Indie Artist, You're kidding me right?

This is a revised post after someone named Ricardo dissed my post that I accidentally posted when I was actually not done editing.

Happy now Ricardo?

So my dear sister went off to a retreat with Maeve and co. I could have gone, but I hate retreats. I almost decided to go but I had to much school, so I didn't.

Today I nearly got down on my knees to thank God for making me a responsible person.

If I was irresponsible I would have gone. If I would have gone I would have found out once I got there (2 hour drive) that this was a SILENT retreat. A retreat where you don't speak and only meditate.

This would have lead me to suicide or insanity. So I'm glad my sister went and didn't insist upon me going.

Now that I've filled you in on the situation at hand, I can explain the title of my post. As you guys know the wonderful writers here at the Marveloddities have an Indie Artist of The Week. Maria Teresa always does this because she actually listens to indie music. I listen to whatever I find on my iPod or whatever plays on the radio. So you can understand my distress when she sent my mom a text this morning. The part addressed to me read:

Sofi,

Post on the blog, indie artist. Thank you bye!

I nearly passed out.

Indie Artist? Are you crazy!?!?!

I am going to just name an unpopular band and hope they're indie artists and give you a link to their Myspace. Yes, I know my sister is going to kill me. But she should know better than to entrust me with this.

I sat down to think. who is unpopular? This lead to my searching through my iPod. Most of what is there is Maria Teresa's music. This usually has an abundance of Indie Artist.

I thought I was right when I picked Two Door Cinema Club. I had never heard of them and I like one of their songs.  I went to their My Space to check out the song I like by them, "Something Good Can Work Out."

To my utter dismay my "Indie Artist" had 169,228 plays on that song. I'm pretty sure they're popular.

Although I really think you should go listen to one of their songs. Who knows, they may become your favorite band!

Click here to listen to Two Door Cinema Club. Their song Something Good Can Work Out comes recommended by me. It's fast, fun, catchy.

Now I am without an Indie Artist.

I will be back shortly.

...............................................................................................................................................................

Neon Trees was my second choice. I like their song Animal.  It has a good beat and I have played it about 50 times and my mom still likes it. They, however, are by no means an indie band. Animal has 1,963,806 plays. At least I can stress that the song rocks? Go add another digit to that 7 figure number here!

I am going to take a small break to find an Indie Artist.

* Intermission*

I would like to thank Ivan for being an indie fan. You saved my life today, and I owe you one, for about a month. Ivan recommended the following indie artists!

-Ra Ra Riot

-Arcade Fire

-Animal Collective

-Panda Bear

-Portugal The Man

Even though I have five options, I am just going to tell you about the first two. I will save the rest for later.

Fist up on my chopping block is Ra Ra Riot.

I selected their song Shadowcasting.  The song's good.  It's relaxing, and it reminds me of Coldplay. The vocals are great, and I like the contrast of the rhythm of the song and the vocals. The rhythm isn't too slow, you could probably dance to it, and the vocals are slow. I really like this song, and this is where my next iTunes gift card will go.

You know what to do! Click here to listen to Shadowcasting and enjoy.

Now we're moving on to Arcade Fire.

My chosen song is Rebellion (Lies).  The music to this song is amazing. It starts off sort of eerie and then the lead singer starts to sing. I am in love, I want their album, this song is amazing. Click here, then listen to Rebellion (Lies). I have no idea what they're saying but you need to listen to this song.

So there you have it, my Non-Indie Artist and my Indie Artists.

Thank you,

Sophia

Thanks

First off, I would like to apologize for not posting, but it's been hectic. So now for my post.


Tomorrow is Thanksgiving when the Indians and the Pilgrims got together and ate a bunch of food. There has recently been a turn of events in my life that has made me realize that  I have so much more to be thankful for than I am. You know, sometimes you just take things for granted. 


 For 8 years, my siblings and I have been fortunate enough to have a private gym teacher, Ms. Karen, who comes to our house to give us a class. We jog and do push ups and "harder stuff" for a while and then we play a game. Miss Karen's husband was just offered a job. Now, I am happy for Mr.Otto but this job happens to be in Oman. Now you can imagine my distress when my gym teacher that I have known for ages and that has been such an inspiration and incredible influence in my life is moving to Oman.


 So this Thanksgiving, I realized that everything changes in life. This year has been a year of many changes for me. And this one will be the hardest for me. When Miss Karen told me over the phone I nearly dropped it and as soon as she hung up I burst into tears. Then she came over to have class with us and I burst into tears in front of her. Miss Karen and I have been together for years and in all the years I have not once seen her cry, not even when she pulled her hamstring right off her bone. And when Miss Karen (almost) cried silently, this made me want to cry harder but she told me to stop. 


So this Thanksgiving count your blessings because they can disapear within a five minute call. 


Miss Karen leaves in January and I'm going to enjoy every single class I can with her.


Don't just count your blessings tomorrow but always think about how fortunate you are. Even if you don't have much you still have these three things.
1. Life
2. Someone who loves you and or all your fingers
3. A computer to read this blog.


Thank you,
Sophia(even though this says Maria T. Its really me I was to lazy to switch users.)


P.S. Miss Karen if your reading this I love you verrrry verrrrry much!!!!

Molina, Molina...

I hope you guys will find it in your hearts to forgive little old negligent me, and actually listen to my lovely indie artist of the week.

Actually, she's not exactly indie. Well, yes she is, because she doesn't have a major label. But her producer's awesome, from what I hear. But, back to the indie thing, she wouldn't want me to call her that, because, uh, I dunno, but without further ado, I present to you:

Melina Gerges

Ain't she the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Melina here is a classically trained soprano, but currently works as a very successful and driven sales rep.

She's also recording an album. And I interviewed her about it.

My favorite parts:

So what are your new songs about?

I had a friend who lost her child, and I wanted to write a short ballad that was very straightforward. Just about the feeling of loss. You feel so isolated when you lose a loved one, and no one should feel that way... It's profound because you realize when you lose somebody that there's a hole, and the things that you're used to and you take for granted just change. When someone wakes you up, or the way someone talks to you, or when you go to the grocery store... everything that your used to is gone. And it's a deep, deep loss... Its not such a wordy song. It's more about the feeling and the voice, and about the feeling of music. It's a piano ballad by the way.

Tell us about your producer.

Doug is really special. He's very talented in writing music, I think it's in his mind all the time. We started with some ideas, but I feel that now we're starting to get what makes a really good partnership. When he's writing music for me, he hears my spirit and he hears my voice and how that fits together.

What's the first song you ever wrote?

Oh my God, I cant remember! I was a little kid. I wrote a song, I made up words and I recorded it. I gave it to my uncles and let them listen to it. I was one of those characters that would make up stories make up songs. I hum to myself all the time. I would walk around the house in costume, I was always that kind of kid. Really happy. I was either always laughing or crying (I know) No in between for me.

Have you heard Green Day's new album? It's a rock opera.

Oh wow... There was another one, Janis Joplin who did a rock opera also. I think.

Did she?

Maybe.

Are you into Janis Joplin?

Oh yeah?

Vocally?

Oh, no.

So that was my edited version of the interview. It was fun.

You can listen to her music at Melina Music, her MySpace, or become a fan on Facebook!

-Maria Teresa

P.S. Did I mention she's my cousin?