Laughing With Regina Spektor

I love Regina Spektor's new video for her song "Laughing With" because it reminds me of my good old angsty teenage years when I replayed my favorite Fiona Apple video "Paper Bag" over and over again and it broke my heart then healed it. Embedding the video is disabled but you can watch it on YouTube here.

FolkLife '09 & Boe Oddisey

Well FolkLife was again a success this year. It's changed a lot since I first started going about 7 years ago but I still enjoy going if I lay in the grass instead of trying to fight my way through the crowds. 

The most joyful part of FolkLife as those of you from Seattle know, is Boe Oddisey who I wrote about after last years festival here. He's always a sight for sore eyes. Below is a polaroid of he and I dancing with the aid of his signature scarves. Thanks Boe!

Thanks to FolkLife I'm now just able dying for summer to start. I graduate college in 16 days!!! And then hopefully....after I find a job....I can relax and start planning out those festivals! So in case you'll be in the Seattle area this summer here are a list of the upcoming TO-DO's:

June:

-Fremont Festival

-Pagdiriwag Philippine Festival

-Pride Parade

July:

-Ballard SeafoodFest

-Bellevue Arts & Crafts Fair

-Bite of Seattle

-Cap Hill Block Party

-Bastille Day Celebration

August:

-Arab Festival

-BrazilFest

-Cambodian Cultural Heritage Celebration

-TibetFest

September:

-Bumbershoot

-Italian Festival 

-Seattle Fiestas Patrias

Classic Cabaret

Gay men aren't the only ones who love Cabaret!

New Alela Diane: To Be Still

Wahoo! I'm soo looking forward to the new Alela Diane release (Feb. 17)!! Her new album To Be Still is available for preorder on CD and LP and the first 50 people to purchase get a free bag of tea from Alela how cute. You can also listen to the whole track list HERE and although some of these songs have been out on the web for awhile, there are some great new tracks too. My favorite for the moment is "Tattered Lace" but ask my next week and it will probably be something else. I could listen to her sing forever....

Here's what Alela says about it:

"I wanted to record this collection of songs using arrangements which would represent them in their finest form. These songs requested more instrumental filigree than those on The Pirate's Gospel. It was challenging to delicately yet purposefully incorporate instrumentation into songs that I was so used to singing by myself. I was determined to make it work, because I wanted percussion! I wanted to hear the lonesome bow of the violin! I heard many harmonies in my head, and so I set out to capture them."

Bonus: Alela has the cutest kitty named Brambles!! It has fatty paws just like my kitty too!

Emily Loizeau- Je Suis Jalouse

Husbands, Love Your Wives

Last night at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard, I saw the cutest girl of my life! Jamie Spiess from Husbands, Love Your Wives performed the most poetic, heartbreaking, and magical music I've heard in a long time. 

She recently got out of the hospital, for what I'm not sure, so on Tuesday at the Sunset Tavern there is a benefit show to help raise money to pay her medical bills. Anyone who sees this girl will want to do whatever they can to help her. It's only $8 and a bunch of bands including The Maldives and Grand Hallway are playing so come enjoy yourself for a good cause okay?

So here's a photo of Jamie Spiess from her last.fm page on which she wrote, 

"Husbands, love your wives is a big fan of anything tiny and magical. Like miniature horses by the bundle, or tiny babies floating in seashells on the sea. She really enjoys sleeping, and baking little cakes,, or writing songs about her hair."

Uschi Obermaier: Eight Miles High

A film that supplies the whole package: Eight Miles High.

So amazing. Why wasn't I born in the 1960's? I'm bitter.

So this is a film about the famous German model/muse Uschi Obermaier. A sexy rock and roll vixen with a gorgeous head of hair. She seduces men like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, travels the world wearing the most beautiful clothes or sometimes none at all...it really doesn't matter, and she dances like an ethereal goddess of music.

The real Uschi Obermaier:

Young @ Heart

I just finished watching the documentary Young @ Heart and I'm completely in love. Who knew old people could be so sassy? 

The documentary follows a rock music cover group made up of men and women with an average age of 80. They tour the world singing Coldplay, the Ramones, David Bowie and draw audiences in with their overwhelming  joie de vie. And the film interlaces these crazy badass music videos of the chorus that will bring a smile to your face that can't be helped.

Ugh...I give up on trying to sum it all up. It's too unique and too...well...more than all that. Basically just watch it. You'll see what I mean. 

Carmensita

Let me start by saying that "Carmensita" is one of my favorite songs off Devendra's new-ish album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Mountain.

But...I'm not sure how I feel about the Natalie Portman thing...actually yeah I am. I think it's a mistake. What were you thinking Devendra?!

You have a chance to choose some unknown exotic beauty to reveal her face to the world and instead you use the predicatable go to girl Natalie Portman?! It just seems like Natalie Portman for Natalie Portman's sake.

Thankfully, Devendra still looks great and appears in all his usual god-like splendor. I'm going to try not to hold this against you...

And to follow up that mess...here's my favorite Devendra video to clear your palate.

Wow....I don't even know what to say.....look at this article I just came across. If this really is true...my world is DEFINITELY shaken!

Bumbershoot Artists Announced!

Alright so just checked up the other day on Bumbershoot and it looks like a few artists have been announced!

Beck, Stone Temple Pilots, Lucinda Williams, Neko Case, Ingrid Michaelson, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Jakob Dylan, !!!, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Saul Williams, Joe Bonamassa, M. Ward, The Walkmen, Asylum St. Spankers, Dan Deacon, MIDIval PunditZ, Blitzen Trapper, Bedouin Soundclash, Tim Finn, Dale Watson, John Vanderslice, Final Fantasy, The Fall of Troy, Orgone, Forro in the Dark, Ryan Bingham, Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby, Arthur & Yu, Darondo and Nino Moschella, Pacifika

Looks like so far the only one I'm counting on going to is Final Fantasy but like always they save the best for last! Cross your fingers!