I heard about these guys via an SF Weekly blog post about a song they wrote in tribute to a Rumpus literary editor. I love the Rumpus, so I clicked on their bandcamp page, and boy, am I glad. I usually never click links on the internet. I just sit and stare at my desktop most of the time. Also, they are from San Francisco, and I just like anything from San Francisco since I'm so homesick. I even wear sports regalia now (kidding).

The Yellow Dress is a little reminiscent of the Decemberists, I think, but they definitely have their own sound. "FatherSunFunRun // Walk Towardson //Daniel Pennypacker" is really fun and musically diverse. It even has a saxophone on it. It's pretty much just jazz music, you guys. (Kidding again.)

So I was just reading over some of my old livejournal entries (hahaha i know i know) and this song was my music for an entry. I had totally forgotten about this song. I love it though. Enjoy.

I am pretty upset with you guys. I feel betrayed. I feel as if I have been purposefully left out.

Why hasn't anyone told me about Patti Smith? 

I started reading Just Kids a few days ago, and I am trying to pace myself so I don't read it too fast. It is beautiful. Patti Smith is a true poet, and she inspires me to do better and to create in a way that only a few musicians and writers have (see: JACK KEROUAC). She is kind and nonjudgmental. I like her for the way she found beauty and art in other people and latched onto those people. I like her for her humility about her talent. If you read her book and never listened to her music or read her poems, you would have no idea about the enormity of her talent. I didn't.

The other day, I put on Horses, and that's when I got really mad. This is maybe one of the greatest albums of all time (according to plenty of lists about such things, anyways), and I couldn't believe that I was hearing it for the first time at 24.5 years old, well over a decade into an intense love for and appreciation of music. You guys suck! I'm not going to do a review here because, well, that's been done. A lot. I will say that Smith's title as the "Godmother of Punk Rock" is apt. In this essay, she referred to Lou Reed as "[their] generation's New York Poet," but that title should not be reserved for Reed alone. Patti Smith is a poet, an angel, a great musician with a killer voice, and she appreciates beauty. That appreciation of beauty is what inspires me the most.

Now, I just got to the part in the book where she buys her first guitar. Don't tell me what happens next.

(Also, cool story about Patti Smith with another of my heroes, Allen Ginsberg).

My song of the millennium is "Because it Works" by Adam Lazzara. It is featured on a split with Chris Conley, Anthony Raneri, and Vinnie Caruana. I know; it's like the music gods created it specifically for me. This song is killing me. It is so good. It sounds like an acoustic Taking Back Sunday song, and that's why I love it. Too many emotions to write. Bye.



(Click here to listen. The EP is called Voices. You can pre-order it here.)

Am I allowed to post two of these in two days?

So this song is a dedication to my wife, Amy. There, I said it.

After Lou Reed died last week, the tribute songs, lists, and articles started pouring out from every medium. This list on Spin contains 15 songs by other artists who were influenced by Reed. I read this amazing article from the Poetry Foundation about Lou Reed's role as a poet. It's incredible how he left his mark on so many people from musicians to poets to music lovers. Music is too good. I don't really have anything to say. I just wanted to share. Enjoy two of my favorite Lou Reed-inspired moments below: