This post is dedicated to all the rail riders out there. You know who you are.
Over the years I feel as though I’ve become a bit of a jaded, music snob, almost proudly so. I found my tastes, explored them, and am fairly certain I know what I like. I don’t want to go listen to some random rock band that practices in their moms garage anymore, or some undereducated over-hyphed freshman DJ that just discovered Serato. I want quality. I want to dance. I want my jams. And I want to get home by midnight.
Coming from the Midwest and having spend some significant months in California as of late, the music scene has been a pivotal point of interest for me. I promote, I perform, I work production. I LOVE to dance! People notice when you show up, which has afforded me to participate at some very highly sought out events and venues. Working your ass off in an industry that’s thankless is worth the heart and sweat you put in, though sometimes thankless. Needless to say, there is nothing quite like being put on the guest list. I love the nightlife. I live for the music industry, in so many ways.
But this blog is not to brag or complain, merely to admire… admiration for the classy, yet simple tastes of many Californians; it is to be heralded and humbling, coming from a Kansas Girl. The songs out here that have taken center stage in my field of noticeable discretion are interesting in all kinds of ways.
Turning the dial on the radio station happens to be one of my favorite activities over the years, and it never fails to entertain my tired eyes and ears. Random little tastes of classic rock, weather reports and christian gangster rap songs that I would never even know to look up is quite amusing. And there is something so powerful about knowing you are listening to the same song with hundreds, maybe thousands of others. All singing along. All feeling those feels. There’s power in inclusion. No two harmonies ever the same.
I will say that cruising around the Bay Area, sun roof open, heated seats on, listening to songs old and new, has brought me a sense of comfort that would digest most. Spending time in the car is not an optimal way to pass time, however for me, my car has been my home for three years, and these songs, have been the soundtrack to my life. Both the car and the music are a point of nostalgia, that is intragal to any positive musical experience.
Now, let me share with you, that almost every single day, I hear at least one, if not two of the following song selections, and sometimes I hear them all every day. These songs are played constantly, and it still surprises me that THESE are the anthems of the California nation:
1. Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden
2. YEAH by Nelly
3. California Love (goes without saying)
4. Anything by Michael Jackson
Oh, and lately I’ve been getting a lot of Betty Davis Eyes, which is ridiculous, being that its just about my favorite song, and it can’t be THAT popular of a tune?
In other news, the other night I attended a 30-man a’capella men’s choir called The Conspiracy of Beards, who performed all Leonard Cohn songs and what a delight! #towerofsong After that I hopped by the Boom Boom Room Hip Hop Open Mic ROTC Cypher, in which I did NOT yet have the balls to jump on the mic, but I feel like we’re getting closer, me and my alternate rapper personas. I was also blessed by The Funk Hunters live electronic act last weekend, and am heading to get Shpongled by Alex Grey and the family tonight, so all in all things are looking up musically (except for the Nelly song #furreal).
As I get older, I feel less and less inclined to seek out good music (you can’t tell, can you?) and more inclined to stay home and rest in my own gravity. The music finds me, I don’t have to chase it. Couchella is looking really good right about now. I spend more time avoiding bad music than I do seeking out the good. It’s almost April, and I still feel like the nation is hibernating from the cruelties of winter. I don’t want to get out of bed; this too shall pass. And I am okay with going within to find my own muse again, the music on my heart.
On that note, I am working on another album compilation entitled: Ceremony. No plans on release. Working out the details, non-the-less on paper, despite some lite depression and misconduct. Music still has the power to heal, so that’s what we’ll do.
Take for instance, The Flashbulb’s performance at the Community School of Music and Arts Electronic Festival in Mountain View last week was absolutely stunning. Truly an artist of multi-magnitudes, his music washed over the audience members in waves of perfect harmonies and sound waves, like tuning forks. Benn Jordan never ceases to amaze.
The evolution of my own knowledge of the history of music and my own music career has always remained a cosmic mystery; a fortunate accident, serendipitous as a hurricane. I merely have stumbled upon some of what I consider to be some of the strangest, most entertaining and healing forces of nature and nature, at least for me. We, as a species, have mastered the language and coding of the universe for artistic freestyle and play. What better way to turn life into a song, then to just start singing along.
Well there you have it, the latest musical weather report via my small brain. In-and-out and sometimes upside-down, it’s never a dull moment here in the mind of a MissConception. Let’s rap about it? Post your own favorite musing below.
Ciao for now darlings,
MissC
Miss Conception 