The Crawford Blog

30 Day Poetry Challenge - A Few Poems

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:01:28 GMT

So I just wrote my final poem for the 30 Day Poetry Challenge, and I thought that I would share some of my poems from this process with you. I was proud of myself for actually sticking with it and writing 30 poems in 30 days!

Free

She's the kind of girl no one really knows--dancing
alone at weddings with violets
in her hair.
She's everyone's friend
and no one's
as she presses a cigarette
to her chapped lips
and looks right through
all of them.

She's always a tourist, the permanent
visitor--collecting them all like souvenirs.
She keeps a shrine of red plastic cups
in her pick-up truck
to remember a life that was once hers.

All of the boys think they're in love with her,
but no one can be sure.
No one can be sure.

Untitled Limerick

There once was a man in MacCrackens,
Whose tact was severely lacking.
He sat on my knee,
And whispered to me,
“You’re hot, but you could use a smacking.”

Sleight of Hand

He flips through the deck of cards, flings his colored scarf.
I’m singing for absolution, getting lost in a Muse song.
He would know what this meant if he paid attention.
“Dream about me,” he whispers. My defenses are up.

I’m singing for absolution, getting lost in a Muse song.
He’s painting false visions in the air for his audience.
“Dream about me,” he whispers. My defenses are falling.
I see the white dove fly into the distance.

He’s painting false visions on a canvas. I am his audience.
They’ve tried to impress me before. I never fell for illusions.
I see the white dove fly into the distance.
I hold my breath, counting stars in the sky.

I know this is an illusion, but I can’t make myself see it.
The colors are changing, the shades are shifting.
I’m shutting my eyes tight, counting stars in my mind.
I’m getting dizzy. I can’t remain standing.

The shades are shifting, the colors are changing.
I would know the truth if I paid attention.
I’m getting dizzy, can’t remain standing.
Fling your colored scarf at me, let me pick a card.

Conversations With the Sky

The violet petals flew in the wind,
late into the day
when the sun was beginning
to make its way to the other
side of the world.
We are so egocentric, I thought.
In the silent mist of evening,
I sat on my porch, staring
at the overwhelming sky
in all of its spacious longing.
Wait for me, I thought. I can be
a little slow sometimes but I promise
to remain still if you help me
stay protected.
The teal sky faded into
tranquil darkness, the cautious stars
making an appearance, winking at me.
And for once, I was calm.

Carpe Diem

In a crowd of strangers,
you caught my eye.
I remember that now
even though it makes me
cringe to know how it
ends
Carpe diem
is being able to say
“I’ll do it anyway.”

Sparks

The Virgo lighter
sits on my coffee table
(even though I'm not a Virgo,
not even a little bit.)

It's running out of lighter
fluid. When I try to ignite
the flame, it half-heartedly
attempts to form sparks.

It looks like a normal
cigarette lighter that
you might hold up
during the epic hair band love song,
with your drunken arm
around your girl
pretending you'll still be together
when the song ends.

Once the flame was burning as brightly
as the power chords that played
while the lead singer wailed
with his wild hair in all different directions
smearing his eyeliner with beads of sweat.

But now, it's just a shell, a memory
that tries so hard to produce sparks
but can't.

Sundown

The sun sneaks out from behind feather clouds, shining shyly. Its radiance doesn't touch my skin and I pull my silver sweater over my chest. It's full of holes, I notice with a sigh. I hear the neighbors hiss at each other through hushed whispers on the patio and somehow I still miss someone, a stranger I've never known. When I close my eyes, I can still hear his voice speaking softly in a foreign tongue, whispering words of wisdom I can't yet understand. If I searched the smoky spring sky, damp with disappointment of half-hearted promises from the night before, would I find him sulking in the corner or shining with a vibrant spirit I've never seen before? The sun sinks down behind the feather clouds, dimly fading into a star-soaked evening, leaving me shivering, still searching.

My artistic process - the 30 Day Poetry Challenge

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:50:00 GMT

I’ve been in a bit of a “waiting for something to happen” phase lately, mainly because of my novel. I just finished another round of revisions, and I am waiting for responses from literary agents--some of which are actually reading my full manuscript. I wanted to wait until I got feedback from them/the second round of beta readers before I started on more revisions so I'm not actively working on a larger writing project at the moment.

I’ve also learned that I think I really need to be involved in two projects at once: one writing project, and one artistic project that is collaborative in some way, like a band or a play. This is really how it’s always been, but I think I've just realized how necessary it actually is. I get really anti-social when I am just writing, and I don’t think that’s healthy. I need the inspiration from being around other artists. I need inspiration from just being around other people in general. Everyone is beautiful and everyone inspires me in some way.

I think this is one of the big reasons I did Godspell. I was really burnt out on the Atlanta music scene so I didn’t want to be in a band, and then my church just happened to be doing this musical that I loved. I had an amazing experience, and it has inspired me to do more theatre. I’ve actually even been going on auditions again. (Well, just one so far, but we’ll see how it goes.) Theatre is the perfect thing to do while I am in limbo with my novel. It gives me the opportunity to be artistic, creative, and collaborative, but it doesn’t take quite as much out of me as writing all of my “rage against the ex-boyfriend songs.” (And anyway, I’m really in a pretty positive place which means I haven’t even been writing many songs lately -- I guess I only write songs when I’m upset about something.)

Luckily, while I'm sort of in limbo with other artistic projects, the 30 Day Poetry Challenge on Facebook has started back up. It was started by a few of my fellow grad students from the University of New Orleans (all poetry majors), and this is the third year. To celebrate National Poetry Month (which is of course April), the idea is to write a poem every day based on prompts posted on the Facebook page. Poets are encouraged to post their poems on their own Facebook pages or the 30 Day Poetry Challenge page, but it’s not required. I have participated in this the past two years, but I never got through all 30 days. (A poem I wrote is actually even appearing in an Anthology of the first two years of poems.) So far, we’re on day 9, and I have written a poem every single day. I’m hoping I actually get to Day 30 this year. (And I'll be sure to post the favorite poems I've written in the challenge this year here on the website when the month is over so stay tuned for that.)

Not every poem every day is going to be golden, but that’s not really the point. I love exercises and challenges like this. It reminds me a little of the writing marathons I used to do. In those, you get prompts and you HAVE to write for 5, 10, 20, or even 30 minute intervals. The point is just to write. You might not get anything usable out of the whole day, but you will exercise your writing muscles. And sometimes you have to write 18 pages to get to one really great sentence. But it’s all worth it, because in the end it’s not really even about the sentence. It’s about the process. And that’s how I feel about the 30 Day Poetry Challenge. It’s a challenge in the truest sense of the word. It is forcing me to step outside of my normal writing habits by making me do things I wouldn’t normally do.

The most important part of writing (or any art form really) is just to do it. If you want to be a writer, write every day, even if it’s just two pages in your journal about how you stubbed your toe. Who knows? The emotion from that might lead to a poem or a short story. You never know where you will end up if you don’t start somewhere. Put the pen to the paper. Type on your keyboard. Write anything. Don’t care if it’s good or if people will enjoy it. Write for yourself. You can always edit and revise later if you want to make something more structured. Just get it down on the page. That is the best writing advice I’ve ever been given, and I think that is what sets those who want to write apart from those people who have writing inside of their blood.

Click here to purchase Ready For Consumption: An Anthology of Poems from the 30 Day Poetry Challenge

Reflecting on Godspell - spirituality, theatre, community

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:43:32 GMT

A photo my fellow cast member, Liz, snapped of me last night at dress rehearsal

As many of you know, I'm doing a production of Godspell this weekend at my church, Unity North Atlanta.

