Seriously? ... Seriously.

If that chorus doesn't get stuck in your head you are lacking whatever it is that makes choruses get stuck in your head.

Speaking of Matts...

I've just rediscovered my love of one in particular. It's Cusson. He's an unsigned artist who plays keys for Brian McKnight but writes and performs some pretty amazing stuff of his own. I found him on MySpace a while back and not only is he an amazing talent but he's a good guy, too. So, I figured now that Maggie opened the door about the whole name thing, I'd kick it wide open and share one of my favs of Cussons. Now, this one isn't an original. It's a song that John Mayer wrote that was on his very first CD. Mayer did the song well but Matt takes it to a whole new level. It's almost the most perfect broken heart lullaby. So, enjoy:

It's all in the name:

Matt Nathanson
Matt Morris
Matt Wertz
Matt Strief
Mat Kearny
Matt Cusson
Matt Costa
Matt White
Matt McIntosh
Matt Woods

It seems to me that a certain name seems to mean you're predestined for singer/songwriterness. It's odd how in your life, certain names will always be associated with a certain stigma. For example, I've never met a guy named Corey that I haven't absolutely loved. I've never met a Patrick that hasn't been disgustingly hot. (Heh.) Nikki and I were talking about the artists I've been picking up due to my obsessive Pandora listening, and its odd how there are so many musically talented Matt's out there!

However, Pandora has also brought me to a host of other artists, namely Andy Davis. His song "Please Turn Red" is my newest obsession. It's gorgeous and sad and amazing.

Dear TVLand,

Scrubs is not "Classic Television". Please go back to the vaults and bring back "The Dick Van Dyke Show" or more of "Three's Company" or something but really, seriously, "Scrubs"?!? That's effed up.

Sincerely,
A girl who won't be watching as much but used to love you.

Nifty...and mostly broken.

This is pretty cool even though it doesn't update correctly like 90% of the time. It's my own fault too, since my friends Zune cards always work properly for them. User error, I suck.

http://social.zune.net/member/maggies413

Check it out! Real update tonight, I swear.

When I get sick, I'm a baby.

It's 3am and sure, I'm a HUGE night owl but dammit if this cough isn't keeping me from sleeping right now. Someone told me having some honey might help so that might be a last resort but I've gotta go get in some more Emergen-C to make sure this cold doesn't turn into a full blown assault on my body. So far, it's really isolated to my upper chest/throat which is kinda a blessing cause when I get sick, I generally can't breath well. I guess I should note, my last real cold was umm, about 2.5 years ago. I shouldn't be complaining cause I'm sure I'm overdue but when you rarely get sick, getting slapped with it totally throws you for a loop. I'm whiny and pissy at the same time. I sneeze and get mad at myself for sneezing. I'm an odd one, that's for sure.

But I got the urge to blog cause I was checking out some other blogs and totally came across one that triggered something in me that I've been discussing with some friends for a minute now anyway and it's that whole New Kids on the Block reunion thing. You might remember a while back I expressed my deep pleasure in the idea that it was going to happen...well now, the tables have turned. I am just not there anymore. The few things I've seen kinda leave me embarrassed for them, rather than excited for it all. I think the greater part of me wants to just leave the fun, naive memories that I had of them in the past cause now I'm far more jaded and schooled in what I consider talent and well, they just aren't living up to that.

I thought they'd come back more adult and having grown with their fans but whoever is doing their A&R is fucking up. Remember when New Edition came back with "Home Again"? It was like, "Hey, we're here. We're still New Edition but we're grown ass men." And now, we got New Kids sitting up here getting airtime on Radio Disney with a watered down version of "Summertime" and then they're singing with Ne-yo about how they're gonna be some girl's boyfriend til a song goes off. I'm fully aware that 35 to 40 year olds can be boyfriends but they likely don't go around touting it the way it comes across in this "Single" song. It's just weird. My whole thing is, you're grown men...your fans are grown women. You don't have to go seeking out the youth right now...they're far more concerned with The Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana and HSM 3. I don't think they're gonna want to see people their daddy's age hanging around singing about summertime on Jones Beach. So, get in where you fit in and stick to either bringing back some of those girls who were your fans in the 80s/90s and trying to make music that grown ass people who weren't even your fans before might do a double take and go "Well damn, I didn't know they had it in them."

