Starlight Symphony

I can't believe in my 25 years that I have never been to this fantastic event! Each year the Jackson Symphony hosts the Starlight Symphony on the lawn of First Presbyterian Church (i.e. the most beautiful church ever). You can't really see the musicians because there are so many people there, and the close spots are reserved for sponsors. If you get there early enough to get fairly close though, you can hear really well! My cousin and I got there about an hour and a half before the concert started and had a little picnic of sandwiches, grapes and the free ice cream sandwiches from the Bank of Jackson (my bank WOOT WOOT).

It was seriously so much fun. There were people there with canopies, full meals, fine china, wine, the works. We didn't go that far, but the picnic was quite nice. Plus I love hanging out with my cousin, Miranda, when I get a chance! Her fiance lives in Mississippi, so she spends most weekends there. We were also joined by a couple of other friends who had some Thai food that I was seriously wanting to steal.

I will definitely be going back to the Starlight Symphony in the coming years. They played some classic songs, specifically along the patriotic theme this year, but they also played popular tunes like Gotye's "Somebody that I Used To Know." One of the last songs is the 1812 Overture complete with cannons! They are loud, so they scared me the first time. It was so awesome though! I was glad I took a few snaps with my camera, but next year I might try to walk around and get some pictures of the actual symphony.

P.S. I found this AWESOME set of actions via my photographer friend Kristi Montague. You need to check them out and download them. I used Fuji Superia 100 for these.

Karen Elson + West End Cafe

About a week ago, I spent a Saturday in Nashville with my dear friend, Alanna. We found out a while back that Karen Elson was going to be playing a free show that day, so we made plans to go. WE WERE SO EXCITED! Not only is Karen Elson an amaaaaaazing model, but she put out an album that I absolutely love.

That morning we hung out in her apartment, then did a bit of antiquing, and I dropped in to see a former professor of mine. Later in the afternoon we headed out to Centennial Park for the show. There were several artists playing, and we wandered around the food trucks while we waited for Karen Elson. It was so much fun listening to all the artists and seeing all the adorable dogs people had brought out. We stopped at the Blue Monkey to get some shaved ice, and then plopped down in the grass in front of the stage.

The show was great! She played about 7 songs (I think...I didn't really count), mostly from her album. I just love her unique sound, and I enjoyed hearing a little story behind some of the songs. There were a bunch of kids that were dancing in the grass in front of us while she played. It was a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e. If you live in Nashville, you should try to go to this event one Saturday this Fall. I think it's running until the end of October, and they have some great artists every weekend! Check out Musician's Corner for more info.

After we left there, we walked about 10 minutes down the road to West End Cafe for dinner. We were the only ones there, so I was a little nervous. But it turned out to be really good! The food was mostly out of my price range, so I decided to get a burger. Alanna's had a fried egg on it! I tried it and it was pretty dang good. Mine was more of a classic burger, and it was also delicious. I would definitely recommend it if you're around the area.

This was one of my favorite weekend days in a while! Sometimes I just need a day to get out and do fun things, ya know? I wish I could do this more often, but I guess it wouldn't be as special if it wasn't rare :) I was sad when Alanna moved, but it's actually been really fun going to visit her and doing new things in the city.

Lights, Take Two

I guess it was about a year and a half ago when Alanna and I went to see Lights in concert. It was a pretty small crowd at the teeny-bopper venue, Rocketown. By small I mean, like MAYBE 100 people. So you can imagine our surprise when we got to Rocketown this weekend an hour early for our second Lights show to see that a line had already formed. That show was SOLD PLUMB OUT. I was seriously shocked. I guess I just didn't realize how much she had caught on! In a way, I was excited because it's great when an artist you like is selling out shows. But mostly I was just bummed that it would be yet another show spent digging my heels into the ground to keep from getting pushed aside (which still somehow happens).

