Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Today, one of my friends introduced me to this song. She said to me, “This song makes me think of you.” I had heard of Grace Potter, but never really took the time to listen to her. Soooo wish I would have listened to her sooner. Now, this is soul.

I lost everything
I fell out of a daydream
At the door of a long lost friend
And I cried aloud
Without an inch of pride
I knew I had reached the end

An old and lonely man
Saw me sittin on the curb
He reached out an took my hand
He said I know your song
And I know your name
And there was a time that I felt the same

But it’s a low low road
You’ve gotta roll down
Before you find your way, my friend
And it’s a high, high hill
You’ve gotta climb up
Before you get to the top again

I held on so dearly
To the wrong things in my life
But now I see so clearly
I was walking into my own knife
You’ve got to get up off that street
Stop looking at your feet
And take a hold of something real
And this old man, took my hand
He looked at me and said, little girl, I understand

That it’s a low low road
You’ve gotta roll down
Before you find your way, my friend
And it’s a high, high hill
You’ve gotta climb up
Before you get to the top again

And there was a time that I thought that I knew it all
And there was a place that I thought I could call my own
But it all came crashing down and I looked around
And I knew that things would never be the same

Low low road
You’ve gotta roll down
Before you find your way, my friend
And it’s a high, high hill
You’ve gotta climb up
Before you get to the top again

It’s a low low road
You’ve gotta roll down
Before you find your way, my friend
And it’s a high, high hill
You’ve gotta climb up
Before you get to the top again
Cause it’s a low, low road
You’ve gotta roll down
It’s a low, low road

Her voice is simply amazing. For more info and tour dates, check out www.gracepotter.com

It’s right around the corner, people…

Okay. I’m putting a toe in the water to see how it feels. That’s it. Just a toe. I’m not going back there…not back to the world of the crazies, am I? That’s why I have this blog, so that I can talk about Taylor in a realistic way. We don’t talk about him in the “OMGIWANTTOHAVEHISBABIES” and “IKNOWIFHESEESMEINTHEFRONTROWHEWILLFALLINLOVEWITHME” way. We talk about Taylor in the musical sense, sometimes even the business sense. We discuss what he should do, shouldn’t do, is doing, isn’t doing, what we think he’s doing, what we think he’s not doing. Not of it really means anything…it’s just conversation.

So, that being said, on Tuesday, I’m putting my toe back in the water…with the Soul Patrol. This concert should be pretty interesting for me. I haven’t been to see him since 2007, and I think I’ll be able to see the whole picture from a clearer perspective. At least I hope so. Unless I get sucked back in…and I really don’t want to do that. Just the thought of it makes me shiver a little bit.

I’m pretty happy from my little corner of the Taylor Hicks fandom. The drama isn’t too deep, and the arguments are rare. And I like it that way.

When I recap…I’m going to do it honestly. No bullshit, no lies.

I don’t pretend that Taylor reads here. I would assume he would have more pressing matters than reading a blog about himself, but I’m gonna say this just in case:

Dear Taylor,

On Tuesday, I’m going to be in the front row. I’ll be the sort of excited one sitting next to my friend that I drug there, who is secretly hoping that she doesn’t see anybody she knows there. And, just in case you want to make a long time fan’s night…just in case you’re feeling generous, please play Bulletproof.

Or I could go with:

Dear Taylor,

Don’t play Bulletproof. Your guitar playing sucks and you sound bad when you sing it. (Reverse psychology…get it?) Well, except for the guitar playing part…you are getting better at that.

****

And because enough people haven’t asked me if I’m going to this concert, the newspaper had to put an article in. Ugh. I know alot of you have seen it, because it’s already been discussed in the last post. I thought it was a pretty fair article, although I did get drunk when I read it. I’m telling you, we definitely need to market the Soul Patrol drinking game.

“But it fits the bill for me, because I’m such a visual and a musical performer.”

SHOT!!

“I never take it for granted, because I know what it’s like to struggle,” Hicks said. “You have to stay out there and work it.”

DRINK!!

Here’s another article for good measure. We’ll see how it goes.

Um…well…yes.

I think he painted these pants on…not that I’m complaining.

I love it when he rocks out…

This is awesome…

Oh, and somehow, someway…I have to hear him sing this song when I go to the concert which is probably not in my best interest to be going to..

Seriously.

Taylor, are you listening?

It’s all about the music, right?