And maybe it's just that...maybe they don't have it in them. So sad...and I got tickets to see them in November.

I've been crazy distracted lately.

"With what?" you may be asking yourself. "Your writing?" Boy howdy, is that NOT the case. But here are a few things that have been occupying my time instead:

I've been watching: Limited Olympic coverage. Very limited. Mostly women's gymnastics and whatever they make me watch between those events. Michael Phelps has really made me realize how shallow I am. That gorgeous body means nothing to me with that face attached to it, sadly. Otherwise, Flipping Out on Bravo took over my life for awhile. That season is finally over, and the only thing I really remember cracking up at during the reunion was when Jeff said that he taught Ryan's daughter Chloe to lift up her dress when he says "Girls gone wild!" Hilariousness. My quest to rewatch Buffy has apparently ended a couple of episodes in to season 6, and now I'm watching The Girls Next Door (Commentary on, of course. Those girls are hilarious.)

I've been working: Not exactly more hours than usual, but more hours per day, if that makes sense. 8 hour days have kind of morphed into 10 hour days and then a couple of shorter days to even out the time. I'm settling in to my new position at work which was disastrous the first week and much better this week, although it's going to be awhile before I can fix the mistakes from the last person that held it.

I've been eating: Haagen-Dazs ice cream as if that IS my job. I've suddenly shunned my Merlot sorbet and Phish Food in favor of vanilla swiss almond and lemon sorbet Haagen-Dazs. A few days in to this new obsession of mine and my mom pointed out that it was my estranged fathers favorite ice cream. Odd how certain traits are destined to develop, even when you never spent any significant time with the person.

I've been drinking: Coffee at a pace so rapid its as if they're going to stop making it, and cans of Red Bull and Rockstar like I can't live without them.

I've been loving: My crush is still holding strong. Very strong. Unhealthy levels of strong, really. It's frustrating and awesome all at the same time.

I've been reading: The Last Lecture. Granted, I'm the last person to read those "OMG Oprah loved it so I have to have it, it'll change your life!" books. My aunt sent me this one and although I can really only handle a chapter at a time, it seems to be going pretty well thus far. Next up is Breaking Dawn, although I said I gave up on that series after book one when it started descending in to crappy writing and characterization. However, I feel obligated to finish it now. OH AND, I'm extremely traumatized by the fact that Rolling Stone is shrinking to regular size. Rolling Stone is supposed to be larger than all the other magazines. Helloooo!

I've been listening to: The guitar boys still reign supreme, although for awhile I gave up on all music all together. Broken by Lifehouse, Where I Stood by Missy Higgins, and that damn Miley Cyrus song 7 Things are probably my favorite random songs at the moment. Also extremely surprisingly, I like the majority of the Shwayze record. Total MTV gimmick band, but I'm down. It's fun end of summer jams, although the majority of them sound pretty much the same.

I've been wearing: Black, and lots of it. It's confusing to me, because this is really not my bag. I'm a color girl. Reds, and pinks, and blues, and greens. I'm in to all of it. However, the last four shirts I've purchased have been black, and not so casual. I was shopping at work on my off day last week, in my jeans and heels,black, total cleavage baring shirt, and my smart girl glasses. Hot!boss asks me what I'm doing today since I'm all dressed up. I take mock offense, and then tell him that "I'm cute when I'm not here!" and he retorted with "Those are not just walking around doing nothing clothes." I spend 90% of my week in red and khaki and pajamas. When I'm not working and I have something to do, even if it's just shopping, I feel the need to dress nicely so I feel awesome when I'm out and about. It's the little things!

