If I Didn't Know Myself Any Better, I Would Think I Was An Anberlin Fan

So j sent me this the other day and it almost inspired me to write a whole new post...


But for some reason I abandoned it. So if you ever want to hear my take on people like Zooey Deschanel vs. people like Megan Fox, hopefully that will come soon.

For now, I want to talk about my top 25.

What am I talking about? I'm talking about that little section in your iTunes playlists that lists the top 25 most played songs in your music library. My current top 25 is a little surprising, but understandable. Before I reveal it, here are some minor details you need to know.

*I have to update my iTunes library every once in a while. This can be due to a change in where I keep my music or I get OCD and go on an organizing spree. When this happens, it resets my play count. Being accurate, this is my top 25 most played since July 13, 2009.

*Some of these tracks are kind of cheaters. When I do my radio show, I try to see where a song ends. When it goes to the end of the track, it counts it as one play. So I've had to go back and forth with some songs and so the play count has been bumped up. But still, I think this is a pretty good idea of my top plays.

*I guess at some point, I went on an Anberlin kick. Which isn't bad, they are in my top ten definitely. But that is the only thing I don't think this list accurately reflects. I don't listen to them that much and there are other bands I probably listen to more. But still, this is a small window into what I listen to. A window that apparently reserved one corner exclusively for Anberlin.

Without further ado,

1. A Day to Remember - I'm Made of Wax Larry, What Are You Made Of?
2. Silversun Pickups - Substitution
3. Anberlin - The Haunting
4. Anberlin - Dismantle. Repair (from Lost Songs)
5. Taking Back Sunday - Lonely, Lonely
6. A Day To Remember - NJ Legion Iced Tea
7. Anberlin - Blame Me! Blame Me!
8. Death Cab for Cutie - What Sarah Said
9. Broadway - Don't Jump The Shark Before You Save The Whale
10. Paramore - Misguided Ghosts
11. Taking Back Sunday - Catholic Knees
12. Taking Back Sunday - Carpathia
13. Anberlin - Naive Orleans (from Lost Songs)
14. Death Cab for Cutie - Grapevine Fires
15. Death Cab for Cutie - Brothers On A Hotel Bed
16. Saosin - Changing
17. Taking Back Sunday - Cut Me Up Jenny
18. Anberlin - Breaking
19. Anberlin - Retrace
20. Anberlin - Feel Good Drag (New Surrender version)
21. A Day To Remember - Welcome To The Family
22. Paramore - All I Wanted
23. All Time Low - Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)
24. Anberlin - Feel Good Drag (acoustic)
25. Anberlin - The Resistance

So that's my top 25 (my apologies for the ATL. I don't know what happened...)

I kind of just wanted to share that, but really I am interested in yours. Now, I know 25 is a lot to type, but feel free to share some highlights. Unless you don't have iTunes, then we're not friends.

(Edit: Of course we're still friends)

Music Thursday: Paramore

*sorry jeanette. Please don't be disappointed in me.

Today marks the fourth day in a week-long set of artists that produced some of my favorite albums -- they just didn't make it into my top 50 for various reasons.

Seems like most bands I got into started with one song on a mix cd. And Paramore is no different. Not sure which came first, but my friend made me a cd and then I got a "various artists" cd (I believe it was one of the "Take Actions!") and both of these contained "Pressure" and "Emergency." I really really liked the sound -- hard alternative rock with a passionate female voice. How was I to know she was so damn young? And that peice of info would make me not only like her, but respect her even more.

Those two songs were all I knew until I was in California one summer and we were checking out music videos on demand and saw one by Paramore called "Misery Business." This was before it absolutely blew up, but I recognized them as "that band I knew." That song, and the awesome drums with it, got stuck in my head and I went out to buy "Riot!" and while I was there I also picked up "All We Know Is Falling" just for the hell of it.

Over the next couple years, I followed them and started picking up the songs they did for the Superman soundtrack, the Twilight Soundtrack, and various covers. Then this wonderful blogging chapter of my life started, I met jeanette and recieved many more songs by this band. This was after seeing them open for No Doubt and tease songs off thier upcoming cd.

That cd was "Brand New Eyes," which I feel could have been a lot better given thier potential, but they did show signs of brilliance to come in songs such as the lead single "Ignorance" and the closers "Misguided Ghosts" and "All I Wanted." After seeing them headline thier own show, I am now pumped to see them live again and anticipate whenever they unveil another release.

All We Know Is Falling:







Superman Soundtrack:



Riot!





The Final Riot!



