My Running Playlist

Half-marathon training has been going well and I’ve been doing pretty well sticking to my running schedule. I get up at 5 am a few days a week and hit the gym in the morning and do my long runs on Sunday’s. I need some pretty good music to get through those early morning runs and Sunday runs when I’d rather be relaxing! I often notice people posting on Facebook asking for good songs for their workout mix, so I thought I’d share what I have on mine so far.

1. State of Grace – Taylor Swift (I like to start things out a little slow and relaxing.)
2. Feel Again – OneRepublic (Such a feel good song, it really gets me going.)
3. She’s on Fire – Train (One of my all-time favorite Train songs. “Well it’s not just a day dream if you decide to make it your life.”)
4. Gone, Gone, Gone – Phillip Phillips (My favorite on his album and such a fun beat!)
5. Hall of Fame – The Script featuring will.i.am
6. Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) – Kelly Clarkson (I’ve been running to this song for months and have yet to get sick of it.)
7. Try – Pink (“Just because it burns doesn’t mean you’re gonna die, you’ve gotta get up and try try try.”)
8. Better Than Revenge – Taylor Swift (Just a fun song that I like.)
9. Every Teardrop is a Waterfall – Coldplay (One of my favorite Coldplay songs)
10. The Sound – Switchfoot (This one gets me pumped.)
11. The City – Madeon (Found this one searching for playlists ideas and I liked the beat.)
12. Good Ol’ Days – The Script (Favorite song on their album.)
13. Good Time – Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen (Just a fun one that makes me want to dance.)
14. My Body – Young the Giant (Pretty sure this is a drinking song, but also translates to distance running.)
15. Red – Taylor Swift (Again, just another fun song with a good beat. I like feel-good music when I run.)
16. Let it Roll – Flo Rida (Flo Rida always makes me want to dance!)
17. The War Inside – Switchfoot (One of my favorite songs to run to, the lyrics are great for that mental road block.)
18. Livin’ On a Prayer – Bon Jovi (It will take me about 2 hours to run the half marathon, so this song will fall about an hour into my run.)
19. Carry On – Fun (Just hit the half-way mark, gotta keep going!)
20. Part of Me – Katy Perry (Great beat, great lyrics.)
21. The Fighter – Gym Class Heroes ft. Ryan Tedder (I feel I’ll really need some inspiration during the second half of my run.)

That’s it for now! This playlist is about an hour and 20 minutes which is all I need for now. I’ll update with my final playlist sometime before the race. 2.5 months to go!

Colton Dixon is the Next Chris Daughtry

I haven’t watched American Idol in years. With the change of judges and format, I thought I’d give it another shot this season. My mom has watched it pretty much every season since it started. I was fairly convinced they found the best singer in America in season one. I’m still convinced of this – come on, Kelly Clarkson’s vocal range is ridiculously amazing… but it doesn’t mean there’s not other talented vocalist/performers out there.

Anyhoo as I said I decided to give it a go this season. If you watched tonight, you know the sad outcome of America’s poor judgement… Colton Dixon was sent home. He was my absolute favorite. I love his personality, his voice is awesome, and he has great stage presence. I would buy his albums, go to his concerts… if I was a tween I’d probably hang pictures of him from Teen Beat on my wall. There is just something about him that I think is awesome. But it’s ok that he got sent home, because Colton Dixon is the next Chris Daughtry.

A few seasons ago a crowd favorite, Chris Daughtry, was stuck with fourth place. So disappointing. That actually may have been the last time I watched Idol. Taylor Hicks went on to win it… and then he faded into the background. Meanwhile, Daughtry has had continued music success. As we learned tonight, Hicks will be playing in Vegas this summer – I’ll let you determine if that’s “success” because I think it’s pretty clear what my opinion is on that.

So fret not, Colton Dixon fans, in my completely non-authoritative opinion, we will see much much more of him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a record deal by the end of next week, especially if Ellen has anything to do with it!

