"i met this girl when i was three years old. and what i loved most, she had so much soul. she said "excuse me little homie, i know you don't know me, but my name is wendy and i like to blow trees". and from that point i never blow her off."

"i'm coming home again. baby, do you remember when fireworks at lake michigan?"

two nights ago i had a dream about coldplay.

i dream about famous people all the time, it's awesome. for example, i've had a few bloc party dreams and a lot of jennifer lopez dreams. recently i had a nada surf dream where the singer was wearing the same shoes as me, which was funny because i was wearing the pink vintage keds i bought on ebay months ago. dreams about celebs are usually my funnest dreams and i always wake up smiling.

i've also dreamt of coldplay before.
this one dream, i was at a little venue where they were playing. i told chris martin that "your music changed my life!" and then i quickly added "in a good way, as in my life is better now", as to make sure he wouldn't think that i meant that his music changed my life in a bad way, lol. then i got up on chris martin's back and we flew away, haha. it was great.
another coldplay dream was even cooler. it was a while back, and i don't remember all of it. i do remember that i was in a room with the band, and at some point i was kind of sad that they were sitting way at the other side of the room as though they didn't like me. but turned out, they were writing a song for me. i told them how much the band meant to me, and one of the guys told me "you mean just as much to us".

anyway, this coldplay dream a few nights ago started with me walking out of a concert venue or something. chris martin was just  getting out his limo, just right there on the street. no one else was there, so i talked to him and tried to express how much i love his music. he asked "what is your favourite coldplay song?" and i answered "sparks" quickly. then my dream-self thought "hm, actually my favourite coldplay song is 'don't panic', but in fact i might love 'sparks' better and i should maybe change my favourite song to 'sparks'...". then chris martin went: "'sparks?', i don't know that song". and i thought "WHAT!? he doesn't remember all of his songs from his first album!?", but i didn't say that out loud. instead i tried to get him to remember "sparks", so i sang the part of the song that goes "oohhh, sing one we know" (which is in the heading of this journal, by the way). he started writing some things down for me, and i saw him try to write down "sing one we know" but he wrote down something competely different (it seemed gibberish). then he handed me the papers he'd written, they were sort of "letters" to me as a thank you from him, and by then there was a huge "line" of fans behind me. i left and saw that one of the papers was printed (which is sort of weird, given he didn't exactly type anything). even though it was kind of a strange "meet" with chris martin, and it sucked that he didn't remember "sparks", i was still so happy and so honoured that he wrote those letters to me, and i wanted to tell everyone about it.

yesterday it was raining/snowing, so a good day to go shopping, right? right, so i went to american apparel, because we have that in antwerp now which it's AWESOME. i like to go there to take a break from h&m clothes. i still love h&m, but everyone shops there and you're hardly ever original when you buy something there: every girl in antwerp wears the same h&m skinny jeans. i've known the american apparal brand for a few years, over the internet and such, so it's great to finally have a store in belgium.

the american apparel style is more "classic" and low key than h&m, more "grown up" and less "in your face". they don't do prints, which is fine with me, because i don't really do printed t-shirts except for band shirts. in the antwerp store they'll usually have only about three different types of t-shirts, three types of skirts, three types of sweaters, three types of sweat pants, etc, usually costing about 35 euro each. they have a large collection of underwear and swimwear, all at 10-12 euro. so compared to h&m, there's way less to choose from and it's more expensive. BUT almost everything they sell is buy-able, unlike h&m where about 30-40% of the clothes make you go "WHO WEARS THIS SHIT?!". the great thing about the brand is that each of type of clothing comes in about 5 colours, which makes american apparel THE store to buy basics and mix&match-pieces. it's perfect for people who like the layered look, like me, because every shirt/sweater/dress comes in different lenghts or colours, without each piece being too "loud" (often the case with h&m).

american apparel has a huge collection of leggings though (shiny, disco-ball-y, long, 3/4, ...), and leggings are a trend that i never understood. i remember seeing lindsay lohan wear them like two/three years ago and i just thought "i hope girls in the streets aren't going to get into this" (ok, so i didn't actually think "in the streets", but whatever). the girls "in the streets" did get into it, though, and the past two summers all you saw were skirts and dresses with 3/4-leggings under it. after a while i started getting so used to the look of it, that i felt compelled to start wearing leggings under my skirts/dresses as well, but i didn't give in! so far my legs have seen no leggings! i mean, if you have the legs to wear a short skirt/dress, then don't wear leggings to (half) cover those legs! and if you're a little fat, just DON'T wear short skirts/dresses and most definitely DON'T wear leggings because they will make you fatter. and DON'T wear high boots AND 3/4-leggings, so that there's about 2 cm of leg showing, that just looks weird. 3/4-leggings and ankle boots or ballerina's are the way to go. long leggings and boots are ok too, but then you should just wear panty's. by the way, lindsay lohan is STILL wearing leggings (she also hasn't gotten the memo yet that leggings are SO two years ago), but now she's wearing them as pants. a picture demonstrating that you should not wear leggings as pants AND demonstrating that even "thinner" girls can look fat in leggings? well, sure: http://img11.imagevenue.com/view.php?image=82225_lilo012sandino_122_671lo.jpg.

