Sometimes All You Need is One

It never ceases to amaze me how one song can instantly change my mood. Just one song - one bar of one song, even - can dissolve my tension.

Of course, there's the simple fact that the music drowns out the noises and voices that were making me tense in the first place, but it's more than that. Today, I put on my headphones and just let myTunes do its thing...just play whatever, on shuffle. The first song that came on was Stay Away by Dave Barnes. Even after just the intro, I felt better already. Close my eyes, smile, go to my happy place.

Coincidentally, my happy place is anywhere I can sit with headphones on and listen to good music.

My new favourite thing to do is let myTunes shuffle my 'Recently Played' songs. It's great, because I pretty much have a two week archive of what I've been into. Just means that there's less of a chance myTunes will skip from Patty Griffin to Jay-Z. Some days, that's exactly what I need, but most days it's not. I still get some interesting jumps, but nothing too insane.

I've always used music to soothe me or uplift me or...well, do anything for me. Doesn't matter what my mood is, music will always make me feel something different or more or better or stronger.

I don't know why I still haven't come to expect that. I guess that's what keeps things interesting.

More Warranted Bragging on Broussard

Saw Marc Broussard in concert this weekend.

Lost amid a sea of bobbing heads, hands thrown in the air, sporadic "woo!"s and lots and lots of funk. Pure, unadulterated, dirty funk.

Hands down, funkiest white man ever. No argument. Not open to discussion.

The one complaint, if you can even call it that, was that he didn't do many songs off the new record. But the ones he chose to perform, he performed. He sang and played the hell out of them. The Beauty of Who You Are was about 5 mins of me with goose bumps. He doesn't oversing, and when he does, it still sounds fucking good.

He sings his songs, and he loves it. He has fun. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, I love more than going to a show and seeing the performers having a good time. I don't care if you do this every second night all year long, it should be fun. He joked with the band and laughed and applauded good guitar solos. He elbowed his guitar player when he messed up a background lyric. Amazing. That's what I love.

Marc Broussard, in my books, can do little to no wrong. He just rocketed himself to at least a spot in my top 3 artists of all time. That's a pretty high standard.

Also, opening act Josh Hoge blew my freaking mind. Pure vocal skill. Nothing more to say.