Teen author Beth Reekles just signed a million dollar book deal off her story posted on online publishing platform Wattpad. I had never heard of the service but am looking into it as a possible kick in the butt to writing a novel (since Nanowrimo has no power over me).

I love that there are sections for ChickLit, Teen Fiction and Fan Fiction, but the fact that non-genre fiction falls under "Non-Teen Fiction" is most amusing. 

This is what happens when adults become major buyers of YA fiction!!!

No Hope for the Humanity

What I listened to today:
Arab Spring by Literature
http://literature.bandcamp.com/
was a free download a few days ago, now Name Your Price. That pleasant orchestral folk pop that came in with Belle and Sebastian and went out with the Slumberland revival was recommended by the band Pet Milk, a side project of Brown Recluse, a band who somehow managed to be both Belle and Sebastian revivalists and put an album out on Slumberland. The guitars and drums are outstanding.

Beelzebubba by The Dead Milkmen
A 25 cent cassette in a borrowed Lexus. Did you know the 2010 Lexus SC 430 was the last car to offer cassette players as a factory option? Listening with a friend from Philly who never listened to the Dead Milkmen, even I thought the album could use some serious remastering. It sounds nothing like the two Dead Milkmen shows I was lucky enough to see; the first being their last show in 1994, and then this one at the Athens Popfest in October


bleh, I almost started a Google Hangout to see if anyone wanted to watch the video with me, but after linking this account w/Google + (do any heavy Gmail users have only one account?) I realized it was a stupid idea. Maybe in THE FUTURE.

THE FUTURE may as well be today, when I set up the iPad my mom got for Christmas so that she can 1. FaceTime with her grandson 2. display lots of photos of her grandson....for the record, she found Skype too complicated because it involved buying a camera for her computer but she loves texting and was awesome with Twitter until somehow her account got disconnected...hopefully she'll start up again with the app.

Without my parents reading my blog my dad mentioned that Jersey Boys was probably a Tony Winner because it hit the nostalgic sweet spot for baby boomers. Before I say no shit sherlock, I'd really like to see The Buddy Holly Story when it comes to Philadelphia in the Spring.

If the ladies at Chickfactor could just announce who is playing their little Spring shindig then maybe I could make my vacation plans! At this rate I'll be flying home to see my new nephew Lorenzo and then feeling like a shitty aunt when I get on the train to catch the shows at the last minute. Then again, if it was a secret party with excellent bands it would be so much more like Chickfactor.

Then on the way home listening to Blue Collar Comedy Radio on Sirius I was unfortunately exposed to this piece of homophobic comedy:



Really? I have to share a planet with these people? It only gets better when you read the comments...there is no hope for the human race. That's why I think I compulsively attend the festivals and shows I do, so that for a few precious hours I am surrounded by people I love and bands I love and I can pretend the rest of the world, the problems and the people, just go away.

I'm sorry I felt I had to post that. I'm going to listen to Rodney Crowell's Earthbound on repeat for a few hours so I can cleanse my ears with positive country music.

Jersey Boys on Sub Pop

Discussing with my friend Jasmine if there is anything at Sub Pop we'd like to listen to. When did Sub Pop become an adult contemporary label? Srsly. I was wondering if that comment was justified, until I came across a 7" released last month of J Mascis doing an Edie Brickell cover. I can't talk too much shit, so many of my favorite bands right now are definitely AAA (that's Adult Album Alternative for those of you who could care less about industry jargon).

So we saw Jersey Boys at the Forrest Theater in Philadelphia tonight. The minute I looked at the price on my ticket I started thinking about why professional theater is so valued when live music is not. The same fucking show every night, the same songs, the same story, the same staging. I'm sure the price is partially set by unions, but the fact that people were willing to buy every seat but the view obstructed? How many rock shows do I go to with an obstructed view? I'm 5' so I've just given up...wishlist item, platform mary janes . 

Anyway, the audience looked like the audience you see on a PBS folk reunion concert. Lots of people in their 60s mouthing the words. I'm sure it was intentional to make the music seem timeless, but I could not put together a timeline of when the events were occurring. It was good to put together "this is the catalog of the Four Seasons and these are the significant events in their career" but it's always sad to see the exploitative side of the music industry shown.

I never thought that Sean Tollefson was influenced by Frankie Valli until tonight.

