Just downloaded [Fiona Apple’s O’ Sailor] from iTunes.  It’s good to hear her voice again, but the song sounds like something off her first album.  But hey, I’m craving some new stuff.

Speaking of new stuff, anyone hear the new [Goapele] cd?  Man, I like some of these artist’s web sites that allow you to hear album tracks.  Granted you can’t download them - listening to the album through a Flash player (I’m sure there is a way around this), but it’s good to know they want to make their music accessible.  (Ok, her site says her album comes out December 27th, but on cdnow.com it says it’s already out.  Confusing.)

Ok,  back to Madden 2006.  What?!?!?  Yeah, Farrah bought me a copy yesterday :)

Thursday was one of the times I was glad I checked my spam email.  I get the weekly email from [Ticketmaster] about concerts.  I guess I missed the one earlier about [Esthero] coming to town, and only found out on Thursday when she was playing on Friday?!?!?

I called Farrah to quickly confirm we had nothing plan, and was able to purchase some general admission tickets online.  Finally, we get to see Esthero after missing her so many years ago.

Esthero in Seattle.  Photos taken by [OptimusCrimeDeux]

Esthero came out full of energy.  Her vocals were strong, her manner confident,  and her energy contagious.  She was chatty with the crowd, taking requests for a song here and there.  She was wearing a black strapless number that posed problems for her during the show (having to continually pull it up to hide the goods), but otherwise danced around like there was no tomorrow.  A great show.

Her set was a little under 90 minutes.  Some of the songs she sang (in no particular order) were:

• Wikked Lil' Grrrls
• Breath from Another (just an a cappella tease)
• OG Bitch
• Superheroes (a cappella - by request)
• Gone
• My Torture

ENCORE:

• Joey
• Wish You Away
• We Are in Need of a Musical Revolution

I haven’t posted anything personal lately.  I’ve been a bit busy with little things here and there.  Plus most of the things I want to vent about deals with work.  If you’ve read some of my past posts you’ll know about reasons for my hesitation to vent about work.

Farrah and I have been planning our concerts to see this year.  So far on the agenda there is U2, Tori Amos and Jack Johnson.  The Tori ticket buy was just as hectic as the U2 buy, as described earlier.  Jack Johnson went without a hitch because it is a general admission event.

Last week, March 12th, we went to Santa Cruz to celebrate Rex’s and my birthday.  We had some great ribs, and crab for those who didn’t want ribs.  I packed away my share of ribs, stopping at 9 - though I could have continued.  There are some digital pictures of the dinner, but I want to wait and get the film photos developed as well.

Gordon’s birthday was also this month, the 9th I believe.  Sorry for the check mix up Gordon.  Guess I was thinking of those [Girl Scout Cookies] that Tessie still needs to send!

Here are some of the new/old albums we’re listening to on the iPod - in no particular order:

• [Careless Love] - by Madeleine Peyroux : Farrah turned me on to her. Love the album.
• [Trouble] - by Ray LaMontagne : I think Farrah said she heard a song of his on the WB (damn advertising). Album is actually very good.
• [New Danger] - by Mos Def : My first Mos Def cd. I'm getting into about half of it. I'm sure the other half will follow.
• [How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb] - by U2 : U2 is just U2. I really like that album.
• [Love, Angel, Music, Baby] - by Gwen Stefani : Couple of catchy singles. Seems really 80's/90's pop.
• [Breakaway] - by Kelly Clarkson : Yes, I know I ventured into the very pop arena with the Kelly Clarkson album. But you know it's catchy as pop is supposed to be.
• [Street Signs] - by Ozomatli : Still have some Ozomatli in my head from the company Christmas party they performed.

I was reading two articles, both touting the demise of the album as a format of expression. I think both were in [Entertainment Weekly]. One article targeted the new [iPod Shuffle] as killing the rap skits in an album. You know, the funny little 10-30 second tracks you find between album tracks. With the iPod Shuffle those skits won’t flow as well - which might be just as well in my opinion. The other thing iPods and the digital music age in general has done is allow users to skip songs, randomize the order of what is played. The article describes how this started to take place with the introduction of the cd. I think it started way before that with the creation of the mixed tape. Once consumers were able to put certain songs they wanted to hear on a format that was portable, albums less of what they once were as far as expressing an idea or vision in the order it is arranged and produced.

Wait, isn’t it January 2005? Well, I haven’t posted a song mix for a while. This mix I made for November broke some rules I usually set myself like
(1) no more than one song from the same person or group, and
(2) no older songs on the mix.

