"Atlantic City" The Band

The older I get the more I feel the need to be closer to the people and things I loved when I was young. As things change, I need them to stay the same too. People change, places change, but music never does. Music has that crazy ability to bring back a memory or a feeling so strong that you'd swear it was yesterday.

If you're looking for my heart you'll find it in a dive ba

Every time I hear "Copperhead Road," by Steve Earle I'm driving down the back roads in a pickup. When "Don't Stop Believing," by Journey comes on I'm dancing at the hometown dive bar with my childhood best friends. I can tell you every detail of those moments, and the way that I felt while I was in them. I had one of these moments on my recent trip to Nashville where I ended up at a house party with a group of musicians who casually played every song I ever wanted to hear. I requested "Atlantic City," the version by Levon Helm/The Band, on the off chance that they knew it. And while I listened to them play my own private concert I found my own little piece of heaven, that tasted a lot like cheap vodka and smelled like Marlborough Golds.

"Way Down We Go" Kaleo

Image Source: http://bit.ly/1qb4Sn2

Ok, time for my annual post, so I'm going to make this one really worth it in case I ghost for awhile again.   
"Way Down We Go" by Kaleo is definitely my latest obsession.  It doesn't hurt that the band is from Iceland (a.k.a. my primary obsession, but we'll get to that in a bit.)  
Kaleo first made an impression at Iceland Airwaves in 2012 (think Iceland version of woodstock), with a cover of an Icelandic song, "Vor í Vaglaskógi"  The Reykjavik Grapevine reports that the song was originally written by beloved Iceland radio host, Jónas Jónasson, who used lyrics from a poem by Kristján frá Djúpalæk, about a spring night shared by two lovers in Vaglaskógur forest in Northern Iceland.  The vocals are performed by another Iceland darling, Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson. 

"Let It Lie" - The Bros. Landreth

Proof that I attended an OUTDOOR winter event 

It's not very often that I  blog about a local band.  It might be because I haven't heard many local bands that I'd like to write about it,  but it's really probably because I'm too lazy to go out on "the scene" scoping out bands like I"m a middle-aged, cigar smoking talent scout about to give someone their big break by writing about them in my semi-shitty, self-serving music blog.

"EmmyLou" - First Aid Kit

Sorry Jack.. only room for one on this plank.

So. I'm getting married.

I'm excited, slightly terrified and mostly in love. It's kind of frightening to imagine choosing one person to stick with for the rest of your days, all at the young, still idiotic age of 28. I love my future err.. husband (panic), but I've realized it's more of a best-friend, retainer-in, bra-off type of love. Meaning, I can't imagine my life without him but I don't know if I'd take it as far as Rose and Jack did, Ala Titanic.

"Dolphin Center" - The Donkeys

Good times at the condo always

Lots to tell, but I barely know what to say.  I've been extraordinarily happy for seven months now (yes, I'm counting). It's weird because I wasn't even looking for happiness, but I guess that's how these things work. My job is challenging and great, my friends and I make mature, yet ghetto, attempts to throw dinner parties, I met someone, we bought our dream house, and it's all been very grown up.  

I sold my condo today. I've lived here for six years, by myself.  Everyone is congratulating me, and smiles all around. I'm mostly relieved, but  feel a little bit panicked. What have I done? No one really warns you what growing up feels like, but this must be it. It's great in many ways, it's a new kind of  happiness. But it's a different kind of happiness.Previously, happiness to me was; cuddles with my dog, a beach day with high UV, or getting wasted with my best friends - waking up on a boat, and then crawling home at 5am.  

"All For You" - Sister Hazel

The French have an interesting expression, "le coup de foudre." Literally it means "a bolt of lightning" or "thunderbolt", figuratively it means, "love at first sight."  There has been one instance where I've experienced "lightening", but other than that, my skies have remained relatively calm. Lightning always follows thunder, and thunder means unstable weather.  I have learned, that although unstable weather can be exciting, dangerous, and makes your heart race, it never lasts.

90's long hair - don't care, Sister Hazel

The more that I love, and lose, or leave, the more I think that maybe there's something more to it.   Maybe being successful in love, is less about finding someone that loves all of the great things about you, and more about finding someone that loves you, despite all of the not so great things.  What if in the long run, it matters less that someone will buy you flowers and write you love poems, and more that you can wear your retainer to bed with them, and that they'll take the dog for walks when it's cold out?

"Wake Me Up" - Avicii

I'm going to re-enact this pose on my
birthday every year for the rest of my life

Fall is here, and with that comes my Birthday. After the age of 25, birthday's stopped being as much fun. I remember being younger, and looking forward to my special day all year long, now, instead of excitement, I feel something akin to depression.  Now my Birthdays serve as a reminder, that despite protestations.. I'm getting older.

I've previously referred to my "quarter-life crisis", which began shortly before my 26th birthday last year.  25  is a perfect benchmark age; a time to reflect, and look back on all that you've accomplished (or not).  It's enlightening to compare what  I thought I'd be at 25 with what I am.