Just some performances I found that are, um, musically, yeah musically….uh awesome. Yep, all about the music. For sure.

Here, just listen:

Little bit of Ray coming out of him here:

And just because I can…

Randomness….

Promo of Don’t Forget the Lyrics…

Alabama beaches…

MUSIC!!

Oh, and Twitter…oh how I love you.

Don’t forget to download the SOS song off of Amazon or iTunes!!

Just BADASS!!

First off, a couple of new pics from Red Rocks:

And some videos:

Taylor’s tweets are always a source of amusement for me. Lately though, he’s been pushing this tour of his, which is going to be BADASS, along with some BADASS tour merchandise. Hmmm…wonder what kind of things could be so BADASS.

So, I went to Taylorhicks.com to see all these tour dates he has scheduled. Well, unless I’m missing some, there are only four dates scheduled. Wow…I know there will probably be more, but FOUR for now. Okay, Taylor…you are going to have to let it all hang out in those four dates to even be considered a tour. Gotta love that man!

Well, hello Taylor!! It’s about time!!

The hip swiveling, harp raping, pissy ass bastard is back!! And I only had to wait three years for it!! Taylor, I’m talking to you…I know you’re not one for flowers, so I’ll accept these videos as a reconciliation gift for the years you spent living in that drippy, melty, soggy, sparkly cone.

Oh, and thanks for the peek at the whitey tighties too!!

Out of the cone and hotter than evah!

Good to see Jeff Lopez and Brian Less too! And how much do I love that Taylor actually played the guitar…

I love the commentary by someone around the 3:30 mark, who says…This song is seven miles long! Ha! That cracked me up!

Then, wow…

This is the Hicks I’ve been searching for…for a long time now. Awesome!

Music

As much as this blog is about Taylor Hicks, it’s also about music. Music is a constant in my life, and right now, if there’s one thing I need, it is comforting things around me. I love how music can take me back to a place in my life…good or bad. There’s not really any other medium that can do that. I don’t see a rerun on television and think, “Wow. I remember what I was doing when I saw this.” Or read an email and be transported back to that time. It really is amazing. Right now, I just want to share a couple of my favorite songs at this moment:

Love me some Colin Hay…

And this is one of my favorite songs to run to:

And this…l grew up thinking I was going to marry Rick Springfield. Okay, so he was a famous singer/actor and I was 9 years old, but still. The first concert I ever went to was see him!! So, a few years ago, when he brought some new music, I was pretty excited. It didn’t quite measure up to his old stuff, but I love this song. The lyrics are just so true.

Theme song for me right now.

Music can comfort, excite, depress and mesmerize. It can make you happy, sad, lonely, or make you feel like you belong. When you can relate to a song…you just know that there are people out there who have the same feelings that you do. It’s just too cool.

Going through some changes…

Just bear with me for a bit…until I can work some personal issues out…until then:

What? American Idol plays favorites?

I know, I know. It’s shocking. But now the truth comes out. The American Idol producers manipulate the show, all the way down to the lighting. For those of us that have been watching for years, this really comes as no surprise.

Some highlights:

3. Listen for vocal effects. If the producers are pushing the girls, you can sometimes hear it in the singers’ voices. “On a couple of girls, you’ll hear reverb, delay,” Phil says. “All the guys will be dry.”

“Or, like they did with me on Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, they’ll put a delay that is off-rhythm,” adds Chris.

Put in a delay? Make a contestant seem off rhythm? What? Say it ain’t so…

4. Count the lighting changes. If the producers really like a performance, they’ll trick out the light show. “Somebody will come on and have a thousand light changes,” Phil says. “Then the next singer will come out, and they’ll put it on blue. And it’ll stay there the entire time.”

or

Little bit of a difference, huh?

6. Pay attention to performance order. The “pimp spot” — a show’s final performance — is well-known (hello, Katie Stevens; hello, Andrew Garcia). And, according to What Not to Sing, singing first raises a contestants likelihood of elimination by 50 percent. But Chris believes there are other dead spots in the show.

“Say there’s a guy who’s an early favorite, but they start going in the middle of the lineup all of a sudden,” he says. “Middle of the lineup is where they put people to die.”

This is not news, people. The pimp spot is where the winners are.

At the end of the day, however, “they’re going to give the people what they want,” Phil says. “That’s why Kris Allen ended up winning. That’s why Taylor Hicks ended up winning. That’s why Chris Daughtry got eliminated.”

Hmmm…