#cicadas r supposed to be going crazy here soon

[stayatsam]

cicadas when!!!!!!!!!

#i thought they were supposed to be out by now #cicadas r supposed to be going crazy here soon

[joementa]

There Are Some Great Albums In 2017 That Are Great For Summer.

I love varying my music based on the seasons.  To me, it’s just the natural way of doing things.  Sometimes I’ll even do it with the time of day!  Summer is my favorite season – both in terms of weather, and in terms of the music.  Although, to be honest, I think they both go hand in hand.  In my opinion I have a decent size list of go-to summer music that I’ve been acquiring over the years.  I haven’t had too much of a chance to go back and listen to them this summer, for a few reasons.  I’ve been busy dealing with a couple of life changes that have really kept me busy. The weather this summer near me has been weird – some days it feels like fall, and we haven’t had too many classic summer days yet.  And, best reason of all, there have been a TON of great new albums released this year that I think are perfect for summer.  I think all of these have a chance to make it into my long-term summer rotation, and hopefully next summer I’ll have more time to dig back and check them out.  In the meantime, here’s some albums released this year that I think are great for summertime.  And just to take it one step further, I’ve  categorized these albums for specific times in the summer.  Summer is supposed to be easy, so I made things easy for you!

Summer morning: Jeff Tweedy – Together At Last I love listening to the crickets and cicadas in the summer.  Where I live, they always start to come out around late July/early August, and if I’m lucky they’ll stay around through September and maybe we’ll get a week of them in October.  Whenever I go for a morning drive this time of year, I like to drive with the windows down, with quieter music playing so I can still hear the crickets and cicadas. It’s a good soundtrack too, because there tends to be less people on the roads this time of year.  Things are quiet, so it’s natural to listen to quiet music.  This is a beautiful new album, and it’s perfect for this time of year.  Jeff Tweedy is one of my favorite musicians and singers, and on Together At Last, he plays classic Wilco, Golden Smog and Loose Fur songs, all solo acoustic.  There’s some harmonica in there too.  It’s a perfect companion to the natural sound of summer.

Summer afternoon (country drive): Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – The Nashville Sound I live near the countryside, and one of the things I love doing most is getting in my car and just driving for miles around the area.  I’ll turn down the windows and just drive on random roads.  If the sun is shining, I’ll almost always listen to something from the Americana/country rock genre.  Jason Isbell is one of the best songwriters in music right now, and I think he fits in that genre for the most part.  This album has a bunch of really great songs on it, and it’s a great soundtrack for country drives.  And check out “Hope The High Road” – that one should help a lot.

Summer country album: Brad Paisley – Love and War Let’s be honest.  Country music is really popular.  Luckily, there are some country musicians that I really do love.  Brad Paisley is one of those.  And dhere are a few things I love about Brad Paisley.  First is obviously his guitar skills.  That guy can play, and that’s an understatement.  He plays a Tele.  He puts on a great show.  And he can be really corny.  Wait. You might ask why do I like it that he can be corny?  Because he KNOWS that he can be corny.  Check out his new album Love and War.  Of course there are some great guitar solos and riffs on it.  But there’s some hilarious songs on it, too, including “One Beer Can” and “selfie#theinternetisforever”.  Those songs are a little corny, too.  And that’s okay.

Summer afternoon (long, sunny drive to the beach): Paramore – After Laughter; Haim – Something To Tell You I’m giving you two albums here, both of which I really love and are right up there with some of my favorite albums of the year.  I love the great melodies that are in modern pop, and both of these albums are filled with them.  And they both have substantive lyrics, so it’s not all silliness.  I wasn’t very familiar with a lot of Paramore’s music before After Laughter, but I read a few feature articles about the band as this album was getting released, and I was really intrigued.  I’m still not familiar with their other albums, but I will be soon.  I LOVE them, and can’t wait to see them in October.

I’ve been a fan of Haim’s for a couple of years now.  I love how they combine a bunch of genres into one – pop, indie rock, there’s some 80’s synth-vibes in there too.  I’m not sure how I would describe their music, at least in terms of genre, expect to describe the as very catchy.  They make GREAT summer music, especially during the day when the sun is shining.  Both of their albums are very catchy (and most importantly, very great) and are worth checking out.  Something To Tell You is the new one, and Days Are Gone is the debut.  

These are two solid albums for a drive down to the beach.  I live about two hours from the beach, so I’ll listen to these albums back to back and then have just enough time to listen to tracks 5 and 6 from Bruce’s classic beach album The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle.  I’ll pull up to the house just as the outro to “Rosalita” is ending. How perfect is that!

