neo-slate, cleaned...2010 all shiny & gleaned.

1.) Sleep more.

2.) Write more in ink

3.) Listen harder & talk softer

4.) Love others more than I love myself

5.) Bruise less

6.) See more

7.) Notice the small things

8.) Smile when it's hard to smile, laugh when it's hard to laugh

9.) Finish thoughts before offering them

10.) Prepare for anything

11.) Slow down

12.) Take time for learning new things

13.) Toss out the unnecessary

14.) Live simple

15.) Make even the smallest moment magical

A Cold Quiet Plea From A Girl Named Go.

Rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth.

Halfway Home & Back Again.

December is one of my favorite months. The preparatory month for a long cold-bitch winter. Music can be the only source of true inner-warmth for weeks on end. Music is crucial.

Right now I've got a few songs that are hitting heavy in the December repertoire...

Cold War Kids, Audience of One
It's off their latest EP and it's phenomenal. The piano chords alone pound desperation into my chest let alone the lyrics and their dizzying beauty. So basically, this song beats the crap out of me.

Hem, Half Acre
Again with the piano, but it's softer in this track though...like the first snow, and the quiet excitement that moves you nearly to tears. Sally Ellyson's voice lays the imagery delicately with references to Michigan that cuts straight to my core. Throw in the glockenspiel and I'd call that a perfect song for the season!

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Home
Whistling! A tricky way to intro, but they pull it off only to top themselves numerous times throughout the song. It's adorable, honest, and makes me ache for a home like that someday.

Whiskeytown, My Hometown
It's like a bad accident and you can't look away. It's the raw truth of a no stoplight, barely-scraping-by town, and I am sure this reality hits close to a lot of people these days.

Pinback, AFK
This song makes me hold my breath to the very end, and with the final stanza let out a long sad sigh.

Devendra Banhart, Baby
...Mistletoe, anyone?

John Mayer, Perfectly Lonely
I contradict myself. Cheers to all the singles of the season.

Rogue Wave, Lake Michigan
Perfect track to wake up to on that long drive back home for the holidays. Roll down your windows 'til you can't feel your face and know home is only a handful of miles away.

Matt Costa, Darling Be Home Soon
A personal attachment to this song, especially during the holidays.

Great Big Sea, Home For A Rest
A Canadian handshake to the holidays. This is coming home, ragged & worn out. In need of repair, and revival.

Sufjan Stevens, To Be Alone With You
Because I would swim across that Lake for you...

Gillian Welch, One More Dollar
Another bare-boned hopeless song reminiscent of the skeleton trees that line the roads back to familiarity.

M. Ward, To Go Home

Get ready, your heart's going to break about as fast as this guy can strum his guitar. A whispered lie, guised as a promise, hidden in honesty.

Joshua Radin, The One You Knew
The Catch-22 of the Holidays in regard to torn love affairs. You go home knowing full well that,
1) You will both be in town again.
2) You are both going back to your respective new cities of residency.
3) It hurts every time.

Daisy May, Radio
May ranks high as one of my most beloved songwriters, and friends. She's got Lake Michigan in her veins and the soul that shines in her voice is unsettling. Her music is relatable, and heart wrenching.

If you haven't heard, hear.

Catching Twenty-Two,
Hb

watered down colors...December series.

sleepless sorrow

there's a spider in my window
and it's hiding from the smoke
of a distant fire burning
in a memory i now call home.

curtains hang worthless above my head
a makeshift screen from the world made from an old lovers bed
out of the sheets we laid on tangled and over-exposed
both fully knowing we'd be better off in our clothes.

and the month has shifted into the darkest shade of gray
it's harder sleeping when night starts in middle of the day.

but the drugs don't work
& the whiskey's too strong,
i can calmly say we've changed
for both good and wrong.

there's no going back
to that place i can't say
because it's easy to leave when there's no where to stay.