Astro Zombies

I've been on a musical sabbatical lately and I'm sorry for letting J down to carry this blog on her own. Sometimes I go through this dark age with my music where I get sick of everything and have to cleanse myself of all the noise. I've also been out of pocket for another reason, but I'll reveal that soon enough... ANYWAY, today I've been thinking about My Chemical Romance a lot and reminiscing of the times when I braved the heat of St. Louis just to see these newly famous kids from Jersey play to thousands at Warped. I've also been thinking back to when I would feel less than stellar I could put in Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and feel incredibly empowered. That's what I'm needing now and that's why I'm thinking about MCR. HIM may be home, but MCR makes me feel alive again.

Back in 2005 I got a copy of MCR's cover of the Misfits' Astro Zombies and loved it. I'm not sure how I lost it on my iPod, but I think it had something to do with a crashed laptop and a lost iTunes library that had to be rebuilt. There was a also a wonderful version of All I Want for Christmas is You from MCR, but that was lost as well. Anyway, I just found it again on iTunes and I'm so happy! Here's a youtube clip of this short but sweet, punk rock song recorded back when MCR were still a hungry band wanting to change the world. -K

Chicago Vol. 3 Playlist

Since the last “reorganization” within our company, work has become a little angsty for me. Everyone would rather be doing something besides work, right? Well, I never actually saw my job as being a shitty one. So, it has been particularly disappointing to face the bad taste in my mouth and find the motivation just to get out of bed every morning. I admit it, I’m stressed. You can probably tell how stressed I’ve been based on my Foo Fighters review. I know, boo-hoo. Whatever. It happens and it won’t be there forever, so for now I’m just getting by with getting by. My ways of decompression were and are a little schizophrenic, because on some nights I work out intensely or I just drink a healthy amount of Jaegermeister and smoke. Both do the trick for me, but on the latter nights I inevitably fire up the laptop, get onto iTunes, and test drive or purchase the latest pop songs that iTunes tells me everyone else is listening to.

J and I are into playlists for our road trips. Since we were going to an acoustic show, we both prepared playlists that had mellower themes. While mine was mellower than usual, it was also poppier. Shockingly so, in fact. Not only was it poppier, it also raised some eyebrows. I knew what I was doing, but some of the songs on the playlist show how outside of myself I have been in the last few weeks. I can justify it by saying that sometimes I need to cleanse my palate and start fresh. I can also say that I was clearly self-medicating when I purchased some of these songs and created the playlist. Listed are a select few to represent what the Chicago Vol. 3 playlist was like.

Stars Are Blind- Paris Hilton. You know, sometimes you just have to close your eyes and pretend the person you’re with is someone else. That’s what I do when I hear this song because as long as I forget who is singing, the song is good pop.

Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo- Bloodhound Gang. I love these guys, but I never expected to share this particular song with anyone in a car. It reminded me of hearing “Let’s Talk About Sex” in the car with my Granddad once, just not as awkard. More “unexpected”.

Suddenly I See- KT Tunstall- I heard this song when I watched The Devil Wears Prada. I don’t seek this song out, but it’s a good driving song.

Call Me When You’re Sober- Evanescence. J and I were both a little curious to see how all the internal drama of this band was going to translate into the material. If this song is representative of that, then it’s just another day in Evanescenceland. Take it or leave it.

Fidelity- Regina Spektor. I downloaded this song and then forgot about it until I saw the video. Pretty original. I can appreciate that she is doing her own thing.

Idlewild Blue- Outkast. I have always liked Outkast anyway, but this song is pretty amazing even though when the lyrics start I always want to continue singing Higher Ground.

Electricity- Anathema. I’m very new to these guys. It’s moody, ambient, and a nice background piece to any conversation. Like another band I like, as M would put it, “this music’s made for [luv makin]”. Yes, it is.

Murderers- John Frusciante. I’m not surprised that I added John to this playlist since we were on our way to an acoustic show and he’s just a fucking great composer. But I have no idea why I decided to add this song after a 30 second taste.

Sexyback- Justin Timberlake. Sometimes I need to sex things up a bit.

Baby Hold On- Dixie Chicks. I don’t give a shit what they say about politics- who cares! But, what surprised me for wanting to add them was the fact that I was SO SICK of them being played on Huntsville Radio all the time and would have been happy to never hear their music again. HOWEVER, this latest album is phenomenal. Also, J really likes this song and played it for me one night while we were having a “night”. It makes my heart melt.

Redemption. Here are some other tunes that made it onto the playlist. A little more K-typical…

Last Caress- Misfits
DOA- Foo Fighters
Dancing With Myself- Billy Idol
Paranoid- Black Sabbath
Exo-Politics- MUSE
Lonely Road- Daniel Lioneye
Goody Two Shoes- Adam Ant
Bad Reputation- Joan Jett
I Want to Be Buried in Your Backyard- Nightmare of You
Headfirst for Halos- My Chemical Romance

-K