I know I used to be one, but teenagers can be extremely obnoxious. If you don't know about Rocketown, it's this place started in Nashville that's a no smoking/no drinking hangout for teens in the area. It's a great idea, and I love that it's there, but going to a concert there is hard. I'm a little partial to 21+ shows. There were some serious weirdos near us yelling things like "can I have your face?!" and "you're so hot!" Wait, what?! Hush and just enjoy the music...I mean really. If you want to gawk at her, buy a magazine. Also, can't you just take like 10-15 pictures and give it a rest? Is it really necessary to take a picture of every move she makes? Answer: no, no it is not.

Sorry for the mini-rant. Despite the irritating 13 year olds, I really enjoyed her show. I liked the last one, but she was even better this time. She's added a lot more electronic fun (sorry, don't know the lingo) that made it really great live. My favorite in the set was Where the Fence is Low, which I actually hadn't paid attention to on the album. It was just so good live! Give it a listen:

Homecoming

I mentioned in my last post that this weekend is homecoming at my alma mater, Union University. They kind of re-arranged the festivities this year, so a lot of stuff was going on last night. After work I packed up some of my jewelry and prints and headed out to the Great Lawn for "Union Night." A lot of departments and organizations had booths set up with food, coffee, etc. I set up my wares with some other students and alum of the art department. I didn't sell anything, but it was fun to socialize and such!

 My stuffs set out on the table (as you can see, I didn't do much in the way of preparation)

My roommate's pottery and illustrations by another alum

Shinae (shinaynay, shinequa, shaneenee...she has a lot of nicknames) checking out my prints

The art department's booth

They had a rock wall, dandy jumper things, a band, and a hot air balloon for people to do out there. I wanted to go up in the hot air balloon SO BADLY, but the line was long and I needed to stay at the booth. It looked like fun though! 

The whole event was from about 5:30 to 7:45. At 7:30 they did a big fireworks show near the Great Lawn. This was a first for Union (since I've been around anyway). I absolutely love fireworks, so I was super excited about this part of the night. Kelsey and I watched them from the parking lot, and it was a great show! To be completely honest, I expected it to be a dinky display, but it was pretty nice. The finale was even crazier than the military show I saw on July 4th. 

To end out the night, I headed over to the chapel for the homecoming concert. The headliner was Jon Foreman, but one of my favorites, Brooke Waggoner, was opening for him! I used to listen to her all the time when I worked in the Cedarway office. Good times. Anyway, she was wonderful! She even played some new songs from the album she's working on. I only stayed for a few Jon Foreman songs, because Kelsey was waiting on me. What little I heard sounded good though!

All of the homecoming festivities were a great way to kick off my weekend. I hope you all are having a similarly eventful weekend!

Les Misérables at The Orpheum

My very generous step-dad bought tickets for him, my mom, and me to see the matinee of Les Misérables at The Orpheum on Sunday. I first went to The Orphuem when I was (insert young age here) to see The Phantom of the Opera, and thus began my love of the gorgeous venue and of on-stage musicals. This is the second time I've see Les Mis, and it's a very different show now than it was a few years ago, mainly because of the major changes in the set.

I am one of those people that tears up at those moments when the music swells and the actor reaches that note...you know the one. Les Mis has several of those moments. Heart-stopping, take-your-breath-away moments. The actor who played Jean Valjean, J. Mark McVey, was especially good in my opinion, as was Jevert, Andrew Varela.

publicity photo. not mine

I noticed two major differences now that they've updated the set. *spoilers, but you should all know this story by now anyway* 1. The suicide scene. IT WAS AMAZING. They got really creative and made it a lot more dramatic than I remember it being before. In fact, I barely remembered it at all after the first time, but I assure you I will remember it this time. 2. The battle scene at the barricade. Eh...I think this scene lost a lot of it's impact. I just remember this epic moment at the end when I literally stopped breathing, and it wasn't there with the new set. It was still an effective scene, it just wasn't as...epic. Overall, though I think the show has improved a lot since I saw it last. If you saw it with the old set, you should definitely see it again.

