CMI- bands band bands.

Picking my one favorite band out of the CMI is honestly almost impossible, but if I had to pick just one, I would have to go with twentyfour64. My new found love for R&B has meet the rocker sound and combined together made the unique sound that is twentyfour64. Their lyrics are original and each member brings their own sound to the table. If I had the chance to meet the band, or even better if they ever made their way to Blacksburg Virginia- definitely count me in!

Favorite bands by region... Honestly, I don't know how to divide up the regions, but lets start with west coast. As I said before twentyfour64 is going to have to take the gold for that region. For the east coast I'm going to have to go with Televandals, coming out of Boston, I found their sound to be fresh and something new to jam to. Outside of the States I'm also a big fan of The Gin Riots. Not only is their music is amazing, and perfect to party to but the way the got their name is hilarious and I love it.

My Fave CMI Bands

I would have to say that my favorite band that I was fortunate enough to get introduced to through Campus Music Invasion (CMI) would have to be The Features. I made two CDs of all the CMI music and have found myself listening to their song The Lions on repeat. You should go to their MySpace page and check it out: http://www.myspace.com/thefeatures. As their are no bands from CMI that are touring in the vicinity of southwest VA, I will just go ahead and choose another group that I have taken a liking to; twentyfour64. Their music is soothing with an edge and has some great melodies. One of my favorite songs is "Superboy".
Check it out! --> http://www.myspace.com/twentyfour64

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

I love this book and after seeing the trailer, I am definitely going to have to see the movie. The music in itself is what made me excited! I think popular or indie music needs to be used more often to set the mood in movies as it is catchy yet powerful at the same time. One of my favorite movie + music combos would have to be the Requiem for a Dream song by Clint Mansell. It has been used throughout the cinema genre to continuously communicate the most commanding or climatic event in the movie. Love it! Check it Out --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Ma4BvMUwU

Dashboard Confessional

Thinking of a band/ song that really impacted my life was difficult. My middle school days were a fairly tough time in my life. My mom got sick, my only sister had just moved away to college, and I was in that awkward stage in life when I really didn't know who I was. I started listening to new music and i fell in love with dashboard confessional. Instead of all the pop tweeny music that everyone else was jammin out to, i felt like i was cool for doing my own thing for once. Listening to dashboard opened me up to lots of other new music as well. Once I got to high school I then started getting into the local band scene. Even to this day I know every word to almost all the Swiss Army Romance CD.

My Very First Album - A Life-Altering Experience

CDs had become the new technological craze for a couple years by the time I had turned eight, and so of course, as with tamagachis, pogs, and gimp I had to jump on the bandwagon. "I'm Just a Girl" by No Doubt had been one of my favorite songs for some time, and so when I was perusing the CD section at Target for the first time, and spotted No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom album. I was obsessed with the catchy song, where No Doubt's front woman Gwen Stefani belts out lyrics that were the anthem for teenage girls everywhere at the peak of their adolescent angst. Though I had yet to enter my teen years, I grabbed the album immediately, and tugging on my mom's shirt begged her to buy it for me. "But, Sarah, you don't even have a CD player!" my mom reasoned with me. And yes, pathetic but true, my first CD was purchased before I even had any method to listen to it. However, once that new purple Sony Discman became my most prized posession, I must have listened to the album repeatedly for over a month. "Sunday Morning", "World Go Round", and "Spiderwebs" were among some of my favorites. No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom album made my love for music grow, transforming my tastes from the Lion King soundtrack to the more mature Chumbawumba's Tubthumper. To this day, that album remains in my car CD player, still one of my all-time favorites. Oh, and the No Doubt reunion tour, I'm there.

My Dream show line up

My Dream Show Line Up
So I realize some of these are odd mixes but hey, its my dream show line up and that’s what I would pick. I tried to stay away from picks that Tina had already used although M.I.A. and Ray Charles were hard to pass up.

First up is the ROCK show, not your typical hard core rock or even the classics but more of the alternative, mellow rock. For the opener I would pick Death Cab for Cutie, mid- Counting Crows they’ve been around a while and are still in my top ten bands that I could listen to just about any time, and headliner Red Hot Chili Peppers I’ve been to their show before and they do not disappoint from the entertainment aspect.

HIP-HOP- I would have to say out of rock, jazz, or hip-hop this is the show I would definitely NOT want to miss. opener the Roots, love them, then for the mid, I would go with a compilation (because have you ever seen a hip hop/ Rap concert with out at least one featured guest). I know you were thinking someone had to add lil Wayne so… for the mid I would go with Lil Wayne and Jay- Z, headliner Kayne West while his personality’s not my favorite as an artist he’s definitely, in my opinion, one of the best.

JAZZ- While jazz isn’t something you will find loaded on my Ipod I would like to think that I can appreciate it. When choosing this classy genre I pretty much stayed with the legends. Opener- Ella Fitzgerald, mid- Stacey Kent, she hasn’t been around quite as long as my other choices but I found her on itunes and is definitely a keeper, headliner- Louis Armstrong one of the greats, I could listen to his voice literally all day.

Miscellaneous- For this last option I went with my favorites that haven’t been said that I would definitely want in a line up. opener- Dave Matthews band its never truly summer until I see him in concert, mid- Coldplay, great performers all around, and for the headliner- Bob Marley a legend that I would love to see if I could see ANYONE from the past.

My All Star Line Up...

This weeks blog assignment was difficult. Although, I listen to all types of music it was hard to pick three bands in four genres. Especially in the jazz department, I've never been much of a jazz girl myself, but who knows, maybe I'll open up to it as I get older.
The first genre I went with was rock. I went through my "punk rocker" stage, or at least my 13 year old version, of it in middle school. For this reason my lineup will reflect that time frame; Opener- The Starting Line, Mid- Fuel, and Header- New Found Glory. All similar sounds but exactly what I was, and still am into.
Second genre is going to have to be hip-hop, something I got a lot more into throughout high school and now college. Opener- The Blackeyed Peas, Mid- M.I.A. and Header- Rihanna. Definitely all all stars with recent top hits.
Jazz, this one was much harder. Jazz has never really been my thing, but when researching jazz bands I definitely recognized a few famous names. Opener- Clear Voyage, I found them on itunes, and loved it, Mid- The Curbfeelers (my dad's local band in the Washington D.C. area, they're more of a blues sounds, but good nontheless), Header- Ray Charles, a true legend.
Lastly, my genre of choice is going to have to be pop. I can be a very girly girl in terms of music, so bring on the boybands. Opener- The Beach Boys, oldies but goodies Mid- NSYNC, my obsession throughout elementary school, and lastly my Header- The Veronicas.