hearts and violins

[chestnutcurls]

It's Friday the 13th! I haven't seen any signs of chaos, except at the bank when they played a Muzak cover of the Backstreet Boys' "All I Have To Give." Now that was scary.

I am officially sick of winter. If it's not going to snow, I want winter gone. February is usually the point where the chill has seeped into my bones and I'm cold all the time, even when it's not that cold. Also, my apartment gets draftier every day. So I'm ready for some warmth.

Earlier someone asked me for a safety pin, and my brain could not pull up a picture of what that was. I kept thinking of a paper clip. It was really weird!

My mom gave me a Valentine gift bag yesterday, with candy and In The Name of Love,the U2 tribute CD I've been wanting for a while. It's okay. I think I'll like it more as I listen to it, but one of the Amazon reviewers summed up my initial reaction: "I realize that this is not Bono and the Edge up there so it's going to sound different, but it seems like almost every song had that U2 trademark mix of soul and spirit just ripped out of it and what's left is a completely cheesy, overproduced sound." Why is so much CCM like that? I can often tell the difference between a CCM rock song and a secular rock song without even paying attention to the words. Then again, a lot of secular music is cheesy and overproduced, too. Can anyone recommend some good, quality, non-cheesy bands? I'm really getting into Nickel Creek. I love every song I've heard of theirs. I want the CDs- I bought This Side for Evan's birthday, but since it's his I haven't listened to it much. Anyway. My mom is very thoughtful. :)

Evan is taking me to Spaghetti Warehouse tomorrow night, assuming we can get in (they don't take reservations). I am very excited. We'll even have the whole day together- it's his first Saturday off in over a month. Yay! Happy Valentine's to you all! Also, Happy Singles Awareness Day. Know that anything is possible, and I am praying for you guys regularly. :)

In honor of the day I wanted to share my personal list of top 10 romantic songs. Feel free to share your own!

1. More Than Words - Extreme
2. In Your Eyes - Jeffrey Gaines (better than the original Peter Gabriel version)
3. I'll Be - Edwin McCain
4. At Last - Etta James
5. Crash - Dave Matthews Band
6. 3x5 - John Mayer
7. Crazy - K-Ci and JoJo (from Save The Last Dance)
8. All I Want Is You - U2
9. At My Most Beautiful - REM
10. The Way - Clay Aiken

Comments

[alissamarie.livejournal.com]

I like "This Side" better than the original Nickel Creek CD, but a lot of people are exactly the opposite. This Side is a little funkier, I think :).

[trozzort.livejournal.com]

>Happy Valentine's to you all! Also, Happy Singles Awareness Day. Know that anything is possible, and I am praying for you guys regularly. :)
Thank you Brenda. The Singles Awareness was sweet.

[anulyra.livejournal.com]

MMmmm I LOVE pasta.

I'm using my Single Awareness Icon.

[imaginarylove.livejournal.com]

"My love is all I have to give... without I don't think I could live..." haha.

Hm. Romantic songs. I have a billion favorites.

That's All - Sung by Wendi Williams on Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.
I do - Paul Brandt
That's How Strong My Love Is - Otis Redding
Always a Woman - Billy Joel
With or Without You - U2
Come What May - Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman

Okay. This list isn't satisfying me. I'm going to come back... w. more. Oooooo. haha.

Re: I'm using my Single Awareness Icon.

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

Those are good! Is "That's All" the song Adam Sandler sang at the bar mitzvah in The Wedding Singer? :)

[imaginarylove.livejournal.com]

Oh yes it is! I had forgotten about it. I mostly attribute my love for it because of "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge". :) Yea...

[krikketgirl.livejournal.com]

What? No chaos? You should totally be at my house. The pie bubbled over in the oven, there's flour all over one counter, the house looks like the Huns live there, and I've got company due in oh, two hours.

Favorite love songs:

"When the Rain Comes" -- Third Day
"Right on Time" -- Grand Incredible
"Keeper of the Stars" -- Doug Stone
"They All Laughed" -- Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald
"Where or When" -- Brian Ferry
"These Foolish Things" -- Brian Ferry
"She's Taken a Shine" -- John Berry
"I'm Not Cool" as sung by hubby ("My wife loves me anyway."
"Opposites Attract" -- Paula Abdul
"Shut Up and Kiss Me" -- Mary Chapin Carpenter

And a host of others!

[keepsmiling74.livejournal.com]

Are you looking for non-cheesy secular or CCM bands?

Re:

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

Either!

[moredetails.livejournal.com]

Earlier someone asked me for a safety pin, and my brain could not pull up a picture of what that was. I kept thinking of a paper clip. It was really weird!

I've done stuff like that before, especially with names. I'll just blank out on a person's name..someone who is close to me. And I'll sit there, and knowing I can't think almost makes it worse and I'm running through this list of names and it's just not coming. I think it's early signs of Alzheimer's.

Re:

[krikketgirl.livejournal.com]

I always claim that it's because my mind is so busy contemplating deep, philosophical things that it has no time for remembering such trivia as names and phone numbers!