I did Godspell ten years ago with Cobb Children's Theatre when I was a senior in high school. I have always loved the music and the overall energy of the show, though it is a little chaotic and random at times. (It's kind of like Hair. With Jesus. And without the nudity.)

I haven't done a musical in so long, unless you count Hedwig and the Angry Inch. (I thought of the Hedwig experience, though, as more of a "band" experience than a "theatrical" one though--probably because I had a guitar strapped to me throughout the whole show.) Mostly, the past ten years of my life have been more focused on playwriting or writing in general and performing my own music, whether in bands or as a solo artist.

So when I saw that Unity was having auditions for a production of Godspell--which is also the first theatrical production of this scale being performed at Unity--I knew I had to audition. I had literally just finished grad school, I was still taking a break from playing my own music in the Atlanta music venues, and I wasn’t working on anything artistic aside from novel. Also, I thought it was too coincidental that the production was going on literally ten years after I last did it.

I don't plan on going to my ten-year high school reunion, really, but in many ways this production has made me more reflective about the last ten years than any reunion could. I keep remembering the CCT production of Godspell, and I keep thinking about how different I was then.

The thing I have noticed the most was that my motivations for performing have changed. As a teenager, acting/singing and being in musicals is very much about finding yourself and finding your own voice. I think CCT was so important because so many of us essentially grew up in that organization--we discovered who we were underneath the lights of the Jennie T. Anderson theatre. So much of being a teenager and coming of age is feeling insecure and wanting people to acknowledge you, and when we performed in these shows, we got just that. We discovered who we were by pretending to be other people.

Ten years later, after hundreds of performances in smoky dive bars and music venues and the vulnerability that comes with having my own words being performed on stage by different actors, I am able to approach acting and singing (and even dancing) in a totally different way. I'm no longer an insecure 17-year-old. I don't need people to tell me that I can sing or that I have artistic talent because I at least believe in myself enough to know that much now. I'm no longer going into a show thinking "I hope people walk out of this going 'Wow, Sara did a great job!'" I want people to walk out feeling inspired. I want people to walk out feeling a sense of joy, a sense of community. I want this show to resonate with people in whatever way they experience spirituality. And my personal goal is that I can add my voice and my talents to that. It’s no longer about my personal performance and my ego. It’s about the collective experience, the community. And that is one of the best things I have gotten out of my own spiritual journey that began when I started going to Unity regularly and reading Eckhart Tolle and meditating and beginning my own spiritual practice.

My favorite part of Godspell (and maybe even the Bible) is when he talks about how you should store up your treasures in Heaven. I interpret this as saying "don't seek fulfillment on the level of the ego--in material possessions or in other people's opinions of you--because these things are fleeting and inpermanent. Instead, seek fulfillment on the level of the Spirit where we are all One because this is permanent." And for me, my whole experience with Godspell this time around has been a practice at doing just that.

I think Godspell is all about building a community and coming together, and I feel like that's my main motivation for doing this show this time around. And I was thinking about how I have had some questions about doing such a Biblical show at Unity where we don't exactly have a literal interpretation of the Bible or even reference the Bible as often as traditional Christian churches. But then I thought about it in a new perspective. I feel like one of the main goals of Unity is to bring everyone together and create a community of love and celebrating God in whatever way is right for you. (I especially saw this a few weekends ago when they did the inter-faith revival and had speakers from the Muslim faith, the Hindu faith, the Buddhist faith, the Jewish faith, and the Christian faith all speaking about what revival meant to them.) Of course we should do this show at Unity because even though it is so Biblical, it is a perfect example of building a community of love and the celebration of God.

I noticed the other day that life has also mirrored art, as it usually does. Julie, one of the cast members, was singing “Beautiful City” (one of my favorite songs in the show). It’s a song all about how we can come together essentially and build something beautiful and new together. And I think that is what we have done as a cast and crew. We are all incredibly different—the age range alone of the cast members is expansive. We have cast members in their 20s and cast members in their 70s and everything in between. Some of us are Unity members, some of us are members of Roswell United Methodist Church, and some of us are just members of the community. And just as Jesus has special hand signals with each cast member in the show to represent his relationships with them, every single person in the cast has inspired me in some unique way, and I have learned something from every person. As different as we all are, we are coming together and creating something new and beautiful. I think that is one of the things that I love so much about theatre—how collaborative it is. But it seems to have new meaning for me doing this particular production in this particular church.

Godspell will be performed Thursday, March 28th, Friday, March 29th, and Saturday, March 30th at Unity North Atlanta in Marietta - all productions are at 7:30 - tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. Ticket information and other information available at http://unitynorth.org

Confession: I respect Stephenie Meyer

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 09:20:00 GMT

This is a picture of me holding an apple in front of the Forks sign when my friend Lauryn and I stopped in this town on our way to the Hoh Rainforest. I thought it was appropriate for this post.

I've been completely engrossed in the world of young adult fiction lately, working on my novel. I started describing my novel as Twilight meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and it occured to me that that was actually pretty accurate. I felt like making a blog post about Twilight.

Confession time. I like Twilight, and I respect Stephenie Meyer.

Okay. Before you start disowning me (I'm looking at you literary snob friends), let me explain. First of all, when a close friend of mine gave me the first Twilight book to read, I knew nothing about it. It so happened that I was going through a really depressing and challenging breakup, and when I started reading, I was so wrapped up in the novel that I didn't think about my personal life. It was a complete escape for me. Being a huge fan of the Pacific Northwest, I could easily lose myself in a fantasy that had the magical forests of Washington as its backdrop. I felt this way as I read the rest of the series, too. I wanted to know what happened. I was engrossed in the plot. This is one reason I love stories. They can provide a complete escape from reality.

Alright, I'll admit that the whole series does have serious problems from a feminist point of view. Bella is not a very strong female character. She has no aspirations of her own, really, and her entire world revolves around these men, etc. etc. And yes, it is also true that the series has issues from a literary standpoint, especially if you break down the actual structure of the book or if you start dissecting it. And sure, the whole "Jacob imprinting on the baby" thing still creeps me out, and I have issues with some of the religious messages that come across. Yes, I also think these novels may send a negative message to young girls about co-dependency. These are all true things and why most people dislike the series.

The reason I respect Stephenie Meyer is that she created a story that she loved, a story she was passionate about, characters she obviously loved, and an entire world that millions of others wanted to escape into. Any true literary fan has to respect that much at least. There are a lot of younger people (mostly girls) who may have gotten into reading in general because of Twilight, and that is an amazing thing. And I don't think she consciously set out to be overly religious or anti-feminist or anything else. I think she just wrote a story that she fell in love with, and all of those other things subconsciously came through because of who she is and the things that she believes. And that is why I respect her.

Spending two and a half years in classes with some pretentious students who were ALWAYS trying to impress everyone else with how witty or intelligent they could be in their writing, it was so refreshing to go back and re-read Twilight. Here is a book that a woman wrote simply for the sheer joy of storytelling, and that is definitely evident when you read it. She didn't care what people thought about it. She didn't care about all of these "literary rules." She just wanted to write a story about these characters she had a dream about and thought were interesting.

Also, I am sick of negativity and criticism in general. Just let people like what they like. If Twilight makes someone happy, why is that a bad thing? And I think Twilight fans get more hate than usual because it is mostly females in the fandom. Other books/movies/TV shows that are predominately enjoyed by males are not criticized nearly as much, though they may be just as "low brow."

