New Bands to Watch

       Now that many of the past year's 'bands to watch' have become household names (WALK THE MOON [my first post; the writing's probably pretty rough], Kodaline, Youngblood Hawke, Walk off the Earth, and Passenger, to name a few [and I fully expect LP, London Grammar, Hunter Hunted, The Rebel Light, and Paper Route to join them]) , I think it's time to start on a whole new batch of 'bands to watch'. Are you excited? Because I know I am.

       If you have something awesome to share, send it to me at themusicrag@gmail.com or DM my twitter or, if I've already fallen for you music, I might seek you out to ask you about it (maybe.. I did just fail horribly at asking a guy out for the first time so my ego's been shot, then held under water for ten minutes and forced to die an excruciatingly slow death.. To be fair, I didn't actually get to the asking out part because I got too flustered and was like "screw it. It wouldn't last anyways", so I guess I didn't technically fail..). Honestly though, I will be nothing less than crazy nice and would love to talk with you.

       So get ready for awesome new music because I can't wait to start sharing it with you guys.

- E

Same Love

       The best thing about being woken by your phone beeping incessantly is realizing that your friend is texting you for amazing reasons, and not bad ones. My stance on DOMA has been clear, I believe, but, if you're new to the blog, here's a past post about the need for marriage equality in this country.

       Overturning the Defense of Marriage Act is only a small step as, though you can now be recognized as a married couple at a federal level and receive all the same benefits as other married couples, there are still plenty of states who still can't seem to figure out that a basic human right should be available to every human being, no matter their sexual orientation. My friends who have found someone they truly love, family friends who have been with each other for thirty years, they deserve the right to marry the person they love, without having to wait for a federal court of strangers to decide whether or not their relationship should be given the same rights which every other citizen is born with.

       This song is gorgeous and makes it impossible for me to not love Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (even if I still can't stand "Thrift Shop" because all I can think of is stalking Girl Scouts... but that's another story for a different time).

       "Same Love" Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Mary Lambert

- E

Twitter

       On principle, I have never had a Twitter account and I never planned on getting one; who really cares what you are thinking every second of every day. If sixty percent of the people around me knew what I was thinking at any given moment, I would have no friends (either because they're being awful or because I'm sitting here thinking about how I would rather get sun poisoning then fall down a flight of rough concrete stairs than sit here listening to your stories of how blue the water in Croatia was. Water is blue; everywhere. If the water in Croatia was purple, then I would want to hear about it [because that would be awesome and probably a sign of the end of the world and I have some great plans for the apocalypse]).

       In light of some recent events though, I have decided to start a Twitter for the blog, if only to announce when new posts have been put up or to make it easier for you guys to talk to (at?) me (though you can still totally send emails because I like those and, more importantly, I understand how those work...). I am awful at using social networking sites correctly (i.e. apparently, you are supposed to change your facebook profile picture more often than once every two years; who knew?) and I am positive that I will, no doubt, fail at doing this thing correctly. If I fail to post updates or 'follow' you or whatever it's called, just know that, though I may look like a college student, I have the social networking skills of an eighty year old. I love you, I just don't know how to show it online (though I would totally hug you if I ever met you).

       So bear with me as I try to get this figured out so I can share music with you guys a little more efficiently and I guess.. follow me? Maybe. Yeah. Follow Me. 
https://twitter.com/TheMusicRag

- E

SunFest 2013

       This year's lineup may not have as many "big names" as last years SunFest did, but I am still indescribably excited to, yet again, kick off my summer with five days of music (plus, SunFest is the cleanest and most organized music festival you can go to and always has the best artists for a great price).

