I've started to do Pitchfork warmups

Set Times and Map.

(yes, I put the information into my very own spreadsheet. Why yes, I am geeking out about indie rock, thank you very much.)

hometown pride, upcoming events

Funniest thing I've read on Pitchfork in at least 6 months.

Also -- it's my biased opinion that Tapes n' Tapes are the ideal Minnesota summer band. Love those guys.

(additionally, T minus one week from Pitchfork, can hardly believe it's (almost) here. So stoked to show the DTs around my 2nd-favorite city (not to mention the adventure of taking our bikes on the El) next week, spend some quality time with B, N, and Sanne, drink 312 and listen to more indie rock than I can shake a plethora of sticks at.)

Scandalous.

I (sorta) fear I was the girl having so-much-fun up front at the Tapes and Tapes show Sunday at Grand Old Day, that I might have annoyed you. I was having fun; but if I was overexuberant...

well, can you blame me, really? I had at my disposal:

• My dear friends
• Gin from a jam jar (OK, it was gin and tonic in Jana's water bottle. Drank from her purse. Even if it was a messenger bag.)
• Excellent Twin Cities music
• Warmth (read: humidity)
• Mild newbie successes at Guitar Hero
• Beer
• Sunburn
• A big fat stogie
• Anne's headband
• Jana's sunglasses
• Sass
• Corn dogs and husk-roasted corn on the cob
• A stolen cheese curd
• Flipflops (my powerwalking shoe of choice)
• A bazillion other happy Grand Old Day go-ers
• Basset Hound sightings
• Dreams of a band called Dudes with Boobs (Joel playing drums on that one)

Summer's here, kids. Make it scandalous, make it fun. Just make it memorable.

the iPod and I are one

my iPod's been reading my mind all day today.
Ben Folds knows his stuff. This is a great, simple, and beautiful song, and in the midst of life turning chaos (read the blog, see the chaos cycle), it reminded me of what I find most important.


Ben Folds - The Luckiest (from Rocking the Suburbs)

I don't get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here
And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?

Now I see it everyday
And I know
That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

What if I'd been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know
That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know
That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

Couture. Only it's actually cool.

VOLTAGE IS TONIGHT!

I put new batteries in my camera. I have a feeling I'm going to have a new calling into a design collective after tonight's show.

Just in time for me to finish grad school and pick up a new hobby...

It's Friday, I'm in love.

(urbanwanderlust confesses: I actually really dislike the Cure, and that's probably the only line you'll ever hear me quote from any song they've put out.)

If you know me outside internets (it's a series of tubes; it's not a truck!) you will know I have endured a craptastic week. Meh, we've all got 'em, right?

Well, it is Friday and things are looking up.

For one thing, the craptastic week is nearly done.
It's payday, and I was welcomed into my office this morning by a warm, chewy, decadent Everything Bagel with gobs of melty cream cheese, because my boss brought us all breakfast.
I got a good night's sleep for the first time in well over a week, after ignoring my laundry and dishes and chores in favor of a compelling episode of Buffy.
My best friend is getting married tomorrow.
It's my favorite holiday of the year tomorrow (OK, Thanksgiving is really my favorite. Food narrowly edges out drinking. This is my life.).
I get to celebrate Becca's birthday (which is today -- Happy Birthday!) with many people I adore.
Of Montreal is at First Ave tonight. I'm currently going through my Of Montreal collection (it's deliciously upbeat and absurd and nonsequitor) and seems to fit today perfectly.
That is, of course, after I partake of some Irish goodness at the Liffey.
I got to ride next to a lovely service dog (who was a beautiful Golden Retriver, and reminded me of Claire and how much I miss her and Denali and are looking oh-so forward to an East Coast roadtrip this summer) on the bus this morning.
I walked past a mailbox covered in a big sticker that made it look like R2D2 on my way into work. I have my camera with; maybe I'll wander down there and take a picture during lunch.
My hair did a semi-cooperative thing today.

if music were drinks

I spent a good portion of yesterday heads-down, writing (I love those days.)

I woke up with a shot of Of Montreal... "Let's pretend we don't exist/Let's pretend we're in Antarctica"...

Chased that with a pack of The Hopefuls -- The Fuses Refuse to Burn.

Sat down and grabbed a splash of Rhinocerose's Cubicle with my coffee (heck yah, it always gets me going when I'm on deadline).

And then sat down to a pitcherful of Tapes 'N Tapes (The Loon. So good.)

What's on your workout playlist?

OK... congratulate me; I joined the (very nice, reasonably priced) gym at my workplace.
Now... I spent approximately 40 minutes on the treadmill and elliptal trainer today, flipping from album to album (I have a few albums I regularly listen to while running outside, and I can get around the lake in about an album... but it's just a different vibe).

I got some really great feedback on suggestions for songs to add to my deadlines playlist; so I'm putting the call out again.