So I was trying to capture everything I loved about the experiece of first reading Twilight--before I analyzed it from a literary standpoint and was simply engrossed in the plot--when I wrote my novel. I just wanted to write a story that was important to me. I just wanted to write a story about characters I had grown to fall in love with. And hopefully, other people will enjoy it the way I have. And maybe someday it will give someone else a much-needed escape from a bad breakup. And that's all I ever really want with my art anyway.

Finishing my MFA, rehearsing for Godspell, finishing my young adult novel

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 23:10:00 GMT

I thought I'd update a little blog to tell you guys what's going on with my artistic projects! As most of you know, I graduated with my MFA in Creative Writing in December. (Yay!) My thesis play was The Snow Globe, a children's fantasy play about a boy who's inside of a snow globe. I also have a (very different!) romantic comedy one act called Two Lesbians Stuck Inside of a Closet. It's funny. I spent all of this time in grad school working on these plays, and yet, I haven't done much to get them on stage this whole time. Now that grad school is over, I'm going to make more of an effort to get my plays out there. I'm hoping to self-produce Two Lesbians Stuck Inside of a Closet at some point this year. We'll see! Also, I'm doing a MUSICAL! I haven't done a traditional musical like this in probably 9 years. (I don't think Hedwig counts--that's more of a rock show!) I'm going to be in Godspell at Unity North Atlanta March 28-30, and I'm really excited about it. I did Godspell ten years ago (wow, I feel old) with Cobb Childrens Theatre my senior year in high school, and I really love this show. It's also great to be involved with a production at Unity in particular, which is one of my favorite places to be. Speaking of, I'm finally becoming a member of Unity North on February 24th. I've been going there off and on for like 7 years and I'm just now becoming a member! I love Unity though because I feel like they really honor everyone's idividual spiritual path, and I'm excited to "make it official." Haha I haven't been very active with music lately at all. The last show I played was in August. I have a show on the horizon, though, at Drunken Unicorn in April. So I will keep you posted about that. I'm also hoping to start recording YouTube covers again soon. I have a bunch of "happy songs that I've made depressing." Haha. I call it Morrissey-izing a song. Some of my songs have been added to the EAV roster, though, so that's exciting! EAV is East Atlanta Village radio, the new online radio station from some of the Dave FM people. Check it out here! The reason I haven't been very active with music is because I have been working on a young adult novel called The Muses. I just finished the first complete draft, and I've bene revising. The novel is basically a spin-off of my play, Painted, featuring Vincent and Izabella, the Muses from Painted. Here's the summary: 16-year-old musician, Sylvia Baker, has always been able to see Muses—mysterious beings who give artists inspiration—though they seem to be invisible to everyone else. After a near suicide attempt, Sylvia manages to climb out of the darkness of her mind by exploring her own musical abilities with the help of Travis, inspirational guitarist and classmate, and Vincent, the alluring British Muse who becomes Sylvia’s obsession. As she travels further into the world of these immortal beings that influence art, she finds herself in the middle of an epic battle between the modern Earthly Muses and the Original Greek Muses—some of which want her life. I've been sending out queries to literary agents as I revise, and I'm hopeful. Even if I don't get it published in the traditional way, I will definitely be self-publishing. So either way, it will be out there for people to read soon enough. :) On top of everything else, I've been moving to a little apartment off of the Marietta Square. Because I apparently wasn't hanging out at Cool Beans or MacCrackens enough. Haha.

Seven Albums I Fell in Love With in 2012 (even though two of them are EPs)

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 22:55:00 GMT

Well, even though we’re almost 10 days into 2013, I felt the need to write about my seven favorite albums from 2012.

Muse – 2nd Law

Everyone knows that I love Muse so I expected to love this album. While it’s still not my favorite Muse album, I really appreciate the way they experimented with dubstep in a way that was not annoying. Also, there are a few stand-out tracks that will really knock you on your ass, like the single, “Madness.”

First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

This folk duo consists of two Swedish sisters, Johanna and Klara Söderberg. With their amazing vocal melodies and complementing harmonies and absolutely beautifully constructed songs with powerful storytelling lyrics, this album will take you on a journey.

Beach House – Bloom

This album is amazing. Everything Beach House has ever done is amazing. I want to have Victoria LeGrand’s babies. (Let’s just forget about the fact that that is biologically impossible and I don’t even want babies.)

Moonlight Bride – Twin Lakes, Moonlight Bride – Dead Language

Technically, these are two EPs, but I like to listen to them back to back and think of them as one album. Really, I think of Dead Language as the sequel to Twin Lakes. Moonlight Bride is a Tennessee band that has seriously not gotten enough attention. These two EPs are filled with catchy songs like “Lemonade” that have some pretty solid hooks to heartbreaking songs like “Open Waters.” I can’t wait to hear what Moonlight Bride will do next.

Stars – The North

Here’s another band I love. I must admit, though, I was a little disappointed with 2010’s The Five Ghosts so when I heard this album, I immediately fell in love. “Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It” is probably my favorite song of the entire year. This album has all of the great songwriting that made me fall in love with Stars.

Grizzly Bear – Shields

This was another highly anticipated album for me that certainly did not disappoint. If you liked the complex, mellow Veckatimest, you will love this album. Tracks like “Sleeping Ute” and “Yet Again” stand out for me. This album has a very nostalgic quality that makes me think of classic rock bands from the 1970s.

Two Door Cinema Club – Beacon

This was a new band I discovered in 2012. On the surface, this is a really catchy pop rock album. But when you listen more closely, you’ll discover deep, meaningful lyrics that point to themes of spirituality, especially on tracks like “The World is Watching” and “Remember My Name.” But “Sleep Alone” is probably my second favorite song from 2012.

My Tattoos

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 03:59:28 GMT

It's not often that I get personal on here. But I thought that I would post a blog about all of my tattoos and what they mean to me.

This is the first one. (It's on my lower back.) I got it for my 20th birthday in 2005. It was mainly just to represent my love of music and the fact that I have soul and passion in everything that I create. That is the one thing that is probably the most important to me. I think you need technique in any art form, but more importantly, you need soul. You need emotion, you need passion, you need something that you believe in strongly. Ideally, a good song/play/film/painting/poem/etc. will be the perfect combination of craft/technique and passion/soul/emotion. But this tattoo was basically me saying that while I may sometimes lack craft/technique, I will never, ever lack soul. Even beyond art, though, it's just about my passion for life, which is most apparent in music and the way that I experience/share/play/create/listen to it.

Then in the summer of 2006, I got sort of a trilogy of tattoos, representing the three bands/musicians that have meant the most to me.

This is a very subtle reference to "Mayonaise" by the Smashing Pumpkins - When I can, I will - along with the bull symbol on the back of my neck because I am a Taurus. It's really a tattoo that describes my determination. If there's any possible way for me to do something I want to do, I will. I'm not a HUGE believer in astrology, but I do like the idea of "the bull" and the Taurus having more perserverence and determination. This idea of the bull during the bullfight - bleeding and dying and yet he still charges on until the very end. This tattoo is also a symbol of everything I feel when I hear "Mayonaise" - there's so much pain and sadness in that song and yet somehow - in spite of all of that - there's acceptance. (The picture isn't great because I tried to take it of myself. Haha.)

The next tattoo that I got that summer was this Radiohead bear, and the lyrics, "Immerse your soul in love" (which are of course Radiohead lyrics.) Not only does this tattoo represent my love for Radiohead, but it reminds me to do just that, immerse my soul in love. Choose love instead of fear. I got this one facing me so that I could easily read the lyrics as it was really a message to myself. (In a way, you could say that all of my tattoos are a message to myself or reminding me of something I need to remember.)

