The Dollyrots

I mentioned in my last post all the goodies I got when my friend went to Bust's anniversary party. One of the things in there was a CD sampler from Blackheart Records, a label founded by Joan Jett. That, right off the bat, gives major cool points. Well anyway, over the weekend I finally got around to listening to it. All the bands on it rocked, but I have to single out The Dollyrots.
Put simply, this band is absolutely amazing. Fronted by Kelly Ogden, they have an awesome Punk sound that I love.
Seeing as how their first album was released in 2004 and their newest album, "Because I'm Awesome," was released more than a year ago, I'm sure there are plenty of people reading this thinking "what the hell is she talking about? There's nothing new about The Dollyrots." Well, if you're one of the people who's known about them for a while all I'm gonna say is, lucky you.
But for the rest of you, check out the video for my new favorite song, "Brand New Key."

Bust Swag!!!!

So, I love love love Bust Magazine. And Tuesday night, the crew over there celebrated their 15th anniversary (congratulations, ladies!). They had a huge, stylin' bash at South Street Seaport and from what I hear, it was quite the time. But that's not really what I'm here to write about because, well, I wasn't invited. A good friend of mine, however, was invited and if you're interested, you can read all about it on her blog (while you're there, take note of the dress she's wearing... her knit and her design... and pretty friggin cool, if ya ask me!) She even managed to somehow plug her etsy shop to Debbie Stoller herself! (How she manages these things, I have no idea!)
But anyway, back to the reason I'm writing. In spite of all the excitement of the evening, said dear friend somehow managed to snag me a goody bag (how thoughtful is she!). It had some seriously sweet stuff in it. I won't mention everything because my mom sometimes reads this. But I really wanted to share with you the stylin' bag it all came in that will now be my purse of choice (and after all, isn't fashion an important part of culture?).
This seriously cool messenger bag, made by Blue Q, well let's just say where has it been all my life??? It's nice and roomy, but yet doesn't feel overly bulky for everyday use. It's made of woven polypropylene and brings a little art into your everyday wardrobe. And I think their Web site puts it best when they say "if you have a shoulder, you need one of these." (By the way, it's the bag in the picture up there...)
OK, nuff said... go, shop and be merry.

Some new music (to me, at least)

Something kinda cool happened to me and my little blog a few weeks ago. Not long after I posted my iTunes Top 25 (which no doubt has already changed), I received an email from a PR person at a record label. No doubt, it was the person who gets the secretary's coffee or something like that but still. It means someone other than my darling family is reading this (but I do love you guys, really).
But anywho, according to the email, this woman is from Ingrid Michaelson's label, which is incredibly cool, since I love her. The email was essentially along the lines of "if you like her, check this guy out!" Again, I find it very cool that they would think my opinion matters even a little bit, but I'll move on. I checked the guy out. And it turns out, he's pretty cool.
His name is David Ford and he released his second album, "Songs For The Road," a few months ago on Original Signal Recordings.
His label compares him a bit to Conor Oberst but what really sets him apart is the fact that he plays every single instrument himself and loops each one individually. This is the video for his song "Go to Hell," which I'm particularly fond of. I'm told the video was shot in one take with not instrumental help. Now that's talent. Check it out.



Oh, almost forgot to mention. If you wanna download the entire album, it's currently available on iTunes.

The Mystery

So as some, but not all of you know, I'm a member of a Web site called Ravelry, which is a community site for fiber artists. So a fellow knitter on the site, used this picture as her avatar (or Ravatar, as they're called on there):

For the longest time, I had no clue what the thing was... I kept trying to figure it out without having to be rude and actually say, "OK, what the hell is that??"
I was always thinking it was a butterfly dragging it's caterpillar body behind it. This always seemed sort of odd and creepy to me but hey, my avatar was a cat lying in a bath tub, who am I to judge? But it also seemed to not make sense because you'll never actually see a butterfly dragging around it's caterpillar body behind it... So I kept thinking and thinking. I tried those tricks you hear when you're looking at those stupid magic eye pictures of relaxing your eyes... all I got was a headache.
Finally, I just had to come out and be rude... so I asked... what the hell is that thing?? She was more than happy to explain. But now, I'm a little bummed that she did because now, knowing what it really is, I can't see what I used to think it is so it makes me wonder if I was being insane thinking that's what it was.
I know you're all wondering why I'm dancing around saying what the picture actually is. And that's because I'm not going to. I want to hear other thoughts on what it is. I want to know I'm not the only one who couldn't figure it out. So post a comment. Tell me what you think it is. In another post soon, I'll tell you who's correct :)

My sounds of summer

There was a time when my tastes in music were pretty narrow. If it was on a pop radio station, I wanted nothing to do with it. Most of the time, if it was anything people I knew had heard of, I wanted nothing to do with it. My music collection consisted of a ton of classic rock (Beatles, Led Zepplin, The Doors) and pretty much every Jam band you can think of as well as a few you've probably never heard of (Grateful Dead; Phish; String Cheese Incident; Madeski, Martin and Wood). Suffice it to say that I've broadened my horizons a bit of the years.
And while I'm listening to much more than that these days, there are times when all I crave is those old, familiar tunes.
To this day, it's not summer unless I'm driving along with the windows down, blasting Box of Rain as loud as it will go.
So anyway, we're into the last month of summer now so I figure we better enjoy it while we can. So, submitted for your approval, my suggestions for a really kick-ass summer play list:

Box of Rain - Grateful Dead
Chalkdust Torture- Phish
Melissa- Allman Brothers Band
Bobby McGhee- Janis Joplin
Cinnamon Girl- Niel Young
Jellyfish- String Cheese Incident
Jamillia- Disco Biscuits
Bubblehouse- Madeski, Martin and Wood
Sugar Magnolia- Grateful Dead
Ramblin' Man- Allman Brothers Band
Summertime- Janis Joplin
Torn and Frayed- The Rolling Stones
Ripple- Grateful Dead
Throwing Stones- Grateful Dead
Mouna Bowa- String Cheese Incident
She Belongs to Me- Bob Dylan
Plane Crash- Moe.
Into the Mystic- Van Morrison
Baba O'Riley- The Who
America- Simon and Garfunkel
Hatfield- Widespread Panic
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere- Niel Young
Joyful Sound- String Cheese Incident

Admittedly, not all of these are the best songs by these bands. Many of them are quite simply, fantastic songs. Others, for whatever reason, just give me a very carefree feeling that, to me, is the embodiment of summer. Enjoy :)

Read it before you die

Still gonna be boring this week... I am without camera... sigh...
Anyway, I have a new book recommendation for you... I just finished up "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini.
Better known for his hugely popular novel, "The Kite Runner," Hosseini is a native of Kabul, Afghanistan. The son of a diplomat, Hosseini's family was granted political asylum in the United States in 1980, when Afghanistan fell under communist rule.
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" discusses life in Afghanistan during that period of political turmoil as a woman. The story mainly follows the lives of two women, Mariam and Laila, who come from extremely different homes but have ended up in the same situation, largely as a result of a political structure that took away any control the women had over their own lives.
This story will break your heart a thousand times but in the end, it'll also restore your faith.
On another note, as an American, this story was incredibly interesting to me because it demonstrates how people in other countries view American foreign policy. It also gives an Afghani perspective of the events of 9/11 and the aftermath.
I had a professor in college who used to recommend books by saying, "put this on your list of books to read before you die." To that, I would always respond that if I did that with every book he said that about, I would never be able to die. Because of that, I always swore I would never make those recommendations. But this time, I'm telling you... put this on your list of books to read before you die. But I hope you won't wait that long.