I've been thinking: I desperately need to reconnect with my creative side. I feel very, very lost in that respect and it's beyond frustrating.

I've been obsessing about: Finding new artwork for my bedroom. I took my old art down and now my room looks all bare and sad. This quest has been going on for about a month and I'm so over it I can't tell you. I'm very close to asking hot!boss to go take pictures of pretty things for me and I'll frame them and put them up. I hate looking at naked walls.

Soooo, I think that's it for now. Off to work! Again....

Chasing Pavements

PhillyJersey, It's tasty!

So on Saturday, August 9th my friend and I went to see a little concert. We've been feening for a show something fierce since we haven't gone to one since Kanye West in May and well, that's so unlike us. On night, we even went online and scoured every single last venue in the city to see if there was anything interesting coming to town and well, there really isn't.

Which is why I'm so glad my friend mentioned this show. It had Sara Barielles and Counting Crows on the ticket but I really was only interested in Maroon 5. The tickets were more than we'd be willing to admit we paid for the billing (and that's FACE value via your normal channels)....but hey we were this close:

Suffice to say, I am not complaining now about the price. It was totally an enjoyable experience. We missed Sara cause well, we're late to almost every concert even when we go to Don Pablo's and have the best server and waiter ever getting us in and out of there in under an hour. But I digress...we were so uninterested in The Counting Crows. I saw them (unwillingly cause it was at an event) last year and really didn't need to see them again. In short, the experience was well, all their songs sound the same and the lead singer AKA Sideshow Bob is in love and is no longer an insomniac because of this amazing love and his girlfriend's birthday was Saturday and he couldn't wait to go home the 90 miles to go see her cause you know what? He's in love.

There is this thing that's insanely enjoyable during concerts that my friend and I do especially during artists that we really don't give a shit about...the concert goer people watching experience. There's really nothing in the world like it. The notables during The Counting Crows were Old Guy Who Looks Like a Roadie (he was totally rocking out and singing along, even during the music between acts), Pointer Girl (this was her dance...she pointed. At the band. She later added a move that was some sort of hand flail), Red Shirt Guy (he was like right next to us, all by himself just a jumping jellybean), and Whistle Girl (she could whistle like a man...loud and long and annoying). So remember, friends, when you're at a concert and you're having a really good time getting into it and all? There might be someone nearby watching and well, laughing at you.

Maroon 5 came out around 9:45 (I totally called it!) and played for about 75 minutes or so. They opened with "This Love" and went into 2 more singles before switching it up to some non-single stuff. I had been wanting to see Maroon 5 for a long, long time. There was always something that happened and I could never go.

I gotta say, in all his skinny splendor, Adam's got a pretty face and he didn't sound as bad as I thought he would. I know that's weird to say but every single last time I've seen those dudes on TV, he's sounded like shit. But at this show, he did not. He sounded pretty much true to what he does on the CD. They put on an entertaining show and they're such a solid, tight band, it's sick.

So, I gotta explain this blog title. At one point, when Adam engaged the audience, he asked where they were exactly. See, the problem with the whole tri-state area type thing going on here is that artists come through to play a Philadelphia date and since Philly doesn't have an amphitheater worth anything, the logical choice is to send them on over to my state....you know, kinda like how the Giants are still NY's team but they play in Jersey. Well, I swear a lot of times, artists who play at this venue don't know if it's correct to just address us as Philly cause I'm sure that's what they're told they're playing. I totally appreciate the fact that Adam decided to ask and then play us off one another. It's not the first time I've experienced that same thing here but it was cool. He tried to do the whole "Say yeah!" if you're from Philly and then the same if you're from Jersey to see who was louder and finally proclaimed that from then forward because we were neck in neck that it was going to be PhillyJersey. And sure enough, through out the rest of the show that's what he called it. Then, at one point near the end, he said "Man, you guys are tasty." So, yeah, PhillyJersey is tasty. I might have to make a t-shirt of that one.

