Well, let me just tell you that when you see a Beatle live? Any stress or worries you may have had lately about certain newer emo musicians and band lineups and drugs and drama melts away into absolutely nothing.

We had barrier, we worked hard for it, and it paid off. Hello, I'm twenty feet away from Paul McCartney.

The best way I can describe seeing Paul McCartney live is to list some of his setlist. Here are the ones I can remember.

Drive My Car
Jet
The Long and Winding Road
Back in the USSR
Blackbird
Here Today
Got To Get You Into My Life
I've Got A (MOTHERFUCKING) Feeling
Something
Paperback Writer
A Day In the Life feat. Give Peace a Chance
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Yesterday
All My Lovin'
Band on the Run
Eleanor Rigby
Helter Skelter
Get Back
Mull of Kintyr
Day Tripper
Lady Madonna
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/The End

He played for three whole hours, never left the stage, never tired. I forget some songs, some of the ones I didn't know too well because they were solo things, etc. Also, he did NOT play Maybe I'm Amazed. Is that normal? I don't know. I really wasn't that disappointed. (Read: I wasn't disappointed AT ALL.)

Some notables: (ASIDE FROM, EVERY SINGLE SONG OMG)

During his acoustic version of Blackbird, for which his band left the stage, I cried. Like, a tear or two. Then he launched into Here Today, and then there were like, streaming tears. He also did this "step back and lift his guitar in the air for a moment of acknowledgment" thing for John. I mean, come on, we all know it's sad, but are we ever really that close? No we're not.

Paperback Writer, WHOA HI OUT OF NOWHERE. ♥

He rocked Helter Skelter so hard. I had no idea he would actually play this.

This is the first time since 1966 that Paul has played Day Tripper live. And I was there.

My brother was absolutely off his rocker when he started playing Lady Madonna. Max honestly looked like the young girls in the Beatlemania tribute video they were playing while we waited.

Imagine 50 000 people all throwing up peace signs and singing along with Give Peace a Chance. Let's not even mention the "na na na na"s off Hey Jude.

So much pyro on Live and Let Die that I thought I was at the Kiss concert. Oops, that's next weekend...

He played Something on the ukelele. Just freakin' saying.

There was also a time when he read aloud someone's sign that said "Sir Paul, Sign My Arm So I Can Get It Tattooed" or something, and the whole crowd started shouting "do it do it"... so he friggen did. I mean, COME ON. You expect that from like, I dunno, Bon Jovi or John Mayer or like, the Dixie Chicks, but PAUL MCCARTNEY. This girl was just young, and she absolutely freaked the fuck out. She jumped him and hugged him and promptly broke down into tears onstage in front of him. Paul McCartney, damn. Legend.

I could talk for hours about this show, but I am feelin' the floaty type of concert high and don't want to sit and type it up.

I'll just wrap it up by saying that I hadn't read any recent Paul setlists and had NO IDEA that he would play so many Beatles tunes, and that surprise kinda hit me hard. I was so emotional, which I hadn't expected. I anticipated the glee, the elation, but I was absolutely sideswiped by how much the show broke down every emotional defense that I have carefully erected. I stood there and cried, though I'm too cool to cry. I lost my shit, even though I'm too cool to lose it in front of so many people. I sang along to "Hey Jude" with thousands of other people, even though I'm too much of a music snob to be that mainstream. Last night? I was that mainstream, I was that dorky, I was that affected, and I did not care then and I still don't care now. It's like I've had a revelation, or a religious experience.

McCartney rocked me, oh boy.

A short word about my opinion concerning musicians and drug use.

All opinions about drug use in my so called "real world" aside, I just want to put it out there that I had to rearrange most of my opinions about my idols, and other musicians that I generally liked, back when I was eleven and fell head over heels for Keith Richards. I mean, with all the videos floating around of Pete Townshend bouncing off the walls and Jim Morrison being all fucked-up sex god, my head (and the popular media, I suppose) created a standard and an alternate universe in which drug use is expected. All "okay" and "not okay" aside, it's expected.

