The stars in the sky are the stars in my eyes
HELLO LJ. I am in a good mood today! There are several reasons for this. First of all, I'm not sure if you know this but MY BEST FRIEND HAD A BABY ON FRIDAY. And he is the sweetest, most adorable baby IN THE WORLD, with his little EARS and his little NOSE and his INFINITESIMAL EYELASHES, and SDW and AHH are ALREADY awesome parents, and it is all REALLY REALLY EXCITING. BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABY.
ALSO, my college BFF J. is going to be here this weekend, and I CANNOT WAIT to see her.
Also, David Cook exists. (Who knew Adam Lambert was a freaking gateway drug? I thought Adam WAS the drug. SOMEBODY PUT DRUGS IN MY WEED, YOU GUYS.) I give you this, from his Wikipedia entry:
At Blue Springs South High School, he performed in musicals, including The Music Man, West Side Story, and Singin' in the Rain. In addition to this, he was an active member in the Blue Springs South High School National Forensics League (or NFL), where he qualified for the national tournament twice for duo interpretation, an event that relies on performance and interpretation of a literary work.
He was also an avid baseball player during high school and once gave up a home run to Albert Pujols in an American Legion Baseball game. After an injury, he focused more on music. He earned a theater scholarship to the University of Central Missouri, but he abandoned theater after two semesters, graduating from the school in 2006 with a degree in graphic design.
Oh, okay, SURE, Cook. Musicals, debate, baseball, theater-no-wait-graphic-design? And now you're a rockstar? Really? Is that how it's gonna be? But wait, there's more:
His white, left-handed Gibson Les Paul electric guitar has the letters "AC" on it; as Cook told TV Guide, "I have two brothers, Adam and Andrew. So, because of superstition, I put their initials on everything growing up." Since the Top 12 week, he also wore (and continues to wear) an orange wristband to support a 7-year-old fan, Lindsey Rose, with leukemia.
… Oh, fuck YOU, sir. FUCK YOU VERY MUCH. This is worse than the time I heard Chris Pine say "adjectival."
Sigh. Also, self-professed "word nerd," uses proper punctuation and spelling on his Twitter, banters, flirts, has a really adorable dog, sits around with his friends interviewing rubber chickens, tweets things like "Lock up your daughters, Billings, MT. You're next" (seriously? SERIOUSLY?), is hilariously self-deprecating, has no sense of personal space with basically anyone, etc. etc. etc. WHY IS HE TRYING TO KILL ME.
*shakes fist*
And as a follow-up to the rubber chicken thing (hello, words I did not think I'd be typing today): can I just say how much I freaking LOVE the behind-the-scenes self-filmed touring stuff that we get in this fandom? TOUR SHENANIGANS. ON FILM. ALL OVER THE INTERNETS. You guys. I just. The world is GREAT. *beams sunnily*
Of course, the dark (by which I mean "kind of hilarious") side of loving David Cook is that he is stuck in some really, really bad videos. Like, can we talk about "Light On"? Because, okay, I like the song. It is not the most profound song ever penned, but it has some nice universal themes, and a good hook, and, you know, Cook is singing, so there are good times to be had. But then for the video, I cannot quite wrap my brain around how-out of all the stories they could have chosen to accompany this fairly vague song-they chose perhaps the LAMEST POSSIBLE ONE. Cook is singing about naked things, and the best you could come up with, video-people, is him standing with the rest of the band on some fake-ass football field while a boy in a diner semi-stalks a girl with a douchebag boyfriend? Seriously? (From time to time I am reminded of how very, very much I am not 19E's target audience, OMG.)
However, there are two things that redeem this video, and one of them is the fact that Neal-liberally tattooed, liberally pierced Neal, whose tweets so far fall into one of three categories: drinking, intent to drink, and success of drinking without getting into a fight-is in this bubblegum teenie THING. The incongruity of that is ENDLESSLY hilarious to me. And also? COOK IS SINGING FROM THE GIRL'S POV. And that would be awesome if it were some kind of intentional gender role subversion, but really? I just get the impression that NO ONE FROM THE PRODUCTION TEAM NOTICED. Or they thought WE wouldn't notice? I can't figure it out! But it delights me! I hope Cook gets shit about his from his brother/bandmates/friends all the time ("So did you bring your car, or were you just going to get a ride home on some guy's bike?"). That must be SUCH GOOD TIMES.
By comparison, the giggly head-desk-fest that is "Come Back To Me" (oh, Dave, I'm so sorry you had to go through that) is almost like they're not even TRYING.