 god, i hope girls in the streets aren't going to get into this!

anyway, not considering the leggings, the antwerp american apparel store has a decent (but rather small) collection of h&m-alternatives that are more "adult" and more expensive.

"that is a dream, it is what it seems": nada surf, 25 february 2008, botanique (orangerie)

ever since i saw nada surf live in gent (vooruit) in 2007 (http://lavake.livejournal.com/9321.html#cutid1), they've been one of my favourite bands. that concert was the best concert i saw in 2006 and it was only topped in 2007 by interpol in vorst. i'm just trying to say: i LOVE nada surf and they do long and KICK ASS live shows.

their new album "lucky" is poppy, melodic and pure, like "the weight is a gift". it doesn't have as many AMAZING songs on it as the last one, there's only two songs that i love love love: "weightless" and "whose authority", but there are no awful songs on it either, they are all very good.

anyway, i was looking forward to this show so much, so i got there about an hour early because i know they're "big in wallonië", lol. there was a line already. i stood front row a little to the left of singer/guitarist matthew caws who is CUTE in a geeky way. he came out to take a picture with a fangirly fan before the show, by the way, and was just walking around the building. i managed to restrain myself and didn't scream out anything like "oh my GOD YOU ARE MY THIRD FAVOURITE BAND AND "PAPER BOATS" IS ONE OF THE PRETTIEST SONGS EVER!!!!". it still puzzles me as to how i managed not to scream like that, actually.

the support show was roque wave, which was ok.

nada surf played a great show, and very long just like the last time i saw them. it's so refreshing to see a band that obviously enjoys playing and actually knows the strenghts and weaknesses of their own work. they also connect well with the audience, the last time i saw them they played like three requests, and this time they came back two times (7 encores, and then another 2) and i think they didn't plan on playing "popular" but gave in to the crowd's demand.

they played almost all of my favourite nada surf songs. i only wish they would have played "concrete bed" and "amateur". favourite songs of the show: whose authority, what is your secret, weightless, killian's red, paper boats, 30 windows, blizzard of '77, always love, blankest year, imaginary friends, popular. i was in tears like 5 times.

the crowd was really into it, but the bitch standing next to me bugged the hell out of me. she was like 10 years old, she was squeezed her way to the front row next to me and then was like "my friend wants to come stand next to me", i was like "uhm", and she was like "well THANKS A LOT! very FRIENDLY!".... and i was just like "mmmmkay!?". during rogue wave she kept trying to sort of "slide" her foot closer to me to make room for her friend, but luckily i'm not as dumb as she is and i just stood my ground and stepped on her toes a lot. during nada surf she actually answered her cell phone several times and then was like "WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!! I'M AT A CONCERT!!"... it was soooo annoying! her and her friend were "totally huge fans of nada surf" but didn't know half of their songs, and kept talking during the show. also they kept screaming "i love you" to nada surf and the roque wave guys, but then we heard them ask what the name of the support act was... oh yeah HUGE fans they were! and they kept screaming for drum sticks and shit, and when the roadie gave them the setlist of rogue wave, they didn't know what it was and went like "what's this? i don't want this! i want the drum stick!!"... lol. hilarious but SO annoying and disrespectful to people LIKE ME who actually go to concerts for the music and actually really love the band.

anyway: awesome show. definitely one of my favourite shows of all time

youtube video's of the show. they aren't mine, i was standing wayyyy to the right, in front of matthew.
"weightless": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wur3zgnn8I
"popular", the crowd was pretty wild in this, and so is bassist daniel:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCRNEB9aC50
"always love": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGu5bGFAqHA

pictures of the show (not mine): www.wannabes.be

review for goddeau (mine): http://www.goddeau.com/content/view/4429

"pro-bono pro-bongo?"

exam went very well. "tsjecho-hongarije"-girl was there and we agreed that h&m jeans seem to be made for girls without an ass (god knows why, it's not like there are that many girls who have a straight line from the back of their legs to their lower back! plus, guys don't even find ass-less girls attractive).

