ROAD TRIP!

I've been down south for the past two weeks. Ate amazing pizza, stayed up way too late, saw awesome sculptures, along with seeing the new "Pirates of the Carribbean" movie an additional two times. Oh, and you can't forget the sweet potato fries, Forney Cokes, rice salad, and the freak rain storm. Rice salad sounds gross, didn't look too appetizing to be honest, but it was so good! I had two servings. Needless to say it was a very good two weeks. At the end I got to take a two day road trip. One day with my grandpa the other with my dad. Good quality time.

During the road trip(s), I had some pretty amazing music to listen to. The first album that I listened to, was on repeat, so I throughout the two days I probably heard the album about five times, not to mention the two times I listened to it this morning.

OK, so I love Fleetwood Mac so much. I saw the "Very Best of Fleetwood Mac" in the store the other day and just had to get it. I love that album so much. "Go Your Own Way" is the first song, and I think a great way to open the record. All the songs on the album are just amazing, and I love it. Like I said earlier, it's on repeat and I've listened to it at least five times in the past three days. Fleetwood Mac is just one of the greatest, what more is there to say?

The second artist that I listened to The Clash. I discovered The Clash not too long ago, and just fell in love. As my dad said "This is the music that made your teachers mad. It seems so calm now." Nevertheless, I still enjoy this band and think that even today, they kick some major butt.

I got The Clash's "London Calling" and "Combat Rock" albums at the same time that I got the Fleetwood Mac album. "London Calling" I listened to several times on the road trip, also.

These next artists just show you how diferent my music tastes can be.

With my dad, I plugged my iPod in and played all the Kings of Leon songs I have. Starting with this one.

In my opinion, the song "Closer" embodies what Kings of Leon sounds like within all of their songs. Hard-rocking Southern boys that can seriously knock your ears off. Their sound has changed over the years. I mean if you listen to "Red Morning Light" and "Radioactive" back to back you'd be surprised. Yet, all of it works. His voice is amazing, and everything about this song is really good!

I saved this artist for the last because I kind of discovered them on the trip. They've been on my dad's iPod for awhile, and it've only heard snippets. On the trip we played the entire album "I And Love And You" by the Avett Brothers. I got to say I love this band now.

This is one of their more upbeat songs. They do the most beutiful ballads, they're kind of ballads I would say. Anyway, The Avett Brothers are amazing and I am now in love with them along with all the other bands on this list.

I love road trips, and the ones where you can blast the radio and stop at crappy rest stops are my favorites. Go take your own road trip and discover all the music that is out there.

-shelby

Best Night Ever? I think yes!

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you probably know that my favorite band is 30 Seconds To Mars. They are so stinking amazing. I love them to the moon and back. A while ago, I was lucky enough to see the boys in concert. It involved driving for over an hour, a wicked traffic jam, and standing in a line that wound around the block. A line where I met some very nice girls, who I convinced to stay the entire concert. The line was long, and it was semi-cold, but it was so worth it.

Shannon, the drummer, wasn't there because of an illness, so they had a drumming track the entire time. I missed Shannon, but he was there in spirit and on Jared's computer which was on the stage the entire concert. All the more reason to go see them again when they come to my area, hopefull he won't be sick next time.

I had a freak attack when the concert started. It went a little like this. The white curtain thing went up. We waited for what felt like forever. Then the lights went off. The song "Escape" started. Spotlights were on the curtain so you could see the bands shadows on the curtain. All of a sudden you could hear Jared's voice, and I sat there on the edge of my seat going "Oh my God." Then it happened. The curtain dropped, and I saw my favorite band, the best band on the face of the Earth, in person. I screamed and nearly cried. It was that amazing.

The concert was a long time ago, but let me try to remember the correct setlist. I apologize if I have any mistakes. They opened with "Night Of The Hunter," "Beautiful Lie," and "Attack." If I remember correctly they then did "Search And Destroy." Jared and Tomo stopped halfway through and Jared talked to the crowd. Made everyone stand up, and managed to call people who weren't paying attention names. During that time my group of people managed to get down to the floor, where jumping up and down was a lot easier then the narrow balconies. The band finished "Search and Destroy" and proceeded with "This Is War."

After that Jared did this enitre acoustic set that included "The Kill," "Alibi," "Hurricane," a new song, "From Yesterday." Not nessecarily in that order. Jared sang all of it, with the crowds help, and Tomo came out to play "The Kill." Which was absolutely amazing! Somewhere in there, I think, Jared held the microphone up to the computer speakers so Shannon would say something. A complete and utter hush came over the theater, and then Shannon said 'hello, hello!' To sum that up, we all went beserk.

After the little acoustic set, Jared said something like 'get your fists up in the air and repeat after me NO, NO, NO!' And I knew that it was there. Once he said 'let's turn this next song into a prayer' I started to get really excited, like more than I already was. From all the live videos that I have watched I knew that the time had come for 30 Seconds To Mars to play "Closer to The Edge." The song is just about my favorite song by them and to see them perform it live was absolutely breathtaking.

Confetti was blown into the crowd, each little confetti piece had something written on it. Like 'yes this is a cult,' or 'provehito in altum.' Just something along that line. I grabbed a handful and took them home.

"Kings And Queens" was next. The last song of the night. A bunch of people got to go on stage. I wanted to, but I was all the way in the back so it didn't work out. I sang along, so that's cool. "Kings and Queens" was awesome! A great way to end a great concert, with the song that made me fall in love with this band.

I took pictures, but mainly just a bunch of video. My camera was acting stupid every time I took a picture, but here are some of the ones that turned out good.

The last photo is just about my favorite from the entire night. It's from when Jared was doing the acoustic set.

I would put up a video, but video upload terms and conditions is confusing. All in all it was an amazing night, and I can't believe that I went. I sang along to every song, jumped up and down, and watched the band run all over the stage like madmen. Artistically talented madmen, of course.

If you ever get a chance to see these boys live, I would definitely recommend it.

-shelby

These are some pictures that I have taken recently. OK, so some of them I took forever ago, others I took like two weeks ago. I read on one blog something that I haven't heard before, but it made me think. He said that it's harder to take pictures in the area around you, and it's easier to take pictures in places that inspire you, places that you haven't been before. I got to say, that makes a lot of sense. When I can't put down my camera that's when I'm places where I don't see everyday. Also when something is happening around me that I don't see everyday, like the freak snow storm that started a little over a week ago. Seriously, it was non-stop snowing on Friday the 25th a few months back.

Anyway, here are some of my latest photographs. :) Oh, and by the way, I got Photoshop for Christmas so the really cool looking ones that have obviously been edited are victims of my Photoshop addiction. Some of them are not perfect, but I'm rather proud of them. :)

shelby