At Limbo

My current musical obsessions are all over the place, and in an attempt to make sense of them, I’d love your thoughts! Yup, it’s a Listening in Limbo post, which I haven’t made since… January… So let me know – what are you obsessed with? Flashback retro? Blues? Justin Bieber? I’m admitting my guilty pleasures here, so you be sure to, too!

1. Ke$ha; Your Love is My Drug – When I’m on the road, there is nothing like this song, I really don’t know why. The video is completely cracked-out (forgive the pun), but the song itself is catchy, tells a fun story, and gets you belting along while you’re zooming down the highway in the beating sun.

Check out more beneath the cut, with the youtube music videos to go with it!
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I am a loyal Crackberry owner. I loved my Zune so much, I bought two of them. I still use Winamp. I don’t appreciate monopolies, particularly in my user interface, and so I have done everything I can to steer completely free of Mac products. The entire Mac culture gives me the creeps, to be honest. I went to an Apple store once with a friend who needed to pick something up, and I felt more watched over than I do in a Catholic church. Being inside those too-brightly-lit white walls made me feel like maybe Big Brother wasn’t a thing of fiction.

But then a few weeks ago my Zune was pick-pocketed. And I’m looking at needing to open an iTunes account for the first time (because Derek Evry’s releasing his solo cd on it, and I have to have that cd, even if it means contemplating opening an iTunes account against my better judgement). And I’ve been thinking, has my preconditioned hatred of all things Apple kept me from a superior musical experience? Does my distaste for ‘iPhone people’ change the way I interact with the world & the technology that moves it?

What it really comes down to is this: I can fit more music for less money an iPod Nano than on anything else.

Heavy questions, my friends. What are your thoughts? I’m still not giving up my Blackberry Tour for anything in the world (seriously, it could BE Big Brother in a PDA, and I’d swear my allegiance), but would branching out in this one tiny way be the beginning an all too dangerous, slippery slope? Or would I be safe from the black turtlenecks of the world?

I am finally getting back on my feet from my fall a week ago! I don’t look nearly like a prize fighter anymore, and the migraines from having one’s face rearranged by a wooden staircase have almost subsided. Yay! To celebrate, and because the DCYRs are wonderful and offered me a chance to volunteer, I’m going to be at tonight’s Lincoln/Douglass Dinner, the DC GOP’s big annual shindig! After that, I plan to head home and dig into some awesome new music care of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, aka She & Him. The duo released their second album – Volume 2 – today and I was glad to see a spot on review of the band’s work in this morning’s Washington Post Express.

What made me so glad about this particular review? It made a point of discussing the difference in Deschanel’s confidence levels, which is the only thing about their debut album, Volume 1, that grated on my nerves in anyway. Knowing that she’s grown into herself as a singer and songwriter gets me so excited to hear their newest effort. So check out the review, pick up the album, and let me know what you think (I’ll be doing the same)!

Wow – 100 posts?! In honor of this milestone, as well as my recent love for lists and the fact that we had Kostume Karaoke – Red Carpet Style last night, I’m listing my Top 5 Favorite Karaoke Songs (that I sing, because there would be a lot more Johnny Cash on any other kind of karaoke list), check them out after the jump.

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Not of the website variety but of the Limbo sort! I just wanted to apologize to everyone – music fans and bands especially! – for having been MIA as of late. Real Life has been quite the foe and I’ve been sick on top of it! I’m hoping my posts will be getting back to normal soon, starting tonight with my heading out soon to see Adrian Hardkor headline IOTA for his digital album release party. The album is great (as if I don’t know all of his music just from seeing him live so many times, lol) with work from some truly talented local and national artists, so you should definitely check it out! I’ll have coverage of the show up this week, as well as an exclusive download of Adrian doing his take on “Pinky & the Brain”, so be sure to check us out soon for some great stuff!

Don’t forget to come out tonight for the show! 8pm @ IOTA in Clarendon, and save me a dance if you do!

…like a record. A couple of quick hits from Limbo this morning; coverage of this past weekend’s DC Record Fair (which I missed thanks to Valentines reveling, somewhat sadly) from The Vinyl District, and a great piece from the Wall Street Journal on naming your band in an age of ‘first come first served’.

• Posts 1 & 2 with images and commentary from the DC Record Fair over at Vinyl District (which is an awesome site you should all be reading anyway). The second post also has links to posts from other DC scene/music blogs covering the event at the Black Cat.
• From the Wall Street Journal today (the front page! Yay for indie music and music industry issues getting big press!), “From Abba to ZZ Top, All the Good Band Names Are Taken (Internet Age Raises Stakes for Being First; Two Brooklyn Acts Lay Claim to Discovery)”. Covering a range of issues from copyright disputes to creativity, this a good primer on the current state of starting up – and branding – a band.

That’s it from me this morning, my lunch break is cut short due to Ash Wednesday obligations. To my fellow Catholics, good luck fasting (feed on some music!) and hope Lent starts off right for you! To everyone else, Happy Hump Day and you should also totally be feeding on music! Coming up tonight, my review of new music from The Drunk Tigers, who’re playing IOTA this Friday!

