I just wanted to announce that I have eaten so much crunchy sourdough toast this week (because I can spread Nutella on said toast) and maybe also fresh toasty Belgian waffles (also with copious amounts of Nutella) and, of course, piping hot tea and coffee to accompany these things, that my freaking mouth hurts. Hurts a lot.
But does that stop me from continuing this Nutella reign of terror? Of course not.
Mid Week Mini Music Mix
You know what I would really love today, guys? If we all went out and made a genuine connection with someone. It can be a co-worker or your girlfriend. It can be your dad, your sister, your best friend. Heck, it can be the checkout guy at the supermarket or a stranger in a restaurant. In fact, it would be great if it was. I just want you to talk to them for at least a few minutes, smile and laugh and really understand each other. It will fill the rest of our day up to the brim. I think that would be really good for us today (and maybe every day).
The High Road - Broken Bells Hot fricking damn, the combination of Danger Mouse and James Mercer is unbelievable. This album is rocking my socks off. As much as I love the Shins, I have to say that Mercer has never sounded better. You can download Broken Bells on Amazon right now for just $4.99. If you do not have this shit, get this shit.
Go Do - Jónsi The lead singer of my beloved Sigur Rós is releasing a solo album, a lightly electronic, bright, cheerful and beautiful piece of work. It will be perfect to listen to as winter turns to spring.
Flash Delirium - MGMT I'm excited for the upcoming release by MGMT, I can tell you that much. These guys really have no qualms about anything and I applaud that. This first song, available for free download from the MGMT site, is different than what we've heard from them before, psychedelic and funky.
A Gentleman Caller - Cursive Now this track, babies, this is one of my favorite songs of all time. It's a very modern love song full of passion and indignance, dark humor and pain. Tim Kasher literally screams through the twisted pathways that the heart walks down and it is often not a pretty story at all. But there is pathos and redemption here, as there always is.
Whatever you need to make you feel
like you've been the one behind the wheel.
The sunrise is just over that hill.
The worst is over.
Whatever I said to make you think
that love's the religion of the weak.
This morning we love like weaklings.
The worst is over.
As much as I hate to admit it, I am a suburban girl. I have lived almost my entire life in the suburbs and, even though I've made a concerted effort in the past few years to spend less of my time and money at big box stores and mini malls full of chain restaurants, those are the places where I grew up and they are where my comfort zone lies.
But there is a little store next to the back entrance of a parking garage in Old Town Pasadena and, even though it is just one street over from J. Crew and Pottery Barn and the Cheesecake Factory, it is in essence as far away from easy suburbia as you can imagine. It's called Gold Bug (named after the Edgar Allan Poe story) and it is my favorite place in the whole area.
It's a gorgeous and eerie place, packed full of the natural and the unreal. On every surface, on every countertop and wallspace you will see something delicate and beautiful, something that defines memento mori. All of your dreams and your nightmares are in here, resting side by side. It truly is like something out of a marvelous story and every time I visit I wonder if this is the time I will find a secret doorway in there or if a book I pick up will draw me literally into its pages. If you live nearby or visit the Los Angeles area, it is a must-see.
Gold Bug
22 East Union Street
Pasadena, California 91103
goldbugpasadena.com
Todd Davis: Some Heaven
"While We Wait for Spring"
The last three days snow has fallen.
No thaw this year, no day even above
twenty since the end of December.
Climbing the hill, my two boys slip, fall,
stand again. They complain, but there's nothing
to be done except to make it to the top
where above the trees we will look down
upon the river. Near the peak a barred owl
releases from the limb of a burr oak, sweeps
over our heads and out above the tree line.
Our eyes follow its flight to the river ice,
current moving beneath its blue surface.
Like the owl, our breath rises, drifts
toward something warmer, something better.
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Song: "Southside of Heaven"
Ryan Bingham: Mescalito
When I die lord I want you put my soul up on a train.
Won't you send it southbound give it a cool bluesman name.
Cause I've been lost on them back roads so many times I've gone blind.
And losing faith in my family had driven me outta my damn mind.
The Soft Pack: The Soft Pack
Song: Move Along
Besnard Lakes: Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night
Song: Albatross
Shout Out Louds: Work
Song: Throwing Stones
Kissaway Trail: Sleep Mountain
Song: Don't Wake Up
Cloud Cult: Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus
Song: Car Crash
