The best song about the worst dummer

I just got back from a high school drama competition (probably a post on that tomorrow) but I am back out again to take a walk around the neighborhood and enjoy this lovely weather. Might explore the downtown. We'll see.

In the meantime, this was the last song on my iPod before I pulled into the driveway. Ray LaMontagne's "Meg White"... the best song I've heard about the worst drummer in rock. Enjoy!

Local songs

Tonight I was supposed to see another showcase of talents from my friend Jason's label, Grinding Tapes Music. However, due to a very long week that lacked key things like sleep, I got to the end of today and barley had the energy to drive home from work. So I had to sadly back out. But these very busy bands will be having more shows in the future.

So instead of raving about the concert, I am instead posting songs from some of Grinding Tapes' artists.

CORRECTION.

I was going to post some songs from Grinding Tapes' artists... but on Youtube there are very few good quality tracks. So scrap that. Just go see them live. I posted the link above for their website. It's easier than me trying to find a good video to post.

Instead again, here's a local band that I've been digging as of late, Chester French:



Check in in the coming weeks for a not tired Landry describing concerts she actually goes to, and not having a fail of a blog post of music.

Tens (and drunk people) are so meta

I noticed this morning that on the TBTL website, there was the Tens Blog Roll. I joined on, and am listed as a Tens blogger under "Hot Pants for Shuffleboard (Landry in Boston)". But... if you're reading this page, then you clearly have already found my blog and don't need me to explain how to view this.

For those who are not Tens, Tens are the fans and followers of the podcast/radio show Too Beautiful to Live, out of Seattle. I promoted them in an earlier post called "Podcast Roll". So this explanation is for... my five viewers. Ha!

So this post just serves as a little hello to the Tens and a welcome to my blog! I'm trying to make it less whiny, but I can't promise anything. There are days when I need to complain about HR, my roommate, or anything else under the sun.

Also, if you're a single Ten in the Boston area who likes small redheads who like theatre, live shows, tea, yarn, and being snarky... then a big ol' hello to you!

Bon Savants and Ho Cro randomness

So tonight I trekked into Boston to see the Bon Savants. A big ol' thanks to my friend Dave (aka The Shoegazer) for hooking me up.

During the day, I did a little research to get a background on the band from the moderately reliable source Wikipedia. Here's my favorite line:

"While playing small live shows in and around Boston (Moran was and still is a part-time rocket scientist at MIT), they rotated drummers until finally adding the drummer Andrew Dole as a permanent member."

I love this for two reasons. One, because one of the members was a PART-TIME ROCKET SCIENTIST AT MIT. That's awesome. And second, because I went to college with a guy named Andrew "The Miz" Dole. Clearly not the same person, though. My favorite memory of The Miz is that when he auditioned for Improv, he was wasted at 3pm because he was so nervous, so he instead spent the whole time telling us about Keith Richards.

But I digress.

The Bon Savants played a roughly hour-long set as part of The New Alliance Sessions. Definitely a hip crowd, minus little ol' me. A neat space, with cool artwork and Miller Highlife. And let's face it... Miller Highlife always adds to a party.

I had downloaded their CD a few weeks before, and seeing them in person definitely added to my liking of this band. Their sound is very lush. Filled the space nicely. And the intimate setting (maybe 15-20 people there?) was an added bonus. Highly recommend downloading their CD or picking it up. You not be disappointed.

The random HoCro part is that Nikki, who I share several mutual friends with, was there, as her band practices in the same building. Big hugs, and she introduced me to many people, and we caught up. Always great to run into a Crusader in an unexpected area.

I tried to find a good video of theirs on Youtube, but sadly there wasn't a lot. This was the best I could find, but I think it captures their sound and vibe well:

Music shout out for the weekend

This weekend, I was originally supposed to catch a movie with friends. Unfortunately, right when the movie was starting, I had a nasty headache. So I took a lot of advil, napped for an hour, then woke up feeling better. As the move was already happening, I instead trekked to the Middle East Upstairs to catch a band with my friend Brian. His friends, Thick As Thieves, were playing a show.

They were quite good. Lots of energy, and catchy songs. They reminded me a lot of The Who, especially at the end of their set. The frontman, Tyler, even stood on top of a drum for awhile. So hats off to them for a great show.

Here's a video I found of them on Youtube singing their song, The Octopus:



If you ever get the chance to see them perform in the future, do it. Some of them will be playing with Oranjuly in March.

