Victories for Jack and Meg

I really have nothing to say. I'm half way not alive right now, to put it in dramatic terms. I fell Monday. Shopping is quite my enemy right now for more reasons than I can't find the stinking shoe I want to buy. Rain+flip-flips+me do not equal a good combination. Fell flat on concrete at Lenox Square. So yeah... I'm in some more pain right now.

There's quite a bit of stress in my life for me to have so few responsibilities at this time. It'll ease off in July. School is just in my face right now. Plus, my proctor at the Oconee Libarary has an exam that I NEED to take and she can't protor it until mid to late August. Bite me. She asked if I could wait to take the test until then. Woman, if I had the test sent to you now, I think I'd like to take it now. She just doesn't want to have that many responsibilites because it's obvious when you look at her that she's lazy. I don't know how many times she calls in sick a week. She could read to the little kids and just pass by my cell everyonce in a while. I think you know me well enough to know I haven't cheated on the last four exams. So, I'm taking it at Bogart. The libarian there sounds MUCH nicer and far more helpful too. From now on, I'm taking my exams there.

Mehsha is getting baptized on July 7, 2007 (07/07/07), so all that read are cordially invited to come see her dedicate her life to Jehovah at the Gwinnett Civic Center. I'm very excited for her. Not sure how we're doing the dinner yet. Since everyone is everywhere, we may wait to have it in July.

I did get "Icky Thump!" Right now, I'm developing a full opinion on the album so that I can write up a full review. It's fast becoming my favorite Stripes album. Funny story- well, funny to me. When I was with the Clasky family at the hospital last week when Andy was having his surgery, I had carried my things to do in my White Stripes bag that I bought at Music Mitown (lest we forget). I sat down and the woman across from me says to the two women with her, "Look she likes the White Stripes too." I look up as I was scrolling down my ADP songs on my fauxPod and proudly say, "Yes. I've been a fan since 'White Blood Cells.' " (I don't know why I say that. Probably because I feel I have something to prove, especially to these middle-aged women who don't give a flip and are just waiting for their relative to get out of surgery. Hello, you aren't in Wuxtry's! It did impress WestPalm Kimmi and Feather that I bought my first Stripes album when I was entering the seventh grade though.) ANY-way... so I strike up a conversation and Deborah has no clue what I'm taking about but the other woman, Doorbell Woman, begins an extensive conversation on how she agreed to buy her 15-year-old son "Get Behind Me Satan" because she liked the "Ringin' my doorbell" song. (The only Stripes song acceptable for field service.) She continues to do her best to quote the lyrics, though being middle-aged, you can see she'd either listened to it once or is going through meonpause and having memory problems. She then asked if that was their only album. Pssh! Fifth, and their sixth was on store shelves as we were speaking and I couldn't get away because I was nervous about some cist on my boyfriend's hand. I proceed to explain the other albums that her son needs to get in order to really know Meg and Jack. She mentions something about how it's cute that a brother and sister can work together. Oh boy, now you've got me deep in conversation about something that you probably didn't really want to hear. So I explain how they were married until "Elephant" and then masquraded as a brother and sister and if you got into the band after their fourth album, you would never know because they look so much alike. I gave details on their birth names and how their is actually a certificate for their marriage from 1996 and that the divorce was some what public, etc. She then decided she'd get in touch with her son and tell him to look up the new album and that as soon as she left the hospital, they would go get the album. I then plugged myself up to my Zen and Doorbell Woman and Deborah proceeded to have a conversation about how long it takes at a hospital.

A victory for Jack and Meg.

I was conversing with a friend of mine in Tennessee, Smithville to be exact, who is also a fan and has been since "Elephant." Eh, let's give him a nickname. None of you know him, so I'm on my own here. Camper Chris. (inside joke w/ me and his sister.) He borrowed a copy from a friend of his in the congregation. We began discussing how I burned Jammie's a copy and his fiancee and I have been on a crusade because she is very much a fan as well. He gave "Icky Thump" a 4 out of 5. Jamie said it's such a better album than "Get Behind Me Satan." Really, it is. Camper Chris said that the friend that he borrowed his copy from was very unwilling to part with it, but it was the first album that Jack and Meg released that this guy liked. He really loved it infact.

Another victory for Jack and Meg.

By Ecky Thump! A USB Flash drive Album?

So it's a little less than a week until the White Stripes new release "Icky Thump." I'm still throughly excited and trying to scrape some pennies together. Not sure how I'm going to obtain this album, since at 10 AM I will most likely be at Athens Regional with the Clasky parents and Andy. (He's going in for minor surgery and asked me to come with them.) At some point during the morning, I will probably have to sneak down to Wuxtry's and get myself a much needed copy of what I've been waiting months for. A few days ago though, I recieved my daily White Stripes update by way of their newsletter than I signed up for (they're playing a special show in west Hollywood if anyone wants to fly out there with me and still have the chance of not getting a ticket cuz there's only about 100 for this show), and they've made 3,333 limited edition USB Flash drives of both Jack and Meg. Check 'em out: http://whitestripes.kungfunation.com/. I just thought that was the most off the wall but intresting way to release an album. Very much Jack and Meg's style. The whole album is on there in Apple Lossless format, but the drives work with PCUs and Macs. If someone wants to be LOVED FOREVER they can be awesome and spend $100 on me and get the set. Nah, just kidding, but they would be totally awesome to have and if I had the money to be a die hard collector of White Stripes merch, believe me, I would've already had these preordered.

"ICKY THUMP" IN FIVE DAYS!!!!!!

By ecky Thump!

