My Days Go On & On

wow.
where to BEGIN!

so much stuff to update about.
but its such good stuff, so here I go:

::GRAD SCHOOL::

As of Monday at 4pm, I became a free woman! turned in my last paper for the quarter and for the year! so now I'm done for the summer, aside from my internship -- I'm beyond stoked. SOOOO RELIEVED! pretty optimistic about this summer and having time for a full social life once again :) most importantly though, its crazy to think that I am officially done my first year of grad school and halfway through my master's program! My mom reminded me the other day that a year ago I was freaking out about where I was going to go to school, where I would live, etc. I was so confused about it all and having the toughest time deciding. Now looking back on that, it absolutely blows my mind how much has happened, how much I've grown and learned and changed. God's goodness and faithfulness has been incredible.

::GREG LASWELL::
one of the up and coming new artists to grace the singer-songwriter world.
newish, but not really...his stuff gets played on grey's anatomy sometimes if you follow that scene at all. he's kind of folky, but just plain awesome and talented.
my good friend blake got me into him a little over a year ago because Greg is a friend of blake's, and blake has done some photography for him. ANYWAY, we all saw Greg play about a year ago at the Roxy in Hollywood and it was a good time.

two sundays ago, June 1, I had the privilege to go see him play a sort of surprise, low-key show on the roof of Whole Foods' parking lot on south street here in philly.
it was absolutely perfect.

even though I was like one of 3 people that heard about it and actually came out, Greg didn't seem to care, he was kicking off his months-long tour with ingrid michaelson that night at the TLA, so he was in good spirits. as were we, the 3 people or so that sat there soaking it all in with big smiles on our faces.

I tell you, the setting was perfect. Warm sunny weather, city skyline behind the stage, perfect breeze, and I'm sitting there listening to a bunch of really good new tracks I hadn't heard before..

It felt like I was a private show where there were playing just for me.
I seriously couldn't have been happier.
here is a picture of that day:



and here is an old photo i found from the show at the roxy in feb 07:



yes. so great!

so in line with all this, lately I've been chatting with friends about what it means for art and music to have "soul" in it. i.e. beauty, feeling, life, goosebumps...to me this really just means GOD, because I believe God is within and around and creator of all things beautiful, and alive. To me, anything with "soul" points me to God and His awesomeness that is infinite and amazing, regardless of whether the label of "Christian" is tacked onto it. In fact, I'm not a fan of doing that in general. Labeling certain music or art or books as Christian can be a dangerous thing because all to easily becomes exclusive and leading to "us" "them" categories. Besides the fact that there's a good bunch of art that has been labeled as Christian and is NOT good quality or artistically at all and definitely lacks that "soul".

Last night I watched a movie with some serious SOULNESS.
It's called ONCE starring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, he's from Ireland, she czech republic. I don't want to give away the film or anything for people that haven't seen it, but it mostly focuses on the extraordinary music the two of them make together in this spontaneous whirlwind of a week. one of the songs from the film won the 2008 Oscar for Best Song. What's so cool is that these two make music together in real life, and became a real life couple after the film (they already knew each other before the film was made and were already playing music together in Prague ---yeah i know, how could you NOT fall in love in that city and WITH that city for that matter!!!! *cough* <michael adams!>
anyway, I pretty much listened to the soundtrack 33 times in row in the past 24 hours especially during my 2+ hours drive back from York today. Do the right thing and go listen to it, or at least the main song that won the oscar, 'Falling Slowly' on the movie website link I gave above or you can click here.



I should also add that Glen Hansard is not a newcomer by any means. He's the front man of the awesome band THE FRAMES from Ireland. They've been around for awhile and are a really talented group.

I can't resist ending this post with the beautiful lyrics to the ONCE song
I just love it.

Glen Hansard - Falling Slowly Lyrics

I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react

And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You've made it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black

You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing along