Sorry

No Artist of the Week yesterday.

Not feeling very well.

Hopefully I will be back on track next Saturday.

Happy Labour Day!

-Rachel.

Irrelevant.

Congratulations.

Somehow, MGMT released their music video for "Congratulations" last week and I missed it...?
I don't know how that happened, but it did.
Anyways, I watched it today and it impressed. Then again, I'm impressed with anything they do. How can you not be? Please elaborate if you have an opinion. I'd like to know.

"Congratulations"

Artist of the Week II

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan, sometimes simply referred to as SRV, is best known for his amazing guitar skills. It has been twenty years since he passed away and Stevie has yet to stop influencing musicians everywhere.

Stephen Ray Vaughan was born on October 3rd, 1954 in Dallas, Texas. He began playing guitar in 1963, just nine years old. Stevie was very influenced by his older brother Jimmie, who was three years older than him and would go on to form The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Stevie and his brother were both very influenced by great blues artists such as Albert Collins, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Joe Perry.

In 1970, Vaughan was working at a local burger joint called Dairy Mart. One night when he was standing on a barrel of grease to clean out the trash bins, the top fell through and he landed in grease up to his chest. At that moment, Stevie decided to quit his job and pursue music as a full time career.

The next year he dropped out of high school during Christmas break and moved to Austin with his R&B band named Blackbird. Stevie left Blackbird in 1972.

In 1973, Stevie joined the rock band Krackerjack but quit a few months later when the lead singer suggested they wore makeup on stage.

Later that year, he was invited by Marc Benno to join The Nightcrawlers. The band traveled to L.A. to record an album for A&M Records, but the label refused to release it. Disappointed, the band went home to Texas. The album was never released until 2009 by Blue Skunk Music.

Back home, Stevie found his "first wife." One day in '73 he purchased a battered Fender Stratocaster from Ray Henning's Heart of Texas. Vaughan always claimed it was a '59, but it has been discovered that the body is stamped saying 1963, and the neck says 1962. Stevie fell in love with this guitar and named it Number One. He used it for most of his career.

SRV showing Number One some love.

Stevie left The Nightcrawlers to play with popular Austin R&B band Paul Ray and the Cobras in 1974. For the next two and a half years, Stevie would continue to develop his style playing in Austin clubs about five nights a week.
The Cobras won Band of the Year in an Austin music poll in 1977. In September of that year, Stevie left the band and formed Triple Threat Revue (the word "Revue" was eventually dropped).
In 1978, Triple Threat became Double Trouble. The lineup consisted of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lou Ann Barton, Fredde Pharoh, Johnny Reno, and Jackie Newhouse.
In early 1980, Barton left Double Trouble. This is when Stevie began to use his full name and the band eventually became more commonly known as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.

In 1982, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble were recommended by producer Jerry Wexler to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The band was booked to play on an acoustic night of the festival and was therefore booed offstage. However, this performance signaled the beginning of a blues revival.

David Bowie heard their performance in Switzerland and was impressed. He asked Vaughan to play on his latest album and tour. Stevie played guitar on Bowie's 1983 release Let's Dance, which was a great stepping stone for him. Just two days before Bowie's Serious Moonlight Tour began Vaughan backed out to focus on Double Trouble. 
Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne was also impressed with the band and offered to let them use his recording in L.A. studio for three days. Double Trouble was able to record an album's worth of music in 1982.

Double Trouble scored a record deal with Epic Records thanks to producer John Hammond. The band used the material they recorded during the three day stay at Browne's studio to release their debut album, Texas Flood, which was release on June 13, 1983. Texas Flood became one of the most popular blues albums in years, which came as a great surprise to Stevie. It peaked at #64 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

One of Vaughan's best known songs, "Pride and Joy" was recorded on this album.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded and released their second studio album in 1984 and it's called Couldn't Stand the Weather. This album was also successful and Vaughan began to gain recognition in Europe.

The day after Stevie's thirtieth birthday, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble played at New York City's Carnegie Hall alongside several guests, one of them being Jimmie Vaughan.