What do you all work out to? it's gotta be something with a great beat -- something a little angry -- something definitely fast (motivate me to run that 10-minute mile). I have an appointment to learn the machines and start strength training midweek next week -- do you listen to anything different for that?

other randomness

the song-of-the-morning:
Brick - Ben Folds

Things that make me happy:

• Pictures of the people I love on my desk
• Quality family time at my cousin's wedding
• Anticipating quilting and beermaking weekend
• Frantic sewing
• Successfully completing a to-do list
• A MBTI type I finally feel at home with
• Free coffee
• 80% off sales on cute shirts
• eMusic downloads (I'm currently obsessing over Magnus, Minus the Bear and Mason Proper)
• Hour-long girly, gossip conversations while procrastinating on the next to-do list
• Bolthouse Farms mocha cappucino protien shake thingy
• Prospects of brunchy bloody-marys
• Planning summer roadtrips
• Successful toilet training, bedtime prayers, and two-way communication with a preschooler
• The makeup my sister got me for Christmas
• Pad thai leftovers
• Public transit

mmmm mmmmm music.

City Pages is aggregating the music they cover in MP3 links. Mmmm.

Karma's plot to undermine the tragically hip. Or, Mondays at work.

It's the last Monday in January, here in Minneapolis.
This means a few things:

• 2 more meager months of winter yet to survive. February is usually the worst month (at least for me), but thankfully it is jam-packed with classes, weddings, and social events. So, perhaps it will pass and leave me (relatively) unscathed. March is actually OK... snowy, but not as cold. And it stays light for a decent amount of time in the evenings. And I don't leave for work in the dark. At least not by the end of the month.
• I am sick of every sweater I own.
• Rollergirls open their league season and give me something to drink PBR and shout about in an otherwise barren landscape of ice, sensible shoes, and an irrepressible instinct to make starchy dinners.
  
• I have lost a pair of gloves and a hat so far this year.
  
• I have reviewed the seed catalogs, plotted the garden out, and done my gardening algebra. We'll order seeds on the 20th (ish) and be planting seedlings by mid-March.
• Show season starts very soon, as bands begin the onslaught of 2007 releases (have I ever mentioned my theory on the cycical nature of amazing albums?)... coming soon to a blog near you will be reviews of the Current Fakebook with Chuck Klosterman, TV on the Radio (yes, again!), Of Montreal, Ted Leo, Kaiser Chiefs and the Walkmen. Yes, and all that music goodness will happen before I can break out the flip-flops again.
• I have a sudden realization that I need to get out and take some January photography of the city before Thursday. Any suggestions about what is unique to Minneapolis in January (not including me drinking Comfort tea snuggled under an afghan working through my netflix queue. Adorable, I know... but does it make for good pictures, really?)
• I'll be working at a new job in a mere week. I'm not ready; though I am. I feel grossly underequipped in the wardrobe department to go back to working downtown.
  

Mostly unrelated:

• I was fortunate enough to snag an early copy of Arcade Fire's March release, Neon Bible. Oh Baby. Mojo has a great review; I won't bother to reiterate what he already says.
• Public Service Announcement: As much as I would like it, I am not in charge of the US Postal Service and cannot control when things get mailed/delivered/returned to me. Ongoing angst with the mail; how you haunt me.
• Angry Chicken posted a Beatrix Potter natural foods cookbook which is out of print. Dammit. Now I want one.
• I picked on Jana for consistently having Rod Stewart in her Amazon recommends... list. (Don't ask. This is the kind of insanity that only comes up at trivia.) Except now that I have opened my mouth, I have received 2 or 3 emails urging me to not miss out on the big Rod Stewart show. Whuut? Gah. It's some karmic move attempting to amp down our awesomeness factor. Hrmph.
• By the way, I refuse to link to Rod Stewart in this blog.

today's wake up call in my head was brought to you by:
We Will Become Silhouettes
The Postal Service, on Give Up (2003)

adulation

I'll take praise where I can get it. But you all should be reading the Current Blog anyway. It's good stuff (let's be real; when does the Current not put out good stuff?)

(in other words, I am completely flattered, delighted, humbled even. This from the Queen of Hyperbole... )

Do a little dance, make a little love...

Get down tonight.
It's Friday, it's sunny (and not arctic-cold), and Lily Allen is here to start a peppy little tongue-in-cheek singalong.

I worship her.

Ruby, and the anticipation of other gems

My one and only prediction for 2007: It's going to be a good year for music.

Kaiser Chiefs have a new song, for one. (thank you once again, underrated blog. I am your biggest fan.)
And I've been promised music from Lupe Fiasco and the Shins new one...

And it's only January 11th.
squee.

thank you, listeners. This is 2006, signing off.

I spent a good portion of my morning determining the (lucky?) songs which would make it into the 2006 edition of Sountrack: Urbanwanderlsut. Oh, and also angsting over an iPod which desperately needs a trip to the MP3 doctor. It's frozen. And iTunes told me it was corrupt. Gah. (we're going over to Ridgedale this afternoon to get her checked out. Promise.)

