Tuesday, April 24, 2007

All the Way to New York City

I was thinking about how much I love quiet music.

Quiet shows, quiet audiences, that's where I feel it.

I was thinking about how some of the music I like can be talked over when played live.

This is for all those quiet performers.

It's also for all the people, places and moments I miss in New York City.

I wish I could take you with me
All the way to New York City
We could get an apartment there
Be closer to our families.

We could take my station wagon
And fill it to the brim
And wave goodbye to all our lovely friends
Never to return again

You could write for picture shows
And I could get a job waiting tables
At a restaurant where famous people like to go
We could buy old overcoats and walk through the snow
All the way around central park
Our cheeks as pink as wild roses

We could take the subway home
And stare at our reflection in the window panes of the train
And see how much New York has changed us.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Got my main man adam duritz on the speed dial.

The following are not my words, they are those of Adam Duritz.

Wise and dreadlocked.

This is for that girl who decided to let me know she thought dashboard confessional sucked as I walked towards St. Mark's place however long ago that was.

Feast on it.

For instance, I think Chris Carrabba is a great songwriter. I think Dashboard Confessional is a great band. I hadn’t heard of them until Gil Norton (see Recovering The Satellites (1996)) told me he was going to make an album with them but (and take this with a grain of salt since I pretty much worship the ground Gil walks on-if you agree, let’s hang out and that’ll be our “scene”, I guess) I think A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar (2003) is a fabulous album (and, as I later discovered, so are The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most and The Swiss Army Romance). I was flattered to be asked and proud to be on Dusk and Summer (2006).Then a little while later I started hearing all about something called “Emo”. Now I’m not saying Chris started the movement; I’m just saying he was the first I heard of it. I have to admit I was a little more inclined to like Emo than any other scene just because Emo is short for “emotional” (I think) and I like the idea of music that has actual feelings involved in it. I was starting to get really worn out by “irony”. It’s just too easy to be clever and NOT care.
So, in “Hands Down“, the opening song from A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar when Chris sings:Hands down, this is the best day I can ever remember
Always remember the sound of the stereo
The dim of the soft lights
The scent of your hair that you twirled in your fingers
And the time on the clock when we leave cause it’s so late
And it’s one thing we shared together
The streets were wet and the gate was locked
So I jumped in and I let you in

And you stood at the door with your hands on my waist
And you kissed me like you meant it
And I knew that you meant it

I know that he means it. I really do because there’s too many details for it to mean anything else. “Hands down, this is the best day I can ever remember” might seem like a corny line in the hands of someone else but not when Chris sings it and DEFINITELY not when ANY songwriter follows that line with the 10 lines that follow it in this song (even if I got some of the lines wrong). So if that’s “emo”, count me in.

Long live AD and DC