The Weepies

I fell in love with The Weepies the same year I fell in love with Greg.  I discovered the band first but the two are nonetheless very tied in my mind.

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They were one of those happy Pandora discoveries where one song lead to albums of songs just as good and even better.  The song that started things was Hideaway, which is the title song over their third album.  While it will always have a special place in my heart, my favorite of their albums is actually Say I Am You, and more specifically, the song Gotta Have You.

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I have this very specific memory of listening to that song.  It's funny how that happens, isn't it?  It wasn't the first nor certainly the last time I heard it and yet it was the time that stuck.  I was in my little studio apartment, drinking a cold glass of white wine with my feet up on the sill of an open window watching an early evening rain over my fire escape and the rooftops of Dupont beyond it.  I just remember feeling so happy and hopeful in that moment and it still makes me smile to think of it.  That song really captured how I felt over those first few months that Greg and I were together and still does nearly three years later.

I even love the story behind the band.  The Weepies are a two person band made up  of Deb Talan and Steve Tannen, who first admired each others' music, then started working together, and then fell in love. They have a mellow, quirky, folk-indie pop sound that I just adore and definitely recommend to you. 

Not bad for a Tuesday night

Last night we headed over to H Stree NE for a concert with a couple of friends.  I am ashamed to say that it was our first time on that ever-growing, trendy little strip, but there you have it.  We will definitely be back very soon.  There is something so fun, and a little illicit, about being out on a "school night," and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

mussels + fries + good friends = happiness

We had some time before the show and started with dinner at Granville Moore's, which is known for having fabulous mussels and Belgian beers, and it totally delivered. With a slight chill in the air outside, the cozy atmosphere of the booth tucked in the back corner was also just what we were looking for. Our group ordered three types of mussels and they were all delicious.  I got the Thai Cocnut ones and thought they were particularly stellar.

really fantastic show

Afterwards we went across the street to see Wild Nothing at the Rock & Roll Hotel.  They are one of Greg's favorite bands of the moment and the show was awesome.  It was the second time we had seen them and the first is actually kind of a cool story.  About three weeks after we started dating, Greg took me down to Blacksburg for the first time (football game, of course) and we started the night downtown at small restaurant that happened to have live music that evening.  It was a local band called FACEPAINT that was just starting out and actually sounded fantastic.  Greg asked me to remind him to check them out again but it slipped both of our minds in the whirlwind of that weekend.  About a year later, Greg was listening to a list of albums of the year and recognized their sound.  They had changed their name to Wild Nothing and were gaining some serious traction on the Indie scene.  He was so pumped to find them again and it was very cool to see them play a sold out show at a decidedly bigger venue nearly three years later.
  
So, all in all, not bad for a Tuesday night.

Quelqu'un m'a dit

Since studying is the main thing on the agenda this week, I thought I'd share something else tied to fond memories that helps me relax when studying: Carla Bruni's album, Quelqu'un m'a dit, which translates to "Someone told me."

I was introduced to Carla Bruni, well before she was the first lady of France, by my wonderful Spanish host mother, Elena when I was studying abroad in Valencia, Spain in the Fall of 2005.  How is that for international?  Discovering an Italian who sings in French while living in Spain?  My host mother was a retired French teacher and the album was the permanent resident of the kitchen stereo.  Elena listened to it as she cooked and I got into the habit of listening to it as I did my homework at the kitchen table, including several late nights agonizing over lengthy Spanish literature papers.

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I normally can't listen to music as I study or write because it jumbles up my head, but this album is an exception.  I think that the fact that I don't speak French and (7 years later) still don't understand exactly what each song is about is definitely part of it, but it is more than that. Carla Bruni's style is very soothing.  She has a beautiful voice, which is accompanied by minimal but lovely instrumentals and each song flows perfectly into the next.  Like Lapsang Souchung tea, Quelqu'un m'a dit always brings me back to place of comfort through happy memories of that kitchen table in Valencia.  It is a favorite even when I'm not crashing on something and I definitely recommend you give it a listen as well!