Also in 1984, Vaughan won two W.C. Handy National Blues Awards, one for Entertainer of the Year and another for Blues Instrumentalist of the Year.

SRV and Double Trouble released their third studio album on September 30, 1985 titled Soul to Soul. This album saw the addition of keyboardist Reese Wynans. Around this time, Vaughan's use of cocaine and alcoholism became extremely heavy.

With live performances compiled from the band's July 16, 1985 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival (which received better reception by the audience than their performance in '82), July 17-18, 1986 performances at the Austin Opera House, and July 19 performance at Dallas Starfest, the band released their first live album, Live Alive, on November 15, 1986.

During Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's European Tour 1986, Stevie became very ill on their September 29th show in London, England after years of drug abuse. He struggled to play that one last show before checking into a London clinic where he was under the care of Dr. Victor Bloom, who had helped fellow musicians Pete Townshend and Eric Clapton with their heroin addictions. The clinic suggested Vaughan enter a rehabilitation center in Atlanta Georgia. While the last thirteen shows of the tour were canceled, Stevie became sober on October 13, 1986.

For part of its spring break coverage, MTV aired the band's performance in Daytona Beach, Florida in spring of 1987.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble performed for former president George H.W. Bush's inaugural party in 1989 in Washington D.C.

Later that year, on June 6th, the band released their fourth studio album, In Step. The title referred to Vaughan's sobriety and would be the last album he would record with Double Trouble. In Step won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

On January 30, 1990, Vaughan played on MTV Unplugged with an acoustic twelve string guitar.

On September 25 of that year, Stevie and his brother Jimmie (together as the Vaughan Brothers) released a blues-rock album titled Family Style. It's the first and last album they ever made together. In fact, it's the last album SRV recorded at all. The end of the liner notes of Family Style say "Thanks Mama V. for letting us play."

By mid August, all five of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's albums had went gold, selling over 1,000,000 copies each.

On August 26, 1990, Vaughan played a sold out show to an audience of 30,000 people at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Wisconsin. The concert featured an encore jam with Stevie, Jimmie, Robert Cray, Eric Clapton, and Buddy Guy.

After the show, on August 27, roughly before 1:00 AM, Stevie got on a helicopter which was on its way to Chicago. It crashed merely seconds after takeoff, killing Vaughan. Four days after his death, funeral services were held in Dallas, Texas with over 1,500 people attending and approximately 3,000 more outside the chapel. Several posthumous albums have been released after Stevie's death with great success.

Yesterday the world reluctantly celebrated the 20th anniversary of Stevie Ray Vaughan's death.

Memorial for Stevie Ray Vaughan in Austin, Texas.
Rest in Peace.

Why I Love John Mayer:

his latest blog post. What a hilarious man.
This blog post isn't even funny but I can find humor in anything.
Here's a link to his Tumblr post, even though I copy/pasted that shit below: Huffypost

Huffington Post FULL OF SHIT? (Yes!)

 

Ahh, Huffington Post, the internet Death Star. The world’s first spectator banking website. Come watch a site’s intelligence move in and out like bellows of accordion depending on whether or not there’s ad dollars to be sucked out of any willing orifice.

 

From their front page item “BACK TOGETHER?”:

 

Are John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston back on? Mayer seemed to indicate they might be when he spoke in front of a crowd of 18,000 at his concert on Sunday at the Hollywood Bowl in LA.

 

“I believe in second chances!” he said. “You might have been a pain in the ass the last time around, but you can still start over again from home base. Next time you get a text from the one you love just text back ‘come over’ - no matter what happened in the past. If you really love someone, just tell them and be with them.”

 

Huffington Post, this is reporting? How do you pay your writers now, in Silly Bandz? Do you meet your sources in a malt shoppe? This is equal parts fabricated, cobbled together and misleading. Let’s break it down: I don’t think I ever said “I believe in second chances!” but I can’t be 100 percent sure, as it’s possible I could have accidentally said something succinctly and to the point. The next sentence is from the song “Half of My Heart,” in reference to the idea that meeting new people allows for hiding old mistakes. (Well, for most people at least.) The sentence about texting comes from the show’s encore, “Edge of Desire,” in a moment of giving people permission not to beat themselves down for still wanting someone. Two sentences about different things at different points in a concert.