Summer late-night: Lana Del Rey – Lust For Life I’m usually not a huge fan of being awake late at night, because I find it to be very lonely.  Except for the summer.  There’s something romantic about a late summer night with the lights dim, some candles burning, and a break from the heat.  Lana Del Rey is always perfect for summer nights, and Lust For Life may be her most perfect album of all for summer nights.  She took many of her songs in an R&B and chill hip-hop direction on this album, and both of those genres (especially R&B) sound better at nighttime. Definitely give this album a listen late at night, before the summer’s over.  And don’t wait until the last day of summer.  Because you’ll want to listen to it more than once.  It’s enough just to make you go crazy…

For a 2-hour drive: Dave Matthews Band – Live Trax Vol. 42 – 9/14/07, West Palm Beach, FL I buy all of the Live Trax shows that DMB puts out.  Vol. 42 is from their not-so-great (in my opinion) Summer 2007 tour.  But that doesn’t mean there weren’t some great shows from the tour.  This is one of them, and it’s worth buying just for the version of “Loving Wings”. It’s amazing.  LeRoi Moore and Rashawn Ross rip up some great sax and trumpet solos, respectively, and then Carter Beauford comes in and does what he usually does (i.e. destroys a song with a great drum solo).  One of the best things about having Carter for a drummer is that, unlike most drummers, he doesn’t just keep the beat.  He’s so on the beat that he does way more than that. It’s almost like the band keeps the beat for him.  Check out the last few minutes of “Loving Wings” from Live Trax Vol. 42 and you’ll see what i mean.

There are also a bunch of other great songs on here that make this show worth checking out.  “Sweet Up And Down”, a song that before 2007 the band hadn’t played live in over 6 years, and was considered dead by most of the fanbase.  That song rips, and once again Carter also completely destroys the song.  “If I Had It All” is totally different than the studio version found on Everyday – in particular, the outro really stands out.  And we also get a “Shotgun” at this show.  That song is a monster.  What a guitar riff!  

For a 3-hour drive: Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band – Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO 8/23/08 This is the perfect summer show. Bruce and the band took the stage to carnival music playing on the PA system.   Thankfully, they left it on the tape so you can hear it too.  Then they went right into “Then She Kissed Me” to open the show.  This show is worth buying just for that moment alone.  

But wait!  There’s more!  They played “Girls In Their Summer Clothes”, and Bruce made a comment in the beginning of the song about summertime.  And they played a bunch of summer Motown/soul songs throughout the night, ending with “Little Queenie” and “Twist and Shout”.  

Bottom line – this is a great summer show.  You must buy it.

For a 4-hour drive: Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band – Olympiastadion, Helsinki, FI 7/31/12 I’ve written about this show so many times now that I feel like I have déjà vu.  This is worth it just for the last three songs (“I Don’t Want To Go Home”, “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher”, and “Twist And Shout”), but of course you get so much more than that. This was the band’s last show in Europe in 2012, and Bruce mentions it a few times throughout the show.  You can tell it was a special show for him.  “Loose End” was a nice rarity that got played.  “Prove It All Night” has the 1978 into, so you know it’s great.  “Back In Your Arms” was another rarity that got played.

Oh, and why do you need this for a FOUR hour drive? Because that’s how long the show was!

#music #summer #summertime #beach #jeff tweedy #wilco #jason isbell #brad paisley #counry #lana del rey #haim #paramore #dave matthews #dmb #dave matthews band #bruce #bruce springsteen

[ladykristianna]

Sleepers - Part 6

The story continues…

This is a work in progress story based on a writing prompt from /r/writingprompts on reddit. Jess and David wake up in an ancient forest surrounded by over a hundred other sleeping people with nothing but headaches and questions. Suddenly an ominous voice rings out around them, “Rise and shine,” and the sleepers awake. (7953 word count for all parts so far.)

I am writing this for funsies as a side project. It has not been edited. Please don’t copy/paste elsewhere without my permission first. I work hard on my writing so please don’t plagiarize. Questions or comments? Shoot me a message here on tumblr or to ladykristianna on twitter. Thanks for reading.

Start from the beginning. [Part 1] Read the previous chapter. [Part 5]

Read more of my writing.

Sleepers - Part 6 (1429 word count)

JESS

Ever since we’d found our way to our “Base of Operations” as I’d taken to calling it, it had been getting steadily darker. David was right in that the sun set a lot slower here. It was still a lot to wrap our heads around. I needed to start a fire and soon, and I highly doubted that David knew how to start one in the primitive style. Most people didn’t.

My dad’s wilderness survival lesson’s were coming back to me. I knew how to make a fire the old fashioned way, but it didn’t mean I wanted to do it. Making a fire without a flint, matches, or lighter was a pain in the ass, and I hadn’t done it in years. I let out a long exasperated sigh.

David glanced in my direction. We were both sitting at the edge of the water listening to the waterfall. It was a moment of peace in our otherwise stressful day. “What’s the matter?” he asked.

“We need to make a fire, and I’m not looking forward to it. I don’t have a knife or rope to make a bow drill, so this is probably going to take forever. I might need your help.”

“A bow drill?”

I rubbed at my temples. My headache was coming back. “It’s a type of way to start a fire without matches or a lighter, but it would take time to make one. We’re going to have to do this the old, old fashioned way.”

“Okay. Just tell me what to do,” he said. David chuckled to himself. “I feel like I’m pretty useless here. Isn't it supposed to be the man saving the day and building the fire?”