And though the lines might appear to blur sometimes, what with bandom and twitter and what have you, Ryan Ross does not exist in my "real world". He lives in the same headspace as Pete Townshend (and he should be fuckin' honoured) and like, I dunno, Timothy Leary (and the young version of my mother, whom I've never met).

Hello, back in the province again. Metric were amazing, as were Hey Rosetta!. The Offspring were good, but very loltastic. How can you be serious and h-core while playing Pretty Fly For a White Guy, I ask you? Answer: you can't. But it was still a really fun sing along.

John Mayer trying to play Rock Band for the first time is both hilarious and adorable.

- Just figured out Rock Band. The right hand has to stay down the entire length of the note. Dumb. But I'm rocking now.

- Something's just not the same. Luke sex with a Real Doll. http://twitpic.com/9dfk8

- I clearly went to edit "Luke" to "Like" and hit send. This is rough.

I went to Lush on my way home and spent so much money. I now smell fantastic. I'm pretty psyched to sleep.

Watch Metric:


I didn't really care about them, or well, know much about them aside from the fact that they're Canadian, but they were the best part of yesterday's show, so I'm psyched to know more. Anyone a fan?

I'm going to a local punk show tonight, and all I can think of is: I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR. Long gone are all my black jeans and shirts with safety pins in 'em. Replacing them are "Northern Downpour" tees and Clan hoodies. I've got my "Kiss My Sass" Cobra one I should be able to get away with, but gold foil? I WILL ROCK IT. I'm thinkin' crimped hair. Oh baby, and obviously Chucks are the standard everywhere... EEK.

I went geek-chic and then I went bandom, and no longer have anything appropriate to wear to a Malenkos show.

I think the key here might be not to care. I'm just gonna try my best to pretend to go with that.

Also, maybe if I could stop listening to Elvis Costello for a second, I could put on something useful and find something to wear.

Totally in apology, here is some music:

Boss DJ- Brendon Urie, with what we are calling the "patio cover". It really is good. Excellent. Smashing, even. I want to drown in Brendon's voice forever,
The Way You Make Me Feel (Acoustic)- David Ryan Harris' tribute to Michael Jackson. This appeared last week in a YouTube video, and it is gorgeous.
My Before and After- Paul Rudd, the tune he did for Veronica Mars. This song makes me lol just because it's Paul, and all I can think of is "Nazi gonna happen", and then THAT makes me think of "what did you have for dinner?"... "Was it cocaine?", even though it's a different movie.

♥ Only positivity around here, especially when it concerns Brendon Urie. For reals.

I take it back, really, I do!

The stuff that Scott Moffatt released a few years ago is really, very good. It's solid. The City's Teeth, particularly. I'm sad that he didn't have the industry behind him like he once did, but I'd like to offer that if he'd been back here in Canada trying to do it, people would've been more receptive.

I have Wednesday off because it's Canada day (woot!), so it's kinda like two little mini-weeks of two days each. I can totally deal with that.

Also. The song American Woman amazes me. It's so anti-American! It's not even saying, like, oh, you awful woman, you are so bad for me, and yet I need you and love you. Nope, it's saying GET AWAY AND STAY AWAY FOREVER. In the cover Lenny Kravitz did, in the video, it's all like. Patriotic. He's singing in front of an American flag and the girl is driving a stars and stripes coloured car, and I'm just thinking... you realize this song is about Canadians hating on Americans, yeah?

American woman, said get away
American woman, listen what I say
Don’t come hangin’ around my door
Don’t wanna see your face no more
I don’t need your war machines
I don’t need your ghetto scenes
Coloured lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else’s eyes
Now woman, get away from me
American woman, mama let me be.

So, a week ago I hooked my desktop computer back up after... well, 10 months, actually. I hadn't turned it on since I left for life at sea. Anyways, I was going through my audio files, specifically stuff I recorded with my computer mic before I left. Half of it I'd forgotten about! Random covers I did while bored, and thought I'd deleted or gotten rid of.