I'd like to take Robert Pollard out to lunch

Always trying to figure out what team I'm batting for. I already have too many New Years Resolutions, but one that was killing me was not listening to new music. Barely any. So I am going to remedy that (ha) but blogging about it...I'd love to start videoblogging but I'm not sure that would be too much like taking my work home...so here we are.

I bought the new Guided by Voices in a forgetful haze on iTunes at 2 AM on Christmas Eve. Eve as in Evening, as I wasn't sleeping. As if I'd be sleeping in with my adorable nephew sleeping in the room across from me.  So today I was checking my credit card (oops) and while debt sucks (new years resolution: pay pal donate and Amazon wish list buttons on blogs), I did see I bought Let's Go Eat the Factory. This is semi significant as when I dropped my eMusic subscription when they dropped Merge, my new music listening also dropped to 0. Bad bad Ramona.

I'm not really buying new music if I'm just buying new music by old bands.

Again, I'm confused by Pollard's theology. God Loves Us simply repeats "We are living proof that God loves us!"  When I listen to his solo work all sorts of theologically beautiful messages come out. I can't remember what he was saying at that show in Seattle, but I remember it was so perfectly beautiful, mentioned Christ, and I was trying to write the lyrics on a scrap of cigarette box so I'd remember them when I was sober.

Do I have to describe the music? Can I just talk about how it makes me feel? Can I assume you know what GBV sounds like? Or that you'll know what GBV stands for....

These are things I always love about GBV:

The songs are always perfectly impossibly short. It's very rare you think a song is going on too long. By the time your brain forms that thought, it's over.

At some point Robert Pollard had to decide between being a teacher and being a performer. For me, between being a librarian and hanging around with bands.

At one point in my life I aspired to drink as much as he could. This was a mistake, not only a mistake that got me one step closer to recovery, but a mistake that I have to someday and somehow make amends to that woman from the 40 Watt Club for the night I tried to match Pollard beer for beer and ended up puking over the side of a couch she was trying to rest on all night. It was a New Years Eve show, give or take a few days.

I love they have a big fan fest and my bff said she won't go because she's slept with too many of the boys that go. I want to meet those boys too!

I love that I can put on most GBV albums and be happy just to listen in the background, but when I am driving or laying in bed and listen to the words, I find observations and humor that stick with me for days.

I love that when I was in that strange year where I was a h.s. frosh/community college student I bought the reissue box set of the first 5 albums on CD (aka Box) and I have listened to it, probably at least once a month on average, although perhaps more when I consider the weeks I would listen to nothing else, hundreds or thousands of times since then.

"My Europa" comes through sounding like something on that box set, but recorded in a basement studio.

"Chocolate Boy" song most likely to be played on NPR (I'm guessing).

"We Won't Apologize For the Human Race"...it only took 3 minutes for me to realize this is the longest song on the album. I'm imagining the strings as actual strings caging the band in here. They're quite beautiful. How can they sing the word "some" and make it rise above so perfectly? Was this just an exercise in making a 4 minute song? Are they alien or human? This may end up on my mix of awsome GBV songs I was supposed to make for Tony Perkins a few years back. A few years might be ten-ish now. 

I'm thinking it will be humbling to write this with as little research as possible. It will be humbling to be wrong.

Am I going to have to listen to an entire album while writing about it to remember what I listen to this year? I am going to have to figure out a way to remember what I listen to without doing first impression listen blogs on everything (videoblog?)

Then again, there is a reason i didn't like much music this year:

Critic-Approved Archetypes It Takes Effort For Me Not To Dismiss On First Listen As We Go Into 2012

So lets see how long I can keep up the ruse of not being a critic, I'm just on the hunt for that perfect song...or the band that makes me fall in love with them. The last band obsession I had was Psychedelic Horseshit a few years ago. That was a few years ago. That sucks.

Oh, I guess I could be more popular if I put .mp3s and stuff up with the bands I talk about, but whatever, there is so much of that and so little of me. I mean, there is usually something I want to listen to (even for a limited time) on NPR.... like the fact that this Let's Go Eat the Factory is streaming there for a limited time.

A Life Changing Breakfast

Oh wow. Since that last post.

1. I won the fabric from Fluffyland. It's wonderful. I haven't decided what to make with it yet, but the large piece of floral fabric is perfect for covering my table for craft fairs.

2. I got the job. Srsly. It's been life changing. I get to hang out with a rad band, I went on tour, I work with all their digital distribution accounts, I order/organize and sell the merch, and whatever other random things come up.

