Public Service Announcement

If you go on a date with someone and you think that they are cool but maybe you don’t like them “like that”, you should probably not kiss them at the end of the night. Even if it’s just an awkward kiss on the side of their face. It kind of gives the wrong idea and is disappointing later when they think you are the bees knees and then find out you do not feel the same about them.

In other news, I spent $300 on Smashing Pumpkins tickets today. If you could type numbers in caps, I would be doing it right now. $300 is a lot of money. I might be out of my mind. But it’s Massey Hall, and I have yet to see a less than stellar show there (Ani DiFranco, Damien Rice, Arcade Fire, Sigur Ros). It’s my most favourite venue. And I have great seats. For two nights in a row. That will be a lot of songs.

In still more news, we had our first band practice this week. Let me give you a heads-up that we are going to be bringing 90s alt-rock back (not like we’re the only ones, but…) with a 2008 twee indie-rock collective twist. YES.

Why I love the song “Elephants” by Rachael Yamagata

“If the hawks in the trees need the dead, if you’re living you don’t stand a chance.
You can lie there and say you are fed, but there are only two ends to this dance.
You can flee with your wounds just in time, or lie there as he feeds,
watching yourself ripped to shreds and laughing as you bleed.

So for those of you falling in love, keep it kind, keep it good, keep it right.
Throw yourself in the midst of danger, but keep one eye open at night.”

I think I need someone to teach me not to be such a cynic.

Questions

- Why am I so tired?

- Where are all these bruises coming from? Big ones on my legs, tiny ones on my arm and hand. Am I that clumsy that I just don’t notice when I injure myself? The answer is probably yes.

- Am I going to need glasses soon? The answer is also probably yes. Signs are blurry and I catch myself with my face four inches from my computer screen too often.

Too much

The last week has been pretty much amazing. Ladyfest happened, after a year’s labour of love. The shows were brilliant, despite some venue problems. I’ll do a proper recap later in the week. There were also New Kids, new people, a new band, a new job. And Sigur Ros. SIGUR ROS. They played my two favourite songs and I melted.

There were also the following quotes that probably are not that funny to people other than me, but:

“You just self-identified as a scenester.”

“OH I WAS NOT ABSENT”

“But if we didn’t have day jobs, where would we steal our photocopies from?”

“Let’s get Ladyfest tattoos!”

All this happiness is tiring. I’m exhausted.

Best Day Ever?

Yesterday was quite possibly the best day of my life. It may have overtaken the day I met Billy Corgan for that honour. Here is a summary of yesterday:

-Bronwyn came! We went shopping.
-H&M had decided to restock a dress I had been lusting after and they had my size. I bought it. It is a sexy librarian dress. It is also the third tuxedo-style top I bought from H&M this week. I’m putting a moratorium on any more purchases.
-Got an email about a possible new music project that has the potential to be AMAZING AND THE MOST FUN EVER. It will fulfill some long-standing dreams of mine. Just wait.
-Ladyfest had its first music night and it went swimmingly. Phil’s band played their first show ever. I finally got to see Lal live and they ended their set with my favourite song of theirs.
-I got to pet a cute dog.

But most importantly, I went to see NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK. Frigging unbelievable. I was so sad as a kid that I never got to see them and I thought that ship had sailed forever. Thoughts and observations on the concert:

-It was like we all lost our minds when the lights went out. Seriously. There were about 20,000 individual freakouts in the ACC when it happened.
-I have never screamed so much at a concert.
-Boys who sing and do cute choreographed dance moves = a big yes.
-Those boys can actually sing. Especially Joey and Jordan. Jordan can still hit crazy falsetto notes.
-Danny Wood is a good breakdancer.
-Joey McIntyre is still the sexiest one. In fact, I have determined that Joey McIntyre should probably be my husband because I still love him after 15 years, which is longer than I have loved any man.
-Pyro! Hydraulics! Crazy lights! Smoke machines! Shirts blowing in the wind! Adorable dance moves! Outfit changes! A rotating stage in the middle of the audience! Joey McIntyre’s smiley face jacket! A girl dancing on a piano! Streamers! Amazing background videos (including a shot of the word “critics” with a red circle and line through it, ahaha)!
-But Kurt Cobain’s face on a memorial video at an NKOTB concert? Kinda weird.
-They basically played every single awesome song of theirs. Games, Please Don’t Go Girl, I’ll Be Loving You Forever, The Right Stuff, Hangin’ Tough, Step by Step, Cover Girl, My Favourite Girl and TONIGHT. And more. And new songs, which were actually really good. I may go buy the album very soon. Eep.