 

The reason I’m calling you out instead of all the other magazines that make stories up out of thin air is that In Touch and Star Magazine aren’t concurrently writing pieces about Pat Tillman or WikiLeaks. Those other rags know who they are, and even if they’re obnoxious, I’d rather have to live with them because they (and the rest of the world) know where they stand, which doesn’t make them one tenth as dangerous as you are. You’re a stripper wearing reading glasses. Or maybe you’re an insolvent law student willing to dance for a few extra dollars. Either way, it’s uncomfortable to watch you try to wrap yourself around a pole when you have that C-Span scar.

 

I’m not a politician. I have no celebrity endorsements. So it is with a clear conscience that I’m able to title your piece on this post, should you decide to try make a few more bucks for whatever body wash or slasher flick you’re hocking today.

 

JOHN MAYER SLAMS HUFFPO: ” GO F**K YOURSELF!”

Alice Cooper Was Wrong...

"I ♥ my gyno."

...School is obviously not out forever or else I wouldn't be starting my junior year of high school tomorrow.

That's all. Bye.

Artist of the Week I

NOFX

Current Lineup: Eric Melvin, Erik Sandin, Fat Mike, El Hefe

NOFX is one of America's best known punk bands from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1983 by vocalist/bassist Fat Mike and guitarist Eric Melvin, NOFX has been trash talking for nearly thirty years now.

NOFX released their self titled debut EP in January 1985.

Track listing:

1. Live Your Life

2. My Friends

3. Six Pack Girls

4. Bang Bang

5. Hit it

6. Hold it Back

7. I.D.

In 1988, the band recorded their first album Liberal Animation with songwriter and guitarist for the band Bad Religion, Brett Gurewitz. The title toys with the phrase "animal liberation" and the cover features a family of cows sitting at a dinner table eating a human carcass:

Though the album mocks animal rights and vegetarianism, Fat Mike claims he became a vegetarian after writing it.

NOFX's second Album, S&M Airlines, was released the following year on Gurewitz's label, Epitaph Records.

Fat Mike and his wife founded Fat Wreck Chords in 1990.

In 1991, the band released their third album, Ribbed. The cover featured only a picture of a condom. This was also the year that NOFX welcomed their current lead guitarist, El Hefe.

The Longest Line 12" EP was released in 1992 and was the first recording to feature El Hefe.

1994 saw the rise of pop punk in the mainstream media;  Green Day released their major label debut, Dookie, in February and NOFX released their most successful album to date, Punk in Drublic, in June. Because of the album's popularity, NOFX were approached by major labels but the band declined.

In November of 1994, NOFX released their first video album titled Ten Years of Fuckin' Up on VHS. It includes 19 live performance tracks. The DVD release features a commentary by the band.

In '95, the band released their first live album I Heard They Suck Live!! which contains 19 tracks (two of which aren't songs, but audio from the concert). The album was recorded at the Roxy in Hollywood.

NOFX released their sixth studio album Heavy Petting Zoo in 1996. It did not reach the commercial success of Punk in Drublic, but was the first NOFX album to make a spot on the US Billboard charts. In the credits of the album, the band tells major labels to "leave us the fuck alone." The title combines the phrases "heavy petting" and "petting zoo," suggesting bestiality. The CD and cassette versions of Heavy Petting Zoo featured a man touching a sheep inappropriately, while the LP version, alternatively titled Eating Lamb (another play on words), featured the same man performing oral sex on the sheep:

