The Readiness Is All

That's what my dad asked me this morning when I came down for breakfast, because unfortunately I had pulled a lovely late night parking job and turned my car off in the middle of a song climax. ("Trust Me" by The Fray - "When you're older, you might underSTAND...") When he went to move it this morning he about blew his socks off.
I have to admit, I love to turn my music up good and loud. Driving at night with my windows down and my volume way up is one of my absolute favorite things to do. Last night it was up so loud that I couldn't hear myself singing along at the top of my lungs, which is the correct way to listen to both "Hate (I Really Don't Like You)" by the Plain White T's and "Two Weeks in Hawaii" by Hellogoodbye.
I love loud music for the same reason I love going to concerts. It's a total adrenaline rush when you can actually feel the build. And I guess I'd better cut back a little so that feeling isn't the only way for me to enjoy music in the future, but there must be some sort of compromise for me. I really just can't give up those nights of shouting "Off with their heads!" when I'm driving down the road listening to The Shins' "Sleeping Lessons," and hearing the shrillest highs and lowest lows with the windows down when "Such Great Heights" is guiding me home.
My guess is I'll listen to loud music until I become curmudgeonly (read: have children and have to drive around listening to whatever crap kids are listening to by then) and the whatever hearing I have left will be preserved for the rest of my days.
But I'd better start saving up for hearing aids just in case, because I'm going to need the best.

So tonight I went to the super rad Aquabats concert with Clark and Linda and became a member of the band. I learned the secret Aquabats high sign (demonstrated by the Commander in the picture to the left) and everything. Although tragically the band is much smaller than it was when I started listening to them some 10 years ago, they are still fantastic in their cheesy wisdom, and you have to give mad props to guys who still dress up like super heroes for every concert and picture. Favorite moments from the concert:

• Discovering that the upper level of In the Venue is glorious, but also that jumping up and down in the sweaty disgusting crowd is fun.
• The really nasty haircut on the lead singer of Love You Long Time
• Talking to Mandy between sets - she got her mission call!
• The following thoughts from MC Lars: "Get your Post-Modern groove on;" (I am SO not making that up - it was accompanied by pictures of post-modernists!), "Edgar Allan Poe was the original emo kid - he wore a lot of black, he wrote about love and death, and he didn't have a lot of friends;" "Hot Topic is not punk rock." ( I almost bought a t-shirt of that last one.)
• The girl who dressed up as the Martian Girl, and the fact that I identified her as such based on my knowledge of the Aquabats' lyrics.
  
• Fighting off the first villain (whose weapon was a towel with which he planned to put out our eyes - is rock and roll worth having a glass eye? YES!) with multicolored balls that were dumped on the crowd from the 'bove.
• The number of people in the crowd dressed as Aquabats. Now that I've become a member of the band, will I have to dress up for the next concert?
• Four words: Lovers of Loving Love.
  
• The song "Hot Summer Nights," which was dedicated to the lonely hearts in the crowd. Several people identified themselves as lonely hearts, and the Commander expressed surprise. I leaned over to Clark and said, "Yeah, that is a surprise that there are so many lonely hearts in this crowd."
• The title of this post, which was the intro to the last song, "Hi-Five City!" which is the new official name of Salt Lake. I hereby promise to high five everyone. Or squid them.
  
• Reliving my adolescence through jumping up and down to "Super Rad." All systems go! Soon the world will know the fury of attack, feel the wrath of the super rad! I'm just sayin'.
  

Next up: THE FRAY!!!

I decided to give all y'all the most important moments of my trip Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee in pictures. Dad can tell you all about the visits, but the really vital stuff is here.


First, this bed at the Justices'. I have never slept in a more comfortable bed in my entire life. I'm not even kidding.


We ate at the Waffle House four times, and I ordered grits every time. I finally understand the David Wilcox song. "In the deep of the darkest night, there is a beacon...of yellow light. At the Waffle House, at the edge of the dark abyss, when confusion descends like this, deeper and denser. At the Waffle House, after the midnight hour I'm scraping the eggs and flour from the napkin dispenser..."


This is, I kid you not, a fried pickle. I also ate fried green tomatoes, fried apples, and fried cucumbers, not to mention fried chicken. All good, but I felt gross for days afterward.


Dad found his true calling - hat model.

My new friends. I decided to give them a chance even though everyone is still mad at Sherman for burning Atlanta. (Not kidding.) Also, if they made a movie about General Sherman, based on this picture I would cast Hugh Jackman. Anyone?

My night in jail was a bit of a low point, but they served fried bread and water, so it was okay.


For some people, the war of northern aggression never ended.


I learned a valuable lesson. Do not stand directly in front of a cannon. How true that is.


The water is gross. It probably comes from this water wheel. It's okay though, because you don't sweat as much down there, and if you drink as much water as you would in Utah you will pee a lot.


Some people gave up the Civil War grudges in order to embrace the Cold War - the Russian side of it.


Now if only I'd had a match...


Tragically, I don't have a picture of the creepy sign in the Huntsville Airport that required us to go to Florida to get out of Alabama. But that's another story for another day.

Here we are at Harry Potter night at the BYU Bookstore. I borrowed Lili's scarf and tie while she and Nicole stood in frames behind the Prestidigitation class and were wizard portraits. Nicole's skirt was SO BIG!
Some of the craziness at the party.










My friend Tim and his wife - Muggles dressed as wizards trying to dress as Muggles. I wish you could see the whole outfit, but it was too crowded to get a good shot.
Me with my friend Lauren. We have shared many a book obsession over the year. (Not a typo.)
Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. We're pretty sure they practiced these sneers in the mirror, but they are denying it.

Oh, how wonderful it all was. I'm glad I went to experience the final show.