Twilight Soundtrack:



Brand New Eyes:

Music Sunday: 2009 Concerts I Attended

The Sounds/Paramore/No Doubt
June 5, Atlanta

On our way to the concert
The Sounds and their awesome performance

Paramore (fun fact: heard "Ignorance" before it was released and thought "I really like this song")

With the lead singer of The Sounds, missing the beginning of No Doubt but it was worth it...

Because I asked her to sign the ticket like that (that's what she kept saying on stage) and she laughed and actually did it

No Doubt doing their thing

And this is apparently me rocking out to No Doubt doing their thing

Not to overstate, but they were amazing

And when we got home, we could NOT stop laughing about this:




Envy On The Coast/Anberlin/Taking Back Sunday
June 17, Atlanta

Envy On The Coast opening up (and doing a damn good job of it)

Anberlin getting us to the main event

The band we all came to see

And the man we all came to see (Adam Lazarra)

The following is a video I didn't take, just found it on youtube. I was probably in the back trying to catch my breath:




Warped Tour 2009
July 28, Atlanta

Warped Tour is always so much fun

Underoath

Me w/ Saosin

Bayside

Senses Fail

The Devil Wears Prada

A Day To Remember and their insanely huge crowd for not being on a main stage

w/ the lead singer of Senses Fail

Chiodos closing out the day

The following is the craziness of seeing Underoath live:

Incubus
August 14, Atlanta

I only got two good pics, which is a shame really

because that concert was absolutely amazing

And the following is one of the sickest intros to a concert I have ever seen:

Carolina Liar/Taking Back Sunday
September 18, Tuscaloosa

Now this one hurt, because I had to attend my rival school's campus in order to watch this show. And when we were there, the coliseum was not even half full so that was disappointing. But what wasn't disappointing was their performance. However, there was one more thing that was disappointing: no pictures. But I did a quick youtube search and found the following video from that concert that displays just why I love this band so much:

The Swellers/Paper Route/Paramore
October 27, Atlanta

The Swellers

A cool collage my friend made of Paper Route and their 27 instruments

Paramore owning the place

And Hayley owning my heart

These pics were taken from a friend's camera, and I had to search youtube once again for a video from that show. Everybody's (and my) favorite song from the new album seems to be Misguided Ghosts, and this their performance, complete with the crowd (that would include myself) joining in



Minus the Bear
November 10, Birmingham

A show we bought tickets for at the last minute, I also did not have a camera for this one and relied on the tube to bring the greatness to this blog post. It turned out to be our last show of the year after failing to see Anberlin/All American Rejects/Taking Back Sunday at the end of November and Saosin at the beginning of December (I also missed Blink-182 in September and still kick myself for it). But if this is a band you haven't heard of, you need to know. Show was epic.



So ends the look back at 2009. I already have Muse in February and Warped Tour (possibly in Chicago -- WHAT) to look forward to, but here's hoping that some of my favorite bands hit the road and here's really hoping I have my own camera this time.

Music Sunday: Brick by Boring Brick

Today's post is the latest music video from Paramore. I am really liking it for a number of reasons, including:

*visually, it looks amazing

*Hayley pulls off being a blonde really well

*they are using images and themes from their album instead of what they did with their first video for this album, which had a decent concept, but sometimes just felt like people crunched in a room, and honestly came off a little lazy, just in my opinion

Here is the video for "Brick by Boring Brick":



Here is the thing about this video though. As much as I like what they did, I'm not exactly sure what they are saying/doing at the end. If you know for sure, or have a creative guess, let me know.

Chicks with blonde hair and peices of paper

What do these two things have in common? They are what have been the main topics of my past couple of days.

Topic 1: Paramore Concert

Last night, a friend and I went to see Paramore at the Tabernacle in Atlanta. Sidenote: The Tabernacle is a wonderful venue. If you live near the area, you must go there. It is an old church that has been turned into a concert spot and it looks amazing with a very intimate setting. So here is the play-by-play.

