So, as of late I have been pretty sick. Not the greatest start to Summer. I’m pretty sure I coughed up a lung yesterday and today is no improvement. However, I just got back on Sunday from the Wisconsin Dells. We stayed at Kalahari Resort and it was truly unbelievable. You could step into the place and never need to leave. They have everything accounted for. The resort is gorgeous and the food is great. The pools and lazy river make for a really fun time.
Also in my list of fantastic things Night Work, the Scissor Sisters’ latest album, came out today. Of course the station I work at has been playing the first single “Fire With Fire” for almost a month now. I’m guessing this is one that isn’t hitting the Hot AC charts any time soon. As far as the station goes, I’d like to be in more, but my schedule for going to WV just doesn’t allow for it.
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On February 13th I flew into Oklahoma City, OK for a concert at a place called the Blue Door. The Blue Door isn’t an arena, a civic center, or anything of that sort. The Blue Door is a small building with rich history about three miles from downtown OKC. It is a place where some of the best bluegrass, folk, rock, country and blues artists come to play when they visit Oklahoma City.
When I arrived for the concert, the place was being remodeled. The artist performing that night, K.C. Clifford, knew about the remodeling that was going on but didn’t care. She was adamant that she wanted the concert to be at the Blue Door. I walked over the uneven ground on particle boards laid in a path to the door. I was beginning to wonder about how this evening was going to go. I had no idea.
As we sat down for the concert, I was full of anticipation for what was to come. The opening act, 3 Penny Acre, came up on stage and blew us all away. They had new fans by the end of the first song. Everyone knew that the night was going to be fantastic.
Then it was time for K.C. to start. It was time for the performance that I had traveled 985 miles for. See, I had only been to one other performance from K.C. Clifford and that was completely unplugged. That alone was a great enough performance to travel so far for.
The set included all of the songs from her new CD, Orchid, and several other favorites from previous CDs. Considering that my copy of Orchid rarely made it out of my CD player, it was hard not to sing along with her. The songs that I had been listening to for weeks were now being performed in front of me in one of the best venues I had ever attended a concert at.
Now, I want to take a moment to mention the concerts that I have attended. I’ve been to concerts from MercyMe, Alabama, Trisha Yearwood, Alan Jackson, and many others. The venue was always something equivalent to a civic center. Not once did I get chills form the performance given.
Tonight however, within the first 3 minutes I was getting chills from her performance. The venue’s acoustics combined with a truly amazing full band and K.C.’s voice made for a concert that I will not soon forget. As the night continued, it was clear that she really knows her audience. The songs that were a part of the set were songs that everyone wanted to hear. They were songs with a story, songs with undeniable character.
As the night came to an end, I was only missing one song. I thought K.C. was wrapping it up with the fan-favorite “The Barbie Song.” I was wrong. She mentioned that she was going to do one of the songs people really wanted to hear from the previous night’s concert, “Yellow Haired Girl.” This was it, the only song missing. It was time to rock out, then head out. And that we did.
I suggest checking out one of K.C.’s concerts whenever you get the chance. You can find her tour schedule at the newly revamped kcclifford.com.
Needless to say, the concert was worth the trip. The songs from Orchid, along with all of the rest were real; they can hold meaning for each and every one of us.
Orchid, your own studio version of the best concert I have ever attended, was released yesterday. I highly suggest you check it out. You can find Orchid at Blip.FM, CDBaby or on iTunes.
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And she may, very possibly, stare at you blankly.
This evening Sylvia received her Christmas gift. The gift happened to be a black 8 Gig iPod Nano. She had been talking about getting one for months. I had already made all of the proper preparations. iTunes was installed, her music was synced up, and the application was hidden in a system folder on her netbook. All she had to do was open it and ask any questions. Or so I thought.
I decided, to make things easier, I would demo the things that she needed to know to use the iPod fully. We went over navigation, the video camera, and iTunes syncing. I was confident that she knew what she was doing.
As I was walking to bed I heard “Andrew, how do I play a song on here?” I knew that she had the iPod plugged into the computer, so I walked in to help. She was using the iPod as a kind of remote to try and play music in iTunes. I asked where she actually wanted the music to come out and she decided she wanted to listen on the iPod. At this point, she was getting frustrated and I was trying not to burst out laughing. I told her to get as far through each menu as she could, and then I would help her. She made it to the songs menu, and then tried to scroll by what I can only describe as gently caressing the select button. I then showed her how to scroll and asked myself how on Earth she got this far. She scrolled through and selected the song. Finally, the song began to play. I said goodnight and began to walk to bed.
