Monday, March 30, 2009

A Quick Update...

Since Wes has his blog reading panties in a twist.

I must love you all 'cause internet costs me $.75 a minute.

A few quick photos... MANY more to come. This has been an amazing trip. My favorite moment so far was having margaritas with the incomparable Ryan Shaw and his guitarist Johnny Ash in Cabo, Mexico. AWESOME MUCH??!?!?!



Ryan Shaw's kick ass show last night:


We also have watched the AMAZING Martin Sexton:



As well as the deck show with John Mayer himself:



We have the big show tonight.


I haven't met John, he's not running around the ship and fraternizing (I don't know where Wes got that picture of him in a sailor suit but I sure didn't see it.) He walked in front of my Dad and I, ducking into a side room off limits to guests and before I could muster up enough breath or brain power to say, "John!" ...he was gone.

I was star struck by the back of his head. I love this man.



Yeah.

More to come tomorrow night!

~J

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Thile Thursday

It's technically Thursday in Milwaukee, so I'm doing this now. I'm starting another music day, dammit.

CHRIS THILE.

If you don't know who he is, you will soon find out. He's the most talented musician on the face of the earth, period.

Now, I love my John Mayer, but if I had to choose between the two when it comes to any of the following, Chris would win: Song writing, instrumental ability, composition, ingenuity, brilliance, vocal talent.

So yeah, that just about sums it up.

Here's one of his greatest songs (the title from one of his albums) How To Grow a Woman From The Ground: (Audio only because none of the videos give justice to the sound.)



I'm gonna type out the lyrics here because they're amazing:

I caught a string full of fish down by the dam
I'll drag them back to the field; they should be dead by then
Wipe the sweat off my neck and tally ho the plow
I'm gonna grow a woman from the ground

The night was a chalkboard with a fingernail moon
If the fish ain't dead yet they will be pretty soon
Kinda like the feeling at an old folks home
Even though you love them you can't wait for them to go

I'll call her Angelina she's a teacher I once had
A halo of honey wrapped around her head
And she always used to give me some when I was a kid
I told her that I loved her and then I went and hid

I'll take you into town and I will show you off
There's room on your dress for a corsage
And I'll open every door for you

I opened up my almanac and in my mind I read
Cut your wrists on the fins of the fish and drain all you can
So I rolled up my sleeves and then began to draw
Lines just as deep as the days are long

I sewed up my wrists and soaked the ground with my blood
Stained up my clothes pretty good and I turned that dirt to mud
I could not help but close my eyes and lay my body down
'Cause I heard it takes forever to grow a woman from the ground

I bleed for you now and I'm skinny as a rail
And I'll be so obliged to keep you nice and warm and safe

...And won't you be so proud of me?

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

American Idol - Top 10 Performances

You thought just because I'm on vacation I would miss American Idol?

No. Way.

So, tonight is the music of Motown! Woo-hoo!

Matt Giraud- Let's Get it On - This is great for his voice. I do not like this song very much past the beginning, but with him singing it... it's awesome. His choice to get out from behind the piano was a good one... it showed that he is versatile and he really reminded me of Michael Buble' tonight. HOT!

Kris Allen - How Sweet it is - I love this because I LOVE James Taylor doing this song all the time. In that note, I'm pretty sure that James Taylor starts with the chorus in concert, so that was a good move. Not my favorite performance by him so far because I liked him last week better. He's SO Mrazy. But he's still adorable and his vocals were off the chain. I do think it was hilarious Simon said that Kris needs to be more conceited. So, when they're humble artists they need to be more conceited, but when they show overwhelming confidence, they're "self indulgent"?

Note: I really am starting to freak out - this year the contestants are SO FREAKING GOOD. I think I will definitely need to see this tour.

Scott MacIntyre - You Can't Hurry Love - I do enjoy his piano. This was probably my favorite performance of his. His vocals were pretty good, I liked the runs he did. I liked the arrangement a lot. And I'm sure the backup singers were happy to get out in front!

Megan Joy - For Once in My Life - Okay, this girl has got to be the one votefortheworst.com is pushing. I really am annoyed every time she sings. This is a great song and she effing slaughtered it. I love her tattoo, her hair looked great, and she had a fun outfit. That's about all the good I can say. If you want to see how the song should be done live on this show, watch this:



Or watch this audition by Melinda DooLittle, which blows both away:




Anoop Desai - Ooh Baby Baby - This song was a good choice for his voice. It really shows off his vocal range. I wasn't stuck to the television to watch this, so I don't know. With such strong contenders like the other guys it's hard to get excited with the more mediocre performances.

Michael Sarver- Aint too Proud to Beg - I love this song. Seriously, I think it has the best intro to any song ever. I think I figured it out, what he makes me feel... he reminds me of a guy getting up to sing karaoke at his high school reunion. I don't have any preference for him as a performer whatsoever. I also think the song was too hard for him... he had too many growls and tried to do too many runs and the ending was... not good. Aside from that, I guess it would be my favorite performance of his so far, but that's just because I don't really like him much. If even Paula says it's bad... it must be bad.

Lil Rounds - Heatwave - This girl is mad crazy skilled. What a great theme week for her voice. I do wish she did more with the beginning of the song vocally but she fell into it at the end. And holy roarrrrr, her hair and outfit ROCKED. She really reminded me of Melinda DooLittle tonight not only in her performance but also in the way she interacted with the background singers. I definitely agree with Simon that if she had chosen I Heard it Through the Grapevine, that would have been amazing.


