Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

They’re coming to take me away…HA HA

I was reading the ways in which hey pretty is fabulous - or rather fabulously quirky and got to the bottom of her post and pouted and thought: HEY! why didn't she tag me!? I all of a suddent felt 7 years old again, in the public school gymnasium and standing there waiting to be the last selected in a game of kickball.










And so I drug my pouty, rejected self off to read Candy Sandwich, who always cheers me up - and there I was! Tagged for the quirky quiz! Silly me - HP didn't tag me because I had already been tagged. Silly, Scarlett.







So I apologize, HP, my dear dear friend, for about to pen a desperate email something along the lines of: ‘I thought we were FRIENDS (sniffle sniffle)’. WHY DON’T YOU LOVE ME ANYMORE!?!?


OK since I’m officially tagged as a ‘cool kid’ (insert sigh of releif) I will indulge Candy Sandwich and innumerate the ways in which, yours truly, needs to be put forth whit, into the loony bin (and truth be told, it was hard to narrow it down to 6)



1) Please see the above statements - these are not the thoughts of a 'normal person' - its a stupid email tag for cryin out loud! But I often think that people are mad at me when they've no reason to be - the result of too man wacko's in my life? Or maybe I'm just paranoid. But you know what they say...'Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that no one's after you!' (Cicero)



2) I have a set morning ritual that really doesn’t begin until I leave my house. And it goes something like this: push the elevator button, put on headphones. Wait in elevator, put on headphones, walk across the street to the metro, put $1.00 in change on the hotdog vendor’s tray, say ‘good morning’ to the vendor and take a diet dr. pepper. Take an Examiner from the lady at the top of the escalators, say ‘thank you and have a nice day’ run down the escalator, through the turnstile, park myself at the third bench in and wait for the train. I then sit backwards (two seats in if I can) ride the train to work and time myself on how long it takes me to finish the Sodoku puzzle. Don't worry - I'll shake things up sometimes – I’ll buy a Diet Mountain Dew instead.


3) I enjoy sleeping on couches. While in a sorority I would routinely fall asleep on the quad couch and sleep there for the night. For no particular reason, just preferred it to my own bed. Today, when my roommate is gone for the weekend, I still sleep on the couch with the tv softly going in the background through the night. I think it has something to do with I sleep less soundly on the couch and therefore its easier to get up in the morning??



4) I always have music playing either through my headphones as I walk down the street, in the radio in my shower, or in my office throughout the day. My tastes are ecclectic – everything from the beatles, to folk artists, indie rock, punk rock, opera, jazz, britney, Snoop, you name it – its in there. But especially when I’m walking around, riding the subway, in CVS I find myself thinking – if my life were a movie this song would play after such and such would happen. Or coming up an escalator to ‘Blower’s Daughter’ thinking: this could be a scene/sountrack to the beginning of a hugh grant movie…although this daydream is shattered when instead of a tall dark and handsome brit waiting for me with a dozen red and yellow roses at the top of the escalator as scripted in my head, I’m greeted by the homeless men sleeping in the subway station. Ah – eternal disappointment.


5) My closet is in color order beginning with all white garments on the left, blending into cream, then tan, followed by pink, red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, violet, brown, and then black on the far right. My hangers all match as well. No, I am not hyper organized and most of the time my clothes are strewn about on the floor rather than hanging neatly in a spectral order. However, this is the on part of my life that I am extremely particular about. Nowhere else. I just think it looks nice in …color order.


6) I need crave my alone time. Whether its sitting myself in front of a marble statue in the National Gallery’s east wing, with the dulcet tones of Sara Brightman in my ears and sketch, sitting at a dark, corner booth in my favorite pub ordering a grilled cheese sandwitch with chedder cheese and tomato while writing nonsense in a journal, or just relaxing in a hot bubble bath with a book and a glass of wine - I need a considerable amount of time for reflection and quality time with …well…me.





7) I KNOW I was only supposed to write 6 BUT….I can recite both Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz verbatum songs and musical cues from start to finish.

And there you have it. Now that you know that truth about my deep seated wierdness...I will be accepting friendship resignations directly. And I do apologize if I leave anyone out - it doesn't mean I DON'T LOVE YOU but I feel compelled to tag My Blog Twin, Crazy Redhead, DCVita, and the termanilly cool Hipster Dork. Have fun, kids.

Frankly, its scary to think just how wierd we all are. If we weren't though, I suppose we'd have nothing to write about.

Friday, December 8, 2006

Oh Christmas Tree....

It’s official. For the first time since I moved out east for college in 1998 I have my very own Christmas Tree. Ta-Da!!