2012 Grammy Awards!

I had high hopes going into this year’s Grammy’s. Granted all but about 4 or 5 awards are given out before the live broadcast actually starts, there was an awesome roaster of performers lined up this year – much better than last year. I will probably use the world “talented” a ton. That’s pretty much the only reason I watched!

This years Grammy’s gave me hope that good music is making a comeback. Maybe it’s a false hope. Looking over the nominees I was pleasantly surprised. Of course you can’t get away from those few pop stars that just have that star power. But overall, from the nominees to the performers it was a much different show than years past. I mean, maybe I’m remembering wrong, but I feel like in the past years they’ve been throwing in “big name” performers to get viewers and they’re not always the best to represent what the “music industry” has to offer. Which is a lot, if the general public will listen, buy albums, and concert tickets – because when it comes down to it it is the music industry and they will push whatever makes money.

Kicking it off with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Great move. Love them. He’s the Boss and he rocked that stage. I’m also a Jersey girl so I’m biased, but you can’t deny his talent. I was very happy to have the stereo hooked up to the TV so I could really blast “We Take Care of Our Own” and dance around a little. Good thing Kevin was at rehearsal – he’s not from Jersey so he just doesn’t understand. In case anyone was confused, the crowd was yelling “BRUUUUCE” not booing them.

The opening Whitney Huston prayer and short video – very nice. A good way to get things started and recognize a lost music legend.

Let’s talk Bruno. I love Bruno Mars. Runaway is also my favorite of his songs on his album. He has a great voice and is very talented – but there’s something about his baby face that makes me not able to look at him. Love his voice though, he seemed to be struggling a little but knew when to back off the mic. There’s also nothing better than some big band music. Overall great performance.

Alicia Keys – so amazing, very talented. Love her voice, but she seemed a bit shaky. Bonnie was right on. Sounding great. I love seeing these types of duo’s. Now, if only these types of artists truly ruled the airways… but I’ll get to that in my conclusion.

Best Pop Solo – Someone Like You, Adele. I have to be honest, she had some tough competition. I had no clue who was going to win this – I felt most of these nominees were rightfully nominated. Katie Perry is not the best live, but she has some star power. For the most part the rest of the nominee’s have great voices and the award could have gone to any one of them. Adele’s speech was adorable because, well, British accents are awesome. Great to see her triumph.

Gaga’s outfit made me giggle.

Chris Brown can DANCE. No, beating up your girlfriend isn’t cool, especially when it’s Rhianna… but he paid his dues (part of that was scrubbing off graffiti on VCU’s campus. Go Rams go!). I was underwhelmed with his performance though. Some auto tuning, a lot of flashy lights… and I still question if he was singing live. Overall boring performance aside from his dance moves.

Best Rap Performance – Otis, Jay-Z and Kanye West. I don’t know much about rap, but I love Jay-Z. He obviously wasn’t there because he was home with his new baby girl. Kudos to Nicki for being the only girl in the category.

Jason Aldene and Kelly Clarkson. Gosh I love Kelly. Her voice is out of this world. The entrance didn’t go very well… there was obviously issues with the mics as Jason’s last “yeah yeah yeah”s weren’t heard. Side note: Kelly Clarkson’s makeup wasn’t blended very well, her makeup artist should get on that. Jason was shaky – maybe nerves? Pulled it together for the last chorus, but feel like the mic/earpieces issues ruined that performance. She obviously was having a blast.

The Foo Fighters – I think all of their songs sound the same, but they’re always good. Good beat, sounded great. I love a good rock song you can jump to. So excited to get some rock in the show this year – first with The Boss and now with the Fighters.

Rihanna & Coldplay. Love actually hearing Rihanna sing. She spends so much time singing her club-genre music I feel like it’s forgotten that she can sing. Don’t get me wrong, I love her club-beat, but she has a gorgeous voice and I’m glad she started her song out slow. She also has some good dance moves. I have the Colplay/Rihanna song downloaded and really like it so I was happy when I heard they’d be performing together. I like how they used it as a transition between performers. I’ve really been digging Paradise lately, turning the radio up too loud in my car when it’s on and singing “PARA-PARA-PARADISE” like I should be holding a hair brush in my hand in front of a mirror. But I’m in the car so my hands are on the wheel.

By the way, an hour into the show and only 2 awards given out. I personally get antsy because I want to know who the winners are…

New York Giant’s doing the salsa. Yes. GO GIANTS!

Best Rock Performance – Walk, The Foo Fighters. Or is it the Foo Fighters? I missed the little title on the bottom of the screen. Again, not much I can say about the Foo Fighters. But I DID love what Dave Grohl said because it is so true – “It’s not about sounding perfect. It’s not about sounding absolutely correct. It’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in here (head) and what goes on in here (heart).” The irony in this was that after Coldplay performed a Facebook friend had a status about them not getting all the way up on their high notes. Take that, kid that’s not nominated for a Grammy or performing at the Grammy’s either.

Maroon 5 / Foster the People / Beach Boys reunion. Glad to see Adam and Foster the people, but without John Stamos drumming my interest went out the window. What can I say? I’m the Full House generation. In all seriousness, the performance sounded great.

Stevie Wonder got a standing ovation just for coming out on stage? Yes, because he is awesome!  Loved his little harmonic play.

Sir Paul McCartney. He makes me giggle because he still looks the same as he did when he was young. I, of course, only know this from pictures. My mom would probably tell you the same and then tell you the story about how she had Beatles’ trading cards in the attack and my grandmother threw them away and they probably would’ve been worth so much money now. Anyway, even if Sir Paul had sounded terrible (which he didn’t), one can’t really touch such a legend regardless.

Best R&B Album – FAME, Chris Brown. I’ve heard that it’s a great album. I don’t listen to R&B, but I do believe there is a lot of talented people in that genre. But he could’ve buttoned up his shirt to accept his award and looked a little classier.

The Civil Wars. They’ve become one of my favorite this year… Taylor should’ve been opening for them. Beautiful voices, great songs, haunting harmonies. Look out for them – big things to come from them in country music.

Taylor Swift. Slowly but surely her live performances are getting better. Her voice is getting stronger and her pitch is getting better. Her pause about “how I can’t sing” was epic… almost as epic as her “Someday I’ll be singing this at the Grammy’s”. GO GIRL. You show that critic that just because Stevie Nick’s voice is so unique no one can really duet with her doesn’t mean you’re terrible.

Song of the Year – Rolling in the Deep, Adele & Paul. I don’t remember Paul’s last name. Adele is so cute. Good win.

Katy Perry. The only pop star that can perform with blue hair and look cute. She always has good songs. Cute,  but I was underwhelmed. Overall, this performance made me wish Pink would come back from maternity leave.

Best Country Album – Own the Night, Lady Antebellum. So excited about this win. This is a great great great album. Every song is good, every song is country. Well deserved. Good choice by whomever makes that decision.

Adele. Probably the most anticipated performance of tonight’s Grammy show. Coming back from vocal chord surgery, she said she would not lip sync tonight’s performance. So much talk of her voice being “back.” She. Is. Gorgeous. In appearance, voice, and personality. Flawless performance. Not that she had to prove anything, but she totally proved why she won tonight’s awards and all her past awards. This was for sure a performance to remember. Adele is back and here to stay. And her little giggle coming off the last note at the end of her performance was adorable. Such nice support for her from the audience. I can’t even begin to imagine how it felt for her to stand there and see some of music’s greatest stand and applaud her on her comeback.

The Band Perry. There’s some real talent being hidden on the country stations. If “Top 40″ stations have to play pop, hip hop, and rap, then why not country? Chew on that a bit.

At this point my energy level was dipping and the reality of Monday was setting in.

Tony & Carrie. So cute and classy. Why was Carrie’s hair to one side though? That was weird, but maybe it was just because I was tired. Anyway, very nice – he sounds great.

They cut to Rihanna and her Tina Turner hair do during the show a lot.

