This is why Atlanta rocks

(Written while I was still in ATL, hence the present tense.)

Why doesn’t stuff like this happen to me at home?

I’m in town to hang out with the fabulous Joy and take in an Ingrid Michaelson show (omniscient future-living editor: it was awesome). This is what we encountered at our pre-show meal.

The opening act was Scars on 45, who were really good. I didn’t know their name, but recognized one of their songs from an episode of The Vampire Diaries. Best show on tv right now, and you can just keep it to yourself if you don’t agree.

Week o’Concerts

I saw the Beautifiul Small Machines on Tuesday night. They were at Ella Lounge, in the venue’s tiny basement, which was filled with smoke (machine-made, not from cigarettes). We walked in on the tail end of the previous set, which featured a DJ on a MacBook Pro and some guy on a guitar. Pass. One couple was even playing with a light saber-ish thingie that looked cute in the smoke, but kind of made people freak when the beam landed on them. When it landed on me I waved, and the girl scowled. Who knows what that means?

BSM’s set was great. The band seemed to be having a great time, although Bree Sharp got really emotional and said that she thought it would be her last show with the band, which was also going to be getting some new members. What does this mean? She wasn’t clear, and the band’s web sites aren’t elaborating. Bummer!

On Wednesday, I saw Ingrid Michaelson. She was fabulous! I’ve gotten over my confusion from this past summer, and have decided that Jason Mraz is definitely my favorite singer; still, she’s a close second. In my mind, Ingrid Michaelson is actually the female Mraz. She’s a great singer with an amazing voice, she’s funny, she a little hippie-ish, and she talks incessantly between songs. I wasn’t in the mood to be expansive and open-minded and did not end up seeing the opening acts, but she performed for a really long time and I was more than pleased with the quality and amount of music I heard last night.

Also, funnily enough, after I said last week that I wouldn’t recognize former Project Runway contestants if I passed them in the street, who did I pass on the street but Nicholas! Granted, he’s part of the current crop of designers, so I see his mug every week, but it still cracks me up. Look at the power of my mind! Here’s another one: I wouldn’t recognize a million dollars if it landed in my bank account. Okay, universe, it’s your turn again.

Whee!

I’m on the train from New York up to Mohegan Sun. I’m excited partly because I get to see Jason Mraz again for the first time since April, but also because I’ve never been to Mohegan Sun before. I haven’t been to a casino lately, so I’m itching to be parted with my standard $20.

I still have five hours before the concert, so it’s too early to start listening to Mraz. Thankfully, my good friend Ingrid Michaelson is here to keep me company.
I’m bringing my camera, but the concert has assigned seating, so I don’t know how well any pictures will come out. If they’re not terrible, I’ll post them tomorrow.

Music crisis

Jason Mraz has been my favorite musician since 2003. I have followed him all over the Northern Hemisphere, and so far I’ve seen him twice in 2009; I already have tickets to two other shows later in the year. Now, however, I feel like I may have another favorite musician, and I’m not sure that Mraz is still #1 in my head. Ingrid Michaelson’s music has been in my head ever since I first heard it, and everything that I hear just makes me like her more. Her use of harmony is especially attractive to me, but I love her songwriting skills, too. I just think that a lot of what she says speaks to me more than Mraz. She uses clever turns of phrase, maybe not as often as he does, but I just get what she’s saying. I have played “The Chain” and “Keep Breathing” over and over, and they’re now the top two songs in my collection, in terms of play count. There are six songs from that cd, Be Okay, in my top 25.

But I don’t really want to choose. I want my great musical loves to love one another. If these two reproduced, they’d have a really cute kid who would probably throw tantrums in perfect pitch. Ingrid opened up for Jason last year, and here’s a video of them doing one of her songs, then one of his.