So last night we went out to a club to see a friend’s band play.  I was sitting with Sarah catching up on a year of not seeing each other.  Suddenly a very intoxicated man came to join us.  Now to help you picture it, we are sitting at a tall bar table, but our husbands are standing a few feet away from the table.  The bar is very narrow and long.  People tend to stand close to each other. 

So our new friend is nice looking, wearing a royal blue, obviously expensive embroidered cowboy shirt.  I actually really liked his shirt.  He talks to us for a while.  We discover that he just moved back here from Chicago. 

He is a mortician.  I’ve never met  a mortician outside of the mortuary.  He choose his career path, because it was guaranteed employment.  He was a pysch major in college.  Apparently he moved back to Iowa because he was laid off–5 different times.  People are living too long he tells us. 

OK-now can’t you just see the boss calling him and saying, “I’m sorry, we have to let you go.  There aren’t enough people dying.  They are just living longer these days.”  I found this pretty funny. 

So suddenly as we are talking he realizes that Jason was hovering around him (BTW Jason was coveting his cowboy shirt-not rescuing damsels).  He asks us who is dating him.  Sarah pipes up, “Well I’m married to him.”  He rolls his eyes and uses his finger to say, “Checked off my list.”  Then he points to Todd, “And I suppose you are dating him?”  I repeat Sarah’s sentence.  He checked me off too and walked away.

I have a bit of an obsessive personality.  I find something and get completely into–for a while.  I do it with people, games, and various other things. 

Right now I have two obsessions.  One I have no problem sharing, but the other other I’m a bit embarrassed about admitting to yet. 

So I will just tell you about obsession 1 today.    www.playlist.com   I LOVE this site.  I can listen to my earworms over and over and over.  I have found so many cool songs on this site.  I am addicted.   I was going to write that I can listen without having to buy the music, but in truth now I want some of these songs more than ever.

So here is my current list that I’m ashamed to admit how many times I have played it:

• Why Does It Always Rain On Me by Travis
• Supermassive Black Hole by Muse
• Years by Mike Ruekberg (probably my favorite musician–amazing musician, expecially live.)
• Viva la Vida by Coldplay
• Hey Hey by Superchick
• Waning Moon by the adorable Peter Himmelman (great story about him–another blog post.)
• Magic Tree by Kirsten Price
• Same Jeans by the View
• This is Everything by Wisely (ADORE him and his music!)

Supposedly I should be able to post a player on my blog, but that would require thought and more time than I am willing to invest right now.

I just peeked at hubby’s playlist, Julian Lennon’s whole first album, Bow Wow Wow, and Pass the Dutchie (can’t remember the group.)  He has such an eclectic taste in music.  I never know what he is going to listen to next.

What would be on your playlist?

My husband is an amazing drummer!  He has played all kinds of music and is always in at least one band.  Many years ago he was in a band that played with Slipknot frequently.  Well it seemed frequently to me, as I am not a Slipknot fan.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed talking with the band members, but I do not listen to that kind of music.  In fact I remember one conversation that I had Shawn that I particularly enjoyed.  We spoke for a long time that night.  (In all honesty Todd doesn’t hang with that circle of friends much anymore.  He made some life changes.)

However there is one person in that circle that I am particularly indebted too.  That would be my friend Steve Robinson (not in Slipknot, but hangs with them).  You see Steve is the reason I met Todd.  Steve and Todd grew up together.  Steve was playing at a coffee shop (you can read more about that story here.)  Steve eventually played at our wedding, which I thought was beautiful.

Well last night Todd was watching a new video that Steve and Shawn’s (from Slipknot) new band, To My Surprise.  It was weird to see people I know animated.  Steve is the guy in the back seat with the dreadlocks and a third eye. 

The double take came on the Barbie Doll like boxes that have some weird head and “Cassie” on the label.  I am not vain enough to think it references me(and that is absolutely OK with me!)  I think Shawn’s daughter may be named Cassie as well.  If you are interested, you can view it here.

Oh and by the way it took YEARS for me to believe that Slipknot had become famous.  (Just in case one of them runs across my blog, sorry guys!)

It is Thursday night.  I can feel my floor vibrating.  I can feel my chair vibrating.  Heck, I’m vibrating!  It’s band night at my house.  My husband is a drummer for a Alternative Christian Rock band.  He is an amazing drummer.  Right now I have four grown men in my basement getting ready for a Christian Music Festival in a week.  They sound pretty good.  My favorite song is their cover of the Flaming Lips, Fight Test.  Fight Test sounds uncannily like Cat Stevens, Father and Son.  OK it isn’t a Christian Song, but it is a FABULOUS song. 

This is Joe’s back.  Joe plays among his many instruments, the keyboards.  Joe and his wife are amazing.  They have spearheaded a group to raise money to equip the local movie theatres for the deaf and blind.  I will point out that they are neither deaf nor blind.  They just saw the need.  How can you not love that???

Oh did I mention we had new neighbors move in next door yesterday?  I hope their house isn’t vibrating.  That wouldn’t be a very good first impression.  It’s a good thing I gave them some fresh cucumbers from our garden yesterday. 

Oh and by the way, I found my camera.  Here is my haircut.  It’s short, but I think I like it.

I know it is hard to see my hair.  Sorry it’s the best I can do by myself.  Everyone else is busy doing something important (band practice.)

