valerita's Xanga

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Sun, 13 May 2007 01:00:20 GMT

Ridazz -- www.midnightridazz.com

Downtown Hardcore

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 01:55:34 GMT

vocal recital

(my friend is a vocal performance instructor and I photographed her students' recital)

My 2006 in Music

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 18:44:21 GMT

This past year I've wrapped myself in music. If you've been thinking about it, save those pennies and buy yourself those really nice speakers you've been wanting. It's worth it.

In order of loveliness, my favorite tracks of 2006:

Track - Artist - Album
01. The Race Is On Again - Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
02. Fearanoia - Summer Hymns - Backward Masks
03. Where I'm Anymore - Grandaddy - Just Like the Fambly Cat
04. Buckle - Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
05. Knives Of Summertime - Sparklehorse - Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain
06. Rubies - Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
07. Hey Chicken - Loose Fur - Born Again In The USA
08. Chinese Translation - M. Ward - Post-War
09. Another Sunny Day - Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
10. Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken - Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country
11. Leaving The Nest (It's A Long Way Down) - Benjy Ferree - Leaving The Nest
12. Farther - Great Lakes - Diamond Times
13. Grandma Airplane - Black Lipstick - Sincerely, Black Lipstick*
14. Busy Doing Nothing - Love Is All - Nine Times That Same Song
15. History Of Lovers - Iron And Wine / Calexico - In The Reins*
16. Jenny - The Minders - It's a Bright Guilty World
17. Smiley Faces - Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
18. Crack The Whip - Spinto Band - Nice and Nicely Done
19. Origins - Blood Feathers - Curse & Praise
20. Pangea - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Broom
21. Swans (Life After Death) - Islands - Return to the Sea
22. Postcards from Italy - Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
23. Louisiana - The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off
24. Stadiums and Shrines II - Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
25. Since K Got Over Me - The Clientele - Strange Geometry*
26. Priest's Knees - Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
27. Casella Walk - The Dap-Kings - Various Artists - Daptone 7 Inch Singles Collection, Vol. 1
28. With a Gun - The Minus 5 - (The Gun Album)
29. The Lovers' Rights - The Rosebuds - Birds Make Good Neighbors*
30. Get A Shot Of The Refrigerator - Stereolab - Fab Four Suture

Honorable Mention:
Your Eyes - Aloha - Some Echoes
Again & Again - The Bird & The Bee - Again and Again and Again and Again
Black Cab - Jens Lekman - Oh You're So Silent Jens

* These were 2005 releases, but make the 2006 list because of their importance to me over the past year. But to be faithful to the accepted program for end-of-year music lists, I've stuck to new releases as much as possible.