Heavy Petting Zoo, released on CD and cassette

Eating Lamb, released on vinyl

In November '97, the band released So Long and Thanks for all the Shoes. The title refers to the common practice at punk rock shows of throwing shoes lost by crowd surfers on stage.
In 1999, NOFX released a single track EP titled The Decline. It is the longest NOFX song recorded,  at 18 minutes and 19 seconds. The song is cynical and satire, firing at American law and politics; it discusses conformity, religion, and the constitution. Fat Mike says that recording The Decline was a nightmare. It is rumored that the Pink Floyd movie The Wall and The Decline can be played together.
NOFX released their eighth full length album in 2000. Titled Pump up the Valuum, the word "Valium" was misspelled to avoid a lawsuit because of the registered trademark of the name. This was the last album released by NOFX on Epitaph records before moving to Fat Wreck Chords.
In 2002 NOFX recorded BYO Split Series Volume III. It was a split record with fellow punk band Rancid in which both bands covered six of each other's songs. NOFX also released their double album 45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough to Go on Our Other Records.

The War on Errorism was released in 2003 and was the beginning of the NOFX anti-George W. Bush campaign. Following this record, Fat Mike organized punkvoter.com, which encouraged young punks to register to vote in the 2004 election. The activist groups supporters are mainly left-liberals. Fat Mike also organized Rock Against Bush, hosting a national tour and releasing two CDs. The War on Errorism is NOFX's best known album.


NOFX launched the NOFX 7" of the Month Club in 2005. Subscribers received an EP almost every month on colored vinyl. Since then, Fat Wreck Chords has released sets of the EPs.
Never Trust a Hippy EP was released in March 2006. The cover featured an illustration of Jesus holding a bottle of alcohol in one hand and throwing up a peace sign with the other.
The next month, their tenth studio album Wolves in Wolve's Clothing was released.
NOFX recorded three live shows in San Francisco for their second live album, They've Actually Gotten Worse Live!, in January 2007. The album was released in November of that year.
NOFX  launched a world tour in September 2007, which was documented on the Fuse show "NOFX: Backstage Passport."
The band released Coaster in April 2009, as well as an EP titled Cokie the Clown in November. The band launched their Fermented and Flailing tour in the spring of 2010.
For an acoustic set at SXSW, Fat Mike adopted the Cokie the Clown persona and played what some call a very intimate and emotional show. Fat Mike told disturbing stories of his past such as taking a woman upstairs after a show and milking her like a cow. At the beginning of the set, drinks were poured and passed around by Fat Mike, and at the end of the show a video was shown of him peeing inside the bottle of alcohol from which the drinks were poured. He was banned from the venue. It was later revealed that Fat Mike switched the bottle of pee with the real drinks before the show.


NOFX released a compilation album earlier this week titled The Longest EP. It features 30 songs from 1987 to present, outtakes and rarities.

AT&T Blackberry Torch Commercial and New fun. Video!

AT&T's latest commercial features the song "Everyday" by Buddy Holly. As anyone who reads this blog will come to know, I LOVE Buddy Holly. So when this commercial came on my telivision last night at 2:30 AM, I started to blush. I'm not even sure why I blushed, but I did.
And when I say I love Buddy Holly, I don't mean the Weezer song. Although that's a pretty bitchin' song, too.

Here's the link to the commercial if you really fancy to see it:

AT&T Blackberry Torch Commercial

Just a few minutes ago, I just got done watching the premiere of fun.'s new video for their song "Walking the Dog." And let me tell you, I loved it. And I'm deffinitely biased, but who gives a crap?

Anyways, if you want to get in on the awesomeness, which I doubt because nobody is reading this blog, then you can watch the video on fun.'s facebook page:

Walking the Dog

Have a nice day!

Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost, and Jack Antonoff

Hello, Everyone.

And by everyone I mean no one because nobody knows about this blog because I just made it.

Anyways, my name is Rachel and I like blogging, as demonstrated on my other blog The Meow Meow Diaries. I also like music. I figured those two likes are good enough for me to start a music blog.
I can talk about a certain artist, what I like and dislike about them, and give a little info on them as well. I can recommend music, and also just state what I've been digging lately.

I hope that if anybody reads this they are interested in my music nerdom and will come back when I am actually blogging about music.

That's all for now. Bye.
Rachel