New Mus-ak

So I absolutely love getting new music. Hearing new artists, or new stuff from old artists, is probably one of my favorite things. There's nothing betting than discovering something you never knew existed and then absolutley loving it. The great thing about it is that you'll have that music for the rest of your life. No one and nothing can take it away from you. Clothes, you eventually grow out of or they go out of style. Shoes, those can fall apart. Hairstyles, vehicles; all that stuff eventually loses its appeal. But music is eternal and always there to fall back on, which is pretty comforting to know.

YUKON

Here's some pics from the VT trip to see Yukon Kornelius...

Over winter break I drove down to Vermont to visit my room mate. She lives in Brandon which is the cutest, coziest town I've ever been in.
We both got tickets to a show in Killington, which is about 45 minutes away from her home. So we decided to make a week of it. I got to her place on a Monday, we went shopping in Burlington on a Tuesday (Burlington is so cool, by the way) and Wednesday night was the show.
The band was Yukon Kornelius and the place was the Pickle Barrel Night Club right there in Killington. The club was also a restaurant, but that night no one was sitting down to a meal; there was hardly even any room to sit. It was completely packed.
The atmosphere of the place was very rustic; it felt like an old barn. Everyone was having a great time. The opening act was Pete Kilpatrick, which was a little ironic for me being a Mainer at a show in Vermont; I just wasn't expecting that I guess. He played about 5 or 6 songs and he definitely rocked the place. Then Yukon came out.
First of all, I forgot to mention that the entire evening was hosted by actor Jason Biggs, the guy from American Pie that gets caught doing something other than eating it. Anyway, after Pete got done his set, Jason introduced the act of the night.
Yukon Kornelius consists of Ed Robertson from the Barenaked Ladies, Eric Fawcett from N.E.R.D., Adam Gardner of Guster and Stefan Lessard, the bassist from the Dave Matthews Band. I stumbled upon a news headline on the DMB website that said "Stefan to play benefit concert with members of..." and you get the drift.
So Julia and bought tickets and that was that.
The show was insane. They played for almost two hours but I don't think anyone in the place would have minded if they had played longer. They did some of Barenaked Ladies' material as well as some Guster. They did everything from funk/soul to 80's hairband music. Jason Biggs even came out on stage for a song to play the cowbell on "Don't fear the reaper" (there should have been "more cowbell" though). Then, towards the end of the show, I look over my left shoulder and there's this guy standing there with a funny look on his face. For lack of inhibitions I ask him "What?" and he says, "Just wait. Just wait. Look and see who's going to be coming on the stage." Sure enough, Dee Snider from the 80s band Twisted Sister comes running out for the last song, which appropriately enough was "We're not gonna take it." It was amazing. That whole night was amazing. Definitely one of my favorite memories of all time.

JM

I'm sitting here eating my apple, waiting for my laundry to get done (on a Saturday night...I know), and listening to John Mayer. I've been on a Mayer kick lately. I go in spurts when it comes to what music I'm listening to. Sometimes I'll go for weeks at a time listening to DMB and Phish, and then I'll switch gears completely and listen to Beck or Death Cab. Variety...that's what it's all about.
Anyway, to coincide with my John Mayer vibe, I found some videos via youtube. I tried actually posting them but it wouldn't work, so I'll just copy and paste the URLs. Enjoy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQUG20cefEg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS8NvoMudy8&feature=related

The words "Dave Matthews Band" and "Summer Tour" are and always will be synonymous.

DMB's Summer 2008 Tour Dates have been announced...officially. Check them here:
http://tourdates.davematthewsband.com/

I went to see the guys play at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Mass. last summer. Both shows were sick. You don't have to be a die-hard to fan to enjoy Dave Matthews Band live. If you get a chance, go see a show; it's definitely worth it.

I drove home last night. It's usually a two-and-a-half hour drive from Orono, but because of the fog and ridiculously high risk of hitting a deer, it took me a little over four hours. Luckily, I had just added some fresh tunes to my iPod so that managed to keep me sane as I was creeping (literally) up the highway.
I'm one of those people who sings at the top of their lungs when they're alone in their car (I'm in a facebook group dedicated to those kinds of people). So, over the course of my four hour journey north, I think I managed to cover everything from Dave Matthews to CAKE to Kanye West (even though technically, I guess I wouldn't really be "singing" any of Kanye's material). Eventually, I just got tired and irritated from being in the car for so long.

# 1

I'm sitting in class, and I'm required to blog. In high school, I probably would have been scolded, but here, it's standard assignment(I love college). This is officially my first blog. Typically, I'm not a blogger, but already within typing the first paragraph I think I could get used to it.

As a journalism major in my fourth semester at UMaine, I'm taking CMJ 236, Writing for the Mass Media. So far we've written a news story, a feature story, and an article for broadcast, and now, blogging is the focus. At the beginning of the semester, I chose to cover the new Student Recreation and Fitness Center and the activities that go on there as my beat. I try to make it to the gym everday; working out always makes me feel better. I love the atmosphere and the hustle-and-bustle of people. So, I figured if I'm constantly there, why not write about some of the things happening there? It turned out to be a good decision. I got some good interviews and good quotes which made for good stories.

I have to say though, blogging about the rec. center isn't exactly what I plan on doing. I'm a music junkie by nature. I'm constantly looking for new music and since I've installed iTunes on my computer, it's going to be a miracle if I don't go broke. I like so many different kinds of music, I sometimes find it hard to organize and keep track of it all, but I'll attempt to write about some of it here.

Cheers.