My Celebrity Playlist

iTunes continues to amaze me and inspire me with it's Genius-ness. If I could marry iTunes Genius, I would. Lately, though, I've been checking out the celebrity playlists, and have been loving some of the music I've found there, which leads me to think...what would I put on a list if iTunes were to come calling and ask me what I love? I have a playlist that I typically call my infinite playlist, or my resume of sorts (for random reasons).

I was at dinner the other night, and I saw a local "celebrity" pastor in the area. He spoke at a conference with Don Miller and Francis Chan, so that puts him up to celebrity status in my book. That and the fact that I download his podcasts to listen to. I was thinking a bit about his celebrity status when I saw a kid from my school, who was in awe of my presence at the restaurant. To that kid, I was a celebrity. It happens a lot in Target too.

Anyways... I digress. My Celebrity Playlist. Putting it all together was like deciding which of my fingers I like best, and I'm really partial to all my fingers. It was not easy, but I finally came up with what I will say when iTunes comes a knockin.

"In Your Eyes" by Jeffrey Gaines
- This is my favorite song ever. And it's a cover too. Which is unusual, but it is a beautiful, emotional song.

*"Love Song" by The Cure
- This is the ulitmate love song for me. I still swoon when I hear it. 311 does an excellent cover, and Death Cab For Cutie does an acceptable one as well.


* "Goodnight Elisabeth by Counting Crows"
- I love this song for many reasons, one of which is the line "we couldn't all be cowboys, some of us are clowns."

* "The Wanderer" by Marc Broussard
- I discovered this guy by accident, but love him very much. The first line of this song is "Dance for me sweetheart while I strum my guitar." That is the second best first line of a song ever.

* "Sugar" by Tonic
- The first line of this song is "Come on, baby. Get your shoes on. You're looking like you need a rescue. That is the best first line of a song ever.

* "His Truth is Marching On" by Mike Doughty
- Oh, man. This song hits home. Because it's not a "Christian" song, it has the freedom to be so much more open and honest because it doesn't have to worry about being played on a Christian radio station. It is truth and honesty and all the good things music can be. And I don't even know how to pronounce the guy's last name.

* "Colorful" by The Verve
- Mmm. A song about life. My life. The words of this song are the words of my life.

* "Renaissance" by Mat Kearney
- I think Mat Kearney is one of the best things to happen to the music I listen to, and he only has one CD out. He is good, and this song is my absolute favorite of his.

* "Let Go" by Frou Frou
- This song reminds you to breathe and reminds me to pull myself together. The lyric that says "there's beauty in the breakdown" reminds me to let go and be and just see how everything works itself out.

* "Doubting Thomas" by Nickel Creek-
- Well, it's no secret that Nickel Creek is my favoritest band in all the universe. Or that I want to marry Chris Thile and have all of his little mandolin-playing babies. Pretty much any guy that plays the mandolin can have my heart. And this song. My, my, this song. It is the equivalent of my spiritual testimony.

*" The Joker" by Steve Miller Band
- Some people call me Space Cowboy. Some people call me Maurice.

*"O Praise Him" by David Crowder Band
- This is my favorite "praise song." I totally dig Crowder. (I sound all hip and emergent, don't I?) I have big plans for this song if I ever get to get married.

* "Summer Breeze" by Jason Mraz
- This is a cover of the old Isley Brothers song, and it is brilliant and how I usher in summer each year. I could listen to it on repeat forever.

* "Poetry" by Pat Green
- This is also my testimony. "Heard a voice when I was 13, got baptized and washed up clean, but the world has a way of scuffin' you up if you know what I mean."

* "Reasons Why" by Nickel Creek
- Another Nickel Creek beauty. This is my favorite song by this group, my favorite in all the land. Love it. Love it. Love. It.

*" You Never Let Go" by Matt Redmon (I think...)

* "All I Need" by Shawn McDonald
-This is a good one and really gets me going. And thinking.

* "The Minnow and the Trout" by A Fine Frenzy
- This is a relatively new discovery, but what I play whenever I'm creating. I love A Fine Frenzy. I totally want to be her when I grow up.