This also makes me fear for what godawful thing they're going to make Kris do for his videos. I don't worry about Adam; really, I think they only way they could screw Adam up is to try to make him into a Jonas Brother, and, given his finale and tour ensembles, I'm thinking they know better than that. Otherwise, I think Adam has a very good chance of carrying off whatever ridiculousness they saddle him with, because Adam is really, really good at carrying off ridiculousness. (Well, okay, barring the infamous Michelin Man thing. I. Um. Yeah.) But Kris? You know Kris is just going to show up to that shoot with his guitar and his Converse and he's going to do whatever the hell they tell him to do, because he doesn't care, he just wants to play. And they're going to end up with him, IDK, somersaulting backwards through Jell-O or something and Katy and Charles are going to mock him FOREVER and AWWWW, KRIS. <3 (Which is not to suggest that Kris "No, I'm Not Going To Be Honest With You" Allen is a pushover, it's just that I really think he DOESN'T CARE about that shit. And the potential results make me FEAR FOR HIM. Hee.)
ALSO, my mixed feelings about Cook's actual music leads me to something I've been thinking about on and off for a while now, which is how freaking rare it is for me to run across a band where I really love everything about them, from their lyrics to their sound to the members themselves. It's easy to fulfill one or two of those criteria, but getting ALL of them is HARD. Even the music/lyrics combination is difficult for me to find (since, you know, it's a nice bonus when I dig the actual people, but it's far from a requirement). I was listening to some Axium stuff (Cook's high school/college band) and I'm amazed at the difference between that and even Analog Heart-Cook's same sexass voice, similar lyrics, and yet Axium's got this nice heavy guitar thrash going on that just makes it CLICK for me. I'm amazed at how profound the difference can be just from changing the flavor a little bit. And I found something similar when I bought a Shocore album in Toronto last year-I really, really liked the arrangements, but then the singer would start singing and I would just be immediately turned off. And of course the same thing happens to me all the time, to greater or lesser degrees, when I listen to new music.
And that's what continually amazes me about the Headstones, and why I'm not tired of their music even after having listened to them an obsessive number of times over the past few years. The intersection of Hugh's talent and Trent's talent (and Tim and Dale, too, of course, but I get the impression that Trent was the one with the real in-depth technical musical knowledge, despite the fact that Tim's riff on "Unsound" is one of my very favorite Headstones-related things ever), Hugh's lyrics and Trent's riffs, Hugh's showmanship and Trent's musicianship… it took BOTH those things to make that band what it was, and while obviously it's totally a matter of personal preference whether you actually like the result, I also think there was something really rare and powerful there. Lightning in a bottle. I'm not sure I'm ever going to find a band I'll love in quite the same way. And that's cool, I love lots of things, so I am hardly in need of more places to direct my affection and attention. :) But it does make me sorry, again, some more, that they're not making music anymore, and that I missed them.
Also, I'm realizing I'm a sucker for songs in 3/4 time (Cook's "Lie," Kris' "Lovely"). What is THAT about, do you think?
And that's all I have for today! Except that following John Rogers on Twitter was a GREAT IDEA. <3
ALSO, my college BFF J. is going to be here this weekend, and I CANNOT WAIT to see her.
Also, David Cook exists. (Who knew Adam Lambert was a freaking gateway drug? I thought Adam WAS the drug. SOMEBODY PUT DRUGS IN MY WEED, YOU GUYS.) I give you this, from his Wikipedia entry:
At Blue Springs South High School, he performed in musicals, including The Music Man, West Side Story, and Singin' in the Rain. In addition to this, he was an active member in the Blue Springs South High School National Forensics League (or NFL), where he qualified for the national tournament twice for duo interpretation, an event that relies on performance and interpretation of a literary work.
He was also an avid baseball player during high school and once gave up a home run to Albert Pujols in an American Legion Baseball game. After an injury, he focused more on music. He earned a theater scholarship to the University of Central Missouri, but he abandoned theater after two semesters, graduating from the school in 2006 with a degree in graphic design.
Oh, okay, SURE, Cook. Musicals, debate, baseball, theater-no-wait-graphic-design? And now you're a rockstar? Really? Is that how it's gonna be? But wait, there's more:
His white, left-handed Gibson Les Paul electric guitar has the letters "AC" on it; as Cook told TV Guide, "I have two brothers, Adam and Andrew. So, because of superstition, I put their initials on everything growing up." Since the Top 12 week, he also wore (and continues to wear) an orange wristband to support a 7-year-old fan, Lindsey Rose, with leukemia.
… Oh, fuck YOU, sir. FUCK YOU VERY MUCH. This is worse than the time I heard Chris Pine say "adjectival."
Sigh. Also, self-professed "word nerd," uses proper punctuation and spelling on his Twitter, banters, flirts, has a really adorable dog, sits around with his friends interviewing rubber chickens, tweets things like "Lock up your daughters, Billings, MT. You're next" (seriously? SERIOUSLY?), is hilariously self-deprecating, has no sense of personal space with basically anyone, etc. etc. etc. WHY IS HE TRYING TO KILL ME.