So on the 4th we took the kids and ventured to downtown Des Moines.  I am going to admit that I had hem hawed about going to the 80/35 music festival since Todd first brought it up.  I had lots of reasons, money, babysitter, and I didn’t want to deal with crowds.  Yet I could tell this meant a lot to my husband, and we had already told our friends that we were coming.  I wasn’t super excited about any of the bands, but they were OK.  These days even REM can’t make me pay too much to see them live.  I’m getting pretty tight fisted with my $.

First I got excited because I found out Ingrid Michaelson was going to be there.  I don’t have her album (YET), but I love The Sweater Song (which you can here by clicking on the link.)  Second, I found out kids under 12 get in FREE!  Then the  day before I found out that an old friend was helping organize the event.  That got me very excited, because it dawned on me that most likely a lot of our old friends would be wandering around this festival.  So I was getting pretty excited now about the event.

Now if you know Des Moines it is a pretty nice sized town.  I don’t know what I expected (for that matter what the organizers of this event expected), but 15,000 people sort of blew my mind (and the organizers as well.)  That was only the first day! 

We began by listening to a band called Headlights.  I really enjoyed them.  They remind me of another band, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.  Then we ventured over to Ingrid, and she was lovely.  I would have rather seen her in a small intimate setting, but I will take what I can get.  The guys watched Andrew Bird, but Kat and I walked the kids around for awhile.  We got some ice cream, and then met up at Cracker.  I was happy to see them back together, but they were a little harder than I remember from the 90’s.  So we left to find our seats on the grass for the main show. 

This was were things got amazing.  I like The Flaming Lips.  How can you not like a band that sings such quirky songs?  I will be honest though, they are not my favorite band, but I like them a lot.  My husband’s band covers one of there songs, Fight Test.  I never expected to LOVE this show. 

So youngest son, E,  is laying on his belly covered up in a jacket with silencer head phones on (remember he has PDD–loud noises freak him out.  We came prepared for this.)  As soon as Wayne came out in the balloon, I pulled E up to see.  He laughed and watched for a moment, back to fetal position.  Then came the confetti, and it filled the air. E sat up and enjoyed again, but back to the ground.  Then out came the HUNDREDS of weather balloons into the audience.  E was up and chasing.  Both boys were playing in the grass with a hundred other people chasing these balloons.  So streamers, confetti, giant balloons, and flashing lights that showed close ups of Wayne’s face (tonsils included).  It was the most fantastical amazing thing I have ever seen before.  It was a feast for the senses.  Sadly the pics were with my phone so they are not great, but I hope you get the idea!

We danced, ran, played, and experienced pure utter joy for a good hour or so.  Thank you Flaming Lips!  I can only compare Wayne and the guys to Willy Wonka only using music instead of candy.  It was that magical.   Doesn’t this pic look like the stage is exploding!?!  It didn’t. 

I can’t wait for next years 80/35 Festival!  I have also now said that I will PAY again to see The Flaming Lips. 

One thing about me, is that I am a huge procrastinator.  So today when I called over to my friend’s house, her husband answered the phone with, “So have you gotten it clean yet?”  Obviously he has been visiting my blog. 

I had to admit that I hadn’t even started.  (Sheepish grin here.)  This is where that accountability thing kicked in.  I knew when I got off the phone that I HAD to clean the disaster in my kitchen.  So this is for you Chris!

Let me tell you I am more than a little mortified at what I found!  I found two graduation invitations–that we MISSED!  I found a thank you–that never got mailed.  I found so much!  EEK!!!  But it is all organized for now.  I think I am going to make some curtains to go around our makeshift microwave stand.  Hmmm…maybe this weekend.

But there is something that I really want to share with all of you!  When I tackle a big project I like to work in time blocks.  I have found that for me, listening to a podcast while I work makes that much easier as well as more enjoyable.

There are many that I listen to, but today I listened to one that had me laughing as I was working!  I have been enjoying Craftsanity (yes, it is available on Itunes).  However today I chose an episode that I think everyone would love!  It was actually from February 28, 2006.  It was an interview with Deirdre Flint.  She is a comedic musician.  Instantly she reminded me of Christine Lavin.  Deirdre at the time (and maybe still is) was performing with The Four B*tchin Babes, a fun group to listen to!  I am going to have to download some, if not all, of her songs.  They were really that good.  I really liked the Cheerleader song, but The Boob Fairy song was definitely a classic!!!  Check her out.

Tomorrow is a new day!  I have a new project, equally scary and still in my kitchen.  I am going to tackle the art cupboards!  It will be a bit more challenging as I will be eating breakfast with my mom and sister, and then having my cousins over to play with my kids.   Yet I will turn on my podcasts and enjoy my hour (or so) of organizing.

I love seeing what other people are listening to on their ipod, radio, computer, whatever…  So what are you listening to right now? 

Here’s my list:

Ben Folds Five–not new, but loving the song  “Best imitation of Myself” right now

Superchick–We Live

The View-Same Jeans  (this is an AWESOME song!)

The New Pornographers–Mass Romantic (wish they had a different name for their band, but great song!)

Fort Pastor-March Out  (they remind me a bit of the Bare Naked Ladies)

Ginny Owens–Simply Love You (It’s like she crawled in my brain, and wrote it for me.)

Brandi Carlile-The Story

B-52’s–Rock Lobster (my kids are loving this right now.)

Relient K–Give Until there is Nothing Else (really anything by these guys, but their 12 Days of Christmas is the best Christmas Song Ever!)

Darden Smith-Frankie and Sue (Old song, but just got it from itunes)