It was kinda crappy weather yesterday. But when we got near the place, we saw the long line of kids standing there waiting to get in. Respect to them, but we parked and got something to eat. It was kinda cool though, as we were walking past the kids, Hayley Williams (the lead singer of Paramore for the uninformed) leaned out of a window and was waving to everybody. Respect to her as well. The opening band was The Swellers, who I think I could get into. The lead singer was sick, but still put on a good performance. Hayley came out to help him with one song and got a huge reaction from the crowd. The second band was called Paper Route and, in my opinion, gave an amazing performance. There were like six people on stage and more than that number of instruments (i swear I saw an accordion at one point). They were the kind of band that I didn't mind that they kept going, I was actually interested in their songs. But when they ended and we waited for a set change, the lights went off and Paramore took the stage. For the better part of her career, Hayley has always had some crazy looking hair. But last night it was dyed blonde. I don't know how long that has been going on, but it still looked good on her. I have to say this. Some people are born to do certain things. That chick was put on this earth to be in a rock band. I had an amazing time and strangely didn't feel weird for being a near 23-year-old male standing amongst teenagers and singing along to her songs. At one point, they did a song called "Misguided Ghosts" and pretty much the entire crowd was right there with her, and you could see the smile on her face. It was, overall, a great experience.

Topic 2: Diploma Application

I (finally) registered for my final semester of classes, and in doing so, filled out a diploma application. Now, I know many of you have already done this and now that it has come and gone may not be that big of a deal. But for me, this was huge. I am one of those stories where neither of my parents finished college. I also have two younger brothers and numerous younger cousins who, without filling my head too much, I know look up to me. So for me to be doing this felt like a great accomplishment. I feel like, for all the advice and know all my dad has, I will finally do something he didn't. And that's not an in your face statement, more like a "i'm sure he will be proud of that" kind of statement. And to my younger relatives, I feel it sends a statement of "you can do this too." And for me personally, it just felt good. I have hit some road blocks while I have been here (having to drop classes, failing a couple classes, taking summers off) that has caused me to be on the five year plan. But it's finally coming to a close and I feel I can see light at the end of the tunnel. All this is why the whole time I was filling out the information, I couldn't stop smiling. My advisor said "now you have good news to share with your family over the holidays" and my response was "shoot, i'm gonna call somebody right now" (I called my sister but she was sleeping, so my excitement had to wait). Now I know that a diploma is basically a peice of paper, and it's what you do afterward that matters. And I think that's what excites me the most. I know I'm not going to get it and put it on a wall and smile at it, then go back to my job in high school. (if any of you have done that, no offense... it's just not for me). That's why I had one glitch. It asked for my hometown, and I literally hesitated writing "Daleville" down, becuase I have grown such a distain for my small-town hometown. But then I went on and wrote it down so I can look at it and be like "I came from there" and have it to remind me that I did this so I don't have to go back. I won't go into detail now, but my hometown is the major reason why Thanksgiving has become a holiday I really don't look forward too. But more on that later. For now, I am just basking in the fact that finally my college days are coming to a close. And another smile comes to my face while typing that.

Speaking of school, I will end this post for saying a big my bad on sudden dissapearance from posting and commenting. Things have gotten kinda hectic and I didn't really plan this kind of absence. Not sure how many of you were into the video series, but those should be back up and running soon so we can finish it out with Arizona and California. But I have been busy on other parts of the blogosphere, guest posting on Natalie's blog. Please check that out and tell me what you think.

For now, I'm going to try and get some sleep... at two in the morning. I need to start going to bed earlier.

Random lyric of the day:

But I'm still around. And you would build a ship or pack my parachute in time for the fall.
Yeah, this is love by all means. And I'll continue building with you.
Don't stop, now. Just carry on, carry on, carry on.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Well it's been a while. Let's start with the weekend.

Jme got here on Friday. Apparently she brought a monsoon with her. I actually saw hail for the first time in my life. Then, had one of the most scary drives besides driving in the snow in Kentucky. Frisco showed up though and drove us through it. What a guy. But then the ultimate nightmare began. We watched Twilight. I'm just kidding, it wasn't that bad. But it was pretty bad. All those people that are excited for the next one? I'm not one of them.

Saturday got here and not much happened. Went shopping and it was fun pulling the whole "I'm bored, get me out of here" routine. Then had some pretty delicious taco salad. Saw Aaron and tried to give him some kind words before he left for a good number of weeks.

Sunday I thought was going to be an average day. Jme left and it felt like she had just gotten here. We did watch our senior video the night before. Made me miss some people. Those that I have lost, and those that I have lost touch with. It was cool though to be sitting in the same room watching it with the person I considered my best friend at the time and for her to be there almost 4 years later. Wish we could have done more while she was here, but ya know, economics. So she left and I tried to start studying. I actually got some in and finished what I had to present for press, law, and ethics. Then I got the text. My best friend had gotten engaged. I mean, we were all expecting it at some point, but it happened out of nowhere. I'm really happy for her though. I always liked Aaron, always rooted for him even in the "down" times. And I really gained a lot of respect for him because I feel like he is making these decisions, such as the military, for them, not just for him. Stand up guy. However, after all that I went to the library to finish my report for another class and the fire alarm got pulled. Figures.

