Month: October 2024

Love this heartbreaking cover from Angie of Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die album. The piano absolutely transforms it from Lana’s haunting performance, but as I’ve mentioned about good covers, keeps that same soul of the song.

I had a blast quickly photographing my bookshelves to farm IG content for the blog. I’ve been woefully behind there because of uneventful photographing outside of nephew Jack’s soccer games. Sectional Championships Saturday! GO CHAZY EAGLES.

I mentioned in the first bookcase photo that I am magnetically drawn to bookshelves when I visit a friend’s house, go to a party, etc. It’s the same radar that clocks cats for me. 😀

What got me excited about the photos though, is that I absolutely intend to visit each and every one of those worlds before I expire. Read each and every word of advice about bettering myself. Devour the beautiful art and design of the graphic novels.

In a way, each of those books is a promise to my future self. I think there is value in telling your current self, “we’ll get there in our own time”.

Don’t be afraid to cut yourself some slack! Happy Halloween!

Be good, do good!

Maybe not a true cover here, but it deserves mention because its super faithful to the OG, and changes it up in a cool way.

That’s kind of my goal for life going forward I think. Faithful to my core, but changing shit up in cool ways. We can synthesize happiness. Completely under our control. Give it a shot.

Be good, do good.

I remember hearing Imogen’s version of this song and thinking how poetic the songwriting was.

Crop circles in the carpet? Oily marks appear on walls, where pleasure moments hung before? Ransom notes keep falling out your mouth?

So, so, good.

Be so, so, good. Do so, so, good.

I think at first this almost sounds like Marcus Mumford covering Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

This cover is more of an acoustic/atmospheric take on what is a absolutely fantastic performance by Karen O and the YYYs. An all-timer for me for sure.

You’re certainly not here for the expansive lyrics though! The second “verse” is:

“Made off, don’t stray, my kind’s your kind, I’ll stay the same, pack up, don’t stray, oh, say, say, say, oh, say, say, say”

Not every love song has to be a grand exposition. Love often is basic, stripped down, and raw. Sometimes that might be felt more?

Regardless of your delivery method, tell someone you love them today. It’ll be worth it.

Be good, do good. Love you.

Glicksman adds some verses to Gnarls Barkley’s 2006 hit and makes it a sound all his own here.

What’s crazy to me is that we’re 300 posts into this project, and we’ve only got 66 days left in 2024. What are you gonna do with your 66?

Seek out some new stuff! I bought a ticket for a “create-a-terrarium-and-sip next month. I am actively trying to find things outside my wheelhouse, because honestly, who the fuck needs a wheelhouse?

Be good, do good.

P.S. If you wanna go even farther down the sample rabbit hole, here’s one for you.

I will forever be enamored with acoustic covers of fast pop songs. I think good songwriting is good songwriting, and if lyrics are well done, maybe they can be put to almost any music.

I think both songs speak to a deep connection with someone, maybe at different points in time. Perhaps the beginning of a relationship and then within it years later.

I enjoy filling in a narrative sometimes. Hope you fill the rest of your weekend with some fun too.

Be good, do good.

Nicolette and I saw Lana live in…I wanna say Albany? Quite a while ago. Born To Die was probably brand new, come to think of it, so she wasn’t the huge voice she is now. 26th in the world on Spotify! A Lake Placid girl! Adirondack Mountains baby!

This song will always remind me of the North Country Metropolis that is Redford, NY. This reminds me of warm summer days riding my bike around town, or down to the store and then to Gram and Pop’s down on Route 3 by the river.

Things were simpler and slower. Elections didn’t terrify me. My only responsibility was a paper route. I fell asleep to crickets and whippoorwills.

Times have changed. Maybe the goal is to end up with a paper route and fall asleep to crickets and whippoorwills again. Maybe it’s just to find the hobbies, people, and things that give me those same feelings.

Look at me Oxford Commaing there, like a true Vampire Weekend fan. Look how far I’ve come, Michael!

Be good, do good.

This gorgeous cover of Neil Young’s Heart of Gold will be kicking off a little run of covers I’ve curated. I’m a sucker for a great cover song because it so perfectly melds the homage to the OG, but also because it so perfectly complements the OG in it’s own identity and style. The soul of the song is fully present in both.

“I wanna live, I wanna give, I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold, it’s these expressions I never give, that keep me searchin’ for a heart of gold, and I’m gettin’ old, keep me searchin’ for a heart of gold, and I’m getting old”

Be good, do good. xoxo

Love this bop from Taylor, especially that break down/synth drop.

Something about that tempo that just makes me want to move.

Hope you have a bunch of songs like that! They are pure dopamine!

Be good, do good!

As I mentioned before, I was very, very, woefully, embarrassingly late to Pearl Jam’s greatness. “Black” is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. I vaguely remember hearing this on 95-TripleX, our local pop/alt-lite radio station. But then 30 years passed and I actually sat down and listened. I’ve always been drawn to Eddie Vedder’s voice. I walking out of a movie Nicolette and I saw and stopped dead hearing him sing “Hard Sun” during the trailer for the film Into the Wild and had to walk in and see what I was hearing. I’ll link that one below!

I hope you’ve been enjoying our unseasonably warm fall if you’re anywhere around my neck of the woods.

If you aren’t, I hope the sun shines on you as you read this.

Be good, do good.