Best New Artist – Bon Iver. SCREAMED. Seriously. Screamed. Very exciting win for a talented artist. This is also big because if you’ve read my bio you know that Kevin and I went to VCU. Kevin majored in music. One of his classmates now plays with Bon Iver. So this means big things for him with Bon Iver. VERY exciting. Also, why do people think it’s funny when they don’t know who

Jennifer Hudson. She is beautiful. Sounded great. What a beautiful tribute, they could not have picked someone better to do that.

Nicki Manaj. I love her… she’s so weird she’s awesome. But I did not dig her performance. She was confused and apparently thought she was performing on the VMAs. See, here’s the thing – when Gaga does her weird theatrical musical performances she spends the majority of the time actually singing. Most of this was talking and fire and dancing.  I really wish she would’ve just gotten up there and performed Super Bass.

Record of the Year – Rolling in the Deep, Adele. There used to be that rumor that “Best New Artist” was the kiss of death. Adele proves that to be untrue, as long as you have talent. I just love to hear her talk.

Diana Ross. I have a friend that is beyond obsessed with her so I was excited that she was giving an award because I know he was excited. HA.

Album of the Year – 21, Adele. Well, I guess she swept the show! Wasn’t sure about this one either because she still had some tough competition. The good news is, I got to hear her talk again and I loved that.

I’m disappointed Mumford & Sons didn’t win anything this year. I know they were up against Adele for all, but they are very talented and they have a great album. They got snubbed!

Meeting Mat Kearney

My autographed poster.

Let me start by saying this: If you don’t know who Mat Kearney is or you simply just haven’t bothered to listen – do it! All of his albums are a little different, but still within the same sort of sound. His newest album as some great upbeat tunes to dance around to and I especially like running to it.

Back to the Beginning
In the summer of 2006 my mom and I went to see the band Train at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia. Usually not too impressed with opening acts (my mom and I are very critical of enjoyable music), we were pleasantly surprised when Mat Kearney took the stage and started to perform. At one point he sang All I Need, a song he wrote about two of his friends that were in New Orleans during Katrina. We were sold. After he finished my mom went up to the merch booth and bought his CD. Five years and 3 CDs later, we’re still huge fans. Unfortunately he hasn’t been around on tour where we’ve been able to go see him. My mom bought tickets to the Kelly Clarkson tour that he was going to open on just to see him, but Clarkson ended up cancelling the tour. So when I heard he was going to be playing in Columbus at a smaller-sized venue, I was kind of disappointed that I didn’t know of any one that would want to go to the show with me. Being a Tuesday night show, there was no way my mom could fly out to join me.

Nothing Left to Lose
I contemplated just buying a ticket at the door the day of the show and just going myself, but I knew I probably wouldn’t end up doing that. Then this past Saturday evening I was driving over to my friend’s house for dinner listening to the radio. Hey Mama was playing and when it was over the DJ said something along the lines of, “Mat Kearney’s in town Tuesday. If you want to win passes to his sound check you can enter on our website.” I text my mom and told her I was going to enter and see if I would win.  Sunday evening I filled out the online form and entered. I went to bed and forgot about it until I missed a call on my cell phone at work and had a voicemail: “Hi Ariana, this is so-and-so calling from Mix 107. You are one of the grand prize winners for the Mat Kearney sound check. You can bring a guest and you’ll get to see his sound check and there’ll probably be a little time for autographs and photo and then you will get two tickets to the show.” FREAK OUT at my desk, while still trying to contain my excitement, when I suddenly remembered that my coworker Crystal really likes his new album. I walked over very fake-calmly and asked her if she wanted to go and she was so excited.

Haven’t We Met Before? She Said No, it’s Only Noon
Tuesday afternoon Crystal and I had registered to go to  a local business expo, so after the expo we headed over to the OSU campus and got ready in one of the bathrooms. We headed over the venue and waited outside with a few of the other winners. The promo manager from the radio station let us know that we would go in, hear a few sound check songs, and then they would give us posters to have signed and we would get a picture with him. After waiting for about a half an hour they finally let us into the venue. Mat ran through Ships in the Night, All I Need, and Nothing Left to Lose.

During sound check.