There you have it. My celebrity playlist. Now I'm just waiting for my celebrity to come along. Any day now, I'm sure.

They're Always After Me Lucky Charms!

Today, I introduced my new class to Nickel Creek. This is my favorite musical group, and the first song on the CD is a beautiful combination of instruments, including a guitar, fiddle, and mandolin, among others.


One of my kiddos says "Hey...this is like leprechaun music!" Yeah...I'm gonna like this bunch. I forget that they don't know me like my princes and princesses did. One of them came in during my planning time and found me singing along to "When You Come Back Down." Judging by the look on her face, she was a little weirded out. So was the rest of the class today, when I tripped over my chair and knocked it and everything on my overhead cart off. They'll get used to their teacher, and I'll get used to them.


I'm out of my disgruntled funk. I've found that often, when I feel out of sorts, one remedy is to create something. I finally found the table and chairs I have been looking for...a beautiful antique piece with hideous toucan print on the chairs. So, yesterday, with the help of my mom, I recovered them. The picture on the left is definitely the before:





Between that and my little ones...I'm feeling much better...much more myself.

By-the-by, Nickel Creek's last concert before they break up (sob sob) is in November at the House of Blues. I am SO there. In fact, I'm so SO there that I had to stop this post and get tickets. The good seats are already sold out, but the cheap seats were available. I'm so excited, November can't get here fast enough. Maybe I'll take my dad. Maybe I'll take someone else. Anyone interested?

Frou Frou, Not Footloose

This will bring thoughts of the great 80's movie, Footloose, but that's not what I'm talking about. The band Frou Frou, which is a new love for me, redid this song for the movie Shrek 2 and it is phenomenal. I've been jamming out to it on the treadmill. But the lyrics, they speak to me too:

Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods
Where's the street-wise Hercules
To fight the rising odds
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed
Late at night I toss and turn and dream of what I need

(Chorus)
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
larger than life

Somewhere after midnight
In my wildest fantasy
Somewhere just beyond my reach
There's someone reaching back for me
Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat
It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet

(Chorus)

Up where the mountains meet the heavens above
Out where the lightning splits the sea
I would swear that there's someone somewhere
Watching me
Through the wind and the chill and the rain
And the storm and the flood
I can feel his approach
Like the fire in my blood

(Chorus)

Summer (Updated)

I leave for camp in less than five days.
Am I packing? No.
Am I doing laundry in lieu of packing? No.
Am I looking over last-minute plans? No.
Am I even cleaning out my purse, the #1 thing on my to do list? No.
I am purchasing songs on iTunes. But I did put the finishing touches on my summer playlist, and it is now complete:
* Hey There Delilah by the Plain White Tees
* Today by Smashing Pumpkins
* Everlasting God by Lincoln Brewster
* You Never Let Go by Matt Redmoan
* New Shoes by Paulo Nutini
* Last Request by Paulo Nutini
* Shine On by Needtobreathe
* Fantastic Voyage by Coolio (I want this to be the recessional song for my wedding- don't think I'll get it approved by the powers that be, though)
* Island in the Sun by Weezer
* Just Like a Pill by P!nk
* Fourth of July by Shooter Jennings
* Holding Out for a Hero by Frou Frou
* Southern Cross by Jimmy Buffett (an exceptional cover)
* Face Down (acoustic) by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
* Home by Daughtry
* Everything by Michael Buble
* Stolen by Dashboard Confessional
* Brighter Than Sunshine by Aqualung
It's going to be a good summer.

His Truth is Marching On

I am loving Mike Doughty.
This song is just it for me right now.

His Truth is Marching On
They say that God is great
They say that God is love
And I believe them
Don’t fear the random fate;
I trust the hand of the almighty and the infinite.
His truth
Is marching on
His truth is marching on
Let me know your enormity and my tininess and
Help me see your infinity and my finite-ness and
I’m------- starved for love
I deeply need to feel connection with the infinite
I want the nourishment
I need to drink it just like water, and it will sustain me
My heart is yearning now
My arms are aching for some girl or other, didn’t want me
And still I need you more
Need you to soothe this searing sadness, and the nameless gnawing.
(emphasis and editing mine)

Another song of his I'm digging...
American Car
My circus train pulls through the night
Full of lions and trapeze artists
I’m done with elephants and clowns
I want to
Run away and join the office

my favorite part of that song:
Easy, cowboy, what’s the rush now?