I guess in November I was just trying to fill up the disc! Here was the list of songs for November 2004’s CD:

• Drink the Water – Jack Johnson
• My Place (featuring Jaheim) – Nelly
• Even After All – Finley Quaye
• Hanging Around – Counting Crows
• Drops of Jupiter – Train
• The Reason – Hoobastank
• Caramel – Suzanne Vega
• The Blower’s Daughter – Damien Rice
• Yellow – Coldplay
• Call and Answer – Barenaked Ladies
• Vertigo (Single Version) – U2
• Beautiful (featuring Pharrell Williams) – Snoop Dogg
• My Boo – Usher & Alicia Keys
• Drop It Like It’s Hot – Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams
• Senorita – Justin Timberlake
• Ordinary – Train
• Lean Back – Terror Squad, Fat Joe, and Remy
• Mosh – Eminem

this is a ‘concert’- me list listing all the concerts we’ve been to (so far). updated when another concert comes along.

[Bill Graham Civic Auditorium] 99 Grove Street, San Francisco CA 94102

Who we’ve seen there: Tori Amos (12.21.2002) Oasis (4.13.1996)

[Bimbo’s 365 Club] 1025 Columbus Avenue San Francisco, CA 94133

Who we’ve seen there: Cardigans (6.19.96)

Berkeley Community Theater 1930 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

Who we’ve seen there: Dido (05.23.04) Cranberries (04.05.95) Jewel Chris Cornell (11.30.99) Ani Di Franco (10.31.97)

[Concord Pavilion] 2000 Kirker Pass Road, Concord, CA 94521

Who we’ve seen there: Tori Amos/Alanis Morrisette (09.19.99)

[The Filmore] 1805 Geary Blvd. S.F. CA 94115

Who we’ve seen there: Fiona Apple (03.18.97) Sundays Lush (04.15.96) Morcheeba (4.11.2008) Lorde (9.27.2013) Greek Theatre-U.C. Berkeley Gayley Road, Berkeley, CA 94720

Who we’ve seen there: Alanis Morrisette Black Eye Peas/Macy Gray

Oakland Arena 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, CA 94621

Who we’ve seen there: Peter Gabriel Peter Gabriel w/Sinead O’Conner sing backup(11.22.93) U2 (11.15.01)

Oakland Coliseum 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, CA 94621

Who we’ve seen there: Sugarcubes/Public Enemy/U2 (07.11.92) Oasis/U2 (06.18.97) Oasis/U2 (06.19.97)

Orpheium Theater

Who we’ve seen there: Sarah McLaughlin

Pac Bell Park

Who we’ve seen there: Macy Gray/Dave Matthews Band (5.18.01)

[Paramount Theatre] 2025 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612

Who we’ve seen there: Bjork (10.17.01) Sarah McLachlan (10.30.97) Tori Amos (11.11.01 and some other date)

San Jose Arena

Who we’ve seen there: Garbage/Smashing Pumpkins (08.18.96) INXS (04.08.94) U2 (4.19.01)

San Jose Event Center

Who we’ve seen there: Pearl Jam Soundgarden (06.03.94) Tori Amos (09.19.98) Sarah McLachlan (03.9.98)

Shoreline Amphetheater

Who we’ve seen there: Sting Lilith Fair 97 (07.08.97) (Sarah McLachlan, Tracy Chapman, Jewel, Paula Cole, Suzanne Vega) Lilith Fair 98 (06.24.98) (Sarah McLachlan, Indigo Girls, Natalie Merchant, Erica Badu, Me’Shell Ndegeocello, Bonnie Raitt) Lilith Fair 98 (07.14.99) Santana Lollapaloza ‘94 (Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, George Clinton & P-Funk Allstars, The Breaders, Green Day…) - [http://www.jamesiha.org/interview/1994lolla.htm] Lollapalooza ‘95 (Hole, Sonic Youth, Beck, Cypress Hill, Elastica,…) REM (05.17.95) Sade (07.18.01) Sting (08.05.00)

Slims

Who we’ve seen there: Julianna Hatfield (http://www.julianasite.com/touragraphy.html#city) LLoyd Cole Garbage Cibo Matto (10.09.99)

[Villa Montalvo] 15400 Montalvo Road, Saratoga, CA 95071

Who we’ve seen there: Diana Krall (7.19.01) Norah Jones

[Warfield] 982 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

Who we’ve seen there: Smashing Pumpkins (10.18 0r 19.93) Bjork (05.21.98) Portishead (05.31.98) Cardigans Crowded House/Sheryl Crow Garbage (05.20.98) Sundays Dido (08.10.00) PJ Harvey (05.19.95) Sonic Youth Sara Bareilles (12.16.2010)

I know I saw them, but where….

