin?

The fun started when I got there.  It was beyond great to be able to hang out with a couple of my Muser buddies!  I'm usually socially awkward, but as was true on the day of the Muse concert in Raleigh, it was so easy to talk to and have fun with these guys.  I think that only stands to prove that music is indeed something intensely personal.  When you have so much in common with a person musically, chances are you're gonna get along just fine.  It's been well over a year since the Raleigh concert, and everyone is still in touch, going to shows together, having fun.  I love the Muser camaraderie!  Anyway, I've veered off course here.  Back to St. Louis!

The whole day was fun.  We drove around the city for a bit, grabbed a bite, then about...I dunno, 2:30ish?  3? We parked at the venue.  The show didn't start until 9.  We were the only ones there until about 7:30ish.  Needless to say, our place in the front row was safely secured.  The venue was tiny.  We had a small venue in Knoxville that I frequented.  However, this place was about half the size of The Valarium.  There was absolutely no space between the crowd and the stage.  I've never been to a show that was so up close and personal.

The opening act was Cory Chisel.  I had never heard of him before, but I really liked his sound.  It was a little bit country, which is a genre that I usually steer clear of, but his sound seemed to have just the right mix of other elements that I easily took it in.  I had hoped to buy an album or EP or anything there, but he didn't have any merch available. :(  I've looked him up on iTunes and facebook though, and nabbed a couple of songs.  I might have to keep an eye out for this boy.  Oh, and here he is (this was taken with the crappy camera on my phone):

He's kinda cute, eh?

And now, on to Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls.  This will be difficult to write about.  I'm not sure how to put it into words.  He opened with "Eulogy," and although it was a song that I wasn't familiar with, I knew from the very first note that this concert would be amazing.  I was right.  Song after song, I fell more and more in love.  There wasn't a single song that he played that I so much as thought, "Eh, that was okay."  Instead, every song brought this to mind: "Whoa!  What's the name of this?  What cd is this from?  I want this song!!"  Every single song was like that.  As I said before, the venue was very small.  It was still packed with people though, and from the sound of things, every single one of them was a Frank Turner fan.  The energy was intense.  Frank and the SS were lively, flying about the stage, hurling energy at the crowd, who absorbed it and sent it right back to the stage, screaming every word to every song.  I felt a little like a fish out of water, seeing as how I was in the front row and only had three songs in my FT arsenal, but honestly, I was having too much fun to care.  I jumped, I yelled, I clapped.  I sang along when I could.  Between songs, he would banter with the crowd.  He's a very funny fellow.  I enjoyed his ramblings almost as much as the music.  Oh, and on a random note, he ended the main setlist with a cover of Queen's "Somebody to Love."  It was such a perfect show.

I had intended on buying a shirt and my very first Frank Turner album after the show, but considering the fact that said show utterly blew my mind, I decided that I needed two albums to get me started.  So, I picked up Love Ire & Song and England Keep My Bones.  I most definitely plan on getting all of them though.  We waited for the crowd around the merch table to die down, then we went to buy our goodies.  As we were wrapping up there, the man himself came out for a meet and greet at the bar.  Though just one month ago, I had never heard of him, I felt a little jittery, and not just because he is an incredibly handsome man.  Don't believe me?

Ok, so it's hard to tell in this pic, but he's hot as hell.

As we waited in line to see him, I felt more and more nervous (partially because I made a complete dork of myself when I met the Sick Puppies...).  In that hour and a half (or two hours?  Who could possibly keep up with time when surrounded by so much awesomeness?), something happened to me.  I became a proper Frank Turner fan.  I'll go into more detail on that shortly, but for now, I'll just say that this fact was giving me fangirl butterflies (I searched my mind for a more elegant term, but I'm not sure that one exists.  Fangirls are fangirls).  I think I managed to avoid embarrassing myself too badly.  As he signed my newly purchased CD, I told him about how I'd bought the ticket before ever hearing a single note, and about how the performance that night had completely won me over (actually, I'm pretty sure I said "I'm completely fucking won over."  Classy Kim was classy.).  He was very nice.  He thanked me for coming out and giving them a try.  Even though I had just watched him take a picture with several other fans, I meekly asked if he'd mind taking one with me, as though I expected him to say, "You only just heard of me!  You're not a real fan, so fuck off!"  Of course, he could say anything to me in that delicious British accent, and I would totally eat it up.  Haha, but he's a nice guy.  He took one with me. :)  Since my camera is in dire need of a new battery, I didn't even bother to take it with me.  M took one with her camera though (yay!!).  She and C followed Frank to three more shows, and that road trip is still ongoing, so she hasn't been home to upload it.  I'll slip a tiny little post in so I can proudly display it later. :D

The whole trip was a success.  I absolutely loved being there with M and C.  They're such amazing people.  The show was fantastic, especially with it being the first show I've been to in over a year.  I'm so jealous that M and C get to experience it three more times!  Good for them, though.  :)

Now, allow me to blurb about my newfound "fandom" of Frank Turner.  I can't remember the last time I felt like this.  Okay, maybe I can.  I remember when I thought, "I still love Neon Ballroom.  I wonder what Silverchair's been up to since then?"  I felt this then as I fell head first into their catalog and was simply overwhelmed by how it touched me.  I felt this way when I finally decided to buy Muse's Absolution, and then developed a hunger that saw me devour each album bit by bit.  I felt this way when I decided to brush up on some of the Smashing Pumpkins that I had missed while preparing for their gig.  It's not easy for me to feel like this.  I listen to a lot of music, and there are plenty of albums and songs that hook me, but this feeling is truly rare.  Even though I'm only just starting out, I feel like FT could leap into my Top 5, blowing many other acts out of the water.  I'm sure I'll keep you posted on my progress.  So far, I've listened to nothing but England Keep My Bones and Love Ire & Song nonstop.  Each time, I feel like I discover something else about them.  I want to devour these albums whole.  Then, I'm sure I'll move on and snatch up another FT album.  I love this feeling.  I can't thank my friends enough for introducing me to him.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to listen to "Long Live the Queen" again.

