Brandi Carlile: A Live Experience

Sometimes Facebook will be creative and surprise you. Yesterday while playing my daily dose of Wheel of Fortune (yes I'm a dork. Get over it!), I saw a small ad on the side of the page. Normally, i disregard those ads because they're pointless and have no interest to me. However, that one got me going. It was an ad for Brandi Carlile's new album "Live at Benaroya Hall. I hadn't known she'd be coming out with any new albums this year. I thought "Give Up the Ghost" that came out last year would be it for a while. So I was pleasantly surprised when I clicked the link and it took me to a look associated with iTunes and I could check out the album. It is a live album (as the album title suggests) which made it even better.

I had the chance to see Brandi live last year in Boston (at the House of Blues) and it was a fantastic experience. I had gotten into Brandi's music back when her debut album was released in maybe 2007 or so because dad had found out about her (i think through Pandora or something like that). I have say, my dad has pretty good taste in female indie artists. I will definitely give him credit for that! Anyway, he came with me to the concert an it was a lot of fun. Brandi is one of those rare artists that sounds just as good live as she does in a studio recording. I have to believe it takes a lot of raw talent and musicality to be able to be that good. Hanson is the only other band I know of that share that musicality. She puts on a great show. She interacts with the crowd and feeds off the crowd. I remember at the show, she performed one of the new songs off "Give Up the Ghost" called "Dying Day" (which is my ringtone for my dad on my phone incidentally) and they did it completely unplugged. No microphones for the vocals or the instruments (just a violin, guitar and maybe cello or base) and the entire room of like 3,000 people got quiet enough you could hear it all clearly in the back of the venue (we were near the front). It was the most impressive thing I've ever seen happen at a concert.

Anyway, this new live album was definitely on par with the live show I'd gone to. It had all the same elements of excitement from the crowd and from Brandi her back up singers (Timmy and Phillip a.k.a. The Twins). But this time, she was also backed by the Seattle Symphony. That added an additional layer of quality. The instrumentality wasn't that different but it was backed by flutes and violins and the rest of the orchestra and it made some of my favorite songs even better.

She also did a few covers ("Forever Young", "Hallelujah" and "Sixty Years"). The Twins also did a song just the two of them. A rather kick-ass cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence". When it first began playing I actually thought 'why are Simon & Garfunkel taking over Brandi's concert?'. The guys can SING! And they're both tenors and have enough range that they blend beautifully with Brandi. Of the covers that Brandi sang, I think I liked "Hallelujah" most. I am partial that song anyway (having heard it sung by a few other groups, including a pretty decent a Capella group called Blue Jupiter). I think the thing that made Brandi's version so great was it was backed by acoustic guitar and violins mainly.

Of the songs from her previous albums that she included on this live record, I have to say I'm torn between "The Story" and "Before It Breaks". They're from her second and third albums respectively. Some artists change their sound between albums, but Brandi has remained consistent in her tone and range. I like "Before It Breaks" on this particular album because she really gets the crowd involved. She splits the audience up into three groups and gets them singing. I remember doing that at the show we went to. It was lots of fun. If she plays a small venue in the Boston area again, I would most definitely see her. I findhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif her overall stage presence to be endearing and genuine. She really is grateful for her fans.

If anyone is interested listening to Brandi's latest vocal stylings, you can go over to her website and check her out. She's doing a tour as well in the mid-west right now and moving across the country.

In Memoriam

In the life of this blog, I haven't ever really talked about super personal things. Sure, I've discussed school and the writing process and the trials and tribulations of writer-hood, but never anything extremely personal. But today, I feel the need to do so. I was going to write this post a couple days ago but I wasn't ready. I think, now, I am.

On Monday, I traveled home for one of the hardest days of my life. We (my parents and I) had made the extremely tough decision to put our dog, Wiley, to sleep. My mom and I were with Wiley at the vet while they put him down and it was peaceful. But heartbreaking nonetheless. I think he was ready. He'd been sick for the last few weeks (gastric problems) and he was really unhappy and uncomfortable. He stood by the closet door where his leash was all morning. And he was calm while we drove to the vet (normally he'd be shaking like a leaf and whining the whole way).

He and I grew up together. We got Wiley after I had a rather tough year in 4th grade. My teacher wasn't exactly stellar and so my parents decided we needed something to make up for it. And a puppy seemed the right choice. He was the cutest puppy. A tiny little ball of fur with brown eyes and a short snout and black nose. He had the softest head and ears, like velvet. Even at 14 it hadn't changed. It was one of the things I thought of as we said goodbye. He'd gotten thinner and his fur was falling out in places (and his tail hair was completely gone) but his head and ears were just the same.

We were a little worried Wiley might not remember me when we first got him because I spent nearly back-to-back weeks away at sleep-away summer camp but there was nothing to worry about. He remembered me. I was his girl. And boy was he protective of me. And my mom. He'd bark and get all jealous whenever my parents hugged or my mom and I hugged. He had a strong dislike of workmen and loved to bite boy's bathing suits during pool parties. He'd chase kids around the pool in our backyard and into the pool. He didn't like going in the pool though. He'd put his feet in and drink the water (we didn't have chlorine in our pool don't worry!). But being a rather furry breed, Wiley went from looking like a rather handsome dog to a drowned rat when he got wet. He would get all mortified and run off and hide if we tried to dunk him in or give him a bath.

