Today is the second anniversary of me being part of this music blogging adventure, so: thanks, y’all, once again, for joining us, whether it’s once or all the time. Have some pretty spring flowers as an expression of my appreciation:
I’m also declaring today Lurker Amnesty Day. Drop me a comment or an an email and say hi, y’all. Share a song or a video, ask a question, or just wave shyly, it’s all good.
Technically my second anniversary of starting to write here is a couple of months from now, but I’m chiming in to say: Happy Birthday, little blog! And also congratulations, Jessica H.! I hope you didn’t get too squashed in that Panic! pit – I totally read your story and nodded in rueful recognition, because, well, yes, that’s a Panic! show in a nutshell. (Well, maybe not the fistfights.)
And the thing is: that’s kind of why I love them. Because that pit is a hot sweaty shrieking mess, but they are shrieking with joy. And there’s nothing else like the moment when the house lights go down, the stage lights come up, they step into their places, the first notes ring out, and the pit goes off like a rocket. The screaming makes me wince, too, but it also makes me grin, and probably scream along with them.
But the best part is really afterwards, when I find all of my girls and we wobble, laughing, into the night, to find food and rehydrate and recap for each other the experience we just shared and text people who weren’t there so they can also be brought up to speed.
In a way that’s kind of what music blogging, year two, has been about for me: making friends and being part of a community. So I, too, want to say thank you to all of y’all who stop in to read, whether it’s once or every day, and also to all of y’all who alert us to your musical activities. Here’s hoping our third year together will be the best year yet.
On a somewhat related note, my contribution to today’s festivities is My Chemical Romance’s latest video. It’s a collaboration between the band and a fan, and it’s for Kids from Yesterday, the latest and last single from Danger Days. I picked this one over a Panic! video because, well, all of my Panic! girls are also my My Chem girls, and this song is our song.
![My Chemical Romance - The Kids From Yesterday [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YXiLHIYqb_Y/0.jpg)
Two years? Fucking two years? How did that happen?
Now This Sound Is Brave is two years old today. And year two was even more exhilirating, life-affecting and life-affirming than the first year. We have heard so much great music, seen so many righteous shows, talked to so many cool people and made some amazing friends. I could be here all day listing people who deserve our thanks, like the bands who share their work and sometimes their friendship with us, the good people who run and staff the venues where we see shows, the other blogs who have given us encouragement, the CXCW crew… There’s a whole damn lot of people, is what I’m saying.
But I do want to give individual thanks to four special individuals. First, to NTSIB’s beneficiary, the person who provided the idea in the first place, provides the access and provides the equipment that helps me keep this thing going, Duane. Next, to my intrepid co-blogger who gets giddy with me, makes me laugh and has more than pulled her weight lately, Jennifer. Then, to my wonderful friend, confidante, mentor and so many other things besides, Rick, whose encouragement, belief and helping hand have changed the whole game for me. And most of all, to YOU. You beautiful fucking people who come and read and check out the music and support the bands and support us. I fucking love you. Thank you for being here.
Okay, enough sentimental bullshit! I know there are five of you who are very eager to learn who won that droolacious Black Keys concert poster. That winner is: Jessica H! Jessica’s entry typifies the passion for music, and the passion for helping connect others with music (as a Black Keys fan whose co-blogger is a Panic! diehard, I could relate), that I hope we show here on the blog. Jessica, I’ll be in touch soon to find out where to send your prize (and, yes, I do want to see pictures of dog Dan Auerbach… oh, I do…).
For your enjoyment, the winning entry:
I remember my first not-Raffi concert vividly: my dad took me to see Ozzfest in Las Vegas. It was the first time I was cognizant of marijuana (“What are they rolling on their programs, dad?†“Oh, um, I don’t know, Jess.â€) and it was the first time I felt the center of my chest vibrate, just as the concrete of Thomas & Mack was vibrating, from the incredibly loud music. Pantera played an extra long set (I didn’t know what a treat that was at the time) and I heard Black Sabbath play all the songs I’d listened to as a little kid with my dad. He shared a fond story of seeing Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult with my mom at the Ventura Fairgrounds in 1980 — it was so loud that they got noise complaints from miles behind the stage, so he said. And I saw Marilyn Manson who was my latest curiosity. The flesh-colored boobsuit? The Hilteresque podium and grandstanding? What did it mean? Why did he do it? It was so fascinating. But that’s not my favorite musical moment.
