Tunes Tuesday: "Suck it and See," Arctic Monkeys

The title of Arctic Monkeys' new release, "Suck it and See," really doesn't translate very well to American English. With a name like that, I wasn't expecting the title track to be such a lovely little ditty, as heard here in an acoustic version by Alex Turner. It turns out all this Britishism means is give it a try, so we can all get our minds out of the gutter.

The band made their name with blistering, snarky anthems, but don't overlook the slow songs, like 2009's "Cornerstone." That's what I put on repeat, just Turner's straightfoward croon, ambiguous lyrics and throwback melodies. In "Suck it and See," Turner sings, "I poured my aching heart into a pop song/ I couldn't get the hang of the poetry." After a few dozen listens of the song, it sounds to me like he has a fine handle on poetry, but pop is fortunate to have him.

Preview the new album on their site now!

PS - I'm going to try to write every Tuesday about a song I'm currently digging. I listen to songs on repeat for hours at a time, so rest assured you will only hear about the ones that make the 10x in a row mark. And I also love song lyrics, so I'll probably be posting some choice lyrics too. Hope you enjoy!

Sweetlife Festival in Review

I must actually be an optimist, because no matter how many times I've been rained on in general admission at outdoor shows, I still buy lawn tickets. An optimist or a cheapskate.

Won't it be nice to picnic on the grass with friends, I think, as I click "purchase." All other occasions when I've sat huddled under a garbage bag to keep out the rain have disappeared from my mind.

Even on Sunday when I was getting ready for the Sweetlife Festival, I looked at the weather and saw a 20% chance of rain. Yay, it won't rain, I decided, specifically choosing to bypass umbrellas. 20% equals 0% for me. Thankfully, Joe convinced me to bring a raincoat.

But even though of course it rained, a steady drizzle that turned into bona ride miserable storm the festival was still fun. Towards the end, the rain disappeared so the crowd could thoroughly enjoy Lupe Fiasco, Girl Talk and The Strokes.

The first two of those acts got panned in the Post, but out in the muddy lawn seats, everyone seemed to be having fun. That's all Girl Talk is about, having fun. Dancing like a maniac with thousands of people doing the same. Also confetti and balloons. There's nothing deeper to it than that. Music purists may be appalled by Girl Talk - 30 second clips of music strung together for the ADD generation. Why listen to an entire concert of one artist when you can listen to the best of 60 artists' work crammed into one hour?

I argue that Girl Talk doesn't equal the apocalypse for pop music. I watched the same crowd get just as jazzed for The Strokes and they are about as classic rock and roll as you'll get in 2011. The two can sit together, in harmony, on the same festival lineup.

Hey Ms. DJ

This weekend, I had my first "DJ" gig - my good friend Serena asked me if I would like to DJ her wedding, and I agreed. What are my credentials? I have none. I just like music.

But not the kind of music people like. My picks aren't generally crowd-pleasers. If I had my way, I would play Of Montreal, the deep cuts.

Serena is smart, however and picked out her own playlist, with music that was recognizable. My job was to press "Play" on iTunes. Sounds simple enough. But still I worried. "You're going to screw up and ruin the wedding," Serena joked. Yes, that was my worry.

It turned out fine. I had to race back and forth past the wedding party to get to the laptop, which might have been obtrusive. My skills were rudimentary, yes. But when guests at a wedding breakdance to Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic," I deem it a success. In short, invite fun people to your wedding and you'll have a good time, regardless.

Motorcycles on Ice Weekend

This happened way back in January, but the sheer amount of photos I took put me off from writing about it. I am feeling invigorated, so let's go through the rundown of my trip to Norfolk to visit my some of my bestest friends Emily, Andy, Lauren and their dog Jasper.

I'll put a cute puppy photo first to up page views.

Emily and Andy live right near the water, but alas, it was too freezing that weekend to walk on the beach. Note to self - cape does not cut it in any winter weather, even in the south.

Digging this Mod tsunami warning sign, Norfolk!

Part of the weekend was devoted to making prototype whoopie pies for Lauren's fledgling business. I don't have to tell you that they were delicious. We even made logos and packaging mock-ups. Jasper stole one off the table, but he was nice enough to bring it back untouched.

We also jammed out a little (well, I played a maraca shaped like an orange). Here is Emily on guitar, Andy on mandolin and Lauren on accordion, working under the name "Family Band."

The big event of the weekend was checking out something at the Hampton Coliseum called Motorcycles on Ice. Who knew? The motorcycles had no brakes, just spikes on their tires to race around a small ice rink. We settled in to our seats (I was the only one in the arena wearing a cape, I noted), and the smell of exhaust wafted from backstage. The very first race, one minute in, a motorcycle driver immediately crashed into the wall and lay crumpled under the bike, not moving. "Paramedics to the ice," the announcer intoned.

Not a good introduction to motorcycles on ice. I was beginning to feel like a Roman at the original coliseum. Luckily, he was OK.

And the show continued. And boy, did it continue. I think I saw every vehicle short of a car race on ice. ATVs, golf carts, even Vespas. I'm good on the ice motorsport front for awhile.

Here's the children's division. Yes, really.

But then something peculiar happened. There was a female racer with a bright pink ATV riding in some of the races. I didn't notice her at first, but then I realized she wasn't just beating the men, she was schooling them. Crowd favorite for sure. She made it to the finals and in an out of body moment, I realized that I had risen to my feet and was cheering, screaming at the top of my lungs almost involuntarily, for her to win it all. Against all odds, I had gotten into ice ATV racing.

Here is "First Lady of ICE" Mandy Brodil with her daughter at the award ceremony.

So Hot We'll Melt Your Popsicle

Before we went out on Halloween, I went over to a friend's apartment for a little party. We were playing a card game with a rule that if you drew a certain card, you had to stand up in front of everyone and sing a song, and everyone would sing along with you.I drew that unfortunate card. So I took a deep breath, stood up, and sang:"California girls/ They're unforgettable/ Daisy dukes/ Bikinis on top"And waited for others to join in. But the whole group just stared at me, unblinking."You guys don't know that song?"

Everyone in the room shook their head, no.

"Really," I said. "'California Girls.' You don't know 'California Girls?' The song that plays on the radio every one and half minutes? Since spring 2010?"

*Silence*

Maybe I should've sung "Teenage Dream" instead.