So I have some news. Big news. I mean really really big news. Lifechangingly big news. I….
GOT A JOB IN FRANCE!!!
Sorry for the all-caps but that is my excitement level. Especially because I didn’t just get a job anywhere, but in PARIS.
Remember all the love?
I am so thrilled that I’ll have the chance to go back to one of my favorite cities next year. Feeling so very very lucky. I’ll be teaching English, and apparently we have significant time off which will mean LOTS of time to find adventures and type them up for you. I’m so very excited to embark on this experience and share it with you. Not to mention this blog will be so much better. Small town Minnesota has not proved to be the most inspiring travel blogging environment for me.
I love you Minnesota but there are only so many pictures of snow worth sharing…
So that’s the new big thing in my life. Although I do like to keep busy, as you all know well. I’ve posted several more times in the Local Current blog…which has been exciting and fun for me…if not a little bit terrifying. I also got to go up to their offices a few weeks ago for a “training day”. It was amazing. First of all — prettiest workspace ever. I can has job please? (I would share pictures but I thought that taking them during the tour would be weird and creepy…people trying to work, and all.) Anyways the day was absolutely wonderful. I met my editor—who is the best person in the world. I know…I’m crazy lucky to have such a great/loveable editor. I also met a lot of the really amazing staff and directors of the station, including Barb Abney (!) who is totally my favorite dj. Oh, and I met lots of other super cool young music journalists, who make my writing attempts look amateur and who are totally going to run the world someday. I also met Jim DeRogatis…and got to hear people drop all of the “Almost Famous” references. It was beautiful.
Otherwise, not much else to report, other than the fact that I am well aware of the incredible dip in blogging lately. I feel confident, however, that next year will be much better for my online presence. The absence of obligatory 15 page research papers is BOUND to leave more time and energy for internet word vomiting.
In the meantime, what’s up with you? If you’re still around? I feel like it’s been so long that you all will have flown the coop by now. But if you didn’t, leave a comment and tell me about the new things in your life! You all are so cool!
So, confession, I’ve been holding out on you guys.
I recently received some really excellent, wonderful news. News that has made me very happy and very busy lately. But I didn’t want to mention it until it was a thing. Two days ago, it became a thing. And I’d like to share it with you.
A while ago I conducted an informational interview with an employee at Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current — a great station based out of the Cities that broadcasts MPR/NPR and plays really spectacular music. I love this station so much and listen to it all the time, so it was really cool to talk with one of its employees about his experience working there (you can check out his website here).
I stayed in touch with him after, and he proved to be a great friend, recommending me as a contributor for The Current’s new Local Current blog. They have recruited a number of local college students to write for them, establishing a great mentorship program and giving us a really exciting way to be involved with the local music scene. You cannot believe how happy I was to get this opportunity, and today I can say that I have finally published my first article on the website! You can read it here.
I really liked the way it turned out and I have LOVED writing for these guys. My editor/supervisor is great — we were totally on the same page and I had a great time working for him. I can’t wait to write some more pieces for their blog and will be sure to let you guys know if/when other posts are up.
So many of you are fellow bloggers/writers, so I know that you understand how exciting this moment has been for me. Even though it is a small article on a blog, it’s really great to even have the opportunity to write about something I love for people I love. I feel very lucky.
Wishing you all a very happy New Years wherever you may be! And thanks for all the support you’ve given me over the last year. I hope you know how much it has meant to me (more than a baluga whale).
Let’s talk about something cool. And when I say cool I mean totally awesome. As in, cannot-handle-the-excitement. Also something Minnesotan — which already makes it awesome. Have I told you all how much I love that state? I love that state…it’s actually the best. Lovely people, great healthcare, all that money for the arts, all the pretty architecture and the beautiful landscapes — prairies stretching as far as the eye can see, deep blue lakes and rolling green hills. Yep. Pretty wonderful.
But let’s not get too into Minnesota — that’s another post waiting to be written. Let’s talk about something that happens in Minnesota — Minneapolis to be specific. Let’s talk about hip hop.