I Have Snost and Lost

I'm always exploring new music that's not new. I love to find songs here and there that no one has heard of. I love to find artists mentioned somewhere and then go and explore their music. Music is to be explored. I like to find an artist that I like that few people or no one has heard of. My latest find is Mike Doughty. His song "I Hear the Bells" is very good, and quite possibly a new favorite. I first heard a song of his on Grey's Anatomy. I investigated a little, and I've liked what I've discovered.

Right now, though, I'm a little into cover songs. My very favorite song of all time is a cover of my second-favorite song of all time. I have no idea who Jeffrey Gaines is, but his cover of Peter Gabriel's song "In Your Eyes" is phenomenal. He also has an amazing cover of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." Wow, it's good.

One of my favoritest bands EVER, Nickel Creek, does covers. I've seen them twice, and both times, they did three cover songs. I think each member of the band picks a cover song, and they do it. They are excellent musicians, and their cover songs are at times better than the original. At the first concert of theirs, which was at a river-fest-type thing (which is how good live music should be experienced), they did a cover of Coldplay's "Yellow" and the Beatles' "Taxman." The last time I saw them at Gypsy Tea Room, they did a cover of a Radiohead song and...Britney Spears' "Toxic", which is the song that was stuck in my head for the rest of the night.

My newest discovery, that I'm absolutely loving: Mike Doughty has done a cover of "The Gambler." I found it on iTunes and downloaded immediately. It's pretty awesome.

On the musical note, here's my playlist of recent:
* Fidelity by Regina Spektor (although it's now showing up on many an ABC melodrama, so I'm a little disappointed)
* Fool in the Rain by O.A.R. (a cover of the Led Zeppelin song)
* Flowers in the Window by Travis
* The Gambler by Mike Doughty
* I Hear the Bells by Mike Doughty
* Want To by Sugarland
* Boston by Augustana
* Into the Ocean by Blue October
* Into Your Arms by the Lemonheads
* Keep Holding On by Avril Lavigne

I'll probably do a lovey dovey girly Valentine's Day mix...just to keep myself company.

Come As You Are

Nirvana sings:
Come as you are... as you were...As I want you to be...as a friend, as an old enemy...Come doused in mud...soaked in bleach

I heard the name of that song a few weeks ago, while I was sitting at my desk at school. I wrote it down on one of my purple notes, and thought of it a few times as I shuffled it across my desk. I knew it had meaning. I just needed it to sit a while.

Today, I heard it in my car...the whole song. I listened to the lyrics. I let it sit a while. I talked to myself about it in the car. For those of you that saw me, yes, I'm crazy...no, not because I'm talking to myself in my car. There are other reasons I'm crazy.

There's an old hymn called "Just As I Am." It goes:
Just as I am and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

It's like the reverse of the Nirvana song. We'll never be good enough, and the hymn recognizes that. But the Nirvana song...it's an invitation. God says "Come, As you are...Come."

I'm trying very hard not to overthink this. I'm an over-thinker by nature. I think things to death. Again. It just needs to sit.

Portland Anyone?

I just bought Mat Kearney's new CD, and listened to it while milling around my classroom, and, boy is it good...

turns out he's from Oregon. So, between his Oregonian status, and that of Donald Miller, I may have to just up and move to Portland.

Okay...maybe not.

reasons: the guy at the convenience store across from my church. Aside from the fact that he's always as nice to me as if we'd always been good friends, but today, I saw God in him. He left the counter he was working at to walk outside to the parking lot and help this little old somewhat-crippled lady navigate the curb she was trying to get up onto with only the unsuccessful help of her little aluminum cane. He went out, took her elbow, helped her up the curb and through the door, and then got her the newspaper she was there for. She didn't have enough money, and he said "we'll just get it next time" and then helped her back out to her car. I'd already cried plenty at our church service, but I almost started all over again. It was sheer, Jesus-like, masculine beauty. It was God.