The song was coming out pretty loud. For those of you that don’t know, the iPod Nano now has an on-board speaker. When she mentioned the song volume, I made the mistake of asking if she had her headphones plugged in. She said yes, and that they had been plugged in the whole time. I told her to use the scroll wheel to change the volume. At this point, the volume increased to a level too high for even the greatest headphones, much less iPod headphones. I walked back in and found that her headphones were plugged into her netbook. I told her to plug them into the iPod and that they were in the wrong device. She laughed at that one. As I looked over, she was trying to insert the headphone plug into the poor iPod’s camera lens. I then demonstrated the proper headphone jack, only after freaking out because she almost destroyed the camera’s lens.
As I walked out of the room again, she said that she wasn’t a good night learner and that we may have to go over it again tomorrow. I am sure that tomorrow will bring new abuse for this poor iPod, seeing as we haven’t even looked into the radio feature. I guess we shall see. Wish me luck!
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It’s a shame that it all has to end
like this, me in these dirty jeans,
pulling up this garden that has died
of circumstances. This finale is so tired,
such a played out metaphor;
girl leaves boy, boy lies on couch,
vegetables are strangled by rogue
morning glories and begin to parch
in the dry sun of the summer.
Then the boy thinks of leaving too,
boxes up his life, sweeps out the house,
shuts off the power and returns
to the garden that he planted
to show her that he could do more
than just eat words and throw them back up.
And I should have done this first, but everything
got mixed up like everything else and I’m
stuck here without so much as a shovel,
pulling up everything by hand, eating
cherry tomatoes that have somehow
withstood. The zucchini plant has taken over
a corner, so prickly, weighed down
by five pounders that have molded.
The ears of corn have withered on the stalk
and are covered by bugs. The chamomile
which I promised tea from, is dry like hay,
not one flower missing.
The carrots, beans, cucumbers, strawberries,
all ripped up, leaving just the cayenne plant,
the first one in the soil after the thaw.
The peppers have dried and are as dark as blood.
I pick three off and tuck them into
my shirt pocket, to allow
this metaphor to extend even further.
By: Sid Miller
A poem that I really seem to like.
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Notice to the right, in the pages list, that I have a new link. You can now click through to my Audio Blog. This is a simple concept for when I want to give a quick update using audio because text is not necessary. Be sure to check in every once in a while!
-Andrew
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Jessica Gottlieb is one of the most disgusting dirty attention whores I’ve ever come across on the web. She is despicable and if she represents the mommy bloggers, heaven help their children.
From Her Site.
If you need help creating a social media strategy, Jessica is available.
onlineauthor@gmail.com
818.486.9363
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Wow. I haven’t been out of school even a week and big things are already happening to me. Needless to say, they have gotten me quite excited. The first thing that has happened is a very big one. I am now making videos for 1938 Media a website that talks to the big guys in the web and tech spaces. My message is going to be getting out to more people than ever. Heck, I have more views on a single video than I usually get at this site in one month. Does that mean that I am deserting you guys over here? Absolutely not! I will just be doing two things. I do feel though, that the bigger audience warrants a higher number of posts.
The second thing that is happening is that I am going to California with our amazing neighbors to visit my equally amazing aunt! This is equally exciting because the last time I went, it was one of the best experiences of my life! This time I will be staying with my aunt in Carmel. I think it will be great and I will be SURE to get some great shots along with some great video along the way.
But, another cool thing! I will be visiting the lovely Jackie Danicki at the Qik offices in Redwood City. I cannot wait simply because Qik is one of my favorite video sharing websites (Although I do not use it nearly enough). This will be another experience with a lot of Photo and Video taken. :D Then there is the fact that I will be visiting Apple HQ (With no special clearance though. :()
Finally, I will be visiting my Dad in West Virginia and my Godparents in Kentucky. These, as always, will be fun visits and I even enjoy the trips to get there *usually*. I will be continuing my radio show, but only when I am at home. ie: Not a lot. But, that is okay because I think that this will be the best Summer ever!
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