Who knew being a full-time writer could be so hard? I've had practically no time to update my blog, which makes me immensely sad. I promised funeral songs, though, and today you're going to get them.
I think about death a lot. Not because I long for it or anything melodramatic like that. It's just that, while most kids spend the first decade of their lives not really grasping the concept of death, I went through a time in my life where I experienced the death of a loved one for several years in a row. I also grew up with a mom who suffered from various health problems. I can remember being a fourth grader, lying in my bed at night and praying that my mom would live a long, long time and be able to continue walking. That happened. She's still alive and, continued walking unaided for much longer than most doctors thought possible. There are still days, though, when I'm overcome with the worry that someday she'll be gone.
Meanwhile, my grandmother (Mamaw!) just celebrated her 89th birthday with a big surprise party filled with people she loves and who love her. There were lots of tears and lots of laughs. She's actually the person who inspired this blog. I have a love for good harmonies and sweet voices. I spent several months obsessed with a few songs, all of which I thought would be perfect to play at her funeral.
I love all these songs beyond reason. I especially love "Tomorrow Will Be Kinder" for my Mamaw. My grandpa (Papaw) died about 23 years ago. His absence left all of us pretty stunted. Mamaw has always had her issues, but the death of my grandfather definitely changed her. She misses him immensely, even after all these years. Which is pretty amusing, actually. If you ask her how she felt about my Papaw, she'll tell you she never liked him when they were younger. He was completely smitten with her and constantly came up to her family's farm with excuses to talk to her brothers... just so he could see her. He had to join the Army, go away for a while and then come back before she finally decided she liked him, too. Since then, there has never been another man for her. I know she'll be infinitely happier when she can be with him, again. That day will certainly seem much kinder.
There's one more funeral song I need to mention. It was written by the late, great Shel Silverstein. I've been told from multiple sources that somewhere there's a recording of Silverstein singing the tune "Bury Me In My Shades." But, I've yet to find it. Still... it's the song I want at my funeral. And, if no one can Silverstein version and don't want to play one of the many others. They better at least read it. I think it's a befitting way to send me on my way...
Perfect, no?
Love,
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Audiophiles' Red-headed Step-child
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Friday, November 16, 2012
An announcement, a book, a mini-series and (finally) a couple quick reviews
I've been a pretty shitty blogger lately, y'all. I guess that's what happens when you start writing for a job instead of escape. Yes. That's right. I'm a legit writer now. Actually, I've done one better than that! I have the word "editor" in my title. You can check out all my work (that basically consists of previewing upcoming TV shows and writing about other television-related stuff) at SheKnows.com. It's a girly website, though, so that means I get to comment any time I think a guy is hot. (I'm looking at you, Arrow, with your salmon ladder scenes. What are you doing to me?!)
Here's something super cool about my job: I have copy editors! I write in two ways: 1) I pre-write the shit out of something so that by the time I sit down everything is memorized and so I don't notice mistakes or 2) It comes out of me like Chinese food so fast that my fingers can't always keep up with my brain. The first technique always gets me in trouble because when I try to look back over my writing for mistakes, I've got it so memorized in my head that I see it the way it's supposed to be instead of how it is. The second way I write also usually involves sleep deprivation and/or copious amounts of caffeine, leaving me completely jumpy and also prone to look over my mistakes. Having a copy writer whose job is to nitpick my story to pieces is kind of amazing. And, because I know someone even more hardcore than me about grammar is going to read over my stuff, it makes me work a little harder and getting things perfect. So, it's kind of win-win!
I know you probably want to hear about music and I'll get to that in a graph or two. BUT! First I want to tell you about one or two more things rattling around in my head that my current job doesn't really have a place for me to share.