In the meantime, I was wise enough to burn my 33 selections to disc, so I have something to jam with while dodging actual work today (hurray coincidental forethought!)

Without (much) further ado, Soundtrack: Urbanwanderlust (2006 edition)
Disclaimers:
(what this really means... mostly, songs I fell in love with this year, with notable exceptions made for songs that held special meaning throughout the year.)
(what this most certainly does not mean... best of songs, critically acclaimed songs, songs that hold some sort of inherent and quantifiable music quality. It's just the stuff I like, folks. I claim no expertise here.)

1. Juicebox: The Strokes, First Impressions of Earth (2006)
2. I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News) : Eagles of Death Metal, Death By Sexy (2006)
3. Gone Daddy Gone: Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere (2006)
4. Some Things Never Stop: The Alarmists, A Detail of Soldiers (2006)
5. P.O.S Is Ruining My Life : P.O.S., Audition (2006)
6. Is It Any Wonder?: Keane, Under the Iron Sea (2006)
7. Chasing Cars : Snow Patrol, Eyes Open (2006)
8. Farewell to the Old Me: Dar Williams, The Beauty of the Rain (2003)
9. Girlshapedlovedrug : Gomez, How We Operate (2006)
10. Change: Tracy Chapman, Where You Live (2005)
11. Munich: Editors, The Back Room (2005)
12. Goods (It's All In Your Head): Mates of State, All Day (2006)
13. Drama Queens: Dan Sartain, Join Dan Sartain (2006)
14. Love Me or Hate: Me Lady Sovereign, Public Warning (2006)
15. I Will Survive : Cake, Fashion Nugget (1996)
16. Infra-red: Placebo, Meds (2006)
17. Still Take You Home: Arctic Monkeys , Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not (2006)
18. Massive Nights: The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America (2006)
19. Rise Up! Rise Up!: Cursive, Happy Hollow (2006)
20. Emma, Get Me a Lemon: The Walkmen, A Hundred Miles Off (2006)
21. Province: TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)
22. Citrus: The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America (2006)
23. Breathe Me: Sia, Colour the Small One (2005)
24. International Allan: ZibraZibra, The End of the Lion (2006)
25. Freedom 90: George Michael, Ladies and Gentleman the Best of George Michael (1998)
26. I Should Have Known Better: Yo La Tengo, I am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (2006)
27. Real Life: Nellie McKay, Pretty Little Head (2006)
28. Maneater: Nellie Furtado, Loose (2006)
29. I Wish I Was A Punkrocker (With Flowers in My Hair): Sandy Thom, I Wish I Was A Punkrocker (With Flowers in My Hair) (2006)
30. A Man/Me/Then Jim: Rilo Kiley, More Adventurous (2004)
31. Sons and Daughters: The Decemberists, The Crane Wife (2006)
32. See the World: Gomez, How We Operate (2006)
33. This Year: The Mountain Goats, The Sunset Tree (2005)

of Montreal pre-listen

Of Montreal's new disc comes out in January (see, already something to look forward to in the new year.)
In the meantimes, you can listen to the new disc whilst you work. It's making a sleepy Tuesday markedly better.

musing, it's monday.

• We're having a Minneapolitan December heatwave (40s, 50!). Warm, for December... yes. Agreed. But today: the air conditioning is on at work. What? I had to go brew some Rooibos tea just to get comfortable.
  
• Did you know it costs over 40 dollars to ship a case of beer commercially? Ridiculous.
  
• I'm writing my final reflection paper for fall semester today. I don't know how fall semester is over already, but it is. I have the thing outlined. The nice thing about it, is that it is a reflection paper... I don't have to cite and research and empiricize it all. It's just, what Sarah thinks (and if you read this blog, you know I'm an expert at writing that stuff up.)
• After a cookie-baking extravaganza yesterday, it has become glaringly apparent that I am in dire need of new baking sheets. Any recommendations on great ones? Perhaps something to put on the birthday wish list.
• The best-of lists are brewing... a soundtrack 2006 (which I'm hoping to work on tonight) as well as the haphazard Sarah's Best Of... list. Stay tuned.
• I'm sad to think all of these little car dealerships (to which I am attempting to take my car for an oil change) are getting gobbled up by Big Auto (in Minneapolis, it's Denny Hecker, Morrie's and Luther.) I have a warranty, people. I need to have my car serviced at the dealership. But I do not want to make the rich, richer, if I can help it (I would prefer to support ma and pa-type dealerships).
• Must you fail a simple IQ test to be a recruiter? And does your name have to be Kandi, Cookie, Kaki, or anything else with an "i" you will inherently dot with a teensy-tiny heart? Ack.
  

In-My-Head soundtrack for December 11th: Soldados (The Alarmists), This Year (The Mountain Goats), I'm a Wheel (Wilco), The Best Is Yet To Come (Nancy Wilson), Sabotage (Beastie Boys).