Natalie Merchant & Random Ramblings

I saw Natalie this past Tuesday. I can’t quite articulate how I feel right now. I become strangely emotional after I see her. I don’t really understand why. Maybe it’s the connection I feel to her/her music? The fact that such anticipated moments come and go so quickly, which feels unfair? I don’t really know.

Now don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing show. Probably one of my favorite Natalie shows. She played with a full orchestra and she sounded better than ever. I kept track of the set list because as time goes by I usually forget it.  

The Land Of Nod/Nursery Rhyme Of Innocence And Experience/Life Is Sweet/Equestrienne/Beloved Wife/Gold Rush Brides/She Devil/Maggie And Millie And Molly And May/Butterfly (a new song)/Verdi Cries/Spring And Fall: To A Young Child/Henry Darger/This House Is On Fire

Intermission

The Man In The Wilderness/The Sleepy Giant/The Letter/The Worst Thing/Wonder/Break Your Heart/Carnival/These Are Days/Kind & Generous

Butterfly, which is a new song, was great. And she covered a lot from Leave Your Sleep. And of course, ended with the songs that most people know and love. Don’t get me wrong, I love Wonder, Kind & Generous, etc but man, when she plays those the crowd goes nuts. It makes me wonder (no pun) if people really know her catalog. She has so much incredible music that deserves to be heard.

Anyway, I feel like I have more to say but I’ll say it another time or maybe update this post again.

On a completely unrelated note, I deleted my Facebook account. I also deleted my Twitter and Google+ accounts. I’ve been wanting to do that for a while. It feels very freeing. I’m going to focus more on my blog and real human connections not related to social media.

Ahhh….changes. 

The man in the wilderness asked me to tell
All the sands in the sea and I counted them well.
He said he with a grin, "And not one more?"
I answered him, "Now you go make sure." 

Natalie Merchant - Leave Your Sleep

Last week marked the one year anniversary of the release of Natalie Merchant's Leave Your Sleep album. Normally I don't think twice about an album's anniversary. However, Leave Your Sleep has become one of my absolute favorite albums. She turned other people's poetry into music, 26 songs to be exact. It contains a broad range of musical styles and somehow remains completely cohesive. I find some sort of comfort in this album, something I can't explain.

I was lucky enough to see her live two times last year. Once was an intimate show last April at the Poetry Center. Such an amazing show. I also saw her this past July at the Chicago Theatre which I briefly blogged about here.

Anyone who hasn't heard this album should have a listen. Get the full version with the 26 songs. In the booklet she explains each poem and gives the background of the original poet. I just love it! So there. Haha. I think this post got a little melodramatic. Oh well. Have a listen to The Peppery Man, one of my favorite songs off Leave Your Sleep:

Also, be sure to 'like' Baking Boy on Facebook or follow Baking Boy on Twitter!

The City of Fake People

A few weeks back Rob and I took a little road trip to Carmel Indiana. Why Carmel you ask? Well, for his birthday this past December I bought him tickets to a jazz show. It was a trio of performers: Nikki Yanofsky, Jane Monheit and Diane Reeves. We had 2nd row seats (which was amazing) and it was held at the brand new Center for the Performing Arts. A beautiful venue and an amazing show. I loved all three performers. Jane has always been a favorite (her voice is like buttah, just like Lizz) but I have to say Diane's performance was spectacular. She's a seasoned jazz singer and it shows.

So I was hoping that Carmel would have a fountain of caramel in the town square. I know that's very Willy Wonka-ish of me to think but I was hoping. Alas, they did not. But they did have sculptures of people all over the little town. They are all in various positions, doing various things. Frozen in time. They were creepy, seriously. We were walking around the town on Sunday and there were no 'real' people around, just these fake people. It reminded me of the movie Return to Oz where all the people were turned to stone. Eerie....

Yes I'd love to ...ummm...dance with you...?

 Really deep thoughts...

 Would you like to water my basil? uhhh...nevermind...

 Hey! get a room!

Why the stern face? Here, let's have a photo shoot...say, "cheese!"

Lizz Wright

Rob introduced me to her music many years ago. Her voice is like buttah. Just beautiful and calming and soulful. The first I saw her live was at Schubas Tavern here in Chicago a couple years back. I was stunned that first time. She has an amazing live voice and her stage presence is hauntingly comfortable.