Woah. Pictures and video coming soon to a Facebook near you.

CMW – Carly’s Music Week

What a week it will be! Tonight is New Kids on the Block (childhood dreams fulfilled), then cabbing it over to the first night of Ladyfest music for Lal! Wheeee! Then on Monday… SIGUR ROS. Let me just type that again. SIGUR ROS! I am so frigging excited – they’re one of the last bands left on my ‘must-see’ list.

I feel like if I’m going to cry at any concert it would Sigur Ros. Then I will feel like a dummy. And that will be karma getting me for laughing at the girl who cried at Bright Eyes. But to be fair, if I cry it will be an “I’m so moved” cry, whereas I’m pretty sure the Bright Eyes girl’s crying was “OMG I love Conor Oberst” crying.

So yes, my music week is bookended by NKOTB and Sigur Ros. That pretty much sums me up, I think.

A solid plan

I do not want to end up an old lady all alone with a bunch of dogs and some recording gear for company. This means that eventually I will have to start dating again. Which presents a problem.

Basically, I’m totally dumb at dating. I haven’t had to do it in like three years. Last night I had a dream that underscored how hopeless I am at it. I dreamed that I wrote someone a note telling them I liked them. This scares me. It tells me that the best strategy I have is the one we used in elementary school.

Seriously friends, make sure you stop me before I end up writing notes that say, “Do you like me? Check yes or no.” That would be tragic.

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

If you haven’t yet seen last week’s SNL skit featuring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as Palin and Clinton, go now. It is hilarious and spot on. From the facial expressions to the voice to the dialogue, Tina Fey was a perfect Palin. Man, I love Tina Fey. Highlights include:

Poehler/Clinton: “I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy.”
Fey/Palin: “And I can see Russia from my house!”

and

Poehler/Clinton: “I don’t agree with the Bush Doctrine.”
Fey/Palin: “And I don’t know what that is.”

(For background on the latter quote, watch this interview with the real Palin. Painful.)

Art Bitch

I bought myself an “I got a job” present today. It was entirely unplanned, but a pleasant surprise.

The past year of school has been the most broke I’ve ever been in my life. I was really good all year about budgeting and conserving money and not spending it on unnecessary things. Still, I stressed about money all the time and felt guilty any time I spent any.

But today I was walking home through Trinity Bellwoods Park, where there were rows and rows of artists exhibiting their work. I walked into one booth and immediately fell in love with basically everything she had. There was one gel transfer of a pink and brown record player, but it was a bit out of my budget. (Well, if I was being honest, anything was out of my budget because I haven’t even started working yet.)  Then a piece featuring a girl with bangs and pink aviators, on a blue background with pink bubbles, caught my eye. There was no hemming and hawing. There was no endless consideration about whether I should buy it, if it was the best way to spend my money, if I’d feel guilty later. I saw the piece, loved it, and before I could even think about it, said: “I’ll take the girl with the sunglasses.”

I can’t remember the last time I bought something without all of the above mentioned fretting. I literally can’t. It felt nice. It felt like a lovely, grown up thing to buy as a “goodbye school, hello real world” (for real, this time) present. My current art is all music-related stuff subbing as art – framed album covers, music stands, record store wall hangings. Don’t get me wrong, it was all carefully chosen and I love it all. But there was something exciting about buying an item meant to be a piece of art from the person who created it.

It’s going on the wall above my recording corner. Now I need to tidy my room to do it justice.

Don’t speak

Since I’m sick I can’t sing. Earlier today I literally couldn’t speak, no matter how hard I tried. Eventually my voice came back to some degree, and my friends said it was an awesome sexy sick voice. I like to think of it as the Scarlett Johansson voice (a lovely woman did once think my name was Scarlett, a lifetime ago) though I think I was being a little too generous with that. I thought it might make a good singing voice. I was wrong. What little I managed to croak out sounded like a frog.

So, like I said, I can’t sing. I’m realizing just how much I depend on music. I’ve written some new guitar parts that I love, that I think might make beautiful songs, and all I want to do is belt out some sad lyrics over top. I can’t believe how frustrating it is that I can’t. In the meantime, I guess I’ll just listen to other people’s songs and pine away for my own.

On the subject of voices, I read an article the other day about ghostwriters for wedding speeches. One of the interviewees was a woman who began a speech writing company after initially being insulted that her own dad had hired one for her wedding. It made me sad. At least she got to have her dad make a speech at her wedding. It’s a luxury I won’t have, if I ever get married. Remember that, those of you who think quitting or not quitting smoking is a funny game of procrastination.