Adam Lambert - The Tracks of my Tears -
I was so freaking excited to see what he'd do this week. If there was ANY doubt about his versatility... they've been smashed. The way he ended the song with his vocals and the emotion almost made me cry, and even Smokey gave him a standing ovation with tears in his eyes. This guy can SING, and I want him to win. Here's a video of the performance, 'cause it's the best of the night:



No offense to Danny but after that, I don't even feel like there's a need to watch the rest of the show. Didn't Danny have to follow Adam last week? Poor guy.

Danny Gokey - Get Ready - Showcased his strong voice and I liked how his raspy voice played into the melody. It was a great choice for him. The dancing with the background singers was really cute. I'm looking forward to the day he does a ballad... I feel like he's done an upbeat song every week and I just want to hear him really SING the heck out of a song. :)

Allison Iraheta - Papa Was a Rolling Stone - Umm, yeah. Perfect song choice for her - I knew that before she even opened her mouth. This girl is wild and I LOVE her. She is what Amanda Overmyer should have been last season. The stylistic things she did with her vocals were absolutely and hugely impressive to me (right around 00:56 on the video.) Can I remind everyone that this girl is only 16???

I wanted to show you the video but nobody has a good quality version uploaded yet. Here's the audio... listen to it, dammit:


Also, one of Amanda's good ones:

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Sunburn Central

I'm an idiot for not wearing sunblock today.




San Diego - Day Four Evening

Hello lovelies!

So, today I took a trolley tour of San Diego, which is the best value ever - you can stop and get off the trolley at various places and then come back and catch the next one on the half hour to continue the tour.

I focused a lot on my film photography today so I don't have a whole lot of digital images to share, but I took a few. :)

Old Town San Diego:
1.
2.
3.

A building on the tour:
4.

A cute little girl on my trolley tour:
5.

My yummy lunch:
6.
7.

The sunset off my balcony tonight:
8.

Tagtastic.

Well, I need to thank TWO lovely ladies.

KATE and TJ both tagged me as a Kreativ Blogger and gave me this fabulous button:




Now it's my turn to list 7 things I love and 7 blogs I love!

7 things I love in no particular order:

1. Photography (duh...)
2. The smell of fresh cut grass
3. Time alone
4. Time with Dan, just being lazy and totally intimate
5. My family
6. Britney Spears' new album (seriously... I'm obsessed with it right now)
7. Working for myself

7 blogs I love: (I would automatically include TJ and Kate, but they already tagged me and I don't think I'm allowed to tag the tagger.)

1. May over at Plus Sized Girl
2. Mike with Zumewalk.com
3. Wes at Swish Embassy
4. Rob in Gallup
5. Fat Bridesmaid
6. Tony Laubach - Tornadoes Kick
7. Diet Naked

Woo-hoo!

More photos from the trip coming up soon...

San Diego - Day Four Morning

I just woke up and I'm gonna get ready to leave pretty quickly here. I am excited for the day, I've decided to take the Old Town Trolley Tour, and get off around the museums and visit the Museum of Photographic Arts!

I'm sure there is no photography allowed in there, but I'll post some photos of the outside and any other cool things I see on the tour tonight.

In the mean time, a few more pics of me by Dan (Pixel Perfect):



And my big ass caught on camera by Amanda:

Its own special entry

Me and my photographer buddy Ryan!



I <3 this kid - he's SO talented!

Please visit his website... www.ryanjay.com

Mayer Monday.

Yeah, it's still "Monday" 'cause I haven't gone to bed.

I thought I'd post three today.

One funny one, 'cause he's just so funny:




One in homage to the Mayercraft Carrier 2 (the cruise I'm doing in a few days). This photo will clarify the video:




And a great song... Belief. LISTEN to the words, yo. Plus it has a great interview with him. I AM glad he cut his hair.

Monday, March 23, 2009

San Diego - Day Three

Today I walked around for about 2.5 hours. I'm considering that exercise, people!

I walked down to a place called Nelson's Camera Supply and bought a battery for my Mamiya and eight rolls of film. I successfully loaded my first b/w roll and snapped a few off of my balcony today. I'm really, really, really excited to be shooting film again, and the fact that it's medium format makes me want to pee a little with happiness.

Here are two more shots of me from other photographers yesterday:

Amanda Recker (visit her blog here):


Michael (Pentax Junkie):




Here are a few shots I got walking around San Diego today:

My delicious lunch:
1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.


10.



A guy who asked for a cigarette from me, and I gave him one, then he asked if I wanted to take his picture. Hell yeah!
11.


12.

San Diego - Day Two

Hey guys!

So, today was the day to meet a bunch of people from a myspace photography group I belong to. These people are amazing human beings and this day was the most fun I've had in a really long time.

Here are some of my favorites, and a few comps for everyone :)~

~J

1. That which we were drooling over:


2. Singer Dude Charlie Cox (who didn't know any Neil Diamond songs, now that's just ridiculous):


3. Our wind Eskimo:


4: My self portrait in Thunder's lens:


5: Ryan's jump:



PORTRAITS:

Dan - Pixel Perfect Images (visit his website here.):

My favorite of him:


Comp:


Ryan (visit his website here) - the kid is PHENOMENAL:

My favorite of him:


Close second:


Comp:


Amanda:


Michael:


Claudia:


Dan (Thunderchunk):



Here are some group photos just to prove I was there. ;) I'm in the black shirt and jeans (some with a brownish greenish jacket Dan let me borrow to feel closer to him while I was away.) :)~

By Dan - Pixel Perfect Images:






By Dan (thunderchunk):