       My only real complaint is that, this year, it seems that far too many great artists are overlapping each other's performances. Last year it was easy to leave Third Eye Blind early to see some of Joan Jett and The Blackhearts' performance and to rush from Passion Pit's show to Creed's (judge all you want, but my inner nine year old was fucking ecstatic to finally hear "Higher" and "One Last Breath" live) but, this year, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros will still be playing when The Smashing Pumpkins begin their set, Gary Clark Jr.'s performance will overlap with Yellowcard's on the same day that Ed Sheeran will be playing at nearly the same time as The Offspring (choosing between these two will be one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made), and I will be forced to choose between hearing "Surrender" and "I Want You To Want Me" (Cheap Trick) or "Gone, Gone, Gone" and "Home" (Phillip Phillips). 

       Regardless of my personal problems with the scheduling conflicts, this year's SunFest lineup is amazing and, if you need a good way to start your summer, there's no better way to do it than with a five day concert on West Palm Beach's waterfront. The headlining acts include Train, The Smashing Pumpkins, Ed Sheeran, Life In Color, The Offspring, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, Big Sean, Black Crowes, Cheap Trick, Phillip Phillips, Kendrick Lamar, Boz Scaggs, and Gavin DeGraw (and I would be lying if I said I wasn't really excited for Life In Color).
       Overall, I'm just excited to hear this song live, dance around to "Drive By", finally hear "Sometime Around Midnight" in its most amazing form (everything from The Airborne Toxic Event is hauntingly beautiful and their performance can't be missed), and to hear a little of this and a lot of this (I'm a little embarrassed by how excited I am to see Gavin DeGraw but, as I will be writing about him soon after his performance, it's probably best that you find out how lame I am now).

       Check out this year's lineup and get your tickets now (general admission doesn't sell out, but it is slightly cheaper now than it will be in another month) because this year's SunFest will be just as amazingly fun as the previous years' have been (plus [if you've been before], you know you're excited to see a man dressed in a full Captain Morgan costume sauntering around on hot asphalt again).

SunFest

- E

Travel Preparedness

       I think I've mentioned just a few (overwhelming number of) times that I will be leaving for Germany on Christmas Eve. It will not be an especially long trip (I'm just not that rich and if I'm in another country for longer than a month it will be England or New Zealand or Africa), but it will be especially great because I will be seeing one of my favorite people in the world for the first time in a year. While there, I do not want to worry myself with writing anything (you guys are probably awesome and your taste in music is great but...) so I have come up with a plan to be organized and prepared (for once).

       As we head towards 2013, seemingly quicker than ever, I think it is only expected that I compose lists of the best of the best from 2012 (i.e. best bands/albums/music videos). With this in mind, I apologize in advance for not writing about any bands or artists (new or established) until the new year; there will be plenty of great music to share with you come 2013.

- E

Year In Review + Kodaline

       These "Year In Review" videos are always fun to watch and it's totally relevant to this blog because it shows clips (albeit very short ones) of PSY, The Piano Guys, Walk off the Earth, and that JB Fanvideo you wish your friend had never shown you (though she does redeem herself a bit here), as well as featuring the song "All I Want" by Kodaline (whose new album, In A Perfect World, has been announced for a March 15, 2013 release). 
       Plus it's put together by Google, who powers YouTube and Blogger and Google Chrome; basically, were it not for Google, I would not be able to annoy so many people all at once! So, as we head towards the new year in what seems like record time, watch this video and think of all of the great musical, political, and (admittedly) short-lived moments that controlled our lives in 2012, and how many there will be in 2013. 

- E

For Christmas...

       With Christmas day only two weeks away, I guess I could start harping on what I want...
       All I want for Christmas is for Lady Danville to get back together.

       Okay, maybe that's not all I want, but a working car and a sudden (dream) career change aren't too plausible.
       Yes; a reunited Lady Danville is all I want for Christmas when I wake up in Germany(!).

Get it here

Lady Danville
End of an Era

- E

Catch Up

       I have been taking extra shifts (every day) and working overtime in an attempt to get enough money for a down payment on a car that actually works without needing a jump each morning and have been neglecting to do things like laundry or updating this blog on its normal daily basis. I am done with classes for a bit now and have no work for four entire days(!; unless they call and I give in out of guilt and hunger) so I have plenty of time to write some posts that aren't just fillers for you guys (and to finally have some clean sweaters).

Sleeperstar

- E

Music Videos

       I usually focus on the song itself; if you do not like the song, a music video, no matter how good, will not make much of a difference. I do not watch the music video before listening to the song, in its entirety, otherwise it could, either adversely or favorably, impact the song; I want my views on the song to be my own, constructed of my own volition, not those of a director's four minute vision. These songs are all great though, and their music videos only make them better.

       Ed Sheeran came out with his new music video for "Give Me Love" earlier this week (the end of last week...?) and it's so gothic-ly weird and great (not to mention how amazing the song itself is) that I just keep hitting the replay button.

       One of my readers shared The Script's video for "Hall of Fame" with me and I can't help but watch it on repeat. It's just put together so fantastically (both the video and the song). 

       Passenger's "Walk You Home" is great. It's a stalker-ish song, but his dancing is kind of adorable and the song is just so catchy and addictive (and his voice is just perfection. I love it).

       There were people who seemed to think that this video, and song, were controversial, but I think it's great. If she had done anything other than leave him there, I would have lost some respect for Carrie Underwood. If you find it awful that she could leave her 'father' like that, that's a good thing, but the only thing that makes this song better is the music video.

- E

Go Vote

       Tomorrow is election day in America and, though you may be haggard from having to rush to the phone for all those political calls and watching every political ad on television, you need to go out and vote. Do you really want to take a chance that someone who is completely intolerant of equal rights and has said "some gays are actually having children born to them... It's not right on paper. It's not right in fact" could lead this country (maybe you do; it's your prerogative)? I will be a bridesmaid at my best friend's wedding when she can get married, and I will cry just as much when she marries the woman of her dreams as I did when my sister and brother-in-law got married. And a man who claimed that "rape is just another form of conception" should never be allowed to hold the title of vice president, or be given any leading title (purporting lies like that is dangerous and cruel). I'm sure it is obvious that, even though bias is never less than annoying, I will be voting for the man who signed the Lily Ledbetter Act, the Recovery Act, and the Affordable Health Care Act; the man who ended the war in Iraq, added 5.2 million jobs to the private sector, extended the post 9/11 GI bill, rescued the auto industry, set better fuel efficiency standards for auto makers, and took this country from its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression to the point where you do not expect to get turned down for every job you apply for and where an open house is not an empty house, all in four short years. He may not have done a perfect job, but he has done an amazing job with what he was given. And with Sandy fresh in our minds, I will be voting for the man who believes in global warming and is working to do whatever small things he can to slow it down; I will not be voting for a man who wants to cut funding for FEMA by 40% and thinks that climate change is made up. Most relevant to this blog, if you really love music as much as I do, it's silly to support a man (Romney) who says that he will cut all federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.

        Just vote. If my dad is voting from his hospital bed (the hoops you have to jump through are ridiculous; I have to drive to one location to pick up the ballot, with a signed note from him saying I can do so, then take it to him to fill out and sign, then drive it to a location (different from the first one) before 6 PM tomorrow), you can get to your polling location and vote before the polls close tomorrow night.

- E

Sorry

       I lied in my last post about presenting you with some grand post this morning (and probably will not get to it until sometime tomorrow night, depending on visiting hours). Though, you would think that, after all these years, someone would find a smell other than antiseptic ass for hospital rooms; nothing can bring on a headache quicker. Until then, there is nothing better to clear your head after leaving that room than some Foxy with the windows down, the bass up, and your speakers turned up to 40.

       On the other hand, every time Rosenberg sings "my liver may be fucked, but my heart is honest" I fall in love with his songs just a little bit more. It's the completely other end of the spectrum from Foxy Shazam, but just as fantastic (and it just makes me feel a little better).

- E