Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Unlikely Admiration

An interesting question at The Women's Colony today... Who Would I Be Most Surprised to Know You Admire?

I am a snob about music. Not in the way most people think of musical snobbery, because I like a wide range of musical styles: rock, alternative (esp. punk) and musical theater are my favorite genres (see what I mean?). Obviously I'm not a snob in the high-brow sense!

What I am a snob about is singing ability. Even as far back as 4th or 5th grade, I would not stand for a successful musical artist with a so-so singing voice. Even if their act was primarily style or shock, I was obnoxiously loud in the "SHE SUCKS!!" department. I just felt (and still do) that there are so many talented singers out there who ALSO have the big personality. Why are there so many who don't ever get their "big break" while these other hacks are packaged into superstars?

Everyone who has known me for any length of time has heard far too many of my tirades about the music industry's machine. "Pop music is a joke!" "It's all a farce!" "They are treating American consumers like fools!" The first artist that inspired my tirades was Madonna. "Does no one else hear that SHE CANNOT SING?" And it continued... through Britney... even now with that Kesha person...

Since I regard Madonna's famous antics with eye rolls (at best), most people would be pretty shocked to hear that...

...I think Lady Gaga is pretty great.

Sure, she strikes me as "hey, look at me! look at me!" just like Madonna always did, but THAT GIRL CAN SING.

So I find myself cheering her on as she has become a worldwide superstar so quickly.

Sing It, Weird Girl!



People who knew-me-when would also be surprised that I, of the I'll-never-watch-American-Idol-it's-the-pop-music-machine-on-display-and-it-makes-me-sick, am completely impressed with the kids on American Idol.

That show is rough. You have to be really good to make it through that process. The Internet is brutal, and the judges' comments on the show itself are pretty harsh. I wish the judges would make those kinds of comments about the guest artists who perform on the show! That would really demonstrate how hard they are on the contestants!

Some of them are SO talented, and I am rooting for them now that they're off the show and out there giving it a shot!

Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood, David Cook, Adam Lambert... they all have AMAZING voices! LOVE!

P.S. GO CRYSTAL!

Monday, May 17, 2010

BOSSY's back home

She swoops in, like some sort of fairy godmother, waves her magic pixie dust over the people she has gathered, and friendships are created.

She's BOSSY, ladies and gentlemen.

She's back home now, her 42-day (No)Book Tour has come to an end, and I can imagine how happy her beautiful family and enormous dog are to see her again. I just feel lucky I got to spend a few hours with her during this, another one of her big adventures!

The first time she ventured out on an Excellent Road Trip, I had no idea what to expect. I had a few butterflies walking into that restaurant. But do you know what happened? I met some terrific people, and after keeping up with them through their blogs for two years, I was really looking forward to seeing them again! This time it was more like a reunion, and we were so busy catching up, and feeling so comfortable, that we all neglected to take pictures!

That BOSSY, not only do we never see each other without her coming into town, but she manages to get the only photos!


There's Heidi and Suebob and Smacksy and Tootsie and (me) and Kelly and Jason and BOSSY and JCK and Aunt Snow and Shayera! Hi guys!


Here's BOSSY's post about our meet-up.

It was a really nice evening. I just wish I could spend even more time with all of these bloggy friends, including BOSSY herself! But she had to move on to the Bay Area. I guess I can share her.

Too bad she couldn't stick around the following day, because Heidi and I decided to spend it together. I think BOSSY kinda wished she had time to join in! (Next time, BOSSY!) I love spending time with Heidi, she is just the loveliest person! We walked around my little town a bit, and stepped into a craft shop full of the strangest trinkets. They are for artist who incorporate a collage style, I'm guessing. Buttons and TV tubes and bottle caps and matchbooks, you name it! After our short stroll, I tried to take her to the yummiest lunch spot in town, but it was really busy. We did alright with another little cafe, though. Then I picked up my son from preschool and we went over to the fancy shmancy museum. My son was very interested in finding Picassos. He was a well-behaved 5-year-old boy in the museum (what a relief), and he talked about Heidi all the rest of the day!



All in all, I sure am lucky to have met some special people through this blogging thing. And I'm only a sometime-blogger!