NoNo – It’s not a real one (much to my father’s horror). For those that don’t know, and really many don’t…I grew up on a farm. A Christmas tree farm to be more precise. Sure we had the usual farm fare in some fields…corn, soybeans, wheat….but the majority of the 2k acreage was dominated by a sea of green trees. Quite pretty, actually.

And yes, I would love a real tree – however, let’s be realistic here, folks. I live 14 floors up in downtown DC sans car and sans boyfriend to do the heavy lifting. You do the math. So for now, this plastic, five foot replica of an evergreen will stand in my living room as a reminder of my childhood, a beacon of seasonal light a holder of candy canes and a consistent source of entertainment for my cat as she tries to knock down the ornaments.


While we’re getting into the proverbial Christmas spirit here at TSL, I have take the liberty of compiling a list of must have i-pod tunes (in Oxymoron: Hipster Dork style though I will not even aspire to give you the eclectic and fabulous musical lineup that he provides weekly) guaranteed to put a smile on your face, bring on cravings of hot cocoa and eggnog, induce uncontrollable urges to write letters to Santa and grow even the Grinchy-ist of Grinch hearts!


Scarlett's Holiday Music:
  1. Its Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas (Bing Crosby)

  2. The Nutcracker Suite (Brian Setzer Orchestra)

  3. Santa Baby (Madonna)

  4. All I want for Christmas (Mariah Carey)

  5. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

  6. Christmas Time (Alvin and the Chipmunks)

  7. Grown Up Christmas List (Amy Grant)

  8. My Only Wish (This Year) (Britney Spears)

  9. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Frank Sinatra)

  10. The Christmas Song (Nat King Cole)

  11. Christmastime (The Smashing Pumpkins)

  12. We Three Kings (Patti Smith)

  13. Come Home for Christmas (Bon Jovi)

  14. Marry Christmas Baby (Bruce Springsteen)

  15. When My Heart Finds Christmas (Harry Connick Jr.)

In slightly related news, I hope I will see you all at the Happy Hour this evening at Science Club. I can’t promise how long I’ll be there, but it will definitely be long enough to buy KassyK a birthday drink, and say hello to some fabulous friends. I have incuded the info below. For more details please see I-66, our tireless social chair. I'll be the one with the Santa hat and mistletoe!

Have a lovely weekend!

Frankly,

Monday, October 16, 2006

The End of an Era


I am a child of the 80s where legwarmers were mandatory and punk rock was king. Then came high-school with Velvet Underground and Sex Pistols blaring over my radio while racing my friends to school (in my baby blue tank affectionately known as “the-granny-mobile” or “gran”) kool-aid red hair, fishnets, a mid-drift Anarchy-T and combat boots was my let’s go out garb (until the headmistress of Notre Dame Prep commented: “either you dye it back or cut it off….either way it’s gone by tomorrow).

Of course, you’d never tell my anarchic days past by looking at me now, a vision in Ralph Lauren and Betsy Fisher but step into my office around 4:00 p.m. on most days I’ve got the Ramones, or Offspring floating through my speakers.

And so it is with a glistening tear on my cheek and Blondie in my ears that I bid farewell to a musical mecca, the fabled CBGBs, OMFUG who’s stage heard its last resounding note as it passed the lips of Patti Smith. CBGBs not only provided an outlet for the original music of countless artists, but has also served as an inspiration for the clubs that we know and frequent such local musical gems as 9:30 and The Black Cat. It is quite possible that I am out of touch with the proverbial ‘skin heads’ of today, but looking around the Music Video, cyberspace generation – I can find no equivalent with this gratified, dilapidated, beautiful utopia of musical expression and freedom of thought.

Of the future of underground music, Patti Smith said last night “CBGB is a state of mind and what’s going to happen is young kids all over the world are going to have their own f*cking clubs and they won’t care about CBGB because they’re going to have the new places, and the new places are always the most important.” Are the new places always the most important? Or do we have to stand in the memories and sounds of the past in order create something new and lasting?

Well, no matter what the answer, lovers of underground music will have to stand, jump, slamdance and sing along somewhere away from 315 Bowery but I have no doubt the music will play on.

So as you pack up and move your walls, stools and urinals out west, I would like to say thank you CBGBs for your sticker-covered stage, worn down with time. Thank you for your sticky floor and grafitti covered staircase. Thank you for opening your doors to all musicians wanting to make a statement and stand out and to the listeners who filed in to be inspired. And most importantly thank you for music that defined a generation, a school of thought, an era. Music that ignited the night with passionate fire* - and still burns.



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*Jonathan Larson, Rent