Updates

A few updates for you who are interested:

The Voice: The fantasy league is over and I WON!!! There were only two of us and the trend of us having the same number of contestants continued to the end and my final person was Juliet Simms who placed higher than my brother's Tony Lucca. BAM! Cannot wait for next year! (However anyone see an overwhelming male skew in the last few weeks? For example going down to 2 per team there were 2 girls and 1 guy left on each team and America voted all the men safe...what?!? That is sad really. I went on all episode about this travesty and received some consolation overall when Juliet at least made it to the finale.)

SiriusXM: So you know how I praised this style of radio a few weeks ago...I am very grieved to report that I have lost it. My free trial suddenly cut out Monday while I was driving. Sad day.

TV: For those of you know me I am a huge fan of good TV and I am really excited that all my shows are coming back next year- Parks & Rec, Parenthood, Castle, New Girl, Up All Night. Also in amazing Downton Abby news: there might be a movie! And Maggie Smith is supposed to be staying!! WOO HOO!!

So You Think You Can Dance has also started!! I am already disappointed by how quickly they are moving through the auditions and how they only highlighted 6 people per city, and there was barely any classic Tyce. On the positive side- DANCE IS BACK AGAIN! I am so excited that SYTYCD is back and that I got so see that adorable 2 year old dance. Soooo cute. (poor version below)

School: Last but not least I am happy to report that I not only made it into my #1 school for my masters but also received a full tuition scholarship!! YAY ME! This means I have to move to Kentucky- but I am not really sad about that but actually really excited. I hear it is beautiful and there are more things to do than here in this small town (not really a huge accomplishment). This worked out amazingly! I am so blessed!

Music Monday: fun.

When the fun. CD came out a few years a go I was about to buy it on the band name alone because I thought it would be a CD of fun music. As I thought about it more (and saw some of the people buying it) I thought the bands name might be a more ironic or sarcastic title, especially with that period on the end. I know, I over think things sometimes, especially when I am given ample time and opportunity to do so. I am here today to say that I wish I would have bought that CD, because fun. is a fun band. Ever since we almost saw fun. live I have been listening to their latest album even more than before the festival. I also have recently bought their first one Aim, Ignite and cannot wait to travel tonight while listening to it.

I know that some are loving their mega hit "We Are Young" and some are not big fans (and if you listen to top 40 radio you have to be getting tired of it by now) but the rest of the album I would say is better than this catchy single. The best song has to be the title track on their new album Some Nights. It is upbeat, you can sing along and dance around- great stuff. The 30 sec clip of this song is what made me buy their new CD, and both Cece and I were excited that we at least got to see this song live. In honor of that take a listen to a live version I found, although it was better when we saw it ;)

The whole CD is full of unique tracks that are great for dance parties in your room are a road trip car party. The founder and lead singer, Nate Ruess, has got a great voice behind him and some songwriting skills. My former coworker at Finders was a big fan of his old band The Format and would play one of their CDs all the time when we worked together. I remember liking it but now that I know it was his old band I may need to try and track down a copy. Some of my other song faves include: "One Foot," and "Carry On." I have a feeling they are going to keep getting better and bigger and I am excited for more!

New Releases to Check Out:

• Best Coast - The Only Place (I highly recommend it- great summer album just like the last one!)
• Beach House - Bloom
• Jacob Jeffries Band - Tell Me Secrets
• Ryan Shaw - Real Love
• Santana - Shape Shifter
• Newsies Original Broadway Cast (there has been some confusion on release date but it is awesome!)
• Already came out but still awesome: Rufus Wainwright - Out of the Game

On the Horizon:

• Paul McCartney - Ram remastered special edition
• Regina Spektor - What We Saw From The Cheap Seats
• Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Here
• Yellow Submarine being re-released on DVD (we got so many requests for this at Finders)
• and of course...KIMBRA - VOWS!!! NEXT TUESDAY!! Check out the cool ally dancing below:

Sweetlife 2012

Two weeks ago, while on vacation with my fam, I went to the Sweetlife festival in D.C. with Cece. Here were some highlights: (Which means no talk of food because we stayed put in our awesome seats for most of it and it was really expensive. Also, no pics of A$AP ROCKY who was horrible...it is like putting a "$" in your name is a curse or something.)

We got there a little late, then had to wait in the will call line, so we missed most of fun.'s set. It was disappointing because in the will call line (and when we finally got to see them) they sounded awesome and seemed to be putting on a great show. I think they just made it on my "Live list", or the running list of people i want to see in concert.

I have no clue who these two are. They played in-between the horrid A$AP set and before Fitz but were not on the official set list. It was a DJ with her Mac and turntables and a violinist shredding her bow in an awesome combination that I would actually want to see again (I am not a huge D.J. concert fan). I wish I knew who they were, cuz they were cool.

Fitz and the Tantrums put on one amazing and energetic show (just as I expected). They knew how to get the crowd going, how to perform, how to dance and with their music being great in the first place it made for a fun show that defiantly won the crowd over. (Including Cece) I would recommend everyone go and see their live show- it is a great time.

Finally- there was the Shins. Even though I already have tickets to see them in June I was really looking forward to them. They did not disappoint. They sounded great and played the hits, and by hits I mean the songs I like...which is just about all of them.

Performance wise they were as I expected them to be-classic band performance with no dancing, crowd hyping, guitar smashing or stage dives. They just went up there and played, talked to the audience some, but the focus was defiantly on the music and fitting a ton into their hour and fifteen. I am excited to see them again with Jenah because their music is amazing and I could listen to them everyday. (Also quick shout out to the new girl in the Shins- she looked awesome and sounded awesome too. Girl Power! Sorry...there was a Spice Girl reference in New Girl so it has been coming up a lot this week.)