1st Annual Bonnaroo Awards

The month of June not only marks the beginning of Summer, but also the annual music lover's festival known as Bonnaroo. Anyone who has EVER attended the festival knows that when you enter the campgrounds it is like you are entering another world. You will see every possible type of person you could ever encounter, overpriced foods of every type, and art in all of its shapes and forms. You will walk up to 15 miles a day and have the most hideous blisters you have ever seen to prove it. You will be sunburned, sleep deprived, and dirty, but on the way home the withdrawals will begin to set in and you will realize how much you miss the techno music pounding at 3 am. That is when you decide you are going again next year, and possibly upgrading to VIP. In honor of this magical place, I have decided to create my own annual Bonnaroo awards.
2010's Honorees:
The Kanye Award: This award goes to the artist who most disappointed their fans at Bonnaroo. The title of this award is due to Kanye West's infamous 2008 performance, or lack thereof. This year's honoree is none other than Wale. After showing up 40 minutes late to his own show due to falling asleep on his bus, he spent most of his stage time trying to get the crowd back on his side. When he finally started to play his hits, he did different versions of the songs. The biggest disappointment being his hard rock version of his hit "Nike Boots." Sorry Wale, but you are no Lil' Wayne.
The Best Catchphrase Award: This award goes to Regina Spektor for her address to all of us BONNAROOsters.
The Craziest Show Award: Without a doubt, this award belongs to The Flaming Lips. When a nude CGI woman gives birth to three band members, while the fourth band member appears on stage in a hamster ball, you know you are in for a treat. The rest of the show remained just as outrageous, including a sing along where Wayne Coyne would say a word and the audience would make whatever sound came into their heads. This started off easy, but got more difficult when words such as helicopter were introduced.
The Best New Find Award: I'm going to give this award to Bass Nectar. Anyone who can steal my attention away from The Flaming Lips has some serious talent.
The Most Bonnaroo-like Spirit Award: This award goes to the artist who most embodies what Bonnaroo is supposed to be. This year's recipient would have to be Kid Cudi, who only hours prior was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and possession of a controlled substance yet still flew in to perform for his fans. Side note, I would like to send a shout out to the people who broke into my tent and car causing me to miss most of Cudi's performance. I hope you got ran over by one of the golf cart taxis.
The Least Disappointing Vocals Award: The only band or artist worthy of this award is the English pop quartet The xx, who actually sounds better live than on record. The contrast between the subdued, bittersweet vocals of Romy Madley Croft and the rough, earthy vocals of Oliver Sims set against a backdrop of techno meets tribal with a touch of pop influence is what sets the band apart from their competition. I predict this band will blow up over the upcoming year.
The Most Entertaining Personality Award: This award goes to Ingrid Michaelson, who rated the audience on a kissing scale and described one of her songs as being her "carebear sh*tting out skittles song."
The Most B.A. Show Award: This award goes to Jay-Z, who performed as many songs as possible in his small time slot by performing snippets of his less popular hits, along with a full length version of his current hit "Young Forever" and other bigger hits. Also, he wins points for turning the lights on during his show and spotting out individuals in the crowd and for bringing a girl up on stage and singing happy birthday to her in the middle of his set. Seriously though, anyone who is in the middle of a European tour and flies in to smalltown Manchester, Tennessee to perform for two hours is a baller. I've had jet lag and it's no joke!
Best Reason to Miss Conan Award: Tokyo Police Club had the crowd on its feet at 12 pm, which is quite an accomplishment considering that these people were up until 5 am the night before.
Biggest Disappointment Award: This award goes to the jerks who broke into my vehicle/tent causing me to miss LCD Soundsystem. At least I heard that they did not perform "Someone Great," otherwise I would hunt you down Rambo-style.

This concludes my choices for the best & worst performances of 2010's Bonnaroo awards. Can't wait to see next year's line-up!
To check out photos go to www.bonnaroo.com.

I Will Possess Your Heart

@ The Orpheum in Memphis, Tennessee

And I Knew That You Meant It

I've seen many concerts in my life, and I have to say that Chris Carabba has the best live voice that I have ever heard. This video was taken at UTK's 2008 Volapalooza.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I recently watched the movie Cadillac Records, definitely under-rated in my opinion, and I was inspired. I have decided to turn the focus of my blog from myself to music, the latter being a much more interesting topic for everyone. I have always been obsessed with music. When I was younger, I wanted to be a singer. When reality set in, I began to work towards becoming something slightly more practical, a psychologist. However, the love for music is still with me and always will be. I believe that a good mix tape has the power to change a person's life. For this reason, I am officially turning this blog into Good Music for Dummies. I will discuss artists that I believe do not receive enough attention for their achievements. I will let everyone know what I am currently listening to, changing on a weekly basis. The reason for this is music is powerful. It has the power to cheer you up, make you cry, and get you hype. Everyone has that one song that when they hear the opening guitar chords, they get chills up their spine. For this reason, and to hopefully increase peoples' musical vocabularies, I am entering a new domain.
SO...LET'S GET STARTED
Like I said before, I was inspired by the movie Cadillac Records, so my first artist of choice is Chuck Berry. Chuck Berry is not exactly unbeknownst to adults, but I doubt many people my age could name one of his songs. This is such a shame, especially considering the huge influence he has made on the musical world. Before rock-n-roll as we know it today existed, there was Chess Records. Many artists that have gained much more notoriety were majorly influenced by the men and women at this label. For instance, most people do not know that The Rolling Stones named themselves after a Muddy Waters song. Since his song, we now have "Rolling Stone" magazine, and songs by Bob Dylan and The Temptations. Berry also inspired many artists, including the Beach Boys, who he sued and won for their using of his song "Sweet Little Sixteen" in "Surfing in the USA." Sadly enough, Berry was only one of many African-American artists whose works were stolen. Most of these artists did not ever get awarded any retribution, in monetary form, or even just recognition.
So you might be wondering what's the point of all of this? Well, as I always heard in history class, "You can't know where you are until you know where you came from." We need to learn to respect our musical roots. If you want to check out Chuck Berry's music, I recommend "Riding Along in my Automobile," "Maybellene," and "You Never Can Tell." Other similar artists that you can also check out are Howlin' Wolf, try "Smokestack Lightning" and Muddy Waters, "Hoochie Coochie Man." Listen and you might surprise yourself. It might even inspire you to turn yourself on to a whole new musical genre.

The Infamous Chuck Berry Duckwalk
Image from examiner.com

In Honor of My Sister Morgan Elizabeth Kelley

She was so positive and full of life. Right now everyone is just in shock and denial. Not really feeling the pain fully yet. I adored you Morgan & I will never forget you. Alpha Love Side Sister

Living in a Monet Painting

Claude Monet has always been my absolute favorite artist. This is an original poem that I wrote after being inspired by seeing his work at MOMA:

Living in a Monet Painting
I am a series of dots
Blemishes on an otherwise immaculate canvas
From far away you see only that which I wish to convey
An illusion of beauty that will make you feel inadequate
Step closer and my attempts to mask the truth become futile