...the reason I've hated emo music from the start.  I don't have much tolerance for misogyny and, according to Wikipedia:

"Emo has been criticized for its androcentrism and the tendency of most emo bands to relegate women to the role of muse or heartbreaker in their lyrics. Andy Greenwald notes that there are very few women in emo bands, and that even those few do not typically have an active voice in the songs' subject matter: "Though emo—and to a certain degree, punk—has always been a typically male province, the monotony of the labels' gender perspective can be overwhelming." The triumph of the "lonely boy's aesthetic" in emo, coupled with the style's popularity, has led to a litany of one-sided songs in which males vent their fury at the women who have wronged them"

Doing some late-night music research again tonight.  Gotta get my career rolling some way.  Speaking of which, I'm booking a gig in Nashville for a friend in September.  Should be a good show, a little mellow, piano-driven pop, decent lyrics.  I'm not sure that much will come of it, but these days it seems like musicians would be better off unsigned.  The music industry could die tomorrow and take everyone down with it and I'd be all the happier for it.  It's time for a revolution of sorts.  We have to lose the bigwigs to keep our sanity.  It's a crazy world out there and the "scene" is killing us slowly while our backs are turned.  So, if Universal, Sony, Warner, and EMI go bankrupt tomorrow...it seems like freedom to me.
 

Someone told me today that "Hanson are fags."  Hanson are fags...hmm...not very original, not very polite or civilized, not very intelligent, and not very true.  And I HATE that word, but I answered back with my usual (although equally juvenile) response:  "Oh yeah?  Well, you must really like them then!"

But  it struck me that this is the only defense people have against them.  They can't argue musically, because if they know anything about music, they know that they will lose at any attempt to legitimately discredit Hanson's musical abilities.  So they attack them personally.  They latch on to a time when they had long girly hair, they ridicule the pitch of their voices, they question their sexuality.  It is because they don't have a legitimate argument.  Because HANSON IS THE REAL FREAKING DEAL!

And I would like to say for the millionth time that I don't expect or even want everyone to like Hanson.  It's about respect.  The respect they deserve.  They deserve to be evaluated fairly,  based on their talent and nothing more. 

Just for once, it would be nice for someone to either legitimately challenge them or shut the hell up...

I almost have to laugh at myself when I'm playing guitar and a chord change just does something to me that makes me want to burst into tears. 

I need to be in the music industry!  Music isn't just something I love, it's a HUGE part of who I am, and frankly I'm kind of mad at myself that it took this long for me to figure out just how huge that part is.

I think people who are Hanson fans are all sort of this way to some degree.  I think we latched on to them eleven years ago because there was something about "MMMBop" we just couldn't escape even if we had wanted to.

But we didn't even want to, because somehow we knew that "MMMBop" meant freedom, even then.

We know it does now because it allows us to be out of the ordinary.  We have been given something that we will not abandon just because someone else doesn't understand it.  And some of us may have never had the opportunity to go against the grain because of our introverted personalities.

Their story is remarkable and even when we're bitching about the fact that they never get enough recognition for being as amazing as they are (Does anyone besides us know who the youngest Grammy nominated songwriter is?), we wouldn't really want it any other way. 

Because we have this part of us that makes us unique.  We appreciate beauty, truth, and greatness where it is otherwise unrecognized.  And I don't think any of us has ever been too keen on sharing that with the masses.

They make us proud of our generation in a time when the rest of the world looks down on us.  They make us hopeful for change.  They make us realize that there are things in life that are worth holding on to, no matter how much crap you have to take for it through the years.  They make us believe in ourselves and know that life is worth all the hardships because if you're strong enough to face them, if you're strong enough to break, you'll be whole again in the end.

They know this.  I know this.  I know this, at least in part, because they know this.  Because crazy as it seems, we are in some way connected.  Their pain is a pain I feel as if it were my own.  We grew up together.  They are like brothers to me in a way I don't expect anyone outside our lives to understand.  Call it crazy and obsessive all you want.  But do not attack them in front of me.  You have a right to your own opinion, but I also have a right to expect you to respect me by respecting them.  You don't have to like them, I don't expect you to, but do not belittle them!  Because I feel the pain of those comments as if it is myself who is being disrespected and belittled.  I don't expect you to understand WHY I feel this way, just understand that I do.  I love them.  They are as much a part of me as my own family whether that makes sense to you or not.  Playful banter is fine but I think we all know the difference between playfulness and disrespect.  Calling me obsessed is way less harmful than calling them one-hit wonders.  Because I AM obsessed, but they ARE NOT one-hit wonders.  I do not criticize the abilities of your favorite actors/singers/sports players in a disrespectful manner so please extend to me the same courtesy.


This may not apply to any of you but I just want it said before any incidents occur because it's getting harder for me to deal with the comments when I see how much good they are doing in this world and how often it is going unnoticed.


I leave you with a few very profound and often quoted words from Thoreau:

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.  Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away"

I don't really know what brought this on except that it's something I've been noticing a lot lately.
People don't listen to each other.
And for some reason we think that's okay.
How can we be friends if I don't care enough about you to listen to what you have to say?
I know I don't listen as well as I should to others but some people who are supposed to be my friends don't listen AT ALL.
And they think there's nothing wrong with it.
But it's a huge sign of disrespect and it just makes people feel like they don't matter.
You can't really be someone's friend if you're too self-absorbed to listen to them.

