Dido

Kristen’s Christmas Song Mini Mix

Posted on by Kristen

It’s after Thanksgiving which means, time to put in the Christmas music! I was excited to uncheck all my tunes in my Christmas playlist, but here a few of the tunes I was most looking forward to hearing once again:

River- Joni Mitchell …this is my favorite Christmas song. Of all time. I have many versions but no one does it quite like Joni.

 

Merry Ex-mas – Lelia Broussard and Jake Newton…a couple top notch singer-songerwriters got together and wrote a killer x-mas tune. Fast becoming one of my favorites. Sometimes I cheat and listen to it out of season…

 

“Christmas Day” – Dido…my junior year in college I started every single day during the holiday season with this Christmas song sung by one of my favorite voices. I still think it’s the best way to start a wintery morning.

 

 “Christmas Is All Around” – Billy Mack… Love Actually is my favorite holiday movie. Actually it’s one of only two Christmastime films I really enjoy (the other being A Muppet Christmas Carol)

 

“Maybe This Christmas” – Ron Sexsmith…say what you will about The OC, but that show put out some great music including a Christmas soundtrack which has become one of my go to holiday albums. This song is one of the many gems from that album.

 

“Bittersweet Eve” – Belasana…you can tell I love the happy holiday songs… honestly, these songs make me happy. I swear!

 

“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” – Judy Garland…classic!

 

~ Kristen

Kristen’ LA Concert Calendar: 2/28-3/6

Posted on by Kristen

Just go home from an Oscar party. I won a prize for successfully predicting the most award winners. If anyone wants their toast to wish them a good morning…well, I’ve got you covered! For the most part, I enjoyed the ceremony. The only thing I’m slightly irritated about (well, more than slightly) is the absence of Dido singing the song that she co-wrote for 127 Hours. Now, I love Florence from Florence and The Machine, but Dido is one of my all-time faves and I was really looking forward to seeing her sing.

But I’ll try to focus on the positive. Which brings me to this forthcoming week. Let’s christen it “Biffy week” in honor of the fact that I will be seeing my current band obsession, Biffy Clyro, twice this week. The Scottsmen will be performing on Tuesday at The Troubadour. Then on Weds, they are sitting down at Bootleg Theater with Mark Z Danielewski, author of the book Only Revolutions, upon which Biffy Clyro’s 2009 release of the same title is based. Saying that I’m giddy about these events is an understatement.

Filling out the week, we have more highly anticipated shows by the likes of Everest, Semi Precious Weapons, Moving Picture Show, and After Midnight Project (another band obsession of mine). And if you didn’t get a ticket to the sold out Biffy Clyro show on Tuesday, I’d highly HIGHLY recommend jetting down to Hermosa Beach for some The Silent Comedy/Queen Caveat action at Saint Rocke. You will not be disappointed.

My complete list of shows I’d love to go to as follows:

 

Monday: Everest and Red Cortez FREE at The Satellite (9pm)
ALSO: Armada at The Viper Room (9:15)
ALSO: War Tapes FREE at Silverlake Lounge (10pm)
ALSO: J. Tillman (of Fleet Foxes) FREE at Bootleg Theater (9pm)
ALSO: Songwriters in the Round at Room 5 (9pm)

Tuesday: Biffy Clyro at The Troubadour (10pm)
ALSO: The Silent Comedy and Queen Caveat at Saint Rocke (9,10)
ALSO: George Stanford at The Piano Bar (11pm)
ALSO: Jukebox the Ghost at The Echo (8pm)
ALSO: Jonathan Clarke and Satellite at Molly Malone’s (8,9)
ALSO: Joseph Arthur at Bootleg Theater (9:45)

 

Weds: Liner Notes with Biffy Clyro and author Mark Z Danielewski at Bootleg Theater (7pm)
ALSO: Semi Precious Weapons FREE at On The Rox (10pm)
ALSO: Lovers Drugs and Beatnik Jr. at 3 Clubs (10pm)
ALSO: Anna Nalick at The Hotel Cafe (10pm)
ALSO: Zoe Keating at Largo at the Coronet (8pm)
ALSO: Infantree at The Satellite (8:30)

 

Thursday: Moving Picture Show, Sabrosa Purr, and Great Northern at Bootleg Theater (8:30,9:30, 10:30)
ALSO: Civil Twilight at The Troubadour (10pm)
ALSO: Stephen Kellogg and Austin Hartley Leonard at The Hotel Cafe (8,9)
ALSO: The Entrance Band at The Satellite (10pm)

 

Friday: After Midnight Project at The Roxy (10pm)
ALSO: Keaton Simons at The Hotel Cafe (9:30)
ALSO: Wild Nothing and Abe Vigoda at The Natural History Museum for First Fridays (5pm)

 

Saturday: Winchester Rebels FREE at On The Rox 11:15)
ALSO: Love and a .38 and The Binges at The Viper Room (10,11)
ALSO: Alexi Murdoch at Bootleg Theater (11pm)

