a little j.wride and the good things in life.

i live for the good things in life. the feeling of my stomach and heart meeting somewhere in my throat on a roller coaster. the feeling of the sun kissing my nose and cheeks while a spring breeze catches my breath and hair as i read harry potter and sip naked juice in my car on a spring afternoon with the windows rolled down. the sound of the crazy person in the movie theatre who laughs way too loud and sounds way too much like a farm animal. i live for scary hair and morning breath. for that smile that can only be found in an elementary kid's pre-braces mouth when i give them a sucker after their haircut. i live to hear my 8 year old neighbor yell "hey piano teacher!" while they're playing outside when i get home for work. i live to see my cat's big eyes staring at me the minute i yawn, stretch, let my eyes finish watering and greet each new day. really she just wants food, but i let myself think she loves me enough to wish me a good morning. i live to pick at the grass as i sit and catch up with old friends. a wonderfully awful habit. i live for hugs. yes that=90% of the time my nose meets a belly button in the process (yes the other 10% include my relatives who are as short as i am) but being a "navel nose" is not all that bad people. of all these things i live for that moment when sweet, sweet music seeps into my ears, oozes its way through my brain, pours into my little heart and then leaks into every fiber of my 4 foot 10 & 3/4 inch being until it completely overwhelms me and i take a deep breath and am forever changed.

i grew up around many good things. thus the reason i live for them. but if any human walked up to me and asked me to name one thing that i would say defined my upbringing 3 things would come into mind: 1-"well....i want you to imagine the movie pride and prejudice....now modernize it..." 2-"okay got that...now i want you to add a little LOTR in there...i want you to imagine that a hobbit comes across an elf...but this elf is abnormally little....now they fall in love and make 5 elf/hobbit babies...all girls...." 3-"okay so you've combined the two....added a few mr. darcys....plenty of drama and lots of laughs...an outgoing mom, and shy dad shaking his head and smiling, making you wonder 'does this man love his life or hate it....i'm gonna go with love...look at that smile..." now i want you to put every inch of this scenario to music. and there you go that is my childhood. i can remember going to classical concerts with my piano teacher at age 8. i remember doing the dishes and singing along to u2 with the whole fam. i have this weird memory of climbing on the counter (still have to do that sometimes...shhh.) to get the cd cover for rachmaninoff's piano concertos played by vladimir ashkenazy which was blasting through the house and telling my mom as i pointed to old sergei, "that's what i want to be when i grow up." i was maybe a year into my music lessons. i remember watching ingrid michaelson play her uke, being completely speachless and going home and spending hours on my own that night. i remember hours of too much prince and too much falsetto. i remember sighing as i saw jason mraz live and watched him woo thousands of women all at once. i remember knowing queen and the beatles word for word before i even knew how to spell my own name. i remember the day my aunt and uncle gave me a bunch of john mayer's live cds for my birthday in the midst of my awkward jr high years and falling in love faster and deeper than i thought was possible. i love music so deeply and in so many ways it's gone and grown a brain of its own and i have no way to control it anymore. now go up and read that last sentence in the the first paragraph one more time. that my friends...that doesn't happen every day. but oh...how it happened when i heard my current band of the year, j.wride, release their new cd: indigo.

i honestly cannot say enough good about this band and the music they are making. though i love and appreciate all music, i am not one to hand out unworthy compliments or recommendations. sometimes my clients will tell me their kid's names and i try not to visibly cringe and say... oh...how..neat. but when a client sits in my chair and can tell me their child's name and it is legitimately awesome, i'm sure my face lights up and i say something along the lines of "dude! way cool....tell me the story behind it..." j.wride, they are a good baby name. one that makes you want to name your kid after them. only in this case we are listening and falling in musical love. not having babies or naming them after bands. i just like analogies and i'm too creative. :) there are two ways i will share why i now love this band and why you should love it as well. 1-there's an acoustic version of one of their songs on my playlist below. in fact it's probably been playing this whole time you've been reading without you even realizing it. find it. listen to it. and listen to it again. is it not so good? 2-i love lists. every day i make several of them. specifically top tens. i love making top tens. so here is my top ten for j.wride....

1-their cd release show was so CLASSY. though i love all music, every kind, every aspect....i've got to say i never totally adapted to crazy shows full of smoke and mosh pits and obnoxious high/drunk fans. what i'm getting at is i like me a nice, classy, live musical experience. the first thing i noticed about mr. jesse wride and his band is they know how to put on a classy show. the listeners were excited but polite. the venue was nice. there were seats. great lighting. great sound. it was refreshing.

2-The lead singer, Mr. Jesse Wride is a pianist. and his piano skills are enough to make any girl weak at the knees. seriously people. i studied classical piano for 13 years and i was completely blown away.

3-He also has a talking voice that is almost as attractive as his singing voice. i don't think i'm alone in loving great vocals. and...He wore a tie with his untucked dress shirt. :) Maybe i'm a girl and i notice the details too much, but i love musicians who can rock their own style and look good doing it.

4-speaking of style Mr. Court Eccles, the master of the bass, has amazing glasses.

5-And Mr. Austin Anderson, with his phenomenal rhythm, wears a sexy buzz cut; trust me they're hard to come across.

6-Jesse gave the best band introduction i've heard since Mr. Jason Mraz. very creative. very impressive.

7-Each band member is each so individually talented, yet when they play together, they play as one. I've learned that it's hard to find a good band. there are many good solo musicians who grab some people who know a thing or two about music and attempt at a "band." but in the end it's one really amazing soloist with a few mediocre musicians backing them up. thus building the musicians and ultimately taking away from the soloist. though jesse sings for the band and thus the spotlight may fall on him more often, he has two great men backing him up and all three of them take turns exemplifying their supreme skills on their individual instruments. in fact the music is written in a way that all musicians involved are...well...involved.

8-to touch on the second part of the above statement... the part about them playing as one: as i watched them play i could see them constantly making eye contact and watching each other play. they were so together. no one was competing. no one was lost. making it the best experience possible for performers and listeners alike.

9-as a lover of music and words both, were i to have to pick one i'd pick to die because i couldn't live without either. i respect a musician who can write good lyrics. so very much. and j.wride's got that down.

10- as the years go by, i feel like we're experiencing the strangest combination of the music industry getting better and worse all at once. i feel that there are people who pretend to love music and somehow get on the radio and making millions with their garbage to the ears and a whole bunch of celebrity drama actually sustaining them. but i also know there musicians out there who are truly talented and continually learning from our heroes of the past and coming up with all kinds of new, creative and glorious things. real music involves beautiful melody, creative harmony, the right amount of musical twists to keep intelligent side of us humans on our toes, memorable patterns to get the songs stuck in our heads, the seasoning of many unique instruments working together to support and adequately portray each other's beauty. as i listened to this music live and on the cd, i heard beautiful string melodies, strong brass and bass, rhythmic drums and beats, crisp and clear piano solos and warm piano accompaniments. there were some songs that were upbeat and catchy, others that were solemn and serene. it's not a style i can classify or compare. it's something all its own. and it's something great. here's the place to hear more of it yourself: facebook.com/jwridemusic

go have one of those breath taking, heart melting musical experiences; one of the best good things in life we get. i triple dog dare you...