A2 Poetry Slam and Music Recommendations

So, I went to my first ever A2 poetry slam on Tuesday night and it was awesome! It was such a mix of seriousness, irreverence, accordian playing, humor...crazy! I had a blast though and definitely want to go to the slam next month. I don't think I'd ever have the guts to get up and participate in the open mic or anything, but damn, there are some amazing poets out there! I think what struck me the most of all was just how alive it was. I mean, I love a lot of the famous published-type, canonized poets, but there's something so different about seeing somebody get up on stage, just put themselves out there and peform their poems. I can't explain it but it was so amazing and so far from the stuffy examiniation of poems, poets and poetry that I've been exposed to in grad school for the last two + years. The featured poet was Future and, my god, just amazing stuff. Not just his poems but his presentation as well. Awesome, awesome. It really made me want to start writing again. I should do something about that...

Work is work, nothing worth noting there.

In music news, Green Day just released the video to "Jesus of Suburbia". You can see the 9 minute uncensored version here. It's quite the epic. I'm not entirely sure what I think of it yet. It works for the song, but I guess I was expecting something more along the lines of the videos for "Holiday" or "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". I suppose I should watch it again before making any bold proclaimations:) I've been listening to Virgin Radio Extreme a lot at work lately and found two new songs I like quite a lot. They are "Modern Way" by the Kaiser Chiefs and "Weight of the World" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Check them out!

I also have been listening a lot to some good bootleg/rare songs by MCR (including some stuff recorded at the concert I attended at EMU). You can download the songs along with some other really cool videos and such at The Big MCR Media List of Doom (there are also a lot of videos/mp3's etc. here for The Used, Fall Out Boy & 30 Seconds to Mars among others). In other MCR news, iTunes just put the videos for "Helena" and "Ghost of You" up for sale in the music store. I hope they put up the video for "I'm Not Okay" soon. The whole private school situation just cracks me up.

Um, also just "discovered" some stuff by the Doves ("Pounding") and the Stone Roses ("I Wanna Be Adored"). These aren't necessarily new songs, but they're new to me and I like them a lot--kind of cool & trippy sounding, along the lines of "Angel" by Massive Attack (also a really good song!). I've made up a playlist of all this stuff I *should* listen to. Things my brother has given me, things I've ripped but just never actually took the time to listen to--all that kind of stuff. Right now the list includes: The Killers (love a few songs but never bothered to listen to it all, don't ask me why), The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Franz Ferdinand, The Mean Reds, Operation Ivy, Finch, Hot Like a Robot...it's a pretty weird/sad list that there's all this stuff I need to listen to. My problem is I tend to get really into a few things and don't listen to anything else. Maybe there's a support group or something for people like me;)

Ok, those are my recommendations for today. And because photos of MCR just make me happy and it's gonna be one of those days...


Ciao!
Sasha