I really could go on and on about this, but I don't want you all to think I'm a nut. I guess this is the first time I've ever blogged about a musical. Now you know a new fact about me: I am a huge fan of musical theatre. Now I'll go back to listening to the soundtrack :)

The Kills at the Cannery Ballroom

Alanna, Gabrielle and I went to see The Kills at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville last night. It turned out to be a really great show! We were really close to the stage, but of course the closest people were all tall guys, so I still had to strain to see. There was also some twerp in a stinky leather jacket that squeezed us back despite my efforts to stand my ground (some people just plain amaze me with their chivalry).  I did manage to get a few decent pictures from the show, so I wanted to share them here.

They were both great performers. It's always a lot more fun when the musicians are really energetic...and that they were! I highly recommend seeing them live, even if you aren't a huge fan. I don't know all the songs by heart or anything, and I still had a great time.

I guess I should comment on my outfit, since I have a picture of it. That is seriously the most comfortable shirt I've EVER worn. I got it at Urban Outfitters a few weeks ago and saved it for this show. I've been really loving that kind of pattern lately. I went through a phase a few years ago where I bought a lot of those Aztec/Mayan-ish prints, and I guess I'm back in that phase. I'm glad I saved some of my pieces from a few years ago!

details:

shirt, necklace: Urban Outfitters

jeans: Express

shoes: Target

bag: Pangea (Nashville)

I hope you guys like the pictures! And if you've never listened to The Kills, here's my favorite song: Sour Cherry.  I actually did a video during Sour Cherry, but the quality looked pretty bad when I put it on YouTube. I'm going to try to fix it and post it, but until then you have LOTS of pictures! 

Happy early Easter!

random

I have two things that I want to share today! I was going to try to pick just one and post the other later, but I don't think that will satisfy me. Sometimes I just need to get things out RIGHT NOW! So here goes...

1st

The U.S. release of Adele's 21 album was today. I ran by Best Buy at lunch and got it. WOOO! I had already listened to it on NPR, so I knew I loved it, but there's something about holding that cd in your hand. It's so exciting! I am not a writer or a reviewer, so I'm not going to try to describe the music...just listen for yourself. Here's the video for her first single off the album:

2nd

I had my 200th sale in my Etsy shop today! I was lingering around 150 a couple of weeks ago, but when I was in the Etsy Finds one day, my sales picked WAY up. Reaching a mark like that is just an incredible feeling. I still remember opening my Etsy shop and not knowing what in the world I was doing. My shop has gone through a ton of dry spells, but I didn't let that stop me. I just kept promoting and hoping that someday it would catch on. It seems like it really has! Since I've been selling more, I've been way more motivated to make new work...so I'll probably have more images soon. I already got a new one up last week, called Salt Lick!

Anyway, thank you to everyone who has supported me through buying, commenting, and encouraging. I appreciate you guys so much!

LIGHTS

All through high school I always wanted to go to concerts, but I never really got to. But in the last few years I've gone to some great ones! The most recent was Lights, a Canadian electro-pop singer. I was really impressed by her... most of the people I've seen live sound completely different. I don't mind when singers don't sing quite as well live, mainly because I would be nervous OUT OF MY MIND, so I am sure they get that way too. But Lights...she sounded AMAZING. And she was really good with connecting to the audience. I just plain loved it.

 

 

On top of being talented, she's adorable! 

And now, here's some pictures of me and Alanna at the show...a lot of them

 

I was also REALLY excited to wear my vintage Pierre Cardin shirt that I got from the lovely Rachel of MouseVox Vintage.  I actually got the shirt on her Ebay store...but I like her Etsy shop better :) 

shirt: vintage from MouseVox

jeans: Express

And this is the opening act, Jeremy Fisher. Every time I heard his name I thought of the Spartan cheerleaders on SNL (you remember that one? "Bobby Fischer, where is he? Idonknow Idonknow")  He was obviously very influenced by Bob Dylan...which is fine by me! He was funny, played the harmonica, and his voice was quite good. I highly recommend these two artists. And thanks to Alanna for taking all the pictures!

Lights website: http://www.iamlights.com/

Jeremy Fisher's website: http://www.jeremyfishermusic.com/

I can't embed the video that I want to, but go watch it here!

My next concert is going to be a bit of a genre change...Garth Brooks! Ok, before you judge me, I AM from Tennessee. And in my opinion he is one of the only great country singers EVER.  But anyway, I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!