First, I recently finished reading Fobbit by David Abrams. It's fucking stellar. I like a lot of books. But Fobbit is one of the very few that has ever inspired me to write a fan letter. If you're one of those strange people who only has the time or stamina to read one book a year, Fobbit is the book to pick up. It has some really funny moment, yes, but it's still a book about war and soldiers and life in Baghdad. That means it's also a little infuriating and, sometimes, a little soul crushing. I recommend that absolutely ever American read it. The vast majority have no idea what the heck our soldiers go through. Despite being at war for over a decade, it's still such a distance concept to us. But, as one war has ended and another will soon, we have even more guys coming home who have been through a lot and are messed up in various ways. You may never find a soldier willing to talk to you about their time overseas, but you should be prepared just in case. Also, you should read it so that, for the rest of your life, each time you vote: You're considering what each possible-president is not only willing to do for, but also to our guys. There's not a day that goes by that I don't wholeheartedly regret the decision I made the first time I stepped into the voting booth.
Second, I also just finished watching Generation Kill. (I don't know what's going on with me lately.) GK is a seven-part mini-series from HBO based on the book by the same name. The book was written by Evan Wright, an embedded reporter from Rolling Stone who spent over a month with a Marine Recon battalion during our first days in Iraq. If for some reason a certain vet is reading it who is now sometimes weirded out by night-vision and/or bangs...I do not recommend this to you. (Even if they DO sing "Teenage Dirtbag" in a scene and I absolutely thought of us.) For everyone else: Watch. It's borderline Hotel Rwanda graphic, honestly, but it's still really freaking good. And after every super intense moment, there's always something insanely funny to pull you from the dark.
I don't think I've ever envied someone as much as I've envied Evan Wright. Honestly.
(And, if I can't have his life... is he single?)
I guess you want some music now, hm?
Well, first, as a Mumford & Sons fangirl I guess I should tell you what I think of Babel. I think it's good shit. I've been listening to songs like "Lover of the Light" and "Whispers in the Dark" since the first time I saw the guys perform in May, 2010, so most of the songs don't feel incredibly new to me. That said, of all the unreleased songs I've heard over the years, the guys managed to record all my favorites. "Broken Crown" is still practically my anthem. Though, I still don't know why the hell the fucked up "I Will Wait" so badly. They Pop'd out that song immensely. And, yeah, I guess it'll sell more records that way. But the original was far superior.
Second, The Avett Brothers The Carpenter. I approve. "Live & Die" has, without a doubt, become "my jam." Tattoo number three (which will come right after I get tattoos number one and two) will be a little sparrow in an Egyptian pharaoh's headdress. The line, "Live like a pharaoh, sing like a sparrow anyway" is my favorite from the entire album. It's classic TAB.
Finally, it's been a rough week(-ish) for me musically. I'm mourning the quasi-break-up of The Civil Wars. They say new music is coming, despite their cancelling their tour...but no one's really sure what form that will take. In the meantime, though, if you've seen them live I'm sure you've heard a new song or two. My personal favorite is "From This Valley." It's not on their album but, if you look 'em up on Spotify, it's available on the album Mercyland: Hymns for the rest of Us. Also available on Spotify is their song, "Dance me to the End of Love" and their cover of Jackson 5's "I Want You Back," which aren't on the version of Barton Hollow that I own. Both are awesome. Though, not as great as the cover of Smashing Pumpkins' "Disarm" that they almost always play live. If they do make another album together, I hope that's on it.
That's it for now. I'm not going to promise you I'll be back soon. We both know that's a lie. However, I haven't forgotten that I still want to write about funeral songs, either.
Eff Taylor Swift,
AD
Here's something super cool about my job: I have copy editors! I write in two ways: 1) I pre-write the shit out of something so that by the time I sit down everything is memorized and so I don't notice mistakes or 2) It comes out of me like Chinese food so fast that my fingers can't always keep up with my brain. The first technique always gets me in trouble because when I try to look back over my writing for mistakes, I've got it so memorized in my head that I see it the way it's supposed to be instead of how it is. The second way I write also usually involves sleep deprivation and/or copious amounts of caffeine, leaving me completely jumpy and also prone to look over my mistakes. Having a copy writer whose job is to nitpick my story to pieces is kind of amazing. And, because I know someone even more hardcore than me about grammar is going to read over my stuff, it makes me work a little harder and getting things perfect. So, it's kind of win-win!
