i'm a writer?

i have never once thought of myself as a writer...despite the fact that i have this trusty little blog here. maybe it's because i never had a diary that i wrote all my secrets in as a melodramatic teen? maybe it's because i never got to write about the stuff i actually cared about in school? when i went on internship and had to keep a journal of my experiences it dang near killed me.
but one of the most fun (and challenging) things i have gotten to do recently is write.
weird, huh?
the end of last year i thought it would be just fantastic if i were able to contribute somehow to a music website. i frequent a few different sites often looking for news on bands for the radio. so i emailed the head of one of those sites asking if they needed any help or if there was anything i could do. he responded saying they needed more album reviewers. i said, "sounds great!" so for the past few months i have been reviewing albums and writing my "professional" opinion about them.
it has been a ton of fun: i've gotten the chance to hear new albums before they are released and when the album is awesome it's super easy to write about.
it has been super challenging: critiquing an album is not as easy as one might think. and i know musicians develop a think skin but it still isn't easy to be the one that says, "this kinda sucks."
if you care at all to see the reviews (and one interview, woot) that i've done, all my reviews are stored here: http://www.indievisionmusic.com/reviews-by-author/?reviewauthor=9295   
OR
if you just want to keep up-to-date on what's happening in the christian music world make sure to check out www.indievisionmusic.com on a regular basis...it's got good stuff!

xo

this is sappy but we'll call it poetic.

there are few bands that still make me fall head-over-heels in love with live shows over and over again.

i mean, i always love going to shows but there are few bands that just completely captivate you for the entire show. the ones that make your pulse beat a little faster when they take the stage. the ones that strike one chord and a huge, cheeky smile appears on your face and doesn't leave until the next morning, hours after the show is done. the ones that leave everything on the stage; their hearts, their souls, their sweat. the ones that don't need extravagant pyrotechnics and moving stage pieces to put on a killer show (though don't get me wrong, i appreciate fireworks and spinning drum kits every now and again).
these are the bands that remind me that music is where my heartbeat lives.

photo credit: kristina c.

thanks, switchfoot.

xo

one of those days.

it's days like today (summery, hot, and i know there are festivals going on) that make me want to be on the road so bad i can taste it.
it's not that i don't enjoy my job, i do! not necessarily the administrative-desk-work-type-stuff but i get to dig around for new bands/artists, write reviews about albums that are coming out, and play dj on the radio so i realize my job is pretty rad and i am super thankful that i get to be the one that does it,
but...
there's a part of me that has wanted to be on the road since i was 12 and no matter what i do i just can't get her to shut up. so i need to get my butt in gear because i'm sick of waiting for my lead singer in a tour bus (my version of a knight on a white horse) to come rescue me from life in an office.

"decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it" -bill cosby

xo

movin' on up, to the (north)east side.

i like change. i need change. i think it's exciting. it keeps me sane.

there is change in the wind.

our house (the upper duplex that my roommates and i inhabit) has been affectionately called "the rockplex" since we moved in back in fall of 2010. this week the rockplex is moving! okay, not our physical house but the four of us girls are leaving our current residence in south minneapolis and are moving to northeast.

we've found a house that has four bedrooms (no more sharing!!! as a 26 year old with more clothes than necessary this is stellar news), is set up much better for hosting guests (generally of the band persuasion), and is directly across the street from a park (complete with skate park, sand volleyball court, and basketball court)!

so if you know any bands that ever need a place to stay while they're in minnesota let 'em know we've got space for them....we can even give references ;)

xo

i was in a gang.

bucket list....a thing i think everyone should have. creating one gets your creative juices flowing and really makes you think about what it is you'd like to accomplish in life and then motivates you to get your booty in gear.

items on my bucket list include (this is by no means the exhaustive list):

• visit south africa. i have some friends who run an orphanage there and said they would love to have me come visit and play with the kids.
• make out in the rain. sounds fun, right?
• own a vespa. scooters=cool

another item that was on my list for a long time was, "sing gang vocals on a cd" but now i can successfully check that one off the list! one of my friends started a band and they needed girls to sing gang vocals on one of the songs. so i went over to the recording studio with a couple of my roommates, we listened to part of the track once, practiced a couple times, and recorded our part. the whole process took about a half hour. it's crazy, i speak into a microphone every day on the radio but put me behind a mic and tell me to sing and my palms get clammy and i barely manage to sing above a whisper. so glad my friends were right beside me singing loud and proud!

now here we are, 3 months later, and the album is set to release in just two weeks. the guys have put a ton of work into it and i think that they are going to go far (and i'm not just saying that cause they're my friends)! they are called, Summertime Dropouts, and their music feels like summer in the 90's. yep, it's that nostalgically wonderful.

check 'em out on whatever social networking site floats your boat.....and make a bucket list while you're at it.

xo

crybaby.

i don't cry often. i think i have cried at (maybe) 2 movies in my entire life. i have never cried over a tv show ending. i only teared up at my sister's wedding because i saw both my mom and dad lose it. something about songs though just get my tear ducts running. something about words and music put together that hits that place in my soul that apparently not even the end of Friends could touch (and i LOVED that show, i still watch the syndications of it almost every night).

short list of bands who have made me cry during a set:

• NEEDTOBREATHE
• Switchfoot
• The Wedding
• Parachute
• Relient K (they sang "Deathbed", i was toast)

 songs that make me teary every time i hear them:

• Let That Be Enough- Switchfoot
• Salt in the Snow - The Classic Crime
• Twenty-Something - Graham Colton
• Through Smoke - NEEDTOBREATHE
• Good Life - One Republic (but this one is only because of that Disney commercial with all the happy families and this song is playing in the background and it reminds me of my childhood. we went as a family to Disney World a couple times and i adore my family and Disney World so i feel i can't be faulted for this)

"music gets under the skin without permission" -jon foreman

xo

baby.

i recently was listening to a christian radio station (one that broadcasts nationally) and was pumped when a needtobreathe song came on. cranking it up thinking "this is my jam" i started singing along. loudly. you wouldn't think i'd get so excited being that the song is on a cd i own that happened to be right next to me in my car but i just love it when i hear christian radio embracing christian artists who have crossed over into the mainstream market....or so i thought they had embraced it.
see because i was singing along so loudly (out of my love for the song and the band) i almost missed it.
the version on my cd goes: "wake on up from your slumber, baby, open up your eyes."
the version i heard on the radio: "wake on up from your slumber, come on, open up your eyes."
WHAT?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
SERIOUSLY?
i know there are a lot of four-letter words that are not uplifting, are inappropriate, and are unnecessary but baby?! why are we (as Christians) cutting ourselves off so much that we can't even use the word "baby" in a song. a song that is a charge to get up and do something worthwhile. why are we so afraid of the world that we hole ourselves up and fight against the very art that is impacting the world for the better?
so i say, if you aren't going to play the original version, don't play the song. stand behind the artists who are able to cross that bridge into the "secular" market without making a super Christian version of their music, baby.

xo