If I could write out my own dream...

Day 23 - A song you want to play at your wedding 

Sweet Dream - Greg Laswell

I know this is stupid but you all have to promise me you will not use this song on your wedding day, otherwise I can't use it.  Principle my friends, principle...

So this song is short.  Only 1:08.  But it's the best 68 seconds to ever fill my ears.  It ends and I literally feel pain because I want so badly for it to keep going.  I'll put the lyrics here just because it's that great.

If I could write out my own dream

For the next time that I sleep

You'd be the first one that I see

And I the last one that you dream

And the dream would go on and on 

While we sway against all things thrown our way

And the morning would be so cruel

When it came with sunshine and warmth to blame

For announcing the end of my sweet dream

For announcing the end of my sweet dream

I watched an interview where he said that he gets lots of people telling him to write more and he's tried but nothing is good enough for this song.  I believe it.  This song is perfect.  The perfect dream.  Where even the most wonderful things, like sunshine and warmth, are still not as beautiful as the love he has for this person.

Yeah, this song is perfect.  Go listen to it and please don't steal it!

Love and Rockets,

Rodney

 p.s. I have a pretty wicked awesome best friend.

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N

Sorry it's been so long.  I've been a bit, uhhh, busy?  Oh who am I kidding, I have just been lacking inspiration!  Now don't start thinking "Oh, this post is going to be inspired so it must be good!"  WRONG.  I'm still flat out of ideas so I'm just going to go with it.

Day 22 - A song you listen to when you're happy
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N - Noah and The Whale

This is an anthem for anyone, so anything I'm about to say will not be new.

My friends, life goes on.  No matter how crappy, how discouraging, it goes on.  I've had a saying since I was about 15, "There is no alternative."  As in, when people would look at me right after I had my back surgery and complication after complication would arise, they would always ask how I stayed happy, how I kept going.  My answer, "There is no alternative".  Sure I could give up.  I could lay in bed and curse the day I decided to go through with the surgery, but why?  Where would that get me?  So I started studying the scriptures and found a reason to keep going.  But things just kept coming.  It kept getting more and more discouraging.  But I kept going, even when I got so low I considered stopping, I kept going.  And why?  Because L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

These days I'm faced with different trials.  Sure my health is still poor and I struggle to even get out of bed in the mornings but I've fallen prey to another enemy entirely.

Jealousy.

Why you ask?  Well you see, I know some people (they will know who they are as they read this, sorry if it makes you uncomfortable but you probably already know I'm jealous), and these people are pretty cool.  They thrive in one area where I seem to constantly crash and burn.  The dating life.  That's right.  My last date was before my birthday 6 months ago.  And the date I had before that?  Well it was definitely more than a year and I only went on that date because the girl who was supposed to go bailed and then the other two back ups where unavailable.  But the girls I'm talking about here are talking to guys all the time.  I'm with one of them almost 24/7 and I have to watch as guy after guy practically throw themselves at her feet to go on a date, to get just a few hours of her undivided attention.  And what are guys doing with me?  Giving me a pat on the back and treating me like just another one of the guys.

If you go here, you will read about blind spots.  Yeah, I know that letting guys treat me as a friend is one of my blind spots.  But how can I help it when sub consciously I'm thinking he's just going to end up liking one of my friends anyways?  It's how it's always been.  Yeah, I've gotten bitter about it, as you have read in a previous post.  But at the end of the day and I'm laying in bed thinking about whether I did my best or not, I know that even if I didn't do my best and I pissed and moaned through the whole day, L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. I have a chance to try harder tomorrow.  And when that moment of realization comes and I'm practically euphoric with the idea of a second chance, I think of this song.

So please, let your life go on.  Don't stop and go crazy over a stupid little trial, whether you failed a test,  missed a chance with a guy, had another birthday and feel old, or broke a leg and had to stop doing what you love, LIFE GOES ON!!!  You'll have another chance tomorrow.  Carpe the freakin' diem.

Love and Rockets,

Rodney

It was a long long time ago...

Day 21 - A song you listen to when you're sad
Jack and Sally - The Phopho Bandits
(Go to the link now or you may as well just stop reading my blog all together!)

Who are the Phopho bandits you ask?

That's right!  That is my brother Preston and I!!  

I know you're just dying to know the story behind the band.  So let me take you on a journey to The Land of Lost Pockets...

One day when Preston was a wee lad of 16 (maybe 17, the details are a bit hazy) he purchased his first, and only, Fender Strat electric guitar.  From the moment he sat down and played is first C chord the power of the guitar surged though his finger tips until they were bleeding (hopefully not literally).  He was soon shredding out gnarly solos and wicked riffs.

This was all happening around the same time-ish that I acquired my first drum set.  From the moment I sat on my drum stool it was, well, less than magical.  It took years of practice for me to really be able to play along with some of my favorite artists.

One day we were able to move all of our instruments into a room in the basement.  This upset some of our siblings.  Why?  Because that's when pure awesome was born!

Preston had a few songs he had written that he wanted me to play the drums to.