Anyways, one of them is this cover of 'Ophelia' by The Band. So weird, because I don't remember recording this at all. I can't even remember knowing how to play this song. It must have been last summer sometime, but it's so random! Oh god, please go listen to it. This is exactly what I sound like when I'm bored and fucking around, which is everyday when I get home from work. Just listening to this gave me so much pleasure, because I know i must have been having so much fun, especially if I turned my audacity on and recorded it.

I'm half pleased and half embarrassed that I have this. This is actually what my voice sounds like when I sing like I think nobody will ever listen.

People who have newish music on hand! I am in need of two songs: "Waking up in Vegas" by Katy Perry and "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon.

Also, if anyone's got an upload of "Pokerface", I wouldn't say no to that either.

Pete Townshend is my music IDOL, he's my role model, and he's the king of smashing guitars up. He practically invented the trend. Which is why it's so weird that I ABSOLUTELY LOATHE IT when people destroy guitars. Guitars are for creating, not for destroying. I CAN'T STAND IT. Anytime I see it in a music video, at a concert, especially if it's someone who I (in my obviously all-knowing way) deem unworthy. (Avril Lavigne, I like you, but you are not allowed to smash guitars, for example.)

Anyways, just a side note, as I sit here reading a (really, hilariously awesome!) Big Bang story in which a guitar gets destroyed.

Remember when Rod Stewart was cool? Not just cool, but like, KICK ASS. Like, in 1974? It's for this reason that I can still get behind all those horrible easy-listening albums.

So I have Black Crowes tickets for tomorrow, and I didn't even have to trade any kingdoms for them. Just had to shell out a bunch of money. Which, well, it'll be a fun day. I'mma rock out so hard to Jealous Again.

I had told myself that I wasn't going to bother with a list of bands I'll be seeing this summer, but hey. I might as well: Black Crowes, Matt Mays and El Torpedo, Bon Jovi, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, Paul McCartney, Chicken Foot (supergroup with Sammy Hagar and Joe Satriani), Our Lady Peace, AC/DC, and the Blues Festival. It seems like I'm missing some, but I can't think of it, so oh well.

Paul is staying in Halifax for a week, too, is the rumour, because that's when Tall Ships are gonna be here. TALL SHIPS!!! I fangirl hard.

Also, he and AC/DC haven't announced their support bands yet, so I'm expecting some good ones there.

Also: 11 Vampires Cooler Than Edward Cullen.

Moved into my new apartment. All my things aren't here, but most of my clothes are and my bed and blankets. I've got my INTERNET and my cable, so here I am. It's interesting and new. I'm sure that soon I will get used to it.

I got many things in the mail today:

1. A Cobra "Kiss My Sass" hoodie. You know the one, the gold one.
2. My Invisible Children stuff.
3. Three, the Joel Plaskett album, on vinyl. Joel even signed it for me. This is fast becoming my favorite album. I want to send it to Ryan Ross. If I could be guaranteed that he'd listen to it, then I actually would. He's love it three songs in, and we'd be getting random blips on twitter about it.

I am so happy to have my desktop back. For the past 9 months, I've used only my laptop. It's so good to have my music back. My random has played me the Stones' Laugh, I Nearly Died, Tegan and Sara's Downtown and Arms Aloft by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. I'm in music heaven here. OH HOW I'VE MISSED YOU ALL.

I went shopping for a few things to eat until Thursday, since I'm broke up until then. I got some donuts and juice for the next few days' breakfast, a frozen Delissio pizza, a box of Chicken Nuggets and some sweet and sour sauce, and a bag of Ketchup chips. I am so incredibly healthy, eh? You all must be so proud. It came to $26.70, haha. I really want some apples, but I know that I'd eat one or two and then the rest would rot in my fridge.

Back to Big Bang reading!

Good Lord, they've just announced the Dutch Mason Blues Festival lineup and I'm sitting here screaming with glee.

Colin James. Jimmie Vaughn. Doctor Hook. Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

Not to mention, Garrett Mason as per usual, and James Cotton again (HOLY GOD!). DOWNCHILD.

Ugh, this is gonna be amazing.

I hadn't watched any of those videos of the John Mayer Trio on the tonight show, but JM had twittered about them (since it's, you know, something that happened in his life, fuck, he twitters a lot), so I knew he was there. And then I read somewhere, I think on my flist? That it hadn't been a particularly good performance, so I didn't bother watching it.

