Tag Archives: music

Music Monday: Seven

Posted on April 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

Happy anniversary to my hubby – seven years of wedded bliss (or something like it)! I already talked about our wedding CD here (check it out – I loved our wedding CD, maybe you will, too).

We celebrated this weekend with dinner out at the restaurant we went to for our first anniversary. Thanks to a Groupon and my parents being in town to watch the kids. Our standard gift to each other for our anniversary is a very nice dinner out (though this year we both got something for the other – apparently we need to revisit the rules of our gift-giving) because along with loving music, we also share a love of food.

Anywho… where was I… happy anniversary wishing to my hubby. Happy anniversary, my dear – love you mucho! So glad you are in my life. So thankful for our boys. So thankful we share a love of music. Here’s to many, many more years of good food, good people and good music.

Top Seven Songs from Our Seven Years Together

Better Be Home Soon | Crowded House
Simon’s favorite band who we got to see in concert in Ann Arbor and Chicago. One of my favorite songs by them, it just belongs here.

Once in a Lifetime | Keith Urban
We got the “Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing” CD as a Christmas gift in 2006 – my SIL, Janelle, adores Keith Urban and gifted us with the CD. Janelle wasn’t the only fan in the family, apparently so was a baby Liam – we listened to this CD night after night when Liam was between 4 and 8 months. He usually needed a little catnap each evening after daycare but wouldn’t go to sleep anywhere but in his swing and would fight it like crazy with lots of crying (which he did regardless of whether or not we were trying to get him to sleep because he was TIRED. One night I put this CD in and cranked up the volume and left the room; before the end of the first song (this song) he was out cold. This continued, nightly at 5:30, until he no longer needed that catnap to make it through the evening. The whole album was a sanity saver.

City of Blinding Lights | U2
Last year I got to fulfill my (nearly) lifelong dream of seeing U2 in concert. We heard this song from outside the stadium during sound check and I can still feel the chills, knowing I was finally going to see them live – they did not disappoint.

Jackdaw | David Gray
It’s only appropriate that we also got to see my favorite singer live (multiple times) but the first time we saw him together, this was one of my favorite songs from the evening.

Need You Now | Lady Antebellum
I cannot hear this song and not think of Simon, but not because it’s a booty call song (this is exactly how I found it on YouTube, by looking up “booty call song country” because I couldn’t remember the name of the song or band, no lie) but because we heard it more times than we could count on our roadtrip to Texas last year. This is what happens when a song is super popular and you are in a car for long stretches during a short time frame (this also happened with the song “You and Your Hand” by Pink and “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People – from our trips to Australia).

Just Another Day in Paradise | Phil Collins
Just because my sweet, AC/DC-loving husband also LOVES Phil Collins and won’t let me turn off the song when we come across one (or one by Genesis) on the radio but this is actually a Phil Collins song that I will listen to without complaint (and only a little mocking).

#41 | Dave Matthews Band
Last summer we also got to fulfill Simon’s slightly-shorter-than-lifelong dream of seeing Dave Matthews Band live (would have also been mine but I saw Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds while I was in college so I wasn’t missing out as much as Simon was). This was the first song on the set list and the moment I’d been waiting for that whole long (and fun) day – seeing Simon hear DMB live and in person for the first time.

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Music Monday: Liam’s Favorites

Posted on April 4, 2011 | 6 comments

As I think I mentioned, we’ve always listened to our “regular” music with the kids when we are in the car, in other words, we don’t curse ourselves with having to listen to children’s music whenever the boys are the in the car. I don’t fault anyone for doing that and I know how easy it is to fall into the trap because it only takes one time to start a habit with kids. So we just never started it so we didn’t have to keep it up in the car rather than listen to the endless complaints from the backseat for the entire length of any car ride. [Note: My approach to parenting is to take the route with the least headaches; while I am not a pushover, I also think that if I can handle saying yes to whatever they are asking for and save a tantrum from happening, I’ll do it. Plus, I don’t want to have to stick to my guns out of principle when I could have just said “yes” to a simple request.]

So while we aren’t beholden to listing to The Wiggles or Raffi (God forbid) in the car, we do often have to listen to the same songs as often as possible as my kids (mostly Liam at this point, though Jack is starting to show preferences) have their favorite songs. Liam, like his father, loves AC/DC but understands that he only listens to them when mommy is NOT in the car (that is one rule we’ll never be bending). And like his mother, he loves David Gray.

Other favorites:

Dancing in the Moonlight – Toploader

Apologize – One Republic

Umbrella/Singin’ in the Rain – Glee Cast + Gwyneth Paltrow

Forget You – Cee Lo Green [we try to stay away from the “other” version]

Free – Zac Brown Band [This is the first time I’ve heard this live version, it’s awesome with Van Morrison thrown in at the end]

Wild World – Cat Stevens [Liam calls this the baby, baby song and at first I thought he was asking for Justin Bieber]

These are definitely the ones that get the most play but whenever he hears a song he likes, he says, “Oh, this is my favorite song!” And sadly he does not seem to favor songs by female artists, “Those are girl songs” he says, “Let’s listen to something else.” He will allow Sara Barielles, Lady GaGa and Florence & the Machine.

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Music Monday: David Gray

Posted on January 17, 2011 | 14 comments

Music is one of my favorite things – listening to it, not actually playing it. I had many lessons as a child, playing the violin for 4 years, piano for 2 years and the guitar for one summer (I had a small crush on the best friend of my guitar teacher; sadly, I did not put as much into learning to play the guitar as I did into pursuing the guy and I failed at both) – so I would never, ever claim to be a musician, but I love music! The perfect day would most definitely include being at a concert of some kind – live music, no matter what it is, moves me in a way nothing else does. My kids are beginning to share my love of music and aside from the Wiggles and Yo Gabba Gabba!, we don’t listen to kids music and that makes my heart happy. Liam’s favorite song is One Republic’s Apologize (or something from AC/DC – but he’s not allowed to listen to that when I’m in the car, I have my musical limits).

On Mondays (or as many of them as I can) I hope to share with you the music or musicians that I love and talk a little bit about my experience with them. Or to talk about music in general.

I’ll take this first opportunity to talk about someone I first heard on an episode of Dawson’s Creek (oh how I loved that show and Pacey, and I found many new-to-me songs and musicians though this show and Felicity, the good old WB network). It was at the end of the episode where Pacey and Joey returned from their summer at sea to face what they left behind… angry, sad-faced Dawson. After the long day, they met back up at the boat to make googly faces at each other and… read (no really). But the song playing in the background was David Gray’s This Year’s Love. The piano intro still gives me chills, no matter how many times I hear it.

I’ve seen him live three times and each of those concerts would rank in my top ten concerts list (if I had one – note to self, make this list). Minneapolis at the old theater on University of Minnesota’s campus, we were in the balcony – lucky enough to have gotten tickets to a show that sold out in less than 10 minutes – and you could feel the floor swaying back and forth to the music. Then twice in Chicago, once at The Vic and then at the Auditorium Theater. And hopefully a few more times to come in the future.

There is nothing about his music or his signature head wiggle that I don’t enjoy. And while This Year’s Love will always be my favorite, I love the new stuff, too:

I hope you enjoyed this first foray into Music Monday… who is your favorite musician or band?

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