At very end, after the encore of "Harder to Breathe" and "Sweetest Goodbye", Adam thought it'd be a good idea to throw his guitar up into the air to land on the stage all by itself. I totally hate when musicians abuse their instruments, so it kinda made me sad. But then, he went and got it and took the strap off and gave it to someone in the front row, and that earned him some cool points in my book, so I'll let that whole Instrument Abuse incident slide.

All in all, I'm really glad we went. I've got a new love for Maroon 5's music and I've been educating myself on their climb up the ladder. It's impressive and I hope to one day be a part of something like what they've done!

I'm even judging myself for this one.

Stuck in my head. All the live long day.

As promised

Ok, I know our hundreds of readers are waiting with baited breath to make sure that I actually follow through with what I said I was going to earlier and blog tonight and here I am!

Let's see, where do I even begin. The last few weeks have brought some major changes about for me...or really one that is just big for me. I've spent the last 10 years of my life working for a company that has underpaid and over utilized me and I finally reached a breaking point. The 75 hour week and no weekends off for 6 weeks just took it's toll. And when I finally broke, something seemed to happen that was pretty amazing. A job was presented to me in that same moment. I got a referral from someone on a Monday, sent my resume Monday night, had a phone interview scheduled by Tuesday for Thursday and got the job offer on Friday, not even 24 hours later. It's another work from home gig and the best part is that it's significantly more money and reasonable hours (with flex time if I do end up having to give up a night or weekend). I gave notice to old co of 2 weeks and during that time they still worked me like a slave. I ended up taking the last 4 days of that 2 weeks as vacation cause I just couldn't do it anymore. The new job started this Wednesday but I've yet to really do anything since I'm still getting network connectivity and all that stuff situated but I'm hearing really good things about the team and the way they operate, so we'll see. Wish me luck!

The side job/passion that I hope is one day the real job hasn't presented many opportunities lately. There was a baby artist I was working with that just never panned out. He wasn't very forthcoming with where he wanted to go and how I'd fit in with him. He's got loads of talent but still has so much growing to do and I'm not completely sure he was ready to hear that from me or anyone. I don't think he knows what direction he wants to go in. I would've loved to have been there to help that along but I can't do it when he doesn't include me, so I've let it go. I went to a Celeb Charity Event at the end of June that I work and got to connect with one of the actors there who's also a singer/songwriter. We had a great conversation about the music industry and his career and all. I put the offer out there to work with his manager on stuff for him and he took my info and passed it on, but I haven't heard from the manager. Seems that happens a lot around these parts and it's a bit frustrating. I know if I were taking on managing someone, I'd welcome some help. I am admittedly not as aggressive as I should be with my music stuff right now but I just can't figure out where the open doors are right now. I'm looking for them, trust me...but man, I'm grasping at straws cause I need something to trigger me being on my grind.

Now...since the blog is called Addicted and Obsessive, I'll share where I'm at with that.

I have a new favorite song. I heard it in NYC a few weeks ago and it seems to have not completely caught on yet though I have no doubt that it will since it's by the dude who just can't seem to not make a hit. It's Ne-yo's new one called "Miss Independent" and I think I kinda love it just because of what it says. I AM that girl he's talking about and well, I need to meet a man (preferably who's as hot as the one in the picture above) who thinks what he says in this song. If you haven't heard it yet, check it out. I don't know how long before Imeem takes it down on me, so listen!


And well, there...that's it. An update on me. I promise, I won't stay away for so long. I know how I get when the bloggers I like leave me hanging and I need to not be one of those people. :)

Exactly one month later

Appears a blog from one of us....funny, huh? Well, this one is short and to say that I'm still alive and I think about blogging every now and again but have yet to get around to it. So tonight, after I maybe go to the gym and then come home to catch my latest Addiction/Obsession that I may or may not tell you about cause the mere mention of it might bring on some fangirls just plain googling a name, I will come and blog about all the wonderful and exciting things going on. Yay!