It's pretty simple, going to grad school online and studying digital information management DID NOT prepare me for public library work as much as it did of my simple, true dream "to help independent bands navigate the digital music industry". For a while that was sort of a "good luck getting paid doing that Court" so I said "okay, I'll do the 6-18 month old story time every week"...the funny thing is, I came around to loving the story times. I still had a magic number where if the crowd was over, oh, 35 people I was less happy than performing for 15...I know the statistics are good, and I can still do it, but you really lose something trying to entertain/educate so many kids at once, and I'll leave the details of that argument to the teachers and parents.

Wait, did I just go off on a tangent about the library again. Go figure. I was really here to show you what I ate for breakfast this morning. I ate noodles for breakfast! I wasn't sure, I didn't want cereal or eggs or sausages or toast, but I was making Oolong Tea and looking for lunch (which is usually a frozen Safeway Select meal, not too exciting, but usually around 300 cals) when I realized, hmmm, these noodles require boiling, and I don't like cooking at work (except for my copious tea consumption) so maybe I'll eat them for breakfast. Yummy yummy yummy idea! Also, I'm the kind of woman who keeps tea bags in her purse and has a tea drawer at home. See, it's not
quite full right now:

  

You might see the Dieter's tea in there. Yes, it makes you go to the bathroom. I've read a lot of stories online, and there is no set time it makes you go...so with that warning, I only drink it on days I 1. overate while eating out 2. don't really have much planned for the next 24 hours. It does taste good, sorta a roasted field grass black tea taste.

And finally, since I keep eyeing the Keuring and thinking "oooh, I could save money on coffee"....I mostly love my HotShot. The only thing that drives me crazy is the old ones used to have the "heat" and "dispense" buttons on the front, so almost everytime I use it I hit "dispense" instead of "heat" on the first try. I rarely use the French Press, this is how lazy I can be, I usually get my coffee (black, no sugar, no cream) at Jack in the Box so I don't have to park and get out of my car. Yes, this is from a woman who never went to Starbucks by herself until two weeks ago (and I only bought something because I was terribly embarrassed that I had to ask if there was a bathroom key, and I didn't want to be a jerk to the employees, even though I know Starbucks isn't the WORST place to work...I just managed to avoid going there unless someone else insisted, for instance, Starbucks does have clean bathrooms when you're travelling). Okay, so a picture of my HotShot and the rarely used French Press.


 

Good morning anyone!

So what have I been up to as of late?

I'm entering lots of contests, getting free stuff on Freecycle, and working on my Tweevil Etsy site. I'm looking for full time work and the company that is helping me rewrite my resume is taking longer than expected. I did the unthinkable yesterday though, I made a ONE PAGE resume and sent it off to a job I really want. One page just seems so insignificant, but my cover letter was killer for a change.

What else?

A garden that won't bloom. Aphids ate my zucchini, so they're all scrapped. Worms at my garbage so I have compost. I ate the tiniest red pepper with two early girl tomatoes the size of cherries yesterday, and that might be my biggest haul this summer. What a waste. Oh yes, it's nice to have a garden, it is not nice to have containers on a second floor patio and notices from the safety inspector that you cannot put plants on the railing where they might actually get light (we finally turned the planters so they're inside the patio).

Oh look, a contest. I like contests, Fluffyland is giving away fabric!   Fluffyland is one of my favorite craft blogs for cute inspiration and ideas.  I need a better stash, so I'm totally in on this. And you should be too, if you're one of my crafty friends.

Haha Courtney in San Fran:



because you all know xkcd

Job Hunting Excuses:

Misspellings in job ads. This is even worse because it's not print I'm looking at, you can edit your Craigslist post at any time. Does anyone know if this has ever been a test to see if you're tactful and have an eye for detail? I get so scared wondering if I should mention it or not.

I suppose I'd like to work for a company that tolerated the occasional typo. I'd rather work for a company that jumped at the chance to make things right.

I once told an interviewer her name badge was upside down. I waited until the end of the interview when the library was about to open. She was more embarrassed than I was, so I guess it was the right thing to do. It had nothing to do with being a Belle and Sebastian fan on her part, but I was tempted to make a joke just in case.

Going to California

May 25. No I don't have a job yet. I do have a snazzy new phone that makes blogging a bit easier, so mayber this site will start to make sense again.

I will be at the NYC and SF Popfests of course. It doesn't look like i'll make it to Athens this year though.

I also made some decorations for the Prince tribute show at Bruar Falls. My Teenage Stride is playing, i forget the rest of the bands. Here is a preview.