Here's a playlist I promised to post for Lili - a lot of the songs on here are songs for lonely night drives, and I've called the post A Little Night Music because they're the kind of songs that lose their potency when you're driving down the road on a sunny day with the air conditioner at full blast. This is windows rolled down, back roads driving music for those nights when it doesn't matter how much gas costs, you still have to drive the road to nowhere. (Photo by Dain Hubley)
I couldn't get a CD sized playlist I was satisfied with, so you'll have to customize if you want one. :) Also, if you recognize some of these songs from another playlist, it kind of evolved from that one.

1)"A Comet Appears" - The Shins
2) "A Little's Enough" - Angels & Airwaves
3)"My Oh My" - David Gray
4)"Hamburg Song" - Keane
5)"Love's Lost Guarantee" - Rogue Wave
6)"Lost on Yer Merry Way" - Grandaddy
7)"Alright"/"Ambulance"/"I Won't Blame You" - Pilot Speed (I've never been able to decide which one I like best for this mix - Pilot Speed's whole CD works as this kind of music)
8)"Wake Up" - The Arcade Fire (The exception - you could listen to this song any time and it would still work, but the lyrics work well with everything else.)
9)"The Finish Line" - Snow Patrol
10)"Vienna" - The Fray
11)"Amsterdam" - Coldplay
12)"Don't Explain" - Damien Rice/Herbie Hancock
13)"For the Best" - Straylight Run
14)"Cocoon" -Jack Johnson
15)"Cocoon" - The Decemberists
16)"Coffee and Cigarettes" - Augustana
17)"Cathedrals" - Jump Little Children
18)"Raining in Baltimore" - Counting Crows
19)"Travelin' Song" - Jackie Greene
20)"Straightjacket Feeling" - All-American Rejects
21)"Your Heart is an Empty Room" - Death Cab for Cutie
22)"You're On Your Way" - John Gorka
23)"Breathe Me" - Sia
24)"Mr. Curiosity" - Jason Mraz
25)"Pipe Dreams" - Travis

I finished Harry Potter yesterday (I wanted to savor it a little bit) and it was so so SO AMAZING! I promise to post pictures of the release party very soon, because it was all kinds of awesome. I love Harry!
(I'll probably post something about Georgia here eventually, but I don't feel much like posting right now.)
Other happy thing: remember when Damien Rice came when I was going to the Eclipse Prom? He's coming again in September and I am definitely NOT missing it again, so I sent a text to the two people I was pretty sure liked him, and I'm going to buy tickets ASAP for Sydney, Kellie, and me. Yay!

In honor of my family's trip to Georgia and Alabama this week, I've been making a list of songs for us to listen to there. (I'm finding myself forced to branch out from songs about Alabama and Georgia - oh, well.) If you have any awesome suggestions, chime in quickly.

1. "Sweet Home Alabama" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
2. "Georgia On My Mind" - Ray Charles
3. "Bright Sunny South" - Alison Krauss + Union Station
4. "Why Georgia" - John Mayer
5. "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" - Charlie Daniels Band
6. "Georgia" - Jackie Greene
7. "Stars Fell on Alabama" - Harry Connick Jr.
8. "Summertime" - Billie Holiday
9. "Blue Moon of Kentucky" - Paul McCartney
10. "Graceland" - Paul Simon
11. "Orange Blossom Special" - Johnny Cash
12. "Sodom, South Georgia" - Iron & Wine
13. "Southern Anthem" - Iron & Wine
14. "Pride (In the Name of Love)" - U2
15."Lonely Night in Georgia" - Marc Broussard
16. "Down South Jukin'" - Lynyrd Skynyrd

We leave Tuesday morning, so wish me a lack of heat stroke!

For as long as I can remember, the 4th of July has meant going to the Tabernacle to see the 23rd Army Band. It was an evening of John Phillip Sousa and the unsurpassed dance moves of Chief Warrant Officer Jay Cottam, the conductor. I don't remember a show without the "Washington Post March", "The Stars and Stripes Forever," and the band's "Armed Forces Medley," where the band asks all those who have served in the military to stand up while their branch's song is played and we all applaud. I always got chills as a child when I would go to the concert with my dad and my grandpa, because my dad always stood up for the Air Force and the Army, and my grandpa was one of the few who stood for the Coast Guard.
This year we were sitting behind two special guests at the concert: President Thomas S. Monson and Elder L. Tom Perry. When it came time for the Armed Forces Medley, President Monson got to his feet during the Navy's song. Cottam saluted him while he applauded for everyone else, and President Monson saluted back. When they played the Marines' hymn, Elder Perry stood up and saluted President Monson with a grin.
My dad stood for his two branches of the service as always, but my grandpa passed away two years ago. Only three people stood up for the Coast Guard, and I saw my dad wiping his eyes. Immediately my mom and I started to cry as well. At my grandpa's funeral, my dad talked about how his dad never had a neck, and everyone you meet in life is either a "pencil neck" or a "no neck." But he said that when Grandpa stood up for the Coast Guard at the 23rd Army Band Concert every year, he had a neck.
My dad has always said that the 4th of July is his favorite holiday because you don't have to buy presents. I've always liked it because I love fireworks and watermelon. However, this year we were all reminded that this nation, despite the problems we all know exist, was build and kept with the hearts and courage of men who loved their country and proudly served to protect it. I get chills whenever I see those white-haired men standing.
Also, if you're confused about the title of this post, at the end of the concert the band played "The Stars and Stripes Forever," and the annoying announcer from the Boise band that played with our band this year told us that we could sing along. Sing...along... to an instrumental march song? I looked at my dad in confusion and he said he thought there were words. I said the only words I knew were "Be kind to your web-footed/fine feathered friends, for a duck may be somebody's mother..."