Our first "gig" was a talent show for my Achievement days.  The 11 year old girls went wild for us.  It was like they knew they had just witnessed something spectacular.  Something they would never forget.  Something that would be more memorable than the day they get married.  Ok, maybe it was more like a disaster.  But I felt like I was on top of the world! 

Puff the Magic Dragon was the first song we recorded live, it was a HUGE hit (with us, no one else really knew about it).  So we got to work putting simple bass riffs together with children's fairy tales (Froggie, Gilbatron 2000).  We have since matured past that and our latest work, even though it's two years old, is Smells Like Heart.  An album we compiled for Valentines Day of cheesy love songs.

We've also added quite a few instruments since our early days of just the guitar and the drums.  Of course there's the bass, some ukuleles, the harmonica, the piano, and yes, even a cowbell!

We haven't been able to write music together lately because well, Preston started seeing this girl and now she's having his baby.  

But one day we'll sit back down in our music room and have a good ol' jam session.

Love and Rockets,

Rodney

p.s. I should have mentioned the song, it's a good one... uhhh, Preston wrote it.  Probably about his favorite movie Charly or something like that.  He can explain it.

p.p.s. I know you are dying to know what Phopho stands for, 

it's People Helping Other People Help Others.

p.p.p.s.  Preston really deserves all the credit for the band, he writes and sings and plays the instruments in about 97% of the songs.

Your boldness stands alone among the wreck

Day 20 - A song you listen to when you're angry
Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons

I don't actually get angry very often.  I don't have an uncontrollable temper, I can stop myself before I do get angry.  Honestly I haven't been angry in a super long time.  So when I had to think of a song I listen to when I'm angry, I couldn't think of one.  Instead I thought to myself "Self, what song sounds angry?" And this one was the first one to come to mind.  It's so full of self loathing and hatred.  I LOVE it.  When I have a song in my library that is full of swear words I will usually delete it.  But for some reason when he swears in this song I like it.  I know, it's horrific!!  But he says it with such passion!  I'm pathetic, I can't justify my love for this song.  So that's it, I'm a sinner.

Love and Rockets,
Rodney

p.s.  a HUGE congrats to my brother Preston and his wife Lindsey, they're havin' a baby!!  I'm incredibly excited for you guys!!

We're only here to find the love that lingers after...

Day 19 -A song from your favorite album

Coeur D'Alene - The Head and the Heart

I fell in love with these guys a little while ago after itunes recommended them after I bought an Avett Brothers cd. Since then I've been listening non stop! The cd as a whole is amazing, I can sit and listen to the whole thing from start to finish without getting tired of a single song. After I find a band I love I look them up on youtube to see if they're any good live. When I looked these guys up I found this video. HOLY CHEESE BATMAN! They blew my mind. How does a band sound this great live?! Needless to say, I HAVE to marry an indie folk guy! I couldn't date a guy if he told me he didn't like this stuff. Yeah, I'm serious... I once dated a guy who pretty much only listened to Disney music. Shoot me in the face! Luckily I know a pretty wicked awesome kid who will let me talk music with him. He even uses words like coolio and gnarly. He doesn't know it but I pretty much adore him. And this is what my life has become, I judge a guy by the music he likes. I think I'm obsessed...

Love and Rockets,

Rodney

p.s. 43 days until I'm back here...

Doing this...

Day 18 - A song that you wish you heard on the radio

....

If you read my blog you would have read that I hate the radio. I won't get into that again! So instead of requesting a band I adore on the radio just to have them ruined, I'll name drop like crazy here and rest assured that you won't become obsessed and end up having them played on the radio. Bands need recognition, and I realize it's dumb of me to not want to hear them on the radio but want them to get recognition. So NAME DROP!

Check out:

Alexi Murdoch

Andrew Bird

Ben Gibbard (The lead singer from Death Cab For Cutie, also married to Zoey Deschanel. Check out their awesome duet here)

Greg Laswell

The Guggenheim Grotto

The Head and the Heart

Jeff Buckley

Jon Foreman (The lead singer from Switchfoot)

Joshua James

Katie Herzig

Kyle Andrews

Laura Marling

Libbie Linton

The Mollies

Needtobreathe

Nellie McKay

Noah & The Whale

Patrick Park

Phopho Bandits (how could I resist?!)

Ray LaMontagne

Slow Club

The Weepies

I can almost guarantee that if you like one of these bands you will like all of them! So go ahead, I dare you to look up at least 2 of them and see if you can stop after that!

Love and Rockets,

Rodney

p.s. I had my wisdom teeth taken out yesterday, crazy high Kristen on video? Stay tuned!!

Shake That.

Day 17 - A song you hear often on the radio

Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO

I love this song.

When I wasn't able to listen to my ipod in the car I thought I was going to die.

And I just about did.

No I'm not being dramatic.

"Get over it".

I know that's what you're all thinking.

I hate the radio.

I hate the songs on the radio.

If I hear a song I like I start disliking that song.

It has be be a great song,

one that really makes me feel the music,

in order for me to keep enjoying it after I've heard it on the radio.

There's not much to say about this particular song.

Except I'm going to learn how to dance to it,

just like this.

Go watch it,

go dance it,

go shake that!

Love and Rockets,

Rodney