*shakes fist*
And as a follow-up to the rubber chicken thing (hello, words I did not think I'd be typing today): can I just say how much I freaking LOVE the behind-the-scenes self-filmed touring stuff that we get in this fandom? TOUR SHENANIGANS. ON FILM. ALL OVER THE INTERNETS. You guys. I just. The world is GREAT. *beams sunnily*
Of course, the dark (by which I mean "kind of hilarious") side of loving David Cook is that he is stuck in some really, really bad videos. Like, can we talk about "Light On"? Because, okay, I like the song. It is not the most profound song ever penned, but it has some nice universal themes, and a good hook, and, you know, Cook is singing, so there are good times to be had. But then for the video, I cannot quite wrap my brain around how-out of all the stories they could have chosen to accompany this fairly vague song-they chose perhaps the LAMEST POSSIBLE ONE. Cook is singing about naked things, and the best you could come up with, video-people, is him standing with the rest of the band on some fake-ass football field while a boy in a diner semi-stalks a girl with a douchebag boyfriend? Seriously? (From time to time I am reminded of how very, very much I am not 19E's target audience, OMG.)
However, there are two things that redeem this video, and one of them is the fact that Neal-liberally tattooed, liberally pierced Neal, whose tweets so far fall into one of three categories: drinking, intent to drink, and success of drinking without getting into a fight-is in this bubblegum teenie THING. The incongruity of that is ENDLESSLY hilarious to me. And also? COOK IS SINGING FROM THE GIRL'S POV. And that would be awesome if it were some kind of intentional gender role subversion, but really? I just get the impression that NO ONE FROM THE PRODUCTION TEAM NOTICED. Or they thought WE wouldn't notice? I can't figure it out! But it delights me! I hope Cook gets shit about his from his brother/bandmates/friends all the time ("So did you bring your car, or were you just going to get a ride home on some guy's bike?"). That must be SUCH GOOD TIMES.
By comparison, the giggly head-desk-fest that is "Come Back To Me" (oh, Dave, I'm so sorry you had to go through that) is almost like they're not even TRYING.
This also makes me fear for what godawful thing they're going to make Kris do for his videos. I don't worry about Adam; really, I think they only way they could screw Adam up is to try to make him into a Jonas Brother, and, given his finale and tour ensembles, I'm thinking they know better than that. Otherwise, I think Adam has a very good chance of carrying off whatever ridiculousness they saddle him with, because Adam is really, really good at carrying off ridiculousness. (Well, okay, barring the infamous Michelin Man thing. I. Um. Yeah.) But Kris? You know Kris is just going to show up to that shoot with his guitar and his Converse and he's going to do whatever the hell they tell him to do, because he doesn't care, he just wants to play. And they're going to end up with him, IDK, somersaulting backwards through Jell-O or something and Katy and Charles are going to mock him FOREVER and AWWWW, KRIS. <3 (Which is not to suggest that Kris "No, I'm Not Going To Be Honest With You" Allen is a pushover, it's just that I really think he DOESN'T CARE about that shit. And the potential results make me FEAR FOR HIM. Hee.)
ALSO, my mixed feelings about Cook's actual music leads me to something I've been thinking about on and off for a while now, which is how freaking rare it is for me to run across a band where I really love everything about them, from their lyrics to their sound to the members themselves. It's easy to fulfill one or two of those criteria, but getting ALL of them is HARD. Even the music/lyrics combination is difficult for me to find (since, you know, it's a nice bonus when I dig the actual people, but it's far from a requirement). I was listening to some Axium stuff (Cook's high school/college band) and I'm amazed at the difference between that and even Analog Heart-Cook's same sexass voice, similar lyrics, and yet Axium's got this nice heavy guitar thrash going on that just makes it CLICK for me. I'm amazed at how profound the difference can be just from changing the flavor a little bit. And I found something similar when I bought a Shocore album in Toronto last year-I really, really liked the arrangements, but then the singer would start singing and I would just be immediately turned off. And of course the same thing happens to me all the time, to greater or lesser degrees, when I listen to new music.
And that's what continually amazes me about the Headstones, and why I'm not tired of their music even after having listened to them an obsessive number of times over the past few years. The intersection of Hugh's talent and Trent's talent (and Tim and Dale, too, of course, but I get the impression that Trent was the one with the real in-depth technical musical knowledge, despite the fact that Tim's riff on "Unsound" is one of my very favorite Headstones-related things ever), Hugh's lyrics and Trent's riffs, Hugh's showmanship and Trent's musicianship… it took BOTH those things to make that band what it was, and while obviously it's totally a matter of personal preference whether you actually like the result, I also think there was something really rare and powerful there. Lightning in a bottle. I'm not sure I'm ever going to find a band I'll love in quite the same way. And that's cool, I love lots of things, so I am hardly in need of more places to direct my affection and attention. :) But it does make me sorry, again, some more, that they're not making music anymore, and that I missed them.
Also, I'm realizing I'm a sucker for songs in 3/4 time (Cook's "Lie," Kris' "Lovely"). What is THAT about, do you think?
And that's all I have for today! Except that following John Rogers on Twitter was a GREAT IDEA. <3