The next tattoo is a picture of Morrissey on my leg. Underneath him, it says, "Don't forget the songs that made you cry and the songs that saved your life." Morrissey/The Smiths were that for me. When I was younger (19 or 20), whenever I was feeling incredibly depressed and alone, I would listen to Morrissey or The Smiths and know that I wasn't. Someone else understood, somewhere. And while it seems like we're all isolated, we're all going through these things together, we're all feeling the same emotions. And in our seeming isolation, we're actually connected.

I got this tattoo in October 2006 shortly after I began a new relationship. I am a Taurus with a Cancer rising, and he was a Cancer with a Taurus rising, so we each got this symbol. Matching tattoos. Underneath his, he has my lyrics, "Please just let me try to consume you," (from "Let Me Try" which I sang with Ruby), and underneath mine, it said "Come fly away with me tonight," which is from the My Brightest Diamond song, "Dragonfly." While our relationship didn't work out, I don't regret getting the tattoo because it was what I was feeling at the time, and it was something I went through. Something that made me who I am.

In the summer of 2010, I got this tattoo. It's from Hedwig and the Angry Inch and the lyric is from the end of "Midnight Radio." I had just played Yitzhak in the play, and the play/film has been such a huge part of my life. (In the summer of 2003, my friends and I went to see the performance of Hedwig at Actor's Express at least 30 times! We were officially the show groupies.) But the main reason that I got this tattoo and that I got those lyrics is because, like Hedwig at the end of the film/play, I have learned that I don't need an "other half" to be complete. I am complete in myself. "Lift up your hands," is a celebration. I'm celebrating being who I am, like Yitzhak who finally gets to be who s/he is at the end of the play. I'm celebrating life. I'm celebrating wholeness.

Also in the summer of 2010, just before I went to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico to start graduate school, I got this tattoo. It's a quill (obviously) with the line, "And I must borrow every changing shape to find expression." Not only is that one of my favorite lines from T.S. Eliot, a line that was also referenced in Painted, my first produced play, but it is so symbolic of everything in my life. I had wanted this tattoo for quite a while since I've always been obsessed with writing, but I felt that a few days before I left for Mexico to start work on my creative writing MFA was the appropriate time. Even more perfectly, this tattoo now covers the zodiac tattoo that represented a failed relationship. Because out of love and heartbreak and pain comes creation. You must use every experience - borrow every changing shape - to learn and grow and create. I don't think of this as "covering up a mistake" - I think of it as a "rebirth" of the tattoo. I can still see the outline of the symbol from the previous tattoo. I know that underneath it's still there. Because underneath any work of art, there is pain and heartbreak and emotion.

So just as I got a tattoo when I began grad school, I got another tattoo last weekend now that I have finished my Master's degree. It was sort of a present to myself.

There is a light that never goes out. This could mean so many things. There's a quote from Morrissey where he says, "When you’re a teenager and in your early twenties it seems desperately eternal and excruciatingly painful. Whereas as you grow older you realise that most things are excruciatingly painful and that is the human condition. Most of us continue to survive because we’re convinced that somewhere along the line, with grit and determination and perseverance, we will end up in some magical union with somebody. It’s a fallacy, of course, but it’s a form of religion. You have to believe. There is a light that never goes out and it’s called hope." So based on this, I think the song is about the hope that one day you will fall in love -- or someone will fall in love with you or both. The hope for love. That is light that never goes out. In another way, though, I see hope in general as being the light that never goes out. No matter how bad things get, no matter how dark it is, there is hope that tomorrow will be better. There is a light that never goes out.

Of course, I have always loved this song -- I even cover it sometimes -- and the tattoo is a symbol of my love for not only song but my love for art in general (as all of my tattos are in some form), but it's also a reminder that there is always hope - there is always love - there is always art.

You could also take it one step further and say that there is something eternal in all living things that never dies and that is the light that never goes out. There is a way to metaphysically read anything!

And really, you can kind of say "we are all isolated and yet connected through art" is the theme of all of my tattoos. This is also why I was so obsessed with "The Waste Land" when I finally understood how that poem more effectively expressed that theme than any other piece of art I know.

So those are my tattoos. Clearly, I'm a big fan of tattoos (much to the dismay of my parents), and all of mine really mean a lot to me. I have clear patterns and themes with all of my tattoos - they all reference some kind of art or an aspect of art - they all have words - they're all in black ink (with the exception of the quill which has "red ink" spilling out of the ink bottle). And they're all pieces of me. The most appealing thing to me about tattoos is that they give you an opportunity to reflect your values, your personality, and the things that are important to you in your appearance. And there's something romantic to me about having all of this music and art etched into my skin.

Updates (Sara, where the hell have you been?)

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 03:57:04 GMT

It's been a while since I've posted anything on here so I decided to start this with a picture of Morrissey. Because, why not? I think we all need a little Morrissey in our lives.

I've been super busy trying to finish up my MFA--I've got my big comprehensive exam coming up and my thesis defense. (My thesis is my play The Snow Globe, which I'm feeling pretty good about.) This is why I have sort of fallen off the face of the Earth. (Unless you come to Cool Beans, where I will probably be reading or writing.) I also started working on a young adult novel. I was so in love with the Muses from my play Painted, Vincent and Izabella, I wanted to keep writing about them. And I felt like the young adult format was a good place to do that. Because really, have I ever grown up past the age of 17? Um, probably not. (Have I grown up past the age of 8, some people might ask. I do have a Peter Pan complex. As anyone who saw my short film, Leapfrog, or heard my song, "Peter's Lament" knows. But shhh.) So anyway. I feel like maybe I have found my niche. The Snow Globe is a children's play, I'm working on a new young adult novel, and well, maybe I just like being immature.

Things are looking up for me, though. I am starting to see the light at the end of the grad school tunnel, I got a new job today where I will be able to learn and grow in the field of internet marketing/SEO, which is a great thing for a writer to get into. (There's a lot of writing web content involved.) And I'm hoping that I will be able to get back into music--playing shows and recording songs--when I graduate and all of that settles down. I have a lot of new songs (well..."new" as in they aren't on my solo album or the Pocket the Moon album...) and I'm hoping to record another solo album (but this time with backing musicians!) some time in the next year or two...I have a lot of ideas kicking around. But you know me, I always have 8 million things going on.

One of the great things I have enjoyed about taking some time off with music is that it has given me more time to enjoy and support other artists. Here's one you should check out!

My friends over at Verge of Bliss recently released an EP and it will rock your face off. Seriously. I feel like there is a raw, pure "rock" quality that Verge of Bliss has that is unique in the local Atlanta scene. Check out their EP here.

You can catch Verge of Bliss at Star Bar in November. They'll also be touring Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, so check out their dates if you live in those states.

Official Verge of Bliss Website

I'm going to try to post some YouTube covers in the next few weeks. I need to stay sharp even though I'm not playing shows right now, and that will definitely help! Plus I have a few cool covers I've been playing lately that I'd like to share with you guys.

Creative Writing Classes: Poetry and Playwriting - ages 12 - 17

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 03:35:00 GMT

Writing by dybern from DeviantArt

Hello blog readers!

I will be teaching creative writing classes at Arts of Cobb for students ages 12 - 17 starting September 27th.

Here's the complete information. Please pass this along to any students who may be interested!

Also, actors - if you are interested in being in the staged readings at the end of the playwriting class, please e-mail me at sara@saracrawford.net

Creative Writing Classes
Arts of Cobb
19 Powder Springs St
Marietta, GA 30064
Located on the Marietta Square

Taught by Sara Crawford
Ages 12 – 17

Poetry Writing - 6 weeks - $99
Thursdays 7:00 - 8:00 pm
September 27th - November 1st

Students will learn techniques of poetry writing, share their poetry with fellow students and get feedback on poems, and learn about poetry publication opportunities and how to submit work for publication. This 6-week course will end in the students sharing their work in a poetry reading performance.