  Bruar Falls 

Yeah, my stupid special needs diet leads me to have some strange food items around the house. Last night I made zucchini pancakes with chickpea flour which weren't so bad because the Indian spices covered up the nastiness that is bean flour. I realized I wanted some Sweet Garlic Chili Sauce to go with, but I didn't have any. So I made up this super hot sauce on my own. Now, I would not recommend trying to make it healthier because it would probably screw it up. So fuck you if you don't like high-fructose corn syrup and you use some organic nasty ketchup and it tastes boring...

Sriracha "Cock" Chili Sauce
Heinz Ketchup
Blue Agave Nectar (could probably use honey, I don't even remember what recipe I bought agave for but it has a nice taste between honey and sugar and I'm hooked)
coriander
granulated garlic

Pretty much everything should be mixed to taste, but I think I'm using 2 parts ketchup to 1 part sriracha and 1 part agave.

Anyone else notice Sriracha isn't saying cock sauce on the label anymore? I bet only people over 30 call it that anymore.

Thao With the Get Down Stay Down

Yeah, heard a lot about her via the Kill Rock Stars pipeline. People kept mentioning what an amazing guitar player she was, so I avoided listening to her because I pretty much hate good guitar players.

Well, I caught half a song on the radio last night and thought I was wrong. I liked it.

Then I visited The Hype Machine today. Two songs in, I was right at the start. It's not even the guitar playing that turned me off, she just sings like Cat Power and I hate Chan Marshall's voice too. Yawn. Do we need another Cat Power?

Maybe I got the wrong song when the DJ was backannouncing?

What is important here is my fancy new Droid phone and the ability to listen to WPRB Princeton in my car in Brooklyn. That is a dream come true and makes my life more awesome, even if WPRB plays some songs I don't love.

Car Feature

Cars need a "waiting in car" feature so the damn alarm doesn't go off everytime you leave grandma in the car for a minute.

My friend wanted to take a nap because we were up way too late last night, but I had to rescue him when the alarm went off when he woke up and tried to leave. I realize this is a security feature, but I'm talking about a button when you do leave someone in the car that is good for say, one hour of escape time without setting off the alarm. Okay?

I saw an ad for Grand Theft Auto The Lost and the Damned Today on the side of a bus in Brooklyn and the junkie girl had a green jacket with a K shield on it except it said L and i can't find her picture on the internets. Seriously, either they pulled the character or NO ONE has managed to put her picture on the internet yet. She's a junkie, I think her name is Brenda. I'm going to have to go home and get my camera with a flash and sit at the bus station tonight until I get a picture.

Got it:

Buying Organic "See which of the country's largest food producers are behind your favorite organic snacks."

Geez, would this send Olympia into a tizzy or what? I'm not even going to preach about buying local...first I want EVERYONE to go get allergy tested and then decided how and what you're going to eat.

On that note, I made wheat free pizza last night and it withstood the "still yummy cold for breakfast" test. I think I overheated the milk-water the yeast was in because I couldn't get it to rise. I used Barry Farm's wheat free baking mix which smelled a little more beany than it tasted. We'll see how my tummy feels today, I am always suspect of eating too many garbanzos.

Dahlias

100_1104, originally uploaded by Courtoly.

An impulse buy at Sister's Hardware in Brooklyn. Look how pretty. Gorgeous! PINK!

So it's true eMusic is retiring my wonderful 90 downloads every 30 days for $19.99 plan and I'm only going to get 50 downloads now. Truth is, I was really only listening to 1/2 of my downloads even if I got a bunch of random stuff at the end of the month, and that's my first principle of how people start to be sucky music consumers (downloading more than one can listen to).

BUT the good news is some albums that are longer than 12 tracks are going to just be a full album download for 12 credits. I honestly think that could up my downloads to 90 a month anyway because so many albums I get are 30 tracks long and sometimes I skip the short ones to save my downloads. So that's a nice concession, depending on what albums it's available for.

gardening is so fucking expensive. despite successful crops and an abundance of small creatures (actually, Sharpie size slugs, not small) my friends have me completely paranoid about pollution. so now I've got to spend at least $135 or more having the soil tested. Which sucks because I could just go on with life, eating my vegetables and being happy...or I can spend that money and find out I don't want to eat my vegetables and have been wasting all this time. I feel like crap. I put so much work into the garden and I feel like half the people I know are totally freaked out about the soil.