Except, then I watched the California Dreamin' cover (above), because someone linked it and I was bored. And at first, I was thinkin', well, it's a cool pace, very trio, but so far nothing mindblowing. But, you know, then the solo kicked in. And if he had gone straight to the flashy fingers-over-fretboard soloing he's so good at, I would have continued to be merely satisfied with the cover. 'Cept he pulled out the long tones at 1:29 and it kinda made me blink and go, well, fuck, looks like Mayer's done it again.

If you don't have respect for this man as a musician, then one thing is for sure: you can't ever call yourself a guitar player.

ETA: it's also strange to see both someone taller than John standing next to him, and someone almost as tall as Conan standing next to him.

Morning. Hard to open my eyes for this one. I think coffee is needed.

So my new place is coming along pretty nicely. The 'rents have already painted and dry-walled everything in sight. (In case you're wondering, why on earth is this woman making her parents do all her dirty work? It's because it's their dirty work; they own the building, I'll just be renting.) My father is driving down tomorrow morning with my couch and my chairs and my coffee table.

Alright, so I have an unnatural attachment to this living room set. It's my father's from the seventies, and it's the furniture I grew up with, and from when my parents were married, and it's in awesome condition. It's made of this really dark wood, and it's very solid. And then the cushions are like, a brown/cream plaid-ish colour hahaha. Honestly, everyone I know is like, "ugh, that is so ugly!", but I am in love. Utterly in love, and it's not going anywhere until a) I move into a very chic place instead of a seedy apartment or b) it falls apart. *CLINGS*

Yesterday I got my vinyl copy of Take This To Your Grave. It freaks me out that this album was released in 2003. It seems to me that it shoulda been like, 1996. Also, is it possible to listen to too much Sublime? I'm not sure, but every time I stumble across my Sublime Gold Collection in some deep dark hole, I listen to it non-stop until I freak out and then remember why it was buried in that hole to begin with. Variety is key, Virginia.

Think Link (Pink? Drink. Fink. Shrink. Clink. Kink. All valid rhymes.):

For the Tolkien fans: The Hunt For Gollum, a new movie made my fans for the fans. Based around Tolkien's stories and characters, revolving around the rangers. I've watched only bits of this so far, kind of like a screening for quality. I dunno what I think yet, but just the undertaking of the task at all is impressive. Go check it out and join me in evaluating, or we can all just enjoy it for what it should be: more Tolkien on screen, since the films are long over, we've all been left wanting.

The Teenager Audio Test. I can hear it. My mother can't. My fourteen year old brother can't. My eighteen year old brother can. Can you?

http://www.fold-your-shirt.com/ <--- just what it says. And this? Will impress people at parties, not gonna lie to you. Surprisingly, every person you've ever met is interested when you show them how to do this.

HassleMe. Wanna be bugged until you do something? Perfect!

Another thing which I would not lie to you about: the blues. Rather, you can play them at this site. Day not going well? Spouse raggin' on ya? Spend all your money in the slots? Let it all out by penning a classic blues ditty... no musical talent required!

http://www.tweenbots.com/. Lots of you have seen this already. This is for the ones who haven't. Enjoy this adorable smile-maker.

Fact!: I have strangely possessive feelings for Leslie Feist.
Fact! #2: I only like a few of her tunes.

Did anyone check out the new Our Lady Peace video/single, All You Did Was Save My Life?



Like, um. Is it Twilight-y on purpose? I've gotta say yes.

Raine Maida: being extremely attractive to me since 1992.

(Here's a link to a better quality of that video.)