Did you know that Minneapolis has a great underground hip hop scene? Because I totally didn’t. Surprise! Surprise number 2: I actually like hip hop. I really do. It started with a love of Black Eyed Peas — not the “Boom Boom Pow” B.E.P.s of today, but the great, Elephunk and Monkey Business B.E.P.s. Before everyone wanted to have will.i.am was starring in super hero movies. I think what I loved most about them was their beats — really fun, fantastic beats that can keep me dancing from dawn till dusk. It was just so much fun. And impossible not to move to. But I didn’t like a lot of the misogyny I heard from other popular artists, so I stuck to the B.E.P.s and kept grooving to my other jams.
Minneapolis has rekindled my love of hip hop. Somewhere I missed the memos pointing me to the really great stuff, but then I discovered Rhymesayers — an independent hip hop label that produces the work of contemporary artists. Great, innovative musicians with interesting sounds and really extraordinary lyrics. This was when I realized that I truly loved hip hop, and here I found not only interesting sounds but powerful words. The work of most of these artists isn’t just acoustically exceptional — they are poets writing about love, justice, contemporary culture, social rights issues, everything under the sun. I couldn’t stop listening to their words, drinking up everything they spoke, and eventually learning to recite it with them. (It has been all I can do to keep myself from rapping as I walk down the street. Because we all know that that would look weird.)
At the pinnacle of the Minneapolis hip hop family is a collective called Doomtree.
Looking like badasses.
They are awesome. I say this with the full force of “awesome”, as in “they are awe-inspiring”. I love their sound and their writing is brilliant — thought provoking and evocative.
Maybe somewhat silly badasses…
Okay…totally silly. But still badasses.
Doomtree is a collective and an independent record label made up of 7 gifted artists who teamed up together after high school to make collaborative albums and promote/produce each others’ works. The result? Really amazing and innovative music. What’s exceptional about Doomtree is that each member can stand alone as a great artist. Together, they are a force of nature.
Last year, I was lucky enough to see them at our spring concert. This was where I learned that they not only sound great, but the are also amazing performers. It was an awesome show and sparked a huge obsession with them. I literally listened to them all summer long and I still revisit their albums every few weeks. I don’t even want to think about how many hours I’ve devoted to them. Suffice to say I know a lot of their songs by heart.
Awesomeness at the spring concert. SiMs in front (if you’re curious).
I have also explored a lot of their solo works and I have to say — they’re all pretty incredible. Each artist has a really different sound, each worth checking out. I definitely have different moods which dictate the ones I prefer listening to, but I’m always game for producer Paper Tiger’s tracks and Cecil Otter totally has my heart on a string. And Dessa…oh Dessa…she’s just irresistably and irrevocably cool. Oh hell, they’re all great!
Dessa and Cecil Otter being cool at spring concert.
Anyway, Doomtree happens to do this really amazing thing every year they call a “Blowout” — a weekend (or sometimes a full week) of their shows at First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. These shows are supposed to be remarkable, not only because the crew is so good, but also because they are always packed with excited Minnesotan fans.
Sadly, I am in Indiana, and I will not be able to attend the blowout this year, but I will certainly be there in spirit, and I have vowed to do my best to go in the not-too-distant future. If you are in the area, you should definitely check this event out. It’s sure to be a knockout. If not, however, be sure to check out their website for information on future shows, merch, blogs, AND access to the (somewhat) recently-filmed documentary about them — Team the Best Team. All great stuff. You won’t regret any of it.
P.S. if you want to watch the documentary with others (like me!) you should totally check THIS out:
As you all know, I love live music, and I got really lucky last spring when it came to live music. (I’m hoping to recreate the experience somewhat this term, but we’ll see what happens…)
Undeniably one of the most enjoyable experiences I had last spring was with Alex Brown Church and his band, Sea Wolf. I met Alex for the first time in April. He was touring with Josh Ritter and I chatted with him for a while before darting backstage to chat with Ritter and his crew. I was impressed with ABC’s set, and enjoyed talking to him (though I worried that he wasn’t so thrilled about talking to me), so I hurried home and started spotifying all of his albums. When I found out he’d be coming back to the Cities for his own tour, celebrating the release of his most recent album, Old World Romance, c’mon…you know exactly what I did.