Here is the most popular article I found online. Families in toxic waste scare told not to eat garden vegetables. I'd like to point out that these levels were so high some plants were dying and lots of people were getting sick. I'm way more scared about the plastic we use (I rarely microwave plastic anymore, just the coverings on tv dinners and sometimes when making squash with saran wrap).

I'm in denial, but I think it's far more important to EAT YOUR VEGETABLES. Still, I'm probably going to get the soil tested.

So, anyone know someone who got sick from pollutants in their garden? It seems like e-coli and the like are much more dangerous.

Also, this area historically was residential and full of breweries. There may have been some industrial work going on here, and there is plenty in Brooklyn to have migrated via water and air to other areas...but it's not Greenpoint sitting on a giant oil slick or anything.

Sometimes I'm just asking to be humbled. Years of saying people shouldn't order books from Amazon and should support their local bookstores and what happens? I end up with a wheat allergy and find Amazon has the BEST selection of breads and other foods for my tummy. Some stuff I can find locally, but by locally I mean "in random natural food bodegas at 1AM when I've been drinking and don't notice I just paid $7 for a frozen dinner that should be $5 if I went through Fresh Direct". So I'm really excited to have my Annie's Rice Pasta and Cheese

Zee garden looks good. I put in corn and it popped right up. The lettuce and forget me nots I have no idea. I trust the dahlias and garlic are doing their thing underground.

And the damn SF Popfest MySpace page won't load but I'll be there.

When did the Pitchfork headlines get so bland? Weren't they snarkier before? I just noticed this after the redesign, but maybe it's been a long time coming.

Dear Emusic,
Thank you for your successful marketing strategies. I wanted to own Guided by Voices album Propeller, so I figured I might be able to find some free mp3s online. Instead, when I Googled propeller mp3s (not even mentioning the band), the first link was to Emusic.

As prolific as Bob is, it's not hard to get a grasp on GBV. In fact, tonight I was just filling in gaps into the eight or so albums I already own.

Even I don't have enough credits to get Hardcore UFOs, and I'm not sure I need it right now at the rate I'm going.

I started last weekend by putting the 1995 box set "box" on my computer. Then I set my Facebook status to "Guided by Voices or Sonic Youth? Discuss." and found my friends were, as I suspected, actually 50/50 on the subject, if they cared enough to weigh in.

Between getting distracted refiling records (a Runaways album signed by Kitty? Juicy by the Notorious B.I.G.?) and double checking my Emusic downloads (hmm, somehow Robert Pollard's Silverfish Trivia was downloaded once but it's not on this computer, and Slumber Party's Musik) it's like I've got a record store here where I'm always coming across new treasures.

I feel terribly terribly guilty that I am not someone who remembers song titles or lyrics, or even what albums are in her collection. Sometimes it's all a big blur, which makes GBV constantly amazing and amusing, and yet allows me to have big stretches of not listening to them because the many songs sound the same. Brilliant, but lacking in distinction.

Enough about GBV, except I rilly rilly want to take a pilgrimage to Dayton OH now. Especially since Athens Popfest isn't happening.

****

Nother reason I love the internet/Emusic:

Sometimes it really helps when I'm on a band's mailing list. For instance, I tried to download the My Teenage Stride January single when it came out but I had a computer fail. Thanks to their reminder, I got March's (but they offered no explanation as to what happened to February) and successfully redownloaded January (the very excellent "Cast Your Own Shadow"). MTS will be playing Cake Shop on Saturday with Knight School and Human Hearts (Franklin Bruno's new project).

I owe Mr. Bruno whiskey.

And speaking of friendly reminders, maybe you would like to read Jenny Jenkin's tour diary and go see her play in your town:

"Hi friends and family! You know I'm on tour right? It's going good. We
left on Feb 19th, we should be back around May 12th or so. Tour is
crazy, sometimes hard, but often amazing! So, my friend David, who I
am on tour with, is doing a blog of the tour. Thought you might want
to know the address:

www.jjdd09tour.blogspot.com

It's very nice and technological of him to do it - I am way too busy
still booking stuff you know? There's pictures and stuff. And you can
share it with others of my friends and family if you want. Hope you
like it!

And you know if you want you can also keep track of where I am
supposed to be by looking at my myspace page, at least when I manage
to update it. The address for that of course is:

myspace.com/jennyjenkinsrockstar

I love you and I miss you, but don't worry too much. Wish us luck!
Thanks! (And thanks to all the amazing friends and family who are
helping us on the road especially!)

Love, Jenny"