Monday was... interesting. I presented my case briefing for press, law, and ethics. Went better than I thought it would. Just another thing, among a lot of things lately, that I stressed about till it got here and then it was over. Then, I got home and things took a turn into crazy town. First stop: "the friend and future roommate". He had come over to ask us a bunch of random questions that he wanted our opinion on. So we gave it to him. Then, he just got up and walked out. To make a long story short, we got a little worried, decided to check on him, got a little more worried, then had to make a decision. Let it go and just assume everything is ok or involve the police. Well, after a couple of times of thinking everything was ok in the past, and it turning out to be the complete opposite, we made a decision and called the police. Turns out everything was ok, we looked like idiots, and now he is pissed at us for checking on him. Asked for his "space". So he has it. And i have no idea what the future holds. Then, the final destination in crazy town: "the ex-girlfriend." Got on myspace and saw that I had a message. What it contained I really wasn't ready for. She was dating somebody else. After an official month of not having any communication whatsoever, I get informed that after being told that "she just couldn't do it right now" that she was giving someone else a shot. The only way I could describe it would be to say I am just numb about the whole thing. I am writing this down to see where I stand a week or month from now. On both subjects. I honestly wish the best for both of them, my friend and my ex. Let's just see what happens.

And then today. A little brighter. Took care of my presentation in psych after being chosen, not being able to volunteer later. But now it's over. Then, with a special thanks to Frisco for providing the ultimate background, finished my paper for feature writing. Then had a really cool dj session with him, fine tuned my playlist for tomorrow, and here we are. Still to come: Test on Thursday and if I can get it straight with work, a visit to Florida this weekend. Let's hope that works out.

Random lyric of the day:

Don't know what I want
But I know it's not you
Keep pushing and pulling me down
But I know in my heart it's not you

Hold on to that feeling

What a crazy, crazy day...

*Feel I did ok on my test. First time I answered all the short answer questions, so that's a good thing. Still, I went to talk to her before this test to try and get help and if I don't do good I feel like I will disappoint her. We'll see

*Got in to my other psych class and realized that we had an article review done that I was completely oblivious to. Nice. Just got it done a few minutes ago. And I just had a hard time trying to spell minutes.

*Originally had a quiz scheduled for next Monday in my press, law and ethics class. Got moved to April 13th. I also have a "case briefing" that day where I have to present a court case to the class. In my recent style of forgetting things, that just so happens to be the day I have tickets to go see wrestling in Atlanta. I figured before I took the blow and sold them I would at least ask him and see if there was anything I could do. He said I could come to his office the Friday before or Monday of and take the quiz and VIDEO TAPE MY PRESENTATION. As if that embarrassment is not enough, his office is located in Montgomery.

*Got my paper back in feature writing today. I made a B, a grade that normally I would be upset about, but considering I literally did it the night before, I can't complain one bit. I feel I am starting to take pride in my work because when he wrote comments on my paper, he talked about things I should have added and I totally agreed with him. So much that I almost got disappointed in myself that I didn't think to add them in on my own. Same thing happened the other night in the studio. I made a couple mistakes that when I first started out last summer were no big deal, but that's just it - i'm not just starting anymore. I shouldn't be making stupid mistakes like playing a song while another song is already playing.

*Speaking of music, and wrapping up my day, a friend came over to play Rock Band because she wasn't happy at the moment and needed to get out. Everytime she comes over we are guaranteed to play two songs -- "Bounce" by The Cab and "Down With The Sickness" by Disturbed. We actually failed the Sickness because her friend wasn't good. Haha, that sounds mean but it's always funny when people are like "i'm not very good" and then Frisco picks up the guitar and puts it on expert.

Also, good times -- when Frisco left tonite and I had the house to myself, I decided I would get on the mic. I belted a setlist that included "The Kids Aren't Alright" by The Offspring, "Sweetness" by Jimmy Eat World, "Black" by Pearl Jam and the newly downloaded "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. It is fun putting on a concert when no one is around.

On sad news, it looks like it is confirmed. I will never see the following picture on a football field again:

Just like the picture looks, dude is unhappy. So goodbye. It's sort of sad news because I did like the guy. But really sad news because I have no idea who our quarterback will be now

Random lyric of the day:

If you run away now,
Will you come back around?
And if you ran away,
I'd still wave goodbye
Watching you shine bright.