Playwriting - 6 weeks - $99
Mondays 7:00 - 8:00 pm
November 8th - December 20th (no class on Thanksgiving)

Students will learn techniques of playwriting, share their plays with fellow students and get feedback on plays, learn about playwriting opportunities, playwriting contests and festivals for students, and learn how to submit work for production and publication. This 6-week course will end with a staged reading performance of short plays written by students.

Sign up for one class for $99 or both classes for $189.
E-mail info@artsofcobb.com or call 770-425-9660 to sign up

About the teacher:

Sara Crawford is a published poet and produced playwright. She has two chapbooks of poems, Coiled and Swallowed and Driving Downtown to the Show, currently published, and she has published many individual poems in publications such as Aries: a journal from Texas Wesleyan University, Illogical Muse, and Ceremony. Her plays have been performed throughout the Atlanta area, and in 2011, her play, The Spins, was a finalist in the Essential Theatre's Playwriting Contest. She has a BA in English from Kennesaw State University, and she is currently in her last semester of her graduate program, pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Playwriting in the University of New Orleans Low Residency program.

Albums I love: Halfway Down the Sky - Splender (1999)

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 03:20:00 GMT

I feel like I have relationships with albums. Actual relationships, I mean. It's not some fictional relationship I have created in my mind with the artists themselves, but it's an actual relationship with the songs if that makes sense. I can completely be in love with someone's music but think they are an asshole in real life. (Like Billy Corgan?) (Even though I don't actually know him in real life. But anyway.)

So I decided to start a new blog series called Albums I Love where I can basically go on about some of these albums and my relationships to them for anyone who may be interested. I don't usually get too "personal" here in the SaraCrawford.net blog, but I feel like sharing my relationships with these albums with you all is even more personal than if I were to discuss my relationships with actual people.

Today, it's Halfway Down the Sky by Splender.

I was obsessed with this album back in 1999/2000 when I was 14/15. It wasn't one of the particularly popular albums of 1999. My friends and I heard "Yeah, Whatever" (the single) on the radio a couple of times. But this is one of those late 90s one-two hit wonders whose album I TOTALLY fell in love with. (Like Semisonic, Ours, VAST, etc.) (Not that I would necessarily call VAST or Ours one hit wonders, but I think they only had one single each on mainstream radio--I won't even call them "hits" as I'd say the "majority" of people didn't actually hear them.)

I re-discovered this album today as I was driving home from North Carolina. It was like seeing an old friend after a long time and being reminded of parts of myself I had completely forgotten about. And yet, at the same time, it was a different album.

That's the sign of a good album. You can listen to it 13 years later, and not only is it still good, but you hear different things in the songs. These are the albums you can re-visit time and time again.

The thing I love most about this album is the raw emotion. Singer/songwriter, Waymon Boone, sings with such unadulterated honesty and passion from the very first track on the album, "I Don't Understand." He sings, "suppose the feelings real/you'd never know/suppose it's what you feel/you'll never know/that's what I don't understand/that's what I don't know" with such simplicity and frustration. The fierce, yet simple alternative rock guitar and the thumping drums back him up, and it's not hard to see where a 14-year-old could relate to this song.

The songs are well constructed, well played, yet simple. The lyrics are the same. Completely relatable, but simple. Some of the songs can almost be interpreted any way you want to interpret them. (Like "Cigarette" or "London.") Yet in the midst of all of these well-constructed, simple pop rock songs, Boone's intense passion shines through. Is it the way he belts soulfully with incredibly strong vocals? Is it more than that? I don't know, but it's something.

When I was 14, my favorite tracks on the album were the tracks like "I Don't Understand," "Yeah, Whatever," "I Think God Can Explain," and "Wallflower." "I Don't Understand" and "Yeah, Whatever" mirrored my own teen angst, I think. 14 going into 15 is a difficult time. You're trying to figure out where the hell you fit in, you feel like you're an adult who knows everything but you actually haven't a clue what you're doing. There's a lot of emotions going on. The ups and downs of this album mirrored that perfectly. "Wallflower" was my theme song. Being a wallflower myself, I would crank up the volume on my CD player and sing along with Boone, "Nobody understands/wallflower/Nobody gives a damn/wallflower." Isn't that the crux of being a teenager? Feeling like no one completely understands you? Well, this album always understood me in those moments.

"I Think God Can Explain" is of course the love song/ballad that is required for any late 90s somewhat commercially successful pop rock album. When I was 14 and in love with the idea of love (without actually understanding what it meant at all), I loved this song because, to me, it sounded like how someone might actually feel if they were in love. Boone sings, "It's alright, I'm okay/I think God can explain/I believe I'm the same/I get carried away," while melodic guitars and vocal harmonies carry the listener away.

Listening to this album today, though, I had a different experience. I still loved all of the songs I used to love. "Yeah, Whatever" and "Wallflower" reminded me of that 14-year-old trying to figure out where she fit in. And yet, some of the songs I never really "got" before really spoke to me this time, like "Supernatural."

Beautiful feather hovering overground
We're similar
We're both being pushed by the wind
Through the air
To wherever

This song, to me, is about how we're all connected - with each other, with nature, with all life. This is a very "new age" idea that I didn't actually get into until much later when I started checking out the New Thought movement. In the song, the speaker reflects on how he's similar to a feather floating in the air, the words lying in the grass, and then he belts out:

And the sun is my best friend
And the earth opened up to me
We've been separate for so long
So long...

We fell far from this tree
For so long
We crawled out of this stream
For so long

What's become of you?
What's become of me?
It's okay, it's okay
It's part of everything

Here the speaker is reflecting on the illusion that everything is separate and reassuring the listener that it's actually alright because we're all connected. The sun is his best friend. It's all part of everything. Everything has its place. I never would have interpreted this song that way in 1999, but I couldn't hear it any other way today.

And when I listened to "I Think God Can Explain" today, I heard it entirely differently. The speaker is overwhelmed and confused and in love and perhaps conflicted about the fact that he's in love. There's no logical way to explain anything that's happening to him, and so he says "I think God can explain." There's no possible way that he will be able to understand what he's feeling, but maybe God/The Universe can. And the song does still sound like "falling in love", but today, I heard a lot more of how it mirrors the emotional roller coaster that comes along with that.

Here are some YouTube links so you can hear some of these songs, though I encourage you to listen to the whole album so you can get the whole emotional arch. You will most certainly not have the same experience with these songs as I do, but maybe you will hear something else. That's the beauty of music and art. It teaches us all something different.

