A to Z Blogging Challenge - F is for Four Chords

Someday I will have unlimited time and money. As opposed to now when I always seem to be running short of both.  Coffee helps, of course.  It doesn't really give me more time but, when drunk in appropriate quantities, alternating with perhaps something containing taurine, it does have the power to make the rest of the world move in slow motion, which is good enough for me.  I may keel over at 40, of course, but until then mama is going to Get. Things. Done. But I digress.  Someday this will not be an issue.  When that day comes, I'm going to fulfill three of my greatest dreams.
                      1. I'm going to move to Australia.  I so so desperately want to be an Aussie, if only in the way that a Yankee who moves south of the Mason-Dixon can be a Southerner which is, of course, in a manner that includes geography and veiled hostility.  I'm okay with that because. . .Australia.  The home of Platypi. The home also of many incredibly venomous snakes which is slightly worrisome because you see I went to Peru and was bitten by an Anaconda, went to Grand Cayman and was bitten by an eel and so you see the odds are not precisely in my favor.  Still. Someday I will live there.
                     2.  When I am done living in Australia I'm going to do all of the stupid things that people tell you not to do because if you do them you will get bitten by a shark.  I will go abalone hunting, while bleeding openly and thrashing.  When I see a shark I will not move calmly.  I will try to hug the darned thing.  Because I love them.  And really if you're gonna go, going while embracing 2 tons of sheer serrated death kinda wins cool points.
                     3. In between point one and point two I'm going to spend a great deal of time following Axis of Awesome.  Like, I'd like to think that we'd be buds, you know, exchanging witty repartee and talking about Pokemon and Game of Thrones and drinking beer and I will write their biography and they will write a song about me.  But, you know, they're really talented musical folks and I've learned that really talented musical folks kind of tend to be a little bit. . .arrogant. Or if not arrogant at least slightly overaware that they are talented and the rest of us are not.  So my dream of us being BFFs might not work.  In which case I will just go to their concerts and daydream happily and collect setlists and whatnot like any good fangirl. Which brings me, though meanderingly, to my point.  The Four Chords song.  This was my introduction to Axis of Awesome and my cheap way of getting the most bang for your buck because with one simple paid download you get not only the amazing, studly, cleverness and musical genius of AofA (are you reading this, guys?  Really, email me, I'll buy the first round) but you get, you know, a lot of other songs.  Please, don't stop there, though. The smartassery and fun with this crew just don't stop. Word.

A to Z Challenge Day 4- Damien Rice

Welcome to Day 4 of the A to Z blogging challenge, where I continue to expose you to Songs I Like.  Today it's the third rainy day in a row, the sky is gray and the daffodils are looking a little dejected.  In my novel, on which I've made a huge amount of progress this month, my protagonist is feeling a little dejected.  And, to be honest, I'm feeling just a wee bit dejected as well.  It's a good day for Damien Rice.
I was introduced to Damien Rice at a pretty rough time in my life by a friend who was, in turn, introduced to him when he was going through a rough time.  This is not a coincidence; Rice's music sits gently, it's a balm to the soul.  Unlike some other performers whose music is a level of hopelessness that makes me feel like leaping off of a tall building would be a good idea if it wasn't just so damned much work, this dude perfectly nails melancholy.  And he does it so incredibly smoothly. The lyrics, the voice, the guitar, man it all goes down like a nice bourbon, and you can apply them all as liberally as you like without any worries about how you'll feel the next morning. There's nothing that he sings that I don't like, and his performance of "Hallelujah" at the Leonard Cohen tribute is one of the best I've heard, but today I'm going to introduce you the same way that I was introduced.  With "Cannonball."

Oh and for a different take on music and the A to Z challenge,  visit newbie blogger Cassie Ray Clark.   In the meantime, who do you snuggle when you're a 'lil down?

Blogging A to Z - April 2

Yawn. Stretch. Moving kinda slow this morning, how about you?  Feeling kinda melancholy.  Which I guess is fitting because of today's song.  Today on Blogging A to Z (where we have been joined by the amazing Dani J. Caile so go check out his alphabetical proweress when you get a chance) I will be introducing you to the second best break up song of all time: Both Hands by Ani Difranco (the living in clip version).  It perfectly expresses the pain when a relationship is ending, you know it's ending, you can't stop it, but you don't want it to. I once had a friend refer to her as "every man's worst enemy" because during a break up the male suddenly becomes, in the mind of the woman, every dude in every Ani Difranco song.  I don't know if I'd go that far,though she does, in my mind, hold the title for best break up song as well, with Untouchable Face (don't Google that if you're squeamish about profanity). But I digress.  I "met" Ani when I was driving around in my little 5 speed Escort Pony (named Mony) and rocking to a single of 32 Flavors by Alana Davis.  My friend says "you know this is a cover, right?"  I didn't.  I was woefully Top 40 at that point, but all of that was about to change. So I dropped her off and she said "wait a minute" and brought me a copy of Ani Difranco's "Dilate" and "Little Plastic Castle" to borrow.  It was love at first play.  I had several amazing times at Ani concerts after that, and some amazing-in-retrospect angsty teenage times angstily shouting the lyrics to various songs after  angsty, angsty, breakups.  We differ a little politically nowadays, though she is a homebirth devotee which as a former midwife makes me really happy.  Even so, her music never fails to make me happy.  I mean, where can you go wrong with someone who plays an acoustic guitar with acrylic nails taped to her fingers to get a grittier sound?

          There are several versions of Both Hands, but I love the Living in Clip version because here she is accompanied by an orchestra, which makes it just that more awesome.  What is your favorite break up song?

I do not own the rights to this song.

A to Z Blogging Challenge - April 1

It's April, which means it's time for the A to Z Blogging Challenge, which is boasting over 2300 participants this year including my dear friends Marian Allen  and my favorite steampunk warrior Jay Noel.  I've pondered long and hard about joining this challenge, mostly because I'm fairly notorious for starting a challenge and then petering out halfway through due to technical issues, birthing livestock, sick children, or just your average artist-inspired ADHD (look, something shiny!).  Also, I'm also doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month and really want to finish one if not both of my almost done novels.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, though, and someday I will see one of these through to the end.
After much pondering, I've decided to choose Songs I Like as my theme.  I figure as I'm going to be writing I'm going to be abusing my playlists and thought I'd share some of the gems within with all of you.

Today's Song I Like is As Cool as I Am by Dar Williams.  I learned about Dar at Van Buren Youth Camp, the gateway to most of my music obsessions even today.  I was able to meet Dar at her concert at the historic and gorgeous Kentucky Theatre, and she was amazingly gracious as I babbled in my best angstypoetreefangirl style. 20 years (erhem) after I first heard this song I still think it's a song every woman should hear.