At Limbo is back in the District tonight! I’ve much awesome to write about, including a trip to the legendary Bitter End in NYC with BP (photographer extraordinaire) and Adrian Hardkor (who played while we were up there tonight).

First up soon will surely be a recap of my week with Mickey & friends and a review of the Drunk Tigers, who have an album coming out in a few weeks.

Hope your week has been a great one, and I’ll catch you all again as I finish catching up on real life!

I’ve skipped nearly a month’s worth of Friday I’m in Love entries! Blog Fail, I know. But I’m back with possibly the best Friday I’m in Love ever. Wanna know why? Because people are charitable and awesome, and I’m going to The Happiest Place on Earth.

First up… IOTA‘s Haiti Benefit for the Red Cross. This showcase include performances by 15+ local artists (some of my favorites are on the bill!), and IOTA’s asking for donations with all proceeds going to the Red Cross for the rescue and clean up efforts in Haiti. I’ve been looking forward to this event all week and have been pestering everyone I know to come on down to Clarendon for the night. Artists ranging from Rene Moffatt to Helo, Tom McBride to Brother Shamus, Derek Evry to No Second Troy – you really, really don’t want to miss out tonight. Show starts at 8pm and your donation is your entrance fee (so even the smallest amount you can give will help!). The “full” list (because they’ve been adding all week and knowing this group someone will pop up and join in out of nowhere!) of artists can be found at IOTA’s website.

Second, and a bit of a warning in itself, is that I’m winging it to Disney World Sunday morning! As my family finally celebrates the holidays with our annual get together, we will be showing my young nephews (6yrs & 8yrs) the big Mouse house for the first time. And so, I probably won’t be around much until the end of the month/beginning of next month.

However! I am so excited about February! Some great shows (Drunk Tigers & New Rock Church of Fire @ IOTA springs immediately to mind, but No Second Troy’ll be at the 9:30 Club, too!), some fun stuff here (did I mention me and my boy BP are having a photo shoot on Saturday?! If you’re a musician/into the scene in the area and want to join us, get in touch via email!), and I’ll be (finally) starting my guitar lessons so there will be much in the way of “OMG WHAT WAS I THINKING?! I WRITE ABOUT MUSIC, I DON’T PLAY IT!” posts to amuse you.

Have a great end of January, folks, hope that 2010 is living up to all the expectations you’ve had so far!

Let’s see, Limbo’s had her head in the clouds as of late, but I’m working on bringing my feet back to solid ground and diving in head long (without the aid of my usual dose of 1+pack of nicotine a day, thanks to a new round of bronchitis and strict instructions that my “trying to quite smoking” must become “have already quit” as soon as is humanly possible).

In the meantime: couple of things I’m currently obsessed with and something new & exciting in the works!

• DC’s comedy set has a new kid on the block to check out for. Well, 10 of them, to be more specific. In the best showcase I’ve seen in DC in ages, Recessions has opened it’s doors on Wednesday nights to WayneMan comedy and his rotating group of local and national stand up comics, ComedyX10. New faces – local radio personalities – and standards (Seaton Smith showed up last minute and brought the house down with some of the best bits I’ve seen him do, and I’ve seen him probably half a dozen times now). The crowd was thick, rolling along with every punch the ten (12, actually, for the first night) were throwing and by the end of the night, the DJ taking over, we couldn’t believe it was nearly 11. ComedyX10 is back this week, Wednesday 8-10pm (free admission) and with great food and drink hitting just the right mix of sit-down show/hopping bar, so be sure to check it out.
• Umm… The Coachella line-up was announced. Please say someone wants to do a ridiculous road-trip/vacation/something/anything to get us East coast peeps out there for this three day festival of AWESOME. Tickets go on sale this week, I feel an early Feb purchase coming on… is anyone in?
• Coming up at At Limbo we’re going to be releasing (exclusively! How cool is that?!) Adrian Hardkor Krygowski’s cover of the Pinky & the Brain theme song from this month’s Spelling for Bees Collective at Velvet Lounge. Adrian took the slightly creepy song and gave it a ‘hardkor’ (haha) make-over, turning out what seemed to be the favorite Saturday Morning Cartoon theme song of the week (SfB’s theme for January, naturally).

Okay, that’s it for me this lunch break, at least I got this much together, right?! Really would love suggestions for concentration, online to do lists, and any other “let’s get Limbo through yet another week of being sick and miserable” tricks and treats you might have! This afternoon I’ll have up a preview of IOTA’s massive Haiti relief benefit concert with such At Limbo favorites (plus at least a dozen others!) as Rene Moffatt, Derek Evry, and No Second Troy.

…an I’m afraid it will have to be a bit longer! Holiday weekends being what they are, I’ve got lots in the pipeline but nothing just yet for you! Coming up at At Limbo:

ComedyX10 review (hottest new comedy showcase in DC and running weekly now!), Can’t Miss Shows (for the rest of the month, as I’ll be heading to sunny Florida for the last week of January), I’m resuming my “I’m in Love” series, and an exclusive review of unreleased music by the Drunk Tigers!

Let me know what shows you’re seeing, what ones you think I should be checking out, and – as always – what you’re listening to!

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