Hole (the Edge) Filter (somewhere in San Jose) Lisa Loeb (well, actually didn’t stay for that one) Pearl Jam @ Golden Gate Park (06.24.95) WOMAD (ft. Peter Gabriel) Golden Gate Park Smashing Pumpkins (2. 7.96) Kezar Pavilion

Tori Amos at the CPA TLC and MC Hammer (Hawaii) New Kids/Tiffany at Great America David Spade (05.30.98) Cassandra Wilson @ Nob Hill Masonic Center(10.24.97) Pharoah Sanders Quartet @Yoshi’s (03.17.01)

[cool clip of the moment] - it requires flash so you may be prompted to install if you don’t have it already. it’s a play on the current outkast hit ‘hey ya!’. pump up the volume for this version. thanks to bigfil for the link.

[sing365.com] - i always go to this site when i want to know the lyrics to song. lately they have gotten much better in organizing the site. there are decent biographies of artist, a list of albums and then the lyrics. checked it out next time you want to know the words to a song.

WARNING - this site has a lot of pop-ups! before visiting, you should either be using netscape, mozilla or opera with pop-up windows disabled, or if you are using internet explorer install the google toolbar which allows you to block pop-ups on selected sites (you should have these tools already though, right?)

the weekend, or more exactly my weekend, was good and bad. saw tori amos with farrah, lotte, and yen (and her tiger pants) on saturday. tori was good as usual. i liked a version of vincent (a don mclean song). sunday brought about a lazy day and trying to complete my taxes.

but on sunday my truck was hit again by road debris. my truck must be a debris magnet, as one of my friends said. it happened on 101 while driving to san jose. it hit in the exact opposite spot of the last accident. luckily no one was hurt and the damage was limited to the hood and not the grill.

Here is the set list from the tori amos concert, as reported on the dent.com

Saturday, April 12, 2003 - Setlist

Wampum Prayer a sorta fairytale Strange Little Girl Bells for Her Cornflake Girl Liquid Diamonds Crucify Take To the Sky Wednesday

(band leaves) Carbon Vincent Twinkle

(band returns) Mrs. Jesus Another Girl?s Paradise Professional Widow Happy Phantom Hotel I Can?t See New York iieee

(1st encore) Taxi Ride Bliss

(2nd encore) In the Springtime of his Voodoo Amber Waves

here is the song list for the september mix - presented in order:

• ordinary day - vanessa carlton
• goodbye to you - michelle branch
• underneath it all - no doubt
• empires - lamya
• floetic - floetry
• i against i - massive attack featuring mos def
• if i could go - angie martinez featuring lil mo and sacario
• complicated - avril lavigne
• girlfriend (remix) - nsync featuring nelly
• all eyez on me - monica
• steve mcqueen - sheryl crow
• wrong impression - natalie imbruglia
• a sorta fairytale - tori amos
• in my place - coldplay
• day is done - charlie hunter quartet featuring norah jones

for august, the mix includes (in order)

• most high - jerzee
• happy - ashanti
• dilemma - nelly featuring kelly rowland
• i need a girl (part ii) - p. diddy
• why don’t we fall in love - amerie
• down 4 u - ja rule, ashanti, charli baltimmore and vita
• two wrongs - wyclef jean featuring claudette ortiz
• the sweetest thing - lauryn hill
• brotha - angie stone
• rainy dayz - mary j. blige featuring ja rule
• love rain - jill scott featuring mos def
• gangsta lovin’ - eve featuring alicia keys
• feel it boy - beenie man featuring janet jackson
• i’m gonna be alirght - jennifer lopez featuring nas

The June 2002 CD mix is:

• Norah Jones - Don’t Know Why
• The Cranberries - Never Grow Old
• Alanis Morissette - That I Would Be Good (unplugged)
• Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles
• Michelle Branch - All You Wanted
• Rufus Wainwright - Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk
• Train - Drops Of Jupiter
• Jack Johnson - Flake
• Moby - We Are All Made of Stars
• The Strokes - Last Nite
• The Coors with Bono - When the Stars Go Blue
• Fat Joe - What’s Luv?
• Gorillaz - 19-2000
• Weezer - Island in the Sun
• Mystikal - Shake Ya Ass
• Usher - U Don’t Have to Call
• Dirty Vegas - Days Go By