MAJOR LIFE NEWS

First off, before I announce the news, I want to say that I'm so sorry for such a long silence on this blog. Training and the job are mainly the reason here, but I have since got comfortable with the new-ish schedule.

And now... the big news. (apologies in advance for the shouting)

Thoughts on "Corner of the Sky" by Cut Copy

When the band thanked Talking Heads in the liner notes of the most-excellent Zonoscope, I thought it was more of a "shout-out to my fav band" thing more than an actual hint of influence. I mean, there was no thanks to Fleetwood Mac and "Take Me Over" sounds straight from Tango in the Night*. But I digress. I'm not here to argue about that. So the thanks was more than just a shout-out, it was to answer yes to the following question: "Hey you guys, is it me or does 'Corner of the Sky' sound like a lost Talking Heads song?"

I mean, seriously... it does. Haven't you listened to it? Here, I'll give you some time.



Still not sure? Well, take the time to listen to the entirety of Remain in Light. I'll wait.

...

You back? Cool beans, continuing forward!

So yeah, it does right? I mean, the guitar effects! Bang-on impression of Adrian Belew's signature "elephant"! As for the lyrics, they make no sense, so yeah, totes David Byrne**. The keyboards? Sounds like Bernie Worrell and Jerry Harrison were having an epic synth fight (I'll pay good money to see that in person). And the all-male harmonies! Some Brian Eno emulation (who comes across vaguely baritone-ish, to me at least) whenever he sang backup, like in "Once in A Lifetime". The drums are pretty damn whomp-whomp, which is kinda Chris Frantz's thing. And yeah, the bass is straightforward Tina Weymouth, keeping the whole thing together.

The ending? Yeah, I see what you did there: throwing me off with a slight hint to My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and "Drugs" (oddly enough) with usage of "found sound".

And strangely enough, the song's atmosphere sounds like "The Overload" meets "The Great Curve". Weird, no one asked for the two to mate and have a child, but thank God they did...?

Overall, this song is made of pure amazing with a bonus side of "there is a God and He's slowly blessing the music industry".

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*Also, Dan Whitford (lead singer/keyboardist) has gone on record (hur-hur) to say that Tusk, well mainly Lindsey Buckingham's songs, were HUGE influences throughout.

**Okay, he has no monopoly on that, but whatever.

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And also props to my second all-time favorite album cover (this being my first).

This post was fueled by the music of Cut Copy, a sense of accomplishment, and Dan's utter cuteness.

BIG JOB NEWS

As y'all know, I work for a major bank's call center in collections for credit cards. Due to business needs (i.e. having the ideal schedule), my team and I are being moved from credit card collections to collecting on overdraft bank accounts. This means several things:

• a possible raise (actual amount TBA)
• new job title!
• new hours on Saturday, meaning I'll have an actual Saturday night.
• three weeks' worth of paid training starting later this month!
• new challenges and adventures

From what I understand, it's far simpler than what I do now, but more fast-paced since the calls are shorter (thank God). This opportunity was previously open to a limited amount of people in my department, but yeah... that changed quickly. Turns out it's a department that needs more people and it rather get already-trained peeps than wait to hire new ones. Can understand that, I suppose. 

I have two more weeks (counting this one) left in my old position. so I'm doing all that I can to end things there on the best note possible. I have come a long way, conquered a lot of roadblocks, and continue to improve my performance. By the time I join the new department, I'll be unstoppable and more awesome than before. 

 

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This post was brought to you by this summer's jam:

Unexpected Nostalgia Road Trip (or: My Dad's Plans to Save ALL THE BETA THINGS)

Unbeknownst to me, my dad was hunting for a Beta tape player on eBay for a while now. He found a used one but it wasn't working as well as the seller led him to believe. Thankfully, he was able to get a refund and purchase something even better: an unopened Betavision tape player. According to Dad, he said it's similar to the one we had back in the eighties and early nineties. Of course, his goal is to get home movies (yes, we actually have some. Shocking I know.) and some other recorded media converted to modern formats.

Of course, finding out he did this, naturally, I had to ask: can I watch the tape? There was one tape, full of live performances of the big country artists of 1985-1988 (shut up, this was a decent era). This Beta tape had Nanci Griffith (the perennial family favorite), the late Dan Seals, the Charlie Daniels Band, Randy Travis, some random band whose unknown name haunted me for YEARS, and Keith Whitley (apparently his "Miami, My Amy" was one of my favorite songs when I was a baby, well, besides the Troggs' "Wild Thing"). Some were from obscure shows (New Country) and even familiar ones that still air today (Austin City Limits).

As I write this, I'm watching the tape. Oh my God, all the nostalgia feels I'm having right now. I cannot even begin to put them into words. It's great. I thought I would never get to watch this tape again.

