A to Z Music Challenge: C is for countless of cool …cats?

On to letter C for DeBie Hive’s A to Z Music Challenge .

C was easier for me than B. One of my very favorite bands starts with C. That would be ….

Coheed and Cambria

In this space here, I wrote either too many words or too few and felt like I was failing at defining Coheed to anyone who might be unfamiliar. So, I asked Amy of  Thinking Man’s Vagina podcast for her input. She’s a good person to ask.  There’s a documentary about the band and Amy is one of the fans interviewed in it, so she’s like an authority or something. Here’s what Amy said:

Science fiction infused prog-rock. They meld the worlds of a comic book epic and Rush-influenced long-form songwriting while still being catchy enough to.inadvertently be lumped in with the emo movement. Expect eccentric solos and concepts you can’t get out of your head.

So, there ya go.

Each album is a concept album and a companion to Claudio Sanchez’s comic series The Amory Wars, which is the most bawse thing ever for music fans who also like science fiction and comic books and geeky shit.

I don’t know what song to put here . So, here’s a whole album. It’s best listened to that way,anyway.

Shawn Cassidy

Yes,really. I have my reasons.

#1. It was my first concert. I was..uh…5? Maybe 6. Young. I think my Mom and my Aunt were the ones who really liked him but I do remember playing his albums on my Fisher-Price record player.

#2. I saw him in  a play once. I was in my early 20s and my Mom bought tickets because, “You still like him,right?” and I couldn’t say no because my mom is THE best at guilt trips. I don’t even remember the play but I thought he was pretty good in it. This may have been around the same time he did a soap opera acting stint and I only know this because my Grandma watched it.

#3. American Gothic. It was one of those TV shows that was short lived because it was a bit too….I don’t know what. I loved it. Really memorable moments and freaked me out even worse than Twin Peaks. Shaun Cassidy created it.

I never would have guessed the guy who sand “Da Doo Run Run” could do such a thing.

Neko Case

I want to have Neko’s baby. Well, in theory. Not really. I have enough babies. I just love her like crazy,though. Beautiful vocals and lush songwriting I just wanna eat.

She’s also done some voice work…in Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Hard to pick one song. This song is about a drive-by shooting and she managed to make it sound like a haunted ,retrospective love story.

Harry Chapin

I remember hearing Harry Chapin quite a lot when I was a child. This song impacted me deeply.

This one is for all the kids who color outside the lines and march to the beat of a different drummer. Even if  you’re already grown-up.

The Cure

The Cure was a huge part of my teen years. I wonder whatever happened to that HUGE painting I did of Robert Smith? It was enormous . Painting is not my strongest medium and he ended up looking like a lion with garish lipstick. Good times.

This song came out around my freshman year of high school and I played the whole album to death. It led me to discover the earlier,gooder stuff.

Johnny Cash

My Grandpa was a huge Johnny Cash fan, so I grew up listening to a lot of his music. The morning that he died, I woke up to the news when my alarm clock went off and I had the eeriest premonition that my Grandpa would die soon. He did, 6 months later.

One of my favorite things about Johnny Cash is that he was a true fan of music himself and didn’t respect the barriers between genres. He embraced it all as poetry & music. In his later years he expressed it so well with the covers he did. This is my very favorite:

The Clash

Speaking of Joe Strummer…
I don’t have a lot to say about The Clash. They belong here because they were my introduction to punk and influenced a great many artists who I love.

Elvis Costello

Ditto what I said about The Clash. I love the way Elvis Costello still has that punk edge mixed up with folk & the blues and all sorts of stuff. I love watching his interviews with other artists on Spectacle

Patsy Cline

Patsy was my shoulder to cry on during break-ups and heartbreak. And god, she was incredible.

Cute Is What We Aim For

My teenagers would probably yell a lot if they knew I were including this one. In their pre-teen years, this was played CON.STANT.LY. in our house. When they were in school ,I’d find myself singing their songs to myself . I know all the lyrics. *shrugs*

No, I don’t know what the hell is wrong with this guy’s hair but I think it’s supposed to look that way.

Chris Cornell

Since I forgot Audioslave back in the As, I’ll include Chris Cornell here. Also, one time he replied to something I said on Twitter. I should have screenshotted that shit. I’m a dumbass.

Calexico

I don’t know anything about the band,actually but this is a great album I listen to a lot. The whole thing is awesome.

[The Daily Five] Cunts, The Slits, 50 Shades & Cliteracy

:: Good Read::

Cunt by Inga Muscio

If you’re a woman, this is a must read. If you have a daughter, make sure you put this book in her hands when she’s in her teens.

