Mr O's Music News

First off, after a month or so of speculation, it has finally been confirmed. On Monday, I will bee seeing The Kings of Leon headline a show in Birmingham. But wait, there's more. The opener? THE BLACK KEYS! To say I'm excited about this is an understatement. For one, I haven't been to a concert in a while. My last experience (Warped Tour) was kinda just, "eh" with one good band - Pierce the Veil. The last few concerts have been club stuff, which is amazing, but I'm ready for an arena show. To just sit and enjoy the music. And I have recently become a huge fan of the keys, absolutely loving and absorbing their sound. So Monday night should be a special night.

*sidenote: There is a person responsible for my going to said concert. I'm just not sure if they want to be identified. But I would like to publicly say thank you and it means so much.

I know I've talked about Anberlin a lot lately, but I want to get this out of the way. Their new cd is great and I am loving it. I think I finally nailed down why I like them so much. I was having a conversation the other day that revolved around why I don't yell when I get mad. I guess I'm kinda one of those get stern and use dagger words rather than make my voice louder and just be an ass. I think you can tell when I'm mad when I start cussing a little bit more or you can just tell by my tone. Anyway, I think that's why I like Anberlin so much. The majority of their lyrics revolve around heartache and anger, but it's a sung in a way where he isn't yelling or whining. It's just such a unique emotional outlet, one that I can definitely get behind. And that is why they are my third favorite band.

Speaking of favorites, news is starting to leak out about My Chemical Romance's new cd. The 19-year-old in me is starting to get a little excited.

Other news I've heard involves cool shows. Andrew McMahon will perform double duties in November when both his bands, Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin, do a show together for the first time ever. If I lived near LA, there would be nothing stopping me from going. Also, after weeks or rumors, Weezer finally confirmed the "Blinkerton" tour where they will be performing The Blue Album and Pinkerton in their entirety - two nights, one city. I'm not the biggest Weezer fan, but that is pretty cool.

Three big names in music dropped cds Tuesday - Brandon Flowers (from the Killers), Weezer and Linkin Park. "A Thousand Suns" by Linkin Park is the only cd I have listened to so far and I have to say - I'm in between. I want to hate it, but there is something different about it that allows it to stand out. Though it feels more like a soundtrack to a sci-fi movie than an actual studio album. The crazy amount of interludes and chanting tracks kind of take it away, but there are a couple definite Linkin Park tracks on there. Jimmy Eat World and Kanye West still have cds to come out this month and I have to say that I'm definitely looking forward to hearing from Mr. West.

Speaking of new stuff, Kings of Leon have a new cd coming out in October. Has anybody heard the new song "Radioactive"? If so, what do you think? My quick thoughts is that it's a decent song, but it sounds, to me, more like an album track than a lead single.

And finally, to close this out, I really can't wait to tell all of you, my friends, about this coming Sunday's selection in the countdown.

...Another Door Opens

The reason I had to leave my job on Friday even though I'm not graduating until August is because today I started my internship. For 10 weeks I will be working at the Montgomery Advertiser. With no pay. But not to sound too overly optimistic, but I think this will definitely be a learning experience that I can take with me in the future. At least some great clips to put on a resume.

So consider this a warning. As part of the college credit portion of this internship, I have to talk about what I've been doing, like the day-to-day stuff. He actually said "maybe start a little blog or something." So I will have one prepared for them, but I'm going to share it with you guys. So guess what? You are coming on this ride with me.

So I'm not sure if I'm going to post everyday or just recaps (more than likely just recaps) but here is what I did today:

*got introduced to various people

*was shown how to put stuff on a "budget" that lets the staff know who is working on what

*also shown various parts of publishing the article

*had to record the voicemail greeting for my desk phone. Really awkward, at least for me. Because though I'm in a cubicle type setting, there aren't really "walls." So everyone can hear everyone else. I need to gain some confidence about talking in front of people because I realize this is my weakness

*was taken out to lunch by my editor. Thought that was cool. Said I got one at the beginning and one at the end. Went to a little soup, sandwich and burger type place and I got a club sandwich that was very tasty.

*Was assigned three articles and spent the rest of the day gathering information. One is a Titanic Museum in Tennessee, one is about the city of Alpharetta, GA and the other is a preview piece for Bamajam. (jme, I know you're gonna love that and thanks for the good luck text by the way).

After work, I came home and decided to do my radio show. I say decided because they said I can keep my slot this summer even though it will be kind of sporadic when I can come in. It turned out to be one of the best ones I've done (the theme was music from this year). Hopefully it got recorded and you guys can hear it.

So that's about it. Hopefully I can keep this thing interesting for the summer.

Random lyric of the day:

I wanted love, I needed love
Most of all, most of all..
Someone said 'True Love' was dead
but I'm bound to fall
Bound to fall for you
Oh what can I do?