I smirked at him. “Hey, don’t bring your outdated gender roles around here. I don’t mind saving the day. ‘I am woman. Hear me roar’ and all that. Just go find me some decent dry firewood and I’ll gather the stuff we need to get the fire started.”

David went off in the other direction, and I rooted around at the base of some trees for tinder and the right sized pieces of wood that I needed. After arranging my supplies, I flopped down by a flat, dry spot near the rock face by the cave. It was a perfect place to build the fire, and I got started with the hand drill. When you see people trying to build a fire in the old cartoons by spinning a stick it’s pretty misleading. It. Takes. Forever. and a mountain of patience and stamina. Luckily, there seemed to be no wind here inside the dome. Well, not that I knew of anyway. I remembered when I was first learning how to do this the wind kept blowing out my tiny little flames, and my dad would just laugh and laugh. I was ten years old. Once I was able to make a fire that way, he let me do it with a lighter. It had almost been ten years since then.

David returned with a handful of fallen limbs and sat down to watch. It was long and arduous work, but eventually, finally, I saw a tiny tendril of smoke rise from the bottom of the stick. “David, grab a little bit of that tinder! Hurry! Put it right there!” I blew gently and the bits ignited. I let out a triumphant whoop. “Yeah baby! I’ve still got it!”

Before long, our baby flames were a campfire that any woodsman would be proud of. I laid back against the rock face and closed my eyes. There was hardly any light left beyond our little fire now. The muscles in my arms were burning from rolling that stupid stick back and forth. It was tiring work making a fire, but damn it was an accomplishment that made me feel nothing but proud of myself.

“So what’s the plan now?” David asked. His eyes glittered in the firelight. “It’s great we have safe water and a fire and all, but what comes next? We can’t live on berries and nuts forever, even if we do find them. We need to find a way home.”

“Honestly, I was trying to forget about it all. I wish I didn’t have to deal with the fact that we were kidnapped out of our beds and dumped wherever the hell here is. I say we get some sleep and deal with it in the morning.”

“Are you serious?” He looked at me like I was crazy, which was probably true. “This is a big deal. We have to find a way out of here. You can’t just ignore this.”

“Watch me. I am really good at avoiding my problems. I just go with the flow and hope for the best. One problem at a time. And right now I am going to test these two berries in my pocket, and hope they don’t kill me. If they don’t, we’ve got a food source, and if they do… well you’ll just have to find someone else to make fires for you.”

I had pulled the cloth wrapped berries out of my pocket and rolled one between my fingers. David watched it with apprehension in his eyes. “What do you mean ‘kill you?’ You never said anything about that earlier.”

I shrugged. “It’s really unlikely, but still possible. I’ve never seen this kind of berry before, so I really don't know what it will do to me. But this place has nothing but trees and bushes. We need food, and that’s the problem I am going to focus on for now.” I popped the berry between my fingers and rubbed the juice on the inside of my left wrist. The thick red juice ran down my hand disturbingly like blood. I lifted it to my nose and smelled it. “It smells sort of like flowers. ” I tried to articulate the strange scent. “Maybe honeysuckle and grapes? It’s kind of hard to explain. It doesn’t smell bad though.”

David didn’t say anything. He just watched the red drip down my hand, then he looked away. “I just want to get out of here.”

“And you think I don’t?” I felt something snap inside me. “You think I want to be climbing trees and walking around barefoot in the middle of the woods? Do you think I want to be reminded of my dead father every time I look at this damned campfire? Do you think I want to be the guinea pig for this potentially deadly berry just so we won’t fucking starve? You know what? It doesn’t even matter.” Without thinking, I popped the stupid thing in my mouth and felt the juices burst  on my tongue.

“Jess!” David gasped out. “I thought you had to wait.”

“I’m tired David. I’m not going to keep complaining about every damned thing that goes wrong. My whole life has been one bad thing after another. I can’t go on if that’s the way it’s going to be.”

“That doesn’t mean you can do stupid stuff like what you just did. Do you have a death wish?”

“Maybe I do.”

David didn’t know what to say to that, so he just turned and stared at the fire. Every once in a while though, I noticed that he would take small side glances at me to see if I was okay.

Even though we had walked for hours earlier and were exhausted both physically and mentally neither of us could sleep. It was still numbingly silent around us. I was used to the sounds of crickets or cicadas or other night creatures when I camped, but it was just quiet here except for the crackling of the fire. At least it wasn’t freezing outside.

“Well shit,” I said.

“What?”

“I may have been a bit hasty when I ate that berry.” I laughed nervously, and I held up my arm for David to see. All along my inner wrist the skin had turned red and inflamed where I had rubbed the berry earlier.  “My arm up to my elbow is numb.”

“That reaction was fast. Do you feel alright aside from the numbness?”

“Yeah. Nothing new. I feel the same as…” My voice trailed off, and my vision blurred. Shit. I turned to David and tried to look him in the eyes, but my eyes wouldn’t focus. “Keep fire going,” I managed. “Gonna pass out… Sorry David… was stupid.”

My eyes rolled back into my head and everything went dark. At least it didn’t hurt.

[To be continued in Part 7]

#my writing #sleepers #story writing #story #amwriting #writing