PS, that's one hell of a facial expression in the video before you click on it.

Oscar summary so far

I think because I'm no where near as drunk as I was on election night I'm not as a prolific blogger. But here are some thoughts:

--I heart you, Tim Gunn.

--Hugh Jackman is awesome. Making fun of musical numbers, people who always miss that one Oscar nominated movie, and Branjelina. Brilliant.

--I think it's going to be Slumdog City tonight.

--I still wish Robert Downey Jr. won the Oscar. And not because he's Dianne's boyfriend, but because he truly did a great job at playing that.

--Ben Stiller, why are you so awesome? And well played making fun of artism. Ha!

--This telecast is epic, and I wish there was an edit button to some of the things.

--Seth Rogan and James Franco are hilarious.

--Walken is nuts.

--The Jerry Lewis lifetime achievement award made me cry because of thanking him for all this work with the MDA. And I have no shame in admitting to that.

--I'm guessing this goes welllll past midnight. Oof.

Hometown Hero: Andrew Stanton

As some friends know, there are very few famous people who come out of my hometown. Then again, with a year-round population of about 7,000, a few is pretty impressive. The first is Paula Cole, but she's now just a one-hit wonder, so whatever to that.

No, we're here to talk about Andrew Stanton.


Andrew Stanton grew up in Ropo, then went off to become a big wig at Pixar. Finding Nemo? He made that. Wall-E? Made that, too. He's also the voice of Crush the turtle in Finding Nemo. So he's awesome and does a hometown good.

Well, tonight he won again, because he is that awesome. And today he gave a shout out to PHIL PERRY. Phil Perry was a teacher at my high school (still alive and bopping around town) and the theatre is named after him. He's pretty awesome. And he was just given a shout out on ABC. It was amazing.

So go Ropo!

Let me tell you how it will be. There's one for you, nineteen for me.

I did my taxes this morning. One of the benefits of having a laptop is that I can sit in bed and drink tea and do my taxes. So that was lovely.

This year was not the anal raping last year was. A short version of last year's tax hell: when I worked at my job in college, I was a very underpaid intern. So I was exempt from taxes. Then a year later when I came back to work at my job, I refilled out all my forms, and went on my merry way.

Well, in March '08 when I was doing my 2007 taxes, I realized that my company filed my forms incorrectly and I was still exempt from state taxes and owed the state $1100. Ouch. It was miserable, and for the record, those miserable aloof fuckers in HR or payroll never once apologized for screwing this up. (I'm intentionally refraining from using my company's name, because while I am pissed off at them to this day... I like being employed)

So I've spent the last year or so paying this off, which has had its ups and downs and stress, to say the least. I am finally paid off, a year ahead of schedule, which is good.

This year, when doing my taxes, I was anxious (but understandably so) that something would go wrong. Federal, I got a small refund, and State, I also got a small refund. I'd like to think that next year it'll be a bigger refund, because last year I was still exempt until March, so in 2009 I'll have 12 months of paying taxes. Federal is always low, which is annoying, but not sure what I can do other than refile my forms or what have you.

Anyways, in conclusion, I don't owe my savings to the state. I will not be receiving angry letters from the state threatening legal action this year (that's a true story), I still think HR is a bunch of aloof bitches, and I won't need to call Tobias my analrapist for support.

Got Back From Camping Last Spring

I was reading my a friend Karin's blog, and her latest post is an appreciation to Blossom Dearie, who passed away this month. This made me a little sad and nostalgic. First off, here's a song of hers and the link to the story on NPR about her passing:



When I think of Blossom Dearie, I think of two things. One, my old boss/college mom Joan. She's a bit older than my parents, but I had that mom/daughter relationship with her. She had several Blossom Dearie albums. One of which, and Pat can attest to this, had a song that had the lyrics "pencils come from Pennsylvania" which was a favorite. So whenever I hear her jazz work, I think of Joan and working for her and college and how wonderful Joan is.

And secondly, and probably something many people my age and older will remember, is that she sang many of the School House Rock songs. She sang Unpack Your Adjectives and, perhaps more notably, the hauntingly beautiful Figure Eight. I know Karin posted this video, and I wanted to find another one, but Figure Eight is just so beautiful and my favorite I had to as well:



So rest in peace, Blossom. Your talents were greatly loved and appreciated and will be missed.

Friend shout out

I just found out my friend Brian has been hired by a company. YAAAAAAAAAAAY! I am very excited for him, as this economy sucks right now, and I know a few people who are without a job. So glad that one less person in my life is worried about unemployment and the stress of Bush economic policies fucking us over every single day.