i will go shopping now.

i am so glad exams are over. this leaves me with even more time to figure out how the hell i'm going to continue posting about john mayer here every day. i mean, he's interesting and omni-present and all, but there's only so much hilarious appearences one singer-songwriter can do on vh1. right? right. plus, i can't stop NOW: with exams over, i won't know what to do with myself if i have to give up my john mayer fascination.

pro-bono pro-bongo!

since my john mayer obsession is the most exciting thing this journal has seen in years, here's part three.

yesterday i decided to check some of his music out, because, well, turns out that's his main acticity. who knew, right? i sure didn't. seemed to me like he had made a career out of being hilarious on youtube. who would have thought that besides making video's about shaving and meat, doing interviews on all sorts of american shows and show up in random vh1 features, he actually had time to make music!?

well, he does. he's made a few albums with great success in the united states, and no success whatsoever in europe. also he formed a trio called - ... guess! no really! guess! - "the john mayer trio", a blues trio. so far i've heard about five songs, and they're ok. it's "adult alternative", a genre i try to avoid as much as possible,  which seems to be a euphimism for "pop music made by people older than 25 that sounds like folk sometimes". however, the fact that john mayer is immensely awesome makes his music a whole lot cooler, even if it is "adult alternative". so far, i love "daughters" which is your basic acoustic ballad à la coldplay but less good. the lyrics to "daughters" are beautiful though. it's been stuck in my head all day. today, i kept breaking into song at the most random moments whilst trying to memorise the different ways to go into appeal, bursting out "faaathers be good to your daaaaaaaaughters" ("tears!", lol). so that was distracting.

also distracing were the john mayer hallucinations i had last night. i am not kidding, it was fairly disturbing. i kept waking up, and i had those "flashing thoughts" you get when you have a fever, except this time they were john mayer themed. could have been worse, i guess. i would have liked the sleep though.

i'll keep you updated. i myself am very interested to see where this is going. i don't know if there are any new heights to reach - nightly hallucinations are pretty much the highest height - but we'll see!

things i've found out about john mayer.

as youtube keeps feeding my john mayer obession, here's a list of things i've found out about him, while i should be studying.

- i already knew him back in my ohnotheydidnt addiction days, but didn't remember, as "the guy who dated  jessica simpson". i had no idea who he was though back then, so i didn't pay any attention to him in the millions of paparazzi shots i saw those nine months. i just laughed at jessica's fashion sense.
- he's very famous and popular in the united states, where he's won grammy's and stuff.
- he does stand up comedy which explains a lot. and he wants to design sneakers.
- according to some magazines, he used to be a geek and is now a "guitar god". both have been disputed.
- make-up-sex, is not his thing ("fuck you!").
- he has dated jennifer love hewitt, who is fat now according to people magazine, but still pretty.
- he's still hilarious. and hot.
- he's addicted to watches.
- oh yeah, he also makes music and stuff.

i'll keep you updated as i continue my journey in john mayer's wonderland. you americans out there should probably stop reading, though, because you all know everthing about him already since he's faaaamous.

have to go study now. but first there's this one video that --

i have a huge crush on john mayer.

his interpol-esque version of "i think she knows" is brilliant and addictive, he's extremely attractive, he has an unhealthy obession with shoarma and he jokes about dog fighting. i don't know anything about him and i can't form an opinion about his music to save my life, but i can tell you this much: he's a character.

and, seriously, youtube is a goldmine of hilarious john mayer video's. there's one of john making an ass of himself in front of kanye west: "first, the white guy and the black guy must meet and, to do that, a fumbling must occur". there's one of him doing an improv/"say it right" version of youtube classic "chocolate rain" ("that's keeper shit right there").


i've been spending way too much time on youtube. i blame it on the most boring exam EVER i have on tuesday. who gives a shit about the different ways to set a court date, when i can watch john mayer making girls cry.

THE BEST OF MY 2007

disclaimers:
- it says MY 2007 because the listed cd's, songs and books aren't limited to 2007 editions. it's a personal listing: the highlights of the previous year of my life. i discover old cd's and bands regularly, and i want to give them a spot in these end-of-year lists of mine.
- obviously, "best live" is limited to 2007.
- underlined are super-highlights. underlined AND bold are mega-super-uber-highlights.
- i listed the songs and live shows alphabetically.
- the song list is about a page shorter than last year's. but: it was a GOOD year for concerts, with interpol touring and getting free tickets from goddeau!