Notes
01. After thinking about it for a while, this Yo La Tengo song is decidedly my favorite of 2006 based solely on how it just grips and fills my heart.
02. I've been listening to Zachary's rough mixes for a long time, and hearing the finished version for the first time made me so happy I actually cried. "There's no reason in this world to be afraid of love..."
03. I was very disappointed in this final Grandaddy release, but this track totally echoes the plodding along I did this year, for good reason, much like a "garage sale Sunday."
04. You know when you hear a new band and it sounds like nothing else you've ever heard, and you get really excited and even a little smug? That was Tapes 'n Tapes for me this year. Their guitars just sound so good.
05. Thanks to The Professor for introducing Sparklehorse and I to each other. Amazing. I spent a lot of time lying on the floor in front of my speakers with this album, especially this song.
06. Absolutely beautiful. The first time I listened to this song I replayed it. I couldn't believe it was playing, that it actually existed. This song really deserves #1 in terms of grandness. Oh, Destroyer.
07. Jeff Tweedy has this way of letting out these little high-pitched, throaty squeals sometimes that makes him absolutely adorable. The "hey" in "hey chicken, you're all talk" is my favorite instance of this.
08. One of my favorite moments this year was listening to an All Songs Considered podcast in which Bob Boilen interviews M. Ward with the zeal and wherewithal of a 14-year-old boy. So irritating! Yet somehow really satisfying. But M. Ward's performance on the show was impeccable, graceful and fantastic.
09. I drove up to LA lonestar one evening with a ticket in my hand, parked in a parking deck, walked down to the Wiltern, endured an empty room sloppy obnoxious performance by The New Pornographers, watched the room fill with American Apparel / Skinny Black Jeans teenagers, and saw Belle and Sebastian put on the best performance I've ever seen. I absolutely WAS that older chick at the concert by herself. And when they played this song, Stuart Murdoch was losing his voice and pulled off a brilliant vocal performance as a result, straining to hit notes that he usually seamlessly cascades over, and it brought the biggest smile to my face.
10. Speaking of amazing concert performances, Camera Obscura sounded so powerful live that I almost fell over several times and had to stand against a wall for most of the concert. This song is lovely. And I want her hair.
11. Another All Songs Considered podcast moment - such a great song. I don't really know what else to say.
12. I saw Great Lakes open up for The Clientele this year as a stripped-down three piece. Ben Crum rocked out so balls to the wall that even the fussy, image-conscious LA audience was bobbing along. I like their new album, and this song is great, but I wish that some of the energy from their show could have been captured on this album. It was really hard for me not to throw back my PBR and dance along when they played "Sister City," betraying my Athens Indie heritage. I let it out a little because it would have been a tragedy not to enjoy their performance.
13. If I could play in any band right now, it would be Black Lipstick. They're simultaneously beautiful, serious, flippant, funny, and adorable. I can't wait to hear what they come up with next.
14. Everyone needs a song to put on after their friends drop them off at home around 2:30 AM, when you're too drunk to go to sleep and have all of this pent up energy to expend. This was that song for me this year. Saxophone never sounded so awesome.
15. Iron & Wine consistently surprises me, and their collaboration with Calexico was perfect in so many ways. You can hear the smiles on their faces in this song.
16. And yet another concert moment for me - I just have so much respect for Martyn Leaper as a songwriter and singer. I love everything he puts out unconditionally, which is to say that some of his stuff is marginal, but I'm pulling for him and am so smitten with him as a musician that I overlook the dark, depressive quality of this recent album that seemed to stifle the overall import of the music. The fundamental goodness is still there, and I saw an excellent performance up in LA this year at The Derby to a nearly empty room populated with ex-Portland/Seattle-record-store-clerk-looking men that revived my little obsession.
17. Am I the only person who thought this was a better single than Crazy? "And oh yeah, take a little pain just in case..." Gorgeous.
18. This song and "Oh Mandy" were on so many mix tapes I received this year, but the rest of the album? Hmmm... But I adore this song and the oohs and the jerky cadence.
19. Blood Feathers is a side project of a band called Mazarin, and this album is a rare little burst of cheesy happiness that just swirls around and lands gently on any day.
20. Doooh Bap Ba Ba Dap, ooh Bap Ba Ba Dap, ooh Ba Ba Ba Dap
21. I just appreciate this epic song. No explanation necessary.
22. This record got a lot of buzz this year, because for some reason, he's associated with Jeff Mangum, and there's this extensive network of NMH fans around the world looking for something, anything, please! So lots of music blogs talked about this, and I gave it a try. This song just stands out as an amazing compositional piece of art and vocal performance.
23. I love The Walkmen. Their most recent album, a cover of someone else's obscure album, is a huge disappointment to me, because I believe in this band! And the album that this song is from is also a disappointment. I know y'all got it. I'm waiting. At least there was Louisiana to keep me interested. Why does this make my top 30? Because it's so satisfying to sing along to: "I've got my hands full / I've got my haaaaaands full." And the horns are so gratuitous and out of place. But still perfect. "There's thunder and there's lightening a hundred miles away..."
24. I love these guitars! They sound so good. "And I'm sorry that anybody dies at all these days..."
25. The Clientele were amazing in concert this year. I was so pleased. And they have provided much of the soundtrack to my 2006. This album is more mature and refined, which gives them a new direction that I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with. But this song, oh, this song. "Don't think I'll be happy anyway / just scratching out my name." Something about the way Alasdair MacLean sings that line is so undeniably self-conscious, you can't help but melt a little for him.
26. I know it offends someone's sensibility for lists that Destroyer appears on here twice. But this song, such amazing piano and guitar camaraderie. And lovely Destroyer lyrics. And oh, Destroyer.
27. I discovered Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings this year, and this singles collection from Daptone Records came out to reinforce the fact that whatever is going on up there in New York City with all that funky FUNK is just plain amazing. Favorite moment of lingering 2006 was dancing for two straight hours to this album, along with some Sharon Jones, with a friend on New Year's Eve. And then finding a new friend, certifiably with that "thing," dancing along with the other friend and I, and I'll just trail off there...because you don't need to hear about me and my brick walls.
28. The quirkiness of this album made me smile so much this year. When I didn't want to listen to anything else I put this one on. Stable, sure and good.
29. More of that personality defining going on with this band and this song.
30. Stereolab still got it.