After a few snare drum and mic fixes, he hopped off the stage and led us back into the lobby. We each got our turn going over to Mat and having him sign our posters. He asked everyone their name, made sure it was spelled correctly on the poster, and took about a minute to chat with each person before taking a picture. No rush, no hurry to get through it, just taking his time with each fan and making sure he didn’t miss anyone. I went up and he asked my name. When I told him he told me it’s a really pretty name and was also his best friend’s sister’s name. While he was using my back to sign the poster (they didn’t give him a table.) I told him my mom and I had seen him at Wolf Trap in Virginia in 2006 when he opened for Train and he said, “Oh yes, that was an epic show.” Then I told him what my mom had asked me to tell him: “She was sad she couldn’t be here today so she wanted me to tell you that she loves you and she loves your music” and he said, “Aww, tell her I love her too and hi.” Then we took our picture and I thanked him and he said, “Yeah, tell your mom hi!” After all the photos were done he thanked us for coming to his “sound check party” and told us to enjoy the show.

Me with Mat Kearney!

I’m Gonna Get There Soon, You’re Gonna Be There Too
After a quick trip to our cars to put our autographed posters away and a short dinner, we headed back to line up at the “special” doors so we could get into the concert first. Now I must go a little off-topic here because there is a kind of funny story. There is only about 6 of us waiting to get it and these two women that had been in the same bar as us for dinner (they had had quite a few beers) asked the people in the front of the line if they were in the “Decibel Club” but of course they said no since they were contest winners. Once the doors opened, the women felt the need to jump in front of 4 out of the 6 of us that were in line (I guess since Crystal and I as well as the two girls behind us were young they felt they had authority) calling out “We’re in the Decibel Club!!!!”. They literally power-walked up to where they scan their tickets, forgetting they had to have their ID’s checked first. So then they cut us off to get their wrist-bands at which point I loudly said, “That lady is a freak!” hoping she’d hear me. They rushed into the concert venue… to go stand on the side not even that close to the stage. For the next 15 minutes or so Crystal and I were super perplexed by their actions. Anyway, Crystal and I got a spot right up in the front where we proceeded to be “those girls” … the ones that dance around like idiots and act like they’re having the time of their life. Except, we really were having a blast. The concert was amazing. Up beat and energetic. Mat Kearney’s guitarist, Tyler, was awesome – great voice too! The opening act was a group called Leagues. I wasn’t too crazy about them, but the guitarist and drummer also played during Mat’s set.

Mat playing "All I Need"

Highlights during the concert:
- Mat going out into the audience and walking around during one of the songs
- His song transition from Girl America into Chasing Pavement
- Mat’s rap during “Chicago” about Ohio including a line about “Tressel finding jerseys”
- Bringing the opening act back on during the encore to cover Foster The People’s Pumped Up Kicks

She Don’t Wanna Go, Don’t Wanna Go
He closed the show with his first single off his new album, Hey Mama. They took a bow, then he picked up his set list and walked over and handed it to the audience. And I got it. Over all it was an amazing night. I can’t even communicate how absolutely fun his hour and a half-ish set was. I was so impressed with Mat Kearney’s patience with us during his sound check & meet and greet. It was set up by the record company for promotional reasons, but Mat was very genuine and chill during the meet & greet and it didn’t feel like we were being rushed in and out in hopes that we’d keep spending money on his albums. I definitely have an even greater respect for this already seemingly down-to-earth artist and I am looking forward to seeing him again in concert, even if I’m in the back row… I just hope I don’t have to wait another 5 years!

Mat's set list ... now mine!

Hey Mama, Hey Hey Mama!!!

For anyone that missed it, I was one of 10 “Grand Prize” winners through a local radio station to go to the sound check and concert for Mat Kearney tonight. 3 more hours until sound check starts and I can barely contain my excitement. A ridiculous amount of pictures & full details of my night to come later this week!

Landslide

I’m so embarrassed by those in my generation that think this song is by the Dixie Chicks (though a beautiful version) or worse – from Glee. Also by high schoolers that say things like “This describes my relationship every bit.” Well, maybe it does, but I for one couldn’t truly comprehend these lyrics when I was in high school.