Yay! I’m so excited that Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won an Oscar for “Falling Slowly”!
Two other great things about the Oscars this year: Jon Stewart and the general absence of paper acceptance speech notes.
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What’s your musical horoscope? (Put your player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.)
Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime – Beck
Easy Silence – Dixie Chicks
Ohio – Neil Young
Up on the Roof – James Taylor
Told You So – Barenaked Ladies
Across the Universe – Fiona Apple
Kings and Queens – Loudon Wainwright III
Maybe You’re Right – Barenaked Ladies
Soul Suckers – Amos Lee
Whole Wide World – Wreckless Eric
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Today I went up to the Borders in Columbus Circle to see one of my new favorite musical artists perform – A Fine Frenzy. I’m realizing how cool it is to be a fan before a musical artist makes it big. You get to go to neat things like free performances and signings at bookstores. She played five songs, which is almost as many as they let opening bands play now anyway, and I was sitting in a comfy red armchair in the front row. And I got to meet her, have my CD signed, and also go home with a signed poster, a fun little booklet interview thing, and two sheets of stickers. Awesome. When I went to see John Mayer and Ben Folds I had to pay $30 for a t-shirt.
This past tuesday I saw John Mayer and Ben Folds at the PNC Bank Arts Center with Laura. It was an incredible concert. We had seats in row 5, which is by far the closest I’ve ever been at a John Mayer concert. It was the fifth time I’ve seen John, and the third time I’ve seen Ben. I’m beginning to be a bit of a John Mayer Deadhead.
This was a dream concert for me, two of my very favorite musicians in one go. And it was great. However, the Ben Folds part was a bit of a letdown. The crowd wasn’t very into him, not like at his own shows where people stand and sing the entire time. And he didn’t play any of my favorite songs, or much old stuff. The highlight though, was him doing a cover of one of my favorite songs, “Such Great Heights.” The photo above is him playing keyboard during that song. It was great to see him again, but I definitely prefer him at his own shows where he can really shine.
It was incredible to finally be close enough to the stage to see John Mayer clearly. He was extremely entertaining, as always, and talked a lot. His set list was awesome – all songs that I really like. And I love when he does Stop This Train acoustic. Set list:
Belief
No Such Thing
I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)
Good Love is On the Way
Bigger Than My Body
Dreaming With A Broken Heart
Waiting on the World to Change
I Don’t Need No Doctor
Clarity
Vultures
Why Georgia
Gravity
– encore –
Slow Dancing (acoustic)
Stop This Train (acoustic)
I’m Gonna Find Another You
I took some video clips with my digital camera, and was surprised how good the sound turned out; you can hear the music pretty well, and not much of the crowd. Probably because I was four feet away from the giant speakers and could feel the bass vibrating my lungs. Anyway – for anyone interested, there’s a video clip embedded below, and more photos on my Flickr page. And here are links to YouTube of the other clips I took:
Ben Folds
John Mayer – Stop This Train
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orgEhoq3Nzw&feature=player_embedded]
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Her CD does not come out until 7.17, but you can listen to streams of her songs on her website. My favorite songs are Rangers and Almost Lover.
Her website says she’ll be performing at Central Park’s Summer Stage on August 19. How awesome to see her at a free concert – I can’t wait.