My favorite musical moment is probably my least favorite concert ever. I took my baby sister to her first concert: Panic at the Disco at a venue in San Diego. She’d been obsessing over them — my whole family knew all the lyrics to all of their songs because we heard Panic so much — and she was ECSTATIC to finally see them live. The venue was overcrowded — dangerously so — and it was hot. So fucking hot. The place was crawling with screaming adolescents. My sister kept wanting to get closer, closer to the stage and even though I saw security pulling crushed and crying little girls from against the railing by the stage, I acquiesced. My less-adventurous middle sister went to hang in the back so that left me, as chaperone, next to my baby sister who kept pushing forward. The crowd surged and swirled and I kept a firm grasp on my sister who was rocking a permanent grin. Since my adolescent Ozzfest, I’ve traveled the country to see amazing concerts, but I’ve never been so packed like a sardine at a concert ever. As the crowd swayed en masse, my sister and I commiserated about how soaking wet we and our clothes were. We realized that it wasn’t our own sweat — it was the sweat of the strangers pressed up against us. Yuck. Big smile. I saw fights and fists as people bumped into people. Feeling maternal (and unsafe) I asked my sister to go to the back with me but she pleaded no, please, Jessica, please, I want to be closer. Okay, okay. At one point she looked at me, I thought she was going to cry, I hope she was going to ask to move to the back, but instead she said, out breath, “Jessica? I forgot to wear a belt today and my pants are falling down and I can’t move my arms to reach down to pull them up. Will you pull up my pants?†So I elbowed my way down to pull up my sister’s jeans because the crowd was so tight that she literally couldn’t move her arms. That’s my favorite music memory: sharing my sister’s first concert with her because the mix of emotions that music elicits is to be shared. It might be a better memory than losing my virginity. Certainly more sweaty. Let me think about that.
As an aside, I’ve never really had a favorite band. Even when I was in elementary school and my friends screamed over New Kids on the Block, I was too cool for that. Those girls were stupid. I never had my own Panic at the Disco. I’ve loved Led Zeppelin, like everyone else (thanks, dad); I love Neil Young and Radiohead; and I had a pretty serious Talking Heads phase… But I don’t know if any of those are favorite musicians . . . Till the Black Keys. I’m an adult woman and the Black Keys are my favorite band. Like those girls in elementary school, I have a band I listen to pretty much every day; I have their full discography on vinyl that I’ve culled from various record label stores and music shops, despite my poverty; and I have a dog named Dan because he looks exactly like Dan Auerbach. The Black Keys introduced me to dirty, Fat Possum blues and I love them for that, too.
I can send you a picture of Dan Auerbach if you’d like but he’s wearing a cone of shame right because he just got castrated and he won’t stop licking his scrotum.
Love and thanks to the other entrants – Sam G, Ashleigh Jordan, Yoin Segundo and the esteemable Mr. Dave Polak. You rock hardcore.
How badass is that poster? So badass that, in my excitement to obtain it, I managed to acquire two of them.
So, here’s the deal: Now This Sound Is Brave will celebrate two years of existence a week from today. To celebrate this thing we do with the music and the writing and the writing about music (and writing about writing about music), we’re going to give a gift to you. Well, to one of you. But you have to earn it.
In order to own your own beautiful, 3-color, 18″x24″ lithograph poster (and it is even more striking in person) created by Jeff Proctor for the Black Keys’ December 11, 2010, show at the Rimac Arena in San Diego, California, you’ll have to tell us about an important music moment in your life. Be it funny or touching or something that will make us all want to slash our wrists, whether it involves playing music, listening to music or meeting a music hero, as long as it was important, influential and memorable to you, we want to read about it.