There's a strange feeling I get when riding on a bus in another country

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 18:55:00 GMT

So, I should be working on my paper for my Scottish Lit class, but naturally, I decided writing a blog was more important…or I’m procrastinating. Or maybe a little of both. I was sitting on the bus to Inverness on Friday, and I ended up writing nearly 20 pages in my journal. This was partially because I hadn’t written in my journal in three days, and three days here is like a month in “real life.” (I keep referring to life in Atlanta as “real life.” Example: “Oh, I wouldn't do this in real life!”) These study abroad programs are like a month-long dream. Filled with writing and art and celebrating and connecting and seeing and experiencing and living. Ideally, every day should be like that, I think, and I feel like maybe at one point it was for me. I feel like in the months before I came here, though, it definitely wasn’t. I felt lonely and depressed. I wasn’t inspired to create nearly as much as I normally am. My freelance work slowed down so much so that I had to break my lease and move out of my apartment. There were a lot of “I need to get it together” moments. It was a lot of feeling like a loser, sitting on the couch, eating Cheetos. (Okay, I never literally ate Cheetos, but you get the idea.) Coming to Scotland for this study abroad writing workshop was the absolute best thing I could have done. I feel completely refreshed as a writer and as a person in general. I feel more like myself now. I laugh and have inside jokes. I take risks. I’m more positive, more open. I’m more accepting of myself. Yes, I write sad songs, and they make me feel happy. And some people aren’t into that, and that’s really okay. Because Morrissey writes sad songs and some people hate Morrissey. But then there are people like me who have Morrissey tattoos and see the beauty in his songs. And they aren’t even sad songs to me. They’re love songs. And really, all of my songs and plays and poems are just love songs at heart. It may be unrequited love or “I want to stab myself in the face” love, but it’s love nonetheless. So getting back to the bus ride to Inverness. It was nice to have a little time to reflect and process everything that has happened so far on this trip, which was mostly what I was doing in my journal. There is a strange feeling that I get when I’m riding on a bus in another country. (Alright, this has only happened in one other country—Mexico—but still.) I look out at the passing fields and mountains and sheep and rivers and lakes (or lochs!) and every place is unique, and yet, it’s all the same. It’s all underneath the same sky, the same sun and moon and stars. It reminds me of how we’re all connected. Everyone is simultaneously isolated and connected—like in “The Waste Land”—and it’s beautiful. I truly believe that every person who ends up in your life—whether it’s for decades or an hour—is there to teach you something in one way or another. And vice versa. We’re all carrying around pieces to everyone else’s puzzles. I feel like coming to Scotland and interacting with all of these amazing writers from many different places has reminded me of that. I’ve really been inspired by people here, even if they don’t know about it. I think the main thing I need to try to do is keep all of this positive energy and openness and take it back with me to Georgia. I’m getting my MFA in December, and then I have absolutely no idea where life will bring me. I’ve been thinking about moving—I was toying with the idea of going to Nashville, TN or Asheville, SC or New Orleans or somewhere else…I have been thinking about teaching English overseas…who knows? It will depend on what opportunities come my way. But instead of being scarred or worried that I “don’t know what I’m doing with my life,” I’m now able to see it differently. It’s not that I don’t know where I’m going, it’s just that I am open to many different possibilities. Anything could happen, and that’s exciting.

A blog from Edinburgh!

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 19:04:55 GMT

Sara, here, blogging from Scotland!

As most of you know, I'm getting my MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Playwriting from the University of New Orleans. That means fall and spring semesters, I take online classes, and then I get to do these cool study abroad programs in the summer. In the summer of 2010, I started the program by going to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, and now I'm finishing it out in Edinburgh. Very exciting! (Technically, my last semester will be this fall, but this is my last study abroad.)

I'm having an absolute blast in my classes this semester. I'm in a playwriting class and an acting class that really work together in a lot of ways. In the acting class, we are learning different acting styles, but we are also helping to develop the work of the playwrights. So as I'm writing my play, I get to have actors help me out with it, which is awesome. I think it helps plays to be more alive when you are working on them with actors and not just writing them alone in your apartment and then handing them off to a theatre later.

So I'm working on a piece that will eventually be my thesis about a boy who is stuck inside of a snow globe. It's a childrens/fantasy play. I feel like somehow it is very appropriate to work on it in Scotland. At some point, I want to go to the Elephant House here in Edinburgh (where J.K. Rowling wrote some of the first Harry Potter book) and just sit there and wait for inspiration to come. Haha.

I did get to play an open mic night here at Lebowski's on Wednesday! (The dude abides.) I was really excited about that. And I've got a new acoustic cover that I'm working on. If I have extra time, I might just record it from here in the dorms, but we'll see. I'm hoping to post more touristy pictures on Facebook sometime next week. I've mainly been doing school stuff so far and I haven't had a ton of time to do the touristy things, but I did get to check out the National Portrait Gallery yesterday, which I enjoyed, and we randomly got to see the Queen, the Prince, and Kate Middleton driving by on The Royal Mile! How many times in your life are you going to say "I saw The Queen today!"? (Drag queens do not count. That's practically an every day occurence in Atlanta. Especially if you hang around theatre people. Haha.)

Tonight, I'm going to a ceilidh (pronounced kay-lay) or traditional Scottish dance. Haha. Watch out, Scotland! But first, I've got to get in some writing time. I am in a Writers Workshop afterall.

Much love!

Sara

New acoustic cover! Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized

Sat, 26 May 2012 01:17:22 GMT

"Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" by Spiritualized is one of my favorite songs ever in life. If there was a Church of Sara Crawford, it would be in the Hymn Book. I recently got to play the song for 500 Songs For Kids at Smith's Olde Bar, which I was SO EXCITED about. 500 Songs for Kids is one of my favorite events to participate in every year, and getting to play one of my favorite songs EVER in LIFE? Yes, please.

I also got to see Spiritualized when they came to Variety Playhouse earlier this month. They put on an AMAZING show and hearing this song live, especially, will easily go in my list of top 10 moments of 2012. (Yes, I have a list of top 10 moments of the year. Yes, I'm a dork. Shut up.)

Anyway. So here's my cover. Hope you enjoy!

New live songs and videos are up!

Sun, 06 May 2012 20:36:45 GMT

Hey everyone,

So I've had a lot going on lately - I've gotten to play two out of town shows in the past month - one at Cafe Coco in Nashville, TN and one at the Be Heard Speakeasy in Dahlonega, GA. For now, I'm just working on writing some new songs. Hopefully, I'll be able to do some more traveling in May and June.

My open mic night at Cool Beans has a new Facebook page! I'm also no longer doing this every Friday so the next three will be 5/11, 6/1, and 6/15. Like us on Facebook to stay updated - http://facebook.com/openmicatcoolbeans

Spencer Durham was nice enough to record the set in Dahlonega, and James Hughey (see his band page AllofHerTwitch!) recorded some videos of my set in Nashville! The videos are posted below, you can hear one of the live tracks (La-De-Da) here in this blog, and the rest are up on my music page. Enjoy!

Sara Crawford

Here's me doing "Ghost Party" a poem from my new book, Driving Downtown to the Show

My Bjork cover

Me doing a solo version of "Rooftops"

I have since titled this song "Don't Walk Away"

Upcoming events! Acoustic shows, a poetry book release, the 24 hour plays...

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:21:00 GMT

Hey everyone!

I have a few things coming up that I wanted to tell y'all about. (Yes, I just said y'all. I'm from the South!)

Saturday, March 31st - I will be playing an acoustic set at KSU for the KSU Peace Project. They are having a fun day where they will break the world record for the largest human peace sign! The event is free, and it will be an awesome day of peace, love, and music. Finster and Emmanuel Jal will also be performing. I'm playing at 1:30 so stop on by! I'm also making a ton of Atlanta musician mix CDs to give away for FREE!

Sunday, April 1st - I'll be participating in the 24-hour plays again this year with Working Title Playwrights, where we will collectively be writing and producing short plays over the course of 24 hours! I'll be co-writing something (though I won't know what until I start working on it Saturday night!) and they will be performed Sunday at 8 pm at Onstage Atlanta. Come check out this evening of craziness and support one of my favorite theatrical organizations in Atlanta!

Saturday, April 7th - The Driving Downtown to the Show book release party! This will be FREE on the roof of the Strand Theatre in Marietta, GA for Brew with a View. There will be poetry performances from me (I'll be doing poems from the book), and music performances from nerdkween, Juliana Finch, and Low UFO. Come out and support! And you will also be able to get a copy of my new book of poems, Driving Downtown to the Show!

Monday, April 16th - I'll be returning to Nashville to play an acoustic set at Cafe Coco!