Here's a quick pic of my autograph.

When he gave it back to me, my thumb smudged the ink.  Oops.

Why am I so weird?

Why do I obsess over my play counts on iTunes?  It's stupid.  It's not stupid that you can display, it's just stupid that I bother so much with them.  Do they really matter?  No.  They're not even all that accurate.  All those times that I play songs over and over again in my truck?  That's on a CD, so that doesn't count.  Or what about those years before I had iTunes and used Rhapsody?  If there was some way to get an accurate count of how many times I've listened to my favorite song of all time, it would probably be in the hundreds.  So why does it matter that another song that I also love is overtaking its title as "Most Played" on my iTunes.

IT DOESN'T MATTER, KIM.  Man, I'm weird...

I'm always worried that someone is going to go through my Top 25 Most Played in my iTunes library and make some sort of assumptions about me.  What kind of assumptions?  I dunno.  Just assumptions.  FALSE assumptions.  I have no idea what kind of false assumptions can be made from my Most Played list.  There's nothing "embarrassing" on there.  This is why Kim is a freak (well, one of the reasons, anyway).

I'm still working on the next installment of the Facebook Experiment.  BTW, I'm not liking the title "Facebook Experiment."  What's so experimental about it?  I'm not testing anything out.  Maybe "project" would be a better word.  Nah, I don't like that either.  Anywho, apparently no one on my friends list is passionate enough about The Airborne Toxic Event to know many songs by them.  That, or the ones that are just haven't seen the post.  I suppose there is always the possibility that no one gives a shit, but I've found that with music lovers, they're always very eager to spread the word, so I don't think that's really the case.  I may have to investigate TATE on my own.

That doesn't mean that I haven't digested any new music lately.  I tracked down two more songs just last night. I am thoroughly enjoying them.  First is "Burn It Down" by AWOLNATION.  I only knew one song by him, and that's "Sail," which I consider to be one of the sexiest songs ever written.  Musically, not lyrically, mind you.  The second is "Jeremiah" by Italian Japanese.  That's another band that I previously only knew one song by.  I really like it.  I like how it steadily adds layers on.  I tend to like songs like that (see TATE's "Sometime Around Midnight" and Hoobastank's "First of Me").

Which song shall I share tonight?  I suppose I'll opt for "Burn It Down."

Facebook Experiment #2: She & Him

I sent out yet another request to Facebook:  suggest songs by She & Him.  The response?  "I don't think you can go wrong with whatever you choose."  Ok.  And off to wikipedia, I go!

Hmm... Let's see here (you have to say that line a la Beavis (sorry, I'm not well-versed on how to type letters with accent marks).  

Search "She and Him."

Click on "Discography."  

Skim through "Singles."

Not a long list to choose from, but I went with the following three songs:

1) "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"

2) "In the Sun"

3) "Thieves"

I listened to all three of them with my full attention.  My verdict?  Not something that I want to run out and download.  So, I didn't.  It's not that I didn't like them.  They just didn't...click, ya know?  I love Zooey's voice.    The songs were generally very upbeat, which I usually love.  I can't really describe why they didn't do it for me.  Maybe they require more listenings.  Maybe they need to grow on me.  Maybe I'm just not meant to get into it. I say that I gave them a fair chance.  Of course, if anyone cares to suggest other songs by them to try, I will be more than happy to.  

So my adventures with She & Him didn't pan out.  That's okay.  I still managed to snag a new song since the last post.  It came up in conversation, I listened to it, and I really liked it.  It is now tucked away in my iTunes library. 

Here's "Afraid" by Bad Veins.

Facebook Experiment #1

As you know from my endless complaining, my current residence suffers from a severe limitation of the interwebs.  I miss free use of the interwebs.  :(

I used to be in-the-know when it came to music.  Now, I'm missing out on all the current happenings.  So, to help myself out, I thought I would narrow down my search a little bit and take advantage of the social network to expose myself (heh) to more music.  Hence, I posted a status on facebook enlisting the help of my friends.  I've heard so much about Matt and Kim, but I haven't ever actually heard their music.  I had a few recommendations tossed my way, and here are the results!

Six songs were suggested:
"Cameras"
"Yea Yeah"
"Daylight"
"Good Ol' Fashioned Nightmare"
"Block After Block"
"I'm a Goner"

It took me a few days, given my internet suckage, but I have listened to them all.  I didn't dislike a single one of them, but the stand-out favorites for me were "Cameras," "Daylight," and "I'm a Goner."  Loved them!  I immediately hopped onto iTunes and used what's left of my gift certificate to download them.  Well, I couldn't download "I'm a Goner."  Why the hell is that one not on iTunes?  Boo!  Randomly, I drained the last of my iTunes credit on Bjork... ("Army of Me" and "It's Oh So Quiet")

I wasn't in love with Matt's voice right away, but it quickly grew on me.  I loved how upbeat every one of those songs were.  It reminds me of my recent new experiences with Frank Turner.  They're the kind of songs put you in a good mood, no matter what your mental state is.  I'm going to go ahead and add that I loved their music videos. :D  I bet their live shows are great.

I say that this first round was a success!  I have discovered a new group, and while I only have a taste, that's all it takes to get you started.  I think I know who my next query will pertain to, but I'll save that for later. :)

Thank you for the help, my friends!!