INTERPOL: "suprise sometimes will come around"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
(interpol, 23 nov 2007, vorst nationaal)


PRELUDE

i didn't go to my afternoon classes so i could be there about an hour or so before the doors opened. when joachim and i arrived, only about 6 other people were waiting. we waited outside (in the cold!) for about an hour and a half. when the doors opened, joachim and i ran like crazy, only two other people were faster than us, so we ended up standing front row only a little to the right of paul paul interpol (so in between paul and carlos). we played cards and i read cosmopolitan until the support act started: blonde redhead, a cool electro/trance-ish band with the cutest and very "jenny-lewis-from-rilo-kiley"-like japanese/chinese/whatever singer. the only thing that bugged me were the big bass-boxes right in front of me. it was so loud and annoying and i fear for my ears, because i already have ear damage from the time ebfore i used to wear ear protection. i was scared my ear protection wasn't good enough for this, and debated giving up my front row spots to go stand further away. whilst waiting for interpol, however, i decided to put in my other (wax) ear plugs, and they're supposed to be better, so i decided to give it another go.


INTERPOL: "i will surprise you sometime, i'll come around, when you're down."

(my wax ear plugs were fine, they protected my ears very well, and after a few songs i knew there was no way i'd give up my front row spot. so let's move on to more interesting things.)

interpol has been my favourite live band for over three years, ever since i saw them at werchter. they were ok this summer at werchter, but the crowd was awful, so i expected more out of this concert. and they didn't disapoint! during the first three songs i had to stop myself from crying because i was just like "wow. oh my god. this means so much to me!". they moved me to tears about 5 times, and i jumped/danced like crazy to almost all of the other songs. in my book they remain: best live band!

about the setlist. i've seen them twice now, so i'd hoped for a different setlist: perhaps some b-sides or rare songs ("specialist"!!) or rare live songs ("untitled", "the new", "roland", ...). they ended up playing the setlist they did at werchter, minus "leif erikson" and plus a lot of "turn on the bright lights" songs. basically, they played almost all of "turn on the bright lights", not a lot of "antics" and of course most of "our love to admire". overall, it was a very satisfying setlist because they played two of my all time favourite songs that i hadn't heard them play live yet: "nyc" and "untitled". i liked that they played "hands away" and "stella was a diver and she was always down" even though those aren't my most favourite songs. i did some research and they played "specialist" on some shows during this tour, and it sucks so much ass that they didn't play it when i saw them... i love "specialist". but: apparentely we were the only show (besides the one in madison square garden) where they did two rounds of encores! yay! they totally loved us!

( complete setlist )

paul, usually so quiet, seemed very impressed and constantly said "thank you!", and he often looked totally surprised when the whole crowd started clapping along. daniel's moves were hot and totaly off-beat as usual, but he looked awesome and even stood on top of the boxes in front of him at one point. carlos was being the weirdo he is and looked scary but awesome, he threw lots of things into the crowd and almost hit me in the head twice with is plectrums. they fell right where i was, but i didn't look for them (the girls behind me did), i figured i'd rather watch the show and take the memories with me, than sit on my knees looking for something and miss two songs. sam was drinking beer (belgian, i suppose), and at the end of the concert he pointed at a black boy on the front row (who had been singing along perfectly to all the songs, i'd noticed) and sam said: "you're great, man, you made my evening!". sam was also the only one wearing a white t-shirt, the others were in their usual black "interpol-uniforms". paul even had on a black scarf in the beginning which looked totally ridiculous, but he's still brilliant even if he looks silly. the piano-guy-who's-not-a-real-band-member-anyway was wearing a weird white hat.

the highlights: "pioneer to the falls" (the part where it goes "i know you try, you fly straight into my heart"), "slow hands" when the crowd behind me completely blew up, "evil" ("rosemary!"), the last part of "the heinrich maneuver" ("i've got a plan, look forward in my eyes!") and all of the magical encores (see next paragraph).

the encores. the three "turn on the bright lights" encores were magical: "nyc" made me bawl my eyes out, so moving ("new york cares! (got to be some more change in my life...)"), "stella was a diver and she was always down" was great ("she broke away, broke away!") and the last part of "PDA" was brilliant as always (where daniel goes "nothing to saaaaaaay when there's nothing to do! aaaaa-aaah, aaa-aaaaaah"). for the second encore they did "untitled" (i had expected/hoped as much since that's what they did at the madison sqaure garden show) which is one of my favourite interpol songs and one of first i loved on "turn on the bright lights", so it's very special to me.

best concert in a long, long time. actually: my best live experience. (my last "best live experience" had been interpol at werchter the first time, so basically they beat themselves.)