BIG NEWS, PEEPS!!

Oh dear, oh dear.  So many updates and so little time!  Ok, there are four topics to cover, so let's dive right in.

#1:  Upcoming blog idea!  A friend of mine made a suggestion for a post, and I've been stewing on it.  Not stewing on it as in, "should I do this," but stewing on it as in, "how do I choose?"  She suggested a post about movie soundtracks.  I haven't sat down to really plan it out, but I have a basic outline in my head.  So in the future, it shall happen!  Do I think waaaaay too much about this stuff?  YES!! I do.  'Cause it's fun.  :D

#2:  Frank, Frank, FRANK!!!  I haven't updated you since February!  I've listened to Love, Ire, & Song and England Keep My Bones so many times!  I bloody love them!  I still haven't bought any other albums.  It's on my To Do list.  My absolute favorite FT song so far is "I Am Disappeared."  It's so beautiful I could cry.  I don't understand every lyric he sings, but the overall meaning and feel of the song fills me with so much emotion.  "I keep having dreams..."  Frank Turner is someone you listen to with your entire soul.  I wonder which album I should pick up next?

#3:  I did randomly buy a new album in the past few weeks.  It probably should have been a Frank album, but it ended up being AWOLNATION's Megalithic Symphony.  I don't regret it at all!  I love it!  It was an impulse buy.  I was in the local media store to get a new book and I thought, "I haven't bought an album in way too long.  I think I'll pick one up."  I'm not entirely sure why I just knew it needed to be AWOLNATION.  Probably because I had been listening to a mix that contained "Burn It Down."  There's not a single song on it that I dislike, and several that I love.  If I have to pick an absolute favorite, I suppose it would be "Guilty Filthy Soul."  I think I'll embed it here so you can listen to it if you're so inclined.  If you've never heard of them, then how do I describe their sound?  Very electronic.  Maybe an indie pop sound.  Most of the songs have an impossibly infectious dance beat, but none of them sound quite like anything "conventional" that you would find on the Hot 100.  Not that I would really say that they're "unconventional."  After all, in case you haven't noticed these days, indie is in.  Audiences these days are more open to new sounds that previously would never have found their way anywhere near the Billboard charts (and it was precisely there that I found AWOLNATION in the first place with their first single "Sail").  But the evolution of the mainstream audience is a blog for another day (which I'll probably lazy out of doing).

#4:  The biggest news of all.... I'M GOING TO MY FIRST FRIGGIN' MUSIC FESTIVAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is a monumental occasion in any avid concert goers life.  Plus, as I'm sure you know, I've been suffering from a severe lack of live music in my life lately.  I'm sorry, but I know I whine about it in just about every post.  So with that, this is an especially welcome event.  When a friend first brought it up, it sounded great, but I immediately dismissed it as "there's just no way."  We're short-handed at work, so it would be hard to cover me being gone a weekend.  I just shoved it from my mind.  I've gotten my hopes up too many times about shows since I moved here.  But then a couple of weeks later, a different friend brought it up, and I still was hesitant to look too much into it.  Then...I was looking at a calendar, and it struck me that...OMG I haven't told you WHICH friggin' music festival I'm going to!  Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis as part of Memphis in May.  Anywho, looking at the calendar, I noticed that that weekend happens to coincide with my weekend off.  All I would have to do is get that Friday off too, and I'd be set, and I wouldn't have to worry about rearranging anyone else's schedule!  That was when I felt that little monster called "Hope" come clawing out of me.  It has a great lineup, is totally affordable, and Memphis is only about an hour and a half away (maybe a little more to get downtown).  Tickets bought.  Hospitality arranged.  HOLY SHIT, THIS IS HAPPENING!!

And then it happened.  There is a word for "it:"

snafu - [SNAF-oo] n.  1.  a badly confused or ridiculously muddled situation.  (Definition taken from dictionary.com)

BealeFest is May 4th, 5th, and 6th.  The entire time that I was planning this trip, it never once dawned on me that I already had something booked for May 5th... only my best friend's wedding.  Wait, stop right there!  I swear, I'm a pretty good friend!  I'm just bad with dates!  It hit me out of the blue today that both of these important events coincide.  My first instinct was to panic.  But I stopped, took a deep breath, and laid it out.  This is not a disaster.  The wedding is one day.  The festival is three.  Memphis isn't that far.  I'll just make two trips.  I'll go down for the 4th, drive back here afterwards, do the wedding thing on the 5th, drive back (I can't remember what time the wedding is, so who knows, I might even make it back in time to catch a few acts), then I'll have all day on the 6th.  The worst case scenario is I miss all of the second day.  I still get two days of music, and not miss the wedding.  It means making two trips, but come ON!  This is my first festival!

Ever since I bought the 3-Day pass, I've been finding myself staring off into space, imagining how bloody perfect this is gonna be.  And I'm not going alone!  The second friend who brought it up is going with a group of his friends, and I'm gonna play the part of the awkward tagalong.  I know that when going in a group, I'll have to compromise.  I might not get to see every band I want to, but that's totally cool.  There's no way I'm NOT gonna enjoy myself.  Plus, I think my friend shares two of my main draws (Evanescence and Coheed & Cambria), so I won't miss my only "can't miss" bands.  Even if something happens and the group doesn't go to them, I'll wander off on my own.  If you've read my post-gig blaggles, then you know that I don't mind being alone at a show.  Damn...this is gonna be awesome.  Can you feel the awesomeness.  Feel it!  FEEL IT!!!

Here's a quick look at the line-up:  Breathe Carolina, Lupe Fiasco, Girl Talk, Needtobreathe, Florence + the Machine, My Morning Jacket, Three 6 Mafia, Megadeth, Evanescence, Black Lips, Jane's Addiction, Cold War Kids, Pitbull, The Civil Wars, Black Stone Cherry (the only band in the lineup that I've seen before), Coheed & Cambira, Bush, Michael Franti & the Spearheads, Alison Krauss & Union Station, and Primus.

Of course, there are tons of others, but those are the ones that have caught my eye.  There are some time conflictions that mean I definitely can't see them all.  The biggest timefuck?  Friday night.  Headlining the three stages at the same tiem:  Girl Talk, My Morning Jacket, and Evanescence.  WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN? Alas, I won't be able to forgive myself if I miss Evanescence, so...well, that's just the way the cookie crumbles.  But still, good times shall be had!  The only ones that I may miss on the second day are Black Lips, Cold War Kids, and Jane's Addiction.  Disappointing, but not a tragedy.

As promised, here's "Guilty Filthy Soul."