[admael.livejournal.com]

Yeesh... I just listened to some clips from that, and they *completely* butchered most of the songs on there. Especially With Or Without You, which will not be tolerated by any true U2 fan. Yick!

Re:

[jmcphers.livejournal.com]

Do you really expect non-U2 artists to be able to do U2 songs well? (-: This comment put me in a U2 mood for some reason, and now I'm listening to The Unforgettable Fire.

Have you heard the guy who won the World Idol contest? He's got my vote for the best guy to do U2 covers.

Re:

[admael.livejournal.com]

True, true. Still... it's like they were trying to rip the songs to shreds. And I can't really take that when it comes to the Joshua Tree. :-)

Nope... I'm not really into the whole American Idol thing. I doubt he can pull off Bono, though. Very few can.

Re:

[jmcphers.livejournal.com]

I'm not into the Idol thing either; in fact, the only time I ever saw World Idol was when it happened to be on my advisor's big-screen television when I went to a dinner he hosted at his house. When Kurt Nilsen (the winner) was annouced, he did a cover of Beautiful Day. I really do think he can pull off Bono. Download the Beautiful Day cover he did and try to tell me he isn't at least passably good at what he does. (-:

[admael.livejournal.com]

Wow. He's not Bono, but man. He got pretty blasted close there. :-)

[mrszoid.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love Nickel Creek. Sean Watkins' (the guitarist) solo CD's are good as well. And Chris Thile's "Not all who wander are lost" is great, but no vocals. I hear they're working on their new CD right now!

Today we had a guy from St. Jude's speak at our seminar, and then I heard somebody say, "you better go see something at the pyramid in Memphis while you can" - do you know what this means? Are they going to stop having things there?

An indie group called the Early Evening (http://www.theearlyevening.com/) is pretty fun. These guys found each other at Belmont and are working their way into the music world.

Re: Pyramid

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

Right now the Grizzlies and the Tigers play at the Pyramid, but it was just announced that next year they'll both play at the new FedEx Forum. (The Tigers were going to keep the Pyramid and have it just for themselves, but then they got stupid.) So the building will only be used for historical exhibits and maybe some concerts, meaning that it won't make nearly enough to keep itself in business. Keep in mind the city still owes $30 million from building the thing. So no one really knows what's going to happen. The biggest rumor right now is that our mayor is going to sell it to a local Native American tribe and make it a casino, ruining the good atmosphere of downtown and, possibly, of the entire city. The whole thing makes me very angry. I expect the worst possible scenario, because there are no words for how self-serving and idiotic our mayor is.

[carries.livejournal.com]

I'm sick of winter too. I don't think we will get anymore snow (& the snow we have had has been pretty unimpressive), so I want spring to come now. Snowdrops and crocus are up in my garden, and tulips and daffodils are peeping through, so spring is in the air! yeah!

Re:

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

:) Yay flowers!

My top ten

[canticles.livejournal.com]

1. I Will Be Here - Steven Curtis Chapman
2. Open Arms - Journey
3. Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
4. Before Your Love - Kelly Clarkson
5. Crash - Dave Matthews
6. Two Step - Dave Matthews
7. I Will Go There With You - Steven Curtis Chapman
8. Lost In Your Eyes - Debbie Gibson
9. I Must Have Done Something Good - from The Sound of Music
10. Some Enchanted Evening - from South Pacific

Re: My top ten

[imaginarylove.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I forgot Lost In Your Eyes. That... yea. Oh memories. :)

Re: My top ten

[canticles.livejournal.com]

Gotta love the squeaky clean pop divas of the 80s... Debbie Gibson... Tiffany.... Madonna.... (uh... never mind, I couldn't think of any more....)

Re: My top ten

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you would have never seen Debbie Gibson make a video wearing nothing but a sparkly transparent bodysuit. :P Even now she's pretty classy.

[jazzypoet.livejournal.com]

Happy Valentine's Day to you, Brenda! *hugs*

And that's awesome that you are a Nickel Creek fan. I adore them!

[jeffholton.livejournal.com]

Innovation in CCM is remarkably rare, which is of course a travesty and an indication that we would rather produce income than talent.

A few exceptions: Rich Mullins, Nichole Nordeman, the occasional Michelle Tumes, most of Charlie Peacock's stuff (including anything he produces), and anything by The Prayer Chain, Mortal, or The Swirling Eddies (PBUT). Steve Taylor comes to mind as well (and is my favorite artist), but his work with the Newsboys really turned me off. He almost made up for it with Guevara, Sixpence, and Burlap to Cashmere, though.

The following are blasphemy:

- your statement that anyone can be better at anything than Peter Gabriel, who, in my opinion, would be God were not the position already filled;

- opening your top songs list with a ditty the theme of which is: "I'm tired of hearing you SAY you love me, so shut up, take off your clothes, and sleep with me already, biyatch. Put out or get out." Romance? Oh, please. :|