The sharer of the best music moment, judged by my own indefinable I’ll-know-it-when-I-see-it standards, will win my extra Black Keys zombie poster to have, to hold and to scare young children with. The deadline for entry will be 5 PM EST on January 26, and I will announce the winner on the NTSIB anniversary, January 27, giving you about a week to compose your entry. And that’s one (1) entry per person, please. Submit your entry as a comment to this post, and please remember to include a reliable e-mail address. (We reserve the right to share your story in a future post to the blog, though, of course, with full credit to you and retaining no copyright for ourselves.)
Good luck, kids. Thanks for being here.
Hello NTSIBbers,
Today is my one year anniversary of writing for this blog. Thank you, April, for inviting me to the party and being a fabulous co-blogger, and thank you, NTSIBbers, for reading and commenting and making music and generally being wonderful people.
Also, I figured I should introduce myself, since I didn’t bother with that a year ago. (Whoops!) Hi! I’m Jennifer, and when it comes to music I’m a bit of a magpie. I like things that glitter and shine. I deeply appreciate people who, to paraphrase Brandon Flowers, wear their sequins unironically. I enjoy big drums and dirty bass lines, geeks, novelty songs, and novelty songs about geeks. I also enjoy the roar of the big machine, and my favorite part of nearly any show is when the circle bells out and the center starts to spin.
Mostly what you’ve seen from me so far has been concert photography, and there will be more of that to come. I also have some half-formed ideas/nefarious plans regarding other topics (hint: I have A Lot of Feelings about videos) which I’ll be exploring later this spring.
Finally, in celebration of this first anniversary of mine, I’m doing a special give-away of twelve prints of my pictures that have appeared on NTSIB. Here’s the deal: The first 12 people to email the blog today, April 6, will get one 8×10 print of a picture, of your choice (if you specify which one you want) or of mine (if you don’t.)
Your email should contain the following: Your name; your address; and an indication as to which picture you want, if you have a preference. You can specify as broadly or as narrowly as you would like. Note: International submissions are okay!
To find my pictures: click on the Rock n’ Roll Photog category and look for posts tagged “show reviews”.
Line up the shot glasses and lock up the animals and children: it’s time to celebrate Now This Sound Is Brave’s 1-year anniversary.
It’s been a thrilling year, and it looks like the next year is going to be even better. Not to get all awards-speech on you, but my thanks go out first and foremost to Duane, my oldest friend, who first proposed the idea of this blog and who continues to show inspiring support and encouragement. Thanks also to my co-blogger Jennifer, to fellow collaborators Brucini at the Black Keys Fan Lounge and photographer Nate Burrell, to fellow bloggers Digger (Take This Bread) and Tim (Rubber City Review), to friends who have become readers and readers who have become friends and anyone who has stopped here for even a moment. And, of course, a huge debt of gratitude to you who make music – even beyond this blog, I don’t know what I’d do without you.
Now, a present for you: a mix. Twelve songs that have elicited something strong for me, whether it is an emotional punch in the gut or just excitement over a great chord progression, these are songs that made me pay attention this year.
Here’s the download (.zip file) link.
And here’s what you’ll find inside:
1. The Famous, “Cold Tonight”
2. Drive-by Truckers, “Used to be a Cop”
3. Cadillac Sky, “3rd Degree”
4. Conrad Plymouth, “Fergus Falls”
5. A Place to Bury Strangers, “Ocean”
6. Liars, “Scarecrows on a Killer Slant”
7. Gil Scott-Heron, “Me and the Devil”
8. Patrick Sweany, “Rising Tide”
9. Freddie Gibbs, featuring Chuck Inglish, Chip tha Ripper, Bun B and Dan Auerbach, “Oil Money”
10. Lee Fields and the Expressions, “Honey Dove”
11. Infantree, “Slaughterhouse”
12. Strand of Oaks, “Sterling”
Stick around for great things to come.
