"When they were first married, they even held hands. She savored the relaxed intimacy of these morning walks with him, before the daily demands of their jobs and ambitions rendered them each stressed and exhausted" (Still Alice, Lisa Genova). I am just beginning this book for my Aging and Society class and from the very first page I have been listening to Lykke Li's Possibility on repeat as I read and it has given the book such a haunting sadness. Because the premise of the book is already dark the sadness of the song just adds to it and magnifies it.
Speaking of this song, I always wondered how the Twilight movie managed to convince Thom Yorke to give his song for the album. I understand Lykke Li's move, before she was an already well established artist but mostly underground, and her song put in that movie probably increased her worth 10 fold, but Thom Yorke didn't need the money Twilight would give him, or at least not as badly as to let his song be associated with such a silly series as...Twilight? I can only think Thom did it as a joke, he probably means it ironically...otherwise it just doesn't make sense.
A few years ago I was watching La Blogotheque Take Away shows on Youtube, which are all reallllly amazing videos of artists performing their songs somewhere in public and I discovered Lykke Li. She played Dance Dance Dance on a street and from that first viewing I have loved her music. Her show in March is definitely one of my most highly anticipated concerts of the last few years.
I also will be seeing the Decemberists for the 7th time in January. Every time I see them I thoroughly enjoy myself (except one time, but that was only because of the person I was roped into going with...but even then it was great). I used to listen to the Mariner's Revenge Song so many times that my entire family now begrudgingly knows the lyrics to most of it. They were my first indie band love in probably 7th grade, and they have stayed consistent up until today...they are one of my oldest favorite bands, and seeing them in concert is always fun. Even after 6 times. One of the other bands that I got into at around the same time as the Decemberists was Sufjan Stevens, and I have been waiting since them for him to go on tour. I live near and go to shows in Boston, and when I was a sophomore I think he played a show in Maine, that I wanted to go to so badly, but i was too young to be allowed to take the car all the way to Maine, and there was no way my parents were driving me. Over the past five years or so I have missed so many amazing concert opportunities because of my age. But I did get to go to a bunch of amazing ones that I'll always remember, but I still wish I was older. Maybe not even just 5 or 10 years older, but much older. Or I wish I could just time travel. So I could go back in time and see everyone that needs to be seen in concert. That would take a lifetime, but I'd do it. But because I missed the Sufjan show in sophomore year, his little announcement that he was done with music after that was devastating. But then he released the Age of Adz...and went on tour and I saw him a few weeks ago....but it wasn't the little banjo playing, Christian folk singer that I had loved for so long, but instead a....hip hop artist. Or at least that was my first impression. I was angry throughout most of the concert when he only played 4 or so old songs, and then he even played them half-assedly without the old vigor. But his new sound has slowly been growing on me. Age of Adz is one of my current songs off the new album, the final line has such emotion where I see the old Sufjan shining through, but just in a new way: "I'm sorry if I seem self effacing, consumed by selfish thoughts. It's only that I still love you deeply, it's all the love I've got."
I should actually get back to reading Still Alice, because the next 15 days are jam packed with paper writing and studying for exams that this is really the only night I have to do it. Until next time, or until an hour from now when I have another thought I'd like to post...bogs.