Get your own Flash MP3 Player

As you know, my darling White Stripes have decided to come back together, release an album, and do a little touring. I was seriously considering getting tickets to Bonaroo or a show that they are playing in Birmingham (???), AL, but I'm also seriously broke right now, so not only can I not pay for a ticket, forget about paying for the shots needed to visit each state. Naturally, I was very excited still for the album (see profile picture), and still even more excited to hear the first track "Icky Thump." When I found out, I txtd Feather, who I knew would be just as excited about the news as I was. As suspected, I was right and she also added, "Who comes up with their album names?" Obviously, they do, but still, where did this one come from? I immediately went wiki digging and found this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecky_thump

There, it explains three different possibilites, the third being the album "Icky Thump." First on the list was:

• A traditional phrase By ecky-thump! (an exclamation of surprise) in Lancashire dialect, described in the article Yorkshire dialect

From there, I followed the "Yorkshire dialect" link where I furthered my investigation and wiki told me: ecky is described as being Lancashire, not Yorkshire, slang equivalents of heck, itself slang for hell, in Partridge's Dictionary of Historical Slang, Penguin 1972, entry for Heck.

Why, thank you wiki. Still though, as many websites as I folloed, I was unable to find out where the "thump" came from, but it still sounds totally cool.

Also listed on the "Ecky Thump" Wiki page is this explaination:

• "Kung Fu Kapers", an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies involving a secret Lancashire martial art known as "Ecky-Thump", which mostly revolves around hitting unsuspecting people with black puddings

I don't know about anyone else, but that sure sounds "Monty Python"-ish to me, and I will now be looking for this episode. Laughs will ensue.

So this is definitely my new cool phrase that will make me look like a total dork, but I'm still using it.

Also on the player are covers that Damien Rice did. Very cool. Very cool indeed.

Maybe there is hope

Although my taste in country music has been revived from my first grade year, and this has upset at least two of my readers, I'd like for both of them to know that I haven't forgotten my roots. Jules, yours and Smellie's hard work in pointing me in the right direction musically has not been in vain! I still remember the look on your face when you saw "White Blood Cells" in my music collection and all you could say was, "We raised her right." No I haven't forgotten all the fun I had at Yo La Tengo and how totally awesome alternative rock is. My favorite band is still the White Stripes. (My favorite solo artist is Tori Amos, but that upsets Jules too.) And I was VERY excited to find that my "brother-sister" duo *cough*liars*cough* have not disbanded all efforts to bring me my favorite head-banging music and produce a new album! So on June 19th, I'll be in line at BestBuy (or Wuxtry's) raring and ready to get myself a copy of "Icky Thump," and wear it out completely the first week I have it. Right now, all I can wait for is ADP (you just aren't cool if you don't get the abbreviation), but you better believe me, after that I'll be camping out all over again. Yep, definitely can't wait for this one either. And here's the cover art featuring my two favorite pasty freaks:



Also leave comments on the new layout. I'd love to have y'alls imput on what you might like to see. (The feed from everythingtori.com stays, so don't even mention that.)

Aroma of a Concert

I no longer reek of the urine, pot, and beer smell, but did up until all of an hour ago. Just got home from seeing a band that I would love to go see again. Yo La Tengo. I have to admit, I went knowing very little and having heard very little of theirs, but it was just time for a concert. My last one was November. The opener went on for an hour from 8:30 to 9:30. The opener was Tennament Halls. Yo La Tengo went on at 10:00 and played to 12:15. Quite long enough for me to develop a taste for them and I started enjoying myself after the first song and was hollerin' for them to come back when they went off after their first encore. To someone that doesn't delve into the "cult following/non-mainstream" type music like what they would fall under, Yo La Tengo might sound like your typical rock band, but really, the trio knows how to put on a show. I don't know what their studio stuff is like, but I would pay $20 any day to see them play again. Jolly good show. This being my first show of 2007, I was moved to think about all the bands I've seen over the past two years. My list is as follows:

2005:
-June: Music Midtown (first official concert- I was 16). The White Stripes, The Features, Louis XIV, Bloc Party, Interpol, Devo, Lemonheads... and that's all I can remember. (GREAT pick for my first.)

-October: Weezer/Foo Fighters show. Mae opened. (Missed the opener due to traffic on 85. Weezer rocked as expected. Foo went poo and we left before their set was over. Heard the songs I wanted though.)

2006:
-March: Charlotte Martin. David Berkeley opened. (Loved [love] him and hope that he'll play a show in Atlanta I can attend soon. Disappointed in her and that stupid Korg.)

-September: The Raconteurs. Dr. Dog opened. (Forget the opener, this was the second time I'd seen Jack White in person! Man that was a great show! Plus, it was at my new favorite venue, the Tabernacle.)

-November: Mat Kearney. Griffin House opened. (Once again, I knew very little about both but was over all pleased with the show, especially for $18. Got nice and close to the boys at the Roxy.)

2007:
-February: Yo La Tengo. Tenement Halls opened. (Very pleased. Yo La Tengo has a new fan... at least for their shows. Where else can you get an over 2 hour preformance where the band members play themselves ragged?)

Next month, I've been invited to accompany a new sister in my hall to see Snow Patrol. I'm looking forward to spending time with this sister, as well as getting to see this band that I had no interest in until their most recent album. Plus, OK Go is opening and I really like them, though I group them with the Killers, etc. because they came out all around the same time, and that's a bad thing when I "group" an artist. What I'm really waiting for (literally I get excited at the mention of a tour) is when this artist comes back to town. I'm giddy with the thought right now... but of course, that could be lack of sleep. Nah!