You old blue Northern

Some people have memories of childhood that involve getting stuck in one of those blow-up bouncy castles as it collapses, or longboarding in a parking garage in the wee hours of the morning.

One of my clearest memories from my early teens takes place in Ellensburg, Washington. Most Washingtonians consider Ellensburg the scourge of the earth, but I’ve always had a soft spot for it. I was visiting a close family friend with my parents, and we were gearing up for another friend’s barbecue/chili cookoff. It was to be quite an event: at least a dozen different types of chili, a spiciness contest, a cornbread contest, plus live entertainment. Surprisingly, I don’t remember the food much at all, but I remember distinctly the two songs I was supposed to participate in: “Quinn the Eskimo” (a sing-along extravaganza with live backup band) and this song, which I found sad and beautiful and everything I would want my life to be if I were a true cowgirl.

As I remember, I was invited to sing this song as a solo, and I would ride in on a horse and sing it from there with a single guitar accompaniment. I was never a confident soloist and got cold feet like crazy, so another girl (a gorgeous, seventeen year old, real live cowgirl) did the whole bit. I was so jealous and remember complaining to my mom about it, but what could she say? I’d had neither the confidence nor the preparation to perform it.

This is one of those songs that I searched for for years, finally landing on it and being surprised to find that I love it as much as I ever did. It’s not the usual thing I post, but listen.

New Discovery

“It Hurts Me Too” by folk artist Karen Dalton.

No one seems to be sure whether she influenced Bob Dylan, or if it’s the other way around.

I can’t get over her voice. It’s so old-time jazzy (think Billie Holiday), but works perfectly with her guitar style. So… jury’s still out on this one, but I’ll get back to you.

And this one. Alright, I’ll admit I like this one mostly for the French sous-titres. Subtitles. :)

Come all without, come all within.

Song of the day.

I have another one for later, when the sun goes down.

List-o-mania

One of those ancient MySpace/Facebook quiz things.

Rules
1)Don’t take too long to think about it.
2) List Twenty-one Albums you’ve heard that will always stick with you. First twenty-one you can recall – not in order of greatness!
3) Tag a few friends, including me because I’m interested in seeing what albums my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your 21 picks, and tag people in the note)

1) Rubber Soul – The Beatles
2) Beggars’ Banquet – The Rolling Stones
3) Moondance – Van Morrison
4) Hits – Joni Mitchell
5) Breakfast in America – Supertramp
6) Mr. A-Z – Jason Mraz
7) Greatest Hits – James Taylor
8) Blonde on Blonde – Bob Dylan
9) Gold – ABBA (sorry. I thought a lot about it, but it’s true. I can’t imagine my life (or, rather, my relationship with my mom) without ABBA.)
10) Juno (soundtrack) – Kimya Dawson & others
11) Stop Making Sense – Talking Heads
12) Buena Vista Social Club – Buena Vista Social Club
13) Sympathique – Pink Martini
14) Lonely at the Top – Randy Newman
15) Nilsson – Harry Nilsson
16) Dial-a-Song – They Might Be Giants
17) Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles
18) Orange Crate Art – Brian Wilson & Van Dyke Parks
19) Negotiations & Love Songs – Paul Simon
20) Car Wheels on a Gravel Road – Lucinda Williams
21) Greatest Hits – Simon and Garfunkel

Close runners-up, either because they’re more recent, or just because of the sheer number of times I played them:
1 – The Beatles
Greatest Hits – Heart
Greatest Hits – Pat Benatar
Standing in the Shadows of Motown (soundtrack) – The Funk Brothers (+Various motown artists)
A Mighty Wind (soundtrack) – Various
This Is Spinal Tap (soundtrack) – Spinal Tap
Come On Feel The Illinoise – Sufjan Stevens
Viva La Vida – Coldplay
Continuum – John Mayer

Tell me yours!

He Said It Was a Bad Dream

So I was laying in bed the other day falling asleep and I realized that for the few nights before that, I’d been dreaming in black and white. So I decided I wanted to dream in color again (because I mostly do anyway), and that night I dreamt in color. Ah, the power of the firm resolve…

I just watched “No Direction Home,” about Bob Dylan… he is simply amazing. A complete genius. A rolling stone. Or whatever, man.

Yes, I really really need to blog more. That’s my next firm resolve.

Actually my most immediate firm resolve is to get my scrapbook done for my 4H project. I’ve seriously been procrastinating, but it’s due Wednesday, so I really need to get to work. I actually did 3 pages in about 2 hours today, and totally surprised myself. So now that I know I can make it go faster, hopefully it will. All I need to do is track down some of my club’s project leaders and tell them that they need to hold meetings or something so that I can take pictures. It’s really frustrating, because of course the ONE year I really go through with the scrapbook project and commit to it is the ONE year they don’t hold meetings as frequently, for some reason. And it’s really absurd, because I happen to have a bunch of pictures of the one project I’m not involved in… and yet, absolutely NO pictures of the other FIVE projects that I AM involved in. So I’m hoping that some of the leaders somehow have pictures of at least their kids, or maybe just pictures from years past…

Anyway, somehow I still am actually excited to work on that, so it’s my top priority. 

I have a book club reunion brunch meeting tomorrow with my mom, since it was a mother-daughter book club. 

I’ve now seen Batman three times, and I must recommend it for ALL. The reviews are all true… it is horrifyingly amazing. Except for the last ten minutes or so… but maybe it deserves its own post.

One last thing… If you’re just checking out this blog,

Hehe, how cheesy is that… 

Anyway, welcome to my Inner Piece. I hope you enjoy and I only ask a simple favor: Please leave me comments and feedback!! I’m a very new blogger and I hope to continue this for a long time, so please let me know how you liked the site and how I am doing. Thanks!