So if you're having drinks tonight, or whatever, you should raise one for Brian.

I wish I had some fava beans

I got a letter from the city today for "The Landry Household" for the census. This struck me as funny for many reasons. First, I think because I'm single and I'm a renter, I never think of myself as a household. Half the time I don't even refer to my apartment as home. I mean, it is my home... but I think because I'm just renting and it's not my place, I don't think of it as something permanent in my life.

I think, in order to make sure this gets done on time and correctly, I will handle the census and make sure it gets sent out okay. Want to keep voting and all that. The only issue is that they have us both down as students, which we most definitely are not. But as we'll probably be moving from here, I don't think it's important enough to change...

Book meme

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Tally your total at the bottom.


Here's the list:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (x+)
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (x)
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (x)
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (x)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (x+)
6 The Bible (x)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (x)
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell (*)
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman ()
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (x)
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (x+)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy ()
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (x)
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (*)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (*)
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien ()
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk ( )
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (x)
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (x+)
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot ( x)
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (x)
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (x+)
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens ()
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy ()
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams ()
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh (x+)
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky ()
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (x)
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (x)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (x)
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (*)
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens ()
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis ()
34 Emma - Jane Austen (*)
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen ()
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (x)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini ()
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres ()
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden ()
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (x)
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell (x)
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown ()
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ()
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving ( )
45 The Woman in White - () author??
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (x)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy (*)
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood ()
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding ()
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan ()
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel ()
52 Dune - Frank Herbert ()
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons (*)
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (x)
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth ( )
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon ( )
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (x)
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (*)
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon ( *)
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( )
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (x)
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov ( )
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt ( )
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold ()
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas ()
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac (*)
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy ()
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding ()
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie ( )
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (x)
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (x)
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker (x)
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (x)
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson ()
75 Ulysses - James Joyce ( )
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (* )
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome ()
78 Germinal - Emile Zola ( )
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray ()
80 Possession - AS Byatt (x )
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (x)
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell ( *)
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker ( )
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro ( )
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert ()
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry ( )
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White (x+)
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom ( )
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ()
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton ( )
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad ()
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (x+)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks ( )
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams ()
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Toole ( )
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas ()
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare (x)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (x)
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo ()



37 if my math adds up. In my defense, I was an English major in college... so many of these I read for one class or another. Oh, and I'm a giant nerd. That's also in my defense.

The High Holidays = Awesome

Frontmen for The High Holidays. Thanks to the article I found for the photo.

As mentioned, I trekked last night to The Lizard Lounge to see a band called The High Holidays perform. No hipsters to call my own, but holy hell was that show amazing. I guess it's a band made up of people who are friends and in other local bands, and they crooned all these popular pop love songs. Their cover of Something brought tears to my eyes, it was so pretty and awesome. I loved their sound, I loved the styling of the band, and that both singers sounded like Elvis Costello. All in all, a very hip night.

Apparently, they're doing shows like this on holidays (they had a Christmas one, or so I hear) which makes me excited and wish there were more holidays with lots of songs written about it. Arbor Day? No? Damn.

People love cute dogs, right?

Dog show! These are all from yahoo, and mostly goofy, but all cute.

Trolling the streets, and whining about how my friends are 90% in relationships

Tonight's musical entertainment is brought to you by Phil, as in Phil Collins.


At someecards.com, there was a card describing how it's unfortunate that V Day is on a Saturday this year, so I can't fake working late to mask not having any plans. This is, in my opinion, one of the more accurate statements I've come across in awhile.

One of the more unfortunate things about having about 90% "in relationship" friends is that on stupid holidays like this, yours truly is often trying to find plans by herself. Yours truly is also trying not to stab girls who get stupid on VD and gush about getting flowers and candy and love and puppydogs on this day as well, but that's another story for another day.

The morning began with getting a much-needed haircut. My hairdresser gave me a flower, and I thanked her for it. I didn't have the heart to tell her that this would probably be my only gift on this day.

Tonight, I am mixing it up by trekking into Cambridge to see my friend Brian play in a band that's playing love song covers. This is mixing it up because I don't normally do this, I'm going alone, and I might be trolling for a dude. I keep checking the invite list to see what the guest list looks like, and it seems very girl-heavy. Not ideal, but could work out. Maybe there'll be a nice little hipster there, looking longingly into his PBR.