So, today I stumbled on this quote from Taylor Hanson, back in 1997, when he was only fourteen.

"Alot of teen bands are criticized for being fake.  But they are not hated.  I think we are hated because it scares people that we could be real."

I was amazed that, at the age of fourteen, he was able to articulate exactly what the world's problem with them was.  And this is the same problem they have with Hanson today.  They're scared  of how REAL they are.  

The world is fake.  We all know this to be true.  The fact that Hanson can be so young, and so talented, and not be a music industry gimic with major label execs behind the scenes pulling the strings, has frightened the general public for eleven years.  So the world will hate them, because people hate what they don't understand.

But why resort to hating people who are undeniably talented.  Why be afraid of greatness?  When guys hate them is it because Hanson is a threat to their masculinity or something equally asinine and juvenile?  Or is it because we know that they have something we don't. 

We were never that successful at their age.  The world doesn't really have a precedent for an 18-year-old record label CEO who actually OWNS the label with his two brothers who are both under the age of 25.  Or an 11-year-old with a Grammy nomination for his songwriting.  The world didn't have a precedent in 1997 for three cute little brothers who actually COULD play the heck out of their instruments and take the world by storm doing it.  We don't understand it.  Is that what scares us?

I could write an entire book about what Hanson means to me, and some days I wonder if that's not the best idea I've ever had.  Maybe the only people who would read it would be those people who are as crazy as I am.  Those who brand their skin with huge circular symbols to prove it, those who spend ridiculous amount of money to see their favorite band 5,10,15+ times a year.  Because they know what I know.  We have seen true greatness.  And we are not afraid.

I am WHITE.  (Uh duh!!  I'm Scandanavian, I'm like the whitest girl I know...Ok, more cheesy than funny, but, oh well.  Here's my "color code."

Color Code: WHITE: The Peace Keeper

17% Red, 34% Blue, 40% White and 9% Yellow!

They're really just a bunch of dorks like the rest of us...












P.S.  I have the next two days off of work so I'm planning on trying to catch up on commenting and/or writing for the group.  Crossing my fingers....

Yesterday a woman came in wearing a red shirt with "OKLAHOMA" written across the front.  It was obviously a sports shirt of some kind, but to me it meant freedom.

I am working on prompt 20.  I may have to turn it in unfinished because I'm trying to be more successful at getting things done for the group but I'm blanking out on this particular one.

My friends at home all want to hang out on the same nights all the time.  One of them is probably peeved at me right now because she came all the way from Pennsylvania to hang out and I already had plans.  But then, she did marry my ex-boyfriend so maybe that's just what she gets....hahaha.  Kidding... 

Sometimes my life amuses me more than it probably should under the circumstances...

     So, today at work someone randomly says to me, "Hanson is still making music?"  And of course, for a split second I was like "what the...? How the heck did you know to ask ME?"  But then I remembered, "Oh yeah, I'm the loony with "HANSON ROCKS" written gigantically across my back windshield.  

     I realized that I had forgotten it was there.  And this might not seem like that big of an oversight to some people, but I assumed that the expectation of ridicule that goes along with driving around with the word "Hanson" on your car would have reminded me that it was there.  So I realized that I'm no longer ashamed.  AT ALL.  I may have been hasseled for 11 years, but I emerged victorious and undaunted.  

     People often wonder why I am so attached to them.  Why my love of Hanson goes so far beyond normal music fan love.  And I think part of it is BECAUSE I've had to live with the constant contempt and blind hatred that people have for them just because they wanted to start making music young.  No matter how you look at it, Hanson has always inspired an unusual amount of hatred and the fans have had to live with people treating them like they are stupid, immature, ignorant, etc.
     
     But because they never gave a crap about what people thought about them, we all learned to do the same.  And it seems that over the course of several years, some of us have learned to apply this attitude to our lives overall.  So, basically, if anyone's wondering why I love Hanson so much, it's because they taught me not to give a crap if no one understands it.

 I'm always up too late.  I stay up because I dread the morning.  If I could I would probably stay in today forever.  New days mean new days at work.  New days to screw up and feel useless because I just can't get used to the daily routine of Wendy's.  I always forget something.  I've only been there for about two weeks but it seems like they expect me to know it all by now.  

And I'm sick of my parents.  They just don't get it.  I'm so excited about CMC I could practically explode.  But all my dad thinks about is the fact that it's fourteen hours away.  He refuses to try to see it through my eyes and be proud of me for getting in and be happy for me that for the first time in my life I feel like I'm going to be doing what I was meant to do.  

And all my mom can say is "You have my support, do you need his too?"
They're supposed to be my PARENTS. BOTH of them.  Even if that wasn't a completely ludicrous comment for that reason it would be a false statement because I don't really have her support.  She's been trying to push different careers on me this whole entire time because she doesn't really believe I can do this.  She doesn't think I can find a job in the music industry.

I guess I have to believe in myself enough for three people...