There was also one band whose songs I did like, but couldn't find for the life of me. Until watching this tape again, I finally figured it out. The band is Exile. Yes, the same band who made "Kiss You All Over" (which I loathe) but became a country-rock band in the eighties. Damn, that was a shock. I had one of the songs correct: "Fly on the Wall" (which was co-written by Bruce Hornsby AND Bernie Taupin!) but couldn't trace it from there. Apparently, that's a popular song title.

So, some new things I learned during this whole experience:

• It's scary how much of this I remember. From what follows what to which songs will play. Didn't I mention I watched this a lot? 
• Somewhere in this world, there are people with unopened Beta tape players. And one of those people did business with my dad.
• Dan Seals played left-handed, as did one of his band members. And his Texas accent just makes me grin like a doofus.
• Dan Seals played a mean sax.
• Lyle Lovett sang backup for the live performance of "Once in A Very Blue Moon". I never knew that he was there!
• The audiences for all these shows: they are either dead or damn... almost thirty years older than they were.
• Even with the limited monies they had back then, my parents were still badass enough to have the means to record things like this. 
• The commercials are effing lulzy. One was about some money-making scheme. Make that two. Now one about something called "The Great American Race". 
• People out of the mainstream loop didn't really dress all that awful. So, all that stuff about the eighties being a bad decade of fashion? That's focusing on the popular stuff, not what NORMAL HUMANS (who didn't give an eff) wore. 
• The only music video on here is the Randy Travis one for "Forever and Ever Amen". I wonder why that is the case.
• Whoa, TNN (The Nashville Network) doesn't exist anymore. I suddenly feel my age.
• I want Randy Travis to sing at my wedding.

An Anecdote

Setup: Mom and I are driving back from Austin after seeing Fleetwood Mac. We made a few stops, including BookPeople where I got a copy of Girl in A Band by Kim Gordon (bassist of Sonic Youth). Since I'm not feeling well, Mom is at the wheel while I'm reclined in the passenger seat. I pick up the book and start talking to Mom about it.

*conversation is not exact wording, just a heads-up*

Me: You know, she's a Taurus like you. See? *shows the cover and points to her shirt*

Mom: (after glancing at it) Oh yeah, she is! Yea, Taurans!

(Getting a hunch, I look up Kim Gordon on Wikipedia)

Me: What do ya know? She's only a week older than you! [Gordon was born on April 28th, while Mom was born on May 7th]

Mom: Huh!

Me: Her husband is the leader of the band. They just divorced recently because he was cheating on her.

Mom: Well, I know that feeling. [Mom was previously married to a police officer/part-time musician before she met my father.]

(I decide to read part of the first chapter about the announcement of Gordon and Thurston Moore's split.)

Me: Huh, you two have a lot in common: Taurans who were married to cheating musicians.

~~

And that's how I found out Kim Gordon and my mother would have a lot to talk about, if they ever were to meet.

My New Favorite Songs

Thanks to this list from Buzzfeed, I found some hidden gems and wanted to share three of my favorites that have already cracked my list of Best Tunes of 2015... So Far.

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I can only sum up my feelings in a .gif:

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I never fell harder for a song before. Shout-out to The Sims influence!

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Holy crap, I'm such a sucker for songs that sound like they came from my birth decade, but aren't (and also, good synths.)

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If these songs don't do anything for you, I'm sure that list has a few you might find more to your taste.

Let's jam out! *parties like a sober rock star*

P.S.: Other favorites from that list include:
"I'll Wait for You" by Iris
"Jump Hi (feat. Childish Gambino)" by Lion Babe
"Catch" by Allie X
"Ego" by Tove Styrke

500 Posts Later...

I'm surprised I made it this far too,
raptor of the skies.

I hate to say it, but after giving it some thought, I don't have much to say at this milestone. I look over to my previous posts and see that 2015 is setting to be a sparse year... if I don't get my ass in gear. So, this is me thinking aloud on what I'm going to do for the rest of 2015 and how to prevent myself from getting off-track.

As the previous entry detailed, I've been having some struggles with the (not really) new job. But thanks to an intrepid co-worker/friend, this is less of a concern. I am looking around for opportunities, at the company and elsewhere, just in case I need to consider a Plan B.

Financially... I'm back on track. I finally paid off all my debts and now I won't let my credit cards' balances go further than even $200, even less if I can help it. It is a huge relief to get that albatross off my neck.

Still need to set up something to keep track of my writing and reading goals so I can finish what I started and not begin too many things. Good Lord, I'm good at kicking things off, but not following them to the finish. I need to change that.

Otherwise, it's been pathetically boring elsewhere. Not that I will wait until something cool happens to post about it, or whatever. A schedule is a schedule. And I have ideas for future posts.

So, happy 500 posts to me.