 

Sunday: Morcheeba at The Music Box (8pm)
ALSO: Joseph Tobin Tribute Concert featuring Joey Ryan, Jay Nash, Chris Pierce, Austin Hartley Leonard, etc. at The Hotel Cafe (7pm)
ALSO: Songwriters Round at Room 5 featuring Paris Carney (9pm)

 

To Keep in Mind:
March 8th: Vertical Horizon at The Roxy
March 8th: Queen Caveat, Dead Sara, Little Red Radio at The Mint
March 9th: Jay Nash at Saint Rocke
March 11th: Fair to Midland at Whiskey a Go Go
March 17th: Alkaline Trio and Dead Country at The Mayan
March 22nd: War on Drugs at The Troubadour
March 26th: Lady Danville at The Troubadour
March 28th: Chris Robinson Brotherhood at The Echoplex
March 30th: Imagine Dragons at The Viper Room
April 11th: Chris Robinson Brotherhood at The Echoplex
April 16th: Matt Wertz and Ben Rector at The Troubadour
April 25th: Airborne Toxic Event at The Satellite
May 27th: The Script at Club Nokia
June 9-12: Bonnaroo!!
June 13th: Florence and The Machine at The Greek Theater
September 22-24: Hotel Carolina
~ Kristen

 

Dido Nominated for Academy Award!

Posted on by Kristen

How am I just finding this out?!? Granted the nominations for the Academy Awards were just announced yesterday, but I just can’t believe that Dido finally released new material and I didn’t know about it! I guess that is what I get from spending all my money on concerts and not having any left over to go to the movies…

To understand my astonishment with myself, you must know that Dido was my favorite artist for quite a number of years. A byproduct of my obsession with the TV show, Roswell, Dido’s first CD, No Angel, was one of my most spun CDs in high school. I listened to that CD so much that the password for my phone’s answering machine is the track numbers in order of my favorite songs from the album. Dido was also the first big “pop” concert I ever attended.

Anyway, I was thrilled to see Dido’s name on the list of Academy Award nominees. She co-wrote a song with Rollo and A.R. Rahman (previous Oscar winner for his work on Slumdog Millionaire). The song is called “If I Rise” and is featured in the movie 127 Hours.

It’s so lovely to hear Dido’s voice again! And it pairs well with A.R. Rahman. Here’s the song:

One of my fave Dido tunes (I love the bridge):

~Kristen

Fifteen Albums…

Posted on by Kristen

Someone posted this on facebook. I like doing these little quiz-type things, but I rarely post them. This one really got me thinking so I thought I’d go the extra mile. Here are the directions:

Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you’ve heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.Tag fifteen 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, click “Write a note”, paste title and rules in…

And after the appropriate 15 minutes, here was what I came up with:

  1. Joe Firstman- War of Women   01 Introduction to _The War Of Women
  2. Sarah McLachlan – Mirrorball Building a Mystery
  3. Dido- No Angel All You Want
  4. Andrew Lloyd Webber- The Phantom of the Opera Soundtrack The Phantom of the Opera
  5. Jewel- Spirit Jupiter
  6. Carole King- Tapestry So Far Away
  7. Love Actually Soundtrack God Only Knows
  8. Alanis Morrisette- MTV Unplugged Head Over Feet
  9. Veronica Mars Soundtrack We Used To Be Friends- The Dandy Warhols
  10. Granian- On My Own Two Feet Contagious
  11. Carly Simon – Coming Around Again As Time Goes By
  12. Maroon 5- Songs About Jane The Sun
  13. Teitur – Poetry & Airplanes Rough Around the Edges
  14. Moulin Rouge Soundtrack Elephant Love Medley
  15. Ally McBeal: For Once In My Life featuring Vonda Shepard You’re the First, the Last, My Everything

Honestly, I surprised myself with some of the answers. I was thinking of entire albums and not just favorite songs or favorite bands (most of which didn’t even make the list!). Also, the thing all fifteen of my choices have in common is that the entire album is strongly linked to something in my life…a place, a time, an event, etc. As a result, most of them are from my past…when I actually listened to entire albums obsessively and before the majority of my music came in its live form.

I’ll never forget, for example, listening to The Veronica Mars Soundtrack in my car quite heavily the last few months of college…or having Sarah McLachlan’s “Surfacing” on repeat while getting lost in Washington DC on a Girl Scout trip…or listening to Jewel’s “Spirit” while playing Pokemon on my Gameboy. Then, of course, there is the album I listen to whenever I am deeply upset because it can be the only thing that makes me feel okay (that would be Joe Firstman’s “War of Women”, also strongly connected to what I still consider to be the best day of my life).

I could go on, but all of these albums make me feel something above and beyond the music itself. I’m sure it’s that nostalgic link that will keep these albums firmly implanted in my brain for years to come.

~ Kristen