Umm...yeah...this is another music post because MUSIC ROCKS THE WORLD!

BAD SOLUTION

Well, you've got to move it
Or you're gonna lose it
Time won't always be there on your side

You've got to choose it
If you're gonna prove it 
But change is gonna come, you can't deny

What I wanna know
Is what choice you're gonna make
Every good debate
Has a bad solution

Who took the first shot?
Who started the riot?
I thought we were marching peacefully

We've got the music
But we've got to use it
Shouldn't we be dancing in the street?

I wanna know
what choice you're gonna make
Every good debate
Has a bad solution
What you choose to see
Might define your fate
Every good debate
Has a bad solution

This was a fun and pretty short game you guys might like.  I want to see what you get so if you would post your results as a comment to this post that would be awesome.  I love you all and I hope you have a great day!

How many songs total: 2,119

How many hours or days of music: 5.7 days
Most recently played: “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”-Michael Buble
Most played: “The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Part 1)” – The Alan Parsons Project
Most recently added:  “Wish You Were Here” – Pink Floyd

Sort by song title-
First Song: “A-hole” – Bowling For Soup
Last Song: “8^th Grade” – Chris Rice

Sort by time:
Shortest Song: “Kum-By-Ya (Interlude)” – Stacie Orrico (0:09)
Longest Song: “Something In The Way” – Nirvana (20:35)

 

Sort by album:
First album: Actual Miles – Don Henley
Last Album: 3 Car Garage - Hanson

First song that comes up on Shuffle: “The Great Gig In The Sky” – Pink Floyd

Search the following and state how many songs come up:

Death - 4
Life - 47
Love - 117
Hate - 4
You - 329
Sex - 2

 

 And yes...I know possum is actually spelled opossum, but I really wanted to spell it possum so there!
My roomie and I went on a late-night caffeine excursion because I have a stupid assignment for Positive Psychology that is probably going to keep me up all night.  When we drove past Sutton Hall on the way back from Wal-Mart, I saw a cute little shape on the sidewalk right in front of the side entrance.  I love rodents and opossums are really like big rats so I naturally thought it was adorable.  My roomie disagrees.

I had three little pet rats before I had to go to the emergency room because my throat closed up and the doctor told me I was allergic to animals (saddest day of my life).  Their names were Arwen, Galadriel, and Luthien and I loved them.  Arwen was my favorite because she spent most of her time just sitting on my shoulder.  When I found out I was allergic and I had to get rid of them I was devastated because even though the pet store I got them from (which at that time I was working for) said they would find homes for them, I knew it would be hard because most people only want rats to feed to their snakes.  To this day I still don't know what happened to Arwen (Galadriel and Luthien went home with people I knew) but I try not to think of her as snake food.

Anyway, that was my random story for the day.  Good night friends, I love you all!

Rock On! :) :)

P.S. Ellen, I know what you're going to say, but I hardly think you can take credit for it since Taylor started the whole thing.  And he's retarded anyway so I don't know why you'd want to.  I LOVE YOU!

I can't ever seem to get to bed on time anymore.  But I'm not taking naps during the day either.  I guess I'm some sort of freak of nature that can exist on insanely small amounts of sleep.  

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out what to do with my life...but what else is new?  I've recently decided that English is probably not at all related to what I'm going to do in life.  I used to love the idea of being a published author and I wrote stories all the time (although I rarely finished them to be completely honest).  Now all I can think about is how the heck I'm going to get my foot in the door of the mainstream music industry and make a change in the music scene.

  I just really feel like it's so important for our generation and the generations to follow that we have good music so that we can look back like our parents have on bands like Pink Floyd and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and say "they really changed music for the better" or "they really affected people." 

I think our generation is screaming out to be affected and today's music industry is ignoring the people who could really answer that cry.  We've lost our passion for music.  People aren't moved to tears anymore by guitar solos.  Because musicians don't play guitar with passion anymore.  Because the music industry isn't looking for passion.  They're looking for an artist with enough sex appeal that can sell a couple million records solely because of their looks and maybe a catchy hook or two.  The quick buck is the goal.

Anyway, that's the end of tonight's rant.  I'm exhausted and I'm going to bed! 

I'm going to write about music a lot because I love it.  One of my favorite songwriters is Tom Petty and one of my favorite songs by him is "Crawling Back To You."

Waiting by the side of the road 
For day to break so we could go
Down into Los Angeles
With dirty hands and worn out knees

Ooooo I keep crawling back to you
Ooooo I keep crawling back to you

The ranger came with burning eyes
The chamber maid awoke surprised
Thought she'd seen the last of him
She shook her head, let him in

Ooooo I keep crawling back to you
Ooooo I keep crawling back to you

Hey baby
There's somethin' in your eyes
Tryin' to say to me
That I'm gonna be alright
If I believe in you
It's all I wanna do

It was me and my sidekick
He was drunk and I was sick
We were caught up in a bar room fight
'Til an Indian shot out the lights

I'm so tired of being tired
Sure as night will follow day
Most things I worry 'bout
Never happen anyway

Ooooo I keep crawling back to you
Ooooo I keep crawling back to you
(X2)