I know you probably want to hear about music and I'll get to that in a graph or two. BUT! First I want to tell you about one or two more things rattling around in my head that my current job doesn't really have a place for me to share.
First, I recently finished reading Fobbit by David Abrams. It's fucking stellar. I like a lot of books. But Fobbit is one of the very few that has ever inspired me to write a fan letter. If you're one of those strange people who only has the time or stamina to read one book a year, Fobbit is the book to pick up. It has some really funny moment, yes, but it's still a book about war and soldiers and life in Baghdad. That means it's also a little infuriating and, sometimes, a little soul crushing. I recommend that absolutely ever American read it. The vast majority have no idea what the heck our soldiers go through. Despite being at war for over a decade, it's still such a distance concept to us. But, as one war has ended and another will soon, we have even more guys coming home who have been through a lot and are messed up in various ways. You may never find a soldier willing to talk to you about their time overseas, but you should be prepared just in case. Also, you should read it so that, for the rest of your life, each time you vote: You're considering what each possible-president is not only willing to do for, but also to our guys. There's not a day that goes by that I don't wholeheartedly regret the decision I made the first time I stepped into the voting booth.
Second, I also just finished watching Generation Kill. (I don't know what's going on with me lately.) GK is a seven-part mini-series from HBO based on the book by the same name. The book was written by Evan Wright, an embedded reporter from Rolling Stone who spent over a month with a Marine Recon battalion during our first days in Iraq. If for some reason a certain vet is reading it who is now sometimes weirded out by night-vision and/or bangs...I do not recommend this to you. (Even if they DO sing "Teenage Dirtbag" in a scene and I absolutely thought of us.) For everyone else: Watch. It's borderline Hotel Rwanda graphic, honestly, but it's still really freaking good. And after every super intense moment, there's always something insanely funny to pull you from the dark.
I don't think I've ever envied someone as much as I've envied Evan Wright. Honestly.
(And, if I can't have his life... is he single?)
I guess you want some music now, hm?
Well, first, as a Mumford & Sons fangirl I guess I should tell you what I think of Babel. I think it's good shit. I've been listening to songs like "Lover of the Light" and "Whispers in the Dark" since the first time I saw the guys perform in May, 2010, so most of the songs don't feel incredibly new to me. That said, of all the unreleased songs I've heard over the years, the guys managed to record all my favorites. "Broken Crown" is still practically my anthem. Though, I still don't know why the hell the fucked up "I Will Wait" so badly. They Pop'd out that song immensely. And, yeah, I guess it'll sell more records that way. But the original was far superior.
Second, The Avett Brothers The Carpenter. I approve. "Live & Die" has, without a doubt, become "my jam." Tattoo number three (which will come right after I get tattoos number one and two) will be a little sparrow in an Egyptian pharaoh's headdress. The line, "Live like a pharaoh, sing like a sparrow anyway" is my favorite from the entire album. It's classic TAB.
Finally, it's been a rough week(-ish) for me musically. I'm mourning the quasi-break-up of The Civil Wars. They say new music is coming, despite their cancelling their tour...but no one's really sure what form that will take. In the meantime, though, if you've seen them live I'm sure you've heard a new song or two. My personal favorite is "From This Valley." It's not on their album but, if you look 'em up on Spotify, it's available on the album Mercyland: Hymns for the rest of Us. Also available on Spotify is their song, "Dance me to the End of Love" and their cover of Jackson 5's "I Want You Back," which aren't on the version of Barton Hollow that I own. Both are awesome. Though, not as great as the cover of Smashing Pumpkins' "Disarm" that they almost always play live. If they do make another album together, I hope that's on it.
That's it for now. I'm not going to promise you I'll be back soon. We both know that's a lie. However, I haven't forgotten that I still want to write about funeral songs, either.
Eff Taylor Swift,
AD
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