Kristen’s Playlist

John Mayer in the Open Air

It wasn’t my first time seeing John Mayer, but it was my first time listening to him at the Hollywood Bowl. There’s something magical about the Bowl. Not only is the sound amazing but your nestled in with the crowd and tucked in with swaying tall trees. You forget that your in the heart of Hollywood and its just you and the music.

As people were still arriving and the sun was slowly setting, Rocco De Luca and Ben Folds took the stage. They were entertaining, I preferred Rocco’s sound though. He has one of those rough, early Bruce Springsteen voices. Ben had a fun piano beat but sounded kind of like he was just trying to jam on nursury rhymes. His magic was lost on me.

Then the stage changed its look. Rugs were rolled out.  Extra instruments were set up. And then there was anticipation. One thing you can count on with John, he’s always late. When he finally arrived, you forgot about the wait and just enjoyed the music. His new album Continum is awesome. Some blues, some guitar, some slow and some fast tunes. But they’re all good. He mixed up his last few albums in the set and talked for a few stretches with the crowd. He joked at one point that he has a theory that love is on the way but had no clear evidence of it yet (I guess a nod to his recent break up with Jessica?)…hmmm. You can guess, it was an intro to his song “Love Is on the Way.”

In his encore, he did an accoustic set. And he sounded perfect. He is such a talent he even blogs!. You have to see him once. Dont’ be threatened that chicks love him, who doesn’t want to be around a bunch of hot ladies on a night with drinkind and dancing? Come back soon, I’m seeing the Police this weekend. YEAH!!!

Work Life Imbalance & New Artists

As you can see between my two posts below I let over a month pass before blogging! My bad.

I guess my work/life balance is a little off. It’s been pretty much all work with some life. I’ve been on and off planes from LA to NYC to SF and was supposed to get to Chicago but due to bad weather cancelled the flight and therefore my entire 48hr trip.

As I was walking off my Jetblue flight from NYC, I thought it was a pretty crazy image to see all these TVs running various shows set by passengers. There is so much media surrounding us everyday…there I am watching some show about America’s Next Top Designer Model Idol then on commercials tuning into my iPOD for my quick song before going back to the show.  Then as soon as we land, turning on my Treo to download my emails and check messages from friends and family asking me where I am today. I walk past all the ads in the airport to arrive at baggage claim where Disney has paid to create an illuminated faux luggage ad telling me that the magic is all at Disneyland! And the truth is, I wanted to go to Disneyland where I feel happy and carefree. Then it just made me mad that I was stuck in frickin baggage claim waiting for my dopey bag to come down the shute.

You may be asking, “Wait a minute, so what songs were you listening to on your iPOD?”…oh yes, back to the music my friends. Well, what got me through all the travels are some cool new artists that I’ve become big fans of…

Amy Winehouse- You Know I’m No Good (favorite song)

James Morrison - Undiscovered (inspirational song)

John Legend - Save Room (reminder that some things are worth the risk)

Check them out if you haven’t already. They’re not NEW NEW but pretty new to me

And BTW- I have tickets to see the Police and John Mayer in June so stay tuned for reviews!

The Ring of Fire

Like Jonny Cash sang, it burns…the ring of fire. I was thinking about that as I drove home last night from work. I had heard about a fire at Griffith Park (I work about 20min away from it). I didn’t know what started it or how bad it was…apparently it’s bad since they were still trying to contain it 24hrs later.

I snapped this image of the smoke blowing from the flames off the top of the hillside as I approached the freeway on ramp to head home. A home that was safely far away from these flames… 

Though I try to connect my life experiences to music, I’m not sure what song would best describe this scene but i can tell you that I happen to have been listening to MatisYahu.

Maroon 5 Private Jam

Here is your sneak peek at an upcoming Yahoo Music/Nissan Live Set with Maroon 5. See image above.  Ok so it’s just a photo but let me tell you- it’s worth a thousand words, so here goes.

-First time they played new music live (Fox Studios in Century City, CA)

-Fans are still loving the band

-Adam Levine sounds even better than last time

-Their new song, I think it’s called The Reason, will catch on like wild fire

-The other few new tracks they played were just as good, get the CD when it’s released

Not Too Late for Norah To Become Famous

I was watching 60 Minutes interview with Norah Jones recently. I learned some interesting things about her, like the fact her estranged father is a famous sitar player who she didn’t really have relationship with until she was an adult.  I also heard that she is now 27 and would rather remain an under the radar type of artist and didn’t like the fast celebrity that hit her almost a decade ago. That said, she’s still been releasing albums featuring her famous whispered lyrics.  I give her credit, she seems to have escaped the crazy splotlight that celebrity brings.

To respect her wishes, I won’t oversell her new album “Not Too Late.”  I’ll just say that it lives up to her standard of being a mellow collection of some okay songs. Check out Thinking About You, Broken and Be My Somebody.  

A Ray of Light

Step into the quiet and soulful sounds provided by Mr.Ray LaMontagne and be prepared to take a journey.  The title of his latest album is called “Till the Sun Turns Black,” which I can only assume means sunset, will leave you wanting to listen until dawn.

Though his voice whispers some lyrics, others are more pronounced with scratchy soul. These sounds are reminiscent of Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye. You’d think you were listening to an undiscovered artist from the 50s and yet he is a twenty-something, New Englander.

My favorite songs on this album include Three More Days, Barfly, You Can Bring Me Flowers, and Within You.

Three More Days draws you instantly in and willing to check out the other songs, so I’d start there. You Can Bring Me Flowers features a bit more jazz with the horns and drums.  The last song on the album, Within You, sounds like a farewell tune that the Beatles may have done in the 60s.

If you check him out, let me know what you think.