The majority of women in our culture take great offense at the word “cunt”. They consider it the worse thing you can call a woman. I wish those women were more aware of the history and power associated with the word.

::Want::

From Feral Flower Child

:: Song::

Classic girl punk. I love The Slits.

:: Watch::

50 Shades of WTF

Laci Green and I are on the same wavelength here.
(Here’s my 50 Shades of Anything But Good )

::Tumblr::

Speaking of Laci Green…her tumblr is one of my favorites

Sex+

To check out past posts of The Daily Five, go here.

past week’s music: RIP MCA, licking Jack White’s licks and some revolutionist inspiration.

This end of week wrap up has no discernible order to it. Much like my life at the moment.

Of course, the saddest thing this week was the death of Adam Yauch. This was a rough passing .My heart…it broke when I saw this:

RIP Adam.

I’ve been listening to Jack White’s solo album Blunderbuss. A lot. While listening to the song “16 Saltines” one day this past week, I had the weirdest thought, one I’ve never had before : “I want to lick this song.” What is that about? I want to lick this song? I’m developing an aural-oral fixation. That’s a thing,right?  There’s such a thing as auditory fetishes, where a person gets turned on my certain sounds.Which could inspire oral things. So, yeah..I’m gonna claim it’s a thing. Maybe it’s a thing only music junkies get. Have. Do. Think about. Whatever.

Say Anything’s newest Anarchy ,My Dear  has gotten a lot of play here,too. Max Beemis has plenty to say about stuff I can nod along in agreement  to. He’s sober but not tamed, more self-aware and less self-hating. Plus, love has been treating him right so gone is that angst. It’s a good vibe.

Hey, The Avengers is out! I love this cover of “Ironman”.

I’ll file this under music, purely for my association of music from my youth to Henry Rollin.

Henry Rollins’  ”Letter to a Young American”,advice on discipline, self-reliance, and overcoming obstacles. I found it inspirational, words I want my young offspring to hear. I’m a bit flabberghasted by some of the reactions to this. Conservatives yelling about him pushing socialism down the throats of our youth. Liberals whining about how he’s promoting and feeding into the desire for the Capitalist American dream. I see neither things here. Why does it always have to be like this,haters?

Speaking of inspirational : Laura Burhenn has this incredible new photo project called New Revolutionists that celebrates women who are “women warriors”…women who live to affect change in the world and in their lives of others. Beautiful stuff.

A new song from the Mynabyrds sort of ties into the theme.Plus, the song kicks ass.

Ohhh….AND new Silversun Pickups. Streaming. Love.

Jupiter tells Miss Manners to shut the hell up

“Policing ourselves to be less offensive to the
majority is to be part of our own oppression.”

-Jane Rule

Coming of age, I spoke out loud my beliefs on  war,racism and religion.My Grandfather was furious anytime I expressed any opinion that differed from his own and told me that less than 3% of the entire world population thought like I did. He used that exact figure. 3%. I didn’t need to be a genius to know he was wrong but it was small consolation after being cut down by the only father figure I ever had in my young life.

He  had an infamous temper,excused because it was “just the stubborn Irish in him”. I cannot completely embrace stereotypes of heritage and ancestry but whatever it was that raised his ire so much and made him refuse to back down from what HE felt to be the truth, I thankfully inherited it. There was no way I ever believed that even though my opinion might not be the major consensus, was it any less valuable and significant.

I hit backspace when I’m writing more often  than I care to admit . My tongue might have grooves permanently cut into it from biting it so much. I know…there’s some who might be surprised by this. I’m perceived as being outspoken and opinionated. Those people who see me that way are probably a little  horrified at the thought of what it is I’m holding in and not sharing (or spewing) with the rest of the world.

In motherhood, I’ve settled into this role of being a bit more socially acceptable and polite than the younger version of myself that was very raw,no holds barred and unrelentingly honest.  It doesn’t suit me so much, this self-censorship. .Every time I censor myself, it feels wrong. It feels like I’m denying a part of myself, disregarding who I am for someone else’s integrity and to  remain inoffensive .

I’m really too old for popularity contests. I don’t think I’m teaching my children anything valuable by denying myself freedom of expression.Oppression is exhausting .For these 3 reasons alone, I’m regressing to the younger,less mature and unfinished version of myself. I liked her a lot better.

Participating this week in Weekly Geeks #17:A Quote A Day