Seeing Sea Wolf lived proved to be much more challenging than I had anticipated. My friend and I were all set to borrow a car, when its owner sort of…flaked on me. Granted, it wasn’t really his fault. The car needed to go into the shop and he had no control over when he got it back by, but it was still frustrating. Commence desperate head-scratching, trying to figure out how to get to Minneapolis on a school night.
Luckily a friend of a friend was going up to see a different concert that night, so we managed to tag along. We were, unfortunately, a few minutes late to the venue, but we still managed to grab a great spot by the stage and see most of ABC’s performance.
I can say with absolute certainty that after seeing him perform a solo acoustic set, watching him play with a full band was incredible. Sea Wolf’s music incorporates many interesting melodic layers and has a rich sound that skillfully balances acoustic (and unusual) instruments with more standard electric equipment. The solo acoustic set was good. The full band version was amazing. The sonic tapestry he wove was lovely and I was soon dancing and singing along to all the songs I knew. Great live show.
Afterwards we hung around for a while…as I do. This time it was a little more justified, however, as our ride wasn’t scheduled to pick us up for another couple of hours. You guys, I saw Alex and he remembered me! He smiled and looked genuinely pleased that I came! And then he let me pick his brain about his songwriting technique and how he got into the music industry.
Some snippets from our conversation:
ABC typically works up the melodies and frameworks for his songs, but then collaborates and allows the musicians he works with to do some of their own stuff in the pieces, giving them a more organic and collaborative nature. He wrote this way for both his first, and his most recent album.
ABC loves Jack London. Hence the name, Sea Wolf.
ABC was a film major at NYU before he got into music. He was also in another band, but left them because his songs didn’t quite mesh with their sound as well. The dude is crazy creative though.
What a chill dude. He was so laid-back that he even let us hang out and wait for our friends with the band.
Here is a shot of people tearing things down as Julia and I watched over their luggage.
And here’s a bunch of their stuff waiting to be loaded into the trailer…
You wish you were Sea Wolf’s luggage-watcher.
I chatted for a long time with Joey (his drummer) and Scott (his guitarist). Both very nice guys. Poor dears had to wake up at 6am to get to Chicago on time, but they still shared their red wine and interesting conversation. Both are very witty, and I laughed a lot that night.
Sea Wolf is not currently touring, but you should definitely go check out his website and keep an eye out for updates. Something tells me he might hit the road sometime next year.
In the meantime, enjoy your weeks. I wish you sunny, blissful days of wandering under the autumn leaves!
If you can’t tell from previous posts, I have gotten the live music bug. This spring I saw 5 different concerts, 3 of which were in the Cities and all of which were amazing. The atmosphere at these shows, the process of leaving campus to go and bask in someone else’s musical talent makes me extremely happy. It’s like traveling, but cheaper.
One of my favorite shows this spring was J.D. McPherson. For those of you who don’t know his stuff, he is definitely worth checking out. He reminds me a lot of Brian Seltzer orchestra and his music captures a retro, rockabilly quality that you don’t often hear in today’s artists. His guitar playing is wonderful, and his singing is soulful, moving from gentle crooning to punchy and powerful lines throughout the record. His band is equally impressive and features keyboard, sax, hopping drums and a killer bass. What’s more, the entire record was recorded on vintage equipment, giving a truly authentic feel. In other words, he’s totally bringing back the ’50s and it sounds so good. Here’s a taste…
McPherson played live at First Avenue, one of Minneapolis’ most popular venues. I ADORE First Ave, it’s a great place to see a show. The venue is actually a converted Grey Hound bus depot and has a lot of character as a result, not to mention a good bar and a great staff. I’m getting to know several of the them, including the stage manager, and they make the concerts so enjoyable. I got to the show super early, and after chatting with them I snagged a spot front and center — the best spot in the house.