Saturday, April 21st - I'll be playing a solo show at The Drunken Unicorn with Corner Kid and Sleep Dance. I'm planning on having some guest artists so you definitely don't want to miss it! I'll be playing some new songs, also!

Every Friday from 8 to 11 pm, I am now hosting an open mic night at Cool Beans in the Marietta Square. Come out and play a song, read a poem, be creative and express yourself! Or just have a cup of coffee and support the artists. :) We have some great talent!

So that's what's been going on with me lately. :)

Also stay tune for some more YouTube covers in the next few weeks!

Sara Crawford

New cover! And an old one from my solo/acoustic album.

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:12:10 GMT

I posted a new acoustic cover! I've been obsessing over Florence and the Machine lately so I thought I'd do my take on "Shake It Out." Have a listen!

Also, I have been playing my solo tunes more lately. I miss some of them! And I don't get to play them very often with Pocket the Moon. I've actually been trying to go out to more open mic nights - I'm even hosting an open mic night on Fridays now at my favorite coffee shop, Cool Beans, in Marietta. And I think I may be playing some solo gigs in the near future. We will see!

Anyway, I decided to post one of my favorite songs from my solo album - the title track, "Unsent Letters."

Driving Downtown to the Show - a new book of poems coming spring 2012

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:15:00 GMT

Driving Downtown to the Show is a book of poems that came out of a grad school poetry workshop I took in spring 2011. Our professor had us come up with a poetry writing procedure, which would consist of ?rules that we would set for ourselves which would determine our writing schedules and content. We were to decide on a title before writing any poems, and the goal was to have a cohesive collection of poems by the time the semester was over. Because I was taking this class at a time when my main creative focus was my music career, I decided to use music as an inspiration for my procedure, particularly the Atlanta music scene.

Being in a local Atlanta band myself, with a long history of performing and enjoying many local shows in Atlanta’s many wonderful and unique music venues, I was greatly inspired and I wanted to harness that energy. Our city has such a wide variety of musicians and performers, and on any given night, there are at least three or four excellent local shows to go see. I wanted to do a collection of poems that celebrated the musician and celebrated the entire metro Atlanta area.

I scheduled my writing time for after band practice, and I decided each poem must contain a band name. When I sat down to write a poem, I would look up the bands that were playing at some of my favorite Atlanta music venues, The Earl, the Drunken Unicorn, and the Star Bar, and I would incorporate one of those band names into my poem. I also would put my iPod on random, and whichever song played would determine the length of the poem based on how many lines the lyrics had or how long the song was if it was an instrumental song. (I also decided, just for fun, to slip in all of the band names of bands I’ve been in.)

I will be self-publishing this book in the spring. Stay tuned for news of a book release/reading event!

For now, enjoy one of the poems from my collection. In this poem, the band name I used was Wild Nothing. (They are not at Atlanta band, but they happened to be playing at the Drunken Unicorn the day I wrote this poem.)

Driving Mixy #1: The 'Songs That Actually Mention Driving' Mixy

That night, you got into
a shopping cart,
and I pushed you
around the Pizza
Hut where we worked –
in the rain - laughing - we were
wild. Nothing
ever stood in between
you and I and adventure.

We'd sneak out of our slumber
party bedroom windows
to hop in my white Chevy Malibu,
alternating drivers, drinking
vanilla coke,
bitching about the boys
who dumped us both at the same time
("Those fuckers!"),
listening to the Driving Mixy –
All I want to do is to thank you
even though I don't know who you are
you let me change lanes
when I was driving in my car

Accelerating without a care
through the strip malls and chain restaurants
in the town
where we once covered
the church playground in sidewalk chalk –
happy faces and song lyrics –
until the cops caught us
and told us to go home,
but we were.

New cover! Hyperballad by Bjork

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 12:21:01 GMT

Here's a new acoustic cover for you guys. "Hyperballad" by Bjork. This is one of my favorite songs, and I've been doing this acoustic cover for a while so I thought I'd put it up for you guys.

Ignore the weird focus/blurry issues I was having with my webcam!

My favorites from 2011 - part 2

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 05:55:00 GMT

So I'm continuing my end-of-year favorites! In this blog, I'm going to talk about my 5 favorite albums of the year (in no particular order) and some of the favorite shows that I saw.

My Favorite Shows in 2011

Well, I went to a lot of shows this year - more than I've gone to any other year, probably, but most of them were on a smaller scale. So it was a lot of Drunken Unicorn, Wonderroot, Eastside Lounge, The Earl, Star Bar, Masquerade kind of shows. The "biggest" shows I went to this year were M83 at The Masquerade and Beirut at the Variety Playhouse - both of which were completely amazing. (But I love both of these bands A LOT - see below - so that's really not surprising.)

Many of the local bands that I saw this year, though, put on amazing shows. A few of my favorites were the Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun CD release show where Moonlight Bride and Sealions played with them at The Earl. I originally went to the show mainly to see Moonlight Bride with a vague sense of liking Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun but not really remembering what they sounded like. The entire bill was spot on that night, and I truly loved everyone's performances. And I left there with a great new record from Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun. All in all, it was a win. I then caught Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun again last week at The Earl where they played their whole album Wildfire, start to finish, at the Atlanta Music Roundtable show. Amazing set.

I made it out to quite a few Verge of Bliss shows this year. Not only are these guys great people, but they are seriously everything that a rock band should be. They have a high energy level on stage, Virginia's vocals are powerful and soulful with just the right amount of grit mixed in, and the instrumentation from the whole group is solid, together, and in your face. And yet, they will break your heart with songs like "Dreaming on the Eve" and "Photographs." It's really cool to see a band grow and develop, and I can't wait until they put out their album in 2012. (And shotout to Trey Bliss for being the most supportive Atlanta musician there is. Seriously, this guy is out supporting Atlanta musicians practically every night of the week it seems. You can always count on Trey to be at the show!)

On the folksy singer/songwriter side, it was all about the ladies this year for me. I was impressed by the wonderful songwriting abilities of people like Juliana Finch, Molly Parden, Rebecca Loebe, and Sydney Eloise. I had the opportunity to see all four of these ladies throughout the year (some of them more than once! and some of them I even got to play with!) They all write very sincere and honest songs with such skill that you can't help but be a little bit awed. They are also all huge inspirations to me. I definitely had "moments" to each of their songs when I was at their shows this year. Definitely check them out.

Other local and/or indie shows that I really enjoyed this year: Cinetrope, Siberia My Sweet, Sour Soul, Wowser Bowser, Calm White Noise, Railbird, 1880s Dance Party, and nerdkween.

5 Albums I Fell In Love With in 2011

Beirut - The Rip Tide

It's no surprise that I would love this album given the fact that I've been in love with everything that Zachary Condon has done, but The Rip Tide really combines all of the elements that I loved about Beirut's previous albums. There are some songs that you can dance around to, there are some songs that will break your heart, there are great melodies all the way through and great arrangements. And as always, this guy's level of talent blows me away.

Foster the People - Torches

This is an album that I wouldn't have expected would make my favorites list, but it was definitely one of the albums that came out this year that just makes me happy every time I pop it in. Of course, it's catchy as hell and certainly poppy with a very mainstream appeal, but once you actually listen to the lyrics and hear what they're saying underneath all of the catchy melodies, there's actually quite a lot of meaningful substance here. So whether you just want some music you can dance mindlessly too or you want music that makes you think, Foster the People manages to do both here, which isn't always easy.