We saw her again just last week. As we were waiting to get into the venue we struck up a conversation with the woman behind us in line. She made a statement that I think is so true. She said something along the lines of, "She's lived many lives to develop a voice like that". Her comment really stuck with me because I think it's true. I think she's an old soul.

I took a few pictures with my point-and-shoot. It was dark and I wasn't really close so I had to do some editing of the photos to clean them up a bit. Here are a few pics followed by a YouTube video of one of my favorite songs by Lizz. Click the pics to enlarge. Enjoy!

 

Like buttah!

Do drop in at the Dew Drop Inn

Fourteen years ago today I saw my first Tori Amos concert in Akron Ohio, The Dew Drop Inn Tour. I cannot believe it has been fourteen years. It seems like just yesterday. I was totally mesmerized by her and I was a fan before that show but that sealed the deal. I’ve been devoted ever since. Here’s the set list for that show:

Beauty Queen/Horses
Ohio/One Tin Soldier
Blood Roses
Butterfly
Cornflake Girl
Space Dog
Little Earthquakes
Happy Phantom
Lucky Ducky
Alamo
Precious Things
Caught a Lite Sneeze
Talula
Me and a Gun

Encore 1

Angie
This Old Man/Putting the Damage On

Encore 2

Tear in Your Hand
Icicle
Etienne

So many good songs. Space Dog has always been one of my favorites, especially back then. I heard it and cried. I was so happy she did it. Butterfly and Alamo were beautiful. Talula was amazing. Everything was amazing. I’ve replayed that show over and over again in my head. I don’t ever want to forget.

"She's brand new now to you"

And we make it up as we go along...

Today is 'Tori Amos Day' on Facebook. A lot of Tori fans change their profile picture to a photo of Tori and celebrate the brilliance that is her. I chose this as my photo:

It's the cover of the limited edition single for Caught a Lite Sneeze. It's always been one of my favorite songs and I love the serenity of this picture. Coincidentally, it was one year ago yesterday that I had seen her at the Chicago Theatre. It's always so exciting to see her live, I just can't put it into words. Nor can I even begin to explain how much her music has influenced, affected, helped and inspired me. There's no one like Tori. Her music is truly magical. Today, this song has been in my head:

“Twilight held us in her palm as we walked along…”

Happy Tori Day!

Natalie Merchant

Tonight I'm going to see Natalie Merchant at The Chicago Theatre. I could burst I’m so excited. This is the second time I’ve seen her this year. The first was at The Poetry Center; a small, rather intimate venue. It was unique. She was doing a small tour to introduce her album Leave Your Sleep, an album of poems translated to songs. She did a lot of talking-kind of like the show Storytellers-and explained the poems/songs. She is my second favorite artist next to Tori Amos. I’ve been looking forward to this day for months! I wasn’t able to get many pictures when I saw her at The Poetry Center. I’m hoping to get more tonight!

Backdrop at The Poetry Center April 27, 2010

Change

Wow I really go through phases with this blog. My last post was 6 months ago. I have of course been doing a lot of cooking, baking and random nonsense during this time. Although, I haven’t been prioritizing like I should. Instead I have been rather lazy in the creative realm of life. Granted, I have been taking a lot of photographs, etc but I haven’t been doing much if anything with them. I went through a phase of playing a lot of online games like FarmVille and all those other Ville games. But I recently gave them up. They’re fun (and terribly addicting) but I want to spend more time and effort on art, photography, baking and whatever other creative thing I feel like doing.

Change is good.

Midwinter Graces

Tori's new album comes out today. Happy Tori Day! I deem this a special day. A Tori filled day. Maybe I'll bake some Tori themed cookies based on song titles. Space Dog? Happy Phantom? Raspberry Swirl? Father Lucifer? Okay maybe not that last one. Or maybe not at all. It's is a holiday themed album but not a typical Christmas album. This (unfortunately) is not the album cover. I wish it was. It can be interpreted in many different ways and that's why I like it.

Love this

This next picture is the actual cover and I'm not so sure I love it.  It's robotic and unnatural looking. But I think (hope) that's the look she's going for. It kind of looks like she's being choked by a big gaudy necklace and praying for air. I'm on the fence. Sometimes I really like it and sometimes I don't. No offense to the die-hard Tori fans....

 Album cover

Regardless, I truly love Tori and her music. I have been a fan since 1995. Her music has helped me through the hardest of hard times and lifted me even higher in my happiest. I can't imagine my life without her music. There is no other artist like her and there never will be. She is under appreciated by most. But I'm grateful for her.

Thank you Tori.