Listening Power

illustration from InvisibleElement

I purchased a nice pair of headphones the other day on line.  They shipped to our house yesterday and I am stunned by what I can now hear.  It is almost like when I was thirteen and got my first pair of glasses and could actually see clearly for the first time.  I listened to some of my favorite music and was hearing things that I had never heard before. I heard the various instruments go from one ear to the other. I could hear details and nuance that may have been completely lost otherwise.

I am not the kind of guy that typically gets into a lot of gear so spending just under a $100 for a pair of headphones felt pretty extravagant.  What I have are a pair of Red Wave Numark headphones that are often the choice for professional DJs. I am telling myself this is my fathers day present to myself.

Pump It Up

ELVIS COSTELLO - PUMP IT UP by huntylch

I have been listening to this song lately.  I have never been a big Elvis Costello fan but that may be in the process of changing.  There is something here with this song that has it's hooks in me and wont let go.

I remember looking at the album cover with Elvis behind a camera on a tripod and listening to this song in my buddy's dorm room and feeling something I had not felt before. It was a mixture of confusion and excitement which is that mystical blend I have learned to hunt for like the illusive truffle.

So pump it up, until you can feel it!

Dancing In The Dark

They say ya gotta stay hungry, well baby I'm about starving tonight

This line from the song Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen resonates with me.  I have been dwelling on this song lately.  I am playing it, living with it and I find it to be an incredibly powerful song to sing. It seems like much of my life I have lived with this bursting at the seams feeling in my chest.  It's as if my foot's on the accelerator and the passing gear is about to kick in but not yet.  I  lived much of my life in a town that I have from time to time wanted to escape from. 

There's something happening somewhere baby I just know that there is.

I want to take this song into me and let it knock out a wall or two. I need to add onto my soul house  because it is getting kinda cramped in here. Come to think of it there may be some junk I can get rid of while I'm at it.

(By the way the music video I have posted here was actually directed by Brian De Palma of Carrie and Scarface fame.  The girl who he lifts on stage was a plant. She is Courteney Cox who, partly because of this video, went on to become a very successful actress including her role as Monica on Friends.)

Urbanized

The Film Urbanized will be showing tonight 6:30 at the Wealthy Theater and afterwards there will be a number of happenings on Wealthy Street directly after the film. The folks putting this on had first thought they would do another panel discussion and then they realized that they are tired of just talking and wanted to take action right after the film and so they made way for some cool stuff.

I will be playing music on the street near the theater with a couple of friends. Their will be food venders, bicycle club convergence, chalking pedestrian walk ways, solar lights getting placed in various places as well as just good hanging out and making friends. I hope to see you there! Bring your good ideas and be ready to get involved.  Check out the FB event for more info.

Antrim Dells

The band is Antrim Dells and they are new to me and new to town as far as I know. Built around songster Jacob Bullard who has come down from Northern Michigan to join the simmering Grand Rapids music scene. There music is quiet and intense at the same time.  They will be in our show at The Establishment June 7th along with Gifts Or Crreatures.