He was never much of a fetch dog. He'd chase things if you threw them but you'd be hard pressed to get them back. He was rather gifted at volleyball though. it was rather astounding. You could throw a ball at hi and he'd bounce it off his nose back to you. It was one of his favorite games. So was getting a rawhide stick and having you chase him to try and "get it" from him. He also loved Christmas. I don't know how he knew but on Christmas Eve he would be dancing around the living room while we put out presents and filled stockings. He loved presents. We would have to put his stocking out of reach until morning so he didn't open everything before we got up. He didn't care what was in the presents (though he did steal a toothbrush from my dad one year). He just loved to rip off the paper. And he was really good at it!

Wiley was my first and only dog so saying goodbye was a really hard thing to do. I know it was the right decision and that it was hiss time but I'm going to miss my puppy. I really have lost a member of my family and it's never going to be the same without him. I've got a nice photo of him that my dad took a few years ago (he's smiling in it...well as much as a dog can smile) sitting on my desk within reach and view. This way, even now, he greets me when I come home. He's with me in spirit and I'm trying to remember the good times. But even as I think of all the fun he and I had as I grew up, I can't help but cry. He was a good boy and he will always be loved.

R.I.P. Wiley (4/28/1998-6/13/2011)

Summer: A Preview

So I thought I would take a little time to just decompress and let you all know what's going on with me for the foreseeable future (aka the summer). I'm actually going to be quite busy. I am working full time for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. I'll be working in the Enforcement Division, so I'll be evaluating claims of discrimination (mostly in employment but some in housing as well). It's pretty much what I did last summer for the EEOC, but at the state level. We finished day 2 of training today. It is really intense. At my previous job, I didn't really get much orientation. I just jumped right in. But since we have more responsibilities with MCAD, we have intensive training. Not to mention there's thirty of us in the office. It is really cool because there are people from various law schools and colleges around Mass. as well as a few other states. It's a diverse group so I hope to make some new (and lasting) friendships over the course of the summer.

But that's not all that's happening on the work front this summer. I'm also working at the front desk at my law school's library on weekends. Yep, I'm working seven days a week right now. It may change once I get into full swing at my full time job and see how tired I am. I'm getting paid at the library which is nice but I need time to myself too. Working at school, though, allows me to see friends from school who are taking summer classes or studying for various state exams (either the bar exam or the MPRE). I will be studying for the MPRE (to be taken in August). I'm hoping I do well on the first try as it's a pain to submit everything again to take the test again. I know the law fairly well thanks to my ethics class so I'm currently cautiously optimistic.

I will also be blogging a Summer TV Rewind for More TV, Please!. For those of you who followed me last summer, you'll remember I blogged the first series of BBC's Merlin for MTVP. I enjoyed that experience, as well blogging the occasional episodes of Glee and No Ordinary Family as well as the freshman run of Body of Proof. So I decided I would blog a different show this summer. I thought about doing series 2 of Merlin (to keep it consistent) but then I decided that I would change things up. So I will be blogging the first series of BBC's Robin Hood. Notice a theme? Yes, I love some British TV shows. A lot of them in fact. If it weren't only three episodes, I probably would have seriously considered blogging series 1 of Sherlock (on a side note, they are now filming series 2!). I discovered Robin Hood over the Christmas holidays and fell in love. A few of my writer friends had been talking about it and then I got a Netflix subscription and found all three series were on instant watch. So, naturally, I marathoned. It is a fun retelling of the old story of Robin Hood and his band of Merry men (and a couple women in this case). it also makes it rather adult in that the romances are a little more flirty than would be for a children's show. The fight scenes are really well choreographed as well. So I will likely be posting up a post at some point when a few of the recaps have gone up on MTVP.

In semi-related TV news, I thought I'd share what shows I'll be watching this summer. Most of them are shows I've watched for a while (White Collar, Warehouse 13) but I'm adding a few new shows. This past spring I got in Eureka so that will be joining the schedule. It's a fun and quirky show that is cheesy but kind of interesting an I've come to find I really care about the characters (and it made the crossover episodes with Warehouse 13 make so much more sense). Obviously, I'll be watching Torchwood: Miracle Day (series 4). For recaps of that, you can visit More TV Please! as Jen will be blogging that. The other new show I will be adding this summer is Alphas. It will premiere on SyFy on July 11 at 10pm (with a 90 minute pilot). I hadn't really considered watching this until very recently. I saw some press on it on one of my trusty TV news websites and I realized that one of my favorite interns from Bones is one of the core cast (it so happens his character on Bones died so he could be on this project). It's good sci-fi drama (much like X-Men). I'll give it a shot because it has a lot of great genre people (including producers and writing staff from other shows I've watched).

And lastly, I'm doing a rather intense reading campaign. First, I am re-reading the entire Harry Potter series prior to the July 15 release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I am nearly done with Order of the Phoenix, leaving me only Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows to get through in the next month and a half. I am anticipating success. I am also reading The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series and the latest in Steve Berry's Cotton Malone series (The Jefferson Key) and Kelly Meding's latest in the Dreg City series (Another Kind of Dead). My ultimate goal is to read at least 14 books before I have to start doing homework for the fall semester.

So, that's what I am going to be up to for the summer. I'll be one busy bee but that's not such a bad thing if you ask me. I like to keep busy. So, I hope you join me in some fun TV watching and check out some of the books I'll be reading if they interest you.