Tomorrow, I hope to be back onto my regularly scheduled program of being a third or fifth wheel and not trying to zone out when my friends tell me about all the roses and bears and candy and pet names there are. Or I'll just be hungover. Toss up, really.

Podcast Roll

As some of you know, I work sandwiched between two call centers. I work in Project Management, but the area of PM I'm in works with both call centers and customers. While interesting, it also gets very loud. And it's hard to focus on work when you're hearing dudes two rows over essentially yelling over the phone to a customer about IP conflicts. It's hard to write articles or send out projects when you're trying not to listen to proxy servers.

So I've resigned myself to being tied to my iTunes all day long. It's amazing how listening to music or podcasts helps with this. I think because it's not even related to my work, it can become white noise and I can focus on the task at hand. Coworkers make fun of me sometimes, but whatevs.

And because I love bulleted lists, here are some of my favorites podcasts or bands to listen to while at work:


--Too Beautiful To Live (TBTL). Luke Burbank, formerly of NPR crush fame, moved back to Seattle in December '07 and has a talk show on 97.3 KIRO at nights with producer/longtime friend Jen Andrews, Engineer/Japan's #1 Mixer Sean de Torre, and a host interns. I will admit, it took maybe two weeks to get into it, just because it's so different, but now I'm hooked. It's hard to describe what the show is actually about, since it's kind of about nothing. Luke, Jen, and Sean all discuss their lives and their day-to-day adventures, but also go into the subjects of politics, art, culture, movies, music, news events, Diggstown, and Steve Gutenberg. This is also the show that gave me the phrases "doucher", and "aaaaand that happened". They also love getting their listeners involved and having parties. If only I didn't live in Massachusetts, I'd be partying with them all the time.


--Coverville. Roughly 30-hour podcast a few times a week that focuses on covers of well known songs. Usually one podcast a week is a request show, one is on a theme (gender-bending covers), and then another one is a show based around an artist or CD (Paul McCartney and Pet Sounds). Neat to hear new songs, and I've definitely found new songs I like to download.


--NPR Concert Series. Plenty of NPR-loving indie/alternative/hipster concerts to listen to. My favorites/frequently listened to podcasts are Belle and Sebastian, Arcade Fire, The National, and The Ting Tings. Good music in a live setting, and sometimes nice to not have to think about skipping around a CD, but to just listen.


--Wait Wait Don't Tell Me! Every Monday morning, I anticipate this podcast. Very funny and entertaining, and also quite knowledgeable when it comes to the news and current events. And you can tell they're all good friends and enjoy spending this time together. And now that they're a little more legit, they tend to have very good weekly guests for Not My Job. Also, B-Rock was on a few years ago, and he was hilarious and nailed it.


--The National, The Boxer. I got this CD for Christmas, and I love this band. One to love for years to come. Songs are both pretty rocking (Mistaken for Strangers) and relaxed (Start a War, Green Gloves). Soooooo good.


--Arcade Fire. This is my most favorite find for music in the last few years. I love this band, and I have a feeling they're going places in the next few years. Funeral starts beautifully and grabs you for the rest of the album, and Neon Bible has been a frequently played CD for awhile. GET THEIR STUFF.


--Songs I've heard on NEP. My friend Dave has a local music show called New England Product. If I can stay awake, I listen to his show and write down any songs I like and whenever I have an extra buck, refer to this list and download a song. This is how I've found Chester French (kick ass), Bon Savants, and Pretty & Nice (good beat, I end up bopping my head around). Always a good time.

Tee Hee Hee

It is no secret to my closest friends that I am a subscriber to match.com. Desperation? Perhaps. But it's also the middle of winter, freezing cold, I don't like always going to bars, and all my friends are in relationships? More like it.

A few months back, an EXTREMELY attractive dude crossed my radar on this site. Like, he was just very pretty to look at, and interesting to read about.

While scrolling through his photos, however, I noticed something... that my old roommate/friend Meg WAS IN THE BACKGROUND OF A PHOTO! It was dark, and in the background, but it was definitely Meg. I got very close to the screen to make sure I was right... and oh yes, I was. Quite bizarre.

I tried emailing him, and he shot me down, based on the fact that I live in the boonies, so I moved on.



Fast forward a few months, and I was in the city with Meg and a few others, and I told her this story, and she thought it was hilarious. I'm glad my crazy life entertains others.