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

This album almost didn't make my list. If I were making a "favorite Radiohead albums" list, it would be on the bottom. But even my least favorite Radiohead album is still one of my favorite albums of 2011. Although the initial few times I listened to it, I wasn't completely blown away (like I was with In Rainbows), I quickly found that songs like "Separator" and "Lotus Flower" were some of my favorite tracks from any band this whole year.

The Kills - Blood Pressures

This is a great "straight up rock" album. Straight up rock is a new genre name I've invented (well, I'm sure many other people have used it before!) because with SO much music these days and SO many sub-genres that get grouped into the "rock" category, you can sometimes forget what a real rock n' roll album sounds like until an album like this comes along. "Future Starts Slow" wins the award for "best song to drive around and feel like a badass" to. "The Last Goodbye" will break your heart. "Heart is a Beating Drum" will make you dance around like an idiot. All-in-all, this album is a great experience.

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

This "list" is not numbered, but if I had an absolute favorite album of 2011, this would definitely be it. This 2-disc album really and truly takes you on a journey. From songs like "Midnight City" that will make you dance like crazy to heartbreaking nostalgic ballads like "Wait" to incredibly trippy songs like "Raconte-Moi Histoire" to incredibly epic songs like "Outro," this album has everything. Every album M83 has put out has been progressively better than the previous one (in my opinion), and considering how much I loved Saturdays = Youth, I was bound to love this album. One of the great things about Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, though, is that the whole album comes across as one epic, emotional dream.

So those are my favorites from 2011!

Definitely go and check these out, especially the locals! There are a ton of links for you to click on. Go to their pages, listen to their tunes. If you're in Atlanta, catch a show in 2012! Going to see a local show is always a great thing to do. It's cheap (and sometimes free!) live music! Typically in a place where you can drink BEER. And you never know what kind of free shit you will get - moon pies, stickers, free CDs, free beer! Who knows? And if you go support a local band, I guarantee your presence will be appreciated. Everybody wins :)

My favorites from 2011 - part 1

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:35:00 GMT

Well, it's that time of year when obsessive dorks like me start making lists. This is great for people like me who obsessively document everything. I journal every day, I make silly lists (10 things I'm grateful for today, books I've read this year, shows I've played this year, etc.) on my computer. I have tons of notebooks filled with other things that don't exactly fit into either category. Okay, I know what you're thinking. "Wow, Sara, that sounds very OCD of you!" but considering how completely laid back I am in every other aspect of my life, I'm quite accepting of this one aspect of obsessive behavior.

So most of the music blogs out there are making "best of 2011" lists, but I don't like the word "best" because it implies that there is an objective way to determine which albums are better than others, and as I always say, all art is subjective. (I should get that tattooed. That's become my battle cry.) So, instead, I'm going to share with you 5 albums that I fell in love with in 2011, my 5 favorite shows that I went to in 2011, 3 albums I fell in love with in 2011 (that weren't actually released in 2011), and 3 local Atlanta albums I fell in love with in 2011. And if you really don't care about all of that, just skip down to the fun YouTube videos so you can listen for yourself!

2011 was an odd sort of year. At this time last year, I thought that there were going to be tons of releases from some of my favorite artists that I would absolutely love. Radiohead, Bjork, Lykke Li, Devotchka, Bon Iver, etc. For the most part, though, most of these releases left me with that "meh" feeling, which is definitely not what I was expecting from these artists.

One of the great things about 2011, though, was how involved I got to be in the Atlanta music scene. I played around 25 Atlanta shows with Pocket the Moon, and I made it out to around 20 (mostly local) shows in addition to that. Seeing and playing all of these shows allowed me to see some really great bands, both local and touring, and I also got the opportunity to meet some really cool people. As much as I often bitch about certain aspects of the Atlanta music scene (*cough*hipsters*cough*), there is a lot to appreciate about it also. This past year, I have met so many incredibly talented musicians who are (*gasp*) ALSO supportive of OTHER musicians!!

Everything that Geoff and I have gotten to do as Pocket the Moon--release an album, go on tour, play some really great shows, make a music video, get voted "Best New Music Act" and "Best Folk Act" in Creative Loafing--would NOT have been possible without all of our friends and supporters. I cannot say thank you enough to all of you for that.

Anyway. Onward. Let's see the lists!

I'm going to save my "5 albums I Fell In Love With in 2011" list and my "5 favorite shows I went to in 2011" list for next time. But here's the first half of my obsessive list making!

3 albums I Fell in Love With in 2011 (that weren't actually released in 2011)

I think it's important to include these sorts of albums in these kinds of lists, especially with music the way that it is today. There is SO MUCH indie music out there to be discovered that sometimes you won't find out about an album until way after it is released. There is no shame in this! While you won't typically see most indie music bloggers actually admitting that there was an album they didn't know about until a year later, I'm not a "typical" indie music blogger. (In fact, I'm not a typical anything blogger. I just write whatever the hell I feel like writing whenever I feel like writing it.)

Anyway, I wanted to write about these three albums because even though they were released before 2011, to me, they were very much 2011 albums because that is when I obsessed over them.

Angus and Julia Stone - Down the Way (2010)

I actually loved this album more than most of the albums on my main favorites from 2011 list. While the atmospheric track "Hold On," the haunting "For You," the catchy "Big Jet Plane," and folksy "And The Boys" are definitely my favorite tracks on this album, there really isn't a track that I dislike. These songs are full of soul, passion, emotion. The lyrics are deep and meaningful, the vocals of Angus and Julia really blend well together, the arrangements and the melodies are superb. The whole album is a winner.

The Naked and Famous - Passive Me, Aggressive You (2010)

This upbeat and catchy album reminds me of everything that I love about bands like MGMT, Foster the People, Moonlight Bride. Not that The Naked and Famous necessarily sounds like those bands, but they have some of the same elements. This track, "Young Blood" is my favorite. Some of the vocals remind me a little of M83, too, which is probably another reason I love it.

James Vincent McMorrow - Early in the Morning (2010)

This folksy and soulful solo artist reminds me a lot of Bon Iver or Edward Sharpe. His songs are very catchy and yet full of meaning. There are a lot of great and almost haunting harmonies on this album. It's perfect for rainy days like today. You should definitely have a listen if you haven't heard him before.

3 Local Atlanta Albums That I Fell In Love With in 2011

(aside from self-titled by Pocket the Moon...)
(kidding, kidding)
(no but seriously, listen to our album.)

Places - The Future

Tracks like "Dark Fear, "No More Lies," and "At Least It's A Beautiful Day" are great examples of why I love this dreamy, nostalgic album. It reminds me a little bit of Wild Nothing meets Slowdive (and comparing a local band to Slowdive is something I never thought I'd do). Definitely check them out. You can hear the whole album at the Bandcamp page and pay what you want.

Places on Bandcamp
Places on Facebook

Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun - W I L D F I R E

When this album came out in May, I think it spent a good month on repeat in my CD player (or at least a few weeks...I don't have a great concept of time). This album may as easily have been on my main list of favorite albums from 2011, but they just happen to be local so they go here! "Old Monster," "We Were Wild," and "With My Good Eye" are definitely my favorite tracks. (They remind me a lot of Metric.) I also think this band is definitely an inspiration for all of us Atlanta musicians. (Plus, they donated a free album to my raffle for the Red Cross benefit show I organized at Kavarna earlier this year so kudos to them!)

Molly Parden - Time is Medicine

Ever since I saw her set at Drunken Unicorn this June when she played at our CD release show, I have been a big fan of her's. She's one of those genuine folk singers that I love because her songs are very honest. My favorite tracks from this album are the title tract and "A Song For My Mother."

So check out these artists, go see their shows (if they're local!), buy their music, be supportive!

And stay tuned for part 2 of my favorites from 2011. :)