music me me

List 10 musical artists you like, in no specific order (do this before reading the questions below)

1. Bliss
2. Levi Kreis
3. Chicane
4. Idina Menzel
5. The Fray
6. Incubus
7. Kings of Leon
8. Silver Sun Pickups
9. Frances Faye
10.Dashboard Confessional

What was the first song you ever heard by 6? (Incubus) Drive

What is your favorite song of 8? (Silversun Pickups) Lazy Eye

What kind of impact has 1 left on your life? It has kind of been like tasting prickly pear cactus for the first time. I didn't even know what I was missing.

What is your favorite lyric of 5? (The Fray- How To Save A Life)

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

How many times have you seen 4 live? (Idina Menzel) (1)

What is your favorite song by 7? (Kings of Leon) Use Somebody

Is there any song by 3 that makes you sad? (Chicane) I really love their cover of Sigur Ros' Poppaholla.

What is your favorite song by 9? (Frances Faye) The first song I heard of hers was "Frances and her friends". I never saw her live, but it's her career and what she represents that means just as much to me as her stellar Vegas lounge style. She was busting gender rules long before it was commonplace.

When did you first get into 2? (Levi Kreis) It was just last year. Somehow I stumble across "Hardly a Hero" and I couldn't get enough. I listened to that song every day for quite a few months.

How did you get into 3? (Chicane) I heard them the first time about 1999. I was preparing to move to San Francisco and a friend brought a CD over to the moving sale.

What is your favorite song by 4? (Idina Menzel) solo- My Turn To Be Brave - but I think her voice adds a lot of depth to the cast recording of "Rent"

How many times have you seen 9 live? (Frances Faye) never....sadly... But "Caught in The Act" is a live recording, so that flavor is there in every listen.

What is a good memory concerning 2? (Levi Kreis) I had his video embedded on my blog and it sparked a great conversation with someone I had never met before.

Is there a song by 8 that makes you sad? (Silversun Pickups) Don't know it if it's really sad, but Future Foe Scenario has a darker quality.

What is your favorite song of 1? (Bliss) Definitely "Wish You Were Here"

How did you become a fan of 10? (Dashboard Confessional) I heard them first right around the turn of the century, but I was hooked when I heard "Vindicated" from the Spiderman2 soundtrack. The lyrics branded themselves onto my soul.

today's sound choice is the chicane cover of sigur ros' poppaholla

streets of san francisco

“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”

i stopped by his house with a friend to see how he was doing. he was seen earlier in pretty bad shape, having been drinking for an indeterminable amount of time. he had been incoherent and spouting off about how terrible things were going for him and he was kind of done with it all. he had marked in red marker on both arms the words "do not resucitate". he had frightened the people who saw him because he was walking with such darkness surrounding him.

so i stopped by his house to find him shouting angrily from the other side of the door. but when he realized it was me and that he would have an audience, he let me in and began to do his thing. he had moved his sofa into the hallway of his floor by the elevators. it was dissheveled and acted like a beacon foretelling what was to be encountered further down that floor.

he repeated himself several times about being evicted. he had received a letter from the manager with a list of indiscretions, including exposing himself to others in the hallways, and crawling through the lobby babbling nonsense as he moved along. he claimed that he doesn't do things like that, and the manager was lying. i asked if he remembered what happened, and he retorted- well,no... but i don't do those things... who can argue with logic like this.

so he is angry and he is trying to get rid of most of the stuff in his apartment. things are strewn all over and many cupboard doors are open with nothing inside. most of what was there seems to be on the floor. and he plops himself down on his floor on a dirty square of rug and swigs from a 1/2 gallon of vodka. he holds court from this position for the rest of the visit, feeling sorry for himself and loving the attention. i admired the magically marked words on his forearms. we talked about residential treatment and he liked this idea. but he wasn't ready to go today.

all he wanted was his vodka in his darkly lit apartment. he had spent the money when he was released from psych and he planned to see that plan through to the end. my role was slight. i was simply a passerby today. all i could do was be present and remind him that he was connected to life by more than just a tether. that hope was real, even if he couldn't tune it in. and i would be there again to offer to help.

as i left, i couldn't help but recall some of the situational cop dramas that i had seen during my childhood. hill street blues, police woman, mod squad, and streets of san francisco. they all were dimly lit and peppered with insanity. the scene from which i just emerged could have been in any one of those shows. it was drama, it was theater, and it was addiction. my job is often simply to witness and wait for opportunity. if it ever comes....

and now a word from our sponsor.....

today's sound choice is the theme song "from the streets of san francisco". check it out... what a line-up.

3 oh 3

this song is getting lotsa airplay on my local alternative station. they are local, of course, but they have had a couple of ditty's that were worth mentioning here prior. there is not a vid for this song yet, but am sure one is on the way. this is quite a departure from their fun loving selves...(remember the memorable lyrics "shoosh girl, do the helen keller and talk with your hips")

here is 3 oh 3 with "still around"

an artist's way

image found at "quietly beautiful blog"

There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. ~Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith

i sit down to post today and i think, i am all dried up. there is nothing postworthy inside me and i would be better servicing readers with silence. this may be true, but i am not letting myself off that easy yet.

in contrast, i have decided it is better to follow the "morning pages" theory of julia cameron's "the artist's way" in order to address this block. i absolutely loved that book. it opened my heart and mind in ways i hadn't dreamed possible and it was done with the simple technique of writing. each time i let some of my inner thoughts out, the premise claims, i am making room for new thoughts and ideas to filter in. in my heart i have found this to be true.

i started writing when i was first attempting to stop using meth. my words were jumbled mostly, and wrought with an intensity i didn't know i had then. i was full of ideas of how things should be, and what plans i might have for my future. i am not actually following any of these ideas really, but what did happen was that i made room for the idea of being clena into my psyche. prior to that point, i was stuck in my addiction and couldn't think my way out of a paper bag, let alone think my way through telling myself no when i was having a craving or urge to use, not to mention butting up against the day to day difficulties of life.

as i counsel with people to quit smoking, or make other changes in their lives, often i will bring up "the artist's way" and the journaling process. by moving our thoughts through us and "un-sticking" them, we open up lost parts of ourselves. at least that's what happened for me. i have been posting from my head as of late, and not been willing to take chances on speaking from my heart. this has changed my posting, it has affected my committment, and no dotodubt my personal growth as well. i absolutely love the freedom that writing has given me.

today's sound choice is simply red with a live version of "you make me feel brand new" recorded in vina del mar chile in february. i have had the privelige of being in vina del mar in the 1990's. life was very different then, but i remember being filled with awe at this coastal city and the power of the ocean's limitlessness.

mega gay

sometimes you feel like a nut... i got this link from my friend andrew in london...
it definitely made me smile..