A local country group, called The Cactus Blossoms opened up the show. Led by brothers, Page Burkum and Jack Torrey, their music set the mood perfectly, following in the footsteps of classic country duos. Their twangy sound was a great compliment to McPherson, feeling classic and easy before the rock and roll of the main act. Moreover, like J.D.’s music, they feature mostly original compositions with a few covers interspersed. For interested Minnesotans, this group plays every Monday at The Turf Club and are definitely worth checking out (Country Music Television’s blog listed them among the top overlooked albums last year).
McPherson’s performance was, as I anticipated, extraordinary. The energy and enthusiasm of this show was infectious and it was great to be so close to the performers. In addition to his classically vintage sound, his performance really sells the music. He brings an incredible dynamic to the stage, crooning and leaping about as he jammed with the other performers.
Moreover, his band is extraordinary — boasting a killer keyboardist, as well as a saxophonist who will melt your heart. But the real showstopper was Jimmy Sutton, McPherson’s producer and bassist. I have never been so captivated by a performer. Not only was Sutton a master bassist, but he had such a charming presence. He made the best facial expressions as he thrummed along to the beat and would swirl his feet charismatically at just the right moments. It was incredibly sexy and so much fun to watch. He was so mesmerizing that I had to actively remember to look at the other performers (who, let me say again, were fantastic).
I should add that the crowd for this show was phenomenal. Many of them dressed up (especially the girls), wearing bandanas in their hair, high waistlines, swingy skirts, big sunglasses, bold lipstick, lots of denim and rolled up jeans. We looked like we were a new cast for Grease. (J.D. and the band were similarly dressed all in denim button downs, playing up the rockabilly style of the music.) We all danced and laughed and sang along and managed to get the group out for an encore at the end.
I hung around after the show and managed to grab a few words with several members of the group. J.D. McPherson was very nice, answering all my questions about his music and volunteering to answer more should I think of them later. He told me that the group is doing well, that they’re getting a good following, and that he loves his fans — especially since it’s a really diverse group. His music manages to traverse all age gaps and is appealing to everyone, from kids to their grandparents. He also told me that he loves performing, and that he generally gets really enthusiastic crowds. “It’s like your classic rock concert,” he said. “People get really into it.” He was very gracious, stressing how much he loves performing and the music itself.
I also got to chat with Jimmy Sutton who is ever so charming. We discussed his bass — she doesn’t have a name, but he’s been playing this one for years. He told me his first base was one he bought from some kids when he was fifteen and she was covered in graffiti. “I shouldn’t have sold that one,” he mused, “It was kinda cool and the first base I ever played.” We also talked about the group’s rider, which First Avenue’s stage manager had shown me earlier. Here are a just few things they requested:
a newspaper
fruits and veggies (organic/local)
hummus
cutlery and plates for 6 people
red wine
a six-pack (cans) for their manager
10 lottery tickets (most prized item)
Sutton told me that the group really enjoy asking for things that they thought the crew wouldn’t usually find on a rider. They also really like eating fresh, healthy food after their long days in the van. And the lottery tickets?
“Those are for me,” Sutton told me, grinning. “I just really love lottery tickets. The show is fun and exciting, but it’s great because afterwards you get to look forward to opening 10 lottery tickets!”
I love this man. Also, both he and McPherson are great huggers.
I sincerely recommend checking out this group. Not only is J.D. McPherson’s album one of my favorites from last year — it really goes with any mood and always gets me dancing — but he is exquisite live. I felt transported to the fifties, and delighted in losing myself in time, jiving with the crowd to these soulful beats. You can too. Be sure to check out his website and see him live whenever he’s in your area (tickets are not inordinately expensive). You won’t regret it.
Sometimes a girl gets lucky, very lucky. I generally think of myself as a lucky person, but my luck grew exponentially this spring when I got to see Josh Ritter not once, but twice! Two nights in a row! Yes, … Continue reading →
So, after a two week hiatus I am back! Sorry about that. Life got a little crazy there. I am finally back at school, and school means BUSY, and BUSY means me! I have lots of things to tell you about and (after briefly forgetting) I now remember that I not only LOVE blogging, but can use it as a procrastination tool! Yay! So you can expect a post at least once a week from me. I also have a few friends who are supposed to harp on me should I fall off the wagon! Continue reading →
MAY MEANDER 