Honorable Mention:
Aloha - I found this band because Polyvinyl sent along a promo copy of Some Echoes in the mail to me along with a delayed order. I think their next album is going to be really good, I just have a feeling... I like the melodies and the xylophone and dramatic optimism.
Again & Again - I have heard this song around, in boutiques, in the grocery store, etc. And then it was on the latest Paste compilation. I really like how basic the lyrics are and how complex the sound is. And the first LA band I've ever remotely liked.
Jens - "I killed the party again..." Total cuteness.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 16:28:04 GMT

Since Sunday, December 24, excepting Monday, December 25, I have ordered a Grande Sugar-Free Vanilla Latte™ at the Northlake Starbucks around 10:00 AM. On Tuesday, December 26, one of the baristas™ greeted me at the counter with a "Hey there, you look like you're from out of town. Visiting the family for the holidays?" Stunned, mopey from lack of caffeine, and somewhat irritated by the woman who, in line in front of me, had just pitched a fit about having to show her ID to use her credit card, I replied with a smile, "Is it that obvious?"

Over the next several days, the same barista™ would smile and take my order, ask how my week has been going, or, if working the line, chat while he made the drinks. Somehow in short five minute bursts, with a flurry of activity around me, I made a friend.

This morning, he said "Hey! Are you staying with us through new year's?"

"No, this is my last appearance at the Northlake Starbucks. But it was nice meeting you!" Awkward, somewhat stilted, but sweetly authentic and genuine, this temporary daily exchange has defined my time at home. It's also indicative of the changes that have occurred in me over the past year.

At the visitation for my great uncle, distant relatives, who remember me as a 6-year-old, no doubt, would say the same thing, indicating their acceptance of my independent life: "Wow, you look very California."

Never mind that I bought a pair of dress slacks and two shirts, one for the visitation, and one for the funeral, at Old Navy yesterday. At Northlake Mall. 2,000 miles from California.

2006 has been a great year. A year of hard work, a year of opting for positivity, a year of moving forward.

It's good to be "home," but I can't wait to go home.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 22:59:38 GMT

going home. yay!

IN: Dec 23
OUT: Jan 4

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 06:18:02 GMT

some pictures from a recent 30-mile bike ride through Los Angeles with the Midnight Ridazz

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 02:50:00 GMT

Saw Borat last night. I purposely didn't pay too much attention to all of the hype, because I've been a fan of Ali G for a while and have a strong history of falling off the sofa laughing at his show. I really enjoyed the movie. Highly recommended. If the idea of a fake central european grabbing a feminist's face and saying "give me a smile, baby, why angry face?" makes you smile, then you should definitely go.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Sat, 21 Oct 2006 22:46:28 GMT

The Clientele sound suprisingly good on my work computer speakers - good music makes even a Saturday at the office not all too bad.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 05:47:43 GMT

There's just something about talking to a best friend on the phone for 3 hours that makes everything else going on in your life feel like ants on a log.

I've been photographing the built environment lately, but for work, so under constraints. But if you haven't seen already, here is a photograph of a high density housing product in Irvine, California, that I took at the last minute, and that I am particularly proud of. I had to demonstrate that living in single-family housing at 16 du/ac was an attractive lifestyle, and I feel that I captured that. Any way that I can communicate that living at higher densities than 2 du/ac in suburbia is a good thing, I'm all about. I like photography as the medium for that. I feel that it is most effective.

A lot of my friends are going through late-twenties life changes, and I'm excited for them, if only because I'm excited about my own potential. And because I see my potential reflected in their potential. There's a reason why we're all friends. We're awesome.

p.s. people still suck. I've just adjusted my attitude. let's hear it for self-actualization ladder climbing!
p.p.s. let's also hear it for breaking bad habits! you can do it, you just have to decide to do it. like deciding "I'm going to floss every night." Toats do-able.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 00:55:55 GMT

Is it just me or is everyone in the entire world in a bad mood/funk/egocentric/ass hole place right now?
I so need some rays of sunshine right now. I need something to happen! It's really hard to maintain the feeble good mood you've nudged yourself into when other people are all in bad moods.

At least this was really fun. But it doesn't count because it was like two weekends ago.

However, mustache parties rock. In theory. Then you try to drink your beer and the trouble starts. This was this weekend. So the rays are starting to come in...

I need sunshine! I need happiness! I need love and sweetness and cuteness and happy fun times!