I was watching an episode of Gilmore Girls just now, and it's Lorelei's birthday and Lane's in charge of the music, and she says she's picking one song from every year that she was alive, but that she couldn't find one for 1974. She says it's a lame music year, and that it makes the year of the Macarena look good. I'd like to beg to differ, and offer this list of

Songs Released in 1974 That Kick The Macarena's Ass (In Alphabetical Order):

Already Gone- The Eagles
Another Saturday Night- Cat Stevens' cover of the Sam Cooke song
Band on the Run- Paul McCartney and Wings
Bennie and the Jets- Elton John
Best of My Love- The Eagles
Diamond Dogs- David Bowie
Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me- Elton John
Forever Young- Bob Dylan (My brother Max's favorite of this list.)
I Shot the Sheriff- Eric Clapton's cover
It's Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It)- The Rolling Stones
Jet- Paul McCartney and Wings
The Joker- Steve Miller Band (Oh god, remember the That 70's Show musical?)
Killer Queen- Queen
Let it Ride- Bachman-Turner Overdrive
No Woman, No Cry- Bob Marley and the Wailers
Oh Very Young- Cat Stevens (Written about the Day The Music Died tragedy.)
Piano Man- Billy Joel
The Real Me- The Who (Doctor, DOCTOR.)
Same Old Song and Dance- Aerosmith
Sundown- Gordon Lightfoot (heyo, Canada)
Sweet Home Alabama- Lynard Skynard
Takin' Care of Business- Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Whatever Gets You Thru The Night- John Lennon ('74 was also Lennon's last big concert appearance, in November with Elton John)
Working Man- Rush
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet- Bachman-Turner Overdrive (b-b-b-baby)

In conclusion: Shut it, Lane Kim. She could probably have found at LEAST one song on that list that was either good or just perfectly ironic enough to use for Lorelei's mix.

This list is of songs RELEASED in 1974. And they're only ones that I like. Anyone got any to add to the list?

1. I'm looking to download the pilot of Glee. Anyone know where I could maybe do so? Ch-ch-check.

2. The Trews are today's DailyBand. Go give your opinion. These are my boys.

3. On the finale of Grey's Anatomy there was a really cool cover of Flashdance... What a Feeling. There it is, by Hollywood, Mon Amour. It's very good! I don't know a single girl that doesn't love this song, and the cover is very... good. Delicate, like most songs on emoional Grey's moments.

4. So I really, really like Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon. What are some other great songs by them?

5. Played a show last night. Huge turnout, we broke 100 and got the take at the door. Very good for a small dive bar. We got down.

The world is a ridiculous place, sometimes. I wish I could soak up everyone's hurt and make it okay. Maybe sometime I will tell you why, but right now I think I'll just leave it at that. I will also quote the Who, "I'll sing my heart out to the infinite sea, I'll sing my visions to the sky high mountains. I'll sing my song to the free, to the free."

How much do I love The Who? I can't even begin to count the ways. All I can say is, if you too would like to love the Who as much as I do, please watching The Kids Are Alright. This is the video that opens the film; watch it until the end:



Things to Note:
- John fuckin' Entwistle's bass solos, and his stoic brilliance. He's like, fuck, the rest of these kids are eccentric enough for everyone, I'm just gonna stand here and kill it.
- the infamous explosion that brought about Pete Townshend's hearing loss.
- Tommy Smothers is pissed off. But that's what you get when you bring the Who on your show for ratings. You get... ratings. He laughs it off, makes jokes, but the story goes that he was very angry, because he thought the mayhem would be more controlled. And yes, that's actually his guitar that Pete demolished.

Further;

"The film begins with a bang — literally — at the band's only US variety show appearance. On 15 September 1967, The Who appeared on the CBS show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in Los Angeles following the end of their first US tour. They lip-synched the songs "I Can See For Miles" and "My Generation" and flustered host Tommy Smothers by refusing to follow the script as he tried to converse with them before "My Generation". Moon made the biggest impact, however, when the destructive nature of his on-stage persona reached its highest level. After The Who's performance of "My Generation", they began smashing their instruments. Moon packed explosive charge in his bass drum which set Townshend's hair on fire and rendered him temporarily deaf for 20 minutes, while cymbal shrapnel left a gash in Moon's arm. Townshend then took the acoustic guitar Smothers was holding and smashed it to bits on the ground. Smothers was completely frustrated, but the audience thought the whole performance was staged."

To summarize: The Who are my favorite band. Past and present. I want you to like them, too. Honest.